10 Questions For Sellers Coldwell Banker Northern California
Roseville -Granite Bay Office

10 Questions Every Seller Needs to Ask
 
Before Choosing the Company They Work With

  

1.                  What is your company’s advertising strategy?

Coldwell Banker’s advertising strategy is centered around getting Buyers to contact us: getting walk-ins and phones ringing.  Because we’ve been the only real estate company in the nation that has ever received the Prestigious JD Powers award for providing the best in customer satisfaction, we have a lot to brag about.  We advertise on TV, radio, and in local and regional newspapers, and consistently have the largest advertising coverage in our local markets.  Our phones ring all day long with Buyers calling about properties we are advertising, and our Agents are trained to immediately assess the Buyer’s needs and present them with all available Coldwell Banker listings that may meet their needs.  With more than 130 active Agents in the local Roseville market alone, this increases a Coldwell Banker listing’s chance of being shown more often than others.

  

2.                  What is your open house strategy?

Many Agents will say that open houses don’t sell listings.  We disagree.  When we hold an open house, we print invitations to each open house in advance, and make sure to hand-carry them throughout your neighborhood to invite all neighbors, and friends and family of neighbors, to see your home.  In addition, we are experts at gaining the trust and confidence of visitors to your open house and in acquiring their contact information for later follow-up.  Many times, post-open house calls we make to our open house visitors turn into potential Buyer candidates for that specific home.  Coldwell Banker sells more listings to contacts made during open houses than many of our competitors, due to this strategy.

  

3.                  What is your negotiation strategy when you receive an offer on my home?

We thoroughly review the offer with you, face-to-face, and explain all of your available options for response (including your option to not respond at all), and how each of these options can benefit you or not.  We work together to determine how we will respond to get you the best possible financial outcome, the strongest possible contract agreement, and the best possible terms overall without scaring away a strong potential Buyer.

  

4.                  What can you tell me about Paragraph 14 of the Purchase Agreement, and what do you do in your negotiation strategy and management of my transaction to protect my rights as a Seller?*

Paragraph 14 deals with “Time Periods, Removal of Contingencies, and Cancellation Rights” of Buyers and Sellers in a Purchase Agreement.  Many Agents and Brokers, no matter how long they have been in the business – due to lack of experience, lack of training, or just lack of dilligence – do not protect their Buyers and Sellers to the greatest possible extent, many times costing the Buyer or Seller being represented to lose money in one form or another.  The legal representation employed by Coldwell Banker, and the constant daily and weekly updates we receive from the company and employ in our business dealings, assure that our clients are thoroughly protected and represented.  Paragraph 14 is the least understood in our business and is likely the most important to a Buyer or Seller during the execution of a contract.

  

5.                  How well do you know the Purchase Agreement (more than 1,000 terms)?  For example, give me some examples of how you best assure that an accepted offer will stay in escrow through closing, when so many contracts fall out of escrow.

After receiving a California Real Estate or Broker’s License, Coldwell Banker puts all Agents through an 80-hour (40 hours for 2 weeks) intensive training class that specifically addresses contract terms, disclosures, and the sales/contract/escrow process, assuring that we are experts in our field and can best represent and protect our clients.  Without this training, we would have been ill-equipped to represent any Buyer or Seller upon receipt of our license.  We have been in numerous situations where the Agent on the other side of the transaction was completely unaware of what needed to be done, contractually, to protect their Buyer or Seller during the transaction.  In situations such as this, it is always the client being represented by the most highly-trained Agent/Broker that is in the best possible situation to receive the result of a successful transaction.

 

6.                  How many Buyers did your company/office represent in our Roseville/Granite Bay market last year?

Our office represented 850 Buyers, ranking us #1 in the Roseville/Granite Bay market last year.  Nationally, our office ranked #7.

  

7.                  How many listings did your company/office list and sell in our market last year?

Our office represented 1,856 listings in closed dollar volume, ranking us #1 in the Tri-County area.

 

8.                  How many agents are in your office and your network, and why is it important to me?

There are approximately 130 Agents in our office.  But here’s the great thing: Coldwell Banker has approximately 1,200 agents in the Sacramento Region, approximately 5,000 in the Northern California Region, and approximately 40,000 nationally.  This is important because these Agents have referrals and Buyers who they refer to other Coldwell Banker Agents.

  

9.                  Tell me about your company’s legal department and what it can do for me.**

We have four full-time attorneys on staff that prepare disclosures, counter-offer forms, etc.  They work directly with management to assure we best represent our clients in the field. 

  

10.             What forms/disclosures does your company use to protect my interests?

Seller Property Questionnaire, Supplemental Statutory and Contractual Disclosure, Mold Disclosure, Disclosure Obligations, C.A.R. Form SBSA, Market Conditions Advisory, Notice of Taxpayer ID Number Requirement for Foreign Sellers, Property ID (vs. others).

  

*   If you don’t ask anything else, be sure to ask this question.

** 80% of all real-estate related lawsuits in the United States are in California (with 95% of all cases being filed by Buyers).  $110,000,000 has been paid out for these lawsuits.  But 90% of all claims are paid (via settlement) prior to the $110,000,000.  Due to this fact, it is important to note that Coldwell Banker’s Errors & Omissions Insurance Policy is $20,000,000.