SPONSORED CONTENT
BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT
SPONSORED CONTENT
Mary Eve Kearns
Your full time real estate agent
WHAT IS YOUR BACKGROUND AND WHY DID YOU DECIDE
TO SELL HOMES?
I grew up in Mt. Lebanon and graduated from Grove City
College with a degree in Business Administration. Similar to
many natives, I moved out of town for a job. In fact, I moved
three times with my sales job! I’ve lived in Syracuse, Albany and
Buffalo, N.Y. I can relate to the stress of relocation for buyers and
sellers. My corporate sales background gave me a great sales
education. This was the foundation on which I built a career in
real estate.
WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO WORK FOR HOWARD HANNA?
I was interviewing real estate companies and I wanted a
career, not a job. I knew that I wanted to work for a company
for a long time and that I wanted to form a partnership with its
leaders. Howard Hanna is a family-owned business. I can’t say
enough about the Hannas. They treat their salespeople well and
give us many tools for helping our buyers and sellers.
Some of the things that make Howard Hanna stand out are:
All calls and internet inquiries on the homes an agent has listed
go directly to that agent. The agent has the most up-to-date
information on the home. Today’s buyer expects a quick and
accurate response. All of the homes I market are advertised on
the “Sunday Showcase of Homes” on WTAE. We offer the 100%
Money Back Guarantee on most of the homes that we sell, and
our managers are non-competing and there to support our
salespeople and clients. Our top management and department
heads listen to the salespeople’s input about how we can
improve customer service and what the current challenges are
in the marketplace. Howard Hanna has a fully owned financial
division, a closing division and insurance division. We offer “one-
stop shopping” to the buyer. Our relocation division excels.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO TODAY’S BUYER?
Work with a full-time real estate salesperson. Your Realtor
must be able to communicate with you when you are available.
Before you start looking at homes, meet with the salesperson
and review your objectives in purchasing a home. Create a plan
with your Realtor. Make a list of must-haves, minor positives,
minor negatives and must-not-haves. Also, look at your complete
budget. Arrange to meet with a local mortgage person. I
encourage buyers to ask questions. This is easier to do when
you meet with a real estate agent or mortgage representative
in person. Don’t rely on emails and text messages. For your
mortgage, be sure to get all of your paperwork ready before
you buy a home. If you find yourself in a multiple-offer situation,
your offer could stand out because your income and assets were
verified while the other buyer had a basic pre-approval with only
the credit verified. I like to review the sales agreement with the
buyers on the first appointment. This gives the buyers time to
think about what they would like to include when they make
an offer on a home. If you know up-front the details, it removes
some of the stress.
WHAT ADVICE DO YOU GIVE POTENTIAL SELLERS?
You also need a full-time real estate agent who can be there
when you need him/her. Meet with the real estate agent and
work on a plan to sell your home. The full-time real estate agent
knows what buyers’ expectations are in your market. You don’t
want to spend a lot of money preparing your home for sale, but
there are little things you can do in terms of maintenance and
décor to help your home sell faster and for a higher amount
in a shorter period of time. Listening to your Realtor can save
you time and money. Howard Hanna has a fabulous retail
alliance program to help you find movers, storage facilities and
contractors. Your agent should work with you as a “team” in
preparing a marketing plan for the sale of your home. You want
an agent who communicates well and is a good negotiator but
who will listen to your needs. You need someone who has the
resources to get answers to your questions. At Howard Hanna we
can help you with all of those scenarios.
CONTACT MARY EVE KEARNS AT
724.941.8800 x239, 412.889.7244 or
[email protected]
Mary Eve Kearns sells homes with Howard Hanna
Real Estate Services.
UPPER ST. CLAIR
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SUMMER 2018
39