Heather Goodwin ~ Shreveport Louisiana Real Estate

Get pre-approved for a loan. Getting pre-qualified was enough in days gone by, but not in today's market. This is the only way you will know what price range to begin looking in and the only way a seller can have confidence in your offer.

Make sure you have enough in savings to cover the down payment AND closing costs. If you're short of cash, ask your banker about financing the closing costs into the home loan.

This is the biggest mistake that I see first time home buyers and even homeowners who have not bought a house in several years make. They forget that they are going to need more than just the down payment to buy a house.

In Louisiana, the standard purchase contract contains language putting the burden of paying the closing costs squarely on the buyer. Of course, these costs can be negotiated, but rarely will a seller pay 100% of these costs. So, the buyer must be prepared to pay at least some portion of these costs.

Your banker should give you what is called a Good Faith Estimate of all the costs of buying a home which should include the itemized closing costs.

If you have to deduct the closing costs from the amount you had designated for a down payment, do that, then call your banker back and get them to adjust the prequalification amount taking the reduced down payment into account.

Look at houses in a price range based on your new loan amount + down payment.

Make an offer in writing on the house of your dreams. This is another common misunderstanding that homebuyers have. They think everything can be done with a phone call. They think that I am going to call up the home owner or the listing agent and make an offer for them.

Everything must be in writing. So when a buyer has decided on a house, there is a contract to fill out which contains all the details of the offer to purchase the house. This is then delivered to the listing agent who records when he/she received it. This protects the buyer to ensure that their offer was delivered to the seller in a timely manner.

Next, if you're counting on the seller to pay a good portion of the closing costs, and the deal hinges on this, be prepared to be disappointed. And don't blame your agent. Unless you're making an offer very close to the asking price, the seller will probably be disinclined to pay closing costs unless there are circumstances that make them desperate to sell.

Keeping these things in mind will go a long way to helping you get the home of your dreams!

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You're at Home with Heather
Shreveport and Bossier City, Louisiana Real Estate

Shreveport Home Connection
Coldwell Banker J. Wesley Dowling & Assoc. LLC

Serving your real estate needs in Shreveport, Bossier City, Benton, Haughton, Keithville, Stonewall, Blanchard, and Barksdale AFB

Licensed in Louisiana

I've advised more than once on this blog that if you don't have to sell your house now, WAIT. There is a large number of homes for sale in Shreveport and the surrounding area in most price ranges making it a buyer's market. Locally sales are off by about 20% overall which is much better than other areas of the country, but even Shreveport is not seeing homes sales like it did last year.

But what if waiting is not an option for you? How does a potential home seller make his or her house stand out, so it will be the one that sells? Here are seven things that will put you ahead of your competition if you do them. If you don't, you'll just be another home owner with a For Sale sign in the front yard.

1) FIND THE RIGHT AGENT - This is critical. Any agent can list your house, and in a booming market that house will sell. When the market is slow, however, you really need a first-class real estate agent on your side.

Talk with your family, friends, and neighbors for suggestions, then interview several agents and hire the one you believe will do the best job for you.

2) CONSIDER HOME STAGING - While the quickest way to add value to your home is a fresh coat of paint in a light, neutral color, once that's done consider having your home professionally staged. A home stager will be able to look objectively at your house to determine how to make it attractive to potential buyers. They usually use what you already have and make suggestions for storing unneeded items while rearranging the others to make your home show better.

Many real estate agents are becoming certified home stagers which is an added value for you. Be sure to ask. At the very least, have your agent give you his or her suggestions. Doing this prior to listing will help your home show better in the pictures in the multiple listing service and other online venues.

3) Which brings us to GET GOOD PHOTOGRAPHS - Your agent will take pictures of your home to post to the Multiple Listing Service. There are many online sites available to search for homes and chances are these pictures will show up on some of these sites, too. Be sure you look online at the pictures your agent took of your home. If they are below par, ask him or her to retake them or run them through a photo editing software program then reload them to the site.

Not all agents are good photographers, but since now more than 80% of buyers begin their home search on the internet, most people will look at pictures of the inside of your house to decide if they want to see it in person. Make sure the photos your agent is using show your house to the best advantage. I'm a good real estate agent, but I'm not that great at photography. That's why I use a professional photographer at no charge to my clients to take the pictures of their home.

4) DON'T FORGET CURB APPEAL - A potential buyer may have seen your house online and liked what they saw enough to make an actual visit. Or they may have driven the neighborhood looking for houses on the market. The curb appeal of your front yard and entry will set the tone for their opinion of the inside of your house. If you're not sure how your house measures up, drive through your neighborhood with a critical eye. How does your home compare on the outside? If it doesn't stand out from the rest, then it's time to call the landscaper.

5) HAVE A PROFESSIONAL HOME INSPECTION- You may have lived with the little idiosyncrasies of your home for so long that you don't even notice it, but a potential buyer will. The faucet that won't turn off all the way, the door that squeaks, and the bathtub caulking that's missing all need to be repaired.

These days, however, you must go beyond fixing the little things. The money spent to have a professional home inspection will be well worth it. Any problems with the systems of the house will be uncovered and can be taken care of before listing. Problems uncovered with the electrical, plumbing, and heat/air systems by the buyer during their home inspection have the potential to be deal killers.

Also, you might consider replacing such things as the roof and the carpeting if they are old, worn, or not functioning properly. Sometimes sellers will offer cash at closing for repairs like these, but with so many homes on the market, I'm finding that buyers are making offers only on those homes that are in move-in condition. Bite the bullet and fix these things before listing your house.

6) PRICE YOUR HOME TO SELL or be willing to REDUCE THE PRICE QUICKLY - When there are few houses and plenty of buyers, sellers can ask high prices and get them. Even in a market where houses are overpriced, some offers will come in from buyers who become desperate to find a home that meets their needs.

When the inventory of homes is high and things are slow, however, correct pricing is absolutely essential. Don't be tempted to "test" the market with a high price, thinking that you can reduce it later. The greatest amount of interest in your home will be in the first week it's listed. If it sits on the market and you finally agree to reduce the price, buyers will begin to wonder what's wrong with it and why nobody else wants it.

Price your home in the mid-range for homes that are comparable to yours. If you need to sell your home as quickly as possible, consider pricing it in the bottom 25% of comparable homes. This will attract the attention of serious ready, willing, and able buyers. Pricing your home too high will cause many buyers to pass it by without even looking at it.

If there have been few showings, that's an indication of no interest, and a price reduction is in order. Don't wait for your agent to suggest it. You don't want your home to languish on the market for the reasons stated above.

A significant price reduction will show that you are serious about selling your house. If your agent is on the ball, he or she will make sure any agent that has shown your home in the past knows about the price reduction. Their client may still be looking, and it might be just the thing that tips the scales in your favor.

7) Okay, I was going to tell you to call me when you're ready to list your home, but this post is long enough. So you get a pass.

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You're at Home with Heather
Shreveport and Bossier City, Louisiana Real Estate

Shreveport Home Connection
Coldwell Banker J. Wesley Dowling & Assoc. LLC

Serving your real estate needs in Shreveport, Bossier City, Benton, Haughton, Keithville, Stonewall, Blanchard, and Barksdale AFB

Licensed in Louisiana

Being hailed as the fourth largest natural gas deposit in the world, by now everybody living in the Shreveport/Bossier area has heard about what is called the Haynesville Shale formation. Everybody and his brother has been offered a contract to lease their mineral rights which is throwing a nice little kink into the listing and selling of real estate.

With some property leasing at $20,000 an acre or more, many neighborhoods have organized to negotiate with the landmen as a group. This is a smart thing to do to protect your property value and, let's be honest, to have more negotiating power when it comes to the money. But we don't have to reinvent the wheel. Ft. Worth has experienced with the Barnett Shale just what we are in the beginning stages of, and they are eager to share their experiences and what worked for them.

As far as real estate in Shreveport goes, the fact of the matter is that most people want to buy a house with the mineral rights intact, and some savvy sellers are using this as a negotiating tool. More than likely these days, if you look at a listing, somewhere in the paperwork, it's going to say that mineral rights are reserved. If mineral rights aren't mentioned in the listing, it would be wise to find out if the seller has already leased them.

Another twist is that if production from the Hayneville Shale is as huge as the drilling companies think it will be, there will be "urban" drilling. This conjures up the image of buying a nice little house that happens to be next to a vacant lot, and next thing you know, you've got a well with a compressor attached next door. Yikes! It has happened in Ft. Worth, so don't laugh.

In fact, Tom Dark, Shreveport's Chief Administrative Officer, has addressed this in interviews with the press. There have been several town hall meetings to discuss just what this is going to mean to those of us living within the city limits. We all want a check, but we all want to protect the value of our property and minimize the noise and aggravation as well. I guess we want to have our cake and eat it, too.

While all these lease and royalty payments and production of all this natural gas will be a real boon to the economy, it has given us Shreveport real estate agents another facet of our business to become educated about, and quickly:

Who owns the mineral rights?
How do you make sure they own the mineral rights?
Is a land title search the same as a sub-surface title search?
How much are the mineral rights really worth?

That last question is a big unknown. Since drilling is in the early stages, it's hard to tell what future royalty payments will be, but a well in south Bossier Parish is currently producing 17 million cubic feet per day. That translates into $6 million dollars a day! I'm not sure what the trickle down affect will be to the homeowner on a 1/4 acre lot, but I'll bet he'll want to keep every cent!

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You're at Home with Heather
Shreveport and Bossier City, Louisiana Real Estate

Shreveport Home Connection
Coldwell Banker J. Wesley Dowling & Assoc. LLC

Serving your real estate needs in Shreveport, Bossier City, Benton, Haughton, Keithville, Stonewall, Blanchard, and Barksdale AFB

Licensed in Louisiana

So, just how did 2007 compare to 2006 as far as the Shreveport real estate market is concerned? Statistics taken from the Northwest Louisiana Multiple Listing Service show that, while the market was robust for 2006 with eight buyers for every ten houses listed, 2007 ended up on a sour note with five buyers for every ten houses listed. And so far, for the first two months of 2008, there have been 4 buyers for every 10 houses listed, Unless the new lower interest rates and higher FHA limits lure buyers into the market, it looks like things won't be changing any time soon.

The good news is that Coldwell Banker Dowling has fared pretty well in 2008. While the market as a whole was down 20.3% compared to this time last year, Coldwell Banker Dowling has experienced just a 4% decline in sales. The other local agencies have suffered declines between 27% and 49% over the same period.

Thanks to the expertise and experience of our agents, Coldwell Banker Dowling remains the real estate broker of choice if you are buying or selling a home. We kinda know what we're doing, and it looks like people know it. Not that I'm bragging or anything!

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You're at Home with Heather
Shreveport and Bossier City, Louisiana Real Estate

Shreveport Home Connection
Coldwell Banker J. Wesley Dowling & Assoc. LLC

Serving your real estate needs in Shreveport, Bossier City, Benton, Haughton, Keithville, Stonewall, Blanchard, and Barksdale AFB

Licensed in Louisiana