Pricing Your Home

Price too high and your home may languish on the market. Price too low and you may short-change yourself in a recovering real estate market.

Let’s work together to research market conditions and share a candid conversation about pricing your home. One of my main goals is to help you become an educated seller who really understands your local real estate market.

We’ll make a detailed review of comparable home sales in your area during the past 3-6 months, as well as assess comparable homes currently for sale. Of course, the condition of your home will make a difference in its price and we’ll look at that together.

My analysis of comparable home sales will go well beyond what the real estate industry refers to as a Comparable Market Analysis (CMA). A CMA examines the prices at which similar properties in the same area recently sold. It’s important to understand, however, that a CMA analysis does not include or reflect many variables that can be extremely important for telling you how much your home actually is worth in today’s market.

The reasons are simple: many homes that have closed in the preceding six months may resemble your home sufficiently to be called “comparable sales” but, in fact, really are not at all either comparable or identical. Homes located near your home can be quite different in condition, upgrades, orientation to the sun, amenities and not least of all, location in relation to busy thoroughfares, neighbor’s walls, industrial sites or utilities.

Since no two properties are identical, it takes a knowledgeable real estate agent to make adjustments in CMA results for the differences between sold properties and a realistic sale price for your property based on a host of variables including lot size, upgrades, condition, location and other considerations.

We will not only look at prices and sales recently but a year ago, six and three months ago. Are prices going up or down – and by how much? How many days are homes staying on the market? Seasonal or other factors? Who are the buyers? People new to the area or residents upgrading their homes or both? We also will pay special attention to the difference between list prices and sales prices. Are homes comparable to yours selling for more or less than the list price?

We’ll review comparable homes for sale in and near your neighborhood. Some of these homes probably will have open houses during the time that we’re pricing your home. We can select a few of these local open houses of properties for sale that would be worthwhile visiting. The purpose would be for you to see first-hand whether your home actually is in better or worse shape than these properties for sale and how your home price compares.

During this time, everything about your property, including some photos and possibly videos, where it is located (including a Google map with zooming and satellite views), complete information about the community, its schools for every age-group, and population, will be included in my Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices website. http://www.bhhscalifornia.com/real-estate-agent/jeremy-burns/1335

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices (BHHS) California Properties

My real estate agency, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices (BHHS) California Properties, is getting a great deal of publicity these days, in part thanks to BHHS’s own TV campaign that features 15- and 30-second TV spots dubbed “Good to Know”.

For me, the importance of this ad campaign is to show a family’s emotional challenge in selling their home and how a BHHS agent helps them through the process. Watch the TV ad and see for yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEljACZ2B3o.

Formerly I was an agent with Prudential Real Estate. About 18 months ago, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices of America took a majority stake in Prudential Real Estate. Today I’m proud to be part of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, not only because just about everyone knows and respects world-renowned Berkshire Hathaway Inc. but, in my opinion, real estate agents with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices can make a significant difference for both homebuyers and sellers.

http://www.bhhscalifornia.com/real-estate-agent/jeremy-burns/1335

The BHHS logo on a business card means a great deal. It means that as agents we are committed to: treat all parties to a real estate transaction honestly; a strict code of ethics; and maintaining a high level of knowledge of the process of buying and selling real estate.

Since real estate transactions involve one of the biggest financial investments most people experience in their lifetime, buyers and sellers of property need expert assistance and the best possible information resources.

Real estate transactions involve a myriad of negotiating factors, including price, financing, terms, date of possession, inclusion or exclusion of repairs and furnishings or equipment, time period to complete recommended or required inspections and investigations of the property, obtaining title information, providing guidance through the closing process and, not least of all, evaluating buyers’ proposals and closing the sale of your home.

The Art of Staging Homes for Sale

Selling a home involves a great deal more than listing your property and hoping for the best. No matter whether the real estate market is sluggish or robust, I tell my clients to make extra effort to stage their property in order to make a sale at the best price and as quickly as possible.

Home staging involves much more than simply rearranging furniture and freshening the décor. It’s showtime! Showcasing your home for sale!

Staging for showtime doesn’t necessarily mean expensive. Of course staging involves cleaning and what I call “decluttering” -- the removal of day-to-day living items. But it can also involve some financial investment for painting, improving the landscaping and perhaps even adding some furniture and plants.

What you need to keep in mind is that prospective buyers are trying to imagine themselves living in your home. So put yourself in a prospective buyer’s frame of mind as they visit your property. More important than simply decorating or redecorating is removing items that have you and your personality all over them. As difficult as it might be, think of it as “depersonalizing.” Make it as easy as possible for prospective buyers to visualize themselves living in your property.

Remember that you are in competition with others trying to sell their home, including short sales and bank-owned property, some of which are being staged these days in order to compete with the sale of your home.

Staging can be time-consuming, even exhausting. Perhaps you should get some professional help. Consultation from a professional designer can help and I can help you to find just the right one for you. From experience I can offer an objective, informed opinion but thee are times when additional consultation may be very worthwhile.

My advice is to stage your main living areas – living room, dining room, kitchen, and at least one bedroom, preferably the master bedroom. Remember, look at each room with the idea that prospective buyers are trying to envision living in your home. Your goal is to help buyers mentally move in, which is a different perspective than simply cleaning up and fixing rooms.

Don’t forget that buyers will be looking in your closets. If closets are full of stuff, it may give buyers the perception that there’s not enough storage in your house. Another tip is that, if you have hardwood floors that are in good shape but covered by carpeting, remove the carpeting and clean the floors. Hardwood floors can be a big selling point.

Feng Shui Tips for Home Sellers

Most home-owners who want to sell their house have heard or read something about the potential value of feng shui but, understandably, they regard it as too esoteric or difficult to understand.

Since my goal is to help sellers to get the best price for their home as quickly as possible, I suggest that you keep an open mind about how using feng shui might help when presenting your house. In fact, you’ll find that much of what feng shui offers home sellers simply makes good sense.

What is feng shui? It is a centuries-old Chinese art based on the principle that energy, or "chi," flows through everything -- people, objects and houses. In feng shui belief, for example, the placement of furniture and other items in your house can affect the flow of chi: if the energy flow is blocked, prospective buyers looking at your house will feel negative. A good energy flow, on the other hand, will give prospective buyers a positive feeling about your home.

No surprise, making necessary repairs, removing clutter and keeping your house clean before you show it are important steps to promote a sale. But they also improve the chi flow. “Declutter” your house, rather than simply rearranging clutter, for example, by stuffing it in closets. “Declutter” also means removing extra decorations from tabletops, shelves and elsewhere, especially kitchens and bathrooms.

Improve chi flow by checking that every door is able to open and close freely. Also, open all your doors and windows regularly, at least once a week, to boost chi flow.

The front door and the area around it should be as free of any chi blocks as possible. This is quite important for chi flow but also good practical advice: when potential buyers come to your house, they should be able to enter easily, without making detours around any obstacles. Make sure that bushes are trimmed and weeds removed.

As you can see, much of what feng shui offers is just good advice about what makes your home appealing and inviting for buyers. Everything that in real estate we associate with “staging” – clearing clutter, sprucing up entryways, making a home feel and smell fresh -- really fits perfectly into the practice of feng shui.

Of course, to make the sale of your home happen as soon as possible, it has to be priced right and have the right agent and marketing plan.

I Had Not Thought of Moving

The children are grown or in college and you are rattling around in a large home, maybe 2 stories, pool, garden, etc. The idea of moving is not on your mind but the amount of upkeep and time required to keep the property going is starting to wear on you. Many of your friends have retired and moved and they said that moving was a lot of work.

Here are a few questions to contemplate:

Where would you like to be in 5 years? If your children are in college and you want them to be able to come home to the home that they know and love, that’s fine, but consider that they will be out of college before you know it and you might want to have an alternative plan going.

If your children are small and you are outgrowing your home, where would you like to move? Do you or your husband have a long commute to work and would like to make it shorter? Where might you live to make that happen? Are you possibly thinking about other schools in the area that you would like your children to attend in the next few years?

OK, but if I were to move, you might ask, where would I want to go? Stay in the same town or maybe choose a new location? Communities and cities change over the years. What is important to you?

Where would YOU like to live? Are you familiar with other areas in your hometown that you like? Do you have any idea of the prices or floor plans of properties in other places and the positive things that other locations have to offer?

Have you always wanted to live closer to a college or university, beach, shopping, arts community?

Would you like to live in a gated community or a community with recreational facilities for yourselves or your children?

Would you like a one-story or a two-story home?

I would be happy to provide information about the value of your home judging from recent sales in your neighborhood. This would give you something to think about even if in the end you decide to stay where you are now.

I can suggest possibilities that you may not be familiar with since I have sold real estate in so many different areas of Orange County over the years. Many of the people I have worked with are surprised when they realize how much they did not know about options in neighboring communities.