Preparing to sell

I am often asked what can be done to sell a home faster?

There are a number of things that can be done to help move a house.
I am assuming the property is priced properly for the current market conditions.

It is important to make a good first impression. That is why curb appeal is at the top if my list. If potential buyers are not invited into the home from their vehicle, many will never stop and check out what’s behind the front door. The goal for any seller should be to get as many potential buyers into the house.

Remove any clutter and excess furniture. A home can feel much smaller when rooms have too many pieces of furniture or a bunch of stuff in the rooms. It is always a good idea to see if you can store some excess furniture at a family member’s home and clean up the clutter.

Painting and cleaning are also very important. Do not turn off possible buyers because you don’t want to clean the house. Hire someone to do it if you don’t want to do it yourself. Would you rather spend $200 on a thorough house cleaning or have your house on the market for 3 months? Just because your house is on the market doesn’t mean that you are finished taking care of it. Buyers have to be able to see themselves in the home and if there are dishes in the sink, garbage on the coffee table and the rooms are just generally dirty, the buyers will want to leave the house as soon as possible. Not the impression you want to make.

So, if you want to increase your home’s salability spend a little time and possibly money to get the home in a clean and presentable state. Your efforts will be rewarded.

2007 Economic Outlook

Yesterday I attended the 2007 Economic Outlook put on by the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce. It was very informative and worthwhile. Presenting information on the real estate market was R.L. Brown. I was very happy to find out that I am on the same page as him. The real estate market will be fine once all those “fishers” realize that they are not going to get any bites and either lower their prices to within the realm of reality or they get their homes off the market.

There are currently 47858 properties on the MLS with 20816 of those properties having been on the market for over 90 days. Don’t these sellers realize that their house is not selling because they are priced too high?
Craziness, just craziness.

Visit the Phoenix Business Journal or azcentral.com to find out more about the 2007 Economic Outlook.

House Showing

This weekend while I was showing some houses to a client I was reminded just how much help the average homeowner needs in selling their home. I walked through a house that overall was very nice. It was priced a little high but on the immediate surface it appeared as though it could demand the price. After about 10 minutes in the home and viewing the rooms from different angles it became apparent that the seller just gave up and stopped working. There was an end panel on the kitchen island that was missing, outlets without any covers, baseboards that were about 1 inch short in a couple of places. The backyard was basically barren. It looked like it hadn’t been watered in a couple of months. And the A/C condensation line was dripping 2 feet outside a back door onto concrete.

If you are really interested in selling your home, try to walk through your home with an unbiased point of view and make a list of things that you would want finished if you were the buyer. Even though the above mentioned issues were minor and very inexpensive to rectify, buyers will be put off by them. It can also result in a lowball offer because the buyer will think, if these little things are not finished what big things that I don’t see could be wrong.

This house has been on the market for quite some time and it is a shame that the owners just seem to have given up on it. All agents should tell their clients to fix those items which are immediately apparent to a prospective buyer. And all sellers should heed their agent’s words.

August Statistics

August statistics are in:

Average Sale Price:             $330,900 down .63% from $333,000 in July

Average Days on Market: 77 up from 73 in July

Number of houses Sold:          6163 up .99% from 6102 in July

The number of home sales increased slightly in August.  Ignoring last year’s craziness, this is an unusual occurrence.  August sales typically decline with a further fall off in September.  It will be interesting to see what the September numbers show.  So far in September it looks like we will have a decline in sales, but that can change.  If the typical trend holds (4% decline) we should have roughly 5900 sales in September.

Home Prices

What has caused the current real estate market slowdown?

PRICING!!!!

Real estate is the ultimate supply/demand scenario. As prices go up, demand goes down.

Why so many people are still listing their house at some unreasonable price is beyond me. The market is such that if you price your house reasonably it will sell. The prices of homes are stable and still increasing slightly in the areas where new building is minimal. Your home is only worth what someone else is willing to pay.

Overpricing will cause you more stress that is necessary. If your house is listed for a couple of weeks and you have received no offers, reduce the price.

Once sellers start getting more in line with what buyers are willing to spend, the market will shake
its current funk. And believe me, there are buyers out there, they are just waiting for you to price
your home within reason.

The Beginning

I am a real estate agent in the great city of Phoenix. As most people know, Phoenix has been growing very fast over the past few years. The economy is booming here and the real estate market is in a perfect position for investing. Prices have stabilized throughout most of the valley. Unfortunately, those who purchased properties in the outlying areas are in for a hurt if they want to sell within the next year or two. Homes more toward the center of Phoenix are still looking pretty good. Year over year gains for August are nearly 4%. Not bad for a "bursting bubble". Most of that appreciation took place since January. There are 47192 properties on the market, that would be over 7.5 months of inventory. What a difference a year makes! And what better time to be a buyer?