Colleen August

Of course, I started out quick and fast, but forgot to introduce myself to my new community! So here goes..

My name is Colleen W August, I work for Real Estate Investments in a suburb of Buffalo, NY. We are a small, but a full customer service agency that has been around over 15 years. Actually it's just my broker and myself, which to some people might sound kind of crazy, however it works out perfect for me. We are going to open a larger office in the next few years, but for now we concentrate on making the buying or selling easy for our clients. There are no games with us, and when we expand that will be a very important part of our office "politics".

I am a mom of three wonderful children and wife to a great hard working husband. I am active in my children's schools and recently was awarded the prestigious Service to Youth Award from the Williamsville School District, which left me humbled and honored. I am involved in a number of community committees, some of which include, The Western New York Girl Scout Council as a Leader for over 4 years as well as the Events Manager for our Service Unit, I am on the Board for Mathewson McCarthy Babe Ruth Baseball, and belong to all three schools PTA memberships. I try to stay up to date with my community and was recently awarded a Senate Proclamation from Senator Mary Lou Rath for my involvement in our schools. I believe that community is important ~ if you must complain, you need to know the facts and the only way to know the facts is to be involved.

I am very family oriented and believe a family has many different meanings from natural to adoption to foster, whatever it takes to become a family, you grasp at it and proceed accordingly.

I earned my license almost two years ago, however, have been in sales all my life. Prior to Real Estate, I was a Regional Manager of a very prosperous retail chain and my territory covered Albany to Buffalo, NY. Sales and customer service is no stranger to me and I welcome any and all advice from all.

I look forward to being a contributing member of active rain and look forward to meeting all of you.

Carpe Diem ~

Colleen

Well, let's talk about pricing your home. You are ready, you decided, yes I want to sell my home, it could be for a variety of reasons, perhaps you have outgrown your first home, or maybe your children have flown the coop and now you want a cozier place to live, or maybe, just maybe it's time for something different - ok - what do you do now? Who do you call? Who can you trust? You have put so much money into your home, you redecorated, finished the basement, you say to yourself - "hey, this home is worth so much more than any others in the neighborhood, I will easily sell this so much higher than any other home around here, just look at it." - STOP - BIG stop sign.....RED LIGHT!!!!! - Do not pass go and do not expect to easily collect $200.

That in ground pool that takes up your whole yard has been enjoyed by your kids for years and even when they were in college, but when a family with young kids see it, they think, oh no way - the whole yard is a pool, my kids will surely drown.

That $10,000 you put in to make your basement a movie theatre is wonderful and a great selling point, but your home is priced 20k above the others without a movie theatre, does this family really need a movie theatre in their home? for 20k? Of course it is nice to have, however it really was for you to enjoy. Let's face it, this family can purchase a home similar in the same neighborhood for 20k less without the pool or the movie theatre.

Now, I am not recommending that you underprice your home, but take some time to think about what is important to families that might want to look in your neighborhood. What are their needs? Not their wants? If you price your home much higher than others in the neighborhood, how will the buyers get a return on their own investment in your home? Would a buyer that has 20k to 30k more to spend rather be in a different area where those homes are priced and sell at that price?

I know a home that is on the market that is magnificent! It is amazing, in a great area and I know the owners personally. I asked them prior to them putting it on the market, what are you thinking of selling this home at? What is your bottom line - well their bottom line was about 200k over the asking price of any home in that area - was it totally updated? YES - was it beautiful - YES - did they put in that amount to the home? YES - will they get what they are asking? NO why? Because it's overpriced for the area period. My advice to her as a friend was to put a for sale sign by owner sign on the property, because any agent that took it was doing a diservice to them by listing it that high, I would never list it at that price, why? Because it's not fair to them, I know it will not sell, even with everything, they should enjoy what they did to it and move on. One year later, it sits on the market still.

It is a bitter pill to swallow and this blog will not be popular with sellers, however the bottom line is that you have to price your area right. Your updates were meant for YOU - enjoy your home, live in it, but when it comes time to sell, remember your area will dictate what home prices go for. If you put an extra 200k into your home, and the neighborhood doesn't recognize that, it will not sell. They will go to another area that determines that price.