What type of Internet exposure will my property receive?

The Importance of the Power of the Internet

It is important to understand that not all real estate firms and/or REALTORS® appreciate the power of the Internet. In short, some real estate companies and real estate agents simply do not have the Internet presence to ensure that the maximum number of buyers will see your property.

In addition, it is important to understand that even the best REALTOR® cannot guarantee a strong Internet presence if the company for which he or she works does not employ strong Internet marking tools.

For example, a quick search on Denver real estate should yield the real estate firm’s website in one of the first few search results. If it does not, chances are buyers who are looking for Denver homes will not see your property.

Because industry estimates have the percentage of buyers who use the Internet to shop for a home at a whopping 90 percent, it is more important than ever to find a real estate firm who has a strong standing in Internet search results.

Beyond the real estate firm, you will likely want to ask your realtor if he or she uses any other Internet tools to guarantee marketing exposure, such as guest blogging and a personal website.

A Portrait of Today’s Buyer

Today’s buyers are considered “armchair buyers,” meaning that they do the majority of their searching from the comfort of their home and through the use of the Internet. And if your home doesn’t pop up when they perform Internet searches, you could be missing out on a potential sale.

Selling a home in today’s market requires more than just a multi-list placement; your realtor and the firm for which your realtor works must have a great internet presence and a firm understanding of what it takes to appear on top with the major search engines.

Don’t assume your REALTOR® and the company for which he or she works is a leader in Internet searches! Ask questions and perform your own Internet searches so you can be sure the company and realtor you choose to work with is a contender in real estate marketing.

Author Bio:  Richard is the CEO & Broker of VIP Realty, The Premier Firm in Real Estate. Our offices focus on the Fort Worth real estate & Dallas real estate markets. To keep up-to-date with the North Texas condo market visit our Dallas condos page.

Repair #1: Create Curb Appeal

One of the most important steps you can take toward making your home more appealing is to create curb appeal. Curb appeal refers to the impression the house makes on potential buyers when they view it from the street. To create curb appeal, make sure all of the windows are thoroughly washed, replace any broken or cracked window panes, repair torn screens and repaint the front door. Adding a pot of flowers on the front step or placing a wreath on the door during the winter months will also add a nice touch.

Repair #2: Expand the Outdoors

As part of the process of creating curb appeal, you should also make sure your yard and landscaping is properly maintained and inviting. This includes mowing, raking and edging the yard as well as pruning and shaping the trees and shrubbery. Setting up an outdoor living area is also a good idea, as a growing number of buyers are looking for ways to get more use out of their yards. Simply setting up a picnic table and chairs is an inexpensive and easy way to accomplish this task.

Repair #3: Fix the Driveway

Since your driveway is one of the first things the buyer will see when pulling into your yard, you should take care to ensure it is in excellent condition. If there are any cracks or stains, be sure to repair or remove them. You should also edge the sides, pull any weeds and sweep and wash away the debris.

Repair #4: Tend to Walls and Floors

On the inside of the home, be sure to tend to the walls and floors. As a homeowner, it is easy to grow accustomed to peeling paint, loose wallpaper, dingy carpets and cracked floor tiles. Potential buyers, however, will not be so forgiving. Not only will they mentally deduct from their offer when they see these necessary repairs, but it will also make them question the overall condition of the home and its major systems. Therefore, it is in your best interest to make repairs to these areas before you put the home on the market.

Repair #5: Go Neutral

When transforming a house into a home, the process typically involves adding personal elements such as photographs and mementos. It may also include painting the walls a certain color or choosing carpeting with an interesting design. While these personal touches may have made your home more personal and inviting to you, the same may not be true for potential buyers. Therefore, one way you can make your home sell more quickly is to de-personalize it by selecting neutral colors and removing your personal keepsakes. Simple tasks such as repainting the walls or installing new carpeting in neutral colors can go a long way toward helping you get your home sold.

About The Author – Richard Soto specializes in the San Antonio area, including Boerne real estate, as a REALTOR® with VIP Realty in San Antonio, TX.

Home Selling Tip #1: Set the Right Price

The first step toward getting your home sold is to set the right price for your home. If you set the price too high, you will effectively eliminate a large group of potential buyers. As a result, your home will likely sit on the market for quite a long time. Not only will this be frustrating to you, but sitting on the market for too long will also cause your home to go stale. As a result, you will have no other choice but to pull it off the market for awhile before reintroducing it at a lower price. When setting the price, be sure to consider the going rate for comparable homes in your area.

Home Selling Tip #2: Make Necessary Repairs

Unless they are looking for a fixer-upper, no one wants to purchase a home that requires repairs. Therefore, you will need to make all necessary repairs before you put your house on the market. On the plus side, making these repairs should also increase the value of your home. So, do yourself a favor and make sure your home will pass a home inspection before you try to sell it.

Home Selling Tip #3: Stage the Home

“Staging” refers to the process of taking steps to make your home more appealing to potential buyers. Your goal is to appeal to all of the buyer’s senses so he or she feels “at home” in your house. Things you can do to stage your home include:
• Remove all clutter, including extra furniture, in order to create a more open, airy appearance
• Remove personal items and other features that are unique to your style and taste
• Place potted flowers near the entrance way and make sure all of the landscaping is neat and trim
• Open up the windows to let in the natural light and turn on the lights throughout the home
• Light scented candles or bake chocolate chip cookies before the potential buyer visits the home

Home Selling Tip #4: Use the Internet

The Internet is an excellent resource for reaching potential buyers and for sharing information about your home. The vast majority of today’s buyers do at least some research on the Internet, so be sure your home is featured online and that your ad includes high-quality photos of your home.

Home Selling Tip #5: Hire a Realtor

When selling a home, it is always a good idea to hire a Realtor to help with the process. Not only can a Realtor help you with the first four tips, but he or she also has the expertise necessary to negotiate on your behalf and to complete the necessary paperwork. While it may seem counter intuitive, many people find that they are actually able to walk away with more money in their pocket after hiring a Realtor.

About The Author – Kevin Koitz is a Washington DC native & Realtor and specializes in Bethesda homes for sale.

Denver Metro Residential & Condominium Listings

With the start of the New Year upon us, it’s time to take a look at some of the housing trends expected for 2011. Here’s a look at 5 housing trends for the New Year.

Trend #1: Purchasing a Home for the Long Run

According to the Census, the average person moves about 11 times. Many experts are predicting, however, that this trend will change in 2011.

“Thankfully, the idea of a home as a short-term moneymaker is essentially gone, so when people do buy, they’d to it with the intention of staying put for closer to 10 years rather than two to three,” said Jim Chittaro, who is the president of Smykal Homes, in a recent RISMedia article.

As a result, buyers will be putting more thought into the floor plans they select when building a new home to ensure the home is able to grow with them.

“Floor plans that can adapt to lifestyle changes with flexible features like second family rooms should do well in 2011,” continued Jim Chittaro.

Trend #2: Smaller is Better

For the first time in decades, the average size of a new home fell from 2008 to 2009 and the trend is likely to continue into the New Year. Not only are buyers working off of smaller budgets, but many have learned that there is no reason to buy a bigger home than necessary. As a result, builders are likely to look for ways to cut back on home sizes while making the most out of the square footage at hand.

Trend #3: Going High-Tech

A growing number of home buyers are looking for high tech gadgets that will make full use of technology. Rather than having a centralized control panel that controls lighting, appliances and entertainment systems, however, buyers in 2011 will want to use a smart phone app instead. By connecting electronic devices to a phone app, homeowners can have everything up and running before they even step in the door.

Trend #4: Making it Green

Buyers in 2011 will be looking for homes that are green without sacrificing beauty. Thanks to new products and design concepts, homes in 2011 can be stylish and sophisticated as well as eco-friendly. Furthermore, sustainable building materials and other green features are far more cost-effective than they were in the past, which means home buyers don’t have to break the bank when going green.

Trend #5: Creating a Healthy Home

With the number of people suffering from allergies being on the rise, it stands to follow that more home buyers will be looking for healthy homes in 2011. Things such as indoor air quality and the use of healthier materials during the construction process will be important to buyers in 2011. HVAC systems with top-notch filtration systems and the use of low-VOC materials are two items that are likely to be quite popular in 2011.

John Allen represents buyers and sellers of Sarasota homes for sale, condos and vacation properties. His team of experienced agents cover the entire area from downton Sarasota to the barrier islands.

*Based upon information from Metrolist, Inc.. This representation is based in whole or in part on data supplied by Metrolist, Inc.. Metrolist Inc. does not guarantee nor is in any way responsible for its accuracy. Data maintained by Metrolist, Inc. may not reflect all real estate activity in the market.

For more detailed Denver market conditions and home prices visit our Denver real estate website or contact us anytime.

“Negative equity is a primary factor holding back the housing market and broader economy,” said Mark Fleming, who is the chief economist with CoreLogic. “The good news is that negative equity is slowly declining (nationwide), but the bad news is that price declines are accelerating, which may put a stop to or reverse the recent improvement in negative equity.”

Although the state’s percentage is lower than the national average, experts warn that the statistic isn’t as good as it seems on the surface. In fact, only seven states have a percentage that is higher than the national average, but there percentages are so high that it skews the national average severely. Furthermore, in addition to the percentage of homes that are already in negative equity, the report found that 8.1% of homes were “near negative equity,” which means those homes are within 5% of being in negative equity.

Still, things may not be as bleak as they seem.

“That may reflect the large number of home loans being written in the past couple of years that had FHA loans that only required a 3 percent down payment,” said Rinner. “So if values have gone down 4 percent, they technically have negative equity. But those were loans that were made with the lenders’ eyes wide open. They probably used very sound underwriting standards. It’s not like the old days when all you needed to do was prove you can breathe to get a loan. Now, lenders are actually demanding that you be employed and check your credit history.”

In fact, according to some experts, some lenders may be being too conservative as they lend to only their best customers. Furthermore, some are concerned that lenders are not willing to provide loans to those who are self-employed or to those who do not work for a large company. Not everyone agrees with this assertion, however, as Rinner believes lenders have simply “returned to traditional underwriting standards.” Rinner also notes that buyers themselves are being more conservative.

“One trend I am seeing is that people are buying less home than they could qualify for,” said Rinner. “They’re being much more conservative. So even if they have a small amount of negative equity, they can ride it out.”

Some of the other findings from the report include:

•    The median sale price of million dollar homes dropped by 5.9 percent in November when compared to October, with the median sale price in November being $1.23 million.
•    The median sale price of million dollar homes dropped by 10.2 percent when comparing November 2010 to November 2009.
•    The most expensive sale to take place in the Denver Metro Area was the sale of a 4,586 square foot, four-bedroom, five bath home that sold for $3,050,000 in November.
•    12 million dollar homes were sold in Denver in November, making it the area with the most million dollar homes sold. Boulder was a close second with 10 homes, while four million dollar homes were sold in Cherry Hills Village.
•    On average, sellers received 89 percent of their asking price when selling their homes, which is up from the 88 percent figure from November of 2009. It is down from the 93 percent figure, however, that was enjoyed in October of 2010.
•    It took an average of 151 for million dollar homes to sell in the area, which is up from the 119 days it took last year as well as the 111 days it took in October.

“The upper end market has been improving, but very tentatively in the second half of the year,” said Chris Mygatt, who is the president of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Colorado. “The reason is because buyers are being patient and selective. They want to see what’s on the market and they don’t feel a sense of urgency to buy. Once high-end buyers feel confident that the Colorado economy is steadily improving and employment is improving, they are going to move first.”

Historically, the performance of the luxury real estate market has been an important indicator that the recession is coming to an end, as luxury buyers have the means to make the large investments that helps to pull the market back up.

“Once the high-end truly rebound, that usually pulls the rest of the market back up with it,” continued Mygatt.

Please find the following links to graphs and charts of residential and condo sales stats for November 2010. For a reference of the market areas please refer to the Denver MLS map.

Total MLS
All Metrolist Areas as one download
Aurora North (AUN)
Aurora South (AUS)
Brighton, Fort Lupton (BFL)
Broomfield (BRM)
Douglas County West (DCW)
Douglas Elbert Parker (DEP)
Douglas Highlands Ranch Lone Tree (DHL)
Denver Northeast (DNE)
Denver Northwest (DNW)
Denver Southeast (DSE)
Denver Southwest (DSW)
Downtown Denver (DTD)
East Suburban North (ESN)
East Suburban South (ESS)
Jefferson County Central (JFC)
Jefferson County North (JFN)
Jefferson County South (JFS)
Jefferson County West (JFW)
Jefferson County Northcentral (JNC)
Jefferson County Southcentral (JSC)
Lafayette (LAF)
North Northeast Suburban (NNE)
North Northwest Suburban (NNW)
North Suburban Central (NSC)
North Suburban East (NSE)
North Suburban West (NSW)
South Suburban Central (SSC)
South Suburban East (SSE)
Superior (SUP)

Mountain Areas:

Mountain Clear Creek (MCC)
Mountain Conifer Pine (MCP)
Mountain Evergreen North (MEN)
Mountain Evergreen South (MES)
Mountain Gilpin County (MGC)
Mountain Jefferson County (MJC)
Mountain Jefferson North (MJN)
Mountain Jefferson South (MJS)
Mountain Park County (MPC)
Mountain Park East (MPE)

Please enjoy these graphs and charts of market activity available for the Denver Metro area as provided courtesy of Sue Smith with Land Title.

For more detailed Denver market conditions and home prices visit our Denver real estate website or contact us anytime.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

*Based upon information from Metrolist, Inc.. This representation is based in whole or in part on data supplied by Metrolist, Inc.. Metrolist Inc. does not guarantee nor is in any way responsible for its accuracy. Data maintained by Metrolist, Inc. may not reflect all real estate activity in the market.

For more detailed Denver market conditions and home prices visit our Denver real estate website or contact us anytime.