Hearthstone Homes and Celebrity Homes in Omaha, NE are really the only two builders that build below $150k. And below the $200k mark, they offer the most upgrades. Henry Sudbeck has tried recently to get back into this market as over and over, buyers want more options than just these 2 builders, but he simply doesn't have the cost effective upgrades that these builders can offer. While I hate the fact that these are the only 2 builders in that price range, I have to concede that it is good for buyers that want upgrades in a lower price range and smaller house.
As much as most people dislike Hearthstone and Celebrity Homes Cookie Cutter look and feel, they do provide the most square foot for the money and space is usually the top factor in choosing a home. I have been impressed that they have tried to create more floor plans to get even more diversified in their look, so they don't all look the same. It's hard to make them look un-cookie cutter when to be cost effective, they have to build in volume, so that practically a monkey could put the home together blindfolded, so they can continually cut and keep suppliers and contractors who will do the work for them for less. That's the name of the game.
Most real estate agents in Omaha, NE particularly hate these 2 builders (Hearthstone Homes & Celebrity Homes) because they are notorious for cutting out buyer's representation with ridiculous stipulations like you can't view their models without coming with your agent on the first visit. Duh, if people are out and about going through model homes, it's really not fair to turn them away and expect them to be doing their Sunday drives with their agents. Buyers aren't seriously shopping when they are shopping Model homes, it's more fun and informative, agents don't go with them on the fun trips. So buyer's unknowingly "SIGN IN" with a builder, which is always a NO-NO (as highlighted in a past blog post) and completely give up rights to representation without even knowing it.
Most buyers have heard from their friends, family, or from word on the street, and I think it is safe to say there is a general perception, that building in volume cannot be a quality built home...To this, I cannot really speak...I know many construction educated/ real estate agents/ contractors that live in these homes, so they are good enough for them. Inspectors always seem happy with their construction so far... And they use some of the exact same windows, drywall, and other supplies that "custom builders" use, but they get it for a cheaper price because they buy in volume right off the train...So their cheap price is definitely a result of their volume building, but that is what allows them to get the same products and upgrades to the customer, for less.
I would not build with any builder EVER, without having your own agent representing your interests. I am not talking about the agent that works for the builder. They are the builder's agent, not yours. Avoid dual agency if you can. There is no way an agent that works for a builder can come to their builder and fight against him/her for your interests. It just ain't happening. They will advise you in ways that will appease their builder.
Hearthstone has to be the hardest builder to work with. They are inflexible in every way. You pick your carpet, wood, and tile, but the rest is up to them. You follow their rules. You follow their guidelines. And don't think for one minute they will make an exception for you.They have a fixed time line and fixed way of doing things, so get on board or get off, they don't seem to give a damn.
Celebrity is a little more flexible and willing to serve the customers' individual and unique needs. They want your business and will work for it. They are a bit more customizable in some ways, but in others, not so much, compared to their pretty well only rival Hearthstone Homes.
Whether they are a good constructed home? Ask their current homeowners. Some will speak of drafty windows or walls...Some will speak of the noise...People walking upstairs are practically stomping right next to you. Overall, I think that almost all would be happy with their home. It's a tough price range and at least there are affordable housing options and a lot of square foot for the money, so maybe you sacrifice a little on quality. It's still a decent trade off; That is good for people. Even if it does look like an Edward Scissorhand neighborhood.
You can buy homes cheaper than you can ever build them, so why build?
There are always dozens on the market at any given time with all sorts of options that are re-sales from these 2 builders. You can't customize the floor plan anyway when you build, so buy an older floor plan and upgrade the inside items. It'll almost always end up cheaper than building it "custom" through them. And, buying existing sometimes you get all those extras that don't add value to a house, but are big bonuses, such as landscaping, fencing, decks, blinds, curtains, appliances, sprinkler systems, security systems, play houses...All of those things can easily add up to $20k if you buy them new, but they aren't accounted for in pricing a home to sell, so they are bonus!
Colleen Woodward
REMAX The Producers
Selling Real Estate in Omaha, Elkhorn, Gretna, Bennington, Papillion, La Vista, Bellevue
I appreciate why people want to do For Sale By Owner.
I think its a great thing to consider if you are going to be upside down on your mortgage and you have no other choice when you are broke because doing a short sale will indeed hurt your credit. However, would Realtors still be in business if this was an effective way to sell a home? Probably not.
I am astounded sometimes to find commercial real estate agents (who do not know about residential and are not a part of the MLS), former REALTORS, and even builders try to sell FSBO (for sale by owner)...I know it is an ego issue with most of them...But honestly, if I were no longer an agent, I know that I can't possibly do the work that an active agent could. I simply wouldn't and couldn't have the tools or market knowledge to effectively market my home.
Disadvantages of Selling For Sale By Owner....I Say This with Love, Truth, and Integrity.
I am a believer in being fully informed in any situation. You have to know the good and the bad to make a consciously good, intelligent decision, no matter which way you choose.
1. The way people negotiate changes with the market and unless you are in the marketplace, it is impossible to know the way people are making and selling their cases, and getting deals closed.
2. The way things are done in the market are constantly shifting...Technology, laws, regulations, rules are changing all the time...How can someone not in the market be up to speed on all of it?
3. Even if a FSBO offers up a buyer's agent commission, agents never know this, so it really doesn't help anything.
4. Sooo, the number one place people find their home (through a REALTOR) becomes null and void because agents can't work for free and need to be paid for the work they do, and they carry the most buyers. Hit one agent and you effectively hit many buyers they are working with. It's called leverage.
5. Sellers cannot get on the websites (the number two place people look for houses) that are effectively selling homes. They are agent exclusive. The FSBO sites are so scattered in their presence that to see the various FSBO listings takes extra time, motivation, and diligence. And who has time on their hands these days? Very few of us. Agents work full time in real estate.
6. Buyer's Agency is FREE* to the buyer, so why would they NOT use a buyer's agent to get them into every home imagineable at their convenience? Someone to work exclusively for them? (If they do, then they want that money you are trying to keep yourself)
7. Best of ALLLLLLL: Statistics show that homes listed with agents sell for 10% more than FSBO homes. So even if you pay a commission, you still comes out many percentage points ahead!
*And the worst part in my opinion when I have to work with a FSBO on a transaction is that they represent themselves and really don't know what they are doing:
They are terrible negotiators, not knowing what is normal. They are emotionally invested in their home, so they oversell things that have no value to a buyer, like "hey did you see this shoe rack? It's all built in"...
And by being emotionally invested and thinking that these things they have done to improve the property matter, they overprice their home AND don't have a grounded understanding of market value of their home. Honestly, if FSBO's would price right, they may be more effective...But overwhelmingly we see over and over them overpricing. They want to save the commission AND think their home is worth the most in the neighborhood. Why? Because it's theirs and they love it, and didn't they mention the built in shoe rack? They think everything they have in the home is worth money.
P.S It's really uncomfortable going through a person's home while they are watching you...This gives most people the creeps.
What's the solution to save money, go with an agent that offers marketing plans, if you want to most of it yourself, you betcha I'll discount. Want full service? I have top of the line. All sellers are different. You choose your marketing plan and commission associated with it.
Colleen Woodward
REMAX The Producers
Selling Real Estate in the Omaha Area
I love the show Bought & Soldon HGTV. Who doesn't love HGTV? I love all shows regarding real estate and they have many to choose from. The only unfortunate part is that the advice that comes from these shows is not always reliable for the Omaha, Nebraska market.
For instance, on Bought & Sold they are constantly "staging" homes, as in paying 1% of the price of the home to bring in a crew, furniture, and decor to make the home its best. Most people hardly have the money for the % of commission to pay their agents, let alone an extra 1% for props. Homes where this is taped (with views of Downtown Manhattan) they run well over $400k up to millions. The average home price in Omaha is around $150k and dropping I would assume. There is just simply no market for the cost of staging.
I "stage" every home I have listed. It is not in the same sense that these shows show the lavish, expensive way...I am more practical, the economical, Omaha way. I use the furniture & items the homeowner has to stage it appropriately. The homeowner is the moving crew. I give the direction to how it all should look. What's the cost? FREE for using me as their Realtor. I have an eye for it. I am a photographer (in my past life) so I have an eye for the way things need to look just right, literally to be picture perfect. Picture perfect is important because the first way people yay or nay your home is by seeing the pictures on-line.
Staging is all about bringing in someone that has an eye for seeing your home objectively with selling the home as the goal. The way we all live in our home is nothing like the way we want it to look like when we are trying to sell it to someone else. It is really about decluttering more than anything. Rearranging furniture not to be functional, that is for living in the home. We move the furniture to be appealing and make the space appear to flow properly, spaciously, openly, and that is for selling the home.
The first thing I do when I come to the home is do a Staging Walk Through where we take a walk through the home with a notepad and make notes of everywhere things need to be moved, shift, taken down, replaced. When selling a home, the seller has to remove their emotions from it, if they want someone to see themselves in it, that means they need to take themselves out of it...And that means all the collections, personal photos, and clutter to show how they live. The buyer doesn't want to see how you live. They want the home to look like a blank slate, where they could potentially live.
Staging is very important to do because living in a home, we all see our homes in a very different way than what a stranger does. I could never even stage my own home because I am not immune to this characteristic. However, staging in Omaha is very different from what they show on HGTV or any of those national media outlets, where in other markets it may be economical to spend the money because there is so much more money in the commission itself for a marketing budget because the home prices are so high OR it makes sense to spend the 1% from the seller's perspective to do so.
If you would like your home staged for free and sell with a full-time leading Realtor in the industry. Contact me for your free staging walk through today if you live in the Omaha Area market. I will get your home SOLD!
RE/MAX The Producers
This one always kills me when people put in their marketing comments;
"Priced $20,000 below tax assessment" OR "Priced below appraisal"
Woopy Dee Doopty! Tax assessments as we all know are imperfect in their design. They use some formula to try to come up with the value of a home without knowing what kind of condition it is in, what it looks like or has to attribute or hinder it. It's why year after year people fight them because they can be sooo completely off base from what a home will actually sell for.
Douglas and Sarpy County have been trying to raise the assessments because so many were so low, but now that we have had the reversal of issues where these newly assessed values done are coming up higher that what the home could actually sell for. Tax Assessments should never, ever be used as a measure of market value of a home.
On that same stroke, I would also like to add that any value or appraisal that is proposed from a refinance, Zillow.com, really any of the sites that are willing to put an exact number to value of a house cannot possibly be accurate. Why you ask? Because pricing a home is not an exact science. Unless you know of someone with an actual crystal ball, nobody can know exactly the price a buyer will offer and a seller will accept.
As real estate agents, all we can really do is go off past trends, along with our expertise in the market to come up with a range. We want to price right, but the market is on a continual subtle shifting, so it may be going up or down as transactions are being closed as we speak, which are our leading indicators. We can't be perfect, which is why every agent out there does price reductions to try to find that magic number a buyer will feel the home is worth if it is not selling at the current price. It is not exact.
The price range is important because no house is exactly, to a T, alike. Even if they were as close as can be, one ranch with exactly the same square foot and amenities as one down the street, may sell for $10,000 more. Why? We don't know exactly, but the buyer clearly saw the value, offered a price they thought was fair and the seller accepted. Ta Da: Market Value. But the ones down the street that sold for less is also the Market Value. See the dilemma?
Appraisals done for refinancing purposes is best explained this way. If the range of price is $165k-$180k that the home could go for potentially, and the bank needs you to qualify it at $180k for whatever reason, maybe so you have 5% invested, then of course the bank can justifiably, legally, and even ethically say that your home is worth $180k as long as their is some evidence that shows that its well within the range of what homes similar are going for.
When pricing a home for sale, there is no appraisal, or any other non intensive way to come up with a valid, good, competitive price other than getting an integrative market analysis on your home from an agent that will tell you the truth, not what you want to hear it will go for. Truth will get your house sold.
If you would like an integrative market analysis or have any other real estate need. I am here for you every step of the way.
Colleen Woodward
RE/MAX The Producers
Selling Real Estate in the Omaha, NE area for the Cure & with Heart
(with each transaction a donation is made to the Susan G. Komen foundation)
I recently attended a luncheon for Project Harmony at the Qwest Center Omaha where I listened to the keynote speaker, Antwone Fischer, talk about his struggle through abuse to become a successful writer, producer, and director of feature films.
Kids have always been my passion. As a child/ teen I nurtured, loved, and spent a lot of time as a mother's helper, babysitter, child care, and then a day camp counselor... Now I have my own children and had a tragic, heartbreaking encounter with one of my son's friend's being abused. I witnessed it and took action. I was pleasantly suprised to find that Omaha has this excellent place called Project Harmony where kids that are taken from their homes while their situation is investigated get to go to one place to stay, where all the service and care providers come to them rather than shuffling them around in a completely disruptive manner.
By no means do we have a perfect system when it comes to taking abused children from their homes. The thing that kept haunting me was whether or not this child was truly going to a better place. Our foster system is knowingly flawed and since I reported it, I haven't had any follow up on what happened with the child. Only the bare minimum I can ask my child before he thinks something is suspicious.
If you know of or witness a child being abused there are many places to call to report with so that it does not fall through the cracks. I suggest calling the police, health and human services, and Project Harmony.
Colleen Woodward
RE/MAX The Producers
Selling Real Estate for the Cure & with Heart
(donations made to the Susan G. Komen foundation w/ each transaction)
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Top Agent Omaha Nebraska Selling Real Estate for the Cure in partnership with Susan G. Komen Foundation
Prudential Ambassador Real Estate: Urban Omaha
I love working for an International Real Estate Company. Local companies tout their affiliation with relocation companies, but Prudential itself brings in so much referral and relocation simply being the #1 'go to' company website IN THE WORLD. It's powerful! We have the top of the line in everything because we have the power of all of our agents (internationally) putting in money for the best of the best in real estate technology, training, and marketing.
Selling Real Estate for the Cure in Partnership with the Susan G. Komen foundation in memory of Ann Lang. Every transaction that closes, a donation is made to the cause in the name of my client.
What Am I Like?
I am very patient and laidback. My 'best' is working under pressure. It's my time to shine because I remain calm and laser in on the issues at hand. Selling real estate is all about the relationships. I live off of referral as part of my business, so my clients are king to me...
It is also important to choose an agent well liked and respected in our real estate community. To maintain good, working relationships with everyone involved in the transaction from agents, to title companies, to lenders makes for a smooth transaction with clients, which is where my calm charm comes in handy. If people like and respect you, they work harder to help out your transaction. Fires may ensue and almost always do, but I fan them without you realizing they are being put out.
My clients are everything to me. My goal is to simply do them right. Make it easy, get them what they want, and honestly, my clients become friends to me because I care about them and their needs that much. It's a wonderful thing helping someone to buy or sell their home. It's emotional usually. It's a big event in their lives. And I am honored to be a part of it.
Would We Be a Good Fit?
If you have a sense of humor, want honest, professional advice, and want a great buying or selling experience...Well, it's my personal goal to create that world for each and every client.
First Home Buyers in Omaha, NE: I have a special place in my heart because they have so much to learn and if they end up with the wrong agent, their entire real estate experience always leaves a lasting impression...I like to get to them first, so they get all the information to make smart, good decisions in home buying.
Foreclosures, Short Sales, Investment Properties in Omaha, NE: Our market has faired better than most in this real estate downturn, but we still have our increased volume of distressed properties, so I specialize in them and enjoy the challenge of finding and closing these deals
I love working with people, so I have worked in all areas of Omaha, Elkhorn, Papillion- La Vista, Gretna, Bennington so nothing is off limits. I have lived in Omaha almost my entire life, so I know the area well and keep well read on the ongoings of our fine town.
"Russ & I wanted to thank you for all you did for us and all your hard work you put in to get our home sold! We were so amazed you called us from the hospital- talk about being committed! You have such a warm and professional style. We will be sure to pass your name on to all that are thinking about selling!" - Colleen, Russ, & Claire
"Colleen, Thank you for all your help, suggestions, holding our hands, and helping us sell this house!" - Anna & Mike
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