Why Doesn't My Home Sell

As we go into the second half of the 2010 real estate market we have frustrated sellers who have the same question:

WHY DOESN'T MY HOME SELL?

The Wells Team spent some time talking to real estate acquaintances, and friends around the country. This includes the metro Atlanta area, Florida, and Nevada.

The answers are the same:

If you were priced too high at the beginning, the initial interest wears off, and the home sits.

A house that is not updated is at a serious disadvantage to other resales.

Foreclosures continue to appear. Their effect on the market to continues

Barb, Randy, and Sue, of the Wells Team, continue to emphasize these points to our clients. It is information that all of our clients need to know. It is not often well received but we owe it to them what they need to hear not what they want to hear.

If you find yourself in the North Metro Atlanta area give us a call. We are the area experts.

We are the Wells team of The Norton Agency.

www.randywellsteam.com

Lake Lanier Market Update

This is a short overview that we recently sent our clients.

As for Lake Lanier:

There are currently 370 properties for sale in the $250,000 to $700,000K range.

For the time period of January to May 2010 in the $250,000 to $700,000K range:

There were 67 homes sold with an average price of $389,303

There are 27 pending sales with an average price of $433,025

During the January to May 2010 time period for condos on Lake Lanier:

14 currently for sale with an average price of $173,150

13 sales with an average price of $232,015

Barb and I continue to see a large number of lake properties available. Eventhough the properties are not selling, the owners have not significantly lowered the prices. Most of them have no sense of urgency to sell. We do see the occasional foreclosure which gathers interest. Overall a slow market as the second home market remains flat.

IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR LAKE LANIER EXPERTS TO SHOW YOUR PROPERTIES LOOK NO FURTHER. THE WELLS TEAM MEMBERS LIVE HERE! LET US HELP YOU FIND YOUR NEXT LAKE PROPERTY!

Check out our lake listings at www.randywellsteam.com

Chestatee Neighborhood, Dawsonville Ga, Market Update

We recently sent out this market update to our clients:

The summer is heating up bout our market seems to have cooled slightly.

We wanted to start with some recent statistics:

Here are the May statistics for Dawson County:

426 homes for sale throughout the county

24 sold in May

29 Pending (under contract but have not closed)

Dawson County has a 14.7 months of inventory.

The average home sits 110 days on the market.

When the home is sold it is receiving 93% of its current list price

Positive points about the preceding numbers:

The number of day that the average home is on the market has dropped 21.4%

The final price received has gone up 4.5%

Chestatee update: Barb and I have some clients that we are currently working with on homes in the neighborhood. At the same time other clients have disappeared. Some of them have grown nervous in the decline of the stock market, others appear to be on a different page then their significant other, and others cannot the find the "perfect house". Our phone calls from real estate agents has also decreased. The amount of activity at this time of year will also decrease slightly as summer vacations begin for most families.

There have been four recent sales in the neighborhood. All of them were foreclosures with prices ranging from $319,000 to $855,000. That portion of the market continues to intrigue buyers in search of the bargain. We have also seen three homes advertised for foreclosure in the newspaper. Unfortunately this continues to hurt all of you with your homes as we try to compete. Pricing pressures continues.

THE CHESTATEE NEIGHBORHOOD CONTINUES TO HAVE GREAT OPPORTUNITIES! IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THE ONLY GOLF COURSE/LAKE LANIER NEIGHBORHOOD GIVE US A CALL! BARB AND RANDY, OF THE WELLS TEAM, ARE BOTH 10 YEAR RESIDENTS OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD WHO HAVE RECORDED THE MOST RESALES!

GO TO OUR WEBSITE AND SEE OUR CHESTATEE LISTINGS: www.randywellsteam.com

I WANT IT ALL!

The last time I heard this line was from Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory! (Remember the scene?)

This is what The Wells Team is seeing with home buyers in the North Atlanta area.

There is very little new home inventory available. (The builders are gone).

The buyers are looking at the large amount of reslae inventory including foreclosures.

What are the comments?

"A lot of house for the money but the bathroom needs updating".

"Where is the granite in the kitchen"

"The Dining Room needs to be repainted".

"The entire home is outdated".

ENOUGH!

Here is the reality concerning resales and foreclosures.

Look at the price per square foot of the home. Compare the cost of buying the home or building the home with the latest bells and whistles.

The conclusion is obvious.

The Wells Team has homes that average under $100 per square foot. Compare that to the $135+ per square foot to build the same home new. Take the diffrerence in price and update the bathroom, kitchen, or both. You still come out ahead.

The deals are still there. They just involve a little extra work to give them your personal touch.

With that extra effort YES YOU CAN HAVE IT ALL!

The Listing interview: An inexact science

The Wells Team has had overall success in securing listings through our listing interviews!

However the way it ultimately happens is different from what we envisioned.

Here is how The Wells Team goes into a potential listing interview:

At least one day prior we leave a listing presentation with potential sellers. We ask them to read the information and be ready to ask questions.

We meet the sellers for the first time in their home. At this point we could be seeing the home for the first time. We take a tour, take diligent notes, ask questions about upgrades, repairs, utilites, and other pertinent information. After the tour we sit with the sellers, ask them what questions they have for us, and then cover other information that they had not asked previously.

We thank them for their time, have a team meeting to discuss pricing, and make an appiontment to visit them for a second time. At that time we are then ready to give them more exact information on pricing their home and working with us.

That is the way we envision it.

Now here is what happens:

We give the potential seller the listing presentation in advance. They might, or might not, look at the information.

We meet them for the first time and take a tour of the home. After the tour we are ready for their questions about marketing, and how we have achieved overall success in the industry. Instead we receive two questions. How much is my home worth? What is the commission cost and can we change that?
In most cases we have a price in mind for the home. We ask the ability to have a meeting among the team to discuss the home price, as well as, commission options for the seller.

What have we found? If we give the potential seller an immediate price for the home we receive different reactions. We were too blunt with the home price or we were not pricing the home aggresively enough. Either way we lose! The same goes for negotiations on the commissions. Different circumstances allow The Wells Team to discuss possible commission changes. This needs to be done among the team, in private, assessing all of the variables in order to give them options. If we do not have an immediate answer then we appear resistant to change.

Bottom line: There is not a winning solution. The sellers each look at the realtor/seller relationship differently. As well as we try to prepare we never know what to expect.

It is truly an inecxact science!

Market thoughts for the first four months of 2010.

Spring has hit us quickly in North Georgia with summer right around the corner.

Every real estate market is local and the Wells Team knows this market as well as anybody.

We saw a surge of lookers (drive bys) in Mid April. This group gave us some of the best open house results we had seen in a year. This group is pretty consistent in their home buying status. They will soon be emptynesters, retiring, or move back to the area to be with their family. Some return to work with us. Overall they procrastinate waiting for the perfect home to be found. They are a test of patience.

Those that buy now represent the "sharks". This group wants an upper end of foreclosure home with all the bells and whistles. They have circled knowing which ones are appearing. They strike quickly and land themselves a victim of a home!

Then our last group: Return customers who are looking for a home that does not exist, the price that does not exist, and with the intent of torturing themselves looking for perfect situation.

In other words the players are the same from last year.

However we state this fact our first four months of 2010 have far exceeded this time last year. We have gone from 0 closings in 2009 to 4 closings in 2010 with number 5 on the way!

Why the improvement? Working with long-term customers has finally paid dividends! The Wells Team has the patience, and the expertise, to eventually place our clients in their "dream home".

Conclusion: We believe the market will loosen up slightly the remainder of the year. Price will drive the sale of the home unless the home has that "extra special feature". Buyers still want to think that they are getting a deal. At the same time they are beginning to realize that there is not an unlimited supply of those deals available. If they continue to "snooze they will lose"!

As for our sellers: The market has not come back to "normal". If they bought their home in the last five years, and want to sell, do not expect to walk away with a large profit. If they do not need to sell we ask that they wait a while longer. If they are in a position that they need to sell they need to realize that the market dictates the price of their home instead of how they feel about their home. This can be a source of friction between the seller and The Wells Team.

The first four months have given The Wells Team an excuse for guarded optimism. However our expertise, and research, tells us to wait a while longer before beginning the celebration on the home market.

If we can help you in the North Atlanta area give us a call! We are The Wells Team of The Norton Agency. www.randywellsteam.com

SHOULD WE CHANGE OUR REAL ESTATE BUSINESS INTO A 501c NON PROFIT?

We have a dilemma on our hands? Do we change our real estate business into a non profit? We ask this question because we have recently been asked to cut our commission by 33% on a recent sale! This is in addition to the never ending request for real estate help requested by the
For Sale by Owners!

The Wells Team is not in the real estate business because we needed a hobby! This is how we make our living!

For some reason many people cannot make the same conclusion. As far as they are concerned we are a service they want to avoid using because of the commission. At the same time they have no problems asking us to use our limited free time to assist them in the selling of their For Sale by Owner property.

We also see no end in sight to the request to cut our commissions by 1 point which equates to a 33% overall commission cut!

Our marketing expenses, board dues, gas, desk fees, and marketing have not declined by 33%!

Simple conclusion: If we take the commission cuts that are requested and work for free, then why continue in the real estate business? A simple solution would be to ask for non profit status. At least we get a tax break!