Ron Trzcinski

SELL THAT HOUSE: APPEARANCE IS EVERYTHING

Salability is directly related to appearance. If you want to buy a car, but it has a dented door, then you will probably pass on the car rather than pay $1000 for a new door, even if the seller discounts the price by $1,000. So a car that would be worth $20,000 suddenly becomes worth nothing if it has a defect. Likewise with a house, if it were worth $300,000 in good condition, it may suddenly be worth nothing if it needed carpet and paint that may only cost $10,000. You could suggest an allowance, but typically that is not enough. The Buyers decision has already been "emotionally" made. On the surface, this makes no sense, but in practice, believe me, this is what happens. A home that only needs carpet and paint, and hence shows poorly, will sit on the market for days, but with a couple of thousands invested in paint and carpet to spiff it up, it sells in a week. Further discounting the price may be an alternative; however the discount would generally need to include the cost of the fix-up plus another 30%. Why should the Buyer deal with your problem, if they are going to get nothing out of it?

So, if you do not want to paint and carpet your average house nor sufficiently lower the price, then get a picture of somebody else's house.

Contact Ron Trzcinski at 410-935-5844 for more information.

SELL THAT HOUSE: SET UP FINANCING

Many people start to search for a home to buy before they review their finances. It sounds a bit odd when you consider that buying a house may be the biggest investment that one makes in a lifetime. Some of these shoppers will state that they will seek financing once they find a home that they like. They figure that if a lender pulls their credit that it will reduce their credit score and if they do not find a house right away, then a lender will pull their credit again which will reduce it even further. Also, the price of homes may be going up or down and interest rates may be going up or down, which would make it difficult to determine just what they really could afford at any given time in the future. These excuses miss the point. Reviewing one's finances and talking with a lender can give one an idea as to a range of prices which are reasonable for them to add to their budgets. Nonetheless, these potential buyers are out there and they may be looking at your house. Maybe they can and maybe they can not afford your house. If they like your house, you could then wait for them to go through the financing approval process or you could provide that support upfront. There are lenders who are willing to work with home sellers to provide financing options and prequalification services to potential buyers. The lender uses it as a source of leads. Even those buyers who do not buy your house may want to use this lender for their eventual mortgage. However, if this lender prepares various financing options for purchasing your house, then your house becomes that much easier for any given buyer to purchase, since you, through the efforts of the lender, have done some of the work for them. If this is done well, then the financing options will be prepared which most likely meets the needs of the buyers who are most likely to be interested in your house. For instance, is your house near a military base, which may bring more buyers who may be able to use a VA loan, or is it in a neighborhood where the prices are best suited for an FHA loan, or perhaps it is in an area which has several closing cost and down payment assistance programs available. A good lender along with a knowledgeable real estate agent can help to put a set of options together based upon your particular house. Sometimes, even the most beautiful house needs extra efforts to make it sell. We can sit around and wonder why our wonderful home is not selling or we can take the extra efforts.

Contact Ron Trzcinski at 410-935-5844 for more information.

SELL THAT HOUSE: PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZING

Spring is here and you want to sell your house. It is a nice house, which you have kept well maintained, and it has served you well. . . . but how can you sell it with all of this clutter, these precious possessions, which are, of course, everything that you have ever owned.

Do you find yourself making the following statements?

• The buyers will understand; after all, they are buying my house not all of my possessions.
• I can sort everything when I move.
• I can not get rid of anything, because as soon as I do, I will need it.
• I need my school books for reference.
• I need that newspaper; I have to catch up on the news and I need to clip out the coupons.
• My daughter needs to come by and pick up her clothes, since she now has a place of her own.
• Those auto parts will come in handy when we get an old 60s car to fix up.
• The guys on the softball team don't know how good I used to be; they need to see all of my trophies.
• If we have another blizzard like 66, then I'll need those tire chains.
• . . . .

STOP.

Yes, a buyer understands that they are buying your house and not your personal possessions, but if the buyer can't see your house, then how can you expect them to buy it? In today's market, it is important to market your house on the internet with lots of photos. Do you want someone to see that nice fireplace or all of your trophies from sandlot baseball? Is it a selling point that you have spacious closets or does everything start to fall out when you open the door or does the door close at all? Do you want someone to admire the great view from your living room bay window or is it impossible to get near it?

You won't sort anything when you move. You didn't sort it in the last many years, so what makes you think that you will when you have so many other things happening with your move?

Reference books? Have you heard of the internet? The library? That Pluto is no longer a planet?

You do know that those newspapers now contain OLD news and that those coupons are expired don't you?

Do you think that your daughter wants her outdated clothes from when she was ten?

Maybe the real problem is that you are overwhelmed. Just like that pot belly (What pot belly?) creeped up on you over time, so has this accumulation of items. You look around and throw your arms up in frustration because you have no idea where to begin.

When the wind blows the shingles off of your roof, you can call a roofer; when the faucet won't stop dripping, you can call a plumber, when . . . when your house gets too cluttered you can call a Professional Organizer. Yes, it is true; there are experts who are trained to solve these frustrating problems of clutter and they can ease your mind as much as the plumber or the roofer.

Contact Ron Trzcinski at 410-935-5844 for more information.

SELL THAT HOUSE: PAINTING

You are ready to sell your house, but you are reluctant to paint it. You want to know what the benefits of painting will be. You want to know how much more money painting the house will give you versus not painting it. You believe that the choice of colors is a matter of personal preference, so why paint when the buyer is going to paint it again anyway. Maybe you think that your house is fine the way it is and if someone does not like it, then they can find another house.

First, maybe your house is fine just the way that it is, but you should consult a selling professional, such as a real estate agent, to help you make that determination. Remember that you have made the house meet your particular tastes, which may or may not be similar to the majority of buyers.

Second, consider that most buyers' decisions are a combination of practical and emotional factors. The practical factors may include price, location, living area, number of bedrooms and baths, and such. These are all factors to which we have little control. The house either meets these parameters or it does not. However, the emotional factors are much more difficult to verbalize. When the home feels right, they just know it.

When a house is freshly and professionally painted, it gives the suggestion that the entire house is well maintained. Even if someone wants different colors, the properly painted house has had any holes or imperfections corrected, which will make a repainting that much easier. A house which is painted in tasteful but neutral tones does not have to be painted immediately; the buyer has time to address other issues first, while not being embarrassed about their house needing to be painted.

From an appraisal standpoint, the painted house, unless it was a complete mess, will probably not have much more value if any over the not freshly painted house. In other words, a house that would be worth $300,000 without the new paint job, may still be worth $300,000 with the paint job to the appraiser, but to any given buyer, the new paint job could be worth the cost of the job and more. Keep in mind, that most buyers do not have a strong imagination. When they see a house that needs work, they simply leave and move on to the next house. The more buyers, who find a house appealing, the more quickly it will sell. For example, let us assume that over the course of a year, a nicely painted house may have 24 potential buyers. If these buyers are evenly distributed over the course of the year, then there would be 2 potential buyers per month. Now let us assume that the same house is not painted and the number of potential buyers over the course of a year for the home which needs attention is 6. It would take 4 months, or 4 times as long, to have the equivalent number of potential buyers as for the painted house. As a house stays on the market, it becomes stigmatized. Buyers start to think that something is wrong with it. This forces the price down, sometimes to prices lower than its true value.

Contact Ron Trzcinski at 410-935-5844 for more information.

SELL THAT HOUSE: HOME WARRANTY

A home warranty may be a good investment when selling your house.

Here are some of the benefits of selling a home with a home warranty:

• The seller does not have to pay for the warranty until the home sells and goes to settlement.
• If the home does not sell, then the seller never has to purchase the warranty.
• The warranty is in effect during the listing period, so the seller can use it if something happens prior to a sale or prior to settlement.
• The warranty is transferable to the buyer and is good for a one year period; the buyer can renew the warranty.
• The warranty covers most major systems in a house. This includes appliances, heating and air conditioning systems, electrical and plumbing, water heaters, and such. There is usually a limitation on roof coverage.
• The warranty frequently will overcome the buyers' concerns about older appliances and systems, which can save the seller from making expensive updates.
• The warranty gives the buyer peace of mind during that first year. Frequently the buyer is cash poor after making a home purchase and does not have the ability to replace a major item.
• Even a house with newer systems can benefit from a home warranty.
• The warranty can distinguish the house from other houses, whjich can be very important in a buyers' market.
• The cost is less than $500.

Contact Ron Trzcinski at 410-935-5844 for more information.