Getting the Best Value for Your Home
Getting ready to get into the real-estate market? Most sellers today are nervous and unsure. They wonder: is taking a loss on our house inevitable?
The answer is no! While the bad news is that the real estate market is only showing sluggish signs of recovery in most parts of the country, the good news is that a strategic sales plan, coupled with a smart buy in your new location could mean recouping the maximum value for your house.
Your Strategic Sales Plan
Consult with an expert, local real estate agent to ensure your house is priced competitively and well-staged. Why? Because while there are always three factors to getting a home sold—location, price, and condition—only two are under your control: price and condition. Of the two, which is more significant? Price. Remember that price will correct bad condition, but condition will never overcome bad price.
Act fast. You’re in a race against time—the best price you’ll get in today’s market is the one you get now. If you wait, it will be lower. And every month the price on your home decreases, your costs remain the same. For example, Keller Williams research shows that sellers who listed their home at the price the agent originally recommended, sold the home 38 days faster. This is over a month of mortgage and taxes payment! For a home that cost 200,000 at time of purchase, with 20 percent down and an interest rate of 6.5 percent, selling a month sooner results in a savings of $1101.31 for the mortgage alone, not including the taxes and insurance that the homeowner would be paying during this time.
Don’t worry about where the market has been, keep your focus on where it is going. The price your neighbor down the street got six months ago is not relevant in a market where your house is competing with others from all across town. Again, a local real estate agent will have the kind of long-term, wide-ranging data that will help you decide how to pinpoint your price with precision.
Your Smart Buy
Move up. Whether you are moving to an area where prices are in a downturn, or dreaming of nicer, bigger, home in your own town, selling your house now can get you into the home of your dreams. Falling home prices are a great opportunity for a savvy homeowner looking to move up. Even though your house price may be lower, the smaller loss at sale can be made up by greater savings at purchase. For example, let’s take that same $200,000 home, and imagine that it has decreased in value by 5 percent, taking the sales price to $190,000. At the same time, let’s imagine that you would like to move up and the $400,000 home you have been eyeing has also decreased by 5 percent. That’s a savings of $20,000, and it is a home that is likely to be better positioned for appreciation when the market rebounds.
Move up. Whether you are moving to an area where prices are in a downturn, or dreaming of nicer, bigger, home in your own town, selling your house now can get you into the home of your dreams. Falling home prices are a great opportunity for a savvy homeowner looking to move up. Even though your house price may be lower, the smaller loss at sale can be made up by greater savings at purchase. For example, let’s take that same $200,000 home, and imagine that it has decreased in value by 5 percent, taking the sales price to $190,000. At the same time, let’s imagine that you would like to move up and the $400,000 home you have been eyeing has also decreased by 5 percent. That’s a savings of $20,000, and it is a home that is likely to be better positioned for appreciation when the market rebounds.
Bottom line: don’t pit yourself against the market, work with the market to get the most out of your house sale.
Stage it, Sell it, Profit!
Turn on any popular home network on cable TV and you’ll find a program on staging. Re-arrange your furniture, pick a soothing color palette, clear out the family photos, and your home will sell faster, and for more money. Sound too frou-frou to be true?
It’s not! The soft and decorative side of staging is backed by hard facts.
Real estate agents like great-looking homes because they are easier to sell. Why is that important?
One, because an agent’s job is to please their clients, and they will direct their buyers to the homes they think they will buy.
Two, because agents talk to other agents who are also directing their buyers to the best homes on the market. An attractive listing will be shown more often, meaning more market exposure—critical for a quick and profitable house sale.
- Staging is non-negotiable in many parts of the country where it has become the norm San Francisco for example. But buyers in any part of the country will gravitate to listings that look good and are in move-in condition. Staging a listing for sale in an area where the concept hasn’t caught on can give you an advantage, particularly if there are many unsold listings similar to yours on the market.
- Buyers are looking for value. Now that appreciation has gone down or is flat, they are not going to pay any price for a property regardless of the condition. They have to perceive the house is worth the price.
| 82% of home sales are the result of agent connections
Source: National Association of REALTORS®
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Pricing and Staging Statistics
Sellers who listed their home at the price originally recommended by their agent sold it:
Compared to homes that were not staged, staged homes had:
Source: Keller Williams Realty Research Study
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Understanding the Buyer
As the seller, you can control three factors that will affect the sale of your home:
* The home's condition
* Asking price
* Marketing strategy
However, it's important to note that there are numerous other factors that influence a buyer, and you need to understand these consumer trends when you enter the sellers' market. The more your home matches these qualifications, the more competitive it will be in the marketplace. Your real estate agent can advise you on how to best position and market your home to overcome any perceived downsides.
Location
Unfortunately, the most influential factor in determining your home's appeal to buyers is something you can't control: its location. According to the National Association of REALTORS(r), neighborhood quality is the No. 1 reason buyers choose certain homes. The second most influential factor is commute times to work and school.
Size
While some buyers want to simplify their lives and downsize to a smaller home, home sizes in general have continued to increase over the decades, nearly doubling in size since the 1950s. Smaller homes typically appeal to first-time home buyers and "empty nesters," or couples whose children have grown up and moved out.
Amenities
Preferences in floor plans and amenities go in and out of fashion, and your real estate agent can inform you of the "hot ticket" items that are selling homes in your market. If your home lacks certain features, you can renovate to increase its appeal, but be forewarned: That's not always the right move. Using market conditions and activity in your neighborhood as a gauge, your agent can help you determine whether the investment is likely to help or hinder your profit margin and time on the market.
Let's face it: When your house goes on the market, you're not only opening the door to prospective buyers, but also sometimes to unknown vendors and naïve or unqualified buyers. As with any business transaction, there is an expected protocol to how sellers, buyers and their respective agents interact. Should you find yourself in a sticky situation, alert your agent so he or she can address and remedy the problem.
The aggressive agent
When your agent puts your house on the market, typically all promotional materials state clearly that your agent is the primary contact for buyers and buyers' agents. However, sometimes a buyer's agent will contact a seller directly to try to either win over their business or cut the seller's agent out of the deal. This is not reputable behavior and you should report it to your agent immediately if it happens to you.
The unscrupulous vendor
Have you ever started a business or moved into a new house and suddenly found your mailbox full of junk mail? Unfortunately, this also can happen when you put your house on the market. When you sell your home, it necessitates all kinds of new purchasing decisions and less-than-ethical vendors are keenly aware of this. Though MLS organizations enforce rules on how posted information is used, some companies have found ways to cull information from various sources to produce mass mailing lists. If you find yourself regularly emptying your mailbox of junk, let your agent know. He or she can tap the appropriate sources to prompt an investigation into the matter.
The naïve buyer
Yard signs, Internet listings and other advertisements can generate a lot of buzz for your home. Some prospective buyers - particularly first-timers - will be so buzzed to see your home that they'll simply drop by. If this happens, no matter how nice these unexpected visitors are, it's best not to humor their enthusiasm by discussing your home or giving an impromptu tour. Instead, politely let them know that your real estate agent is in charge of scheduling tours and provide them with the agent's contact information. If you attempt to handle these surprise visits on your own, you might inadvertently disclose information that could hurt you during negotiations down the road.
The aggressive agent
When your agent puts your house on the market, typically all promotional materials state clearly that your agent is the primary contact for buyers and buyers' agents. However, sometimes a buyer's agent will contact a seller directly to try to either win over their business or cut the seller's agent out of the deal. This is not reputable behavior and you should report it to your agent immediately if it happens to you.
The unscrupulous vendor
Have you ever started a business or moved into a new house and suddenly found your mailbox full of junk mail? Unfortunately, this also can happen when you put your house on the market. When you sell your home, it necessitates all kinds of new purchasing decisions and less-than-ethical vendors are keenly aware of this. Though MLS organizations enforce rules on how posted information is used, some companies have found ways to cull information from various sources to produce mass mailing lists. If you find yourself regularly emptying your mailbox of junk, let your agent know. He or she can tap the appropriate sources to prompt an investigation into the matter.
The naïve buyer
Yard signs, Internet listings and other advertisements can generate a lot of buzz for your home. Some prospective buyers - particularly first-timers - will be so buzzed to see your home that they'll simply drop by. If this happens, no matter how nice these unexpected visitors are, it's best not to humor their enthusiasm by discussing your home or giving an impromptu tour. Instead, politely let them know that your real estate agent is in charge of scheduling tours and provide them with the agent's contact information. If you attempt to handle these surprise visits on your own, you might inadvertently disclose information that could hurt you during negotiations down the road.
Congratulations Keller Williams Realty
We are also the proud recipients of the 2008 and 2009 Consumers' Choice Award
We are also the proud recipients of the 2008 and 2009 Consumers' Choice Award
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