Labels: Happy New Year

Appealing to buyers will take more work than in years past.

"If you're going to sell next year, the key to a successful closing will be planning. To get you going, here is my annual list of home seller resolutions you might want to keep."

Ilyce Glink of Inman News gives us the following pointers in her article posted today.

1. Overcome any possible objections a buyer would have.

Sellers don't often understand that their primary job is to not only eliminate any potential objections that would stand in the way for a buyer to make an offer but to exceed their expectations as well. If your home is competitively priced, and your home's condition exceeds a buyer's expectations, you'll get the offer you want.

2. Get my home into shape before I let anyone see it.

Getting a home into "selling shape" is quite different from even having a clean, beautiful home. You need to "stage" your home, which means you have to make it look exactly the way a buyer thinks it should.

For best results, do this before you invite any real estate agents or brokers in to assess how much it is worth. The agents you interview will be your "Wow!" test. If they walk into your home and say, "Wow! What a great place you have here," you know you've done it right.

How do you stage a home? Start by throwing away, giving away or packing away anything you haven't used in the last three to five years. You should also give your home a thorough cleaning and address any small fixer-upper projects you've been putting off.

Once your home is clean, you can assess what kind of other work needs to be done. Should you give your home's interior and exterior a fresh coat of white paint? Do you need to power wash your vinyl siding? Should the windows be washed? The wood floor polished? New wallpaper put up in the guest bathroom? Does your landscaping require a visit or two by a professional landscaper? Whatever you decide to do, make sure it's completely finished before you invite anyone over to see your home.

Finally, move out excess furniture, buy matching towel sets for the bathroom, and make sure you have a new cover with matching pillows for your bedrooms. Your home should look very put together, as if you were auditioning for the cover of a home decorating magazine.

3. Invite at least three agents to create a comparative marketing analysis.

Often, sellers simply call the agent who sold them their home to list it. While you may end up with that person, you'll be doing yourself a favor if you invite a couple of other agents in from different firms.

Why? Because each agent will have a different marketing plan and idea about how much your home is worth. If you invite three agents to prepare a comparative marketing analysis (a CMA is a sales tool that analyzes homes similar to yours that have recently sold, presents a marketing plan and suggested list price), one will bring in a high price, one a low price, and one somewhere in between. Each may have a slightly different idea about how to market your home, or give you ideas that you can share with the agent you finally choose.

If you don't like any of the three agents you've invited to your home, get some referrals and invite additional agents to prepare a CMA. One good way to get agent referrals is to ask the agents you invited to do a CMA who they think is the best agent in town (other than themselves, of course).

4. Know what my selling timetable is before I list my home.

Do you want to sell or do you need to sell? If you need to be out in three months or less, you'll need an aggressive agent with a very competitive list price. If you've got six months or a year in which to sell, you may choose to price your home a little higher, or may choose a different type of agent. Knowing when you have to move -- and sharing that crucial bit of information with your agent -- allows you to choose a correct pricing and marketing strategy.

5. Be realistic about the market.

After a half-dozen years of a super-hot seller's market, the tables have turned in many markets. Expensive homes are selling more slowly than homes priced for first-time buyers. (Although homes priced at $10 million and above seem to be selling at the same pace as always.)

Accept the reality of your local market and make sure you price your home realistically. Don't blame your broker if you don't get three offers over your list price within 24 hours of putting your home on the market. Sellers who set sky-high prices could wait months for an offer and may wind up with the same price they would have had if they'd priced their home correctly the first time -- or a lot less.

6. Know where I'm going.

Once you've decided to sell, you ought to think about where you want to go. Often, people move to another home within the same general neighborhood. But if you're moving to a different city, state or part of the country, you'll need to do your homework ahead of time. Start researching neighborhoods that offer the amenities you're interested in. Don't wait until you have a contract on your home. That's the time you should be seriously looking to put in an offer on your new home, not start the process of exploring neighborhoods.

Or, if you're not sure what you want to do, consider renting on a short-term or month-to-month lease. These days, landlords are hurting and they may be perfectly happy to accept a six-month lease.

7. Read all documents thoroughly before I sign them.

Why would someone sign a legal document he or she hasn't read? I'm not sure, but home sellers do it every day. If you're going to sell (or buy) in the coming year, promise yourself that you'll take the time to read and understand the listing contract, offer to purchase, and loan documents for your next purchase. (If you're taking back a loan for the home buyer, have an attorney prepare the documents so you are sure to be protected.) Unless you've got cash to spare, a mistake in these documents and the warranties they contain could seriously affect your finances.

8. Set my minimum sales price.

Everyone wants to get his/her list price. But unless you're in a strong seller's market (where there aren't enough homes to meet the demand), it's unlikely you'll get it. That means you'll probably get an opening offer that's somewhat below your list price.

In order to negotiate effectively, it helps to determine the minimum amount you'll be happy accepting for your home -- before you put your property on the market. This is a price that will allow you to walk away happy. If you receive an offer with anything above this price, it's like gravy. If it's below the minimum price you've set, you can negotiate accordingly.

The psychological benefit of a minimum acceptable price is great: It puts you in control of an emotional situation by helping you to distance yourself emotionally from the negotiation process.

9. Not be driven by greed.

One big mistake many sellers make is to get a little greedy, particularly if the first offer is above the minimum acceptable price you've set. Then, the negotiation becomes a game of how much you can get.

Remember, a successful sale means everyone walks away feeling happy. If you get so greedy that the buyer walks away, you've let the deal get the best of you. Resolve to be reasonable and you'll end up shaking hands with the buyer at the closing.

Labels: Bay Area Real Estate, Housing Appreciation, Housing Market, Inman News, Real Estate Cycles, Staging

Selling Your Home?

Here are the Top Ten Tips to increase the value of your home as offered by the House Doctor, Ann Maurice. For further reference, her website can be found HERE.

1. You need to present your house so that it will appeal to the broadest possible buying audience. The trick is to ensure that they can imagine themselves living there as soon as they walk in.

2. Clear the clutter. Mess all too easily becomes familiar junk which we are used to having around. It makes rooms look smaller and sends unhelpful messages to your buyers. Tidy away family photos and books. If you can't find space to store the less personal stuff, take as much as possible to the nearest dump.

3. Elbow grease can add more value to your house than almost anything else. Clean, clean and clean some more. The kitchen and bathroom are the two most important rooms, but don't stop there. Dust every surface, ornament and lampshade you possess.

4. Make sure all entrances are uncluttered, warm and welcoming. Mark the path to your front door with potted plants on either side. Make sure the doors open properly and aren't hampered by a row of coats or muddy boots behind. Check that furniture doesn't stop any of the internal doors from opening or shutting properly.

5. Potential buyers won't be able to visualise themselves living in your home if the walls are bright, patterned or just plain ugly. Paint them in light, neutral colours. You can introduce splashes of colour with rugs, cushions, throws, table runners and flowers.

6. You can make a world of difference to a dark entrance hall with a strategically placed mirror. Carefully positioned, it will add space and maximise the available light. Ensure that it is hung at eye level.

7. Do all those little jobs round the house that you've always meant to finish. If you don't know what you're doing, get someone in who does. Broken window catches, a front door bell that doesn't work or half-finished shelves convey an air of neglect and signal to a potential buyer that there may be other, more significant aspects of the house that have been left undone.

8. Ensure that every room has a clear function and purpose. Play up the existence of a dining room by clearing away all the children's homework and games. A third bedroom could be a bedroom, a study or a dressing room, but not all three at once. Organise some storage systems so that the principal function of the room they're in remains clearly defined.

9. A carpet that is dark or heavily patterned dominates a room and makes it seem smaller. Replace carpets that are old, worn or just dirty. This may seem an unnecessary expense, but it will lift the appearance of the room and your buyers won't be imagining the extra cost of replacing the carpet themselves.

10. Be ruthless when it comes to dealing with your pets. It's easy to get used to their smell - so ask a friend to be brutally honest with you. Does your house smell? Before each viewing eliminate unpleasant smells and banish pets to a willing friend's while you are showing people round. Get rid of pet hair too - brush and vacuum until you're sure it's gone.

Labels: Ann Maurice, Bay Area Real Estate, Housing Appreciation, Housing Market, Real Estate Cycles, Staging

After Disappointing 2006, U.S. Real Estate Market Expected to Stagnate in 2007.
By Rachel Konrad, AP Business Writer

"Although few experts predict that home values will fall dramatically in 2007, many economists say that prices won't improve for 12 to 18 months. And without the cushion of rising home equity -- which softened the blow of high oil prices last year and kept consumers buying big-ticket items at a rapid clip -- Americans may lose confidence in their finances, and the broader economy is likely to suffer."

"Ambitious building booms in many markets in the past half-decade, combined with mortgage interest rates that have increased about 1 percent in the past year, have resulted in residential real estate stagnation. The gridlock defies conventional wisdom, stubbornly remaining neither a buyer's nor a seller's market."

"We are currently experiencing the worst of the market freeze, which is being exacerbated by the gap between the buyer's desire for bargains and the seller's fantasy of what they once thought their homes would be worth," said Diane Swonk, chief economist for Chicago-based Mesirow Financial, who forecasts a rebound in early 2008. "The good news is that there are some signs of stabilization. The bad news is that a substantial backlog of unsold homes still exists."

"The newest forecast by Moody's Economy.com, a private research firm, projected that the median sales price for an existing home will decline in 2007 by 3.6 percent -- the first decline for an entire year in U.S. home prices since the Great Depression of the 1930s."

"Areas along the coast of the nation and the large urban areas tend to see stronger price gains in housing upturns, and stronger declines in downturns," said Celia Chen, a housing economist with Moody's Economy.com in West Chester, Pa.

"We have to work off the inventory," said Daniel Nussbaum, a licensed investment adviser and CEO of Calabasas-based TheUSARealty.com. "I honestly think we're past the worst of it, but if you don't take out your magnifying glass you might not notice."

"It's definitely a friendlier market than earlier this year, but not a dramatically cheaper one," Zach Chouteau, 41, said. "People have gotten really spoiled by the rapidly escalating prices, and it seems like they're in denial that things have leveled out. They're just fishing for the best price."

Labels: Bay Area Real Estate, Housing Inventory, Housing Market, Moody's Economy, Rachel Konrad, Real Estate Cycles