The Not So Open House… December 30, 2007
Posted by Justin Tupper in Uncategorized.Tags: open house, real estate, realty
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The Odds are pretty darn slim that you are going to find the house of your dreams at a Sunday afternoon open house…. So I also think that the odds are equally as slim that any buyer will find their dream home at a Open House. Lets just face it the thought of Opening your home up to the public on a Sunday afternoon is less than appealing in the first place.Normally what happens is that you have a few nosey Neighbors comeby and want to know where you are moving… and most importantlythey want to know the asking price of your home. Because after all, their house is nicer than yours, in their eyes and if yoursis worth X than theirs is worth even more!Or its just other folks who are out on their Sunday afternoon drive and see the sign in the dirt so they decide to stop on in…. Most of the time they know little about the house and even more often they can not afford the house anyway.After all, when you go out on your Sunday afternoon drive aren’t you going to the neighborhoods with the big houses in them, the houses that you will live in “one day” Now there may be the occasional neighbor that comes by to checkout your house not because they have any desire but, they do have a relativethat wants to move close…. In those rare occurrences that can be a good thing because neighbors can be good marketers for your home if they are looking out for friends and family.But all and all, I have found the traditional “Open House” to be a total waste of time…. In fact, I just don’t do them anymore… If a seller really thinks they matter that much I suggest they have one and when theyare truly ready to sell their home, give me a call and I will be happy to marketthe house for them. Under certain circumstances there are 2 forms of an “Open House” that I recommend.The first is an invitation only Open House. This where I invite the top producers to the house and treat them the way they deserve too be treated. Many times I will have a catered meal or something nice. I once hosted onethat included a FREE car wash done while they where touring the home. Thesefolks are Top Producers because they pick up the phone and find buyers for properties. It is important to spend time making them aware of a nice house.The Second form is the “30 Minute Open House” These are for the public.These are to be used if the house is getting a lot of call and can be a tool to produce “the fear of loss” or “a hot property” All you do is once you start to market the house if you get a few calls on the same day schedule all the showing in a 30 minute period either on the same day or the following day.The goal here is to have people showing up at the same time or within a few minutes of each other. This creates a feel that that your property is “hot” and it can also make people produce an offer quicker…That’s the name of the game!Justin Tupper
If you are not going to use me as your agent….. use someone else! December 17, 2007
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While I certainly understand that everyone who reads this entry will not use me as there Real Estate Agent.. However, I strongly recommend they use someone.
Many of you who read this are saying “of course he is going to recommend that sellers use agents. The guy is an agent himself… That’s kinda like job security!”
Well, that actually has nothing to do with it!
One of the biggest mistakes that I see is when people try and show their own home to perspective buyers. It can be a total nightmare….
In fact, I request that the owners of the home are not present when I show a property….
Why?
Because a perspective buyer does not need to know everything that has happened in the house over
the time the seller has lived there.
Now, I’m in NO way trying to say that a seller should not fully disclose everything pertaining to the condition of the house…..
I’m talking about all the stories that sellers love to talk about as they show the house….. How this room used to be little Johnny’s until he went to college…. Or this is where we put the Christmas Tree…. or the dining room can seat 23 because that’s how many we have for Thanksgiving every year…
Perspective buyers want to envision how this will be there dream home and the amazing memories they will soon make in there NEW home!
Most buyers will feel uncomfortable with you showing them your home. They are going to associate the home with you, your stories, your family, your history.
They don’t need to know every little tidbit of memorabilia your house holds for you; they need to know that this home can be theirs.
Regardless of the condition of the real estate market, selling a home, although personal, is still a business transaction.
Let the professionals handle the showings of your home. .
Allow time for the buyers to feel comfortable in your house and to start picturing themselves living there. Get out of the house for the showing….
This tip alone will save you thousands when you put your house on the market!
To Sell Or Not To Sell….? December 11, 2007
Posted by Justin Tupper in Pricing Real Estate.Tags: home sales, homes, marketing, pricing, real estate, realty
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Your first thought when you read that headline maybe….
What do you mean? “Everyone who puts their house on the market wants to sell it!”
Well my friend that has not always the case …. You see from 2004 to 2006 the market made your decision really easy.
All you had to do was hire a real estate agent with a heart beat, find out the price of the last house that sold in your neighborhood add 20% to your price, stick a sign in your yard and have the agent post it on the local MLS (multiple listing service) and wait for
your phone to ring…..
It was much more like fishing than selling real estate!
Heck, in some markets the biggest problem for the agent was how were they going to handle
a multiple offer situation.
I can recall when those where referred to as a real pain in the rear end!
My how times have changed!
I don’t need to tell anyone times have changed…. all you have to do is pick up a
newspaper or turn on the nightly news and they will remind you of that real quick….
Gone are the days of the ” If it sells or not its no big deal.” or “We’re not in a hurry” or my favorite….”If someone wants to give us our price… we’ll sell.”
See there are a bunch of circumstances that have happened outside of our economy (the largest factor) that I feel added to the current problem… I could start telling you about how this is really a lending crunch and its the Banks that have gotten us in this tough market or I could tell you that there are all these people who bought on spec and they are the real problem here…. I could even try and convince you that it has something to do with gas prices. Doesn’t everything?
But I feel that the underlying problem is pricing….. yep pricing!
Incorrect pricing has allowed housing inventory to climb to an all time high….
There are more houses on the market right now than ever before….
Heck, if the builders stopped building houses tomorrow morning it would still take many market 2-3 years to
eat away at the large inventory that has been produced over the last couple years.
Here is a simple fact…
Well priced homes sell. Period!
Some of you maybe saying “well we have our house listed for almost what we paid for it and it has not sold” well if that’s the case I have some real bad news for you…..
You paid too much!
See because of the information age and the access of information that is at your finger tips (the computer you are staring at right now) The home buying crowd has become a knowledgeable group of people… there are way to many choices out there for them to make right now….
and they also know value when they see it.
A COMMITTED SELLER (yes those two words are in all caps for a reason) must first start
with price…. and once a real “value based price” is set then they must really commit…
If they say things like this……… “lets just price it at X and see if we get an offer”
They are not committed…
“we don’t want a for sale sign in our yard”
They are not committed….
“we need 24 hour notice to show the house”
They are not committed…
“please don’t put it on the MLS” or “we don’t want our neighbors to find out”
They are not committed…
So if you are an agent that is reading this I challenge you to make sure that your sellers
are committed to selling…. Have the tough conversation with them early….
Instead of having to deal with an expired listing in 6 months because
the price was never right and your seller was not committed to sell in the first place.
If you are a seller reading this who is considering putting your house on the market.
PLEASE decide right now if you really want or need to sell and first establish a good price.
A good price is not always what you think your house is worth… its most likely much less. A good
price is what you would spend your hard earned money on to buy the house again….
The last thing any market needs right now is more overpriced inventory…. First decide(commit) if you are going sell your house….. Then price it right…… (if that takes getting an appraisal…do it)
That is all I have for you today. In the coming weeks I will be giving you tons of other tips that will help you sell your house in 45 days or less in any market!
Sincerely,
Justin Tupper
Remarkable Real Estate Tips
