Mark Clemens Help for Home Sellers and Buyers MN / WI

What is one thing that I can do to make my house more salable?

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The biggest thing that you can do is to make your house appealing to the general marketplace instead of just yourself. As its been said "A Person's Home is Their Caste". That may be true but you are trying to entice another king and queen to buy your castle, not do whatever you might like within your own realm. Many find this easy to say but hard to do. That's probably because we like what we like and expect that others do as well. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is why you need the help of a professional stager (unless you will be making a full proce offer on your house.....SMILE.)

Who really determines the value of my home?

The buyers in the market place are the primary influence in what yolur home is worth. As you have heard before, your home is worth what a reasonable person is willing to pay. The key here is the word reasonable. Anyone will do anything that they must. So if there are no places to rent..........you can fill in the rest. But that is extreme. Less intense are factors of pricing, condition, and aesthetic appeal alongside affordable mortgage rates.

What if we're sick of the move up a notch game but still want to move up notch?

If you are a seller asking this question, then Dr Mark, that's me, diagnoses you as having used house syndrome (UHS, of course). This is a condition which many good folks get into believing that they really have to go from starter home to second home to retirment community. You don't, trust me folks. That right; there may be ahighly effective, inexpensive enough treatment program to cure your symptoms and their underlying pathology. (Yes, it IS that serious!) What you need is to start thinking "Not so big house" and there has been architectural literature on this for the last 10 years to help you do so. This is where you combine scaling down the sq footage with ramping up all the upgrades for a house on the 4th tier suburban stream--where the lot cost is cheap for trees water and quiet.But you need a realtor to help find the lot, maximize profitabilty from the sale of your too big house, optimize the numbers and a help interface with a "class act" builder to make your dream house a reality. This is why you should call Dr Mark today for his sure fire treatment program. (Hint : doing so NOW could actually extend your life and its quality by 30 years or so!!!!!!!!!!!Waiting to long invites the possibility of .........well who knows what at our age, right? Call today.)

When will it become a sellers market again?

Without needing a downpayment, with stated income programs and with post depression era interest rates many people have been able to buy homes that they could only have dreamt of. But, with the tightening up of the banking industry, this has become less feasible in the last few months. That means there are even less potential buyers for a given property than there were before. That leads most people to believe that a loosening up of the bank's underwriting parameters will allow more people to buy. But I think that an increase in rents will be the next major catalyst. This will happen because of the recent foreclosure surge alongside of a growing shortage of rental units

What kind of an offer is likely if our house is pretty much like all of the other comps in the MLS?

One that is 10 % below offering. Think of this as the price you pay for selling a nice home that is perceived as "nothing extra special". That will of course increase to 20% if there is obvious updating that needs to be done. In the case of a 500K propoerty, we are talking about alot of money. HINT: its way cheaper to do the fix ups (renos as they're called nowadays) and stage it. Then you might just get some people starting at full price as the compete!

Should I trust my listing agent's ability to stage?

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There probably are a few good real estate agents that are also good at staging. But there aren't many. Real estate agents sell houses; acrredited stagers get them ready for the sale. it takes alot of thought and preparation to get a house to a point where an agent can do an effective job of selling it. It also takes alot of sometinmes brutal honesty to point out what needs to be done so that it becomes open house perfect. Telling you that and then doing is therefore a job better left to a stager (even in the unlikely happenstance that your lister was once an interior designer).

Will the subrime mortgage fiasco affect my ability to sell?

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Yes but it depends on the type of home that you are selling. If it is the type which would normally appeals to first time home buyers, it will be harder. The stated income income programs of the past are becoming more scarce and actual downpayments are becoming more universally necessary. But harder is not the same as impossible. People adapt and companies will continue to find ways around the problem.Some of these are  alluded to in my mortgage section.

Are open houses a waste of time?

No. Open houses are not a waste of time. Even with better access to the internet having photos galore, there is no substitute for being in a house that you might want to buy. This seems so obvious that I shouldn't even have wirte about it. But, with more and more people becoming addicted to cyber, it may be necessary. A serious buyer will be attracted by what he sees on the internet MLS or from the road as he is driving by, but will have to come to walk over the threshhold to get a real idea of what's inside. Surely you would if you were a buyer, wouldn't you? Oh, people still really do drive around on a Sunday afternoon instead of being glued to the desk top (or inspite of that all during the week)!

How much might a cluttered garage cost me?

About $14,000, according to national averages. So, if you list your home at $400,000 you will get an offer of $20,000 less, assuming everything else is right. That will make you counter back at $390,000 which will get you a $385,000 in return. Then they give you a $387,500 which makes you say $386,000 "Take it or leave it.

Folks, there is a better way, really. Call 651-263-0875.

What does a staged house look like?

I know that most of the posts under "sellers" have to do with staging. The assumption is that everyone knows what this is but does not realize how crucial it is to getting full price offers. So the attatched photo should help a little. But your best bet is to watch Ch63. Carol's and my favorite is "Designed to Sell".