Selling a Vacant House in Palm Coast (St. Augustine, Flagler Beach: days on market, for sale)

[montymh]

I am moving and need to sell my house after I leave. The house will have some furniture left in it. I am looking for a real estate agent. Do agents typically watch after your house while you are gone out of the area? Will they check on it periodically to make sure the lawn service is done and it is not vandalized? Is this service included in their commission? Can anyone recommend a real estate agent that might do this? If not any recommendations for agents and/or property managers would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Pedal Wench]

I loved our agent for our purchase in St. Augustine. She helped us look at houses in Flagler Beach, so I know she'll cover the Palm Coast areaawn Gould, Broker Associate, GRI, CAM, CDPE
Florida Homes Realty & Mortgage
dawngould.LocateNorthFloridaHomes.com

[GeorgeJ.]

A good agent will take care of the house for you. No extra charge.

I would highly recommend Diane Leonardi, who covers all of St. John's County. The St. John's Realty Group. 904 540-0314. She also does property management so you have both areas covered with her. She won't charge you extra for any of the details that will make sure your house gets sold.

As another example of a good agent & what they will do for you, I sold a house in Southern California earlier this year and obviously wasn't there to take care of everything that was needed. My agent paid for a staging fee out of her pocket and oversaw a number of needed repairs that totaled about $8000. There was a lockbox but she personally went over for each showing (and there were quite a number as we had 25 offers). She did such a good job that the highest offer we received was almost 50% over the asking price. She was always there by phone or email if I needed her.

[EricBoyd]

You may also wish to consider pricing your house such that it won't sit vacant for very long. I don't know the market in Palm Coast, so it's hard to say what the average Days on Market stat is.

Another important point is that if you're carrying insurance on the property, if you don't have the proper coverage and they find out that it's vacant, they may require that you obtain additional coverage or a new policy. A vacant house is a higher risk than one that is occupied.

Finally, since it sounds like you have specific needs for your house, you'll want to have a contract with specific language that addresses what your chosen agent is going to do for you, how often they are going to do it, what the limit is on their responsibility (it is still your property, after all), and the limits on their liability, should something go wrong. Don't be cheap and expect their commission to cover their cost to do these extra things for you.

Also note that a "sales agent" may tell you they will do something like this for you, in order to get your business, but their BROKER may have something else to say about that. Insurance for this type of work is not cheap and many GL policies will not cover property management activities.

Good luck!

[Surf's Up]

Harry Ashley is a terrific agent. Works hard. Very honest and keeps in constant contact with the client.

Palm Coast Real Estate For Sale - 386-931-6054

Email harry@harryashley.com

[Native ny]

I second Dawn Gould! We worked with her a few weeks back and she is a true professional.