Pricing A Home

How To Increase Your Logan Homes Value Before Selling

by Lisa Udy on August 17, 2010

Cute Orange HomeBefore putting your home on the market, it’s best to get it in pristine condition. In a market that’s over saturated with inventory, your home doesn’t only have to be priced correctly, but it has to shine like a diamond in a coal pit to bring top value.

I have witnessed home sellers ignore my staging advice and left their homes in dire condition when listing. These sellers find out later the huge mistake they made. Taking the extra time to get your home looking good will save you time, money, and will give you the best chance to increase it’s value.

Spruce Up Exterior Paint And Repair/Replace Siding

A first impression comes from the outside of your home. Retouching paint, fixing lose siding, or replacing damaged or missing siding on your home shows you care about the maintenance of your property.

If you feel you need to repaint the home entirely, please be cautious of the colors you paint it with. (Bright pink does not bode well for selling a home.) Talk to your Realtor about paints colors that will appeal to the largest amount of buyers.

Update/Repair Windows And Doors

If you have an older home with inefficient windows or single pane, updating them can add some value to your home.  Choose stylish and efficient windows when replacing to give your home a better look, while keeping your utility bills lower.  You can also get a $1,500 tax credit for replacing your windows and doors until the end of 2010.  (Energy Efficient Tax Credits)

Reinvigorate Your Landscaping And Update Old Outside Lighting

Pretty Flowers

Go to the local garden shops here in town and see if you can get any ideas on updating your landscaping. Adding some new trees, shrubs, colorful flowers, and replacing sod can create an inviting space over night.

Updating your outside lighting will give potential buyers who drive by at night a better view of your home. During the day it will give the exterior an updated look to go with your new landscaping.

New Flooring

Flooring has a huge pull on buyers. Many people don’t like carpet in kitchens, raggedy carpet, and wood flooring that’s in bad shape.  Your Logan home’s floors need to be clean, modern, and stylish to help increase your value.

Update And De-Clutter The Kitchen

Updating counter tops, cabinets, and plumbing is a good way to add value. Be careful not to overdue it though. You shouldn’t over improve your home. Your home should be comparable to your neighbors but doesn’t necessarily have to surpass them. De-clutter counter tops and remove anything that you don’t absolutely need to survive.

Update Bathrooms

Clean FroggyEven the small things can give your bathroom a refreshing look. Remove grout, re-caulk as necessary, and a fresh coat of paint can go a long way. If you have chips in porcelain sinks and tubs, you may want to look at repairing or replacing them. Also, updating lightning fixtures is an easy, yet effective way of adding value to your home.


Update Interior Panting

It’s a good idea to walk through some open houses and model homes to get an idea of the current paint colors buyers are looking for. If you have rooms with outlandish colors such as bright pink, neon green, or orange sherbet. Your home will appeal to more buyers if you paint over those colors while your home is on the market with something more subtle and neutral.

Deep Cleaning

If you don’t have the time or feel you aren’t as cleanly as need be, hire some professionals to give your home a deep cleaning. Clean carpets, re-finished wood floors, and removal of stuck on grime in the corners will give your home a fresh feeling. Keeping a home in showing condition is very important to getting the best value out of your home from a potential buyer.

You don’t have to do every one of these tips to get your home to stand out, but you do need to take care of the items that are most important to your home. If your home needs landscaping attention more than interior attention, do what you can. Work your way down the list from worst to best and do what you can, but don’t stress to much over every little thing. As your home gets shown, you will get more feedback on what items need the most attention.

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How Does A Real Estate Agent Price A Home?

by Lisa Udy on May 11, 2010

That’s a great question. Unfortunately, there is no answer, because a real estate agent doesn’t price a home. You do. Sure, a real estate agent can give you a price range your home should be in, but ultimately, pricing your home comes down to what you want. But beware, pricing a home to high or to low can end up costing you a lot of money.

So How Do You Determine A Price Range To Sell Your Home?

Contact a trustworthy real estate agent and ask them to do a market analysis on your home.  A market analysis is where an agent gathers recent sold properties comparable to yours and computes a price. However, a good agent will come preview your home first, and get to know what makes your home different.

Before an agent gives you a value range, they should inform you of market conditions first. That way, you can get a better understanding of where the market is headed, so you have a better chance of pricing your home ahead of the market.

How Do You Price Your Home Ahead Of The Market? And What Does That Mean?

Pricing a home ahead of the market is like seeing into the future. You take into account market conditions, and you price your home where you think the value will be in the near future.

For Example:

If you’re in a declining market, pricing your home to high is going to put you behind the market.

Chasing A Down Market

In this graph, it shows a seller trying to catch up to the market after pricing to high in the beginning. The longer the home is on the market, the more home prices drop, which leads to less money in your pocket.

Instead, if you priced ahead of the market, you actually end up making more money:

Price Ahead Of The Market Graph

In this graph, the seller started out ahead of the market at $133,000. Because they started out ahead, they didn’t have to chase the market nearly as much, and got an offer close to asking price.

These graphs are a dramatization of course, but they give you an idea of what pricing ahead of a market can mean to your bottom line.  In order to sell your home in a timely fashion, you have to price it correctly from the start. Sure, you can reduce your price later, but you will miss out on the best traffic. Most traffic is going to come within the first three weeks of you putting your home on the market.

How Do I Price My Home Correctly?

Pricing a home is easy. Pricing a home to sell is another story. You can price your home anywhere you want, but pricing a home at a reasonable price that will net you the most money in the shortest amount of time is an art form. Real estate agents have learned over the years, pricing a home to sell fast for the most amount of money takes some serious experience and knowledge of the market.

Agents have to consider many factors when coming up with a price range. If you’re home is a luxury home in a top price range for your market, you can expect to be on the market longer, and it might be okay to stay on the market longer at a price range.

If your home is in a price range with a lot of competition, it might be a better strategy to price your home a little below the market to create a multiple offer situation to increase your chances of selling.

If your home is in a fantastic location where average days on market is very low, you might want to start off a little higher, and see if you can get a little bit more money.

As you can see, any real estate agent can determine a price range for your home, but a market expert can determine where to price your home to sell faster and for more money. But it all depends on you. You have to be able to trust your agent, listen to the details, and take into consideration your time frame for moving.

Do you have to move fast? Or Are you just testing the market?

It’s very important for you to let your agent know what your reasons for moving are and your motivations. If you just got transferred to a new town and you have to move fast, it would be a much better strategy to price farther ahead of the market then someone that is in no rush to sell.

Armed with this information, your agent should be able to come up with a great strategy to get your home sold within the amount of time you require. Pricing your home is ultimately up to you, but pricing your home wrong can end up costing you a lot of wasted time and money.

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Can You Use Price Per Square Foot To Compute A Homes Value?

by Lisa Udy on May 11, 2010

Can You Determine A Homes Value By Price Per Square Foot?As a REALTOR, I get asked all the time, what is the average price per square foot now a days? After answering the question, which is usually asked by home buyers, they figure they can compute a homes value based on the average of an entire area and submit an offer based on their math. This is just not true.

Price per square foot is a great way to determine trends. You can easily see from month to month if a real estate market is showing declining home values by determining the price per square foot of recently sold homes. But you can’t just take the average price per square foot of the area and compute a homes value.

Price Per Square Foot Won’t Give You An Accurate Home Value

Here in Utah, home builders are finding new ways to sell homes. They are taking out the many upgrades people wanted five years ago, and are building “economy” style homes that have less. This “economy” style home’s price per square foot is going to be lower then a home with the same amount of  square footage that was built two years ago with all the upgrades of a luxury home.

Calculating a homes value is determined by many factors, which is why it takes an appraiser or a real estate agent to determine a homes value, and even then a home is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.  These factors include:

  • Location – The #1 factor in determining a homes value.
  • Lot Size – A home with acreage is going to be more expensive.
  • Condition – A luxury home is going to be more then an economy home.
  • Upgrades – Granite counter tops, crown molding, hardwood floors?
  • Updated – Does the home have 60′s shag carpet?
  • Water Front – Does the home have an ocean view?
  • Busy Streets – Freeways are bad for home values.
  • How’s The Market – Seller’s market? Buyer’s market?

As you can see, price per square foot is actually determined by these factors, not the amount of square footage.

For Example:

If you had two identical homes. One home was in a quiet neighborhood, close to schools, and within walking distance of local businesses. While the other home was next to a four lane highway, in the boonies, and no access to public transportation. Would the price per square foot be the same? Most likely not.

Writing An Offer Based On A True Homes Value

When writing an offer on the home, one of the last things you should do is base your offer on the homes price per square foot. Instead, do some research, and have your agent gather comparable properties that have sold within the last couple months. When you fall in love with a home, don’t make the mistake that a lot of home buyers are making today. Don’t submit an offer so low that you offend the seller making them reject it.

If you’re serious about buying a home, then you’re going to have to pay for it. Determine a homes value by putting yourself head deep into the market. If you view thirty homes and you decide that one of those homes is more valuable to you then the others, offer the seller something that is going to give you a chance to buy the home.

So, how does price per square foot determine a homes value? It doesn’t. A homes value is based on many factors, but the most important factor is. How much are you willing to pay for that home and will the seller accept your offer? That’s true value.


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