Interesting story which recently appeared in the Wall Street Journal regarding Colby Sambrotto, the founder and former CEO of forsalebyowner.com. It seems the founding father and lifelong evangelist of the concept of selling your home without a real estate agent was forced to hire a broker to sell his home after failing at what he preaches others should do. After failing to sell his NYC apartment on his own as a For Sale By Owner (FSBO), Sambrotto hired a broker and paid a 6% commission in order to get the job done. His personal experience helps refute some of the myths Sambrotto has been espousing for over a decade. Let’s look at two of those myths:
Myth #1 – You Will Pocket More Money Selling on Your Own. Most FSBO sites say you can save the commission by selling on your own. What happened in Sambrotto’s sale? From the WSJ article:” The broker, Jesse Buckler, said he told Mr. Sambrotto the apartment in the Lion’s Head building on West 19th Street near Sixth Avenue was priced too low and wasn’t drawing the right buyers. By May, it went into contract, he said, after attracting multiple offers. It closed in the last few days for $150,000 more than the original asking price.”
Myth #2 – The Internet Alone Can Sell Your Home. Many have said that, with the introduction of home search on the internet, hiring an agent is no longer a necessity. What happened to the FSBO guru when he attempted to only depend on the internet? From the WSJ article: “Looking to move his family to the suburbs, [Mr. Sambrotto] said he carefully staged his apartment for sale himself, and put it on the market. But after using a mix of websites to publicize his apartment, he said he had only ‘middling successes and switched to a broker because many buyers were so reliant on brokers.”
Bottom Line There is a reason the real estate industry has been around for centuries: you perform a valuable service. Have a great day.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
7 Deadly Sins of Overpricing
“We can always go down, but we can’t go up.”
Have you ever heard that from a client? If you have been on many listing appointments, you have probably heard this statement once or twice. When setting the sales price of their home, many sellers are tempted to tack on a few percentage points to “leave room to negotiate”.
Overpricing a home can have many ramifications for a home seller. It can limit the number of potential buyers who can afford your home, reduce showings and create an impression in the marketplace that the homeowners aren’t really serious about selling their home. Serious homeowners who overprice their home often get caught in the trap of price reduction after price reduction trying to catch up to the market.
During the past year, U.S. home sellers slashed more than $24 billion from home listings on Trulia.com. Trulia’s Q1 Home Offer Report indicated that on average, most sellers will reduce their list price after 79 days on the market, choosing to cut their original list price by 8 percent. Following a first reduction, 35 percent of these sellers will make a second.
Most homebuyers look at 10-15 homes before making a buying decision. Because of this, setting a competitive price relative to the competition is an essential component to a successful marketing strategy. Underpricing a home isn’t good either- educating your clients about the importance of properly pricing a home is key to the home sales process.
We put together this handy tip sheet to share with your sellers on the seven deadly sins of overpricing.
Have you ever heard that from a client? If you have been on many listing appointments, you have probably heard this statement once or twice. When setting the sales price of their home, many sellers are tempted to tack on a few percentage points to “leave room to negotiate”.
Overpricing a home can have many ramifications for a home seller. It can limit the number of potential buyers who can afford your home, reduce showings and create an impression in the marketplace that the homeowners aren’t really serious about selling their home. Serious homeowners who overprice their home often get caught in the trap of price reduction after price reduction trying to catch up to the market.
During the past year, U.S. home sellers slashed more than $24 billion from home listings on Trulia.com. Trulia’s Q1 Home Offer Report indicated that on average, most sellers will reduce their list price after 79 days on the market, choosing to cut their original list price by 8 percent. Following a first reduction, 35 percent of these sellers will make a second.
Most homebuyers look at 10-15 homes before making a buying decision. Because of this, setting a competitive price relative to the competition is an essential component to a successful marketing strategy. Underpricing a home isn’t good either- educating your clients about the importance of properly pricing a home is key to the home sales process.
We put together this handy tip sheet to share with your sellers on the seven deadly sins of overpricing.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Top 5 Characteristics Home Buyers Want in a Real Estate Agent
1. Honesty and Credibility-Win them over with the Truth! When these buyers talked about honesty and credibility, it often came with stories about past negative experiences with agents. The stories were about agents trying to push them towards a more expensive purchase and a strong dislike for the false sense of urgency they feel agents create when it comes to placing an offer on a house. Buyers have expressed how hard it is to trust anyone in today’s real estate market so it’s even more important for agents to help them feel comfortable.
2. Area Familiarity - Do your neighborhood homework!
These buyers place a high importance on finding an agent who not only sells homes in a specific neighborhood, but also knows that neighborhood well. They want an agent who knows all about the schools, local parks, safety, restaurants and even the secret gems the neighborhood has to offer.
3. Good Follow Through-You say it, you do it.
During the conversation our buyers constantly verbalized their frustration with agents who didn’t do what they said. Email me, call me and send me the things you say you will. It seems like such a small thing to ask for. Do what you say, combine it with some honesty, and you’ll be an agent buyers feel comfortable working with.
4. Organization-Keep it in order.
You’re honest, you know the area like the back of your hand, and you try your hardest to follow through but it’s just so hard to keep track of your to-do lists and return every phone call. Buyers are expecting agents to be organized and put together. There are a ton of tools out there to help with this. (We love Evernote!)
5.Good Listener-Everyone is unique. Treat them like it!
Users want an agent to listen to them with a blank mind. I heard phrases such as “pigeon hole”, “judge”, “they aren’t listening”, “tell me what I want”…etc. come up in our discussion. Users don’t want an agent to assume they need A just because they hear B. They want an agent who listens to what they want and will ask as many questions as required to really understand who they are and what they are looking for.
Make sure you get those references too- recommendations and testimonials followed closely in the 6th position.
2. Area Familiarity - Do your neighborhood homework!
These buyers place a high importance on finding an agent who not only sells homes in a specific neighborhood, but also knows that neighborhood well. They want an agent who knows all about the schools, local parks, safety, restaurants and even the secret gems the neighborhood has to offer.
3. Good Follow Through-You say it, you do it.
During the conversation our buyers constantly verbalized their frustration with agents who didn’t do what they said. Email me, call me and send me the things you say you will. It seems like such a small thing to ask for. Do what you say, combine it with some honesty, and you’ll be an agent buyers feel comfortable working with.
4. Organization-Keep it in order.
You’re honest, you know the area like the back of your hand, and you try your hardest to follow through but it’s just so hard to keep track of your to-do lists and return every phone call. Buyers are expecting agents to be organized and put together. There are a ton of tools out there to help with this. (We love Evernote!)
5.Good Listener-Everyone is unique. Treat them like it!
Users want an agent to listen to them with a blank mind. I heard phrases such as “pigeon hole”, “judge”, “they aren’t listening”, “tell me what I want”…etc. come up in our discussion. Users don’t want an agent to assume they need A just because they hear B. They want an agent who listens to what they want and will ask as many questions as required to really understand who they are and what they are looking for.
Make sure you get those references too- recommendations and testimonials followed closely in the 6th position.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
4 Steps to Minimize the Risk of Owning a Home
Not so long ago, in a not-so-distant land, owning a home was thought of as the safest "investment" around. Fast forward to the present day, and home ownership seems super scary to many people who can afford homes, and would like to own them, but are paralyzed by the fear of buying a lemon, or having a mortgage catastrophe.
Here are 4 simple steps to minimize the risk that you'll become the main character in a homeownership horror story.
1. Stick with a fixed-rate mortgage. Recent data shows that adjustable rate mortgages, or ARMs, are increasingly popular, rising from 9 percent of the mortgage market in the fourth quarter of 2010 to 12 percent in the first quarter of this year. This might seem crazy to some, but in financially aggressive crowds, the lure of low, 3 percent(ish) interest rates on ARMs is enough to overcome any qualms. As well, today's ARMs tend to have lower lifetime interest rate caps and require payment of principal, so they don't adjust as violently as the subprime interest-only and option ARMs that contributed to the foreclosure crisis.
If the thought of your mortgage payment changing over time gives you the shakes, you don't want to live in a state of interest rate obsession for the next few decades, or you simply crave the simplicity and predictability of knowing what your housing payment will be for the next 15, 20 or 30 years, then stick to
a fixed-rate mortgage. The rates are higher, but with a fixed-rate loan, the risk of scary payment changes are not only lower, they are non-existent.
2. Put - and keep - a home warranty in place. One of the most frightening things about going from renter to homeowner is the prospect of being solely responsible for the care and feeding of your home and all its systems and appliances. Responsibility for both the costs and the actual logistics of repairing things like a leaky roof, a broken hot water heater or a haywire electrical fixture looms large in the minds of first-time buyers, in particular.
A home warranty plan kicks in when escrow closes, and depending on the coverage you select, will cover your home against the breakdown of major systems and even some appliances, like furnaces and water heaters. In some cases, you can even upgrade the coverage to protect against roof leaks and some plumbing issues. When a covered item breaks down, just remember to call the home warranty company first - for the cost of a service call you can get the item repaired or even replaced, if necessary. I remember the home warranty company replacing a $900 water heater in my first home; what a godsend!
Talk with your agent - you might even be able to negotiate for the seller to pay for the first year's cost of the warranty. Just remember to renew it when it expires every year, to keep a cap on your risk of unexpected repair costs for the duration of your tenure as a homeowner.
3. Get repair bids and estimates, not just inspections. After you find the home of your dreams (or the home of your budget!) and get into contract, you'll have a contingency or objection period ranging from 7 to 17 days during which you can obtain all the inspections you want. Most buyers start out with a general property inspection, a pest inspection and a roof inspection, then get more specialized inspections if the property calls from it. Pest and roof inspectors will generally provide an inspection report AND a repair bid for any work they find needs to be done.
But the overall home inspection could very well list a dozen needed repairs, upgrades and maintenance items, without providing any information about how much those repairs will cost. If your inspection report surfaces work you'll need to have done to fix things (or avoid bigger fixes down the road), work with your agent to schedule actual repair contractors to come in and give you bids on the work before your contingency or inspection period expires. That will position you to negotiate around repair costs with the seller, or to know what you're getting yourself into, cost-wise, if you take the property as-is.
4. Buy on the 10-year plan. Warren Buffett once famously advised stock investors to "only buy something that you'd be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years." The same advice is good for buying a home in today's real estate market. Take on a mortgage you know you can sustain, buy at a price you can comfortably afford and avoid having to sell because you need to move for some urgent reason, or because the home no longer meets your needs.
You can take this last step to hedge against losing money on your home by planning your space, career and lifestyle needs out 5, 7, even 10 years in the future - everything from how many bedrooms and garage spaces you'll need to where you'll want to be located, geographically - and selecting a home that will meet those needs for that foreseeable future. As a general rule of thumb, the harder hit the area was in the recession, the longer you should plan to hold it.
Here are 4 simple steps to minimize the risk that you'll become the main character in a homeownership horror story.
1. Stick with a fixed-rate mortgage. Recent data shows that adjustable rate mortgages, or ARMs, are increasingly popular, rising from 9 percent of the mortgage market in the fourth quarter of 2010 to 12 percent in the first quarter of this year. This might seem crazy to some, but in financially aggressive crowds, the lure of low, 3 percent(ish) interest rates on ARMs is enough to overcome any qualms. As well, today's ARMs tend to have lower lifetime interest rate caps and require payment of principal, so they don't adjust as violently as the subprime interest-only and option ARMs that contributed to the foreclosure crisis.
If the thought of your mortgage payment changing over time gives you the shakes, you don't want to live in a state of interest rate obsession for the next few decades, or you simply crave the simplicity and predictability of knowing what your housing payment will be for the next 15, 20 or 30 years, then stick to
a fixed-rate mortgage. The rates are higher, but with a fixed-rate loan, the risk of scary payment changes are not only lower, they are non-existent.
2. Put - and keep - a home warranty in place. One of the most frightening things about going from renter to homeowner is the prospect of being solely responsible for the care and feeding of your home and all its systems and appliances. Responsibility for both the costs and the actual logistics of repairing things like a leaky roof, a broken hot water heater or a haywire electrical fixture looms large in the minds of first-time buyers, in particular.
A home warranty plan kicks in when escrow closes, and depending on the coverage you select, will cover your home against the breakdown of major systems and even some appliances, like furnaces and water heaters. In some cases, you can even upgrade the coverage to protect against roof leaks and some plumbing issues. When a covered item breaks down, just remember to call the home warranty company first - for the cost of a service call you can get the item repaired or even replaced, if necessary. I remember the home warranty company replacing a $900 water heater in my first home; what a godsend!
Talk with your agent - you might even be able to negotiate for the seller to pay for the first year's cost of the warranty. Just remember to renew it when it expires every year, to keep a cap on your risk of unexpected repair costs for the duration of your tenure as a homeowner.
3. Get repair bids and estimates, not just inspections. After you find the home of your dreams (or the home of your budget!) and get into contract, you'll have a contingency or objection period ranging from 7 to 17 days during which you can obtain all the inspections you want. Most buyers start out with a general property inspection, a pest inspection and a roof inspection, then get more specialized inspections if the property calls from it. Pest and roof inspectors will generally provide an inspection report AND a repair bid for any work they find needs to be done.
But the overall home inspection could very well list a dozen needed repairs, upgrades and maintenance items, without providing any information about how much those repairs will cost. If your inspection report surfaces work you'll need to have done to fix things (or avoid bigger fixes down the road), work with your agent to schedule actual repair contractors to come in and give you bids on the work before your contingency or inspection period expires. That will position you to negotiate around repair costs with the seller, or to know what you're getting yourself into, cost-wise, if you take the property as-is.
4. Buy on the 10-year plan. Warren Buffett once famously advised stock investors to "only buy something that you'd be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years." The same advice is good for buying a home in today's real estate market. Take on a mortgage you know you can sustain, buy at a price you can comfortably afford and avoid having to sell because you need to move for some urgent reason, or because the home no longer meets your needs.
You can take this last step to hedge against losing money on your home by planning your space, career and lifestyle needs out 5, 7, even 10 years in the future - everything from how many bedrooms and garage spaces you'll need to where you'll want to be located, geographically - and selecting a home that will meet those needs for that foreseeable future. As a general rule of thumb, the harder hit the area was in the recession, the longer you should plan to hold it.
Friday, May 6, 2011
NTREIS Activity Report - April 2011
Saginaw/North (102) -
New Listings - 161
Average Listing Price - $151,912
Sold listings - 82
Average Sales Price - $126,023
Average DOM - 88
East FW (104) -
New Listings - 80
Average Listing Price - $101,764
Sold Listings - 35
Average Sales Price - $77,321
Average DOM - 94
South East FW (105)
New Listings - 21
Average listing Price - $30,800
Sold Listings - 19
Average Sales Price - $29,255
Average DOM - 68
South FW (106) -
New Listings - 23
Average Listing Price - $68,370
Sold Listings - 14
Average Sales Price - $54,836
Average DOM - 70
West/SouthWest FW (107) -
New Listings - 98
Average Listing Price - $292,639
Sold Listings - 41
Average Sales Price - $266,653
Average DOM - 101
Central West (108)
New listings - 135
Average listing Price - $372,069
Sold Listings - 52
Average Sales Price - $232,744
Average DOM - 77
NorthWest FW (109)
New Listings - 181
Average listing Price - $209,972
Sold Listings - 69
Average Sales Price- $132,864
Average DOM - 88
South FW (111) -
New Listings - 222
Average listing Price - $128,584
Sold Listings - 93
Average Sales Price - $112,469
Average DOM - 91
Far West FW (112) -
New Listings - 117
Average listing Price - $181,890
Sold Listings - 53
Average Sales price - $135,492
Average DOM - 88
New Listings - 161
Average Listing Price - $151,912
Sold listings - 82
Average Sales Price - $126,023
Average DOM - 88
East FW (104) -
New Listings - 80
Average Listing Price - $101,764
Sold Listings - 35
Average Sales Price - $77,321
Average DOM - 94
South East FW (105)
New Listings - 21
Average listing Price - $30,800
Sold Listings - 19
Average Sales Price - $29,255
Average DOM - 68
South FW (106) -
New Listings - 23
Average Listing Price - $68,370
Sold Listings - 14
Average Sales Price - $54,836
Average DOM - 70
West/SouthWest FW (107) -
New Listings - 98
Average Listing Price - $292,639
Sold Listings - 41
Average Sales Price - $266,653
Average DOM - 101
Central West (108)
New listings - 135
Average listing Price - $372,069
Sold Listings - 52
Average Sales Price - $232,744
Average DOM - 77
NorthWest FW (109)
New Listings - 181
Average listing Price - $209,972
Sold Listings - 69
Average Sales Price- $132,864
Average DOM - 88
South FW (111) -
New Listings - 222
Average listing Price - $128,584
Sold Listings - 93
Average Sales Price - $112,469
Average DOM - 91
Far West FW (112) -
New Listings - 117
Average listing Price - $181,890
Sold Listings - 53
Average Sales price - $135,492
Average DOM - 88
6 Ways to Save Money in Your Home, Car
You can help save the planet while also saving cash, according to the Alliance to Save Energy. Annual energy costs are likely too even increase with rising fuel and utility costs. Below some pointers on how to trim yearly expenses with some easy ways to go "green."
In your car:
Use cruise control. Cruise control on the highway can help you maintain a constant speed, which can help save gas.
Use the overdrive gear. By using the overdrive gear, your car’s engine speed goes down, which not only saves gas but also reduces engine wear and tear.
Slow down. Driving anything above 60 miles per hour decreases your gas mileage rapidly.
In your home:
Swap out the light bulbs. Replace old incandescent bulbs with energy efficient options such as compact fluorescent lights, which can shave up to $50 off your electricity costs over the lifetime of each bulb.
Plant a tree. Properly positioned trees outside your home actually have been found to reduce a home’s energy use, even up to 50 percent during the summer months and 15 percent in the winter.
Get a tax break. Uncle Sam is offering 2011 tax breaks of up to $500 for energy efficiency home improvements, such as with Energy Star windows, insulation, or energy efficient heating and cooling equipment.
Home Building on the Rise
New home construction is picking up just in time for the spring buying season, according to the latest new-home report rfrom the Commerce Department. Builders broke ground on more new homes in March than in the last six months.
Another bright spot: Building permits, an indicator of future construction, increased 11.2% for the month. After a dismal winter performance, new-home building bounced back 7.2% in March from February to a seasonally adjusted 549,000 units.
The new-home sector has faced hard times in recent years, competing against a flood of foreclosures and short sales on the market that have pushed housing prices down. In February, construction fell to its lowest level in nearly two years.
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