Can you sell my house?
Absolutely, and I want, value, and need your business. Keep Reading, then call me.
Can you help me buy a home or investment property?
Absolutely, and I want, value, and need your business. Keep Reading, then call me.
Why you, Scott? There are a million agents out there.
I bring a unique mix of experience to the table on your behalf. I have worked on the mortgage/lending side of the industry for multiple major financial firms. This experience provides great value to both my buyer and seller clients because I have been involved in hundreds of real estate closings from the viewpoint of the lender, who typically has the de facto largest financial interest in the transaction. I’ve seen what happens when things go wrong. Real estate contracts, inspections, and mortgage finance are second nature to me and make my career as an agent a natural fit. I can often see a problem coming with the finance side of the transaction and either get ahead of it, or find another lender with a better option to get you across the finish line and to the closing table before a speed bump turns into a crisis.
I also have a deep corporate sales and operations background where I negotiated contracts typically valued in excess of 1-10 million dollars in the highly competitive supply chain industry both in enterprise sales and procurement/buyer capacities. I am accustomed to delivering on deadlines and making sure that all of the moving pieces of a transaction come together for a successful closing.
I have a long-standing passion for this business. I hesitate to use that term because “passion” has become an overused buzzword in the corporate scene, but it really describes how I feel. I have owned or been involved in many investment properties over the past 15 years, including rentals, remodels, rehabs, and personal investment vehicles. I honestly turned my profitable “fun side-hustle” into a career. I grew up with a contractor/electrician for a father and I spent many summers in my teens and twenties remodeling and improving homes. I have trouble walking into a property without immediately cycling through the value, improvement opportunities present, or how I could better use the space in my head.
When you enter into an agency relationship with me, you get my mind, my knowledge, my experience, and my advocacy. I know that exceptional service means hard work. I’ve poured out gallons of sweat remodeling homes in 140 degree attic spaces during the mean Georgia summers, and I’ve negotiated deals in the corporate world from the comfort of private aircraft at 30,000 feet. In the end, no matter the circumstance, I’ll always do the hard work to get you every advantage I can in your deal. My number one priority will always be the best possible outcome for you in your real estate transaction.
Are you a buyer’s agent or a listing agent?
I don’t limit or market myself as one or the other. I’d rather position myself as a consultant and partner for my client for all of their real estate needs, building a relationship based on trust and communication that will last for years to come. I don’t want to handle one side of a single transaction for my clients; I want to be thought of as their personal real estate adviser from our first transaction forward. Many clients need to sell a house in order to buy their next one, and I am perfectly capable and excited to work with you on both deals to create the best experience possible for your move.
We need to have trust, understanding, and common end goal. That is my qualifying factor for a successful relationship. Not whether you are buying or selling.
How will you market my home?
I will bring the full force of all traditional, internet, targeted social media, and other cutting edge marketing resources at my disposal to get as many qualified, ready, willing, and able eyeballs onto your property as quickly as possible. The specific strategy for this depends on the property and the lifestyle it offers to the right buyer. I will help guide you on a path to presenting the best possible product to the marketplace and to make your property as accessible, appealing, and approachable to potential buyers as possible.
Unfortunately, the industry does hold its share of greed-motivated individuals that will limit the scope of marketing for your property as long as possible to maximize or avoid sharing their commissions. My overarching goal is always getting your home sold for the highest amount of money in the shortest amount of time possible.
We will never try to keep commissions “in-house” by limiting the scope of visibility for your property. Many firms use their agent count as a selling point in their marketing plan while stacking the deck behind the scenes, hoping that they can find a buyer within their company network to make sure they don’t have to share commissions outside of their corporate family.
Here’s a tip and a promise: When you hire me, you’ll get access to all of those agents and their buyers as well. We syndicate our listings to every available real estate firm in the market. We have a higher average per-agent transaction count compared to our peers because we will engage every brokerage in the market to get your home sold as quickly as possible for the most money and only employ full-time professional agents. The sale of your home is our number one priority.
Contact me for a full description of the expansive marketing reach of our team at Real Living Capital City and to get an overview of our unique lifestyle marketing philosophy that will result in a successful transaction because we find the right buyer for your home.
Why do I need you to represent me when I’m buying a home? How much will it cost me?
To be blunt: In any transaction valued in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, professional representation is a good idea. The agent for the home seller has a written agreement to represent the seller’s interests above all else in the transaction as long as certain lines of disclosure ethics and laws are not crossed. I can be your advocate in the negotiation and be sure that someone is looking out for your best interests as well.
In nearly every case, hiring me as a buyer’s agent will not cost you a dime. The listing agent will share the commission being charged to the seller. I’m there to protect your interests. Often the negotiation process can be more adversarial than it needs to be, but I can help mitigate that. I cannot force you to make a good decision, but I can do everything in my power to prevent you making a bad one.
During the home search process, I can also give you back some of the most valuable resource that any of us possess: Time. Let me do the legwork. I have access to the latest sales data, trends, property listings, and market intelligence. When you sign a buyer-brokerage agreement with me, you have hired a hunter. Don’t waste time out of your professional and personal life trying to chase down the fast moving Atlanta real estate market. Let me run that race for you.
Full Service Vs Limited Service Brokerage?
I don’t do gimmicks. I don’t offer cut rate services and then tack on junk fees for items as trivial as running by your property to put a lock box on the door or spending a few minutes with you discussing the sale of your home. Hot markets allow some shady marketing schemes and terrible service providers to hang around much longer than they should. I will not harm your interests by marketing some self-serving and deceptive variation of “your home sold in 30 days or we buy it” or “sell your home for this unrealistically cheap flat fee” gimmick. I don’t make a dime until I have procured a ready, willing, and able buyer for your home.
The truth is, we all work to make a living. That includes me. Proper marketing, representation, education, experience, time, and service costs money. I’d rather part ways with a potential client than offer a substandard level of service, for what is often one of the largest transactions an individual will ever take part in, in the name of capturing a few extra dollars. I don’t care about selling more homes. I care about getting your hold sold for more money, faster.
In real estate, “you get what you pay for” often rings very true and many people only learn that lesson after they show up to the closing table with attorneys, lenders, and agents all representing the interests of the other side of the deal while they sit alone because the “discount” service provider has already cashed their check and moved on to the next victim.