May
13
Critter Free Crawl Spaces
Filed Under Blog, Buyers, Household Tips, Issaquah Highlands, Misc, Real Estate, Sellers | Leave a Comment
It’s not cute; in fact it can be down right ugly. But it is nothing to be embarrassed about. Critters in our crawls spaces are a very common problem. In fact my two most recent transactions turned up rodent infestations in the crawl spaces and attics.
So what do you do about this?
Whether you are a buyer or a seller don’t panic. It is actually an easy fix, but it can be pricey, so shop around. The best vendor out there that I have found is Clean Crawls. They do excellent work and are competitively priced - and YOU don’t have to get dirty! I don’t know about you - but I sure don’t like to be face to face with a rat.
If you are thinking of selling your home, it is not a bad idea to have a preliminary home inspection done prior to going on the market. Doing this allows you to address issues before they have a chance to turn a deal upside down.
If you are a buyer and this issues comes up - again don’t panic. Just have your agent get some quotes from reputable vendors so you know just how much of a problem you are dealing with. From there you can go into your inspection negotiation and home ownership with your eyes open.
Little critters can be cute, but for me and my clients, I much rather see them in a cage than scampering around my house.
May
2
Counter This! What Not to Do as a Seller in Today’s Market
Filed Under Buyers, Issaquah Highlands, Real Estate, Sellers | Leave a Comment
There is so much hype about what is going on in our marketplace today. Is it up, is it down? Well so far this year with my clients I have experienced a balanced market with give and take on both sides. That being said, it baffles me that a seller in this market would not respond to an initial offer or that an agent would recommend to their seller to not counter an initial offer.
An offer is like a conversation. If a seller doesn’t respond to an offer, the conversation ends. In today’s market a seller should be prepared for an offer to come in under asking price. What they should not do is be insulted by an offer that is less than asking – no matter how much less it may be. It is better to counter a less than full price offer than to let it go unanswered. By responding it at least gives the buyer a chance to adjust their thinking and provides an opportunity for a transaction to come together and in this market that is an important opportunity to create. So far this year I have had multiple situations where the initial offer was low, but ultimately ended up at a fair price. This has been the case for both my buyers and my sellers. So for all you sellers out there (and buyers too), embrace the counter offer and keep the conversation going.
Feb
28
Beautiful Bothell Home For Sale - Status = Contingent. What Does That Mean to Other Buyers and Agents?
Filed Under Blog, Buyers, Real Estate, Sellers | 4 Comments
Imagine this scenario…
Saturday afternoon, you are out house shopping for a home and your agent shows you homes that have a current status of “Active”. This is common occurrence and a great place to start…BUT…
THIS IS NOT THE WHOLE PICTURE.
There is a whole other classification of homes that could be waiting for you. These homes are under the status of “Contingent”.
Contingent? What does that mean?
A home (subject property) that is listed as Contingent has generated an offer that the buyer and seller have agreed to. One of those terms is that the buyer has a property that must sell before the buyer can proceed with the transaction of purchasing the subject property.
When a property is Contingent, the door is open for another buyer to make an offer. The seller is allowed to accept another offer so long as it is in “backup” position. “Backup” position means that the second buyer has a brief, typically 1 to 5 days, waiting period before they can proceed with the purchase of the subject property under their purchase and sale contract terms. The waiting period is the time period that the first buyer has to waive or satisfy their home sale contingency. If they are unable or unwilling to do so, then their purchase and sale agreement is terminated, their earnest money returned to them (in most cases) and they no longer have any obligation to the seller, and vice versa. The seller is then free to move forward with buyer #2 [in backup position].
Now for my shameless plug…
Unfortunately, a lot of buyers’ agents don’t include Contingent homes in their clients’ property searches. I currently have two listings across the street from each other:
9025 NE 176th Street, Bothell, WA 98011 and 9036 NE 176th Street, Bothell, WA 98011
Both are beautiful 3 bedroom plus den homes. Both have family rooms with gas fireplaces. Upstairs there is a spacious master suite w/5 piece bath and walk in closet in both as well as a laundry room that is conveniently located upstairs. These wonderful properties have 2 car garages that have ample storage and are complete w/ AC for Seattle summers. Both generated offers in less than two weeks time. One of them is Contingent and one of them is Active – STI.
Contingent homes are a great opportunity for a buyer because you are going to generally be in a situation where you can have honest negotiation going on. Buyers don’t have to worry about another buyer coming in and beating them to the deal because there are generally very few buyers looking at homes that are Contingent. Sellers don’t need to feel pressured by time or lack of offers because they already have a buyer in contract with an offer that is acceptable to them. Basically a lot of stress is removed when trying to come to a mutually acceptable backup offer.
So why do I mention this? Well for one, I want to get my client’s property sold. I do that by continuing to aggressively market the home. But knowing that a lot of agents don’t show their buyer’s Contingent homes, I wanted to reach out directly to the consumer. It is important that you know that Contingent homes ARE STILL AVAILABLE FOR YOU TO CONSIDER. I want to put this information out there both as a PSA to the buyers looking for homes and to the agents that don’t include Contingent homes in their property search as well.
That being said, make sure you ask your agent to include Contingent homes in their search parameters. In the meantime, if you or someone you know is shopping for a beautiful house in Bothell that has features such as granite countertops, GE Profile Stainless Steel appliances, surround sound, an extra long driveway for guest parking and a professionally landscaped spacious and private backyard in addition to all the features mentioned above, have them contact me at 206-686-1661.
Feb
2
Staging Your Home To Sell - Part 2
Filed Under Blog, Buyers, Real Estate, Sellers | Leave a Comment
Most people think staging a home is a matter of doing a little straightening up and cleaning. I’ve got new for you…there are many stages to staging :-). Staging a home is much more involved; both physically and mentally. In order to help break it down from the impossible to possible I will walk you through the process one step at a time, one post at a time. In the last post on staging I talked about the importance of detaching yourself and your emotions from your home. The next item on the agenda is to de-clutter your home.
Think of this as a time to do your own mini, or massive, as the case may be, Clean Sweep.
When sorting through your belongings consider this handy rule of thumb: If you haven’t used it in over a year, you probably don’t need it.
- Donate, sell or throw away items you no longer need/want.
- Craigslist and Goodwill are great places help you find new homes for items you don’t need. I am always hesitant to throw usable items in the garbage, but if you cannot find them a home, it might be your only option.
- Remove all books from bookcases unless the bookcases are built in , in which case just thin them out.
- Pack up knickknacks.
- Clean everything off kitchen counters including toasters, coffee makers, etc.
- In the bathroom, put essential items usually left on the counter in a small box that can be stored under the sink or in a nearby closet
Embrace the concept less is more when staging your home to sell. By thinning out your belongings it will allow your home to showcase itself. This process will help potential buyers easily see themselves living there which is very important. It is also a wonderful head-start on the packing you will eventually need to do anyway.
Stay tuned for the next posts in my series on Staging Your Home To Sell.
For more personalized information about staging your home or Accredited Staging Professionals like myself, feel free to give me a call.
Jan
23
A Lesson In How Not to Sell A Home In Issaquah Highlands
Filed Under Blog, Buyers, Issaquah Highlands, Real Estate, Sellers | 1 Comment
In a previous post on the appreciation in real estate prices that Issaquah Highlands has seen comparing 2006 to 2007, I showed some data on the resale’s that had occurred in Issaquah Highlands between 2006 and 2007. Shaq, one of my readers, inquired about specifically about one home that had shown a anemic 1% increase in price from the time it was first purchased in 2006. So I decided to dig in a little bit to investigate why this house is such an outlier.
House 29 indeed has had an interesting history.
The home was first on market in 2005 as new construction and was originally listed in the high $600,000 getting moved up to $704,950 where it generated an offer in May of 2006. The house finally closed in November 2006 with a sales price of $713k,000. The increase in price probably was related to upgrades put into the home as well as the increase developers were making in prices at the time to account for market demand.
The original buyer then tried to sell the home only four (yes you read that right; FOUR) months later in March of 2007 hitting the market at $800,000. In my opinion, the listing was overpriced and underwent a series of price reductions:
- first reduction - 04/12/2007 - $775,000
- second reduction - 05/21/2007 - $769,950
- third reduction - 06/04/2007 - $759,950
- fourth reduction - 06/20/2007 - $755,000
- fifth reduction - 08/13/2007 - $739,000
The home finally generated an offer at the $739,000 asking price. The home closed on October 1, 2007 for $722,000 - still an increase in price over the original sales price a year earlier.
This quick turnaround does not appear to be the result of someone trying to “flip” but rather a less than timely relocation as the property was originally listed with the owners of record on the deed, but that changed to a relocation firm shortly before the house sold. In my opinion the 7 month market time was in large part due to an overly optimistic original listing price. I would suspect that if the home were originally listed closer to $760,000, it would have sold sooner and closer to asking price than it did. Stair stepping down in price is not the way to get your house sold. When you do that, you end up chasing the market.
While this example is interesting because it shows us what happens in value over the course of a year or two (it did increase) obviously in this instance the increase was not enough to cover the expenses. That being said though - I don’t know many people who end up having to list their home for sale four months after moving in. My guess is the employee was “bought out” of his home by the relocation company and the relocation company / new employer was willing to take the hit. They will even be able to write it off.
I do think real estate is a great investment - but I believe in the buy and hold method vs flipping.
Jan
19
Staging Your Home To Sell - Part 1
Filed Under Blog, Buyers, Real Estate, Sellers | 1 Comment
As an Realtor and Accredited Staging Professional like myself, it is my job to help home sellers get top dollar for their home. Staging a home to sell plays a key role in making sure that sellers get every last dollar of value out of their home. In order to do that, it is imperative that you market and price a home well as to attract the largest pool or buyers, but you have to grab the buyers attention when they open the door. It is in those first few seconds that you want to make sure potential buyers can easily see themselves living there.
Once you put a For Sale sign in the yard, you should be mentally moved out of your home. Detaching yourself and your emotions from your home is one of the hardest parts of selling your home but it it is also one of the most critical. You need to convince yourself that while you may still be living there, it is no longer YOUR home. Rather it is merely a house that is nothing more than a product to be sold for top dollar to someone else who will soon make it THEIR home. YOUR next home is now waiting for you wherever your next destination is, be it down the street, across town or across the country.
With this in mind it is imperative that you get to packing those things that make your house a home. Pack up all your personal photographs and family heirlooms. Buyers often times can’t see past your personal style choice and touches to the house, and the last thing you want is for them to be distracted. Buyers need to imagine their own photos on the walls, and they can’t do that if yours are there! You don’t need to make the house look like it is deserted and vacant but you do want it to be de-personalized enough that buyers can see themselves living there.
No matter where you are, but especially in a neighborhood like Issaquah Highlands where resellers are still very much competing with new construction, staging your home is very important.
Stay tuned for the next posts in my series on Staging Your Home To Sell.
For more information about staging your home or Accredited Staging Professionals like myself, feel free to give me a call.
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