SELLING YOUR HOME There are many things to consider when you decide to sell your home and in today's market, it is critical to be represented by a seasoned expert who can help make your home selling experience a smooth and successful one. As your Seller's Agent, what Vicki and her team at Lake & Company Real Estate offers is unique. Vicki doesn't just LIST your home she will MARKET it and get as many qualified buyers as possible into your home until it is SOLD. We have put together some common key topics to help prepare you.

SERVICES PROVIDED TO SELLERS *Vicki's objectives are the following: 1) To get as many qualified buyers as possible into your home until it is SOLD. 2) To communicate the results of her activities weekly to you. 3) To assist you in getting the highest possible dollar value for your property, in the least amount of time, with the least amount of inconvenience to you. *Here is Vicki's plan of action: Vicki implements the Lake & Company Marketing Program which uses five basic marketing procedures to obtain the best price for your home: 1. Analysis 2. Preparation 3. Exposure 4. Negotiation 5. Closing We submit this marketing program for your approval as a means of describing the satisfaction you can expect when you employ Vicki Stewart and her team at Lake & Company Real Estate as your marketing representative. Step 1: Analysis To arrive at a reasonable estimation of market value, it is necessary to study the sales prices of other homes in your area. We look at the price each seller was asking, the home's final sales price, how long it was on the market and the terms under which it sold. In comparing homes, it is nearly impossible to find an identical match, so it is important to make accurate adjustments for size, condition and location. Pricing a home correctly at the beginning is one of the most critically important steps. Homes that are overpriced often just sit, becoming "shop-worn" and resulting in a lower sales price than they deserve. Step 2: Preparation When your home looks its best, it will generate buyer interest and give you more sales opportunities of better quality. As well, this demand for your home gives you greater negotiating strength and will result in a higher sales price. Make sure your house has a clean, fresh look and you will be happy with the results. If your house is empty, you may also want to discuss "staging" it with select furnishings provided by a staging professional. Buyers often make decisions based on their emotional response to what they see. A clean, sharp home is guaranteed to bring the results you want. Step 3: Exposure Since our goal is to crate satisfied customers and the best possible marketing environment, we provide the following services to help you make informed decisions and market your home effectively. A. Submit your listing to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS), which allows thousands of real estate professionals and buyers to find information on your listing. B. Provide national exposure on the "Featured Listings" page of the popular Lake & Company website, including a photo and summary of your home's features. We receive requests for information on our listings from buyers across the nation. C. Hold broker's open houses to encourage maximum exposure of your home to real estate professionals. D. Hold weekend open houses whenever convenient for you. This will allow the general public to view to view your home and generate buyer interest. E. Advertise to local, regional, and neighborhood newspapers on a regular basis. F. Advertise on the inside front cover of the Harmon Homes magazine, a free publication that receives wide circulation. G. Show your home to all qualified buyers. Many have been referred to us by satisfied customers. Others have chosen to work with Lake & Company through their interest in another of our listings. H. Create flyers which help both real estate professionals and buyers to focus on the special features of your home. I. Be personally present to protect your best interests when any and all offers are presented to you. J. Help with the negotiations and, if the offer isn't acceptable as is, assist with the counter-offer. K. Inspect and approve the buyer's house if the buyer must sell that house contingent to buying yours. Step 4: Negotiation Buyers will often offer much less than your asking price. Your Lake & Company Real Estate representative is skilled in how to strike a balance between the price you have asked for your home and the price that is being offered. It is important that an agreement satisfy both the seller and the buyer and be in line with the fair market value of the home. We know how to create a win-win situation so that both parties feel they've gotten a "good deal". Step 5: Closing After there has been an agreement, loan deadlines have to be made, inspections (if any) must be cleared in writing, title insurance must both be ordered and cleared in writing and communication must be ongoing with escrow processors. We manage these details on a daily basis and will keep you informed on the progress of the closing. FOR SALE BY OWNER > WHEN SELLING YOUR OWN HOME, PLEASE CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING: * Most people do not know how to write a contract that is certain to be valid. * You can show but one property; today homes are bought by comparison. * The average visitor rarely discusses their tastes and requirements with you, yet these must be brought into the open. * It can be awkward for you to "follow up" since this at once will be interpreted as your anxiety to sell in a hurry. * The buyer will not readily discuss his/her financial status with you. * You do not have expert knowledge of the current home loan market. * A buyer will often offer much less than your asking price. It can be very difficult to negotiate a price and terms. A skilled real estate professional knows how to achieve a win-win situation. * You have no way to attract qualified buyers. You may show your property to 100 would be buyers, spend time, money, and effort - and still eventually contract with a real estate professional who is able to screen prospects for you. * You may accept an insincere offer, then spend months - perhaps in litigation - to free your property in order to put it on the market once more. * If a Buyer's personality conflicts with yours, the tension generated can destroy a good sale. The Realtor, as a third party, can diplomatically consummate the sale. * The Realtor can provide total exposure of your property - locally, to thousands of real estate professionals and their qualified buyers; nationally, through the popular Lake website where your home would appear in the "featured listings" section. Total exposure brings the best price, it generates qualified buyers who will compete for your property.

HOMEOWNER'S CHECKLIST With a little help from you, your home can be sold more quickly and at a better price. These tips have proved invaluable to owners and are worth special attention. 1. First impressions are lasting. The front door greets the prospect. Make sure it is fresh, clean and scrubbed looking. Keep the lawn trimmed and edged and the yard free of refuse. Walks, steps, and driveways should be clear of snow, ice, and debris. 2. Decorate for a quick sale. Faded walls and worn woodwork reduce appeal. Why try to tell the prospect how your home could look when a little redecorating can show it? A quicker sale at a higher price will result. 3. Let the sun shine in. Open the draperies and curtains to show how cheerful your home can be. 4. Fix the faucet! Dripping water discolors sinks and suggests faulty plumbing. 5. Repairs can make a big difference. Loose knobs, sticking doors and windows, warped cabinet drawers and other minor flaws detract from the home value. Have them fixed. 6. From top to bottom. Display the full value of your attic, basement, and other utility space by removing all unnecessary articles. Brighten dark basements by painting walls. 7. Safety first. Keep stairways clear. Avoid cluttered appearance and possible injuries. 8. Make closets look bigger. Neat, well ordered closets show that space is ample. 9. Bathrooms help sell homes. Repair all caulking in showers and bathtubs. Make this room sparkle. 10. Arrange bedrooms neatly. Remove excess furniture. Use attractive bedspreads and curtains. 11. Can you see the light. Illumination is like a welcome sign. The potential buyer will feel a glowing warmth when you turn on all your lights. 12. Three's a crowd. Avoid having too many people present during inspections. The potential buyer will feel like an intruder and will hurry through the house. 13. Music is mellow. Turn off the television and have only soft music on the radio or stereo. 14. Pets underfoot? Keep them out of the way, preferably out of the house. 15. Silence is golden. Buyers want to inspect your house, not pay a social call. Don't force conversation. 16. Be it ever so humble. Never apologize for the appearance of your home. Let the trained salesperson answer any objections. 17. In the background. The salesperson knows the buyers requirements and can better emphasize the features of your home when you don't tag along. 18. Why put the cart before the horse? Trying to dispose of furniture and furnishings to the potential buyer before the buyer has purchased the house often loses a sale. 19. Don't oversell. You house will sell itself if it's what the buyer is looking for. THE HIGH COST OF OVERPRICING The most critical step in preparing to market a home is determining the listing price. All sellers would like to realize the highest possible return from their property. It is obvious that pricing a property too low cannot provide the highest return; it is less obvious but also true that pricing a property too high will produce less than the best return. The right price produces the best return. Too high a price is costly because it causes a property to miss its market. When a price is too high, those buyers for whom the home would be right won't see the house because it is out of their price range. Buyers who are in the price range suggested by the asking price will not see the property as a good value and will buy something else. Further, agents will be reluctant to show the property, except perhaps to make a competing property look like a good buy. Good agents are not those who can sell overpriced homes to gullible buyers; good agents are those who present to buyers homes which are good, fair values. Sellers often feel that they want to test the market at a high price. While there may seem to be o harm in starting high and lowering the price if necessary, testing the market can be quite risky. A property receives its fullest exposure in the first three to five weeks on the market. The best buyers for any property are those choice prospects who will see a property during those first weeks. If it does not appear to be a good value, they will decide not to buy, and it is rare that such buyers return to a property later, even if the price is reduced. Thus, the seller who tests the market may turn away the best of his potential market. Another danger of testing the market is that the seller will come to believe in what started out as an exploratory price. Even when the market provides evidence that the price is too high, the seller will be unwilling to reduce the price or may turn down an offer that is too low relative to the asking price, but is actually the best offer that will be received. In an extreme example, a seller whose house was listed at $600,000 turned down an early offer of $450,000; a year and a half later the house sold only after the asking price was reduced to $395,000. Pricing a home is part art and part science. Like science, the pricing should be based on evidence - the prices paid for comparable properties in recent sales. However, since no two homes are exactly alike, the evidence must be evaluated and a judgment reached. Because each of us has a great emotional attachment to our own home, the judgment of professional agents who can take a detached viewpoint is vital. The right price produces the best return. The cost of overpricing can be very high. EXPOSURE ~ THE KEY TO A SUCCESSFUL SALE Proper marketing of your home consists of many things, but by far the most important of these is exposure to all buyers. As a member of the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS), Independant Brokers Association (IBA) and National Association of Realtors (NAR), Lake & Company is positioned to provide the optimum exposure of your home available in today's market. The Northwest Multiple Listing Service consists of approxiamately 800 companies with more that 14,000 agents. Virtually every residential real estate company in the area is a member. The goal of this organization is to share our listings with all companies so that the best prospect for your home can be found. For example, it is not uncommon for an agent in Bellevue to have buyers for a home in Seattle because they are selling their home in Bellevue to move to Seattle. It is essential that sellers understand the importance of exposing thier home to all companies prior to acceptin an offer. Total exposure gives sellers the opportunity to attract the best buyers - those who find the home ideal for them and therefore are willing to pay top price. Some listing agents have been known to encourage sellers to accept an offer on their home from a listing company agent who has shown the home prior to exposure to all companies. This is rarely in the best interest of the seller. It has been the policy of Lake & Company for many years to advise sellers not to accept any offers until their home has been exposed to as many buyers as possible through the NWMLS computer. Agents who suggest that sellers do otherwise are representing themselves and not truly representing the sellers. At Lake & Company, your best interests are our #1 priority. Michael Skahen Broker/President

Lake & Company Real Estate 7801 Green Lake Drive North ~ Seattle, Washington 98103 © 2005 Vicki Stewart. Seattle, WA, USA. All Rights Reserved. This website has been prepared by Vicki Stewart and Lake & Company Real Estate. The purpose of this website is to introduce you to our services and to serve as a resource for real estate information. While we make every effort to maintain the accuracy of the information contained in this website, the information is provided as a courtesy and is not a guarantee. All information should be independently verified to your satisfaction. Properties subject to prior sale or rental.