The most important thing you need to remember in selling your home is CLEAN.  Your home must be clean, clean, clean and then clean it again.  Ceiling fans, light switches, baseboards.... things you don't normally clean on a weekly (or even yearly) basis must be cleaned.  Clean off your counters, your mantel, your dresser top, your closet, the kids toy chest...... Reduce your stuff by about 75% of what you normally have.  Remember, your goal is to have the buyer looking at your house, not your stuff and how much work they will need to do before they move in.  Make your home sparkle and free of clutter, price it correctly and it will sell.  Wouldn't you agree that living with only 25% of your stuff for a short time is better than living with all of your stuff forever in the same house that just won't sell. 

Get your home sold quickly and for a fair price by making it the cleanest home within your price range!!!  It REALLY does make a huge difference.  Take it from a Realtor that works with buyers on a daily basis.  We know what they are saying when they are walking through your home.

Remember, CLEAN, CLEAN, CLEAN.  Look at your home through a buyers eyes, not the place where you live.

The $790 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signed into law by President Obama in February gives first-time home buyers an amazing incentive to buy their first home-an $8,000 tax credit. In 2008, the home buyer tax credit of $7,500 required repayment over a 15-year period. Under the new provisions however there is no repayment requirement as long as the buyer remains in the home for three years. For many first time home buyers, the new guidelines will mean more money in their pockets at tax time.

Combine these new criteria with the great low prices and interest rates, and buyers will see the value of entering the market once they know all the details.

Detail #1 - Pay particular attention to the timeline: All purchases must take place between Jan. 1, 2009 and Dec. 1, 2009. For the most comprehensive details and perspective, visit realtor.org regularly.

Detail #2 - Buyers who’ve previously owned a home are not excluded as long as they haven’t owned during the three years prior to this year’s home purchase.

Detail #3 - Lending is NOT frozen and down payment requirements have not skyrocketed.  As a buyer, you are not better off waiting until the market bottoms out. There are loans available with manageable down payment options for qualified buyers. You will only know that we have hit the bottom after we have already begun to climb up - so why not get into the market now.

Detail #4 - Buying a home is good for the economy.  Stimulate your own growth and move forward with getting the American Dream

NOW IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY

Are there really unmotivated sellers?  Why do agents put these words in the description or add a rider to the sign?  Why not just get the sellers to lower the price of the home to draw the most attention to it as possible.

In today's Real Estate market it's important to help the seller to understand the local market, and in-particular where there home is placed in that market.  Adding the words 'motivated seller' or 'make offer' do nothing to help sell the home.  They just encourage buyers, who already believe they can offer 30% below list price to offer less and/or ask for everything under the sun.

As Realtors today, one of our biggest challenges is to keep our sellers informed as to what is happening.  Gone are the days when you do only one market analysis for a home.  Now, doing a market update every 30 days is important to keeping the sellers home priced where it should be.  Staying on top of what is new to the market so the sellers knows their competition, keeping them informed about what has sold within their area, AND what has gone under contract while your home is still for sale.... why did it sell and yours didn't???  It is important to continually provide the sellers with information about any changes happening so that when you ask for a price adjustment they KNOW that you aren't just taking the easy way out, but that you continue to do your research and you are asking because the market is telling you that's it's necessary. 

Remember, the price a home sells for isn't determined by the Realtor, it's determined by the market.  Our job is to do our best to price the home to sell as quickly as possible for the most amount of money.  Often times the sellers disagrees but showing them that you have researched your local market, and giving them proof of what's happening will usually get them to understand it's not that you don't want their house to be worth more.... just that the market says it isn't.

And, if you've got an un-motivated seller - do you really want the listing?

So, after months of being on the market, you've got a good contract with a qualified buyer.  You've made is through the whole house inspection, radon and termite and everything is looking good.  And then you find out that the appraisal is way lower than the sale price.  You know that the price is fair for both sides, but the VA appraiser says the 'appraised' value is over $10,000 less than the sale price.

WHAT DO YOU DO?  Many people don't know that you can actually ask for a review of the appraisal.  This is were your Realtor needs to get to work.  The VA will initially do an 'in house' review if provided with additional comps.  The 'in house' can actually change the value by up to 5%.  If you're not satisified with the determination you can than ask for a field review.  During this process another local appraiser is called in to just look over the comps, not to actually view the property, and then make his determination.  The good news is is that this process actually works.  I just got word that an appraisal that we asked for a review has been revised and it looks like we are going to be able to keep the deal together.  A win - win for the buyer and the seller.

This is not an easy market and it's important that we all work together to keep things moving.

Pam Wineinger

www.TheWineingers.com

RE/MAX Preferred

618-317-2112

The first quarter of 2009 is almost over and it's time to find out where we stand in sales compared to the last couple of years.....

To get a really good idea of where we are compared to where we've been, I think we should look at 2007, 2008, and sales for 2009.  This will give us a better overall picture of how much the market has changed.

From January 1, 2007 to March 31, 2007 there were 194 homes sold in St. Clair County, for a total of $24,973,340 in sales, with an average sale price of $128,728.

For January 1, 2008 to March 31, 2008 there were 116 homes sold, total of $17,961,757, average sale price of $122,188.   A big change in a short 12 month period.

Then we look at 2009.  Where do we stand now?  Is it better or worse?  Well, so far we've had 130 homes sold, (sounds good so far) but the total is $13,889,986, for an average sale price of $107,674.  So while we are starting to see more sales, the values have definitely come down. 

I think the biggest reason for the amazing drop in the total dollar amount of sales is the number of foreclosures and shorts sales included.  Short sales and foreclosures tend to be in poor repair and sell for a lower value because of all the work needed.  While our values have declined over the past 2 years, I don't believe that we have lost nearly as much as 16%.  And, I'm sure that some of you who have looked at the assessed current value of their home, you've found that the value has even increased over last year.

Have home prices hit rock bottom yet???  There's no way to tell until they start climbing back up again.  Either way, now is a GREAT time to buy.  Rates and supply are both good.