How not to sell your own home… In a Tough Market.
In today’s market the value of a good Real Estate Agent is even more apparent as we struggle with the demands of finding that right buyer in order to sell your home for top dollar - let alone sell it at all. A recent article in The Charlotte Observer “Real Estate Today” talks about why the owner of a home hasn’t been able to sell his home. This is an exceptional article that deals with the very frustartion we, as REALTORS, deal with day in and day out! This particular seller has had his home on the market since 2005. Sure the market was better then than now. However real estate is and always will be localized in how it performs. With in a week ot two after placing his home on the market an offer came in. It was for 5.7% less than asking price. The owner turned down the offer convinced that they could do better. Of course they did because SELLERS KNOW IT ALL!
The seller, a house painter, knows more about selling their home than that of an experienced professional. OF COURSE HE DOES BECAUSE SELLERS KNOW IT ALL! Lets assume that their carrying cost for their mortgage is a mere $1500 per month. That equates to $54,000 of payments for this period vs. taking the offer that was $30,000 less than the asking price.
Here are some things to remember:
1. Real Estate is no longer recession proof.
2. Greed, not intelligence, is often the factor for loosing a qualified buyer.
3. Good realtors® fire their sellers when they don’t listen to them.
4. The seller may set the asking price but the MARKET SETS THE VALUE. This one bears repeating - the seller may set the asking price, but the market sets the value!
I’d like to hear your opinion on this or any related topic.
Financial Crisis - Who’s to Blame?
In typical baby boomer style when someone makes a mistake we look to Big Government to bail us out. Everyone wants to blame someone else (another problem in our country, but I’ll save that for another time) for the mess we’re in.
It’s EVERYBODY’S fault. It’s the government’s fault for making it national policy to increase homeownership; the banks are at fault for making stupid loans; home buyers are at fault for not reading what they were signing; and it’s our collective fault for not having the common sense to see what was happening and act accordingly to prevent it.
Let the banks that made bad decisions fail. If that hurts the shareholders - tough. If it causes the US economy to go into a recession - tough. The free market is the best way to run an economy and the only economic system appropriate for a free people and nation. We are only delaying and exacerbating a problem by effectively rewarding a series of mistakes and bad policy by putting the tab on our collective credit card. If we go through a tough period now we will come out stronger and it will be apparent then that tough love sometimes is the best way to go. A bailout is a mistake but unfortunately we are a spoiled nation on the apparent way down.
Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools Comparison Data
Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools recently announced a powerful new tool that allows users to compare school performance against each other, state values, and more. Several years in the making, this new softward gets down to the nitty gritty - are busses running on time? what do the parents think of the school? how does a school rate in relation to the state scores?
With newcomers to the Charlotte area hungry for information on our schools, this tool will be invaluable. I haven’t tried it out yet, so I can’t offer an opinion on how user friendly it is. If anyone has tried it, let us know what you think.
Read the story on the Charlotte Mecklenburg Dashboard.
Access the Charlotte Mecklenburg Data Dashboard. (Instructions are in the upper left hand corner)
Inaccurate Stories Are Killing Newspapers
Why are Newspapers Dying?
A recent front page article in The Charlotte Observer Real Estate section on September 14th entitled “Key to Closing” was loaded with inaccuracies for the state it was printed in. The article was a authored by Susan Diesenhouse at the Chicago Tribune.
As a Real Estate professional I was shocked to see how many statements were incorrect with regards to the common practices in the state of North Carolina. Is the Charlotte market starving for worthy articles that The Observer has to go outside of it’s local area to find content? Who checks for the accuracy or do they just slap it in?
Let me give you some examples as written:
About A Month Before closing - “The buyers lawyer can review the available documents such as title insurance policy and final survey.” I have never in my 18+ years in real estate seen a final survey 1month prior to closing.
Two Weeks in Advance - “Advisable to set up a tax reproration escrow account where the buyer and the seller deposit their share of the currents year’s taxes.” That doesn’t exist in North Carolina!
Two Days Before Closing - “Do a final walk through with a licensed home inspector, the seller or their agent so they can agree to fix any problems found.” In the Charlotte area, the time to do an inspection is not two days before closing. Usually the inspection is done 3-4 weeks before closing to identify any deficiencies, submit those items requested for repair and then conduct a final walk through the day before or the day of closing to insure that the items which have been agreed upon to be fixed have in fact been fixed.
A Day Before closing - “Usually the lenders appraiser will walk through to assure that the unit is substantially complete”. Who would close on a home that is “substantially complete”? My clients will be told to not close on the home and then it will be up to my clients to accept the home in it’s present condition or not.
Closing - “. . . with the process complete . . . Take the house keys.” According to what I have been educated to by the closing attorneys, keys are in almost all cases not given until the deed is recorded. Funds don’t disburse to the parties, including commissions to the agents, until the deed is recorded.
Picture yourself a first time buyer or an experienced buyer moving to North Carolina. When in doubt contact your Realtor and your attorney to give you proper/accurate advice.
We also have a home closing checklist pertinent to the closing process as it happens in Charlotte North Carolina on our website.
Real Estate Markets Determine Selling Prices
When the real estate market slows down, and there are more sellers than buyers, homeowners can no longer dictate to the market what price their home will command.
It doesn’t matter how much you paid for your home, or how much money you have in it after improvemennts, or how much you need to net after the sale. The market determines the price, period!
If the figure that a homeowner is asking is way above market price then there will be little if any showings and no offers. As the asking price approaches market value, showings will increase as will the probability of an offer. However, the offers will be less than full price and show a trend.
If your home is priced close to market value you will have even more showings and an offer sooner. You can even price the property lower than the market and it will still show it’s influence with more than one offer and the sales price will be bid up to where the market is.
It drives me crazy that people seem to forget simple econ 101 when it comes to selling their home - and insist on making irrational decisions when setting an asking price.
What do you think? Am I full of it or am I just saying what needs to be said to an unrealistic public?
Bank Of America Buys Merrill Lynch
Let me clear the air by saying that I don’t work for either company. One of the best things about our free market system is that everyone has the opportunity of competing and being the best at what you do allows you to survive in a competitive market. These days, operating a marginal company is not good enough. To thrive in a tough market you have to be the best and remain at the top of your game. Being average is no longer acceptable.
We live in a society where 9 to 5 is the norm and just getting through the work day is the way to stay under the radar. Where graduating from college and/or graduate school is supposed to entitle you to a six figure income, a large office with a window and a golden parachute. You may be asking what does this have to do with The Bank of America Merrill Lynch acquisition? Clearly Bank of America, it’s leadership and employees, have demonstrated that the best have not only survived in a very tough market they have excelled!
It is my hope that the people of Charlotte North Carolina will benefit in a huge way from this happening. We as business owners should take notice of what they are doing and not be worrisome or critical but become better in the way we operate our companies.
Success Doesn’t just Happen- It’s Earned!
Sleeping Giraffes
So, yeah, I guess giraffes DO actually sleep. Not that it was a burning question on my mind as of late. But I was spending some time on one of my favorite websites: Mental_Floss.com, and their daily ‘morning cup of links’ led me the sleeping giraffe. (Mental_Floss is also my absolute favorite magazine - chock full of interesting facts and figures, and all written in a very humorous manner - check it out!)
The site with the sleeping giraffe is actually a place called scienceblogs.com, and this particular article is about ‘Sleep Behavior and Sleep Postures’. As someone who once thought about studying animal behavior, I can understand how this might pique someone’s interest.
But it was the photo that stopped me in my tracks. How do you think a giraffe sleeps? See for yourself - sleeping giraffe.
