In conjunction with the many activities we engage in when putting a property on the market, the Neil Lyon Group attends to many detailed steps to effectively launch the marketing and advertising campaign. These steps include:

We immediately take detailed property notes and an initial round of photographs. Capturing the property details allows us to prepare for showings, gives us information for the brochure, and gives us detailed content for the many websites where our listed properties are exposed.

If the owner has floor and site plans available, we will have copies made and return the originals. These plans will also be used in our brochures and on our various websites. If plans are not available, we will likely have a floor plan created (at our expense) as one will be an essential element in our marketing initiatives.

Copies of keys will also be made and the originals returned. Any alarm and security information will be recorded at this point and a yard sign placed if signage is allowed in your area.

Within about a week of the listing becoming active, our professional photographer will visit the property and take photos and virtual tour shots. Within 72 hours of his visit, these professional photographs will replace our initial photos on the various websites. The virtual tour scenes will be added to all those sites that support them.

With professional photographs, virtual tours, comprehensive copy and plans in place, we are now ready to create your individual property website. This website will be easy to access with a web address that is based on your property’s street address. The individual property website is much more comprehensive than typical property listings found online and we will direct people to it whenever we have an inquiry.

A title binder of your property will be ordered from the title company we work with. This binder will be looked over carefully by our team to determine if there are any issues with title that can be addressed long before a contract is in place. The binder also includes copies of any covenants, road, well or easement agreements that have been recorded. All of this information will help us in understanding your property and relaying correct information to prospective buyers.

If the property has a septic system or a water well, we will do the necessary research to locate the septic permit and the well records for you. These documents will need to be provided to the buyer when a contract is in place. If these documents are not available, we can advise on the necessary steps to bring your systems into compliance thus ensuring that there are no “surprises” that could put the sale of your property into jeopardy.

At any time we receive a request to show a listed property, we promptly notify the owner in the agreed-to manner. We call or email as desired by the owner.

Except in rare cases, one of the brokers on the Neil Lyon Team will arrive at the property prior to the scheduled showing and make the necessary preparations. For the properties where the owners are away from Santa Fe, we open window coverings, turn on all lights and do whatever else is needed to make sure all is ready for the potential buyer. In the warmer months this will include opening doors and windows and during snowy seasons, shoveling walkways as required. This isn’t the glamorous part of our job, but we do what is necessary to get the most out of every showing.

After each showing we promptly contact the owner to let them know what we observed and the level of interest that was expressed by the buyer. We’ll also have follow-up contact with the broker who brought the buyer to get more detailed feedback. Often we’ll learn of a reaction that is quite different from what we observed during the showing. We’ll let the owner know of any new information about the buyer and their potential interest.

On a monthly basis we email a comprehensive summary report (The Marketing Service Report) to each owner showing the details of each showing, where the property has been advertised, when the property has been placed in a “featured position” on our many websites and other activities that an owner would want to know about. Much of this information is redundant, as we communicate activity as it happens, but this extra step guarantees that an owner knows exactly what is happening through the entire marketing process.

While we are showing our listed properties, especially for those owners who are not full-time Santa Fe residents, we are constantly on the lookout for maintenance issues that owners should know about. Whether it’s a new roof leak, a leaky toilet, a door that now doesn’t properly close, or one of the hundreds of things that can go wrong on a house, we always try to have a keen eye and we always call our owners to let them know what needs attention. These are not the calls our owners look forward to, but they are always calls that are very valuable to them.

When we have a contract on the property and it is time for inspections, one of us always remains at the house during all inspections, unless other arrangements are made. This allows us to provide immediate feedback to our owners which we have found to be greatly appreciated. With general inspections lasting 3-4 hours in most cases, this commitment in time is a serious one, especially in those cases when 2-4 inspections may be conducted on a property.

After the execution of a sales contract, we create a Pending Sale Status report (PSSR) that summarizes every milestone in the contract and the associated dates. This convenient summary allows all involved parties to keep track of the many steps of the escrow process and the key deadlines and dates.