Question: How do you know the value of a property? Is it how much it cost you to build? Is it how much someone else paid in the past? Is it the NPV of the income stream generated? Is it the average value of similar homes sold over the past 6 months?

Answer: A combination of all the above.

In order to get a client to agree to an Exclusive Right to Sell contract, you need to convince them you know the value of their property and that you can get them the best price. With this you are guaranteed a commission. We start the process with a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA), that shows how and why you arrive at the selling price.

Our CMA is unique to each potential home, property, neighborhood, and town. We provide comparisons of selling prices of homes similar to theirs. We include information on our sales strategy for their specific property, our recent successes, and our marketing. At the end of the presentation we provide the seller with the price we believe we can sell their home for.

While it seems very straight forward, there is more than offering the best price. Massachusetts is not on the “grid system”; our properties are often outlined by stonewalls that where built by their original owners and could be in the shape of a hexagon. To be more competitive you have to show an understanding of local legalities, including zoning laws, set back regulations, even recreational and agricultural laws. For example: with knowledge of these laws and misshapen properties, you could potentially pitch to a client that you divide their property and sell it as two separate parcels. This could result in up to an additional 1/3 of the original value. Another example would be transitioning a property from 61A zoning (agricultural use) to 61B (recreational use), saving thousands of dollars in taxes each year.

Overall, a few hours of clicking, minutes of printing, a number of paper cuts and one binding later; you have your first tool for making the big bucks, all in the form of one big “Data Dump.”