Seems like we are always “speaking” to sellers about staging their home and how to get top dollar.  But on the other side of that conversation is the conversation with buyers.  They want a good deal right?  They should actually be out there looking for those houses that are NOT staged.  Buyers want to try and look through all the clutter, mis-matched furniture, dings on the walls and ugly wallpaper - these are good things for buyers really…the buyers savvy enough to see through all that!   The good news about ugly furniture is that the seller will be taking it with them!   Buyers should hope that there are gorgeous hardwood floors under the old carpet that’s been there for 25 years (protecting those hardwood floors!) 

Buyers want to look for “good bones.”  Good bones include a great location (we’ve always heard the real estate mantra, “Location, Location, Location!)  It’s true.  Ideally as a buyer you want the worst house in the best location.  You can typically improve the house easier than overcoming a bad location.  Buyers want to check out the neighborhood, who are the neighbors?  What are the other houses in the area selling for?  What did the seller pay for the house?  When?  How long has it been on the market?  Typically homes that have been on the market for a long time are easier to “negotiate down” in price.  The closer to the list date a house gets offers, the closer to it’s list price that it gets.  In today’s market homes are still selling on average about 95% of list price.  So, if a house listed for $1 million dollars, it would sell in the $950,000 range.  This is an average of course…some more, some less.  Back to how many days on market and how many price reductions.  Once a home gets reduced into the “right” price range, it will get more activity and in some cases generate multiple offers. 

Believe it or not, in some cases, homes in the the Hollywood Riviera are still seeing multiple offers.  About 2 weeks ago, July 10th or so….there was a house that got 8 offers.  I showed a wonderful little house this evening here in the Riviera that has been on the market for 33 days (not even the average days on market for the area which is 69 days now.)  It was attractively priced in the first place at $859,000 (it’s a well kept original 1948 home.)  It was reduced in price twice - once to $849K and then 10 days later on the 25th of July (only 5 days ago) to $829,000 and now it has 3 offers on it.  So, obviously, a seller can get a house priced in the range where they can get in themselves in the driver’s seat. 

A buyer needs to get in front of that price and if someone would have made an offer prior to this price reduction, they might have been able to get a few more concessions from the seller.  In this multiple offer situation, the buyer will have to be willing to do what it takes to get the house - if they really want it that is.

It’s a new market and in most cases, a great one for buyers right now.   There are a lot of choices out there and as we move forward we will see how the market changes.  It is not a static market - it never sleeps and is constantly something to watch….that is what makes it so exciting!

The condition of your windows is really important because they affect both the interior and exterior appearance of your home.  So definitely put them on your “To Do List” when you are preparing your home for sale.       

Preparing your windows is usually very inexpensive:

• Wash all your windows inside and out and make sure they open and close properly. 
• Also wash all the screens and check to be sure the screens are in good repair. 
• Window coverings and blinds should be clean and in good condition.  If you decide to change any window treatments, think light weight and neutral.
• If shrubs and bushes have grown very tall in front of  a window, consider trimming the bush so it looks well manicured from both the outside and the inside.
• When showing your home, it is best to have all the curtains and blinds open so your house is as light and bright as possible.

Staging tip:  Sometimes the house is so close to the property line that a room may have a window that looks out at a fence or block wall and this is often not a pretty site.  Change a negative into a positive.  Get some large outdoor pots and place them outside the window.  Buy some ornamental trees or bushes for the pots.  Or, a nice looking potted vine with a pretty trellis may do the trick.  You may need to purchase 5 gallon plants so they are big enough.  Add a cute bird-house or wind-chime.  Another idea is large bakers rack with lots of colorful potted plants.  With just a little creativity you can keep the blinds open and have a nice view too.  Just remember to water the plants! 

Pricing today is like picking produce.  Think about going to the grocery store or farmers market.  If the produce is really expensive it doesn’t matter how good it looks, you’re not buying it. Pricing is the top priority in a buyer’s market.  If a house is not priced properly, nothing else really matters.   However, if it’s got a great a price, then it is important that it shows well - think lights, camera, staged - the produce can’t be rotting away in other words.   Underpricing is something a seller can really never do…even today in this buyer’s market, a home that is grossly underpriced will get multiple offers.  Maybe we should just price it for a $1 (and then I’ll take two pounds of those!)

The ultimate question “What is my home worth in today’s real estate market?”  I hear it all the time and the short answer that is always true is that “Your home is worth the dollar amount equal to what someone is willing to pay for it and what you are willing to sell it for.”  That number is very hard to arrive at sometimes.

Here in the South Bay we have seen a softening of the real estate market…properties taking longer to sell, prices needing to be reduced, homes needing to be staged and then kept in “showing” condition for the duration of the “marketing period.”  This is no easy task. 

The hardest part of this softening market is finding a price that will attract a buyer.  Sellers that are looking back at what homes sold for a few months ago are looking the wrong direction.  Sellers need to look forward to what will make someone pull the trigger and write that offer.  We need to start seeing what Just Sold or Just went into escrow and then adjust accordingly and not equal to or above those prices…but slightly under those prices.  Properties not aggressively priced are not even getting showings - so those perfectly “staged” houses are not even making a dent.  This is why pricing is the number one key to getting people in your home.  Of course, after they are there it must show better than the house they just saw around the corner.  Buyers are looking at everything right now - they are looking for a deal. They hear words like “foreclosure, bank-owned, short sale” and think they want one of these deals.   They want to be able to tell their co-workers and friends what a great deal they got.

So, you still don’t know what your home is worth - we hope we will all find out soon!

Most buyers form an opinion of your house before they even walk through the front door.  You know the old saying about first impressions.  The front entry is a key part of that first impression. 

The buyer often is standing on the front porch for several minutes while their agent is locating the lockbox, retrieving the key, and opening the front door.  Spending time fixing up the front porch is time well spent.

For a great looking porch: 

• Keep the porch well swept as well as the walkway leading up to it.
• Remove dirt and cobwebs from the porch light.
• Repaint the front door if it shows wear.
• Make sure the door knob is clean and working properly.
• Put out a nice new doormat.
• Keep the porch clear of shoes, toys, and other clutter.

Staging Tip:  Adding potted plants with bright colorful flowers makes your entrance warm and inviting.  If you have a really large porch, a couple of chairs or a bistro table/chair set adds ambiance.  Just make sure the area does not look cluttered.

Imagine that you are selling your home at the mall, let’s say in the “house store”.  You would do what all the other stores do. 

Clothes stores have mannequins in the window featuring the latest fashions.  The mannequin is wearing the whole outfit - dress, jewelry, shoes, purse, and maybe even a hat.  The same dress on the rack may look rather plain, but in the window, with the jewelry and all, it is the start of a really outstanding outfit.  The window display gives a shopper an idea of how well the dress may fit in her wardrobe.

Now let’s go to the furniture store.  You might walk through rows of couches and tables and find nothing that jumps out at you.  But, when you see a couch and tables displayed in a room setting with lamps, candles, and potted plants, you stop and think how great that couch might look in your home.  The store might even have the same couch in two different room settings, suggesting to the shopper that the couch works well in both formal and informal decor. 

So now to the “house store” where your home is listed for sale.  You want your house featured in the store window.  You want your house displayed so as to give shoppers an idea of how your home may fit into their lifestyle.  This is staging.  Staging sets your house apart from the houses on the rack or the rows of houses.

Just for clarification.  Staging is not decorating.  Staging is not preparing your home for sale by making repairs and doing inspections.  Staging is marketing your home. 

We live in our homes differently than we sell them.  Most people are at least a little emotional about their homes.  But when we sell it, we need to put those emotions aside.  When we put our home on the market, we really need to appeal to the buyer’s emotions.  This is where staging comes in. 

Even the most beautifully decorated and upgraded home may need to be staged.  Decorating is a personal thing.  Staging de-personalizes it. 

Staging doesn’t necessarily cost a lot.  Often it is only changing or rearranging a few things in a house.  In fact, the cheapest thing that has the most impact is getting rid of clutter.  On the other hand, I feel it is well worth the money to stage a vacant home with furniture and accessories.  The staging will probably pay for itself and then some in the sales price.

Regardless of whether we are in a slow real estate market or a rapidly appreciating one, staged homes usually sell more quickly and often for more money.

This market is changing as we speak.  Right before our eyes it is very different all of a sudden.  Spring is usually a great time to put your house on the market and I still believe it is, but don’t expect the old days’ of the last 4-5 years. 

We are still seeing multiple offers believe it or not ~ music to our seller’s ears ~ but they are not the same multiple offers of the last 5 years.  Now we are seeing “lowball multiple offers.”  And this is after only days on the market when the buyers know there are other offes.  We just had one where the buyer actually made their counter offer worse than their original offer and this was in a  multiple offer situation.  Crazy!  They did not get the house!

Pricing is all too critical now for sellers.  Staging is critical as well…having “the house on the market” that stands out from the rest and that is priced slightly under it’s competition is the key.  Pricing is not as easy to do as it was over the last 5 years.  Our number of sales are way down, so there is little sold inventory to compare to.  Even though our 2008 sold prices are seemingly 6% higher than this time same quarter 2007, one can not build that into their sales price.  I would ascertain that the 6% rise in average price for the Hollywood Riviera this year over last is due to some very high end homes selling this year and thus raising the average.  We have also seen the lowest price sale in a long time occur this year -2008- $575,000 for a fixer upper in the lower Torrance side of the Riviera.  That is lower than the last low sale of $605,000 which was an even worse location on the Pacific Coast Highway service street of the lower Torrance side of the Riviera.    We have quite a diversity of homes in our “designated-by-the-MLS” Hollywood Riviera neighborhood.  There are definitely two sides to the Riviera and two separate price ranges that go along with the different addresses. 

To date the 90277 (Redondo Beach) side of the Riviera has an average sales price of $1,375K and the 90505 (Torrance) side of the Riviera has an average sales price of $946K.  That is a $444,000 price discrepancy.  Wow - a 32% price difference. 

This is interesting here….the Redondo Beach side (90277 only) had an average price of sold homes this same period last year (Jan 1 - May 2, 2007) of $1,195K.  That means the RB side has gone up 14% year over year - same time period.  Now the number of sales has gone down from 23 last year to 11 this year…that’s more than a 50% drop.   The Torrance side had an average price this same period last year of $951K and it’s $946K this year.  They had a drop in their year over year average price of 1/2%.  Not much, but not the increase in average price the RB side had.  There were 7 houses sold in 2007 Jan - May 2nd 2007 and 9 solds for 2008.   About the same which makes their numbers a bit more in line with each other. 

Here’s the map of the Riviera with the dividing line in different colors.

What are some of the requirements to getting your home SOLD in today’s market?
Lights, Camera, Staged - SOLD!

Lights - a seller always wants to make a home feel light and bright.  Open all blinds and turn on all lights during all showings.  Part of this includes cleaning out those dust and bug filled light fixtures.  Light makes everything shine.  Another important showing aspect would be to add music…something soft.  Think about going shopping at Nordstrom’s -the lights are on and often strategically placed and there is always nice music.  Create the right atmosphere!

Camera - Digital Photography is a big part of today’s home sales.  A big part.    We use a great ”real estate camera” the Kodak v570 which has a nice wide angle lens and takes great real estate pictures.  Rooms can look quite a bit larger on film than a regular camera and it doesn’t make that weird “fish eye look.”   We’ve come up with some great Panoramic shots with it as a matter of fact!   Sometimes hiring a professional photographer can be the best thing to do, but whatever it takes - get great photos!  MLS, marketing brochures, & virtual tours are based on these still photos, and any other good marketing pieces.  Over 80% of people begin their search online and many savvy buyers use the internet to base their choices on what homes to go see.

Staged - It is critical today to be the house on the market that shows the best.  You’ve got to stand out in the crowd today.  Not only price, but Look Great!  90% of buyers don’t have the imaginatin to see past clutter or unstylish furnishings.  Nor do they have the ability to see how they would place their furniture in a vacant home, especially if there is a room that may be a bit awkward.   Prospective buyers make a decision on your home within the first few minutes of walking through the front door.  Staging creates a series of good first impressions that will make potential buyers want to linger and move in not move on.

It’s a combination of marketing efforts of course, but we’ve found that Lights, Camera, Staged usually lead to SOLD!

There are many marketing tools in a realtor’s arsenal to get a house sold but the best one and most important one is Pricing!  Everyone wants to sell their house for “top dollar” - everyone!  The job of  realtor who is really doing their job is to price it right.  Here in the Hollywood Riviera homes that are priced right and in top showing condition sell quickly and some in “multiple offers.”  Yes, I said multiple offers.  They still exist and there is no getting one on an “overpriced listing.”  If a buyer is not even interested in the house - if their agent isn’t telling their buyer this is a good deal - then they are certainly not going to spend an “extra” $10K - $30K.  Now get more than one party interested in the house and you’ve got the right atmosphere for more of an “auction” if you will. 

We believe in “staging” a home to get people really excited about a home’s potential - it’s funny, even though a buyer is not buying the furnishings/accessories, if it’s shown with really great stuff they can somehow see themselves in the house.  Often if you create the right mood - people will want to buy the house for the lifestyle it offers.   People want “move in condition” these days.  They want to feel like they got a house that was “wanted” by others - it is perceived to have more value that way.  This is part of the key to pricing - create value! This is an idea of “setting the mood.”  What a great house with a great view…it was completely staged and really looked amazing!

A seller wants to sell their house for $1.4K and a buyer wants to buy a house for $1.399K - it’s perceived as a lower price although it sure is close.  The retail stores of the world know this and use it almost exclusively.