Williamsburgs Real Estate Blog and more!

Let me say this first-the market is great to buy or sell a home. As long as you HAVE to buy or HAVE to sell.

One of the things I am beginning to ask my seller and buyer clients is "are you financially and emotionally ready to buy or sell your home TODAY?". Perhaps I should have been asking this a year ago. I might have saved an awful lot of money throwing good money after bad in a market for sellers who simply were not in a "have to sell" situation. Perhaps with my buyer clients I might have been able to save enough time and gas money to build a new workshop at my house, attended one of my daughters swim meets or coach a little league team.

My estimate is that 1/3 of the sellers in my market do not HAVE to sell. They may want to if they get their price or they may need to if they want to buy an investment property somewhere, move closer to family or downsize-but they still don't need to. The seller relocating for work, the seller who is divorcing, the seller who has a lender beating the door down for the last 3 months mortgage payments-they NEED to sell.

If we remove 1/3 of our inventory, we will be in somewhat better shape.Then, price your home to sell NOW. Look at your nearest competition, how long they've been on the market and price it better. Base your home on current listings not SOLD listings. The value you of a house and the price it sells for may be two different numbers unfortunately. I firmly believe the homes I am marketing are priced at or below market value. But they haven't sold or we haven't received an offer so what do I do next? Adjust the price or the incentive to get a buyer or an agent to where they HAVE to write an offer. It's not a matter of marketing trust me. I've spent thousands of dollars marketing homes that haven't sold, and worked with many buyers who never bought. I've made mistakes, and I've learned from them. I turn down those listings now before throwing my money and time away. And I interview my buyers carefully to make sure we are a good match.

Next we need to weed out the buyers who don't HAVE to buy, or are not financially and emotionally ready to buy. I hear agents talk about showing people 50 houses, and not finding a single one they like. Or the buyer says "I like the bathroom here, the yard there", or "I love the house but it's not on a golf course". Showing 50 houses is a waste of a buyers time, the sellers time, the  agents time. If you want to buy a house on a golf course-look at homes in a golf course community! Then there are the buyers who say I want to look at homes in the $100,000 to $400,000 price range. Guess what? You won't like a $100,000 home after seeing a $400,000 home. And you probably won't like the $300,000 home after seeing the $400,000 home either.

Get yourself financially ready first. Know your comfort level and stay within it. Every market in the country has an abundance of choices. You won't find the perfect house-it's not out there. You probably can't even build the perfect house. You will repaint or wish you had done this or that differently after you move in-I promise. The financing strategies change every day it seems. If you're not planning to buy for 6 months-don't bother looking for 6 months. When you are committed to buying-jump in feet first, find a house you can MAKE a home and make an offer.

Next, you need to find a professional,experienced and successful REALTOR to help you when you are ready. Working with your best friend who just got their real estate license may not be the best avenue to take when selling your home. Likewise when buying your home. I don't begrudge anyone looking to be self employed in what I feel is one of the most gratifying jobs out there. But, there should be more emphasis on training when it comes to new agents. And for some experienced agents I might add! Would you trust your 16 year old with the keys to your brand new Mercedes? Inexperienced agents are filling real estate companies across the country. It's not that they are taking business from me-trust me they're not-it's that they don't know ANYTHING about EVERYTHING that can go wrong-and their job is to promote and protect your best interest. Real Estate schools teach you to take the state test to become licensed. They don't teach you enough about actually practicing Real Estate. Your hairdresser spent over 1200 hours getting licensed to do your hair. Your brother or sister in law who just got their real estate license took 60 hours. How scary is that!

Jim Mellen, Licensed in Virginia
Liz Moore and Associates. The views here are my personal views and not meant to offend anyone!