When it comes to getting your home sold in the Danville, San Ramon or TriValley Area remember – price is not everything.

Price is important and it certainly is one of the key factors in attracting the buyer’s attention as well as the attention of professional real estate agents. But, beyond price, consideration needs to be given to VALUE.

Home value comes in many forms:

• Location
• Schools
• Landscaping
• Floor Plan
• Upgrades
• And more…

To get top dollar for your home (in any market), you and your Realtor need to be clear on the home’s value and be willing to sell that as much as price.

People buy a house to improve their lives. Help interested buyers to understand these questions:

• Why will this house improve their lives?
• Will the home improve family connection?
• Will it help to organize their lives better?
• How will the home and community make them feel?
• How will the lives of their children improve?

Do YOUR buyers believe they are in the right place at the right time? Consider these headlines:

• “If you’re looking to buy, be careful. Rising home values are not a sure thing anymore.”
• “A home is where the bad investment is.”

The first quote is from the Miami Herald dated 1985, the other from the San Francisco Examiner in 1996. Real estate in Danville and San Ramon CA has certainly appreciated in value since 1985 and 1996.

Despite today’s doom and gloom headlines, people are seeking homes to improve their lives.

Top 10 Reasons
to Let a Journalist Sell YOUR Home

• Life is only a dream
• Your home is a 501(c) (non-profit organization)
• Your neighborhood is a war zone
• You prefer old data
• Buyers believe everything they read
• If it bleeds, it leads
• Money and you have never been friends
• You love Prozac
• He loves misery
• You may get your name in the paper

Agents balk at overpriced homes is the cover story in the Sunday Homes Section of the Contra Costa Times today. Kathleen Lynn of the New Jersey Record wrote the piece. Everything in quotes is taken from Kathleen’s article.

CCTimes says – They (real estate agents) don’t want to waste time marketing houses buyers won’t bother to look at.

This article strikes at the heart of the major challenge in selling a house – pricing it right.

• The seller wants top dollar
• The agent wants to get it sold

You can’t accomplish either of these goals if the house is not priced right to bring in the buyers. We (Realtors as a group) continue to meet sellers that think they control the price. They are sorely mistaken. They can set whatever price they want, but, in the end, the market determines the price.

In an appreciating market, you can set the price at the high end and the market will eventually find you. But, in the current market, if you set the price high, you will most likely end up chasing the market down and wind up losing more money than if you priced it right to begin with.

“Sellers tend to rely on agents to set their price, according to the 2007 National Association of Realtors profile of buyers and sellers. When asked what they want most from real estate agents, 16 percent of recent sellers said they wanted help in pricing the home competitively, the NAR found.”

In my opinion, the first sign you may have the wrong agent is when they ask you what your home is worth. (As a home seller, always ask the agent first, if they insist on you going first - thank them for their time and move on) An agent may be asking to see how far apart your price is from what they tend to suggest, but, unfortunately, there are still a lot of agents out there that lack the experience in real estate to price a home properly in a challenging market like today’s. It’s also sad to say that many real estate agents have little or no business background or negotiating skills. Thus, they tend to shy away from anything that looks like it may be confrontational – like talking reality with a misinformed seller.

“Sometimes that means they get news they don't want to hear. Two years ago, for example, she did a market comparison for a couple thinking of selling. At that time, she valued their house at $569,000. They weren't ready to sell then, but they recently came back to her because they are ready now. In today's softer market, she suggested listing the house at $539,000. The sellers' reaction: ‘Are you kidding me?’”

There is hope, though, for all involved. Housing prices seem to be stabilizing despite continuing negative media coverage. The effects of the new lending standards have had their effect in reducing the number of qualified buyers available. This is especially true in the first time buyer market – which influences the move-up buyer market.

Continued downward pressure on local housing markets is going to come from continued foreclosures in the immediate area or price slashing from new home builders that are trying to survive.

Price it Right – Get it Sold!

How do you determine when the real estate market will make the turn and head up?

We talk to buyers every week that are hoping to win the real estate lotto. They want the best possible deal they can get on their dream home (Who can blame them?). But, many of them are hoping to hit the lotto. Their fear and/or obsession with buying their home at the bottom of the market may cost them the house they desire at a really good price.

We explain that interest rates are still at historic lows; that sellers are motivated and the selection of homes is fantastic, but - "when will the market hit bottom?" - they ask.

I'll tell you when the market will hit bottom - right before it starts heading back up. You'll know this in hindsight because no one can tell you the day and the hour that the market will turn and home prices will start climbing again; inventory will drop; and multiple offers will start flying in. 

If you are looking for that perfect combination of forces that signal a good buying opportunity for a home - look no further than today.

We just dropped off the keys to some clients for their first home. They got a good deal and a good interest rate. The house they purchased would not have lasted another day on the market, two back up offers came in after theirs was accepted. They considered a second counter-offer, but took our advice and signed the deal.

They are extremely happy. They're not at all concerned about when the market will turn, they are living in their new home now. In hindsight, I think they will find that they timed everything just right. 

My opinion, buyers have about four weeks left to get the house they want into escrow before things change. It won't be a big change, but it won't be in the buyer's favor either. 

Home sellers in the San Ramon and TriValley areas are starting to experience what much of the country has been experiencing months ago – ya gotta give a little to get a lot. The East Bay has many real estate markets that have fared the housing market storm in good shape, but the continued rennovation in the lending industry is sending ripples through many of the local housing markets once thought to be above the fray.

Housing affordability for first-time buyers and tightening credit standards for all are affecting the local real estate dynamics. Many sellers are just beginning to realize – it’s the market, not the marketing.

Here are some tidbits from around the nation today that help make the point:

Theresa Boardman had this on her St. Paul Minnessota blog today: Recommendations to REALTORS® and their customers:

• Housing must go on sale. (During the boom, sellers got a premium for their properties–that bloom will be reduced in this market.)
• Prices must drop or homes taken off the market in order to reduce the high and rising inventory.
• Buyers are being realistic in their offers…it is the sellers who do not understand three things:
• Their home values increased a lot from 2000-2005.
• They are selling into a falling market so 10% less today is better than 20% less next spring.
• Selling in this market (getting less for their home) permits them to buy in this market (buying for less).

TOUGHER LENDING PRACTICES DAMPEN BUILDER CONFIDENCE – Home buyer skepticism, fueled in large part by tougher mortgage lending practices, is straining builder confidence in the single-family market, according to the recent National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI).

Some notes from Bankrate.com today
These are the times that try the skills of real estate professionals, says Jim Crawford, a real estate coach in Atlanta.

"It's a buyer's market without buyers," he says. "Of the top 40 markets, 36 are down. In Atlanta at this time of year, we should have a maximum of 52,000 homes for sale; we have 114,000. What's happened is, if you can't sell in Chicago, you can't buy in Atlanta. If you can't sell in Boston, you can't buy in Florida."

Here's the squeeze: Rising inventories make it difficult to set — and get — your asking price. Buyers, caught in the same predicament, are reluctant to buy, hoping prices will return to earth shortly.

Dianna Kokoszka, vice president of Mega Achievement Productivity Systems at Keller Williams Realty, says today's buyer wants money-in-pocket value, not frills and playthings. If your home is competing with nearby new construction, be prepared to offer the same or equivalent incentives as the builder.

And, similar to the down market of the late 1980s, home sellers must now compete not only with builders, but with foreclosures, thanks to all those subprime loans you've been hearing about.

"In order for a home to sell once, it has to sell twice: You have to sell it to the Realtors and then the Realtors sell it to their buyers," says Kokoszka.

And from SquareFeet in San Jose this interesting tidbit from July data: The supply of homes for sale in California now is actually greater than for the country as a whole.

 Image by Nick Buxton