Does Your Home Attract Potential Buyers?

Most of today’s buyers are looking for homes they can take pride in from the onset. They want to move in and be comfortable and make it their own immediately. Although we have some distressed properties and other properties offered “as is,” most buyers are not looking for fixer uppers or renovation projects. “They don’t want to spend their limited leisure time repairing or waiting for contractors,” according to Ginger Foust with Dream Interior Redesign & Staging.

“Buyers are becoming more and more particular with what they will accept and pay for. They do not want your house with your style choices. This is why professional stagers recommend updating and neutralizing your house,” said Foust.
A key factor in selling your home is the buyer’s first impression. Thus, it should be presented at its best. The majority of buyers are budget, time, and style conscious. “Only a drastic price reduction might attract today’s buyers if they see 1980s and 1990s choices in style, design, and décor. Even then, they will probably present a low-ball offer,” says Foust.

Offering allowances at closing such as new flooring and counter tops is not very effective today. “Buyers do not look that far into the future and many cannot visualize what a house could be,” she added.

What do buyers want? Foust recommends updating features such as light fixtures, appliances, flooring, cabinet finishes, plumbing fixtures/faucets, and countertops and backsplashes. Colors are also sometimes in need of updating. There are mixed suggestions when it comes to color. Although, it generally ranges from white to soft, earth-tone colors, which can bring the outside in.

Lighting is absolutely crucial as it warms rooms and creates ambience. Foust cautions though that lighting which is old, outdated, and in need of repair, can be a negative distraction, and that the message this projects is, “I’m a low-dollar house.” The results could mean a sales price that is lower than what is desired.
She recommends updating lighting fixtures. “This is a relatively small financial investment that can reap big rewards and measurably improve the wow factor in any house. It is worth the money and effort of installation,” Foust said.

Foust also offers some lighting guidelines for sellers. Fixtures need to shine, (no rust, no tarnish, no dust, and no cobwebs). All light bulbs must be working and need to be dust free. Consider clear bulbs in fixtures where there is down light. Add up lights in dark corners and below silk plants for drama. Add a timer to important fixtures if you will not be home to turn on the lights or ask REALTORS® to turn on the lights before potential buyers come into the house. Foust says, “Two minutes of preparation can make a lasting impression.”

In many of our older homes and some of our newer homes we are seeing sculpted, two tone carpet. This type of carpet is outdated! In fact, many buyers are moving away from carpeting or using it sparingly.

Most buyers will just say no to shag carpeting, avocado-colored appliances (or golden, olive, or bronze), walnut cabinets and baseboards, Formica counters, and items trimmed in gold. Some outdated items according to Foust include shiny brass lights and plumbing fixtures, laminate counter tops, tile countertops with dark grout, wallpaper and borders, themed rooms, bold paint, and golden oak, honey oak, or whitewashed oak.

“If you cannot provide the upgrades in your house, then potential buyers will move on. Buyers want it all and they want it now or they move on to the next listing to find it,” said Foust. To learn more about redesign and staging, you can visit Foust’s website at www.dreamredesigns.com or call her at 559-877-2442.

Beverly Scott, Agent/Manager
Oakhurst Real Estate

2009 Board Members Begin Their Term and Association Establishes Strategic Plan

The following is an article I wrote for our local newspaper, The Sierra Star, regarding our local association.

Our current governing board began their term in November immediately after our installation.

This year, our installation was held November 21, 2008. Our leadership team includes Beverly Scott, president; Ron Skinner, president-elect; John Bortz, treasurer/secretary; Melanie Barker, immediate past president; Beth Carver, executive committee member; and our directors, Melissa Buller, Dee Dryer, Rick Jackson, Jacque Hohweiler, Dorothy Miller, and Scott Runtzel. Laurie Humphries, our 2007 past president, has been asked to serve in an ex-officio position. We will be working throughout the year in conjunction with our committees and volunteers to meet the needs of all our members.

In addition, the 2008 and 2009 board members and staff of the Yosemite Gateway Association of REALTORS® contributed to a new strategic plan which was recently approved by the board. We met several times both off- and on-line working on the strategic plan. This plan provides us with a guideline for defining our strategy, making decisions, and allocating our resources.

Our updated mission statement is: The Yosemite Gateway Association of REALTORS® is committed to professional excellence for the success of its members in all aspects of the real estate industry.

Our new vision statement is: The Yosemite Gateway Association of REALTORS® is dedicated to providing trusted leadership, transparent practices, and open communication, while supporting our mission and ensuring the public trust of the real estate profession.

Our values are:
• Membership Driven
• Professional Excellence
• Community Involvement.

Our four main goals are:
• Advocacy: To advocate for, protect, and advance the real estate profession of REALTORS® and Affiliates.
• Communications: To convey information clearly and effectively, allowing for transparent operations and the exchange of information.
• Education: Offer quality education, delivered in a variety of formats.
• Organizational Excellence: Maintain a highly effective governing board, professional staff, and organizational structure.

We also established strategies to ensure we meet our goals. These strategies have been provided to our members and are available to our members with the rest of our governing documents. Our members include REALTOR® and affiliate members. Affiliate members have an interest in real estate-related services that benefit our REALTOR® members and/or our clients/customers. For more information about our affiliate membership program, call our office at 559-683-2650.

Beverly Scott, Agent/Manager
Oakhurst Real Estate

Real Estate Agents are Busy Keeping Up with Changes

There has been a paradigm shift with the way we have been spending our time and preparing to best assist our clients. We are learning new ways to provide services in our advancing technological world—from better ways to capturing statistics, making better use of our smart phones and cameras, increasing usage of virtual and video tours, blogging, to being greener by sending documents for digital signatures via email and the Internet without the need for printing, faxing, or sending documents in the mail. Webinars, podcasting, and online classes are also becoming more popular. In addition, we regularly take continuing education courses.

Many agents are taking the time to sharpen their skills not only on the fundamentals but also to increase their technological skills. Others are taking the time to specialize in specific areas of interest to include listing foreclosure properties, working with seniors or first-time home buyers, or getting up to speed with the various communication methods that their clients prefer, for example, texting, email, or telephone.

Other ways agents are staying busy is by spending more time learning about our various real estate forms. For example, in November, we had four new forms added to our REALTOR library as well as others forms that were modified that we need to keep abreast of to better serve our clients. Our association routinely schedules classes to help our members with our multiple listing software and other technology-related items and educational classes of which we always have quite a few of our members in attendance.

A number of our local real estate offices hold weekly meetings where they have expanded the focus beyond the standard sales meeting to include more training and educational sessions about marketing, the economy, distressed properties, mortgage programs such as loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), which have picked up dramatically due to low down-payment requirements, and more.

Several of our real estate offices are busy either currently using or setting up a secure online transaction management program for tracking their files and managing their clients’ paperwork. This also has a green component to it in a field where paper can be rather overwhelming. Ask any real estate agent, buyer, or seller in a real estate transaction about the paperwork involved and you can see how having the ability to upload and download the documentation online could be an enormous benefit.

We recognize that the real estate market has changed, and we are changing with it. Real estate is not stagnant and neither are we.

Beverly Scott, Agent/Manager
Oakhurst Real Estate