Category: Seller’s Corner

Buying and selling real estate is stressful, even under the best of circumstances.  So the last thing you need is a real estate agent using high-pressure tactics to move you forward when you're not really comfortable.  It doesn't have to be that way.  In this episode, we discuss how best to handle these people and these situations.

you stress me so much I lose my voice it’s what you do oh my gosh okay hello hello hello peeps it’s right in my ear yeah feeling good I see that I’m feeling good about the peeps that are here punch you in your throat don’t scream in my ear all right this is Diana Randall bro here coming to you live Arizona as live as it can get yeah they took the stakes out of our heart and brought us back to life that’s right we are live as you just heard we are quite live yeah here to talk about pressure selling oh yeah so real estate agents are notorious among you know used car sales people and you know and I hate to be like high pressure high pressure and a lot of people think because we are real estate agents that we we are high pressure people yeah we are not we are not and uh we come from the fashion School of uh what’s the word phrase school of thought school of living School of the philosophy of life I don’t know I don’t know having bought several homes ourselves don’t appreciate high pressure I feel like when you see a home you like when I’m representing the buyer it should hit on all cylinders if you have any doubt we the pickle team here will never pressure you yeah that’s not what it’s about well it’s it’s about counterproductive and here’s the thing I mean if we really came at you and did the high pressure thing and forced you into a transaction that wasn’t meant to be that’s right it doesn’t matter how fast you try to make it happen real estate transactions take weeks right so you’ll have second thoughts if you mean you’ll have second thoughts it’s honestly totally no point at it that’s right and it falls apart um at the end and so you end up you know buyer’s remorse you walk away no one’s happy the seller isn’t happy you’re unhappy um so the best thing you know that we believe is when you’re excited and you feel right we are there for you every step of the way we’re going to try to make it happen uh present the best offer we possibly can and keep our fingers crossed that the other agent will present the way we present you know and um absolutely and we do the same thing for our sellers absolutely uh you know sellers generally sell you know listing agreements listing contracts if you get a listing agent you’ve signed a contract and they really want to hold you to it which again we think is sort of silly uh but some will and they’ll force you to stay with them you know otherwise you can’t you can’t sell your house into your contracts up uh if someone is is pressuring you to sign a contract or buy something that you’re not sure about or just moving faster than you’re comfortable stop stop I did just don’t it shouldn’t be this high pressure there’s no huge rush we’ve been on many listing appointments and uh some of the fellow you know sellers are like I I just I felt so pressured yeah and I I didn’t like that I felt very uncomfortable but I had to sign that afternoon right after a 30 minute meeting yeah we don’t believe in that no we’re going to give it to you we’re going to give it to you straight we’re going to chat with you we’re going to be up front we’re going to be honest and we’re going to let you sit on that overnight a couple of days whatever it takes think about everything that’s been presented yeah this is the most important financial decision you will ever make yeah you shouldn’t be pressured to buy or list your home yeah under any circumstances it is not very comfortable you need to be a part of the process because the thing is right we are going to be in a little relationship whether we’re selling or whether we’re helping you buy and we will be working together closely hand in hand for up to six weeks if you don’t have a good vibe with your agent and you don’t feel comfortable or you don’t feel heard or you don’t feel um like you can chat with them about concerns they’re not responsive that’s a long time to be under contract with somebody um so you know we’re no pressure yeah we’re low pressure we just feel like you know what if we connect we connect we can assure you 100 if we decide to work with us you are going to get the best representation you can ever have we are available we answer the phone all weekend we answer the phones up to 10 o’clock at night if you’re worried you’re scared something hot happens you know catastrophic we’re here for you to walk you through it and that’s how we roll and I was what’s the point of Happiness yeah yeah that’s kind of the role that we play absolutely one thing I should point out too there’s a good reason why salespeople in general real estate agents specifically use eye pressure tactics they work sometimes at least sometimes they work the high pressure tactics high pressure tactics sure so here’s the thing it’s a little bullying to me it’s bullying don’t worry don’t reward the kind of behavior that you don’t want yes same thing with telemarketers you know if you don’t like any telemarketing calls don’t buy anything from a telemarketer right because as soon as you do the world will get out and more people will call you don’t reward the behavior that you’re looking to stop we want to work together as a team with you whether you’re listing or whether you’re buying we want to be a team we almost become a mini family uh many many of our dearest friends started out as clients yeah absolutely and we like to connect with you not just in a business level but you know let’s get to know each other let’s understand each other let’s understand how you operate under pressure and vice versa we try to keep everything calm cool and collected for you during a very stressful time there’s no doubt about it and we try to make it fun and we do so if you meet with us we are super uber Luber Luber low pressure low pressure low pressure low pressure we are never going to make a hard sell on you we’re never going to say oh my gosh you have to do this or it’s over never never if you make a con Justified decisions chances are you going to pick us absolutely we don’t you know we want you to be comfortable we want you to feel confident and you will get the 100 if not more from us so don’t put up with that stuff don’t don’t put up with that stuff high pressure down thumbs down throw them out throw them out we’re here to help you and yeah and maybe have a little fun along the way as well and get you to the finish line which is the most important part not only to the finish line but to the Finish Line in a happy relaxed confident that the job’s going to get done situation that’s right you you know lots of communication important real estate tip if you want more tips yes we have plenty of tips for you people all over the place all over the place real estate Prescott living in Prescott thanks for doing impressive good things to eat and press good the way to say Prescott I mean we’ve covered a lot of ground and it’s all waiting for you it is all absolutely free absolutely and it is outrageously entertaining and informative and all the wonderful things that I can say about ourselves low pressure low pressure uh but check us out you can find it at four pickle411.com that is our information site hope you have a nice relaxing evening and goodbye from Diana Randall here your Prescott pickle team bye

In real estate, the definition of a good photographer is someone who can make something look better than it is.  Whether it's the agent's photo on a for-sale sign or the shag carpet in the bonus room, what you see may not be what you get.  

And as a seller, if you think your home can compete these days without decent photography, guess again!  

In this episode, we share our thoughts on the magic of real estate photography and the first impressions it makes in the marketplace.

hello hello hello hello hello peeps how’s it going out there here with pickle lady Diane bro realtor yep I’m psychic skunk Pig Randall you’re supporting her in any way that I can sometimes it depends on the day it depends on what she needs help with correct yeah true uh we are here today to talk about the magic of Photography magic or real estate photography real estate Photography in general I think all of us are familiar with filters lighting Etc what you see folks is not always what you get uh as you you know not that I’ve been on those dating websites but if you are sometimes you meet up and you’re like really yeah or my favorite is just look at a real realtor’s uh business cards yeah the business card they’re the sales signs yeah yeah those photographers magic they work their magic fading and switching total baby switch and the same thing when you are selling your home selling your home if you do not have a great photographer or great pictures it’s doing a huge disservice yes it’s not representing your home in its best light no pun intended uh so you have to be really careful you have to make sure you’ve got great photos of your home represented in its best all of the best features yes sunlight sunsets backyards drone shots yes you know uh aerial shots yes you really need to have somebody the pictures selling your house is a process and one of the very first steps is enticing someone into being interested in your home and that’s what the photography does if you have bad photography they’re going to fly right through it just cancel the listing and you know what else it’s not going to happen fellow agents who are house hunting for you will be like ah this one hasn’t looked so good and they’ll pass on it yeah um that is your first first impression both to yourself as well as to fellow Realtors who were looking for their buyers and stuff so always make sure uh let’s review the photos with your listing agent make sure to say can I see them first before uh make sure it’s up to your standards make sure it shows all of the best features of your home only you know what’s the best feature you live in it that’s right you know a photographer may come in and not know at four o’clock the sunset or five is amazing yeah um so make sure you fully communicate with the photographer so we can get the best shots possible and review say may I see them before you go live yes you should you should take a look look at them just make sure that if you were a buyer these pictures would make you want to would this draw you in would you be like wow that kitchen’s beautiful I’ve got to see that house yeah just just a a point that’s important I think it’s the photography in your MLS listing is not there to give you a tour of the home it doesn’t necessarily have to be comprehensive the function of the photos is to make people interested in the house and want to see it draw you in to draw you in that looks interest you’re looking for that that’s it you don’t have to have a picture of the toilet they know you have a toilet I I can’t say hi to MLS how many pictures of toilets and especially a toilet with the seat up oh my God yeah please now I have never seen a buyer see a picture of a toilet I gotta go see that one that is I’ve never made one of those crazy Japanese boys absolutely you have a standard even if it’s a high toilet you know those toilets that powder your bottom and everything else hell yeah I’m all about it [Music] so you know try to get someone who will represent your home and and it’s in its best light and for the buyer’s side you need to understand that a lot of times pictures are not what the home doesn’t look the way the pictures do yeah and that can be a positive thing or negative thing sometimes you see uh pictures they look wonderful hey kudos to the photographer right uh but you need to get somebody in there to see it in person and give you feedback so a lot of times absolutely the homes don’t come out uh are not as good as that you would think there are a couple of photographers who are Michael very good yeah they are amazing magic they’re Wizards and and vice versa so we’ve seen a lot of MLS listings where obviously the real estate agent just pulled out a phone and snapped a few yeah a few pictures that are not well lit they haven’t been photoshopped and make them nice and bright uh they just don’t look good yep and uh we’ll go see those too yeah and if we find a home that is really beautiful and the photography is not good on it guess what we tell our buyers move fast move fast coming low and let’s get this under contract before everyone else figures out sometimes it’s just not represented and that’s a boon to you so we love to go preview first and uh like I said so always be opened and don’t sometimes you see a house here like this is it I love everything about it I love the look of this house I love this and then we go see it you need to trust that we’re going to tell you the truth yeah those were amazing photos but you don’t want to be you don’t want to do it and we’ll do a walk through video too really hard to figure a walk through video yeah you do a walk-through video and you like what you see that you’re you’re basically seeing what you say as you walked in the hallway yeah some people are like no but I really really like it I’m like that’s fine let’s go through it you need to see it in person to get a better understanding perhaps since on a busy road perhaps it’s uh backs up to something you may not want to live or look and you don’t see it in the photos so keep your mind open don’t get your heart set on but that is the perfect house based on the pictures yeah it looks like hell and the pickle lady says no this is a good one yeah watch the walk-through video watch it you’re gonna love it so that’s our little tip for you people out there who are thinking about listing uh hopefully if you list with us we will share all the photos and let you see but always ask whoever you’re working with may I see first what’s happening and if you’re not happy demand better pictures that’s right because that can be how quick or how long your house takes to sell that’s right very important and if you’re a buyer know that some of these pictures it’s a lot of magic involved and I don’t want to don’t don’t set your heart on one home just based on the photos that’s right right all right so that is our topic of the day tip of the day you want more tips and place to go is pickle411.com that is our free information site whether you are a buyer seller is somewhere in between there’s something there that’s free and waiting for you and it will astound and rock your world perhaps perhaps if you have a boring life maybe yeah it’ll be at least one thing there really something that that you’ll be like it was helpful that would be something yes all right so we look forward to hearing from you take care and have an amazing day bye

We've just selected a new venue to serve as our new headquarters, and it could not be cooler.  Check out our latest digs and get the backstory on the coolest conference room in town.

hello hello hello hello peeps bonjour hi hi hi what’s happening getting a little punchy you’re getting a little punchy diane bro randall bro we’re both career twisted realtors in uh prescott arizona correct coming at you our latest find them good morning good morning we are with exp realty which we’re really proud to be a part of yeah it’s a new and progressive fast-paced brokerage it is a national firm it’s not independently owned and as a result we do not have a brick and mortar building yeah yeah exp not yeah it does not invest in brick and mortar nope uh it’s all technology it’s all virtual it’s all very fast moving uh you know people are concerned the real estate market goes up and down guess what when you don’t own a whole lot of uh brick and mortar you don’t have mortgages you don’t have leases uh you can weather storms a lot better so it’s a great business model whether you’re doing well you’re not doing well but it does mean that we don’t have a conference room right which is okay because sometimes we couldn’t access conference rooms yeah we had access our old brokers we did have access to a conference when it was available and scheduling the conference room was always an ordeal so this is nice what we do now is either we meet you uh where you’re staying or our new favorite place and this is what we wanted to announce is we like to meet at the lobby of the hacienda inn yes which is a very historic older building built in the early 1900s very art deco very charming a lot of history it’s it’s it’s just a cool place it’s a really cool place right in the heart right in the heart of the city right by the square and they’ve got a great little coffee shop so we get a cup of coffee we sit down and we meet and we chat and it’s just lovely sometimes we even get our own little private room it just depends yeah yeah if we have to write up an offer with you or something like that that’s right we have private little nooks where you can close the door that’s right so if you call us to meet typically we’ll say hey we’ll meet you at the hussey and we’ll have a great time uh we love to go to dinner there as well they have a great crunch and a great bar too beautiful bar yeah they have uh live music it’s a great menu it’s a great venue it’s a great introduction you’ve never been a prescott before it’s a great introduction to the city so if you call us and we say hey we’re going to meet you at the hacienda inn that is why my friends that’s why that’s our new headquarters our new headquarters but we also had the time of our life there in fact we’re going to have a surprise birthday dinner there so i want to give a shout out to the hacienda because they’re just awesome yeah a beautiful place beautiful people who run it lovely lovely restaurant lovely bar great eating place and so if you hear from us this is why we go to the hacienda it’s our it’s our new little place our new spot we’d love to give you a little taste of the history there a little feel of being near the square and what that’s all about yeah and then we head out from there to go on our home tour so i shared a few uh shots of the lobby one of my favorite things is they have an old switchboard yeah and an old piano they get some great what was the deal somebody rode their horse all the way up the stairs yeah yeah there’s a there’s a legend there’s a lot of people ask about it riding a horse up the stairs correct and there’s some ghosts yeah some ghosts i haven’t seen any ghosts yet myself we as a matter of fact stayed at the hacienda inn the first time we came in when we were deciding to move here yeah great great place to stay as well a great courtyard too yeah so shout out to the hacienda inn and uh we can’t wait to meet you and have our own personal meeting at the hacienda bay inn that’s it else theater yeah yeah which is our second favorite place second favorite you go there for live music good stuff yeah lots of good stuff and you can find about all of it at our free information center that is pickle411.com whether you are a buyer seller somewhere between there’s information there for you and it’s all free and it’s all just really high quality just give us a call give us a call we’ll fill you in on even more all right hope to hear from you soon have a lovely evening take care bye

One of the most important and perplexing questions to answer in real estate is what to offer on a home that interests you.  Wouldn't it be nice if there were a simple formula that works in every case?  In this episode, we offer our thoughts on what that might be.

hello hello hello hello peeps i make a little dance move with yours preschool pickle lady here diane bro i am the sidekick scum pig randall why thank you i don’t know i like that it’s the happily skunk pizza anyway this is diana randall bro here in prescott arizona coming to you this afternoon to talk to you about with this changing market what to offer when you’re here and you’re ready to pull the trigger yeah you’re not you’re a buyer and you know there’s a house on the market how do you know what to offer how do you know what to offer so the i’m going to cut to the chase here and just tell you the bottom line is you need to have good real estate agents who know what to offer yes no we always always always run a cop first and then we really look at everything and decide hey you know this one was priced a little higher than it should be or this one’s priced just right uh you should have an agent that will always agree to write a copy instead of just diving into and writing an offer right off the bat that’s the first thing always do your homework and make sure your agent will do that due diligence for you and let you know so if you’re looking for some kind of formula oh you always offer five percent class you can’t go buy a formula in this market it’s not like in the 50s where mom and dad would say always go in 10 less sometimes that is the case sometimes that would be a dreadful dreadful mistake yeah so you need to look at uh first of all the home how long has it been on the market is this something that is your dream that you’ve connected to and it’s everything you ever wanted then you don’t want to low ball yeah if you lowball you probably won’t get it yeah if it’s something that makes your heart sing maybe go in a little less yeah um or go in and ask depending on market conditions the competitive situation if we’re anticipating the home may have a lot of um repairs inspection you don’t want to low ball because then they’re not going to be willing to negotiate with you on the repairs i mean they’ve got so many different factors absolutely and you really need to do we strategize with our buyers for every offer we look at all the different factors there are times when we tell people you’re going to have to go well over asked this is about where you know you need to go there are other times when we tell people this one’s been sitting a while they haven’t adjusted they’re asleep at the wheel we think you can not uh knock them for a bit and we come in lower their times i can think of at least a couple of transactions where you know this listing agent has underpriced this home and they don’t know it yet we need to get the offer do full and just go just move fast and everything in between it really depends on the situation and you really need to have some agents who can help you strategize that way it’s all about strategy it’s not formulaic you can’t say a plus b and we’ll get this no every house every property is different every house may be on market days on market maybe longer maybe shorter that all comes into play as well sometimes if it’s been on them for a while you might have some wiggle room and you can go in a little bit lower yeah you know it’s all just a strategy strategy strategy and the situation you got to know the situation you know oh there’s a building project right around the corner that may affect property values how does that play into what we offer you know you got to look at all that stuff and so you need to have agents who are educated they know what’s going on in your current market uh what’s going on uh with this particular neighborhood versus this neighborhood what can i expect so try to get an agent who’s willing to strategize with you let’s sit down over coffee let’s really look at this in depth and get you the offer that you will win that’s right especially if it’s the home of your dreams and why not just get the home to get the home at the best price right so we would like to think and we know that we are the team for you to help you strategize and get you the best deal and just a word of warning i wanted a warning we do a fair number of listings as well and if we have a buyer agent that comes in and we know that person’s not particularly savvy you’re gonna lose value i mean we’ll we we know how to adjust what we do for the seller for that so if whether we’re the selling agents and someone else is the selling agent if that selling agent knows what they’re doing and you have an agent that doesn’t that is a distinct disadvantage make no mistake yes so we hope that if you’re thinking about buying or selling give us a call we love to strategize sit down over a cup of coffee make it happen and lay out a really good plan of action that’s what it’s all about is getting you the best deal on either side and making it happen that’s right all right my friends if you need more information you can go to our website at pickle411.com whether you’re a buyer or seller or somewhere in between that is the place for you they have free information there that will rock you out it’s true i know why there are some times on my name yeah i go by and i watch videos of myself in a moment well i don’t do that i i don’t do that at all but the website is pretty healthy that’s pretty good it’s a lot there i’ve gone there sometimes i forget what it put on there yeah so anyway we hope to hear from you soon and we’d love to plan and strategize with you on your next steps take care and have a wonderful day bye

Want to avoid overpaying for real estate in a competitive market?  Want buyers to be aggressive in bidding for your home?

As controversial as it is effective for both buyers and sellers, this real estate power tool is the focus of what turned out to be an exceptionally vigorous lecture on just what you need.

hello hello hello hello yahoo i’m very energetic i am i got a lot of energy today feeling good about myself feeling not so good about me well i feel good about i’m just saying feeling i’m randall i’m the skunk pig so uh i’m with my remember the skunk pig yeah they’re the javelinas oh yeah no i’m just here with the preschool feeling good today lots of energy yes this is my handsome husband randall bro best smelling skunk pig you’ll ever see in your life we are here today to talk about something kind of technical yeah uh kind of controversial but if you if you want to invest in real estate uh or get a good price when you’re home uh you need to know about it and that is a escalation escalation clause now uh in the heyday when everything was going crazy we saw a lot more use of this yeah we are still seeing use of it but it might be dying out a little bit but an escalation clause is a really good thing to employ if you’re up for it correct so we’ve been doing escalation clauses for a while and then when the market went crazy with cobit and everything that everyone kind of discovered them it was kind of the thing to do right so just to be clear an escalation clause is a clause it’s a phrase on your offer your the contract that you are submitting to the seller that says let’s just say you know i might i offer 500 000 but i am willing to beat any competitive offer by x dollars and you know that what that x is we you know that’s part of the strategy does that have to be how high do you really want to how high do you want to go so typically you know i offer 500 000 and but i’ll offer 2 000 more than any competitive offer up to and including say 520 yes yeah that would be an escalation clause to 520. and uh kind of weird uh here’s the thing it kind of makes the situation work more like an auction so it allows the buyer to raise their bid if they’re in a competitive situation and obviously from a buyer’s standpoint that’s a good thing you don’t have to pay more than you need to that’s right in order to beat us so maybe you could beat a competitive offer at 512 instead of just flat 520 yeah right so just yeah so as an example let’s say you offered you know the 500 000 escalating to 520 uh let’s say there was a competitive offer at 5 12 well you would get it at 5 14. you would beat the 512 at 5 14. let’s say someone else escalated to 5 15 when you would get it to 5 17. but it’s still you know you’re going to max out at your limit of 520. but instead of paying 520 you might get it like you said 512. yeah which you know yeah would you know you’d like that yeah so uh buyers like the idea of escalation clauses um sellers maybe not so much we do have sellers uh listing agents who will put in mls oh no escalation no escalation just bring best and final yeah best and finally technically speaking if we send in an escalation clause they have to present they still have to present it they might not but they should and uh it is in our opinion it is a mistake for a seller to say no escalation costs and that is the reason why is that buyers will get much more aggressive if they’re allowed to do an escalation clause what they don’t want to do is to go thirty thousand dollars over list price when all they had to do was five thousand right so if you tell them no escalation clause they’re not going to go to 550. they’re going to go to 505 you know because they don’t want to leave money on the table so our opinion in seeing the dynamics of the situation seeing buyers facing very competitive situations our buyers will go much higher as part of an escalation clause than they would ever do just putting a single best and fun and the best thing about it is because people will say yeah but how will i really know there was a competitive offer and i want to say yeah well the other side has to present yeah they got to give the other offers so that you can see for sure yeah they did get an offer for 5 15 but i will win it for 517. yeah you have to have proof of that so it’s not just taking word taking someone’s word um so you do kind of have a little check and balance there so don’t worry about that yeah if you if your listing agent is pushing you back as a seller against escalation clauses um number one not in your best interest that’s our opinion and number two i’ve actually come across a number of listing agents who just kind of have trouble with the arithmetic honestly if you’ve got it i understand because if you’ve got a lot of offers and you’re trying to you know break them out yeah it’s a little extra you know it can be i’ve actually been in a situation where it kind of had to work yeah and it’s a lot of work it’s a lot of good through the calculation but making a mistake buyer or seller escalation clauses are a good thing that’s why they do auctions yep you know and the way it works real estate is set up there it’s not well you can do an auction there are systems where you can actually do an aux auction for real estate they do that for distressed uh real estate um you know repossessions and that sort of thing but typical real estate transactions they don’t an escalation clause is is a way to introduce an auction-like mechanism and it benefits both buyers and sellers that was a lot of words that was a lot that was a lot of words other than that i have let me help you catch you bro my god thank you oh lord i feel very passionate i think anyway it’s a useful tool that we’d like to share with you guys especially our buyers and give you a little education about it yeah don’t be afraid of them um they can be great be your best friend they can be your best friend you’re my best friend i would never put an escalation clause ahead of you yes you would of course you depends on the deal depends on the there you go there you go that’s the truth folks that’s the truth so anyway that’s our little lecture and escalation on escalation clauses yes if you are looking to buy or sell a home do not hesitate to reach out to us yeah the pic prescott pickle lady hotline is 713-302-1964 yes it’s a it’s a houston number we haven’t changed it like most people relocating the press it is a houston number that’s where you find her if you’re looking for free information the place to go people is pickle411.com.com pickle41199 or somewhere in between there is free and vigorous information waiting for you cigarettes yeah i don’t know whether whether you’re looking for real estate information events restaurants well i think the escalation clause lecture you just gave was quite vigorous yeah it was very vigorous yeah but other vigorous things that people 411. you’ll enjoy it yeah you’ll learn something all free it’s cool all free we don’t charge people we should charge [Music]