Brandon Nelson
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Archive for the 'Seller Info' Category
What’s Your Ritual?
Having spent the weekend showing houses, I had the pleasure of experiencing some truly classic seller rituals, in how they left their homes before we arrived.
So you understand what my clients and I were looking at, we were in Lynden, looking at both century-old restored homes and super-sized, extremely well-kept 70’s homes, priced between $400K and $500K. When I say these 70’s homes were well kept, I mean to tell you they look like they were built yesterday. Truly impeccable.
In one home, the entire inside AND outdoor spaces were wired with recessed speakers, and the seller had put on — and cranked up — some classical CD that was the sound-track to our entire visit.
Even as we put on our shoes on the front porch the music rolled on and crescendo’d as if an orchestra watched our every move and played to it.
In another house – perhaps the most magnificently restored 100-year-old Queen Anne I’ve ever been in — the sellers had baked fresh peanut-butter/chocolate chip cookies, and left them out with a note to help ourselves. We were LOVIN’ IT!!! We pounded cookies and tried to keep them in our mouths as we gaped, amazed, at perfect room after room and exquisite antique after antique. Fabulous experience, all around.
Compare either of these experiences to a showing from last week, where we found every interior door throughout the entire house closed upon our arrival. It made it downright eerie, knocking on each and calling out “Hello!” and expecting again and again to have the owner leap out at us, not knowing we were even there. Such a trivial thing, but it makes such a huge difference to the buyer and buyer’s agent experience.
Some sellers put out fresh cut flowers, kick on all the lights, put on soft music or turn on a water feature. Do these tricks — above and beyond having the place spotless clean and picked up — do they actually work? I believe they very well can. My clients, for example, decided to write an offer on the music house. Aside from the tunes, the place was spotless and warm, the doors were open, the sellers were nowhere to be found so we could take our time and enjoy the visit.
Remember, the overwhelming emotion you want prospective buyers to feel as they walk through your home is, “I want to live this way!”
Plan your pre-showing rituals accordingly.
Comments: 1 Comment »Home Feedback
When it comes to product sales, the best companies querry their customers constantly about their satisfaction with a product. What do they love or hate about it? What features do they use and what could be eliminated? Is it difficult or easy to use? How could it be better?
When, among the answers, patterns develop, that information is run through R&D, marketing, accounting and any other department that might have a say in its implementation, and the product usefulness (and hopefully future sales numbers) evolve and grow.
We do something very similar with homes for sale. As a Realtor, I want to drive traffic to and through the home, as many other agents and buyers, neighbors, real estate hobbyists, and any other reasonably interested or reasonably intelligent people as I can bring to the front door.
These people have opinions, ideas and feedback, and I want that feedback! I want to know what they noticed that turned them on or off, what delights them and what disappointed them. I’m not so interested in the outlier who says the leaded glass windows remind him too much of the crazy aunt in Tulsa who’d make him wash each pane of her leaded glass window with a Q-tip, and therefore he hated the house.
I’m interested in hearing a recurring pattern, like that 80% of the people were turned off by the bright orange paint color in the kitchen. When that happens, I can talk to the seller and arrange for some painting!!! If we can identify and change something mid-listing, and eliminate a choke-point in the positive emotional flow of a potential buyer’s visit, then isn’t it worth doing to get the house sold?
It sure is. Feedback on a home for sale is as important as any other aspect, including price, marketing, condition and location. It’s one of the aspects we can use and respond to with sometimes very easy changes.
So tell me, what do you think? I’d love your feedback!
Comments: Please leave a comment.Wait or Sell?
Sellers have a tough decision to make, and every seller out there faces the question at one time or another: “Is NOW the right time to sell?”
I’ll answer that for you in two words: “It depends.”
OK… that wasn’t fair. But the truth is, it’s not a black and white issue. There are as many variables to consider as there are residential units in America. And China too, for that matter:
- If we wait, maybe the market will go up and we can net more money!
- If we wait, maybe the tax credits won’t be renewed and we’ll lose half the buyers out there!
- If we wait, maybe interest rates will come down EVEN FURTHER and there’ll be MORE buyers!
- If we wait, maybe we can add a 4th bedroom, 3rd bathroom, and 2nd kitchen, and sell it with a mother-in-law!
- If we wait, maybe the Olympics will have brought more buyers to Bellingham!
- If we wait, maybe we can just rent it in the meantime!
- If we wait, maybe we’ll be annexed into the city limits and then… and then… and then we’ll be in the city!
- If we wait, maybe we can do all those repairs we’ve been putting off since we bought the house, finally!
- If we wait, maybe this and maybe that and maybe something else!!!
If you’ve run all these scenarios through your head and you’re more confused than ever, I’ve got a simple one-questoin quiz for you that can put the whole issue to bed. Just take out a sheet or blank paper and a pen, read the following question, and write down your answer as clearly and simply as possible. Ready?
What is your goal?
Honestly answering this single question is the number one most important variable in deciding WHEN to sell. What are you trying to do? If you’re ready to move NOW, but you’re holding off because you think “maybe” any of the above bullet-pointed items are going to happen, then chances are 50/50 that your hindsight will be 20/20.
If your house clearly isn’t physically ready to sell, and you are currently TAKING ACTION to get it ready to sell, then keep taking action, and hold off until the house is physically ready.
If it’s anything else, and you’re just waiting for the sake of waiting (or passively wondering), odds are it’s time for you to throw down and SELL! There are buyers in every price range for good houses priced to sell.
Comments: Please leave a comment.Just Rip It!
I love analogies and metaphors. I read a quote once that praised them for “containing the most truth in the least space.” And I heard a great one today, referring to the pace at which a seller adjusts the list price when a home is not selling.
Far, far too often sellers nudge the price down tiny increment by tiny increment. The reason is usually that the seller believes their home is priced right to begin with, , and that a nudge of sometimes-as-little-as-$1000 will bring the buyers out of the forest and the house will finally sell.
This almost never works.
More often than not, the tiny drop is akin to “pulling the band-aid off s-lo-w-l-y” and feeling every second of agony as you go. This is ESPECIALLY true in a declining market, like we’ve had here in Bellingham recently. The incremental price drops end up chasing the market down, down, down, always just behind what the real market value will ultimatley be.
Assuming the seller and listing agent have collected and carefully analyzed all the pricing feedback from from past showings, and determined the number that would actually get the house sold, then moved it there in ONE adjustment – also known as “Ripping the band-aid off QUICKLY!” — the agony is minimized, the house sells, and the seller moves on with what proves time and again to be the best net possible.
Get the market to talk, then listen to the market and align with it as efficiently as possible. Just RIP IT!!!
Comments: 1 Comment »Year to date Bellingham Home Sales
Ahhh… statistics!!! If you love real estate, then you love statistics! Here’s an interesting batch of numbers now: Bellingham home sales, year to date, and a comparison of the same time period in ‘08. This is just good, statistical fun!
2009 Bellingham Home Sales
- Number of homes sold so far: 872
- Average price: $339,132
- Average time on market: 92 days
- Highest price home sold: $2,000,000
- Lowest price home sold: $39,900
- Total dollar volume: $295,723,008
2008 Bellingham Home Sales
- Number of homes sold in the same time period in ‘08: 855
- Average price: $359,952
- Average time on market: 93 days
- Highest price home sold: $3,300,000
- Lowest price home sold: $70,000
- Total dollar volume: $307,759,387
Where would your house fit in?
Note: This session of “Good clean fun with numbers” has been brought to you courtesy of the NWMLS.
Comments: Please leave a comment.Sudden Valley Lot Sales… NOT!
I got an e-mail from a friend today asking about Sudden Valley lots, and whether she could pick up a few at a good price to perhaps sell them at a modest profit a year from now.
I live in Sudden Valley, and I LOVE Sudden Valley. But one thing I would have a hard time putting money into right now is a Sudden Valley lot, much less a handful of them. They’re not liquid, meaning, they are NOT selling. Which makes them a good deal as far as price, sure — simple supply and demand. Let’s look at some numbers:
- Current number of Active lot listings in SV: 90
- Number of Pending lot sales in SV: 0
- Number of lot sales in SV in the past 3 months: 0
- Lowest Priced Lot: $10,000
- Highest Priced Lot: $400,000
- Average Price: $59,497
- Average # of Days on market: 424.
- Click HERE for a print-out of ALL Active, Expired, Cancelled or Sold lots in the past 6 months.
Yes, those Pending and Sold numbers are zeros. NOT ONE lot sale is pending in SV, according to the NWMLS right now. And when nobody’s buying something, you can rest assured you haven’t seen the bottom yet.
But let’s say we’re at the bottom, and you could pick up a lot for $3000. There aren’t any banks lending spec house money right now, so that’s not an option unless you have cash. You’ll have to pay monthly Sudden Valley dues on that lot, and taxes.
But here’s the big kicker: You’re in Whatcom County, not City of Bellingham, and you’re in the Lake Whatcom Watershed.
So what? I’ll tell you so what. You could wake up tomorrow, the day after you close on that bargain Sudden Valley lot, and there’s an emergency moratorium on any and all building or lot development in the watershed. Period. It’s happened before, and one of these times it’s going to stick and anybody with a bunch of money tied up in lots is going to be sorry. VERY sorry.
I do NOT recommend buying and holding land in the Lake Whatcom watershed, much less Whatcom County in general, unless you’re doing it to preserve it as green space out of your love for the planet. Then you’ll be fine.
Give me a quick shout or e-mail if you’re interested in knowing what I WOULD invest in right now. And I’ll let you know what my friend decides about Sudden Valley…
Comments: Please leave a comment.Fear the Face Value
Last week, I helped some buyers tie up a property that all other buyers had been scared away from. There are problems in the crawl space, and the listing agent had two bids from two different contractors. One had bid $20,000 for the repairs. The other had bid $30,000.
When the listing agent shared these numbers, I kept a straight face and slowly nodded my head. But inside I was smiling. Laughing, even.
This house was built in the mid 60s — a VERY solid era of contruction, and from my days as a builder and a Bellingham home inspector, not tpyically prone to such things as complete crawl space reconstruction. Read the rest of this entry »
Comments: 2 Comments »5 Easy Steps to Earn $20,000/Hour
I bet you didn’t realize when your parents had you doing mindless chores as a child that they were in fact training you in one of the highest-paid skill-sets you’d ever learn. They were literally educating and refining your ability to generate $20,000 an hour. Never-mind that a monkey can do the same tasks.
Here’s the deal:
Your house is listed for sale. You’ve followed all the Realtor’s instructions to RUTHLESSLY de-clutter and de-personalize the home. It looks like an Ikea display. It’s perfect!
But you’re still living there. You’re still dirtying dishes, cycling through your laundry, tracking in the outside when you come inside. You’re just living, and you gotta live, right?
Yes, but…
Your life and its daily stuff are distracting, and you don’t want a distracted buyer looking at your house. You want the buyer to notice ALL the good stuff about the house with no diversions and no distractions, so that they’re inspired to cry out, preferably with tears of longing in their eyes:
“I want to live this way!!!”
THAT is when buyers buy. And you can vastly increase the odds of that happening with a mere 15 minutes of focused effort. Here’s what you do…
Next time the phone rings and a buyer’s Realtor wants to show the house, schedule an extra 15 minutes before the moment you have to leave (ALWAYS leave!!!) and then recite this little ditty:
“Broom, vacuum, dust.
Dishes and clothes.”
“Broom, vacuum, dust.
Dishes and clothes.”
That’s your new “Seller’s Mantra.” Put a tune to it and sing ’til it’s stuck, then do this:
1) Get out the broom and sweep all the hard surface floors. No dirt, no pine needles, no leaves, no nothing. Sweep them clean.
2) Grab the vacuum, plug it in and let that sucker start sucking. Now dance around the house and touch every inch of carpet with those spinning brushes! Just do it!
3) Wet a rag, wring it out hard, and wipe, wipe, wipe those horizontal surfaces. Built-ins, furniture, jewelry boxes, picture frames. If it’s dusty, dust it. Hello! Top-o-the-fridge? Dust it!
4) Dirty dishes? Are you kidding me? No, no, NO!!! Load the dishwasher or better yet wash that stack of breakfast dishes and put them away. Put them ALL away.
5) Clothes: Gone! Clean laundry, dirty laundry, dry cleaning… if it’s a garment that’s worn by a human (or a cat, dog, or doll) it’s in a dresser or closet. Period.
Fifteen minutes of practically mindless chores will, like magical hypnosis, get you an offer $5000.00 higher than if those same buyers had seen dishes in the sink, dirt on the floor, and laundry in a pile. Because you’re PROVING to the buyer that you are ON IT! You get it. You’re pro-actively selling your house, not re-actively struggling to keep up with the day to day and therefore are surely an easy mark for a lower offer.
Five grand for 15 minutes calculates out to $20K/hour. Call Mom and Dad and tell them “Thanks” for the skills!
Comments: Please leave a comment.What’s a “Comparative Market Analysis?”
A Comparative Market Analysis – or CMA – is a report Realtors put together that objectively and subjectively compares your home to other “like homes” that have sold in the “relevant past” and then uses that information to best determine your home’s probable price point. I do a CMA anytime I’m called to list a property. I also do CMA’s sometimes just to help a client or friend get a firm grasp on what their property is worth, such as if they’re thinking of refinancing.
Every agent performs a CMA differently. If there is a “best” way, it’s whatever most accurately determines the price it will sell at. If a crystal ball worked, believe me that’s what I’d use.
But like most of real estate sales, it’s a process. Here’s an overview of how I TYPICALLY do a CMA:
I begin the process by visiting your house and making a lot of notes about its material make-up and condition. I “experience” it emotionally, as close as I can match what other agents and buyers will be doing and feeling. I might take some photographs. I might ask you some questions. I might stick my head in the crawl space. It’s not a standarized formula. Instead, I let the house lead me.
With that information logged, I head back to the office and continue my market research by looking at three broad categories:
- Homes of a similar size and character, with similar features;
- Homes in the general neighborhood or area of the your home;
- Homes in the general price range of where I believe your home will fall, and/or where you have told me you hope to see your home fall.
This objective data is checked against graphs of market performance, market history, and trends, all of which I will ultimately share with you and explain during a 2nd visit together.
The data I collect is also — and really most importantly — plugged into my built-in real estate “algorithm.” This is the “can’t be faked” compilation of my own ongoing experience and involvement in the market as a Realtor. Sometimes the data says $250K on paper, but you and I both know it’s in the low $300s for one reason or another. I once heard someone describe it as “A little bit of logic and a little bit of magic.” That’s about as good a way of articulating it as I’ve heard.
Granted, then, a CMA is not an exact science. But with a careful analysis of your home and the market it will be positioned in, we can, with reasonable accuracy, establish its price so you can begin to plan for your future. Ultimately, however, a home’s price can be determined only by the buyer who is willing to buy it.
Comments: Please leave a comment.What You Should Know About the 3rd Fastest-Growing Company in America
We all have habits. One that I cherish is that I read Inc. Magazine every month, cover to cover. I love it, the “Handbook of the American Entrepreneur.” No other magazine, book, class, or even my five stints at different colleges have transformed my perception of business more than Inc. Magazine.
And since I’m a Realtor, and therefore a small business owner, and therefore an entrepreneur, I look to Inc. for ideas, inspiration, heroes, failures and in general just stories that I can relate to and learn from. Not only that, but I’ve discovered some GREAT businesses in Inc. Magazine. Pandora.com for instance. Who doesn’t love Pandora?
Once a year, Inc. publishes the “Inc. 500″ — the 500 fastest growing private companies in America. The companies at the head of this list have realized totally INSANE growth. The winner this year, Northern Capital Insurance, realized a 3-year growth rate of 19,812%. No, that’s not a typo.
What inspired me to blog, though, was No. 3 on the list, a company called Harley Stanfield. I was inspired by the story because Harley Stanfield is a residential real estate investment company. Basically, they flip houses. Read the rest of this entry »
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