www.BestFlagstaffHomes.com

Each office is independently owned and operated

Ann Heitland at RE/MAX Peak Properties717 W. Riordan Road

Flagstaff, AZ 86001Phone: 928.714.0001

Selling Your HomeIn 2010

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What You Are About To Read and Why It Is ImportantIf we decide to work together, our mutual objective will be to get your house sold at the highest possible price in the least amount of time. In 2010, this will take some hard work by both of us. My job will be to lead you through the process successfully and I need to be your trusted advisor in order to make that happen. As I write this in January 2010, homes in the Flagstaff market have lost more than 20% of their value from the market peak in 2006. Lenders impose strict scrutiny on all sales and the buyers’ lender as well as the buyer must be satisfied that the buyer is paying market price, and no more, for your home.

By choosing to sell your Flagstaff house in 2010, you are entering into a price war and a beauty contest. Four things are necessary to get a home sold: price, presentation, marketing and careful attention to the buyers’ loan and the inspection process.

If you choose me to represent you, I will give you the very best marketing and post-contract representation. I will advise you about price and presentation, but only you can do what is necessary to make those two out of the four essential elements what they need to be.

This book will explain the marketing that I do as well as tell you about me and RE/MAX Peak Properties. You’ll also learn about the work we’ll be doing together.

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Our Professional Relationship

As your agent, I have the fiduciary duties to you of:

loyalty obedience disclosure confidentiality accounting

You must understand that my office and I may also represent other sellers with properties similar to yours – this may actually help you by attracting more buyers!

As a matter of Arizona law, all agents will have these duties to you. The following pages explain my unique qualifications.

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What Ann Brings to the Effort to Reach the Goal of Selling Your Home

Ann Heitland has been selling Flagstaff real estate since 1998. Ann started in a market similar to the one we face now and has become one of the top-producing agents in Flagstaff. Before selling real estate, Ann worked as a lawyer for 23 years – 20 with the same law firm, where she sold tough cases to juries and judges. Ann brings this experience to marketing your property, advising you about pricing your home, preparing your home to sell, helping you with disclosures about your property, negotiation of contracts and getting your home to closing after the buyer has signed an acceptable contract. Her experience and expertise at all of these steps set her apart from what you’ll find with other agents.

Ann will give your home as more marketing and advertising exposure than any other Flagstaff agent can do.

Ann is a full-time, hard-working, Realtor® who makes sure that all buyer calls and internet contacts about your property get quick and thorough responses.

Ann employs assistants to make sure that signs are right, flyer boxes are filled and clerical tasks for your marketing program are performed on time.

Ann is affiliated with the best international real estate franchise and locally-owned Flagstaff real estate office. RE/MAX Peak Properties’ management keeps the office running and performs brokerage functions so that Ann can focus on selling.

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My Company

I have chosen to be with RE/MAX Peak Properties because I believe this brokerage provides the best service and atmosphere for our clients as well as for me personally and professionally.

RE/MAX Peak Properties is locally owned and operated by Broker Andrew Meyer..

RE/MAX Peak Properties sells more residential real estate than any competitor in Flagstaff.

RE/MAX Success in Flagstaff

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My Services Cover All of These Steps in the Selling Process Expert Advice for Your Decision on Price Expert Advice on Preparing for Showings of Your Home Expert Advice on the Legal Requirements of Disclosure Most Effective Marketing (Details on Following Pages) Interpreting Market Response Negotiating Contracts Escrow Setup and Tracking Clear Title, HOA and Access Issues Preparing for the Inspections Negotiating Inspection Issues Getting Repairs Accomplished Tracking Buyer Financing Tracking Other Contingencies Move Out/Move In Issues Falling Out of Escrow ... what happens in your worst

nightmare Closing and Claiming Your $$

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Marketing PlanSummary

Getting Started Prepare and sign listing papers and disclosures Research and confirm publicly available information

about the property Staging advice Take one to three rounds of pictures Prepare marketing text remarks and feature guide Alert RE/MAX Peak Properties’ more than 50 agents

of great new listing Fully prepare, then activate, MLS listing only after

entry of pictures, text, and attached disclosure documents

Set up showing appointment instructions with office staff for your convenience, security, and information

Install lockbox for our notification of showings and your security (with one key inside)

Retain two keys in our office for inspections and showings where authorized entry person is not a member of Northern Arizona Association of Realtors®

Alert buyers in our and other agents’ inventories via their on-file search criteria

Place sign with flyer box and color flyers Prepare two-sided color marketing flyer and place in

flyer box and RE/MAX Peak Properties’ reception area and in the home

On-Going Activities E-mail and phone info to top agents in Flagstaff Cross-marketing Replenish flyers, check sign Track showings using lockbox reads Obtain and report feedback via HomeFeedback Use HomeFeedback communication tool to update

agents who have shown property if there are any adjustments to price or appearance

Consult and advise you re: feedback, showing traffic, and current market activity

Phone calls and e-mails with you at least once per week

Blogging and posting to Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, Active Rain and other sites to keep the listing at top-of-mind and active in search engines

During Weeks One or Two Internet website placement of your home:

The most important marketing, and we do it the best – see details on following pages

Letters to scores of your neighbors with color flyer Speak with, and e-mail, property info to top agents Set up system for feedback to you on showings Feature your home on Flagstaff Real Estate and Community News blog

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How I Choose Ad Placements

Ann Heitland spends tens of thousands of dollars on advertising each year. Based on experience, market testing, tracking responses to our advertising over the years, national surveys, and consultation with top agents around the country, we’ve learned where to put the dollars and where to put our energy in order to get your home sold as quickly as possible. We spend money based on this business analysis and experience rather than simply throwing money around to impress you. Instead, we want to impress the people who are going to get your property sold –buyers and the other real estate agents who will bring those buyers to your door.

Here is one of the surveys we considered:

Real Estate Agent

Internet Yard SignFriend,

Neighbor,Relative

Builder or builder’s agent

Print news ad

Knew the sellers

Home book or

magazine

36% 24% 15% 8% 8% 5% 3% 1%

Where Buyers Found the Home They Purchased

Source: The 2006 National Association of Realtors® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, p.38 Notes: In August 2006, the National Association of Realtors® mailed an eight-page questionnaire to 129,500 consumers who bought a home between July 2005 and June 2006. The survey yielded 7,548 usable responses with a response rate, after adjusting for undeliverable addresses, of 6.3 percent. Consumer names and addresses were obtained from Experian, a firm that maintains an extensive database derived from county records nationwide.

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What I Do That Most Agents Won’t Do

More pictures, more attachments, more enhancements on the Northern Arizona Multiple-Listing-Service – I pledge not to allow your home to be exposed NAKED (without pictures and descriptive text)!

BestFlagstaffHomes.com – a top website in search engines for Flagstaff real estate Intelligent cross-marketing of homes listed with me, my office and other offices Enhanced communications (internet, e-mail, phone, print) to the more than 400 agents

in town, any one of whom may sell your property (For example, Homefeedback.com, reading lockbox every business day, Top Producer’s custom e-mail function)

Signs and flyer boxes in your yard with color-printed flyers containing price and feature information with direct telephone and internet contact information for drive-by prospects -- no one has better flyers, flyer service and personalized response for interested buyers!

RE/MAX.com, print and television advertising 7-day-per-week services – highly qualified agents whose job is to respond to calls and

e-mail questions about your home when I’m not personally available Maximum internet listings exposure Select print advertising for specialized markets

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Put your home on the Internet without pictures or a thoughtful description

List your home on MLS without pictures, a thoughtful description, and attached documentary information accessible to buyers’ agents

No “new listing” e-mail notifications to buyers without pictures or text!

Fail to return calls for more than 24 hours (we endeavor to call back the same day)

Splash wasteful ads in flashy print media, using your home solely to attract more listings to us from unknowing prospective sellers while misleading you as to the value of our marketing campaign

Try to sell the listing ourselves without regard to your interest in exposure to as many buyers as possible

Fail to listen to you

What I Won’t Do That Many Agents Do

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Why Is MLS Enhancement So Important?

86% of buyers who buy previously-owned homes are represented by real estate agents.

Agents are people, too. Agents are impressed with listings with good information and pictures!

Properties that hit the agent hot sheet without pictures or descriptions are overlooked or forgotten by buyers’ agents.

Source: 2006 National Association of REALTORS® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, p.47.

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Elements of Enhanced Agent MLS Views

More descriptive text

More pictures – with more descriptions

Special agent remarks

Attached plat map

Attached Seller Disclosures

Attached financing or feature information

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I Reach Out and Speak Out About Your Home

No better color flyers anywhere! – in our office and in your yard

“Heads-Up” new listing notice to the top-selling agents

Internet notification to buyers on our lists and “reversed prospects”

E-mail reminders to hundreds Flagstaff agents, including bonus offers

Showing feedback requests with pictures of your home

Color-flyers mailed to your neighbors

Personalized follow-up with buyers’ agents who show the home

Cross-selling properties in our office and with agents in other offices

Blog Sites

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Internet Marketing Tools

Realtor.com Listings

#1 national destination for home searches

Remax.com ~ second only to Realtor®.com for home searching by internet buyers

BestFlagstaffHomes.com ~ #1 Flagstaff real estate website

Highly-placed in search engines Links from everywhere buyers are found Blog.BestFlagstaffHomes.com ~ innovation for Flagstaff

NorthernArizonaMLS.com and its affiliated feeds

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Some Websites Where Your Listing Will Appear

AOL Real Estate is one of the most popular portals where visitors search for homes.

CyberhomesTM is a new search portal with access to more than 100 million property records. CyberhomesTM delivers the information consumers are looking for -- home valuations, neighborhood and school information.

Local.com is the number 1 provider of private label local search. Your listing will show up in Local.com's popular Real Estate Classifieds section featuring Local listings.

Oodle is a local classified online search that showcases over 17 million active listings. It is the real estate search behind Lycos, Express.com, The Sun, Yell.com, and Local.com. Listings on Oodle also appear on other popular real estate search sites such as The Examiner and CityCribs.Trulia is a top-searched residential real estate search engine for property listings nationwide. This website also helps home buyers and sellers research current real estate trends, neighborhood information and more.

Yahoo! is one of the most popular search engine directories for real estate listings in the country.

Zillow.com is an online real estate service dedicated to providing homebuyers with valuable tools and information. Zillow.com features an innovative map search and user-friendly design. The site serves over 5.4 million unique visitors every month.

Google Base is the real estate section of the world’s most popular search engine.

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Importance of the Yard Sign

Today’s techno-savvy buyers are more sophisticated and demanding. They usually come with their own professional representation. That’s why internet presentation to them and their agents is so important, as discussed in the earlier pages.

But the yard sign is STILL important – 15% of buyers in the latest national survey found their new home using the yard sign. In our own experience, many buyers approach us first by calling as they drive-by a home. So, our signs are also “the best”:

They are reflective, so they show up at night They are maintained – we check on them at least weekly (call us if

something happens in-between our visits) The flyer boxes are filled with COLOR flyers If possible, they will be on a post*

*some very windy areas or times of year make this impossible

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To Catch Those Last Percentages

8% of buyers in the latest survey found their home via a relative, neighbor or friend. We’ll mail one of our great color flyers to scores of your neighbors. We hope you tell your friends and relatives, too – and we’ll give you flyers to pass around and post.

5% of buyers in the 2006 national survey found their home by reading a newspaper ad. But the local ads have never produced a call in my experience, and the number of ads in the real estate section keeps declining so other agents must be having the same experience. With fewer ads, fewer buyers will bother to look at them.

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Provides constant communication including: Feedback delivered straight to you from the person that viewed the property. Compiled statistics of the feedback gathered about your property which can provide the

answers you need in order to sell your property as quickly as possible.

Yes, we use the old-fashioned way as well: telephone. But the first step is to send an e-mail with full-color pictures to remind the agent which home we’re asking about. More and more agents like to respond using this method and we get better responses because the agents are reminded what the home looks like and they don’t have to walk to the fax machine to return comments.

Feedback!

This system also allows us to keep track of all agents who have shown the property and do immediate email “blasts” with any updates we want to get out to them fast.

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Questions can be completely customized to fit your needs!

Sample Feedback Form Sent To Showing Agent

Dear Showing Agent,

Thank you for showing the property of 2431 West Palm Ave.Just like you, we visit other agent's listings to previewor show the property to our buyers.

In the spirit of cooperation, we respond to agents' requestsfor feedback about our visit to their listing. Will you beso kind as to return the favor to us? ...We greatlyappreciate it.

Thank youfor your feedback.

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Not in My Repertoire*

*Etymology: French répertoire, from Late Latin repertorium1 a : a list or supply of dramas, operas, pieces, or parts that a company or person is prepared to perform.

I’m not into drama. I’m into sales. Based on experience, market testing, tracking responses, and national surveys, I’ve learned where to put the dollars and where to put my energy to get your home sold as quickly as possible.

The throw-away “Daily Living” insert in our local paper

The Real Estate Book: I didn’t get a single buyer call on my full-page ad in it for many years, and its affiliated internet placement of listings seems to focus on east-coast markets whose buyers are unlikely to relocate here. The good internet stuff associated with the Book simply duplicates my own aggressive, and even wider-spread, internet placements. The time from submission of home ads to publication is too slow for our marketing time.

Fancy coffee-table books of listings designed for sellers’ egos, not to attract buyers

Low shelf-life ads in the real estate section of our local paper

Open houses (only curious neighbors come) – we’ll discuss some exceptions that may happen in the 2010 market

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Three Things Can Happen When Your Home Goes on the Market

Your home sells -- and sometimes right away!

We get no showings

We get showings but no offers

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No Showings!

After extensive market exposure, if we get no showings, it means we’ve misjudged the market in pricing the home.

The old saying that real estate is “location, location, location” has taken a backseat to the new reality that real estate is “price, price, price!”

If the bait is too high – out of the water in this case – the fish are not going to bite.

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We’ve Got Showings!

But no offers!

What next?This is why my constant evaluation of the market is important to you.

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You’ve Got an Offer!

Now you’ll be really glad that you’ve got me on your side!

Because the game’s not over yet

– see the next page!

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Negotiating and Enforcing a Binding Contract

Earnest Money Choosing an escrow company and agent Inspection dates Inspection problems Allocating Costs to Close Contingencies – Yes or No? Carefully Defining Contingencies Limiting the Buyer’s Financing Contingency Appraisal – Who, When, What if it doesn’t appraise? Underwriting – Dealing with the Overseers Title Problems (oh yes, they do happen!) HOA transfers Closing documents Possession Meanwhile, what if there is another buyer awaiting?

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What Must Be Working at Your Home At Closing ~ Your Warranty to the Buyer

The sale contract will require that these items be in working order. If there is any question about them, let’s discuss it now. Heating and cooling systems Mechanical systems Plumbing Electrical systems Spa and pool motor, heating and filter systems Free-standing kitchen range All built-in appliances Roof and structural

Residential Resale Real Estate Purchase Contract, Section 5a, p.4 – “Seller Warranties.”

When you list with us we will provide a sample of the form contract so you have the opportunity to familiarize yourself with your contractual obligations before the excitement of receiving an offer.

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Home Warranty PlansOffering a home warranty to the buyer of your home will cost you less

than $400 (usually less) and, if you choose to do it, the money comes from the proceeds of your home sale at closing.

A home warranty plan reduces your risk of liability after the sale.You can provide the buyer one year of coverage on selected items, including:

• Central Heating System• Interior Plumbing, including the hot water heater• Built-in Appliances

You can also opt to have certain items covered for free during the listing period and to have the furnace and air-conditioning covered for $60, payable at closing.

If your interested in offering a home warranty to enhance your listing, ask me for a brochure.

I receive no fees from the warranty company.

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Summary: Elements of the Plan to Sell Your Home

PricingStagingMarketingNegotiatingGetting You and Your Home to Closing

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Who’s In Control?Listing Price Seller

Location Seller

Condition Seller

Showing Access Seller

Financing Market

Marketing Realtor®

Staying Competitive Seller/Realtor®

Selling Price All of the Above

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The Market, not any real estate agent, will sell your property. My job is to make your interaction with the Market as painless and as profitable as possible and to allow you to understand the Market.

The Market, not any individual, determines the price at which your property will sell. YOU determine the price at which home is listed. We make recommendations to help you determine what your best interest is during this process.

The Market

The Market achieves sales by the interaction of buyers interested in Flagstaff real estate with the sellers of such real estate. When a buyer and seller agree on price, closing date, and all the other terms of the contract of sale, the Market has put together a “willing buyer and willing seller” and property will sell!

My work makes the Market work more efficiently for you and facilitates your interaction with the Market. I follow the market closely in order to give you the very best advice.

Success in the market is achieved by communication, negotiation, and determination.

Outlook 2010 and Beyond

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The Advantages of Proper Pricing

Higher Net Sales Price

Attract Better Offers

Better Response from Advertising and Sign Calls

Faster Sale

Increased Buyers’ Agent Response

Keep Your Home from Becoming Stale on the Market

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The Disadvantages of Overpricing

If you overprice . . .

The right buyers won’t see it.

The higher-priced buyers won’t want it.

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My MissionMy mission is to sell real estate with skill and honesty while preserving time to enjoy living in Flagstaff and spending time with my family.

In selling, my goal is to be effective rather than aggressive.

I ask: “What does my client want?” and believe that, by working diligently to achieve the clients’ goals, my business will be successful.

Ten years into the mission, it’s worked for my clients and for me.

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Fees

My listing fee, completely contingent on final sale, is: 3.5% for listings taken at less than $250,000 3% for listings at $250,000 - $650,000 3.5% for listings over $650,000

Recommended Buyer Broker Commission: 3% -- this is what your competition – the banks and short-sale

sellers -- are offering

I charge no retainer or transaction fee. Thus, your total commission expense will be 6%-6.5% of the sale price and it is entirely contingent on the sale.

This schedule is for residential sales where our contract is with the owner. Land listings and

relocation company referrals are at higher rates.

"If you think hiring an expert is expensive, wait until you hire an amateur!" ~ Red Adair, world famous oil field firefighter.

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Ann HeitlandAssociate BrokerCertified Residential SpecialistCertified Distressed Property Expert

717 W. Riordan RoadFlagstaff, AZ 86001 928.714.0001ann@bestflagstaffhomes.com

www.BestFlagstaffHomes.com

Author: Flagstaff Real Estate and Community News Blog

Office is independently owned and operated

Each Agent Is An Independent Enterprise – Why Not Go With the Best?