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Count Your Wows and Then Your Cows
Increase your wows - reduce your cows - and the price goes up!
Sept, 2011
By Jason Reynebeau
Buyers are always looking for wows! Wow! - What curb appeal. Wow! - What a great kitchen. Wow! - What a master bath - you get the picture. But, they also say “Holy Cow!” Holy Cow - look at that horrible paint color! Holy Cow - look at all the clutter! Holy Cow - that kitchen is 50 years old! The number of potential wows vs. cows are infinite. Like dad always says - “every house has bedrooms, roofs, kitchens and most even have bathrooms but not all of them have the wow factor.” Our number one job, when we work with sellers, is to increase the wows and decrease the cows. In this business we sell sizzle not steak. Accordingly, if you have more wows than cows your home will sell at a higher price. The reverse is also true!
This concept is simple as can be - but market pressures are constantly changing, so the number of wows needed to encourage a buyer to pull the trigger also changes over time. For Example: In a major seller’s market the only wow needed is “WOW! Here’s a home that is not sold - let’s buy it”. In that case, that one wow can trump a lot of cows. But, as the market pressures weaken and as inventory increases it takes progressively more wows to get a buyer to pull the trigger.
To make this concept a bit more complicated we must remember that all homes are equally saleable. A perfect home with perfect condition and perfect location is no more saleable than a home with horrible location and condition factors. Why? Look at it this way - “wows will trump price and price will trump cows.” The former will sell for more money but it’s not more saleable. The latter will sell for less money but is not less saleable. Both are equally saleable but at different prices.
Buyers are incredibly smart when you begin to ask them to part with their money. They may not know the difference from a T-lock and a three-tab shingle - but they know a bad roof when they see one. Buyers look at dozens and dozens of homes and they efficiently balance wows against cows. How they do that is amazing to me - they just know the right house when they see it and they seldom make a mistake on value given the market conditions at the time. Continued at Recent Articles - Count Your Wows and Then Your Cows

Foreclosures Myths Debunked
There is life after a Foreclosure
January 2011

By: Jeremy Kendall
When millions of foreclosures suddenly flooded the market at the onset of the housing crash, home owners knew little to nothing about holding onto their homes or how to recover if they got the boot.
Misinformation and fraud compounded the effects of slow regulatory action and lackadaisical response from the lending industry. Uncharted waters were submerged in rumors, speculation, conjecture and ignorance.
Years later, foreclosure myths endure. Freddie Mac, one of the nation's largest home loan investors, initially charged with expanding opportunities for home ownership and now focused on the liquidity needs of the mortgage market, is also about myth busting.

Here is a list of the "Top Foreclosure Myths" and the truth behind those false beliefs which was recently released from Freddie Mac which is a twin to Fannie Mae. Continued at Recent Articles - Foreclosure Myths Debunked - January 2011..

Value Disparities
Why the very same floor plan has widely diffferent values.
January 2011

By: Jason Reynebeau
As we counsel our seller clients on how to navigate the current real estate marketplace, it’s become increasingly difficult to help them pinpoint a specific value associated with a particular home.
It’s a challenge because of the extreme disparities in values. For example: In reviewing comparable sales of Hutchinson A-Plans for the last 12 months you would see that one A-Plan sold for $199,600 (July) and another sold for $305,000 (April). The exact same floor plan can fit into a $100,000 price range - that’s a wide spread. This has happened as a result of what could be called the 100% Financing Effect and massive demographic changes.
Continued at Recent Articles - Value Disparities

How to be a Successful Seller
Don’t be the first one cut!
January 2010

By Jason Reynebeau
The first thing Realtors and buyers do when they are searching for homes is ELIMINATE! The process of buying a home is a process of elimination and you don’t want to be cut on a computer screen or in a Realtor’s office.
Here is how it happens - a Realtor sits down and searches all properties within a certain price range, a given geography and with a given set of parameters. For Example: All homes between $250-300K around Golden High School, with 3-4 bedrooms and a two-car garage. If a given home fits into those parameters and assuming the data relative to that home was properly inputt, it will show up in that search.
So, let’s say that 35 properties show up in that search. The Realtor only wants to show the 10 best homes so they will do one of two things. First they might tighten up the search to reduce the number of results or Second they will just begin to ELIMINATE. Of course, every elimination is unique to the given buyer requirements but generally it might go like this: Continued at Recent Articles - How to be a Successful Seller - Don't be Eliminated . . .