About El Dorado County, CA

How can I get the best deal on a home? Where do I start? Part 6

If you are still with me at this point-and still awake-you are doing

well. Home financing is not the most exciting topic, but it is very

important to those who are about to make a long term commitment.

It is very confusing. If you are lost, join the crowd. Find a loan

consultant that you trust and ask lots of questions.

At this point you should be aware of the type of loan that will work

best for you and after your consultation with your loan consultant

you will know what price range you can afford.

It is a good time to select an agent to help you identify the perfect

home and help you complete the purchase. Note that a licensed

agent in California does no have to be a Realtor®. I Realtor® is

a licensed agent who is a member of the National, California and a local

associations of Realtors®. They subscribe to a strict code of ethics

and are committed to providing the highest standard of representation for

their clients. I recommend that you select a Realtor®.

Another important aspect real estate law is a concept known as agency.

To put it into simple terms, an agent can represent a buyer, they can

represent a seller AND they can represent a buyer and seller in the same

transaction.

Most properties are entered into the local MLS (Realtor's® Multiple

Listing Service) in order to gain the most exposure. When the listing

agent enters the property into the MLS they also commit to pay a

commission to the agent who brings a ready, willing and able buyer

to the negotiating table and completed the purchase transaction.

In simple terms, the seller pays the commission.

So, it costs the buyer nothing to have professional representation!

Sales commissions are usually split in half, 50% to the listing

broker and 50% to the selling broker (the broker representing

the buyer).

Some buyers assume that if they find a property and agree to let

the listing agent represent them in the purchase that they are going

to save money. NOT SO! When a listing agent represents a buyer

that broker gets 100% of the sales commission. The process is

legal and happened every day.

If you are about to make the largest purchase of your life, would you

feel more comfortable being represented by an agent who already

has a contractual obligation to represent the seller? Or would you

feel more confident being represented by an agent who is dedicated

to representing you with 100% of their skill and knowledge?

I know which choice I would make. Let's see now, 100% effort

for ZERO out of pocket...

Stay tuned for the next Blog in this series.

This post continues my study of REO (Bank Owned) home sales in El Dorado Hills and Folsom, CA. This time we will look at September 2008 sales.

The number of REO properties sold in the study area went back up to 40. (In July 45 REO properties sold and in August that number dipped to 25.)

The average days on market dropped to 51. Although there were two homes sold that had been on the market for over 200 days and another three that were active for over 100 days, a full 35% of the REO homes sold were on the market for 14 days or less. Obviously, REO properties are moving rapidly and some of the "stale" listings are clearing off the market as well.

Of the 100 homes sold in September, 40 were REO proerties. 36.4% if the total.

A full 47.5% of the REO properties sold for more than the final asking price, one for 114.08% of the asking price. One home sold for 86.68% of the final asking price.

The cost per square foot for all homes sold dropped to $ 190.00, the second month in a row that number was below $ 200.00. The cost per square foot of REO sold properties was $ 173.00, 91.1% of average price. REO properties remain an excellent buy.

Specific data follows.

We’ve seen some more activity in the South Lake Tahoe foreclosure market. Ten foreclosure properties went into escrow here within the last 13 days! There are 3 new foreclosure listings. The most interesting of these is at 2188 Pinewood Drive. It’s a huge 2,915 square foot home that was built in 2004. With a $435,000 list price, there’s an incredible bidding war going on for that property. Expect it to close well above list price.

It’s a busy Friday, so that’s all for now! I hope all you guys have a great weekend. If you want information on upcoming foreclosures, call me at (530) 545-1831.

This post was inspired by a recent house that I viewed during open house weekend. The home was full of clutter, the rooms hadn't been properly picked-up and the house was just plain dirty. When I politely recommended to the listing agent that he might want to consider giving his sellers an education on preparing the home while it's being shown, he politely suggested that it doesn't matter because when the right buyers see it, they'll be able to see beyond the mess. Really??!! I don't understand why a listing agent would not take the time to educate the seller on the importance of their home's condition.

It's amazing to me that the house was being shown this way to potential buyers. Wasn't the agent at all embarrassed? Most people wouldn't let another person walk into an embarrassing situation without saying something to them first, would we? I mean, we'd let them know that they had toilet paper stuck to the bottom of their shoe or that they had a piece of lettuce stuck between their teeth. We'd tell them because we'd hate to see them be exposed in public that way.

Well, when I see a house on the market that's in real bad shape, I've come to realize that the poor seller didn't have anyone to stop them before they listed! The reality is that it's quite embarrassing to have a house for sale out there looking that way.

Even in today's market, there are plenty of examples out there, just look on the internet and you'll find them - homes that have clothes on the floor, clutter everywhere, unmade beds, dirty carpets and the worst offenders of all - dirty kitchens and bathrooms.

A potential buyer will not bother to stay long and will likely move on to the next house. It's and embarrassing situation and a big turn-off to buyers, no one wants to waste their time looking at a house like that.

If someone doesn't say something to the seller, then how is a seller to know that their house will likely be on the market a lot longer than the average time? And how are they to know that they'll probably have to reduce their price, several tens of thousands of dollars (or more) just to get people to look at it? Someone owes it to them to put the truth out there and educate them on some basic home preparation guidelines. After all, the seller is not the selling expert - it's likely that they really don't have a clue what they need to do.

As an experienced Stager at Simply Staging, I've heard lots of valid reasons from agents for not talking to the sellers about this touchy subject. Such as, "I know my seller isn't going to take the news lightly." Or "They won't do anything that I tell them to do, so why bother." For whatever reason, if the listing agent feels they can't do it, then how about a Stager?

If a seller is really serious about selling their home, then the truth is that they will appreciate hearing the cold hard facts. People want to know what it's going to take to sell their house.

As the seller's agent, if you've tried everything you possibly can to get the seller to clean-up their mess and it's not working, then why not recommend a stager? What have you got to lose? Stagers are used to having to break bad news - that's what we do, this is why we're here - to assist in getting a listing in tip-top selling condition, no matter what it takes.

Surprisingly, when sellers hear it coming from a professional stager, they really do usually take the news better than if it were coming from their Realtor. Granted, we've had sellers not be happy with what our stagers at Simply Staging have had to say to them about their home, even though we are as tactful and professional as we can be - we do at times end up being the bad guy. But the listing agent can continue to be the good guy. As long as we get the house looking great, it really doesn't matter to us who ends up being the good or bad guy because we've achieved our goal.

Home Stagers have a variety of offerings and are providing sellers and agents alike a valuable service. If the seller doesn't see the value now, they'll see the benefits soon enough. By the time we're done with a house, it normally sells faster than the average home and for usually pretty close to asking price. Only until then do we become the hero and only then do we get to shed that "bad guy" image. I see it as tough love, it's really for the sellers own good.

By partnering up with a stager, you can at least rest assured that you have done everything possible to get your listing looking great in public. Once we accept the fact that some people genuinely don't see anything wrong with their homes, it makes perfect sense that we have to educate them. If you've been honest with a client, and have given them all the information needed to compete in this market, then what they do with the information you've given them is up to them - that's all that we can do. Maybe next time you get a client with a messy house, ask them if they'd be bothered going out in public with a piece of lettuce stuck in between their teeth, if they say they wouldn't care, then that's probably a good indication that it's not worth trying to convince them to clean-up their house.

Simply Staging has been offering Home Staging Solutions for both the "Vacant" and the "Not So Vacant" homes in El Dorado County and the Greater Sacramento area for more than 4 years. For a free proposal, give us a call at (530) 417-1337 and see what it takes to get your home "Sell Ready".

There’s been a bit of a buzz in the South Lake Tahoe real estate community. Have we hit the bottom of the market? Possibly. Check out the median sale prices over the last seven months. It looks like we hit bottom in June and have been heading up in the following months. Additionally, the median list price of homes in escrow right now is $437,000. I’d expect that number to drop to about $412,000 because our sale-price-to-list-price ratio on the year is 94.23%. These numbers fall in line with the theory that we have hit the bottom of the market.

What do I think? I’m skeptical. I wish I remembered enough from my college stats class to back this up, but I don’t think enough homes have sold over a long enough period of time to claim that the market’s downward trend has come to a halt. I’ll be happy when we sell off some more of this oversupply of homes.

Speaking of, South Lake Tahoe’s supply of homes did dwindle some at the turn of the month when seventy listings expired. Only thirteen of those listings are back on the market. With less competition amongst listings, now isn’t a bad time to list.

Other notable activity in September occurred in the South Lake Tahoe foreclosure market. Of the 28 single-family residences that sold in September, 7 of them were foreclosures (25%). At the turn of the month, there were 12 foreclosures in escrow and 15 short sales in escrow. We’re seeing a lot of distressed sales. It’s no wonder that banks are folding on a daily basis.

Only 3 condos sold in the last month. However, some buyers were thinking about the upcoming ski season. An unusually high 6 condos went into escrow.

Four lots went into escrow last month and only two sold. It’s been very slow in the dirt market.

I’d love to hear your comments on any of this. I will update a few numbers as some agents haven’t been able to input their September sales in the MLS yet.

* For the sake of statistical integrity, my absorption rates are no longer considering sales for the last year. They are now calculated using sales for the last 90 days. For more information on why I decided on the change, e-mail me at drew@southtahoehouses.com.