The Skinny on Real Estate

A blog about Broomfield real estate

This is Home Selling Tip #3 in my summer-long series of Home Selling Tips.

Replace the carpeting.

I know, the thought of laying out several thousand dollars all at once, on brand new carpeting that you aren’t even going to get to enjoy, seems a bit painful. However, I think watching your house sit on the market FOREVER is a lot more painful.

I’m personally guilty of making this mistake. I refused to replace the carpeting several years ago when I was selling my own home. I realize now it was just plain dumb. I made all the usual excuses: “The buyers may want a different color than I would pick…” or “If they want new carpeting, they can get it when they move in…” or “If they want new carpeting I can just give them a ‘carpeting allowance’…”

Learn from those of us who have gone before you - none of that works - not in this market for certain. You have to realize that carpeting is HUGE, after all, it nearly covers your entire home so if it’s in iffy condition it sticks out like 10 sore thumbs. And it’s a lot of work to arrange for new carpeting and your new buyers don’t want to have to go to the trouble.

As Nike would tell you, “Just do it!”

photo credit: Don Nunn

My dear friend Zephyr, who just graduated from college, inspired this post. He’s currently looking for a job as a middle school teacher (I still like to call it Jr High) which of course led me to lecture him on how he WILL be buying a home once he gets a job.

The reason he WILL be buying a home is not just because I’m a real estate agent and like having good clients! It’s because as a teacher he can qualify for the “Good Neighbor Next Door” program and buy a HUD home for 50% OFF THE LIST PRICE!! This is huge! At 23 he could buy his first home, live in it the required 36 months and then obviously he can either continue to live in it and build up equity, or he can sell it and buy a different/bigger home, or he could turn it into his own little investment and rent it out. I’ve also decided that if he continues on this investment path I’ll have him retired by the time he’s in his 50’s and he can start a career as a motivational speaker/writer. Little did he know I was a life/career planner as well as Realtor!

Of course I’ve explained to him that there has never been a better time to buy a HUD because there are quite a few to choose from these days at remarkable prices. AND you only have to put $100 down on a HUD home right now.

Who is eligible for this Good Neighbor Next Door program? Law enforcement officers, teachers from pre-K to 12th grade, firefighters and EMT’s.

Can I get any HUD home for 50% off? It must be a HUD home located in a Revitalization Area which if you follow this link you’ll note that many of these areas are quite large. Teachers must live in the area in which they teach.

Can I find HUD homes online? But of course! You can search homes here. Note however that you do need to use a HUD approved Realtor to view them or make an offer.

If you would like more information on the Good Neighbor Program or are just interested in purchasing a HUD home in general, feel free to contact me!

Yes, I know, I nag about clutter (not my own, mind you, just the home sellers) because one thing that will kill a deal almost as fast as overpricing a home is CLUTTER. Today however, I’m here to say you can go too far in the opposite direction and kill the deal with an empty house too. Clearly there is an optimal level of fullness to a house.

For whatever reason, buyers seem to have a lot of trouble picturing themselves in an empty home. I don’t know why this is, it just IS. If you have moved out while your home is on the market the best thing you can do is leave at least some things behind to assist the Realtor in staging your home.

Actually when I’m confronted with an empty house I call/email friends/relatives/neighbors/whatever and ask them for “stuff” - for example: a crappy old table can be made into a pretty one with a decent table cloth. You can also get great stuff at the thrift store for just such an occasion. You don’t have to stage the entire house (unless you’re really flush with cash and can afford it!) but I like to focus on the important areas, i.e. the kitchen and bathroom.

Visit some model homes if you’d like some staging ideas. Basically, set the dining room table as if you’re hosting a great party and stage the bathroom like it was a spa.

I know that some stagers will tell you that you have to stage every room but let’s face it, most people I talk to don’t have a ton of money to spare, and in this buyer’s-market-era they’re trying to squeeze every possible dime they can out of the house.

So I’m going to say that you do NOT have to stage the entire house, unless again you can afford to.

As I’ve mentioned before, (and will mention about one million times after) your home will ONLY sell for market value. If you have it priced correctly (or even overpriced to begin with) staging will NOT increase your home’s value tens of thousands of dollars. What it will do however is help sell it faster and for top market value. Which, if you’re in a hurry to sell or if you really are hoping to push the limit on your home’s market value, it’s huge.

Here’s an article on staging an empty home that backs up my theory.

Here are some great before and after photos that may help convince you that you need to do at least some staging and not leave the entire house empty.

http://www.brandeeshomestaging.com/before_and_after.html

http://216.154.231.149/maury/stagingprogram.htm

http://www.stagedproductions.com/StagedProductions/BeforeAfter.htm

According to an article in today’s Rocky, the hotline in Colorado, developed to assist those in danger of foreclosure, has an 80% success rate!

I happen to subscribe to the Broomfield City Council minutes, which I get in my inbox the day after they meet on Tuesdays, which I happen to think is quite handy. As a matter of fact, you too can subscribe by going here.

Anywho, I thought I’d highlight some of their discussions from last night here:

In case you were wondering why real estate in Broomfield is doing so well, the report on business development within the city probably explains a lot. Apparently there are 2 new businesses moving here: Renewable Energy Systems America, Inc. and ARCA Discovery. Also, inquiries for office space are continuing to run at all time highs.

Broomfield’s mayor noted that US 36 may get additional federal taxpayer funds because New York has canceled a transportation program which frees the funds up for others to take a stab at it and move up on the wait list.

Interest in the Anthem residential development is still very high (I get a lot of questions about this area myself!) at least the same level as last year and Anthem Ranch (the active adult area of the development) is particularly popular. It is also outperforming the metro area average for sales.

Well, these are the areas which hold particular interest to me. If you’d like to see a video of the council meetings go here and if you’d like more detailed notes or to subscribe yourself, go here.

In a recent study conducted by Coldwell Banker and the Baby Center it showed that “children’s ages and needs play a major role in when and why American families move.” A whopping 68% of mom’s surveyed, who had moved within the last 18 months, did so when they were pregnant or by the time their child had reached 2 years old. Only 13% moved after their child was in kindergarten or above.

Most moms said their family moved because they wanted a bigger home, nicer home and better school districts.

If your family is considering a move to Broomfield but you’d like to know about the school system you may want to visit these sites:

According to the Great Schools website, Broomfield overall ranks 7 out of 10 based on average public school test results. The best ranked schools in Broomfield include: Jefferson Charter Academy Senior High School which has a rank of 9 out of 10, Aspen Creek K-8 Elementary School has a rank of 8 out of 10, and Birch Elementary School which has a rank of 8 out of 10. This site also includes reviews from parents whose children actually attend Broomfield schools.

SchoolMatters, a service of Standard and Poors, also has a website where you can compare test scores from school to school or district to district within Broomfield or elsewhere.

Yahoo has a school comparison search here.

Colorado maintains a website with information on all school districts in Colorado.

By the way, schools in Broomfield belong to 2 different school districts: Adams 12 Five Star Schools and Boulder Valley School District Re2.

photo credit: TheeErin

Jonathan Fields pointed out this link recently. If you run your own business and don’t have unlimited fund to draw from, like most of us, check out the resources listed. Includes places to hire freelancers, places to find funding, communications tools, and data backup tools among others.

photo credit: silver marquis

Some good news on the subprime and foreclosure front today.

Standard & Poor’s sent the stock market up today when they announced that they believe the subprime mess has peaked and that the worst is behind us.

I’m not too surprised by this, despite the media fervor over the alleged “mortgage meltdown” and the doom and gloom headlines we all see nearly every day, the actual data simply do no bear these allegations out. If you actually read some of these articles, by the way, instead of just the headline, there is often a lot of important news within the article that actually contradicts the headline!

Of course the S&P didn’t say it was over, it just said the worst was behind us which is still an important indicator.

RealtyTrac also released their foreclosure news for February which shows a 4% decline in foreclosure filings from last month. Good luck locating that on a search using “foreclosure news.” The headlines are mostly pointing out that foreclosures are up 60% from a year ago.

It also points out that .003% of Colorado households received a foreclosure filing last month. Okay, it didn’t say it that way, it said 1 out of 305 households which equals .003% but that’s not as dramatic or interesting.

I’m beginning to suspect that a lot of folks out there are simply waiting for this whole thing to just end. All of a sudden, at some point it will just end and that will be that, but until then there can be no good news in the real estate industry.

That’s definitely not how it will happen. What we’ll see first are a flattening of price declines as we saw last month, then we’ll see a gradual decrease in foreclosure filings, and after a while, prices will actually start to rise and foreclosure filings will begin to decrease in ever-increasing numbers.

Those who view home buying as a long term investment, and not a get rich quick scheme, and who buy when the price is right - eventually - even a couple of years from now, when prices are steadily increasing, will be very glad they did so.

photo credit: billaday

photo credit: Derek Purdy

In what appears to be a rather large exodus from the Village at Flatiron Crossing mall area, the HW Home Store has opted to move as well - to the inside of the Flatiron Mall. It will be situated by William Sonoma and Restoration Hardware. I noticed when I went to the movies recently the wine restaurant by Borders Books is gone too.

This is kind of a fun test - you answer a bunch of questions regarding your cat’s behavior, living conditions, diet, weight and so on and they tell you how old your cat is in people years. The cat on which I did the test is actually about 6 cat years old, but in people years she’s 24.5, which is actually 13 years younger than the average cat her age!