Holidays are Here, You can Still Sell your Home!

Every year I have this conversation with my sellers. If sellers are willing to tolerate the intrusive nature of listing a home during the holidays, it can pay off with handsome rewards. My experience is that the volume of buyers drops off during December but the number of listings tends to drop more. I see a great deal of "withdrawn" listings begin to appear around Thanksgiving and through the New Year. These are likely sellers that wish to have some peace and tranquility with their families during this period.

The buyers that remain during this time of year tend to be serious about purchasing a home.The looky-loos are at office parties and family gatherings. With a temporarily tighter inventory, and serious buyers, the opportunity for sellers is magnificent. There is no sugar-coating the facts here, selling a home requires a great deal of effort on the part of the homeowner. The home needs to be kept tidy, it needs to be available to show on short notice, and the seller can anticipate a fair number of showings.It will be disruptive, but it will likely be profitable.

As I always mention every year as our weather turns wintry, follow a few key rules to keep a listed home appealing and safe. Keep leaves clear of the rain gutters and off the sidewalk, walkways, and driveway. Keep snow and ice clear of the driveway and walkway as well.If the home has a fireplace, have a fire going during showings and if you like to bake, bake something. One can also find lovely scented candles to add a warm and enticing feel to the property.

Have a great holiday season!

Thanksgiving in Six Days? Yikes!

Sellers often choose to forgo listing their home until after the holidays. It is understandable since most of us would like to take this time of year to spend with family and such. Having a home on the market can be most disruptive. But inventory remains tight, especially in the bottom half of the price range.

People that are out looking for homes during the holiday season are generally pretty darn serious buyers. Looky-loos and tire-kickers are doing the whole holiday thing. Having a home listed during the holidays can yield strong offers from serious buyers. Really, who is out in the rain and snow looking at houses when they could be inside hanging out with family and friends or at the company party? Real buyers, that's who!

I have offered up tips in the past about prepping a home for a holiday sale, you can look through the archives of Novembers and Decembers past to find useful information on the matter. In general, keep the clutter to a minimum, keep the leaves off the walkways, out of the rain gutters, and off the drive way. If it snows, be sure to keep snow and ice off the walkways and driveway.

Keep pet orders under control. Burn a scented candle with a holiday theme, bake some cookies, and if possible have a fire going during peak showing times. Some people are looking for a very specific house. If your house isn't it, then chances are no amount of warm and fuzzy presentation will sway them. But most buyers are less picky. If your house feels like home, they might just write it up!

I find buyers to be more focused and serious about their purchase during the holidays. Sellers are wise to keep that in mind when making the decision about whether to list now or wait till next year.

Happy holidays, may yours be warm and fuzzy all around.

Listed, Shown, Sold

That just about sums up the state of our market right now. Houses come on the MLS and agents are just waiting for them. Like sharks to the chum, they attack! Such is the state of housing in Clark County, Washington and in many other markets as well.

Many home owners seem to be guarded about selling right now. If the seller has equity and can sell, this could be the ideal time to list. There are not an overwhelming number of buyers but they do outnumber sellers significantly. This market locally is all about a lack of inventory not so much an abundance of buyers.

Sellers can capitalize on the lack of inventory and get a little more for their home. As more inventory hits the market prices will stabilize a little. There is always that sweet spot in market transitions. This is one of those sweet spots. Tight inventory makes it easy to sell but difficult to buy.

The real heat in the marketplace is generally in the bottom half of pricing. Those sellers looking to move up from the bottom half into the upper half can take advantage of that sweet spot I mentioned. Rapid price increases at the bottom and much more modest increases at the top make for a tidy advantage for a seller to sell now. Also, interest rates remain low and although I have been barking that they could go up significantly for several years, they will go up. When they do, all bets are off for many buyers and sellers.

For a seller that has been waiting to get out from under and upside-down house, now could be the time to grab one of the desperate and frustrated buyers to give them that little bit extra they need to clear the bank and move on to the next house.

It looks like this summer is going to be very interesting indeed.

Curb Appeal is Buy Appeal

Yeah, yeah, I know that title is a cliche. But a cliche is often based in a hard reality. In my experience, people typically form strong opinions from their first impression. These can be difficult to change. There has been many a house that I have shown that looked horrible upon pulling up. I always tell my clients to give every house a chance. But over thirty five years of working with clients including fifteen in real estate, that first impression is hard to shake.

Sellers that have a rough looking front yard are well advised to take as many measures as they can afford or manage to perk up that curb appeal. Buyers should also learn to be forgiving when a house looks bad from the front. Ideally, the perspective should be very different depending on whether one is looking to buy a house or trying to sell their home.

Sellers need to maximize the number of people touring their home. They need to get the best price possible and curb appeal starts the tour off with a positive feeling. When a prospective buyer has a warm fuzzy experience as they pull up they are very likely to be more forgiving of minor defects inside. The tone has been set for a good showing when the curb appeal shines. This can add thousands of dollars to the value and that can lead to more and stronger offers.

As a buyer, one needs to learn to look past a rough looking exterior. Buyer's are often looking for a "deal". When the majority of prospective buyers have a tendency to have an unfavorable opinion of a house with bad curb appeal; a savvy buyer can see opportunity for a solid property at an under market value. This is true with interior issues such as bad paint and carpet or poor decorating choices. These are easy fixes for a new homeowner. The reduced competition means the seller will receive fewer offers and likely for lower amounts than a comparable, well staged home with broad curb appeal. That translates for buyers as a "good deal".

Sellers attempting to sell in the winter may have a difficult time building a strong curb appeal unless they are located in the southern half of the nation. Upper latitudes often have dark and dreary winters with dead grass, leafless trees and a general ugly yard syndrome. Keeping the home free of yard debris and greened up with some evergreen bushes or trees can help.

In summary, sellers can not overlook curb appeal if they want the best price for their house. Our current market rewards turn key, move in ready listings, with multiple offers often at or above full price and a quick closing. Less desirable condition tends to benefit buyers. Houses that don't have that move in ready sharpness, lend to linger on the market. These homes are the ones that get discounted and sold for less than market. For buyers these can be that "deal" they have been looking for.

Rates up a FULL point over last year.

The all time record low rates of this past spring are now in the history books. We have seen them creep up by a full point over the last few months. But it is important to understand that historically speaking any rate under 6% is a good rate. That said 4.5% is a GREAT rate. If this upward trend continues however, this extended period of extra buying opportunity will finally come to a close.

Higher rates will eliminate some people from the dream of owning a home. For others it will limit the size, type or neighborhood of their next home. Yet there are still buyers out there waiting. Waiting for what? Even higher rates, bigger payments or worse another decade of renting?

Over the last thirty years rates have averaged much higher than today's rates in the mid 4s. The chart below shows the average mortgage rate on a 30 year fixed loan since 1975. Our current rates are still the best in over forty years.

The last three years have truly been a golden era for buyers in the American home market. Prices have been low as we recover from the "crash" of 2008-2009. Rates have been at or very near ALL TIME record lows for the last two years. This golden era has already lasted twice as long as I expected it to and something will have to give. Either rates will spike, prices will spike or a little of both. The bottom line remains that this is a great opportunity to take advantage of a rare combination of low rates and low prices. First time home buyers can get into a well priced home with payments lower than rent.

If an entry level homeowner has some equity, they can sell their small house and move up to a big house while prices are still low and rates are low. I think many home owners sitting on a house they bought in 2005-2007 are waiting for values to rise. Some have to, because they need equity. Others are sitting on equity and are waiting for a better price. The problem with the latter is that it may be seriously flawed logic. If prices rise 10% over the next year they will get an extra $15,000 for their current $150k home. But that move up larger house currently listed at $250k will likely rise $25,000. So in essence they are stepping over the proverbial quarter to pick up that proverbial dime. And as they wait, they run the risk of also having a higher interest rate next year on that new larger and more expensive home. If that happens they could spend tens of thousands of dollars in additional interest over the life of the new loan. 

The empty nester looking to downsize can still take advantage of these low rates now. Even if they get a little less cash out of their larger home now, they may save tens of thousands in interest on that final home for retirement with our current low rates. I cannot over estimate this old saying, "You will feel the sting of high interest long after the joy of a low price has faded away." Conversely, you will enjoy the benefit of low interest, long after the sting of a high price has faded away. Price is fleeting, interest is forever, well at my age it is forever anyway. 

Based on the chart above, some of us may not even be alive next time we have rates in the threes. These current mortgage rates are being suppressed by the federal government's willingness to buy the mortgages at the low rate. They are doing this to prop up the real estate market while the economy recovers. Once the fed backs away from that policy, and they will, rates will likely return to a more "normal" 6-7%.

This is a pivotal moment in the real estate for anyone considering a purchase, a sale or both. How many times have you looked back in life and said, "If I only had done this, or that..." You know, like buying Apple stock when it was five bucks a share in the mid 90s. Now is one of those times in real estate but the bottom has been revealed and things appear to be moving up. As I said in my book, 'Don't Panic', "Buy low and sell high, and that is right now, my friends."