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May
02
Posted by Jennifer Allan
Y’know, it’s tough being a listing agent. No matter how good of a job we do, the margin for error is huge. If we sell the house too fast… we blew it on the price and “cost our seller money.” If the house takes too long to sell… well, we all know what happens then. We didn’t live up to our promises and we disappointed our seller.
Anyway, I just had a listing go under contract with multiple offers. Fortunately (for me), a good friend of mine had the same thing happen to him just a few days earlier and (unfortunately for him), his seller wasn’t prepared. She blasted him for underpricing her home and told him, rather snottily, that she had no intention of making any repairs at inspection.
So, Miss Smarty Pantz me, I warned my sellers up front about what I call “Seller’s Regret.”
Here’s the thing. In today’s market, almost every seller will experience Seller’s Regret. But it’s their choice (sort of) which type of Seller’s Regret they’ll experience.
Type 1: “Damn! We underpriced our home! We should have priced it higher! That darn Realtor – she cost us money!”
Type 2: “Crap. I wish we’d listened to our Realtor upfront. We should have made the repairs, staged it right away and priced it lower. Now, five months later, our listing is stale, we’ve paid $9000 of interest-only mortgage and are fair game for low-ball offers, if we get any at all. Let’s look into renting it out (heavy sigh).”
If a seller is lucky enough to experience Type 1, he may never know the pain and angst of Type 2 and he may always wonder if he should have/could have priced it higher. And that’s okay - pricing homes is an art and, especially in my Charming Old Denver market, there is no One Price for a home. Luckily, in our part of town there ARE buyers out there and if you do accidently (or even intentionally) underprice a home… it will likely still sell at market value - whatever that value may be.
www.charmingolddenver.com
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May
02
Posted by Jennifer Allan
Like we didn’t already know it, but we’re officially on 5280’s “safe” list of Denver neighborhoods that are still stable or 
even appreciating. The article even goes so far as to call us the “it” spot of the last five years!
Washington Park is also on the list, as are Bonnie Brae, Mayfair and Congress Park. But here’s the cool thing - check out these average home prices:
Highland/West Highland: $305,011
Berkeley: $274,000
Washington Park: $654,000
Bonnie Brae: $904,212
Mayfair: $671,000 (includes Hilltop which is very pricey)
Congress Park: $408,000
Hmmmm… looking for a “safe” real estate investment that won’t put you out half a mil or more? Throw in an urban lifestyle to die for and what do you see? Charming Old Northwest Denver!
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May
01
Posted by Jennifer Allan
Last Thursday, I put a wonderful little 1925 Bungalow on the market. Sunday evening, I presented multiple offers to my seller. We’re now under contract about $7k higher than asking price, and inquiries are still coming in.
But, wait a minute! I thought we were in a miserable housing market… what the heck happened?
Pretty simple, actually. My sellers did everything I asked them to do to prepare their home for market, they priced it competitively and voila! SOLD!
So… what all did they do to “prepare for market?”
- Had the home professionally staged
- Painted throughout, including the dingy ceilings (under protest!)
- Finished all the incomplete projects
- Replaced the smelly carpet in basement
- Cleaned out the wood-shop in basement and painted the floor
- Resurfaced the cast-iron tub
- Replaced an ugly ceiling fan
- Repaired the sticky locks
- Priced the home just below market
Yes, my sellers worked their backsides off and spent around $3k on repairs & staging. Was it worth it? Oh, yeah… to them at least. They’d already purchased their next home and sure didn’t want to be sitting on this one any longer than they had to.
Do they feel any Seller’s Regret at the quick sale? No. Oh, maybe a little bit, but they’re smart enough to know that there are two kinds of Seller’s Regret… and they’ll take THIS one all day long. I’ll talk more about Seller’s Regret tomorrow!
Related blog - Your Seller Asks… “Do I need to fix this?”
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May
01
Posted by Jennifer Allan
Did you know that there are some topics your real estate agent can’t discuss with you? Topics such as crime rates, school ratings and general demographics? (Here’s a great blog by an associate of mine entitled “Questions that Can Get Your Realtor in Trouble“).
Anyway, just because I can’t legally answer your questions doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ask them, or that the answers aren’t available! You should and they are!
Here is a fantastic website that will tell you just about everything you want to know about the demographics of Charming Old Denver. You can even compare neighborhoods!
Here’s a link to the most recent Denver Police Department Annual Report (2006). Scroll down to page 20 for detailed crime reports for each district.
Here is a website that offers parents an objective rating of public schools, including test scores and demographics. Here’s another one.
I hope this is helpful!
