Chico CA Real Estate Foreclosures Hotsheet
August 6th, 2008 Categories: Chico CA Foreclosure Listings
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Chico CA Foreclosure Hotsheet
August 5th, 2008 Categories: Chico CA Foreclosure Listings
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Chico CA Real Estate Foreclosure Properties
July 15th, 2008 Categories: Chico CA Foreclosure Listings
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Search Here for Bank Foreclosures in Chico, CA
July 10th, 2008 Categories: Chico CA Foreclosure Listings
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Sellers: Please LEAVE So That I Can Sell Your House!
July 5th, 2008 Categories: Busy Girls Guide, Chico Sellers, My Opinion on Things
Despite the fact that most sellers have undoubtedly been counseled by their Realtors to leave during showings, a large number of sellers choose to remain.
After a recent, painful, house-viewing excursion with some home buyers on a search for Chico CA real estate, I feel the need to approach the situation head-on.
You seem, Mr. and Mrs. Home Seller, to not comprehend how detrimental your very presence is to the sale of your property. If you fully understood the repercussions, I am certain that you would work with the Realtors, not against them.
For most home buyers, your being in the house makes for an uncomfortable showing. It’s hard for a buyer to freely explore a property and excitedly converse with family members when you are hanging on their every word and following their every move. Buyers may not feel that they can discuss the negatives of the house, for fear of insulting you. Similarly, they may not want to display too much enthusiasm, because a poker face is an important aspect when negotiating, and they don’t want you to think they LOVE your house. Lastly, they don’t feel they can roam at will to discover all the house has to offer. Many buyers are so conscientious about your overhearing them, they refuse to discuss their thoughts until we have made it safely into the car!
Although you think you’re being helpful by providing us with a running commentary and guided tour, you are shooting yourself in the foot! More often than not, the things you find fascinating and important hold very little interest to the buyer. They don’t want to hear about how your mother’s uncle suggested you put the laundry room near the kitchen, but you, in your infinite wisdom opted to put it near the bedrooms instead. They also don’t want to hear about your special tupperware drawer, your cat’s litter box problem, or your weight issues after switching your thyroid medication. As a seller, you might be saying to yourself, I NEVER get in the way… I only point out the positive factors that will help sell my house! Yeah… ok. I have endured endless “showings” of Chico property performed by well-meaning sellers and it’s a rare situation indeed that a seller doesn’t deter from the task at hand.
Keep in mind that the buyer is trying to picture himself in the house, along with his furniture, his family, and his activities. Professional home stagers will encourage a seller to remove all items such as family photos, excess furniture, and clutter to facilitate the buyer’s bonding with the property. The goal is to remove the distractions so that the buyer can figure out how he can make the space his own. The focus should be the bones of the house, not on YOU! By attending the showing, you defeat the very purpose of “staging” the house for sale, and many buyers will resent the disruption.
Real life examples!
1. I recently accompanied a buyer on a showing in which the seller was the tour guide. The woman was bright, bubbly, and extraordinarily full of personality– a true pleasure to meet. We got to hear all about her children, her cooking abilities, her extended family, the history of the building of the house, and her hobbies. When we finally made it back to the car, both the buyer and myself were at a complete loss as to the details of the house. Did it have granite? Where was the 3rd bathroom? Did we actually see the bonus room?? We had no idea, but we could tell you how many kids she had, and what her husband did for a living.
2. A home was advertised as being a 4 bedroom, 3 bath property. After nearly an hour listening to the seller expound on the virtues of the home, we were finally shown the “4th bedroom” which was actually a room so small that you couldn’t fit a twin size bed in there. Considering the buyer had a very strict need for 4 functional bedrooms, the house wasn’t appropriate. Instead of discovering the flaw within the first 2 minutes, we were forced to endure an hour of meaningless banter. The buyer was so infuriated that she refused to even consider the minor remodel possibilities of the home which would have rendered the house functional for her family.
3. I once showed a house during which time the sellers planted themselves on the porch with cocktails and appetizers. The home was so small they were able to monitor our visit every step of the way. Upon exiting the house, they cleverly (or so they thought) addressed every concern the buyer had mentioned while in the house. The problem was that my buyer was extraordinarily unusual in every sense of the word. He had very eccentric views on relationships, politics, and day to day living. The sellers managed to offend him several times over as they chattered on thinking that they were coming across as charming and informative. Despite the fact that the house was a perfect fit for him, he left the property focused instead on how much he disliked the current owners. Shortsighted, on the buyer’s part, I know. However, having spent an inordinate amount of time with that particular buyer, I had learned to avoid his hot spots and feel strongly that I could have sold him that house had the sellers not unwittingly killed the deal for themselves.
Sellers, please keep in mind that you chose to list your home with a professional Realtor rather than trying to sell the house yourself. You must allow the Realtor to do the job! Try to remember that most of us sell properties full time, to earn a living. We put a great deal of time and effort into learning the art of marketing and negotiating real estate. We want to sell your house!
Most importantly, as the buyer’s agent, we have the advantage of knowing the client’s particular interests, needs, and deficiencies, and can therefore appeal to them more effectively than you can.
If you have important details that the average Realtor or buyer will not recognize upon viewing the property, there are very effective ways to provide the information without being intrusive or distracting.
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Leave photographs of your home taken throughout the seasons. Is your home breathtaking in the fall or spring? Do you have an amazing garden? SHOW US with pictures.
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Leave notecards or flyers on pedastals or attached to doorways to explain special features, materials, warranties, or interesting history about the room or area.
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Work with your listing agent to compile a binder with all sorts of interesting facts, inspections, pictures of floor plans, or anything else that you would like to share. Leave it in a place that invites the visitors to peruse it.
If only, Mr. and Mrs. Seller, you could please LEAVE, we could do a better job of selling your house!
P.S. That doesn’t mean exiting the house as we are trying to enter. I know you’re dying to see what the new buyers look like, and you just want to say “hi”, and you just have a couple of things you want to share with us that are really important, and you just want to offer us iced tea and cookies, and you’re just trying to be welcoming… but please leave BEFORE we get there!!
P.S.S. If you don’t want to give your potential buyers the heebie-jeebies, don’t sit in the car or across the street in your neighbor’s living room watching us with binoculars. You might think you’re being sneaky, but we can see or feel you there, and the overall effect is not a good one!
This particular post sparked quite a reaction from my fellow Real Estate Professionals. SELLERS, if you weren’t already buying my opinion, please peruse the thoughts of over 70 other Realtors by clicking here!
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Bank Owned Chico Properties
June 18th, 2008 Categories: Chico CA Foreclosure Listings
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Chico CA Real Estate Foreclosures
June 16th, 2008 Categories: Chico CA Foreclosure Listings
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Chico CA Real Estate Foreclosure Investments
June 13th, 2008 Categories: Chico CA Foreclosure Listings
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Chico Investors Reappear
May 18th, 2008 Categories: Chico CA Real Estate News
by Mike Wiegert
Last week I mentioned that, for the first time in months, residential homes available in the Chico area actually appeared to increase as well as the number of residential units sold.
As we are starting to see signs of stabilization in many California communities a long lost friend of the real estate industry is making a reappearance. I’m talking about the real estate investor. As prices hit record highs at the mid point of the decade, investors all but vanished from the scene. The primary reason appeared to be that as prices soared, the possibility of “cash flow” on investment properties evaporated. With residential and residential income (non-owner occupied) properties at record highs, investors saw little opportunity to “capitalize” or see a desirable return on their cash investments into these properties. With dramatic decreases in property values across the state and nation, investors are starting to emerge and with this reappearance, further strengthening and stabilization of the real estate market is calculable.
Right here in our little corner of the world, the Chico Multiple Listing Service (MLS) “solds” (closed escrows) and five “pendings” While fifteen sales in April might might not seem earthshaking it really is a dramatic increase from January when Chico MLS reported six “solds” and no “pendings” for that month. The numbers are even up significantly from March which reported “solds” at five and “pendings” at two reported last month ten residential income (properties placed in escrow but not closed).
Chico CA real estate statistical reporting is certainly micro-economics, but across the state and nation were beginning to see the same trends. S.F. Gate, a part of the San Francisco Chronicle news reported last week a story about Dan Shiner, a Mill Valley real estate investor examined a dozen different Sonoma County residential income properties and purchased two. “This duplex sold for $599,000 two years ago and now it’s listed for $414,900. That’s why people like me are coming out of the woodwork.” Shiner, who works in financing, shied away from real estate in his area because of inflated prices but now feels drawn back into the market because of many available “bargains”. These type of bargains in our area and the competition to purchase investment homes with “cash flow” is steadily growing.
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Chico CA Real Estate Market Report for Spring 2008
May 17th, 2008 Categories: Chico CA Real Estate Market Stats, Chico CA Real Estate News
The Chico Real Estate Market is Changing!
Although a steady decline of local home prices over the last several months has been reported there’s a change of direction in last months statistics. For the first time in months the median and average home price in the Chico area is in the black.
The Chico area’s median price was up at $272,500 from March at $267,000. Median price refers to the exact middle point of all the homes sold in that month or given period. The average price in April was up at $340,881 from $311,232 in March. Average price is defined as combining the sales prices of all the sales for a given period and dividing by the number of unit sales for that period.
In addition to this good news, the number of residential Chico area units sold was up significantly at 80 in April in contrast to March sales at 45. Of course many would say that this increase of number of sales is due to the traditional increase caused by seasonal changes, and they would be right. The overall increase in sales of residential units has little to do with the median and average home prices.
So, are we on the road to recovery? A little early to tell, but many economists and analysts are indicating trends in that direction. Michael Feder, CEO of Radar Logic, Inc., a reputable company known for statistical reporting of national and regional sales data and trends, recently stated on Bloomberg.com that several national metropolitan areas not only showed signs of stabilization, but actual significant price increases in recent months. New York’s borough of Manhattan, Houston, Dallas, Virginia Beach, Seattle, Charlotte, Salt Lake City, Austin and Buffalo all have reported gains in recent months. Even our local neighbor, San Francisco, demand exceeded supply and median and average sales prices posted increases.
When taken into perspective, all the sensationally negative news is really only taking into account recent year over year sales data, which is indeed somewhat depressing, especially to folks who purchased during the housing boom of 2004 to 2006.
In ancient times when I began my real estate career, my mentor first told me that real estate is a long term investment and that I should be certain that my customers understood this basic principle. Along the line we forgot this concept and rushed to buy real estate at inflated prices in order to make a quick buck or just get in while the getting was good.
Prices have come down the last year, but when looked at over a five year perspective, homes nationally have appreciated at 4.7 percent annually.
Even neighbor Sacramento/Roseville, one of the hardest hit areas in the country, experienced a 1.5 percent increase in home prices over the last five years. In fact, of all the national Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA’s), only Detroit, Cleveland and Denver reported decreases in homes sales prices when calculated over the last five years. Michael Feder expressed optimism without forecasting by saying that home prices should improve based on Financial Services Committee Chairman, Barney Frank’s commitment to reopen the mortgage credit conduit.
In Chico, we are seeing a re-emergence of FHA mortgage loans thus enabling credit worthy buyers in our area to purchase with less that the standard twenty percent down payment.
And a reminder, with over fifty million mortgaged homes in this nation, less than two percent are in peril of foreclosure at this time. It is certainly apparent that these foreclosure sales when calculated in the the homes sales data and indexes are really what are influencing current market prices. Equally apparent is the Federal governments determination to come to the assistance of these desperate homeowners with a variety of programs to stem off the flow.
There’s no doubt that nationally, statewide and locally here in Chico CA, real estate investments have been rendered a strong blow, but the wound is healing.
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