Seller Representation & MLS Listing Services
Selling Humboldt County Real Estate Since 1985
Seller Listing Package Details Below - Ready to List? Call 707-677-1600
Forbes & Associate's Sells Homes Fast for TOP dollar
We use aggressive and extremely effective marketing techniques with unique strategies. We deploy a digital marketing plan and also use traditional advertising venues. We are featured in the most widely circulated real estate magazines and newspaper publishing on the north coast. We want to keep a steady stream of qualified buyers visiting your home. Our primary goal from day one is to get your property sold as quickly as possible with the maximum possible return on investment and the least hassle.
Selling your home quickly requires max exposure. We make sure that your property receives maximum exposure on our website that you are visiting now as well as local and regional real estate magazines, traditional in-print newspaper publications and magazines. In conjunction with our strong online presence, Forbes & Associates - Sarah Corliss, can help you push your home or property over the finish line much easier than you may think. Call us today and ask to setup a meeting for a potential selling client to the next available agent or one of your choosing.
We create Professional MLS Listings. Our property listings attract all serious, ready and qualified home buyers looking for real estate in your area. We do not use cell phones, exaggerate pictures with super wide-angle lenses. Our network of local Humboldt County businesses and service providers only has the best. We have an in-house matter-port camera, which is the camera that makes 3D video tours of your house for people to do "virtual walk-throughs" without leaving their home. We have FAA licensed drone pilots. Your homes description will be professionally written.
We are informed. We are industry experts who monitor the broader national financial and real estate markets which has a direct effect on real estate. Local market conditions also require a more granular level of monitoring and keeping up with local politics, city planning and regulations. We can easily spot local trends in neighborhoods or the market in general and are ready to act quickly when market changes require altering your listing, or even changing the price based on current events. It's imperative to make appropriate adjustments to pricing or even pulling your listing temporarily if there are drastic market swings. Let us share our 40+ years of combined real estate experience with you. We keep our finger on the pulse!
We sell homes quick for max dollar. There are many important things you'll want to have in place to sell your property quickly and for the highest return on investment. First, have a knowledgeable, qualified listing specialist represent your property. They must have an active, professional, and thorough marketing program in place that covers both traditional & digital marketing strategies. Your home must be priced correctly for the current local real estate market conditions, the home's condition, the neighborhood and many other factors. This is critical to maximize the selling price, while still managing to sell your home in a short period of time.
At Forbes, all of our representatives and listing agents know that our job is to ensure that qualified buyers continue to walk through your door until your home does sell. We pride ourselves on the job we do for our clients and our reputation in Humboldt County.
Make the right choices when it comes to selling your home and selecting the right representation. If you already know that you do want to list your property or real estate with us, please call us at 707-677-1600 to setup an initial meeting to discuss your property and selling options - zero cost, or obligation.
Call Forbes for a No Obligation Meeting.
Meet and discuss your real estate plans with a no pressure in-person meeting at our office or your home, where you can feel free to ask us as many questions as you want, or discuss your ambitions, realities and really flush out your goals and if you're ready, or if the market is ready. We are happy to go over what you can expect to sell your house or property for, what fees and closing costs can look like, what kind of work you might need or want to do to the home might cost. It's a great way to get some ideas flowing about how to get started selling your home, and become a bit more informed about real estate fees, closing and title company costs, time and involvement levels required from the owner and what's currently going on in our local real estate market at the moment. If after looking at everything you decide not to sell, we are happy we were able to help you and hope you'll come back to us later when things change. We will never pressure you to sell. If you want to take it a further step we will do a completely free CMA and get the party started!
Forbes & Associates has been doing this since 1985 and we have established traditional advertising partners, and a robust digital marketing plan. In addition to online advertising on other platforms like Zillow, Realtor.com, Redfin, Trulia, Homes.com and more (which we will ensure that your property is listed on), we also have our own website for internet users searching for homes and real estate online. Our full-stack developers are also SEO specialists and graphic artists. Our developers and design team make sure our website is at the top of all Humboldt County Real Estate related search queries.
We invest in carefully selected paid advertising for our sellers and have secured some of the most coveted spots in the most popular in-print real estate publications, such as the front cover ad on the The North Coast Real Estate Guide, the #1 real estate publication in Humboldt County. NCREG publishes 16,000 - 18,000 copies a month. We are featured on the front cover approximately 25% of the time with a full color ad for one of our clients, and we run a full page advertisement on the inside of the magazine to feature all of our other properties. Advertising buys are selected with extreme care and we only select the most popular and widely circulated publications with excellent reach. All to assist in the sale of our clients homes and properties quickly, efficiently and with minimal effort from you.
We Represent Sellers in or near these Towns:
We serve buyers from all around Humboldt County. However our policy is to serve sellers in close proximity to the towns listed here to ensure that the homes we are contracted to sell get the attention they deserve. We focus on selling properties in the North Coast region of Humboldt County. Major towns we sell property are as far north as Orick, Trinidad, McKinleyville, Blue Lake, Arcata, , Eureka, Fortuna and east to Willow Creek. If your are near any of those towns, we've got you covered.
Seller Onboarding Process & Preparing Property for MLS
Most of this list is work we handle and requires no effort on your part, but some items do need you attention and availability. Here is a separate checklist of owner / seller responsibilities, including items you may want to prepare. Please look at it so you know what you'll be responsible for before getting started.
- Meet with Client to Answer any Questions or Concerns
- Pre-Listing Analysis, Site Visit and Suggestions
- Custom CMA for your property
- Determine Fair Market Value for property in the CMA
- Review and Sign Listing Agreement & Seller Representation Contract
- Set Final Listing Price for MLS
- Owner to Start working on House Disclosure Forms
- Order & Schedule photography, drone videos, and 3D Tour photo shoots
- We Research for Specific Legal Data required to Enter Property into MLS
- Create a professional listing for the MLS
- Add as a featured property on HumboldtCountyRealEstate.com
- Add to social media platforms
- Create ads for in-print publications
- Research & assemble Natural Hazards and other required statutory disclosures or documents
- Order necessary inspections and jobs (septic pump, etc.)
- Hopefully, with owner permission, pre-emptively order a home inspection
- Work on fixing problems in the inspection that can be budgeted
Key Functions When Listing a New Home or Property
Below is a detailed description of all the things mentioned in the above list that you can expect from our group. Things that don't have links are not mentioned here are primarily handled by us internally. One thing that is no on the list that is very important is our Seller Representation. While most of this article is taken up by marketing talk, and preparing your house, Seller Representation is an important part of our agreement. Click Seller Representation to read more about what that covers and how it helps you.
Pre-listing Property Visit & Analysis
This is an important visit, typically before signing a listing agreement, it will double as a moment to come to an understanding and get vital feedback from both parties in a general sense, about our mutual goals. When we visit, we'll compile a list of suggestions for increasing your properties chances of a quick and profitable sale. We do this prior to listing your house on the MLS. As real estate agents with over 60 years combined experience, we have seen what works and what doesn't. We know about little things that you can do that end up going a long way, and we have connections and the know-how to get them done before going live with your listing. This can not only speed up the sale of your house, but also increase your final closing price.
Comparative Market Analysis (CMA)
The CMA we prepare for you will help you determine you FMV and ultimately it will be up to you to decide on a final list price for the MLS. If your asking price is too high, often your realtor will try to get you to lower it before submitting it to the MLS, and in some cases may refuse to list your property all together, as it can affect the average DOM of the realtor, reflecting poorly on them as a seller agent.
Your CMA is where you'll find your Realtor's assessment of your property's FMV. We spend a lot of time on these to make sure we come to an accurate conclusion. The report will show your neighborhood or community's recently sold homes that are similar in square footage, bedrooms and bathrooms, land, amenities and condition of the home. Algorithmic property valuation tools, like the one below, are good for a quick check, but definitely should not be relied on for a selling price. To determine FMV (fair market value), one has to consider things that are not determined by straight metrics and comps sold in your area.
Do you need a general idea of your home's value? Using automated tools can produce a number, but its not always accurate. Using it to set your final price is not wise. The algorithmic tools used to determine property values, such as the "Zestimate," on Zillow, etc. are good for a general idea only. If you'd like, you can try our price valuation tool, its about half way down on the home sellers guide. The tool is useful to alleviate curiosity, but a bit of a double edge sword in that it shows clients a price that might not be entirely accurate. Some clients will try to justify an inflated price by pointing to this information.
Accurate Pricing & Fair Market Value (FMV)
Correctly pricing real estate when listing it on the MLS is essential for success. If you're selling in a down market, don't expect to get what you wanted or thought. FMV is the key to a fast sale and will help you obtain the maximum number of buyers in your market area. Pricing fairly lets people know that you are serious about selling your home right now. Real estate priced correctly for the market, sells quickly, and can sometimes fetch more than the asking price, as people will bid higher to make sure the listing doesn't "get away."
Starting overpriced and slowly lowering the asking price signals weakness to the buyer and their agent. It may give the appearance of desperation - not a good start on your negotiations. A house that sits too many days on the market (DOM) will give prospective buyers something to use to their advantage in negotiations. There is already a pool of ready and willing buyers monitoring their desired area(s) for new listings as new properties show up on the MLS. Accurate pricing and staging of your home from the start is critical for quick and painless sales. To find your FMV, refer to the CMA that your real estate professional prepared for you.
Setting the Final MLS Listing Price of your Property
As you know, by this point you've received your CMA with a FMV that has been derived from our research, house condition, location, and comparable sales in the area. Now we must finalize a listing price. It is your home, so within reason, you'll we make the decision. We say "within reason" - we mean that, because if you want to list a $200,000 home for $1,000,000, we just are not going to do that, a it will wreck our average DOM, and never sell anyway.
MLS Listing Creation
Preparing for property being listed on the MLS is the most intensive part, as it concerns a number of different but connected duties. Don't be concerned though, we are with you during all phases of the process and do the heavy lifting for you: we schedule photographers, 3D Tour and Drone Video creation if we are using it. We will order any necessary inspections, and get you the required documents that you will need to fill out, such as property disclosure forms. Once the listing completed and entered into the system, including videos, photography, research and content creation we will start advertising you in the real estate publications.
We Provide Complete Seller Representation
We take pride in providing our clients with excellent Seller Representation. While it can get lost in all the marketing talk, the Seller Listing Package includes Full Seller Representation, which is equally important and in some cases more important, than the marketing. Most transactions are relatively uneventful, but you need agents who are on their toes, not only in terms of unethical people, but even people just making simple mistakes on contracts, or trying to slide and not honor contracts. Your agent will also incorporate their wider sense of the market, the economy to alert you if we need to make price changes, or even pull your listing from the market under certain conditions.
Seller Representation means your agent will be handling all contracts, purchases-offers, counter-offers, interactions with buyers or buyer agents, negotiations, property research, communications and work with the title company, escrow accounts, and making sure earnest money is deposited at by the proper time. They also will be organizing and scheduling any necessary inspections and allowing entrance, and locking up afterwards if you are unable to be there. Full Seller Representation means all showings and tours will be personally attended and handled by us, using any special parameters that you set: no shoes inside, don't park on the grass, you name it. We also keep our clients fully informed and updated about showings, feedback from buyers agents and anything significant that we learn along the way. We are generally available anytime for your questions or concerns. Ultimately we will be sitting with you on closing day while you sign your final paperwork.
Our entire team and your specific Listing Agent are highly informed and talk frequently in and out of the office about the real estate market, the economy and what is on the horizon in the foreseeable future. This knowledge can have an effect on when you list your house, price-changes while its still on sale, or if the market really took a huge dive, they would advise you to pull it and wait rather than taking less than your property is worth. Market conditions can also have a positive effect on prices changes while your property is still listed, and you may need to increase your price to adjust for the market effect.
Mortgage interest rates are a great example of why you need knowledgeable representation. How many readers wish they had sold their properties in 2022 when inventory was flying off the shelf at unprecedented prices and speed? Properties would get listed and sold on the same day for full price or even more than the listing price. In early-mid 2022 for three months, the median sold price was higher than the median list price.
The "Seller Listing Package" is a complete deal, its not just marketing and necessary ancillary work; its also making sure contracts work out and people are held to the agreements they make. It's having an representative that is informed, monitors the market, and advises and protects you with this knowledge; all of which can save you time, hassle and money. Our agents are here to protect you and your real estate from whatever comes our way. We look forward to working with you! If you are ready, please contact us and lets setup the initial meeting to discuss your property.
We use Traditional Marketing to Power our Brand
Traditional Marketing of our Real Estate firm: We are members of the Chamber of Commerce in many local areas which help promote our real estate firm in general. We sponsor and participate in local and county events, in-particular and especially popular is Trinidad Arts Night, where we feature local artists in our offices and stay open late serving snacks and wine, talking up real estate, while live-music is happening outside. It's popular with the local residents on the coast and the tourists who are in Trinidad, many trying to figure out how to stay.
Our in-town office location is the only real estate office in Trinidad and it's exceptional location and visibility is of special importance if you are listing and selling property in or around Trinidad, Patrick's Point, Westhaven, Moonstone or Big Lagoon areas. We are also members of the local Chamber of Commerce which continually promotes its members.
Are You Ready to Sell your Home? Setup a Meeting
When you have made up your mind that you are ready, or if you need help making the decision, simply call us at 707-677-1600. Any of our agents will be able to get the process started, however you're welcome to ask for anyone of us if you have a preference. Alternatively you can reach out to us using our contact form. Just state that you are interested in our Seller Listing Package, and someone will get right back to you. Include the address of the property you are selling and any questions you might have.
Things to Consider When Selling Your Home
Once we’ve determined the price, I can give you advice about the little things that you can do to stage your home to get you the highest possible price! You’d be surprised by the simple measures you can take to dress up your home to attract more qualified buyers.
I have a marketing plan that is designed to get maximum exposure to the buyers that are currently looking, and all agents that have buyers. Through pricing, staging, agent accessibility, and visibility, both on and offline, I can successfully sell your home to help you achieve your goals.
Curious about what’s happening in your neighborhood? You can create a custom market report to see what’s active, under contract, and sold in your neighborhood!
Digital Marketing and Traditional Advertising
List of Publications We Advertise Our Clients Featured Properties
We create professional grade MLS listing using only the highest rated local service providers
Our Digital Marketing Strategy and Traditional Publishing
Forbes Marketing Approach: We utilize both traditional marketing strategies and newer digital marketing strategies with a multiplatform approach to selling and marketing real estate in today's evolving real estate market. It's imperative to cover both types of marketing. We still use traditional marketing strategies inherited from Sue Forbes 30 years ago. And let's face it - if you're trying to sell to the younger generation, not having a digital marketing strategy is a big problem.
Traditional Marketing Methods: We were very careful to not disrupt or abandon our proven traditional marketing strategies in exchange for our new digital marketing efforts. We still do some of the more tried and true methods that seem obvious to us. We are quite active in our local communities and participate in local events and if we can't participate, we'll often sponsor them in exchange for some exposure in the form of signs or links from websites. We practice professional networking skills and are constantly trying to meet new people and make connections. We advertise and are members of many local Chamber of Commerce chapters. When we considering a publications for advertising we typically are looking for high circulation, publications that target real estate in our area, Humboldt County in general, but preferably all of the above.
Which Publications Does Forbes & Associates Advertise in? Some of the most valuable things in our traditional marketing war-chest are the contracts we hold with Humboldt County's most popular publications, local magazines, including real estate guides and the last "in-print" and local newspaper. Our exclusive advertising network for "in-print" publications was developed over the last 40 years and many contracts made long ago by Sue Forbes are still in place today, including the most relevant, highly circulated real estate guide in Northern California. These premium advertisements produce great results.
Actual Newspapers and Magazines we're regularly in? You will find us regularly in the North Coast of California's last "printed" newspaper, the Times Standard, on the cover of Northern California's most widely circulated and popular real estate guide, the North Coast Real Estate Guide (NCREG), many months our client's properties will be featured on the cover, but we also run a full-page ad inside the magazine that has every one of our client properties listed.
We hold 25% of annual "Full-Cover Showcase Ads" in NCREG
25% of this NCREG's entire annual publications feature Forbes & Associates - Sarah Corliss. Our company, and our clients properties are often on the front cover 25% of the time. We thought it was worth repeating. We pick our most valuable property on the MLS for the cover of this highly regarded spot and real estate magazine.
We also run an additional full page ad inside of the North Coast Real Estate Guide. This highly visible advertisement features all of our other clients properties that we are representing.
Circulation numbers: North Coast Real Estate Guide prints between 16,000 to 18,000 copies of its publication each month, distributing them to over 460 locations from Sausalito to Crescent City and from the Pacific Coast east to Napa, Calistoga, Red Bluff and Redding. It is Northern California's primary real estate publication.
Our advertising contract is for the full color, glossy print, FRONT COVER - on four of the twelve issues released each year, effectively landing us on the cover page of the North Coast Real Estate Guide, the most widely circulated and well-known real estate publication in Northern California, a massive 25% of NCREG's annual front covers.
In addition, and good for all of our clients, we also run a full page ad inside of the magazine which includes the rest of our clients real estate listings.
North Coast Homes is in our local newspaper, "Times Standard"
We advertise in Humboldt North Coast Homes a bi-weekly publication distributed as an insert (twice a month) in the Times Standard print edition of the newspaper. It has a good circulation and reach in our local area.
Advertising space in HAVEN Lifestyles magazine, is great for upscale real-estate, we advertise any of our Luxury, High-end and Ocean Properties here, or if it's requested by the seller of the property. It is printed in various editions in the U.S. markets. We advertise in the "Northern California" print edition with statewide circulation. Our advertisements here are located inside the magazine, not the cover
Digital Marketing: Our digital marketing program is more of a constantly evolving process than a static unmoving routine. Since the incepetion of our firm, Forbes has strived to be a pioneer in the real estate industry, ahead of the curve and adapting to the new digital world that was rapidly taking over. We are often early adopters of new technology giving us a "first-mover" advantage as we deploy the new technology or tools that make home acquistion and sales easier and more efficient.
Direct Media Buys on the Internet are unlimited in opportunity and we also advertise using our own social media profile pages, have the ability to target ads on competitor's social media profiles and websites and real estate feeds.
Email Marketing Campaigns: Our integrated website and email marketing campaigns are next-level and complete with "auto-drip" systems and custom responses already setup to engage with clients at as many points possible, email alerts system will let them know when new properties in areas they are searching for are published to the MLS, or if the price drops on properties they "favorited," as well as many other customizable features. The new tools and features help attract home buyers and real estate investors, keeping the traffic on our site high maximizing the exposure to our clients properties your property.
local advertising partners and traditional marketing programs either, as the two methods work well together. Traditional marketing strategies also include simple things like participating in community events, sponsoring good causes in the local communities and participating in civic events. We are active members of many local chapters of the Chamber of Commerce.Our exclusive web
We make sure your listing is published and immediately available on major real estate platforms to the public. We work hard to ensure high visibility on all of the the largest and most-visited real estate websites, aggregators and search engines, ensuring your MLS listing is picked up immediately. Your property will be instantly published on Zillow, Realtor.com, Trulia, Redfin, Homes.com and countless dozens of others, as well as some of our local Humboldt websites, and of course we also feature your listing prominently on all of our social media profiles and the Forbes & Associate's company website, humboldtcountyrealestate.com, which is one of the web's top-ranking, high traffic, IDX real estate website showcasing the entire Humboldt County MLS and more.
While internet marketing has long been an integral part of our marketing strategy in our firm, we do not ignore older traditional forms of marketing also have ongoing publishing contracts with many local in-print real estate publications. We also have a long list of clients who are looking for specific properties, which can lead to a very quick sale, especially in the Trinidad area or any other coastal or ocean property real estate.
We Advertise Oceanfront & Luxury Homes in Haven Lifestyles Magazine
Traditional Marketing and Advertising in Printed Publications
North Coast Real Estate Guide is the most widely read and circulated real estate magazine available for Humboldt County and the North Coast. We get the Full Front Cover, in full color 4 times a year, out of 12 issues (so we're on the cover 25% of the year) Will you be the next showcase ad?
We take nearly a full page ad out in "Humboldt North Coast Homes," which is a bi-weekly insert located in the Times Standard Newspaper. It is highly circulated and distributed. Times Standard is the only printed newspaper left in the North Coast.
We advertise our luxury real estate in HAVEN Lifestyles Magazine.
Humboldt North Coast Homes & Haven Lifestyles Magazine
The Digital Marketing Strategy takes a LOT of words and energy to describe to non-technical people, the full details will be here on our Digital Marketing Plan details page. So a limited explanation is given for now:
NATIONAL BRANDS: You will be listed on all and more of the following National Brands, the number is quite like in the hundreds, but the ones you've probably heard of are: Zillow, Realtor.com Redfin, Trulia, Homes.com to name off a few.
THIS WEBSITE: Your property listing will be featured prominently on our websites home page, county page, newest listings, city page, and our niche category pages that our property falls into, for example "Oceanfront Properties" is a page only containing properties that are adjacent to an ocean. Your property can fit into more than one category.
LOCAL HUMBOLDT WEBSITES: Any local website that uses IDX technology to display listings of properties from the MLS, will almost certainly be displaying your property, too which is great news. That means you will likely find your property on the local REMAX, Coldwell Banker, Ming Tree, Corcoran and many other individual agent websites and smaller real estate companies websites.
Professional Photography, 3D Tours and Drone Videos
We use professionally developed marketing materials. and take utmost care with every MLS listing we prepare.
Photography: We only use professional photographers to capture properties for our clients listings. More often than not, clear and well-lit professional photographs will already make your property stand out from other listings. In real estate, a picture really does paint a thousand words. We also take time to ensure that all the relevant details about your property are present and correct.
Drones & Video: Drone Videos are utilized by our FAA compliant drone pilot. We use drones for larger properties or even to show proximity to the ocean or other special feature.
3D Tours: Nearly all of our listings will get a 3D Tours. We purchased the equipment that creates virtual tours like this one. Having our own in-house Matterport camera system and equipment has been priceless.
List with Forbes & Associates - Sarah Corliss
Our Real Estate Office has 60+ Years Experience
List with Forbes & Associates - Sarah Corliss
Consider all the facts when selecting a qualified broker: sales history, reputation, expertise, experience, community standing, integrity and success. Consider my qualification to represent you:
- Member of MLS, Humboldt Association of Realtors, California Association of Realtors, and the National Association of Realtors
- Top selling broker and listing specialist
- Represents high end, custom properties
- Consistently in the upper 5% of sales for Humboldt County
Listing Your House For Sale on the MLS
We Specialize in Professional Listing Services & Seller Representation
Call us today at 707-677-1600 or read more: Seller Listing Package
Decision Time: Are You Really Ready to Sell?
Still Making Up Your Mind? Review the Sellers Checklist
Use our Home Valuation Tool and Sellers Help Page. Feel free to call: 707-677-1600
The Owner's Checklist and Guide to Selling Humboldt County Homes & Real Estate. The checklist provides an outline of things for you to consider and start preparing for ahead of time. The guide touches on a lot of the different elements involved in selling your property, it explains your obligations when selling a house, and gives you tips on things you can do that will streamline the process and increase your bottom line. It teaches you how to read the market statistics and charts on our website and turn the data into actionable knowledge. There is an algorithmic home valuation tool, that you can check to get a ballpark value of your home, before you get your custom CMA from us. It's a ballpark figure, but it might be enough for you to commit to the sale, or wait for a better market. If you signup for our listing services the professional CMA will be created by use personally. The tool is just for curiosity and ROI generalization. The CMA will suggest a FMV of your house.
Beyond a guide and checklist, just reading over some of this intel will often clear your mind and help you decide whether or not you are ready to commit to this next phase and sell your house. The price tool can help you understand what type of equity you've built and will be getting back. We watch the market conditions closely and this page even explains how to read some of the market stats and graphs that we created.