Selling a home is a major event, both emotionally and financially. The real estate industry is almost unrecognizable from a decade ago – faster, more transparent, much more direct contact with buyers. The only thing unchanged is the minuscule portion of true full time professional agents; standards and expectations on agents remain woeful. The importance of using a professional agent to represent your best interests, maximize your investment and minimize the disruption cannot be overstated…

Only 13%+- of agents are professionals

real-estate-agent-experienceThere are no performance standards in the real estate industry; in fact it continues to be promoted as a “great part-time gig”. Consider that 50% of new agents NEVER sell a home and are out of the business within 2 years. 87% of agents do not earn a living selling homes and will be out of business within 5 years of entry. That leaves 13% of agents that can be considered professionals. The majority of brokerages encourage agents to join simply to collect monthly fees; this is how they survive. Why not spend the time to RESEARCH your agent? Friends and family are great, but don’t be guilted into using an unqualified agent. Cousin Timmy the FedEx driver and part time agent or Sally the Pharma rep and part time agent should be measured against a full time pro. Would you hand $500K to Joey the Barber and part time stock picker? If not, then why do it when selling your home?

Highly effective, professional and targeted marketing

online-real-estate-listingsAn average of about 5 seconds is spent looking at an ad. People are bombed with ads as society becomes cell phone dependent. Do you want lousy I-Phone photos to be the first impression of your home? If you don’t capture them immediately, they swipe on and opportunity is lost. Every aspect of our marketing is professionally done; photos, videos, print, social media and more. We have a staff of 10 full time marketing people that do nothing but present your home in the best possible light. Top quality photos, compelling and search friendly narrative, thick, glossy brochures and highly targeted marking gets your home attention. Not only do we target the top buyer agents in your area, we target potential buyers directly using predictive analytics on social media platforms. We target and push market across social media in conjunction with our traditional routes of InstagramFacebookLinked-In, & Pinterest. Capture, click, respond, cultivate, visit, contract and close…

Contracts matter, the written word matters

real-estate-contract“If it ain’t in writing, it ain’t.” In GA, real estate agents handle EVERY aspect of the transaction with the exception of the closing. Writing, negotiating and managing contracts is a learned and practiced skill. A professional agent knows how to control the transaction; to limit stipulations, review disclosures, review surveys, review contingencies and tailor the hundreds of contractual variables to your best interest. Do they understand how to limit appraisal and inspection issues? How to balance the personal lives and circumstances of both parties as they navigate through one of the most stressful things they will do? An hour long “lunch and learn” doesn’t cut it; this is learned by doing and working with other pros, honing these skills over many years and hundreds of contracts. We have decades and probably over a thousand contracts; and other leadership assets in the firm with thousands more. You have no worries.

Zillow, OfferPad, I-Buyers and Discount Brokers

ibuyers-atlanta-real-estateOh the humanity!! Well the later part of 2022 saw the spectacular implosion of these companies. While Zillow gets credit for creating transparency in real estate, they also created a false sense that buying and selling real estate is akin to buying a book on line. These firms - Redfin, Zillow, Opendoor and others - lost hundreds of millions in months! Some close to a BILLION lost. You have to try to be that bad, and they are. Discount brokers are busy as well, they pitch 1% or ala carte pricing; you pay for what you want. But, they neglect to mention that the buyer broker fee is usually 3%; that’s omitted in their marketing. What they discount are key things – comprehensive pricing and marketing, contract negotiation, contract management…the parts that the average seller has little to no idea about. The objective of discounters and iBuyers is self-promotion; they make money attracting buyers off sign calls. They make their money off buyers, not sellers. There are situations where these firms may be an option, but those are very few and far between.


The Hank Miller Team puts 30+ years of full time sales & appraisal experience to work for you. Act with complete confidence & make sound, decisive real estate decisions. 678-428-8276 and info@hmtatlanta.com