Remember Our Heroes

There's one born every minute

There’s One Born

Every Minute

Many years ago I sold a house on a quiet tree lined cul-de-sac.  There were seven houses on the street all built by the same builder at the same time in the 1950s.  The house next door had just recently sold for $390,000 with the same number of bedrooms and bathrooms (3/2), almost exactly the same layout in a mirror image with only a marginally larger piece of property.  Ironically, both houses had an updated kitchen and one of the two bathrooms beautifully redone.

When sitting down with the homeowners before putting the house on the market trying to determine price, the sellers (also my friends) said “Oh, our house is worth more than theirs [the neighbors who just sold].” I looked around, tapped the walls, stomped the floors with my booted feet and asked “Why? Did you use gold nails?” I stole that line from a real estate trainer but it is true.  All things being equal, short of there being buried treasure in your backyard, why is one house worth more than another? Simply said, they’re not.  Sure, there are some things that add and detract from value but all in all, again all things being equal, they’re worth approximately the same.

You’ve spent years in your home, possibly decades, and you have lots of memories there, both good and bad. But they are just that, memories. If it is time to move on try to take the emotion out of the equation; although difficult, remember this is a business transaction and emotion has very little place in business.  Your home is more than likely the single largest investment you have made in your lifetime and needs to be handled with the utmost care and attention to the bottom line.

Perhaps we will be able to find someone who is willing to pay you substantially more than the same house that just sold next door, but more often than not the buyer will be obtaining bank financing.  Banks, to protect their own investments, send out an appraiser to determine the value of the home.  If the appraiser’s value doesn’t match the agreed purchase price the deal, very often, falls apart unless the buyer and seller are willing and ready to renegotiate.

The value of real estate is determined by what a seller is willing to sell for and what a buyer is willing to pay.  Ultimately, however, the value is determined by what someone [a bank usually] is willing to lend against it. Unless the buyer is all cash, appraisal is key and will determine if there is, in fact, going to be a sale.

Pre-listing Engineer's Inspection

A Pre-listing

Inspection?

Yes please. Having an engineer come in for a full home inspection prior to listing the house will do a world of good for the eventual sale price.  What may cost you $100 to repair a potential buyer will want $1,000 in credits to repair. By being pre-inspected, you will uncover any little (or big) imperfections in the house that you might not have been aware of (e.g.: termites, leaking foundation, improperly ventilated roof, crossed wires, etc.) and have the chance to have them repaired BEFORE a buyer has their inspections. When these issues arise at a buyers’ inspection, you can proudly declare “It’s been repaired!”

Many home inspectors offer discounts to sellers who do a pre-sale inspection before the house hits the market. I can provide you with recommendations for inspectors who are licensed by New York State and enjoy a good reputation in the local market place. Even if you decide not to sell, this is not a bad idea if you’ve been in the house for some time.  Very often some of the hardware (e.g.: electric panels, wiring, or plumbing issues) have been updated or declared dangerous and you can have them repaired or changed before they present a problem.

Stale listing

Like A Loaf Of Bread…

A house that stays on the market too long without price changes or a reevaluation of marketing strategy goes stale...just like a loaf of bread. Most people only buy day old bread when they can get it at a drastic discount or are planning to make croutons. 

Sometimes, when pricing a house, a miscalculation can take place, either by the agent or the owner.  If your house has been on the market for 30 days and there have been no bona-fide offers or serious interest, it is quite possible, and more than likely probable, that the price is not correct. Sit down with your Realtor and re-examine the market, recent sales, other houses for sale, and those that have expired and not sold.  Are you in the ballpark or way out in left field?

Don’t be the day old bread...stale and crusty; be fresh and delicious!

WHY HASN'T MY HOUSE SOLD?????

WHY HASN’T MY HOUSE SOLD?

I can’t begin to tell you how many times I have heard that question. Time and time again people list their properties with Realtors^® or licensees (licensed real estate agents/brokers who have no affiliation with the National Association of Realtors^®) because they liked the higher price that the agent told them the property was worth.  In many cases the agent may have truly believed the property was worth more, and naturally the seller did, and therefore went with the higher asking price and did not reduce enough or fast enough or both, and now sit with a property that has gone “stale” (like a loaf of bread on a market shelf that has not sold) making it doubly difficult to sell. Just as often, however, agents try and “buy” a listing by over-inflating the value to a seller and then trying to reduce as soon as possible leaving the seller dumbfounded, thinking “but you told me it was worth $X.”

Undoubtedly we have all heard the real estate battle cry “LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION.”  Well, that is only partly true…a better way to say it is “PRICE, PRICE, PRICE.”  Yes, location will dictate price (up OR down,) as will condition of property, and condition of the local real estate market.  In real estate, there are actually 5 key factors in selling property, both primary residences and investment grade properties. Price. Location. Market conditions. Realtor^®. Property condition.  I will endeavor to expand on all 5 for you here:

PROPERTY CONDITION: Let’s face it, if the property looks disheveled, in need of paint, has an overgrown lawn, a roof missing shingles, and a kitchen that only Cro-Magnon man would appreciate, it will dictate a lower price. I ask people, generally before I even arrive at a property to valuate it, to please go outside to the street and look at the house as if they were looking at it for the first time.  Then, stop at the front door and look around and write down what you see.  Chipped paint, misaligned storm/screen door, loose stones on the stoop, cobwebs, dirt, etc., all leave a bad impression and there is only one chance to make a good first impression. This same approach should be used all around the house; these minor cosmetic repairs will make a HUGE difference in the ultimate sale price of the house; what would cost you $100.00 to repair translates in the buyer’s mind as $1,000.00 and they will subtract that off of any offer they were considering making. Conversely, that $100.00 repair in advance could gain you $1,000.00 in your sales price! Make the house shine! A fresh perspective from your Realtor^® (ME!) can help put your house in top showing condition both with cosmetic repairs and proper staging.

MARKET CONDITIONS: Well, unfortunately this is something that simply cannot be changed, it is what it is.  Pricing according to the market is of paramount importance; you don’t want to undersell (or as seller’s like to say “give it away”) and you also never want to overprice as this will scare buyers from even looking at the property, let alone placing offers. Price the property right and let the market drive it!

REALTOR^®: This is definitely something you can change, very often even after you have listed your property. Choosing the right realtor is crucial. Not only should you be able to get along and talk comfortably with your agent, you should be very confident in his or her abilities as a broker. Years in the business, amount of deals successfully completed, market knowledge, drive, energy level, and congenial demeanor are all things you want to look out for.  Interview at least three Realtors before you make your decision unless you meet “the one” before other interviews. Try to listen to what the agent has to say and look at the evidence they present; don’t just look at want you want to see and listen to what you want to hear. Do you want your agent to lie to you or level with you? I suggest level honest answers rather than hype, smoke, and mirrors. No amount of marketing is going to sell an overpriced listing and agents with access to the MLS (Multiple Listing Service,) and experience have all of the evidence they need to price your property correctly.

LOCATION: Well, here is another aspect of your property that cannot be changed. The property is where it is! Whether it is on an estate lined street or a two lane highway, the location is not changing. Double yellow lines, metered parking, trucks making deliveries, and honking horns all take away value for a prospective buyer.  Tree lined streets, quiet venues, and other attractive houses conversely add value to a prospective buyer. Price accordingly.

PRICE: OK, well, this is the ultimate issue that most seller’s cringe at talking about. I cannot stress enough how important the right price, from the onset, is to the highest possible sales price.  This unfortunately, can sometimes be arbitrary and take some finesse to properly hone, but it is the very first thing a buyer finds out about a property.  In most property searches PRICE RANGE, after general area, is the first thing that has to be keyed in, then # of bedrooms, bathrooms, etc. By creating competitive market analyses (CMA’s is the industry term) we can narrow down to a “range” in which the property should be priced, the rest is up to the seller to decide with the agent’s guidance and knowledge, all the while factoring in motivation and time frame of the seller.  The time of year is also a factor here.  Many people think waiting until the spring market is the right time to sell. That is often true, but just as often false.  The spring is when many homeowners put their houses on the market making you, the seller, a small fish in a big pond so to speak.  Buyers are now out and looking year round and if there are more houses to choose from, the sale price could be substantially lower.  When is the right time to sell? When YOU are ready.

Being ready also means being serious. If you are serious you will price your house properly.  Listen to your Realtor^® and do the recommended repairs and cosmetic upgrades; this will increase your home’s value tremendously. Conversely, you can decide to listen and not do the repairs but be realistic and understand that those repairs you choose to ignore will detract from the house’s value and you need to price with that in mind.  Overpricing an under-improved house can cost you much more in the long run than you realize. 

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