THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 25, 1995 TAG: 9502230241
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARY ELLEN MILES, SPECIAL TO REAL ESTATE WEEKLY
LENGTH: Long : 103 lines
William G. Effros took a six-line advertisement he had used to sell his house and turned it into a 260-page book, How to Sell Your Home in 5 Days.
Effros, a computer consultant from Connecticut, offers a step-by-step, practical advice of how to sell your home within a Wednesday-to-Sunday time frame, maintaining total control along the way in his 260-page paperback (Workman Press, $14.95).
It helped, Effros says, to have run into a classmate at a 1992 reunion who dealt with how to books.
He thought up his five-day home selling method after he had, on the advice of his real estate broker, waited six months to sell his house, hoping for a better market. Unfortunately, the market got worse.
His broker suggested having a ``desperation sale, to get rid of it,'' Effros says. At that time, Effros decided he could have a desperation sale himself, without paying a 6 percent broker fee.
So, he came up with an ad briefly describing his home, listing the price or ``Best reasonable Offer,'' two inspection days, and the final notation: ``Home will be sold by Sunday Night to Highest Bidder.''
Effros received more than 100 responses to his ad, 40 prospective buyers inspected his home, and he had 12 serious bids, six of which were higher than his advertised price.
``It never occurred to me that people would give me more than the asking price,'' he recalled during a recent visit to Hampton Roads. ``My broker had told me that I couldn't expect to make that much. It was a shock.''
Within three weeks of placing the ad, Effros closed on his house, had the money in his hand and had three other buyers in line, in case that deal fell through.
``I felt so good. I was so relieved,'' Effros said. ``It worked better than my wildest dreams. It's like winning the lottery when you never even bought a ticket!''
Thus, it's no surprise that his is a book of a nontraditional house selling. The traditional route is to list an inflated price with an agent, then sit and wait for offers to trickle in, while preparing yourself to take less money for your home, then give a commission to the agent.
``Sellers often resort to brokers as security blankets,'' says Effros. His approach is keyed on not advertising an inflated price and avoiding the frustratingly long dry spells that go with the traditional method.
``The truth is, your home is worth what you can get for it,'' Effros said. ``You price your house low and let it go up to wherever it's going to go. This method will get every buyer for a home like yours to come by at this time. They've got to come by because you're starting at the low price not the high price.
``If you do it once, you know it's always going to work, provided you're asking a fair market price. If you have a $100,000 home and you put $110,000 in the ad, you simply won't get 25 calls by Friday night.
``The market will take it to the fair spot and then no one bids more. The bottom line is you cannot fool the market. There is no penalty for having a low price. I've seen people get twice the asking price. There's no risk if you do it properly.
``This method unites a buyer who's ready to buy with a seller who's ready to sell,'' Effros said.
The book explains each step, including what price to ask, how to organize the inspection of your home, the importance of keeping records of the calls you receive and the bids made.
Effros emphasizes that a real estate attorney should be involved in the process.
Local real estate agents, naturally, dispute some of Effros' contentions. Barbara Shaughnessy, associate broker with Rose & Krueth Realty Corp. says that agents in this area typically don't inflate house prices.
``Our job is to get as much money as we can for the seller, in the shortest amount of time,'' she said. ``We like to get the fair market value for our clients.''
She said Effros' method seems like a ``desperation move,'' and she isn't sure the Hampton Roads real estate market, which she says is ``very good'' could handle it.
Effros, however, says he gets plenty of feedback from happy sellers and buyers. In one incident, a potential buyer's bank appraiser said the house wasn't worth the bid amount. The seller said the bank was incorrect because three other bids established the market price at that amount.
The bank changed its appraisal. ``Regardless of what anyone outside the potential buyers say, the house is worth what the top bidder says it's worth,'' said Effros.
In short, here is Effros' five-day schedule:
Take out an ad in a Wednesday paper. In most markets, you should have 25 calls by Friday night, the author says. If not, your price is too high.
The home inspection is Saturday and Sunday.
List all your bids from lowest to highest and keep phoning until your house is sold.
It's hard work, but only for a condensed 5 day period, and the money all goes in your pocket at the end, says Effros.
Effros says he has even taught real estate brokers his method. He thinks $1,500 is a fair price for them to charge home sellers. Working five days a week, a broker could sell up to 52 houses per year and earn $78,000 (traditionally, many work 7 days a week).
(How to Sell Your Home in 5 Days can be found at local bookstores or ordered through Effros' toll free number, 1-800-341-6998.) ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by PAUL AIKEN
Author William Effros says the marketplace should determine your
selling price.
by CNB