Tips on showing

Each property has just one chance to make a great impression with a potential buyer. Keep up with cleaning and tidiness every day to ensure that the property is ready to be shown to potential buyers, even on short notice. In other words, keep the property in “Show Time” condition, so that it’s always ready to make the great first impression that can make the sale!
During the Entire Marketing Period

Keep the landscaping neatly trimmed, weeded and free
of debris and clutter.
Add a new front door mat; keep walkways, driveway and front door entry area clean.

Clean outside lighting fixtures; make sure the doorbell works.

Repair anything that is not in proper
working order, including loose doorknobs, broken door locks, leaking taps and toilets, squeaky doors, closets or screen doors
that go off their tracks.

Repair any broken windows, fogged or leaking windows or windows that don’t
open and close properly.

Quiet squeaks or noisy appliance fans with a squirt of lubricant.

Keep kitchen spotless and fresh smelling at all times -- regularly grind a quarter of a lemon in the garbage disposal and keep fresh boxes of
baking soda in refrigerator and freezer.

Unclutter kitchen counter spaces, pantry and cabinets and under sink area.

Remove items hanging on the refrigerator.

Make sure all kitchen appliances are spotless inside and out.

Make sure all appliances and systems are in perfect working order.

Keep bathrooms spotless and fresh smelling! Place all personal care items out of sight. Tile, fixtures, shower doors, tubs must be shining and immaculate. Remove all rust and mildew stains; neatly recaulk around the top edges of the tub, countertops, etc.

Place dishes of potpourri in rooms throughout the house or add a drop of vanilla or bath oil on light bulbs for scent.

Keep windows, windowsills and all light fixtures clean.

Don’t forget the storage and car parking areas – keep them
organized, neat and tidy.

Keep all pet areas clean and odor-free; change litter box frequently!

Secure jewelry, cash and other valuable.

Before Each Showing:

Open all drapes, shades and blinds and turn on ALL lights.

Pick up clutter.

Make beds and put away clothes and shoes.

Give floors a quick vacuuming.

Add some strategically placed fresh flowers.

Place a dish of vanilla or cinnamon in a warm oven to create the aroma of fresh baking.

Turn off the television and turn on music at low volume.

Secure pets in the garage, yard or other secured area. Even better, take them out of the house with your or arrange for a friend to keep them.

Make sure all pet areas are clean and odor-free, including litter box.

Make sure all trash is disposed of in neatly covered bins.

Make the temperature comfortably cool.

The Actual Showing:

The selling agent will call your listing agent to set an appointment to show your home. Your agent will contact you to determine if the time is convenient and to arrange the details.

The presence of the owner or family members makes the potential buyer feel like an intruder. It’s best to leave the house while the buyers are touring the home. If it is not possible to leave, excuse yourself and stay in one part of the house or outside.

If the prospective buyer or their agent asks you questions, respond honestly but diplomatically refer additional questions to your agent. It is best not to discuss price, terms, possession or other factors with the buyer or their agent.

If a prospective buyer calls directly or comes by unexpectedly without an agent, get their name and phone number. Explain that it is not a convenient time and say you will have your listing agent contact them. For your benefit and protection do not allow them in your home.

After Each Showing

We follow up with the showing agent to obtain feedback concerning the potential buyer’s feelings about how well the property fits their needs.

We evaluate the feedback and comments received from other agents that tour the property during our office and association caravans, to share with you ideas that may make the property more marketable. We discuss price reductions and other buyer incentives with you if offers are not being received within the first three weeks of listing the property.

Tips to Upgrade Your Home for
Potentially Increased Property Value

A home is arguably one of the largest financial investments a person will make in their lifetime. While property values over time are determined by national variables, the economy and local market conditions, the care and upkeep of a property is also a crucial element toward achieving a solid re-sell. Whether you are planning on adding more rooms to create extra space, upgrading your kitchen with new appliances or are thinking of putting your home on the market, Viera Realty Inc Real Estate Corporation offers some essential home improvement tips that might increase the value of your home.

Kitchen Makeover: Out of all the rooms in the house, the kitchen is the most popular to remodel. According to Remodeling Magazine, money spent to upgrade a kitchen produces the highest return on investment. "Hot" kitchen makeover trends include adding dual sinks, cooking stations, extra-long dishwashers, under-cabinet lighting, warming ovens and wine coolers.

Bathroom Fixer-Upper: Upgrading a bathroom is also a sound choice and will usually provide a significant return on investment. Large bathrooms are typically on the top of the list of priorities for those seeking to purchase a home. Adding skylights, glass block windows, ceiling fans and sunken whirlpool baths are also attractive selling features. If you don't have the room to expand or to accommodate larger appliances, or you don't think you'll be living in your home long enough to enjoy the changes and/or see a return on this kind of investment, stick with neutral, mid-builder level updated cabinetry, refreshed flooring and shower/tub, or a new sink and toilet.

Room to Grow: Adding a room or two, such as a spare bedroom or a study, is a significant home improvement that you will be able to take advantage of every day. In addition to the much-needed extra space, it can also potentially provide you with a good return on your investment when it comes to selling the property.

Landscaping the Lot: A professionally landscaped yard can certainly increase the "curb appeal" or desirability of a home. In fact, beautifying your lawn can be one of the most inexpensive home improvements. Additional simple landscaping projects include trimming and edging the grass, manicuring the trees and shrubs to open up the view of the house, removing any dead plants and planting flowers to brighten up the yard.

Repair Jobs: While many homeowners may want to update and remodel their kitchen, if the roof needs fixing or the chimney has to be reappointed, then they should prioritize these necessary repairs over any cosmetic changes. This applies to both sellers and those who plan to stay in the home for years to come, as these essential repairs must be taken care of before they cause the house to lose value. It is vital to look after the minor problems such as a leaky faucet or a loose cabinet to ensure that your house doesn't undergo any long-term damage. As soon as you notice a problem, fix it since this will help avoid a larger expense later on.

Cosmetic Touch-Ups: A paint job, new double-paned windows and new carpeting will increase the price of a house virtually dollar-for-dollar. Neutral colored paint and eliminating clutter can make a world of difference. However, don't go overboard with home improvement projects that will push a house too much above the current average value of homes in your neighborhood. It is important to make sure that your home has standards that are in-line with the other houses in the neighborhood, but you do not want to price yourself out of the market.

Market Forecast

RISMEDIA, September 5, 2007–Call it the perfect storm: Declining sales of new and used homes, huge inventories, price reductions, a credit crunch, and foreclosures. What seemed only months ago to be a long overdue and necessary correction, a return to a normal, more balanced market following years of giddy appreciation and home sales fueled by easy money, has turned sour, according to leading real estate industry experts.

And there is no soft landing in sight. Instead, the widely held view is that things will get worse before they get better.

“We’re going to have to live through the pain,” says Mike Bradshaw, Bank of America Senior Vice President for Realtor and Builder Mortgage Services. “We will unfortunately see more fallout of lenders. It will trickle down to both the real estate and the building industry.”

During the era of relaxed credit, many consumers who could not otherwise purchase homes were able to do so by making lower monthly payments for a period of time, after which interest rates and payments would dramatically increase. Such home buyers and the investors who bought such mortgage-backed securities counted on rising incomes and appreciation to offset any increases. While interest rates remained low, refinancing was also an option.

Over time, the number and percentage of such subprime mortgages rose. They were usually bundled and sold on the secondary market to investors seeking higher returns. But the risk was also greater. As the subprime market imploded, the fallout has spread to other sectors. Lenders have tightened eligibility requirements, not just to subprime borrowers but to others with good credit ratings. Jumbo mortgages, for amounts over $417,000, have become more difficult to obtain, with significant consequences for credit-worthy, upper-income buyers as well.

“The last 30 days have been kind of extraordinary, as you watch lenders exit the business and scaling back significantly on products,” says Bill Cary, executive vice-president and chief operating officer of Florida-based HFN, a division of Fidelity National Information Services that creates and manages mortgage companies for homebuilders and real estate firms. “Right now, the mortgage market is in a state of shock.”

“The fact that credit is tighter and not as available to as many people under the same terms will make it more difficult for individuals to get loans and could lead to further declines in the real estate market,” says James R. Panepinto, president of Pinnacle Professional Consulting Services, of Red Bank, New Jersey, which advises financial institutions, real estate firms and home builders. “Entire segments of the market have dried up for certain types of home buyers

“I think there’s plenty of blame to spread around, to the investor side of the business that bought the paper, the Wall Street firms that were securitizing the paper, the lending industry that was originating the paper. It’s clearly a situation where many participants were involved in extending credit on terms that were too generous.

“When the economy is strong and values are rising, there are pressures to increase home ownership from a lot of different stakeholders. Appreciation in the market certainly covers up a lot of excesses and practices in loan underwriting and origination. Clearly also in the market were instances where individuals or employees of lenders or various purchasing instruments ignored the rules that were there.”

The long-term good news, Panepinto believes, is that the “higher quality of [loans] being written and the tightening of standards should bode well for the market in general.” Eventually, he adds, “concerns about further deterioration in the quality of loans made, reflected in rising delinquencies and foreclosures, should ease off.”

How long will this take? Bradshaw estimates the real estate and mortgage industry is in for another 12 to 18 months of hard times. Then, he said, “There will be some stabilization and a healthier housing and lending market. The market will move forward on what’s better for the consumers.”

Large lending institutions, such as Bank of America, which retain and service many of their home loans, are faring better than mortgage brokers and others who sell their loans on the secondary market to securities firms, which in turn sell them to investors. The big banks are further cushioned because, having largely stayed out of the subprime market, they are not facing the need to foreclose on delinquent homeowners.

“We decided [subprime loans] were not prudent,” said Bradshaw, recalling a comment by Kenneth D. Lewis, his company’s CEO, that his institution is in the business of making homeowners, not taking homes back from people to whom it has extended credit.

The credit crunch has also affected new homes, with many builders canceling or ratcheting down projects they believe they could not now quickly sell. This, in turn, could have a domino effect, leading to layoffs in the large construction workforce sector.

However, cautions Panepinto, “Certainly, new home sales are very, very significant, but trends in existing home market are really the key thing to watch. Let’s remember that close to 90 percent of homes sold in this country are re-sales of existing homes. That’s really what drives the market.”

Says HFN’s Cary: “I think the light at end of the tunnel for everybody is when inventory gets back in line with demand. The markets have way of correcting themselves. This is not the first time we’ve gone thru a real estate downtown, and it won’t be last.”

The current crunch has underscored the importance for brokers of offering a multitude of core services to consumers, not just selling properties but also providing title insurance, home warranties, appraisals, and even mortgages. As with any investment portfolio, diversification can soften the blow if one sector falters, said Jeff Mandel, president of Prism Professional Solutions, a Charlotte, North Carolina firm advising financial services and real estate companies.

“Broker-owners used to like to talk about how it would be nice to have these value added services–such as mortgage, title, escrow,” Mandel says, “but the real estate market has slowed so rapidly, faster than brokers are able to shed fixed assets and expenses, that it’s absolutely essential.”

For brokers already facing lower revenues from declining sales, the credit crunch has hit hard. “Their need for positive returns out of these [other] services such as mortgages has never been more important to sustain their operations,” Mandel says. “But all of a sudden the money doesn’t exist in their mortgage operations. Many have seen either their partners go out of business or profits eroded to the point where they’re not deriving the returns expected or needed. The constituents I represent are having tough times…

“Number one, on the real estate side, companies need to buckle down, focus on their core strengths, make hard decisions to eliminate fixed overhead unnecessary for current market conditions, and apply fiscal discipline in ways not done before, to position themselves not only for today but for the future. They have to change what they can control.”

As with any economic upheaval, there will be winners and losers. While more than 100 mortgage loan companies have folded, large banks that have traditionally held onto most of their loans are getting more referrals from real estate brokers who had previously relied on less substantial lenders.

At J.P. Morgan Chase Home Loan Lending, loan originations are up 41 percent since July, and up 30 percent during the first two quarters of 2007, according to Sue Barber, senior vice-president for business development.

“We are seeing a good news story out of this current environment,” she said, “There is a very serious need for a lender who can still provide a full array of mortgage products, who has ability to directly lend as well as sell to the secondary market, a partner who has financial strengths and liquidity. Certainly we are receiving lot of inbound calls from lot of the national real estate companies, and there are a lot of the large regional independents reaching out to us.

“We are certainly happy Chase has the balance sheet and liquidity to fund directly, because conditions in the secondary market are challenging today. A lot has to do with the Chase brand. It signifies stability, financial strength. I think the consumer and real estate community are recognizing now more than ever they really need that. I think consumers are realizing they really want a long-term lending relationship.”

That is not to say that Chase hasn’t tightened its lending requirements. It has. “The main focus of all the tightening of credit standards we’ve done and the focus on strategy with sales force is to educate our consumers,” Barber said. “We are working on a simplified disclosure so customers completely understand how [their loan] works, how affects their monthly payments…

“I think the overall industry impact of tightening of credit standards will take some consumers out of the market. But tightening standards certainly will result in better performing mortgages and in turn have a more positive effect on the housing market.”

The subprime mortgage meltdown has had the paradoxical effect of bolstering some intermediary companies that can provide brokers with several lending sources.

“We run a multi-lender mortgage platform, so if you do business with us you’re not tied to just one lender or source of money,” said HFN’s Cary. “We have six [lending sources], including American Home Mortgage, which went bankrupt last month. We were able to take loans placed by our customers there and within a week we had those loans placed with other investors. So we were able to provide a solution.

“We kind of look at the market right now and say there are going to be winners and losers,” Cary said, “and we’re trying to become winners.”

Eugene L. Meyer is a former Washington Post reporter and editor who freelances from Silver Spring, Maryland.

Pricing your home to sell

Pricing
Professional appraisers sum up their entire body of knowledge in three words - "Buyers Make Value."
As your real estate agent, I can give you up-to-date information on what is happening in the marketplace and the price, financing, terms, and condition of competing property

When listing your property for sale, require your agent to be candid with you. Most agents simply don't want to tell the seller the true value of their home, if it's obvious the seller wants more than it's worth. By allowing your agent to be completely honest with you, you'll save time and money. Consider the market analysis carefully with your agent...The numbers should make just as much sense to you as they do to your agent, the appraiser, and most importantly potential buyers.

Remember! Your home is worth as much as a buyer is willing to pay for it. Sometimes the home is simply worth more to the seller than it is to the buying public. If the property has been on the market for more than 4-5 weeks, with few prospects coming to see it or those that have seen your home do not make a second or third visit and no offers have been submitted, you've been given a clear message that the property may not be worth what you're asking for it. What you do at that point depends on whether you really need to sell, and whether you're working with a time limit.

If you're not really motivated to move soon, you can always wait - years if necessary - and hope inflation will catch up with the price you want. The problem is that in that time, your home begins to feel shopworn. Buyers become suspicious of a house that has been for sale for a long time. If, however, you really do need to sell, your Viera Realty Inc Schmitt agent understands the marketplace and how to price it right. There's no point in saying, "We simply can't sell our house." It will sell when the price is right.

My Vip sales program

Steve Johnson’s Exclusive Marketing Plan 

• Submit your home listing for exposure to over 3,000 active Realtors in Brevard County and Indian River County via Multiple Listing Service databases,
• Present copies of your home listing to 150 of our company’s active Realtors who each day work with qualified buyers in seven different locations from St. Lucie County south to Brevard County north,
• Give you with PROVEN professional advice on dressing your home to show exceptionally well, and to sell for the highest possible price,
• Promote your home with our Exclusive local magazine, “Real Estate Buyer’s Guide” targeted specifically to home buyers,
• Conduct a tour of your home with the Realtors at Viera Realty Inc ,to get feedback on the asking price, and to gauge how well the home shows,
• Create custom publicity flyers about your home for email distribution to over 2,000 active Realtors in the community,
• Set up an Ugly Yellow Sign or a sign rider to generate calls on my Toll Free Consumer Hot Line,
• Maximize showing exposure through professional signage – ALSO specifically designed with proven strategies to motivate buyer calls,
• Enhance convenience of buyer viewing, yet maintaining security for you and your family by placing your home on a Lockbox,
• Educate you and your buyers on the numerous financing plans to make buying your home easy,
• Suggest constructive changes to your home to make it more appealing…with a higher price and quicker sale in mind, 
• Send a personalized letter or postcard to all residents in your neighborhood promoting the features and lifestyle benefits of your home – studies have shown many homes sell because neighbors referred friends and acquaintances,
• Keep you educated and up to date on listing and selling market conditions in your area,
• Update you on all activity regarding your home: agent showings, agent tours, sign inquiries, website activity, etc.
• Have your home on my website at BrevardAreaHomes.com for maximum exposure,
• For even more exposure I’ll place your home on an enhanced page at Realtor.com,
• Promote your home through the Viera Realty Inc Relocation Network which has offices around the world,
• Follow-up on all agent showings to answer questions and motivate interested buyers to pursue your home,
• Ensure than any offers from buyers are pre-qualified and capable of closing on the purchase – thus saving you time and money from unqualified buyers,
• Actively represent YOU in contract negotiations with buyers to help get the highest selling price for your home, and minimize any stress incurred in selling your home,
• Coordinate escrow, financing, and closing activities on your behalf to ensure a smooth, hassle-free closing,
• Personally attend the closing celebration of your home,
• Follow up with you periodically to see how you’re doing in your new home!