Tag Archives: seller market

What, you mean TALK??

Hello everyone. Here I am writing a blog entry to talk to you, rather than using my voice. Isn’t that ironic? Here’s another thing: That picture of me? Old picture. I can’t figure out how to change it.

I wish I could speak with you face to face (notice I said WITH you and not TO you), but unfortunately I haven’t met you yet. Hopefully I will.

It occurred to me this morning while I was exercising (no eye rolling; I really was exercising), the heightened importance of communication in this particular market. Remember I told you that we are in an historical market. Never been experienced, hopefully won’t be again. It is a feeding frenzy out here in the real estate world, and the balance of power has been eliminated. Not tipped; eliminated. Sellers have ALL of the leverage; buyers have none. Yes, homes are selling in the first 24 hours of listing and yes people are paying through the nose for that house, but the market is not fair right now and I’ll tell you why I believe that statement to be so. This will lead me back to the subject of the title. You know I like to wander.

First and foremost for me, is that first time buyers, first time move-up buyers, and downsizers are effectively shut out of the market altogether, unless they have a big fat savings account. These days, who has that? Right. Not many. You’re right there with me. You know about me, that first time buyers are my ‘first love’ in real estate. Most of my first time buyers are incredibly excited to have saved enough to pay their closing costs; they cannot throw thousands and thousands on the table in order for their offer to even be CONSIDERED. I’m seeing thousands of sad faces in my mind right now, thinking about how this market has closed the door on them. I don’t like that. At ALL.

First time buyers, you say? That’s right. Not the most money, but a great blessing to serve them. And by they way not ALL first time buyers have limited funds. Some these days are doing quite well for themselves. And I do work in all price points, but the first timers have the biggest part of my heart.

Second: Houses are selling WAY above appraised value, and having lived through the 2008 crash, I know that years from now…YEARS.. I’ll be presenting listing information to some people who are upside down in their home because they paid such a dear price for it. The market is overheated…due to supply and demand, which is legitimate…and this kind of heat can’t sustain. This scares me because I lived through this once before. But…this is also the market, working.

Third, I get to see the worst of our current social conditions, in that greed has dissolved in the solution of society to such an extent that humanity and greed are indistinguishable. In most cases, it has become a ‘how much can I get?’ rather than ‘how can I be a good steward in society?’ In other words, when the power landed exclusively in the sellers’ hands, many sellers stopped caring whether they sold to someone who would appreciate the flower beds, or who would appreciate the proximity to cultural events, or love the house, for example. It’s all about the money, ladies and gentlemen. And that money is in the form of elevated offer price and HUGE due diligence checks…just to have your offer in the running! No guarantees it will be ‘the one’. And that brings us back to ordinary working folks (like me) who can just sit down, read a book and KEEP SAVING.

Let me just qualify that last paragraph a little bit by saying that back in 2010, around the crash time, buyers had all of the leverage; sellers had none. Sellers had to BEG buyers to choose their home. And if a buyer DID make an offer, they were BRUTAL in their requirements of the seller: Below list price offer, low or no due diligence and earnest money, paint the whole house, put on a new roof, put in new appliances, put in new landscaping. And sellers did it, just so they could sell. Some sellers paid thousands just to get their home sold. What does this all mean? It means absolute power corrupts absolutely. Not my idea. It came from this quote by Lord Acton: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.” But you get the idea. You give someone a huge imbalance of power and you are at their mercy. Period. Oh how I wish it were not so. But humans are humans. And so now, buyers are at sellers’ mercy, so to speak.

So…all of this said, it is IMPERATIVE that buyers and sellers, sit down and TALK with your real estate agent. It is so very important that you understand the environment into which you are about to step! Don’t think you can just read something on Zillow or Realtor.com, for example, and have the slightest clue how to navigate these waters! Listen, those are great websites. I use them all the time. But they can’t make you a licensed professional real estate agent. You know, if you go on a beginner white water rafting adventure, as a BEGINNER, you are likely to experience a 20 foot drop. As a BEGINNER. Keep that image in mind when you start as a beginner buyer or seller (everyone is a beginner in this historical market, by the way)! Why? Because the drop is 60 feet in real estate. Nothing like this has ever happened in the history of real estate. The news is not always something you want to hear, or something that is going to make you feel good. Truth actually does hurt sometimes. But it is easier to navigate if it comes from a real estate agent that can tell you how to paddle AROUND that 60 foot drop.

Remember the days when you could offer below list price and wait for the seller to come back with a counter? That’s NOT how it works now. Sellers don’t usually counter. They just drop your offer in the ‘no’ pile and pick up one from the stack of other buyers who are operating in THIS market and offering their best right out of the gate. It’s NOT like the old days, folks. I cannot stress that enough, nor say it enough times. You, Mr and Mrs Buyer, are competing with people who have not even SEEN the house, but are throwing big money at it.

Some would say the answer is to just wait. Well sometimes waiting isn’t an option. Sometimes people HAVE to move. Rent? Have you see rental prices lately?? What this means is that your agent should be able to walk you through…all the way through…the things you will encounter. And you have to listen to your professional, licensed real estate agent. That’s so you can make good decisions having had time to CONTEMPLATE the implications! I don’t like to surprise my clients. I like for them to know what they’re doing, what they will do next week, and what may be coming around the corner. Why? Because that lessens their stress, and you know, if you’ve read any of my blog entries, that a key element of my business is to help my clients have as stress-free a transaction as possible. It’s my job to mitigate stress for you; that’s how I see it. Oh, it’ll never be stress FREE, but stress can be lessened.

Let me just admit that I LOVE electronic signatures, texting, emails…all the things that make info go faster (I used to work in the industry that made this stuff possible). But there are times when a face to face information exchange/Q&A session are crucial. This is one of those times. Sit down with your real estate agent and MAKE SURE he/she understands the market and its conditions. Make sure you’re dealing with a leader. And please, don’t do this and then drop back a decade at offer time and make a low offer, expecting a counter. That will lose the house for you. Every time.

Now…supply and demand. Where are all the houses?? That’s the issue. For every home on the market there are potentially hundreds of buyers. I’m going to estimate the by the time you factor in 1) who can actually get there to see it; 2) who can compete for it; 3) for whom is the timing right; 4) will they be able to do the repairs; 5) is the floor plan right; etc…you’ll end up with at least 10, maybe as many as 20, offers. Sellers are limiting showing time on the market because the showing schedule literally fills up, 8 am until 7 pm, right away. Sellers have to stay away pretty much except nighttime. No seller wants to do that for the long term, and they don’t have too. They’ll get offers in the first 24 hours, some sight-unseen. Yep, that’s the newest little competition. So now, showing options are getting limited and offers are coming without the buyers even laying eyes on the house. This is the market working. This is the environment into which you step in order to sell or buy. You must understand that. This is NOT the old way of doing things, folks.

Make sure your agent can guide you appropriately. That’s paramount. Your agent will share the market conditions with you, tell you where there are lower priced homes, if there are any. Those are usually in the ‘banished from the kingdom’ areas, or they are the ones that say “fixer upper” but really mean ‘dump’. Your agent can tell you how many days homes stay on the market in the area you like, talk about how to make a clean, strong, competitive offer. After you have gotten the lay of the land from your agent, please listen. It’s brutal out there and you actually do need guidance and advice. The internet is a great tool, but the internet doesn’t know my market, and it doesn’t know yours. So find a good…really good…agent.

I’m your girl, by the way. Call me.

Brenda Briggs

Realtor, Broker

Premier Advantage Realty

919-210-6113

TIME TO SELL!

I can’t tell you how many times I search and search and search for ranch style homes under 300 thousand and ANY homes under 180 thousand in Raleigh…to no avail!  These homes just don’t exist in the more sought-after areas and in good shape.  In fact, I can’t even find fixer-uppers anymore.  They are being nabbed by house flippers!  I doubt we will see this strength on the seller side again in our lifetime.

This an opportunity for potential sellers to top-out on selling price…in some cases the homes will NEVER be worth more than they are RIGHT NOW!  Interest rates have dropped, people are ready to buy, everyone understands that they need to be pre-qualified and are doing it ahead of time…WHERE ARE THE LISTINGS??

I need listings, yes, but the bigger issue is that sellers FINALLY have the pendulum swung to their advantage and they’re not capitalizing on it!  Remember when you had to hand over your firstborn child in order to get a buyer for your home?  Well it’s the other way around now, just like I said it would be.  If you have any inclination to sell your home, this is the time to make the most dollars.

If you want to sell, contact me and I will do a market analysis for you.  You will be surprised.  Happens every time.

 

MARKET STRATEGY FOR THE TRIANGLE

If I said it’s a crazy market would you think I’m repeating myself?  Well, it’s a crazy market.  There’s a housing shortage folks, which makes it the strongest seller market I have experienced.  For the first time in my experience, all of my buyer clients (and one seller) are BUILDING their next home.  That’s because…duh…there’s as housing shortage, and people can’t find a home they want to buy!  If they find one, there are five offers on the table already! ALERT!  TIME TO LIST IF YOU ARE THINKING OF SELLING!!  I’ve said that so much I’m out of breath.  Again, you can make the MOST on the sale of your home now, while there are people clamoring for a great home to buy and who don’t want to wait six months to build!

Remember when I said I couldn’t wait until the pendulum swung back to center?  When I was tired of my sellers getting the pants beaten off of them?  Well, I’m glad alright.  Sellers are now in control.  Like I said, the universe WILL balance.  Never fails.

But like always, there’s a “but”.

I find that many real estate agents negate the power of supply-and-demand when pricing homes to list.  For example…one-level living is the hottest thing going right now, except for senior living communities…which are also one-level living.  So if you have a ranch style home, you are in the proverbial cat-bird seat.  Now that only applies if you home is marketable.  I’ll explain later.

Back to pricing:  Yes, look at the price range of homes in your zip code and focus on your comps.  Then search for ranch style homes in the MLS AREA, and see how many ranches are out there.  If you find ONE or NONE?  Instant benefit to you, Seller.  You may now price at the high end of the range and expect to get it.  I recently had an agent lambast me in her feedback telling me that my listing was priced TWENTY THOUSAND too high. Well, we sold that house for the price I set.  Booyah!  Pricing is my strong suit folks.  I get it done.  If she had listed the house, well, not a happy face on that one.  And it would have hurt the market for the community too.

When you meet with me, I will ask you this, “What is your selling goal?”  Now that might sound stupid, but bear with me.  If your goal is to get rid of the house FAST, that initiates a different STRATEGY for pricing your home.  In other words, we might aim a bit lower in price, or come up with some enticing concessions.  But if your goal is to get every last penny the market will allow for your property, well that’s another STRATEGY, and its my favorite.  That means we price you at the high end of your range, but we expect to MAYBE take a bit longer to sell.  I don’t know about you, but I’d wait two or three more weeks to net 5 grand.  If you are not in a rush, relax and focus on your bottom line getting BETTER.

If your agent doesn’t talk strategy with you…ask why! There is more to pricing your home than pulling up some comps and taking an average!  Supply and demand MUST be considered!  If you have the only ranch style home with an acre or more lot in the whole area?  You just hit the jackpot on pricing; I don’t care what the other homes went for.

Understand that pricing your home is a many-faceted operation that takes time, it takes knowledge of the greater market, your LOCAL market…which sometimes means your exact community…and it takes an understanding of what you, the seller, want to achieve.

My goal in any listing situation is to get you, the seller, every penny I can get for you on pricing.  But if you just need to move on, we can change that strategy.  It’s a team effort and your agent MUST know your needs, not just how to average the sale price of three properties sold in the last three months.

Now, back to having your home “marketable”…People sometimes hate to hear this, but here is the cold, hard truth.  If you want TOP DOLLAR for your home, it MUST be in top dollar CONDITION.  That means you have to roll up your sleeves and do some cleaning and re-arrange or maybe even remove some pieces of furniture.  Remember we look at houses ALL THE TIME.  We know what sells and what doesn’t.  You HAVE TO DECLUTTER.

Buyers are buying space, not your decor.  Don’t fault the professional real estate agent when she tells you what you have to do to get top dollar.  Is your decor worth ten thousand dollars to your bottom line?  I’ve seen people say yes to that time after time!  Amazing!   I don’t have that kind of money to spare, how about you?  If you do, don’t worry about making your home “marketable”.

So…remember that if you want top dollar, the house must be WORTHY of it. If you are not willing to put in the sweat equity to get top dollar, do NOT blame your real estate agent! Instead, look in the mirror.  Remember that selling your home is a team effort and you…let me repeat…YOU are one half of the team.  So get involved, know your strategy, and get that home spiffed up to garner the best price!  If I’m your agent, I’m going to work very closely with you to get you that price.

Let me just add one more thing: Don’t start getting antsy.  If you have chosen a savvy real estate agent who has clearly understood your needs and laid out a great pricing strategy, listen to her and settle down.  Selling a home is nerve wracking I know, but you will shorten your life by pacing around being nervous.  Relax and let the strategy work.  You can count your money and your blessings later, trust me. And if you can’t trust your agent, you’ve got the wrong agent.  Just sayin’.