selling a home: It takes a STRATEGY to sell a home for top dollar.
- 06/13/13 02:22 PM
The Fair Oaks home market has gone berserk in the past 6 or 7 months. We've gone from a tough, declining market with homes taking forever to sell (6 months average in April 2012), to one where gobs of buyers swarm every listing, vying for the right to buy - like salmon up a fish ladder. Homes go into the MLS, only to flash the PENDING sign within hours. (Our average is now 23 days to sell!) But is a quick acceptance the best way to get top dollar? Heck NO! In THIS market "Sold in 1 day!" means you had … (34 comments)
selling a home: What are your best tips for negotiating? Help me out!
- 01/04/13 03:35 AM
We negotiate all the time. The price of a house. Our commission. Our kid's bedtime. But how the heck do we do it, and can we create helpful rules to define our negotiating strategy? I hope so, because I am teaching a class for my company of 950 agents, and am digging deep into this. I wanna come up with a winning class outline. I have found web articles on top tricks for negotiating that spell out the scuzzier side of negotiating - tricks to take advantage of the other side. Ugh... not what I'm looking for. I want the rules … (17 comments)
selling a home: Networking pays off. It just sold my home again - IN ONE DAY! Thanks Nick Kellogg!
- 10/02/11 02:33 AM
Friday at 5pm the dreaded call came in. "Sally - my buyer just lost his job. His company folded and closed the doors. We can't buy your listing". My mind screamed. My seller was in escrow on his new home and HIS seller was moving out that day! We were 12 days from closing. Crap. This is when the rubber meets the road. So I shifted into gear. Facebook. Post. Email to my 20 year Marketing Group. Check. Email to the 105 Realtors in my office. Check. Changed status in the MLS. got it. A little prayer to The Big Guy. … (20 comments)
selling a home: Check out my new video trailor...
- 09/23/11 04:49 AM
I LOVE this. i just made this clip with the help of my Lyon Fair Oaks Office, for use at the end of my seller-oriented videos.
Get Listed... Get an Offer... Get Moving is our company slogan which is plastered on billboards all over town. I thought I would make use of that and the fact that our office is so teamwork oriented. We all truly help each other with our businesses, and have a culture of support. It's super short... What do you think? … (14 comments)
selling a home: How to Sell Your Home - Three Critical Factors
- 09/16/11 02:22 PM
Everyone knows the three most important factors in real estate... LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION. But when you sell your home, there are three factors that are even more important. No don't scream at me. Location IS important. But once you own a home, you can't change the location. Or the floorplan. Or the direction if faces on the street. Or interest rates. Or whether there are buyers looking. Nope... you can't change any of those. But there are three factors you DO have control of, and that's where you need to focus your attention.
Price, condition, and marketing. These factors … (18 comments)
selling a home: Should a Seller disclose EVERYTHING? Not always!
- 09/11/11 03:55 AM
Should a Seller disclose EVERYTHING? I used to think so, until I listed CW's* home. "I can't fill out the Transfer Disclosure Statement", she said. "If I do no one will buy this home". "REALLY??" I'm thinking mold in the attic and a dead body in the backyard. "So, what's wrong with it?" "Well, we get turkeys jumping on our roof... TURKEYS! They're terrible. And planes fly overhead. I've even seen helicopters." "Really", I say. "What else". "The neighbors. They are terrible. I hate them". "Uh hmm... What else". "I've seen termites fly out of the ground before... behind our … (97 comments)
selling a home: Watch out for wrong information on-line....
- 05/05/11 09:01 AM
My escrow almost blew up today, because my buyer found out the HOA payment was $50 a month more than she thought. "It's HOW MUCH??? I was told it was much less", she said. Hmmmm... why did she think that? Did I give her that information??? Come to discover she got the wrong info from Trulia.com, who had downloaded the original listing, but never updated after the listing agent corrected his typo. Take a look at this post I wrote last year on the same subject - that buyer's need to be weary of information they get from the gazillion … (9 comments)
selling a home: Safety Tip for Sellers. Avoid a Lawsuit by Checking the Eveness of Your Stairs
- 04/23/11 03:24 AM
I sold a home to a safety engineer once. He amazed me with his comments about safety violations in the Fair Oaks homes we viewed. Most were things I had thought of. Hand rails?? Check. Uncovered electrical sockets? Got it. Uneven walkways? Know about that one. Yeah, baby... I got it. But the surprise to me was his focus on stairs with an uneven rise… where some steps are shorter or taller than the others. Never gave it a thought. He explained that our brains adjust to the first step, then expect the rest to be the same. So imagine … (3 comments)
selling a home: Testimonial for Sally Dunbar, Fair Oaks Realtor, by Margaret and Gene
- 10/22/10 02:30 AM
Margaret and Gene bought their first home from me a dozen years ago in beautiful Crosswoods. Since then, I sold a rental home for them, and recently helped them find the perfect home for their daughter. They are deep in the remodel as we speak! New floors, counter tops, and bathroom cabinets. Here what they had to say....
… (0 comments)
selling a home: Testimonial for Fair Oaks Realtor, Sally Dunbar, by happy seller, Michael
- 10/21/10 04:47 PM
Michael called me awhile ago after having his Fair Oaks home on the market for three months with another realtor. After whipping out a laundry list of things to be done to spruce things up, I kept the price pretty much the same, pulled out my secret weapon marketing plan, and Michael accepted a full price offer within one week on the market. Here's what Michael had to say... … (4 comments)
selling a home: "How's real estate?" Here... I'm going to tell you.
- 01/13/10 10:27 AM
With a long face primed for sympathy, I get asked "How are you doing in this market?" quite frequently. Well-meaning friends and others who know I'm a realtor, assume I am suicidal about THIS MARKET... broke, in debt, and have no one to sell to, sitting all alone in an empty office day by day twiddling my thumbs. My answer always shocks them. "I'm doing great! I have helped 20 families manage their life by buying or selling a home this year." TWENTY! (Not my record of 55, but enough to give me great satisfaction that my career is still on-track.) "Who … (14 comments)
selling a home: A video tutorial... Keep sprinklers away from your house. Water is the origin of life... and dryrot!!!
- 07/05/09 04:53 AM
I hate spending money when I can't see the results. That's why I liked buying my new Mac - a big bang for the buck. Or a vacation... a great use of money. Tangible results make me happy. Then there's dry rot. Now there's something fun to spend your money on. (remove tongue from cheek....) Talk about a sucker of cash that could have been avoided. You get dry rot when water lingers on wood. The little dry rot vermin LOVE wet wood. (so do beetles and termites, by the way... and toxic mold is not far behind if there's sheetrock … (9 comments)
selling a home: How Should You Pick a List Price? A video tutorial....
- 06/29/09 05:34 PM
Congratulations.... you want to sell your home. And you are right, you have done some amazing upgrades, and your home IS special. It IS worth more than anyone else's.... ;o) But this is the time to get real. Why? Because you are going to get your hopes up, you're going to exhaust yourself cleaning and painting, and packing up all that stuff you've accumulated. And you are going to put up with realtors coming by at all hours, and making appointments and not showing up. It's frustrating and a lot of work. But it's quadruply frustrating if you do all that work... … (8 comments)
selling a home: "But my home is worth more than that!" Maybe. But not to an appraiser. And you are at their mercy when selling your home.
- 06/24/09 02:12 AM
I know yours is worth more. Mine is too. But if I were to sell my home, even as smart as I am as a 30 year real estate broker, I would probably only get what it would appraise for. Bummer. Why is that? Face it... most buyer's get a loan. And despite public opinion these days, the banks are very careful about where they put their money. They want to be sure there are other similar homes that have sold recently for the same price. They verify that through an appraisal, done by an appraiser who is the master marionette … (8 comments)
selling a home: Should I, the seller, be there for my buyer's walk through?
- 06/02/09 07:50 AM
The seller at the walk through...? That would be a resounding "NO". I know... you want to tell them about the hidden switch to the fan, how to run the sprinklers, and how much water to give the african daisies. But "NO", anyway. Don't even think about it. The reason is, you never want to set up a situation where the buyer can come back after escrow closes and claim they hadn't noticed a hidden defect. With you there, they can say "You knew about the blah-blah, and that must be why you stood in front of it and acted so … (14 comments)
selling a home: Fair Oaks, California, Home Prices and Sales Activity (5/09)
- 05/22/09 09:49 AM
It's been a wild ride for homes sales in Fair Oaks, California, but for 2 months in a row we have had huge increases in the number of sales. Sales doubled in March over the preceeding month, from 18 to 38, then increased another 10% in April, to 41. And all the while inventory has been dropping to it's lowest numbers in over a year. With 42 pending sales out of the 132 homes on the market in Fair Oaks, that's roughly 1/3 of the homes selling in one month. Compare that to one year ago, when only 1/5th of the … (4 comments)
selling a home: What happens if... My home doesn't appraise? Or worse, the review appraiser whacks the price?
- 05/22/09 04:58 AM
Bummer. But this is happening more and more. With the price decline over the past few years, it's like trying to hit a moving target. But what do you do when a buyer and seller agree on a price, yet it won't appraise? First, you may want to cry. Sometimes that helps. But usually not. Then see what you can do to adjust the appraisal. Get a copy. What have they used for comps (comparable sales that are used to measure value). Do you know of any closer... more recent.... more similar? Find out if any are about to close escrow. Current … (11 comments)
selling a home: What happens if..... My escrow blows up. Can I keep my buyer's deposit?
- 04/29/09 02:17 PM
OOOH.. Tough break. No one's happy when an escrow falls apart. But whether the seller gets to keep the buyer's deposit comes down to two words.It Depends!Let's say the buyer has already removed all their contingencies in writing. Now they lose their job, or they find another house they like better, or they decide they can't stand each other, after all. They want out. In most cases, the seller would have a right to keep the deposit. After all the buyer backed out, AFTER removing their contingencies.But HAVING A RIGHT TO THE DEPOSIT, AND ACTUALLY GETTING IT ARE TWO DIFFERENT STORIES.In … (24 comments)
selling a home: Prep Your Home for Sale - Personal Belongings
- 03/05/09 08:56 AM
What does "Yo Mama" have to do with preparing your home for sale? Plenty. Take a look at the following video to find out what! (And don't ask me why Youtube selected this most attractive frame to put as the lead-in!) So check out your home from the eyes of a buyer. Do you have a montage of photos on your hallway that will trap the buyer's attention? Get rid of it! And your Mama's wedding picture.... out it goes. At least until you are in your new home and can safely put out all your relatives again... NO MATTER WHAT … (19 comments)
Fair Oaks homes for sale by Realtor Sally Dunbar, who's been hoofin' it through the homes of Fair Oaks and the surrounding areas, matching up eager buyers with ready-to-move sellers, since 1979.
While I sell homes in Fair Oaks, I venture in Sacramento, Carmichael, Citrus Heights, Orangevale, Rancho Cordova, Gold River, Folsom, El Dorado Hills, Roseville, Rocklin and Granite Bay...(and Chevron loves me!)
How have I survived for so long?... By always doing what's right for my people.... Always!
Now check out my video about why I love Fair Oaks...
Short Sale, REO, foresclosures??? ... find out the difference below...
How do you pick a listing price? See below...
What price should you offer when you've found the home of your dreams??? Find out below...
Prepping your home for sale??? Don't miss the video below...
The Fair Oaks home market has gone berserk in the past 6 or 7 months. We've gone from a tough, declining market with homes taking forever to sell (6 months average in April 2012), to one where gobs of buyers swarm every listing, vying for the right to buy - like salmon up a fish ladder. Homes go into the MLS, only to flash the PENDING sign within hours. (Our average is now 23 days to sell!)
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