Sell your home AS-IS or Do repairs??

This is a question asked buy a lot of sellers.  The easy way out is to pop a sign out in the front lawn and sell it without lifting a finger or spending a dime.  But is that the best way to get the best return on your investment??

I am sure a lot of you have seen shows on TLC about home staging and prepping homes for sale.  This is a great idea that can be in expensive and really add to the sell of your home.

Low Cost Suggestion to Sell YOUR home::

Home staging. 

This is something you can do yourself, you can hire a professional home stager, or just has your real estate agent.  Home staging is preparing the inside of your home for sale.  What a stager will do is take a look at your home and suggest certain things that will help the sale. 

Take a look at this photo::

This is an example from a company that does home staging. They simply clean up the clutter... stage the home as if it were 'perfect'.  For a dining room, you may set a place setting with flowers, and an elegant dinner.

There might be simple changes like paint.  Maybe the corner of your walls are dirty.. CLEAN THEM!  Or if they can not be cleaned spend twenty bucks at the hardware store for paint and touch them up.  Having a home appear clean is such a large aspect when buyers look for a home.  It will encourage them to offer a higher price because they wont feel like there is a lot of repairs to do upon their arrival!

Also there is the issue of bathrooms and kitchens!  Have you ever gone over to someones home and used the bathroom and felt like you needed a toilet seat cover???  That is exactly what you want to try to avoid!!!  Spend time on your bathrooms to make them look spic n span!  That will help the buyer feel more comfortable! 

And the kitchen... people do not want to know what you ate for dinner last week... make sure the stove is clear of food droppings, the floor is shinny, and the counter tops are clean and clear of clutter!

Now the outside...  Do little things, pick up a few flowers to plant either in the ground or in a pot to bring color to your home.  Pick up kids toys and trash that may have accumulated over the years!  The front yard is the VERY FIRST THING the buyer will see... make sure they remember it... in a GOOD way!

One of my pet peeves is the front door!  The door is used daily and is DIRTY.  But yet this is the threshold you are walking perspective buyers threw!  Again...clean it... wipe down the door, the nob... everything.  Or paint it if needed!!!

So... to wrap things up you can sell your home AS IS... But expect low ball offers.  Spending a couple hundred dollars will really help your investment.  If you do not have the up front money, see if the contractor will put the bill in escrow and get paid when the house sells...

Inventory Remains Low!!

The inventory in the Antelope Valley remains at an all time low!! Buyers are having difficulty getting an offer accepted due to multiple offers, as a buyer you need to be prepared to move quickly and to be ready to write your offer over the listed price. Many buyers in our market have written as many as 12 to 15 offers on properties and still have not gotten theirs accepted.

Now, we have the sellers wanting the properties to remain on the market for 7 to 10 days before accepting the highest and best offer, so in this time the listing agent has received numerous offers. The next problem is if you are writing an offer over the listed price (which you need to do for there is multiple offers) you will be asked to remove your appraisal contingency! Well this is really difficult for the average home buyer for now if the property does not appraise at your offer price buyer has to bring in the differance in cash. That could be another $10,000 to $20,000 out of pocket expense.

WITH THE INVENTORY THAT THE BANKS HAVE WHY HAS IT BECOME SO DIFFICULT TO PURCHASE A HOME.

What is the best way to find a home in today's market?

We get this question a lot, buyers on the search to buy a new home, but they are unsure of the "right" way!  I am sure there are many answers to that question, and honestly there is no RIGHT way... but there is a way that will give you the best opportunity you can have.

Here are a few steps that will help.

1.  Find a local agent.  Let me explain.  In every market there are going to be agents outside the town you are looking in that will want to represent you.  You need to find an agent that knows the market, lives in that town, understands the way the other local agents work, and someone who is out for your best interest.  An agent from another town will not know all the ins and outs they need to represent you fully.  

It is VERY important that you do find an agent.  It is not to your advantage to just drive around and call on the signs.  By having your own agent they will find you everything available on the market in the criteria you give them.  Your agent is not out to waste your time, or theirs. 

2.  Make sure you TRUST your agent.  This is very important... the last thing you want in the back of your mind while you are trying to find a home for your family or a home to invest your money in is wondering if your agent is on YOUR side or the opposite. In today's market in the Antelope Valley, the chances are that you will make one or more offers on a house before you get one accepted.  This is very challenging for you and your agent.  If you have trust in your agent then you will know that she or he is doing everything possible to get YOUR offer accepted.  If you do not trust them and you do not get your offer accepted chances are you will want to blame your agent.  We are living in a very challenging market, and your agent can not MAKE your offer be accepted, we are dealing with banks more often than actual home owners.

3.  Keep your communication with your agent open.  During the process of finding your home your mind may change on several things....  your agent can not read your mind if you do not tell them.  Let your agent know what you are thinking so they can help you get exactly what you want.

Those are few tips in finding a home for you in Today's challenging market.  Here is one last bit of advice for you.  As a buyer, you are not paying your agent, your agent is paid by the seller, no matter what home you choose.  Your agent is NOT swayed by money when it comes to finding you the right home, I believe this is an awful rumor that has spread around throughout the Real Estate Industry.  

Last of all... Good luck!

Welcome!

This is apparently your first time visiting our blog because this is the first post!  My name is Sue Koett and I have been a Real Estate Broker for... well about 15 years.  I was in the business in the 90's we the Antelope Valley saw its first wave of foreclosures, repo's, short sales, and abandoned homes.  If you were in the AV at that time maybe you remember when an entire housing tract was burned for a Lethal Weapon movie because the builder went bankrupted. 

Maybe houses are not being burned right now, but  was are definitely in the same market.  This one may even seem a little worse because the high of the market five years ago was really high, which made the fall down hurt that much more!

So what is going on today???  

California was offering an 8,000 dollar first time buyer incentive... well... its all over now :(

But, in return on March 25th $100 million dollars were allocated to California first time buyers - ON A FIRST COME FIRST SERVE BASIS!!!  What does this mean... if your thinking of buying a home, do it quick!  The guess is that this money will only last 10 - 20 days before the funds are depleted. 

Fun Facts - 

Housing has begun to rise now for three months in a row.

Mortgage fraud rose 7% in 2009

Current number of properties in Lancaster right now is approximately 672 homes

The median priced home in Lancaster is about $140,000

Well, stick with us, our goal is to provide daily news about the Real Estate market in the Antelope Valley and give you resources and lots of good information!