Lark and I have recently been on several pre-listing appointments where we have been asked to itemize what needs to be done to make their home sellable. Many people understand what it takes in this market to get their home ready for a buyer to walk through and, hopefully, make an offer! Many need guidance as to what will enable their home to sell faster and for the price they want.
If you have any questions and uncertainties about what to do, not only ask, but listen to your Realtor. You absolutely have to be in “ready” condition. From the walkway to the entry and inside, your home must be in clean, presentable condition. We understand that we all live in our homes differently than when we stage it to sell. We are not there to judge you, but to help. If the home is not ready, the longer it’s going to take to sell, the less the seller is going to net. If you are not quite convinced just take a tour of a couple of homes in your own subdivision that have been on the market more than 120 days. Remember, when we bring you the comparable information about activity in your subdivision, it also includes your “competition”!!
The entire picture of the market has to be taken into account! As Realtors, we can help you from this point all the way to the closing, which will make everyone happy!
By the way, if you are making some upgrades to your homes, remember our excellent vendors who have given discount coupons available on our www.paradigmedge.com website! Check it out!
Well known Futurist Faith Popcorn calls 2010 the year of the Vigilante Consumer. She says “Companies in all industries are bending over backwards, fighting to deliver value to customers as a means of demonstrating worthiness in a crowded marketplace. This new way is what The Economist calls customer-driven capitalism.”
Industries are either taking note of the culture shift or they are suffering.
Home Owners. Would you like to sell your home? Perhaps your home has languished on the market for months or even years. Let’s restate Popcorn’s definition as we think through selling our personal homes. I’ll add some words for clarity.
“(Sellers) are bending over backwards, fighting to deliver value to customers as a means of demonstrating worthiness in a crowded market place.”
If you want to sell your house, are you bending over backwards, fighting to deliver value to customers?
How do you add value easily without it crippling your pocket book? Clean Clean Clean your house. Organize your house. If you can’t see “dirty” & “cluttery”, ask for help from someone who can. Make it shiny, fresh, & smelling good. After you’ve done all of these things to perfection, begin looking for other creative ways to “deliver value to customers as a means of demonstrating worthiness in a crowded marketplace.” If you do this, you will sell your house.
Popcorn forecasted cocooning, gated communities, bottled water & more.
For more information about Faith Popcorn’s Brain Reserve go to www.faithpopcorn.com.
I read an interesting post this morning by Jay Thompson, The Phoenix Real Estate Guy. He was asked how many Realtors were in Arizona and how many per-capita.
The answer he came up with surprised me somewhat. Arizona has over 43,000 licensed Realtors. With there population that works out to be 1 agent for every 153 people in the state. Wow, that’s a lot. In fact, out of the top 10 states of Realtor population, Arizona has the lowest per-capita.
This report naturally got me curious as to how Oklahoma would compare. Per the National Association of Realtors Monthly Membership Report of July 2010, Oklahoma has 9,084 Realtors. Our 2009 population estimate is 3,687,050. This works out to 406 per Realtor in Oklahoma.
So there you have it. If you’ve thought there are too many Realtors, Oklahoma is better off than most!
The Complete List
Photo credit: Flickr/nationallibrarynz
Originally posted on okchomesellers.com
I am going to disclose right up front that I am not a financial planner or financial expert. But in helping many of my clients prepare to search for a home I often find myself using my many years of financial analyst and corporate finance experience to guide them.
It is not uncommon for me to share some financial guidance with my first time homebuyers. I like to advise them that too big of house payment can leave you with too little money for other goals, such as retirement funds, college savings, vacations, etc. They laugh at my impromptu circle drawings breaking down into pie shapes various life expenses but they usually start listening intently when I say that as a general rule of thumb the experts say that no more than 28% of their gross monthly income should go toward house related debt. Seeing the numbers on paper really seem to make it click for them. And…if I really want to get their attention I tell them how much I just spent on college tuition for my two kids. That number always seems to get the reaction of making mouths drop in shock. But it helps them to realize that financial planning is crucial for financial success.
And recently with so many mortgage lenders tightening their standards for mortgage loans many people have to do debt reduction and credit repair prior to getting approved for a loan. Sometimes it only takes an unexpected crisis or a small stumble to wind up deep in debt prohibiting them from being able to get a mortgage loan. It has been very rewarding to see mortgage loan officers offer guidance to potential clients on how to clean up their debt and repair their credit. And it is not uncommon to see those very same people come back months later ready to buy a house. They all say they just needed someone to help point them in the right direction.
I recently polled my lender contacts and came up with list of a few steps to help begin the road to debt reduction and improving your financial situation:
1. SET A MONTHLY BUDGET AND PAY YOURSELF FIRST. This does not mean buying that great new gadget. It means adding money to an emergency savings fund. If you treat saving money like a monthly bill it becomes a habit.
2. TRACK EXPENSES DAILY. Write down EVERYTHING you spend. It is very eye opening when you see all the money that is spent on little items such as that daily morning Starbucks, eating lunch out or getting our nails done.
3. CUT SPENDING. Stop buying. Be creative in finding ways to trim your spending. This is hard for most of us. We have become a “want” not “need” culture. Look at options for downsizing in all the different aspects of your life.
4. SET GOALS. Give yourself timeframes and checkpoints to get your final financial goal destination. Enlist the help of friends and family if you need a motivation.
5. PAYOFF HIGH INTEREST LOANS. Paying off the higher interest loans first makes sense because you are paying more $$$ towards interest. Once those high interest loans are paid off you have increased your monthly cash flow amount.
6. IF NEEDED FIND EXTRA WORK. TAKE A SECOND JOB. Increasing income and cutting expenses really helps to work on both ends of the debt reduction equation. I had a client who took a part-time seasonal job. She banked the extra funds from that second job for her down-payment.
7. PAY BILLS ON TIME. Use online services to pay bills. Setting up monthly online payments ensures bills are paid on time. Eliminates the cycle of late fees. Eliminating late fees helps to raise credit limits.
8. CHECK AND MONITOR YOUR CREDIT SCORE. FIX ANY CREDIT REPORT ERRORS. Lenders say to strive for a credit score of at least 720 to 740 to get better rates. Check your credit report on a regular basis. If errors are found write letters to the credit bureau agencies providing proof you are right about the errors. Proving you are right can be a long and tedious process but it can help to improve your credit score. You can get a free credit report by going to AnnualCreditReport.com.
