Lola, Urban and Will
One of the best things about being a real estate professional is that many of the folks we serve become friends. For a period of time when we managed Lola's condo in West End Alexandria. Eventually, she decided to move to Sweden with her husband Urban so she asked us to help her with the sale of her property. The overseas transaction was just one of the difficulties with this sale, but in the end it all turned out for the best.
Gifts from Sweden
Urban and Lola live in Stockholm Sweden now---Urban is Swedish afterall. But When Urban and Lola came to Northern Virginia for the holidays and to visit family they were kind enough to bring gifts. The little thank you's of life make a big difference.
Renovated kitchens are always popular.
How do you craft a compelling marketing message that draws the perfect buyers to your listings? It’s all about the principle of sacrifice, said Laurie Moore-Moore, founder of the Institute for Luxury Home Marketing, based in Dallas.
“Don’t waste your time bringing in people who won’t buy the house,” Moore-Moore told REALTORS® on Friday during a session on how to develop a successful marketing plan for luxury properties at the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® Conference in New Orleans. “Sacrifice those people and focus on the ones who will buy.”
For example, if you’re struggling to get offers on a beautiful home because it has a miniscule backyard, create a message that targets the small pool of buyers who would see that negative feature as a selling point. The headline to use in your marketing messages: “Backyard Removed for Your Convenience.”
Or, if you can’t seem to find any positives for a condo that’s just like all the others in the building, only it looks out onto a brick wall rather than the city skyline, try a headline like “Willing to Trade View for Value?”
How about proximity to Metro?
“Target the prospects for whom view is not an issue,” Moore-Moore said. “Sometimes the negative is your best hook—it becomes the reason to buy.”
Moore-Moore emphasized the importance of writing an interesting and descriptive headline that’s used in your printed marketing materials, your social networking communications, and possibly even on your For Sale signs. (Tip: Never use the property address as the headline!)
Once you draw the prospects in with a great headline, follow up with a story that defines the home’s lifestyle and calls out the most unique aspects of the home.
“Recognize that marketing is storytelling,” Moore-Moore said. “Ask yourself: What is different about the house that competitive homes can’t say? You have to find that special story.”
—Kelly Quigley, REALTOR® Magazine
Here are five steps to developing a great relationship with a remodeling contractor.
1. Let the contractor know if you are ready to remodel or just kicking the tires. Gary Palmer, a Charlotte, N.C.-based general contractor, says seeking multiple bids is fine, but don’t waste his or her time by letting the bidding process drag on for weeks.
2. Do your homework. Before seeking bids, develop two files. One should include information, including photos, of what you like. The other should include a list of what you don’t like.
3. Listen to the experts. A good contractor can tell you whether the project is feasible and what the pay off will be.
4. Communicate your budget. Let the contractor know up front how much money you intend to spend.
5. Be realistic and patient. Every remodeling project is messy and all of them are going to be frustrating somewhere along the way.
Source: Charlotte Observer, Barbara S. Russell (10/23/2010)
Real estate brokers marketing the use of a preferred lender, title company, or other settlement service provider should take care to avoid RESPA violations that can be incurred when marketing fees exceed the reasonable value of the services performed.
These services include signs inside or outside the sales office and homes up for sale; e-mail or direct mail campaigns; banner ads and preferred partner links on the broker's and agents' Web sites; and the use of the broker's name and logo in preferred partner marketing materials.
Brokers should request that the preferred partner use an independent marketing expert or system to value the marketing fee and ensure that service and activity levels are reviewed regularly.
Source: RISMedia, Mark L. Meyer (10/18/2010)
The best way to update a property is to paint it. It’s a job that many sellers can do themselves.
Here are six suggestions for making the work go quickly.
Montebello's Living Spaces
Move the furniture. Get as much furniture as possible out of the way, and then cover what’s left with plastic drop cloths held in place with masking tape.
Buy good paint. Top-quality latex interior paint will hide what’s underneath and make the job go faster.
Tape the edges. Taping the edges with painters tape will speed up the job and make the results more professional.
Work top down. Paint the ceiling first, then the walls, then the windows and trim and finally the baseboards. This will cut down on time spent repairing drips and splatter marks.
Cut in the corners. Applying a three-inch band of paint around the edges will allow you to fill in the middle with a paint roller.
Apply paint generously. Trying to stretch the paint won’t save sellers any money if they have to repaint.
Source: Paint Quality Institute (09/21/2010)
Julie Nesbitt
Julie Nesbitt knows the back trails and by-ways of Northern Virginia real estate.
Established in 1974 with a mission to reduce homelessness, increase community support and promote self sufficiency, the Good Shepherd Housing and Family Services is operated by a multi-denominational board of directors and staff managing over 70 housing units. Good Shepherd Housing and Family Services is located in the Mount Zephyr Business Center at 8305 Richmond…
HGTV’s real estate site Front Door says the weeks between now and the end-of-the year holidays are the best ones to find a bargain. Here are some of their tips for fall buyers and sellers:
Fall Sellers:
Replace faded summer plants with fall-blooming flowers and add autumn decorations to the home.
Expect low-ball offers and be prepared with higher counter offers.
Freshen up listing photos by shooting pictures that make it less obvious that the seasons have changed.
Price the home to sell. A price that is a little lower than the competition may be a winning move.
Be willing to show the property and hold open houses whenever potential buyers are ready.
Fall Buyers:
Look for motivated sellers who have a reason to move on by the end of the year.
Fall colors
Explore new constructions. Builders are often particularly interested in selling before the new tax year.
Beware of fall maintenance issues. Consider overflowing gutters and leaf-covered lawns warning signs.
Shape offers carefully. Even in this market it is possible to turn sellers off with a too-low bid.
Source: FrontDoor dot com (09/16/2010)photo credit: paul (dex)
As large numbers of people age, an increasing percentage finds stairs a challenge.
Bucknell Manor stairway.
Housing safety experts say climbing stairs can be good exercise for older people, but the stairs should be safe. Among the things that need to be done to increase the safety factor are:
Add lighting at both the top and the bottom.
Put stair railings on both sides.
Make sure it is easy to see individual treads by adding visual contrast.
Consider an elevator or a lift.
Consider remodeling in order to live on one floor only.
Source: Washington Post, Maryann Haggerty (08/14/2010)
Paying off an underwater mortgage and buying a better home could be the best tactic in this troubled market.
"If you are trading up, what better time than when interest rates are at record lows and the cost of the trade-up is much less than it used to be?" says Christopher J. Mayer, a Columbia Business School economist.
With 15-year fixed-rate mortgages at about 4.5 percent, it also makes sense to pay off the mortgage and keep the house. "At this point," says Jay Brinkmann, chief economist of the Mortgage Bankers Association in Washington, D.C., "if they don't have anything else that is bringing a tremendous return, then they are buying themselves an annuity by paying their house off sooner than they needed to."
Source: The Wall Street Journal, M.P. McQueen (07/24/2010)
A question that can cause a fiery debate but it only leaves one correct answer.
Once a bank forecloses on a property and was able to sell the property for more than the loan owed, the profit is readily handed over to the defaulted owner. Then again, the certain fees or expenses of the bank would have to be collected as well. So the loan and fees would be collected and remaining amount returned to the owner.
Some would be:
Late Fees
Back Payments
Attorney Fees
Trustee Fees
Sign Fees
Closing Fees
Newspaper Publication Fees
Escrow Issues
Realtor Commissions
Back and Current Taxes
Back and Current HOA
Clean Out and Repair Fees
Therefore to conclude, if the property actually cost more than the loan, owners wouldn’t be allowing banks foreclose on their property. They would be selling it to save their credit.
Fall Sellers:
