Getting a home sold takes more planning and savvy today than in the past. It is more important than ever to find ways to make your home stand out and get the attention of serious buyers.  You may think a few worn out or broken things shouldn’t make a difference, but everything matters to a buyer. Anything that causes a buyer to think there may be MORE things that need repair, updating or remodeling takes them one step further from making an offer on your home.

So here are the 4 Most Important Tips to prepare your home for sale.
1)  Put the shine on. Be sure all the carpeting is clean and fresh smelling, the tile and grout repaired or replaced if chipped, and replaced if outdated.  If you have hardwood floors, you might refinish surfaces to restore the luster.  Fixtures from lamps to faucets need to be in working order.  Replace light bulbs with the highest wattage the fixture allows.  If possible, install rheostats to set the right moods in some rooms.

2)  Fresh Paint  It is amazing what fresh paint can do for your home.  Stick with neutral warm colors.  Be sure to clean up paint spills and drips.  You may not want to do all rooms in the house, so pick the ones that the buyer sees 1st, and those that it will make the most dramatic change.

3) Doors and Windows  The condition and quality of your doors and windows is important to potential buyers for two primary reasons: security and energy-efficiency. So it’s essential to ensure your doors and windows are working properly and are in good condition. Worn out screens and hardware should be replaced.  Remember 1st impressions, and the front door is one of them.

4) Front Yard and Driveway  Re-do old landscaping.  Pull out aged shrubs and dead head plants. Fresh topping on garden areas, a new coat of paint or stain on the fencing, and a new mailbox with the house numbers on it.  Easy access to the entrance.  Possibly flowers or herbs in pots by the front door.

Depending on your budget and energy these things can be done at various levels.  But the important thing to remember is that it all makes a difference.  You may be fine living with it like it is, but a buyer may not want to, and it may make a difference between an offer and a lost sale for you.

Don’t hesitate to contact me if you would like additional suggestions or a review of your home for a specific list of ideas.

In keeping with the spirit of the holidays and the winter solstice, the National Association of Realtors issued a news release yesterday announcing a continuing rise in the sale of existing homes in November 2011. We can all hope that the housing market may at long last be moving in a positive direction. Challenges lie ahead for certain, but a bit of good news is as welcome as a sunny day in December like we are having today!

Here’s a portion of that news release below; if you wish to read it in it’s entirety, Click Here >>

Existing-Home Sales Continue to Climb in November

Washington, DC, December 21, 2011

Existing-home sales rose again in November and remain above a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors®. Also released today were periodic benchmark revisions with downward adjustments to sales and inventory data since 2007, led by a decline in for-sale-by-owners.

Although rebenchmarking resulted in lower adjustments to several years of home sales data, the month-to-month characterization of market conditions did not change. There are no changes to home prices or month’s supply.

The latest monthly data shows total existing-home sales1, which are completed transactions that include single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, increased 4.0 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.42 million in November from 4.25 million in October, and are 12.2 percent above the 3.94 million-unit pace in November 2010.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said more people are taking advantage of the buyer’s market. “Sales reached the highest mark in 10 months and are 34 percent above the cyclical low point in mid-2010 – a genuine sustained sales recovery appears to be developing,” he said. “We’ve seen healthy gains in contract activity, so it looks like more people are realizing the great opportunity that exists in today’s market for buyers with long-term plans.”

According to Freddie Mac, the national average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage fell to a record low 3.99 percent in November from 4.07 percent in October; the rate was 4.30 percent in November 2010; records date back to 1971.

NAR President Moe Veissi, broker-owner of Veissi & Associates Inc., in Miami, said housing affordability conditions have set a new record high. “With record low mortgage interest rates and bargain home prices, NAR’s housing affordability index shows that a median-income family can easily afford a median-priced home,” he said.

“With consumer price inflation rising by more than 3 percent this year, consumers are looking to lock-in steady payments by taking out long-term fixed-rate mortgages. However, the problem remains that some financially qualified families who are willing to stay well within their means are being denied the opportunity to buy in today’s market by the overly restrictive mortgage underwriting situation,” Veissi said.

An elevated level of contract failures continues to hold back a broader sales recovery. Contract failures2 were reported by 33 percent of NAR members in November, unchanged from October but notably above a year ago when it was 9 percent.

Contract failures are cancellations caused by declined mortgage applications, failures in loan underwriting from appraised values coming in below the negotiated price, or other problems including lower conforming mortgage loan limits, home inspections and employment losses.

Recently Whidbey Island Realtors received an email from the Whidbey Island Board of Realtors alerting us to a new ordinance regarding Ebey’s Reserve. Here’s an excerpt from a letter from Island County, the Town of Coupeville and the Manager of Ebey’s Reserve that was addressed to all “Whidbey Island Real Estate Professionals.”

On 10/3/2011 the Board of Island County Commissioners adopted the new Unified Code and Design Guidelines for all development within Ebey’s Reserve. The Code and Guidelines become effective 1/1/2012.

The code requirements include a new Disclosure Statement that applies to the sale, lease or offer to sell or lease any property within Ebey’s Reserve.

My first thought was “No problem, we will just add that to the list of seller disclosures we normally insure are available for our listings.” So I decided to write down how many seller disclosures a homeowner might be required to prepare for a buyer of their property. I stopped at 9, but am sure if I thought a bit longer I could come up with 1 or 2 more.

So you may be asking yourself, “What does this have to do with using a local realtor?” Well of the 9 legally required disclosures, 7 of them are based on local knowledge and information.

Using the example above about Ebey’s Reserve, many off island agents would not even know a property is in Ebey’s Reserve, and even if they did, what is the likelihood they know of the upcoming requirement to disclosure that fact? It is not that they are unskilled. They are simply unaware. Why? Because this is knowledge that local realtors learn from experience, from each other and from their managers and owners. Real estate agents from out of the area do not have the benefit of those opportunities, nor will they.

Unfortunately what your broker/realtor does NOT know can impact you negatively.

So do yourself a favor. If you are going to buy or sell real estate, use a competent, experienced local realtor. It is the best insurance you can obtain to be sure you are well served and well protected.

When  homeowners  becomes sellers, they put their major focus on being sure the house is clean, clutter removed, walls freshly painted and the lawn mowed.   The photographer then comes in and takes photos of the house. They get posted on the company website, and the property is good to go.

This is all fine and is the way things have been done for many years, but there is more to selling your home today. With all the homes on the market, how can your home stand out?  What makes a buyer stop at your home while running through the other twenty five properties that fit their criteria?  Here are some show stoppers.

YouTube gets more searches than Yahoo or Bing, and they are only 2^nd to Google.    This would point to the fact that video is now a major way for people to find property.  Video is faster, and in the case of homes, it gives you a better perspective.   We all know there are good and bad videos of homes.  You must have a quality product to sell a home.   I am not going to get into the technical side of a quality, I leave that to the tech guy, but I do know about the creative side of producing a quality product that will  increase a buyers urge to know more about a house.

It starts here.   What is the history of your home?  Did you build it?  Do you have photos of property when you bought it and the construction?  If it is an older home or a farm you own, who lived here in the past. Watch this video about a turkey farm.  What about the neighborhood?  Many neighborhoods have stories of their own. Is there a secret beach that all the locals go to, can we photograph it for the buyer? Watch this video about an island.  What is special about the neighborhood?  Is there a annual pot luck, or do the kids all get together on Halloween. Where were the materials for the home from.  Watch this video about the crafting of an island home.

These are things that make a property stand out.   Photos and descriptions of what life is like living in this community, and your home.  Albums created with narration of the history of the community, and the families histories that are a great tool in selling a home.  Keep this in mind, because if we are going to be talking soon about putting your home on the market, I will be asking you to dig deep.

You’ve decided you want to sell your home.  The process can be daunting, from finding the right Broker to getting your home in tip top shape.  All of a sudden everywhere you look in your house there is chipped paint, loose door knobs, creaking hardwood, stains on carpet.  The gardens need pruning, and you haven’t taken down the Christmas lights yet.

Not only that, every single one of your friends knows a real estate broker who is the best,  and you aren’t sure that you want to go with your friend’s choice on this, or on the restaurant that they say has the best sushi.  So now we play,” let’s pretend”.

Where to start?  First you want to find out what real estate companies are the leaders in your area.  You probably already have a good idea of this from the local paper, and signs on homes for sale. Why do you care about this?  Because a larger group of potential buyers will be looking on this company’s website.   Speaking of the company website, be sure it is easy to navigate to properties for sale.   Remember this is where your house is going to be sitting pretty, so you want it to be easy to find, load quickly and  respond to the criteria you enter.

Most people search the web today when they are beginning to look for a home.  Yes, they still do drive around, but most homes that are sold the buyers have seen on the internet first.

Now which broker at that office is for you.  This might be tougher. Remember you are dealing with a wide variety of personalities here!  Brokers can be full time, part time,  moms, ski bums. ex corporate retirees, and professionals who have been in this business for years. Does any of the above make them the best fit for you?  There is a lot more to consider….

Create a list of questions if you were a buyer. Pretend when you are looking at the broker’s listings that one of them is your home.  You want to be sure that your broker has the right information on the listing, has written an interesting story about your home, and that it would compel you to call about that home.  Call the broker.  If they are not there, and you leave a message, do they get right back to you?  If they do happen to answer when you first call do you feel like you have their attention, and they can answer your questions.  When you get off the phone do you like the way that person handled your questions or were you frustrated?  Talk to at least three brokers so you have a good idea of what style you like.  Remember the ski bum and the ex-corporate  person may have a completely different style.

Okay that is enough for now.   Take a break , get a ladder and get those Christmas lights down.  If you are an impatient person and what to  know more right away about the plan of action in getting your home on the market, send me an email and I will send you my list on getting your home ready to sell.

In doing research about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, I came across something buried in the Federal Housing Finance Agency website that blew my mind. Called the House Price Index (HPI), it measures geographic (region, state, city) home price trends. It took about 5 minutes to realize that I just discovered the proverbial “Canary in the Mineshaft” when it comes to predicting real estate values in WA.

The HPI is defined as follows:

The HPI is a broad measure of the movement of single-family house prices. The HPI is a weighted, repeat-sales index, meaning that it measures average price changes in repeat sales or refinancings on the same properties. This information is obtained by reviewing repeat mortgage transactions on single-family properties whose mortgages have been purchased or securitized by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac since January 1975.

So it is a comparison of specific repeat sales, so it is more meaningful than median and/or average home price data. Why is that? Because true market value is determined when someone gives us money for our homes, either when we sell or refinance it. The House Price Index is the cumulative result of specific home sales and refinance activities in certain geographic location.

Next I went to the state HPI index page and compared California to Washington and it blew me away.

• CA had 2 digit home price increases beginning in Q4-1999 through Q1-2006, or 22 months of raging increases in home values. Their index went negative in Q4-2006.
• While CA real estate values took off in Q4-1999, WA did not see double-digit increases until Q2-2004 a delay of about 4-1/2 years. And WA’s HPI index did not go negative until Q1-2008, a full 15 months after CA.
• In the first two quarters of 2010, CA’s HPI went positive for the first time in over 3 years, followed by a negative HPI in Q3-2010, while the WA index has remained negative since 2008.

Two things are clear from the data:

• California’s real estate values are more volatile with higher and more rapid price swings both up and down.
• Washington is less volatile and lags the California market by about a year, sometimes more.

So if you want to know when WA real estate values are going to increase again – look south. My guess, when we see 3-4 straight quarters with of positive HPI values in CA, home values will turn positive in WA 9-12 months after. The turn to positive may be faster since there is so much attention and awareness about real estate values.

My apologies to Maya Angelou, but Now I Know When The Caged Bird Will Sing. Can’t wait for the Q4-2010 data to be released.

Try it out for yourself. Is this something that you think is useful for predicting real estate swings in WA state? What do you think?

It is not unusual in my business for a client to make a political comment to me during a conversation, especially in the heated political environment we are in today.

Over the years I have decided that it is best to not acknowledge in any way these comments beyond a smile. Even that can be dangerous. It is not that I do not have opinions. Just ask my family. It is just that I believe as a professional that my commitment to a client and my associates means that I must remain non committal to any beliefs I have politically while I am working.

Is this tough? Not really, because I am quite sure that they did not engage my services to hear a discourse on my political beliefs. However, there are times when I am tempted to make a joke about politics. I think the point is to remember is this; that yes, your real estate agent has opinions. But good agents keeps those that are not related to the business at hand to themselves. I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

I have always felt it was important to be associated with the best company in any market segment. So when I got out of college I went to work for one of the best restaurant chains in the west. After that I sold incredibly good food service products to those fine restaurants with Carnation, the best food service company in the US. Decades ago, when I decided to work in real estate full time, I looked for the market leader there too. At the time I lived in Southern California and the market leader was Grubb and Ellis. Today I am with Windermere, the leader in sales in the Northwest. Why is this company the leader? Because it puts an emphasis on professionalism, integrity and excellence in marketing their listing. So be proud if you have a Windermere agent representing you. But if you don’t, give me a call and I will tell you more about what sets Windermere and me apart from other real estate brokers.

These statistics at the end of July 2010, give you and idea of the strength of Windermere here on Whidbey Island.

You are the source. What does this mean? It means that your knowledge, your emotions, your photos are what create the personality of the home you have lived in and are selling. Sharing these brings your home to life. So tell me your story. We have the time, and it does make a difference.

All homes have a story. Sometimes it is about the history of the people who have lived there, and many times it is just the story of why you bought this house and made it your home. I have heard some very funny stories from people who are just driving by a house and know that is the house they must live in. It may not be on the market right now, but they are going to live in it some day. Some even go up to the house and tell the owners if they ever sell that they want to be the 1st to know about it. Surprisingly this has worked many times, and they have ended up the owners of this home that called out to them.

Some people have raised their families in homes they sell, and I find the pencil marks on the door from the garage to the kitchen showing little Susie’s inch by inch growth over the years. It’s always hard to have those painted over. Out back might be an apple tree that you put in the ground the 1st year you were in your home, and today it means a fresh apple pie to those who visit in the fall.

Gardens are always full of stories, and just like the color you chose for your kitchen, the garden gives this home a certain personality which is a reflection of you.

I try to use these source stories when I sell your home, because otherwise it ends up just another house on the market with 3 bedrooms, a large kitchen and and a two car garage.

So when you sell your home, whether it be with me or someone else, tell the story. It will make you feel good, and it will be something special to pass on to those who love your home and buy it.

Watch this video about a home for sale on Plum Tree Lane on Whidbey Island in Clinton. This home is loved and cared for by Jill Johnson the long time owner. You can feel the history and emotions that come with this, and you know that soon someone is going to buy this home and love this home just like Jill.

Most of us today are concerned about our environment, and recycle paper products with enthusiasm. We try to not use paper products when we can avoid it, and we read our magazines and newspapers and then recycle them too.

That is why it is a mystery to me why some sellers insist on having a flyer box. Granted, not everyone wants one, but if you drive around you will see that many people have them, and they are stuffed with faded paper when it’s sunny, wet soggy paper when it’s raining, and a lovely combo of the two most of the time.

I figured out that I use two reams of paper a month to keep my flyer boxes “fresh”. Not only is this a loss environmentally in the production of the paper, but the ink, and of course the energy (power) to copy.

But if you want to know what the sad part is about this, it isn’t about the waste, the money, the time. It is about the fact that I may never get to talk to that person who looks at your house, thinks they might be interested, and then looks to eliminate it through either the price on that flyer or something that they think doesn’t match up with their needs. And that is really too bad
.
You see the most important element of our agreement is my willingness to market and sell your home. I have spent decades talking to people about homes, finding what their needs are, and helping them find the right home. When they call about your home I get to take the power of my experience, the facts and the most interesting characteristics of your home and present them to the buyer in a way that will move them one step closer if it is the right home. It’s a win win for all. So what about that flyer box? Well if you are a seller working with me now, give me a call and we will take that off the sign. The sign has my telephone number, and people will use it.

If you have your house listed with someone else call them. Tell them you want them to sell the house to the interested party, so please pick up that flyer box. And if you haven’t listed your home, when you do, please call me, and together we can save a tree and sell a house.