Archive for the 'Technology' Category
A house warming party is a great way to show off a custom home!
Posted by Brent Cole | Leave A Comment »
On Sunday February 22nd, one of Solara’s newest residents had a house warming party, hosting the opportunity to show off their new custom home! This is our largest floor plan being offered at Solara Lofts: The 2007 SAM award winning K plan, noted for best designed home over $500,000 category.
The entrance of this custom loft home features a beautiful illuminated glass art piece.
Guests enjoyed beverages and appetizers in the beautiful custom loft home by Skandia. This 1640 square foot K floorplan was "personalized" for the individual home buyer.
A spacious living room to accommodate several guests.
Unlike any other new home community in Downtown San Diego, Solara Lofts offers over 20 unique floor plans. Each can be modified to your lifestyle.
We created walls where there were none; combining a combination of contemporary sliding doors and partial wall soffets to enclose the bedroom areas. This added the elegance and modern flexibility of a loft, with the privacy of a bedroom.
In the Master bedroom, we created a soffet wall above the sliding panel with integrated speakers and cable for a high definition television.
Custom cabinets were integrated into the window ledges to create storage space for high tech components.
In the Kitchen, we extended the wall space and added a large pantry (shown on the right).
Overall, the house warming party was a hit, and the Solara Sales Team were available to tour interested guests a variety of our model homes being featured in our award winning community. We encourage you to stop by our showroom located on the corner of 4th avenue and Cedar in the beautiful Cortez Hill neighborhood of Downtown San Diego. Come and see all the possibilities of a custom home at Solara Lofts!
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Sell Your Home without the Hassle
Posted by Erica Vautier | Leave A Comment »
To make selling your home a hassle free experience, spend your time on qualified homebuyers and sell your home to someone who is well informed. The best way to attract these serious buyers is with a marketing plan that reaches a large group of people and provides them with detailed information about your home.
Hire a licensed Realtor to sell your home and within 24 hours they will begin promoting your home on the Multiple Listing Service, the official site for broker property searches. Close to 90% of buyers chose to work with a real estate agent and most home sales can be attributed to broker referrals, so make sure that you are represented by someone who will market your home to this key audience.
More people are moving into San Diego than leaving for the first time in five years and the share of internet buyers surpassed 72 percent in 2007. To reach these homebuyers directly, a professional agent can create a website all about your home. Single property websites, now commonplace in real estate marketing, let potential buyers “tour” your home from their personal computer.
Buyers consistently say photo galleries and video tours are the most important features of property websites. Not only will you attract more buyers when you include these visual elements, but there are other benefits as well. People who view a virtual tour online before viewing a home in person are more likely to be serious buyers. Another plus to marketing with photos and videos is that they often lead to higher sales prices. A survey by VHT shows that professional photography increased the perceived value of a home by 12% and video tours increased the perceived value of a home by 6%.
Maps and area information are also rated very highly by people searching for a new home. Buyers want to see what a neighborhood looks like, check out their work commute, and read about the nearby schools. They are interested in more than just the standard features of your home; they want to know what it would be like to actually live there.
Realtors are local area experts and will incorporate a lot of valuable content into your marketing material. By providing more complete information about your home upfront, you’ll spend less time in person with buyers who aren’t right for your home.
Moreover, when you disclose everything early in the selling process, you’re positioning yourself for a satisfying home sale and a hassle-free transaction. An informed buyer can make an educated decision to buy or not because they are knowledgeable about your property and the area lifestyle. This is a person who is serious about your home and wants to buy what you are selling.
When you release complete information about your home upfront, the selling process runs more smoothly and at the end of the transaction both the seller and the buyer are happier. You save everyone time and avoid the stress of last minute disclosures.
To make selling your home a hassle free experience, make detailed information about your home easily available and attract a well informed buyer.
Related Posts: Buyers, Marketing, Technology
2008 Wasn’t So Great?! We Will Help You Make 2009 Your Time
Posted by Carole Ferris | Leave A Comment »
At Windermere, we are committed in making 2009 your time!
We have the (or the closest to) the most knowledgeable Broker in all of San Diego County. What does that mean to you? A lot! You can call our Broker day and night and he will help you with whatever difficulties or challenges that you have.
Each office has a full time and experienced manager who you can call any time. As for myself, I have more than 23 years in successful real estate. I can be reached by our agents whenever they need to reach me. I assist them with difficult contracts and disgruntled sellers/buyers. I train our agents. I offer coaching.
I will not be in our agents way but I will be beside them every step of the way. I spread encouragement when an agent gets down. (Gets down?…Real Estate is not for the weak of heart or the thin skinned). Windermere prides itself on giving the best tools, the best technology and then we get out of the agent’s way. We are not a mega brokerage. We are more like a family. Our agents are not just a “number”…we value our agents and support our agents in every way that we possibly can…..
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Homeowners Do Their Homework . . . and it’s paying off!
Posted by Erica Vautier | Currently 2 Comments »
Dramatic advancements in online tools means more real estate resources are available to more people than ever before. Armed with a plethora of new tools, buyers are doing their homework. They can search for homes, tour neighborhoods, and get expert advice from the convenience of their personal laptop.
A recent survey by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) shows that more than 77% of consumers now start the real estate process online. On sites like Realtor.com, buyers can specify what type of home they are interested in and have a list of properties that meet their criteria appear in seconds.
Good real estate sites let visitors save searches, send automatic notices when new listings enter the market, and provide extensive information on the property. Advanced sites will even provide foreclosure lists and help locate great real estate buys.
It’s no wonder that more than 3 out of 4 respondents to the NAR survey said they use search engines to browse through properties. While internet buyers spend a longer period of time looking for a home online than traditional buyers, they spend less time searching with their agent and have to view fewer properties in person.
A 2007 California Association of Realtors (CAR) survey showed that next to searching for homes, buyers spend most of their time online surveying neighborhoods. They look at comparable sales, watch local videos and map out the area.
User-generated videos on YouTube provide unique insight into many San Diego cities; a search for “La Jolla, San Diego” yields more than 1,100 results! Some reports suggest that buyers are beginning to prefer these amateur tours to the store-bought variety, which can come off as manufactured.
To further examine neighborhoods, buyers use interactive mapping tools like Google Maps. Simply type in an address and Google Maps displays: satellite images of the location; charts of the terrain; real-time traffic reports and drive times; and frighteningly accurate, panoramic street views. Online maps allow visitors to take a virtual stroll down their future block without ever leaving home.
As buyers migrate toward the internet, so are many real estate agents. Through industry blogs like Active Rain and personal blog sites, real estate agents are sharing their knowledge and experience with the world.
Most buyers are tired of the pre-canned information that populates most real estate sites and are instead choosing to read more organic blog entries.
On our company blog, Picture Perfect San Diego, Windermere agents write about the community, home sales, area activities, market trends, financing options and so much more. It’s a great forum for buyers to meet our agents, read first hand accounts of what is going on in the real estate market, ask questions and leave feedback.
The abundance of research tools available online has made today’s buyer more educated than ever before. They can search for homes, tour neighborhoods, and get expert advice online.
There is a lot of information out there, have you done your homework?
If you need help getting started on your homework, these links may help:
- Read More Articles by Erica Vautier about the Technology and Marketing Available to Homeowners and Agents
- Contact me about working for Windermere and gaining access to these tools
- Contact me about becoming a VIP Member of our site and gaining access to great technology search tools for homeowners
- Leave Feedback and let us know what you’d like to learn more about
Related Posts: Buyers, Education, Foreclosures, Free Foreclosure Lists, Homeowners, Marketing, Picture Perfect San Diego, Technology, Windermere, Windermere Agents
First Rate Service and Knowledge In A Tough Market Keeps Clients Happy
Posted by Misty Dobson | Leave A Comment »
While some agents and companies are stepping back or stepping out of the real estate arena, some of us are finding an opportunity to diversify during this challenging market downturn. As an agent I am now working harder to provide the kind of service and presence that will provide my clients a much higher level of service. Building lasting relationships is my highest goal and and I achieve results, even in this tough market.
Listed are examples of TOOLS that I use to be more effective in building a relationship with a buyer/seller….
- Keeping tabs on housing inventory and setting up searches for each client is key.
- Informing a potential buyer/seller of changes in the market that are happening daily builds confidence in your relationship .
- Using the right tools allows me to know which types of listings a consumer is looking for and for recommending similar properties.
- I work closely with a Loan Officers who are knowledgeable and can provide buyers with information to help them decide how much they are able to invest in a property and how to begin the process.
- I use the internet, producing Virtual Flyers, the Real Bird Listing Publisher and Craigslist (just to name a few) to bring attention to buyers needs and my seller’s properties. I consistently show buyers and sellers that I DO have the right TOOLS and how I can benefit them.
Commitment and hard work is important and really shines in a market like this one. Providing first rate service accompanied with knowledge will surely make you feel confident when using my services, and I hope to build relationships that are long lasting.
Here is to lasting relationships and VERY HAPPY Clients.
Related Posts: Agent Services, Escondido, Rancho Bernardo, San Marcos, Technology, Windermere Agents
