It's All in the Details: Florida Agent Kaisen Mitchell on Standing Out in Today's Hot Market

With its beautiful beaches and endless sunshine, Sarasota remains one of the most competitive housing markets in the country. This means that having an excellent real estate agent is more important than ever. Sarasota agent Kaisen Mitchell shares tips on how to win offers and secure more listing clients.

Mitchell says that most houses in his market are getting 5+ offers—one even received 12 offers in just a few hours of being listed!

He also adds that the highest offer doesn't always win and encourages agents and buyers to do the following when submitting an offer:

1. "Think outside the box" - While many people are waiving contingencies and appraisals, offering a short inspection period better protects the buyer and often yields the same result.

2. Reach out to the listing agent - Ask what the seller is looking for and what's going to help them during the transition. Figure out what's important to the seller and then cater to that.

3. Set realistic expectations with buyers - If houses in their preferred area are receiving multiple offers above the listing price, prepare them to bid accordingly and be aware that they might have to make up the difference if the house appraises below the selling price.

4. Know your market and be prepared to act quickly - It's critical to be aware of what's happening in your market and be prepared to immediately go see a property and alert your clients.

5. Stay in touch with everyone - Constantly communicate with your clients and agents. Provide your clients with frequent updates, and let other agents know what listings are coming up or what type of properties your clients are interested in.

6. Use tools to help you stand out from the competition - Mitchell uses smart presentation platform HighNote and believes it helped him beat out 37 other offers in a recent property bidding war. He used the Offer Template that HighNote provides and included a video of himself presenting highlights of the offer. He was able to view the analytics and knew that the agent/sellers were reviewing the offer. And, even though his clients didn't have the highest bid, they still won the deal.

Mitchell uses HighNote for sellers as well. When a seller contacts him, he sends out a presentation that includes information about him, the power of his brokerage, stats and what they've recently sold in the area, and a marketing timeline that he created from another HighNote template (HighNote offers a variety of free sample presentation templates and marketing tools). He also sends a sample of the professionally-produced video that they do for every listing. Finally, he includes sample marketing pieces.

"HighNote is an extremely powerful tool. I use it every single day now," says Mitchell. "Thanks to the analytics, I can see when someone is opening the presentation, and what they're looking at. So I know I'm not just throwing it out into the wind and hoping for something to happen."

Be sure to check out Kaisen's brokerage, Nest Group with Coldwell Banker Realty, and follow them on Facebook. And if you're a real estate agent looking to take your business to the next level, click here to get started with HighNote!