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PAULA HENRY
REALTOR ®
RE/MAX Excel
Office: 317-272-5002
Direct: 317-605-4174
Fax: 866-373-5769

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Help! My Home Didn’t Sell - Part 4 - Price

September 16th, 2008 categories: Indianapolis Real Estate News, Indy Expired Home Help, Indy Home Sellers

Price is the subject most homeowners approach with trepidition. Almost everyone I meet with wants to try to price a little high so they have room to negotiate. I can not stress enough the dangers of pricing high and holding.

Price is the number one reason homes expire without selling.The longer a home is on the market, it becomes “old news” and buyers believe there must be something wrong with the home, or the seller is desperate, which results in lower offers and more seller concessions.

I have written about this subject before, so won’t bore you with the same old news about pricing. Here’s a few places you can find info about pricing your home:

Pricing Your Home to Sell, Part 1

Pricing Your Home to Sell, Part 2

Instead of repeating the same information, I would like to illustrate the difference with graphs from a few recent listed and sold homes from my inventory. These graphs chart the number of online views the homes have had during the period of time they were listed.

This first graph is the online views of a home where the seller would not budge on “their” price. In this graph, you can tell when the price was lowered. With each price reduction the online views increased, but were far less than when the home first went on the market.

MaketGraph1

The otehr graphs are homeoweners who wanted to start a bit higher than I suggested and were willing to drop their price when we suggested. That’s why their graphs aren’t as long

Market Graph 3

There’s not much to this graph, the home went on the market the end of June, we reduced the price the end of July and the views increased. The home closed the end of August.

Online HOme Views

This home went on the market in March, with a price reduction in May and sold in June. The total price reduction was less than 5%

Listing Online View

This home went on the market in February – The price reduction in late April sold the home in May. The price reduction and final sales price was 5.2% less than the original asking price.

Many people believe if the home sales too quickly, it must have been priced too low. The truth is, if you get activity, as in buyers coming through your home, the home is priced correctly and months on the market is actually money lost. When there is no activity and all other factors are in line, we have to look at the price.

There are other factors which affect price, such as the amount of foreclosures, bank owned and short sale properties within the neighborhood. I have seen several neighborhoods where the only sales are distressed sales.

I willingly show both my defeats and my wins, but my goal is to win for my clients. A large part of my expertise is determining market value, so a home listed does not lanquish on the market. Admittedly, sometimes, there are not enough comps to determine an exact price range. It is then, we must make an intelligent decision to reduce the price in a timely manner.

Tags: Indianapolis+Homes, Home+Pricing

Authored by Paula | Discussion: No Comments »

Help! My Home Didn’t Sell - Part 3 - Competition

August 5th, 2008 categories: Indy Expired Home Help, Indy Home Sellers

Whether you’re the competitive type or not, competition plays a huge role in the sale of a home. I’m not sure why, but it seems when one person puts their home on the market in a neighborhood, a few more do the same. In some areas around Indianapolis, there are simply, too many homes available.

There’s usually some distinguishing factors why a buyer will ultimately choose one home over another. Evaluating what other homes in the market offer compared to your home is the first place to start.

There are the obvious differences:

Square Footage
Number of Bedrooms
Location Within the Neighborhood
Garage Size
Single Level or Two Story
Price

There’s also the differences in amenities which can make a home more attractive to buyers in the market.

Landscaping
Flooring
Appliances
Upgrades
Floorplan

The two most difficult sources of competition in the real estate market today are new home builders and foreclosures/bank owned homes.

If your home is in an unfinished neighborhood, where the builders is still actively building and selling, your competiton has more money to offer incentives. Still, there are buyers who can not wait for a new build.

While short sales and bank owned properties do offer a substancial savings, they require the buyer to have either time or money. Short sales can often take 3–4 weeks to receive an answer from the bank. Bank owned homes are always as-is and many require an instant infusion of money.

Remember, competition can be a good thing. When there are three or four homes available in a neighborhood or community, it will generally produce more buyers looking. When you have properly prepared your home for the market and market conditions, buyers will respond.

Tags: Selling+Your+Home, Indianapolis+Real+Estate

Authored by Paula | Discussion: 2 Comments »

Help! My Home Didn’t Sell – Part 2 - Preparation

July 10th, 2008 categories: Indy Expired Home Help, Indy Home Sellers

Painting Your home for sell This is my continuing series about selling your home after it has expired. In the Real Estate community, a home which didn’t sell during the time it was listed, is called an Expired Listing.

I have been participating in a mastermind group with other Realtors around the country. The subject of our meetings is expired listings, what happens which causes a home to expire without selling and how to overcome the obstacles to prevent the frustration for home sellers whose home does not sell.

In this follow up to my initial article about Indianapolis homes that didn’t sell, lets take a look at preparation.

When home sellers first think about selling their home, they instinctively start packing up and cleaning, which is an excellent place to start. The more small items you can get packed and put away ahead of time, the better. What are some of the items you should think about packing up?

Small tables
Extra toys
Knick Knacks
Excess furniture
Family pictures
Valuables

Open the space doesn’t just apply to the living areas.The next thing you should do is clean and starighten out cabinets and closets. Leave the necessities, and pack up everything else. If it’s spring, pack up all the winter clothes. Organize the shelves and shoes. Small spaces also look crowded when they have too many items in them.

Same thing for cabinets in the kitchen, laundry room and linen closets. Straighten up, clean up, throw away what you don’t want and pack what you don’t need for the next few months; extra towels, tupperware, silverware, anything which will add space.

Pack up as much as you can live without – we all have boxes of these items. In the last three times I have moved, I have the same boxes which have never been reopened. They’re things I don’t want to get rid of, but I don’t need them day to day.

As you go through your home, check the condition of everyday things which seem to get the most wear and tear in our homes. These would include things like:

Baseboards – paint or stain those nicks and scratches
Faucets – if they leak, fix them
Stove and Refrigerator – Clean them thoroughly
Ceiling Fans – No wobbles and dust removed.
Outlet covers
Furnace and Air Filters

If your walls need painted, paint them neutral. If you take down pictures, patch the holes and touch up the paint.

Clean, Clean, Clean – nothing speaks louder about the condition of a home than cleanliness! Especially the windows!

Take some time outside:

Sweep the walkways
Plant some flowers
Keep the grass mowed
Paint the front door or trim, if needed
Fresh coat of stain and seal on the deck
Trim the bushes

And pay special attention to the lock on the front door. If it’s broke or hard to open, replace it.

These are really just the basic items which get away from us on a day-to-day basis.

Next up: Condition

Help, My Home Didn’t Sell – Part 1

Second Best Advice for Selling Your Home

To Paint or Not to Paint

Tags: Indianapolis+Real+Esate, Selling+Your+Home, Expired+listings

Authored by Paula | Discussion: No Comments »

Help! My Home Didn’t Sell – Part 1

July 7th, 2008 categories: Indy Expired Home Help, Indy Home Sellers

Sell My Indianapolis Home You have prepared your home for sale, completing every project you could think of (and afford) to get your home ready for the market. You’ve hired a real estate agent and as the sign is placed in your front yard, you have high hopes of a quick sale so you can move on with your future plans.

In the first few weeks Realtors call to show your home and you’re sure, each time, this will be the one. The buyer who absolutely loves your home as much as you do! Certainly, you will soon get the call from your agent, saying you have an offer.

Instead, all you get is feedback:

The kitchen is too small
Buyer didn’t like the yard
Home is overpriced
Home needs new carpet
Buyer doesn’t like the colors

Not what you wanted to hear!

The feedback can actually be a helpful tool in evaluating your home against other available homes on the market. You review the feedback, make a few changes to your home and continue with renewed hope you have finally found the solution to sell your home.

Still, no buyers! After a few months, the Realtor showings are fewer and farther apart. You are up a bit earlier every morning making sure there are no dishes in the sink, the beds are made, the floors swept, just in case this is the day someone wants to see your home. You’re actually frustrated with the whole process and just want your life back. Wouldn’t it be great to leave the house a bit messy in the mornings?

Four months after you listed the home, you have reduced the price a second or third time and still, you don’t have a buyer. By now, your hope is diminishing. You continue on; after all, the goal is to sell your home.

Then it happens, your listing contract expires – Now, what do you do?

In this series, (of unknown length), we will examine each of the factors which affect a home sale and how you can maximize your chances of selling your home.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll take an in-depth look at the following topics (not necessarily in this order):