One of my favorite quotes comes from the cartoon-feature Futurama. When Bender, the alcoholic robot, meets God, the celestial orb reminds Bender:
"When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all"...
In the world of design, architecture... well, pretty much anything, I truly believe this holds true.
I'm not a pro in the real estate profession by any means, but I've probably been to more open houses than the next guy — and at one point in recent history, Casie and I were visiting most every Eichler open house in the East Bay (and many in Marin and the South Bay). Many of these have been posted on this blog (note: each previous word links to a dfeerent post), but many weren't because they are/were more of the same: a tired 40 year old house which has been poorly marketed, poorly prepped and poorly presented. This is sad. When an agent is charging a client 6% commission, there's more to it than filing paperwork, in my humble opinion. A homeowner relies on the agent for pre-sale advice and guidance... and sales-time marketing acumen. And although I'm not a real estage agent, or even a professional photographer, all of the blog posts above feature better photography and more detail than the listing agent was able to provide... and I didn't charge a $25K commission.
There are several good agents who specialize in Eichler homes and understand the market, but one guy who I think is doing it right is Thomas Westfall. I met Thomas through one of his listings and was quite impressed. Like every agent should, he works with the homeowners to prepare the house as much as possible and goes through the effort to generate some great marketing materials with some amazing photography — it was the photos of his Badger Court listing that won me over... so much better than the crappy cell-phone shots that agents post to the MLS listing. The best part is that "doing it right" doesn't have to cost that much, especially when you're dealing with a half-million-dollar product.
Take a look at one of his most recent listings (warning — turn your sound down...).
Nope, this is not a paid, promo post... I simply like to feature things that I think are "done right" and this is one of them.
Granted, there's a big difference between a $500K house and an $800K house... but something selling for a half-million dollars deserves something more than an generic MLS listing with crappy, out-of-focus, crooked photos and a Kinko's-copied sales sheet, right?
In today's competitive market — especially when you'll be paying the same 6% commission — why not hire someone who will "do it right"? Often doing it right costs a lot less — and will net a lot more — in the end.
Comments