Price, Condition, or Location?

It doesn't seem to matter where your real estate is located. If it's in St. Charles, Geneva, or Batavia, Illinos, or if it's in Naperville, or Elburn, or perhaps it's in Wayne, we've made it through Winter and you wonder how to get your home sold in this market. The first thing to consider is "How did your home make it through the Winter?" You may get in the mood to do some Spring cleaning around your own place. Some simple and easy things to do to breathe new life into your home:

*Check for things outside the home that need to be spruced up after Winter.
*Tidy up landscape.
*Clean windows inside and out.
*Check for burned out bulbs on exterior light fixtures and clean any glass panels in those lights.
*Prepare your flower and bush planting plan. A splash of color is always a plus.
*Take a good look around the inside of your home and see what might perk you up. Look at your home with a critical eye.

Remember, a clean home is a big plus especially if you are thinking of selling your house. I've heard buyers say a million times when looking at homes, "Wouldn't you think the seller would have prepared their home better for showing?" After hearing that from so many buyers it caused me to really think about it. Often, the homes about which the buyers made such a comment, were not bad homes, but they just were not staged well. They were not as clean as they might have been. They had lots of "stuff" all over. Clearly, the things were considered treasures by the homeowner.\

Actually, sometimes all the items displayed are quite nice, but if there is too much, too much, then it just looks cluttered to someone who is seeing the home for the first time. Simply walking into a home for the first time there is a lot for a prospective buyer to consider. It's quite enough just to "take in" the house itself without having to also filter out all the belongings that will not be remaining. One buyer I recently worked with said it best. After walking into a home he was seeing for the first time, a home that could have been considered worthy of appearing in House Beautiful magazine, his comment was, "Well, there was just too much of that homeowner's personality displayed in there!" It took about three more homes to view before he was actually able to let go of the experience, what was to him an overwhelming experience, of having had to sift through all the over the top decorating of that one home. Get the point?

You may have a truly lovely home but when it comes time to sell, unless you are trying to sell to the narrow number of buyers who will also like your exact taste, you may want to consider making some pre-sale changes. Tone it down. If you have your house on the market and it has been on the market for a while with no showings, then price is probably your problem, or you may be in a price range that is just not moving right now. However, if you have been getting showings and no offers, take a critical look at your house. Are you guilty of over decorating or of having too much "stuff" or clutter, as buyers think, which serve as distractions to the process? This is not an attack on personal decorating style, but it is hopefully an illumination of the fact that unless you are trying to sell your personal style of decor rather than the home itself, maybe it's time for you to rethink your home's presentation.

If any of this makes sense, of if you would like to get more suggestions from me on how to get a home to sell, feel free to get in touch. Kay Russell at Keller Williams Fox Valley Realty 630-513-3810. http://GoRussellRealtor.com

What's the Mood of the Market

A FRIEND ASKED ME A QUESTION ON HIS BROTHER'S BEHALF. HIS BROTHER IS LIVING IN A NEW HOME HE HAD BUILT A FEW YEARS AGO AND WANTS TO MOVE. HIS REAL ESTATE AGENT (Not Me) HAS SUGGESTED THAT THE BOTTOM IS GOING TO FALL OUT OF THE MARKET AND PERHAPS HE SHOULD TAKE HIS HOME OFF THE MARKET AND SELL IT SOMETIME DOWN THE ROAD. THIS QUESTION PERTAINS TO SO MANY PEOPLE, I AM POSTING MY RESPONSE IN MY BLOG:

That's quite a crystal ball that agent has, and I hope they are not correct. Although that dramatic of a decline is not something I've heard about or am aware of we have perhaps learned these past few years to be less surprised by such dramatic changes. The market here is expected to take another dip, but the dip we've taken so far has been down about 26%-28%, depending on which economist you follow, and I am unaware of another anticipated free fall like that. If you follow Case-Shiller Indices you will see that there was a tiny increase about 6 mos ago and another decline about 3 mos ago in the Chicagoland market with another tiny decline anticipated by Nov 2010. After what we've been through that one won't even feel like a pinch. There are many other factors, however, that I would need to be in tune with to offer any more of an opinion. For instance, in your brother's subdivision do they have an unusually large number of foreclosures? If so, that is wreaking havoc with getting loans financed even if you are fortunate and have a buyer. In August we will see what kind of impact all the commercial loans coming due has on the market. There are a huge number of commercial balloons coming due which could be candidates of foreclosure and that could give the market another hiccup. Have I put you to sleep yet? I would suggest to your brother that if he needs to sell for financial reasons like a majority of people out there today (can't afford the house anymore for whatever reason, be it change in financial circumstance or whatever) that he needs to speak with someone who is experienced in handling short sales. Be sure to tell him that won't hurt his life or his credit like a foreclosure or bankruptcy will. People who are hurting right now may tend to sit idly by and hope things will improve. That is my hope too, but if there is a need for financial relief this is not a time to be ashamed or hard on yourself. It's time to ask for help, to ask for guidance on how to move through the tricky waters of finding your way to the other side of debt and disappointment. I would be happy to either help out or to recommend someone in whom I have confidence in this regard. We actually have a short sale team here at Keller Williams Fox Valley so we are able to offer special, experienced attention to ushering a homeowner and their property through the process. We have an extraordinary success rate of getting them done and allowing the owner to move along with life. If, however, your brother is not in a financially distressed situation, and just is wanting to move for the fun of it, then he may want to either reconsider and stay put until things level out a little (think maybe by 2012 we'll feel a lot better) or if he's really got the "I've got to move bug" bad then maybe he may want to consider renting his house out if he can do so for enough money to pay for the mortgage, and rent wherever he's going. Lots of options. Please let me know if I can be of help. I can be reached at 630-513-3810 at my office at Keller Williams Fox Valley Realty. http://GoRussellRealtor.com for more details on the market plus more

Why Is Your House Still On The Market?

This is the question at the top of many homeowners' minds right now. Why has my home not sold? There could be any number of answers for this question, but it likely has to do with a similar thread of concern to many people. It used to be safe to say it was either price, condition, or location. These days, while having a home in good condition in a good location is a big plus, price is the chief concern. The economic indicators are showing, though, that the market is swinging ever so slowly and gently into a more balanced market. This means we are seeing signs of the market moving away from being such an extreme buyer's market into a more balanced buyer/seller market. What tips us off to this condition? When the amount of inventory that is available is coming closer to 6 months worth of inventory rather than the 8,11,and 16 months of inventory we have had these past few years. Are we out of the woods yet? NO! Sorry, all you wonderful homeowners who are hoping for a different answer. We still need to have a little more patience in this regard. HOWEVER, this is still a great time to buy property. Interest rates are still fantastic. Prices on homes are lower than we've seen for many years. There are wonderful properties available. For people who are wanting to sell, this is a perfectly fine time to get things going. For people who are wanting to buy, this is still an amazing time to do so. If you want a more personalized approach to how YOU can best maneuver in this market please feel free to get in touch with me Kay Russell at Keller Williams Fox Valley Realty 630-513-3810. http://GoRussellRealtor.com for more information plus more interesting links