Am I Priced To High?

You don't need Bob Barker to answer your question!!!

When you are considering selling your home the big question is "How much is my house worth?" It's a great question. It's the most important question you should be asking.

So how do you go about finding the answer? Well the best way is to hire a third party appraiser. This unbiased professional opinion is your best bet. The investment of $250 is a good one in the sale of your home. Knowing that you are priced right can save you time and money! Heck you can even make this report available to prospective buyers!

If you are more inclined to figure things out on your own there are a few things you need to do. Watching the market is a great way to understand what is going on but you have to know what you are looking at. People can list there home for as much or as little as they want. You can learn from this if you are paying attention. Specifically it is good to watch comparable homes in your neighbourhood. Are they sitting for a long time? Did one just list and sell right away? Are their reduced price stickers on the signs? These nuggets of knowledge are all telling you something. The one thing you should always keep in mind is if a home is priced correctly it will sell (so long as you get the needed exposure).

If you are looking for better information, than the key number you want is their SOLD price. A home is only worth what someone will pay for it, no matter what they were listed for. So how do you get this info without calling a home appraiser or real estate agent? One way is to use the public info available to everyone through MPAC. As you can see on this sample report you can chose comparable properties within your community and it will show you the last sale date (if within the last 5 years) and the price it sold for. When I SOLD my house last winter I printed this report with 4 comparable properties and handed them out with my feature sheets to prospective buyers.

Giving prospective buyers information on how you priced your home is a great way to avoid situations like this...


M

Inspecting For Who?

Have you ever wondered just who the home inspector was working for?

The key to avoiding this is to hire your own. By all means get some references but you should have final say on who the inspector is. Hire based upon ability, skills and value, not on referrals from a party gaining from the transaction. Even worse if the real estate agent is offering to pay for it this should raise all kinds of red flags!! (Author’s note) Make sure you ask the agent if they are willing to pay for any inspector or just one in particular. If they will pay for any inspector than it is simply your commission dollars paying for it. Where the flags should be raised is if they will only pay for one inspector in particular. I was unable to get any details of the program offered by the agent in the link as it was not spelled out on his website. I have emailed him for details on just how his program works. I have asked him to post the details as a comment on this post. Added 11/5/09.) I have met a few inspectors in my travels that said they lost referrals from local real estate agents because their thoroughness had caused deals to fall apart, losing the agent's precious commission.

I did a post on this back in July when Mike Holmes announced his new inspection business. I really respect Mike for his ability to stand up for what is not right. Take this quote about the inspection business as an example:

"There also are questions over whether some inspectors are too cosy with real estate agents who don't want an inspection to kill a sale."

Let's hope that Mike can do for the inspection business what he did for the renovation business!!

He is putting his money where his mouth is too. Have you been stung from a bad inspection in the past....Mike wants to make it right....

M

What To Do With All This BS?

Author’s Note: Due to a complaint about the legitimacy of information in this post I have double checked my sources and found the data to be accurate and made some notes below. I have also made some edits to help protect the home buyers/sellers involved as well some of the language has been edited due to individual interpretation of the specific words used.

I think I need a skid of these to deal with it all!

I hear all sorts of stories in this business. I recognize that they all start with a kernel of truth and through the art of story telling they get altered slightly. We all remember playing broken telephone as children, right?

I was out putting up the first of two sold signs in Cambridge last Friday when I came across a flyer blowing aimlessly on our client's door step. I am sure it fell out of the door jam or mailbox but there it was carefully avoiding my feet as it tried to get my attention.

I picked it up to see the same drab excuse of a flyer we expect from a (replaced Joe Schmoe with) ordinary agent. What popped for me was the PropertyGuys.com sign in the photo. (Using other people's trade marks in your advertising is not allowed and was a big motivator to this post. I have scanned and presented the flyer as it was found and included another company logo only to show the flyer in it's entirety.) When I read it in detail I knew it was a stretch of the truth at best. It is the exact opposite of everything we see in the market...so I did some digging.

Nothing is the truth except the truth, and here it is.

Address deleted
Listed with PropertyGuys.com on July 14 2008 at $267,900
Cancellation date deleted
Listed with Robert Wollziefer on Sept 30 2008 at $269,900 MLS® #0894383
Relisted with Robert Wollziefer on Dec 1st 2008 at $259,900 MLS® #0895294
Sold Date Jan 29 2009 for $255,000 (There was some question to privacy laws in publicizing the sold value of the property. This is already public information available through the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation aka MPAC)
Total days on MLS 121
Estimated commission paid at 3.5% $8,925 plus $446.25 in GST
Net amount client sold for deleted

Here are some points that Robert fails to point out in his marketing piece:
Details of the price drop of $8,000 in listing price and $12,900 to the actual SOLD price
(Deleted a comment regarding bottom line price client received after commissions payed).
Property was relisted after 60 days on the market

Here is (in my opinion) the absolute (replaced false with) misleading statement made:
"One day they received 3 offers and can now move forward"

As you can see from the truth above, they were listed for a total of 121 days with Robert (deleted “and not the 1 day he states”. It was brought to my attention that the client did in fact receive 3 offers in one day, the ad fails to mention that it took 120 days prior to that happening). The truth is they were listed twice as long with Robert than with PropertyGuys.com and needed to drop their price because it was price that was the issue not their choice of marketing. (Deleted language specific to the client and replaced with) One of the true benefits of selling privately is the fact that you are able to lower the cost of the transaction. Those costs can either be kept by the seller or used as a tool to lower their price, making them more attractive in the market place and sell faster.

Way to help them "Move Forward" Mr. Wollziefer, (grammatical error replaced your) you’re a gem!

Do you have a similar story? Leave a comment! Your story may help someone else avoid the "Rubber Lips"...


M

She Needs Your HELP!

Do you remember the Ypreneur Gene contest I blogged about earlier this month?

Things are starting to heat up with over 25 contestants vying for top spot and a $100,000 franchise package from CYBF and PropertyGuys.com.

We have seen our first entry from the Waterloo Wellington area entered by our very own associate Martha Neath. Martha joined our team in September of 2008 and quickly became a valued member. Her belief in Private Sale spread like an infection. She was passing it on to everyone she knew. But then she realized it was more than just that.

When she found out about the contest that could put her at the helm of her own Private Sale ship she came to the conclusion her infection spread so fast because she had the Ypreneur Gene.

Now it's time for you to help make her dream a reality. The first round of the Ypreneur Gene contest is a down and dirty popularity contest. She needs your votes by 11:59pm Oct 31st. So HELP MARTHA OUT!

Here is her video submission for your viewing pleasure...

Have You Seen This Dinosaur?

Now why do you think he ended up here?

There are many theories as to why the dinosaurs disappeared. Many creatures have gone the way of the Dodo Bird and more often than not it was because of their inability to react and adapt to changes in their environment.

When the travel industry was faced with the internet changing their business many were doomed for the tar pits. The ones that remained did so either through specialization or over the top customer service. The everyday ordinary transaction has gone online. The majority of people are now booking basic travel needs either direct with airlines like WestJet or using services like Hot Wire and Expedia.

Why has the real estate world taken longer to adapt than the travel industry? In travel it was a company dealing with a consumer. One large company can make decisions quickly and change an industry. In real estate it is a consumer to consumer transaction. Instead of one or two CEO's changing the course of an industry it is millions and millions of home owners each making the decision one at a time, as the situation arises. This no doubt has lead to the extended yet agonizing march into the pit for those not ready to adapt to a changing market place. As is with any tipping point, the closer you get to it the quicker it picks up speed. Have you noticed a change happening? Has it been picking up speed?

One can only hope that if extinction is in their future they won't feel the pain...