Preparing Your Home for Sale

With all the new construction currently on the market, individual re-sales are forced to compete with homes that have never been lived in.  This puts a premium on condition.  Since you will have to compete with model homes in this market, here are some tips on making your home show like a model.

1. Remove Clutter – Any items that you do not use weekly should be moved to storage.  Considering hiring a cleaning service to give your home a full once over before you go on the market. 

2. Remove Personal Items – When viewing a home buyers want to be able to picture themselves living in the space.  This is difficult to achieve when surrounded by your wedding pictures, baby photos, and last years’ Christmas card starring Fido as Rudolph.  I understand they are keepsakes, but until your home is sold….storage.  Also, remove any small collectibles sitting on mantles, counters, or bookshelves.

3. Smell Matters – From the moment a prospective buyer walks through the door of your home they are forming opinions.  It is not just how your home looks, but how it smells as well.  Pet scents, exotic foods, and dirty laundry can all leave lasting aromas that you’ll want to counter act.  I would suggest air fresheners hold an aromatic oil.   You place reeds in the oil and over time the reeds soak up the oil and slowly diffuse the smell throughout the room.  They are perfect for maintaining a light fresh scent.  Keep it simple when searching for the fragrance, vanilla, light floral scents, and anything that is reminiscent of baking

4. Make it Easy to Show- Your listing needs to be accessible.  Model homes are open daily, in some cases for up to eight hours.  If you receive a showing request and tell the buyer “no, only Wednesdays at 3:15″ You are likely to never hear from them again.  There is simply too much inventory on the market.  While this is an extreme case, make showings as flexible and easy as possible.  Remember the goal here is getting your home sold at the best price possible in a reasonable time frame.  You just have to decide that the slight inconvenience is worth getting your home sold.

5. Professional Staging - Last but not least, hiring a professional stager can be well worth the expense.  Specifically if you are selling a luxury home.  Price, condition, and location are you major determining factors.  While you must price competitively, due to the type of competition, showing condition becomes a great predictor of a successful sale.

For more tips follow the link below:

http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20080214_improvements.htm

 Best,

JLC

Price Indexes Conflict, Housing Market Difficult to Track

The two best measures of housing prices, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight’s index (OFHEO) and the Standard and Poor’s/Case Shiller index, reflect discrepencies in the state of the current housing market.   

 A recent article from the Wall Street Journal Online states “Ofheo’s index says home prices rose nationally by 1.8% between the third quarters of 2006 and 2007.  But the S&P/Case Shiller national index of home prices was down 4.5% in the same period.”  While based on the same concept, such inconsistency exists because of a dichotomy in the home sales each index uses to calculate market conditions. 

 In Chicago specifically, “Ofheo’s index shows an increase of 2.16% in house prices; the Case/Shiller index shows a decline of 2.48%” – Wall Street Journal Online

 For the full article click the link below:

http://www.realestatejournal.com/buysell/markettrends/20080215-wessel.html?refresh=on

 Best,

JLC

Congressional Stimulus Plan to Aid Housing Market

With the upcoming presidential election there are quite a few policy issues to focus on.  However, the question of our economy and what’s to be done has loomed largest recently.  Along that front, congress’s economic stimulus plan may have a drastic effect on the current housing market.  If all goes as currently planned, the package will increase the limits on loan sizes that can be purchased by Fannie mae, Freddie mac, and FHA. “Under the stimulus plan, the maximum mortgages for all three programs will jump to 125 percent of a local area’s median house price-with a top limit just under $730,000.” – www.realtytimes.com

It is projected that this stimulus could result in the purchase of a quarter of a million homes in just a twelve month period. 

The link below will connect you to the entire article:
http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20080201_washingtonreport.htm

Best,

JLC