May 15, 2023 • 43 mins
- Topics on this week's show include the first consultation to getting your home ready to list with staging and photography. Dayna Simmons Real Estate will help walk you through each step. If you are thinking about selling your home you want to listen to this podcast.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
Hey, everybody, it's your boy, Gary Lavox of Rascal Flats Beaumont.
I made a lot of friends thereon the road. And one of my
friends that you need to meet,especially if you're selling your home, is
Dana Simmons of Dana Simmons Realty.Her team is the real deal, top
shelf, next level, and shemakes it so easy, and I like
easy, and remember, sell youhome, hold on, don't hesitate to
(00:26):
simmon realistate. Well, Hello SoutheastTexas. I hope you're enjoying your beautiful
Mother's Day weekend. For all ofthose of you who are last minute people
out there trying to get your giftright now, I hope you're picking a
good one. You know, Mamaration she did it right and you want
(00:47):
to treat her right. So wehave a few mamas on the show today
that we're going to honor as well. I want to give a shout out
to my mom, Wanda Mendoza,who is the best. She is out
of town, but hopefully she'll getto hear this. And then my mother
in law, Mary Simmons. HappyMother's Day to our wonderful moms and to
(01:08):
my daughter Denay and my daughter inlaw Annie, who are now moms and
who have made me a grandma.Happy Mother's Day and happy Mother's Day to
everyone out there. Well, todaywe're going to talk a little bit about
the listing process. Are you thinkingabout selling your home and you're just unsure
about what does that look like andwhat does the process need to have in
(01:30):
it? Well, our office isvery different than anyone else in Southeast Texas,
so we're going to go through theprocess of how we just meet with
you and guide you and give youthe best opportunity to get your home sold
for the most money. Joining metoday I have Katie Martin, who is
our listing agent. Welcome Katie,Hello everybody, Katie. Tell everyone just
(01:52):
a little bit about you. Yes, I am a mom. Yes,
Happy Mother's Day to you. Yes, thank you. I'm very certain my
husband is not get me anything today. But it's fine. We have the
best gift our children, right,It's right. Um. Yes, So
I have two little girls. Weattend Legacy Christian Academy. And there I'm
gonna have to stop you. Theywere going to be quite offended that you
(02:14):
called them little girls. Well they'reyoung ladies. Now, Well, my
oldest daughter just had surgery the otherday, and she's acting like a little
girl. She's totally fine with mewaiting on her hand and boots. Yes,
we will still call that. Well, that doesn't change when they're thirty
something, so it's the same way. Yes, but they're they're wonderful.
And my husband, Robert, hisfather owns Lardie Martin Electric and he's been
(02:37):
doing that forever. So that's usin a nutshell. Just been around yea
at the beginning of time. Yougrew up locally and not too far out
Warren and then when you m movedto Beaumont and married and all of that.
So you have been here, beenin real estate twenty four years in
August twenty four years. Yeah,so you've been. I started when I
(02:58):
was twelve. What it looks likewhen you see her? Yeah, I
like. And that other voice youjust heard is Rachel Stein, who is
our listing partner. And um,Rachel tell everyone a little bit about you.
Well, I'm always a loud voice, so don't need the mic at
all. Um. So I amfrom Orangefield actually when Orangefield grew up in
orange Um. I have two kidsthat are twins. They're twenty five and
(03:22):
I don't look like I have twentyfive year olds, not in my mind.
And my husband says, so tooon, you know, unless he
wants to get hurt. So myhusband is a wonderful man who obeys all
the rules. Um he is.He's Paul Stein and he is the manager
at Lumber Liquidator or l Flooring inBeaumont. And yeah, so that's me
(03:43):
and you're happy Mother's Day. Andher son out yes dun dun da he
proposed to his girlfriend. Yeah,and she's wonderful. I love her.
So you're going to get another daughter. I'm really looking at the whole thing
about maybe in a couple of yearsI might be a grandma. So that's
like really like oh wow, yeah, so it's the best thing ever.
(04:04):
I just know it's got to be. It is also with us as Reagan
Contreris and she is also known asLeslie Reagan Photography. She is a professional
photographer and let me just tell you, she's done beautiful photos for my family,
our children, parties, showers,you name it. She's the best.
(04:26):
And actually we are so blessed tohave her as the photographer for Dana
Simmons real Estate. So Reagan telleveryone a little bit about you. Yeah.
So I was born and raised inNederland. I've been a photographer for
I thinks like seven eight years now. It's like making me feel role.
But I really enjoy real estate photography. I was. I got married in
(04:47):
twenty twenty during COVID. That wasso fun. But she made the best.
Yes we did. We had twoweddings, so it was honestly like
perfect. Um. But I marriedmy high school I say high school sweetheart,
church sweetheart um in twenty twenty.And then after that we just have
been moved to groves Um house.Yeah, I bought a house with Dana,
(05:11):
and now we're waiting for a child. Said, I'm not a mother
yet, but I try. That'sin a couple of years. She said
that for two or three years.Now, in a couple of years.
Okay, don't don't be like amom and do that. I know her
listen, this is my heart isfor her mother. But yeah, so
(05:31):
we're just enjoying like newlywed time.I guess as you should. You need
that sign it is. It's agood time of just building the relationship first.
So but we'll be so excited whenthat next stage comes. Yeah,
me too. Also with this isLisa Hemmings. And Lisa Hemmings has been
a stager. She's a professional stagerand has been so with me for fifteen
(05:56):
plus years. Um, and anyonewho ever talks to us about listing knows
that we call her our secret sauce. She's our secret weapon and she is
amazing. So Lisa, tell usa little bit about you. Well,
it's it's great to be here.I'm a mother also mother of two.
Um My son is just getting outof the Navy, just got back into
(06:18):
the United States. Thrilled about that. Of course that's that's the mother's day.
But she took some really good vacationsbecause he was sure. So you
enjoyed a little bit. Got acapital right, Spain was beautiful, very
inspiring for what you do. Yes, um and uh, my daughter is
(06:41):
at Texas State University and loving it. And um got an adorable apartment beautifully
decorated by the way she went shoppingin our own home for well, it
helps that her mom is a stagerand knows what to do. Ye.
Yes, Well, we're so excitedto have all of you on the show
today and we're going to be talkingabout is now the right time to list
(07:03):
your property, and if so,what does that look like. Well,
what we've seen in our little marketupdate is the market is definitely picking up.
While our inventory has increased, we'realso seeing an increase in the number
of buyers who are ready to buy, not only relocation buyers, but people
who are out there who have neverpurchased a home. They're in an apartment,
(07:24):
they're ready to build equity in theirown home instead of someone else's.
So if you're thinking about buying orselling, you're welcome to call our office
and we'll be able to see ifit is the right time for you or
not. That numbers four zero nineeight six six eight three two six it's
four zero nine eight six six andthe word team to e a m if
(07:45):
you forget the numbers, because weare available and open eight to eight Monday
through Saturday, one to eight onSunday, So at any time you need
any information, you're welcome to reachout to us, and we can also
at that point in time get youconnected with one of our local lenders if
you're just unsure about what you canafford. First Financial Bank has availability during
(08:07):
the weekend and we can connect youwith them. As well. So when
we come back, we're going toget started to say what is the very
first step if you're thinking about sellingyour home, what is the very first
thing you need to do? You'renot going to want to go away,
come right back. This is theDana Simmons Show. Would you need to
(08:28):
sell your home? No one makesit easier than Dana Simmons of Dana Simmons.
Really sell your home? Don't hesitatesSimmons restate, welcome back. This
is Dana Simmons and we have agreat show today talking about the listing process.
What does it look like with ourteam, because it's really very different
(08:52):
than the way most people do it. So we're gonna walk through our process
and tell you exactly what that lookslike. So let's say you call our
office, or you log on onlineand you go to Dana Simmons real estate
dot com and you send an email. One of our says will reach out
to you and just begin the conversation. There are inside service agents and they're
(09:15):
licensed realtors, but they are notgoing to try to sell you anything.
They're just going to want to talkyou through the process, see what you
need, and see if you're readyto make an appointment. So if you
say, you know, we're justcurious, we want to see what does
it look like, what is ourvalue of our home before we make a
decision, we are absolutely good withthat. We want you to have the
(09:35):
right information so that you can makethe best decision for you. So very
first step is we make that appointmentfor Rachel, who is our listing partner,
to go out to the property.So Rachel, you've received the information
and the appointment's been set for you, and you meet the couple at the
(09:56):
house, talk a little bit aboutwhat your job is, why you're there
first. Well, first of all, I go to just kind of collect
all the preliminary information for Kati,because Katie is going to be pulling the
comps getting all that information, andwe want to make sure it's as accurate
as possible. And unless we've seenthe home and really gotten some history,
we can't really be as as accurate. So I go in and one of
(10:18):
my favorite things about my job,of course, is meeting the people.
We are very I mean, ourgroup is all about the people, and
I think people just don't realize alot of times when you're hiring a realtor,
You're not just hiring someone to comeand, you know, just tell
you a bunch of stuff and thenwalk out and give you a number and
(10:39):
that'd be the end of it.We really want to know where you're at.
We willing to know what your situationis, where you're at in life,
and where your goals are. Sowhen I go out, I'm there
to get pictures and some measurements,which the pictures are just for Katie to
pull comps so that she can geta good accurate market analysis for you.
But I'm also getting like history ofthe house, which is you know what
(11:01):
you've put into it, what mayhave went wrong in some point. So
we're actually getting information too that ifyou do list, we're getting all this
ahead of time, so whenever yougo to list, you're not going to
have to provide things here and therebecause we pretty much got everything together already.
Yeah, I love that you mentionedthat. For us, it's really
the people over the process, andit is engaging with them to find out
(11:24):
and the words you use their goals. We don't want to have a preconceived
notion of what you want. Wereally want to know what is your goal?
What do you want? You know, how do you see this playing
out? And then how can webest fit or assist you in guiding you
through that? So it really isdifferent. Yeah, you know, I'm
going to do it different if you'rejust looking for like, well, we're
(11:46):
just kind of curious, we wantto know what's going on the market.
We're gon We're gonna have a differentconversation than someone that is like, Okay,
we want to sell and here's ourproblems. We're worried about this,
we're about this, and we're goingto go through what we need to do
to solve those. So it's awhole day. I mean, it's really
depends on what you need. Andthere's no obligation. You never have to
do anything. This is our process. I tell people all the time,
(12:07):
I say, well, do oh, you do owe you anything for coming
out? No, absolutely not.This is part of how we work,
right And and I love that youare on the hunt for information. You
are the information gatherer, so thatwhen you gather all of that information,
you're able to download all of thosepictures, take all of those detailed notes
(12:28):
about what they're thinking, and thenyou're able to pass that on to Katie
so that at that point she hasa lot of information to be able to
make the best decision or guide themthe client in the next stage. So
Katie talk about Katie Martin, ourlisting agent, talk a little bit about
how you go through that process oflooking through everything that Rachel is doing and
(12:52):
how you come up with your nextsteps as you sit down with Yeah,
so a lot of what Rachel's doingis thing that the homeowners don't even know
what to look for. Right Forexample, there's things at the house like
rotten wood, or your water heatare not being raised. Those are all
things that we can help you dopreliminary so it doesn't come up during the
(13:16):
loan process. Or if you sayno, I don't want to do any
of those things, we can makethat decision ahead and say, okay,
well there are certain loan programs thatyou're not going to want to be able
to accept because those are going tocome up. So if you want to
sell as is versus if you wantto do some things not too. So
we have to have a different strategyand you give them all of those options.
(13:37):
And my biggest job is to helpcreate a strategy for you. Right.
It is people ever, process,but process is also very important it
is. So that's what we tryto perfect. If you will, nothing
can ever be perfected. I don'tthink that we strive for perfection or we
strive for excellence. That's Dana Simmonstaught me that. But yeah, and
(14:01):
so we're going to go through whatour marketing plan looks like. We're going
to go through the next steps inthe process if you do decide to list,
and we're also going to look atnumbers for their home. Yeah.
So it's a first step. Rachelmeets them out at their home, and
the second step is that they havean appointment and they meet us in the
office. Right, they come intoour office, you sit down, and
(14:22):
the very first thing you do isstart to go through first just finding out
who they are and getting some informationfrom them, and then you make a
presentation that goes through exactly what wedo. Setting those expectations of exactly what
we do as I think one ofthe most critical things, right, because
you can go in a lot ofdifferent directions, and in real estate it's
(14:45):
a it's an animal, and somepeople need to sell as of some people
need to sell quickly. Some peoplesay, well, I'll have a ton
of equity, so I'm not payingthat much, or my house is paid
off. There are so many scenarios, and just I think I've heard them
all, something new happens, Yes, and I get to learn more.
And they come in waves too,don't they. Yeah, it's really it's
(15:07):
a little bizarre. It's like thepsychology behind it. It's and I do
also have another psychological thing that hasbeen interesting. We have orange and white
pins, and if I ever offeredthe pin bucket to a couple, ninety
percent of the time they choose adifferent color. So that is interested.
We'll see what that's all. Well, we aren't. Yeah, well,
(15:30):
men and women. I'd be curiousto see who chooses orange and who chooses
white. It'd be pretty fair.That was a very random thought though.
Yeah. Well, I'll tell you. One of the things that I do
think is really important is trying tofigure out what's the most important for them.
But then you after you've gone throughall of that, you sit down
at the table and you start lookingat the prior sales. So this part
(15:54):
of the transaction, or the orthe conversation to me is so critical,
right, we have to price itproperly, and so talk a little bit
about how we go into looking atthat, how you look at those comps,
and how you come up with avalue. Yeah, because you can't
make up the data. It iswhat it is. The market changes constantly,
(16:17):
especially since COVID, we're almost ona weekly basis that things are changing.
And really we try to think likean appraiser. We are not appraisers,
but we try to use the sametype of data that they'll use.
So location, school district, lotsize, how many bedrooms bass you have?
All those things are important because yourneighbor's house may have sold for three
hundred thousand dollars, but you mayhave eighteen hundred square feet less than them.
(16:42):
So it's it's just looking at thedata as a whole and how you
compare to other homes. We tryto find at least three comparable homes so
we can compare the price per squarefoot and add on subtract if there's condition
issues or things like that. Sowell, and this is the part of
the I think that experience matters,Yes, for you and I. We've
(17:06):
been in so many homes that weknow a lot about specific neighborhoods, ages,
that sort of thing, and sowhen we're looking at that data.
We can just go through all ofthat pretty well to know is this a
compermint. I think what people don'tunderstand is they'll go, well, exactly
what you said, the house downthe street sold for three hundred thousand dollars.
(17:30):
But what an appraiser is going tobe required to do, because we've
looked at them with appraisers all thetime, is get within a fifteen percent
variance of where that square footage isfifteen percent over, fifteen percent below.
So we can't use something that's twicethe size as a comp right. So
those are some of the things thatyou're able to look at when you're pulling
(17:51):
up the value, what you thinkthe value is. And the other side
of that is we typically give thema range of value, right, and
if they if let's say they don'thave enough money to fix up the house,
like Lisa's going to suggest they do, you know, we'll just price
it differently. And I always saypricing is more of an art than a
science. And I love math,Yes, it's my favorite thing. So
(18:15):
I want a formula that would bethe greatest thing in the world, but
we just don't have one. Soright, so you have people are rolling
their eyes next to me. I'mnot a math person, but that's what
I love about our team as weall have different gifts, talents and abilities,
and so what you do, Rachel, to connect with the people up
(18:36):
front is so important, to makethem feel comfortable and to give them what
they need at that moment. Andthen what Katie offers is she is a
data lover. She loves the dataand she it doesn't lie. I mean,
the data is what we have touse when we're looking at not only
what's going on in the past,but what do we see coming in the
(18:56):
future. While we can't predict it, we have to somewhat for cast what
we're seeing. Right, And it'sthe same thing with once we get an
offer negotiations. You know, wewant to have a happy medium for everybody,
but it looks different for every scenario, right right. Well, when
we come back, we're going totalk a little bit more with Katie about
what are the next steps after we'vegone through Okay, what is the value
(19:19):
and then what do we do then? So don't go away, come right
back. This is the Dana SimmonsShow. Would you need to sell your
home? No one makes it easierthan Dana Simmons of Danas Simmons Really sell
your home, don't hesitate to SimmonsRest. Welcome back. This is Dana
(19:42):
Simmons and we were talking about thelisting process today and we were talking to
Katie about how she comes up withthe potential list price to help you guide
the process and know what it isyou want to do. And so after
you come up with the that listprice, one of the of things that
you do as you go through ourmenu of services, right, yes,
(20:03):
so we always want to give youoptions. And that's a relatively new thing
that we've been doing because we knowthat people have different perceptions of what they
want in their marketing. And thenI've also written a seller's guide. This
was my labor of love for twoyears. Talk about the process. Man,
it's beautiful too. Yeah, yes, it is, with the help
(20:25):
of our marketing team. So they'regoing to get a seller's guide, and
then we'll also start the process ofonce they on their listing agreements, schedule
their appointments that are coming up thefine part. So their next pay appointment
is for staging. But before weget to Lisa Hemmings to talk about that
staging appointment, we have a calleron the line, so um, let's
(20:48):
go to the phone lines. Hello, who do we have on the line?
Hello, this is Drew Hemmings fromBeaumont. Hi, Drew him Mings.
How are you well? I'm doingjust fine. Just stop back in
the States and can't wait to seethe whole family and calling in for my
(21:08):
mother cry. Thank you for yourservice, Drew. We appreciate you.
Okay, Lisa, you get We'regonna let We're gonna be quiet and let
you tell him hello if you caneven speak at this point. Hey,
mister perfect, so happy you're backin the United States and I'm ready to
(21:30):
spoil you. Processing out of Norfolk, Virginia and I should be back within
the next month. So, Drew, we are so thankful. Drew has
been serving our country for the lastsix years, and we are so appreciative
for what you've done for our countryand we just want to say thank you.
But we're also appreciative to your familybecause we know that was a huge
(21:53):
sacrifice and they missed you immensely.Believe me, we heard it a lot.
But how sweet of you. Whata great mother's stay present to call
and say, hey, mom,yeah, you hit it out of the
park tree. Well, well done, and when you get back, we
(22:14):
want to see you too, becausegoodness gracious, Um, there's a party
at the Hennings House. There's aconnection we'd like to make too, Drew.
We'll talk about another. Yeah,no, no, don't go there.
Yeah, stir in the water.Well, Drew, We're so excited
for you. Congratulations, thank youfor what you've done. And um,
thank you for calling. Anything elsethat you'd like to say, No,
(22:37):
ma'am, thank you, thanks forspeaking, Yeah, no problem, love
you big, thank you? Okay, bye bye. Oh so sweet,
Lisa, He's perfect, I'm tellingyou well, we're so thankful that um,
he was able to call in andtell you Happy Mother's Day. And
(22:57):
Lisa is a wonderful mom, butshe's an incredible stager as well, and
so um in the process of whatwe do every day, you know.
Well, Katie was talking about howshe loves numbers and data and that is
such a gift. But what giftthat Lisa brings to the table is to
(23:18):
just be able to see what's notthere. I love that. One of
our customers just this past week said, yeah, she came in and she
sat in the living room and shejust looked around for a little bit and
then she said, I know whatwe're gonna do. Um. And so
that is kind of talk a littlebit about what it is you do in
your process. It's I try toget the energy of the house, because
(23:40):
every house has a for lack ofbetter words, and not sounding so much
like a hippie, um, ithas an energy as you wear your turquoise
yes today, um, natural hairand all um. But I every I
try to stage in a way towhere it's not quote decorating. It's even
(24:03):
if you don't have a house fullof furniture. It it's it's all about
guiding the potential new homeowner, makingthem fall in love and guiding them through
the house and going you know,you could live here too. We don't
have to all be perfect. Um. It's just putting your best foot forward
(24:25):
and having your house put the bestfoot forward. And I often tell our
clients, you know, your houseis going on it's very first date,
and we're going to be the matchmakersand we're gonna make it happen. And
it is quite magical when it doeshappen, because when if you look at
um, you you you spend somuch time and so many important moments in
(24:49):
the home, so it's an emotionalthing selling it and acquiring one. And
that's when that's when the art ofdecorating and making them feel welcomed home to
their new home and making this feela little extra special, like rolling the
(25:10):
towels and tucking a little something nicein there, are even folding the toilet
paper roll thing. It's just it'sthose little touches that add to Oh,
I don't know what it is aboutthe house. It made me feel a
certain way. That's right, It'sit's the magic, right, and you
have it. I was gonna say, I think there's some misconceptions, um
(25:33):
when I'm on an appointment with peopleabout what staging is. So number one,
they see HDTV and they think thatthat's real life and it is not.
Um, But they also want thehouse to be perfect before you come.
And I'm like, no, no, no, yes, right,
because then they get rid of everything. Yeah, she wants some of those
things, and yeah, I gottago in the garage and pig through their
(25:53):
stuff and hand it out. Yeah, I don't. I don't want them
to feel over elmed before Lisa comes. I'm like, she will help you
prioritize and that gives them comfort too, I think knowing that, and also
they don't have to be on Pinterest, right, Like You're going to give
them your own suggestions based on theirhouse and the feeling that you get in
(26:15):
there. He exact and current trendsand what buyers are looking for right now,
right. I mean that's part ofthe gift that I think that you
have that you have done all ofthose things you've been on Pinterest. You
you've done all of the research.You know what buyers are looking at and
looking for, and it's a continualmore thing. Yeah, yes, I'm
(26:37):
always looking at certain trends and I'mnot real trendy. I'm more like,
let's just collect some cool stuff andtell a story, well the cool stuff.
And what I love about you isthat your cool stuff is typically really
frugal. Oh yeah, you liketo you find the deal and you hunt
(26:59):
and you look for things that aregoing to be pieces that make a statement,
but that didn't cost you a fortune, right. So I would say
that the best thing that I seewhen you go into a house is that
you refine it in a way thata buyer can see themselves there, you're
really taking the personality of the homeownera little bit out, not completely,
(27:22):
but taking some of their pictures,taking some of the things that are real
specific, but keeping parts of themright. Well, I often you know
a lot of people, you know, they've seen HGTV and all the shows,
and they're like, I know thatI have to take all of my
personal pictures away. I'm like,not all, just calm down and let
(27:44):
me come and see it, becausesometimes you don't want to suck all the
personality out of the house, rightYou just want them to feel comfortable and
not uncomfortable with, you know,giant portraits of your wedding. But the
children, Now, that's that's adorableand it shows that there's there's love in
the house. So it's it's apick and choose. And and here's the
(28:07):
thing that I know that you doit so well, but and you've taken
classes and you've done all of that. But it's a gift. I mean
it really I can't explain how Iknow. I know there's a lot of
a lot of our clients that thatthey'll just kind of stare at me,
like I'm just wondering what you're gonnado I'm like, well, if you
could tell me, I have noidea that a creative just just get going.
(28:30):
Yeah yeah, and it's it's agift and sometimes a curse when yeah,
Well, we absolutely adore Lisa,And what I love is our customers
adore Lisa. I think we've onlyhad one in fifteen years that was a
little more challenging. Um still bothers. There was one that you you didn't
(28:52):
win over. But that's out ofhundreds and hundreds and hundreds. So every
time I talk to people that arelike, oh my goodness, I just
love her. How is she comehang out with me? I hear that
I will. And I have totell people too when I go out she's
not boogie, you know, seriously, because they're like, oh god,
a stage or you know, they'rethinking she's gonna be gonna be like,
oh no, Alabama fantastic, justcool, She's great. You're gonna love
(29:18):
her absolutely. Well, we aregoing to talk about our next process,
which is our photography. So afterwe've had the home staged and everything is
looking phenomenal, the next step isthat we're going to make an appointment with
our professional photographer, Reagan cotreras Sodon't go away. When we come back,
we're going to talk about what doesthat look like and what is Reagan
(29:40):
looking for in the process. Socome right back. This is the Dana
Simmons Show. But you need tosell your home. No one makes it
easier than Dana Simmons of Danas SimmonsReally Home God Hesitate to Simmons. Welcome
(30:02):
back. This is Dana Simmons andwe have been talking about the listing process.
So if you are thinking about sellingyour home, we've talked a little
bit about what that looks like withour team and how it's really different than
the way most people do it.We talked about how Rachel Stein is our
listing partner and she's the very firstperson that you'll get to meet. She'll
come out to your house, takesome photos that are not for marketing.
(30:25):
Those photos are just to gather information. She'll walk through the house, take
lots of really good notes, talkto the seller about their goals, what
it is that they want to accomplish, to get some really good feedback from
them. And then the next stepis that we will have an appointment with
Katie Martin, who is our listingagent. Katie will go through all of
that data before she meets with theclient, be able to come up with
(30:48):
a very good price, give acouple of options on do you want to
sell it quickly, what is itthat you want to achieve? Talk through
that, what are their goals,and be able to give them options on
every single step of the way.After they've made those decisions that they feel
confident about, then the next stepis that they'll talk with Lisa Hemmings,
who is our stager. And Lisawe talked a little bit about how it's
(31:11):
just finding that right mix there inthe house for exactly what that house feels
like, bringing the feeling of home, depending on the house, how it
could be different. It's not thesame for every single It's not like you
say, okay, this is whatwe do every single time, although we
do have a list. Katie talkedabout how our Seller's Guide that gives you
(31:33):
a checklist of some of the thingsthat you can start to do before Lisa
gets there. Their basic things likeclean out closets, that sort of thing.
So then the next step we've gottenthe staging. She's made it beautiful.
Next step we have Reagan Contraris withLeslie and did I say that right
with Leslie Reagan Photography. She isa professional photographer and only does photography for
(32:01):
our clients, but also does photographyfor families, for weddings, for graduations,
for showers, for whatever you need. Um My mom and Dad's pride
and Joy is the picture that shetook of all of their kids and grandkids,
(32:21):
and they have that over their mantleand it's like their it's their favorite
thing ever. Yeah, I mean, it's a beautiful picture. And you
did a great job getting all ofus, which is like, um,
fifty people, I think a lotof us, getting us all together and
getting us into that shot and makingsure everyone was happy with a smile.
So we did that all in oneday and it was a great job.
(32:45):
But what we're talking about today isthe photography that you do as we list
our properties. Now, a lotof people may not know the importance of
having a professional photographer take those photostoday in the world we live in,
most people think, oh, youknow, that iPhone takes good enough pictures,
We'll just take them with that andsee how that goes. But there
(33:09):
are reasons that we want to makesure that we're using a professional photographer for
those photos. So Reagan talk alittle bit about that. Yeah, So
when I was shopping for a house, personally, I think that the photos
really sold me on going to seesomething before an iPhone photo. That's exactly
(33:29):
right. And I think that therewas just so much more to say about
someone's business if they were to actuallydo professional photos then just you know,
snap a quick shot and it's fine. I can't tell you how many people
I've seen in a mirror. Right, we have photo of the day.
We pick those out and go,Okay, what's our photo of the day
today. What are we gonna find? So, but when you go out
(33:52):
and take photos, you don't justtake the photos and then just upload them
then we're done. Talk a littlebit about what that process looks like and
what it is. How many photosdo you take of that house? It
depends on the house. Obviously,the bigger the house, the more photos
I take. But some houses itwill take me forty five minutes just to
pick which ones I want to sendto y'all, and then even from there
(34:14):
we have to narrow it down.But whenever I go out to a house,
I usually walk up and I'm like, Okay, outside looks great,
let's get a photo of it,move any cars that are in the driveway,
and then go inside, turn allthe lights on, kind of greet
the seller, and then make surethat all the I catch your things are
out of the room, out ofthe kitchen, all that good stuff.
(34:35):
So I love that you pointed thatout. So in the beginning, there
were some things that I'm just reallypicky about what I want and I don't
want in a photo because I thinkit makes a big difference. And so
many many years ago when we firststarted, those were some of the things
that we'd take a picture with itand take it without it to say,
here's the difference, because you knownow, I mean, you've done it
(34:58):
so long, you know now thisis going to stick out and look really
bad in that photo. And sowhile Lisa gives great staging tips, sometimes
there are things that in a photothat will need to be removed even though
it's great for the staging. Isthat not right? Absolutely? I think
towels are a big thing, whichI think the roled ones I think kind
(35:21):
of add like a spa feel tothe photos. But when it comes to
just like a hanging towel, unlessit's just super fancy and dressed up.
Sometimes they just like, that's thefirst thing you look at, and that's
not the goal. The goal iswhole room, whole vibe, all the
right. It's the feel of theroom and the feel in the photo.
Which that's the other thing I loveabout you, though, is that you
(35:43):
don't just shoot the pictures you're lookingat. How is this picture going to
impact a buyer when they're looking online? Yes? Absolutely, And so you
get the shots. You get lotsof shots. I've seen you take hundreds
of pictures. I take a lot, and then you go back to your
office and you download those all thosephotos and then talk about what or your
(36:05):
next steps at that point. Yeah, So I usually sort through and pick
the ones that I like the most, do like a light editing, and
then go into another program and doa little more extensive. So that's just
brightening up the room, making sureall the colors look authentic, right you
really are in person, and thenjust kind of brightening shadows and making it
look as best as possible, right. And another thing not only doing the
(36:30):
editing to where it looks authentic,which is what we want. We don't
want it to look like something it'snot. We don't want to photoshop that
picture to make it look like somethingthat when they walk in the house that's
not exactly. Yeah. Now wewant to authenticate the photo but also make
it as nice as possible. Sopart of that too is like sizing.
(36:52):
That's a part of a photo projectthat I don't know anything about. So
there are certain sizes that the requirementsof what those photos need to be correct.
Yes, yeah, they have tobe very specific for the MLS and
that was kind of something that threwme off when I first started. But
I just had to put in thesettings and make sure it's perfect and you
(37:13):
know, make it look as cleanas possible. Right. And what you
said in the beginning is so true. Photos are critical. Yeah they are.
Buyers are looking online and if wecan't even get them to want to
look at the house, then whyare we even doing it? Exactly?
(37:36):
Yeah. And I think a lotof a lot of sellers say, oh,
are you going to do the garage? A lot of people don't want
YouTube because you know, you gotto put yourself somewhere. But there are
some things that you kind of leaveto discovering whenever you go to a house.
But for the most part, it'sjust like wetting people's appetite for to
go and actually visit a home,right, it's just getting them in the
(37:59):
door and the from there, it'sa whole other process. And one of
the things that we do that Ithink is critical is we take pictures of
the backyard. So many times youwill see a house, but you never
see what the yard looks like.I love the angles that you do.
Whenever you do the backyard, you'lldo them from different angles so that people
(38:21):
can get a real view intoday's world. We're home a lot, and I
love my backyard and I want toknow what can I do with that backyard.
So every step of what we dois about lifestyle. It's exactly what
Lisa was saying about staging and alsoabout the photos. We want them to
see themselves living in that home,living in the backyard, and unless we
(38:45):
place each of those pieces perfectly,it's just not going to happen. So
we get the photos uploaded into themls rting part or listing team. We
have to a of our listing assistantswho are amazed, amazing, amazing,
(39:06):
Hannah and Ryan, and you knowwhat I love about them, detail oriented
detail. They dot every eye theycross every t they are available, so
anyone needs anything. If Katie iswith a client and Rachel's out with another
client, they're there to be ableto provide that information. And it's seemless
(39:27):
for all of us because we're allworking together to make sure. It's weird
because hearing all of us in thesame room, you almost forget because we
just do our own job and wedo it well. But I'm like,
yeah, we're pretty awesome. Soand we are. We don't mean it's
not prideful, it's we've worked hardto get to the place where we are
(39:47):
and just exactly like um you weresaying, Katie, we work to achieve
excellence and everything we do we're notperfect, but our goal is excellence and
that is what we want to makeI have no problems saying that we're wonderful
because we are Rachel's our cheerleader.Seriously, I mean, you and can
have developed something that I've never seenanywhere. Culture in the office and also
in what we do well. Imean, it's the people. You're exactly
(40:12):
right. The people in our officeare what makes us successful. So one
of the things though, that willhappen after we get everything in the MLS.
Our listing assistants will email all ofthe information out to the seller.
They'll be able to review the comments, review the photos, and then at
that point they can be able tothey can begin to share it on their
(40:32):
Facebook or any of their social mediaplatforms. But we also have a marketing
department, and part of our goalhere at our office is that we want
to make sure we're getting your propertyout there where everyone else is going to
be able to see it all ofthose online searches. So Oz is our
marketing director and he does a phenomenaljob. One of the things he also
(40:54):
does is video. He'll do avideo interior. Depending on the plan you
choose part of the menus of servicesthat we talked about, so um Oz
will do that. And then let'ssay we get an offer. Next steps
Katie for that. Yes, that'sthe real sighting part begins. Yeah.
(41:14):
So, and I'll be with um, with them every step of the way
from there on out. I'm theirnegotiator. I'm their ADVOCATORUM advocator. I
like it. I am there.We're going to make it a word.
Yes, it's not a terminator,you're an advocator. It is mother's day,
weekend, and I want it tobe advocator. We're making it that
yes, UM, So I'm therefor them. And so once we go
(41:37):
under contract, I also have alicense transaction coordinator Casey, someone else I
couldn't live without, right, Ican't live without any of these women.
I'm totally dependent. Now, well, I'm going to tell you it makes
for a very seamless transaction. UM. The thing about it is is that
we have a lot of people workingin the background. We have a lot
of people participating, but what wealways have is you as their person of
(42:02):
contact advocator. That's exactly we're goingto start calling you our ADVOCATORUM to make
sure so you'll go through all that, provide them a net sheet, be
able to help them make the bestdecision if that's the offer they want to
accept or not. UM. Theygo through the process, you negotiate with
them, and then in the process, at that point, you schedule closing
(42:23):
and go with them to the titlecompany, which Andy Hemmings Lisa Hemmings Threw
Hemmings actually works for Capital Title Company, which is one of our favorite title
companies. And so we'll close itat the title company. UM, and
then At that point they'll be ableto get their money, get their moola.
(42:46):
So I've had so much fun withall of you ladies on the show
today. Thank you so much,Thank you, and Happy Mother's Day to
those of your mother's. Happy Mother'sDay to you who are wanting to be
mothers. We hope you have agreat holiday weekend.
Hey, everybody, it's your boy, Gary Lavox of Rascal Flats Beaumont.
I made a lot of friends thereon the road. And one of my
friends that you need to meet,especially if you're selling your home, is
Dana Simmons of Dana Simmons Realty.Her team is the real deal, top
shelf, next level, and shemakes it so easy, and I like
easy, and remember, sell youhome, hold on, don't hesitate to
(00:26):
simmon realistate. Well, Hello SoutheastTexas. I hope you're enjoying your beautiful
Mother's Day weekend. For all ofthose of you who are last minute people
out there trying to get your giftright now, I hope you're picking a
good one. You know, Mamaration she did it right and you want
(00:47):
to treat her right. So wehave a few mamas on the show today
that we're going to honor as well. I want to give a shout out
to my mom, Wanda Mendoza,who is the best. She is out
of town, but hopefully she'll getto hear this. And then my mother
in law, Mary Simmons. HappyMother's Day to our wonderful moms and to
(01:08):
my daughter Denay and my daughter inlaw Annie, who are now moms and
who have made me a grandma.Happy Mother's Day and happy Mother's Day to
everyone out there. Well, todaywe're going to talk a little bit about
the listing process. Are you thinkingabout selling your home and you're just unsure
about what does that look like andwhat does the process need to have in
(01:30):
it? Well, our office isvery different than anyone else in Southeast Texas,
so we're going to go through theprocess of how we just meet with
you and guide you and give youthe best opportunity to get your home sold
for the most money. Joining metoday I have Katie Martin, who is
our listing agent. Welcome Katie,Hello everybody, Katie. Tell everyone just
(01:52):
a little bit about you. Yes, I am a mom. Yes,
Happy Mother's Day to you. Yes, thank you. I'm very certain my
husband is not get me anything today. But it's fine. We have the
best gift our children, right,It's right. Um. Yes, So
I have two little girls. Weattend Legacy Christian Academy. And there I'm
gonna have to stop you. Theywere going to be quite offended that you
(02:14):
called them little girls. Well they'reyoung ladies. Now, Well, my
oldest daughter just had surgery the otherday, and she's acting like a little
girl. She's totally fine with mewaiting on her hand and boots. Yes,
we will still call that. Well, that doesn't change when they're thirty
something, so it's the same way. Yes, but they're they're wonderful.
And my husband, Robert, hisfather owns Lardie Martin Electric and he's been
(02:37):
doing that forever. So that's usin a nutshell. Just been around yea
at the beginning of time. Yougrew up locally and not too far out
Warren and then when you m movedto Beaumont and married and all of that.
So you have been here, beenin real estate twenty four years in
August twenty four years. Yeah,so you've been. I started when I
(02:58):
was twelve. What it looks likewhen you see her? Yeah, I
like. And that other voice youjust heard is Rachel Stein, who is
our listing partner. And um,Rachel tell everyone a little bit about you.
Well, I'm always a loud voice, so don't need the mic at
all. Um. So I amfrom Orangefield actually when Orangefield grew up in
orange Um. I have two kidsthat are twins. They're twenty five and
(03:22):
I don't look like I have twentyfive year olds, not in my mind.
And my husband says, so tooon, you know, unless he
wants to get hurt. So myhusband is a wonderful man who obeys all
the rules. Um he is.He's Paul Stein and he is the manager
at Lumber Liquidator or l Flooring inBeaumont. And yeah, so that's me
(03:43):
and you're happy Mother's Day. Andher son out yes dun dun da he
proposed to his girlfriend. Yeah,and she's wonderful. I love her.
So you're going to get another daughter. I'm really looking at the whole thing
about maybe in a couple of yearsI might be a grandma. So that's
like really like oh wow, yeah, so it's the best thing ever.
(04:04):
I just know it's got to be. It is also with us as Reagan
Contreris and she is also known asLeslie Reagan Photography. She is a professional
photographer and let me just tell you, she's done beautiful photos for my family,
our children, parties, showers,you name it. She's the best.
(04:26):
And actually we are so blessed tohave her as the photographer for Dana
Simmons real Estate. So Reagan telleveryone a little bit about you. Yeah.
So I was born and raised inNederland. I've been a photographer for
I thinks like seven eight years now. It's like making me feel role.
But I really enjoy real estate photography. I was. I got married in
(04:47):
twenty twenty during COVID. That wasso fun. But she made the best.
Yes we did. We had twoweddings, so it was honestly like
perfect. Um. But I marriedmy high school I say high school sweetheart,
church sweetheart um in twenty twenty.And then after that we just have
been moved to groves Um house.Yeah, I bought a house with Dana,
(05:11):
and now we're waiting for a child. Said, I'm not a mother
yet, but I try. That'sin a couple of years. She said
that for two or three years.Now, in a couple of years.
Okay, don't don't be like amom and do that. I know her
listen, this is my heart isfor her mother. But yeah, so
(05:31):
we're just enjoying like newlywed time.I guess as you should. You need
that sign it is. It's agood time of just building the relationship first.
So but we'll be so excited whenthat next stage comes. Yeah,
me too. Also with this isLisa Hemmings. And Lisa Hemmings has been
a stager. She's a professional stagerand has been so with me for fifteen
(05:56):
plus years. Um, and anyonewho ever talks to us about listing knows
that we call her our secret sauce. She's our secret weapon and she is
amazing. So Lisa, tell usa little bit about you. Well,
it's it's great to be here.I'm a mother also mother of two.
Um My son is just getting outof the Navy, just got back into
(06:18):
the United States. Thrilled about that. Of course that's that's the mother's day.
But she took some really good vacationsbecause he was sure. So you
enjoyed a little bit. Got acapital right, Spain was beautiful, very
inspiring for what you do. Yes, um and uh, my daughter is
(06:41):
at Texas State University and loving it. And um got an adorable apartment beautifully
decorated by the way she went shoppingin our own home for well, it
helps that her mom is a stagerand knows what to do. Ye.
Yes, Well, we're so excitedto have all of you on the show
today and we're going to be talkingabout is now the right time to list
(07:03):
your property, and if so,what does that look like. Well,
what we've seen in our little marketupdate is the market is definitely picking up.
While our inventory has increased, we'realso seeing an increase in the number
of buyers who are ready to buy, not only relocation buyers, but people
who are out there who have neverpurchased a home. They're in an apartment,
(07:24):
they're ready to build equity in theirown home instead of someone else's.
So if you're thinking about buying orselling, you're welcome to call our office
and we'll be able to see ifit is the right time for you or
not. That numbers four zero nineeight six six eight three two six it's
four zero nine eight six six andthe word team to e a m if
(07:45):
you forget the numbers, because weare available and open eight to eight Monday
through Saturday, one to eight onSunday, So at any time you need
any information, you're welcome to reachout to us, and we can also
at that point in time get youconnected with one of our local lenders if
you're just unsure about what you canafford. First Financial Bank has availability during
(08:07):
the weekend and we can connect youwith them. As well. So when
we come back, we're going toget started to say what is the very
first step if you're thinking about sellingyour home, what is the very first
thing you need to do? You'renot going to want to go away,
come right back. This is theDana Simmons Show. Would you need to
(08:28):
sell your home? No one makesit easier than Dana Simmons of Dana Simmons.
Really sell your home? Don't hesitatesSimmons restate, welcome back. This
is Dana Simmons and we have agreat show today talking about the listing process.
What does it look like with ourteam, because it's really very different
(08:52):
than the way most people do it. So we're gonna walk through our process
and tell you exactly what that lookslike. So let's say you call our
office, or you log on onlineand you go to Dana Simmons real estate
dot com and you send an email. One of our says will reach out
to you and just begin the conversation. There are inside service agents and they're
(09:15):
licensed realtors, but they are notgoing to try to sell you anything.
They're just going to want to talkyou through the process, see what you
need, and see if you're readyto make an appointment. So if you
say, you know, we're justcurious, we want to see what does
it look like, what is ourvalue of our home before we make a
decision, we are absolutely good withthat. We want you to have the
(09:35):
right information so that you can makethe best decision for you. So very
first step is we make that appointmentfor Rachel, who is our listing partner,
to go out to the property.So Rachel, you've received the information
and the appointment's been set for you, and you meet the couple at the
(09:56):
house, talk a little bit aboutwhat your job is, why you're there
first. Well, first of all, I go to just kind of collect
all the preliminary information for Kati,because Katie is going to be pulling the
comps getting all that information, andwe want to make sure it's as accurate
as possible. And unless we've seenthe home and really gotten some history,
we can't really be as as accurate. So I go in and one of
(10:18):
my favorite things about my job,of course, is meeting the people.
We are very I mean, ourgroup is all about the people, and
I think people just don't realize alot of times when you're hiring a realtor,
You're not just hiring someone to comeand, you know, just tell
you a bunch of stuff and thenwalk out and give you a number and
(10:39):
that'd be the end of it.We really want to know where you're at.
We willing to know what your situationis, where you're at in life,
and where your goals are. Sowhen I go out, I'm there
to get pictures and some measurements,which the pictures are just for Katie to
pull comps so that she can geta good accurate market analysis for you.
But I'm also getting like history ofthe house, which is you know what
(11:01):
you've put into it, what mayhave went wrong in some point. So
we're actually getting information too that ifyou do list, we're getting all this
ahead of time, so whenever yougo to list, you're not going to
have to provide things here and therebecause we pretty much got everything together already.
Yeah, I love that you mentionedthat. For us, it's really
the people over the process, andit is engaging with them to find out
(11:24):
and the words you use their goals. We don't want to have a preconceived
notion of what you want. Wereally want to know what is your goal?
What do you want? You know, how do you see this playing
out? And then how can webest fit or assist you in guiding you
through that? So it really isdifferent. Yeah, you know, I'm
going to do it different if you'rejust looking for like, well, we're
(11:46):
just kind of curious, we wantto know what's going on the market.
We're gon We're gonna have a differentconversation than someone that is like, Okay,
we want to sell and here's ourproblems. We're worried about this,
we're about this, and we're goingto go through what we need to do
to solve those. So it's awhole day. I mean, it's really
depends on what you need. Andthere's no obligation. You never have to
do anything. This is our process. I tell people all the time,
(12:07):
I say, well, do oh, you do owe you anything for coming
out? No, absolutely not.This is part of how we work,
right And and I love that youare on the hunt for information. You
are the information gatherer, so thatwhen you gather all of that information,
you're able to download all of thosepictures, take all of those detailed notes
(12:28):
about what they're thinking, and thenyou're able to pass that on to Katie
so that at that point she hasa lot of information to be able to
make the best decision or guide themthe client in the next stage. So
Katie talk about Katie Martin, ourlisting agent, talk a little bit about
how you go through that process oflooking through everything that Rachel is doing and
(12:52):
how you come up with your nextsteps as you sit down with Yeah,
so a lot of what Rachel's doingis thing that the homeowners don't even know
what to look for. Right Forexample, there's things at the house like
rotten wood, or your water heatare not being raised. Those are all
things that we can help you dopreliminary so it doesn't come up during the
(13:16):
loan process. Or if you sayno, I don't want to do any
of those things, we can makethat decision ahead and say, okay,
well there are certain loan programs thatyou're not going to want to be able
to accept because those are going tocome up. So if you want to
sell as is versus if you wantto do some things not too. So
we have to have a different strategyand you give them all of those options.
(13:37):
And my biggest job is to helpcreate a strategy for you. Right.
It is people ever, process,but process is also very important it
is. So that's what we tryto perfect. If you will, nothing
can ever be perfected. I don'tthink that we strive for perfection or we
strive for excellence. That's Dana Simmonstaught me that. But yeah, and
(14:01):
so we're going to go through whatour marketing plan looks like. We're going
to go through the next steps inthe process if you do decide to list,
and we're also going to look atnumbers for their home. Yeah.
So it's a first step. Rachelmeets them out at their home, and
the second step is that they havean appointment and they meet us in the
office. Right, they come intoour office, you sit down, and
(14:22):
the very first thing you do isstart to go through first just finding out
who they are and getting some informationfrom them, and then you make a
presentation that goes through exactly what wedo. Setting those expectations of exactly what
we do as I think one ofthe most critical things, right, because
you can go in a lot ofdifferent directions, and in real estate it's
(14:45):
a it's an animal, and somepeople need to sell as of some people
need to sell quickly. Some peoplesay, well, I'll have a ton
of equity, so I'm not payingthat much, or my house is paid
off. There are so many scenarios, and just I think I've heard them
all, something new happens, Yes, and I get to learn more.
And they come in waves too,don't they. Yeah, it's really it's
(15:07):
a little bizarre. It's like thepsychology behind it. It's and I do
also have another psychological thing that hasbeen interesting. We have orange and white
pins, and if I ever offeredthe pin bucket to a couple, ninety
percent of the time they choose adifferent color. So that is interested.
We'll see what that's all. Well, we aren't. Yeah, well,
(15:30):
men and women. I'd be curiousto see who chooses orange and who chooses
white. It'd be pretty fair.That was a very random thought though.
Yeah. Well, I'll tell you. One of the things that I do
think is really important is trying tofigure out what's the most important for them.
But then you after you've gone throughall of that, you sit down
at the table and you start lookingat the prior sales. So this part
(15:54):
of the transaction, or the orthe conversation to me is so critical,
right, we have to price itproperly, and so talk a little bit
about how we go into looking atthat, how you look at those comps,
and how you come up with avalue. Yeah, because you can't
make up the data. It iswhat it is. The market changes constantly,
(16:17):
especially since COVID, we're almost ona weekly basis that things are changing.
And really we try to think likean appraiser. We are not appraisers,
but we try to use the sametype of data that they'll use.
So location, school district, lotsize, how many bedrooms bass you have?
All those things are important because yourneighbor's house may have sold for three
hundred thousand dollars, but you mayhave eighteen hundred square feet less than them.
(16:42):
So it's it's just looking at thedata as a whole and how you
compare to other homes. We tryto find at least three comparable homes so
we can compare the price per squarefoot and add on subtract if there's condition
issues or things like that. Sowell, and this is the part of
the I think that experience matters,Yes, for you and I. We've
(17:06):
been in so many homes that weknow a lot about specific neighborhoods, ages,
that sort of thing, and sowhen we're looking at that data.
We can just go through all ofthat pretty well to know is this a
compermint. I think what people don'tunderstand is they'll go, well, exactly
what you said, the house downthe street sold for three hundred thousand dollars.
(17:30):
But what an appraiser is going tobe required to do, because we've
looked at them with appraisers all thetime, is get within a fifteen percent
variance of where that square footage isfifteen percent over, fifteen percent below.
So we can't use something that's twicethe size as a comp right. So
those are some of the things thatyou're able to look at when you're pulling
(17:51):
up the value, what you thinkthe value is. And the other side
of that is we typically give thema range of value, right, and
if they if let's say they don'thave enough money to fix up the house,
like Lisa's going to suggest they do, you know, we'll just price
it differently. And I always saypricing is more of an art than a
science. And I love math,Yes, it's my favorite thing. So
(18:15):
I want a formula that would bethe greatest thing in the world, but
we just don't have one. Soright, so you have people are rolling
their eyes next to me. I'mnot a math person, but that's what
I love about our team as weall have different gifts, talents and abilities,
and so what you do, Rachel, to connect with the people up
(18:36):
front is so important, to makethem feel comfortable and to give them what
they need at that moment. Andthen what Katie offers is she is a
data lover. She loves the dataand she it doesn't lie. I mean,
the data is what we have touse when we're looking at not only
what's going on in the past,but what do we see coming in the
(18:56):
future. While we can't predict it, we have to somewhat for cast what
we're seeing. Right, And it'sthe same thing with once we get an
offer negotiations. You know, wewant to have a happy medium for everybody,
but it looks different for every scenario, right right. Well, when
we come back, we're going totalk a little bit more with Katie about
what are the next steps after we'vegone through Okay, what is the value
(19:19):
and then what do we do then? So don't go away, come right
back. This is the Dana SimmonsShow. Would you need to sell your
home? No one makes it easierthan Dana Simmons of Danas Simmons Really sell
your home, don't hesitate to SimmonsRest. Welcome back. This is Dana
(19:42):
Simmons and we were talking about thelisting process today and we were talking to
Katie about how she comes up withthe potential list price to help you guide
the process and know what it isyou want to do. And so after
you come up with the that listprice, one of the of things that
you do as you go through ourmenu of services, right, yes,
(20:03):
so we always want to give youoptions. And that's a relatively new thing
that we've been doing because we knowthat people have different perceptions of what they
want in their marketing. And thenI've also written a seller's guide. This
was my labor of love for twoyears. Talk about the process. Man,
it's beautiful too. Yeah, yes, it is, with the help
(20:25):
of our marketing team. So they'regoing to get a seller's guide, and
then we'll also start the process ofonce they on their listing agreements, schedule
their appointments that are coming up thefine part. So their next pay appointment
is for staging. But before weget to Lisa Hemmings to talk about that
staging appointment, we have a calleron the line, so um, let's
(20:48):
go to the phone lines. Hello, who do we have on the line?
Hello, this is Drew Hemmings fromBeaumont. Hi, Drew him Mings.
How are you well? I'm doingjust fine. Just stop back in
the States and can't wait to seethe whole family and calling in for my
(21:08):
mother cry. Thank you for yourservice, Drew. We appreciate you.
Okay, Lisa, you get We'regonna let We're gonna be quiet and let
you tell him hello if you caneven speak at this point. Hey,
mister perfect, so happy you're backin the United States and I'm ready to
(21:30):
spoil you. Processing out of Norfolk, Virginia and I should be back within
the next month. So, Drew, we are so thankful. Drew has
been serving our country for the lastsix years, and we are so appreciative
for what you've done for our countryand we just want to say thank you.
But we're also appreciative to your familybecause we know that was a huge
(21:53):
sacrifice and they missed you immensely.Believe me, we heard it a lot.
But how sweet of you. Whata great mother's stay present to call
and say, hey, mom,yeah, you hit it out of the
park tree. Well, well done, and when you get back, we
(22:14):
want to see you too, becausegoodness gracious, Um, there's a party
at the Hennings House. There's aconnection we'd like to make too, Drew.
We'll talk about another. Yeah,no, no, don't go there.
Yeah, stir in the water.Well, Drew, We're so excited
for you. Congratulations, thank youfor what you've done. And um,
thank you for calling. Anything elsethat you'd like to say, No,
(22:37):
ma'am, thank you, thanks forspeaking, Yeah, no problem, love
you big, thank you? Okay, bye bye. Oh so sweet,
Lisa, He's perfect, I'm tellingyou well, we're so thankful that um,
he was able to call in andtell you Happy Mother's Day. And
(22:57):
Lisa is a wonderful mom, butshe's an incredible stager as well, and
so um in the process of whatwe do every day, you know.
Well, Katie was talking about howshe loves numbers and data and that is
such a gift. But what giftthat Lisa brings to the table is to
(23:18):
just be able to see what's notthere. I love that. One of
our customers just this past week said, yeah, she came in and she
sat in the living room and shejust looked around for a little bit and
then she said, I know whatwe're gonna do. Um. And so
that is kind of talk a littlebit about what it is you do in
your process. It's I try toget the energy of the house, because
(23:40):
every house has a for lack ofbetter words, and not sounding so much
like a hippie, um, ithas an energy as you wear your turquoise
yes today, um, natural hairand all um. But I every I
try to stage in a way towhere it's not quote decorating. It's even
(24:03):
if you don't have a house fullof furniture. It it's it's all about
guiding the potential new homeowner, makingthem fall in love and guiding them through
the house and going you know,you could live here too. We don't
have to all be perfect. Um. It's just putting your best foot forward
(24:25):
and having your house put the bestfoot forward. And I often tell our
clients, you know, your houseis going on it's very first date,
and we're going to be the matchmakersand we're gonna make it happen. And
it is quite magical when it doeshappen, because when if you look at
um, you you you spend somuch time and so many important moments in
(24:49):
the home, so it's an emotionalthing selling it and acquiring one. And
that's when that's when the art ofdecorating and making them feel welcomed home to
their new home and making this feela little extra special, like rolling the
(25:10):
towels and tucking a little something nicein there, are even folding the toilet
paper roll thing. It's just it'sthose little touches that add to Oh,
I don't know what it is aboutthe house. It made me feel a
certain way. That's right, It'sit's the magic, right, and you
have it. I was gonna say, I think there's some misconceptions, um
(25:33):
when I'm on an appointment with peopleabout what staging is. So number one,
they see HDTV and they think thatthat's real life and it is not.
Um, But they also want thehouse to be perfect before you come.
And I'm like, no, no, no, yes, right,
because then they get rid of everything. Yeah, she wants some of those
things, and yeah, I gottago in the garage and pig through their
(25:53):
stuff and hand it out. Yeah, I don't. I don't want them
to feel over elmed before Lisa comes. I'm like, she will help you
prioritize and that gives them comfort too, I think knowing that, and also
they don't have to be on Pinterest, right, Like You're going to give
them your own suggestions based on theirhouse and the feeling that you get in
(26:15):
there. He exact and current trendsand what buyers are looking for right now,
right. I mean that's part ofthe gift that I think that you
have that you have done all ofthose things you've been on Pinterest. You
you've done all of the research.You know what buyers are looking at and
looking for, and it's a continualmore thing. Yeah, yes, I'm
(26:37):
always looking at certain trends and I'mnot real trendy. I'm more like,
let's just collect some cool stuff andtell a story, well the cool stuff.
And what I love about you isthat your cool stuff is typically really
frugal. Oh yeah, you liketo you find the deal and you hunt
(26:59):
and you look for things that aregoing to be pieces that make a statement,
but that didn't cost you a fortune, right. So I would say
that the best thing that I seewhen you go into a house is that
you refine it in a way thata buyer can see themselves there, you're
really taking the personality of the homeownera little bit out, not completely,
(27:22):
but taking some of their pictures,taking some of the things that are real
specific, but keeping parts of themright. Well, I often you know
a lot of people, you know, they've seen HGTV and all the shows,
and they're like, I know thatI have to take all of my
personal pictures away. I'm like,not all, just calm down and let
(27:44):
me come and see it, becausesometimes you don't want to suck all the
personality out of the house, rightYou just want them to feel comfortable and
not uncomfortable with, you know,giant portraits of your wedding. But the
children, Now, that's that's adorableand it shows that there's there's love in
the house. So it's it's apick and choose. And and here's the
(28:07):
thing that I know that you doit so well, but and you've taken
classes and you've done all of that. But it's a gift. I mean
it really I can't explain how Iknow. I know there's a lot of
a lot of our clients that thatthey'll just kind of stare at me,
like I'm just wondering what you're gonnado I'm like, well, if you
could tell me, I have noidea that a creative just just get going.
(28:30):
Yeah yeah, and it's it's agift and sometimes a curse when yeah,
Well, we absolutely adore Lisa,And what I love is our customers
adore Lisa. I think we've onlyhad one in fifteen years that was a
little more challenging. Um still bothers. There was one that you you didn't
(28:52):
win over. But that's out ofhundreds and hundreds and hundreds. So every
time I talk to people that arelike, oh my goodness, I just
love her. How is she comehang out with me? I hear that
I will. And I have totell people too when I go out she's
not boogie, you know, seriously, because they're like, oh god,
a stage or you know, they'rethinking she's gonna be gonna be like,
oh no, Alabama fantastic, justcool, She's great. You're gonna love
(29:18):
her absolutely. Well, we aregoing to talk about our next process,
which is our photography. So afterwe've had the home staged and everything is
looking phenomenal, the next step isthat we're going to make an appointment with
our professional photographer, Reagan cotreras Sodon't go away. When we come back,
we're going to talk about what doesthat look like and what is Reagan
(29:40):
looking for in the process. Socome right back. This is the Dana
Simmons Show. But you need tosell your home. No one makes it
easier than Dana Simmons of Danas SimmonsReally Home God Hesitate to Simmons. Welcome
(30:02):
back. This is Dana Simmons andwe have been talking about the listing process.
So if you are thinking about sellingyour home, we've talked a little
bit about what that looks like withour team and how it's really different than
the way most people do it.We talked about how Rachel Stein is our
listing partner and she's the very firstperson that you'll get to meet. She'll
come out to your house, takesome photos that are not for marketing.
(30:25):
Those photos are just to gather information. She'll walk through the house, take
lots of really good notes, talkto the seller about their goals, what
it is that they want to accomplish, to get some really good feedback from
them. And then the next stepis that we will have an appointment with
Katie Martin, who is our listingagent. Katie will go through all of
that data before she meets with theclient, be able to come up with
(30:48):
a very good price, give acouple of options on do you want to
sell it quickly, what is itthat you want to achieve? Talk through
that, what are their goals,and be able to give them options on
every single step of the way.After they've made those decisions that they feel
confident about, then the next stepis that they'll talk with Lisa Hemmings,
who is our stager. And Lisawe talked a little bit about how it's
(31:11):
just finding that right mix there inthe house for exactly what that house feels
like, bringing the feeling of home, depending on the house, how it
could be different. It's not thesame for every single It's not like you
say, okay, this is whatwe do every single time, although we
do have a list. Katie talkedabout how our Seller's Guide that gives you
(31:33):
a checklist of some of the thingsthat you can start to do before Lisa
gets there. Their basic things likeclean out closets, that sort of thing.
So then the next step we've gottenthe staging. She's made it beautiful.
Next step we have Reagan Contraris withLeslie and did I say that right
with Leslie Reagan Photography. She isa professional photographer and only does photography for
(32:01):
our clients, but also does photographyfor families, for weddings, for graduations,
for showers, for whatever you need. Um My mom and Dad's pride
and Joy is the picture that shetook of all of their kids and grandkids,
(32:21):
and they have that over their mantleand it's like their it's their favorite
thing ever. Yeah, I mean, it's a beautiful picture. And you
did a great job getting all ofus, which is like, um,
fifty people, I think a lotof us, getting us all together and
getting us into that shot and makingsure everyone was happy with a smile.
So we did that all in oneday and it was a great job.
(32:45):
But what we're talking about today isthe photography that you do as we list
our properties. Now, a lotof people may not know the importance of
having a professional photographer take those photostoday in the world we live in,
most people think, oh, youknow, that iPhone takes good enough pictures,
We'll just take them with that andsee how that goes. But there
(33:09):
are reasons that we want to makesure that we're using a professional photographer for
those photos. So Reagan talk alittle bit about that. Yeah, So
when I was shopping for a house, personally, I think that the photos
really sold me on going to seesomething before an iPhone photo. That's exactly
(33:29):
right. And I think that therewas just so much more to say about
someone's business if they were to actuallydo professional photos then just you know,
snap a quick shot and it's fine. I can't tell you how many people
I've seen in a mirror. Right, we have photo of the day.
We pick those out and go,Okay, what's our photo of the day
today. What are we gonna find? So, but when you go out
(33:52):
and take photos, you don't justtake the photos and then just upload them
then we're done. Talk a littlebit about what that process looks like and
what it is. How many photosdo you take of that house? It
depends on the house. Obviously,the bigger the house, the more photos
I take. But some houses itwill take me forty five minutes just to
pick which ones I want to sendto y'all, and then even from there
(34:14):
we have to narrow it down.But whenever I go out to a house,
I usually walk up and I'm like, Okay, outside looks great,
let's get a photo of it,move any cars that are in the driveway,
and then go inside, turn allthe lights on, kind of greet
the seller, and then make surethat all the I catch your things are
out of the room, out ofthe kitchen, all that good stuff.
(34:35):
So I love that you pointed thatout. So in the beginning, there
were some things that I'm just reallypicky about what I want and I don't
want in a photo because I thinkit makes a big difference. And so
many many years ago when we firststarted, those were some of the things
that we'd take a picture with itand take it without it to say,
here's the difference, because you knownow, I mean, you've done it
(34:58):
so long, you know now thisis going to stick out and look really
bad in that photo. And sowhile Lisa gives great staging tips, sometimes
there are things that in a photothat will need to be removed even though
it's great for the staging. Isthat not right? Absolutely? I think
towels are a big thing, whichI think the roled ones I think kind
(35:21):
of add like a spa feel tothe photos. But when it comes to
just like a hanging towel, unlessit's just super fancy and dressed up.
Sometimes they just like, that's thefirst thing you look at, and that's
not the goal. The goal iswhole room, whole vibe, all the
right. It's the feel of theroom and the feel in the photo.
Which that's the other thing I loveabout you, though, is that you
(35:43):
don't just shoot the pictures you're lookingat. How is this picture going to
impact a buyer when they're looking online? Yes? Absolutely, And so you
get the shots. You get lotsof shots. I've seen you take hundreds
of pictures. I take a lot, and then you go back to your
office and you download those all thosephotos and then talk about what or your
(36:05):
next steps at that point. Yeah, So I usually sort through and pick
the ones that I like the most, do like a light editing, and
then go into another program and doa little more extensive. So that's just
brightening up the room, making sureall the colors look authentic, right you
really are in person, and thenjust kind of brightening shadows and making it
look as best as possible, right. And another thing not only doing the
(36:30):
editing to where it looks authentic,which is what we want. We don't
want it to look like something it'snot. We don't want to photoshop that
picture to make it look like somethingthat when they walk in the house that's
not exactly. Yeah. Now wewant to authenticate the photo but also make
it as nice as possible. Sopart of that too is like sizing.
(36:52):
That's a part of a photo projectthat I don't know anything about. So
there are certain sizes that the requirementsof what those photos need to be correct.
Yes, yeah, they have tobe very specific for the MLS and
that was kind of something that threwme off when I first started. But
I just had to put in thesettings and make sure it's perfect and you
(37:13):
know, make it look as cleanas possible. Right. And what you
said in the beginning is so true. Photos are critical. Yeah they are.
Buyers are looking online and if wecan't even get them to want to
look at the house, then whyare we even doing it? Exactly?
(37:36):
Yeah. And I think a lotof a lot of sellers say, oh,
are you going to do the garage? A lot of people don't want
YouTube because you know, you gotto put yourself somewhere. But there are
some things that you kind of leaveto discovering whenever you go to a house.
But for the most part, it'sjust like wetting people's appetite for to
go and actually visit a home,right, it's just getting them in the
(37:59):
door and the from there, it'sa whole other process. And one of
the things that we do that Ithink is critical is we take pictures of
the backyard. So many times youwill see a house, but you never
see what the yard looks like.I love the angles that you do.
Whenever you do the backyard, you'lldo them from different angles so that people
(38:21):
can get a real view intoday's world. We're home a lot, and I
love my backyard and I want toknow what can I do with that backyard.
So every step of what we dois about lifestyle. It's exactly what
Lisa was saying about staging and alsoabout the photos. We want them to
see themselves living in that home,living in the backyard, and unless we
(38:45):
place each of those pieces perfectly,it's just not going to happen. So
we get the photos uploaded into themls rting part or listing team. We
have to a of our listing assistantswho are amazed, amazing, amazing,
(39:06):
Hannah and Ryan, and you knowwhat I love about them, detail oriented
detail. They dot every eye theycross every t they are available, so
anyone needs anything. If Katie iswith a client and Rachel's out with another
client, they're there to be ableto provide that information. And it's seemless
(39:27):
for all of us because we're allworking together to make sure. It's weird
because hearing all of us in thesame room, you almost forget because we
just do our own job and wedo it well. But I'm like,
yeah, we're pretty awesome. Soand we are. We don't mean it's
not prideful, it's we've worked hardto get to the place where we are
(39:47):
and just exactly like um you weresaying, Katie, we work to achieve
excellence and everything we do we're notperfect, but our goal is excellence and
that is what we want to makeI have no problems saying that we're wonderful
because we are Rachel's our cheerleader.Seriously, I mean, you and can
have developed something that I've never seenanywhere. Culture in the office and also
in what we do well. Imean, it's the people. You're exactly
(40:12):
right. The people in our officeare what makes us successful. So one
of the things though, that willhappen after we get everything in the MLS.
Our listing assistants will email all ofthe information out to the seller.
They'll be able to review the comments, review the photos, and then at
that point they can be able tothey can begin to share it on their
(40:32):
Facebook or any of their social mediaplatforms. But we also have a marketing
department, and part of our goalhere at our office is that we want
to make sure we're getting your propertyout there where everyone else is going to
be able to see it all ofthose online searches. So Oz is our
marketing director and he does a phenomenaljob. One of the things he also
(40:54):
does is video. He'll do avideo interior. Depending on the plan you
choose part of the menus of servicesthat we talked about, so um Oz
will do that. And then let'ssay we get an offer. Next steps
Katie for that. Yes, that'sthe real sighting part begins. Yeah.
(41:14):
So, and I'll be with um, with them every step of the way
from there on out. I'm theirnegotiator. I'm their ADVOCATORUM advocator. I
like it. I am there.We're going to make it a word.
Yes, it's not a terminator,you're an advocator. It is mother's day,
weekend, and I want it tobe advocator. We're making it that
yes, UM, So I'm therefor them. And so once we go
(41:37):
under contract, I also have alicense transaction coordinator Casey, someone else I
couldn't live without, right, Ican't live without any of these women.
I'm totally dependent. Now, well, I'm going to tell you it makes
for a very seamless transaction. UM. The thing about it is is that
we have a lot of people workingin the background. We have a lot
of people participating, but what wealways have is you as their person of
(42:02):
contact advocator. That's exactly we're goingto start calling you our ADVOCATORUM to make
sure so you'll go through all that, provide them a net sheet, be
able to help them make the bestdecision if that's the offer they want to
accept or not. UM. Theygo through the process, you negotiate with
them, and then in the process, at that point, you schedule closing
(42:23):
and go with them to the titlecompany, which Andy Hemmings Lisa Hemmings Threw
Hemmings actually works for Capital Title Company, which is one of our favorite title
companies. And so we'll close itat the title company. UM, and
then At that point they'll be ableto get their money, get their moola.
(42:46):
So I've had so much fun withall of you ladies on the show
today. Thank you so much,Thank you, and Happy Mother's Day to
those of your mother's. Happy Mother'sDay to you who are wanting to be
mothers. We hope you have agreat holiday weekend.
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