Michael Roberts' Blog -San Jose Homes, Real Estate and Houses for Sale

Image via Wikipedia

5 New HomeOwners and 5 Successful Sellers makes for great news this past week.

220 BERSANO LN, Los Gatos 95030
$1,729,000 Beds: 4 bed(s) Baths: 3|0 bath(s)

17050 Wild WY, Los Gatos 95030
$1,485,000 Beds: 3 bed(s) Baths: 2|0 bath(s)

16345 LOS GATOS BL #49, Los Gatos 95032 (Los Gatos)
$510,000 Beds: 2 bed(s) Baths: 1|1 bath(s)

30800 LOMA CHIQUITA RD, Los Gatos Mtns 95033 (Los Gatos Mtns)
$159,000   Raw Land

14685 OKA RD #11, Los Gatos 95032 (Los Gatos)
$140,000 Beds: 3 bed(s) Baths: 2|0 bath(s) Mobile Home

There are 12 new Los Gatos listings for the week you can see these new listings using comprehensive search tool on my home page.

The fundamental reason homes do not sell in a timely manner is due to misplacing it in the market.   Pricing!  No one is willing to pay more than something is worth… everyone knows that.  Still, I am often befuddled to find so many agents list a home for more than market price?   It’s called ‘buying the listing’.

Buying the listing is when an agent will do anything to stick a sign in your flower bed, including listing at a higher price just to get you to sign on the dotted line.  I call it,  sticking it to you.  That’s exactly what it is when you consider the fact that your home will see little exposure, sit on the market longer and end up selling for less than you expected.  It happens every time!

Elizabeth Weintraub writes “…Maybe the first agent knows there will be two other agents competing for the listing, so the first agent names an astronomical figure. The second agent, upon hearing the first agent’s price, beats it. The third agent comes in higher yet.”

This is all based on the fact you have already implemented the basic tips to sell your home.

Are you thinking “but, if a buyer offers less than we are asking we can’t negotiate”?  If your home is priced right you will have several buyers considering an offer.  This presents a problem for the buyers, a level of uncertainty that you will even consider their low offer.  Hence, the offers that come will be more in line with the market.  Less serious buyers will go fishing elsewhere and not waste your time.

This salesman ‘buy the listing’ tactic only leads to more work than is necessary. I had a similar experience of my own when I recently sold my personal residence.  I don’t use ‘buy the listing’ tactics but, market conditions led to the same result.    The market was falling and I had to lower my price two times to catch a buyer.  It was like chasing the market downhill.  If I had known the banking system was going to experience such failures I would have listed at the eventual selling price from the onset to avoid the trouble.

In reality, the chance a home will sell in the first few weeks is far greater when it is priced correctly and prepared well.  Sounds intuitive enough, Right?   Go look at some homes for sale and see how little thought is given to home preparation.   This is especially important when considering a short sale.   The sooner you can yield a willing buyer the sooner you can move the time consuming process forward.

Showhomes, a national franchised home stager staged Tracy Truitt’s listing and it sold in eight days.   Tracey said…“I had an almost full price offer within a week of Showhomes’ staging, and a 25% higher offer than the two offers that had come in previously to the home being staged,” Truitt says.

I found keeping my house prepared well, clean and neat, was tiresome after just a couple of weeks.  I am a terrible merry maid.  If I had to deal with a Realtor I would have lost my mind!  I know can do better than some..look at what  these people did.

Each time I made a price adjustment more people called and disrupted breakfast, dinner and quiet family time.  It was unnerving more than once.  Buyers  sense  desperation when you drop your price and lower offers will follow.

You can guard against this by simply stepping outside your bubble and looking at the competition in an unbiased fashion.  This means you will have to forget all the trouble and expense you suffered when you updated and improved your home.  A buyer’s eye only sees your home compared to other like properties that are available.  You must do the same. No one cares if Aunt Clara helped you cook your first Turkey there.

Is this boring yet?

Wake up!  Do a Walk Score or a Megans Law search for your home? How about a Crime Report review?   I will bet my favorite tie that buyers considering your home are.  Think like a buyer!

Following your internet searches and open house viewings you can reasonably determine what your home should sell for. This will afford you the knowledge and understanding to say no to –salespeople-.  Half hearted buyers will resist the urge to make low ball offers and serious buyers will make their highest and best offers.

Would you be interested in learning what buyers complain about most?  If so, please comment and I will provide a definitive list and some ideas to overcome them.

Tips on Appraisals

One in Four Homes Lowered Price

Why do agents take over priced listings

Related articles by Zemanta

• 10 Tips for Selling Your Home in the Sluggish Winter Months (usnews.com)
• NSP participants starting to move into homes (fresnobeehive.com)

Do you remember that commercial?  Was it a Mr. Goodwrench add?   We now know we payed them then and bailed them out this year!  Payed both times.   Ugh!

Pay now or Pay Later?  That is the question in our mortgage market now…not  Shakespearean,  but profound considering….Should you jump?

Mortgage rates eased for the fourth consecutive week, hitting historic lows well below 5 percent this week, Freddie Mac said in releasing the results of its latest Freddie Mac Reports.

Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4.78 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending Nov. 25, down from 4.83 percent last week and 5.97 percent a year ago.

This is what we have been expecting and will lead to higher rates as the market change cycles.  Not to mention the 1.25T  the Federal Reserve is spending to buy mortgage backed securities from Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae.

The program is going to continue through March 2010 which makes you wonder…Why are they delaying the inevitable?   The program was supposed to be finished up at the end of this year.   The answer is:  To keep the rates low.   Thank you for that.  What happens when the rates increase?

The Mortgage Bankers Association last month projected that 30-year fixed-rate mortgages will hit 5.4 percent next year, 6 percent in 2011, and 6.3 percent in 2012.   Inflation?

I would suggest buyers take this seriously.  Would you rather pay rate to a mortgage bank or a few thousand hard dollars now?

Related articles by Zemanta

• Mortgages Hit Five-Week Low (online.wsj.com)
• Did the Fed’s Mortgage Support Program Work? (hsh.com)

I have included 95124 in today’s, Los Gatos Real Estate sales numbers, to give a general sense of the area and surrounding community in a more broad sense.

Date Range 11/1/2009 – 11/23/2009

Homes for sale  260

New Listings  66

Pending sales  55

Closed Sales This Week  2

Congratulations to 2  the new Buyers and Sellers that closed escrow this last week.

16345 LOS GATOS BL #49,
$510,000 Beds: 2 bed(s) Baths: 2 (1/1) bath(s) 1017 sq ft

115 WOOD RD, Los Gatos 95030
$2,900,000 Beds: 5 bed(s) Baths: 5 (4/1) bath(s)  4386 sq ft

Image by seier+seier+seier via Flickr

part 2

cont. – Start out on right foot. Trust begets trust. Only hire a Realtor you have every confidence is representing your best interests.  Be realistic and above all forthright.  Remember trust is earned.  The agent with the nice personality or “my friend’s friend”  isn’t the answer.   Every person who has been taken by a schiester says “…but they were such nice people.” Well, of course they were!  You wouldn’t give your money to an obvious ‘Vampire’ would you?

That darn Barry Madoff comes to mind.  Yuk!

Don’t run out and buy a box of  rope of garlic!

Note; refer to this list when considering who you should work with:

• Are they easy to contact?  Are their responses timely?
• Do they provide a list of past clients?
• Can I access a 3^rd party source where I can learn more about them?
• Do they possess the skills and principals required to work for me?
• Does their track record support their claims of success? …more

Related articles by Zemanta

• The Hard Sell in Brooklyn: “Realtor: (inaudible)…I said to him, how… (curbed.com)
• How Much Did We Pay?, Ctd (andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com)
• Survey shows spike in 1st-time homebuyers (msnbc.msn.com)

How about shopping online..ONLY…online?   Not likely, but Google has a fun new tool that will definitely keep you staring at your Laptop longer.

Where is this going to take Real Estate?

Related articles by Zemanta

• Google Flu Shot Finder Helps You Find A Vaccine (huffingtonpost.com)
• FREE swagcode at swag bucks = free money for you! (momblognetwork.com)
• Google To Add Sidebar (ubergizmo.com)

Great news has just been released by Real Estate information service DataQuick – Prices and sales are up in the  nine Bay Area counites !  Maybe not great news for twitchy buyers though.

Silicon Valley Business Journal reports -”The Bay Area’s housing market continued to ease back toward normalcy in October, as fewer distressed properties sold and $500,000-plus sales accounted for a greater share of transactions than a year ago.”

In Santa Clara County the median price in October was $500,000, up 4.8 percent from $477,000 in October 2008. Sales were up 27.9 percent to 1,944.  It has been like the woman assistant in magic show-disappearing.

In June I asked is this a spike in prices?

In addition to the Bay Area overall, three counties – Santa Clara, Marin and Sonoma – saw their median sale prices rise year-over-year last month. The last time that more than one county posted an annual gain in the median was November 2007. Also last month, Alameda, Santa Clara, San Francisco and the nine-county region overall posted single-digit annual gains in their median price paid for a specific home-type: resale single-family detached houses.

Barbara Corcoran ‘Today” Video “homes around the country”

Ok twitchy buyers… here’s a bone…Prices are still lower than they were in 2005.   Your friends may be unwilling to sell their homes,  since they bought at the sharp peak,  but there is an abundance of others to choose from.

How much longer do you think the housing market could withstand the price ‘depression’ in Silicon Valley?

Related articles by Zemanta

• Wednesday PM Linkage (sf.curbed.com)
• Santa Clara County Declares Swine Flu Emergency (sfist.com)
• Apartment market moving on up (sfgate.com)
• 
  

Image via Wikipedia

In Part 1 of the series “Is My Agent Lying to Me?” I shared with you that both Realtor and Seller/Buyer (SB) asked themselves if they were being lied to.  If you are a first time buyer you were probably wondering why would the Realtor question the honesty of the Buyer/Seller’?

Have you found the voice in your head keeps asking, with an annoying little spear in it’s hand, “Is my agent lying to me?”  What do you think the agent’s experience might be with S/B? If their experiences have lacked a large dose of trust…maybe your agent is asking….”Are my clients lying to me?”

Consider the time you bought your car or used dinette set from the guy on Craigslist.    If  you are like me you went in with your game face on and planned to pay as little as possible.  You made him an offer and he countered and back and forth it went.  It was hard, but you got the item(s) at your price.  Or did you pay his price?   I bet you never told the Seller what you were, really, willing to pay for it, Right?  Good!  He probably never told you what he was really willing to accept either.

After weeks and weeks maybe months and months you have looked at dozens maybe hundreds of homes and BAM!  There it is, the most perfect neighborhood, the lawn is so nicely manicured and the front door is painted your favorite color.  You walk in and the kitchen and ahhh, the kitchen.  It’s sunny and bright.  Perfect.  You want this house!  As soon as you sit down with your Realtor to make your offer a funny thing happens.  You get ’The Game Face’.  You tell your Realtor you are willing to pay price X for the home.

Your Realtor provides a Market Price Report or Comprehensive Market Analysis (CMA), call it what you want, and the “market” price is between X and Y.   Uh Oh!   Your Realtor thinks you aren’t paying more than X.    Meanwhile, the Purchase Offer is written, with your X price, and your Realtor submits the offer exclaiming to the Seller you will pay not a penny more.  This is the time when you need a large dose of  hope.   Problem is hope won’t buy the perfect house for you. 

Prepare to compromise and discuss your specific options.

Mary Weintraub, a leading Real Estate tipster and prolific blogger writes…”Nobody wants an agent who is going to order them around and bark demands, but it is perfectly acceptable for a client to be given all the options by an agent…”

Somewhere, in the vast darkness of unconscious reality, the trust issue has already raised it’s ugly head.  That CMA or Market Sales Report (MSR) your Realtor provided for you…the Seller probably has similar information.  You are about to experience the Deer in Headlights look!

Coming in Part 3 … How you can get what you want!

Related articles by Zemanta

I LOVE the video in this link…

• Ski Homes Feel the Economic Chill (abcnews.go.com)

Have you noticed?   Most markets are experiencing a price stabilization, however there are price reductions being made even as late as October.    43% of homes listed in 27 major markets saw price reductions of  $24,781 dollars.

From Rismedia:

Other highlights of the brokerage’s monthly survey of price reduction data include:
-Miami-area (Ft. Lauderdale/Palm Beach) homeowners reduced list prices by the largest percentage at 15.7% or $40,000 on average
-Homeowners in Raleigh-Durham reduced prices by the smallest percentage at 4.6% or $11,000 on average
-Of the markets studied, those with the highest percentage of price-reduced homes are Jacksonville (50.9%), Orlando (50.1%) and Chicago (50.1%)
-Markets with the lowest percentage of price-reduced homes are Denver (31.1%), Los Angeles (33.6%), Sacramento (36.4%) and San Diego (35.7%)
-Markets where sellers have cut the most in absolute dollars are: San Diego ($54,000 median price reduction), Orange County, Calif. ($51, 000 median price reduction), San Francisco ($50,500 median price reduction) and Los Angeles ($43,000 median price reduction).
-As in September, Orange County had the highest median list price at $624,900. Jacksonville, Fla. has the lowest median list price at $172,000.

I love this video series…California from 1939

Related articles by Zemanta

• Which Airports Have the Least Delays? (abcnews.go.com)

Image via Wikipedia

jump to Part 2 of the series

If you have to ask that question then the answer is ‘yes’ your agent is probably lying to you. Notice I use the active ‘probably’?

In this series of articles you will learn:

• How to identify what is most important when choosing a Realtor.
• Why do I feel like a Deer in headlights?
• Learn if you chose a ‘Realtor’ or a’ Salesperson’
• What does Market price really mean to me?

There is a question every Realtor has been trained to use as an example to sell their service to a potential client. It goes something like this…

Seller/Buyer : “What is your commission on the sale?”

Realtor: “Well, my commission is one half of the whole – 6 or 7%”

Seller/Buyer: “Oh really? We only want to pay 5%”

Realtor: “If I were willing to give up MY money would you trust me with YOURS?  I am not willing to negotiate my commission”

Wow! The Seller/Buyer answer is a given.   “No  I wouldn’t trust you with my money”.  In sales you are supposed to get ‘yes’ answers… the psychological affect of this ‘no’ is actually an affirmation.  Makes sense, but doesn’t it make you want to grab the Pepto?

Let’s analyze the basis for the above exchange. The Seller/Buyer (S/B) is trying to get something from the Realtor and immediately the Realtor is trying to protect himself from them.  Could it be the S/B is trying to protect their self from the Realtor? Both are true and both are a natural human reaction when something is missing from the relationship. Trust.

This is a salesperson tactic using the ‘common sense approach’.  Politicians use it all the time.  When you are asked a question that you naturally say yes to, be cautious, you are working with a salesperson.   This should perk up your ears.  A salesperson wants yes answers for the psychological affect it will have in persuading you to make a decision that benefits them.  A Realtor will ask you questions that require more thoughtful answers.   Your thoughtful answers will create a working strategy the Realtor can use to help you get what you want.

If a Realtor feels it necessary to sell their services using psychological affirmation tactics, beware.   It is highly probable they have no inclination to do what it is you are hiring them to do.  That is…sell your home, strongly negotiating the price and terms that best suit your financial future and professionally manage the process the entire way.  This is not to mention the investment of time and resources the Realtor should be investing in marketing your home…not selling themselves!   Would you want someone that only focuses on themselves or someone who makes you their priority?

In a relationship where the Realtor is representing a Buyer there is no question of commission and the above scenario mentioned in Part 1 is meaningless. The Seller pays commission to both the selling agent and the listing agent 99.9% of the time

There are other Buyer:Realtor scenarios I will share in Parts 2 and 3.  Part 4 of this series is for experienced Sellers.   For now, I want to remind you that trust is the most important factor in the equation.

Related articles by Zemanta

• 10 Tips for Selling Your Home in the Sluggish Winter Months (usnews.com)
• Survey shows spike in 1st-time homebuyers (msnbc.msn.com)