(619) 977-7777 kevin@reef-realty.com

Selling a House

What to Expect

Congratulations on making a tough decision to sell your home. It’s not always an easy one. The process upon which you are about to embark is a very involved one.

A great agent will be an expert in every one of these steps in the process.

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The most accurate market value
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Should you get a pre-sale inspection?
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What repairs and/or preparations need to be completed before listing
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What are you doing about replacement housing?
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The most effective marketing strategy including:
  • The best pricing strategy
  • The best time / season to list your home (if you have the flexibility)
  • How to best incentivize the highest number of qualified buyers to see your home

Tools & Resources

Here are some tools to help you through the various stages of the process:

home value

Your Home Value

home seller's guide

Home Sellers Guide

seller's agent

Choosing A Listing Agent

It may seem like a lot you have to know for a successful sale, right? If you’re not an expert in ALL these areas, give us a call and let us guide you through the process.

Choosing A Listing Agent

You have so many options when it comes to choosing a real estate broker to represent you in the sale or purchase of your home. What it boils down to is picking someone that you can trust. And when you think about it, TRUST is made up of two critical elements — competence and character. Find an experienced broker of high character and unsurpassed levels of competence and you’ve found the right guy!

Competence

Ask yourself a few questions about any broker you are considering…
Does your broker have two+ decades and hundreds of transactions of experience under his belt?

We do. A veteran broker once said to me early in my career, “You don’t even know what you don’t know”. It turns out, she was right!  The cryptic message she was trying to tell me way back then was that until you have a couple decades of full-time experience behind you, you just haven’t run into enough of the issues that will always come up in your real estate career.  Knowing how to avoid and/or handle those issues in the best interests of your client only comes with experience.  And there are many ways that our experience now translates into real dollars for you, our clients.

Does your broker have an appraisal background and intimately understand the valuation and economics of real property?

We do.  We started our career in real estate working on the appraisal side of the industry.  Gaining that strong, practical education in the economics and valuation of real property is knowledge that comes into play during every single real estate transaction. Being able to formulate a strong, defendable value opinion on behalf of our clients is a critical part of the negotiations.  How can you negotiate on behalf of your client if you can’t defend your own position?  You can’t.  We constantly tap in to this skill set to better serve our clients. It helps us negotiate better terms for you every time and is one of the many ways you benefit in the end.

Does your broker have a construction background? Has he ever built anything? Does he know how to look out for you when it comes to the physical aspects of the home you are considering selling?

There is so much to learn and know about the construction of your home.  Having someone on your side that has in-depth experience and understanding of construction components and techniques helps you avoid dozens of potential pitfalls and can save you tens of thousands. We have that experience. We have purchased, built, renovated, subdivided, developed hundreds of properties for our own account over a span of several decades.  When a buyer asks for a substantial credit during your transaction based on some inspector’s report, are you going to know if its really an issue or not?  Are you going to know if its a $5k issue or a $50k issue?  We will.  And we will guide through the maze of construction and repairs issues that come up in every transaction.

Character

Odds are poor that you meet an agent that admits they are of poor character. So instead of us praising ourselves, let’s see what so many other people are saying about our character and the experiences they had with us…

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We were about to list our house with Kevin right when the pandemic hit. We followed all Kevin’s advice and in hindsight, glad we did. To our delight and with Kevin’s guidance, we ended up selling our house for a price that was about $100k higher than all the market data justified. We felt very confident that all Kevin’s advice and actions were in our best interests. And his knowledge base and experience are well beyond all the other agents we know. You think things like that don’t matter… but they do. We’re using Kevin again to purchase our new home and would confidently recommend you do the same.

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Travis & Nora Low
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I would have never been able to do this without Kevin’s experience and guidance. He treated the negotiations as if they were his own. There were times when he could have taken the “easy” route and been done with it. Instead he took the hard route and protected my best interests instead. He proved to be an excellent negotiator and found compensation for me that I would never have even requested. He was 100% transparent and highly responsive to my never ending questions. Anyone considering a real estate transaction would be hard pressed to find a better broker.

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Jane Wiese
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If you want a broker that is dedicated, on top of everything, follows through, and takes care of you in more ways than you realized were even needed, Kevin is your guy. He performance during my short sale was outstanding and impressive. He truly cares about his clients and it’s no wonder we end up being his friends. I was primarily dealing with a bank. If you are in need of a hero to battle the banks in a short-sale, I would 1000% recommend Kevin. If it wasn’t for his efforts, his round the clock diligence and his determination to help me accomplish my goals, I wouldn’t have gotten out of the tough situation I was in. A big thank you to Kevin and to his team. Simply Fabulous!!

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Tena Gooden
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Kevin took what is an overwhelming process, and made it as seamless as possible for me! I had no idea how involved a real estate transaction could be. Thank goodness for Kevin’s guidance and expertise. I have to admit, I was really nervous and even freaked out at a couple points during my transaction. Kevin was part counselor, part contractor, and all real estate broker extraordinaire!

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Layla Yarr
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Kevin is a true professional with exceptional knowledge of the San Diego real estate market. In spite of the many challenges of this particular transaction, including my travel schedule and the seller being somewhat difficult to work with, Kevin and his team succeeded in completing the transaction while maintaining excellent communication and assistance to me throughout. The work and diligence to his clients that I experienced from Kevin is unparalleled and I highly recommend Kevin for any real estate transaction.

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Jennifer DeGier
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Kevin’s knowledge, advice and negotiating skills saved me multiples of the few thousand I would have been rebated from the other agent. His construction experience proved to be invaluable when addressing any physical conditions during the inspection. And his extensive experience in executing a real estate transaction help to point out and avoid all the potential pit falls I might have stumbled in to. Kevin negotiated for every penny he could on my behalf and I was pleasantly surprised to see how he took my transaction so very personally. He paid great attention to the detail needed which gave me great comfort and confidence in working with him and knowing the job was getting done right. I didn’t really know how involved a good real estate needs to be and how crucial their experience is. Now I know and in hindsight, I could have never bought my home without him. I can and do confidently recommend using Kevin’s representation if the opportunity ever arises.

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Matt Gillott
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Kevin is an incredibly talented and professional investor. With lightning speed he brings in his highly skilled and proficient sub-contractors and within hours, there are answers and solutions, to otherwise challenging issues. Kevin treats the clients with the utmost care and respect, which is an honorable trait for someone with his track record of success. Our last deal required a true “Hail Mary” pass but we pulled it off while working together for the benefit of the entire team! I look forward to many more successful deals with Kevin.

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Debbie Keller
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Once again we went back to Kevin to help us execute our 4th real estate transaction with him. And once again he did not disappoint. Our deep understanding of Kevin’s work experience and expertise made coming back to Kevin an easy decision. His upbeat personality and sense of humor makes him easy to work with, but when it comes to negotiating a real estate transaction, he takes his job very seriously and very personally. I always know he’s acting in our best interest and making us a priority. In our most recent transaction, after several counter offers, we got to a place in the negotiations where we were ready to accept. Although we were happy with the negotiated terms, Kevin felt there was a little more being left on the table. Sure enough, he got us another $10k off the purchase price. In the grand scheme of things, $10k isn’t a huge number but it speaks loudly about how he does his job. I highly recommend Kevin to anyone looking for a ‘best in industry’ agent, and trust that he will continue to exceed our expectations with our next transaction.

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John Adams, Ph.D.
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You hear realtors boast of their levels of experience all the time. Often it’s just rhetoric – but not in Kevin’s case. I didn’t know his 25+ years of experience in real estate was going to be so obviously helpful but it was. Especially in today’s challenging buy-side housing market, Kevin’s understanding of all things real estate from construction, finance, and legal literally translated to real strategic value and real dollars. In our recent transaction the seller had a rookie agent. It was so advantageous to have Kevin’s representation as our buyer agent to work with a newbie to the industry. A lesser agent would never have overcome the hurdles he did. We highly recommend Kevin’s service and would work with him again without hesitation.

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Chad Amon
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We dropped about the most complex real estate transaction on Kevin that any of us have ever seen. There was a foreclosure, an eviction, an unlawful detainer action, and a quiet title action all on this one property at one point or another during the transaction. Kevin took everything in stride overcoming all obstacles and even kept the bank from taking the property back on numerous occasions. His advice, experience and his contacts lead us down the right path. We recouped our original investment plus a lot more making it all worthwhile in the end. I know a lot of real estate guys but I don’t know another that would have persevered and ultimately succeeded in achieving our goals like Kevin did on this property. In the end, after the chaos subsided, Kevin presented us with multiple offers and a fast, all-cash close on a very complicated transaction. You would be hard pressed to find better representation.

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Dema Zlotin
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I’ve represented Kevin Dougherty on three closings so far, and Kevin has impressed me with his quick decisions and tenacity. He’ll also look for creative solutions to get the deal closed. And Kevin has a good support team to help overcome the many hurdles in the property-buying process. Kevin is clearly an experienced buyer, and I would highly recommend him to any investor who might consider bringing him on as a partner.

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Sean Hillier
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Kevin’s knowledge of everything real estate is so far above his peers and colleagues, its recognizable upon meeting him. You know you are going to be working with a person who has integrated real estate into his life and authentically enjoys it. He is genuinely devoted to his clients giving his all to ANY type of real estate transaction. He oddly enjoys reading contracts word for word, line by line to ensure there are no surprises. His communication is thorough throughout the process which I found crucial. His level of professionalism and steady, consistent demeanor made every meeting and conversation productive and provided me with a clear understanding of what was next.

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Jeanne David
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Besides being a good friend, Kevin also did a fantastic job for me in selling my home. He undertook the role right as the market began the downturn. He stuck with it and, through his diligence alone, got the property moved under very difficult circumstances. Many thanks.

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Bob Bright
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Kevin’s skill in identifying a good fit, good value and projecting a clients needs that they aren’t yet aware of are invaluable. It’s not always immediately obvious but he ends up being spot on with almost almost all of his projections.

He’s been at this for decades, there’s almost nothing he hasn’t seen, so he can essentially project the behaviors of sellers and buyers as if he’s inside their heads. He knows where to probe when viewing properties (think boundaries, easements, structural repairs, associated costs) to protect your interests, and he has the perspective both from his experience as an agent but also his development background to perfectly advise you on what ‘little stuff’ shouldn’t get in the way of the big picture. His skill in this regard is incredibly valuable – especially when there’s big money on the line. Sometimes every small thing feels like a huge deal. He lets you know when it is and when it isn’t.

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Chris W
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Kevin is highly competent, analytic, down to earth, and a good communicator. He is patient with the inevitable client neurosis and he gets the job done right.

If we ever had to buy or sell again, I wouldn’t hesitate to enlist his services for a 4th time and beyond. You cant put a price on someone who is experienced beyond belief, unquestionably loyal to your interests as clients, understands the market and has a keen eye for evaluating property fit, value and design potential.

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Chris W
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I did a real estate transaction previously before I knew Kevin. It was nothing like this. I now have a new appreciation for what an exemplary agent can accomplish. We learned a lot from Kevin and we are literally now set for life. I can’t recommend Kevin and Reef Realty highly enough.

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Peter Holmes & Mandy Stephens
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When we first started working with Kevin, he said his 25 years of experience was going to help us in many way but we took that comment with a grain of salt. He was right. Looking back, his efforts and experience really did make the difference in achieving our goals.

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Johnny & Jesse McMillan

Your Home Value

The wrong way… We can give you a value for your home based on an AVM (Automated Valuation Model) just like most of the websites on the internet do these days. This method uses algorithms to look at all the public data available like size, general location, year built, bedroom and bathroom count, pools and compares your property to recent comparable sales in the area that match that same criteria. Sometimes this method is accurate but frequently its not. Here’s why… those algorithms don’t take some very critical information in to consideration like: condition, views, upgrades, topography, floor plan, outdoor decks, landscape and functionality. We think you might agree that these are some pretty critical elements of your house that should be considered. So if you don’t mind about a 30% margin of error, this method might be ok for you.

If you do want quick value opinion, this tool, unlike all the others takes your input into consideration and allows you to “tune” your home’s value based on your purchase date, purchase price and the changes in the market since that time. This the best automated valuation tool we’ve seen yet. Or better still…

The right way… Valuation is not an exact science. That’s why an algorithm programmed into a computer rarely does a good job… and frequently does a horrible job. Hard to believe but taking the human element out of every task in this world isn’t always best thing to do. We use a bulletproof, 4-step process to formulate our value opinions on your home. And we confidently defend that value opinion when it comes time to negotiate the sale of your property. Our value opinion is determined by considering four different approaches and coming to a confident value after assessing them all. Those approaches include:

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The AVM value described above

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The Case-Shiller Index value (we determine your value based on the S&P leading housing index data)

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A desk top appraisal

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A field appraisal

Of course this method takes much knowledge, experience and time to complete… around 6 hours instead of 6 seconds. We are happy to provide this service free of charge to our clients.

Our 20 years of experience will take into account all of the right factors that must be considered to come up with an accurate AVM.

We have yet to find another real estate brokerage that knows how to or does this work for their clients!

Ready to talk next steps?

Let us help you get the most out of your investment.

Contact us today to schedule a consultation and learn more about how we can help you sell your home quickly and for top dollar.