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.

Take a Picture, Sell a Home

With the invention of the Internet, the process of buying a home went from the hands of the Realtor to the hands of the consumer. According the the National Association of Realtors, nearly 80% of homebuyers start their home search on the Internet. The Internet search is where pictures of a home for sale are so important. It's the photos -- and good photos -- that gets a potential buyer in your home.

When I'm researching homes for a buyer, if I come across a listing without pictures or just a single photo of the front of the home, I typically bypass that home for others with multiple pictures that give me a good sense of what that home has to offer. However, sometimes a home's photos do not do the home justice, and sometimes the opposite also occurs.

In our multiple listing service here in Sacramento, we are allowed to post 12 photos of a home. We always post 12 photos. Posting any less than 12 photos is not giving a Seller the full potential of marketing their home to other Realtors as well as the consumer.

So, if we list your home, get ready for your house to say "cheese" and pose for our camera!

For info on taking good property photos visit, http://realestate.msn.com/Selling/Article_wsj.aspx?cp-documentid=5414351

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.

Showing Homes in Uncharted Territory

Every real estate agent at one time or another ends up showing homes in an area they know very little about. Most of the time, it takes just a bit of homework to learn an area well and then be able to help a client make an informed decision about a home and its area.

On Monday and Tuesday of this week I became friendly with an area that wasn't just your normal suburban or city neighborhood, I was up in Placer and El Dorado Counties showing properties that even my GPS couldn't find. When I called one agent to ask about the road leading to a property in Placerville off Mosquito Road, she told me it was a "windy a** road" and she was not kidding. If you've never taken Mosquito Road into Swansboro County, the trip is a must. Many parts of the road go down to one lane, with hair pin turns and a one lane, very narrow bridge.

While the trip in was beyond nerve-wracking, by the time I was heading out, I actually had fun driving that crazy road. I'm not sure I'd like to drive it everyday, but the area is so breathtaking and beautiful out there, I can see why people do.

So, I have now added the foothill county communities of Placer and El Dorado to my repertoire of areas I'm familiar with and happy to tour. Seat belts required.

Good Restaurants in Elk Grove?

I love Elk Grove; however, my main complaint about this city is the lack of good restaurants. This city is a chain restaurant mecca and while I enjoy a consistent meal from city to city, in my own town, I want variety and non-corporate owned restaurants. So with that in mind, here's a list of good restaurants in Elk Grove.

Elk Grove Brewery --- Elk Grove Boulevard
This is one of the city's gems restaurant-wise. The atmosphere is part brewery, part bar, part kid friendly. The food is absolutely delicious and each dish has its own special recipe. A must eat are the garlic fries. You will reek garlic for days, but they are so worth it. And must drinks are the seasonal beers, brewed right on the premises.

Vince's Italian Restaurant --- Elk Grove Florin Road
Walking into Vince's is like walking back in time...red checked table cloths and 1960's decor. You feel like you're at home here. Food is good and simple Italian with some excellent steak choices. Can't beat the price, number or courses or the carafe of house red.

Silva's Sheldon Inn --- Grant Line Road
If you're looking for a nice dinner of upscale dining and quality food and don't feel like driving into Sacramento, this is the place. It's tucked away just far enough on the outskirts of Elk Grove to make you feel like you've left the city.

La Fuente Mexican Restaurant --- E. Stockton Boulevard
Come here for good, authentic Mexican food. Start out with just the best thick tortilla chips and two types of hot salsa. All dishes are the real deal and will keep you full until the next day. Atmosphere is casual and the staff treats you like family.

Cassidy's Family Restaurant --- E. Stockton Boulevard
For a breakfast full of flavor, butter and rib-sticking power, come to Cassidy's. All breakfast favorites are here... biscuits and gravy, corned beef hash, steak and eggs, omelets, pancakes and good coffee.

So if you're thinking of opening a restaurant that is not a national chain, please come to Elk Grove. We need you and I will frequent your business.

If the Price is Too Good, it's a Short Sale

On a weekly, sometimes daily, basis, I will have a client forward me an email listing of a beautiful home with an incredible, way below market value price. I know immediately that it's a short sale. The short sale speech is one I've gotten quite good at, but it still takes a few times of explaining it or actually living it, for it to sink in.

A way below market price on a short sale home is likely not approved by the bank. It's deceptive marketing just to get buyers in the door and offers to the bank. I'm not saying all agents of short sales do this. Many agents actually do price them competitively within market value. I understand where an agent is coming from in pricing a home low and I truly feel sympathetic for the sellers who are in the predicament of a short sale, but it's still unfair to deceive the public.

If a client is brave enough to make an offer on a short sale, then I have to sound like Ms. doom and gloom explaining in realistic terms that they will not hear back from the bank for at least two months. I have clients who have personally experienced this wait and now believe me. One couple who put on offer on a short sale last December, got impatient and are now living in a home they bought in March, and have still not heard back from the bank.

However, I'm now hearing from agents who are doing short sales that supposedly banks are being more cooperative now that their books are getting inundated with foreclosures. I hope that's true. I have another offer on a short sale for a client. We have been waiting since May 15 for an answer. This client really, really wants this house, so we are holding tight. His is the only offer on the house and there is a true hardship for the sellers, so I'm hopeful.

If a client wants to pursue a short sale, I will do everything I can to get them in contract with the bank. But I will do it only after discussing all the necessary pitfalls and patience needed as well as the potential opportunity to get a great deal on a home and save a seller from foreclosure. I will always hope for the latter.

The Excitement of That First Home

I love first-time home buyers. Yes, there is a lot of hand holding, but there is so much satisfaction in my job as a Realtor to help a client buy their first home. It is exciting and scary all at the same time.

I'm currently negotiating a home for a twenty-something newlywed couple who are first-time buyers. They are very stressed out, but also so excited. They were like two kids in a candy store when they realized they had found their first home. They were visualizing where their dining table and computer would go, checking the different angles on the TV while sitting on the couch, and playing with the stereo for its surround sound loudness. And I was getting excited right there with them. You can't help but smile.

I can remember so vividly -- even though it was 8 years ago -- when I bought my first home. The worry over the mortgage payment, the sleepless nights, the nausea, the stress, while at the same time being so excited about finally getting to own a home. To be able to paint walls, put up curtains, plant a garden . . . all without asking a landlord's permission. I'm in my third home now and it's still a thrill, but nothing matches that first home experience.