Worried about resale value?

by John Rice
I sold a house to a very cool family I have been working with for a while.  We’ve looked at a lot of houses and I have become pretty close to them.  We always have a great time looking at houses and talking about our favorite Lexington restaurants.
But this post isn’t really about all that.  I just wanted to give you the background.
This family has owned several houses before.  This is the first one using me as their realtor.  The last two they ended up selling for less than they paid for them.  Granted, that happened to a lot of people between about 2007 and 2012.  They are understandably nervous about it happening again.
While I don’t have a crystal ball to predict what will happen in the future, I told them I thought they would be in good shape with this house.  Why?  Because the value of their new house is right smack in the middle of the range for the neighborhood.  That is always a safe place to be.
This house is in Hartland.  The range in Hartland is between the low $200s all the way up to over a million.  Most fall in the low $300s to mid $400s.  When you think of Hartland, it is the houses in this range that pop in your head more so than the ones under $300k or over $500k.  Which houses in this (or any other neighborhood) do you think would be the hardest to sell?  It is the cheapest and most expensive ones.  See, somebody looking at the low $200k house might be thinking that they could go to a slightly less fancy neighborhood and get a better house for the same money.  The buyer in the high range for the neighborhood is thinking they might want to be in a neighborhood with more houses in their price range.

Any neighborhood has a range of values.  Most don’t have as wide of a range as ones like Hartland, Chevy Chase, Ashland Park, Greenbrier, etc.  Even if you are shopping in a neighborhood with a narrower range of values, you are usually best to stay away from both the lowest and highest price houses.

So I think my special family is going be just fine with the house they have picked!

Great Time to Downsize/Retire in Lexington

by John Rice

It is always a good time to be in the market for somebody.

A few years ago anybody moving up had it made.  The price of their old house had dropped, but the price on their move up house had dropped even more.

Today, the winner is the buyer who is downsizing.   Sure, the house they want to buy is worth a lot more than it was a few years ago, but so is the house they are selling.

I’ve worked with several buyers who have been empty nesters or retirees.  Some already lived in Lexington.  Some have moved from out of state after discovering Lexington is a great place to retire.

Almost all of them want a ranch house less than 2000 square feet.  Some want an older house for the character.  Some want a newer house for maintenance free living.  Some have considered a condo, but none have bought one (yet).  They all have wanted to be close to shopping/dining/entertainment as well as health care facilities.  Many of them have family spread out in different states and tell me they like how Lexington is two hours to their grandkids, or 3 hours in the opposite direction to other family.  Guess having two interstates with Lexington in their crosshairs helps.

It is a lot of fun to work with these buyer, and it sure is a good time to be one of them!

New roof add value to your house?

by John Rice

I just don’t buy it.
I read an article put out by the National Association of Realtors and the National Association of the Remodeling Industry.  It said putting on a new roof is the biggest single item a seller can do to get the highest return. They said it increased the value of a house by 105%. Get this, remodeling or updating your kitchen only brings back about 67% in added value.
I laughed so hard I snorted a little.
About 50% of my work is with buyers. I sell a lot of houses. I have been doing for over 10 years. My experience in and around Lexington Ky is that very few buyers even notice the age or condition of the roof. The HVAC too for that matter. Most buyers care more about the appearance of the house than anything…..assuming they were okay with the location to have even considered viewing the house.  Most don’t think about the roof (or windows or HVAC or water heater) until the home inspection. That is why I always try to think about these things for them. I am always telling people the age and condition of the roof and the rest of the house. In fact, I’m working with a buyer right now who fired their old realtor because they kept making offers on houses that were in terrible shape and the deals fell apart after the home inspection. The last thing I want is a client of mine to emotionally move in, tell their friends and family all about the house, and then it fall apart after the home inspection.
Several years ago I listed a house for some clients/friends have used me several times. Their house had new windows and literally a brand new roof. The house was a bit outdated. They found their dream home before doing much inside to this one. The seller knew a lot about houses and wanted to take care of those big items first. LOL, I guess I am the same way because I am sitting in my own home, that has a new water heater, sump pumps and I am about to put in new windows…..yet I have a master bathroom that dates back to when Dallas and Knots Landing were new shows.
I put their house on the market. I showed it several times. It took a while to sell because it was outdated. I would remind buyers that there was $15-20k in windows and the roof that they would not have to spend. I would tell them it is more fun to spend that much on flooring and granite than to buy another house that was updated inside but would need new windows and a roof. It finally sold, but my point is that most buyers make decisions on how updated a house LOOKS. That is just how it works. 99% of the time, I would rather have my sellers drop money on updates that can be seen verses maintenance items than cannot. Unless a roof is just ancient or really ugly, most buyers don’t care as long as it doesn’t leak.
So, I totally disagree with this report. It just isn’t happening in my area.
And ALWAYS consult with a knowledgeable real estate agent in your area before making big decisions. I spend a lot of time advising friends and clients about how to spend money on their houses. You need somebody who knows the market and even your neighborhood to help make decisions.
There are a lot of variables depending on your neighborhood and price range.
We had a hail storm several years ago in South Lexington. Almost everybody got a new roof. The norm in those neighborhoods was to have a new roof. Buyers expected a new roof. It was a negative in that situation to not have a new roof.
There are several neighborhoods that are about 15 years old right now. The norm is to have original HVAC and roof. Since buyers will be viewing houses that all have an older roof or HVAC, a seller would do better to spend money updating the interior if they are considering selling any time soon. If they plan to stay forever, it is okay to spend their money any way they want.

The LEXpert’s Thanksgiving post

by John Rice

Thanksgiving time again.  One of my favorite holidays.  I like all holidays really, but the thing I like most about Thanksgiving is that everybody can participate and it is a pretty laid back holiday unless you’re doing the cooking.

I woke up today thinking what I was thankful about.  Lots of things popped into my head, but one thought really stuck out to me.

I’ve always wanted to be in real estate.  I almost got into it back in about 1999 but I wasn’t able to make the jump.  You need some reserve income to jump into real estate.  It can take a while to get off the ground.

I was again thinking about real estate in 2003.  The mother of an old high school friend was a realtor and she was doing really well.  I was a little hesitant to pull the trigger, but then Francis said she would pay for half of my real estate school.  That was over $500.  That was a huge amount to me back then.

What Francis did not realize (or maybe she did?) was that she had effectively removed the last justifiable reason I had to not get my real estate license.   Since I was left without an excuse, we went to the real estate school.  I plopped down my half.  She plopped down her half.  The rest as they say, is history.

I’ve always been appreciative of her for doing this, but until this morning I thought it was about the money.  I now do not think it was about the money.  I think she saw my potential and it was about getting me there.

I have had an incredible time the past 10.5 years since I got my license.  I get to talk about houses and neighborhoods all day.  I don’t have to tuck in my shirt.  I get to be out all over town.  I get to wear sandals everywhere.  I get to meet a lot of people.  And I get to wear sandals everywhere.

A lot of people have helped to get me where I am today.  My parents.  My wife.  Everybody who has ever bought or sold a house through me.  All of you are very important to me and I am thankful for all of you…..especially Francis, who was at the right place at the right time and did the right thing.

To Francis and anybody reading this….have a happy Thanksgiving!

Will a Selling Bonus help sell your house faster?

by John Rice

I recently had a somebody ask me if I thought it would help their house sell faster if they offered a “Selling Bonus” to the buyer’s agent.

My answer was no.

Selling bonuses use to help back in the days when realtors were the only ones who knew what houses were for sale.  The thought was that you could entice a greedy agent to show and sell your listing because they would make more money.  Today, it is usually the buyer who tells their agent what houses they want to see since they have access to all listings (and thanks to some sites that are not up to date, they also have access to houses that WERE for sale and are no longer available….but that is another blog post.)

Know what I told this person?  To reduce their price.  If they were willing to pay more commission to an agent, why not lower the price by the same amount and offer it to the buyer?

Offering a selling bonus does one thing today:  Since the buyers have access to all listings and pick what they want to see, a seller is really just giving extra money to the agent of the buyer who would have bought the house anyway.

When I show a house that has a selling bonus, I always make a point of telling my buyer before we see it.  Should they end up buying the house, the last thing I want is for them to think it influenced my advice to them.