Gary White FlexIt Realty~Real Estate & Updates, Grand Rapids & West Michigan

What would you do? 

This isn't new not even close but when it happen repeatedly it is worth reminding folks.  You may not think of little things being important, but they are.  Sometimes they are not so little either!

Your home is under contract, you have had the inspections and everything is just waiting for the buyer financing to be processed and the close date.  You have been assured by your agent and the lender that these buyers are rock solid and the closing will happen on time.

You start making plans.  You start packing too, there is no time to waste they get the keys and garage door openers at the closing table, they have possession at close.  You call movers, get utilities ready for the transfer close is now only a few days off.

You make more calls to clean up last minute details so everything goes smooth.  You mow the yard for one last time.

You go out with friends to celebrate the big event, everyone is all smiles.  As you drive down your street you see all kinds of emergency vehicles and wonder what has happened hoping nothing is wrong with your neighbors only to turn the corner and find your home on fire!  Two days before close your home burns down.  Now if that isn't bad enough you cut a few corners and cancelled your homeowners policy on the house because you were moving and do not have fire insurance any longer!

Unfortunately this is not fiction.  The fact that many people feel nothing has gone wrong all this time what will a few days matter we save $50.00 and can get the policy transferred to our new home to be effective on our close date.  Remember mowing the lawn for one last time?  A shop rag dropped off the handle of the mower onto the mower motor, going un-noticed and simmered all day until combustion at 7pm.

What will you do in the future?  This is not a lesson to be learned by experience.  Lenders require your home be insured until the loan is paid off.  That is true but even more important unless you have a lot of extra cash the mortgage is still due!  The contract that was going to close in 2 days is gone!

Never put yourself in this position.  It is not worth the few dollars you can save.  I hope this acts as a reminder that the old saying "it is not closed until you have money in hand", is really true.

Selling homes has been compared to having a death in the family when stress levels are measured.

This stress comes in all forms.  Not selling, no showings, to many showing with no offers, low offers, repairs and no money to do them, contract changes, inspections, strangers touching your possessions, you name it and selling has a stress generator for everyone.  Including the Real Estate agent.  They want to keep you as stress free as possible so they shield you as best they can from buyer comments, agent comments, unreasonable requests, they screening buyers, control showing dates and times and the list goes on.

One thing that is not seen is how the stress is handled inside the sellers home by the sellers themselves.  It is hard for sellers to understand their home is not selling.  It is fairly priced, in-fact it is priced below some of the homes they know are not as nice as theirs.  They do not get showing and when they do, nothing, literally nothing happens.  No feedback from the showing agent leaving the listing agent to make apologies for the lack of response form the showing agent.

The cleaning and always being ready to show or at least being able to wipe the home into showing condition in an hour or two.  This changes the everyday life style, yes it is temporary but when your home has been on the market for months it can feel like a life prison sentence!

The daily agitations that would not normally be in peoples lives from not selling creates tension.  They may have been transferred, one spouse is renting and the other is back with the kids and the home that is not selling.  Some people are lucky enough to have company buy-out plans after a period of time, the company buys their home.  Others are stuck with not seeing the kids, things falling apart, no one to talk to or confide in, duties that you usually do like mowing the lawn are now left to your wife or another expense of a hired service.  You rented a storage facility thinking it was going to be temporary and it has been months.  These issues mount up.

Stress is not an easy emotion to deal with.  Especially if you are separated but sometimes you have so much going on you do not even talk to each other if you are in the same household. 

Great agents help you past all these issues by developing a marketing strategy to sell your home.  The strategy changes as your situation changes.  Need to sell faster the agent recommends a price change and advertising is increased.  Price and profit are not everything...sometimes it is just finalizing your move.  Sure you may take a loss and you will probably purchase your next home at a lower price too, especially in today's market.

I always ask my sellers what level of pain do you want to have?  They look at me like I am nuts....and usually answer NONE!  Then I explain we can do this fast and you can move-on or we can do this slower and ring every nickel out of the sale....but it may be painful and you certainly will not sell as fast.  The reason is your home will always be competitively priced like every other home that buyers have a choice to see.  Slightly lower and your home is going to stand-out and attract more buyers.  They will look at yours first because it is a better value.

So, if you are in a stressful sale you can make a decision if it is worth it and price your home to sell or you can continue down the path of following the market with price changes that keep you competitive without attracting the buyers first.

If you are thinking of selling weigh the facts and decide which style sale you want for you and your family.  People sell for various reasons some....sell because they have to....the mortgage is eating them alive...others have family issues, other job changes it makes no difference to the why it does make a difference on the how and when.  How you sell and when you sell is a big decision that can save you and your family a huge amount of stress.

I hope this has given you some insight into selling options, chose the right Realtor and set your listing up to sell stress free.

As Realtors our profession takes more than our share of hits.  But we have some really great professionals that work hard to do everything right.  In fact they go out of their way to make sure their clients succeed in selling and buying homes.

Here is something that may help you as a buyer or seller.  Realtors look at methods to make things easier for their clients.  See if this helps you.

Create a scorecard.  This not what you think....read on.

The scorecard is designed for you to assess the home you are going to buy or sell.  In this case I'll use buy.

Establish simple point systems for key features like this:

1. Two Stall garage...................,2 Pt's
2. Three bedrooms....................3
3. Two bedroom........................2
4. Two bedroom w/3 possible......2.5
5. Dining room..........................1
6. Nice lot.................................1
7. Formica counters...................1
8. Solid surface counters............2
9. Full bath...............................2
10. Half bath..............................1
11. Double vanity sinks...............2.5
12. Maintenance free exterior.......2
13. Layout.....like a lot................3
14. Layout works........................2

You see how this goes.  I know the number line isn't straight...it's a blog.  Now when you are previewing homes you score the home based on a point system.  A point system you establish based on your needs and tastes.  This will surprise you but homes will pop to the top of your list and they may not have been your favorite until you evaluate the reasons they out scored the others.

Selling is a bit different because you are doing market comparison's to see which home is your competition.  Usually your realtor with do this when doing a pricing analysis.  But you can do it too before you list.

Simple effective and still requires your decision of selection but gives you a way of separating the good, bad and ugly!

I hope this has helped in your selling and buying experience.

I am always amazed at the variety of homes, furnishings, layouts, color schemes and cleanliness of homes I list and show. 

I just had a conversation with a Realtor that showed up for his schedule open house only the find the sellers daughter in bed at 1:45 pm, 15 minutes before the advertised open house!  The seller had told the agent he would be gone for a week and it was fine to hold an open house.  Can you imagine his fright when he walked into the supposedly unoccupied home, signs in the yard, advertising in the newspaper and a female sleeping bed!

He was there and the house was a mess.  Clothes on the floor dirty dishes in the sink, food on the counter and clutter on the kitchen table.  He said he took off his jacket and began to work cleaning the mess before anyone showed up at the door.  In the middle of his work he was distracted by a figure off to his side.  She said, who are you?  He about jumped out of his skin and asked her the same thing.  Once they got over the shock and introductions he found out it was the sellers daughter.  She is a waitress working nights and mom and dad's home is closer than her apartment....so she stopped here and stayed the last few days.  She knew they were out of town.

The open house was a bust.....the agent left.  He called the seller and asked, "what do you want me to do"?  The seller said, "well another time I guess".  I would not have even called the seller, I already had permission. I would have had "Sleeping Beauty" help me get ready for the open house, nicely of course.  My job is to sell the parents home, I already spent the time and money on advertising, flyers, directional signage why not make the best of it?

 What would you do?

In todays market many people are being caught in the "Have to Sell" mode.  This seems to take on a phase of events before the final decision is made.  Making the decision to sell and for what price is blurred in a market like this one.

Phase 1, payments start slipping, maybe it was caused by a job loss, maybe a poor investment, maybe family necessity, or health issues with bills that mount faster than a speeding bullet.

Phase 2, it will all work out and we can get out of this.....looks bad but not that bad.  The reality is it is worse than you think and denial is setting in.

Phase 3, Wow we are in trouble and I am not sure what to do.  We'll figure something out....this just can't happen to us.

Phase 4, who do we callwe have to do something or our credit is going to be ruined and we are going to lose the house....where will we go?  I'll call mom and dad they can help....they can't help they are just making ends meet and they are afraid of losing their retirement savings.  They would like to help they just can't.  Maybe I can call uncle Ned or aunt Shirley or grandma.  The number of who to call get smaller very quickly and the reality of the problem get larger faster.

Phase 5, Last ditch effort, we'll call a Realtor and tell them our situation and see if they can sell the house fast and save our credit and maybe make a few bucks to buy another place a bit cheaper until we are on our feet again.

Phase 6, Reality, you are to late....we need to call the bank and see if they will accept partial payments.  We need to list your home very competitively to sell fast before the foreclosure date.  Oh you have a notice from the bank already.  This is critical care time. 

Once you have waited for a notice from the lender, a short sale is your only real out.....that word "short sale" based on bank approval means one thing, you are going to sell below value and the bank wants it's money and you are out of time.  The most likely offers you will get are all going to be low because like vultures buyers are going to pick your bones to get the best buy possible and you are stuck in a no win situation.  You simply waited to long.  YOU are not alone.  This is happening everyday.

Phase 7, Auction....your home is gone and you may have a redemption period where you can buy your home back paying fees, late penalties, interest and costs.  Depending on how long you owned the property the redemption period will vary.

What to do?  The answer is simple do not wait!  Stop all the phasesand sit down as soon as you see the hand writing on the wall, so to speak.  Look at the reality and move fast to save your home.  Let a professional help you when there is time to help.  Do not expect miracles, they can only work with what you have.  Most professionals do not want you to lose your home.  They want to help, call them sooner than later.  Save your credit, save your home, save your family from all the stress. 

I can not think of anything worse than to have all your dreams go down the drain.  So don't let it happen.  Be proactive and react to your situation before it is to late.  Learn from others mistakes. 

I hope this has helped you recognize you have options before it is to late.

The buyers market has been written about for weeks.  Some areas of the country are doing OK others like Michigan and Florida have pockets of solid activity but for the most part are very flat.  Sellers are struggling to maintain their price....so they can go to the next home, others have followed the market down in pricing their homes only to get another low ball offer.

The "Golden Rule" as I heard it years ago is, "he who has the Gold Rules".  Right now the buyers have the gold, but are they using it wisely?  I recently listen to a conversation that was going on between to Florida realtors.  They said that buyers were throwing out offers lower than normal because they could and then asking the sellers to pay closing costs on top of the low offer.  I asked how the sellers were reacting to this tactic.  The sellers were turning down the offers and the buyers were moving on.  In my own market we have "low ballers" too, but not to that extent.  Most of these low ballers do not have any intent in buying unless they get a great deal. 

So how would you like to live in a great deal instead of the home that matches your lifestyle?  I might find myself with some resistance from my wife if I showed her my great deal.  She looks out the window onto the freeway or finds she has 3 feet between the house and the neighbors.  If the intent is short term and then flip that might be a program to pursue but this isn't a flip market unless you buyer lower yet.  The strategy might work if you are looking at an investment and will be using the property for rental and this is a stepping stone to other properties.

For the most part the majority of these low ball offers are being presented without much council by the representing agent.  When talking further with the Florida agents they said they have had to apologize to their sellers before presenting the offer, knowing it was not acceptable or even well thought out.  It was simply a price and a take it or leave it offer.

Sellers are not budging on prices in some areas.  Unfortunately they are not selling either.  Other areas homes have multiple offers nearly as soon as homes hit the market.  Ohio has a few spots like that.

So who has the Gold?  Buyers have the Gold but they want what the Seller's have, now do they but what they want or do they buy the deal?  I guess that is up to the buyer.  I know you can only push sellers so far and then they start saying no.  Then were does the market go?  There are only so many great deals.

Using your Gold wisely is how to really get a great deal especially if you get a home that matches your lifestyle.

We do know one thing, change is constant, and not all that far down the road the Gold could be in the sellers property and the buyers will have to remember when we gave low ball offers!

The statistics say less than 70% of sellers use the same Realtor again when selling.  The reasons are many some are the Realtors fault some are the sellers.

Realtors lose contact because:

1. Lose contact with the seller or buyers giving the impression they don't care or the business relationship is over.
2. Realtor's leave the business.
3. Realtor's change companies and lose contact and do not let clients know their new company.
4. Realtor's believe you will call them they next time you need real estate help.
5. Realtor's relocate out of the area.

 Seller's / Buyers Believe:

1. Believe all realtor's offer the same service so any will do.
2. Forget the name of who helped them.
3. Have used more than one Realtor in the past and things worked out.
4. Think realtor's are in it for the commission so shop for the lowest priced one.
5. Realtor made it look easy so decided to try it first and then get a Realtor if needed.

Realtor's are involve in 87% of all real estate transactions according to the National Association of Realtor's study.

Some sellers are very capable of selling on their own...yet the number that actually get the sell price they asked is quite different than what they tell their friends.  Despite some high profile news casts that show a few people actually doing a great job and getting several bids for their property the reality is quite different.  They fail to show homes that have set on the market for two years.  They fail to interview the people that tried and found the maze of legal issues created by improper paper work being sued.

In-experienced Realtors can also do a poor job of marketing, negotiating and finalizing transactions without proper broker supervision.  Most career professionals are very different and offer different services.  Are all Realtor's the same and offer the same services? NO, not even close.  Some offer minimal services and profess to offer everything.  Yet if you think about it, how can that be true?  Services cost money and real estate just like any other business  costs money to represent clients.  So if you want options when you buy a car you pay an additional fee.  Real estate is much the same way.  Lower commissions means lower services.  It is simple math the money is not their to market property for maximum exposure.  Some companies want the full service commission but offer lower services to gain higher profits.

When you select an agent to represent you, remember the old saying, "you get what you pay for" and review a written marketing plan.  No plan no listing.  Find out how long the agent has been in the business.  New agents with a seasoned veteran assisting is fine.  No listings, no sales, no listing.  The fact that you are most likely entrusting your most valuable asset to the agent you select means to do this with care and thought.  How quickly you sell could very well depend on your selection.

You can develop a list of questions that will give you the answers specifically how you want to be represented.

I hope this outline gives you a reason to develop a selection plan for who represents your next real estate transaction.

Seller's in todays buyers market have to have one thing that is missing in a seller's market, reality.  I find that so many seller's are shocked at the reality of their homes value.  They are shocked because they have been listening to friends telling them how much their home is worth.  They are shocked because they have a friend in real estate that told them a number they should easily be able to get 2 years ago!  They are shocked because a bank teller told them their home "sounds beautiful it's probably worth a lot more than homes around it".

The truth is a homes value is worth what someone is will in to pay for it.  That is all it is worth in the market.  I do not set the price, I council my sellers so they can get the highest possible dollar, but I do not set the price the market does.  That means what a buyer is willing to pay and a seller is willing to accept. 

I interview sellers and they tell me they have a figure they have to have out of the home.  That is fine....but buyers do not care about what a seller has to have out of a home.  When you are a buyer do you care what a seller has to have out of a home? NO!  So what is different?  It is your home...  I recently put myself through this same scenario with the selling process.  In fact my next door neighbor sold for over $200,000 more than I am currently asking.  What did their home have different? 500 more sq. ft. and a extra 2 stall detached garage, smaller pool and pool area, no wet bar in the pool area and the exact same size 1 acre lot.  For $200,000 more?

The truth is my home was listed as the market turned and is still going down...I am following the down side to a buyer.  Now I am going to price below the competition to get a lower offer and that will be that.  I am in the business and understand the market even though it is painful it is the market.  I am going to purchase my next property lower as well so my true loss will not be that much.  Sellers have a hard time with this concept.

Buyer's see a home for what it will do for them.  They look at things the seller never sees.  Buyers my have a completely different lifestyle and uses of the property.  Mine has a large spot for a big boat, motor home or travel trailer....not for everybody but certainly an advantage for some.  I have 10 solar panels to heat the pool instead of the natural gas high cost pool heater.  Some will like this a lot others will say I have to wait to long for the pool to heat.  I have an exercise room overlooking the pool, some will look at it as a plant room instead.

The point is agents are travel agents guiding sellers and buyers to have a vision and interject reality.  To help them focus and meet their needs and goals of lifestyle.  If we do not take the time to make sure we know those goals and lifestyles clients will continue to search and wonder what if.  They may sell and buy but your goal is a client for life, anyway mine is.  I know how they feel.  I have lived the experience, not fun but it is reality, it is the market.

Do you want a real Brochure of just something like everyone else's?

How do you separate a great brochure from the regular everyday type?  Simple photos, more than just the front of the home displayed.  Key photos that show the best features of a property are an element many times overlooked as just another option.  It was not to long ago that someone posted a photo with dirty socks and shoes on stair steps.  I have seen wet towels hanging in a bathroom photos, dirty dishes in sinks, clutter on counters, laundry rooms with mounds of clothes, closets that remind me of Kramer on the Jerry Seinfeld Show with his back against the closet door telling Jerry if he valued his life he would not open the door!

Stagers stage homes why not stage your photos for more impact.  Sounds simple and it can be very simple.  I get the family together and we go over our photo goals for the brochure.  This is a one time thing, do it right!  I move things from the counter just before the shot.  Then I put everything back. The photos above demonstrate a clean staged photo.  Do it look like this every day? NO....but it does in the photo.   I arrange the bathroom towels so they are neat and look like a hotel, then take the shot.   I have even moved everything from one side of the garage and then put it back to take a photo.  The same for closets, prepare for the shot by removing winter coats.  They can go back in but I tell them to buy plastic totes and store them if summer and store summer clothes if winter.  I even have them rent a storage unit to get rid of the clutter until the home is sold.

Next is the lighting, some home have great natural light sources, if not use your flash and home lighting.  Make it bright and natural....if a bedroom has a black ceiling like one I listed once that does not go in the brochure!  And request it get painted before and open house! 

Choose the photos so only the best shots are used.  I may take 30 photos and use 5-8 on the brochure.

Home details outlining the expected items like sq. ft. (total)  Not just above grade.  This give the home a more competitive advantage over agents that only use the main living level and do not include lower levels or basements.  Baths, bedrooms, garages, out buildings, formal dining areas etcetera.  It can mean the difference between a showing and a "thank you, moving on to the next home'.  Take the time and your brochures will make your listings stand out!

Michigan summers are the best, of course I like spring and fall too.  The winter part well as a non skier I am OK with the winter months but a bit more sun would be nice.

I am an avid boater and the spring brings all the rigors of getting ready to launch the boat.  You have the cleaning of the hull checking for all the safety equipment and double checking the motor and in my case sails for any seams loose or tears.

Campers are out enjoying the state parks and camp grounds, the barbeque's are stoked, camp fires roaring, summer is the best.  You get all your friends and family out for some great laughs.  The trees are green again the lawns are mowed, I can smell the fresh cut grass, sometimes it makes me sneeze but I still like it.  I hear the birds early in the morning as I wake and it reminds me of my childhood. 

Walking by the streams and lakes, fishing or just listening to a brook babble by is so peaceful.  Seeing the sites like the Mackinac Bridge, driving across to the UP offers spaces that are rarely touched by us city folk, it is breath taking.  I do not think we realize what we have in Michigan.  We have our economic issues like every state right now but we truly have a beautiful state.  If you get the opportunity to enjoy it soak it up for all it's worth.  Next year it will be right back for us to enjoy again, as long as we do our part to protect it.

We have an abundance of wildlife.  Recently in the Grand Rapids area several black bear sitings in rural area that are within 15 mile have been reported.  Deer car accidents are happening every day.  These beautiful creatures share our environment and in the wild they are something to see.  Black bears though can be dangerous, read more about them.  They are not something you can not feed or try to make friends with like you can a pet.

If you can not travel that far go to the nearest park and sit at a park bench or table and just watch nature sing to you.  It is hard not to lose yourself in thought when you really let your surroundings envelope you.  I hope this little note reminded you of what you have and can enjoy for free in Michigan.