Periodic tips and reminders to help focus your by-owner marketing and win your commission-free sale - from Canada’s by-owner web-site, www.privatelist.com.

THIS ISSUE:      Working With Tenants / Online Flexibility

ARCHIVES:     www.privatelist.com/newsletter.htm

WORKING WITH TENANTS

It’s a brutal fact: by being uncooperative about showings (whether regarding scheduling or simply tidiness), tenants can kill your chances of a successful sale. Here are a few tips on how to keep that from happening . . .

• start with the right tenants! In addition to the standard referrals, get the address of prospective tenants for your property during your first interview, then pay a surprise visit to their current abode: you’ll get an indication of how your place might look once they’ve moved in;
   
• make sure you quickly repair property defects that may cause them inconvenience - don't give them cause to bad-mouth the house;
   
• know your rights and obligations regarding transfer of ownership or notification to vacate - and make sure they know them (check with your local landlord-tenant relations review board);
   
• involve them in the sale from day one: let them know as early as possible that you intend to sell, even at the risk of losing them before you have a buyer;
   
• give them first chance to purchase the home - perhaps even offering to count past (or, through a rent-to-own arrangement, future) rental payments towards the purchase;
   
• don’t take them for granted: give them extra notice of showings, and make sure your lawn sign says "by appointment only";
   
• out of respect for your tenants’ privacy, consider limiting showings to one or two agreed times per week;
   
• offer them help with their move or a substantial finder’s fee if they find you a buyer - after all, they know the property;
   
• if your situation allows, consider protecting their continued tenancy for a specified period as a condition in any offer you accept;
   
• if you definitely expect non-cooperation on their part and you have to sell, consider buying them off: offer to forego their last month’s rent if they vacate by a certain date;
   
• take photos of each room in the house, to support possible claims you may have should they trash the place before vacating; as well, take photos before your cooperative tenants with their attractive furnishings move out - the home will display better online furnished rather than empty.

In short, treat your tenants as you’d wish to be treated, realizing that the sale of your investment potentially means the loss of their current home.

ONLINE FLEXIBILITY

Are you taking full advantage of the flexibility that PrivateList brings to selling privately? For example:

• have us change your display - price, captions, phone numbers, even photos - in minutes: no need to wait for the next MLS catalog or monthly supermarket FSBO magazine;
   
• de-activate and re-activate your display to fit your circumstances (say, to accommodate vacation plans or renovations);
   
• schedule open-house notices (appearing on the provincial list pages) with a phone call;
   
• if appropriate, expand your display beyond the standard seven pages - at minimal cost;
   
• economize on your advertising - by piggy-backing on our other clients’ classified ads (which point buyers to the same web-site where you’re on display) and by making use of the inexpensive media we list at www.privatelist.com/free_ads.htm;
   
• help friends, relatives and work colleagues across town - or around the world - spread the word: just have them refer to your color display, available 24 hours a day anywhere on the net;
   
• don’t worry about your less-than-perfect snapshots: our graphics software can adjust your photos for color balance, saturation, lightness, contrast and framing (but do see www.privatelist.com/tips/tip9.htm);
   
• refer prospective buyers to www.privatelist.com/buyers.htm, our "how-to" library of information on mortgages, closing costs, legalities . . . ;
   
• if you wish, welcome offers through realtors, using a 24-hour listing and with the purchaser paying the commission;
   
• look for your next home by placing a FREE notice on our WANT ADS page, at www.privatelist.com/wanted.htm; and,
   
• save on other services related to your sale (appraisers, lawyers, moving companies, etc.) via coupons soon to be available on this site!

FRIENDLY REMINDERS . . .

It's important to maintain an active marketing focus until your property is sold. Just an hour every week-end, spent reviewing progress to date and mapping out a response, can pay real dividends.

Therefore, each e-mail version of PrivateList PROACTIVE ends with a series of reminders, and links to tips and tools for your on-going campaign.

To access these resources, press here.

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