Real Estate Market Madness

About the only things looking up these days are the prices of gas and food! The housing slump is longer and worse than initial predictions, and slow sales hurt everyone. Home foreclosures are rising, real estate agents are changing careers, and local economies are feeling the crunch in lost revenue due to loss of property values!


If you are one of the lucky ones whose home sold within 3-6 months of being placed on the market, congratulations! For those who have had their homes on the market for longer, don’t lose heart!


Preparing and maintaining a house for the real estate market and individual showings is fatiguing to say the least. It is difficult to maintain the momentum necessary to keep the house looking in prime condition after repeated showings to only faintly interested potential buyers. How do you remain optimistic without being unrealistic, and keep up the momentum? ATTITUDE!


You can’t influence the housing market, the economy, or the national debt. You CAN influence your attitude! You CAN influence the market appeal of your house! A good salesperson learns to adapt to a changing environment (product, market demand, prices, etc.). Current market conditions make it essential to do everything possible to not only attract a buyer’s attention, you must hold their attention once inside, and make them believe that they can’t live without your house! When old methods no longer work, try new methods! Be creative, and think like a buyer!

• Take a good look at your house and try to see it with a new perspective.
• Ask your real estate agent to come by with a few colleagues for another look.
• Grab some honest friends and neighbors and invite them in for an evaluation.
• LISTEN!

Some factors cannot be changed without considerable cost and effort, such as the number of bedrooms or bathrooms or the size of a room. Many things, however, can be corrected! There may be an offensive odor to your house (pets, mold, cooking), items may appear dingy or worn, outdated, or you may have significant clutter in one or more rooms.


If your house has been on the market for 6 months or more, chances are that you did a major cleaning prior to placing your house on the market, but have basically done maintenance work since then. Remember when your parents and grandparents did “spring” and “fall” cleaning? Every 6 months or so, consider doing some deep cleaning.

• Trim the landscaping
• Edge the yard
• Clean the closets
• Toss the clutter
• Rearrange the furniture
• Repair marred walls and touch up with paint
• Make sure the garage is clean and tidy
• More important, make sure that people can walk around the cars!

Changing or updating the look of a house, both outside and in, helps to attract new buyers, and may help to generate new interest in potential buyers who previously just kept driving by your house!
Once the house is cleaned and refreshed, consider new marketing strategies.

• Try updating photographs of your house if you have an online listing with photographs.
• Will dropping the price help? This market is no longer about just price reductions!
• Fewer buyers mean increased competition! Make your house stand out!
• Consider listing your house on Zillow.com to increase exposure to potential buyers.

Add an incentive

• Cash back on closing day
• Paying for buyer’s closing costs
• Paying the buyer’s first month’s mortgage payment
• Paying a bonus to the selling agent
• Offering a home warranty

For those people who need to quickly sell their house for a multitude of reasons, there are several options. One option is to rent the house or offer a lease-purchase option. A lease-purchase option could get you some up front cash, and allow you to recoup your mortgage payments. Selling a house at auction is a method of last resort. These options have drawbacks, of course, but are additional tools in your arsenal. Talk to your real estate agent or broker. They can discuss the pros and cons of each option, and help you decide what best fits your needs.


Selling a house in this current market is frustrating, to put it mildly. Do what you can, when you can. Listen to your agent, and be patient with them. The commission gives them a strong incentive to sell your house!

Smile! Think positively! Have a little fun with it, and be persistent!

Best of luck!

Making the Most of Curb Appeal

It is no secret that curb appeal is essential in selling a house. According to the Real Estate Agent Community Trends Survey 2008, 82% of agents felt that potential buyers unimpressed with a home’s outside, are unlikely to bother with seeing the inside! According to the same survey, 90% of agents felt that the sale of a home depends on the impression of the front entry. Put another way, curb appeal sells 49% of all houses, according to the National Association of Realtors. Remember that the curb image is the image buyers will have when returning to their new home!

The lawn comprises the largest part of most yards and stands to have the greatest impact on curb appeal. Few can resist the appeal of a lush, green lawn, even those who do not find yard work enjoyable. A lawn does not have to look like a golf course. Simply mow the lawn regularly, even if this means mowing every 4-5 days during the growing season. Edge the lawn every time it is mowed for a crisp, fresh look. Fertilize and treat with herbicide or pesticide as appropriate to keep the yard healthy. While chemicals are not good for the environment, a healthier yard adds significant environmental benefits!

Landscaping is the icing on the cake! It dresses up the lawn in much the same manner as accessorizing an outfit. Attractive flower beds, or landscaping, can give your house the pizzazz and attention it needs to distinguish it from every other house on the block or on the market! Conversely, weed-ridden and overgrown landscaping can detract from the curb appeal, and worse, reflect that the owner has not cared for the house. Weed regularly, mulch as needed, and water when it has not rained enough to keep the plants healthy and vibrant. Even the landscaping could use a burst from regular fertilizing. Compost is best, but fertilizers work in a pinch!

The front entry is an essential impact maker! It should be visible from the curb, be tidy, and look fabulous! Regular sweeping is a must. This keeps the entry way free of dirt, leaves and critters! Spider webs are not appealing, even for Halloween! Freshen the door mat. Clean the door. Paint or replace the door, if necessary. Check regularly to ensure that the outside lights are working properly. Consider keeping outdoor lights on in the evenings. Potential buyers may love the appearance of your yard and house at night! Wash the windows for a sparkling, fresh look.

Consider adding a unique feature to your front entry. Plants are always fresh and welcoming. Consider a unique hanging basket, a tiered planter, or topiaries to add visual interest to the front entry. If others in the neighborhood are using topiaries, try adding a tiered planter to set your house apart. Free your imagination to create a truly unique appearance to your house that will wow potential buyers!

Improving curb appeal takes only a little extra effort, but may have a profound impact on the results! Curb appeal may seal the deal!

Staging Your Closet

Why camouflage valuable living space! Cleaning the house by stuffing the closets is like throwing money away! Clean and stage your closet! Staging closets involves cleaning, repairing, organizing, brightening, and glamorizing!

Closet staging is perhaps the simplest chore when preparing a house for sale, but, is probably the most dreaded chore! Closets have doors which tend to hide many unwanted and unnecessary items! Who doesn’t have clothes that haven’t been worn in the past 6 months? One reason clothes linger in closets is because they are “outgrown”. Another common space waster are the clothes treasured because of some sentimental journey, but never worn for any number of reasons such as being torn, stained, out of style, etc. Shoes are much like clothes. Well worn shoes are too comfortable to part with, and those shoes bought for that special occasion are too good to discard! Any clothing not used is wasting space, making the closet seem smaller, more cluttered and potentially turning away buyers!

The first step in staging a closet is to remove everything! The second step is to clean, clean, clean! Clean the walls, the floors, any shelves or drawers, and even clean the doors! Third, brighten the closet with updated, more energy efficient lights. Consider making the closet bright enough to perform a task inside. Next, patch any holes and paint. This makes the closet look fresher and brighter! Then consider organizing your closet space. An organized closet looks and feels more spacious! Have a closet stuck in the 70’s, with little more than a shelf and a pole? There are many options to consider when updating the closet organization system. Of course, mahogany or cherry wood cabinets and shelves would look fabulous in most every closet, but an economical option is plastic coated wire shelving. It looks good, allows for flexible storage options, and allows light to pass through it. This helps to brighten your closet space. Last, but not least, glamorize! Oh, you don’t have to spend a fortune! Just take a look at the outside closet appearance with the doors closed. Do the doors hang properly? Are the knobs or levers attractive? Do the doors need painting? Would new doors make the room appear more contemporary, or save space?




When returning items to your closet, return only the items actually worn in the past 6 months. Removing and reevaluating the need for each piece is often quite helpful in realizing that there is more junk than previously thought. Replace shoes only if they are in top condition, and expected to be worn in the next month or so. Once organized, keep the space organized! It is much easier to find everything in a clean, organized closet space, and potential home buyers will love the bright and organized closets!

10 Ways to Protect Your Privacy When Marketing Your Home

Your home is on the market, and your home is now open to untold numbers of strangers. How private can that be?

You have managed to clean, declutter and depersonalize, but have you ‘privatized’ your home? Perhaps you know and trust everyone in your community, and feel that you have nothing to hide. Think again!



Leaving personal information for others to see may have significant consequences for you. First, while most people are kind and decent, and will respect your belongings, others will not. Second, bad things can happen to good people! The best advice here is to perform an ‘ounce of prevention’ to prepare for the worst case scenario.


Burglars, identity thieves, employers, and stalkers may enter your home as a potential buyer for the sole purpose of obtaining valuable information!

Disarming burglars, stalkers, and identity thieves are some of the best reasons to privatize your home prior to placing the “For Sale” sign in your front yard. Equally important reasons to protect your privacy include preventing potential home buyers from having an unfair advantage!

Burglars may watch your house to learn the general routine of household members, then review the layout with a guided tour from a real estate agent before violating your security and taking your prized valuables. It is not uncommon for burglars to enter the home as a potential buyer, and leave a door or window unlocked for later access.

Identity thieves are on the lookout for any and every piece of valuable, private information they can get their hands on! Bills, checkbooks, social security cards, voter’s registration cards, birthdates, pay stubs are just a few items that contain information valuable to an identity thief.

Employers past, present or future may be surreptitiously seeking valuable insight to your loyalty, lifestyle habits, risky behavior or potential health risks that may adversely impact health insurance costs!

Finally, the average potential home buyer may obtain a significant advantage in bargaining power if they saw the calendar circled with your move date, or the meeting with the mortgage broker regarding your home loan. Stacks of second notices for bills can imply that you are desperate to sell, and will settle for far less than your asking price.

What should you do to minimize your risk of invasion of your privacy?

1. Remove ALL private or personal photos, diplomas, awards, and trophies.

2. Remove any and all calendars! These often contain a great deal of private information that could be used to your detriment.

3. Remove ALL valuables. Consider placing them in vaults, or boxes which can be secured or easily carried with you.

4. Remove ALL bills, letters, magazines and library books. Shred papers with personal information that are no longer needed.

5. Password protect your computer to block access to your private files.

6. Turn off your printer and fax machine before each showing. Printers and fax machines often have the capability of printing the last numbers dialed or received.

7. Turn off answering machines. This avoids personal messages being left while strangers are in your home.

8. Unplug and remove phones. Many phones have caller ID.

9. Remove or conceal all digital devices that contain information about you or your family (i.e., cell phones, personal digital assistants, iPods, USB drives).

10. Do not list personal names or phone numbers on handouts or flyers with information on your property. Real estate agents should be the only ones with access to your private phone numbers.

Tags: privacy, identity theft, stalking, real estate, real estate marketing, real estate technology, home staging, home decorating, home sales, housing

Staging During the Holiday Season

Maintaining a house in market condition is tough enough, but add the hustle and bustle of holiday preparations and you’ve got yourself a bit more stress than most people care to handle!

Should a house be decorated for the holidays? What about decluttering and depersonalizing?

Whether or not you decide to decorate your house for the holidays while it is on the market is a personal one.

Should you decide to decorate, however, the décor should NOT be personal!

An easy rule of thumb is to keep it simple, anonymous and décor appropriate.

Things to avoid are filling the room with a giant tree that makes the room seem smaller, overdoing the decorations, and ignoring the architecture and style of the house.
Decorations can provide a warm, cozy and inviting atmosphere, or they can distract potential home buyers and obscure important focal points in rooms.

Simple and elegant decorating techniques that avoid cultural bias will appeal to a broader audience of potential home buyers.

Try one or more ornaments in a bowl, basket or vase. Add a simple flower and candle arrangement to the dining room table. If you must have a tree, keep tree decorations to a minimum, and avoid placing packages under the tree. Better yet, try decorating a smaller, tabletop sized tree.

Remember to focus on curb appeal! Try a lovely garland around the door or archway, or a wreath on the door. Topiaries are also quite popular, and add elegance to an entry.

Tags: holiday decorations, topiaries, Christmas trees, real estate, real estate marketing, real estate technology, home staging, home decorating, home sales, housing

10 “Green” ideas that appeal to home buyers and save you money

More contemporary home buyers are looking for sustainable “green” features. “Green” is not limited to renewable resources. It also refers to energy conserving features that limit the impact on the environment. Energy conserving features save money by decreasing utility costs, and that is music to home buyers’ ears! The following are some relatively easy to implement “green” ideas that are likely to increase the “green” in a home sale.

#1 Compact fluorescent (CF) Lights
One inexpensive and easy to implement idea is to consider converting the light bulbs in the house from incandescent to compact fluorescent (CF). CF lights will save the homeowner $30 in energy costs over the lifetime of a single bulb. CF bulbs use 75% less energy to produce the same amount of light. Because they are also cooler, producing only 25% of the heat of a conventional light bulb, they save even more energy by decreasing the workload on the air conditioner.

#2 Programmable thermostats
Programmable thermostats can save $150 in energy costs per year by adjusting temperature settings to save energy while homeowners are away or sleeping. Body temperature drops several degrees at night, thus making it more comfortable to keep the room temperature slightly higher at night in the summer. In winter, pajamas and blankets help maintain body heat, making it more comfortable to keep the room temperature slightly cooler. Resources such as Progress Energy, and others, suggest that this can save as much as 5-10% of an average household’s cooling and heating costs. According to the Colorado Rural Electric Association, for each 8 hour period that the AC keeps a house 1 degree warmer, or the heater keeps a house 1 degree colder, a household can realize approximately 1-3% savings on their energy bill.

#3 Ceiling Fans
Ceiling fans can reduce heating and cooling costs. Ceiling fans that are reversible can either draw warm air up to the ceiling, or push warm air near the ceiling down lower to the floor. The major benefit of a ceiling fan is in the summer. Water in perspiration can absorb a great deal of heat, drawing it away from the body, thus making it seem cooler. Ceiling fans circulate air and cause evaporation of perspiration, further cooling the skin. This allows a person to feel more comfortable at a higher room temperature. Running the air conditioner less means decreased energy consumption, and therefore lower utility costs. In winter, with the fan circulating the air in a downward motion, the fan does circulate warm air downward. The benefit may be offset, however, by the air movement which causes evaporation of perspiration and thus skin cooling. A savings calculator can be downloaded from EnergyStar.gov

#4 Insulation and Sealing air leaks
Sealing air leaks and improving insulation is one of the most cost effective ways to save energy. Proper insulation can reduce heating and cooling costs by 20%, and overall annual utility costs by 10%. More information can be found at EnergyStar.gov

#5 Refrigerators
Energy Star refrigerators use just 40% of the energy of a refrigerator model made in 2001, and half the energy of refrigerators made prior to 1993! An older refrigerator may be responsible for the greatest percentage of a household’s energy requirements, especially ones kept in the garage. The energy saved by buying a newer model is equivalent to the energy needed to light the average household for nearly four months! More information can be found at EnergyStar.gov.

#6 Dishwashers
Older dishwashers, made before 1994, are costly to run. They require more water, are less efficient to run, and use more electricity to heat the water. Replacing an older model dishwasher with an Energy Star dishwasher can save $30 a year in utility costs.

#7 Clothes Washer
Replacing a clothes washer made before 1994 to an Energy Star clothes washer can save $110 per year on utility bills and use about 60% of the water used by older washers. Front loading machines are more energy efficient than top loading machines. Front loading machines use less water. They also have higher spin speeds, decreasing the moisture content and thus decreasing the time needed to dry the clothes.

#8 Windows
Replacing single pane windows with Energy Star certified windows can save $125–$450 a year in energy costs. RemodelingOnline reports that a whole house window upgrade costs about $10,160, but adds $8,500 to the value of the home.

#9 Central Air conditioning
Upgrading to a Energy Star central air conditioning system can improve efficiency and save money. Potential buyers want to know that the basic, most costly house components (i.e., roof, windows, central air units, heating system, etc.) will not need repair or replacement soon.

Central air conditioners are rated by a Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER). Energy star models are approximately 14% more efficient than standard models, making them less costly to run.

Replacing a central air unit may cost $2,500-5,000, but may increase the value of your home AND may save your house time on the market. Time is Money!

A savings calculator can be downloaded from EnergyStar.gov.

#10 Furnace
Like central air units, upgrading to an Energy Star furnace can also save money on utility bills. Furnaces are rated by an Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency (AFUE). Some Energy Star rated furnace models can result in a savings as great as 15% over a standard model.

Replacing a furnace may cost $2,500-5,000, but may increase the value of your home AND may save your house time on the market. Again, time is Money!

A savings calculator can downloaded from EnergyStar.gov.



An Inconvenient Truth on DVD

10 Features that Date a Home

1. Yellowed plastic or rusty metal

• Light switch plates and plastic vent covers that have yellowed with age not only look old, they make everything else appear dingy.
• Check out your central air vents. Have they seen better days? Rust reflects age and lack of care.

Remedy:
Replace light switch plates with new ones that coordinate with the style and décor of your house. They cost pennies, but add great value to your home in marketability. For vent covers, try painting with white spray paint, or another color if you prefer. This is another inexpensive means of brightening and freshening the home for sale without breaking the bank, or taking a great deal of time! Metal vents can be replaced at a bit more cost, but are still a very reasonable and affordable update.

2. Light Fixtures

• Exterior lights can be seen from the street and impact curb appeal. Outdated, dangling or broken lights with missing bulbs can seriously limit curb appeal. While most home buyers visit inside your home during the day, they likely drive by multiple times before, and hopefully after, seeing your home and buying it!
• Inside light fixtures can be seen within seconds of entering a home, and out of style, dirty light fixtures can negatively impact first impressions.

Remedy:
Replace lights with more contemporary fixtures that accent or complement the house and yard. Clean any light fixtures that are acceptable, but grungy. A small investment of time and money will increase the marketability of the house, and may improve the home’s value. Don’t let ugly or out of style lights hamper the sale of your home.

3. Carpet or Flooring

• Shag carpet or linoleum from the 70’s or 80’s that has seen better days is a real negative to potential buyers.
• Broken or loose tiles deflect potential buyers.

Remedy:
Replace carpet with a neutral berber or cut loop. Better yet, consider hardwood floors. They look beautiful, are easy to maintain, and are better for allergy sufferers.
Replace broken tile pieces, or replace the flooring. This is a great opportunity to update your home with newer colors and textures. Remember, it is better to spend $5,000 replacing and fixing, than to drop the price of your house by $10,000 or more for a flooring allowance!

4. Walls

• Paint that is faded, discolored, peeling or scuffed is a sure sign of age.
• Wall paper in “vintage” patterns, or that is peeling or torn.
• Paneling . . . need we say more? Seriously, unless the cottage or cabin look is popular in your market, this can be a rapid deterrent to many potential home buyers!

Remedy:
Paint walls with fresh, neutral colors. Remove wall paper altogether! Taste in wall paper is very personalized and is more likely to repel than invite potential buyers. Dark paneling, even if it is the highest quality, can be room darkening and dated. Consider removing wallpaper or paneling, or refinishing to brighten a room. Brighter rooms feel bigger!

5. Doors

• Hardware that is worn, rusted, loose, difficult to operate or out of style not only dates a home, it is a security risk and reflects neglect.
• Dingy appearing doors say “old and poorly cared for” right at the front entry.

Remedy:
Thoroughly scrub all doors. Paint and repair if necessary. Even consider replacing the door to reflect a more contemporary style, or add light to a dark entry. The front door is what home buyers see first after the curbside look!

6. Appliances

• Golden rod and avocado green appliances may be nostalgic, but were popular a generation (or two) ago and suggest that appliances may be at the end of their life span.
• Refrigerators with compartments for an ice block reflect a love of antiques, but will not appeal to the average potential home buyer.

Remedy:
Replace appliances that are worn, outdated by 10 years or more, or have broken attachments. Newer appliances are more energy efficient, make your home look fresher, often come with a warranty, and are sure to appeal to the average home buyer.

7. Faucets

• Leaky, corroded faucets are a sure way to wash a home sale down the drain.

Remedy:
Repair or replace! If the faucet is old, and was contractor grade when the house was built, update! Many affordable and stylish faucet options exist. If you lack basic plumbing skills, many hardware supplies offer installation services.

8. Bathrooms

• Small mirrored ”medicine” cabinets or large unframed mirrors may be functional but lack style, and are out of sync with contemporary home buyers’ desires for a luxurious and pampering environment.
• Pink, gray or baby blue tile reminiscent of the 60’s may be attractive to a few retro lovers, but lack the warm, earthy feel currently sought by home buyers.

Remedy:
Remove older “medicine” style mirrored cabinets. Hang a stylish mirror instead, and update the lighting for a brighter more stylish appearance. If you have large mirror panels, consider framing sections to accentuate separate sinks.

9. Ceiling fans

• Brass and glass are a thing of the past!

Remedy:
Ceiling fans provide excellent air circulation and reduce energy costs. Make them a stylish feature of your home. Whether your home is contemporary, tropical, or transitional, there is an affordable option to suit your needs. Many come with light kits to illuminate as well as accentuate your space. Avoid ceiling fans in dining areas and kitchens. Consider chandeliers or pendant lighting.

10. Window treatments

• Mini blinds are outdated dust collectors sure to embarrass the most fastidious housekeeper.
• Dark, heavy drapes resembling theater curtains are depressing. They also detract from views and block precious light that home buyers demand. Drapes should add style and drama without overpowering or darkening the room.

Remedy:
Remove blinds and curtains and let the light in! If you need privacy, consider attractive shades and curtains that enhance the view and surroundings, and can be raised or opened readily so that potential buyers can see themselves in your home!