What advice do I give my friends??

by John Rice

I had a friend contact me on Facebook about the possibility of finding a new agent to sell their house.  Seems they haven’t had a lot of showings, and obviously no offers yet.  I’ve crossed out the name of the town that the house is in (and corrected some of my spelling), but I though this would make a good blog post.   I always say that I need to be as good to those I don’t know as I am to friends and family……so here is what I said for anybody with the internet to see:

“Sorry to take so long to get back to you. I don’t know if it is just me, but this isn’t an easy one to answer so I wanted to have time to write you a book.

When you listed your house, it should have had a beginning and an ending time for the listing period. After the contract expires, either of you are free to move on. If that time hasn’t come yet, the agent may let you out of the contract.

I do have a few questions. Is there a board of realtors in XXXXXXXXXX (meaning a local “chapter” for the MLS.) In Lexington, we have the Lexington-Bluegrass Association of Realtors. That is the site that all the local agents use. If there is one specifically for XXXXXXX, you definitely want an agent that is a member of it. If it isn’t on whatever association’s website that XXXXXXX agents use, you may as well have listed it with an agent from another planet. In your case, I would imagine that (major nearby city’s) association probably covers XXXXXXX too. Also, the odds of your agent actually being the one who finds a buyer are very slim. It happens, but odds are another agent is going to see it online and bring their client to your house. That is why online presentation is the most important thing right now.

Question 2. Is your current agent presenting it well online? Go to whatever site the agents use and take a looksie at it. If the pictures and marketing remarks wouldn’t make you want to see it, odds are everybody else feels the same way. While you are there, double check that everything is accurate.

Question 3. Is it priced realistically? Now this is where you will unfriend me, but if you have had XX showings in less than 6 months, it may be priced high. I don’t know the XXXXXXX market, but to have XX people look and not make an offer could mean that the price is too high or………Question #4!

Question 4) Is the feedback you are getting from the showings that there is some fatal negative that buyer’s just can’t look past? If you keep hearing the same thing over and over again, you might have a big negative. Most big negatives can only be conquered with a price reduction. I have a teeny-tiny backyard. I know when I go to sell, that is what buyer’s will be telling me. Most people wanting a decent sized 4 bedroom house in a great school district have kids and want a bigger yard. I’ll have to price it at the low end of the comps unless we have another crazy seller’s market.

So, if you do part ways with this agent, here is what I would look for next. Ideally, an agent that works with at least as many buyers as they do sellers. Most agents just want to list. Listing houses just means you see the one house. An agent that works with a lot of buyers has probably been in a lot of the house that you will be competing against. That agent will be better able to tell you what your house offers to buyers that are out there right NOW! I’d look for somebody that deals in your price range a lot. It always kills me when I see a cheaper house listed by one agent in Lex that deals almost exclusively in high end houses. What does this agent really know about a $100k house when 98% of their work is over $500k? And how much time are they going to put into that listing that will pay $3k verses the ones that will pay $15k. It takes a really etical person to work as hard for both sellers!

I’d also look for somebody that has a plan. Don’t go for the agent that spits out their average days on market unless they can specifically tell you what they did to acheive it. Lots of agents can get lucky. You want somebody that will do a market analysis and will show you how they came up with what they think your house is worth. Even if you don’t like the number. Some agents will list a house for whatever price it takes to get the listing. Then they start hitting you up for price reductions. I kind of think it is better to deal with reality now, since you’ll have to at some point down the road.

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions…..I may turn this into a blog post. (No names of people, places, things though.)”

The LEXpert tours Cumberland Hill

by John Rice

Did a video tour today.  This time it was in Cumberland Hill.  I don’t know if it is just me, but I’ve always called it Cumberland Hills……..Either way, you’ll call it special when you see the video.

It is in South Lexington off of Tates Creek Road.  It was built in the mid 1980’s, which was, in my opinion, the end of the era for decent sized lots and houses built to be lived in rather than just to be marketed.

The houses are in the 2000-2500 square feet range.  Some of them have basements.  Some of the smaller ranches are going for about $190,000 right now.  Most of the two story houses are getting $220-250,000.  The highest sale in the past year was for $285,000…..which is more of the exception than the rule!

One of the best features of Cumberland Hill is that it backs up to Veteran’s Park.  It also has a really cool section of Veteran’s Park called Ribbon Park.  It has wooded areas, open fields, a creek, walking paths, plus everything else that Veteran’s Park has.

The school district is really awesome…..as long as you only care about the elementary school.  It is Veteran’s Park Elementary, which is practically in the neighborhood.  The middle and high schools are both Tates Creek, which isn’t a popular choice.

The neighborhood has a pool and clubhouse too!

It’s a combo neighborhood…..meaning it offers more than just one strong feature.  The large lots, the location, the relaxed neighborly vibe, and the park make it a wise choice.

Hope you enjoy it!

Fairy Dust & the “SOLD” sign

by John Rice

I was trying to think of something to blog about this morning on the way home after dropping my kids off at school.  I was just about to pull on my street when I saw a house that had sold the first day it was on the market, but is now sitting back on the market with no buyer at the moment.  It got me thinking about how all that works with finding buyers.

This is a nice house.  It has a pretty deep backyard for the neighborhood and is in a good school district.  The sign went in the yard.  It got a contract.  A “Sold in 1 day” sign went up the next day.  Then about 10 to 14 days later the sold sign was gone and I noticed that it was back on the MLS as an active listing.  Probably means something didn’t work out with the inspection or the buyer’s financing.

So, a house that would sell in less than 24 hours on the market, but hasn’t got a contract in the past couple of weeks.  What gives?  Why hasn’t it sold again so quickly?  Well, like I say, there is no fairy dust, no magic in real estate.  Realtors that would have you think selling your house is anything other than working hard and working smart are the ones that can only brag about their good luck.  And good luck is what happened here.  I have no doubts this is a very nice house, and will get another contract, but what happened to make it sell in one day is that the right buyer was right there at the exact time that the house hit the market.  How do I know?  I’ve had it happen to me before.  I had a great little house that I did a great job of presenting it online, working with the sellers to get it ready to sell, and had a professional photographer take the pictures.  It sold in a matter of hours after I put it on the MLS.  Seems the buyer was already looking in that area and then BAM, I drop a great house on the market.  That house would have sold quickly anyway since it was presented well, showed well, and priced realistically.  Those are the 3 best things to focus on when you want to sell.  While I would like to take the credit for getting it done that fast, it was really more about timing.  Most realtors won’t tell you that.  They would like you to think that they sprinkled the fairy dust and that all the events/timing that lead to a sale were due to them.   That’s why I don’t really go around bragging about my average days on market.  While my number is much lower than the average, I know that all I can do is work to attract the buyers that are out there, not make them appear out of nowhere.   I never promise a seller when their house will sell.  What I promise is to have great pictures online, to write marketing remarks that tell buyers what is unique about the property, to work with the seller to get the house ready to sell, and to dot the i’s and cross the t’s throughout the deal.  I guess that is my fairy dust.

While I’m on this topic, I’ll reiterate that the “SOLD” sign in your yard really is just there to promote the agent to your neighbors so they can get more listings.  The sign does no good for you.  Why?  Well, think about this listing.  Do you wonder if anybody else was interested in this place while the sold sign was in the yard and the status was pending on the MLS?  I sure do.  Do you think the seller is wishing the agent had been collecting names and numbers of interested parties?  You bet he is.  I have 3 listings right now that have contracts on them.  I could stick a “SOLD” sign in their yards, but I don’t even own any.  I know that until you get past inspections and appraisals, and until the buyer’s loan gets through underwriting, that the place isn’t really sold yet.  When I get a sign call, or an agent calls me, I tell them the house has a contract on it and that we will accept back-up offers.  They never go for that, but then I have names and numbers of people to call if a deal falls apart.  I have resold three listings over the past five years this way.  Two fell apart after the inspection and the most recent one happened when the buyer’s financing fell apart.  I got back in contracts with all three of them the same day.  Think my sellers would have had that happen if I had proudly stuck a “SOLD” sign in their yard?

The LEXpert tours Hartland

by John Rice

Went to a great neighborhood today called Hartland.  Hartland is in South Lexington outside Man O War.  Be sure to watch the video, but here are a few stats:

-Almost 1000 houses (800ish  in Hartland, about 200 in Hartland Estates and Hartland Executive.)

-Schools are Mill Creek Elementary, Tates Creek Middle and Tates Creek High School.

-The prices range from about $220k up to well over a million bucks.

-Most houses in the older, smaller part of Hartland are $220k-325k.  The bigger section closer to the Tates Creek Road side are mainly in the $325k-450k range.

-The Estate and Executive sections are $500k-600k  and up, and up and up.

-The neighborhood has a 17 acre city park with a walking trail, shelters, a playground and open fields.

Hope you enjoy the video!

Tree houses & The Tax Credit

by John Rice

I just didn’t know what to do.  I’m the guy that always gets everything just right before I put a new listing on LBAR.  That’s just how I am.  Buuuuut, I had a new listing that the photographer wasn’t going to be able to get to for two days.  Normally, I’d wait, but that $8000 tax credit had everybody out buying.  Even though I know nothing about basketball, I know that when the shot clock is about to run out, its time to throw the ball.

Soooo, I went a head and put the listing on without the pictures.  It was totally killing me that it was going to have one of those “No Photo Available” tags on it.  Then I got an idea.  I thought since the only real reason I was putting it on early was to get it noticed, I might as well do something that would really get it noticed.  So I cut and pasted a picture of a giant tree house to the listing.   Of course I had to then explain in the marketing remarks that wasn’t the house, but pictures were coming soon and it was worth getting on your radar now since the house was so nice.  It worked.  I had the most agent and public hits that I have ever had on a new listing in a 24 hour period.

Once we got the pictures, I deleted the listing and copied it to a new MLS number.  This way it not only came up as a new listing again, it also re-dumped it into the portals that agents set up for clients.  So, I got a little early exposure and still got to do something that didn’t violate my standards.

So far, we have had 3 showings in less than 24 hours on this house.  The seller did a whole lot of work to make it look great to a buyer.  I owed it to them to think outside of the box and try to catch a buyer before the tax credit expires next week.