Your Agent is Not Trying to be Mean

Before we list a house, we try to look at it objectively and through the eyes of a buyer. It’s easy for an agent to do, because we not only go in and out of hundred of homes a year, but when working with buyers we hear their feedback and pick up on the most common objections they have to some homes.

That’s not so easy for a home owner to do. Most of us are proud of our homes, our decorating and our curb appeal.  We get used to the little things that might not be perfect and tend to overlook them.  That’s why listing agents usually have to give sellers a list of things to do before going on the market and opening their home to the prying, critical eyes of today’s home buyers.

Common Buyer Objections

While schlepping through house after house after house in their search for the one that screams “buy me!”, buyers will usually share what they don’t like with their agent.  Some of the most common objections are:

Kitchens and baths that have not been updated. Yes, there are people who will love your retro, pink tiled bathroom.  But, there are not very many of them.  And the 1980s country kitchen?  It may be completely comfortable for you, but keep in mind that you are selling a home in 2010 and if a buyer senses that a major update is needed, it will be reflected in any offers you receive if you are not priced right.

Dirty or worn flooring that needs to be replaced. If a steam cleaner doesn’t take care of spots and stains on your flooring, you need to either consider replacing it or adjusting your asking price to accommodate the buyer’s need to do so.  Hint: most buyers will ask for much more off of the price than it would cost to go ahead and replace the flooring.

Personal paint color choices that don’t fit their taste. There’s a reason that agents preach neutral, neutral, neutral.  Lots of buyers don’t mind having to do a little painting to make a home their own, but it’s easier for them to envision that when they are starting with a neutral color.  Any bright wall color is just too personal when selling your home.

Poor curb appeal or landscaping. Peeling paint or missing siding should be addressed immediately.  Those are big red flags for FHA inspectors and appraisers and not taking care of them can eliminate your home from consideration by the majority of buyers today.  Your curb appeal is the first thing that people see and no matter how spectacular the interior of a home might be, pulling up in front of a house that obviously needs some front yard TLC can be a turn off that leads to not even getting through the front door.

Odd floor plans. When marketing, we call these “unique”.  The bottom line is that if you have a floor plan that leads to questions about what a space is used for, home staging might be the best thing you can do to help a buyer make sense of it.

Too much work for the price. There are a lot of buyers who are looking for something they can put their personal stamp on, so they don’t mind some of the things listed above.  However, the price of a home has to reflect that.  You can’t price at the top of the market and expect the do-it-yourselfers to come flocking to the door.

Overpriced for the neighborhood. I hope that when you are deciding on an asking price, you are looking at not only what homes have sold for recently in your area, but also what homes are currently priced at.  If your competition is all priced below recent sales, you’ll have a hard time justifying a higher price.

Need an honest, objective opinion on the condition and value of your West Bank home? Contact the West Bank Living team today.  We’d be happy to help you determine what improvements will give you the most bang for your buck in today’s real estate market.

What you need to know about lockboxes

Only licensed agents and appraisers are allowed to purchase the special electronic keys that open the lockbox.  No one else has access to the keys to your home.

Whenever the lockbox is opened, the name and number assigned to the key is recorded, along with the time and date that the box was opened.  We know almost immediately if an agent showed up for an appointment and whether they were on time.  I can’t tell you how many times that information has allowed me to give an “all clear” to a home seller who was circling the block, wondering if the agent had been there and left yet.

The lockbox provides an entire history of showings on a property.  Every once in awhile, we’ll get an agent who forgets to turn out lights or lock a back door.  We know exactly who to call based on the record of showings from the box.

Why you should use a lockbox

There is really only one reason….it makes showing your home easier.  Let’s face it, with so many homes on the market today, agents who are scheduling a day full of showings will skip right over homes that are difficult to get into.  Pick up a key from the office?  Not gonna happen, especially with real estate offices scattered all over the metro area.  Meet the listing agent to get in?  If we have to meet an agent to gain access to a property, that house is going to the bottom of the list while we schedule other appointments for homes that are easy to show and fit our client’s schedules rather than the listing agent’s.

The bottom line:  Lockboxes are the standard in making your home easy for agents to show and are the safest method available to make that happen.

Because the majority of homes in the New Orleans area not new, many of them have had rooms added on or moved around during renovations over the years.  There is nothing wrong with expanding your home, provided you have the space to do so and the funds to do it well.

However, before you make any major changes to your floor plan, consider how those changes might impact your future resale.  When planning a renovation, most people don’t even think about how they might be improving or decreasing their chance to sell their home quickly one day.

Things to Consider When Planning a Renovation

Granite is almost expected in kitchens today.  Buyers love it and it can make even an entry level home’s kitchen look high end.  Also popular are tile counters and backsplashes and stainless steel appliances, which have come down in price over the last few years.

Can’t afford to replace all of the kitchen cabinets? Consider having them refaced to bring new life to a tired room.

Hard floors are the norm (wood or tile), so think twice before putting carpet anywhere but in a bedroom.  And for goodness sake, please, please, please remove any carpet from bathrooms.

Home buyers love updated bathrooms, so it’s a good use of your renovation budget to get rid of the retro pink wall tiles and create a more modern space.  Master bathrooms with walk in showers instead of tubs are becoming more and more popular.  Those garden tubs may look nice, but very few people actually use them.

Paint colors are very personal choices.  While you may love that purple room and it works perfectly for you and your style, just remember that it will have to be repainted to a more neutral tone if you decide to sell.

Things to Consider When Planning an Addition

Think about the flow.  We’ve seen bedrooms added on that could only be accessed by going through another bedroom.  You may have added square footage, but most buyers are going to consider the space to be one room.

Multiple bathrooms are a must.  If you don’t make any other addition to a home, adding a second bathroom should be at the top of the list.  Homes with 1 bathroom are much harder to sell, staying on the market for a longer period of time and selling for a lower price.

Inside laundry rooms are important.  If you have to go outside to get to the washer and dryer, your chances of a quick sale are diminished.  Consider relocating the laundry room for more convenience.

Don’t forget to add storage.  Closets and other storage spaces are extremely important to home buyers and are easy to plan and build.

Consider adding outdoor space.  Decks and patios not only make a back yard look more finished, but can create the appearance of additional living space if located off of a den or other public room.  More people are spending time at home, so having an outdoor kitchen or entertaining area gives you an extra boost in appealing to home buyers.

Have a question about how a renovation or addition might make a home buyer feel? Contact the West Bank Living Team.  We’d be happy to help you out.

Lenders today are being very conservative with appraisals to be sure that they are not taking on collateral that is not worth the mortgage note that it secures.

As part of the loan approval process, the lender will assign someone from their approved appraiser list to provide their opinion of the value of the home being purchased.  In 2008, the guidelines for how appraisals are ordered was changed to avoid any undue influence on the values given for homes.  HVCC (Home Valuation Code of Conduct) rules state that only the lender can order an appraisal on a property – not the owner, not the REALTOR and not even the mortgage broker that may be facilitating the loan.

Once the appraisal is complete, a copy is furnished to the lender, who is responsible for making sure that the buyer also receives a copy of the report – after all, buyers are being charged for it in their closing costs.  While home sellers always want to know the details of the appraisal, that information is confidential and is not shared with anyone on the selling side of the transaction unless the appraised value comes in lower than the purchase price.

Still have questions? Contact the West Bank Living Team.  We know stuff and we’d be happy to share that knowledge with you.

However, there is much more to completing a successful sale than just negotiating and accepting an offer on your home and putting that sold rider on the sign might just deter other qualified buyers from inquiring about the property and possibly writing a back up offer.

Before we even consider placing a sold sign, we have to get through a few hurdles:

Home Inspections

Don’t forget that in Louisiana a buyer can walk away from a home purchase if they are not satisfied with the inspections.  Generally, they won’t do this.  Instead, they typically choose to request repairs.  But, the risk remains and you want to continue to have as much exposure for your home as possible.

Appraisal

What if the appraisal comes in for less than the purchase price?  If you can’t renegotiate with the buyer, you’ll be back on the market and have to do the dreaded walk of shame while removing that sold sign.

Final loan approval

Even with a pre-approval letter from a lender, there is no iron clad guarantee that something won’t or can’t go wrong.  Buyers have been known to inadvertently sabotage their own efforts by running out to buy furniture or a new car with the end result being they no longer qualify for a mortgage.

It’s exciting to have beat the odds and sold your home before your neighbors in this market, so I completely understand the primal urge to post a visual neener-neener-neener to the world.  But, don’t let that desire override what continues to be your goal right up to the closing date – attracting as many buyers as possible to your home.

What is a back-up offer?

When a seller has already accepted an offer from another buyer, they should still be willing to hedge their bets and accept back-up offers.  Basically, a back-up offer puts a buyer in the position of being first in line for a property if the accepted or primary offer fails for any reason (inspections, appraisal, financing, etc) and provides the seller a fall back contract.

Writing or accepting a back-up offer works just like any other offer to purchase, with the negotiations on price and terms happening before there is an accepted contract.  The exception is that there is an additional contingency for non-performance of the first offer.  In English, that means that if the first buyer can’t perform the back-up buyer’s contract becomes the primary offer and how that happens is detailed in the purchase agreement.

Hints for Home Buyers

We always recommend that inspection periods do not start until a back-up offer becomes primary, because there is no reason to spend money inspecting a home that you may not ever get a chance to purchase.  Loan approval dates and closing dates are usually based on the date that an offer is accepted.  In the case of a back-up offer, those dates would be based on when the offer becomes the primary one.  For example:  Inspections would be performed within x days of the offer becoming primary rather than within x days of acceptance of the offer.

It’s important to have an experienced agent on your side when writing a back-up offer, to be sure that all of the possible contingencies have been covered…this is usually not a do-it-yourself type of transaction.  If your mortgage interest rate lock will expire before the estimated closing date of the primary offer, you may want to consult with your mortgage lender to find out if a rate lock extension will be available to you.  Additionally, an experienced buyer agent will ensure that you have the ability to cancel the contract at any time prior to becoming the primary offer.  You don’t want to be stuck in a back-up position with no way out until the original offer closes.

Hints for Home Sellers

Don’t give away your confidential information during the negotiation of a back-up offer!  Telling a potential buyer “well, the other people offered us $xx” is never a good idea since you have no idea what the back-up buyer may be willing to pay and you could be short changing yourself.

Don’t let having a back-up offer in your pocket keep you from being fair and open minded during the inspection response negotiations.  It’s a real risk to turn away a buyer based on their repair requests when you have no idea if the next buyer will ask for even more.

Do you need to know more about back-up offers? Contact the West Bank Living Team and we will be happy to chat with you and answer any questions you might have.

While we’ve found that public open houses no longer attract many visitors in the New Orleans area, agent open houses are still alive and well attended.  Preparing for the agent open house is no different than preparing for a public one.  As a matter of fact, agents tend to be even more critical of condition than buyers do, so the proper preparation can mean the difference between them bringing a client for a showing or not.  If you can get an agent excited about a home, they will show it again and again.

Recently, I attended an agent open at a house in Algiers.  The floor plan was pretty good and the location is great, but it was obvious that the seller either isn’t really interested in selling or didn’t heed their agent’s advice about pricing, cleaning and de-cluttering the house.

We scope out open houses to know the competition for our listings and to see if a particular home might work for one of our buyers.  Finding a home that is overpriced and dirty and cluttered shouldn’t happen on these tours and we were in and out pretty quickly, making mental notes of what information we would pass on to our own clients.

Here are a few recommendations to prepare for your open house:

Clean, clean and clean some more.  Everything should be sparkling, from the floors and baseboards to the ceiling fans and everything in between.

Remove all indicators of pets.  Food and water bowls, doggie beds, litter boxes – all of these should be stored out of sight.  Do a sniff test as well.  Nothing will turn off buyers and agents alike as much as a smelly house.

Tidy up.  Make the beds, hang fresh towels in the bathrooms, put away all of your personal toiletries and be sure that any children’s bedrooms don’t look like Toys R Us exploded in them.

Think curb appeal.  Cut the grass, weed the flower beds and make sure that the porch is swept clean.  If it’s a rainy day, provide a good door mat to keep visitors from tracking wet and mud into your home.

What’s behind closed doors matters.  Don’t make an area of your home off limits during the open house.  If there are family members that sleep during the day, then an open house may not be for you.  Also, visitors will open closet doors, pantries and cabinets to check out the amount of storage you have.  Clearing out and pre-packing some items will make all of these spaces appear even larger.

More home selling tips

This past week, we lost two listings because the owners were foreclosed on by the lender holding the mortgage.  It makes me sad when someone can no longer afford to keep up with the payments on their property and has no other solution than to allow the bank to take over.  But, what really disheartens me is that they kept mum during the entire listing period about the fact that they were behind in payments and were running the risk of foreclosure.

While they may have been embarrassed about their financial troubles, it would have been in their own best interest to be honest with us, because we could have attempted to work something out with the lender to avoid a foreclosure on their credit report.  A short sale may have been in order, but since we weren’t told about any issues, we didn’t know to counsel the sellers on the possibility and their options.

When you hire a REALTOR to represent you in the sale of any property, it’s critical that you provide all of the information about your financial situation to them.  We are not being nosy and one of our primary duties to our clients is the duty of confidentiality – we don’t share your information with anyone.  If you don’t feel comfortable giving that information to your agent, then perhaps you need to keep interviewing agents until you find one that does make you comfortable.

Whether you owe back taxes, are delinquent in your HOA dues or are behind on your mortgage payments, that’s important information for your agent to know.  The more we know, the better we can help you determine the best course of action and the most appropriate pricing and marketing plan for your property.

Need a confidential assessment of your home’s value in today’s market?  Contact the West Bank Living Team to find out how we can help.

From the National Association of REALTORS:

After a close brush with the deadline, Congress has passed an extension of the Homebuyer Tax Credit closing deadline, the Homebuyer Assistance and Improvement Act (H.R. 5623). The extension applies only to transactions that have ratified contracts in place as of April 30, 2010 that have not yet closed.  The legislation is designed to create a seamless extension and the new closing deadline for eligible transactions is now September 30, 2010.  There is will be no gap between June 30 and the date the President signs the bill into law.

In a nutshell, if a qualifying buyer was under contract by the April 30th deadline, they now have an additional 90 days to close on their home.

This is NOT an extension of the credit, but of the required closing date.

Most of the buyers taking advantage of the credit in the New Orleans area have already closed on their homes, but there are always exceptions and delays.  Home buyers waiting on a short sale approval by a bank or those buyers that are still waiting for their own lender to finish the approval process can breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that they have an extra 90 days to get it done.

Normally, I’m a little hesitant about why someone is changing agents.  Did they not follow the professional advice they were given?  Did they ignore the market indicators and price their home too high?  Is the house not in show ready condition?

Apparently, the reason they were agent shopping has nothing to do with any of that.

When mom and dad first decided to sell the house, their daughter offered to do some research for them and find a REALTOR that is familiar with the area and has recently listed and/or sold homes there.  Mom and dad didn’t want any help and instead went to…the phone book.

It’s not how I would start my own search, but I guess there are worse things than using the phone book as a starting point.  The downside was that they hired the first agent they talked to without digging a little deeper.

What they were surprised and disappointed to find out during the course of the listing was that their agent was:

Bad tempered

Everyone has a bad day now and then, but there is absolutely no excuse for being unnecessarily rude to a customer.  Whenever the agent was asked questions or pressed on any issues, he would blow up at the sellers.

Technology impaired

Sadly, not every REALTOR is tech savvy.  But you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to master the basics.  Email was a struggle for this agent and the ability to work a scanner was way beyond his capabilities.  In this day and age if you don’t have the ability to make communication easy with a home seller then it’s time to find a line of work that doesn’t involve anything more technical than a flip phone.

Speaking negatively about the house

No house is perfect – they all have a flaw here or there – some of them are big and some of them are small.  A listing agent’s job is to market the property to the best of our ability, highlight the best features and provide recommendations to improve your chances of a sale.  Instead, during the course of the listing, Mr. Bad Temper informed the sellers that if he was a buyer, he wouldn’t buy their house.

Whoa!  Really?

Someone entrusted him with the sale of what is probably their largest asset and he actually had the nerve to say that?  If he was willing to voice this opinion to the home owner, what in the world might have been said to potential buyers?!?  I’ve sold many, many houses that I wouldn’t have bought for myself.  Whether it was location, condition, size…it doesn’t matter what the listing agent personally thinks, it only matters what the buyers think.

We, as REALTORs, have a code of ethics that includes the phrase “When representing a buyer, seller, landlord, tenant, or other client as an agent, REALTORS® pledge themselves to protect and promote the interests of their client.” While not directly in violation, if a listing agent is speaking poorly of the listing to potential buyers then, in my opinion, they are not promoting the interests of their client.  Note: this does not mean that we don’t have to disclose any known defects with a property, only that our personal opinion shouldn’t cloud our professionalism.

Are we perfect?

Absolutely not.  We’re human.  We make mistakes.  We’ve had clients that we just didn’t gel with.  We’ve lost clients because we weren’t on the same page as the buyer or seller and no amount of good humor or technology or ethics can change that.

That’s why every buyer and seller should take the time to do a little research, interview more than one agent and choose the one that fits you best.  Please don’t just choose a name from the phone book!