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Selling Your Home, Back to Basics

We are nearing the end of a very busy 2013 housing market. What a change from previous years! Even though houses are selling at a much higher rate than last year, I need to caution the sellers. The selective buyer is alive and well! They watch HGTV, keep up with the latest trends in design, and have particular criteria. There is also new construction available which is used as a benchmark. Preparing your home for sale is still a crucial part of the marketing process. Putting a little money into the home will help sell it that much quicker. Interior paint in neutral colors New hardwoods, carpet, or other updated floor coverings Latest counter tops or fixture To the sellers: Put yourself in the situation of a buyer. Look at your home in their eyes. Be willing to invest a little in order to sell your home quicker. Work with your real estate agent not against them. Their advice is based on experience. GO BACK TO BASICS! If you are in the north Atlanta area look us up! www.randywellsteam.com

Do Garage Door Maintenance

Some words of wisdom from my Dad: Be a good husband and father Be kind to other people Tighten down the nuts and bolts on your garage door????? I happened to look at my own garage doors today and noticed how many nuts were loose. Matter of fact a couple of the nuts were missing. Lack of maintenance could cause problems with the door and potential damage to the door opener. So this weekend change your clocks, change the batteries in your smoke detector, and tighten the hardware on your garage door. Thanks Dad! If you are in the north Atlanta, Lake Lanier area, come see us.... www.randywellsteam.com

Keller Williams Community Partners, Forsyth County, #1 in Sales

Fall Festivals in North Georgia

It is that time of year in North Georgia! See the attached for some, of many, fall festivals in North Georgia! If you are looking for property on Lake Lanier, Dawson, Lumpkin, Hall, White, or Forsyth County, let us know. Nobody knows North Georgia like a neighbor. The Wells Team: Your North Georgia Neighbors

Waiting Until the Last Minute? Why?

As real estate agents we are very busy this year. Why do we add more pressure to ourselves, and our clients, by waiting until the last minute to submit amendments? For our non-Georgia real estate agents: After buyers complete their home inspection, they have the chance to ask for repairs to be made. We do this on a form called an Amendment to Address Concerns. We also deal with a due diligence period. This amount of time is negotiated between buyer and seller. I usually see a time period of 7 to 14 days. During this due diligence period a buyer can walk away from the home, for any reason, without financial penalty. During this period if our buyer has any items he wants repaired then we negotiate these items using the form Amendment to Address Concerns. In the past two weeks we have dealt with two situations that were down to the wire. One time we were representing the buyer and one time representing the seller. Representing our buyer, the buyer had last minute concerns about a radon test. The test was considered normal but had readings that raised long term health concerns for my buyer. Due diligence expired Monday night at midnight. My buyer has me submit an amendment to address concerns to the seller's agent Monday morning. His seller is working and felt that she was being pinched about making a quick, last minute decision. Negotiating all day, we finished up the amendment at 9pm, three hours before the deadline. In the case of representing of our seller we had a similar experience. The due diligence was expiring on a Saturday evening. The buyers had their inspection report for over a week but waited until the day before expiration to submit the amendment. Why? In this case their agent went on vacation and said he would take care of it when he returned. My seller felt that she was held hostage to make a last minute decision and did not appreciate the pressure. Fortunately we were able to negotiate a solution. To my fellow Georgia agents: We have an obligation to expedite a home inspection in order to give ample time to review it. If there are items the buyers want repaired, it needs to be submitted earlier to the sellers. The seller needs the time to meet with contractors, get estimates, and review the information before negotiating. Waiting until the last minute because of complacency, makes a stressful negotiation that much harder. Keep an eye on the due diligence date! Check out our website at www.randywellsteam.com

Granite and its Nautical Influence

I just got back from vacation in SW Utah. We rented a houseboat on Lake Powell. If you have not been there you are missing one of the most beautiful spots in the country. After 8 years in the real estate industry, houses are always on my mind. Trying to shut it off during on vacation was my goal but housing came up in a strange way. We rented a houseboat with two other families. One of the couples had the chance to go on a private houseboat. A boat that made ours look like a rowboat. What was the number one thing that my friends remembered from the boat tour? The size of the engines? The advanced navigation system? The stability of the ride? NO! The granite countertops in the Kitchen and the Bathrooms! So granite continues to have a profound influence with my home buyers and the my fellow boat lovers!

MORE HOME WARRANTY INFORMATION!

If you read my previous blog you learned of an issue I had with a buyer using a home warranty. Since I wrote that blog I have learned some more things that might be of interest to you and your clients. The biggest suggestion I have for you is to educate your client on the use of home warrantys. After 8 years in the industry, I have taken it for granted that my clients fully understand their use. The biggest point to emphasize is that a home warranty is not purchased to fix items that are already broken. The warranty is a form of "insurance" in case a system, in good working order, breaks in the future. Yes you would be surprised how many folks do not grasp this concept. The next point is to encourage your client not to immediately start making claims once they move into a home. Filing claims within 24 hours of moving into a property does not go over well with a warranty company. Before you file a claim make sure you have used the system numerous times without an issue. Again filing a claim within 24 hours on a system will raise some doubt from the warranty company. When you call the warranty company make sure you can explain the situation clearly. They are going to ask you if the system worked properly, how long had the system worked properly before you had a problem, and what the specific issue is concerning the system. Don't file multiple claims at one time. Know your warranty before you call. Do you have optional AC coverage, refrigerator coverage, roof leak coverage, etc.... I firmly believe that the warranty gives both buyer and seller a good piece of mind in the home sale/buying process. As agents we need to take the time to help our clients understand how to use them properly. If you are in the north Atlanta area come check us out: www.randywellsteam.com

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU SAY! YOU ARE BEING RECORDED!

How many times have we said the wrong thing? I know that is a dumb question because we do it all the time. Its easy to say "I never said that" when you deny the conversation. That is unless the conversation is being taped. Let's talk home warranties. The Wells Team places warranties on our listings, ask for them in home purchases, and have our sellers include them in their sale. They give you the piece of mind in case you encounter a problem with your new purchase. Here is a brief story involving a major warranty company: •Home inspection on 5/17/13. •Final walk through on 7/12/13 •Closing on 7/12/13 •Warranty effective 7/12/13 •Buyer files claim on 7/15/13 Seems like a normal progression but: •Warranty company claims that our buyer told them "I don't know if the items ever worked". •Claim denied by the warranty company. A couple of points: •After the home inspection on 5/17/13, buyers did not go back to the home until the walk through on 7/12/13 •Home was inspected. All of the items involved in the warranty claim operated normally •Walk through on 7/12/13 did not show any problems •Claims made after warranty is in effect ALL CONVERSATIONS ARE TAPED! THAT MEANS BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL WHEN YOU MAKE ANY STATEMENT! OUR CLIENT DID NOT INTEND TO FRAUD THE WARRANTY COMPANY BUT HER ANSWERS WERE INTERPRETED AS TRYING TO DO THIS! Be careful what you say! It could come back to bite you! Check us out at www.randywellsteam.com

Who is Watching the Store?

I hope the title would grab your attention. Here is a quick story: We have new clients in Atlanta. As they look at a home with us they continue to have their Las Vegas home up for sale. The home in Las Vegas is a new property, in excellent shape, and priced to sell. After 7 months in a busy Las Vegas market, not one offer. Priced lowered, not one offer. Our clients frustration continued to increase. We finally asked them about the home in Las Vegas, and more importantly, what their agent is telling them through feedback. Their agent has not been in touch with them at all. He does not answer their emails and does not send them updates. So my partner and I look into the situation. We go to Realtor.com to see what the home looks like in order to suggest a course of action. We were shocked to see the presentation online. Half of the pictures were so small that you could not see them. they were horrible. More importantly: THERE WAS A VIRTUAL TOUR OF A DIFFERENT HOME ON THEIR LISTING! The virtual tour of the other home showed a run down home in horrible condition. We worked with our clients and had them withdraw their ONE YEAR LISTING AGREEMENT (the agent got a one year listing agreement). Of course it took a while because the broker would not respond to request for help. We now have them in the hands of a new agent. Two thoughts: For my fellow agents: Pictures are the most important component of marketing and selling a home. We cannot cut corners. We owe our clients top quality, professional pictures for their home. We also need to send our clients links to their home on various websites so they can see the presentation. For my home sellers: You need to be more proactive with your agent. In an initial listing presentation ask the agent to show you other listings they have as they appear on the internet. Also ask them about all of their marketing in great detail. Once you sign an agreement with an agent, demand that the agent send you your home as it appears on the internet. At the same time periodically go on the major websites and see your home and its appearance. Bottom line: Everybody needs to be more proactive.

LOCAL,LOCAL, ALL MARKETS ARE LOCAL

The real estate euphoria continues. Here is an excerpt from the National Association of Realtors: "February pending home sales flattened with limited buyer choices, but remained at the second highest level in nearly three years, according to the National Association of Realtors®." No doubt we are busy in the Atlanta area but you need to break down "Atlanta" into smaller segments to get the truest sense of the local market. Th60 e Atlanta area alone comprises between 8 and 14 counties depending on who runs the statistics. Here is my example: February home sales for 8 counties in the North Atlanta Metro Area: Average list price $432,000 Average sale price $247,000 Average days on the market 71 February home sales for Forsyth County. This county is 30-45 minutes north of downtown Atlanta: Average list price $383,000 Average price sale price $280,000 Average day on the market 85 February home sales for Dawson County. This county is 45-60 minutes north of downtown Atlanta: Average list price $413,000 Average sale price $220,000 Average days on the market 112 My neighbohrood Chestatee It is a Lake Lanier community with a golf course one hour north of Atlanta in Dawson County. Average list price $504,192 Average sale price $309,250 Average days o the market 174 Where am I going with this? There is a home listed in the Chestatee neighborhood or $699,000. The home has been on the market, up and down, for three years. The home has been lowered to the current price. We put an offer on the home last month. An offer that dictated a counteroffer. The listing agent is located about 35 minutes south of the neighborhood in area with a buiser market. He told his buyers to counter by lowering the price by $4000. He said the market is great for sellers, and houses are selling very quickly. Do you know that the listing agent had never been to the neighborhood? (his partner had). Moral of the story: When the media says Atlanta is booming and is a sellers market, the buyers need to know more. They need us to break down the market into very specific areas in order to educate them to the fullest. Markets are truly local!

Build or Buy in North Georgia

According to everything you read in the media the housing market is booming. Prices are up and inventory is down. New home sales are also starting to see an increasing demand. So this must be a good time to build!!!! In North Georgia the jury is still out. Here are some considerations: •Price pre square foot will be higher on a custom built home over a resale •Lenders, for new construction, are available but not easy to find •Lenders have tough terms when building a new home •Lenders have a fear that a new home will not appraise in a neighborhood of resales •Price overruns are possible I have seen great deals on new home construction. This is in new neighborhoods built by large builders who can keep their cost competitive. For now I advise my clients to take a good hard look at the pros and cons of each situation.

A Line Drawn in the Sand

The media is full of great stories about our national housing market. Atlanta is also included as one of the latest success stories. If you read between the lines in these articles you will see that the surging house market is also causing other issues for homeowners. For the homeowner who is "underwater" in their home, moving forces them into a financial dilemna: lose money on their existing home to pay more for another home or stay where they are? What I am seeing an hour north of Atlanta is a direct result of the perceived surge in home sales: My neighbors are holding out for 2007 prices. I live in the only golf/boating community on Lake Lanier. At one time I saw homes selling for $1 million dollars! Last year the highest priced sale was $430,000! Many of my neighbors bought lake homes at the top of the market. In addition they spent more money on upgrades. As the foreclosures and short sales appeared in the neighborhood, prices declined. Finally we have reached the bottom. In the case of our area it was a 30% decline to the bottom. So now my potential sellers are in a quandry: •I want to sell my home but I dont want to lose money •Everything I read says the housing market is on its way up. Where is my price increase? •I dont understand why buyers will not pay what I have in my home. As a result they have "drawn a line in the sand". They are going to hold out until they can get their "fair" price for their home. The line has been drawn.

MY POCKETS ARE FULL...OF "POCKET LISTINGS"

I know that most of you have never heard this phrase from your friend or neighbor (sarcasm): "If you know somebody who is looking for a home in our neighborhood bring them to my home, I am willing to sell". Yes they are willing to sell: •If the buyer is an all cash buyer so we do not have to have an appraisal •The buyer will pay top dollar for my home including everything I have done to the home •The buyer will close when it is convenient for me •I do want to sell but under my terms My partner and I have pockets full of our neighbor's "pocket listings". We appreciate them giving us the opportunity to sell their home but we are scratching our head on why they will not list with us. Why won't they list their home? •They do not want to pay commission? •They do not want people seeing their home on the internet? •They do not want the neighbors to know they are trying to move? •They do not want to show their home too much? We are trying to wrap our hands around this to give these potential sellers the reasons why they need to list their homes with an agent. •Our neighborhood has no new construction. Buyers have seen the existing inventory and have decided not to come into our neighborhood to look further. They have no idea about these "pocket listings". •We get clients when they find our listings on the internet, or drive into our neighborhood and see our signs. If they do not see a home they like they will not contact us. Therefore we do not get the chance to meet with them and show them our additional "pocket listings". If over 90% of potential buyers start their search on the internet then there is a good chance the "pocket listing" will never be seen. To my fellow real estate agents? What do you think? Meanwhile I remember as a kid when I had army men, bubble gum, pennies, rocks, marbles, and baseball cards shoved in my pants pockets. Ultimately my mom would end washing my pants along with their contents. Unfortunately we do not have a washer big enough to wash my pants with all of these pocket listings. Have a great holiday!

BUT ITS A USED HOUSE!

Here is a trend we are seeing in the North Georgia real estate market: BUT THE HOME IS OVER 10 YEARS OLD! WHY WOULD I BUY THIS HOME WHEN THERE IS SO MUCH TO DO! I live in the only golf course/boat community on Lake Lanier. One hour north of Atlanta it is truly a resort lifestyle experience. Unfortunately there is no new construction going on in the neighborhood! Why? Because the North Georgia area is slower than closer into the city. Because the North Georgia area does not have the jobs and we are too far to commute everyday into Atlanta. We are becoming a quasi retirement area where the empty nesters move to get away from the suburbs! This means that there is not enough demand to bring builders into our neighborhood to build specs. So here comes our clients who have waited for the opportunity to move into this neighborhood. Kids gone, golf clubs in the car, they are finally ready to buy after many years of driving the neighborhood looking for their future dream home. Those houses they have seen for years have grown older. Their dreams have been wiped out because they wanted a brand new, fully updated home, at a foreclosure price! Where is this home? The home has aged. If you want the newest and greatest build a new home. They do not want to because that would cost too much! I want a new home but at a deeply discounted resale price! They drive home dejected and confused. This is not fair. I should be able to have it all at a low price. Just not fair. So they go back to their existing home, read some real estate articles, watch HGTV, decide if they want to move or upgrade their current "older" home, and wait for the next "new older home" to appear in our neighborhood for sale. The cycle then continues.

HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?

How much is too much? As agents we always go above and beyond. My partner and I live in a neighborhood one hour north of Atlanta. We have each lived there for 12 years and have been #1 for resales the past four years. Here is our scenario: We have a listing in our neighborhood. Our sellers had lost one contract and were anxious to sell. Homes sell here but at a slower pace. My partner receives a call from an individual who lives in Atlanta. She has one family member who lives in our neighborhood and has another family member who is moving to Atlanta from out of state. She saw our listing on the internet and thought it would be a good fit. My partner showed this individual the home a few times. Eventually the prospective buyer came in to see the home. Overall my partner was the only one who ever showed any of the family members the home. Enter the buyer’s agent. During the looking phase the individual Atlanta said that she had an agent who was going to assist her family member who was going to buy the home. Here is where it got interesting. This agent never showed his client the home. When we eventually asked him to show the home he said he did not have a lock box key, does commercial real estate, and had a bad back. Not only did he not show the home, he was not present for the inspection, appraiser, and the final walk through. He asked my partner to meet the above individuals. When it came to contracts, the buyer’s agent did not have access to residential contracts. Matter of fact my partner had to fill out parts of the purchase and sale agreemet, disclosures, amendments, and counteroffers. My partner did everything. Then there was the commission. Throughout the process the buyer’s agent claimed he was entitled to his commission. At the same time we had the following information for this listing: “If we show your buyer our listing, you receive 1%”. He did not see this because he did not access to our listing services FMLS and GAMLS. After conferring with our broker we put together a smaller commission for the buyer’s agent. Needless to say that did not go over well. At the closing the buyer’s agent used some new adjectives to describe my partner, broker, and myself. Eventually we settled the commission. So how do you handle this? We had a seller who needed to sell and we had made commitment to do this. We had a buyer, first time homebuyer, who did not know the proper protocol when it comes to working with an agent. How much is too much?

Atlanta Area Real Estate Summary

I was recently able to attend a real estate class highlighting national and local real estate trends. This is our commitment to stay as informed as possible about our industry and how it affects our clients. Our Atlanta area buyers and sellers • Have been on the sidelines • Have been shifting from higher end consumer stores to outlets • Have a consumer confidence, according to surveys, double of 2009 levels but approximately 60% of 2007 levels (national level) • Have seen an increase of 68,400 jobs in Georgia January 2012 vs. January 2011 • Are part of one of the top 25 US job growth markets in the country • Unemployment in the Georgia Mountain Region is 8.3%. Specifically 10.1% in Dawson, 8.2% in Forsyth, 10.1% in White, 9.25% in Hall, 9.2% in Gwinnett, and 10.8% in Lumpkin • Unemployment in the Atlanta Region is 9.3%. This includes Cobb, Fayette, and Rockdale Counties • Median income (2010) in Forsyth County is $95,906, Dawson $58,766, Lumpkin $46,360, White County $42,487, Hall County $56,240 and $81,904 in Gwinnett National Home Sales • 11973 homes sell every day. Of those, 8501 receive a mortgage • 25% of home sales are distressed property sales. This compares with 35% in January 2012 • Months inventory of homes for sale have gone from approximately 9 months to approximately 6.5 months, June 2012 vs. June 2011 • 30 year fixed mortgage rates started at 4.75% in January 2011. Today they are averaging between 3.75% and 4% • California is #1 for amount of homeowners who have negative equity in their homes • Total homes sales 4Q 2011 were approximately 4,300,000 units vs. 4,600,000 units in 4Q 2012 • The highest foreclosure inventory are in Nevada, Hawaii, Florida, Illinois,NY,NJ,and Maine • Florida, 11.9%, has the most foreclosures in process • NY and NJ have the most months of shadow inventory. (shadow inventory are houses owned by HUD, banks and other organizations) Atlanta area home market • Atlanta metro area is comprised of 28 counties including Dawson, Hall, and Forsyth • 65% of the growth in the last 20 years has been north of the Atlanta airport, 35% to the south • Home inventory is shrinking. In the Atlanta metro area there were approximately 42,000 homes for sale in 2010, 25,000 homes in 2011, and 22,000 homes available in 2012! • Median home price (2010) was $230,598 for Forsyth, $134,000 for Gwinnett, $124,500 for Lumpkin, $119,500 for White, $125,000 for Hall, and $156,775 for Cherokee • There are 795 new home subdivisions in the 22 county area • 48% of the building permits in the 22 county areas were for Gwinnett and Forsyth County. In the last 12 months Forsyth has had more building permits than Gwinnett. • There are 285,000 developed lots in the Atlanta area waiting for a house! • 45% of the builders in the Atlanta area are national builders a very large increase • In 2000-2007 land represented 25-43% of the total cost of a new home. That percentage will drop to 18-22% • 70% of all 2011 sales were homes priced under $149K • In the 2011 the lowest number of sales were in the $250K to $750K range! Summary The home sales in our area are a direct reflection of the above statistics. The majority of our transactions for 2012 took place in Forsyth, Gwinnett, and Fulton Counties. One home was under contract in 2 days, one in 6 days, and one in under 30 days! Pockets of Dawson County, especially the Chestatee golf/Lake Lanier community, continue to sell but at lower prices. Counties to the north of Dawson are receiving lower amounts of traffic and are under pricing pressure. This pricing pressure is a result of their median income, unemployment rate, and the high amount of second home properties available for sale. We have not seen pricing go any lower for homes. However they continue to “bump” along with no large price appreciation. Resale homes in Forsyth and North Fulton, priced well, are selling quickly near full asking price. Multiple full price offers have also happened in these areas in resale and foreclosure properties. We are telling our buyers that the conditions are not going to get any better. Interest rates are ridiculously low but cannot stay this way forever. Property prices are not going any lower and the inventory is shrinking. This is the time to buy!

Keller William #1 by JD Power and Associates

This is an excerpt from a recent article: "Several companies withstood the test of customer satisfaction-at least by the standards of 2990 evaluations and more than 2790 respondents. These included KELLER WILLIAMS, which JD Power found ranking highest in both buyer and seller categories, with lofty scores among agents and salespeople to boot" I know that the majority of my fellow real estate agents are doing their best in this incredibly challenging market. Unfortunately the survey did not rate real estate agents high overall. Buyers and sellers remain disappointed because of the market and their inability to get the price they want on their home. They take out their disappointment on us, the agent. We don't control the market! Hang in there.

Is There any Pixie Dust out there?

After seven successful years in a bad real estate market, The Wells Team has a pretty good idea of what works when it comes to marketing and selling a home. What has worked for us: •Pricing the home correctly from the start •Putting some money into the home, if needed, prior to listing the home. This includes new carpet, paint, and yard work. •Having very good pictures on the internet •Being available to show a home at any time •Flyers Those are just few of the many. However we have listings that have been sitting on the market for considerable length of time. For the most part these listings are very nice homes that are show ready. There becomes a point when our clients, in the above situation, grow incredibly frustrated with us because their home is still for sale. This is where the "pixie dust" comes into play. Our clients want us to find the "pixie dust" that will make their home sell. This is what we have tried: •Bonus to the buyer's agent •Offer to pay closing cost •Decorator allowance •golf course memberships •$5000 towards a golf cart •home warranties Unfortunately we not seen any of the above make the difference. I want to know if any of you have any "pixie dust" you can share.

Spend Time on the Financing!

Financing has become the make or break factor for many real estate transactions. As important as it is to the overall purchase of a home we are seeing less time spent on the actual specifics of financing. Today we had a one hour class taught by one of our mortgage brokers. She wanted to review a Pre-App Worksheet, HUD form, and various funding fees for conventional, USDA, FHA, and VA mortgages. Did you know? • On an FHA loan that the maximum contribution from a seller, for closing cost, is 6% of the purchase price? • A lender can pay mortgage insurance by putting it in the loan? • On a 90% Conventional loan the maximum contribution from a seller, for closing cost, is 3% of the purchase price? • On an FHA loan the Tax Service Fee is always $83? • The lender makes their money from the origination fee and the admin fee only? The items listed above are a few of the many factors current today and for the state of Georgia. One thing is for certain: They will change! The reason I listed the above items is to emphasize how important it is for your buyer to meet with a mortgage representative prior to starting their home search. Why? Because the mortgage representative can offer a variety of mortgage products, closing cost, rates, and terms that work to the advantage of that buyer in that environment. The Wells Team has a good relationship with many lenders in the Atlanta area. As part of our customer service we require our buyers to sit down with the lender of their choosing and work together to put in place a comprehensive financial plan. The result: A successful buyer experience!