Archive for the 'Sellers' Category
Uniqueness Sells: A Fundamental Truth About Home Prices in the Annapolis Real Estate Market
October 8th, 2008 Categories: Buyers, One Minute Realtor, Sellers
Buyers Are Still Willing to Pay More, and Faster, for Something They Perceive to be Special. A Story…
This past summer we listed a home that was very nice indeed. Price: $1,200,000. It went under contract in 19 days, and sold a few weeks later for a price that the owners found quite acceptable.
Aside from our usual aggressive marketing, how can we account for such a good offer and fast sale? After all, the home did have a few quirks…some dated features…and wallpaper I wasn’t crazy about.
But sell it did, and here’s why: the home’s uniqueness - its overriding special features. In addition to a very private and nicely landscaped yard, the property had its own tennis court, large in-ground pool, and deep water dock just 5 minutes by boat to the Severn River.
There were other highlights, but the point is this: because the home was a unique package, it could compete in the market on its unique features - features that the buyers knew, or rightly assumed, they’d have difficulty finding in another property. Whether you’re selling real estate, art, or antique cast iron mechanical banks, uniqueness motivates buyers to act more quickly for fear of potential loss.
Contrast That With a Home Located in an Annapolis Subdivision…
…say 50 or 100 homes, perhaps 4 or 5 models to choose from, your usual upgrades. Ten or 12 percent of the subdivision is for sale. How will those homes compete with one another? On price. Absent starkly contrasting features or amenities, similar homes - in a market like the one we’re in - will almost always compete on price. Fear of potential loss diminishes when buyers perceive that supply is more predictable.
Buyers for such homes are being very patient in this market, watching competing homes leapfrog one another into the best price position before snapping them up. (Word of caution to buyers: if you do fall in love, don’t wait to make your play. There’s a good chance someone else has fallen in love with it too.)
And if you’re a subdivision seller? Your best hedge is to do everything you can to make your property stand out as unique among equals: be the cleanest, most freshly painted, best landscaped, least cluttered, and most inviting. And If you want to hear how we make all of our listings stand out as unique, email me at kenhaedrich@hotmail.com and I’ll email back.
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How a Traffic Jam on The New Jersey Turnpike Reminded Me of Our Annapolis Real Estate Market
August 20th, 2008 Categories: Sellers
I’m a Little Sheepish To Admit That The Moss Haedrich Team Can Do a Bang Up Job Selling Million Dollar Homes, But We’re Woefully Unprepared to Pay a $3.00 Toll
Or at least we were. But now I’ve gone and purchased an E-ZPass, one of those electronic thingamabobs you mount on your windshield so you can fly through toll booths.
The straw that broke the camel’s back was a massive bottleneck this past Monday at the southern end of the New Jersey Turnpike. Everything was fine and then, for no good reason, hundreds of cars were funneled into just four open lanes marked “Cash Only.” (An equal number were closed, for crying out loud.) The Fortunates, those who had the foresight to purchase an E-ZPass already, flew through specially marked lanes. We, The Unfortunates bucked, bumped and fumed our way through the toll at a snail’s pace, shooting menacing stares at anyone who dared to butt in line. It was not pretty.
Real Estate Sales Have Bottlenecked Across the Country of Late, Too, Including Here in Annapolis
Indeed, homes are piling up on the market while buyers - many of them paralyzed by dire reports in the media - just sit back and wait. Meanwhile, frustrated sellers find themselves inching their way, like the “Cash Only” masses, toward a sale, all the while experiencing the home seller’s version of road rage. Many are giving up, taking their homes off the market, or opting to rent.
There’s No Such Thing as An E-ZPass for Home Sellers, But There IS a Path of Least Resistance - And The Traffic There is Moving
We know because four of our listings - from $1,200,000 to under $300K - have gone under contract in the last 4 weeks. Two of them took less than 3 weeks to get there. So we’re familiar with the signs along that path, and here’s what they say: Read the rest of this entry »
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This Is Not Linda Donnelly, Our Home Stager and Designer. It Only Seems That Way, Sometimes, To Our Clients
May 30th, 2008 Categories: Fun Fridays, Sellers
Getting a Home Ready to Sell is No Piece of Cake. In a Competitive Real Estate Market Like Annapolis, You Had Better Do It Right. Linda D is Our Pro
Much of our work as agents involves telling people things they’d rather not hear: We need to adjust the selling price. Your septic system has issues. The would-be buyers have withdrawn their offer and are moving to Costa Rica instead.
That’s why I don’t mind paying someone else, on occasion, to tell people things I’d rather not tell them and that they’d rather not hear. Just makes my life a little easier.
One such person is our team stager/designer, Linda Donnelly. Not only does Linda have years of interior design experience. Nobody is better than she is at spotting potential buyer objections and offering sound solutions. That’s why she works with our sellers: to eliminate objections to a sale. It works: the homes she has staged for us sell, and beat the average days on market considerably.
Linda is extremely pleasant, but the experience - I must tell you - can be challenging for a seller. Imagine a 3-or 4-hour marathon session in which your home is put under a microscope, shortcomings are served up, and corrective homework is lavishly assigned. I worry how some clients will hold up. Linda knows to call me right away after a consultation and give me an update.
How did it go, I’ll ask.
Fine, she’ll say, until I told them they had to get rid of their dogs.
Linda likes to tease me, but her sense of humor is one of the things that makes her so good at what she does. This, too: she’s not afraid to roll up her sleeves and do much of the needed work with our clients. I think of her as our personal trainer for home sellers: she’ll push you to make your home look as irresistible as it can be. And in the end you’ll get the results you were hoping for.
Linda’s services, by the way, are included for free when we list a home. Call for more details.
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Me and My Big Why
May 28th, 2008 Categories: Buyers, Keller Williams Culture, Sellers
At Keller Williams, We Are Encouraged to Think About Our Mission and Purpose in Life. It’s Called Our Big Why, and Here’s Why I Think It Matters
Several years back, on my first day in real estate, I sat down with the team leader of the Keller Williams office here in Annapolis. I signed some papers, had a stack of books and a training schedule handed to me, and then this:
So Ken - tell me about your Big Why.
Sorry? It sounded like she thought I owned a ranch in Montana, The Big Y.
Your Big Why. Why are you here? What’s the one thing that gives meaning and purpose to your life more than any other?
Well, I hadn’t really considered it. And truth be told, I thought the question was a bit lofty for someone who hadn’t even learned to use the office copier yet, let alone sell a single house. But I was new, eager to make my mark, and vaguely recall mumbling something about the opportunity to help people and make a decent living in the process.
Read pages 72 and 73 in there, she said, pointing at one of the books she had just handed me. That will help you figure it out.
Gary Keller, on The Focusing Power of a Big Why
The book in question is one we at Keller Williams refer to as “the red book” - The Millionaire Real Estate Agent, written by our company’s co-founder, Gary Keller.
Sure enough, right there on page 72 was this: “…we’ve discovered that the one thing that all high achievers have in common is they are working for a Big Why. The Big Why is about having a purpose, a mission, or a need, that in turn gives you focus. High achievers always have a Big Why powering their actions.”
I was intrigued, and followed the exercise Gary outlined, writing down everything that motivated me. I was underwhelmed: to my eye, what I had written looked like a ragtag group of Little and Medium Whys. There wasn’t a Big Why in sight. A life of insignificance loomed before me. I had better get digging for a Big Why, and fast, if I wanted to be a high achiever too.
The Power Behind Being the Best You Can Be
I didn’t realize it at the time, but - as Gary went on to explain - there is nothing wrong with a collection of lesser whys: we all have to pay our mortgage or rent, fund retirement accounts, help put our kids through college.
But those - and all of our smaller whys, says Gary - will fall into place naturally if we simply put this one Big Why at the forefront of all others: to be the best we can possibly be. A powerful Big Why like this, he points out, gives foundational support to all of your other whys. It’s like geese flying in formation: the lead goose expends all the energy, while the others draft behind with much less effort.
“Being your best” he goes on to say, “is actually a goal-less pursuit. You can never really reach a point where you can truthfully say, ‘I just can’t grow anymore.’ And what is so exciting about that is this kind of Big Why can create a life that literally explodes with limitless possibility and unlimited growth.”
All Those Big Whys Help Build Stronger Communities
One of the things I love about Keller Williams is the large number of individuals we attract who have a Be the Best You Can Be mentality. That’s not really surprising, given the fact that KW agents have - at their disposal - all of the tools and training necessary for achieving greatness. Read the rest of this entry »
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April Real Estate Market Sales and Statistics for Annapolis and Anne Arundel County
May 21st, 2008 Categories: Buyers, Neighborhood Sales & Stats, Real Estate News, Sellers
Do the Numbers Reveal an Upturn in the Annapolis Real Estate Market? Plus…Here’s What the NAR (National Assn of Realtors) is Forecasting for the Second Half of 2008
Around the 10th of every month, the local MLS - ours is known as the Metropolitan Regional Information System - publishes real estate market sales statistics for the previous month. Here are some notable statistics for April 2008 for Anne Arundel County:
Average Sold Price: $398,231 - a slight decrease from the April 2007 figure of $398,754.
Median Sold Price: $320,000 - a 7.25% decrease from the April 2007 figure of $345,000.
Total Units Sold: 420 homes, a 30% decrease over the April 2007 figure of 600.
Average Days on Market: 137, an increase of 28.04% over the April 2007 figure of 107 days.
Those numbers may not seem too encouraging, the total units sold does represent an increase over the 331 sold in February 2008 and the 418 sold in March 2008.
Annapolis Real Estate, By The Numbers
Let’s take a closer look at what’s happening in the Annapolis market, and break it down by price range, active listings, under contract, and sold in the last 30 days. Read the rest of this entry »
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Sometimes, Being in Real Estate in Annapolis is a Real Drain. A Clogged Drain
May 14th, 2008 Categories: Buyers, Sellers, The Realtor's Life
When It Rains in Annapolis, It Pours. And When It Pours, The Moss Haedrich Team of Keller Williams Puts on our Slickers
The rains came to Annapolis this week, biblical rains. Like oil and water, any experienced Realtor will tell you that biblical rains and pending settlements don’t mix well. The combination puts us on high alert.
Which is how I find myself standing barefoot in 4″ of water on a client’s patio, coaxing a sluggish drain. It is 6:00AM and the client - soaking up the sun at her new Arizona condo - is blissfully unaware of my unscheduled visit, long since gone from here in both body and spirit.
They say that a lot of people think agents just drive around in fancy cars and collect big settlement checks. I wish those people could see me now, standing here in drenched jeans, my cup of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee tasting more and more diluted with every passing minute.
Doing What’s Required? Or Doing What Needs to be Done?
We - The Moss Haedrich Team - look great on paper. We have a sheet that describes our Platinum Listing Services in detail, several more that list the 186 transactional items we will take care of for you. But nowhere on any of it will you see ”Stand barefoot on patio in rain and clean clogged drain.” Read the rest of this entry »
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Why Our Annapolis Area Home Sellers Are Opting For Pre-Inspections
May 13th, 2008 Categories: Buyers, Sellers
In This Twitchy, Competitive Real Estate Market, You Need Every Advantage You Can Get. Pre-Inspecting Gives You a Clear Edge
Last night we listed a home in one of the area’s choice subdivisions, the sort of lovely home any agent would be proud to market and sell. The owners have wisely chosen to follow our suggestion and have a pre-inspection done - that is, an inspection prior to getting a contract on the home.
Why now, you may ask. Isn’t that the buyer’s responsibility, once an offer has been accepted?
Indeed, it is. At least that’s the way it’s typically done. But this is no typical market and sellers need to do everything they can, and as early as they can, to pave the way for a smooth settlement. Thus, a pre-inspection.
A Pre-Inspection Identifies Potential Problems Early, Takes Pressure Off the Seller and Reassures a Buyer
A lot of home sales fall apart during the inspection process, especially these days when buyer demands are, well, pretty demanding.
For example: seller accepts what he feels is only a so-so offer - this, after several price reductions already. The buyer orders an inspection and several problems are uncovered. The buyer submits a list of items to the seller that he wants fixed - that, or a $10,000 credit to fix them after the buyer moves in. The buyer needs to settle in 30 days. Read the rest of this entry »
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The Whole World is Waiting for Ourselves
May 6th, 2008 Categories: Buyers, Sellers
In Annapolis, as Elsewhere, the Real Estate Market Has Scared Some of Us Into a Holding Pattern. Maybe It’s Time to Land the Plane
Is it just me, or does it seem like the entire world is on hold lately, waiting. Yesterday I showed a home to a young woman who needs to move soon. Nice house, meets her needs, beautiful neighborhood. Would she be interested in making an offer?
No thanks, I think I’ll wait.
Wait for…?
Prices to drop some more.
How can you be sure they will?
Someone on TV said so.
Perhaps you should consider offering less than asking price. Just think of it as accelerated waiting.
No thanks. I’ll just wait wait.
And so it goes. Buyers are waiting for sellers to lower their prices. Sellers are waiting for buyers to make offers. And agents are waiting for their phones to ring.
Even My Barber is Waiting
Apparently he’s in line somewhere behind the housing waiters. I ask him about business. Not good, he tells me. People are waiting much longer between haircuts.
Really?
Yes, he tells me, especially families. Mom is buying electric clippers and doing it herself. Who’d have imagined that one sign of weak consumer confidence was a nation of kids running around with bad haircuts?
My brother - who manufactures model trains - reports that waiting is alive and well in his industry, too. Track is selling. But people are waiting to buy the expensive stuff like locomotives. Read the rest of this entry »
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What Dinner at the Chart House Says To Us About the State of the Annapolis Real Estate Market
April 30th, 2008 Categories: Buyers, Neighborhood Sales & Stats, Sellers
April Real Estate Market Sales Statistics for Anne Arundel County Will Be Released in 10 Days and We Will Publish the Numbers Here. Until Then, Here’s Our Almost Totally Unscientific Market Story and We’re Stickin’ To It
If the local dining scene is a somewhat reliable barometer of consumer optimism, then our dinner at the Chart House in Annapolis this past Friday would lead one to believe that all the talk of a sagging economy and a housing/mortgage meltdown is falling upon deaf ears.
Indeed, judging by the throngs of diners ordering up $35 steaks, succulent shrimp, good bottles of wine, and $9.00 chocolate lava cakes - our personal favorite - you’d have to say the mood was downright festive, that nobody’s much worrying about their wallets, and things are looking decidedly up.
Who knows? Maybe people are just getting a head-start on spending their tax rebate checks, and exercising their civic duty to stimulate the economy according to our President’s hopes.
Our Boots-on-the-Ground Perspective of the Annapolis Real Estate Market
Then again, maybe - just maybe - things really are starting to turn around. Word on the street - what we’re seeing and our industry colleagues are reporting - is that the local market ”feels” like things are beginning to turn around.
I say “feels” because we can’t really quantify it yet. But phones are starting to ring and showings are up. Gun-shy buyers are starting to pull the trigger and make solid offers. And sellers are getting real about listing price. Together, these factors are breathing life and hope into the local housing market.
But Could This be a Momentary Seasonal Upswing in the Annapolis Area Market?
Sure it could be. But it could also - as I heard one analyst put it on NPR the other day - be the inevitable beginning of the end of a down-turning real estate market. Read the rest of this entry »
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Is Your Real Estate Agent Trustworthy?
April 23rd, 2008 Categories: Buyers, Sellers, The Realtor's Life
In a 2006 Poll Published by Harris Interactive, Real Estate Agents Really Took It On the Chin. Maybe We Can All Learn a Little Something From the Results.
The poll’s intent was to measure the trustworthiness of various professions; real estate agents came in near the bottom, right up there with lawyers, auto mechanics and stockbrokers.
Unfair? To those of us in the industry who put our hearts, heads and soul into this business, and work diligently for our clients - sure, it seems unfair.
But unexpected? Not really. The fact of the matter is, not all agents are created equal. Some set the professional bar extremely low and when they trip over it they make the whole industry look bad.
Marc Davison, a blogger at www.1000wattblog.com had some interesting thoughts on the subject and those things that set trusted and untrustworthy agents apart.
“Are agents untrustworthy? Some are, some aren’t. But most paint themselves with the brush of mistrust by adhering to modes of marketing, branding and verbiage that fail to set them apart and distinguish one from the other.
Untrustworthy agents hear what their clients say. Trustworthy agents listen.
Untrustworthy agents make deals happen. Trusted agents help people buy and sell homes.
Untrustworthy agents work hard and make a case for it. Trusted agents work smart. They perform magic and do it quietly, with grace.
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