The Skinny on Real Estate

A blog about Broomfield real estate

I can assure you that this one does www.1169w102ave.info.

I hope you enjoy the video I made of the property 1169 W. 102nd Ave., located in Northglenn, CO, priced at $160,000. This great home measures 1,650 square feet total, features BRAND NEW carpeting and paint throughout the main floor, boasts of a large, finished family room area in the basement, has a covered patio out back, as well as RV/boat parking, sits on nearly 1/4 acre of land and comes with all appliances including the refrigerator, washer/dryer and a separate freezer.

If you have further questions or would like to view this home please call Beth at 303.887.1883.

I don’t know about your Broomfield neighborhood, but mine was replete with Open House events, especially on Sunday, last weekend. If you are selling your own home, or if your house is on the market and you just want to conduct your own Open House, here are 5 tips on conducting the best Open House event possible.

1. Advertise! Advertise! Advertise! Post it in any way possible. DON’T leave out Craigslist whatever you do! I personally get all sorts of traffic from Craigslist. It’s pretty easy to add your own listing, it’s free and you can upload pictures from your house if you’d like. If you know a little HTML you can make a pretty ad but it’s not necessary. Craigslist is so successful sometimes I get calls MONTHS later about a listing. It’s a little annoying, but in this market that’s okay.

Also list your event on Zillow and Trulia.

In fact, email me at beth@bethskinner.com and I’ll post your Open House on this blog!

Make up a nice invitation advertising the Open House and deliver one to all your neighbors. (C’mon, it’s great exercise!) I know a lot of folks look down their nose at what they think are looky loo neighbors. Let me tell you something about looky loo neighbors: they buy houses too! And they have friends and relatives who are interested in your neighborhood. I have lost count of the number of times someone has come to an Open House clutching an invitation saying, “A guy I work with brought me a flyer…” or “My sister lives up the street…”

A word of caution with flyers: do NOT paper someone’s parking lot. I had a “rogue” seller do this once (actually he sent his kids out) - did I get a really fired up store owner calling me! Yikes! And I had no idea the seller was going to do this. Not only did I get yelled at, I think it’s a waste of paper and time. You want to target folks in your neighborhood! ALSO, use caution when leaving flyers on a “no soliciting” door. I have been yelled at by these folks too.

Put out tons of signs advertising your Open House. I am told that rule of thumb dictates that if buyers have to make more than 4 turns to get to your house it won’t be a successful event. I kind of have to agree with this. My best Open House events are in homes that are easily found off a main road.

2. Feed people! I always have food at an Open House. And I don’t mean some icky generic Oreo cookies on a paper plate. Do it like you mean it! I have had excellent luck with the cinnamon rolls from Costco and I always make coffee or iced tea. I also provide small bottles of water. On Independence Day last year I had a decorated cake. You know where else I get the good stuff? From the bakery clearance racks at the grocery store! You can get some really fancy looking things for low prices! And put it on a pretty platter while you’re at it!

3. Clean and clean and clean! EVERYTHING should be spotless. It should be spotless anyway since your home is on the market but let’s get it even more spotless for the Open House.

4. Even though this ended up at number 4, safety should be your first concern. Have someone there with you. I frequently ask the sellers to stick around if they want (despite popular theory, the potential buyers tend to appreciate that because they like to question them, I just ask the sellers to kind of hang out quietly in the background, plus the sellers like the fact they don’t have to go anywhere), and sometimes I have a mortgage broker there to do on-site financing. Also, anything of serious value that can be easily pocketed should be locked away in a home safe or in a safety deposit box or with a trusted relative.

5. Pay attention to what the potential buyers are trying to tell you. I can usually tell early on in the visit whether or not someone is truly interested. I know that some will tell you just to leave the buyers alone, but I frequently have buyers who expect me to follow them around the house and answer their questions. Use your own judgment.

Good luck to you!

photo credit: jmenard48

Okay, so maybe that’s a bit harsh. But ask yourself honestly, “Is it true?” Because buyers will most certainly notice if it does. And it could mean the difference between selling your home or not. As I mentioned in a previous post, I don’t think that a few strategically placed personal photos will kill a sale but a sucky kitchen will, hands down.

Take a look at this article for some quick fixes on what to do with your severely outdated kitchen.

About a year ago I was in a kitchen that had the awful fluorescent lights the above article talks about, dark brown and very dated cabinets and then the worst part was a fiberglass cutting board that was permanently embedded in the countertop that came with tips on cutting meat and vegetables. It screamed circa 1980. There were several tiles on the floor that were cracked as well.

The sad part is the family room had brand new carpeting, and the dining room and living room had brand new hard wood flooring. There were some very nice aspects to this home. But the kitchen just stuck out like a giant sore thumb.

The even sadder part is that it’s now on the market again, as a lender owned property.

photo credit: misteraitch

photo credit: preciouskhyatt

I am well aware of the popular belief that you should remove all personal photos from your home when it is on the market, so that buyers can picture themselves living in your home, instead of looking at your photos.

However, I am on the side that is bucking that trend and letting the personal photos stay when listing a home. If you’ve visited a model home lately you’ll notice that they often include several (fake) personal photos. Nate Berkus, Oprah’s designer, also recommends allowing the personal photos to stay. A handful of personal photos can make a home seem a little less sterile and give it a warmer feeling.

Of course as with anything else there is an optimal level of photos. A piano with dozens of photos sitting on top is cluttered (plus a lot of extra dusting). A piano with 3 photos is just about right.

By the way, the photos of you posing naked with a giant snake are not acceptable. (Don’t laugh, I’ve seen it.)

If you’re extremely concerned about your privacy you may not want to leave out your personal photos, it depends on your level of comfort.

I’ve had some sellers tell me that having at least a few personal photos out, where they can see them, is very comforting, during the stressful home selling time, and I figure leaving out a few photos is not going to kill any sale.

photo credit: gbaku

photo credit: Dia™

photo credit: speakeasy(X)

I’ve heard the following phrase more times than I care to admit:

“Well, after all, I LOVE this house. All we need to do is find someone just like me to buy it!”

Unfortunately it always applies to the sellers who are convinced that they’re not that bad off, after all, they bought the house, and love it, so all they need to do is find someone who loves it as much as they do. Case closed!

This is kind of a mixture of rose colored glasses, and a belief that there are a lot more of “them” out there than there really are.

I understand that for some sellers, no matter what they do, the house is not going to sell for the price they need. They’re $30,000, $50,000, $75,000, etc. upside down and they can stage and clean and declutter that bad boy all they want, it ain’t gonna sell!

This post isn’t for them, they’re pretty much stuck.

This post is for you Mr. and Mrs. Seller who don’t want to bother to replace your front door, or fix the loose shingles on the roof, or replace the fence latch, or clean and declutter, or replace your turquoise shag carpeting, or vacuum the dead miller moths out of your soaking tub because you never use it anyway, or paint over that wall in your son’s bedroom that is adorned with a GIANT painting of the Georgia Bulldogs, or replace the cracked tiles in your kitchen, etc. etc. etc.

Ever hear the phrase, “He has a face that only a mother could love…?”

The excuse that you love it so much you just need to find that buyer (who’s just like you) who will instantly fall in love too, despite all its foibles, and beg you to let them write an offer on the spot won’t fly in this market. Your chances of this happening are very small and it makes you appear, to the buyer, as if you aren’t very serious about selling. After all, if you were serious you would have done what needed to be done. You would have put your home’s very best Easter Sunday outfit on.

Buyers don’t want to buy your problems. And believe me, that’s what they see your bedroom wall with the giant bulldog on it as - a problem - a problem they’re going to have to correct with a bunch of paint and an entire Sunday afternoon. It is HIGHLY unlikely they’re going to have a son (or daughter), who happens to cherish the Georgia Bulldogs AND who wants to devote one entire bedroom wall to proclaim that love.

They look at the cracked tile in your kitchen and they begin to calculate in their heads, how much will it cost to replace, can I do it myself, will I have to hire someone, how long will it take, will I have to move the kitchen table, and so on.

Don’t set your home up to fail from the get go! Replace what needs to be replaced, fix what needs to be fixed, clean what needs to be cleaned and potential buyers will walk into your home and think, “Wow! I could move in here immediately and not have to do a thing to it! I love it!”

photo credit: krispayne

photo credit: darkpatator

photo credit: Rose Wolf

Selling a home is an extremely visual process. If it weren’t, model homes wouldn’t bother with decorating. Actually they probably wouldn’t even bother the the model home at all. If buyers didn’t need to see a version of the finished product to convince them, the builders wouldn’t do it.

Selling YOUR home should be viewed much in the same way.

1. Open the shades/blinds/curtains!!! I see so many homes on the market with closed window coverings. Arrggghhhh! Stop it! Open up the curtains and let the light in.

2. While you’re at it, turn on th lights! Sellers love to claim that their home is “open, light, and bright” but if your curtains are
closed, and the lights are turned off and it looks dark and closed in, the buyers won’t buy it. In other words, don’t just say it, show it!

3. If you’re hosting an open house put out some good snacks. No, this doesn’t mean you’re allowed to toss some generic oreos on a paper plate and call it a day (don’t laugh, I saw a real estate agent do this once). You need the good stuff. You’re trying to sell a HOUSE after all. You want people to stick around for a while. I’ve had extremely good luck with fresh baked cinnamon rolls (Costco is your best bet here) and a pot of coffee. Besides, it makes the house smell good.

4. Clean every square inch of your home. This includes the baseboards, the trim along the stairs, inside of the microwave, light switch covers, the corners where spiderwebs like to hide and so on. Buyers are finicky. They have every right to be now (whether we sellers like it or not, that’s just the state of the market at this time), the power is with them and you don’t want them to dismiss your house because you forgot to wipe down the shower door.

5. Get rid of your clutter. It’s distracting and makes the house look smaller. Besides, if it’s in storage that’s one less thing you have to clean, right?

As a listing agent I hold monthly open house events plus a significant “broker open” when your home is first listed on the market. (That’s where I invite local real estate agents to your home and bribe them with lunch and other freebies, because they often have a buyer who is looking for a house exactly like yours!)

If you would like to discuss listing your home with me don’t hesitate to call me at 303.887.1883 or email me at beth@bethskinner.com.

photo credit: Wrote

photo credit: disoculated

photo credit: szlea

One of the first places in the home that inevitably jump out to home buyers is the kitchen.

In order to make your house listing the most competitive in the neighborhood you MUST make your kitchen pop!

You don’t have to replace your kitchen cabinets unless they’re on the verge of falling apart. What you can do is reface them and buy brand new hardware. Also, make sure the doors hang straight and solid. They’ll look like brand new cabinets!

Replace or resurface the countertops.

Replace the sink and the faucet fixtures.

Make sure the electrical outlets in the kitchen are updated. In my house you can run the coffee bean grinder, the coffee pot, the toaster, and the microwave all at once with nary a worry. In my parent’s house if you sneeze at the wrong time a fuse blows. Buyers will likely walk away from something like this.

The CABA Internet Home Alliance Research Council conducted a study on digital kitchens last year and found not surprisingly that the kitchen is the heart of the house. People eat there, drink there, hold discussions there, pay bills there, work on school/work projects there, host parties there and so on. This is in large part why the kitchen is so important when attempting to sell a home.

Want to know the truth about whether or not your kitchen is ready to show to the public? Call me and I’d be happy to take a look at it. I’ll give you my straight up opinion on what YOU need to do to make your kitchen (or your entire home!) the best house in the neighborhood!

Call me at 303.887.1883

Or email me at beth@bethskinner.com.

photo credit: loop_oh

photo credit: drcorneilus

photo credit: Avinash Meetoo

If you’re interested in learning more about xeriscaping FREE OF CHARGE you can attend a lecture at the Mamie Doud Eisenhower Public Library, 2nd floor.

The first lecture is scheduled for Saturday, March 1, 9-10:30 a.m. OR you can go next Thursday, March 6, from 7-8:30 p.m.

I personally plan to attend one of these because I would like to do some xeriscaping in my front yard this spring. My front yard just bakes in the sun all day long and I’m struggling to grow grass in the middle. Plus I enjoy an abundance of rabbits, squirrels and birds who hang out there all day long.

What I would like to do is set up a “flower garden” type area surrounded by brick, that encircles the tree in the front. I’ll need plants that LIKE to bake in the sun all day and a bird bath/feeder or two.

As a Realtor I caution anyone who is thinking about eventual resale (in the somewhat near future anyway) to avoid extreme “xeriscaping” - and I use the term loosely here because I’m not sure that what I’ve seen some home owners do is really xeriscaping.

One homeowner in my neighborhood filled their entire, huge backyard with small, cheap, rocks. I can’t imagine the heat that must have come off that thing in the summer. What a mess. The new homeowners spent 2 years clearing out most of those rocks and replacing them with grass and a small pond.

Personally, if it had been me, I probably wouldn’t have considered buying that house.

I have another neighbor whose front lawn is filled entirely with small red rocks, another neighbor who has recently replaced a substantial portion of their front yard with red bark chips, and yet another who has replaced their entire front yard with wild flowers (it looks kind of neat when they’re all in bloom - for the rest of the time though it just looks like a yard full of weeds).

If I am your buyer’s agent and we’re looking at one of those homes I would caution you to think long and hard before buying one of these homes especially if you know you’re going to want to replace all that “xeriscaping” with an actual lawn.

If I’m your listing agent I’ll tell you up front that you are likely to have trouble selling your home with a front yard full of bark chips. In this softer market, buyers have way too many choices and they can simply choose the house down the street that has a lawn and sprinkler system.

I’m not saying don’t xeriscape, I’m saying if you plan to sell your home one of these days, use caution and don’t go to extremes just to avoid having to mow your lawn and pay the water bill in the summer.

P.S. Okay, I’m not sure where the flamingos came from, I just spotted them in someone’s yard today and thought they looked funny. I suspect it’s a form of “teepeeing”…

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credit: jumpinjimmyjava

You call me at 303.887.1883 or email me at beth@bethskinner.com

Let me know you’re thinking about selling your home. I’ll need to know how long you have lived in your home and what you owe on your mortgage. If you are “upside down” (i.e. you owe more than your home is worth) I’ll likely direct you to foreclosure specialists such as Hope Now or advise that you contact a bankruptcy attorney. I don’t take short sale listings but can refer you to those who do.

I will prepare a packet for you detailing the homes in your neighborhood that have sold in the last 6-12 months, as well as homes that are currently for sale and/or under contract. This will give us a starting point to decide the best price at which to list your home.

Next I’ll come to your home and we’ll talk about what you can expect from having your home on the market and how things look in your particular neighborhood.

Then we’ll walk through your house and I’ll detail step by step what you need to do to make your home the best and most competitive listing in the neighborhood. It is highly unlikely I will recommend significant and extremely costly changes, and in fact I will probably discourage you from doing things like finishing your basement for instance.

It is very likely however, that I will recommend things like new carpeting and paint (if necessary), new paint on the front door, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning, and packing up all your junk and placing it in storage. (Just to forewarn you!)

Note that I don’t point out your home’s “shortcomings” just to be picky (although trust me, in this market you NEED a picky Realtor!) but I point them out because I like to win. I like to sell homes as quickly as possible and for the best price possible. I like happy customers!

And I hope you don’t take my suggestions as a personal slight against your home. Trust me, I understand how these things go unfixed, I think I blogged about my broken garage light about a year ago - and no I haven’t fixed it yet. (But if I were selling my house that’s the first thing I’d fix!)

Once your house is in tip top shape and ready to put every other listing in the neighborhood to shame

I’ll come and make a hosted, video taped tour of your entire house, pointing out the best features and narrating the tour so potential buyers can feel like they’re taking a peek right through your front door. I’ll also take numerous pictures for brochures and mailings. Home buyers are very visual and accommodating that need will help sell your home just that much quicker.

I insist that you have full-color brochures in your box, attached to the sign at all times. Your home will also be highly publicized on the Internet in a variety of forums and the MLS. I host a Broker Open House and invite all area brokers, who may already have clients who are interested in your home, when we first put it on the market.

I also host monthly open house events for the public.

In terms of advertising your home I prefer to market via the Internet and through direct mail. I’m finding that home buyers don’t look for homes in the newspaper as often as they once did.

While your home is on the market I am very accessible and will take your calls at (almost) any time. Okay, I’m not going to be too excited by a 6:00 a.m. phone call but at the very least you’ll likely reach me via email during all sorts of odd hours - you just never know! However, calling me at 9:30 p.m. on a Friday, if you have questions or concerns, is not out of line in the least.

If you’re interested in discussing your home selling possibilities with me please don’t hesitate to call me at 303.887.1883 or email me at beth@bethskinner.com.