Frequently Asked Questions for Sellers.

What's the difference between you and any other agent?

For ten years, I've been in advertising - adding value to products and services by creating an appealing package and message. The quality of promotional material is extremely important. That's why I put so much emphasis on photography. I shoot on a 10 megapixel Canon XTi Digital SLR with a professional lighting kit and a variety of lenses - the same set-up I use for my advertising clients.

But it's not enough to take great photos and simply cram them into the RMLS. I use these photos to promote your home on it's own web page, a craigslist listing, various print publications (pushing them to your web page), photo-heavy flyers - even small billboards for country acreage. If you could add 2-3% more value to your home by packaging it correctly, wouldn't you? Those small percentages translate into huge dollars - which I can help put back in your pocket.

How do you determine price?

Pricing strategy is probably the most important element of packaging your home. Real estate agents have amazing information systems at their disposal. However, an agent will typically just type-in some square footage, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and press a button to estimate a price range. This is lazy.

The sale of your home is too important to allow the agent's "gut instinct" or presumed experience determine price. I use math.

With existing home sales, we can take the last sales price (plus upgrades) and track neighborhood appreciation year-by-year to come up with a more accurate estimate of value. We then research how other nearby homes are priced, and for how much others have sold. That gives us a more clear picture of what the market will bear, and we determine a pricing strategy that maximizes your return on investment.

It always upsets me to hear real estate agents say things like, "I think we can get $450 ... maybe $470." That's disgusting. $20,000 is a huge difference. You've worked hard to appreciate the value of your home - so I'll work hard to make sure the price is supported by hard data.

Why aren't you affiliated with a "big name" real estate brokerage?

I've had more than ten years of success as an entrepreneur, and have no intention of spending endless hours in mandatory corporate training when I could be out marketing your home. The big names also offer very restrictive tools to help agents who posses primitive marketing skills create flyers and virtual tours. I went with a boutique agency because of the flexibility. I went with Bilsing Smith Group because Karen Bilsing was first a client of Crazy Fingers, and I was always impressed with how similarly we take care of our clients.

What's the Crazy Fingers connection?

I founded Crazy Fingers Design Group (an advertising agency) in 1997, and am still at the helm. Read more here.

How about those "1% to sell" guys - isn't that a better deal?

The key words in that offer are "to sell." It's actually closer to 4% if the buyer has a real estate agent. You see, when a real estate agent lists a property for sale, they split their commission with the agent who brings them a buyer. So if you have to pay the buyer's agent 2.5-2.7% of the sales price, that will be on top of the 1% "to sell." You should also ask yourself how hard you expect your agent to work for 1% of the sales price.

Why do you give away iPods?

Because they're cool and everyone should have one. It's also what we in advertising call a "gimmick." But it's one that works in your favor.