March is a Busy Month for Buyers and Sellers. Are You Ready?

Are you ready for the springtime real estate rush?

March is one of the busiest months of the year for Northern California homebuyers and sellers, as winter recedes and families start making plans for the future. Whether you’re looking for a new home or preparing to put yours on the market, it’s important that you’re ready for busy times ahead.

BUYERS: IS YOUR PAPERWORK IN ORDER?

Homebuyers in Pacific Union’s Bay Area and Lake Tahoe/Truckee regions aren’t likely to face the frenzied competition that marked our real estate markets in recent years, but multiple offers are still routine for attractive properties.

In order to give your bid a fighting chance, you must have your paperwork ready and financing in place. Most importantly, determine how much of a down payment you can afford and how much you can spend on monthly mortgage payments.

Make notes about the features that are important to you in a new home, and do  homework on the neighborhoods that most interest you. Your real estate professional has a wealth of knowledge about local communities, including schools and nearby amenities, as well as the inside story on local homes on the market.

SELLERS: FIX IT AND CLEAN IT

A thorough spring cleaning takes on added significance when you’re preparing your home for sale. You want the house and surrounding property to shine like never before in order to quickly attract the best possible offer.

Washing windows and walls isn’t enough. Replace missing light bulbs and worn fixtures, paint dingy surfaces, and replace worn carpeting. (Some real estate professionals say painting and new carpeting are the cheapest improvements with the biggest payback.)

Get rid of clutter in your home. Prospective buyers love to open cabinets and closets, and sparsely filled storage spaces look bigger than those that are packed full. Consider renting a storage unit for items that aren’t essential to your daily life.

Some sellers keep family photos on the walls and personal mementos and heirlooms on display, thinking they help make a house look homey. But real estate professionals will tell you they’re a turn-off for buyers, who want to imagine their own belongings in place — not yours. Take them down.

Outside, the same rules of fixing and cleaning apply. Prune trees and bushes, rake the yard, and add mulch to flower beds. Perhaps the home’s exterior doesn’t need a new coat of paint, but a few hours with a power washer could make a world of a difference.

Lastly, but perhaps most importantly, sellers should determine how much money they need to get out of their home and set the sales price accordingly. Pricing is a delicate matter, though, and includes outside forces such as neighborhood dynamics and the local economy. Your real estate professional can tell you more about such matters, including pricing data for comparable homes nearby.

Spring is always an exciting season. Good luck with your real estate adventure!

(Image: Flickr/Scott Maxwell)

Article and photo sourced from:  http://blog.pacunion.com/march-is-a-busy-month-for-buyers-and-sellers-are-you-ready/

What’s the Right Asking Price for Your Home?

Pricing a home for sale is an inexact science — some owners might call it a crapshoot — and determining the right asking price involves both psychological and practical reasons, according to

 a recent article in The Wall Street Journal.
An asking price is primarily a negotiating tactic, Michael Seiler, professor of real estate and finance at The College of William & Mary, told The Wall Street Journal. “When you set a list price, you’re sending a signal to the market.”
Mike McCann, a real estate professional in Philadelphia, said in the article that most sellers overestimate the value of their home, and some real estate professionals may start with a  price that’s too high to avoid hard feelings or to get the seller’s business. Or, they may price it too low for a quick sale.
Setting the right asking price depends on a variety of practical factors, such as the condition of the property and recent sales activity in the area, but pricing research offers a few tips:
Precise prices suggest you are inflexible. Setting an exact asking price — say, $795,475 — could lead buyers to believe that the price is not negotiable. A round number such as $800,000 can indicate that you’re willing to consider other offers.
A few dollars can make a big difference. Pricing a property at $499,900 rather than $500,000 can subconsciously influence a buyer. It seems to defy logic, but researchers say $499,900 is perceived as a huge bargain compared with a home priced just $100 more.

A low starting price can backfire. A lower asking price may net a flurry of offers, but it may not lead to a higher sales price. “It creates a havoc that doesn’t serve anyone well,” Rebecca Walter, a real estate professional in Portland, Ore., told The Wall Street Journal.

Pricing strategies only go so far, however. Ultimately, determining a home’s real value of requires knowledge of the local real estate market and access to recent sales data. That’s where the assistance of a local real estate professional can be most valuable.

Real estate professionals typically compile neighborhood sales data to prepare a comparative market analysis, which provides a sensible starting point for price negotiations. 

Seiler, the real estate professor mentioned in the article, said that without comparable sales data, “an appraiser will have no clue what a property is worth, and a buyer wouldn’t know either.”


(Image: Flickr/OTA Photos)

A Reminder to Homebuyers: Annoy Sellers at Your Peril

Prospective buyers would do well to remember that they won’t get any closer to their goal of home ownership by annoying sellers.
This may seem an obvious point, but real estate professionals say buyers irritate sellers time and again. Transgressions range from failing to comply with a request to remove shoes while indoors on a rainy day to failing to call well in advance when canceling a scheduled walk-through.
Don’t forget that until the deal actually closes, the seller holds the ultimate trump card: the home itself. And it’s a seller’s market nowadays, particularly in the Bay Area, where single-family-home inventory has been constrained for the past year.
A recent article on Bankrate.com, a website that aggregates financial data, notes that “a little give-and-take is normal, but some buyers push the envelope, as well as the sellers’  buttons.” The article goes on to list eight ways that homebuyers may annoy sellers and jeopardize a purchase:
Skipping appointments: Failing to show up for a scheduled appointment, or canceling at the last minute, is simply rude; the seller may have spent half a day making the house spic-and-span for the visit. Unless there’s a last-minute emergency, buyers must show up on time.
Disregarding house rules: If you (the buyer) are touring a home, remember that it’s not yours (yet). Take your shoes off inside, if requested, don’t let children run amok, and respect the wishes of the seller.
Nitpicking: If you don’t like something in the house, but it’s not a negotiable flaw, be quiet about it while touring the property. Some sellers may secretly install cameras or microphones to listen in on conversations, so save any catty remarks for the car ride home.
Presenting a long list of flaws: Using a laundry list of perceived defects as a negotiating tool could backfire and make a seller wonder whether the buyer is seriously interested. The seller is more concerned with the bottom line than a buyer’s critical observations.
Requesting multiple visits: As a sale approaches closing, sellers are busy making repairs, packing up, and moving. They don’t have time to accommodate a buyer’s repeated requests to come in, look around, and ruminate on future plans.
Renegotiating after reaching a deal: Barring any surprises from a home inspection, the negotiated price should be the final price.
Generating ‘iffy’ commitment letters: You can understand where a seller would get nervous if, after an agreement has been reached, the buyer’s lender steps in with a letter asking the buyer to confirm his or her credit-worthiness. Save everyone a panic attack by securing the loan beforehand.
Speeding up the closing date: It’s understandable that an anxious buyer may want to move up the closing date, but the seller needs time to pack up and move out. An extra ounce of courtesy is always appreciated.


(Image: Flickr/Pall Spera Co.)