Now Offering Listings for $1,399

/ PORCH/

Why Would I Do That?

The short answer is because the market demands it. 

The real answer is, of course, a little bit longer. If you’re interested in hearing the full story, here it goes…buckle up, kids! 

THE CURRENT STATE OF REAL ESTATE

When I started listing properties, most agents/agencies/brokerages offered a one-size-fits-all model. That is, a homeowner trying to sell his/her home had to pay a percentage of the sale price to a buyer’s agent no matter what. This model is still tried and true and is how I continue to make a majority of my income. 

However, as someone on the front line, I have found that more folks are beginning to demand other options. While I still believe in my value as a full-service agent (habitually cutting deals to friends and family…you’re welcome, mom!), I am an opportunist. Ultimately, if the market demands it, why not provide it? 

I’ve watched as others have attempted and failed to offer alternative options. Some offer full service for a fraction of the cost. Others try to provide limited services for only a few hundred bucks, essentially uploading a listing to the MLS and providing nothing else. What I found was that these low-end options typically coincided with low-end service and yielded low-end results. 

Cue Shark Tank cliché: “I knew there had to be a better way…”

THE BETTER WAY

After years of working in the real estate arena, I began to notice that there are three key components a homeowner needs in order to list and get a contract on his/her home:

1- Preparation 

2- Professional Photography/Videos

3- Attention 

Preparing a home for sale typically includes gathering documents (survey, carrying costs, C&Rs, etc.), filling out property disclosures, staging/decluttering the home, correcting any deferred maintenance and cleaning. Basically, all the things I have helped homeowners do for years. 

After preparation comes photography. Having high quality images and videos is the most important piece to ensuring a home stands out from the rest of the properties out there. While your iPhone X may take great pictures of your kid’s soccer team, it won’t do your home justice. That’s why I ALWAYS recommend using a professional photographer. 

Lastly, and maybe most importantly, a homeowner needs to generate ATTENTION. This means distributing a home’s listing (pretty pictures and all) across every home-related channel in the quickest way possible. 

There is no more seamless way to do this than getting access to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). The moment your home hits the MLS, every buyer searching with an agent gets notified via text, email or phone call, AND every data reciprocating website (like Realtor.com, Zillow, etc.) will also share your property’s information to potential homebuyers. 

However, there’s one big problem when homeowners attempt to sell their own home: they typically miss one or more of these critical steps. 

Even if a homeowner hires a professional photographer, they may never get it on the MLS and only list on the Zillow’s FSBO page (which basically means you’ll be fielding dozens of calls from agents who are hounding you to become a listing client). Alternatively, I have seen folks pay a flat fee site a few hundred dollars only to have their blurry photos of an unprepared house uploaded for the masses. 

ENTER PORCH. A SIMPLE SOLUTION

Porch is a program I developed that offers a bundled solution to help you get everything in order, get you compliant, showcase your home in the best way possible, and (thanks to your partnership with me), get you visibility on the most essential home selling platform: the MLS.

From the moment your home is listed on the MLS, you set the price, you negotiate what deal works best for you and you close your home, all while saving thousands of dollars in the process. 

But Gentry, why would you offer something that takes business off your table??

Because it doesn’t. Frankly, I lose out to people going this route from time to time and decided that I was going to create a better solution than what already exists in the market. 

Some of the items that are not included in Porch are:

  • Comparative Market Analysis/Pricing Strategy

  • Lockbox/Sign

  • Marketing Strategy

  • Showing Coordination

  • Negotiation 

  • Closing Coordination

If these items are important to a homeowner, they always have the option of moving to a full-service solution with me (holla!) during any point in the Porch process. Ultimately my goal is to offer better alternatives for homeowners looking to sell their homes. 

I am thrilled to offer Porch as part of my business’s mix of services and would be equally thrilled if you took a moment to share this service with anyone you know who is looking for a solution as simple and awesome as Porch.

…now what kind of Salesman would I be if I didn’t offer a big shiny button for you to click and see what PORCH actually is…