Wendy Brown

Before buying a home, there are a few things that you can do to get organized and ready. Here's a list (though I'm sure more could be added).

1. Decide you want to own a home. Remember that owning a home costs more than the mortgage payment. Repairs, maintenance and general upkeep add up. No landlord to call to fix things! So be sure you are ready to take on the project (never ending, it seems) of owning a home.

2. Once ready, contact a mortgage lender. It helps to know what you can qualify for, but it is even more important to sit down and figure out what you are comfortable paying each month. I'm delighted to say that I've worked with many first time home buyers and the ones that make me happy are the ones that acknowledge that they are still young and want to do things and not just be putting all their time and money into a house. They decide what is comfortable for them and let the mortgage company work backwards from there to tell them what their price range is.

3. Figure out what you want. I ask my buyers to list all the things that they WANT in a home first...then I have them either eliminate those things that aren't necessary or rank the list. No home is perfect, but by recognizing in advance those things that are critical to you, helps weed out the homes that won't work.

4. Figure out where you want to be. Again, I ask my buyers to list all the communities that they WANT and then tell me why. By figuring out the reasons why a particular community is important, I can help them figure out what other communities might be good substitutes and help them narrow down their search geographically. I'm often amazed at how many people jump over a community just because they didn't think about it!

5. Find an agent. There are lots of qualified and capable real estate agents, but what a buyer needs is one they feel comfortable with and feel will bring value to the process. Keep looking until you find the agent that "gets" what you are looking for!

6. Start your search. You can search online or be set up on an automatic search by your agent. But here, I would add some caution. There are a lot of houses on the market and a lot of information available with a click of the mouse, but too much information can be toxic! Try to keep in mind the parameters that you've established (see 2, 3 and 4 above) and put your blinders on so you don't get overwhelmed! The most productive search is one that limits what you see to those properties that have your top 3 or 4 critical features that you identified prior.

7. Look at all the listings. There is a tendency for a buyer looking at listings to look at the pictures first then the virtual tour then the listings. If there are only a few pictures, the buyer typically moves on. My advice is to overlook the lack of pictures and read the whole listing. You are probably the only one doing that! You might overlook the perfect house just because of marketing. If you need more information (e.g. more pictures) ask your agent!

8. Set up showings. Don't do too many in one day! No more than five in a whole day. Take your camera, a note book and make notes. I've had buyers look at a house...then look at 20 more...only to go back to it later because it was the closest to what they wanted only they didn't believe that at the time. The pictures and the notes kept the house in the running long after the memory of the showing faded.

9. Once you find the house you want, realize there are usually three prices associated with it. There's the price above which you will not go. There's the price that, if it is accepted, would give you bragging rights for years. Then there's the price that you will probably end up paying for it! Stick to your guns...don't go above the price you've set as the top limit. Don't get caught up in an auction atmosphere. Remember that you already set your criteria...and there are more houses out there if your offer isn't accepted.

10. Don't look back. If your offer is rejected, move on. If it was meant to be, it would have happened.

11. Enjoy the process! Although a serious decision, it's fun to go look at houses and see the many choices out there. Don't rush into a decision or feel pressured...the right house will come along!

For the last year, the one part of the market that has done fairly well is the entry level...or first time homebuyers. Remarkably, most pundits do not make the connection between the lowering of the median price in the market and the fact that the bottom is doing fairly well while the mid range priced homes are not...thus lowering the median price range. And it is this median price that shows up in the news as the indicator of the housing prices declining.

Now these same buyers who were already buying are being rewarded with a tax credit. I actually think it's a nice thing that is being done for the people who will ultimately be paying for the bailouts during their lifetime. Even though these first time buyers do not have to repay the tax credit, they will be paying higher taxes eventually to help pay off the money spent now to give them the credit. So, take it and enjoy it!

The tax credit may spur some fence sitters...people already looking at buying their first home but afraid that they would commit to buy a house only to watch the neighborhood prices continue to decline. Right now, though, with proper counsel, those fence sitters should have been encouraged to make low offers...even ridiculously low offers...on the houses that they like because it may just work!

And while one part of the government is saying "come, spend money on housing" another part is saying, "but we'll make it harder and more complicated for you". Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have tightened their credit guidelines, upped fees, and generally made it as complicated as possible for those same first time buyers (or any buyers for that matter) to qualify for a mortgage. Wish they could get on the same page!

Lastly, in my opinion, more needs to be done to encourage investors to purchase real estate again. Lending for investors has become draconian at best...non-existent at worst. We need to encourage investment in real estate in order to help absorb the inventory that is out there!

There is no ONE thing that you can do to sell a home today, but there is a synergy created by doing a number of things to ready a home for sale.

1. Commit to sell. I know that seems self-evident, but oftentimes it isn't. Many people decide to sell their home, but they haven't actually emotionally accepted that they ARE selling. Once a wholehearted decision to sell is made, the rest of the process comes much easier and makes a whole lot more sense. And for those who want to "test the market", just don't...unless you want to fail that test. The current market is for the truly committed!
2. Your home is now a product...a house for sale. Once you recognize that your house will join others in the inventory of houses for sale, it is really important to "package" your product well. Anyone who has watched HGTV shows about staging a home knows it starts with ridding the house of clutter. Start room by room packing up...you're moving after all (see #1 above)...and tossing out. Also de-personalize. All those pictures of your relatives are distracting (unless they've been dead for over a hundred years, then they are interesting!) as is your kid's latest art project. The house you live in and call home isn't the same place as the house that is on the market. Once you've decluttered, making your house shine is next. Clean, clean, clean until sparkling starts. Consider replacing your front door hardware and welcome mat. Paint that front door, too, if it needs it. Clean windows...makes a huge difference! Walk through your house as if you've never seen it before (and enlist your agent's help or the help of a professional stager) and consider re-arranging furniture to make rooms look bigger. Recall what it was that made you fall in love with the house in the first place and feature it. Was it the stone fireplace? Declutter and move furniture to make that fireplace the focal point of the room. Beautiful packaging sells products...your house is no different.
3. Eliminate surprises. A buyer is going to hire a home inspector...you might consider doing that before putting the house on the market so you won't be blindsided by inspection issues. Many times inspectors will find things that you never dreamed might be an issue. By knowing these things ahead of time, they can be repaired and/or disclosed. Remember that preventing an objection usually is less costly than trying to overcome one later.
4. Quantify objections. You always meant to do something in the house but never got to it ( e. g. change out kitchen counters, replace carpets, install hardwoods, etc.) Most buyers will see the same things and in their minds those things are going to cost a fortune! Get estimates for the items you believe (or your agent believes) will be some of the biggest objections buyers may have. A house I sold a few years ago had a huge living room with tired, overstretched carpet. Most buyers looking at the home thought the room would look fantastic with hardwoods, but believed they were looking at another $10,000 to $15,000. A local, reputable flooring company was solicited for an estimate and came back with $5,000 to $6,000 depending on the type of hardwood chosen. That estimate helped immeasurably to stop buyers from mentally spiraling out of control over the flooring...and helped land the eventual buyer.
5. Price right...and that's an art as well as a science! Historically, a market price was estimated by comparing your home with other similar homes in similar or the same neighborhood that had sold in the six months (or a year, in slower markets). Those historical sales prices were averaged and you had your market price. But now you have to take that estimate and apply what I call the declining market ratio. If your particular market has declined by 12% in the last year, for example, you would compare the date of the comparable sale and apply the declining market ratio to it to come up with today's comparable sale price. Let's say you live in a neighborhood where one comparable home sold six months ago for $200,000...with a 12% drop, that house would sell today for $12,000 less or $188,000. You are hoping your house will sell in the next sixty days...so try pricing it where it would be two months from now or $184,000. Get in front of the decline and you may find yourself with multiple offers! Even in today's market, we've seen that happen when properties are aggressively price. Remember your house is now a product...price it to move while other houses become stagnant inventory.
6. Stay cool and flexible. If you've religiously followed steps 1 through 5, you've already accepted that your home is now a product. Listen to all comments and coolly consider how to translate those comments into action if possible or appropriate. Quantify objections...keep getting estimates for whatever seems to be a common theme. If you don't get any traffic, time to lower the price. If you get traffic, but no offers, try to find out why and fix it. Understand how long a house in your price range usually takes to sell...and stay patient.
7. Make the house easy to show. Unless there's a major emergency, try to accommodate the prospective buyers by making the house available to be shown easily and on short notice (within reason). Consider an electronic keysafe or lockbox for easier showing access.
8. Function as a team. Your agent is working with and for you to sell your property. Discuss often what you are doing to get the property sold...brainstorm, make suggestions and work together as a team for your mutual goal! Neither you nor your agent should be too polite to tell each other the "bad news"...like it's time for a price reduction or the cat's litter box smells! And ego has no place in the process...just mutual respect and desire for results!
9. Timing is everything. Time is money. The first offer may be your best offer...even if the first offer comes in way lower than your expectations, analyze it and negotiate it to its conclusion. Remember it may be the best buyer and/or it may be the only buyer in a long time. How much will it cost you to hang on when you don't know how long that will be?

Remember...the universe conspires to assist those who are committed!

It's always amazed me when summer homes are taken off the market during the winter. In my experience, the really committed buyers of summer homes are looking all winter to find that perfect summer getaway before the summer starts. My sales of summer homes, all began trudging through the snow in January or February to show these properties.

In a market where impulse buying has pretty much stopped, it makes sense to keep your properties on the market when the serious buyers are still looking.

Put yourself in the buyers shoes...there's snow on the ground, the temperatures are in the single digits and you are daydreaming about a day at the beach or the lake...or wherever it is your heart is tugging you for your summer vacation. You have already made up your mind that you want to buy that perfect vacation spot. You start looking on the internet and imagining yourself in the warm. You click through the pictures, you take the virtual tours, you map the property to see how close to the beach (or lake or forest or whatever) it is.

If you are a seller of a summer home and you've taken it off the market, these buyers aren't seeing your property. By spring, they have either already bought a home or decided to wait another year. There are many who will start looking in the spring or they may have decided to rent again this summer. But, you've lost out on the serious, patient buyer who has been trudging through the snow all winter and already has his summer home ready for when the warm weather starts!