Interested in selling your home?

Let Menard Johnson & Associates help. Menard Johnson & Associates provides our listing clients:

Market analysis: Providing the necessary research to price the property correctly in an ever changing market is KEY to selling your home.

Online exposure: Online marketing is the most effective way to get properties noticed, to both realtors and potential buyers:

The Look: First impressions are everything and so bringing a professional stager in to really "SHOW OFF" the property can make THE difference

Open Houses: The more exposure the better and at MeanrdJohnson & Associates we believe in the traditional "Open House"

Service: Clients come first and our clients get service service service...Without clients there is no business

The most important aspect to selling a property is getting traffic and that traffic can be on- line or with in home visits. Our consultants make every effort to provide the most traffic and that will lead to selling the property. At MenardJohnson & Associates we believe in showing our properties, not using lock boxes. Our clients pay us to sell the property and lock boxes do not sell properties, people do.

Selling your home?

Did you know that MenardJohnson Real Estate comes up in the top 4 when Google is used as the real estate engine for Roscoe Village.  Menard Johnson Real Estate also is the first site that is populated when "New Construction in Roscoe Village" is entered into Google. 

Why is this important to the seller? 

Because MenardJohnson pulls up so high on the Google Search Engine, the consumer will gernally seek out the real estate office fo get information on properties for sell in that area.  The seller will have more exposure to the public and that can only be good. 

See the below screen shot

What does Roscoe Village cover?

Roscoe Village is a nerghborhood with in Lakeview that covers Diversey to Irving and Lincoln to Western.  This neighborhood is very diverse with Single Family Homes, Multi units, Town Homes, Lofts and many Condominiums.  

Menard Johnson Real Estate can handle all aspects of marketing your home, ensuring that your home gets maximum exposure so that you get the price that you're looking for. Menard Johnson Real Estate will answer all of your questions and assist you throughout the selling process.

It's important when listing your home for to present it in the best way possible to attract potential buyers.  The following tips can help you prepare your home for the market-

 A  Guide for Best Practices For Selling Your Home

Whether your home is a Condominium, Loft, Multi unit or single Family residence there are definitely Best Practices to entice the emotional side of the buyer.  Although buying a home is not always about emotional value a home brings, the emotions can play a huge role in making the final decision.  Here are just a few tricks that help make a  strong first impression:

1.      Curb Appeal:  Curb appeal is the very first impression the buyer has about your home.  It’s is so important to make it count!  Ways to achieve this is to keep the front entrance always neat and clean of paper and debris.  In a building this could mean making certain the newspaper or advertisements aren’t cluttering the sidewalk or foyer.  Keeping the area swept is also important.  If there is a yard and it’s a Single Family Home,  making sure the yard is groomed can have a string impact on potential buyers as well.   Also adding flower boxes to the out door area or windows will add softness and color to any type of home. 

2.      Interior  Lighting:  Lighting is so important to most buyers.  This criteria ranks high on most lists.  The brighter you can make your home the better.  This means soft light bulbs and not CFL’s.  CFL’s can take 5 minutes just to warm up and then the light is a white harsh light where as regular old fashion light bulbs illuminate immediately having a  warm impact on the eyes.  This may not seem important but it is especially if your property is not that large and the showing is over before the lights ever really come on.  Lighting is very sensory driven and many times the buyer will like something and not really know why, but it just looks better and that can be the difference in the light bulbs.

3.      Photos/ Pictures:  Keeping the home sparse of family / personal photos is also key in helping the buyer see what the property for what it truly is.  If buyers start being focused on all the art work and photos, then they don’t pay as much attention to the home and then forget very quickly what they saw unless the realtor can remember for them.   Using plants to help show the beauty of a home is a good way to show it off, but keeping the home relatively sparse will make  a big difference.   

4.      Furniture:  The same rule applies to furniture, when the home is cluttered the potential buyers just cant see through it.  Leaving the home as clutter free as possible allows the buyers to use their imagination to visualize what the home could look like with their own furniture. 

5.      Clean House: This may seem like a given, but when the word clean is used, this means closets, shoes, trash, boxes.  All of these items make an impression on the eyes.  It's important to keep the home neat and orderly.

How does Menard Johnson Real Estate help with these Best practices?  We spend time visitng the home and  helping our clients get their home prepared.  we can help with moving Art, placement of furniture, plants and photos.  If there are cosmetic issues that need cleaning such as painting, cracks, caulking,  etc… we help source those out.  We have a list of contractors  from handy men to masonry.   Our  job is to help my clients prepare themselves and use us as a guide to get them ready for the marketing of their home.

Marketing Approaches:

Marketing real estate has become a bigger challenge with the Internet and Social Media everywhere.  Listings are picked up by almost every online Housing Websites and while our listings are viewed on sites  like Zillow, Trulia and Redfin, Menard Johnson Real Estate invests a great of time in Open Houses, Website display and Email Marketing.  We feel that your home has to stand out with so many of the same marketing practices.  All of my properties have a custom brochure created and also ALL get a virtual tour.   It’s important to show the home in it’s best for first impressions and if the photos aren’t good the traffic won’t be good either.   All listings get published on in our windows for window shoppers to stop and check out.  During our Listing Presentation, there will be a more in depth list of how Menard Johnson advertises and markets works.

Marketing Responsibilities:

When marketing a property, we take the time to make certain we cross market to our database of Realtors and past potential buyers on like properties.  Holding Open Houses and Broker’s Opens are a great way to bring in potential buyers.  We attend all of our showings personally or if for some reason the realtor can’t not make it, another Menard Johnson team member will show it.  A lock box is rarely used unless its a specific situation. After a showing, we work with the showing realtor to gain feedback from the potential buyer and we communicate all of the information to my client.  We DO NOT use automated forms for feedback.  We call and email so we can have first hand information that is more specific that we can share with out clients.

Contract Responsibilities:

Our responsibilities as broker's for our clients not only consist of getting an offer, but also involves  negotiating the offer from the inception to getting the contract signed.  We also make certain we are at the inspection, help with legal questions, help negotiate any inspection items, make certain all monies are appropriately collected and attend the Closing.   Overall our clients come first and we see the process through to the end. 

Actual Market Value:

The value of a home is determined by many factors.

1.      Location of  Home

2.      What type of property is it ( condo, Multi Unit , Single Family)

3.      What improvements have been added since the purchase

4.      Building Materials, brick, block siding etc….

5.      Sold prices of similar properties in close proximity and time frame

To provide the best information on the values of similar properties that have sold in  a close proximity to subject property, we spend the time to prepare a customized report based on like properties.  The properties are closed and active properties and photos also accompany the report.  we feel by taking the time to do the research, our clients are better prepared when the property goes on the market. 

For more information, please call 773.472.6016

Contact Menard Johnson & Associates Today!