Tax Credit Deadline!!!

If you listen quietly, I'm sure you can hear a faint murmuring from all the agents in the country reminding buyers everywhere that the Tax Credit is near an end! Whether you are a first time home buyer (or you haven't owned a home in the past 3 years) or a current homeowner(you must have owned your home 5 years), the deadline to be UNDER CONTRACT to purchase a new home is the end of April. That's 2 weeks! You could miss out on up to $8000, so why wait till May or June?? Call your agent---now!

Price is Critical

The final variable in our Sales Formula is Price. You knew that was coming, didn't you? It all comes down to price.

Look back over our formula's 4 other variables-- Location, Listing Agent, Marketing and Condition. If you have perfected every aspect of those variables, and your home STILL hasn't sold in a reasonable time, the only thing left is price. You are priced too high. For some reason, you feel your home is worth more than what buyers are willing to pay. Let me remind you of what the market value of your home IS NOT:

What you have in it.
What you need out of it.
What you owe against it.
What you want.
What it appraised for.
What your neighbor's house sold for.
Your memories and treasures.
The price of homes where you are moving.

Your home IS worth what a buyer is willing to pay for it based on:

Today's market conditions.
Today's competition and the buyer's other choices.
Today's interest rates and financing terms.
Today's economic condition.
The buyer's perception of the physical condition.
The location.

In today's buyer's market, you'll need to be realistic about your location, hire a top-notch agent, have a sound marketing strategy, perfect your home's condition inside and out, and price your home to lure the current pool of buyers. If you do all those things, I guarantee you your home will sell at it's highest value in a reasonable amount of time. And isn't that the whole point of putting a "For Sale" sign in your yard in the first place?

What's Your Home Saying?

We talked last about the importance of your home's outside appearance in order to lure those buyers inside. Now, let's see if your home can "hook 'em."

Pretending that you are a buyer, walk through your front door and pause a minute. What do you see, hear, smell and feel? Are there spots on the carpet? Is the dog barking wildly in his cage? Can you smell last night's dinner, the kitty box, or stale smoke from cigarettes or a wood burning fireplace? Are you leaning slightly because of an uneven floor? If you answered "yes" to any one of those questions, you've just lost a sale.

Getting your home "buyer ready" is probably the hardest thing you'll do in the whole process of selling your home (unless you are Martha Stewart) but it is the most important. You need to make each room look like it belongs in the pages of Southern Living or Better Homes and Gardens.

Where to begin? Clean. Clean from the ceiling fans and light fixtures to the baseboards and floors in each and every room. Windows and walls need to be spotless. Clear off table tops, desks, mantles and that kitchen counter. Better to have nothing on top than a bunch of knick-knacks that clutter and collect dust. You're moving, right? So pack it up! Store the boxes either off the property or in the garage. Take the pictures off the wall, spackle and paint. Buy room deodorizers and replace them as soon as they run out. Scrub, scrub and scrub some more.

All your hard work will definitely pay off. A home that shows well top to bottom says the owners care enough about where they live to combat normal wear and tear. And if they are willing to maintain what buyers can see, then buyers assume the owner has been willing to maintain those important items they can't see, like the plumbing, the roof and the heating/cooling unit.

And the best part-- you'll sell your home at higher price!

Condition, Condition, Condition!

My last three blogs have explained the importance of location, listing agent and marketing in order to sell your home in a reasonable time. In our current market, Condition ranks right up there with location, and it is the fourth variable of our Sales Formula. However, unlike location, which you can't change, the condition of your home you most likely can improve upon.

In fact, there are so many areas to improve the condition of a home that I'm going to separate them into "Inside" and "Outside." And since spring is a great time for outside chores, let's begin at your street.

Take a walk to look at your home from the neighbors' point of view. Are your shrubs and trees trimmed to appear their best? Are all the leaves gone from the yard and gardens? Have you put out new mulch yet? Or maybe you don't have any landscaping to speak of? Trees, shrubs, grass, flowers-- they all contribute to your home's first impression before the buyers even get out of the car.

How does your home look as you approach the front door? Are the shutters all attached with a fresh coat of paint? Old pots, broken chairs or torn cushions on the front porch? Get rid of them. Windows clean? Cobwebs removed? Front door and railing looking clean and fresh? Door mat for rainy day showings? Even your mailbox should stand straight and be presentable.

Make it sharp! When buyers look in person, that first impression tells them whether the home has been well taken care of. When the first impression is not stellar, buyers assume that if a homeowner is too lazy to care for the obvious needs of his home, he is also very likely to ignore the important maintenance items that are part of owning a home.

Unless you want a buyer to cross off your home before they ever step inside, take the next weekend or two to invest in your home's outside appearance. And don't forget your backyard and patio!

Marketing Your Home

In previous blogs I have explained the importance of my Sales Formula and its five variables. The third variable in the formula is Marketing. Obviously, marketing is important or else there wouldn't be commercials, billboards, or those folks swinging signs on busy street corners. How, where, and to whom you market all contribute to a reasonable sale time.

Is your home on the Multiple Listing Service for agents to find? Are there good photos of the inside and yard to show online shoppers and agents? Is your home easy to show for buyer's agents? Are you offering incentives to show and sell your home? Is your home available to view on realtor.com, trulia.com, homefinder.com, zillow.com along with at least a dozen other websites?

You, as the homeowner, can do most of these yourself, however I would not recommend it. Our market nationwide over the last two years justifies using a professional agent. Your agent will be able to present your home in as many places, to as many agents, and in the best light as possible.

Homeowners also need to remember that we, as agents, network and market to each other. Recently an agent in another company sent an email out pleading for a 4 bedroom home under $210,000 that was not on the market yet. His clients had just sold their house and they needed to find another home quickly. My sellers, who had a 4 bedroom home, were able to get a jump on the sale of their home without even being officially on the market.

My advice about marketing-- get a good agent and leave the marketing to them!