Well, Thanksgiving and Black Friday are behind us and we
anticipate that most wonderful of holiday celebrations: My birthday
(Dec. 9). Just kidding! You all know it’s
Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Whatever.
Beautiful cards celebrating the above holiday(s) are available
to benefit Emmaus House. Designed by local artist Shannon Grissom,
they show the Emmaus House logo in a festive green and red burst of
color. Beautifully packaged in boxes of ten, they are available by
calling 636-0522 for a $10 donation. Share the love this season
…Emmaus House is providing a safe gateway for a woman’s
journey.
Well, Thanksgiving and Black Friday are behind us and we anticipate that most wonderful of holiday celebrations: My birthday (Dec. 9). Just kidding! You all know it’s Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Whatever.
Beautiful cards celebrating the above holiday(s) are available to benefit Emmaus House. Designed by local artist Shannon Grissom, they show the Emmaus House logo in a festive green and red burst of color. Beautifully packaged in boxes of ten, they are available by calling 636-0522 for a $10 donation. Share the love this season…Emmaus House is providing a safe gateway for a woman’s journey.
I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. I know I did … I’m still as stuffed as the 20-pound bird and feel like I gained that much weight! I hope you used your home and didn’t worry about resale value or what might happen if a glass of something falls on the carpet.
As we move to the Ho Ho Ho Season, the question always comes up: Should we sell our home now or wait until after New Year’s Day?
There are, of course, two schools of thought about this. The first is that no one will be looking during the holidays because everyone is so busy running around looking for just that special gift for me. The other way to look at it is the only people making time in their busy days to look at homes are those who HAVE TO buy a home. The number of Looky Lou types is minimized and the buyers are maximized.
Probably your home will be as gorgeous as it ever will during the year: Seasonal decorations and smells trigger the memories of “home” with many people. Lights sparkle, packages sit wrapped under the tree hiding the spot where your teenage son decided to polish his shoes in the living room. Holiday cookie baking scents the rooms better than the usual kitty-box-R-us odor. The lilt of holiday carols will replace your daughter’s hip-hop CD from the media player. Ahh … home for the holidays.
The market is good. The inventories have dropped down a bit, as have mortgage rates. There is activity in every market segment, though the upper level is still the slowest. So don’t be afraid to showcase your home this Holiday Season. Ask your local Realtor if now is an advantageous time for you to list your home. Remember, next spring the inventory will blossom with the bulbs, and you’ll have more competition.
I recently gave you the picture of 2007 posed by the California Association of Realtors. Countrywide, the nation’s largest mortgage lender, CEO Angelo Mozila believes that in 2007 the inventory will pare down enough to create a psychological shift in the marketplace. Currently, sellers are still looking for last year’s price highs and buyers are looking for deals. Neither side is budging. This is creating a pent-up demand. Soon both sides will concede that it isn’t going to be exactly the way they thought it would, and equilibrium will be reached as properties begin to move.
Also, many of the agents and mortgage lenders who stormed into the market when it was hot are leaving as it gets tougher. Professionalism and skill are required from agents in this more challenging market. Buyers and sellers are less likely to trust their cousin who just got a license and more comfortable with an agent with a proven track record of success. It seems there was not a balloon of houses for sale, but of agents wanting to sell those houses!
One of the most important aspects of selling your home is, of course, pricing. I have found that the easiest homes to sell this year were the ones where clients listened to my pricing suggestions. Here’s what most agents do when considering taking a listing: They create a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA), which looks at every home similar to yours that is on the market or has sold recently. This is a very accurate cost indicator. Secondly, they arrange office tours for all their agents to troop through your home, listing areas of improvement and making price recommendations. Then they put the home on the multiple listing service (MLS) and take all the interested agents through at the weekly marketing meeting. Those agents give feedback regarding price.
Despite all this feedback, some sellers want to list their house for more than the agents have suggested. The result has been that those sellers are still sellers. The sellers who listened to what the agents said are people who sold their homes in 2006.
The same is true of buyers. I have seen agents literally tearing their hair and gnashing their teeth offer buyers who want to write yet ANOTHER ridiculously low offer on a home. Buyers who listen to the counsel of their agents are called homeowners.
The best advice I can give you is to choose a great agent, and then follow his or her professional advice. I’m sure you’re very smart, but you don’t have your feet in other people’s homes day in and day out. Let us do our job. (Especially you engineers. You are NOTORIOUS for knowing better than everyone else. Get over yourselves.)
Remember life is a journey, not a destination. Enjoy each day during this season of joy. And be kind to your Realtor!
