What I was emphasizing in that first post was that an agent can not defy market forces.  If prices are down and the market is a bear  which is the case for most of Westchester homes for sale, then  even the most stellar agent will NOT be able to get you a 2006 price in 2011.  The notion that the “right agent” will get the seller “their price” is a fallacy which dies a slow hard death for many sellers.

The Expired Listing Gold Rush:

The real estate industry created this urban legend in many ways.   Let’s take expired listings as an example.  If you are a home owner who had a listing expire – you know what I mean.  The minute your listing expired, seemingly  thousands of agents came out of the woodwork trying to convince you that they could do a better job.   They descend upon sellers like sharks in a feeding frenzy.  Sellers don’t like to think about their homes a chum – but sadly, that’s the reality.

Many claim that they have a “new approach” that will work its magic.  They will not only sell the home for top dollar, they will do it above market value in record time.  They have created a secret formula that the others are too cheap or lazy to execute and their hyped up marketing  will be a gold mine for the seller.   If you believe that – then I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn I’d like to sell….

Making unrealistic claims does our industry a disservice.  It  creates mistrust – and with good reason.   The public then comes to think of us as a commodity.   If one doesn’t work try another…. but a good agent is worth their weight in gold.  So before you change agents – let’s make sure you aren’t discarding gold for coal.   You need to know whether or not your agent was doing their job!  The problem is that the public really doesn’t understand what our job is…So here are some tips….

Has your listing agent offered advice even though it may not be what you want to here?

Certainly this applies to pricing. Taking an overpriced listing almost guarantees failure.  An agent who said “sure, I can sell your home for that” when three other agents said that they could not is a warning sign.  If that agent took the listing and immediately started asking for price reductions – you may have an agent who” bought” the listing to bait buyers.   This is not to say that markets can’t change suddenly and viciously.  They can – and I have lost listings when the market was a falling knife.  The sellers must of thought I was full of it.  But if your agent is telling you to lower the price a week after they told you that price was “no problem” there may be an issue.

Other bones of contention can be with regard to necessary repairs and primping as well as  staging. These things cost money – but in this market they are no longer optional.  A good agent will tell sellers the truth.  Whether or not the seller takes the advice is up to them.  Much of an agents value is showing the seller what will and will not fly in the current market.

Does your listing agent KNOW this market?

Ideally the agent should have know  your market.  They need to have to have knowledge of what has closed and for how much and how long listings are taking to sell.  They should know the general direction of your market and markets immediately surrounding and have knowledge of where the market is trending.   The agent should be close enough to  service the listing but they don’t have to live in the same town to be effective  (that’s another urban legend).   One big exception to this rule is if you are a short-sale – local is less important than someone experienced in negotiating with banks.  Then I don’t care how far away they are.  If you are selling short, a  person skilled at negotiating a short sale is pure gold.  (I do not do short sales but know people who specialize in it. )

Did the listing agent put together a well-thought-out listing on the MLS?

This would seem a ridiculously obvious thing to do, but I am convinced that many sellers have NO IDEA how poorly their property is represented on the MLS.  And for all the hype about marketing the property well,  the MLS is still the biggest arrow in an agent’s quiver.   The MLS presentation is the meat and potatoes of a listing.  The rest is the gravy.

Of particular importance  is accurate information.  If the home is listed in the wrong town (Yes, I’ve seen this!) it might  be hard for agents and buyers to find it.   Inaccurate information  such as taxes can come back to haunt you later in the process…so agents need to get it right the first time.

Good photos are not optional.  I can’t emphasize this enough.   Some of the worst photos I have ever seen in my life are on the MLS.  Pet peeves include photos of furnishings and window treatments and not ROOMS.  Poor lighting, blurry photos and photos that have tons of clutter in plain view.    When inventories are high, buyers narrow the list down by looking at the photos.  If they don’t like what they see – they simply say ” “NEXT!” Agents often use the same method.  Some agents can’t take good photos.  If they can’t, they should hire a good photographer.  Photos are eye candy and eye candy drives traffic and traffic gets you closer to a sale.

Did your listing agent give you the basics?

The basics include the sign in the yard and brochures.  Sometimes I put these outside, but if they start to get scattered to the wind littering the neighborhood, they go inside.  Yard signs and brochures should include something to lead the buyer to further information. Personally, I’m starting use QR codes that lead  buyers to a page that can load onto their smart phones as well as a domain name that leads to a web page I created for the listing.  This is literally the least that can be done.

Did your agent have a slide show, video  or virtual tour prepared?

A slide show or video are other MUST-HAVES in this market.  In the Westchester-Putnam MLS  and Realtor.com, the video can be linked directly to  the listing page for easy consumer access.  So this can  now be an integral part of the listing and is no longer optional in my opinion.   Once again – its eye candy.  All of this effort  drives traffic  to the listing and traffic sells the home.

Everything else is gravy – and it can be very expensive gravy with limited returns:

Don’t get me wrong – there should STILL be a marketing plan in place.  But recognize that these offerings do not have the teeth of all of the above.  In Westchester homes for sale, print ads are probably the most expensive and least effective form of advertising for a listing that there is.  Second to last are post cards.  Both are very expensive, but its the limited effectiveness that has made agents more reluctant to use these venues.   Note:  different local markets may have varying results with these venues.

Home sellers need to learn the difference between smoke and substance and the limits of marketing:

Are all listing agents equal?  The above shows that the answer is a firm “NO!” But there are many pieces of the puzzle that agents don’t control.  Sellers need to understand the difference between smoke and substance.   We can help you sell your home  – by showing you the appropriate price range, helping you with staging and de-cluttering, painting and repairs ( also not optional).  The list goes on and on. Along with all of that agents need to  market your home to its best advantage.   But marketing has its limits. 

The bottom line for agent performance is this:  Did your home get traffic?

If you are thinking of replacing your agent because you got few or no offers or no sale, you might want to ask whether the listing got traffic from agents in the MLS as well as through open houses or other means.   If your home had 50 showings and you didn’t get a sale, that has something to do with the price, condition, location, current market conditions or some other factor that had nothing to do with the agent. If the traffic was strong – your agent did their job.   In that case you need to look at WHY there has been no sale and adjust the conditions or/and the price. Firing an agent that has secured that much traffic makes no sense.  Just think of what they could accomplish if you fixed the real issue that is holding up the sale!

© Ruthmarie G. Hicks – http://thewestchesterview.com – All rights reserved.

Tighter lending standards play a role…

Part of this angst  is due to tighter lending standards which means that relatively solvent families have to squeeze into less home than the more relaxed standards of the past would allow.  We got used to those loose standards and being allowed to buy a large house seemed like a right, not a privilege.

Confusing inflated expectations with an overpriced market…

Recently, I think would-be buyers are confusing not getting everything they want  with the notion that the market is still overpriced. Listen up buyers….I know you are disappointed, but  Westchester NY is EXPENSIVE.  This has nothing to do with a market that isn’t full corrected.  It has always been this way.  If you want to live roughly 30 minutes from midtown Manhattan you will pay for the privilege.  This is nothing new and has held for bull and bear markets alike.  Affordability hasn’t been this favorable in nearly 50 years – since before even I was born.  If you are disappointed now about what you can afford, realize that it is not likely to improve and it could be much worse.  Wait until interest rates rise 1%.   A 1% increase in interest rates corresponds to a 10% loss in buying power.   So waiting can make you lose considerable buying power.

Taking baby steps to your ultimate goal….

Back in the dark ages of my parents time – and even my earlier days – we bought less house initially and moved up later.  We understood that you had to take baby steps to that big house.   You have to start somewhere.  If you are a 20-something you may have to forego that second bedroom or those granite counters and tumbled marble baths.  Perhaps you can have an extra bedroom if you buy something that needs a little elbow grease.  For buyers of larger single family homes, you may have to go to a neighboring town that isn’t  a “name” town or it means you have to buy a fixer or a smaller home.   Maybe it means accepting a home on a busier street or further from the center of town. At the end of the day, the buyer has to prioritize and most will have to sacrifice something they would really love to have.

But the bottom line is that that kind of give and take is the normal part of the purchasing process. It has nothing to do with an overpriced market.  In fact some sectors of our market are going up in price while others are bouncing along the bottom.  At this point buyers should be more concerned with factors that could decrease their buying power in the future than the notion that the housing market is still overheated.

© 2011 Ruthmarie G. Hicks – http://thewestchesterview.com – All rights reserved.

When I list a home  I tell the seller a hard truth that permeates this market whether you are listing at the high end in Scarsdale or Larchmont to a small coop in downtown White Plains.  That truth is that buyers are demanding and LAZY….Seriously, most buyers just don’t want to lift  a finger to do anything. The thought of sweat equity has been left in the dustbin of the bull market along with no-doc, low-doc and stated income loans.

Given this atmosphere – where buyers are skimming the cream and leaving the rest – we think often of bringing in stagers to achieve a depersonalized move-in ready feel to a home.   People make upgrades just to sell a home.  New kitchens and baths are often installed just to appeal to buyers.  But what about that all-important first impression?  Before people even enter your Westchester home?   Curb appeal is very powerful and if you miss out on plantings during this summer market – you are  missing an opportunity – and perhaps leaving money on the table.

The photos inserted between these paragraphs were taken  in Larchmont NY on a cloudy day.  The gardens were warm and welcoming – They enhanced the homes without detracting them or upstaging them.  Splashes of color here and there made for a terrific first impression.  Note also the use of hanging  baskets, and planters  near the  front door.  They add a splash of color while helping define entry.

Enjoy the photos and enjoy your yard.  Remember that these homes are not for sale – which is a reminder that planting a garden for you own enjoyment is job- one.  The fact that they enhance the home in a buyers eye when you sell it  – is an added bonus.

© 2011 – Ruthmarie G. Hicks – http://thewestchesterview.com – All rights reserved.

After showing almost 30 properties to one couple and over 40 properties to another – these buyers appear to have no urgency and seem to want to meander aimlessly into every town, village and city in Westchester county and quite literally schedule showings for every single home that might – just might – remotely qualify.  I just pulled some favorites picked by one such client and the X’s on the map depict where the most recent  15  of the numerous favorites they had filed away.

This is quite literally all over the place with no focus,  and what appears to be  no rhyme and no reason behind it.  There may be a methodology that I don’t get – so I  need to sit down and talk to this client before I show them any more homes…No matter what the reasoning, we have to pare this down dramatically or it becomes completely unworkable.  This is literally 12 different school systems and municipalities.  After about 20 showings – we should be down to a single neighborhood – but in this case I would settle for one town.  We are certainly  not where we should be after so many showings  so  I am asking this  buyer to narrow the field down by doing their due diligence in advance of requesting showings.

A few minutes research can eliminate a swath of listings and pare this chaos down to size…

I provide links to my buyers and suggest that they contact local authorities with respect to things like crime.  (I haven’t found a site that I like about this. )  I know that more than 80% of this is pure junk that just looks good in pictures and would never pass the sniff test if they did about 15 minutes of research on each of these areas.   Some have taxes that make the price point well out of range, some have school systems that would sooner or later kill the deal, some have a good deal of crime (though that is rare- it does exist)  some are in the direct flight path to the local airport and finally some are from municipalities that have so many severe fiscal problems that pricing and taxes will be problematic for years.

Buyers need to be considerate of sellers – and yes – their agents

From the agents standpoint – setting up tours and taking buyers out is not trivial.  We try to be open and accommodating but there are limits.   An extensive tour that covers more than one town can take a couple of hours for me to set up – maybe even longer if a seller throws a monkey wrench into our carefully laid plans.  It looks simple, but it involves  time and coordination.   Truth be told – I can not show buyers 100 homes and stay in business.  This would put me in minimum wage territory and in the red on my business.

But worse still is what this does to sellers.  Sellers have to clean, scrub, vacuum, tidy, straighten and fluff up their home for the buyer.  Its very time consuming and the reward is the possibility that they will get an offer from the buyer.  It is not fair to have sellers jump through these  hoops for an unmotivated buyer who is very unlikely to put in a realistic offer. Sellers are being patient – but as this market is starting to recover – we are getting real push-back when it comes to showings – and I understand where they are coming from.

The bottom line here is that home buyers need to do their due diligence.   For schools – a great starting point is GreatSchools.org.  That can be followed up with a visit to the school system’s web site.  Another step is Googling the city and its finances and at the end of the day – nothing beats calling the local authorities about crime.  Driving through the neighborhood and stopping in a restaurant for a meal and walking around will also eliminate many municipalities. This is necessary research for all buyers  and helps the unfocused buyer to start the elimination process – saving everyone – including the buyer a great deal of time and unnecessary stress.

© 2011 – Ruthmarie G. Hicks – http://thewestchesterview.com – All rights reserved.

As bear market rumbles on – staging is become the norm and those who don’t do it will often find their home languishing on the market.  Buyers have plenty of choices and are only buying the cream of the crop – while leaving the rest behind.  If it looks dirty, or in need of painting, if the carpets are dirty or old – rest assured – unless you really slash the price to the bone – your home will sit.

A Tale of Two Condos Units:

To Drive the point home.  Last winter I had two condo units in the same complex on the market at the same time.  The one I listed first was vacant with no furnishings and had not be repainted.  The sellers had already taken a severe hit in the housing market downturn. Understandably, they balked at the idea of painting and renting furnishings.  As time marched on and no offers came, I kept driving the conversation back to staging.

Meanwhile, in early February, I listed another unit in the same building. This unit had been beautifully furnished by the sellers and since they were still living there, the unit was able to be shown to best advantage.  Sure enough – the first second open house – the unit sold to a buyer who had come through it twice on the same day.  They loved everything about the place and could “mentally move in” because the sellers had pared down their belongings.

What’s good about banging your head against a wall? It feels so good when it stops!

As unit #2 was heading towards contract, the state of affairs in unit #1 remained status quo.  I would call (harass) buyers agents for feedback.  There were plenty of people to call – the unit had been shown over 40 times.   It was all the same.  Even though nearly new, the unit looked “tired.” The layout was “awkward”   The words “dull” and “bland” were used as well.  After 4.5 months with nothing to show for it, the sellers finally relented about the staging.

Enter Marie Graham – Stager Extraordinaire.
I knew what needed to be done and most importantly who to call:  Marie Graham of “The Refreshed Home” is just the person to respond to such an S.O.S.   She knows exactly how to create that “WOW” factor buyers crave.

The Before:

As  you can see from one of these before photos – the fireplace was more of a problem than an asset.  It stuck out far into the primary living area and buyers were very challenged by what to do with space.  As it was, the unit was set on a diagonal creating something of a challenge for almost anyone.  Maximizing the available space, putting it to good use and including all the elements owners expect to get out of such a space is the challenge. As it stood, buyers couldn’t “visualize” a full living area.  What about an eating area?  How do I deal with skimpy living space?

Before/After Comparison:

These two photos were closed to each other in terms of angle.  After painting and furniture placement, it looks like a different space.  Marie’s clever placement of furnishings and accent pieces creates a space where the buyer can actually see their own things in the space.  From cold an tired to warm and inviting.

The After Effect:

The use of paint in two colors as well as the furniture placement brings what was a flat canvas to life.  The space is defined – there is cooking area , a living area and a dining area.  This was a mystery space for buyers when it wasn’t furnished.  Now they can mentally move in and feel comfortable that they have the space they need.

Quite literally – the space goes from wishy-washy to WOW!

The Bottom Line:

This all sounds great you say – but did it help sell the unit?    Within about 10 days of the staging there were two offers on the unit – one was accepted.  So the unsellable condo went into contract about three weeks after the staging was complete.

Way to go Marie!

To see more from Marie Graham  Go to her website - The Refreshed Home as well as her informative Blog on Active Rain.

© 2010 – Ruthmarie G. Hicks – http://thewestchesterview.com – All rights reserved.

It is true that in the past Americans have taken on a ton of debt.  With wages stagnant, unemployment high and families up against the wall – credit created the elasticity that kept many families living check to check afloat.  But the banks have been very mecurial  -  loving those who keep revolving credit balances and penalizing them at the same time.  The system has been set up with what Elizabeth Warren referred to as “tricks and traps.” The result has been a mess where banks jack up rates almost on a whim, change due dates, include non-usage fees and do anything else you can think of to wring more money out of the consumer.

Some of these new regulations regarding credit are designed to plug some of the holes. Of course the system is still full of holes you could drive a truck through. Jon Stewart had a wonderful take on all of this.

Here is the video – hilarious – particularly the second half.