I sold my parent’s MINI Cooper to the first person that looked it, and in about 18 hours after posting. You might think this doesn’t have anything to do with real estate. It doesn’t. It has to do with human nature, which is really what sales is all about.

I didn’t do anything pushy. I didn’t use Jedi mind control nor magic. I just made it easy for somebody to say YES to the car.

Here is what I did. It is the same thing I do for selling my listings:

1. First you’ve got to determine what it is worth. You look at recent sales and your active competition. You want whatever it is you are selling to be one of the top choices for a buyer. If it is not, you end up waiting for all the better choices to sell first.

2. You make it look it’s best. For the car, I detailed it. For a house, this might mean painting, moving some furniture, etc.

3. You’ve got to make it standout among the competition. Pictures and marketing remarks is how you do this. For the car, I figured the fact that it was a well maintained one owner car with a giant sunroof and seat heaters were the most attractive features. Rather than just say it had a sunroof and seat heaters, I showed it in the pictures.

4. You’ve got to present it well. For a house that means have the yard mowed, the mulch fresh and all the lights on for when the people walk inside. For the car, I washed it right before the buyer showed up and parked it at the end of my driveway so he could see it as he pulled up.

Whatever it is you are selling, the goal is to remove obstacles that make the buyer hesitant to pull the trigger. If there was anything major that this car needed, the buyer would have been thinking about the work he had to do to it, rather than fantasizing about driving it with that giant sunroof open. If the carpet is worn in your house, it is harder for a buyer to immediately say yes to it.

And keep this in mind too……ANY buyer that comes to see your house (or car) more than likely wants it or they would not be there. You already have half the battle won if you have accurately presented it. The guy buying my parent’s car asked if they had the title with them before he drove 70+ miles to see it. See, he had already decided that IF the car lived up to how it was presented, he was going to buy it. And he did. For the full asking price.

No magic, no persuasive words, no sales pitch. It was all about making it easy for this guy to do what he already wanted to do, which was buy a well maintained MINI Cooper with a giant sunroof.

I can tell you from experience that ALL buyers walking into your house are hoping it will be the one for them. Make it easy for them to say YES to buying it from you!

I still remember when Greenbrier was way out in the country. When there was nothing on Liberty Road past New Circle except the Eastland Church of God. When there was a road called Bryant that ran from Todds Road to Winchester Road.

Times sure change. Back then, the area we now call “Hamburg” was NOT within the boundaries of what was considered the good part of town. Back then, anything on the east side of Richmond Road was considered to be in North Lexington. We just had Chevy Chase, South Lexington and North Lexington as the only way of dividing up the town.

Whenever I get nostalgic about Lexington, it also makes me wonder what it will be like in another 25 years……so, here goes:

No doubt that new schools are coming. We need a couple of elementary schools to serve the whole 40509/Hamburg area. I am sure a middle and high school are in the pipeline already. Not only could we use one now, this area is really the last piece of Lexington inside the urban service area that has yet to be developed.

Take a look at a map of this part of town and you can already see where it is all going. The only big chucks of land to build houses on are in the Blackford Parkway/Polo Club area, Summerfield and Chilesburg. Once those are gone we will have to expand the urban service area or focus on small infill development. As far as commercial goes, Hamburg will look just the same on both sides of the interstate. Man O War will need to be widened all the way to Winchester Road. Winchester Road will need to be widened all the way to Man O War.

What neighborhoods do I see that will become more desirable in this area? There are several.

Greenbrier use to be out in the country and is now practically surrounded by newer neighborhoods. Having the golf course, the big trees and big lots will make this the totally classic neighborhood that everybody loves…..plus, it is the only choice out this way for something in it’s price range that is more than 25 years old!

Eastland (not ALL of Eastland) will become a popular choice for people wanting to be closer in to town and wanting a bigger yard. I am talking about those bigger houses off of Eastland Parkway near Winchester Road. There use to be nothing past Eastland until Hamburg. Now that Summerfield and Patchen Wilkes neighborhoods have been built, I think the perception of this area has changed. Now people see only the positive of being 5 minutes to Hamburg and 5 minutes to downtown. They call this the “Hamburg area” instead of the “North end”. There are not too many neighborhoods in town where you get the old and new so close. Ok, some of you may have noticed that this post is about 40509/Hamburg and Eastland is in 40505…..but it is just 500 feet from 40509!!

Bluegrass Wilkes is a neighborhood that use to be on nobody’s radar. Do you even know where it is?? I use to wonder why anybody would build a neighborhood behind all those fast food places off the interstate. Now, it is right across from Hamburg and people are considering Winchester Road to be within the boundaries of the “Good” side of town. Since these houses are very affordable, I don’t see a huge value increase, but I can see more people considering it verses Timber Creek or anything up and down Liberty Road.

Summerfield is no doubt super hot right now. I think that will continue. Like Eastland, there aren’t many parts of town where you can get to both downtown and a major new retail mecca depending on if you drive 5 minutes left or 5 minutes right as you leave your neighborhood. If you want a new/newer house in such a location….it is your only choice. See, most of Lexington’s main arteries developed consistently over time. You start from downtown and drive out and you can see the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and 2000’s. Not Winchester Road. It pretty much stopped in the mid 70’s and then you have brand new stuff. I think that is cool and probably why that neighborhood has been so successful.

Andover Hills and Andover Forest will always be super nice, but everybody already knows that!

I do wonder what 2038 will look like. I guess Ball Homes will have neighborhoods clear out to the Clark County line. The most desirable schools will be on this side of town. Traffic will increase. Roads will be widened. Why do I think all this? Because that is what has happened in south Lexington for the past 25 years until we ran out of room to build.

Here’s another video tour of one of my favorite neighborhoods. This is the first video with my new format. I use to drive around holding a FLIP camera and do the audio/video at the same time. I bought a new GoPro camera this year and suction cup it to the car and then add the audio later. The new camera has a wider lense, so you should be able to see more.

Let me know if you like this better!

Congrats home buyer who just paid over the asking price for a hot new listing.  I hate to burst your bubble, but did you know that your house and/or your neighborhood were some of the hardest hit during the housing slump?  Sure, the market is hot right now…..but it won’t always be.  Know what that means?

Long story short here, IF your house or neighborhood were not at the top of any buyer’s radar in a bad market, it won’t be during the next buyer’s market.  The neighborhoods buyer’s want haven’t changed.  There are just fewer choices for buyers and people are settling for their second choices.  A shortage of listings means ANY house will sell right now.  It won’t always be like that.  Just ask the people who paid top dollar for your house or in your neighborhood between 2002 and 2005.  They too thought they were lucky to have paid top dollar in a bidding war and were sure they could always sell for more than they paid for it.

So, one thing I stress with my buyers is that they ought to stick with a neighborhood that was still most buyer’s #1 choice in the darkest hours of the housing slump.  That makes them more resilient to any market changes……and even if the market never drops again, it also mean they are in a position to see the most appreciation.  It is all supply and demand.  Make sure you pick something that will always be in high demand….that way supply doesn’t affect you so much!