Price Your Home Right!

The single most important factor in selling your home in a buyer's market is to price it right. For this Step, I went to the real estate professionals for their input on pricing homes. What became immediately clear is that the topic of pricing a home is a painful one to sellers in a buyer's market, especially when housing prices are falling.

It was August of 2006 that the median price of a single-family home first declined from the previous year. According to the National Association of Realtors, it was the first significant decline in 13 years. Before that, home owners enjoyed five years of a housing boom, watching the value of their homes rise robustly. 1

Although the decline in home prices is no longer news, it's still very tough for many sellers to face the reality. But, if you want to sell your home, it must be priced competitively for the market.

Because my area of expertise is in design and bringing out the full potential in homes, I let the real estate professionals explain why pricing is so important. The remaining information in this Step is devoted to what the agents told me in our interviews.

Overpricing the Home Biggest Mistake Sellers Make

When asked what the single biggest mistake homeowners make when trying to sell their home was, virtually every real estate professional I interviewed said overpricing the home. In hard-hit marketplaces, buyers only look at foreclosures and bank owned deals.

Amanda Sarnes is a Realtor in Apopka, an area in Central Florida that is seeing many foreclosed homes. When asked about mistakes people make, she said: "Pricing it way too high! I will not spend time or money marketing a seller's house that wants to list too high. In this instance, I require that they get a current appraisal to justify the value they pick if it is far off from my comparative market analysis. Every time I've done this, the seller realizes I'm right and I then get to list it at a price that sells."

Andy Ryan, a Sales Representative for Century 21, in Toronto, Canada, was blunt when asked the question: "The number one factor in determining whether a home sells or not is its price. It doesn't matter what condition your home is in or where it is located, it will sell if it is priced right for what it is, where it is, in the current market."

According to Bill Golden, a 22 year veteran Realtor in Atlanta, Georgia, "The number one mistake people make is overpricing. Many times homeowners try to justify that by saying they're not in a hurry. Unfortunately, that logic doesn't work. If the home sits on the market a long time, you generally end up getting less than if you had priced it right from the start."

"The biggest mistakes that people make when putting their home on the market is overpricing it hoping to leave room for negotiations and expecting numerous people to come through the house and an offer right away. There is not a bigger mistake a seller can make when marketing their home," declared Sheri Moritz, Broker/Owner in Garner, North Carolina.

When I asked Debra Duneier, a Feng Shui practitioner and a Senior Associate Manhattan Real Estate Broker for Corcoran in Manhattan, what are some of the biggest mistakes people make when putting their homes on the market, she said: "Over pricing your property is the biggest mistake a seller can make. When a property goes on the market your largest pool of buyers will be activated. That is when you want the price to be right. If it isn't they will move on and your property will become old stale inventory. By the time you reduce the price you have fewer interested buyers."

The situation in some regions, like Sheffield, Ohio, is pretty tough, According to Cheryl Repko, a Realtor with RE/MAX: "Last year my sales ranged from $220,000 down to $10,000 with an average sale of about $112,000. I work mainly in the city of Lorain Ohio, where I grew up. Lorain was a bustling industrial city in the past. My dad worked for National Tube/U.S. Steel and many of my friends' dads worked at George Steinbrenner's American Shipbuilding, building and maintaining the huge iron ore carriers that supplied the steel industry. Ford built a car manufacturing plant in Lorain in the late 1950s, too. While Lorain never had the high home price spikes and valleys (or bubble) that we read about on the coasts, home values did show a consistently small increase over the years until the last few years. Now American Shipbuilding and Ford are gone and the steel plant is working with a fraction of its former workforce. While Lorain seeks to find its new identity, workers are relocating and the housing market is suffering. The area has seven to ten months of inventory on the market and Lorain's most active price range for sales is now under $40,000 and many of those are bank owned. More home listings expired in the last six months than sold. Investors who will rehab the homes and use them as rentals are buying homes for very low prices (well under $10,000 at times) and don't really care about the condition of a sold house because they'll tear everything out anyway. Hardworking people who have lived in and maintained their homes are finding it quite difficult to find buyers for their homes. Some homes are selling, however, and the task for these owners and their agents is to make every attempt to attract a buyer. Today's buyers are empowered by the media. They know it is a buyer's market and they naturally want the best deal possible. A seller and agent can come up with quite a few things to create the perception of a good deal!

The first and most important factor in selling a home in my market is setting a reasonable list price based on current market data. In a market where more listings expired than sold in the last 6 months and the current inventory is a 7-10 month supply, buyers have plenty of choices in their price ranges and recognize overpriced listings. Sellers often are remembering their last appraisal or what their neighbors' houses sold for several years ago and have difficulty accepting the current estimated market value of their homes even when supplied with current comparable sales data. Sometimes they convince an agent to overprice the home. If, however, the list price is not reflective of market value then no amount of staging or marketing will sell it."

Whatever you do to get your home ready to sell, please listen to the agents and price your home based on their suggestion.

Excerpt from Sell Your Home Fast in a Buyer's Market

New Secret Weapon to Sell a Home Fast Include Green Features

For Immediate Release Contact: Norma Lehmeier Hartie

914-739-8966 norma@HarmoniousEnvironment.com

To sell your home fast in a buyer's market, the most important factor is pricing the home correctly. But, once that's done, the seller must make their home stand out positively in other ways. It is a given that your home is clean, clutter-free, and looking its absolute best. Adding green features and making ecofriendly improvements are the hot new ways to make your home stand out over others to sell it quickly and for the best possible price.

According to Carson Matthews, associate broker and EcoBroker in Atlanta, green certified homes are selling closer to the list price in a much shorter time period than non-certified homes are selling. In 2009, the average green certified home sold in 106 days compared to the non-certified average of 186. While these figures are for the Atlanta market, anecdotal evidence suggests the same holds true in other markets.

Supporting the concept that green features sell homes are the results of Better Homes and Gardens' "Next Home Survey for 2010," which reveals what consumers want in their next home and their overall priorities for home improvement projects. An astonishing 87 percent of respondents said a greener, more energy efficient home is a priority.

Learn which green improvements to make and all the other secrets to selling your home quickly in 9 easy steps with the new book, Sell Your Home Fast in a Buyer's Market: Secrets from an Expert Green Feng Shui Staging Designer. The book reveals how to create a home that buyers desire and want to buy. The steps include what it takes to make the seller's home look and feel great—tips that will sell the home. The book also provides information on selling the home for the best price. It is the first in its subject to address the hot new sought-after green home improvements and features to sell the buyer's home fast

"Sell Your Home Fast in a Buyer's Market is a must for anyone selling their home in today's tough economy. In addition to exploring the importance of pricing your home right, staging, de-cluttering and Feng Shui, Hartie advises what eco-friendly improvements to make that will appeal to buyers. I highly recommend this book if you want to sell your home quickly and for the most money possible."

Barbara Corcoran, Real Estate Mogul, Business Consultant and Speaker

Norma Lehmeier Hartie is the author of Harmonious Environment: Beautify, Detoxify & Energize Your Life, Your Home & Your Planet, which was The Grand Prize Winner of The 15^th Annual Writer's Digest Book Awards, Best New Non-Fiction USA National Best Books 2008 and a Finalist in your
Book of the Year Awards. Hartie is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence and Parsons School of Design and has been an interior designer for over 20 years. She is the creator of the practice of Harmonious Adjustments™. Ms. Hartie resides an hour from NYC.

Sell Your Home Fast in a Buyer's Market: Secrets from an Expert Green Feng Shui Staging Designer by Norma Lehmeier Hartie.

ISBN: 978-0-9779633-1-7 Softcover * Real Estate * March 9, 2010 * 232 pages * $19.95 * 6" x 9"

Lingham Press, http://www.linghampress.com

Tips to Improve Your Property to Make it Sell

If you have a lawn, keep it well maintained. Once weeds, overgrown or dead bushes, trees and other eyesores have been eliminated, you can easily and inexpensively enhance your property to draw buyers.

Annual Flowers

Nothing beats annuals for the warm months, because they bloom continuously, adding vibrant color. You can buy them in flats, cell packs of 6 or 8, or when larger, individually.

If you are not familiar with annuals, read the description and care tags that come with the plant. The majority of annuals thrive in full sunlight, which is six or more hours of sunlight per day. The easiest annuals to grow in the shade are impatiens, which come in many different colors. The directions will tell you how far to space annuals and the size they grow. If you are in a hurry to make them look good, just space them closer together.

Annuals can be planted directly in the ground, in hanging planters, and in containers. If there is space for hanging planters, like on a porch, readymade ones are handily available.

If you have removed shrubs or other plants and have empty areas in your gardens, planting annuals will quickly and inexpensively fill the space—and with the added bonus of color.

A few large planters, filled with annuals, can make a huge difference in the appearance of your property.

Landscaping

• Add fresh mulch to your garden beds. Use natural cedar mulch, as the artificially colored red and black ones are a real turnoff to many people.
  
• Keep edging between transitional areas like grass and gardens or grass and stone pathways, neat and crisp.
  
• If you are feeling creative, you can add stones or rocks around trees and shrubs. Garden centers and masonry stores carry a variety of decorative rocks. If you choose to use rocks, select ones that are local, for a natural look. I use river rocks that come in shades of grey and are dredged from local rivers. Do the next owners a favor and put landscape fabric down first, to discourage weeds.
  
• If you are using rocks on areas that get walked on, use ones that are two inches or less for ease of movement. Larger rocks—two to three inches—are best around shrubs and trees. To keep rocks in place and give them a finished look and to help keep them in place, you can edge them with rocks that are about six inches or larger.
  
• Make certain that you have adequate outdoor lighting along walkways. If you don't, consider adding solar lights, as they are less expensive than hiring an electrician to install and they are eco-friendly.
  

Outdoor Living Spaces

Outdoor living spaces are becoming increasingly popular. A key element is some kind of patio or deck. If you don't already have one, consider adding a patio or deck to your property.

Decks are raised off the ground and are made with either wood or wood polymer composite. The composites are a mix of wood fiber and recycled plastic. Composite boards are more expensive than natural or pressure treated wood, but they last longer and require virtually no maintenance. The environmental advantage in using composite decking is that less wood is used in production, replacement time is less than what is needed for wood decks, and the recycled materials end up in the deck, not in landfills.

A patio is built directly on the ground. Patios are made from bricks, concrete, pavers, flagstone, slate or other natural rock, or even gravel and small rocks.

Depending on your budget and the value of your home, you may wish to install an outdoor kitchen, or simply add a built in barbeque grill. Both are currently very popular. Outdoor kitchens can be elaborate, complete with refrigerator/freezer, sink, counters, electricity, stove, oven and a bar.

If you do add a patio or deck, include a few pieces of outdoor furniture to help buyers visualize themselves enjoying their outdoor refuge. If you don't own any outdoor furniture, but want pieces for your next place, now would be the time to buy. Even a couple of chairs and a table adds ambience. If you are not interested in furniture for your next home, you can buy very inexpensive chairs and a table—or use any board set on something to resemble a table. Add a colorful tablecloth or sheet and you have created a terrific space for relaxation.