by Paul Slaybaugh | May 29, 2009 | Home Buying, Scottsdale Real Estate
So I’m enjoying one of the myriad HGTV Real Estate shows the other night. First time home buyers were the focus of this particular program. Unable to watch without properly entertaining myself with my own sarcastic commentary (did that agent really just say that?), this has become one of my favorite pastimes.
There is the Realtor who feels the need to point out the backyard or the front door to the dumbfounded buyers. The agent who demands to know “if this is a house you can see yourself living in” within seconds of stepping through the front door. It’s a carnival of overselling that I can only hope has more to do with the camera than the standard practices of my erstwhile colleagues.
There is one particular practice that repeats itself ad nauseam on these shows, though, that truly makes my blood boil. I’m speaking of the agents who seemingly forget that their job description as a buyer’s agent is to protect the interest of their clients. It’s awfully hard to do that portion of the job correctly when you push every property that you look at as the greatest thing since canned yams.
Homes have flaws and some are fatal. While it is ultimately the burden of the consumer to make that determination, these silly shows raise my ire when the response to the buyer’s observation that there is a train running through the back yard is, “Hmm, let’s go back inside and look at that wonderful kitchen again!”
Or my personal favorite brand of exchange:
Buyer: “This only has 2 bedrooms? We need at least 3.”
Agent: “Yes, but look at those hardwood floors!”
Buyer: “The floors are nice …”
Agent: “And remember that this is your first house. The first house is never the dream house. You can always move up to the bigger house in a few years.”
Timeout! This is the worst brand of advice, and I simply cannot tolerate it. No, the first house will not be the dream house, but to advocate making sacrifices on the aspects of the home that will impact resale potential the most is unconscionable. You don’t eliminate the third bedroom and 75% of future buyers, you eliminate the hardwood. You don’t purchase the stigmatized property with the highway behind it just to get the kitchen with the stainless steel appliances. Those are poor purchasing decisions.
If I had a nickel for every time I heard that a first time buyer should not worry about some major feature of a house, I would be a piggy bank. While it is always important for a buyer to discern the future value potential and ability to resell a property he or she is considering, it has somehow become cliche that it is not as important to the first time buyer. As if the lower dollar value of the investment or the knowledge that he or she will only be in the home for a couple of years would somehow mitigate the importance of due diligence.
I maintain that future value concerns are even more important to first timers than most. For the very reason that they will likely enjoy a shorter stay in the home, they need to be especially cognizant of resale capability. The retired couple who is buying the home they envision for spending the duration of their golden years can more afford to make a purchasing decision with their specific needs in mind than the couple that is just getting started and will use their first property as a springboard to their ultimate home. They don’t want to get off on the wrong foot by making a poor initial investment.
You can more afford to screw up your purchase if you never plan to sell it. If this is the house you plan to die in, by all means, buy the one on the ancient burial ground with the sweet discount and benevolent (hopefully) spirits. Otherwise, buy something that someone else will want to buy from you.
So first-time home buyers, you will have to make sacrifices, especially if you are looking in a higher end market like Scottsdale. That does not mean you should settle for having a power plant next door or the funky one bedroom house with the garage converted to a recording studio. Eliminate the properties that have unfixable or expensive structural/locational problems. Remember, you can always replace the vinyl flooring and the laminate counter tops.
Not so easy to re-route the Amtrak.
by Paul Slaybaugh | May 25, 2009 | Phoenix Listings
New to the Market Phoenix Real Estate Listings!
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by Paul Slaybaugh | May 25, 2009 | Daily Listing Updates, Paradise Valley Listings
New on the Market in the Town of Paradise Valley!
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by Paul Slaybaugh | May 24, 2009 | Daily Listing Updates, Scottsdale, Scottsdale Listings, Scottsdale Real Estate
Brand New to the Scottsdale Market!
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Check back here for daily updates to new Scottsdale Real Estate listings as they hit the market, or sign up to receive email alerts to properties of your own personally crafted criteria.
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No hardcore salesmanship here at the Scottsdale Property Shop. Come back and search for homes as many times as you like. Trawl through the MLS catacombs in search of housing treasure without being bombarded with solicitations. You have the option to sign up to view full listing details, receive listing alerts via email or reader, save personalized searches and your favorite properties, make notes about specific listings, etc, but it is purely voluntary.
If you do so choose to register to utilize these fantastic tools (not just for buyers, homeowners can keep tabs on neighborhood activity and prices), you have our scouts’ honor that we will not treat your contact information as an invitation to barrage you with spam. We don’t like junk mail either. If you should ever need our assistance or our services, there is no shortage of contact information on this site to get a hold of us.
Thank you for visiting ScottsdalePropertyShop.Com … let the house hunt commence!
by Paul Slaybaugh | May 23, 2009 | Home Selling, Scottsdale Real Estate
Real Estate agents are largely responsible for the massive housing inventories of the past two years.
That bears repeating.
Real Estate agents are largely responsible for the massive housing inventories of the past two years.
This is a conclusion that does not please me to reach, but my conclusion nonetheless after continuing to see overpriced home after overpriced home hit the market. You can blame banks or non-paying homeowners for the glut of foreclosure inventory, but guess what? Bank owned homes sell. By and large, they are priced appropriately and adjusted regularly until they sell. Compare this to the unrealistic seller/listing agent tandem with the home down the street that enters the marketplace grossly overpriced, and just sits there while the days on the market pile up without mercy.
You can blame the banks again for the short sale listings that take forever to work their way off the market because of all the bureaucracy and idiocy involved. In many instances, I would agree with you, but I find ample fault with the listing agents who do not take the time to learn the process and requirements involved for the institution(s) that hold the lien(s) against the property. Even though many banks seemingly select the files they will actually review via a no holds barred game of inebriated backgammon on the first of every month, too many agents simply throw a short sale listing on the market at a completely unrealistic price (compared to what the bank will be willing to accept) and hope that they can make it stick. Buyers get frustrated with the process after several months of inaction and often exit the transaction before getting a response from the bank. Even if the home eventually sells prior to the looming trustee’s sale, it has contributed to the bloated inventory level for months instead of weeks. Some banks will not negotiate with a seller at all until an offer is in hand, but that doesn’t mean that the agent can’t have all of the documentation lined up in advance. Many short sale listing agents that I have encountered have been a bit lacking in the communication department as well. Buyers are more likely to hang around and wait for a response if they are receiving regular feedback and updates from the seller’s side of the table as to the progress with the bank. A phone call or an email update every week or two would go a long way to keeping some of these deals together and clearing out these negative equity weeds that are choking out the resale lawn.
Inventory levels have dropped considerably in the last couple of months, but we have a long way to go before we reach a nice healthy balance of buyers and sellers. While everyone is currently focused on stimulating demand, we professionals bear a large portion of the responsibility for the supply. Every time an agent in our ranks takes a listing for 100k over the property’s current value, or even 10k for that matter, he/she is contributing to the stasis that has plagued our Valley since the equity and credit bubbles burst in 2007.
We all want your business, and are generally eager to please. As such, it can be a temptation to tell a prospective client what they want to hear when it comes to the value of their house. Less charitably, it can also be a temptation to “buy the listing” by quoting an unrealistic price to sway a seller to list the home with us versus the agent quoting a considerably lower asking price. A good agent will ensure you command a top of market price for your home, but not a one of us has a secret stash of magic beans that will grow the value of your digs above and beyond what a buyer will be willing to pay. We can advise you as to how to make your home more market ready, and how to improve its value, but we can’t fit a $750,000 peg into a $500,000 hole.
Ray and I vow to give it to you straight. It does neither party, nor the market, any favors to cram yet another overpriced listing into the protesting pair of lycra pants that is the MLS. Nope, no more glazed doughnuts on our watch. It’s time for an industry-wide low glycemic carb / high saleability diet.
As I tell my clients when we sit down to review the data, I would rather tick you off with my evaluation up front than 6 months down the line when your home hasn’t sold. Better to lose business truthfully than be complicit in the further swelling of our hemorrhaging housing market.
A home should be priced accurately, or it should not be priced at all.
We don’t list homes to practice. We list them to sell.
