real estate advice

Two or more negatives are hard to overlook

by John Rice

Sometimes a bunch of negatives are overwhelming when you have to see them all together. This is something I learned when I bought a fixer upper house that was worn out, out-dated, and in disrepair. I was broke back then so I had to live with it for a couple of years. Man, that was rough. I remember thinking that the carpet wouldn’t look so bad if the walls weren’t so bad, and how together they really make the light fixture unbearable. I guess that is when it first hit me how 2 or more negatives seem to compound their effects when viewed in the same room.

I’ve got a listing in my pipeline that I have been working on for a little bit. In general, it just feels like a rental grade property. It has a nice floor plan and all, but just doesn’t feel like something a buyer will fall in love with. Like I have always said, a seller has more power in the deal if the house comes across as something special. The market is getting a glut of “Average” houses. Now is the time to make your house stand out.

This house already has some pluses that could easily be over looked. Things that I bet most buyers wouldn’t even remember after leaving the house if we didn’t do anything to it. So, what is the plan? We just had it painted. That will unify the space to a buyer. You have to remember that buyers are going from room to room in a 20 minute window. They like it all to be consistent. The next step is going to be replacing the vinyl flooring in the baths and kitchen. Then we’ll clean the existing carpet and stage it.

Now, when a buyer comes in this place, they will see fresh paint, clean floors, and new vinyl in the kitchen and baths. They will also probably now notice the few updated items. See, the goal is to make it the best house any buyer can get in the price range. We do not have to make it perfect, just a little better than the second best house currently for sale. After all, as long as there is one buyer out there, you know they’ll pick the best one.

The repair list shouldn’t be like playing Marco Polo

by John Rice

Most people think all a realtor does is open doors, fill in the blanks on the paperwork and cash checks. Sad thing is that there are a lot of realtors who think this too.

Not me.

The ultimate goal is the get the best terms for my clients and make the process as smooth and drama-free as possible.

I recently had a situation where my drama radar was going off so I made some moves to prevent it.

I got a repair list on one of my listings. The issue was the wording on the repair request for an air conditioner. The other realtor stated what the inspector found and pretty much just said fix it. The inspector stated that the air conditioner was only producing a temperature difference of 9 degrees. Now, I knew what the intent of the buyer’s request was. They wanted a normal working air conditioner. But at what point would they find a repair acceptable? If my buyer fixed it and it was only 10 degrees, would that be okay? Who knows? I never liked playing Marco Polo when I was a kid. I don’t like finding Waldo. I also don’t like the “I see something you don’t see and the color of it is” game. I am definitely not going to play those games with a repair list.

My Dad is retired now from being an attorney, but he is still a brilliant man. Back in 2005 when I was writing my first ever repair list, I consulted him on the wording. I think I did what most realtors do, which is to state the problem and just say fix it. He told me two things which I have never forgotten and try to share as often as I can with other realtors so our industry improves:

  1. Write a repair to be done to achieve a goal rather than for a task to be performed. Why? You can sometimes do a task which doesn’t achieve the goal. When that happens, you have no recourse because you asked for a task to be performed and it was done as you requested.
  2. Write EVERYTHING so clearly that a third party could read the contract, addenda or repair list and know exactly who was to do what and what the agreed upon outcome should be. That third party could be a judge or mediator.

So, when I read this one repair item, I knew there was no specific outcome requested. There was no verbiage saying that “If the seller does this with the air conditioner, the buyer will accept it.” The effort to get this right at this point may have saved some last minute drama right before the closing. When my seller has packed up and moved out, and the buyer has packed up and made moving plans is NOT the time to discover that we had a difference of opinion on what was expected.

Ultimately we agreed upon wording that said the air conditioner had to cool within industry standards, which is a minimum temperature difference of 15 degrees.

Decor can make or break the sale of your house

by John Rice

This past weekend, I was out with a young couple. We went in two houses in the same neighborhood that happen to be the exact same floor plan. There were some minor differences. One had a tiled backsplash, trendy furniture and finishes.  The other was very plain and was decorated with an older vibe……..guess I’d call it Early American Yard Sale. Guess which one my young couple liked with the most? When the agent for the “Older House” asked for feedback, I told her about this and suggested the seller make some changes. The most likely buyers in this price range and neighborhood are first time Gen Z buyers.

So, if you are selling, think about your buyer and make any needed changes that will make your house more appealing to them. First time buyers are mostly buying houses from Millennials, Millennials are buying houses from Gen X and Boomers. It is important to make your house appealing to each group as they move up the property ladder.

Can’t afford Lansdowne? Pick these neighborhoods

by John Rice

Love the Tates Creek area, and I mean the part with the 40502 zip code? Want a house built in the middle of the last century? Lansdowne is likely your dream spot to be. And for good reason. Those giant lots and large homes have been fantastic since Day 1.

But if you’re looking at financing most of the $600k to million dollar plus purchase price and your budget says “No Bueno”, What do you do? Stay where you are and be unhappy?

No, you look in Lans-Merik since it is right across Tates Creek Road from Lansdowne. Here you will get almost as large of a lot and the houses are mostly from the 1970s but it has a similar vibe. Think of it as “Lansdowne Lite”. You will end up spending between $450k to maybe just over $700k for the best ones that back to the park.

$450k too much? While it is technically not in the 40502 zip code, Gainesway is literally just across New Circle Road from Lans-Merik. Here you will get a 1960s home on a larger lot in the $300-450k range.

Is it turning to a Buyer’s Market?

by John Rice

Short answer: It depends on the house.

Long answer: I read an article this morning asking this same question. It had all the usual data in any article related to the nationwide real estate market. Average days on market, Average sale price compared to previous years, the number of listings compared to previous years……blah blah blah.

None of that really matters. Why? Because no two houses and no two markets are the same. There is no average house. Average means a composite of all data. It does not look at each house individually. Do you know who does look at each house individually? Buyers do.

A buyer looks at every house within their budget and decides which one they want to buy. Let’s say they look at 10 houses. They are only buying one so they pick the best one. Do you know what else happens? Usually every buyer in that same price range also picks the same best one. That means we have multiple buyers competing for the best houses on the market. Meanwhile, the rest of the houses sit there and dilute all those averages so the media can make illogical conclusions to share with the world.

I have been a realtor for 20 years. It was a Seller’s Market when I started. Then a Buyer’s Market. Then an EXTREME Buyer’s Market. Then a stable market. Then it slowly built into the strongest Seller’s Market ever. Now, more than ever, we sort of have two markets. If you want the best house in the best neighborhood, you better be prepared to go over the list price and be flexible on anything important to the seller. If you are not picky, make a low offer on one of those houses that nobody else has wanted. After 20 years of this, I can tell you that when you go to sell whatever house you decide to buy, picking the best one will always have been the wisest decision. The best houses will always be worth the most, be the easiest to sell, and will have the broadest appeal.