Real estate agent shakes hands with new homeowners

Sell Properties Faster, Smart Home Battle, Home Equity Hits High, and Humor Equals Success

Listen, watch, read, and follow the latest and greatest in real estate insights—January 12th edition.

LISTEN: 16 tips for selling properties faster and for more

On this episode of the BiggerPockets podcast, your hosts talk about selling properties for top dollar—and selling them quickly. Some tips are no-brainers. Others might just blow your mind. Here are some highlights:

(:06) The popular train of thought on home showings: as many as possible. Not!
(:23) Targeted people looking at the house are the ones who matter.
(10:55) Podcast will cover 16 ways to sell your property faster.
(10:59) #1—Have a prelisting inspection performed by a professional inspector.
(17:43) #2—Clean up the mess in the house.
(21:12) #3—Make sure the home passes the smell test.
(25:08) #4—Take pictures of the house that are good—but realistic to weed out potential buyers who won’t be interested once they view the house in person.
(28:48) #5—Be available for any questions potential buyers might have.

 

WATCH: Who’s winning the fight for the ‘smart’ home?

Who’s “smarter”? Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant? Aaron Emigh, Brilliant Co-Founder and CEO, talks about his experience at the Consumer Electronics Show, giving his take on the battle between voice-controlled devices Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.

 

READ: Home equity hits record high, and here’s how homeowners are spending it

According to analysts, 42 million homeowners are sitting on $5.5 trillion in tappable equity, which is up $3 trillion from 2012 when the housing market last bottomed. What are they doing with all that cash?
1. They are renovating up a storm.
2. They are educating themselves.
3. They are paying down debt.
4. They are taking the cash out to make more cash, including investing in the stock market.

Read the full article here.

FOLLOW: Technology and humor spell success for Illinois agent Matt Pittman

Back in November, we profiled real estate agent Matt Pittman, who has a talent for real estate—and for connecting with potential clients quite creatively on social media. You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattystruck and Instagram @mattystruck and you won’t want to miss his YouTube Channel: