April 28, 2009

What Makes Us Unique?

Posted to Steve Randall

For the past several weeks we have been watching an increase in the number of buyers entering the market. It is the beginning of a glimmer of hope for our sellers. However, we must be cautious in our predictions because more listings are being added than actual homes selling, forcing our sellers to be vigilant in the pricing of their homes.

I was asked recently by a potential seller how we were different than other brokerages in our area. I thought I would share it with our readers because most real estate companies do look alike.

This would be my response to anyone asking what make this Leading Real Estate Company unique. Of course we do all the things that every other brokerage does such as yard signs, advertising, lock boxes, toll-free numbers, call captures system, websites, virtual tours, CMAs and more….but the following seven items separate us from other real estate agencies. We hope that they will be the reasons you choose us as well.

What Sellers receive when they list with Leading Real Estate Companies of the World® (LRE) through their local Ogden office - Welch Agency:

  1. REFERRED BY A TRUSTED AGENT: The first benefit is the ability to work with referring agents and with a leading local real estate brokerage. Welch Agency began in 1963 and has been a member of LRE for many years.


  2. YOU CHOOSE THE SALE PRICE OF YOUR HOME: In order to be your partner in the process of selling your property for the highest price in the shortest amount of time, we want to become your partner. Once you have reviewed the comparable sales in your neighborhood, we let you choose the price. If for some reason, the market will not cooperate and the price needs to be adjusted, then the percentage of our commission is reduced on the listing side of the commission by the same percentage as the percentage reduction of the home from its original listing price. In addition, if we bring the buyer without the assistance of another agent or office, the brokerage fee is limited to 3% of the home’s sale price. That is a 50% savings to our Sellers.


  3. PAY FOR PERFORMANCE IS PARAMOUNT: We believe in backing up our claims of action, performance, and exceptional client communication by allowing each of our sellers to cancel the Listing Agreement by sending written notice to our office by postal mail or by e-mail at any time during the listing. If you are not completely happy with our services then you are free to move in a different direction.


  4. WORLDWIDE RELOCATION NETWORK: Through the LRE Network you have access to over 5500 offices and over 170,000 associates nationwide giving you the greatest access to relocation buyers of any company. We specialize in bringing buyers to our Sellers, which is what our Sellers really value. Every day, hundreds of potential buyers visit our company website, request information, and we send these buyers your property information even if it is not what they are looking for simply because they may change their mind or know someone who is interested in that property.


  5. LOCAL, NATIONAL, AND INTERNATIONAL WEBSITE PRESENCE: With most of the world searching for homes online, the LRE Network of websites gives you the most exposure for your property online. Not only is your property listed on RELO® Home Search, LeadingRE.com, Realtor.com, the MLS, and our various company websites, it is also “syndicated” with every major real estate website from Google, MSN, and Yahoo, to Frontdoor.com with the HGTV Network. The exposure and traffic generated by these websites is tracked so that we can tell where, who, when, and what pages potential buyers are looking at when viewing your property online. We also use local websites such as KSL.com and Craig’s List. Each visitor to your home’s webpage gets a beautifully rendered virtual tour, 24/7, to showcase your property on the Internet.


  6. WEEKLY FEEDBACK OF MARKET CONDITIONS: Our Sellers want information on how their property is doing in the market. We give weekly reports (more often if desired) that include website traffic patterns, feedback from showings, research concerning the current RE market, and updates on new and modified listings competing with your property. We also visit all the competing properties in your area so that we know how your property compares with those in the surrounding area.


  7. CRUISE CERTIFICATE: Finally, as a way to say thanks for using our brokerage services, we offer each client a Cruise Certificate for a 5 day, four night “Cruise for Two” to Mexico, the Bahamas, or the Western Caribbean. This is our way of saying thanks for using our services. For those who don’t like cruising, they have used the Cruise Certificate as an incentive for the potential Buyer to purchase their property.

We look forward to being of service to many of the Sellers contemplating listing their homes in the next few months.

Posted By: Steve Randall





April 14, 2009

ALL REAL ESTATE IS LOCAL – Northern Utah March, 2009 Statistics

Posted to Steve Randall

Sorry to have been absent for a period of time. We just moved into new office quarters with the intent to create the real estate office of the future to accommodate the needs of the real estate agents of the future. Moving is very time consuming plus we have been assisting our buyer clients to make their purchases. The result is less time to blog! Sorry about that.

There is still much focus on the economy with an emphasis on monitoring the progress of the return of real estate. The following are the statistics for March 2009. Because all real estate is Local, we thought you would like to know what is happening locally with home sales, home prices, as well as the time it takes to sell a home in the various Northern Utah Counties.

In order to determine when the housing rebound will occur, we need to keep track of the unit sales data, new listings, and monitor the price of homes to see when they begin to move up again. We will try and give you this information in the first week of the following months. Here are February, 2009 results.

  • Unit Sales are the number of properties closed in the month.
  • Median Price is the middle number of the range of homes sales.
  • Average Price is the just that, the average of all homes sold.
  • DOM is the Days on the Market needed to sell the home.
  • New Listings are the number of new listings added in the month.
  • Total Listings are the aggregate of all the listing currently on the market.
  • Month of Inventory is the number of months it will take to clear the current inventory based on the current sales rate.

For those who want to compare numbers of a month by month base here are the numbers for January, 2009 and here are the numbers for February, 2009.

If you are renting and have not owned a home for awhile, this is a great time to be a buyer. With tax incentives, low prices, and high inventory, now is the time to make that purchase. If you need help with the mortgage prequalification process please do not hesitate to contact me (steve@welchagency.com).

Posted By: Steve Randall