Ben & Mayra Stern Stern Realty Co. *** Listing Presentation ***

A step by step guide of what Ben & Mayra will do to market their properties for sale. 561-908-2474 office / 561-715-0314 cell. [email protected] www.BenAndMayraStern.com

About Ben & Mayra Stern Benjamin E. Stern was born in Brooklyn, New York. He received his real estate license in 1990. Ben worked for Better Homes and Gardens (GMAC) for a year. In 1991 he joined Luxury Homes Realty (later Century 21 - Luxury Homes) as manager of the new rental department. Benjamin Stern became the Corporate Housing Director for Century 21 in South Florida. He worked with Motorola's International Human Resource Department to provide temporary housing accommodations to Motorola employees, as well as assisting employees with look-see trips, settling-in services, home buying & selling. Benjamin Stern played an integral part in the relocation of MCI, ADT, Sensormatic, Office Depot, Nextel, Sun Microsystems, and several other companies. 1995 2000: recipient of Platinum Club Award for being one of the top ten producers of Century 21 - Luxury Homes. 1998: recipient of the #1 top producer in the company and Centurion Club (highest achievement award for Century 21). 1999: recipient of the #1 top producer in the company and Centurion Club. 2000: recipient of the #1 top producer in the company and #3 in the entire southeast region and Centurion Club. Inducted into the Realtor's Honor Society. VIP Realtor designation (relocation specialist). In 2000, Ben Stern transferred to Realty Executives to expand on all phases of his business. Benjamin Stern was the recipient of the Community Service Award and runner-up for the Broward County Excalibur Award. Mayra Ottati Stern was born in Caracas, Venezuela. She graduated from the Humboldt School in Caracas and attended several years of law school at the Andres Bello University in Venezuela. She received her real estate license in 1997. Mayra worked for Century 21 - Luxury Homes from 1997 to 2000 as partner to Benjamin Stern in the Corporate Division. She assisted corporation’s relocating employees with home purchases and sales, home rentals, temporary housing, general orientations, settling-in services, and look-see trips. Mayra Stern also helped many foreign buyers and sellers with their real estate needs. In 2000, she transferred to Realty Executives while still assisting corporations with all phases of relocation for their employees. Mayra speaks Spanish and English. In 2004, Ben & Mayra opened their own real estate company, Stern Realty Co. Through the years, they worked with many customers buying, selling, and renting luxury properties in Broward and Palm Beach Counties. Ben & Mayra Stern specialize in luxury properties in the following cities: Highland Beach, Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Gulf Stream, Ocean Ridge, Manalapan , Deerfield Beach, Hillsboro Beach, Hillsboro Mile, Parkland, Coral Springs, Weston, and other cities in Broward and Palm Beach. They also specialize in beachfront & waterfront properties, second homes, corporate relocation, international clients, investment properties, country clubs, and more. Both Benjamin & Mayra Stern are members of the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches, the Florida Board of Realtors , and the National Board of Realtors.

For the past few years, Ben & Mayra have spent much of their free time helping the Tri County Animal Rescue, A Second Chance Puppies & Kittens Rescue, and All for One Pet Rescue. They have assisted these organizations by fostering dogs, helping raise money at local events, donating money, and walking the dogs. They are also able to raise money for these organizations through social media promotions. You will not find more experience, better service, and more caring people than Ben & Mayra Stern. If you are interested in buying, selling or renting a property, please call Ben and Mayra at 561-715-0314.

We will provide you with all of the necessary paperwork to sell your property • Listing Contract We have flexible commission rates and terms to accommodate your needs. Tell us what you want, and we will try our best to offer you a marketing plan that will work for you. We are a concierge style, full service brokerage firm, at a fraction of the cost of most other full service real estate companies.

• Agency Disclosure We start as Single Agents and only transfer to Transaction Brokers if we procure the buyer of your property. Most other real estate companies are Transaction Brokers from the beginning, regardless of the fact that they procure the buyer for your property or not. This latest form of agency, gives you only limited representation from other listing brokers, which is not the most beneficial type of agency for the seller.

• Seller’s Disclosure This disclosure allows the owner the opportunity to disclose to the potential buyers any material defect the property might have.

• Estimated Expenses We will let you know, in advance, an estimate of what you can expect to pay in closing costs when you sell your home.

• Gate Authorization Form To make things easier for our sellers, we will have them sign a form to authorize all Realtors to come into the community, if applicable.

• A List with Helpful Tips on How to Prepare Your Home for Sale

We will provide you with a Comparative Market Analysis on your home The CMA has helpful information about homes for sale, pending sales and homes sold in your community. This will help you know your competition and price your property correctly to ensure that we sell your property for the most money and in the least amount of time. • •

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In considering home values, several factors are important: Sale prices are a product of supply and demand. You should be strategic in setting your listing price and be sure not to overprice your home, because you may not be able to sell it. The longer a home is on the market, the more “stale” it gets, and the more likely that buyer agents will tend not to show it and that buyers will think there is something wrong with the home because it is not selling. If you overprice your home, you many eventually have to bring the price down to even less than what you could’ve got if it was priced properly in the first place. And you will have lost the initial flurry of interest that new listings generate. How quickly the owner needs to sell can affect sale values. Owners who " must" sell quickly will have less leverage in the marketplace. Buyers may think that the owner is willing to trade a quick closing for a lower price - and they may be right. Conversely, owners who do not need to sell quickly may have more marketplace strength.

Our Marketing What Ben & Mayra Stern will do to market your home and give you the most exposure. • We will take as many pictures as possible of the property, the community, and the city where your home is located for the MLS, Realtor.com, Zillow.com, our websites, social media, and more . Some agents only add a few pictures to the MLS, websites, and social media sites. We truly believe that “a picture is worth 1,000 words”, so we include 100+ pictures in our MLS listings. See sample pictures below…

• We will prepare online ads & “Just Listed Cards”. See sample ads below…

Ads in Spanish for the Foreign Buyers!

Ads in Spanish for the Foreign Buyers!

Ads in Spanish for the Foreign Buyers!

Ads in Spanish for the Foreign Buyers!

• We will create property brochures (that include the property description, pictures, floor plan, upgrades list, and the plat map) to be emailed to prospective buyers and Realtors. • We will input your listing in the MLS. This will include: property description, as many pictures as possible, upgrades list, floor plan, plat map, and the Seller's Disclosure. See samples below…

• We will have a Broker’s Open House and invite many local real estate companies & agents to pre-view your property. We will also invite neighbors to come and bring any of their family members or friends interested in buying in your community.

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• If allowed by the Home Owner’s Association, we will place a yard sign. • We will make the property easy to show. Making the property easy to show plays a big role in selling the home promptly. • We will personally handle all the phone call inquires, and make all showing appointments with you. • We will email Realtors when the property has been shown. The email will ask all Realtors for feedback on the home. We will provide any feedback we get to you on a regular basis. • We will keep you posted on a regular basis about the status of the sale of your home. We will provide you with monthly reports which will include the things that we have done to market your home, number of showings, any feedback given to us, number of Realtor.com visits from potential buyers, any new information about comparable homes for sale/pending sale/or sold in your neighborhood, and more. • We will make a video of your home and post it on YouTube and other social media web sites, so that people all over the world can see your property. You can view samples of some of our videos here: Toscana North Condo #1603 YouTube video Toscana North Condo #1210 YouTube video Toscana North Condo #608 YouTube video Parkland Home for Sale YouTube video

Ben & Mayra Manage over 30 different web sites that can be seen by EVERYONE IN THE WORLD! Depending on the city and community where your property is located, we will also input your listing into these web sites that we manage: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

www.BenAndMayraStern.com Florida Real Estate Boynton Beach Real Estate Briny Breezes Real Estate Gulf Stream Real Estate www.DelrayBeachFLRealEstate.info www.HighlandBeachRealEstate.info Toscana Highland Beach Florida www.ToscanaRealEstate.info www.BocaRatonFLRealEstate.info Deerfield Beach Real Estate Parkland Real Estate Coral Springs Real Estate www.BienesRaicesFlorida.info Bienes Raíces en Delray Beach Bienes Raíces en Highland Beach Bienes Raíces en Boca Raton Bienes Raíces en Deerfield Beach Bienes Raíces en Parkland Bienes Raíces en Coral Springs

Social Media Ben & Mayra Stern use social media such as YouTube, Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, WorldPress, Tumblr, and LinkedIn to promote their listings and services worldwide:

Our Social Media Sites…in English & Spanish! Toscana - YouTube Video Sample Highland Beach Club - YouTube Video Sample Follow Stern Realty on Facebook Follow Delray Beach Real Estate on Facebook Follow Highland Beach Real Estate on Facebook Follow Toscana Real Estate on Facebook Follow Toscana Highland Beach on Facebook Follow Boca Raton Real Estate on Facebook Follow Parkland Real Estate on Facebook Siga a Bienes Raíces en Florida en Facebook Siga a Bienes Raíces en Highland Beach Siga a Bienes Raíces en Boca Raton Stern Realty on Google+ Mayra Stern Google+ Posts Ben Stern Google+ Posts Follow Stern Realty on Twitter Follow Stern Realty on Pinterest Follow Stern Realty on WordPress Follow Stern Realty on Tumblr LinkedIn

More internet exposure for everyone to see your listing all over the world! • In addition, your listing will download directly from the MLS to many websites that includes a network of over 35 online partners including Zillow, aol.com, Yahoo.com, Homes.com, Local.com, RealtyTrac, HarmonHomes.com, HomeFinder.com, Trulia, Homescape, Point2 Homes and more - this is the largest syndication network available in the industry today. They are connected with MLS organizations covering about 85% of the nation’s brokers and agents. Listings can be distributed to over 50 national Web sites. These national sites and the sites that they power total more than 900 real estate search Web sites! • ListHub brings realty firms a comprehensive system for maximizing listing exposure and works seamlessly with the MLS system. To date, using ListHub will distribute our property listings to over 300 real estate websites.

Worldwide exposure! We market our properties to the world! •

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We belong to the following networking groups: Active Rain Real Estate Network , Luxury Properties Worldwide, Luxury Real Estate Network, Referrals Real Estate Canada, International Real Estate Sales and Marketing, Luxury Real Estate Europe, Luxury Homes Network, Global Relocation & Real Estate Networking, REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONALS GROUP , Residential Real Estate Referral Group , Global Real Estate Network, Florida Realtors Only, The Real Estate Networking Group, International REALTOR Member Networking, Luxury Realtors and Brokers, Coastal Star Highland Beach Group, Coastal Star Boca Raton Group, Coastal Star Delray Beach Group, UCAB Alumni worldwide, venezolanos en Boca Raton, venezolanos en Parkland, venezolanos en Coral Springs y Parkland, venezolanos en el exterior, Palm Beach Networking Group, Broward Networking Group, and many more. These groups give us, and our properties even more local, national, & international exposure. Our MLS listings will be translated into 29 languages+ We speak 5 languages to better assist our clients & potential buyers (English, Spanish, French, Dutch, and a little German). Florida is one of the major U.S. destinations of international residential real estate buyers. Approximately 25 percent of foreign home buyers purchasing U.S. property buy Florida properties. The 2015 survey shows that foreign sales remain an important segment of Florida’s residential market: International unit sales totaled 12 percent of Florida’s residential market. You can review this study by going to the following link: Profile of the International Home Buyer in Florida - 2015

We will handle all the details from beginning to end! • • • • • • •

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We will pre-qualify buyers. We will negotiate the sale. We will deliver any necessary documents such as contracts, HOA/Condo rules & regulations, disclosures, etc. to anyone involved in the transaction. We will prepare contract documents. We will arrange for the appraisal & inspections to be done, as well as study them. We will provide the contract documents, copy of the security deposit checks, title insurance, warranty deed, loan information, etc. to the title company. If a mortgage is required, we will provide the mortgage company with the contract, copy of the security deposit check, etc. so they can start the loan process immediately. We will keep in touch with all parties involved in the transaction throughout the entire process. Most importantly, we will provide your with a level of service that you rarely find in our industry. We will hold your hand from beginning to the end!

We Will Do All We Can to Add Your Name to Our List of Very Satisfied Customers!

We had a great year and we are very thankful that our clients gave us the opportunity to assist them in selling, or buying a property. We could not have made it without them! Thanks so much for trusting us with the sale or purchase of your home!

What our clients have said about our service! "Thank you both for all your hard work. The help with the small details was of tremendous value and will never be forgotten. Hopefully we can send business your way." Jack S. - Toscana in Highland Beach, FL Seller "We have used Ben and Mayra on both the buy-side and sell-side of our condo transactions and can highly recommend them for their effectiveness and skills. They are very knowledgeable about the local market and make effective use of on-line technologies in advertising their listings. They are hard working, energetic and accommodating to other brokers – even on short notice. They are very communicative, keeping us informed of all developments and feedbacks. They are very friendly and a pleasure to work with." Eric - Highland Beach, FL Buyer & Seller "We hired Stern Realty as our listing agent for our condo at Toscana in Highland Beach and as an agent for the purchase of a new condo in Florida. We could not have made a better choice. Ben and Mayra were a complete pleasure to work with, responsive, always willing to go the extra mile, and most importantly - nice people! They sold our condo in 10 days and found us a new home. We would highly recommend them to someone looking to buy or sell a home.” Peter S. – Toscana in Highland Beach, FL Seller and Buyer "Dear Mayra and Ben: I could not have found better agents to handle the sale of my condo apartment. I greatly appreciate your concern, guidance and thoroughness. Your help in every respect was above and beyond my expectations. Not only was your performance most efficient, but you made every effort to conclude the transaction to the satisfaction of all involved. It is without hesitation and with pleasure that I will recommend your services to others. Again, many thanks. It was marvelous dealing with you. Regards." Judith W. - Toscana in Highland Beach, FL Seller

"Services provided were excellent!" James Fink - Highland Beach, FL Rental "Thank you again for all of your help! You guys are the best!" Shanan K. - Boca Raton Rental "Realtors who did a superb job! I recommend them to everyone. They are the best. They are the most knowledgeable, professional & always do much more than expected." R. Thomas - Ocean Ridge, FL Buyer “ Mayra was a referral from a colleague at the office that worked with her several years ago. This colleague told me that I should have Mayra as my Realtor as she was very responsive and customer oriented. After working with Mayra to buy my first home I can say that “responsive and customer oriented” is a huge understatement, Mayra takes responsiveness to a new level by being almost immediately available to answer any question or concern you might have and her customer orientation is more akin to the care and patience of an old friend or family member than any service provider. I could not recommend anyone better to a first time home buyer. If you want a stress free experience and true outstanding customer intimacy there is no one better than Mayra. " Elias Albino & Fernanda Lima - Plantation, FL Buyer "Mayra, we both want to thank you for helping us find a rental property in Boynton Beach, FL. You worked quickly, and the communication with us was wonderful all along the way. You were professional in every way. We will recommend you when ever we get the chance, and are looking forward to working with you in the future. Thank you so much." Elaine and Harvey Stern (not a family member!) - Boynton Beach, FL Rental "Mayra & Ben are both warm and caring people who possess a tremendous knowledge of the South Florida Real Estate Market! They are such nice people to work with! Thanks so much for all of the great advice and help you've given to my kids!" Jeff C. - Boca Raton, FL Buyer "While working at Motorola Mayra and Ben assisted our Company with our expatriate housing. They managed short term and long term rentals as well as purchases and sales for our permanent transfers. The level of service they provide is superior and they always go above and beyond for their customers. They treat every client with TLC and I would recommend their services to anyone who is looking to buy or sell. I always received calls from my expats commending them for the level of service they provided." Natasha Maldonado, former Motorola Human Resources employee.

We give great customers service! "Mayra helped us get the right house for our needs. She will help you with all the questions that may arise during the search and negotiation of your house. Thanks Mayra!" Gerardo Sarmiento - Coral Springs, FL Buyer “Mayra has helped us on more than one occasion understand the intricacies of Real Estate. She is trustworthy and dedicated to the interests of her clients.” Danny Perez - Plantation, FL Buyer "Ben and Mayra are great to work with! They are knowledgeable, personable, fun and get the job done!" Kathleen Peterson - Boca Raton, FL Rental “Hi Ben and Mayra, We wanted to thank you once again for all of your effort during this process. We truly appreciate the many things you did to keep the house presentable and ready for showing. We are grateful to you for making this process so smooth given everything we had going on as well as being across the country. You have certainly surpassed anyone's expectations. We wish you all the best.” Joe and Meri Nikolson - Parkland, FL Seller “We wanted to thank you for the wonderful job you did in selling our home in Parkland Isles. We were very impressed with the efficiency and professional manner in which you handled every aspect - from listing, to showing, through closing. From our first meeting you gained our confidence, as your extensive experience was obvious. Helping us determine a fair selling price, guidance in showing it to its best advantage, arranging all showings based on our convenience, helping with negotiations when we received two full-price offers on the third day, scheduling and attending inspections, communicating with the buyer up to and through closing….the list goes on! The whole experience was a pleasure thanks to your professional and confident manner. We have already spread the word among our Parkland Isles’ neighbors and will continue to give you our highest recommendations.” Richard & Dorothy Turk - Parkland, FL Seller “Thank you again for another job well done! It truly has always been a pleasure doing business with you both. We appreciate your “special treatment” and your “old fashioned” neighborhood business manner; it’s nice to know there is still some of that out there. Once again, it was smooth sailing!” The Castillo Family - Parkland, FL Seller

Over 20 years of exemplary customer service! “We would like to express our gratitude to Mayra & Ben Stern for all the support and help given to us to successfully complete the sale of our former home“. Maria Luz Caballero and Hernan Mejia “…Your hard work, dedication, brochures and time really made the difference! Having my own real estate license (in another state) I know that you both went ‘beyond the call of duty’…” Karen Berg “…thank you for brilliantly handling the listing and sale of our home. Your attention to detail and constant communication made us feel confident in our decision to sign with you. It was fun seeing the review of our home on realtor.com. You did an excellent job providing a detailed description and selected wonderful photos that represented our home well. What amazed us the most is that we sold our home in ONLY THREE DAYS for 98% of our asking price! We have already recommended you as Realtors to several of our friends and neighbors. We know that they will receive the same excellent service that we received.” Deanna Remmich “…I would like to say that having you as the listing Realtors for the sale of our home made the process enjoyable. You always kept your word about anything that you said to us. You did such a great job of advertising our home that it was sold only four days from the time that we signed a contract with you. We were also able to negotiate a sale price that worked for us, specially in light of the fact that the price we received was the highest to date for our particular model. During the sale process you answered any question posed by us. You always returned our calls in a timely fashion. We had a great experience with two professionals from the time of listing until the time of closing. We could not have gotten any better service. We wholeheartedly recommend you two to list any of our former neighbor’s homes in Parkland Isles”. Neil & Michele Fogel

Why tell you what we can do, when we can have our past customers tell you! “Thanks again for a wonderful job! I would recommend you HIGHLY to anyone that was thinking of putting their house on the market! You were very professional and were always available to answer any of our questions”. Katie Swenson “…During the time of the sale of my old house and throughout and after the purchase of my new house, I found Mayra & Ben to be exemplary in every aspect of business. The two are absolutely the best I have ever worked with on the purchase and sale s of 6 other homes.” Michael Swann “…Ben and Mayra have been excellent Realtors to work with. They have helped us on more than one occasion to look for new homes and have recently helped us with the sale of our home in Parkland Isles. They are easy to get a hold of, up to date on what is happening in the market and most of all know what they are doing. We can strongly recommend Ben and Mayra as Realtors and have been more than happy with the help and services they have provided. They are a great team and we have loved working with them and will continue to work with them as the need arises in the future.” Jim & Melinda Caldwell “…We have sold 5 principal residence homes since our marriage 34 years ago… and we must say that working with you two has been a pleasure. Never any pressure on us to modify or change anything we requested is a big plus in our minds - just good sound advice coupled with working with us to make sure all aspects of this sale came to fruition was a testament to your professional and personal desire to “make things happen” for your clients. All in all - we have to tell you that you rate a 2 thumbs up with us!”. Bob & Jessi Lieberman "... I just wanted to send a quick thank you for helping me purchase my home. You two did everything you could to make this purchase happen. It was a great experience and could not have gone better. You were so on top of everything I asked. I will certainly use you both again and will give your name out as often as I can." Robin Meinders

We take customer service to a whole new level! “ Dear Ben and Mayra: Thank you for being so helpful in the purchase of a beautiful house. You guys kept in touch with us every step of the way. We felt very well oriented and confident through the whole process...We would definitely use your services if needed either in sale or purchase”. Hidalgo & Ivette Batista "...We can't thank Mayra & Ben enough for all your help in selling our home... Mayra for your thorough research behind a record appraisal, and Ben for everything from offering assistance with repairs to calming our nerves during a stressful move. Your combined utmost professionalism with personalized attention, and for that we gladly recommend your services to potential sellers or buyers in Parkland Isles!" The Omenson Family "...We wanted to thank Mayra & Ben again for the wonderful job they did selling our home. Their professionalism, organization and confident, calm demeanors made, what can be a stressful experience, a very pleasant one. One of the things that impressed us the most was how quickly they responded to any question or issue that arose. We have bought and sold many homes and have the stories, none of them good, to tell. Stern Realty Co. was by far the best experience we had, but the first one that didn't inspire more moving stories!" Sandy and John Costello “Both Yasemin and I also want to Thank You. Not only was it a pleasure doing business with you, it was also our pleasure seeing you in a most professional manner. Well done from both of us and we hope that our paths will once again cross for all the best reasons. We like doing business with good people and creating a friendly and positive relationship, as I feel we have done here. Good job and thanks for being there when we needed you the most. Do stay in touch." Frank and Yasemin Pressley “ Escribo esta recomendación para las personas de habla hispana. Mayra es la mejor Realtor de la zona. Es una persona muy intuitiva ya que supo interpretar nuestros gustos a pesar de la poca información que le pudimos proporcionar, superando nuestras expectativas. La recomiendo un 100%. Muy honesta y sincera. Gracias por ayudarnos!" Oscar Fuenmayor - Weston, FL Rental “Mayra fue nuestra guía en el momento de la venta de la casa. Nos ayudo paso a paso. Siempre estuvo presente cuando la necesitamos. Es una persona que domina cada aspecto del mercado y entiende las necesidades de sus clientes. Gracias por tu ayuda.” Luis Pestana - Boca Raton, FL Seller

Costly mistakes that you should know about before you list your condo for sale with anyone else! We are spilling the beans! It is easier to get a listing when you tell the seller what he/she wants to hear. Many agents tell prospective sellers a sales price that is not that realistic so that the property owner is more willing to list with them than with another real estate agent interviewing for the same listing. As nice as it sounds to hear that you can get a higher price for your home, not listening to the agents that are being more honest & giving you a more realistic selling price based on the price of actual sold properties, will probably not do you any good. Your property will sit for months on the market without selling, while you help other comparable properties sell. Buyers in this market are very knowledgeable and computer savvy. With all the information out there, they will know which properties are a better value, and those will be the ones that sell. Many overpriced homes will never sell, they become expireds. It has been proven, that if you price your property right from the beginning, you will sell it faster, and in many cases, even for more money than you would have gotten if you overprice your home. A property that has been on the market for so long makes buyers think that there is something wrong with it, or they will think that the owner is just not realistic, so they will pass and not even bother. As a seller, you might know that you will be flexible & negotiable once you get an offer, but all those buyers and agents out there do not know that. So, do you want to list with an honest agent that told you the truth from the beginning, or the one that did not? Real estate commissions are completely negotiable between the listing broker and the seller. These two parties can agree on any amount whatsoever.

The real estate commission is not always split 50% - 50% among the real estate agents involved in the transaction, as many people believe, this too can be negotiated. If two different real estate companies are offering to sell your property for the same commission, it does not necessarily mean that the terms will be the same. A listing agent might split the commission in half (2.5% to the listing agent, and 2.5% to the selling agent that brings the buyer). The other listing agent (like Stern Realty Co. does) might keep only 2%, and give 3% to the selling agent. Why should you care? And why do we keep less money and offer more to the selling agents? The answer is simple. We want to motivate all other agents in the MLS (10,000+) to bring a buyer and sell our listing. If the commission offered to them is much less than what other listings for similar properties are paying, we might not have as many motivated agents trying hard to show and sell our listings. Therefore, your listing might never sell, or might sell for a lot less than it should, costing you thousands of dollars. If there are 25 listings for sale in your community, and most of the listings are offering the agents that bring the buyer 3% commission, and your agent is only offering to pay them 2.5%, there might be a good chance that some real estate agents might not show your listing at all with so many others to show that are offering to pay them more in commission. True, some agents will do the right thing, and show all the listings that fit their customer’s criteria, but many might not do the right thing. This mistake, can cost you thousands and valuable time on the market! We want to give our customers a fair commission rate that will save them some money (compared to a 6% commission), but at the same time, we don’t want to sacrifice on the exposure that our customers will get. We are a full service real estate company with low commission rates. We pass on the savings to our customers! What if the listing agent brings the buyer? Most agents get paid the whole commission. If we sell your condo to our own buyer, we will charge you ONLY 4% commission! With Toscana listings, that can mean thousands of dollars for the sellers. When you hire an agent, you might not get what you expect. Many owners list with an agent thinking that they will only have that one “very qualified” agent to handle their transaction, but some agents might have their assistant, or other less qualified, new, real estate agent doing some of their work. We were all new in the business once, but, just make sure that you know who will be working for you, and know what you are getting for the money. Ben has been doing real estate since 1990, and Mayra got her license in 1996. Combined, we have over 40 years experience in the real estate business. When you hire Ben & Mayra, we are the only ones working for you. Having someone in the team that is not that qualified or experienced, might cost you thousands. And you might be even paying more in commissions but getting less customer service & experience.

About franchise, company, and processing fees. Before the internet took off, paying more in commission to a “global” real estate company with thousands of offices worldwide made sense. It was not that easy to get international buyers without that. These days, with so many internet real estate sites such as Realtor.com and Zillow.com, the need to be part of a big company is less. Because we own our real estate company, we do not have to pay franchise fees, company fees, etc. we can pass the savings on to our customers. We never charge our sellers a processing fee either. Many companies out there also charge their clients between $299 - $500 in addition to the real estate commission when selling. Why pay more to get the same or even more service? More showings means a faster sale, and maybe even more offers and a higher price when selling! The easier a property it is to show, the more showings you will have, the faster it sells, and the more money you might get. We accompany the showings of all of our listings in Toscana. Since we live here, it is very easy for us to accommodate the showings that other real estate agents request, even on moment’s notice. Requests that you can only show between this time and that time on specific days of the week, or the need to give 24+ hours notice to show a property, is a turn off for other agents trying to show listings to a customer during a specific time of the day. Most agents will not go back to show those hard to show listings another day when it is convenient for the owner or the agent to show it. Even if an agent tells you that they will accompany every showing, chances are that if the agent does not live in the community, the showings will not be as easy as someone that lives in the community. With the two of us living in Toscana, chances are, we can accommodate every single showing request. Who represents you? We represent YOU as “Single Agents”, unless we bring our own buyer - then we become “Transaction Brokers” to be fair to both parties involved in the transaction. Please, keep in mind that we reduce our commission if we procure the buyer of the property. Most other real estate agents are “Transaction Brokers” from the beginning, even if the buyer comes with a different agent that represents them. “Single Agency” duties includes: loyalty, confidentiality, obedience, and full disclosure, which are not included as “Transaction Broker” duties. A Transaction Broker provides you with a limited form of representation. Would you pay an attorney a high fee to NOT fully represent you?

How about double dipping? Some real estate agents want to double dip (they want to find the buyer of the property they listed on their own, that way they keep the whole commission for themselves) as much as possible and to do so, they might make some of their listings hard to show to other agents. Only towards the end of the listing agreement (when they are about to lose the listing), they start making more of an effort to show their listings to other agents. We will charge the sellers less total commission if we procure the buyer of the property, but many other agents don’t. The more showings a seller has, the more chances they will receive multiple offers. We make it easier for other agents to show our listings, even on moment’s notice. We also try to show it to as many of our own buyers as possible. We want to get the most exposure for our listings so the sellers can choose the best offer for them based on their particular situation. Being a good real estate agent comes with experience and years in the business. Many people might not be aware that getting a real estate license in Florida is not that hard to do. After you take the “63-hour Sales Associate Pre-License Course” and take the state exam, you can go sell a home. This course, as informative as it is, does not cover many of the important day to day issues a real estate agent can expect to encounter in a transaction…most of what we have learned in our combined 40+ years in real estate came from experience. Even if a new agent is with a well known national real estate company, he/she is still new, and the inexperience & mistakes can cost you thousands of dollars. Choosing a real estate agent because he/she is a friend or a family member’s friend, does not make them the most qualified agent to sell your home. Your property is probably one of your biggest assets, and you should only trust your property to someone with enough experience. Listing length matters. Some real estate agents try to lock a seller into a long term 1 year listing. We have flexible terms and our listing contracts are for less time. If we need more time and you are happy with our service, we can extend the listing agreement as needed. If you sign a 1 year listing agreement right away, you are now locked into a long term contract with an agent. If you are not satisfied with the service or results for any reason, you might not be able to get out and you are stuck with an agent that you might not be happy with.

Beware of kickbacks! Did you know that for a real estate agent to give back a kickback to someone unlicensed as a real estate agent for referring her/him a customer, is not legal in the state of Florida? When someone refers you to a service provider, please make sure that the referral comes from the heart, because that person gives exceptional service, not because they are getting a kickback for the referral. The best referrals come from past customers! Magazine & newspaper ads most of the time don’t help you sell your home! While most people read magazines and newspapers, statistics show that 92% of the buyers go online to search for properties (2014 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers), and real estate agents were viewed as a useful information source by 98 percent of buyers who used an agent while searching for a home. By the time ads on a magazine come out, chances are the property is already sold, or the price changed. Most of those ads don’t mention if the community is pet friendly, how much the monthly maintenance is, or if the home is in a membership required community, among other important information that the buyers will need to know to proceed. The online description of the properties includes that information. Many real estate companies use these ads to show sellers why they are a better choice. In reality, most serious buyers are either looking online, and/or using a real estate agent to help them find a home. Chances of a buyer buying a property from an ad in a magazine or the newspaper are slim. Many real estate companies justify charging a seller more in commissions to compensate paying for the ads that, in reality, just promote their business and not a property. Most listings sell through the MLS in collaboration with other real estate agents; that is why we place over 100 pictures of a property in the MLS, and compensate the selling agent as much as possible to make sure your property sells as fast as possible, for the best possible price. Because we do not spend thousands of dollars on magazine ads that don’t really help sellers sell their property, we can pass those savings on to our sellers and give them a big break in the commission. So, ask yourself, do you want to pay more in commissions just to promote someone’s business?

If you are thinking of selling, please make sure you do not make any of these costly mistakes! Contact us and we will save you money and give you honest, excellent service!

We hope that this presentation showed you how much we will do to sell you property for the highest possible price, in the shortest amount of time, and with the best customer service there is. We will work very hard to add your name to our list of very satisfied customers! Please contact Ben & Mayra Stern at 561-715-0314 or 561-908-2474 to get started!