SELL

Selling a home is a big financial decision.

It is important to choose the right Realtor who will take the necessary steps to make sure that your house sells for the highest dollar amount. Listings like ours that are beautifully presented and professionally inspected sell faster and for more money. We actively market your home using the most current technologies and techniques. We aren't just real estate agents, we are marketing agents. We don't just sit around and wait for your house to sell, we proactively SELL your house.

Bri will show you how to get top dollar for your Santa Cruz home. 

Fill out this form to learn:

• How much your home is worth
• IF and WHEN to sell
• How to maximize your profits

You will receive your free report and a complimentary follow-up phone call from Bri to answer any questions.

THE SELLING PROCESS

Selling with Bri

1385 Prospect Ave, Capitola CA - Listed for $2,999,000 - Sold for $4,125,000

Step 1. Let’s Become Teammates!

We'll begin by establishing a collaboration tailored for you and your property's needs. We'll discuss:

  • The frequency and format of our meetings. In person or online - whichever works best for you

  • Electronic signatures via DocuSign and the ability this entire process remotely if needed.

  • The current condition of your home, including potential repairs or upgrades.

  • Pricing strategies for your home.

  • The timeline for listing your property and any rent-back requirements.

  • Topics related to capital gains, 1031 Exchange, and potential future purchases.

620 35th Ave, Santa Cruz CA - Listed for $1,799,000 - Sold for $2,160,000

Step 2: Prepare Your Home

Regardless of your home's condition - whether it's a new build, a fixer-upper or even a tear-down, we appreciate it all.

  • Arrange necessary inspections (home, pest, sewer lateral, or septic).

  • Complete essential repairs.

  • Staging your home, if necessary.

  • Schedule appointments for movers, cleaners, handymen, or landscaping.

114 Kenneth St, Santa Cruz CA - Listed for $1,499,000 - Sold for $1,758,000

Step 3. Full Disclosure

To ensure prospective buyers have all the necessary information, we'll put together a comprehensive disclosure packet:

  • Standard CAR disclosures from the seller.

  • Inspection reports.

  • Record of upgrades made during your ownership.

  • Quotations for required repairs.

  • Other crucial documents (surveys, reports, plans).

716 California St, Santa Cruz CA - Listed for $1,499,000 - Sold for $1,710,000

Step 4: Strategic Marketing

This is where the magic happens! We'll highlight the best aspects of your property through:

  • A personalized listing sign with domain name

  • A dedicated property website

  • Engaging property descriptions

  • High-quality architectural photographs

  • Virtual house tour

  • Custom property video

  • Digitized floor plan

  • Interactive property location map

  • Social media advertisement

  • Open houses

125 Gault St, Santa Cruz CA - Listed for $1,699,000 - Sold for $1,900,000

Step 5. Offers and Skillful Negotiations

Our primary objective is to secure the highest possible price for your home. We'll employ our negotiating skills to ensure the best results.

We recommend a listing period of around 8 days (including a full weekend of open houses) before accepting offers to maximize your sale price.

We'll carefully review all offers, share our expert negotiation strategy, and guide you through any necessary counteroffers and negotiations.

510 Pacheco Ave, Santa Cruz CA - Listed for $788,000 - Sold for $910,888

Step 6: Escrow Process

After accepting an offer, the escrow period begins. During this time, various milestones occur, including buyer contingency removals and establishing the escrow closing date. Visits from appraisers, contractors, or inspectors may occur. As we near the closing date, a mobile notary will meet with you at your preferred location, courtesy of the title company.

2943 Leotar Circle, Santa Cruz CA - Listed for $890,000 - Sold for $979,000

Step 7. Close and Celebrate!

Depending on your contract's terms, you may move out before or after the escrow closes. Prior to closing, the buyer and their lender will wire funds to escrow, and the sale will be recorded at the County.

Selling a home can evoke a number of emotions, from exhilaration to nostalgia. If you make a profit from the sale, it's also a reason to celebrate your financial success!

OUR MARKETING

Our unique listing package is included when we list your house or property for sale.

We use cutting-edge technology, and we do it all in-house.

With our precise analytics, we are able to track how many people view your property's website, video, and virtual tour.  Our videos have been known to reach tens of thousands on social media!

Custom Property Website

We provide every home we list for sale with a custom website: www.123YourAddress.com. Our in-house team of graphic designers, web designers, photographers and videographers build an all-inclusive website, combining:

  • Property description

  • Architectural photos

  • Virtual house tour

  • Custom property video

  • Digitized floor plan

  • Interactive property location map

  • Disclosures link

We own the newest technologies in cinematography: drones, cameras, steadicams, and gimbal products. Your custom website will allow potential buyers to "virtually" tour your property from their own computer or smartphone. This dramatically increases your audience of home buyers.

Listing Sign

We believe that having a beautiful looking “For Sale” sign tells potential buyers that this is a special listing. Our founder Bri Steel designed the custom listing signs to reflect her love of architecture in the Santa Cruz area. They are part of our comprehensive package that emphasizes attention to detail and inspired marketing.

Virtual House Tour

We have mastered the technology of capturing interior 3D imagery of your property. We use the Matterport camera and software which allows potential buyers to walk through your property on their device as if they were using Google street view. We love this technology because it makes your property digitally accessible to buyers near and far.

Custom Property Video

Our property videos incorporate creative lifestyle shots to make your target buyers fall in love with your home! We use both an aerial drone and a hand-held, image-stabilized video camera to capture a compelling story of your house and its surroundings. Drone technology allows potential buyers to see the property’s location, neighborhood, and most attractive features from a unique perspective. Our hand-held, image-stabilized video camera shows buyers what it would be like to walk through the front door or take a stroll in the garden. This story is presented in a video on your home’s custom website and can be shared on the Internet and social media.

Floor plan Hawaii Oahu North Shore Realtor

Digitized Floor Plan

Buyers love to visualize spaces, and what’s better than a floorplan to do so? This floorplan is custom-made with our scanning software, and the floorplan image is posted with the photos as part of your listing.

Property Description

Pictures only tell part of a story. We know that complimenting your photos with a meticulously constructed description of your home is very important. We work with a professional copywriter to make sure that every listing tells a compelling story.

Social Media Advertisement

One of the best ways to spread the word about your home is through social media. We grew up in the social media generation, so we know every nook and cranny of the Internet.  We have learned special skills on how to create marketing campaigns on sites like Facebook and Instagram, where your home’s custom website will be displayed.

800+ Search Engines

Your home will be posted on MLS, Zillow, Trulia, Redfin, and almost 800 other real estate search sites the day that it comes up for sale.  We strive to take advantage of the fact that in this day and age most people find their homes online.

Hawaii Real Estate Open House Bri Steel

Open House Events

The days of the old "open houses" are over. When you are a Live Love Santa Cruz client we will host fun events to organically grow community engagement in your property.

Hawaii Real Estate Appointment Scheduling Bri Steel

Appointment Scheduling

It can be stressful when getting ready to list your home for sale.  We are here to take the weight off your shoulders and we know the right people to call!  We offer complimentary arrangements for home and pest inspections, cleaners, handymen, movers, and anything else you can think of. 

Hawaii Real Estate Virtual Meetings Bri Steel

Virtual Meetings

If you live out of town or are too busy to meet to look over the paperwork, let us bring the meeting to your computer screen! We can have an important conversation online from the comfort of your own home or office. With the click of a link, we can review offers together or go over documents using a special program that shares our computer screen with you. 

Hawaii Real Estate Electronic Signatures Bri Steel

Electronic Signatures

We use DocuSign as our electronic signature platform to allow you to sign your documents on your smartphone or computer. We know you are busy, so we try to eliminate the time associated with having to meet in person for every document needed.  With a few clicks, you’ll have all of your paperwork signed!

PRICING YOUR HOME

How do we price your home?

An in-depth “Comparative Market Analysis”

Here at Live Love Santa Cruz we consider ourselves experts on the local real estate economy. We perform a scrupulous analysis of similar home sales in your neighborhood and put together a pricing summary based on real home values and market conditions.

These are some of the things we look at when reviewing comparable properties during our valuation of a home: similar home and lot size, proximity to desirable locations, condition of the home, days on the market, and listing vs. sale price.

Choosing the right agent.

Most people have a friend or family member with a real estate license. While we appreciate these relationships, we have also seen first-hand how imperative it is to find a real estate agent who is a local expert.

You deserve an agent who will tell you the truth about the market value of your property rather than the high price you want to hear, and who knows how to get you top dollar for your home. In choosing the wrong agent you waste precious time, experience anger and frustration over the lack of activity, and eventually settle for less money on your sale.

Beware of false hopes.

Many sellers price their property incorrectly because they choose to list their property with the agent who quotes them the highest listing price. With some highly optimistic agents this may be an honest one-time mistake. Sadly, with many, it is instead a common and deceptive practice that insiders call "Buying the Listing”. Do not fall into this trap of listening only to what you want to hear.

The team at Live Love Santa Cruz is dedicated to upholding the utmost integrity and will always tell you the truth, even if it’s hard to hear. We also hold ourselves to the highest level of competency, professionalism, and customer service.

A realistic pricing strategy can reap the highest reward when you sell your home.

One goal when you’re selling your house is to get as much money as possible. It’s tempting to overprice- there’s always a chance you might score big, right? Technically, yes. But that doesn’t mean testing the market by setting your home’s price above what the house is worth is a good strategy. In fact, there are many reasons not to test the market this way.

If you price too high...

You won’t get offers (but nearby homes for sale will).

When you price too high, you’re helping sell the other homes in the neighborhood that are listed for less. After seeing your high-priced home, buyers may be eager to get the better-value house nearby — even if they liked your home better.

Statistics show that listing your home at 5% higher will divide your market of potential buyers in half.  When you list it at 15% higher than market value, you will only have a 20% chance of selling.

People won’t even see your listing.

People generally set up search parameters by price when looking online for a home. Let’s say your house is worth $875,000, but you’re asking $915,000. You won’t capture buyers who search for houses within the $800,000 to $900,000 range.

Your house gets stale.

If your house is on the market longer than 30 days, new buyers wonder what's wrong with your house. Why has it been on the market for so long? What flaws did others see that made them pass up your list price? And here’s the real problem: When you do drop the price, you often get less for your house than if you offered a realistic price from the start.

A house that sits on the market for more than 30 days directly translates to a larger discount from list price to ultimate sales price. After three months of sitting on the market, you will see most houses lower the price.

The house won’t appraise at the high price.

In order for a home buyer to get a mortgage, their lender will require an appraisal. No matter how much you love your house, the appraiser may not see it with the same nostalgia. If comparable home sales over the last six months and current market conditions don’t support your sales price, the buyer’s appraisal may come in low and the transaction may fall through.

You lose credibility.

Buyers are savvy. They’ve usually done the research and have a ballpark idea of what homes in your neighborhood are worth. When you price too high sellers might not even look at your property.

You lose the chance to have a bidding war.

A common reason sellers price high is that it leaves room for negotiation. The problem with this tactic? If buyers overlook your house because it’s out of their budget, there will be no one to negotiate with. We have seen time and again that people with homes priced at (or even just below market value) often find themselves in a middle of a bidding war. This is basic human psychology - everyone wants a good deal.

Choose the right agent.

You must rely on your agent for accurate comparative sales statistics and pricing guidance. A good agent provides the facts to help you avoid the worst mistake you can make: overpricing.

Not all agents are good! The right asking price is critical to the success of your sale.

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY STATISTICS

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