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Posted in: Webgeekery
Tags: disqus, facebook, openid, twitter, Webgeekery

From SmartMoney.com:

Is that a hair fracture in the buyer’s market?

Sellers for months have been slashing prices, making gratis home improvements and absorbing closing costs to get prospective buyers to bite. But a recent report by Zillow, the Seattle-based online real estate service, suggests negotiating power among buyers is starting to weaken — if only slightly.

According to the report, home buyers nationwide negotiated a median 2.9% off the final listing price in September, down a bit from 3% the previous month. Buyers’ negotiating power peaked in January when they were paying 4.5% less than the home’s last listing price, Zillow says.

…

So how can prospective home buyers maximize their leverage with sellers? Here are a few tips.

Make sure you’re fully preapproved for a mortgage. This means your lender verified your income, checked your credit report and approved you for a mortgage of a certain amount over a fixed timeframe. When a buyer has that preapproval letter in hand, “they become a more attractive buyer than others who don’t have that [and] they have a lot more weight,” says JP Endres-Fein, a realtor with Homes of Westchester in New York.

For more tips on getting preapproved, read our story here.

Get the home’s total history. You want to know how long the home you’re interested in has been on the block. Often times, a seller will work with one real estate agent or company that will list the home on its local Multiple Listing Service. If the home doesn’t sell, the homeowner will go with another company and lists the home separately.

Ask your realtor to pull the home’s total history – how many times the house has been on the market, for how long, if there was a price adjustment and what the starting price was, says Endres-Fein. The information should factor into your negotiation approach. “The longer the house has been on the market, the more that says to me it started out overpriced,” she says. “If the home is on the market for just a week or two, the seller will stay firm. They’re less likely to negotiate down.”

Ask about the seller’s timeline. Try to find out if the seller has a specific deadline. If they already bought a new house, are close to closing or have to move for a job transfer, they might be more amenable to negotiations. Just keep in mind that if you ask the seller or seller’s agent, you may not get a straight answer. They don’t want to necessarily give away a weakness. Endres-Fein suggests having your agent ask the person representing the seller a general question, like “Is there anything we need to know about the timing of the sale?”

Time the tax credit. If you’re hoping to take advantage of the newly extended home buyer tax credit, you’ll have more negotiating power now than later, says Jay Papasan, the vice president of publishing at Keller Williams Realty. Papasan expects many buyers will procrastinate and wait until the spring to get serious about buying in time for the credit. (The new law covers home purchases that are under contract by April 30, 2010 and closed by June 30, 2010. Read our story for more on the extended credit.)

Buyers will find the best deals with the least competition in December and January, traditionally the slowest months in real estate – and before a lot of other buyers have made the decision to jump in, Papasan says.

Posted in: Home Buying
Tags: Home Buying, home improvements, negotiating power, negotiation, prospective home buyers, real estate agent, realtor, zillow

Meanwhile in a Reuters story also on FoxBusiness.com:

Sales of newly built U.S. single-family homes in October rose more than expected to their highest level in a year, data showed on Wednesday, pointing to a stabilizing housing market after a three-year slump.

The Commerce Department said sales jumped 6.2 percent to a 430,000 annual pace, the highest since September last year, from an upwardly revised 405,000 in September.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected new home sales to climb to a 410,000 annual pace from September’s previously reported 402,000. The rise in sales pushed the supply of new homes on the market last month down to 239,000 units, the lowest since May 1971.

Posted in: Housing Market
Tags: commerce department, Housing Market, new home sales, single family

From FoxBusiness.com:

Why aren’t uber-low interest rates bringing more buyers into housing?

Generally mortgage rates and home buying move inversely. The lower rates are, the more buyers step into the housing market.

Even with today’s slightly better than expected read on new home sales, the trend has been poor. As the graph shows, rates and mortgage applications are both falling. The coupon on certain Fannie Mae notes fell below 4% yesterday as the Fed and institutional buyers keep buying the debt (albeit for different reasons). This implies mortgage rates should keep falling even from already historically low levels. But even low rates may not help a housing market suffering through a 17+% real unemployment and underemployment rate in America.

Posted in: Housing Market
Tags: fannie mae, Home Buying, Housing Market, low interest rates, mortgage applications, mortgage rates, new home sales

HomeGain.com, one of the first websites to offer Web-based free instant home values, announced that it has released the results of its nationwide home improvement and home staging Home Sale Maximizer survey.

HomeGain’s recent survey shows the top do-it-yourself home improvements that Realtors recommend to home sellers. HomeGain received responses from nearly 1,000 Realtors nationwide and configured a list of the top 12 do-it-yourself (DIY) home improvements that cost under $5,000 and benefit sellers most when they sell their homes.

According to the HomeGain survey, the top five home improvements that Realtors recommend to home sellers based on cost and return on investment (from highest to lowest ROI) are:

1. Cleaning and de-cluttering ($200 cost / $1,700 price increase / 872% ROI)
2. Home staging ($300 cost / $1,780 price increase / 586% ROI)
3. Lightening and brightening ($230 cost / $1,300 price increase / 572% ROI)
4. Landscaping ($320 cost / $1,500 price increase / 473% ROI)
5. Repairing plumbing ($385 cost / $1,250 price increase / 327% ROI)

Cleaning and de-cluttering continues to rank as the top suggested home improvement (since the survey was originally conducted in 2000), recommended by 98% of Realtors, costing less than $200 and returning a value of nearly $1,700 to the home’s sale price, or an 872% return on investment.

“Many Realtors agree, especially in a buyer’s market, that sellers who make these recommended home improvements often get their homes sold faster and at higher prices,” stated Louis Cammarosano, General Manager at HomeGain. “We have customized our Home Sale Maximizer online home improvement tool to help identify and prioritize the projects that can increase the salability and selling price of a home.”

Rounding out the top 12, the list of low cost, do-it-yourself home improvements includes: updating electrical, replacing or shampooing carpets, painting interior walls, repairing damaged floors, updating kitchen, painting outside of home, and updating bathroom’s.

The home improvement projects with the highest price increases to a home’s resale value are updating the kitchen ($1,200 cost / $2,850 price increase), followed by painting the outside of the home ($900 cost / $1,815 price increase) and home staging ($300 cost / $1,780 price increase).

“Inexpensive cosmetic home improvements and basic improvements greatly enhance the value of the home,” stated Carol Wilson of Carpenter Real Estate in Indianapolis, IN, HomeGain AgentEvaluator member since 1999.

Posted in: Home Improvement
Tags: free instant home values, Home Improvement, home improvements, home sellers, home staging, realtors, return on investment

George Washington, 1789

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me “to recommend to the people of the United States a DAY of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:”

Now, therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday, the twenty-sixth of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed;– for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish Constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted;– for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge;– and, in general, for all the great and various favours which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also, that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions;– to enable us all, whether in publick or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us); and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Abraham Lincoln, 1863

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

Ronald Reagan, 1986

Perhaps no custom reveals our character as a Nation so clearly as our celebration of Thanksgiving Day. Rooted deeply in our Judeo-Christian heritage, the practice of offering thanksgiving underscores our unshakable belief in God as the foundation of our Nation and our firm reliance upon Him from Whom all blessings flow. Both as individuals and as a people, we join with the Psalmist in song and praise: “Give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good.”

One of the most inspiring portrayals of American history is that of George Washington on his knees in the snow at Valley Forge. That moving image personifies and testifies to our Founders’ dependence upon Divine Providence during the darkest hours of our Revolutionary struggle. It was then – when our mettle as a Nation was tested most severely – that the Sovereign and Judge of nations heard our plea and came to our assistance in the form of aid from France. Thereupon General Washington immediately called for a special day of thanksgiving among his troops.

Eleven years later, President Washington, at the request of the Congress, first proclaimed November 26, 1789, as Thanksgiving Day. In his Thanksgiving day Proclamation, President Washington exhorted the people of the United States to observe “a day of public thanksgiving and prayer” so that they might acknowledge “with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.” Washington also reminded us that “it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.”

Today let us take heart from the noble example of our first President. Let us pause from our many activities to give thanks to almighty God for our bountiful harvests and abundant freedoms. Let us call upon Him for continued guidance and assistance in all our endeavors. And let us ever be mindful of the faith and spiritual values that have made our Nation great and that alone can keep us great. With joy and gratitude in our hearts, let us sing those stirring stanzas:

“O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee.”

Now, therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, in the spirit of George Washington and the Founders, do hereby proclaim Thursday, November 27, 1986, as a National Day of Thanksgiving, and I call upon every citizen of this great Nation to gather together in homes and places of worship on that day of thanks to affirm by their prayers and their gratitude the many blessings bestowed upon this land and its people.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and eleventh.

Posted in: Thanksgiving
Tags: Lincoln, Reagan, Thanksgiving, Washington

Getting your home sold in today’s market requires being not only aggressive, but also pro-active. Right now, the lower price ranges in many communities are selling quicker than the higher price ranges. In some areas it is not unusual to see homes on the market over 365 days. After a certain point, your home becomes invisible to buyers. Below are tips to keep your listing fresh and in front of buyers.

Price It Right

I cannot emphasize this enough. When I do a market analysis for a client, one stinking statistic is that the homes in the “sold” column sold reasonably close to their asking price and have also only been listed once (agents usually do a 3 or 6 month listing). The first 6 weeks you are on the market are the most active and the most crucial.

Once your listing goes beyond the average listing term, it becomes stigmatized. Today, it is very easy for buyers to find total days on market and number-savvy buyers have figured out that MLS numbers are sequential (more on that later). Buyers see an old listing and rightly think that many people have passed your home by without writing an offer. They think to themselves that those other people might know something and decide to follow their lead and pass yours by. There are plenty of other homes out there.

A good agent will present you with a COMPLETE market analysis, showing you not only comparables in your neighborhood but also within your whole community. Don’t just pay attention to the properties that have sold, but have a good handle on what is on the market right now. That is your competition. You should never be priced the highest in your market.

Pricing correctly can make the rest of this article unnecessary.

Photos Are Important

When a buyer walks through your door for the first time, that is usually their second showing. They have most likely shopped extensively on the internet before making a decision on what homes to see. A great majority of them will pass on homes with either poor pictures or not enough pictures. The Milwaukee Metro MLS system allows agents to upload 25 photos of each property. Now, it might be hard to have 25 photos of a small property, but your agent should have an appropriate amount online to entice buyers.

Photos can also date your listing. The most obvious way is if an agent has a camera that imprints the date onto the photo. That is a huge “DUH!”

The other way they can date your home is by not being seasonal. During the summer, people don’t want to even think of snow and therefore they might subconsciously attach a negative onto your listing based on a picture. Don’t be one of the only listings out there with white in Summer or green in Winter!

Knowing that people are more intuitive than they realize, a thorough agent will at the very least take exterior photos as the seasons change. I will take photos after the first significant snow, then right after what is expected to be the last melt, then again when the grass greens a little, when the first blooms occur then one mid-summer. I keep that one until the leaves turn, then another photo when they fall. Even further than that, all of your INTERIOR photos should also reflect the seasons – people can see out the windows in the photos and they do notice it. Your agent should be shooting these after the first snow (and again after the Holiday decorations are down), after the first melt, once trees and grass are green then once the leaves fall. Another good practice is for your agent to use different exterior angles each time and even for you to do a little re-decorating or furniture re-arranging each time.

A careful eye should also be used when composing the photos. Photos taken on sunny days ilicit a better emotional reaction in buyers than do ones taken on gloomy days. Crooked photos are unprofessional and can create a certain amount of unease in a buyer viewing them.

Ad Copy

The old sales adage goes “Sell the sizzle, not the steak.” Which is your listing selling?

The Metro MLS system has fields to designate how many rooms your home has, square footage, style, subdivision, age and many more. MLS then gives your agent 400 characters to really sell your home. How is he or she using those precious few characters? Knowing first that all your home’s statistics are covered elsewhere in the MLS system, your agent should use that description to create mental ownership in prospective buyers. Home buying is extremely emotional and a description that only reiterates the dry stuff like “3 bedroom, 2.5 bath colonial” is not pressing a buyers hot-buttons at all.

While I am on the subject, is your agent using all 400 of those characters to sell the sizzle?

How Old Is Your Listing?

You may not know exactly how long you have been on the market, but you can bet that your buyers do!

Even without a buyers agent to tell them how long you have been on the market, astute buyers know that MLS numbers are sequential. When you look at your listing online (you do so on a regular basis, right?), is your MLS number something like 998754 when everyone else is 1090XXX? Do the math, your listing is OLD!

Taking a listing costs the agent money and many agents will sign people up for a 6 month or even a 1 year contract. This does save the agent some money, but could wind up costing you! In faster-moving sections of the market, an agent interested in YOUR needs will do something closer to a three month listing, while in slower-moving sections a 6 month is acceptable. Should you have to be on the market longer, it won’t be as obvious. Another plus, when you re-list with a fresh MLS number, your property will get emailed to everyone looking for homes that match your criteria!

It is also obvious in any market analysis that older listings sell for less than they normally would have had they been priced and marketed properly from the get-go.

The “Nuclear” Option

I know, you are thinking to yourself “we’ve been listed for a few months and still nothing, what do we do?” Maybe your agent has done everything right, some things right or nothing right. What can you do?

Again, knowledge of the MLS system and how buyers and their agents look at things can help you.

The MLS system will run a total days on market for all consecutive re-lists. So, if your listing ran for 6 months then you immediately re-listed (same or different agent, doesn’t matter) then you will have 2 numbers for days on market – current and total. The total ads the previous 180 days to your count. Agents and buyers will also look at consecutive listings as well, not to mention that even if you did everything listed above, your listing could just “disappear” to buyers. They see it every time they check their listings and just don’t pay it any heed.

What may be your best option is a strategic, but temporary, retreat. If your home is off the market for over 90 days, the total days on market resets to zero. During your “pause” from the market, look closely at the feedback from your showings (your agent shared those, right?) and develop a plan. Did everyone make a comment about the purple bathroom? Paint it. They were’t into the burnt orange shag in the family room? Replace it.

You should also look at what kind of feedback you got on your price, both from buyers and the agents from the office that toured your home when it was first listed (you had an office tour, right?). Remember that it isn’t price that sells your home, but value. Some fix ups or neutralizations may bring your value up to your price.

Finally, even if you are happy with your agent, you should take this opportunity to interview at least two others. What is their price suggestion? Marketing plan? If you liked your first agent, re-interview them. Go with the agent who is best prepared for your appointment with good information on what to do to get you sold and also with strong data to back up their price suggestion.

Today’s market is tough, there is no denying it, but homes are still selling and in some cases there are multiple offers. Choosing the right agent and listening to their good advice will get your home sold, too.

Posted in: Sell Your Home
Tags: agent, First Weber, home selling, Real estate, staging