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Getting Going – WSJ.com. (subscription required)
“If you’re selling a car or a house in today’s sluggish economy, make sure the price is right.
Americans are constantly buying stuff. But most of us
don’t do a whole lot of selling — which means we don’t have much
experience at setting prices.
Want to improve your odds of finding a buyer? As you try to unload your car or your home, consider these four pricing tricks…..”
Very interesting Wall St Journal article that explains the negative
feedback loop – how things go from bad to worse – and how it’s
affecting the home mortgage market.
“…Total outstanding household debt rose to $13.6 trillion by the third quarter of 2007 from $7.2 trillion at the beginning of 2001 — a 10% annual growth rate. Mortgage borrowing more than doubled in this stretch. One out of every seven dollars of disposable income earned by Americans now goes toward paying down debt — near a record…”
…The trick for policy makers is to break the loop. “A macroeconomic
downturn tends to diminish the value of many forms of
collateral…reinforcing the propagation of the adverse-feedback loop,”
Federal Reserve Governor Frederic Mishkin said in a January speech.
Aggressive Fed interest-rate cuts help by reducing the cost of all of
this borrowing….”
Link: Fiscally Fit – WSJ.com.
Excellent Wall St Journal piece of great relevance to many thinking of buying vacation homes in Santa Fe. The picture here is muddied by the recent Santa Fe City Council agreements on short term renting, but longer-term (30 days+) rental market is still very active here.
CNBC is reporting that the economic stimulus package doing the rounds in Washington will include a one-time increase in ‘conforming loans’ from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from $470,000 to $625,000. This will give Santa Fe real estate the kick it needs because:
1. There are buyers out there. I meet them every day, and they’re just itchin’ to get into the market but want to buy at the right time. Nobody can ever predict the “low”, but everybody wants to try.
2. With Santa Fe’s relatively pricey market, an increase in the conforming loan limit means that people can get loans for the majority of properties in town at rates less than 6%
3. The time limit of this deal means people have to act soon – nothing like a deadline to get buyers going, and to get sellers positioning their properties for a smooth sale.
4. Santa Fe has always been a solid, stable real estate investment, with inventory well matched to buyers. This incentive can once again highlight what Santa Fe has to offer as a haven for smart investors, rather than have us all focus on the gloomy headlines.
The National Association of Realtors has put all of the facts your need to buy or sell a home on a single website, Housing Market Facts
Search for homes, prepare a home for the market, research a neighborhood, find out about financing, even find a realtor. Not that you need to, now you’ve found me ;-}
A very useful central resource for everyone in the housing market.
Link: RealEstateJournal | How to Sell A Home in 2008.
Declutter…freshen up…get a home inspection… All this and more in this article which gives great pre-sale advice. In this sticky market, you’ve got to bring your home’s appeal way beyond the kerb.
Link: Figuring out the math when it’s time to move on – Los Angeles Times
Good article on how to price your home for sale, using the Absorption Rate pricing technique. A good realtor (!) can help you with this method, using MLS data and a glob of common sense.
Thanks to Denver Dwellings for this list…
The Seven Fundamental Principles of Xeriscape: (From the Xeriscape Colorado site)
- Plan and design for water conservation and beauty from the start
- Create Practical Turf Areas of manageable sizes, shapes and appropriate grasses.
- Select low Water Plats and group plants of similar water needs
together. Then experiment to determine how much and how often to water
the plats. - Use Soil Amendments like compost or manure as needed by the site and the type of plants used.
- Use Mulches such as wood chips, to reduce evaporation and to keep the soil cool.
- Irrigate Efficiently with properly designed systems (including
hose-end equipment) and by applying the right amount of water at the
right time. - Maintain the Landscape Properly by mowing, weeding, pruning and fertilizing property.
When It Comes to Remodeling, It’s What’s Outside That Counts, Realtors® Report.
"Many buyers judge a house
by its exterior, or so it seems from the results of the 2007 Remodeling
Cost vs. Value Report. Three of the four projects with the highest
national percentage of costs recouped this year were exterior upgrades.
The most profitable project on the national level was upscale siding
replacement, recouping 88 percent of costs upon resale. Wood deck
additions and wood window replacements also returned more than 80
percent of costs, at 85 percent and 81 percent, respectively. On a
national average, the only interior project to return more than 80
percent of remodeling costs this year was a minor kitchen remodel,
returning 83 percent of project costs at resale….. more…"
It’s all about kerb appeal. Here in Santa Fe, most buyers have such a wide choice of property that when they’re looking around it’s the outside that they remember. Before putting your home on the market, ensure it makes a great first impression!
