Above All, DeClutter!

The number one thing that people say in surveys about the experience of selling a home is that they wish they had started getting their homes ready sooner.  Much of the focus is on repairs and improvements, for which there are, of course, other surveys.  The last one I read said that the improvement with the highest return on cost during resale is replacing the garage door.  Not the kitchen or the bathrooms, you should note, both of which are much more expensive and take longer.

We generally advise people not to undergo major work, if their goal is to sell their home in the upcoming season.  Kitchens, master bedrooms, and baths are all things that you should do sooner than that, so that you have a chance to enjoy them.  They are well known not to pay back completely upon resale, and the likelihood that you will choose exactly what the eventual buyers want is pretty small.  I have seen homes with brand-new kitchens, where everyone who sees the home figures that they need to gut the kitchen anyway. 

On the other hand, decluttering is never a waste of time.  Maybe the advice to take out half of what is in every room is a little extreme, especially depending upon your own degree of hoarding tendencies.  However, it is clear that making your home as generic as possible, within reason, will make it easier for buyers to imagine themselves and their belongings in the space.  Decluttering also makes rooms look bigger, and conveys a feeling of serenity that puts viewers into a more positive mood.  And removing stuff doesn't cost any money, or not much, even if you rent a dumpster or hire someone to help.  Since it is the single best thing that you can do, we recommend it to everyone.  If you want to see proof, look on line for before-and-after photos.  You can even consider renting staging furniture, if  yours does not add to the perceived value of your home.

The one downside to this advice is that it does take time, at least for most people, because they want to go through the clutter, not just pitch it or store it.  The latter option should be considered, however, because many of us have found that storing many of your belongings for an extended period makes it easier to decide what you really need to keep, and what you can dispense with at that point.  Good labelling helps in this regard, by the way, because it keeps you from having to go through every box when you do take things out of storage. 

So, whether you want to start removing items from your home, throwing them away, or just stopping the future accumulation of new items, it should be on everyone's to-do list for 2017, even if moving is years away.  Why save now what you will have to discard later?  If you do plan to move this year, convince yourself that paying to move acquired possessions, store them, and move them again will cost money that could otherwise be spent on new furnishings for a future home.  That should be good motivation to shed the old, and embrace the new!

Web Traffic Patterns

We have always known that people take a few months to think about a real estate transaction, so that we need to pay more attention to visitors to our site than someone selling sneakers or office supplies, but we didn't have much empirical evidence to go by.  Now we have more.

We track all of the new and returning visitors to our site, as well as all the visitors who click on our website from a search.  Although we know that our region is education-driven, and therefore not, in many cases, the usual seasonal pattern found elsewhere, even we were surprised to learn the two-week period in which the greatest number of new visitors appeared.  Can you guess?

It was during the last two weeks in January!  That means that, despite weather and paying off tax and holiday bills, more people are starting a property search right after the first of the year than at any other time. Our greatest number of clicks from Google last year came in February and March, suggesting that the search for specific properties might be ramping up just after the new visitors started the process. 

Since all industry data suggests that most property closes in the late spring and summer, except for a surge in commercial closings at the end of the year, this would suggest that, if you are a seller who wants to have the broadest exposure for your property, you need to list it now!  Not next month, not when the days are longer or the weather improves, but now.  This is when people want to look at real estate, at least in our region, and we should be giving them what they want, when they want it.  Because that's how property gets sold!  So act quickly, for maximum results.

Learning from Ebay

I'm not an Ebay person, but I have lots of friends who are, and I've certainly read enough about the philosophy to get the idea.  You go on looking for something, and then you watch the bidding over a period of time.  In the end, if you want to get something, you pay the price that it takes to get it.  If you can't stand watching others bid, you take the "Buy It Now" option.

There's a real estate theory along the same lines.  When a house is listed, potential buyers look, and note the price.  They often sit back and watch the action, sometimes bidding, but often waiting.  If they really, really want just that house, they will go in early and strong, and close the deal.  If not, they wait and see.  At the end of their search, if that's the house they want, they need to outbid others to get it.

The idea is that things will sell, in most cases, for what they're worth.  There may be times when sellers get lucky, or buyers do, because of circumstances not created by them, but by the other party.  Most of the time, property goes for its fair value, because bidders will eventually come in and pay what they know it's worth. The moral?  It's not the listing price, it's the inherent value.  Put your property on low, and let buyers bid it up.  Just as in Ebay, if you can create a feeding frenzy, you will get more, and much more quickly, than if you list it too high.

When the Heat Goes On, the Price Comes Down

As I put on my first long-sleeve shirt of the season to go running this morning, I reflected on what the changing weather means for real estate.  Although spring is the traditional listing and buying season, based on the school year schedule, Labor Day brings a bump that lasts until about Thanksgiving.  For sellers, the first time that they think about heating a home that's empty, or one that's too big, they also begin to worry about freezing pipes, snowplowing, and all the downsides of winter.  We are not unaccustomed to getting calls from sellers, who previously had been saying that they were not in a hurry and didn't have to sell, asking why there have been no offers.  At that point, they are often willing to get serious about pricing their property to move quickly.  Of course, we remind them that they have a window before winter, which is quickly disappearing.

If you are a buyer, this is when you should be serious also.  It can take longer to close during holiday season, so don't take too long to make your offers and sign your contracts.  The end of the year is rapidly approaching.  Take advantage of this time to buy a great home at a good price with a low mortgage rate!