…In and around Boulder, houses that have been staged – usually vacant houses that are filled with trendy furniture pieces – sell 46 percent faster than those that haven’t, Short said, citing Boulder real estate sales statistics.

…Once the sellers agree to a home inspection, they can attach receipts to the finished report to show what was done to correct problems, said Jerry Chesser, a home inspector for Win Home Inspection in Denver…. When a seller is willing to do a pre-listing home inspection, it increases the real estate agent’s comfort level as well, said David Fish, an agent at Re/Max in Boulder, who pays for the $300 inspections out of his own pocket.

Move that property

SELLERS ARE USING INSPECTIONS, PROOF OF REPAIRS AND EVEN AESTHETICS EXPERTS TO HELP SPEED THEIR HOMES’ SALES IN A SLUGGISH MARKET
By Beth Potter
Special to The Denver Post
DenverPost.com

Before Alex Drummond put his rustic mountain retreat on the market, his real estate agent paid to have the home inspected.

Drummond was told he needed to fix electrical wiring and leaky skylights. He also bought and installed a new water heater and new water heater vents to bring it up to code.

After the work was done in May, 68-year-old Drummond advertised his home near Ward, on 2 1/2 acres surrounded by U.S. Forest Service land, for $379,000. It sold for $365,000 in just five weeks, while other mountain properties in Boulder County have averaged 40 weeks on the market.
“The inspection showed we had nothing to hide. It was amazing how fast it sold,” said Christie Smith, 51, Drummond’s girlfriend.

With residential house sales slowing dramatically, Realtors like Bruce Drogsvold of Wright Kingdom Realty in Boulder suggest that sellers put their best foot forward. Options include home inspections, which cost about $300 and look for functional problems, and “staging,” which involves preparing the home aesthetically.

Staging can mean rearranging furniture, putting extra items in storage and emphasizing any special architectural details, said Jan Short, owner of Designed to Move in Lafayette.

Short recommended that Drummon add bright flowers in a dark corner and remove anything that blocked the windows and the spectacular mountain views.

“It’s the psychological grab,” Short said. “When a buyer is looking at numerous properties, you want your property to be memorable.”

Drogsvold paid for both services to help sell Drummond’s home.

In and around Boulder, houses that have been staged – usually vacant houses that are filled with trendy furniture pieces – sell 46 percent faster than those that haven’t, Short said, citing Boulder real estate sales statistics. Staged condos sell 62 percent faster.

At Drummond’s house, Short identified pictures, extra dishes, towels and even clothes that had to go. Books stayed on the bookshelves, as did specially painted pottery.

“We were very prepared when the buyer came along,” Drogsvold said.
A growing number of real estate agents are using similar techniques, said Mallory Anderson, executive director of the National Association of Home Inspectors. About 85 percent of all houses sold are given the once-over by inspectors.

Once the sellers agree to a home inspection, they can attach receipts to the finished report to show what was done to correct problems, said Jerry Chesser, a home inspector for Win Home Inspection in Denver.

“People are trying to sweeten up their deals,” said Peter Robberson, a home inspector/owner of Welcome Home Inspections in Colorado Springs. “(But) it appears that sellers would rather wait for buyers to ask for one rather than use a list to repair various and sundry things the buyer might not even care about.”
When a seller is willing to do a pre-listing home inspection, it increases the real estate agent’s comfort level as well, said David Fish, an agent at Re/Max in Boulder, who pays for the $300 inspections out of his own pocket.

“It’s dramatically reducing the chances of the contract blowing up,” Fish said. “Anything I can do to help my properties sell faster and for more money, that’s definitely something that adds value to me.”

For Golden homeowner Linda White, that meant making a punchlist of items that needed to be fixed and treating the repairs as a full-time job for two weeks. It even included painting scratches on windows and doors, she said.

“We rented a storage unit and put things in there to make the house seem less cluttered,” said White, 52. “I bent over backwards to make the house really nice.” The house sold for more than $600,000 last month.

With the average number of home sales down 20 percent this year, every little bit helps, said Anderson, the national trade group leader. “People are looking for new and innovative ways to make their properties stand out.”

One of a series of articles on real estate topics. All of the authors of “Speaking of Real Estate …” articles are full-time REALTORS® who work at Tradewinds Realty Inc. at one of our locations in Nova Scotia.

Checklist A – Important things to do before listing a house for sale
By Lynn Stewart and Paul Crocker, REALTORS®

Exterior repairs and touch-ups:

• Repaint or replace your mailbox. Mail boxes seldom age well, but they are a prominent part of the view at the front door that greets potential buyers.
• Clean and tidy up the garage/carport. (Plan on making a few trips to the dump.)
• Repair and/or paint eavestroughs, downspouts and soffits.
• Refinish the front door and polish any door brass.
• Grease the rollers on the garage door(s) and make sure that they work properly. Buyers often open these doors to make sure that they do – in fact – open.
• Replace all cracked or broken window panes. Thermal window panes (the ones with two sheets of glass with a sealed insulating air space between them) often age badly, with the seal failing and admitting humid air which usually results in condensation or “fogging” between the panes. These should be replaced with new inserts because they project an image of an ageing and neglected residence.
• If necessary, repaint the exterior and interior window frames and trim.
• Make sure that the doorbell is in good working order.
• Replace any warped/cracked/missing roof shingles.
• Make sure the house civic (street) number is visible and give it a fresh coat of paint if appropriate.
• Replace worn or noticeably faded exterior doormats with new ones.

Add your own checklist here:

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Interior repairs and touch-ups:

• Repair and paint cracks/holes/dents in walls and wood trim. (Use plastic wood or wallboard filler.)
• Consider painting (or removing some) kitchen cupboard doors to give them a lighter appearance and replace handles to give the kitchen a more contemporary appearance.
• Ensure that all door knobs and cupboard latches are tight.
• Repair leaky sink/shower fawcets and toilets.
• Replace all burned out light bulbs.
• Oil squeaky door hinges.
• Repair/replace seals or caulking around bathtubs, showers and sinks.
• Have the carpets professionally cleaned if they are dirty or stained.

Add your own checklist here:

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Download the Original Word Document Checklist A – Before you list.doc

One of a series of articles on real estate topics. All of the authors of “Speaking of Real Estate …” articles are full-time REALTORS® who work at Tradewinds Realty Inc. at one of our locations in Nova Scotia.

“Buyer Agency” – a better way for buyers and Realtors® to work together effectively
By Paul Crocker and Lynn Stewart

Here’s a familiar story – familiar, at least, to Realtors. A couple (let’s call them Bill and Anne) are shopping for a summer cottage with frontage on Big Mushamush Lake (north of Mahone Bay, N.S.). The Duty Agent at Tradewinds Realty’s Chester office takes Bill’s Saturday morning call.

Bill and Anne had read a Tradewinds listing in the free monthly magazine “Real Estate on Nova Scotia’s South Shore” for a cottage with “access” to Big Mushamush. While the listing (or asking) price was $109,900 –substantially more as it turned out than Bill and Anne were prepared to pay, Bill said that they’d heard from several friends that sellers almost always inflate their asking prices because “everyone knows that sellers start high and then come down”. In addition, Bill said that they wanted to see the cottage later that day.

The Duty Agent asked Bill what was the maximum price they were prepared to pay and soon found out that it was “$80,000 tops”. He then pointed out to Bill that the listing price was more than 1/3 higher than their budget and that the cottage had only been listed for three weeks – hardly long enough for the sellers to even begin considering lowering their price.

By now, the Duty Agent had the listing in front of him on his computer screen and quickly discovered that the cottage only had “deeded access” to the lake rather than lake frontage, and that it was on the opposite side of the road from the lakefront lots in the area.

Bill repeated that he and Anne still wanted to see the cottage that day. The Duty Agent replied that the cottage was occupied during the summer months and that the owners had specified that 24 hours notice be given prior to all showings. Bill then said, “To Hell with it.” and hung up.

Clearly, this call was a waste of both Bill’s time and that of the Duty Agent. Bill wanted to see a specific cottage right away that was priced well beyond his budget. Bill terminated the call before the Duty Agent was able to point out that Tradewinds had other cottage listings priced within Bill and Anne’s budget and that he would be willing to assemble some information on them and to call Bill back to discuss which ones sounded suitable before going to view them. (Bill had spoken to over five other real estate companies – each with lakefront cottage listings near Mahone Bay and he hadn’t been inside one yet.)

This familiar story would have had a much happier and productive ending for all concerned had a Realtor been able to convince Bill and Anne of the merits of their entering into a “Buyer Agency” agreement with his/her Brokerage.

Buyer Agency is one of many recent developments in the real estate industry, and it is only now beginning to catch on in Nova Scotia. It is a simple agreement between a buyer and a Realtor to the effect that they will work together in finding a property for the buyer that meets his specifications.

The key benefits for the buyer

The buyer agrees to work exclusively with only only one Realtor and, in the process, will communicate in detail what he/she is looking for in a property (e.g. number of bedrooms & baths, lot size, etc.) Furthermore, the buyer agrees in advance to not waste time looking at properties that do not meet his/her requirements – iincluding price. (In a Buyer Agency agreement, the Realtor has much better prospects of getting paid for his work – which only happens when a commission is paid on the closing of a property purchase transaction, and will work hard to bring appropriate new listings to the buyer’s attention by reviewing all new MLS listings in the search area daily. Again, the buyer benefits by being able to stop reading real estate ads because his Realtor is motivated to do it for him/her. Finally, this service is free to the buyer because the Realtor’s commission is almost always paid by the selling party in a real estate transaction. Therefore, both the buyer and his/her Realtor benefit substantially from this agreement.

Here are the key commitments to which each agree when they sign the formal Buyer Agency agreement.

The Realtor’s key commitments

The buyer’s Realtor (or agent) agrees to (1) search for properties that meet the buyer’s specifications – includiing those listed on the MLS system, those being sold privately (“For Sale By Owner”) or those not currently listed for sale (e.g. recently expired listings). (2) The Realtor further agrees to represent the buyer in dealings with sellers and to provide all advice and assistance required by the buyer on offer price, financing and other details of the purchase transaction. (3) Finally, the buyer’s Realtor will protect and promote the buyer’s best interests in any subsequent transactions and respect all obligations that he has to the buyer under the Canadian Real Estate Association by-laws and MSL® rules and regulations.

The buyer’s key commitments

In return, the buyer agrees to a number of things, the key ones being (1) to use only the buyer’s Realtor as his/her representative in the search for and purchase of any property in Nova Scotia during the life of the agreement, (2) to advise the Realtor of any properties in which he/she is interested, (3) to provide the buyer’s agent with written mortgage pre-approval from a lending institution of the buyer’s choice, and (4) to negotiate in good faith the purchase of a property in which he/she is seriously interested.

It should be noted that all Buyer Agency agreements are valid for a pre-determined but negotiatiable period of time (e.g. six months). In addition, the agreement must contain detailed clauses regarding the agent’s fees (which are usually paid by the selling party in a transaction – but not always).

Don’t you agree that our hypothetical buyers Bill and Anne would have been far more likely to be in their newly acquired cottage today if they had known about the Buyer Agency Agreement? Please don’t make the same mistake.

About the authors

Paul Crocker and Lynn Stewart are a husband and wife team of REALTORS® who work out of Tradewinds Realty Inc.’s Chester, N.S. office. They can be contacted at (902) 275-7959 (Paul Crocker) or (902) 275-7765 (Lynn Stewart), or either one by e-mail at lynn.stewart@tradewindsrealty.com or paul.crocker@tradewindsrealty.com

One of a series of articles on real estate topics. All of the authors of “Speaking of Real Estate …” articles are full-time REALTORS® who work at Tradewinds Realty Inc. at one of our locations in Nova Scotia.
Photographing home exteriors

By Paul Crocker and Lynn Stewart

“A good picture is worth a thousand words.” This old saying is as true today as it ever was. It is particularly true in the marketing of a residential property to potential buyers.

The problem

Good interior photos of a home can be taken at any time of the year. This is not the case with exterior photos. The reason – many residential properties are listed for sale in the early spring. The MLS® listings (seen by thousands of potential buyers in Canada and around the world on www.mls.ca) and in print advertising typically show photos of the exterior of properties taken long before the leaves appear on trees and gardens begin to resemble gardens. If there is snow on the ground when the listing photos are taken, it’s often difficult to tell whether the driveway is paved and with what, or the location of the patio, let alone its size (since patio furniture is usually in winter storage). Garden beds that beautify the property in the summer are invisible. Often, the exterior colours of the house are distorted by the harsh glare of sunlight reflected off snow so that a light blue home may appear to be a white one.

The end result is often a stark, colourless and uninviting house exterior in photos intended to help market the property to potential buyers. Since most buyers shop MLS® listings on the Internet or by looking at house feature sheets or MLS® catalogues in a real estate company office, the first time they see a photo of your home they see it looking its worst. Often, the exterior photo is so unflattering that buyers reject your property with little more than a fleeting glance at the home that might actually best match the specifications they have established for their next residence.

The solution

Whether or not you anticipate making a decision to list your property for sale in the foreseeable future, you should start preparing now for that possibility. Start taking photos of its exterior this summer. Put the prints and negatives in a file marked “House Photos”. Then, if a decision is ever made to list the house for sale, you will have good exterior photos on hand to give to your Realtor® – even in the middle of February. The photos will show your house looking its very best and will help get the marketing campaign designed for your home off to a successful start.

Five tips for photographing home exteriors

1. Take numerous photos of the house exterior from different angles (front and rear shots are particularly important).

2. Take photos at different times of the day to experiment with different lighting angles and conditions – some of which will be more flattering to your home than others. Take some shots mid-morning and others mid-afternoon for sharp contrasts between house and plantings and their shadows that add depth or three-dimensional effects. Also take some shots on overcast days to see the effect of reduced shadowing on the impact and “curb appeal” of your home.

3. Get close-up shots of the patio and/or deck with furniture and plantings looking their best. Also, get shots of the driveway (without vehicles), front walks, the entrances (front and rear), scenic views from the property/patio or the “streetscape” showing your property and three or four neighbouring properties to convey a sense of the neighbourhood. However, only keep such “streetscape” shots if they prove to be flattering. Remember, the photos should help sell the property, not hinder the process.

4. Be sure that the photos you take for eventual advertising purposes do not include family, toys, pets, neighbours or visitors. Homebuyers want to visualize themselves living in and enjoying the property. Anything that brands the home as belonging to someone else may interfere with this visualization. When in doubt, ask yourself whether a stranger looking at your house photos will be encouraged by them to come to your home for a formal showing. If not, take some new shots.

5. Also, update the photos in your file every few years so that they depict the current state of growth of trees and shrubs and include any new landscaping features since the last set were taken. You don’t want to be accused by a buyer of engaging in misleading advertising.

About the authors

Paul Crocker and Lynn Stewart are a husband and wife team of REALTORS who work at our Chester, NS office. They can be contacted at (902) 275-7959 (Paul Crocker) or (902) 275-7765 (Lynn Stewart) or by e-mail at lynn.stewart@tradewindsrealty.com or paul.crocker@tradewindsrealty.com

One of a series of articles on real estate topics. All of the authors of “Speaking of Real Estate …” articles are full-time REALTORS® who work at Tradewinds Realty Inc. in Nova Scotia.

Staging a house for sale

By Lynn Stewart and Paul Crocker

Realtors sometimes have to deal with a “problem” house. It’s in an attractive and conveniently located neighbourhood. It looks good from the street (i.e. it has “curb appeal”), and it’s reasonably priced. It’s also had lots of viewings by qualified buyers. However, it is not generating serious offers. What is the likely cause of this problem?

Sometimes the causes are obvious – for example, untidy children’s rooms. There are other factors, however, that may be much less obvious – particularly to the seller who has lived in the house for an extended period of time. Many are seemingly minor or superficial. Cumulatively, however, they may communicate to most potential buyers that this is not the house for them. Five factors are particularly damaging to the prospects of a quick sale. They are:

1. Clutter

Some rooms may appear to be too small, impressions that may be created or aggravated by there being too much furniture or “stuff” in them – making them seem smaller than they really are. The solution is to remove some pieces of furniture (bulky ones preferably) and place them in temporary storage until the house is sold. (If there is no suitable storage space on the property, a rental storage locker is an affordable alternative for a short time until the house is sold.) The important message here is that a seller should never create the impression that a house may be too small for the needs of a buyer.

2. Inappropriate use of rooms

Buyers who are looking for a three bedroom house are often turned off if one of the three bedrooms is being used as a hobby room, a storage room or for any other purpose than a bedroom. Similarly, a dining room is difficult for a buyer to visualize as a dining room if it is being used as a bedroom or office. Every effort should be made to restore such rooms to their intended use until the house is sold.

3. Individualistic decorating

Another common cause of negative impressions involves the owner’s taste – not whether it is poor or unsophisticated, but whether it is so different from that of the majority of potential buyers that the colour of walls, carpets and window treatments, for example communicates a “not for me” impression to the buyer.

Interior decorators tell us that the most appealing (or at least the most widely acceptable) colours to most people for walls, carpeting and window treatments are neutral colours – the whites, greys and beiges and their numerous variations. These are the colours that decorators commonly choose when decorating model homes or suites in apartment buildings. Their objective is to create a décor that is highly appealing to the largest possible number of prospective buyers, and to create an impression of a dwelling that is spacious, bright and welcoming – all perceptions that are better conveyed by light neutral colours than by pastel or darker colours.

4. Personal collections

Do you collect and lovingly display Victorian figurines, antique butter moulds, coffee spoons, paperweights or other collectibles? Do they occupy most surfaces in the living areas of your home? If “yes” to both questions, the very uniqueness of your collection may distract the attention of buyers away from the selling features of your house. They are often also an extremely strong signal of ownership by the current owner – so strong that some buyers cannot visualize themselves as owners living in the same space.

Most interior decorators will tell you that while such things as personal collections, family photographs and articles of outdoor clothing hanging from coat racks may “make a house a home”, they can also interfere with a buyer’s ability to visualize what the house would be like with his/her furniture and possessions in it. Therefore, such articles should be packed and stored out of sight in readiness for the upcoming move.

5. Cramped closets

Again, the impression that should be avoided is that the spaces available for the storage of clothing and linens are inadequate. Many people come to this conclusion when they open a closet door and are greeted by clothing crammed together on a sagging rail. Again, the solution is to pack and store enough of a closet’s contents that the end result appears spacious and uncluttered. Good candidates for packing and/or culling include seasonal clothing that won’t be used for several months and seldom used linens that needlessly consume closet space.

Decorators often refer to this general type of corrective activity as “staging a house” – in effect, making minor changes to the interior to make it more appealing to more people and, thereby, achieving a sale more quickly. “Home & Garden Television” (“HGTV” in the listings) offers numerous programs that deal with staging issues. In addition, the Arts and Entertainment” television network airs as many as eight episodes each week of a program titled “Sell This House”. They show stagers and home owners at work converting minor (and often major) décor problems identified during an “open house” by potential buyers as they inspect and react to problem rooms in a house listed for sale. The necessary changes are made and the houses sell. It’s convincing television and is both instructive and entertaining. If you think your house may have one or more of the commonplace problems discussed above, it might be well worth your while to watch a few episodes of these programs.

The job of staging a house may appear to be a daunting one but, usually, a few weekends of concerted effort will make a world of difference. If you want to have a professional decorator advise you, consult the Yellow Pages or contact the author for the names of several “stagers” who work on the South Shore. If you contact a decorator yourself, be sure to explain that you are looking for staging advice to help make your house more saleable.

About the authors

Lynn Stewart and Paul Crocker are a husband and wife team of REALTORS who work out of our Chester, NS office. They can be contacted at (902) 275-7765 (Lynn) or (902) 275-7959 (Paul), or by e-mail at lynn.stewart@tradewindsrealty.com or paul.crocker@tradewindsrealty.com.