7 Home Selling Blunders to Avoid this Spring

Remember the adage “enter emotion exit reason”? Here’s some sound advice if you’re serious about getting your home sold this season.

R. Rempfer

7 home-selling blunders to avoid this spring

Buyers continue to have the upper hand, which means you’ll have to play it smart. Your first move? Avoiding these common pitfalls.

By U.S. News & World Report

Amid falling home prices, near-record-low mortgage rates and even an $8,000 tax perk from Uncle Sam, prospective buyers have plenty of reasons to dive into the real-estate market.
But with the teetering economy and financial markets, real-estate experts don’t expect an aggressive bounce in sales this spring. “I don’t think (home) sales will really pick up until the job market has stabilized — and that won’t be this spring,” says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com.

Despite some encouraging housing data, buyers will continue to have the upper hand in this home-selling season. But that doesn’t mean your house won’t sell; it just means you’ll have to make smarter moves to land a buyer. With the help of several experts, U.S. News & World Report compiled a list of seven home-selling moves to avoid this spring.

1. Thinking your home is the exception: It’s natural to be emotionally attached to your home, especially if you’ve lived there a long time. But allowing this affection to obscure the realities of today’s real-estate market is a serious mistake. If your local market is declining in value, you’ll need to price your home at a compelling level. That will require a painful decision: to price the property at or below comparable homes in the area, even if the price point is less than what you think your home is worth. “There are still sellers out there who think that their house is the exception,” says Judy Moore of Re/Max Landmark Realtors in Lexington, Mass. “They think that the other houses that are on the market are really overpriced, yet when you get to their house, they think that it should have a higher price because it is better.” Overpricing a home because of an emotional attachment only makes selling it that much more difficult.

2. Not scouting the competition: Another reason sellers might price a home too high is that they’re simply unaware of the dynamics of their real-estate market. To sell your home, it’s essential to have a firm grasp on the conditions in your area. Sellers should study the pricing trends and sales data in their local market. But the data tell only half of the story. To fully understand the market, sellers should get a first-hand look at the nearby homes that are also up for sale. “I would recommend my sellers go look at open houses so they see how [their homes] really compare,” says Ron Phipps, a broker with Phipps Realty in Warwick, R.I.

3. Not checking your agent’s references: An effective, experienced real-estate agent can be a big help in selling your home in today’s sluggish market. But finding such a broker may not be easy. “[Real-estate] agencies these days are pinching pennies, too,” says Joshua Dorkin, founder and chief executive of BiggerPockets.com, a real-estate networking and information site. “A lot of them think you can just put something on Craigslist and it [will] sell, and that’s not how it works anymore.” To ensure you’re doing business with a solid real-estate professional, contact some of his or her previous clients and ask about their experience.

4. Not prepping the property: Since buyers have many options these days, home sellers need to ensure that their property is in tip-top condition for showings. That means making any and all home repairs, ensuring that the indoor and outdoor portions of the property are immaculate, and removing clutter. “It is a very picky buyer right now, and they are ready to seize on any little thing that they see,” says Elizabeth Blakeslee of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Washington, D.C. “You want your house to look cared for.”

5. Being present during open houses: It’s important for the sellers to be away from the home during open houses, as their presence can be unnerving to would-be buyers. “Some sellers have the mistaken idea that they are the best people to sell their house, and that is absolutely not the case,” Blakeslee says. If a seller remains at home during an open house, she says, “buyers will have an uneasy feeling, and that is the feeling that they will take away from the house.”

6. Taking negotiations personally: The negotiation process can be tough on sellers, as buyers may demand concessions such as price reductions or help with closing costs. Although such requests might be irksome, it’s important that sellers consider them just another part of a business transaction. “It is not meant to be personal; the buyer is looking to buy as carefully as they can and pay as little as they can,” Phipps says. “It is not about you, it is about them.”

7. Sneering at offers: Even if you aren’t crazy about a buyer’s offer, don’t dismiss it out of hand. “You need to be willing to negotiate with anyone and everyone who puts in an offer, even if it is one of those low-ball offers,” Dorkin says. “Don’t ignore it, because those people might really want the property.”

This article was written by Luke Mullins of U.S. News & World Report.

6 Signs Of A Strong Housing Market

I wanted to share this article with everyone because I thought it had some important points. This article was written by Luke Mullins, U.S. News & World Report.

 The real-estate meltdown means plenty of houses are available at bargain prices. But just because a house is cheap doesn’t mean it’s a good investment. Smart buyers will look for communities that can support long-term value.

 1. A well-groomed neighborhood: Well-maintained homes and landscaping have a positive effect on property values in that community, says Joshua Dorkin, founder and CEO of BiggerPockets.com, a real-estate networking and information site. By caring for the appearance of their homes, residents help to create a more aesthetically pleasing environment that future real-estate hunters will want to buy into. So when you’re eyeing a home, make sure to take a drive through the entire neighborhood. Take note of how the neighbors care for their homes, lawns and gardens. “Run-down houses and abandoned cars are big red flags,” Dorkin says.

 2. Good schools: Given the importance of education, communities located within strong school districts tend to support higher home prices. Parents, after all, will want to move into the communities with the best educational opportunities. “The school district is important in terms of increasing demand for that particular area,” says Richard Moody, chief economist at Mission Residential. Would-be homebuyers can determine the strength of a local school system by accessing online information from local governments or community Web sites, Moody says.

3. Low crime: Low crime rates also support strong home values. Since nobody wants to live in a neighborhood where they feel unsafe, crime limits housing demand in a given community. As a result, it’s important to obtain crime statistics for the neighborhood you’re considering moving into. The best way to do that, says Steve Dexter, a foreclosure expert and author of the book “Beat the Banks,” is to contact the local police department. “The police department is a public utility,” Dexter says. “Most medium- to large-sized [communities] have a public information [officer] that is dedicated to interacting with the public.” By contacting this office, home shoppers can get their hands on all the information they’ll need to determine a community’s level of safety.

5. Favorable population trends: It’s also important to look at the population trends in the city you’re considering moving to, Moody says. “You want to see a track record of steady population growth, which supports growing demand for housing, which will in turn support rising home values,” Moody says. Such data can be found online at the U.S. Census Bureau, or through local county or township Web sites, he says.

 6. Healthy employment landscape: Employment plays a key role in population trends, as workers migrate to locations where they can find jobs. Thus, a healthy employment outlook is a key component of a strong housing market. “If you are in one of these Upper Midwest cities and you’ve got layoffs, especially in a sector like automotives where the jobs are disappearing and they are not coming back, that is a huge problem,” Larson says. Home shoppers can obtain economic data from the local government or chamber of commerce, Larson says. Pay special attention to the unemployment trends and find out if any new companies are slated to move into — or out of — the area. “A lot of communities have been trying to attract the sort of economically insensitive industries like biotech and [pharmaceutical companies],” Larson says. “If you’ve got an area where that kind of business is being brought in — through tax incentives or other efforts — that would be a positive for your local area.”

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