Zaida Clay Harris's (zaidaclayharris) Blog

Pricing Your Home or The Pitfalls of Overpricing Your Home

Zaida Clay Harris (Signature Properties Group, Inc.) — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 01:32:56 -0800

Pricing Your Home...Or The Pitfalls of Overpricing Your HouseBuying real estate is often an emotional decision, but when selling real estate you need to remove emotion from the equation. You need to think of your house as a marketable commodity and the price you put on your commodity is very important.Don't base your decision to work with one real estate agent over another based on their recommended price of the house. If you do this you will choose the agent with the highest price and this may not necessarily be the best agent for the job. If you start out with too high a price on your home you may be adding to the stress level of selling your home, and selling a home is stressful enough.Contrary to popular belief, the listing agent does not only attempt to sell your home to a home buyer. That isn't very efficient. Listing agents market and promote your home to all the other local agents who are working with home buyers, dramatically increasing your personal sales force. If the home is priced right, you should have a flurry of activity from other agents looking to work with your agent to get your home sold to their buyers.If your home is overpriced, there will be fewer calls and fewer showings. After all, these are real estate agents and they are familiar with the market and home values. If your house is dramatically above market, then why would they waste their time showing an overpriced house? Their time is better spent showing homes that are priced realistically. Or worse yet, your home will be shown in comparison to a house down the street that is priced in line with the market to show the buyer what a good buy the home down the street is.If you drop your price later, then your house is "old news". A price decrease does not gain the attention that a newly listed house with the right price does. By listing your home at a "too high price" you are only causing your house to take longer to sell.Even if you do successfully sell at an above market price, your buyer will need a mortgage. The mortgage lender requires an appraisal. If comparable sales for the last six months and current market conditions do not support your sales price, the house won't appraise at a price to support the loan amount requested. Your deal may fall apart and your house ends up back on the market.The longer your house sits on the market the more potential buyers think you are desperate to sell, so they will make lower offers. By overpricing your home in the beginning, you could actually end up settling for a lower price than you would normally have received if you had priced the house right to start with.

The "Real" Role of a Listing Agent

Zaida Clay Harris (Signature Properties Group, Inc.) — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 01:44:18 -0800

Many homeowners expect their listing agent to do the same things that a selling agent does - find someone to buy their home. After all, they do the things you expect if they were searching for buyers. A sign goes up in the front yard. Ads are placed in the local newspapers and real estate magazines. Your agent will hold a Realtor® open house and possibly a public open house on the weekends.But this is only "surface" marketing. More important activity occurs behind the scenes. After the "for sale" sign goes up and flyers are printed, your agent's main job is to market your home to other agents, not to home buyers. Even before the sign is up and the brochures are ready, your agent should list your property with the local MLS (Multiple Listing Service). The MLS is a database of all the homes listed by local real estate agents who are members of the service, which is practically all of the local agents.Important information about your property is listed here, from general data such as square footage and number of rooms, to such details as whether you have granite counter tops or hardwood floors. There should also be numerous pictures and a verbal description of what your home's "special" features are.Agents search the MLS for homes that fit the price range and needs of their buying clients. They pay special attention to homes that have been recently placed on the market, which is one reason you get a lot of attention when your house is first listed. Many agents will want to preview the home before they show it to their clients. Thus, your listing agent will need to hold a Realtor® Open House so the other agents may preview the new listing.The main point about having your house listed in the MLS is that you expand your sales force by the number of local MLS members. Instead of having just one agent working for you, now you have hundreds of agents working for you throughout the area.The listing agent's main job is to make sure that the other MLS members know about your property. This is accomplished through listing your house in the Multiple Listing Service, Realtor Open Houses and advertising targeted toward other real estate agents, as well as home buyers. Make sure Your Agent lists Your Property in your local MLS!

The Basics of Marketing Your Home

Zaida Clay Harris (Signature Properties Group, Inc.) — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 06:53:49 -0800

The Basics of Marketing Your HomeYour REALTOR®'s marketing efforts and considerations will include advertising, showing the property, how long the house has been on the market and whether you're buying another home. Your home should be listed, whenever possible, through a Multiple Listing Service (MLS).Advertising and PromotionProperties are commonly advertised through real estate agent Web sites, Internet home search/listing services, classified advertising and real estate guides. Promotion efforts through office and MLS tours are a good way of getting other buyer agents to view your home and to promote it to the buyers they are working with.Even with all these advertising avenues, " For Sale" signs on front lawns are still remarkably effective. Many REALTORS® promote their Web sites on the sign and use brochure boxes with the signs to market the property. When appropriate, and with your permission, your REALTOR® may send a mailing about your property to neighbors. Sometimes one of them has a friend or relative who always wanted to live near them. You never know how far reaching the benefits of word-of-mouth advertising by friends, relatives and neighbors can be.Showings and Open HousesTo prepare your home for viewing, make it as bright, clean, cheerful and serene as possible. Always look at your home from the buyer's point of view. Your REALTOR® will probably find a tactful way to suggest that you be absent while the house is being shown to prospective buyers, because your presence will inhibit their actions and conversations. They won't feel free to open closets and cabinets, test out the plumbing and discuss their observations objectively as they walk through the house. It goes without saying that your children and pets should not be on the premises either. If your REALTOR® has scheduled an open house, you may want to notify the neighbors, and assure them that they'll be welcome. They'll jump at the chance to poke around in your house, and sometimes they can turn up a buyer among their friends. Quick tips for showings and open houses: Clean or replace dirty or worn carpets. Open all curtains and blinds. Replace any burned out light bulbs and turn on all lights. Clear all clutter. Clear all countertops. Wash and put away any dirty dishes. Set the dining room or kitchen table if you have particularly nice linen or china. Simmer a few drops of vanilla on the stove. Put on soft music. Burn wood in the fireplace on cold days, otherwise, clean the fireplace. Put fresh towels in the bathroom. Take any laundry out of the washer and dryer. Leave the house so your REALTOR® is free to deal with prospective buyers in a professional manner. Put pets in cages or take them to a neighbor. How Long Has Your House Been on the Market?Professional appraisers sum up their entire body of knowledge in three words: " Buyers make value." Your home is worth as much as a buyer will pay for it. If your home has been on the market for months, it's a clear message that the property may not be worth what you're asking for it. This is particularly true if there haven't been many prospects coming to see it. What you do at that point depends on whether you really need to sell, and whether you're working with a time limit. If you're not really motivated to move soon, you can always wait - years if necessary - and hope inflation will catch up with the price you want. The problem is that in that time, your home begins to feel shopworn. Buyers become suspicious of a house that's been for sale for a long time. If you really do need to sell, with your REALTOR® discuss a schedule for gradually dropping your price until you find a level that attracts buyers. There's no point in saying, " We simply can't sell our house." Anything will sell if the price is right. If You're Buying Another HomeYou may wonder what will happen when you're selling one home and buying another - how will all the details work out? This is a common situation and REALTORS®, lawyers, and title and escrow companies have plenty of experience in arranging contracts and loans so that the two transactions dovetail smoothly. And should you sell your home first then buy or buy first then sell? Ideally, it's best to find a home you like and make an offer subject to selling your current home. This generally works in a normal market. However, in a "hot" market most sellers will not accept a "subject to sale" offer. In this case you need to sell your home first and then buy a new home in the interim period between selling and vacating your house.If you find that you need to buy the next house before you've received the proceeds from the present one, lending institutions can sometimes make you a short-term " bridge" loan to tide you over between the two transactions. Make sure you fully understand the exposure and emotional investment before proceeding with this type of loan.

How Buyers Search for Homes!

Zaida Clay Harris (Signature Properties Group, Inc.) — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 06:29:01 -0800

How Buyers Search For Homes Information Sources Home buyers have a variety of information sources available to them in their home search. Eighty-five % reported that they used a real estate agent as a source of information, with little difference in usage between first-time and repeat buyers. The Internet was used by 80 % of home buyers to find information about specific properties or to find information about a community. First-time buyers tend to use the Internet somewhat more frequently than repeat buyers. Yard signs were used by nearly two-thirds of buyers at some point in their search. Just over half of buyers used print newspaper ads.

INFORMATION SOURCES USED IN HOME SEARCH BY FIRST-TIME AND REPEAT BUYERS Real Estate Agent 85% Internet 80% Yard Signature Properties 63% Print Newspaper Advertisement 55% Open House 47% Home Book or Magazine 34% Home Builder 26% Television 11% Billboard 9% Relocation Company 5%

Frequency of Internet Usage Some home buyers use the Internet as a resource more frequently than others. Overall, 59% of home buyers noted that they used the Internet frequently while an additional 21% reported that they used it occasionally.Buyers in the Northeast and Midwest used the Internet more intensively than buyers in other regions. In contrast, buyers in the South and West used the Internet less intensively, although the share who used the Internet at all was consistent with other regions.

USE OF INTERNET TO SEARCH FOR HOMES Frequently 59% Occasionally 21% Not at all 20%

Actions Taken

ACTIONS TAKEN AS A RESULT OF INTERNET HOME SEARCH Drove by or viewed a home 74% Walked through a home viewed 61% online Found the agent used to search 23% for or buy a home Requested more information 22% Contacted builder or developer 11% Pre-qualified for a mortgage online 7% Applied for a mortgage online 5% Found a mortgage lender online 4%

After gathering information online, three-quarters of home buyers reported that they drove by specific properties, while 61% walked through a property viewed online. Just over one if five found a real estate agent or requested more information about a property. First-time buyers more often requested additional information about a home viewed online. *Source of percentage figures: National Association of Realtors Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers