The Little Realtor

One of the last things I wanted to share about why I am excited to be at Compass now is how much easier it is for my clients to interact with me.  CMAs (Comparative Market Analysis) for sellers are easier to prepare and send, I am more able to constantly stay in touch with clients via my marketing but also with personalized-neighborhood insights, and clients have an interactive search and insight tool called Collections.  Collections is a pretty word for how Compass allows clients and agents to collaborate with on and off market homes. Normally I would start a search for someone and any new homes would get emailed to them. This works the same way, though you'll also get off-market Compass listings also known as "quiet listings", but it also works as a work space for us to collaborate, share notes quickly on the same platform, quickly remove listings we aren't interested in, etc. Its a streamlined, heavily visual, search tool for buyers.  But I wanted to highlight som...

I'll be the first to admit, I am surprised I am writing this post as part of my introduction to my new brokerage, Compass.  Previously, my business has been an island.  Yes, I had support from my brokerage.  Yes, I learned from my local board and ongoing training.  Yes, I connected with other agents, especially learning during transactions.  But ultimately, thats where things stopped. There was no workplace culture outside of my one-on-one relationships with my clients.  And that was completely fine. I was 100% happy with that.  But then I started at Compass and it became clear VERY quickly that there was a culture at Compass, both nationally and locally. One that valued integrity, high levels of professionalism, creativity and progress, and collaboration.  And a month in, I'm surprised that my island-loving-self is very into it.  --- Here are  Compass's Principals :  For a quick run down of what these mean, you can visit Robert Ref...

 If you are one of the many homeowners who have been thinking of taking advantage of the soaring home prices and insane buyer demand, then you might be wondering what that looks like for you.  While thoughts might immediately jump to taking care of that landscaping project you've been putting off and whether or not you should put a fresh coat of paint on the front door, its important to also take a look at the financial considerations of selling.  Home Value - Of course, one of the main things you should look into is whether or not you can get as much as you think. Just because 6 months ago the house 3 doors down got $650,000 doesn't mean you can get the same, or higher. If you are counting on the $650,000+ to sell, then you absolutely need to make checking your home's fair market value a top priority. Your trusted real estate agent can take care of creating a Comparative Market Analysis to get you the info you need.  Cost - Selling a home isn't cheap. Those high s...

I'm really excited to post today about one of the aspects I am most excited about working at Compass: Concierge.  Concierge is a Compass-exclusive program where sellers can do improvements to their property before listing in order to make their home look its best and recoup the greatest amount of money.  I have been an advocate of doing small cosmetic projects to properties since starting in this business. Buyers have a hard time visualizing a property's potential. Staging can do a lot but sometimes small home improvements can make a drastic visual change to a property. Often, I recommend painting projects, small cosmetic improvements in bathrooms (like resurfacing dated tile and installing new light fixtures). Generally, a bathroom doesn't need a $20k overall to suggest a higher price tag. Same goes for kitchens. Paint, new fixtures, and some updated tile work goes a LONG way. Even the above picture, which was all new cabinets, counters, appliance and backsplash shows the ...

 I have been an agent in the greater Philadelphia area for almost 10 years now, the whole time with the same, wonderful brokerage.  But a few months ago I was approached by a new brokerage called Compass.  I knew about Compass. They were the hip new brokerage with beautiful marketing and a great technology platform. But I wasn't unhappy where I was and had a great brokerage behind me.  But as Compass approached me, I knew my business was going without certain tools that I wanted, not just for myself, but for my clients.  I will dive deeper in to what tools do what but here are the top reasons I have moved my business to Compass:  A Streamlined Platform  This doesn't outwardly affect my clients, but I am able do pretty much every aspect of my business from one platform now. Market listings from various beautiful designs, print brochures, do social posts for my business or client listings, create a CMA for a new seller, and keep all of my contacts in one...