Lots of Space in Elk Grove for $250K

Fantastic single story layout with all the space of a two story on a corner lot/court location. Home features huge great room concept with upgrades that include tile flooring, stainless steel appliances, double oven, subway tiles on back splash, formal dining room, den/office as potential 4th bedroom, jack & jill bathrooms, custom built-in storage unit in family room, and backyard patio cover. Spa included.

For more information: http://www.postlets.com/res/4408152

Why Rent when You Can OWN

Just listed, 1, 2 and 3 bedroom condos in the heart of Elk Grove's Laguna area. These are located in the established neighborhood of Foulks Ranch and close to the greenbelt, parks, schools and shopping. Community complex is well maintained and includes pool, spa, fitness center, club house and child park. Each unit also includes a detached garage.

1 bed/ 1 bath 772 sf $85,000
http://www.postlets.com/res/2655256

2 bed/ 2 bath 1,039 sf $104,500
http://www.postlets.com/res/3617020

3 bed/ 2 bath 1,168 sf $120,000
http://www.postlets.com/res/2648744

It's the Banks vs. the Banks

Nearly all delays in a home sale closing escrow have to do with a bank causing a delay. The ironic part is that the typical seller in our area is a bank, who then fights with the buyer's lender, a bank.

I am in contract right now where a bank seller of a home took three weeks to respond to a low appraisal and in return, gave my buyer three extra business days to close escrow. The buyer's lender is now taking an additional nearly three weeks to close escrow. In the meantime, seller's listing agent and buyer's loan officer are having a not-so-nice spat via email over when this thing will close.

All the while, my buyer is left in limbo through no fault of her own. Banks on both sides I think forget sometimes that while they are pushing paper and crunching numbers that there are real humans on the other sides of these transactions.

It's a House Feeding Frenzy

Despite all the doom and gloom regarding the housing market in the news, I'm seeing a strong comeback. I was out showing homes in Elk Grove zip code 95757 last Saturday and there were homes buyers and real estate agents all over the area. Everywhere we went we were all bumping into each other.

I have a few clients who have even lost out on homes before they could even make an offer. The smart banks are starting to list their foreclosed homes around the $100 per square foot mark. One home some clients missed out on was a 3-year-old home listed for $103 a square foot. Before we could even make an offer it went pending with 12 offers and going for more than asking price.

So, ignore the media...the Sacramento Region housing market is coming back and you won't know we hit the bottom until about 6 months later.

Staging Your Home to Sell

Many factors are combined for a successful home sale: competitive sale price, well-kept home, marketing, excellent property photos, curb appeal, desirable location and lastly, good staging.

Good staging consists of the following (for additional tips, go to http://www.hgtv.com/ and search "staging"):

1. Remove clutter
   You may love your salt and pepper collection, but buyers won't. Make your home look like a model home and be sure to have at least 50% of space on everything. This includes closets, shelves, the garage. If buyers see stuff crammed everywhere they will unconsciously think there's not enough room for their stuff. Rent a storage unit or two.
2. Take down your family photos
   All those photos of junior are adorable, but it will distract buyers and take their focus off of your home.
3. Clean inside and out
   I know this seems obvious, but I can't tell you how many homes I show where there are dirty dishes in the sink, crumbs on the floor, yucky litter boxes, Fido "droppings" on the lawn...you get the picture.
4. Hide the toys
   Get a toy box and use it. Whatever doesn't fit in the toy box, goes in storage. Make it look like the adults own the home, not the kids.
5. Remove unnecessary furniture
   Although it may be useful for your family to have a couch, love seat and Dad's favorite recliner, it is probably making your living room small. The less furniture, the bigger your house looks. This goes ditto for huge bedroom furniture -- unless, of course, you have a 1200 square foot master suite. Be sure there is ample space for a family to tour your home and not have to squeeze between furniture pieces to move around.
6. Put away the exercise equipment
   You're probably not using it anyway, except to hang clothing, so for the sale of your home, put it away. The only time this is okay, is when you have a room that is specifically being used as a workout room.
7. Hire a professional home stager
   Professional staging has become a booming business and can really help in the quick and profitable sale of a home, particularly in a challenging home selling market. To find a home stager in your area, visit www.stagedhomes.com/

Overpricing a Home for Negotiating

There is a thought among home sellers that if they price their home a little high, it will leave room to negotiate down. Now while this strategy makes sense on paper, it completely backfires in our current buyer's market. Right now, if a home is priced too high, it's impossible to even get buyers in your home to negotiate.

A properly priced home will get buyers in the door and potential offers coming in. Homes are still selling in this market, obviously. However, what is selling is priced at market or below, in excellent condition or has some other outstanding feature such as location, school district, etc.

If you look at the statistics of homes selling, once a home is properly priced and sells, they majority are selling between 95% and 100%* or more of their asking price. So a seller doesn't necessarily have to come down much from a proper list price.

*A sale price of a home may include seller concessions for closing costs, which brings the actual purchase price down, usually at 3% of the purchase price.

Using Feng Shui to Sell Your Home

In addition to being a Realtor I am also a feng shui consultant. I no longer do consultations, but I do use the practice when applicable in my real estate business.

About three years ago when I was still working in commercial real estate, I did a "Feng Shui for Real Estate" presentation to a group of top producers for a local real estate company. At the time, the market was beyond good and homes were selling in days with multiple offers. Perhaps my presentation wasn't timely, in that my focus was using feng shui to sell homes, which didn't need help. One of the points I made was taking down family photos to help a future homebuyer picture themselves in the house. One agent commented that it wasn't necessary to do this. And yes, at the time it wasn't. However, I cautioned her that the market always changes and when it did she would have some knowledge of feng shui to give her an edge above the competition and help sell her listings based on feng shui. Wonder if that agent is using feng shui today?

Feng shui is finally getting a bit of respect. It was the subject of a Bee news article last week. Feng shui is amazing. It's gotten a bad rap as a new age fad based on religion. It is neither of those. Feng shui is the ancient Chinese art of placement. It's about creating harmony in your environment with your personal material items. When you walk into a home and you just want to get comfy and stay awhile, that home probably is using the fundamentals of feng shui and the owner may not even know it. However, when you walk into a home and you can't wait to leave, the opposite is happening.

There are many excellent books on feng shui, but the best starter book in my opinion is Karen Rauch Carter's book, "Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life." It's a quick read and the author has the best sense humor.