home selling: All You REALTORS Are Idiots! - 08/26/11 04:15 AM
Did you get that? All You REALTORS Are Idiots! That's what a previous client said to my partner the other day.  These clients have had their property listed with 4 agents now (we were the 2nd) and 3 times (currently and between listings) as For Sale By Owner.  This property has been for sale for over 3 years now. When we took the listing (waayy back when), we got to hear about everything the other agent didn't do, how it got no showings, etc., etc.  Remember, they were currently a FSBO, so we already knew what price they thought it was … (9 comments)

home selling: Would You Rather I Lie To You To Make You Happy... - 08/25/11 06:20 AM
Brenda Mullen writes a great post on being truthful with potential listing clients.  This is the way I run my business as well.  When you're ready to sell your Hickory NC home, you need to know all of the facts and figures on the market in order for you to make the best decision.
Unfortunately, not all agents work with this way.  Some will tell you want you want to hear just to get you list with them and only THEN will they worry about getting the property in the right price range, showing condition, etc.
I provide honest, straight-forward answers … (2 comments)

home selling: The 4 Factors of Selling A House - 07/18/11 03:30 AM
The 4 Factors of Selling A House
No matter how you choose to try to get your home sold, whether you go the For Sale By Owner route or you decide to hire a REALTOR® to help you market and sell your property, there are always four factors that will determine whether or not you have a successful sale.  If one factor is lacking, the other factors must "make up" for it or you likely won't have a sale at all.
PRICE MARKETING TIME THE SELLER  
PRICE - Pricing is key, especially in today's buyers' market, to selling your home.  … (4 comments)

home selling: The 24 Hour Notice: Common Sense Prevails - 04/06/11 11:41 PM
I've read several post on whether or not sellers should have a "24 hour notice required" on their listings, most notable, those from Tish Lloyd and Charita Cadenhead.  Now, in the current housing market, I'm the first to tell my seller-clients that it's rarely a good idea to decline a showing, any showing.  You simply never know when "the buyer" is going to walk through the door. That said, I really don't see the issue with a 24 hour notice.  Some commenters and posters on the subject blow it off, saying things like, "sellers shouldn't need 24 hours!" "If it takes … (59 comments)

home selling: You Told Me More in an Hour... - 03/18/11 02:40 AM
You Told Me More in an Hour...
 I've been working the expired listing market pretty heavy the last six months or so, and I've met with many sellers that have been unsuccessful in getting their property sold.  In the Hickory NC real estate market, like most other markets around the United States, it's a bit tougher market to sell a property and, as a seller, you have to be fully aware of this and prepared to do what you need to in order to give your property the best chance to sell in a reasonbable time frame.
 And what I've found … (3 comments)

home selling: Do NC Home Sellers Have to Disclose Property Defects? - 03/16/11 02:26 AM
Do North Carolina home sellers have to disclose property defects?

This question comes up a lot, both from sellers and buyers.  Sellers may know of a condition that may affect the sale of their house and fear that it will cause problems.  Buyers, especially those that have bought a house and then find a major issue, often feel that the seller has misrepresented the property to them.

So, do NC sellers have to disclose all that they know about the property?  The short answer is No, they do not.

That may seem surprising to some, but North Carolina … (2 comments)

home selling: Your House Didn't Sell. What Do You Do Now? - 02/01/11 05:58 AM
You hired an agent, got your house on the market and waited on the big day when a good offer comes in on your property and you can move on.  Except, that day never came and your listing expired.  What do you do now? Your house not selling is a frustrating, disappointing, upsetting emotional roller coaster ride.  The absolute first thing that you need to do is...STOP!


Get a grip on the emotional reactions and focus on the details.  This is much easier to say than do (trust me, I've been there!), but it is vital if you … (8 comments)

home selling: The New NC Offer to Purchase: A Seller Perspective - 01/24/11 10:29 AM
In my last post on the new North Carolina Offer to Purchase form, Big Changes to the NC Offer to Purchase Contract, we went over the biggest changes compared to the old contract.  Of course, if you've never bought or sold any property in NC before, then it's all new anyway.  But, if you have, then there is a lot of NEW in the new contract. So how do all these changes affect a seller in a deal? The first thing is the due diligence fee.  As per the contract, the due diligence fee is "A negotiated amount, if any, paid … (1 comments)

home selling: Big Changes to NC Offer to Purchase Contract - 01/17/11 10:21 AM
As of January 1st, 2011, North Carolina has a completely different REALTOR/NCBAR Association approved offer to purchase and contract.  If you've currently been looking for a home to buy, made offers before or bought houses in the past, be prepared for some BIG changes to the way purchases are handled in NC.
So, What's so Different? 
The biggest change is the fact that there are NO CONTINGENCY CAUSES anymore.  None.  Nada.  The old contract had a loan contingency, repair contingency and just about anything else that you could imagine.  If you, or the property, didn't meet a contingency, hey, no … (26 comments)

home selling: There is No Such Thing As a Crazy Offer - 11/26/10 08:18 AM
An Active Rain blogger recently wrote a member's only post about "Crazy Offers" and how agents should handle them.  (If you're an AR member, you can click here to see the post) Brian Rugg's comment to this post seemed to really cut to the chase, though (it's comment #30, btw).  In it, he said, "There really is no such thing as a crazy offer, just an offer." WOW! Did that hit home.  Hey, I admit, I've seen some real doozies of offers.  Truthfully, I've made a few on behalf of clients as well.  "Crazy" isn't always the first term that came … (10 comments)

home selling: Need A Quickie? Quick Tips to Staging Your House to Sell - 11/15/10 11:09 AM
Need A Quickie?  Quick Tips to Staging Your House to Sell If you've even considered selling your house in today's market, you've probably already heard about staging.  Want a great example of a perfectly staged home?  Visit a few builder open houses, or better yet, take a tour through a few model homes on a manufactured home lot!  Those mobile home people can really stage a house! Still, many people who or trying to sell, or considering selling, don't know a good staging professional or simply don't want to, or feel they can't,  afford to hire a stager to make their … (12 comments)

home selling: Please Remove Shoes Before Entering the Home For Sale - 11/01/10 09:54 AM
Please Remove Shoes Before Entering the Home For Sale I'm wondering if this is just a trend in the Hickory NC real estate market or if it's something that's hitting other places, too.  It seems that the newest thing in listings around here is the new added phrase in the agent only remarks section that goes something like, "please remove your shoes before entering home. Booties are provided just inside the door." Really?  I mean, REALLY? This one really gets me, I gotta admit.  As a seller, you generally want to make showings on your property as easy as they can … (14 comments)

home selling: Low Ball Offers are a Part of Selling in Today's Market - 10/04/10 08:53 AM
If you're selling a home in today's market, then you know that it is taking longer to get your property sold.  Pricing your property correctly from the start is probably one of the most important factors in making sure that your home doesn't sit on the market longer than it should.Even when you are priced correctly and marketed well, another factor in today's real estate market, even here in the Greater Hickory, NC area, is the low-ball offer.Yes, even homes that are priced well, or even a little under market value, many times will get the low-ball offer thrown out at … (5 comments)

home selling: The Curious Case of the Disappearing Seller - 09/15/10 03:01 AM
This is a follow-up to my post, The Curious Case of The Disappearing Buyer.  In it, I talked about how each market cycle has it's own special "quirks" that come with it, and how this current cycle has created the "disappearing buyer."  That is, a buyer that is qualified, able and supposedly ready to buy, but at some point in the process, they simply stop responding to calls, emails, etc and you never here from them again. That case was rare in the past, but it still happened on occasion.  The current market situation has created something that I feel is … (6 comments)

home selling: When Bad Listing Photos of Homes go Good - 08/12/10 04:38 AM
Inspired by Jennifer Prestwich's post, What's with the Pictures on the MLS? (sorry, non-ActiveRainers, it's a member's only post), I thought I'd write the 'other side of the story of, at least some, bad MLS photos.  BTW, if you want to see some really bad MLS photos, just type in 'bad MLS photos' in google and enjoy
I've seen some pretty bad listing photos in my time, too.  If the goal of the seller is to get the best price out of the home in the shortest amount of time, then it's generally a good idea to a) stage the … (5 comments)

home selling: Why Every Listing Should be Priced at $1 - 06/27/10 12:17 AM
This is a follow-up to my post, There is No Such Thing as an Under-Priced House.  While reading through various posts on the topic of under pricing, on comment really caught my eye.  Basically, the commenter said something to effect that if the goal of under pricing was to simply get the highest bid, then every property should be priced at a dollar.  Here's why I think that's a GREAT IDEA!
As a listing agent
There would no longer be any reason to have to 'prove' your pricing range based off your market analysis.  The market (as it always does anyway) … (63 comments)

home selling: There is No Such Thing as an Under-Priced House - 06/27/10 12:17 AM
I was recently catching up on my ActiveRain newsletter reads (I'm behind) and it seems the hot topic a couple of weeks ago (okay, way behind) was agents "underpricing" listings in order to get buyers to make offers.  I tracked back a few posts and it seems that the start of this was a post concerning a short sale where it was priced way lower than the buyer's agent's perception of market value and because of that, there were over 20-30 offers on the property.
Here's the thing, and what, to me at least, comes across loud and clear in that … (6 comments)

home selling: Pricing Strategy for Today's Real Estate Market - 05/23/10 10:04 AM
Pricing, especially in today's general real estate market, is important.  Agents tell sellers (correctly) that pricing it too high means that there will be NO offers on the home, not just that it will take longer.  Sellers are usually fearful of pricing "too low."  There's no such thing really, but that's another blog post.
Yes, in today's market, correctly pricing a home is very, very important.  Yet, I've seen over and over again so many agents who got the price in the right ballpark yet they're still not getting any offers and very little showings.
Well, if it's priced right and … (1 comments)

home selling: 3 Secrets to Getting Your Property SOLD! - 04/29/09 04:27 AM
I'm sure that you've heard the old saying that there are three things that sell a home, "Location, Location, Location."  I'm going to let you in on another little secret.  It AIN'T SO!  Sure, location is a prime factor in the sellability of your house, but even a bad location can be overcome.  The following 3 things are the Real secrets to getting your property sold.
PRICE The price of the property is the single most important aspect of getting your home sold.  If the home is priced correctly for the area, the market and it's condition, then it will sell.  … (10 comments)

home selling: The Short on Short Sales: A Guide for Understanding the Process - 03/23/09 04:38 AM
With the state of the economy and most real estate markets, short sales seem to be the topic at large.  Here at the Rain, I've seen several posts come up about them.  Some some agents get them, some don't.  Some think that they are good potential deals, others try their best to avoid them!  One thing's for certain, a lot of people, agents and consumers alike, still have a lot of questions about them.
States have different laws concerning real estate.  If you're a seller that is in a short sale position, it's very important that you get with a knowledge, … (7 comments)