The Do’s and Dont’s about Showing your Home

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Gordon Jones

Along with their ability to afford it, home buyers’ personal impressions of a home are likely to play a large part in determining whether they pursue negotiations for it. Home sellers should make every effort to give buyers a great first impression of their home.

Clearing the household

One common difficulty is that sellers often want to be there when buyers are walking through their home. This makes a certain amount of sense, but many experts agree it is better for the current homeowners to be absent. That can make it easier for prospective buyers to imagine themselves living there, and the alternative may lead to feelings of pressure, unease and awkwardness. Having the current homeowners present can cause an unpleasant atmosphere, coloring potential buyers’ opinions due to the perception they are being watched and preventing them from discussing the home honestly while there.

Another factor home sellers may forget about is pets. While fish or other animals inside an enclosed container are unlikely to pose difficulties, prospective buyers may not appreciate being greeted or followed by a dog or cat. Some may even be allergic or dislike the pet. While this has nothing to do with the home directly, it can still affect their memories of the walkthrough experience.

Presenting a home at its best

The little things can frequently have a significant impact on how a home is perceived, so homeowners looking to sell should make an effort to ensure that the home is clean and tidy. It should look like someone lives there, but taking out the trash, removing clutter, ensuring there are no dirty dishes and taking similar steps is advisable.

If there are pest concerns surrounding a home, they should be resolved before it is visited whenever possible. Prospective buyers who see or hear pests are likely to draw the worst conclusions and leave, even if the problem is only a brief blot on an otherwise solid record.

Specific rooms and areas of the home may come with their own concerns, as well. Bathrooms and kitchens commonly attract dirt, and should generally be a focus of cleaning efforts. Damp or wet basements may cause prospective buyers to fear mold, leaking that weakens the foundation, flooding and other problems.

Selling a Home in the Winter

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Gordon Jones

Selling a home in winter can be challenging and some homeowners may find themselves in the position of having to sell during this time of the year. There are some ways to make the process easier, however. Ideally, the homeowners will know in advance they intend to sell and can start preparing the home before the cold sets in.

Fewer home sellers are active in winter, which generally means prospective buyers are looking at fewer choices. This might make it easier to stand out from the crowd and improve the competition for properties.

Winter home staging

According to USA Today, the season does provide a few unique opportunities to grab potential buyers’ attention. A well-shoveled driveway and walkway make a good first impression. Although they are not important in and of themselves, they tend to create an inviting atmosphere and serve as evidence that the homeowners have paid attention to the details of their home, including regular maintenance and upkeep.

To continue fostering that attitude, the source suggests home staging be used to emphasize the property’s comfort, size, warmth and brightness. Good lighting and clean windows make it easier to see and may help buyers envision themselves living in the home. Experts reportedly discourage showing a home after dark, and note it can be helpful to have photos of the home in the summer or spring on display.

Some experts advise keeping tasteful holiday decorations up, although too many could be overpowering. Instead, conservative lighting, wreaths and similar small touches can tap into the holiday feeling and focus buyers on the home’s comfort and potential during the season.

Intangible factors

One expert told Bankrate.com it can pay to play soft music when visitors are expected to look at the house, saying soothing classical music tends to encourage longer visits and more thorough examinations. Pleasant smells, particularly from baking, may also contribute to the sense of the house as a home, not simply a structure.

The seasonal effects will depend on the home’s location, and in sufficiently warm climates snow and ice may not be a problem. Alternatively, home sellers in areas that tend to have more extreme weather may find potential buyers are looking to enjoy skiing or other winter activities, or may be able to tout effective transportation and other advantages over similar homes.

Via ColdwellBanker.com

Why Aren’t More Talking About This?

Posted on December 8, 2011 by Gordon Jones

Prices have mostly stabilized, so why aren’t more talking about it?

Via RealtorMag…

An improving job picture and prices stabilizing for non-distressed homes are all signs that point to a housing recovery taking shape, Barclays Capital analyst Stephen Kim told HousingWire.

“In the absence of a government home buyer incentives, prices for non-distressed home sales have stabilized for almost a year,” Kim said. “This is the most important trend in the housing industry right now, and we are amazed at how little attention it has been getting from the media and the street. This stability on the part of nondistressed prices has occurred despite a very high share of distressed activity and continued declines in overall prices.”

The key to when the housing recovery will largely take off “depends primarily on when these first-time buyers decide it is safe to buy a house,” Kim told HousingWire.

Real Estate as a Hedge against Inflation

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Gordon Jones

Via KCMBlog…

“We haven’t heard a lot about inflation recently. However, prices have started to creep upward over the last year.” Here are a few categories that increased from November 2010 to November 2011:

Food at home – up 6.2%
Housing fuels and utilities – up 3.5%
Transportation – up 9.2%

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) took an historic look at the impact of inflation. Here are some inflation numbers over the past 30 years:

NAR then looked at inflation moving forward over the next thirty years.

Bottom line, “We can lock in the housing costs of our primary residences and vacation homes at all time lows if we purchase today. Either would be a great hedge against future inflation.”

Finally, a Bottom for Home Prices

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Gordon Jones

“Housing prices will stop sinking next spring.”

According to an article on Kiplinger.com, the recovery process will be gradual, but home prices will stabilize by this spring. “Look for prices, which have fallen an average of 31% since 2006, to drop an additional 2% or so in the early months of 2012 and then recover that lost ground by the end of the year.”

A key signal that the bottom is near: A change in the ratio of average homes prices to personal income – houses are affordable again. After soaring to 4-to-1 during the housing boom, the ratio is now well below the long-term average of 3-to-1.

Another reason for optimism: Foreclosure numbers are set to level off after a recent surge to clear up the backlog that developed when banks were found to be rushing though the paperwork for seizing homes. Although the 3.5 million foreclosures still in the pipeline are weighing heavily on the housing market, that effect will diminish when it is clear that the worst has passed.

Look for home sales to tick up next year as well, hitting 5.5 million for new and existing homes. That’s up 4% from 2011, the low point since the housing bubble burst.

Farther down the road, there is plenty of pent-up demand. The lousy housing market has muffled the typical rate of household formation, deterring many young folks from getting their own homes. As a result, there are 2 million new households waiting for an improvement in economic conditions: recent graduates eager to leave their parents’ nests and 30-something couples who have delayed marriage or having children. As the economy picks up steam, they will emerge, helping to soak up the glut of foreclosed homes and putting construction on a faster track.

By 2014, the housing market will start to look more like its old self, with housing starts near the long-term average of 1.5 million a year, sales of about 6 million and price gains of over 4% a year.

Of course, the market shift won’t make much immediate difference for the millions of homeowners who owe more than their homes are worth. But for the majority with equity in their homes, even a modest gain in prices can change their spending behavior.

Realtor.com Survey says Holidays are a Good Time to Sell

Posted on December 2, 2011 by Gordon Jones

According to a survey on Realtor.com, the Holiday season could be a great time for you to sell. “Real Estate pros say ’tis the season for more serious buyers and less competition,” reports Inman Real Estate.

Most real estate professionals always advise sellers to list their homes during the holiday season rather than waiting, citing more serious buyers and less competition among properties.

“The property search site’s Holiday Home Selling Survey gathered responses from 429 real estate professionals surveyed online between Oct. 26, 2011, and Nov. 8, 2011. The ‘holiday season’ was defined as Nov. 23, 2011, to Jan. 2, 2012.”

60 percent of those who participated responded saying that they would always advise a seller to list their home during the holiday season and agree that it is “a good time to sell.”

Contact a Coldwell Banker Seaside Realty agent today to talk about your options for buying or selling this holiday season.

No Place like Home for the Holidays

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Gordon Jones

Great blog on Coldwell Banker’s Blue Matter…

The old holiday tune There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays is a classic melody, but to many of us the lyrics are more than just a catchy song. While many associate this holiday classic with Christmas, if you look at the words it’s actually more applicable to Thanksgiving. But in any case it was the thought behind this song that got us a Coldwell Banker Real Estate to think about just how much a home truly means during the holidays.

If you talk to anyone about their Thanksgiving plans, I guarantee the vast majority of people will be going to someone’s “house.” When you think about holiday memories of years past, is it the presents or meals that you recall or is it more about the times you had with family and friends while gathered around a table in someone’s home. For me, it was always about going to grandma’s house. Didn’t matter what holiday it was, we were headed to one of my grandmother’s house to be stuffed until we could eat no more and then hear Grandma ask “Why?” when we would tell her we couldn’t eat any more.

Now with a family of my own, my wife and I enjoy creating our own holiday traditions. Because my wife is such a great cook/baker/dessert maker extraordinaire, they usually involve food. For Thanksgiving, my wife makes a pumpkin cheesecake and a mean chocolate pecan pie while our home is decorated in pumpkins and cornucopias. For Christmas, we’ve started the tradition of gathering in the living room around the tree to open presents before breakfast and then feasting on pumpkin scones and homemade Orange Julius drinks (if you don’t know what those are,click here).

Almost everyone has some kind of holiday tradition and I’m willing to bet it involves being at someone’s home. To take this concept of home for the holidays a bit further, we surveyed consumers to get an idea of how much their home impacts their holiday festivities. What we found is that nearly 40% of those surveyed had more than 15 people staying under one roof during the holidays! I can actually relate to that as my wife has 3 siblings and in total there will be 11 grand kids, 8 parents and 2 grandparents under one roof this Christmas. Sure it’s chaos, but they’re good times as well.

We also found that there are a lot of liars out there as 77% of respondents claimed to have never tried to snoop around for presents before Christmas. Come on! Really?

Click here to read the full results of our home for the holidays survey, but you’ll also want to take a look at the video below where we interviewed consumers on the streets of New York to find out some of their favorite holiday traditions at home. Share your favorite holiday traditions at home in the comments!

The PRICE is the Same, but the COST is Less (infographic)

Posted on November 17, 2011 by Gordon Jones

The KCM Blog...That means you save $285.30 a month, $3,423.60 a year and $102,708 over the life of a 30 year mortgage! You buy the home for the same PRICE but the COST is over $100,000 less.

Via the KCM Blog…

There is more and more research coming out showing that it makes great financial sense to purchase a home today . Whether it be rent vs. buy ratios, income-to-price ratios or income-to-mortgage payment ratios, purchasing a home right now is a bargain compared to historic norms. Now we want to look at the COST of a home today compared to pre-peak prices.

According to the most recent S&P Case Shiller price index, residential real estate values have returned to 2003 1Q PRICEs. That, in itself, says something. However, when you factor in mortgage rates, the case for buying a home today becomes even more compelling.

Bottom Line

This is why so many financial advisors are saying that this may be one of the greatest times in history to purchase a home.

Contact a Coldwell Banker Seaside Realty agent today for more information about homeownership and what works for you.

Modest Volume, Price Gains Seen Next Year

Posted on November 15, 2011 by Gordon Jones

According to REALTORMag, the housing recovery will continue on its slow but steady pace over the next couple of years. However, one thing that may stand in the way is a loss of confidence in a housing recovery.

NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun

NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun predicted home sales would increase by 4 percent next year and home prices would inch up 2 percent during the Economic Issues & Residential Real Estate Business Trends forum Friday morning. In 2013, he projected sales to pick up another 6 percent and prices to rise another 3 percent.

Home-sales growth has been flat this year, even though it couldn’t be a better time for consumers to buy, because prices are still down—essentially under replacement value—and interest rate are at historical lows. Even employment and wages have been heading up, although both at a modest pace.

Yun characterized today’s market as “strange” because of this disconnect between the good buying conditions and the low sales growth.

Rock-bottom consumer confidence is a big part of the weak market but the hurdles to borrowers imposed by lenders through stringent underwriting requirements are a major issue, too. Lenders are requiring applicants to have credit scores of about 760 for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans, and just under 700 for FHA loans, shrinking potential home sales by about 20 percent.

The stiff requirements come at a time when banks are seeing strong profits and run counter to the Federal Reserve’s efforts to use rock-bottom interest rates to attract borrowers and get the economy moving.

Behind the tough underwriting is a concern among banks about borrowers’ ability to repay loans, but Yun says that risk is low. Rather than continuing to head down, home prices have been stable for the last two years and are poised to head up, which will reduce lending risks, lower foreclosures, boost sales, and further strengthen the market.

To show that home prices have been stable, he cited both NAR and Case-Shiller data, which show prices have been hovering around a $140,000 national median since 2009.

Yun said it was crucial that the federal government not stymie what little momentum the housing market is seeing by moving forward with a proposal to require 20 percent down payments from home buyers or making other destabilizing housing policy shifts. It’s also crucial for interest rates to stay low, although if lenders return their underwriting to the sound standards they used before the housing boom, he said, the market could handle higher interest rates.

Richard Peach, senior vice president at the Federal Reserve Board of New York and the other speaker at the session, offered a unique suggestion to improve the housing sector, one that was particularly suitable for Veteran’s Day: help military personnel who served overseas purchase foreclosed homes.

“My idea is to allocate certificates to 2.5 million service members who served in Afghanistan and Iraq that could be used as a downpayment on a foreclosed home in the Fannie or Freddie portfolio,” Peach said.

Trying to Define “Home”

Posted on November 14, 2011 by Gordon Jones

Via Coldwell Banker’s Blue Matter

Home.

It’s a simple word with more meanings than one would expect. It’s a term that crosses continents and has universal appeal. Sports, entertainment and even financial sectors all use the word on a regular basis. It’s a part of pop culture, music and a niche market all wrapped in one.

Today the headlines have tried to change the definition of home. The meaning has been construed to be solely about financial value, investment and an indicator of market plight, but what is missing is seeing the true definition of home in the eyes of those who own one.

I set out to see how people would define their home as well as what they thought the best part about being home is by polling homeowners on Twitter, Facebook and people that I met during my recent travels. Ironically, not a single person of the hundreds of response I received talked about the monetary value of their residence. Every response was different.

A number of responses brought the idea of a place of comfort, love, rejuvenation and even giving. Some took the concept and defined it in a physical way with the sense of dominion by calling it their palace, castle or kingdom. Others defined it more intimately by defining their home as “no place like it” and “a gathering place for friends and family.”

The only consistent thing from the responses was that everyone defines home differently.

I love some of the response when I asked what their favorite part of their home was. One responded that “it’s mine and I bought it!” My favorite is someone who answered “the creaking front door.” When I asked for an explanation they replied, “It signals my two little ones that daddy is home and they rush out to greet me every afternoon.” That’s a priceless definition.

For me, home is difficult to define. It’s defined more by memories and moments than by adjectives. There are many great orators and poets who can more eloquently define home than I ever could. Some you’re probably familiar with. The Roman philosopher and author, Pliny the Elder, was the originator of the famous phrase, “home is where the heart is.”

But perhaps the most famous quote about home is credited to a fictional girl from Kansas named Dorothy. What many people don’t realize is that Dorothy’s legendary wish while she taps her ruby red slippers is actually borrowed from an 18th century opera called Clari, The Maid of Milan and written by John Howard Payne. Payne’s lyrics, though over a hundred years old, still very much apply today in the minds of a many homeowner:

Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home;
A charm from the sky seems to hallow us there,
Which, seek through the world, is ne’er met with elsewhere.
Home, home, sweet, sweet home!
There’s no place like home, oh, there’s no place like home!

Well said, Mr. Payne. Share how you define home or what’s the best part about your home in the comments.

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