8/2/08 Sellers News

Wall Street Journal Advice on Selling Now

An article in last weeks Journal offered seven steps to selling your home in today's market. Most of it was sound if not a little alarmist. Here are their 7 steps:

1. Don't wait around
The advise here was basically it is going to be years for the home market to turn around. Sell now if you have to sell and on the bright side be glad your not a Hummer salesperson.

2. Fix it up and clean it up
The essential make a good impression.

3. Price it cheaply
Price the house BELOW current comparable nearby properties. Also price the house at the current home sales level, not what it was worth three years ago.

4. Hire a top real-estate agent
Interview agents about their marketing plans for your property. Make sure your home will be on all the leading real-estate web sites. "This is no time to quibble over a couple of percentage points of commission."

5. Promote, promote, promote
Don't rely on your agent to do all of the work. Pay for extras if you want more expensive or untraditional promotions. Get creative, advertise your property in unique places such as your companies newsletter and church bulletin. Make sure every one you know receives an e-flyer promoting your property.

6. Play the banker
If you have no mortgage to pay off consider financing some or all of the buyer's purchase. You might be able to change a higher interest rate and command a higher sale price. Hire a real-estate lawyer to make sure everything is done to protect you. As the WSJ says, "Worst case? Your borrower defaults and you take the property back. And sell it again." Of course that year in foreclosure might be a little tougher on you and your house than the Journal lets on.

7. Take the offer
A buyer has a reasonable offer, take it. Find out the percentage difference between the asking and selling price today. It is a good way to determine an appropriate monetary offer. Your house is only worth what some one will pay for it and the Journal says, "that unfortunately will probably be a lot less than you think."

6/16/08 Sellers News

Hard Sell
Realtors cope with owners seeking unrealistic prices in listless housing market

By THOMAS S. BROWN Business Writer

The glut of unsold real estate on the market has begun to shrink, but that doesn't mean more houses are getting sold.

What would appear to be a promising sign instead may reflect a trend toward giving up -- hundreds of sellers taking their homes off the market each month, unwilling to accept purchase prices that have dropped about 20 percent in the past year.

That leaves real estate agents with a dilemma. Make do with fewer listings, or continue pursuing new ones, hoping that some of the fresh ones will sell?

5/15/08 Sellers News

More Photos Sell More Houses
Research shows the more photos a home has in its listing, whether on the Multiple Listing Service, Agent web sites or the myriad of search sites, the faster the house will sell.

A property with a single photo spent 70 days on the market (DOM) on average, while DOM fel to 40 days with six photos, 36 with 16-19 photos, and 32 with 20 photos. Additionally, listings with one photo sold for 91.2 percent of the original price, while homes with six or more sold for 95 percent of the original price.
RISMedia, Gar Benedict

5/2/08 Sellers News

Open House Rules
by Broderick Perkins

Karen Hilgers of RE/MAX Blackhawk Valley in Andalusia, IL says an open house can be a good way to flip hesitant buyers who are already interested in the home.

"It lets those interested buyers know they may suddenly have some competition, and that can be all you need to get an offer on the table," she said.

Open house events can also grab impulse buyers, those who see a house for sale, takes one look and falls in love with it, says Jim Merrion, regional director of RE/MAX Northern Illinois.

Market conditions can also make the open house marketing tool cool.

"I'm not a big advocate of open houses, but in this market I'm doing more of them," said Gwen Broughton of RE/MAX Showcase in Waukegan, IL, during the 2008 market slowdown.

"Sellers want to see you doing everything you can to get their home sold," she said.
Provided the price is right, here's how to make the open house tight:

* Sunday afternoons are the best times for attracting visitors to an open house. Start early and stay late. (But don't forget, an additional Saturday open house will provide an extra weekend day to avoid alienating those who worship at a house of faith on one day or the other.)

* Mail post cards to invite neighbors and prospects. Also list the event in the local newspaper and on Web sites.

* Be sure the home for sale is as clean and neat as possible for the open house. Empty the garbage cans, clean out the closets, get rid of the clutter and polish the bathroom fixtures. Think model home. Create a neutral scene.

* Real estate agents should attend open houses to be available for questions, to provide property and neighborhood information and to get valuable feedback by watching and listening to potential buyers.
Realty Times

4/28/08 Sellers News
6 ‘Express’ Tips for Selling Your Home Fast
Brad Chandler, president and founder of Express Homebuyers

1. Price your home aggressively
2. Make your home the neighborhood showplace
3. Enhance Your Home’s “Curb Appeal”
4. Clutter Must Go
5. Make Certain Your Home is Properly Staged
6. Don’t Forget Financial Incentives — Offer buyers’ agents a four percent commission rather than the traditional three percent, along with closing cost assistance to buyers. Closing cost assistance is especially attractive now that credit has tightened significantly and 100% loans are next to impossible to obtain.

3/28/08 Sellers News

April is only days away so it is time to get that house on the market. Are you ready? Over the next few weeks this page will focus on getting your home ready to make a grand impression.

Top Staging Techniques

Make an Entrance
Update or polish hardware
new house numbers
seasonal potted plants

Conquer Clutter
Purge your belongings:
haven't used in 3 months - box and store
haven't used in 1 year - get rid of it
Clean out book cases
hide old paperbacks in baskets
remove dust covers and group by color
Style it
Collect clutter in nice containers

Less is More
Remove half your future, no really
Limit to two pieces per wall
Don't use it, lose it
Create more prime real estate

Float furniture
Create conversation groups
Define traffic patterns

Mix it up
Its your stuff, move it around
Group your art to make a spacious museum
Take an underused table and put it in front of a window

Create fantasy rooms
Repurpose an unused or underused room
Create an exercise/meditation room
fabric on the basement wall
a carpet remnant
throw pillows

Let the Light In
Ditch the drapes
use sheers or toppers
Roman top-down, bottom-up shades give privacy and light
Extend curtain rods an extra foot to give illusion of width
Hang rods at ceiling line to suggest height

More Light
100 watts per 50 square feet
Install dimmers to create mood lighting
Replace old dingy light switch plates
Place lights on different plains
Use uplights
Add glass, silver, mirrors around lamps to spread the light around

Paint a wall
And not just tan
Baths, bedrooms and dining rooms do well with deep tones
Small rooms become larger with rich colors
Find a background color existing in the room and put it on the wall
Accent walls highlight windows, fireplaces or other architectural features
Paint inside the bookcase to set off display items

Fade to Black
Update old furniture with a coat of satiny black paint
Use black frames to add drama
Black is good drama and a little goes a long way

3/21/08 Seller's News

8 Quick Fixes to Increase Value

With buying season beginning, sellers must up the ante to convince them that their property offers what many want most — top value for dollar expended. Here are eight fast fixes:

1. Buff up curb appeal. You’ve heard it before, but it’s critical to get buyers to want to look on the inside. Be objective. View listings from the street. Check the condition of the landscaping, paint, roof, shutters, front door, knocker, windows, house number, and even how window treatments look from the outside. Add something special—such as big flower pots or an antique bench — to help viewers remember house A from B.

2. Enrich with color. Paint’s cheap, but forget the adage that it must be white or neutral. Just don’t let sellers get too avant-garde with jarring pinks, oranges, and purples. Recommend soft colors that say “welcome,” lead the eye from room to room, and flatter skin tones. Think soft yellows and pale greens. Tint ceilings a lighter shade.

3. Upgrade the kitchen and bathroom. These make-or-break rooms can spur a sale. But besides making each squeaky clean and clutter-free, update the pulls, sinks, and faucets. In a kitchen, add one cool appliance, such as an espresso maker.

4. Install crown molding at least six to nine inches in depth, proportional to the room’s size, and architecturally compatible. Ceiling molding ads a finish to a room and is especially important in a dining room, but each room can use that final touch.

5. Screen hardwood floors. Buyers favor wood over carpet, but refinishing is costly and time-consuming. Screening cuts dust, time, and expense. What it entails: a light sanding, not a full stripping of color or polyurethane, then a coat of finish.

6. Clean out, organize closets. Get sorting—organize your piles into “don’t need,” “haven’t worn,” and “keep.” Closets must be only half-full so buyers can visualize fitting their stuff in.

7. Update window treatments. Buyers want light and views, not dated, fancy-schmancy drapes that darken. To diffuse light and add privacy, consider energy-efficient shades and blinds.

8. Hire a home inspector. Do a preemptive strike, since busy home owners seek maintenance-free living. Fix problems before you list the home and then display receipts and wait for buyers to offer kudos to sellers for being so responsible.

2/15/08 Sellers' News

How Does Your Home Look

Make the Most of That First Impression

A well-manicured lawn, neatly trimmed shrubs and a clutter-free porch welcome prospects. So does a freshly painted - or at least freshly scrubbed - front door. If it's autumn, rake the leaves. If it's winter, shovel the walkways. The fewer obstacles between prospects and the true appeal of your home, the better.

Invest a Few Hours for Future Dividends

Here's your chance to clean up in real estate. Tidy the living room, the bathroom, the kitchen. If your woodwork is scuffed or the paint is fading, consider some minor touch-ups and redecorating. Updating the hardware on kitchen cabinets, adding new slipcovers to sofas and keeping a vase of fresh flowers in the entryway are some simple touches that can go a long way. If you're worried about time, hire professional cleaners or painters to help get your house ready. Remember, prospects would rather see how great your home really looks than hear how great it could look "with a little work."

Check Faucets and Bulbs

Dripping water rattles the nerves, discolors sinks and suggests faulty or worn-out plumbing. Burned-out bulbs or faulty wiring leave prospects in the dark. Don't let those problems detract from what's right with your home.

Don't Shut Out a Sale

If cabinets or closet doors stick in your home, you can be sure they will also stick in a prospect's mind. Don't try to explain away sticky situations when you can easily plane them away. A little effort on your part can smooth the way toward a closing.

Sellers' News

Maybe Not A 000-Sum Game

A research team at Cornell University has found that people will pay more for a house if its listing price does not end in a bunch of zeros.

In other words, the researchers say, you might make more money if you price your house at $325,425 rather than $326,000.

The study concluded that because people are used to precise numbers for items that don't cost much and to round numbers for large amounts, consumers generally and home buyers specifically tend to perceive that a price is smaller if there are digits at the end instead of zeros.