Our Mission Statement for Sellers:

How we reduce your expenses:

• Commission Plan. We provide our sellers with a 100% transparent, clearly-defined, competitive, and unique commission plan right from the start, which includes a listing broker commission (Olsen Ziegler Realty) and a buyer broker commission.
• Listing Broker Commission: 3% on the first $100,000 of sale price, and 2% on the balance, up to a $500,000 sales price. No listing broker commission over $500,000.  $3,000 minimum commission for a sales price under $100,000.
• Buyer Broker Commission: 3% on the 1st $100,000 and 2% on the balance of the sales price.  For certain eastside communities, we offer buyer brokers an additional one-half percent.
• Low Variable Title/Escrow Fees. We DO NOT own, nor have any affiliated business arrangements (ABA), Joint Ventures (JV), nor have we purchased shares of ownership in any title or escrow company. We believe in finding and recommending independently owned service providers who provide the most competitive fees and service for your benefit, not ours.  Note: there are “fixed” fees and also “variable” fees.  The fixed fees are the same regardless of which title/escrow company is utilized and set at the State and County level.  The variable fees are set by each individual title/escrow company — it pays to shop around (or know a REALTOR who has for your benefit).  We further recommend that you find out whether any agent and real estate company you may be considering can say the same, as these are ways in which agents and/or real estate companies add your money to their coffers at your expense.
• No Administrative Transaction Fee, No Additional Commission Fee. We DO NOT charge this fee to our buyers and sellers. Many real estate companies do charge this fee, in fact, it may be pre-printed on their listing agreements and purchase agreements.  Recently, the industry has changed the name of this fee to “additional commission” or something similar.  We have never charged this fee and we never will.
• No Home Warranty Referral Fee. All the major home warranty companies that I’ve worked with pay real estate brokerages a referral fee when an agent recommends a home warranty to their client.  Because of a recent federal government ruling, agents now have to perform some minimum level of service to receive this fee.  The referral fees generally range from $60-$75.  Our policy is to NOT receive this fee and instead, pass the savings along in the form of a reduced premium to our clients who elect a home warranty.
• Cost Effective Home Preparation Resources. Selling a home today is a lot different than it was even 10 or 20 years ago. Due to TV shows like HGTV, heightened buyer expectations regarding the condition and appearance of a property, seller would be very financially wise to thoroughly prepare their Greater Cleveland home for sale BEFORE it goes on the market. We have an extensive list of extremely cost-effective contractors and tradespeople.

How we maximize your sales price:

• Evaluation. We determine if there are any obstacles that would prevent a sale and/or have an impact on your sales price and recommend solutions.
• Home Staging. We are experienced and successful in both the theory and application of staging homes.  We provide a complimentary Staging Report to all of our clients. Please visit our home staging page for examples of our past homes.
• Redesign & Renovation. A home may have “challenges” that have kept it or may keep it from selling.  These challenges generally translate into buyer rejection and/or low offers.  Addressing these challenges (via redesign and/or renovation) before it goes on the market may eliminate or reduce buyer rejection.  Our experience has proven that money well spent on redesign and/or renovation is oftentimes far less than the final sales price, let alone the additional carrying costs and reduced negotiating power that comes with a longer time on the market. Please see our renovation page for more details and successful case studies.  We can provide quality, cost-efficient contractors that simply cannot be matched by using a retail general contractor.  Moreover, we can take a home from start (which is the first meeting with a homeowner) to project completion in as little as 6-8 weeks — including a complete kitchen renovation as well as other tasks undertaken simultaneously.  We also  provide our staging, redesign and renovation services to homeowners who are not currently selling or are planning to sell in the distant future and want to benefit from our cost-effective services and ultimately reap the rewards of an easier sale when it comes time to sell.
• Sales Price. We work with you to determine a realistic sales price based on a thorough analysis of all appropriate data. Chris is a former real estate appraiser and has an extensive background in property valuation. Looking at trends, absorption rates, months of housing supply, square footage analysis, the complex relationship between price, condition, location and demand and a host of other variables is a complex undertaking, but when done well, is vitally important to achieving success.
• Award-Winning Marketing. We won 1st and 2nd place in multiple categories in the 2011 OAR Advertising and Marketing contest for Print, Website, Photography, Yard Signs and Collateral. We believe in a strong marketing presence by employing the methods that work in today’s market. Please see a few highlights below and visit our marketing page for more details.
  • MLS listing with multiple photos
  • Stunning virtual tour
  • Award-winning marketing — see our marketing page for details
  • Exceptional digital photography
  • Syndicate your property listing to over 25 major Internet portals, such as: Google, Yahoo!, AOL, Trulia, Zillow, CyberHomes and Oodle — to name but a few.
• Professionalism & Customer Service.We are confident in our abilities to communicate directly, effectively and with the utmost respect with all the people involved in the sale of your home—especially you, the seller.
  • We are always reachable by phone or email.
  • We are very responsive to buyers’ agents.
  • We ensure that showings are easy for buyers.
  • We communicate, educate and advocate using techniques from “Principled Negotiations” to create a win-win for both parties.
  • We keep our sellers up-to-date on the status of their home sale including agent feedback, market conditions, and other relevant sales.
• References. We know our clients can speak for themselves when it comes to sharing their experience in selling and/or buying their home. Therefore, we provide a list of references to each potential seller and buyer. Please visit our kudos page and see what past clients think about us!  Here is how one recent home seller viewed our services:

Maximum Flexibility:

• Short-Term Listing Agreement. We know that “one size does not fit all“.  We realize that sellers have different needs.  We understand that some sellers simply want to place their home on the market today without preparing it for sale or that a home may be in impeccable shape and ready to go on the market.  For these sellers, we offer very short-term listing agreements.  The initial listing agreement period can be as short as 30 days and can be cancelled with us in writing anytime after 30 days. To continue the listing with us after 30 days, an e-mail or fax can be sent to us confirming the extension for XX days (1-30) and the listing will continue.  When we receive a request to cancel a listing agreement, we will sign the release paperwork and remove the listing from the MLS and the sign/lockbox from the property within 48 hours. Note: We will not provide home preparation, home staging, redesign and/or renovation services with a short-term listing agreement.
• 6-12 Month Listing Agreement. For home sellers who desire our extensive expertise in helping prepare their home for sale, i.e., extensive home preparation, home staging, redesign and/or renovation, our listing agreement ranges from 6-12 months (plus time spent preparing the home for sale), depending on the scope of work.  The reason we require a 6-12 month listing agreement period is due to the addition of our significant “intellectual property” to help maximize the sales price, shorten your time on the market, create excitement in the marketplace, and hence, increase a seller’s net proceeds.  We encourage you to compare our service offering to other real estate companies (and agents) and do a real apples-to-apples comparison — you will be very glad you did.  Please visit our Kudos about what our past clients think, as actions speak much louder than words, and we prefer to let our past clients speak for us.