You’ve heard me stress how important decluttering is when preparing your home for sale.  Get rid of the old magazines, free up some kitchen counter space, take down the wall of photos documenting every family member’s life from birth to high school graduation.  Standard agent advice.

As we toured through this week’s selection of open houses, however, I saw decluttering and depersonalization taken to new levels that were so extreme the homes no longer felt welcoming and might as well have been vacant.

Bedrooms with nothing except a bed and night stand.  No artwork.  No pillows.  No flowers.  No nothing to make it feel inviting.

Dining rooms with just a table and chairs.  Bare walls.  No candles.  No decorations.  Just a cold room with a hunk of wood stuck in the middle.

While we certainly advocate clearing the clutter before your home goes on the market, taken to the extreme, the result can be the opposite of what you are trying to achieve.

Think warm.  Think inviting.  Think what the room will look like in photos.  If you overdo it, you might be left with something like this:

It doesn’t exactly make you want to whip out your checkbook, does it?

If you need some expert guidance, we can refer you to a local home stager that can help you find that balance between too personal and way too stark. Give us a call at 504-327-5303 and we’ll point you in the right direction.

Invariably, during these conversations, we ask the question “are you working with an agent“.  Most of the time, folks say no.  And they usually are not, at least in their minds.

But there are those times when a home buyer or seller is deliberately cheating on their agent and using us.

They might be doing a little checking behind their own agent’s back, looking to find out if another agent will give them a different answer than their own agent did.  This is a trust issue.  If you don’t trust your agent, please don’t cheat on them.  Just break it off and find a new one.

Their agent might not have answered the phone.  Contrary to popular belief and the proliferation of social networks and smart phones, none of us are connected 24/7.  Your agent might be with another client, might be on the phone with a potential buyer for your home, might even (horrors!) have taken a break to grab a bite to eat or go to the bathroom.  Please.  Leave them a message, send them a text or fire off an email.  If they are habitually unresponsive, see the advice above…break it off and find a new agent.

Those callers might be under the mistaken notion that we have their best interests at heart, when we don’t know them from Adam.  There’s a reason that you should work with your own agents.  Actually, there are about 572 reasons.  But the number 1 reason is that they are charged with protecting your interests.  We don’t have that obligation when you call to pump us for information.  In fact, anything you say outside of an agency relationship can be used against you during negotiations if you happen to write an offer on one of our listings.  Call your own agent, who is doing everything they can to protect and represent you.

If they aren’t…well, you know the drill by now.

Start your New Orleans home search here

• They complained when they had to start putting their listings online
• They complained when legal descriptions became mandatory
• They complained when they were required to upload disclosures to the MLS so agents didn’t have to chase them down for the information
• They complained when they were required to add a single photo to all listings

With so much resistance to change, you can only imagine the uproar that they are in with the newest requirements put out by the real estate board last week.

• Properties listed in Excellent condition now must have a minimum of 10 photos, including the front and back of the house, living room, kitchen, bedrooms and bathrooms.
• Properties in less than Excellent condition now require a minimum of 5 photos, with similar mandates for what must be displayed.

What’s the big honking deal?

Well, if you are to believe the loudest naysayers, the sky is falling as the real estate board tries to tell professionals how they should run their business and how to market their listings.  There’s even a petition circulating that calls on the MLS to get rid of the changes.  Yeah.  That’s in the best interests of buyers and sellers <insert eye roll here> and will help sell a house.

I think what each of them is forgetting is that home buyers are no dummies.

Most buyers skip past listings with just one or two photos, eliminating them from consideration during their home search.  Or, they call and ask for someone to provide them with more photos so they can decide whether or not to add a house to their list of must-sees.  We really don’t have time to run all over town taking pictures of houses when the listing agent should have done that already.

In an informal poll (completely non-scientific since I just asked some of my friends), consumers said that if there is only a picture of the outside of a house, they assume there is something wrong with it and wouldn’t schedule an appointment.  This negates the common agent impression that buyers are willing to waste time on the unknown or that photos are not a critical part of marketing a home.

Agents are screaming that you can’t take good bathroom pictures.  Um….yes, you can.  Maybe not with an old cell phone and certainly not with the toilet lid open, but it’s possible.  I don’t believe that home buyers are necessarily looking for works of art in photography, but knowing that a master bath has a shower and no tub might be the deciding factor in whether or not a house works for them.  Hiding that is not going to result in a sale.

However, there’s an out for agents with no camera skills or access to a professional photographer.  With the seller’s written permission, they don’t have to supply the required number of photos.

I’d love to be a fly on the wall for that conversation.

• I can send an entire package to a buyer or seller for electronic signature and have it routed directly back to the other agent and myself in minutes instead of the hours it can take to coordinate schedules for live signings.
• I can text clients and other agents for an almost immediate response
• I can reduce the number of trees we kill each year by using electronic files instead of paper, and believe me, real estate can create a LOT of paper

Several recent studies conclude that nearly  80% of consumers first turn to the internet for  information on real estate. More alarming is the fact over 80% of the information consumers find on the internet is wrong! The marketing prowess of Google, Trulia, Zillow, and others, continues to trump the traditional efforts of real estate professionals to educate consumers.The conclusion reached by these studies center on the fact that the majority of real estate professionals practicing real estate, and the regulators charged with protecting the public interest in real estate transactions, are significantly older than the average age of the consumers they serve.

It is believed that the reluctance of more mature real estate practitioners and regulators to embrace and utilize cutting edge technology in their respective roles, has left a huge void in the marketplace, a technology deficit happily filled by Internet entrepreneurs.  The demographics of Louisiana licensees confirm we fit the national pattern. Our LREC age demographic of brokers and agents…revealed less than 20% of Pelican State real estate professionals are under the age of 35, the age group proven to be most technically savvy.

Now, I’m no spring chicken and I left the under 35 age group behind over a decade ago.  But I’m left shaking my head when I realize that while agents are moaning and groaning about the proliferation of sites like Trulia and Zillow getting in between agents and consumers, they are, at the same time, getting their butts handed to them by those companies because they aren’t keeping up with either the technology or the demands of today’s home buyers and sellers.

Here’s a newsflash….using the internet is no longer optional.  It’s no longer reserved for the “tech savvy” or the geek 2 cubes over in the real estate office.  It’s a mainstream, everybody uses it, get with the program or be left behind kinda thing.  Even toddler are using iPads, so there’s no excuse for a REALTOR® to refuse to leave the Jurassic Age.

It’s not a matter of keeping up with the cool kids or the latest and greatest in tech tools.  It’s a matter of providing information and service in the way that consumers want it.

Need some help buying or selling real estate in New Orleans?  Contact us today.  We would be honored to earn your business and show off our tech skills at the same time

They might be unhappy with their agent.  Sometimes, things just don’t work out between a seller and their agent.  It might be a clash of personalities, it might be that the agent over-promised and under-delivered, it might be a lack of communication.  We aren’t all going to be a perfect match for each other and the sooner you find that out, the better.

They might be unhappy with the advertising of their home.  Here’s a little secret that most sellers don’t know.  Each agent does their own advertising.  Even within the same brokerage, agents will have different marketing plans and budgets.  This discussion probably should have taken place before the listing agreement was ever signed.

The house may not be worth enough to justify moving.  This is especially true for many of the people that bought homes in 2006-2008, at the top of the market.  If you paid a premium for your house during that time, you more than likely owe more than the house is worth.  If your motivation for moving is simply to get something bigger and better, it may be a better idea to stay put while the market corrects.

Sometime, people just decide not to move.  Perhaps a job opportunity didn’t pan out.  Or maybe there’s been a change in financial or marital status that makes selling the wrong thing to do at this time.

No matter what the reason is, the answer to “Can we cancel our listing agreement” is “Yes, but…”

The but comes in because each brokerage handles cancellations differently – so the best thing you can do is talk to your agent and/or their broker to find out their company policy.  Some charge a cancellation fee.  If it’s an issue with your agent, some will try to reassign you to another agent in their company.  Some brokers want to be reimbursed for any out of pocket advertising expenses.  Re-read the listing agreement that you signed.  Every line of it, but focus on the clause regarding the length of the contract and any hidden fees that might be in the fine print.

How do we do it?  If someone wants to cancel a listing agreement with us, we provide a simple withdrawal form for their approval and remove the house from the market.  No costs, no advertising fees, no holding someone to an employment contract that they no longer wish to be a party to.

Before signing any listing documents, review them thoroughly.  You never know when you might need an escape route.

More advice when selling your New Orleans area home

He had it all over the internet and we had several open houses, but no one made any offers

As we continued to talk, it became apparent that the marketing wasn’t the issue with this home.  It was getting plenty of exposure.  That only leaves two factors – price and condition – and neither of those were in the control of her REALTOR®.

Pricing Your Home To Sell

Price is the ultimate factor that determines whether or not someone will even bother to take a look at your home when it’s for sale.  Every buyer has a budget, and if your home doesn’t fit their budget, they won’t make an appointment, much less an offer.  Smart agents go above their buyer client budgets, looking for homes that appear overpriced and may be more open to negotiation.  But at some point, there’s a cut off.

Why correct pricing is critical

• Buyers search online within specific price ranges – price too high and your home won’t show up in their search results
• Agents get excited and are happy to show homes that are priced well, resulting in more showings and better odds of a quick sale
• Obviously overpriced properties tend to generate low ball offers as buyers try to feel out a seller’s real bottom line
• Don’t choose your agent just because they gave you the highest probable price for a sale – it may be that they are willing to say whatever they think you want to hear in order to get their sign in your front yard

Why condition is just as critical

You can have the lowest priced home in your neighborhood, but if the condition is a problem for buyers, you aren’t going to be any more successful than that overpriced house down the street.

Are buyers looking for a bargain?  Yes, they are.  But a perceived bargain based only on price may not be such a bargain after all.  If the work required to bring the house up to the condition of other homes in the neighborhood is either expensive or time consuming, you’ll have to discount the value of your home deeply to overcome the objections of the buyers to doing the work and/or delaying when they move in.  It may be worth your while in the long run to take care of some of those maintenance issues you’ve been putting off or even to do some simple updates that will make the house more attractive.

What else can make a difference when selling your home?

• Offering some extras, such as the refrigerator, washer and dryer or a home warranty can help a buyer choose your home over a competing property if all else is equal
• Buyer incentives, such as assistance with closing costs, are a huge factor in making your home more attractive than the competition
• Don’t keep any of these extras to yourself.  Be sure that your agent is letting potential buyers know about them via the MLS remarks, blog posts and any other marketing tools they might use.

But, we can’t control….

The only variables to all of this advice are the two things that neither you nor we can control.  The market and your location.  We can’t change either one of them, so educating yourself on the ins and outs of your local real estate market and your neighborhood market can save you hours of frustration spent wondering “why hasn’t my home sold?”

 Need help selling?  Contact us today.

We preach curb appeal all of the time to anyone considering updating, renovating or selling, but that appeal for buyers has grown from just what can be seen from the street.  Now, outdoor areas have become a much bigger selling feature than they ever were.

The American Society of Landscape Architects conducts an annual Residential Trends Survey. Here are some of the findings from its 2011 survey, based on what landscape architects say are the most popular outdoor living feature trends:

• 96.2% rated exterior lighting
• 94.2% fire pits and fireplaces
• 94.1% seating/dining areas
• 93.8% grills
• 89.5% installed seating, such as benches, seat walls, or ledges

See the rest of the list here

For New Orleans home sellers, that might involve tackling a very hard question – why didn’t my house sell?

Was it price?  You can fix that.

Ask your REALTOR® for an updated market analysis of your home and neighborhood.  Don’t discount what other sellers are asking for their home.  If everyone around you is priced $20,000 lower than your home, you need to decide if you are being realistic or not.  It might be that your house is worth every penny, but if a buyer has choices (and they do) the highest priced home in a neighborhood will be the last to sell.  Are you willing to wait?

What’s your home worth?

Was it condition?  You can fix that.

We are finding that many buyers are cash strapped and don’t have the extra money to put into changing carpets, painting walls, having wallpaper removed or adding landscaping for curb appeal.  If the general feedback on your home is “it needs too much work”, you have a condition problem.  It doesn’t matter if everything works, it doesn’t matter if you’ve lived with it for umpteen years…what matters is that you will have a shortage of buyers who are willing to tackle an updating project.

Home Selling Tips

Was it your REALTOR®?  You can fix that, too.

Are you on the same page as your agent?  I hope so.  But, if not, spend some time doing the research and find a new agent that you feel comfortable with, has a good marketing plan that they actually execute and communicates with you whether the news is good or bad.

Was it the market?  No one can fix that.

Unfortunately, there are pockets of homes across the metro area that are just flat out performing poorly.  If there is little or no demand for your area, you’ll be left either having to slash your price to attract an investor or riding it out until the market turns.

SEARCH NEW ORLEANS HOMES FOR SALE

• Christmas decorations on the front of the house (to go along with the Christmas tree in the living room photos).  It’s February.
• Dates on photos.  Nothing says “I’ve been on the market for awhile now” like a date stamp on every single picture.
• No editing to brighten dark photos
• No editing to balance overly bright photos
• Open toilet lids.  Ew.
• Animal beds, bowls and even the actual animal that I assume is not part of the sale of the property
• Outdoor garbage cans not cropped out of the picture

I understand that not every agent has good photo editing software.  I understand that not every agent has a camera that is at least a step above a point and shoot.  What I don’t understand is why an agent or a home seller would believe that not having access to those tools is acceptable.  Remember, these are the same pictures that are going to be uploaded to realtor.com and all of the other real estate sites on the internet as THE visual representation of your listing.

Come on, people.  This is the first impression of your home.  Demand more from your agent, even if it means asking him or her to take new and better photos or hiring a professional real estate photographer.

We all have a tendency to accumulate things/stuff/junk in our homes.  If you are one of those people that never keeps something just in case, then this is not for you.  For the rest of us, getting rid of things can be a chore.

Fortunately, there are a couple of really easy ways to dispose of things you no longer want, and certainly don’t want to move, that could be useful to someone else.

pickupplease.org

This website allows you to schedule a free pickup of unwanted household goods, clothing, small appliances and small furniture.  It’s easy, easy, easy to just go to the site, provide your pick up address and choose from several different pick up dates throughout the month.  I used them this week and loaded up my front porch with bags of clothes that no longer fit (don’t ask), a box full of coffee cups (I have no idea where they all came from), an old end table and a box of what appeared to be every curtain that has ever hung in my home at one time or another.  When I got back home, all of the items were gone and they left behind a door hanger receipt for tax purposes.  You can’t get much better than that!  The bonus is that donations are used to support local, state and national programs for Vietnam Veterans of America.

Visit pickupplease.org

freecycle.org

Freecycle is a community group that posts items they are offering for free or allows folks to request items they are in need of.  You’ll have to create an account with them, but once that’s done, you can post your discards on the site for pickup by anyone in need.  I’ve used this site as well, getting rid of shoes that I don’t wear anymore by giving them to a member of the Krewe of Muses who is busily gluing, glittering and otherwise embellishing shoes for the parade this year.

Visit freecycle.org

If you know of any other local businesses accepting donations that we can support or get the word out for, please leave their information in the comments below.