marketing — Page 14

How to Use Comparable Sales to Price Your Home

August 25, 2013 By EmmanuelFonte Leave a Comment

Before you put your home up for sale, understand how the right comparable sales help you and your agent find the perfect price.

Knowing how much homes similar to yours, called comparable sales (or in real estate lingo, comps), sold for gives you the best idea of the current estimated value of your home. The trick is finding sales that closely match yours.

What makes a good comparable sale?

Your best comparable sale is the same model as your house in the same subdivision—and it closed escrow last week. If you can’t find that, here are other factors that count:

Location: The closer to your house the better, but don’t just use any comparable sale within a mile radius. A good comparable sale is a house in your neighborhood, your subdivision, on the same type of street as your house, and in your school district.

Home type: Try to find comparable sales that are like your home in style, construction material, square footage, number of bedrooms and baths, basement (having one and whether it’s finished), finishes, and yard size.

Amenities and upgrades: Is the kitchen new? Does the comparable sale house have full A/C? Is there crown molding, a deck, or a pool? Does your community have the same amenities (pool, workout room, walking trails, etc.) and homeowners association fees?

Date of sale: You may want to use a comparable sale from two years ago when the market was high, but that won’t fly. Most buyers use government-guaranteed mortgages, and those lending programs say comparable sales can be no older than 90 days.

Sales sweeteners: Did the comparable-sale sellers give the buyers downpayment assistance, closing costs, or a free television? You have to reduce the value of any comparable sale to account for any deal sweeteners.

Agents can help adjust price based on insider insights

Even if you live in a subdivision, your home will always be different from your neighbors’. Evaluating those differences—like the fact that your home has one more bedroom than the comparables or a basement office—is one of the ways real estate agents add value.

An active agent has been inside a lot of homes in your neighborhood and knows all sorts of details about comparable sales. She has read the comments the selling agent put into the MLS, seen the ugly wallpaper, and heard what other REALTORS®, lenders, closing agents, and appraisers said about the comparable sale.

More ways to pick a home listing price

If you’re still having trouble picking out a listing price for your home, look at the current competition. Ask your real estate agent to be honest about your home and the other homes on the market (and then listen to her without taking the criticism personally).

Next, put your comparable sales into two piles: more expensive and less expensive. What makes your home more valuable than the cheaper comparable sales and less valuable than the pricier comparable sales?

Are foreclosures and short sales comparables?

If one or more of your comparable sales was a foreclosed home or a short sale (a home that sold for less money than the owners owed on the mortgage), ask your real estate agent how to treat those comps.

A foreclosed home is usually in poor condition because owners who can’t pay their mortgage can’t afford to pay for upkeep. Your home is in great shape, so the foreclosure should be priced lower than your home.

Short sales are typically in good condition, although they are still distressed sales. The owners usually have to sell because they’re divorcing, or their employer is moving them to Kansas.

How much short sales are discounted from their market value varies among local markets. The average short-sale home in Omaha in recent years was discounted by 8.5%, according to a University of Nebraska at Omaha study. In suburban Washington, D.C., sellers typically discount short-sale homes by 3% to 5% to get them quickly sold, real estate agents report. In other markets, sellers price short sales the same as other homes in the neighborhood.

So you have to rely on your REALTOR’s® knowledge of the local market to use a short sale as a comparable sale.

Filed Under: Blog, marketing, Real Estate

Don’t Forget to Stage Your Fridge

August 7, 2013 By EmmanuelFonte Leave a Comment

No detail is too small for a home buyer. And while you’re making sure the kitchen counters are decluttered and sparkling clean, you might want to take a closer look in the fridge too, particularly if it’s staying with the house. The buyer likely will be. And what will they see when they open the doors?

Over-stuffed, sticky shelves? Expired veggies that are growing a friend? Vile smells?

The contents of a seller’s fridge may say a lot about a home owner. It may even have the potential to leave a potential buyer with a negative impression.

The New York Times recently devoted an entire article to a place often overlooked in real estate showings: The fridge.

When writer Richard Samson with The New York Times was getting ready to sell his apartment, he suddenly became alarmed at the contents of his refrigerator. “From the perspective of the nervous buyer, I realized that my freezer contents alone had the potential to terrify and repel: vodka; century-old, virtually empty ice cream containers; more vodka, and then those mysterious foil-wrapped parcels of who-knows-what.”

Samson realized he needed to clean up his ways. When prospective buyers opened his refrigerator, he wanted to send a sophisticated vibe: He filled his fridge with freshly squeezed orange juice; 9-ounce glass bottles of Ronnybrook milk; bright red watermelon chunks; black olive Tapenade; and two bottles of champagne strategically placed on the bottom shelf.

OK, but there’s limit to just how far he would go. He realized that when contemplating buying burrata for $8 for a small container. “There’s a fine line between appearing cosmopolitan and actually looking like a fool,” Samson wrote. “Besides, I can’t risk buyers’ thinking I have money to burn on mozzarella, unless I’m prepared to attract an array of low-ball bids.”

What’s inside your sellers’ refrigerator? Do your sellers need a fridge intervention? Ask them for a drink and then sneak a peek!

It may be a good time to remind your sellers that if the refrigerator is staying with the house, buyers often will take a look inside, and impressions count. Encourage them to clean out their refrigerator. Toss out the expireds and those items that may have been hiding in the back. Clean off the shelves so they sparkle. And possibly even add a few touches, like a bowl filled with colorful fruit or gourmet mustards and condiments. After all, presentation is everything, even inside the refrigerator.

By Melissa Dittmann Tracey, REALTOR(R) Magazine

Filed Under: Appliances, Blog, Home Care, marketing

The Evolution of the Yard Sale [Infographic]

August 2, 2013 By EmmanuelFonte Leave a Comment

Throughout our history, America has always had a thing for tradition. When you think of suburban life in the 1950s and 60s, images of baseball, white picket fences and apple pie probably come to mind, but that’s also when yard sales and garage sales really came into their own and started booming. Everyone was starting to buy more and more stuff, so people figured why not give back to those around you (for a small price, of course) while also giving yourself a little more room around the house?

Today’s infographic from Yard Sales gives us a neat overlook at the history and development of the U.S. tradition/phenomenon known as the yard sale. Many people may not know that yard and garage sales in the U.S. really got their start in shipyards in the early 1800s with “rommage sales,” where the yards would sell unclaimed cargo at a discounted rate. Later in the 19th century the sales moved to community centers like churches and really began to thrive, until they became what we know them as today in the 1950s and 60s.

For more info on yard sales and garage sale day (2nd weekend in August!) have a look at the graphic below and don’t forget to visit Yard Sales to find a yard sale close to you. [Via]

Filed Under: Blog, Home Care, marketing, Random Thoughts

Marketers Missing the Mark?

July 29, 2013 By EmmanuelFonte Leave a Comment

Interesting video about the state of marketing from Adobe Systems.

From their YouTube: The State of Online Advertising polled consumers and marketers in seven countries across the United States, Asia-Pacific and Europe. We hope this research helps fuel some great discussions among marketers who want to make it better.

[pb_vidembed title=”” caption=”” url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWpV8BCp4Kc” type=”yt” w=”680″ h=”385″]

Filed Under: Blog, marketing, New Media, Technology

Creating Good Social Content

July 24, 2013 By EmmanuelFonte Leave a Comment

Having trouble keeping track of all the advice out there about creating great social content?

Check out this cheat sheet that summarizes many of the main points we see again and again from Edge Media.

Via Edge Media

Filed Under: Blog, marketing, New Media, Technology

What The Beatles Can Teach Us About Content Marketing

July 14, 2013 By EmmanuelFonte Leave a Comment

The Beatles are quite possibly the most influential pop culture icons in history. Their music has reached millions ‘Across the Universe’ and stood the tests of major shifts in the music industry and more importantly, time.

Over the weekend, The Beatles very own Ringo Starr celebrated his 73rd birthday. In his honor, we bring you this special infographic to see what the Beatles can teach us in the internet age about content marketing.

Filed Under: Blog, marketing, Music, New Media

Guide To The Most Effective Social Media Platforms For Marketing [INFOGRAPHIC]

July 12, 2013 By EmmanuelFonte Leave a Comment

source: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/files/2013/05/most-effective-social-platforms.png

Filed Under: Blog, marketing, New Media, Technology

Decoding the Comparative Market Analysis

June 15, 2013 By EmmanuelFonte Leave a Comment

Moving is hard, and not a move anyone takes lightly. Your house is more than just an investment, it is your home. As you begin the process of distancing yourself from the place where you made so many lasting memories you will begin to think about what your home will be worth to someone else. When you are ready to meet with a real estate broker, you may already have an idea of what your home is worth. You may have seen what other homes in your neighborhood have sold for or kept an eye on local listings. Your broker will prepare a comparative market analysis (CMA) that is an in-depth version of any research you may have done on your own. The CMA is used to help evaluate how your home will fare against the competition. It takes a look at homes that are currently listed, pending (properties under contract) as well as those sold within the past 6 months. The purpose is to find the market value and help position your home on the open market.

A Picture Of Your Home And Its Surroundings

The CMA includes a fact-based portrait of the home including information such as number of bedrooms and baths, approximate square footage, size of major rooms, age of the home, property taxes, and desirable amenities such as fireplaces and pools. In most expert’s opinion, the floor plan or the architectural design of the home I crucial in comparing , since price per square foot is often consider and we need to compare apples to apples. A rambler should be compared to other rambler and a two-story to other two stories etc. an appraiser will do this in the financing process and we want to make sure that we have properly priced the home to appraise and make sure we can take the contract to completion. The range can also vary. Some will just cover a few streets around your home, CMAs can cover areas as narrow as one or two streets surrounding your home, or as broad as an entire subdivision.

Value Is In The Eye Of The Beholder (Or Potential Buyer)

Selling a home isn’t only about the facts. There are many pieces to the puzzle and it’s often the indefinable that impact a potential buyer’s perception of the home. A home purchase remains fundamentally personal. Most transactions are influenced by the buyer’s emotions versus rationalization. Perception can alter reality and so this is an important consideration when looking at a CMA. People make decisions based on curb appeal, light, design choices and many other factors. At the end of each home’s information on the CMA report there will be a brief statement provided by the listing agent that will address some of these subjective factors such as recent remodels, historic features, or things that might be of interest to the buyers. The agent will be marketing the home and is already thinking about how it will be presented as a product to tempt the public.

The CMA Evolution

The CMA is evolving since the Internet era, partly because the potential seller does some homework ahead of time and access to information is no longer just the purview of the real estate professional. It has increased the amount of avenues now available to display more accurate and precise information ranging from short sales, foreclosures and arm-length sales data. While sellers have access to data, an objective professional that is both objective and up to date on contractual nuances, is an asset to a seller in achieving their goal to sell at the highest possible price.

Filed Under: Architecture, Blog, marketing, Real Estate

6 Ways a Home May Turn Off Buyers

June 13, 2013 By EmmanuelFonte Leave a Comment

Bankrate.com recently featured a list of the top ways buyers back away from a home listed for sale. Its list includes these items, among others:

1. Dirt: “The No. 1 biggest mistake is not getting the home in the best possible condition. That’s huge,” says Chad Goldwasser of Goldwasser Real Estate in Austin, Texas. “I won’t even represent sellers at this point unless they are fully aware of how important it is to get their home in the absolute best condition that they’ve ever had it in.” Goldwasser suggests also steam-cleaning tile and grout and carpets and replacing carpets if necessary.

2. Odors: “Odors are a big one, especially kitchen odors,” says Julie Dana, co-author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Staging Your Home to Sell. “I advise my clients not to cook fried food, fish, or greasy food while the house is on the market. … Interestingly, next to the kitchen, the smelliest room in the house is actually the living room. That’s typically the room that has the most fabric, so that is where odors get absorbed.” She recommends having curtains and upholstery cleaned, particularly if someone in the home is a smoker, and taking steps to eliminate any pet odors.

3. Old fixtures: “You need to change out old fixtures in your house,” Goldwasser says, adding outdated ceiling fans and light fixtures should be replaced prior to listing a home. “New cabinet hardware and doorknobs will probably cost all of $400 or $500, but it makes a huge difference.”

4. Wallpaper: When buyers see wallpaper, they think of another thing to add to their to-do list, says Dana. “Wallpaper is extremely personalized. You’ve spent hours looking over books to pick out the wallpaper you want,” she says. “What are the odds that the person walking in the door will also like that wallpaper that you picked out?”

5. Popcorn acoustic ceilings: These ceiling were popular in the 1960s and 1970s but now can date a home. Still, it can be a mess and costly to remove, so real estate professionals say sellers may need to be prepared to credit a buyer in certain markets if they decide to keep the popcorn ceiling when selling a home.

6. Too many personal items: Cluttered homes make it difficult for buyers to see past the home owner’s belongings and start envisioning themselves there. “Anything that makes your house scream ‘you’ is what you don’t want,” Dana says. “I tell all my clients that how we decorate to live and how we decorate to sell are different, and right now, we’re decorating to sell.”

Source: “10 Ways to Turn Off a Would-Be Homebuyer,” Bankrate.com

Filed Under: Blog, Housing Market, marketing, Real Estate