Author Archives: JoannaGWilliams

Tearing My Hair Out in KC!!!

05 Tuesday Apr 2011

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I really don’t know if it’s much better in other areas, but one thing the Kansas City area real estate agents have always struggled with is finding rental properties for customers.
You know how it goes…a customer calls and they’re relocating to the area, but they’d like to get to know the area before they commit to purchasing a home. Or…you have customers going through a divorce and a spouse needing a rental. Or…you have the couple that would like to move out while their home is on the market to make it easier to show and sell. There’s 100 scenarios for needing rentals and we get the calls non-stop.

The problem? Rental properties are not listed on our MLS. Nor are they all in any one place…or so I thought.

So, I was tearing my hair out the other day explaining to a gentleman from out of town how our rental market works. The property owner or manager puts a handwritten “For Rent” sign in the yard and then posts it to some website like Craig’s List, the classifieds or their personal rental site. And, for the most part, real estate agents don’t get paid anything when they bring a renter to a property. So, this poor guy had called around and was terribly frustrated at the response he was getting. Doesn’t anyone want to rent him a property? So, yours truly, did her good deed for the day and explained why all the agents he had encountered seemed ‘uncaring’ about his rental needs.

I told him I would happily try and search for places and ask around to see what I could find for him.

That’s when I found it….

OODLE!!
OMG, this has changed my whole outlook on rentals. Oodle is a website that pulls information from other websites to compile the information in one place.

And now, I’m putting my hair back into place and sharing this great tip with my friends.

P.S. Please don’t brag if you’re in one of those awesome markets that embraces rental property. I just can’t take it! 🙂

Should I Accept This Offer?

15 Tuesday Mar 2011

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March 15, 2011 — Realty Times Feature Article by Carla Hill

Today’s market can be a difficult one for many sellers to navigate. And while your real estate agent can advise you, the ultimate decision of what offer to accept is entirely up to you.

This decision can come with quite a bit of pressure. Even in the most favorable of markets this can be a difficult time. How do you know when to accept an offer?

Here are some questions to consider.

1. Is the buyer pre-qualified/approved? Selling will require an investment of time and money. You may need to find a new home or a temporary rental. There’s nothing worse than buying a new house, only to find out the deal to sell yours has fallen through.

2. Do you need to move? The urgency of your move may dictate what offer you accept. Many sellers need to move quickly for a new job. Or they may need to sell to avoid foreclosure. If you are in a rush, you may need to accept an offer that is less than ideal.

3. How much do you owe? You don’t want to sell your home at a loss. And be sure to take closing costs into consideration. Many markets experienced high levels of depreciation over the last year. If you are underwater on your loan, now may not be the time to sell.

4. What is the market climate? Are you likely to get another offer? How long has your home been on the market? Have you had many showings? All of these are factors to consider when contemplating what offer to accept.

Above all, ask yourself if this offer was a reasonable offer. There are buyers that may attempt to low ball you. They may see that your home has been on the market longer than your competition. They may know that it’s a strong buyers market. And in response they offer a much smaller amount for your home than it is worth. You are not obligated to accept or even respond to these low ball offers. But if you are in need of selling now, every offer warrants consideration or a counter offer.

In the end, you must accept an offer that works for you. You may be willing to accept a lower amount in exchange for a faster closing date. Or you may wish to hold out for the highest dollar amount.

Curious About Color?

06 Sunday Mar 2011

Posted by in Decor, Home Maintenance, Home Seller Advice

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The latest trend in interior color is gray. The colors have gone from white and brass, to beige and brass, to beige and brushed nickel, then taupe and oil rubbed bronze (still popular), to gray and brushed nickel.

Another popular combo for the master or children’s rooms is a Tiffany blue with cream colored woodwork. Think of a Tiffany’s box.

The colors, for the most part, have gone much darker than we’ve seen in years past. It used to be all about light, bright colors and rooms and now the colors (on everything) all have a richer tone giving the home a more opulent look overall.

Cabinets are dark, rich mahogany; counter tops are darker. With most walls going to gray, you’ll see various pops of color throughout since gray goes with as many things as beige does.

I’m personally a fan of both styles. The new, almost cold, grays, blacks and silvers and the less recent taupe, mahogany and bronze.

If you’re looking to update your home to put it on the market, or just because you’re tired of the current style, feel free to walk through a few open houses and to browse through the hundreds of pictures of homes that are listed. To get the best idea, check out the higher price range homes or the brand new model homes. Most builders have a good handle on the latest trends.

Happy Updating!!

Reblog: Pet Peeves of a Home Stager

14 Monday Feb 2011

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“Pet Peeves of a Home Stager” 

(or: Things that Make Me Go “Aaarghhh!”) 

by: Cynthia Black, HomeStaging by Cynthia, Inc. in KCMO

www.HomeStagingByC.com  

“Over 4,000 Homes Staged…since 1999!”

 I’ll admit that I’ve never owned a Peeve so I don’t know what they’re like as Pets, but I DO know what drives me nuts as a Home Stager:

Painted-over Wallpaper 

I realize that some of the stager-types do this on HGTV, but it’s EVIL! Eventually, the paint pulls the paper away from the wall, revealing a seam, which is a huge red flag for wise buyers. Meanwhile, someone is cursing the person who painted over the wallpaper (whose life is now in the toilet and doesn’t know why). To avoid bad karma you’ll never hear me say that it’s okay to paint over wallpaper. Meanwhile, is it too much to ask builders to size before hanging wallpaper? Continue reading →

Buy Owner.com Sells for $1M

10 Thursday Feb 2011

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MIAMI — The real estate website BuyOwner.com has sold for $1 million.

The Daily Business Review reported Tuesday that Utah entrepreneur Jonathan Holbrook bought the site. It was once billed as the nation’s largest for-sale-by-owner operation.

Holbrook told the paper he intends to close the sale Wednesday. The proceeds will be split among the company’s creditors.

The Florida company’s revenue has declined sharply since 2008, from more than $28 million to less than $250,000 last July.

Since July, the company has generated about $588,000 in revenue but after expenses netted only $56,000.

Holbrook said he will hire additional employees, including sales and customer service agents for the Deerfield Beach, Fla., headquarters and the Chicago office.

Why did they lose so much revenue? There’s probably quite a few reasons for this. One of the main reasons, I believe, is that as transactions have gotten more difficult and home prices have dropped further than most sellers want to acknowledge, the general public has been forced to turn to the experts to help guide them through the process of selling their home. Also, with most markets still having a high number of foreclosure listings, banks don’t usually sell FSBO, they list the home with a REALTOR.

The Heart of a Giver

03 Thursday Feb 2011

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Some people are just born with it and some develop it over time.

Either way, you can always tell when someone has the heart of a giver.

They’ll give you food even when they haven’t had enough themselves.

They’ll give you their clothes long before they’ve worn them out.

What they’re capable of doing, they do without complaint.

When they can’t help, they search till they find someone who can.

They work tirelessly to do good deeds and their days are made up of what I like to call Random Acts of Kindness

And what is it that the Giver seeks in return?

Really….nothing.

You see, in the true heart of a giver, the rewards are within.

Just knowing they’ve done something to help is enough.

A simple smile and a thank you can send them over the moon.

We all know who they are…have you smiled and thanked a giver today?

Is it REALLY a Short Sale?

28 Friday Jan 2011

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Even though they’ve been around forever, short sales are at the forefront of the real estate market along with foreclosures. I’ve found there’s a general misunderstanding about short sales that I’d like to correct.

As listing agents, we have to disclose to selling agents every type of potential hindrance to a closing, especially a short sale. That being said…it’s important to understand there’s essentially two different types of short sales.

The first one, and least common, is a sale on a listing where the seller owes more than the home is worth, but has the ability to bring money to closing to make up the difference. You may wonder why we would need to disclose this type of short sale since there’s no bank involved. Well, let’s say, the seller has the ability to bring funds to closing, but suddenly falls on hard times and blows through his/her emergency funds. The seller can no longer afford to sell the home that way and the buyer would’ve been blindsided by the change or cancellation. What this sale would then hopefully switch to is the second type.

The second type of short sale is the most common one. Since home prices have depreciated in most areas, homeowners owe much more than their home is worth and sometimes have fallen on hard times and have to move. At this point, a real estate agent can swoop in to help the homeowner by facilitating a conversation with the bank/lender, to see if they’re willing to accept a short sale. Once the agent has the go-ahead from the bank, the property can be marketed and sold at a reduced and more marketable price without the seller having to come up with extra cash to close.

You may be thinking, ‘but if I don’t have to pay a real estate agent, I can sell my home for what I need to get out of it.’ Well, but if you’re at a point of hardship, timing can be everything for you. It’s been proven over and again that listing your home with a real estate agent at a recommended price, will snag you a buyer in a much shorter amount of time. And, by now, most all agents have knowledge of how to work a short sale and should be able to knowledgeably direct you through the sale.

One thing’s for sure, short sales are a much better option for the seller’s credit than foreclosure. Sure, they take patience, but doesn’t everything that worth doing?

Happy Friday! Sunny and 46 degrees in our fair city today—-whooohooo!

What about the Tax Credit I Received?

11 Tuesday Jan 2011

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I was chatting with a friend the other day and she brought up that there’d been some changes in her life and she was now having to think about selling the home she bought a year and a half ago. Her question was about the tax credit. “What happens if I sell my home before the 5 years?”

Because it’s been so recent, I hadn’t had the chance to do much research on this question, so I went into ‘research mode’ before giving her any answers and I thought I’d share with you what I’ve found.

It depends on exactly when you bought the home. It’s 36 months. But, if you do sell before 36 months, the tax credit will be payable at the time of close but is limited to the amount of proceeds you receive on the home. Let’s say you sell your house and you have $7,000 left to repay, but you only net $2000 profit on the sale. The government can only take that $2000 and it looks like the rest will be written off.

Here’s the government website where YOU can do more research if you’d like.

What to do, Right Now

03 Monday Jan 2011

Posted by in Home Seller Advice, Moving, Random Thoughts

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We’ve talked quite a bit about putting your home on the market after the holidays or in the spring. Are you ready?

The new year is upon us and it’s time to get yourself geared towards a successful sale. Is there anything you can be doing right now to get ready?

Well, sure!

If you have a friend in the real estate business, or a real estate agent you know and trust that you’re going to be using to market your home; now is a good time to have them over for some coffee or dinner.

Call them up and tell them about your plans. Let them know your timeline and give them some time to do a little research on your neighborhood. When you have them over, ask their advice on the improvements they think you need to make in order to make your home sell faster. Is it just new paint or does your home need a complete overhaul?

This will give you and them a chance to really know what your goals are. It could be that you don’t have the time, money or desire to make any improvements—-there’s a market for as-is homes as well. Don’t be afraid to have this discussion. It could be that a few simple improvements could net you quite a bit more—-or it could be that the improvements you need to make will cost way more than you had planned.

Either way, having this information early is the best plan.

Call a REALTOR today!!

December Phenomenon

19 Sunday Dec 2010

Posted by in Kansas City Market Stats, Random Thoughts

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This morning I was reminded of something that I found strange the other day.

Two of my agents were actually having quite a bit of stress about getting the homes under contract that their buyers wanted. Why?? Multiple offers.

What?!? Multiple offers in December? Sure enough. Usually we don’t see very many of these anytime except spring. But, right now, with 3 different agents running into this situation in the last week on 3 different homes…I’d say it’s a strange December Phenomenon.

So, check around, if this is happening in your market I’d like to know. But, I’d also like to remind you if you’re looking at homes right now, you might want to have your agent practice that ‘spring market’ tactic of calling the listing agent and checking to see if there’s anything else going on with it. It’s obviously not time to relax and take your time getting your offer in.

Happy December Buying!