by debradavis on September 7, 2010
Staging a Vacant Home
We’ve been seeing a lot of posts lately about the benefits of staging. There is no doubt that a home that is staged is much more appealing than one that is not. Even with a vacant home, if you add a little furniture and some art on the walls, buyers will take their time and look longer at the home. When a home is vacant and there is nothing but walls to look at, the buyer can be in and out of the house in minutes, never really trying to envision their furniture in the home.
When a home is vacant, the sellers usually turn down the heat and cooling to save money, and therefore it makes the home less inviting from the moment a buyer enters the home. You want to give the home every opportunity to appeal to the buyer.
A home that is vacant looks smaller than one that has furniture in it, at least to the typical buyer. Furniture in the rooms helps most people judge how their own furniture will look in the room. It gives them a basis for comparison.
Some ideas on staging a vacant home:
1. Most important is to clean out the clutter. Clutter should be removed in any home on the market, but if there is junk left laying around and no furniture, the home will just look dirty. There should be nothing on the floors unless you bring in a few pieces of furniture to display.
2. Cleaning is very important. When a buyer sees a dirty house, with marks on the wall, floors unswept, carpets dirty, it leaves the impression there may be more serious problems with the house.
3. Having a few pieces of furniture in tasteful groupings in some of the rooms, will invite buyers to linger and look longer at the home. Using some greenery and flowers is also helpful.
4. The yard should be cleaned and well kept. Curb appeal in the first impression of the home. Make sure the buyers want to go in.
I hope these points will be helpful in helping you stage your Atlanta home to sell
by debradavis on September 5, 2010
Can We Start At A Higher Price?
Our real estate market has changed. It is proven every day with the way buyers and sellers interact.
Selling listings in this market is becoming more and more challenging. With the inventory of bank owned properties and short sales, you find that pricing is the most important key to selling the home. Most sellers remember the last time they sold a home and they would price the house high and then have multiple offers of buyers bringing the price up.
Now that stategy is not best, but sellers are still asking to price the home high so they will have negotiating room. The problem with pricing high is the home will not be shown and therefore seen by buyers. If they buyer doesn’t see it, they can’t buy it.
A better strategy for today’s market is to price the house at the market price. If a buyer sees this as a good value for the money, they will make an offer. It might be a low offer for the first couple of times, but eventually the offers will come in at a price that is market value and therefore the best price the seller will receive on the property.
Sellers feel they are leaving money on the table when they price the house lower than they wanted, but really they are opening up the possibility for multiple offers and therefore a higher offer on the property. Realtors recognize this phenomenon and sellers should realize they should listen to the professionals and get the best possible price on their home.
by debradavis on September 3, 2010
Changes Are Coming to FHA Loans
FHA will be changing up front and annual MIP costs for buyers making purchases after October 4, 2010.
HUD has issued their mortgagee letter 2010-28 with information of importance to buyers, lenders and realtors that sell homes using FHA financing. There will be a decrease in the up-front mortgage insurance premium (MIP) to 1.%.
The new premiums for both the up-front and monthly charges will be effective to all FHA case number on or after October 4, 2010. It will apply to new purchases, full credit qualifying refinance and streamline refinance transactions.
Also increased are the monthy premiums. For loans greater than 15 year term, if the LTV is less than 95%, there will be a .85% increase in the monthly premium. For loans over 95% LTV, the increase will be .90%.
With loans that are less than or equal to 15 year term, and LTV is less than 90% there is no increase in monthly premium. With greater than 90% LTV there will be a .25% increase.
by debradavis on September 3, 2010
Over the past month, I have been listening to people talk about downsizing and living the simple life. These same people are ones that have been in a great real estate market and have the finances to show for it. They can throw away and replace at their leisure.
Memory Keepers
I know staging is an important part of the selling process for a home. That becomes clearer when you enter the home of an elderly person that has their collections all over the house. It becomes a challenge to make the suggestions necessary to help them sell their home faster. So how do you do it? Very tactfully.
You should also know that you will not be able to dispose of anything without them knowing of it. Each piece has a special meaning and even though it is stuffed in a back closet, they will one day want to see their possession again.
I have not watched the tv program “hoarders” but I have seen the commercials. This is an entirely different problem that involves filth. No one should be subjected to filth.
But there is another group of people that enjoy keeping special parts of their life. They might come from a family that only had money to buy the item once, so they cherished what they had. And they keep track of it, in their own way.
You see, I am one of those people.I am a Memory Keeper. I once had a metal cup that was part of my tea set when I was very little. I only had one cup left and used it in my canister of coffee. Each time I made a cup of coffee, I saw that cup. It meant nothing to anyone but me. And then it disappeared. My husband doesn’t know what happened to it but it is gone. He had put another cup in the canister, but I missed that one. Small thing, big impact.
Remember this when you go into the homes you feel are too cramped with “junk”. It might be junk to you, but it is a memory to them. Be compassionate and help them with a guiding and loving hand.
