Real Estate Rescue: How America Leaves Billions Behind in Residential Real Estate and How to Maximize Your Home's Value (Buying and Selling Homes, Staging a Home to Sell)

by Tracy McLaughlin, Kevin Lake

Overview

Find Success in the Real Estate Market

“Tracy has nailed all the critical check-offs for successful buying or selling. It's a game changer for our industry." —Mauricio Umansky, founder/CEO of The Agency

#1 Bestseller in Moving & Relocation

Top residential real estate agent Tracy McLaughlin reveals how buyers and sellers can get the best price possible—by understanding how the real estate market really works.

Buying and selling houses. Because most people only enter the real estate market once a decade or less, few really know how it works. The housing market elicits a lot of emotions, from excitement to anxiety. Oftentimes, this blinds us to the realities of how the market actually works. Tracy McLaughlin is here to help. From those buying their first home to sellers with some experience, this book is packed with essential advice.

A roadmap for buyers and sellers. In nearly all real estate sales, buyers and sellers leave behind thousands―or even hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars―on the table. As frightening as this reality is, it continually happens because one simple decision, among the countless made during the entire process, can greatly impact the outcome of the transaction.

Bridging the gap between information and expertise. Buyers and sellers have greater access to information and even the ability to direct the sales process, but most people still lack a key aspect: expertise. By presenting an inside view on sales, McLaughlin provides a guide for optimizing the sale and purchase of homes.

Inside find:

• Detailed guidelines for how to save money and make money
• Advice for finding the right real estate agent
• The real estate for dummies book every home buyer or seller needs

If you’ve looked for guidance in books such as Dream Home, Nolo’s Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home, or Home Buying Kit For Dummies, then you’ll find more of what you’re looking for in Real Estate Rescue by Tracy McLaughlin.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781642501957
Publisher:	Tma Press
Publication date:	04/14/2020
Pages:	182
Sales rank:	1,146,902
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Kevin Lake has created transformative content for some of the world’s most influential companies and extraordinary performers. Kevin is currently the chief creative officer of Finding Mastery, a media company founded by renowned sport and performance psychologist, Dr. Michael Gervais. Kevin previously founded Wired2Engage, connecting brands to the power of storytelling. Among other projects, he produced Gleason, a documentary that was shortlisted for the Academy Awards and Playing It Forward, a music series in partnership with Robert Downey Jr. to raise money and awareness for arts education in public schools.

A graduate of the London School of Economics and the University of California, Berkeley, Kevin and his family reside in Pacific Palisades, California. Kevin is passionate about rugby, high-performance, psychology, education, and the environment.

Table of Contents

Introduction 9

Wake Up America!

Trust Is Earned 11

The Bind 16

Chapter 1 There Are No Picassos in Real Estate-Valuing a Home 19

The Mechanics of Home Valuation 22

The Art of Home Valuation 24

An Appraisal of the Appraisal 37

Chapter 2 The Price Better Be Right 41

Going, Going, Gone 44

The Golden Days 48

Price Reductions-Don't Burn the Clock 49

The Anchor Bias 50

Winter, Spring, Summer, or Fall: When to Sell Your Home 52

Chapter 3 Preparing a Home for Sale 54

The Times They Are a-Changin' 55

Home Sweet Home 58

Feeling Misunderstood and Depreciated 59

A Broken Clock Is Right Twice a Day: Timing the Market 61

Condition of the Home 62

Know Thy Market 63

Detailing Design Changes for a Seller 66

Time for "The Talk" 66

Staging-Showing Buyers How to Live in a Home 68

Chapter 4 Two Pictures (Before & After) Say a Thousand Words 74

Case Study 1 Get Creative 76

Case Study 2 Empty Homes Are Houses 81

Case Study 3 Shingle-Style Residence 85

Case Study 4 Waterfront Residence 89

Case Study 5 Repositioning an East Coast Home on the West Coast 93

Case Study 6 San Francisco Townhome 96

Chapter 5 Disclose, Permit, Inspect 106

In the Interest of Full Disclosure 108

Permits 110

Pre-Listing Inspections 113

Chapter 6 Marketing and Branding a Home 116

Storytelling 119

I Feel Therefore I Buy: Emotions Drive Decision-Making 122

Branding Tools 125

Social Media and Property Voyeurism 126

Chapter 7 Buyer Be Aware 129

The Neighbors, Not the Numbers, Tell the Story 132

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly 133

Yabba Dabba Don't 136

The Titanic Was "Unsinkable": Prepare for the Unexpected 137

Your Home Is Not an ATM 139

Chapter 8 Didn't Aunt Louise Just Get Licensed? Finding the Right Agent 143

Driving Away with Tears in My Eyes 144

VCRs, Pay Phones, Real Estate Agents? 147

Do Due Diligence 148

Go Local 153

I Hope the Friendship Was Worth Half a Million Dollars 154

Buying a Listing 157

A Punch List: Questions to Ask a Prospective Agent 159

Chapter 9 Buying and Selling Homes: What the Future Looks Like 161

Money Talks 162

Artificial Intelligence 163

The Millennial Mindset 163

The Traditional Brokerage-Calling a Taxi to Take You to Blockbuster 166

The Brokerage of the Future 168

About the Author 173

Endnotes 176

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“ Real Estate Rescue might be one of the most important books you ever own. Nearly everyone who buys a home also ends up selling one. We almost always do it wrong. In this incredibly helpful book, Tracy McLaughlin takes you by the hand and guides you through every step. The result? Less stress and more income from your home. I give this book my highest recommendation!”

—Susannah Seton, author of Simple Pleasures of the Home

"This book will undoubtedly change the way America looks at buying and selling homes. Tracy has nailed all the critical check-offs for successful buying or selling. It's a game changer for our industry."

—Mauricio Umansky, founder/CEO of The Agency