Label Yourself

Label Yourself

April 5, 2017

     What type of buyer are you? This is an absolutely crucial question that you have to be able to answer when you are looking into buying or selling a home. The reason this is important is that when you know what type of buyer you are, then you will be able to strategize with your Realtor accordingly to maximize your Real Estate experience.

     There are many types of people, but in reality, we are all similar in many ways, as well as, different in others. When it comes to buying a home I am going to address several types of buyer’s mindsets/labels you may not even fit into any of these categories. If you don’t then definitely do some self-searching to learn more about yourself, so you can have a productive Real Estate experience.

     The first “label” to discuss is the First-Time Home Buyer. If you are in this category, you are automatically one of my favorite buyers. I say this because you are fresh to the Real Estate process. You have not been soiled and muddied by the tepid and sometimes turbulent waters the Real Estate experience can produce. Your eyes are filled with dreams, hope, and the vision of a future. You have a positive outlook on your situation and you should!

     I have a degree in education, so I have no problem communicating ideas with you, whereas, many Realtors find your label type annoying because you want to see a million homes because of your lack of direction from that agent; they blame you for being a challenging first time home buyer.

     This saddens me because if they would have realized your potential and how to lead you and search for homes for you; they would not have been so frustrated with you. THEY are the ones to blame, not you. If you ordered a steak medium rare and they kept bringing you well done, you would not continue to put up with that.

     Why is it we are willing to say something about a $20-$50 steak, but not willing to say anything about our frustrations concerning hundreds of thousands of dollars? Just a thought for you to chew on, hopefully, it is cooked to order.

     The second label that we will delve into is the Experienced Buyer. Let’s define experienced. You have purchased a home or multiple homes before. You know the ins and outs of getting a loan and the process that takes place when buying and or selling a home. This type of person is amazing because you have confidence, and are usually decisive. This is great knowledge to have when entering into the Real Estate process again.

     Some possible drawbacks to this label are that you may be skeptical of Realtors because you have had a bad experience with one in the past. If this is you, I totally understand. If you have been burned, trust in increments. Moving slowly is fine, but eventually, even if we have been burned, we must trust again.

     Put a "10" on every new person’s head that you meet and let them work their way down. In doing this, you will give that person a fair chance to prove that they are or are not Realtor Joe Schmoe that burned you in the past. Don’t let your past dictate your future or you could miss out on a lot.

     Our third and last label that will be discussed here is the Pain in the Butt label. This type of person is extremely critical, needy, manipulative, and untrusting. They look at Realtors as someone they can use instead of work with. I have not seen many of this type of person in my interactions, but I have seen some. If you are this type of person, please do not call me!

     To all my Realtor friends, I know Real Estate is super competitive, but you are literally missing out on many more clients that you could be finding instead of spending time with Oscar the Grouch. Go get you a Kermit the Frog, and you will enjoy yourself while finding them a pad! I have and will continue to fire clients that think of me as one of their tools. I have to must respect for myself, and so should you.

     Although I want to cover many other “labels” I will stop there. So many of you are honest hard working people that just want someone that they can trust!  Trust is the foundation of ALL and I mean ALL relationships. You as the buyer/seller have to be able to trust that the Realtor you have chosen is going to be able to find you everything you desire to get out of your home, or find in a new home.

     Likewise, as a realtor, I have to be able to trust that you know will trust my opinion and expertise. It really is a two-way street, but if the decision is made by both parties to travel the path of Real Estate together with the principle of trust in place then it WILL lead to a mutually beneficial end for everyone.  Respect yourself, respect others and watch as your life flourishes. Not overnight, but over time!

-Phillip Bachelder, Realtor #PBRealty  

See No Evil, Smell No Evil, Hear No Evil

See No Evil, Smell No Evil, Hear No Evil

March 27, 2017

      What matters most when it comes to selling the most important asset that you have? Well, there is a section that has a lot of different answers to it. We are going to focus on the three big ones. See no evil, Hear no evil, and Smell no evil.

      This saying alone brings general thoughts to your mind on what I might be trying to say here. These all go hand in hand because they work together to create an atmosphere that the people potentially wanting to buy your home will judge immediately. So let's jump right into these topics in depth.

      First, see no evil. All of these points are extremely important if you want to get top dollar for your listing. The idea "see no evil", means be clean! I am not just talking sorta clean... I am talking clean like your pastor or the president are coming over for dinner. This type of clean doesn't allow the buyers to begin to formulate ideas like if this is what I can see then what else is wrong with what I can't see. I promise you, they will think it.

      You will not get top dollar and your listing potentially could go stale in a super hot market. If you are not willing to get and keep your house cleaner than you ever have before in the past then I may not be your Realtor. I say that with all respect, but as a professional, I have to tell you the hard stuff.

      If your realtor is not telling you the hard stuff and your house has been listed for over thirty days in the Nashville market, one of two things has happened: You have pipe dreams on what your house is worth, or you are not consistently presenting a product (your home ) that people are interested in buying.

      If you are not good at cleaning, hire someone. For a $100-$200 cleaning, you could see thousands of dollars in return. This includes cleaning your carpets as well. Have your lights turned on. Have the fireplace running (if it is gas). Please, no actual fires. Yes, I had to say that believe it or not. Think through the happiest days you have had in that house and create that kind of atmosphere for the people coming to see your house. 

      Although what people see right when they walk in is important, the most important thing is smell no evil. Studies have shown that people associate smell with experience subconsciously. If you don't believe me have your mom, dad, friend, or whoever make your favorite meal then walk in the door, and tell me how that smell made you feel. Make fresh cookies before people come to view (Even if you are a health nut make the fattiest chocolate chip cookies you can find.) If you need help on that front, let me know, my wife makes some amazing cookies as do several of my friends.

      Obviously, if your house is not clean, it probably won't smell good either. As I stated before, these topics and ideas will coincide with one another. If you are curious what smells people like, just Google it. I could write out a bunch of them, but taking a little initiative will get you all the more engaged with the process of preparing your home. Remember: smell can create a buyer mindset of heaven if you get my point. Please choose to make your home visually appealing as well as subconsciously stimulating to the people coming to look at your home. 

      Lastly, hear no evil. This is a very simple point. I recommend having some universally pleasing music playing when people are coming to view your home. Personally, I believe a piano mix or classical mix are good choices. These types are very neutral. You can go Gaga on your own time, but don't assume people have the same musical appetite that you do. These pleasing sounds coupled with an amazing smell and a visual appeal that is aesthetically pleasing to the eye; will make your house show well and people will respond and be fighting over it. 

      I really think through these tips for you the reader and my clients. I hope as you prepare or entertain the idea in your mind of selling your home you can put these ideas of seeing no evil, smelling no evil, and hearing no evil into place.  I promise you if you do, your house will fly off the market. Thank you to all who read this blog. I hope it helps you in all your Real Estate endeavors.

-Phillip Bachelder, Realtor #PBRealty     

There is a Light at the End of the Tunnel

There is Light at the End of the Tunnel

March 6, 2017

     Arghhhh!!! This is the statement I can hear in the minds, and see on the faces of so many first time home buying clients in the Nashville market.

     "Why is this?" you might ask. Well, the answer is clear, and for those of you first time home buyers that have been looking for an extended period of time, you could probably answer this question for me.

     The answer is "COMPETITION". Competition is fierce in a market like Nashville's. When you have eight to one hundred families moving to Nashville per day the housing inventory becomes low.

     Although the inventory in the Nashville market is low, there are many things to consider that are going to give you a competitive edge over the other people out there wanting to buy the same house you are interested in.

     First, hire a good realtor. You might ask, "Phillip what makes a good realtor"? That is an excellent question. For me, that answer is summed up in three simple statements which are:

1) Listening to what my client needs and wants in a home.

2) Availability to my clients that I am working with. I can't tell you how many times I have heard people say. " we called a realtor and talked to them, but they said they were busy..." So, interview the realtor you are considering because you want to make sure they truly have your best interests in mind. Ask them questions like what is your availability on the weekends? Why do you like being a realtor? In a market like Nashville, everyone wants to be a realtor or a part-time realtor, but that is not what you need as a consumer. You need a full time, in the "trenches" with you Realtor.

3) The ability to negotiate. In my experience, the one that is willing to ask is going to receive. So, if you have a Realtor that does not want to negotiate on your behalf or is simply not good at it, well then you might find yourself losing out on a lot of homes or even overpaying for one. One of my sneaky sub-points to negotiating, is can your Realtor problem solve? If your realtor is not one that can problem solve, and think of creative solutions to your needs and the needs of the person on the other side of the transaction then you will also find yourself in what feels like a never-ending home search, and ultimately you will become discouraged with the home searching process. 

     The Second tip, is there is no such thing as a perfect home in any market. Especially a chaotic one like Nashville's where there always seems to be multiple offers on any home that is worth buying. Having said that, I am not telling you to buy a house that has major issues with it. Such as; foundation issues, water damage, and or anything else that is a "major repair".

     This is where having a good Realtor comes into play again. They are not going to push you into buying a home that is falling apart, but they are also going to try and negotiate on your behalf to either get the issues fixed before closing or to get you some sort of reasonable compensation for those issues, so that you can have them repaired once or before you move in.

     So, if you are looking for a perfect home and expect the seller to fix every little thing that comes back on the home inspection, well then you are going to insult the seller and miss out on another opportunity to get into a home that you could be happy with for a very long time. Again, listen to your realtor if you have picked a good one. They should be able to advise you and lead you into a successful home buying experience.

     The last tip I have for this blog entry is: try to have some money down. In the Nashville market, trying to make offers on homes that are worth buying and asking for closing costs is just simply an uphill battle. The reason I say this is there will probably be multiple offers, and they are likely to go with an offer that is conventional and the buyer is not asking for any money in closing costs. This is just how it is in a seller's market, and I strongly recommend accepting that early on in your home-buying process.

     If you don't, you are more than likely to have a hard time understanding why you can never win a bidding war. Finding a good lender is tied directly to this. You want one that will work to make your home purchase work. You want a lender that can problem solve and do want is necessary with to get you into a home. If you have a good realtor and are confident in them and their abilities then trust the people they refer you to to get pre-qualified.

     In closing, your home buying experience in an extremely competitive can be a good one or a bad one based on whether or not you approach it using some of these tips or other tips to educate yourself before you just jump into buying a home.

     I would just suggest that you think about some of these recommendations, and truly consider them and maybe even do them. I promise you. If you do, you will avoid a lot of the home buyer experiences/pitfalls that are simply not necessary to experience when you have a realtor that works hard for you, you decide up front there are no perfect homes, and you have some money saved which allows a lender to do so much more for you. 

-Phillip Bachelder, Realtor #PBRealty 

Why Good is not Good Enough

 Why Good is not Good Enough

March 19, 2017

   How many of you enjoy a good meal? Just think of your favorite meal… Think of it exactly! What are the specific details? How do you like it cooked? Is it at a particular restaurant or is it home cooked? Does the atmosphere contribute?

     The first thing that comes to my mind is a Rib-Eye Steak that is cooked medium on the grill. I like my steak to have mushrooms and onions on top. I like it to be cooked at home because I know can have my wife’s most incredible mashed potatoes with it. Plus, I know the atmosphere is going to be great because it is my house, and I created it.

     Although, you and I could go on and on about the details that I like to enjoy with our food; why then is it hard for us to be specific about what it takes for us to really enjoy other experience in our lives? For this blog's sake, I will relate this ideology to your Real Estate experience.

     Can you close your eyes and really put yourself in a home in your mind that is going to fit all your needs? If you can, can you articulate those needs to another person, such as your Realtor? If you can’t really think through and articulate those details before you start looking, then help from a “good” Realtor is simply not “good enough”. This experience is far too important for those details to not to be clear to you.

     A “GREAT” Realtor (let me qualify great) is: One that listens, helps you think creatively, is a problem solver, has character and integrity, smiles, makes you feel good about your decisions, walks you through the process from beginning to end). These are a few simple things that you can start to think about when you begin your realtor selection process.

     Just like you knew vividly what it would take to enjoy your very favorite meal and the experience involved with it, You need to know what it will take to make sure your home buying experience is truly second to none because that is what you deserve. You deserve “Great”!

     So many people from my short but active experience in the Real Estate Industry don’t know what great is because there are so many mediocre “meals” or “Realtors” out there that they just settled with. Whatever you do… DO NOT SETTLE! This experience, and process, is far too important. This is not one that you can send back to the kitchen to get a redo if it is not right. This is not an experience that the manager can just comp on your check. This is big-time and it needs to be treated as such.

     I hope this is coming across strong, and that it rattles your thinking a little. I get very impassioned about people receiving uncommonly great service.

     The pastor at my church, (Pastor Jim Freese) has posed the question before, and it rings in my ear from time to time. The question is this, “If every job paid ten dollars an hour what would you do”?  Well, what would you do?

     For me, it would be serving people! I love seeing people being treated right, happy, smiling, and enjoying the journey. If you don’t like to serve people or people in general, you are going to have a really rough go at this thing called Life. I say this because the world exists (with one small exception) of people other than you.

     I hope this blog entry helped you see that you deserve “GREAT” and not “good”, gave you a little insight into how I think and treat costumers, and helped you realize this home buying experience has no take-backs once you sign on that line. At the very least, I hope I helped you discover what your absolute favorite meal is.

-Phillip Bachelder, Realtor #PBRealty 

Never let the Appeal distract from the Real

Never let the Appeal distract from the Real

March 14, 2017

     What is appeal? Appeal is something that a home seller should present and that a buyer can acknowledge, but must look past it. Appeal is crucial for the seller to present this, but also can create an emotional attachment for a buyer? These things go hand in hand. I will explain in the article to follow why you want to present your house in the best possible way as a seller. I will then also explain why as a buyer you cannot let that appeal be the driving force behind your decision-making process.

      First, let's start with the seller's side of the equation. Sellers, you must, let me repeat that, "MUST" present your house in a way that is appealing to buyers. You must make it look and smell as good as possible every time someone comes to look at it. This is not a suggestion, and as a matter of fact if you are not willing to keep your house clean, smelling good, and staged to appeal to a buyer, then I am probably not the right agent for you. I say this to hopefully shock your thinking.

    Every house I list, I have professional photos taken that I pay for. I invest in you, and I make sure your house is marketed in the best ways possible. So, when those photos are taken, and people show up to see it, it must look like what the photos portrayed. If not, then you are just misleading people and your listing will go stale. Once your listing goes stale, the only way to to get activity again, for the most part, is to lower your listing price. And in the market I work in (Nashville) this should be an absolute last resort.

     Now for our buyer's side: "BUYER BEWARE". I say this because there are houses out there that simply look amazing. The owners took the time to stage the house so that you would fall in love with it immediately. The appeal is so attractive that you basically shut off all logic and reason and emotions take over. YOU MUST NOT LET THIS HAPPEN!

    If you have a good realtor, they will (hopefully) be able to help you keep a level head. But, at the end of the day, the decision to buy falls solely on your shoulders. I promise you that you do not want to ignore all the warning signs for because you get granite, hardwood, and what you think will help you "keep up with the Jones's". If you do, you will be up to your neck in work and unforeseen costs that will add up faster than a school of sharks on a wounded prey.

    A couple of things that will keep you grounded are the following:

    First and foremost: a good Realtor. I will keep coming back to this because you are not an expert, but they are and they should have your best interests in mind.

    Second, have a budget. If you already know what you are willing to spend, you will only be looking at things that are within that price point; painting a reality of what that budget can afford.

    Lastly, be willing to walk away! If you do find a house and make an offer that gets accepted, but the home inspection comes back with some pretty major issues that the seller is not willing to fix, then walk away. Don't trade flash for common sense. Just remember, it will have to be fixed eventually, and it will be up to you unless your Realtor is able to negotiate an agreeable resolution on your behalf.

     All in all, I hope this article brings a better sense of how to approach listing you home and buying a home. Look forward to more articles and tips to come to make your home-buying, selling, and Realtor experience one that is second to none. 

-Phillip Bachelder, Realtor #PBRealty