About Annapolis' Eastport

As Elsewhere, Buyers Are Calling the Shots in the Annapolis Real Estate Market. Here Are 5 Ways to Really Get Their Goat

I was reading Active Rain the other day and came across an article with a very similar title to the one above. It doesn't beat around the bush, and that's a good thing: the market is too competitive right now for bush beating. I've cribbed the 5 "things", but the observations are mine.

#1. Odors. If your home has off odors, you're a dead duck. Odors have essentially the same irritating effect on buyers as an alarm that goes if when they enter and never stops until they leave. You may not even smell the odors anymore, which is why you need an outside opinion. Do whatever it takes to eliminate the offensive odors - replace carpet, clean air ducts, etc - if you expect a sale.

#2. Cleanliness. Your home should look like you could eat off the floor, not as if you just did. There are no shortcuts here or places to hide because buyers will open every cabinet, look behind every door, in search of dirt. The best few hundreds bucks you spend when you sell a home might be hiring a professional cleaning crew.

#3. Clutter. Clutter and cleanliness go hand in hand: where you find one, you almost always find the other. Pack up the clutter, rent a storage unit - you're moving anyway, right? - and get it down to just a few things on every surface and wall. Your home should emit a sense of calm, not chaos. Chaos confuses buyers, and confused buyers don't buy.

#4. Sellers at Home. Imagine, if you will, a waiter who hovers at your table when you're out on a date. That's how buyers feel when sellers stay in their home during a showing. Doesn't matter if the buyers and their agent say it's fine if you stay. They're lying.

#5. Unfinished Projects. Buyers want to imagine The Good Life in your home, a life of leisure. The last thing they want is to inherit a list of projects you never got around to. Trust me: the house down the street doesn't have any unfinished business and it's priced better besides. That's what you're up against.

Finally, none of the above matters if you're home is overpriced for this market - which is the main thing buyers don't like about your home. But if that's the case, they probably didn't even bother to make an appointment in the first place!

Shameless plug: If you're thinking of selling your Annapolis home - or buying one in the area - give us a call. We can help you avoid these 5 mistakes, among many others, and have a great real estate transaction. We can be reached at 410-507-7222.

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Funky, Eclectic, Upscale and Down, the Market for Well-Priced Eastport Properties in this Peninsular Neighborhood of Annapolis Looks Good

We've just listed a great home in Eastport on Boucher Ave (right), that will go active in the MLS in about a week. It's just down the street from two others we sold about a year ago, in the million dollar range, so we know the neighborhood very well.

I think we met pretty much everyone who lives in this part of Eastport over the course of many open houses. Eastporters love to take Sunday walks and think nothing of dropping by an open house, if for no other reason than to exercise their curiosity muscles.

Fine with us: we love to get to know the neighbors at our listings. And these neighbors sometimes end up hiring us to sell their homes - which is precisely what happened in this case.

Here's How the Eastport Market Stacks Up Right Now

Our new listing will be priced in the mid-$700's, so let's look at the market at that point - $750,000 - and upwards. Later in the week, we'll look at the market south of $750,000.

Currently there are 20 active listings. On the high end is a 3 bedroom home on Lockwood Court fronting Spa Creek for $1,950,000...and on the low end is a 2- bedroom on Chester Ave for $775,000. The former has been on the market for 24 days, and judging by the photos, most of the value is in the land. The latter has been listed for 330 days.

Three listings are under contract: one on Bay Ridge Ave listed at $785,000, one on Springdale at $1,270,000 and a third on Horn Point Drive which started at $3,000,000 103 days ago and went under contract listed at $1,300,000. Heaven only knows what's up with that one.

Four homes have sold in Eastport for more than $750,000 in the last 90 days. The most expensive - a new home on Fifth St - went for $1,300,000 and took 223 days to sell. Another new home at 306 State St. sold for $797,653 in 85 days.

Uniqueness Always Sells Well in Eastport

The Eastport market has not been immune to the softening of the local real estate market, but it has held up better than other neighborhoods. The reason is this: the uniqueness of the homes, and walking distance to town.

For many residents (and homebuyers) Eastport represents the Annapolis maritime culture at its best - and they wouldn't live anywhere else. Eastporters cherish the very things others complain about - the small yards, closeness of properties, the funky mix of expensive homes and cheaper bungalows, often side by side.

Sign Up for Our Free Eastport Hot List

If you're a potential Eastport homebuyer, seller or resident - or you're simply interested in keeping an eye on the Eastport market - why not subscribe to our Eastport Hot List? Our hot list - from which the above data is taken - is a detailed market report that comes directly to your email inbox whenever a new listing comes to market, goes under contract, or sells.

To subscribe, simply email your name to me at kenhaedrich@gmail.com and tell me you'd like to be put on the Eastport Hot List.

And if There's an Eastport Home You Need to Sell...or Would Like to Preview...

...just email or call me at 410-507-7222. We work extensively with buyers and sellers throughout the Annapolis area, many in Eastport. And we'd welcome the opportunity to work with you. You'll like us: we're consultative, not pushy. And we love our work.

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Posted by Ken Haedrich |

Dodging the Brisket and Potato Chips in Search of the Truth About the Annapolis Real Estate Market

If I'm in a talkative mood, I like to walk into the grocery store - or any public place - wearing one of my Realtor pins.

As almost any agent will tell you, wearing a Realtor pin in public nowadays is akin to tacking a sign on your forehead that says Ask Me About the Real Estate Market!

Which is preciscely what happens: total strangers start firing off questions at the checkout counter as they stack their potato chips and brisket onto the conveyor belt. How's the market? Are you selling any homes? Have we reached the bottom yet?

I like this - in part because it gives me the chance to right some wrongful impressions about how the Annapolis area real estate market is behaving...and to debunk some deeply held myths that homeowners, sellers and buyers tend to cling to.

Here's an article I stumbled upon that puts some of these myths to bed once and for all. It's a good read, and a sobering one at that. Homebuyers should pay special attention to Buyer Myth #'s 2 and 5...and sellers to Seller Myth #4.

Incidentally, if you are considering buying a home in the Annapolis area, email me at KenHaedrich@gmail.com to find out more about Myth #3, and how you can purchase a home with an FHA loan for just 3.5% down. Most people think you need 20% down today, but that's just not the case.

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So, Your Home WAS Listed, It Just Sat There Gathering Dust, and Then the Holidays Rolled Around

So you withdrew it from the market. Too much hassle...not enough action. Now what?

First, let's look at the reasons it probably didn't sell.

1. Condition - Your home has issues that turned buyers off - you know, peeling Formica, paint colors from the '50's, dings in the walls.

2. Marketing - Your home wasn't presented well enough or widely enough to the marketplace.

3. Price - The market didn't like your asking price. Maybe agents/their buyers didn't come right out and say so. But they said so when they bought something else - a better value - somewhere else.

4. This Really Screwed Up Economy We're All In Right Now.

Well, the good news is - other than the economy - you can fix all these things. The bad news is, you may not be willing to. You may not even want to. Which leads us to:

5. You're just not that into it - selling your home, that is.

#5 Explained: A Little Story About One Annapolis Home That Never Did Sell

It was a nice condo, wonderful location, pretty well priced. But when the condo didn't sell - and the owners kept resisting our advice for remedying certain problems that needed attention - we knew something was up.

A few months down the road we learned that the sellers didn't really want to leave the Annapolis area. They just hadn't figured that out yet. Only when confronted squarely with the prospect of pulling up their roots did they realize that Annapolis - and not Florida - was where their hearts were.

We Learned a Valuable Lesson in the Process: Ask Home Sellers Probing Questions

By doing so, we sometimes uncover misgivings that could prove to be obstacles to a sale - misgivings that the owners may not have fully considered.

We've also learned this: when a seller resists our measured advice about getting their home sold, ambivalence about a move is often just below the surface. And ambivalence isn't selling in this market.

Solution: Have a candid conversation with yourself - and your significant other, if there is one - and ask yourself: do I really want to move? Be brutally honest.

Now, About Those Other Issues

#1 - In this marketplace, condition - how your home looks to buyers - is crucial.

Know this: everyone wants a model home today. And with new construction competing head-to-head with the resale market on price, your potential buyers have likely seen their share of them. They're spoiled, and you should spoil them, too. If you don't, somebody else will.

Solution: Fix everything that needs fixing, from loose hardware to worn carpets. Paint! Use hip, neutral, soothing colors. Hire a stager to help you improve room flow. Move stuff out: buyers are buying square footage, so show it to them.

And landscape! 82% of agents report that their buyers won't hesitate to cancel a showing if they don't like your curb appeal.

#2 - When it comes to marketing, not all agents are created equal. Some have embraced the power of the Internet wholeheartedly, many have not.

Before you re-list, find out precisely what your agent will do to market your home, and why.

Ask about photography, and for samples - online and paper - of how those photos look. Good quality photography, like this, is fundamental to real estate marketing. (Note: most agents, myself included, aren't super photographers. That's why we - The Moss Haedrich Team - almost always use professional real estate photographers.)

Solution: Make sure your agent is using the latest technology and tools to get your home sold. One neat tool we use is a lead capture system to talk with warm buyers who call in to hear recordings about our listings. (To hear how this works, call 1-866-237-3371 code 2078.)

#3 - We could advertise your home on the front page of The Washington Post seven days a week, and if the price isn't right we still won't find a buyer.

Here's a thought: at any given time, only about 20% of the homes on the market are really in the market. The rest are being virtually ignored by savvy, value-conscious home shoppers - and their agents - who are pinpointing the homes that are truly competitive.

Consider this: the market is only going to pay what it is going to pay. Until you get to that price, the market will not produce a sale.

A man walks into a bank and stacks 36 quarters neatly on the counter, and says to the teller: I'd like a $10 bill for those quarters.

The patient teller responds: Sorry, sir, those quarters are only worth $9.

Fellow: Yes, but I really want $10. I really need ten bucks.

The fellow keeps this up until the cops arrive and escort him to the station.

We Don't Haul Sellers Off to the Station When They Wait Around For the Market to Offer a Price It Never Will...

...but disregarding the market's unequivocal rejection of a home that's overpriced only draws out the inevitable and causes pain for sellers.

Solution: Get real about price before you re-list. If you can't, either rent your home or hold off on selling for a few years.

#4 - Oh Yeah - About the Economy

It is indeed screwed up right now. Some people have lost jobs, many of us have seen our investments lose considerable value.

Lending requirements have tightened and the pool of potential buyers has indeed gotten smaller. I don't think anyone knows for sure what lies ahead for our economy in the months and years to come. A fast turnaround is unlikely.

In spite of it all, life does go on. People continue to move in and out of the Annapolis area, and homes ARE selling.

Take heart in the fact that you can still sell a home, even in this challenging market, if that's what you truly want. If will take sacrifice and work, but it can happen.

(Shameless plug: If you - or anyone you know - are considering what to do next with a home that's been withdrawn from the market, give me a call at 410-507-7222 and let's talk. We'll sit down, look at the particulars, and give you our best, no-pressure assessment of your situation. Or just email me at kenhaedrich@gmail.com) and tell me your story. Look forward to hearing from you.)

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This entry was posted on Saturday, January 24th, 2009 at 12:19 pm and is filed under Sellers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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Kendal and I arrived at Ruth's Chris at 6:30 for our reservation. We were promptly
seated by the professional and attractive crew of hostesses. Within minutes
we were greeted by name by our server. We ordered a bottle of wine from the impressive wine list. I selected a French
Meursault $60). After waiting about 3 minutes we were informed that that bottle
was no longer available but that they had a Jobard Meursault 1999. An impressive
wine but listed on the list for $100. When I bought this to their attention
they informed me that the manager had agreed to serve us the $100 bottle for $60!
Quite magnanimous.

For appetizers Kendal ordered the Lobster Bisque Special ($9.99) not really
a special because it is always available. I ordered the Escargot with Artichokes
and Mushrooms in a traditional, if a bit lemony, beurre blanc (butter sauce).

We split a Spinach Salad; fresh baby spinach leaves with red onions, hard boiled
eggs in a warm bacon dressing. Served with freshly cracked black pepper this
was a wonderful way to finish the Meursault as they very professionally decanted
the 2001 Chateau Guraud Larose ($125) in order to let it "open up"
a bit.

Promptly, but not so prompt as to feel rushed, our main courses and sides were
delivered. Kendal's Petite Filet and my Filet were perfectly cooked and sizzling
on the superheated plates with fresh parsley and whole creamery butter. The
sides of Fresh Asparagus with Hollandaise and Potatoes au Gratin were served
piping hot; BUT WITH NUMEROUS NOT POSITIVE CHANGES. The asparagus, which looked to be a full pound, was fresh, pencil thin and cooked exactly al dente was served with a very light hollandaise that truthfully
needed a bit more "zip". The potatoes, thick cut and served in a cream
sauce with a disastrous new mix of cheeses that reminded us both of sweat socks. I must report that I have eaten more than 50 times at Ruths Chris Restaurants around the country and was always happy to report that you have a 100% chance of a great evening at any of their restaurants---No more. After contacting both local and national management I was informed that it was what it was.

I won't return

For local Reservations contact them at 410-990-0033

For Directions on how to get to Ruth's Chris

Tell them Michael sent you...

Ruth's Chris Continued
Annapolis Reservations

For more information on this or if you are interested in buying or selling real estate in Annapolis please contact me at www.callmike.org Your Source for Annapolis Real Estate