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Are you going to ‘Coat-Tail’ the Nationwide Open House this weekend?

chipmorris — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 23:45:22 +0000

This weekend is the ‘National Open House’ event sponsored by the National Association of Realtors. There is a lot of publicity happening to get people out visiting properties where they will be reminded of the great buyer prices, low mortgage interest rates, and the upcoming phase-out of the HomeBuyer Tax Credit. State and local Realtor Associations are passing out blue balloons to be placed on the Open House signs to create a physical message that will reinforce the National Open House Weekend message.

Are you holding your property ‘Open’ this weekend? That may seem a silly question…most FSBO properties are considered ‘Open’ all the time. Why not jump in and take advantage of the special promotion for this weekend. Get a sign out now advertising your home will be available for ‘Walk-Ins’ both Saturday and Sunday. Display the hours visitors are welcome, and add some blue balloons to the sign.

Have Marketing Materials ready to hand out that highlight the advantages of bypassing the agent; that you are able to share the commission savings with the Buyer, etc.

It is hard to sell a home without a Realtor involved, but this is a way to take advantage of a national event to get more exposure to your home…those don’t come often, so use this opportunity!

Are you your own ‘First Agent’?

chipmorris — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:40:59 +0000

A recent survey by the California Association of Realtors found the following situation: 2 out of 3 Sellers in 2009 changed agents before getting their home sold! I must say initially that was a startling statistic and condemnation of my profession, but as I thought about it, I came to understand.

Here are my thoughts: Even though prices were deteriorating (and that definitely continued to happen last year), both Sellers and agents set the listing price too high and chased the price down. Homes that would have sold if priced correctly eventually did not sell at all or sold at a lower price than would have been possible early in the listing period. Eventually Sellers got angry with the whole situation, fired their real estate agent, and either stayed with the property or found someone else to market it.

It is not there are not Buyers. Right now, in the Portland Tri-County area there are over 3200 properties in Sale Pending status. The Buyers are there, and they are concerned the $8000 Tax Credit will go away before they get an accepted offer and complete their purchase. They are definitely looking at homes they could purchase. And the Buyers are usually not Investors; last year almost half of all transactions involved 1st Time Buyers

If you are not getting people inside your home ( and if you are not getting people to physically go through your home you are not even close to getting it sold), and want to take advantage of the present incentive Buyers have with the tax credit, maybe it is time to fire your first agent (you)and hire the one who will get your property sold. Think about it…

Once again, time is running out on the Homebuyer Tax Credit

chipmorris — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 22:58:52 +0000

Awhile back Congress came up with a great idea for stimulating the housing market: provide a $7500 tax credit for 1st time homebuyers (read ‘have not owned a home the previous three years’), but make that homebuyer have to pay back the tax credit over the next 15 years. That credit went active and homebuying went up. When it came time for that program to end, a second tax credit stimulation was launched that was even better. The credit increased to $8000 and it became a true credit; the homebuyer did not have to pay it back. When time came for that to go away, Congress extended it and added a bonus. If someone already owned a home and bought another, let that homebuyer have a $6500 tax credit.

Guess what? Homes kept selling, and many homes at the starter end of the spectrum even got multiple offers. Sales continued fairly brisk right through the normal winter slowdown. Well, the end of the tax credit incentives is in sight. They are scheduled to go away April 30, the deadline to have an accepted offer in hand, and the property must close by June 30. What will really happen is anyone’s guess at this point.

However, as a seller you should be using the expectation of the tax credit program ending as a motivation for anyone considering your home. Do your flyers communicate that the homebuyer tax credit applies to a purchase of your home? They should, and now they should be alerting your prospective buyers that the program is scheduled to go away in just a few more weeks, and those buyers need your approval to their offer very soon.

Are you getting activity on your home?

chipmorris — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:58:17 +0000

It can be hard as a For Sale By Owner to know whether there is any activity happening for anyone trying to sell their home. Real Estate agents can tell by looking at homes within the Multiple Listing Service that have the status ‘Pending’. That means the seller has accepted an offer and escrow is in process (period when inspections, appraisal, title and loan finalization happens). It is so accurate that if the seller is doing a short sale the property does not become ‘Pending’ until the lender has approved the sale in writing.

Right now, in the Portland Metropolitan area there are just under 3,000 residential homes in ‘Pending’ status. That says there is activity. However, how can you know if there are Pending Sales in your area, or for homes like yours?

There is a source, and it is free. I provide it, with no obligation as long as your home is not listed (unless with me, of course). I will update you every week, and not just with Pending Sales, but I’ll save that for a different post. Just contact me at Chip@OregonFSBOCoach.com and I will set you right up!

Free Real-Time Intelligence in Your Inbox!

chipmorris — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 23:35:44 +0000

In today’s highly competitive real estate market, pricing your home RIGHT is critical. Price it too high and your home will frighten away potential buyers and languish on the market. Price it too low and you forfeit hard-earned equity. Also, with the changing conditions, you need to stay up to date! When you request the Property Investment Profile you benefit from receiving a market analysis automatically at regular intervals based on comparable homes currently on the market, pending sales and those sold with similar features and conditions in your area. It even shows you homes that failed to sell! Our Property Investment Profile delivers superior results – Results you can count on!
The Property Investment Profile is an auto-generated market analysis sent to you as often as once a week. This valuable report is based both on current information from the regional Multiple Listing Service (not the outdated tax records most other services provide) and particulars of your home! Any information you provide to assist me with setting it up for you will be kept strictly confidential.

Do You Have the Rignt Sign in Your Yard?

Charles 'Chip' Morris — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:19:17 +0000

Almost everyone selling a home has a For Sale sign (believe it or not, a few do not), and some people also have a Lender’s sign, but how many times have you seen a ‘This Home Qualifies for the $8000 Tax Credit!’ sign. Real estate article after real estate article points out how the tax credit is bringing out the buyers, and any principal residence is eligible. However, buyers are confused and do not know who to trust. Make it easy for them by putting up a simple sign (You can have a sign made for under $20) and providing one of the government documents to anyone who asks. Here’s two good links with information easy to understand: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=204672,00.html and http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=204671,00.html

Oh, by the way, you should be able to get those buyers inside your home while getting copies of the handouts for them. Make sure to give them a flyer on your home at the same time.

The Market’s Pretty Hot Right Now!

chipmorris — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:02:38 +0000

If you have a home priced under $300,000 and you are not getting good activity, something is wrong. Yes there are a lot of homes on the market, a many month supply, but there are plenty of motivated buyers. They have three big incentives to buy now: Prices are down, interest rates are down, and for 1st time homebuyers (those who have not owned in the past 3 years) the $8,000 tax credit. That tax credit is set to expire December 1 which may signal the end of the current ‘boom’. Get your home sold today! Let’s check a few things that could be affecting your home.

1. Is the initial impression good, and I am speaking of the part of your home seen from the street? Over my years in real estate, when working with buyers, it is not unusual for a client to say, ‘Let’s not even go inside. There is no way I am going to consider this’. Unless the immediate neighborhood itself is rundown, the specific home we were looking at gives that impression when driving up. Sometimes just a couple of hours of work out front would take care of that objection.

2. Are you priced right? The vast majority of homes for sale are overpriced right now. The sellers are still thinking 2006, and the price isn’t where it was then. If you have your home priced correctly to today’s market, make sure everyone knows it; even put the price on the sign. I recently helped a couple who decided to ‘trade-up’ by taking advantage of the larger price reductions of more expensive homes right now and were also willing to adjust their price (By the way, when everything was done, I believe they gained at least $50,000 of instant equity through the two transactions). We priced their home right where it should be priced today, which meant it was priced lower than the surrounding competition (and there were several homes on the market in the immediate area), and we received two formal offers within six days, selling the home for full price. You do not have to wait if you are priced correctly.

3. Do buyers know about your home? For a FSBO homeowner, this is the hardest part of getting traffic. It takes several days when a home is first put on the market for prospective buyers to even know about your property. If the home is listed, it can take up to ten days to reach the current buyer pool. With a FSBO situation, you will never reach all the buyers, you probably will never even reach 50%. There is no way for you to get the penetration a professional agent is able to achieve, so be sure to use every method available: signs, flyers, newspaper, Craigslist, etc. Once you have reached the current market you are waiting for new buyers to enter the market and consider your home, but if there are current buyers, you shouldn’t have to wait for those new buyers; you should have already received an acceptable offer.

How does your Property Look Right Now?

chipmorris — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 05:26:49 +0000

When you are marketing your home, you need to stop thinking of it as ‘home’; you need to change your perspective to considering it a ‘product’. You need to present that product in its best light, and it should be prepared anytime a potential buyer comes by. Now, a lot more potential buyers drive by your place than come in, and the reason they just keep going is nothing about your exterior ‘grabs them’.

Think about it. Most homeowners have hundreds of people pass by their home every day, and a lot of them are potential buyers. Just having a sign our front gets you an extra look. Make sure it engages the looker. It’s called curb appeal, and it is not that hard to create. Stand out front and critically examine the exterior of the building and the yard. A fresh coat of paint on just the trim will make that building ‘pop’, and it is a fraction of the cost of painting the whole house. Simple edging of the grass along the sidewalk, driveway, and around trees and shrubs provides a crisp, well cared for impression and only takes an hour or two every few weeks to maintain.

These are just two things you can do; check out www.OregonFSBOCoach.com for lots of other free ideas.

What are Prices doing now?

chipmorris — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 03:53:33 +0000

Frankly, not much, but there are definitely buyers making decisions now. Plenty of homes are going to Sale Pending status, so if you are not getting inquiries, you need to adjust your price.

I remember several years ago when marketing a beautiful 6000 square foot home, the market analysis was very clear: $ 1,250,000 The only problem was no one seemed interested in buying it. I tried everything I knew before finally going to the owner of our company for guidance. After listening for about two minutes he interrupted me with the question, ‘Would it sell for $300,000′. ‘Well, of course!’, I replied in exasperation. “Then it’s price’ he responded, and stopped me instantly.

If there are buyers in the market, and your property isn’t selling, the bottom issue is price…and there are definitely buyers in our market. If you want some free assistance, send me an email; can’t hurt, might help…

The Importance of Flyers

chipmorris — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 18:53:16 +0000

Did you know that most potential buyers won’t even bother stopping by a home if it doesn’t have an information sheet (or flyer) detailing what the home includes, selling price and pictures of the home? To have these flyers be most productive, be sure you have them printed in color with good resolution pictures on a good stock of paper. Be sure to provide as much information as possible such as square footage, number of rooms (with dimensions, if possible), age, price, school district, special features, lot size, location, taxes and a well written description. Then make at least 50-100 copies to place outside your home in a weather-protected box for passers-by to take with them. And keep a supply on-hand to replace when empty. Stop by www.OregonFSBOCoach.com for more suggestions for what you can do to get the buyer’s foot inside your door.