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WELCOME HOME
Welcome Home: Working with Relocators in Transition
People stage moves for all sorts of reasons. From the joyous and pre-planned, to the unfortunate and unexpected, new chapters begin with the help of an agent. When you’re working with buyers from a different region, state, or country, the typical complications of a transaction can be compounded. So, what’s a savvy agent to do?
For starters, envision the big picture. Relocators have extra obstacles between them and their dream home. They don’t necessarily know which neighborhoods are ideal for their lifestyle, what they should budget for utilities, what type of homeowner’s insurance is ideal, or how they can tour, let alone close, on a house from afar. All in all, it’s a tall order, but if you can manage a relocation transaction successfully, you could tap into a sizable pool of clientele. Think of it this way: if you’re the shining star of a relocator’s moving process, their word-of-mouth praise could be
exponential. Likewise, a winning reputation within that client’s corporate sphere could lead to lucrative, stable referrals and partnerships for years to come. Here are a few key ways to help clients navigate the relocation process with minimal stress and maximum results.
Create a full-scale timeline for you and your client that makes expectations clear.
Moving is already one of life’s biggest stressors, but relocations have a dozen more moving parts that your average deal. Consider creating a master-plan of sorts to help you and your client visualize the steps required to achieve success in the midst of a relocation. Even from afar, your client will be able to refer to the roadmap you’ve set. Likewise, this makes sure you and your client are on the same page regarding expectations, timelines, and checklists. Assemble an articulated, overarching gameplan also helps demystify the process and lower stress. Instead of clients wondering what’s next, what’s needed, who to call, and when to be ready—handy guidelines of your own devising will be at their fingertips.
Attune your communication style so that nothing goes overlooked or miscommunicated.
Establish early on how your client prefers to communicate and which methods should be excluded. Also, make sure to outline what timeframes are ideal to communicate in, and how often they expect to hear from you with status updates or follow-ups. Some clients might prefer a more hands-off approach that lets you manage most details behind the scenes with updates only when progress is made. Most clients in the midst of a serious relocation, however, will prefer to be in touch more frequently. Customizing is key. If they prefer text messages and emails over calls, that’s a helpful detail to know from the outset. If they prefer face-to-face video chats or can only speak after business hours—those are also key parameters to work within. The less mystery and hassle, the better.
Be a local resource with vetted recommendations and vendors on-hand.
Relocating homeowners may not know the best neighborhoods and their amenities, or where the best school districts are, which areas are high-traffic, or where their dollar might stretch a little further. Identifying your clients’ goals can help narrow this field, but you’ll also want to be careful not to overwhelm them with information. After all, they’re taking on a huge life transition and making a move as an outsider. You’ll want to serve as a onestop-shop who can remove some steps and stress from their organizational obligations. Have a contractor who can get a head-start on home projects while clients make the move?
Excellent. Or, perhaps you can provide an out-of-state agent referral so that clients can sell their existing property in a timeline that works in conjunction with their new purchase. Make yourself a community expert and a connector, and you’ve won a client— and their referrals—for much longer than a single transaction.
Think outside the box when weighing variables.
Relocations aren’t your typical transaction. You’ll need to do a bit more planning to avoid pitfalls along the way. For instance, have you considered how you’ll tour homes with clients if they live hundreds of miles away? Are there time zone differences to factor in? If clients are relocating from another country, are there any special visa or naturalization considerations? How will their belongings travel? Are there pets to relocate? There are plenty of questions to ask and plan for, but the key is to be communicative and thorough up front. The more information and planning time you have, the smoother the transition will go.
There are certified real estate agent designations you can pursue that set you apart for your experience when it comes to relocations, but in lieu of those—arm yourself with the planning details and methods that will make your client a raving fan. In the process, you’ll up your game, create a happy client, and hopefully field similar business for years to come.
SARA LITTLEFIELD
SARA LITTLEFIELD
Sara Littlefield started her career at Apple, where she became a Customer Satisfaction Manager as a result of her dedication to every detail of the customer service experience. She moved to the East Coast to pursue a graduate degree in Business Communications and Public Relations, and had the opportunity to teach International Negotiations under Dr. Scott Ratzan, a member of the Harvard Project that created the groundbreaking negotiation text for Getting to Yes. It was during this course of study that Sara honed her deal-making acumen—mastering, as she puts it, “the art and the skill of negotiation.”
Coming from a background in tech and PR, Sara started working as a PR consultant as a new mom for some high-profile local commercial real estate companies (Spinnaker Real Estate Partners and Summit Development) promoting their current and future redevelopment projects including Maritime Yards, Maritime Garage, and the Lock Building in Connecticut, and found that she loved promoting real estate. Soon after that she got her license, and she has been working as a Realtor ® for 18 years. Sara’s clients know she will bring an unparalleled level of dedication and customer service to every transaction she handles.
Sara serves the Darien, Rowayton, and Norwalk areas of Connecticut as part of Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate. She primarily works solo, but has a support team of professionals to bring in
as needed, depending on each individual project. For instance, she has worked with the same professional home stager for the past 16 years, since long before other agents had considered the power of home staging. When staging a home, “our goal is to dramatically change a potential buyer’s first impression of the home by alleviating potentially distracting elements, while highlighting and enhancing the home’s best and unique features,” Sara explains. Every seller who works with Sara
gets a complimentary staging, and the results speak for themselves: Sara says that staged homes sell three times faster than un-staged homes, and for a significantly higher price.
Sara has what she calls a “virtual team” she consults on the unique challenges and opportunities each listing presents. In addition to her stager and her photographer, she also uses the services of a videographer, depending on the property. “My
videographer is in the TV business, and he’s a repeat client of mine as well,” Sara says. “I also have a professional voice-over actor I can bring in for videos. Also, depending on the product, we can do aerial photography. I’m very focused on the photography, and I’m doing more virtual photography too.” The results speak for themselves: the last three homes Sara has worked on have all sold within first 24 hours for over asking, and they ran the range of all price points.
About 75% of Sara’s business comes from repeat and referral clients, and her focus on customer satisfaction keeps clients coming back. “When I worked at Apple before entering real estate, part of my job as a Customer Satisfaction Manager was to interview clients about their satisfaction,” she says. “And I’ve carried that over into real estate. I am hyper focused on exceeding clients’ customer service experience. Sellers want fast, high sales and I have sold my listings for an average of 98% of asking in 57 days on market.” Sara’s record of high customer satisfaction is evident in her 5-star rating on Zillow, where all reviews are qualified.
Sara is also known for her ability to think outside the box, coming up with a creative approach to each project. Recently, she was handling the $7.3 million sale of a five-lot subdivision that had been the estate of former IBM chairman Frank Cary. She used the sale as an opportunity to craft five separate design schematics to showcase a unique arrival experience for each property.
“What we sold was the opportunity,” she says. “We had a schematic of each home, and a thoughtful exploration of the arrival experience on each property, which included the layout and alignment of the driveway, the parking areas, and the front walk. Then we also did the potential entertaining spaces, such as play rooms, entertainment spaces, patios, back porches, and pools. We did pools with different
26 OLD FARM ESTATES CONCEPTUAL LANDSCAPE PLAN
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features on each property, some with negative edge for example. So we really worked with the topography of the property. We did a pool deck, we incorporated the outdoor furniture, the dining and grilling areas, and also where the open lawn spaces would be. And we did that based on the grades of each property.”
It is this creative thinking that Sara brings to every deal she handles. In her undergrad studies, Sara was an English major and business minor, and her graduate degree in Business Communications and Public Relations speaks to her negotiating expertise. Sara is well versed in the “win-win” approach to negotiating, where each party feels good about the transaction. She also takes into account the unique characteristics of each listing. “When I’m working with the property, I focus not only on the product, but also on the price, the promotion, and the place: the four p’s. And I work on refining that. I’m very analytical.”
Sara loves to give back to her community by volunteering at Norwalk’s Malta House and Nathaniel Witherell nursing home as a dame of Malta, a Catholic lay order, and cherishes time spent with the Bridgettine sisters at Darien’s Convent of St. Birgitta. Sara also cherishes time spent at son Jack Henry’s sports activities, most recently on Fairfield Prep’s track and crew teams and his academic pursuits including math team competitions and tutoring at Mathnasium. When she is not working, Sara loves spending time with friends at Shakespeare on the Sound, local art and DCA
events, concerts in the park, Greenwich classic film series nights and the sport of sailboat racing.
In the future, Sara is excited to keep evolving with the times, including expanding her use of virtual staging and social media. “The future of the business is more technology, including virtual showings and social media,” she says, “and I really enjoy that component because it fits right in with my background in high tech and public relations.” More than anything, though, Sara wants to continue giving her clients the top-notch service they have come to expect. “I really like serving people, whether
they’re downsizing, or relocating, or buying their first home. I love helping people, and I consider it such an honor to be a part of people’s lives. I love to help people successfully achieve their next.”
To find out more about Sara Littlefield, you can contact her by cell at 203-253-3350, or by email at sara.littlefield@cbmoves.com
