FSBO Jane

Check out the interesting discussion going on regarding a recent NY Times Blog article, written by Steven B. Levitt. Citing a recent NY Times article about the growing prevelance of FSBOs, Levitt talks about the future of rela estate. 

“What I think will happen [in the future] is that most transactions will be brokered by real estate agents, but more and more the pricing structure will move to a flat fee for listing properties and then an hourly rate for services provided like open houses and showings. The total fees collected by real-estate agents will fall dramatically and consequently there will be a shakeout with many people leaving the profession and the ones who remain doing much more volume at a much lower payment rate per transaction.”

What’s really worth reading is the 29 comments (so far) on this post. Go here to read more!

I came across an article on Yahoo! Real Estate stating that arson is the latest trend to get out of foreclosure. That’s a little extreme, wouldn’t you say?

Here’s another take on the foreclosure issue:  from the Buy Owner Blog!

I just came across this list, good for a laugh. It’s not original to me, but I have to admit I’ve thought a lot of these things before. What do you say?

Here’s what real estate descriptions actually mean:

Spacious - average
Charming - small
Comfortable - very small
Cozy - very, very small
Low maintenance - no lawn
Walk to stores - nowhere to park your car
Prestgious - expensive
Bright and sunny - venetian blinds not included
Townhouse - former tenement
Modern - 30 to 40 years old
Contemporary - at least 15 years old
Sprawling ranch - inefficient floor plan
Natural setting - forget about planting, the deer will eat everything
Secluded setting - far away
Executive neighborhood - high taxes
Near houses of worship - fanatical denomination next door
Park-like setting - a tree on the block
Unaffected charm - needs painting
Starter home - run down
Hurry! Won’t last - about to collapse
And much, much more - nothing else comes to mind

I recently came across an article on Yahoo! Real Estate that addresses the problem of falling markets in several cities in the United States. Our government has come up with a plan called “Project Lifeline.” To learn more about that program, take a look at this post on the Buy Owner Blog.

But if this “Project Lifeline” plan does not apply to you, what you can you do to sell your own home when the market is bad? Here are several tips!

Preparing to Sell - Appeal to the buyer!

• Apply fresh paint to the walls.
• Repair any damages.
• Upgrade appliances.
• Spruce up your curb appeal: mow the lawn, trim bushes, and add flowers.
• Consider purchasing outdoor patio furniture.
• If you’re in a hurry to sell, offer an allowance for updated flooring, landscaping, etc.

Pricing to Sell - Remember to price competitively!

• Check with your local MLS for the prices of homes that sold in your area in the last few months.
• Look at the prices of homes for sale in your area, and price yours just below those values.
• Be prepared to lower the price if your home is still not selling.

Marketing to Sell - Selling a house FSBO, it’s up to you to get the word out!

• Put bright, visible signs in the front yard.
• Make informative and eye-catching brochures.
• Show your home: Be willing to do showings for potential buyers. No one knows your home better than you!
• Enlist the help of an FSBO company like Buy Owner!

Remember, you can sell your own home in any market! All it takes is careful preparation, proper pricing, and motivated marketing.

Everyone has been, is, and will continue to be talking about the real estate market, I think. This recent article from the Miami Herald has a fresh idea: let’s bring context back into the facts and figures.

Here’s a clip from the piece, which appeared in the Sunday, 1/20/08 edition:

“I have read all of the coverage and am frankly confused except to say that unsold inventory is way up, asking prices are sharply lower, actual sales prices in each sector differ, and the condo sector is especially threatened, depending partly on neighborhood and project. But veteran realtors such as Ronald Shuffield, president of Esslinger-Wooten-Maxfield Realtors in Coral Gables, are correct in saying that while the median price of a home sold today is $350,000, down from $390,000 last spring, it still is more than double the $155,000 it was in 2002.

In other words, prices are rolling back, as they have every 10 years, but your home is still worth a lot more than it was five years ago. This is scant comfort if you bought more recently, or borrowed against your home at the higher value, or, worse, if you were unwise or suckered into any of a number of mortgage schemes that are about to hit you with higher rates.”

Have you read Freakonomics? Are you familiar with the chapter that shows a parallel between the tactics of clans like the KKK with the practice of today’s real estate agents?

Consider this interesting clip, about a real friend of the author’s:

“K. wanted to buy a house that was listed at $469,000. He was prepared to offer $450,000 but he first called the seller’s agent and asked her to name the lowest price that she thought the homeowner might accept. The agent promptly scolded K. ‘You ought to be ashamed of yourself,’ she said. ‘That is clearly a violation of real-estate ethics.’

K. apologized. The conversation turned to other, more mundane things. After ten minutes, as the conversation was ending, the agent told K., ‘Let me say one last thing. My client is willing to sell the house for a lot less than you think.’

Based on this conversation, K. then offered $425,000 for the house instead of the $450,000 he had planned to offer. In the end, the seller accepted $430,000. Thanks to his own agent’s intervention, the seller lost at least $20,000. The agent, meanwhile, only lost $300–a small price to pay to ensure that she would quickly and easily lock up the sale, which netted her a commission of $6,450.

So a big part of the real-estate agent’s job, it would seem, is to persuade the homeowner to sell for less than he would like while at the same time letting the homeowner know that a house can be bought for less than its listing price.”

I mentioned this a few months ago, but I wanted to once again draw your attention to a valuable real estate resource. Buy Owner, the leading real estate marketing company, offers all kinds of helpful articles on its blog.

Go here to read about tips for marketing, preparing, showing, selling, buying and closing on homes, as well as info on dealing with interested buyers and more.

Take a look at this recent article:  “How to Sell Your Home Smart”:

“In today’s sluggish market, the prospect of selling your home can be daunting and extremely stressful.

Gone are the days when a home was sold in two weeks. Gone are the days of selling your home at the asking price. Gone are the days when most any real estate agent could sell a home simply because of a hot market and high demand.”

So what does Hanna Siegal, of ABC World News, suggest? 5 Tips to Sell Your Home Smart.

1. STAGE YOUR HOME

2. FIND THE RIGHT REALTOR (I BEG TO DIFFER, BUT I’D SUGGEST THE BEST ONE IS YOURSELF. SELL BY OWNER AND USE A FSBO COMPANY TO HELP!)

3. BE REALISTIC

4. BE FLEXIBLE

5. HAVE A BACK-UP PLAN

I’ve written about the importance of quality advertising before.

IMO, real estate advertising can make or break a sale.

Now I think it’s time to show rather than tell. Take a look at these two example ads, which I found randomly. You tell me which one seems like a house to be interested in, just based on the ad. Keep in mind they’re in a similar price range, in the same city.

1. HOUSE ONE: in Chicago’s Jefferson Park neighborhood. Listed at Buy Owner.

2. HOUSE TWO: in Chicago’s River East neighborhood. Listed at Byowner.com.

Can you predict the real estate market’s next move? Thomas Galvin thinks he can, by using a technique called “econometrics.”

From the article:

“The 27-year-old research associate with Colliers International commercial brokerage firm in Ontario stays busy crafting all kinds of market reports on office and industrial spaces in San Bernardino and Riverside counties. Hundreds of numbers, statistics and dollar signs flood his brain - and desk - every week.

Sound boring? Scratch beneath that surface and you’ll find a whole lot more than you bargained for.

His work day’s end marks the beginning of a hobby which may propel him into the regional spotlight as one of the foremost authorities on predicting local commercial real-estate trends.”

Read the rest of the article here: “Predicting Real Estate Trends”.