Selling your home in today’s market is tough. If you are using a real estate agent to sell your home or just trying to sell your home by yourself then making your home more marketable should be top priority. If you are having a hard time selling your home in this tough market then try some of these selling tips and see if traffic picks up.

Make sure your home is clean – As real estate investors we buy homes of any type and condition but most retail buyers want a clean home that they can just turn the key and walk into. When someone comes to see your home you don’t want them to turn around and leave because of the smell or visible dirt. Make sure you clean your home like never before. Every inch of your home, especially the kitchens and bathrooms need to be spotless.

Update the landscaping – Most home buyers will look at a property from the outside before deciding to set an appointment to look inside. You don’t want to spend a lot of money on marketing and advertising only to have you prospective buyer turn around when they see the outside of your home. Landscaping is cheap and pays big dividends when trying to sell your home. Make sure the weeds are gone; the grass is cut and the yard free of trash.

Make sure you have brochures – I can’t understand why home owners and real estate agents don’t keep the flyer boxes loaded with flyers. I can’t stand to get out of my car to get a flyer only to find the box empty. I never call the number on the real estate sign, I only call from flyers. Make sure you have plenty of flyers.

For business people who are looking for a good way to make profits, commercial real estate is the way to go. There are so many people that have continued to invest in the business, as houses are being bought and sold on a daily basis. Many business people will tell you that they invest their money in property because they are guaranteed that they will get good returns. Before someone can invest in the business, it is advisable that they first understand the industry and all the components that surround it.

The business is an excellent choice for many investors but majority of them prefer it because it can be a long term or a short term investment option. In the short term, the property can be used to generate cash flow for the owner.

In the long term, it can be left to appreciate in value, where the owner will later sell it for a profit. This type of business is less risky when compared to other forms of investment opportunities.

The other major advantage of the business is that the scope of property that a person can invest in is quite broad. There are so many different choices of properties that investors can choose. Any property that has more than four units can be classified as being a commercial property. Others includes malls, industrial parks, and mobile homes and so on.

There are jobs that are associated with the industry, all of which a person can greatly benefit from. The property investors are very important people in the industry because their money is used to make the industry prosperous. The builders, the financial institutions that lend the money to construct the property and other players all contribute in one way or the other to make the business prosper.

The business people that are interested in the business should first be concerned about how they can finance the business. There are very few people that can be able to finance the business with the money that they already have. Most business people will turn to alternative methods to finance the business. The first choice is usually to approach a certain financial institution and ask for a loan.

The investor will make a business plan that will show the financial institution that he is capable of making profitable investment. This gives the money lender the chance to go through the venture and decide whether the project will be viable or not. The proposal or the business plan should be presented to several lenders in the market.

All those interested in the commercial real estate business can get started by first getting information from those people that have been in the business for some time. Then they can take time to look around at the ones that are available and the prices that they fetch. There are those others that will learn from the mistakes and success of the others who have been in the business before them and they really make really good investors.

We often arrange our homes to express ourselves – our travels, collections, families, favorite colors and unique tastes. However, when selling a home, the goal is to create just the opposite – a clean, neutral background that many different buyers would like to move into. Buyers must feel that they could fit right in and be comfortable in your house. You can help to create this feeling inexpensively by simply cleaning and neutralizing your home before putting it on the market.

(1) Clean Wall to Wall

Bathrooms

Clean bath tile with mildew cleaner. Often the caulking around the bathtub is darkened. This may need to be removed and replaced. It can be purchased in rolls, which is easier to install. Wash or replace shower curtains. Make sure all soap residue is removed. Remove toilet brushes or cleaners from view in bathrooms. Mirrors, counters and all bath fixtures should be immaculate. Buy new soaps and towels, if necessary.

Windows

Have the windows cleaned. Clean windows add a sparkle to the room. During showings, open blinds and expose as much glass as possible. Nothing sells a house better than natural light. If your lights are dim, increase the size of the bulbs. Combine indoor lamp lighting with natural light for warm, cheerful rooms. Remove any broken blinds or dusty curtains.

Floors

Floors must be immaculate. Make sure that your tile grout is perfectly clean. If your flooring is worn or damaged, consider replacing it. Often clients ask if they should provide an allowance for carpet replacement. Rather than offering an allowance, go ahead and replace the carpet. Your home will benefit from the improvement in presentation. New carpet will transform a house, and make everything in it look better. Do not worry about whether the buyers will like it. Just choose a neutral shade.

Walls

Walls usually need touch up, especially if there are children or pets in the house. Freshly painted walls are a strong contributor to the value of your home. Don’t forget the baseboards and door trim. Fix nicks and paint over, for a fresh new look. Remember to leave some labeled paint cans for your buyers. They will appreciate it. Surfaces that cannot be cleaned can be painted.

Kitchen

The kitchen carries a lot of weight in the purchase decision. Kitchen appliances and countertops must sparkle. If needed, new stove burner pans may be purchased at Home Depot. Make sure the oven is clean. Look closely at cabinets. Repaint or refinish any scuffed cabinetry. Do not leave trash containers on display. Clean, and empty the under sink cabinet. Do not display any object that is stained or dirty. Invest in new kitchen towels.

Smells

Buyers are sensitive to bad smells, and will be suspicious of a house with an odor. Pleasant smells are subtle, but important. Use potpourri, candles or cinnamon sticks in hot water. Do not use air fresheners to cover up bad smells – this just compounds the problem. Remove the source of the smell first. Often, people cannot recognize a smell in their own home. If you smoke, have pets, or cook with strong spices, ask for feedback on smells from a third party. Unfortunately, if pets have used your carpet as a bathroom, the only choice is to replace the carpet. Cleaning does not work. The smell is in the pad under the carpet. In the garage, chemicals that have a strong odor should be sealed in plastic bags or removed.

Exterior

You may need to wash the exterior of your house with mildew cleaner, or with detergent and chlorine bleach. Often the shady areas have dark stains that will disappear with washing. Deck wood may need to be washed and sealed. Clean out flower beds and add fresh mulch. Purchase a new door mat.

(2) Neutralize the Space

Simplify Floor Materials

Neutral colors will increase the pool of potential buyers for your home. Your home will appeal to a wider audience. Stay within the range of tans, beiges, and cream colors for tile and carpets. Avoid strong colored or white carpets. Wood floors may be variety of browns. Natural stone floors have their own earth tones that work well. Avoid having many changes in floor materials, if possible.

Use Muted Wall Colors

Unify the house with the same or similar colors. Accent walls are OK in moderation. If buyers see pink and purple walls, they see work. Remember, buyers are in the process of moving, and are already overwhelmed with things to do. Light colors can be very appealing, but stay fairly neutral. Grayed yellows, sage greens, creams, light browns, and tans are muted colors that create a warmer, richer look. In general, avoid stark white, very dark, or bold colors.

Refinish cabinets

One of the problems we often see in kitchens is worn out cabinet finish. Consider painting woodwork for a fresh new look. Natural wood cabinets can be improved by lemon oil or wax. “Howard’s Restore-a-finish” from Benjamin-Moore Paints works wonders to bring back color on scratched, or faded cabinets. New, updated cabinet pulls are an inexpensive improvement for cabinets. If you have dated wallpaper, consider painting the walls instead of replacing paper.

Create a Neutral Background

Strong political or artistic statements are not appropriate when your home is on the market. We do not want buyers to focus on these matters while viewing your house. Large groups of family photos are distracting. Collections, trophies, clippings and projects should be put away, for display in your next home. It is hard for buyers to look past these and visualize themselves in your house. Create a clean, simplified background. Within this background, use nice pieces of furniture, books, art and other objects to add color and beauty. Flowers in the entry and kitchen are very nice touches. Find the best visual presentation using your furniture and possessions.

Clean and Neutralize to Sell

It seems obvious that you should clean you house for sale, but, surprisingly, many people do not. An immaculately clean house is a well cared for house – the kind that buyers love. Clean the place wall to wall. Paint over anything that cannot be cleaned. Neutralize the space in terms of colors and objects on display. Allow buyers to imagine themselves in your home during the showing. The goal is to reach the buyer emotionally, and sell your house quickly and profitably.

I love it when I read these types of headlines. I always get a chuckle and say “So, what did you expect?”

The $ 8,000 home buyer credit was not renewed. FHA, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have tightened lending requirements.

The “BIG BANKS” are imposing their own ridiculous rules on top of the government rules. And you expect the housing market to thrive.

To quote a cartoon character, “DOH!”

Here are some of the particulars in the story: The U.S. Census Bureau reports single family housing starts in June fell by 0.7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 454,000. The U.S. started 1.47 million in 2006 before the bubble burst. The article goes on to claim that a variety of factors have led to a flagging confidence including a sluggish labor market, global turmoil and falling stock prices.

I find it amazing that these so called experts in Washington and New York are clueless as to why we are in trouble on all fronts. Let’s take the labor market. I’m no economist or Harvard scholar but I can sure figure out why the job market is in such turmoil. How about the constant barrage of criticism, rules and regulations that keep CEO and the local business owners guessing “what’s next”

Over the past 4 years the auto industry, banking, financial, and insurance industries have been terrorized by Washington and special interest groups. They have to explain everything from CEO pay to why they’re not being green enough for the environmental groups.

Don’t get me wrong, Wall Street and the banking sector went on a GREED spree like none in history. But with that said, all of the banking and financial sectors have been placed under government rule with all kinds of draconian regulations that have stifled creativity and confidence. Washington has taken their typical reactive and not proactive stance.

Now let’s take business, especially big business. They have tax incentives to take jobs overseas. Does it make sense to anyone for businesses to be laying off people here and exporting jobs elsewhere? Obviously it makes good business sense. The biggest complaint is that taxes overseas are better than and not as high as the U.S. This might be the case but I have seen some reports that show most major companies pay very little federal income tax and most get a major credit. So, is it really taxes, or could it be something else? Cheap labor in some third world country may make the quarterly P and L look good for stock holders but eventually that catches up to you when no one here has any money to buy your product.

Global economic turmoil and falling stock prices are all a factor of Governments around the world becoming so big and cumbersome they stifle growth. In some countries the retirement age is 55 and then people live off the government dole for the rest of their lives.Tax rates in some countries are in the 80% range to pay for all the government social programs and an ever increasing portion of the population doesn’t pay taxes at all (sound familiar?). And you wonder why Europe is on the verge of collapse. Is this a model we want to follow??

Back here in the US all we hear from our leaders is negativity. Words matter and you have to understand they say them more for political reasons. A scared population is a compliant one that will agree with your political ideas. And this has worked well: think 9-11, war in Iraq, TARP Stimulus 1 2 or 3 (I forgot, they keep adding them on), saving GM ‘for America’, and the list could go on. In all of these events our leaders increased the fear factor to new heights making people believe if they did not go along all hell was going to break loose and we would all be out on the streets. Americans and most of Europe are paralyzed with fear escalated by our elected leaders. The job market and the housing market won’t turn around till Main Street starts to feel good about its future.

So what does this mean for Real Estate investors? You need to pick your markets very carefully.

The best markets may not be where you are investing now. For example Florida, my home state, is very anti business. The Government seems to go out of its way to discourage business from moving here. They want tourism, service jobs and retirees. That is living in the past. We need high paying good quality jobs if Florida is to survive and thrive in the market place.

On the other hand, just to our north, Georgia is grabbing every job that brings in good pay, health care and is a asset to the community and the State. Companies from all over the world are signing lease contracts and purchase contracts and plan to hire tens of thousands of Georgians. Both states have housing problems and job losses but one is being proactive and the other is sitting on South Beach having a cold one and taking in the sights!!!Which state will improve faster?

All over the country this is being repeated, with some states fighting for every job while others are living in the past. There have been a number of articles in national publications that more and more companies and people are moving to Southern and Mid Western States. Don’t believe it’s because of the weather. Northern States and Western States are still living in the 50′s and 60′s mentally when government was supposed to know what was best for the people and the business community. They are all super high tax states and still not able to see what their problems are. They are all on the verge of bankruptcy and they blame everyone but themselves. Think California, New York, New Jersey and any one of the New England states. So as an investor you must really do your homework before you invest in an area especially if you are not from that area. What was a good bet in the past might not be safe any longer.

Due diligence is more important they ever. Take the extra time on this part of your Real Estate business and big profits will come your way. Because the rest of the world is scared to death and can’t or won’t make decisions so profits are there for the taking. You just need to have courage to go where others are afraid to.

Stevens: Internet Doesn’t Replace Real Estate Good Service

Question: I read an article in The New York Times that gave you Realtors a pretty tough time. They indicated that the real estate industry is resistant to innovation via the internet and that Realtors don’t spend much time on each deal and therefore it is not worth the commission. Do you have any comments?

Answer: Great question. Thomas Stevens, the President of the National Association of Realtors wrote the following letter to The New York Times which I feel gives a very good overview of what a Realtor actually does. His letter follows:

“It would be hard to find a more one-sided piece of reporting than Damon Darlin’s “The Last Stand of the 6-Percenters?” (September 3, 2006) His swipes at real estate agents reads like an advertisement for the Internet companies he repeatedly references.

“Perspective aside, some glaring errors deserve correction.

“Buying a home is not like buying a book, a CD, or an airline ticket. The Internet’s role in residential real estate is much more like WebMD than Amazon or eBay. It empowers and informs the consumer – which is good for everyone – but it doesn’t replace the need for a doctor’s professional services. Real estate agents are selling unique properties and providing individualized services. They provide a valuable service enabling sellers to get the best price for their homes and buyers to find the best home at the lowest price. They are knowledgeable about the community and neighborhood.
“The real estate industry has been effectively harnessing the Internet for years, to the benefit of sellers and buyers alike. About three out of four buyers today use the Internet to begin their search for homes, and those using the Internet are more likely to work with a professional than those who do not. No other industry in the world has virtually its entire inventory online at one site, but you can find more than 2.2 million homes for sale at REALTOR.com, which has seven million unique visitors each month. The industry has made a multimillion dollar investment to create the infrastructure and provide the security to protect homeowners’ data.

“The simple truth is that most real estate agents do good work and earn their clients’ loyalty. Some 85 percent of home buyers surveyed said they would use a real estate agent again or recommend their agent to another. Home buyers do see the value offered by their neighborhood real estate agents.

“It really is unfortunate that Mr. Darlin did not do his homework and fairly represent an industry that is about promoting homeownership and the building of communities. “

Tips to Spur Off-Season Property Rentals

Question: We have a condo at Keystone and have been looking for ways to optimize our rentals during the off-season. Do you have any suggestions?

Answer: Vacation home owners who want to rent out their property in the off-season have to be creative.

Here are some tips for keeping the place occupied. Most of them are courtesy of Maureen Regar, who runs Seaside Vacation Rentals, which helps owners rent vacation homes in Maine.

o Lower the rates. Typical reductions are 30 percent for the shoulder season and 50 percent for the low season. But, don’t slash them significantly more than the competition because potential renters will fear there is something wrong with the property.

o Package it. Offer summer guests the opportunity to rent cheaply during a VIP off-season. Linking the offer to a birthday or anniversary can make it particularly appealing.

o Emphasize off-season pleasures. If fall sales in the area are good, call it holiday shopping season and promote that. Likewise, think about fall and winter sports — even unconventional ones like hockey or basketball championships, auto racing, etc.

o Winterize and emphasize the holidays. Places for families to gather for an end-of-the-year celebration are increasingly popular. Increase appeal with warm comforters, spice-scented candles, and a selection of holiday DVDs.

o Consider accepting pets. Some people will drive a long way if they can bring Fido with them.

o Have Internet. Some people won’t rent without it.

Aromatic, Freshly Painted Homes Sell Faster

Question: Please help! My home hasn’t sold and I need to sell it quick. I am getting comments that it doesn’t show well. I need suggestions and I’ll bet you have some.

Answer: You bet I do.

In some areas of the nation, houses are selling slowly. Designed to Sell, a book from HGTV and edited by Vicki Christian for HGTV, offers these suggestions to get things moving:

Paint everything: Paint the front door and replace its hardware. Consider painting the siding if it is dull. Inside, choose neutral colors for most rooms, but not stark white. Use warmer colors like golden beiges or sandy tans.

Get cooking: A home that smells like fresh bread sells faster. And make sure the kitchen is spotless and has a fresh coat of paint, at least.

Add home jewelry: New faucets, light fixtures, doorknobs, and cabinet pulls can add luster to bathrooms and kitchens.

Let it go: Reduce the furnishings in every room by 25 percent to 50 percent. Store collections. Invest in new window treatments and new furniture in the first room a potential buyer will walk into.

For answers to your real estate questions, us 970-468-6800 or 1-800-262-8442. Email – Info@SummitRealEstate.com or visit their web site at http://www.SummitRealEstate.com

To succeed in real estate sales these days….when you have to be more than an order-taker, when you can’t stand on the street corner and take loan aps from car windows….you have to build a large following.

A large following, also known as a large database of potential clients, or a large circle of influence, takes time and strategy. Here is a high-level look at one such strategy:

Micro-niche yourself. Become known in your niche. Become known by: Blogging about your niche, Contributing articles across the internet, in local publications, and for other local interest groups about your niche, Door knocking, cold calling, networking, or other traditional prospecting means…within your niche, Doing traditional “farming” in your niche, Advertising in your niche, Listing in your niche, Holding open houses in your niche, Create events and opportunities to stand out in your niche, Show up at events where your niche could be a focal point, Then monetize your efforts by getting email addresses from those people you meet, along with permission to send them information. Follow through with consistent, HIGH VALUE content that’s important to them, not to you.

You’ll want to systematize these efforts as much as possible. For instance, the follow-up can be systematized with a good auto-responder. Consider working with an inexpensive service provider, like http://www.Odesk.com, where you can find highly competent social marketing specialists for as low as $4/hour. They can post your blogs and articles, as well as update your Facebook, Twitter, and other social pages.

By the Way, What Is a Micro-Niche?

Examples include: Downtown condos. Oceanfront vacation homes. The [name of your own] neighborhood. Senior communities. Classic old homes. Horse properties. Urban farms. Bohemian neighborhoods. Etc.

How do you pick a niche?

Pick a niche that you know well or want to know well, then steep yourself in it. If you aren’t going to be able to do that for your niche, pick a different niche.

Picking a niche is part science, part intuition. For instance, you’ll want to pick a niche that will be profitable for you. If there are only 100 urban farm type properties in your community, that niche won’t make you rich. If you’ve lived in a community all your life, chances are that would be a good niche for you, as long as there are enough properties to provide you with a good living.

Chances are the words “seller’s market” will not be uttered in reference to this year’s housing market. But you may be in a position where you HAVE to sell your house now. In this current housing market, to say the competition is tough is an understatement. You only have one opportunity to make a great first impression on your potential home buyer.

We were fortunate enough to have an interior decorator walk through our home, and give us some very good (free) house staging advice as a gift to us. Here are eight tips on how to stage your house for sale.

1. Clear out the Clutter. Yes, clear out the clutter in every room, every closet, and even the basement (aka the dumping ground). The potential home buyer can’t see through your mess, and shouldn’t have to imagine what your house would look like without the clutter.

To clean out our clutter, we rented a 15 yard dumpster for a couple of weeks spending about $300. It’s a great, freeing feeling to toss all that stuff out, believe me!

If you have items you need to keep, but space is an issue, check out the rates at your local storage facility. We are currently renting a 10 ft. x 10 ft. storage area for $75 a month. This has allowed us to clear out our basement. Our plan is to finish our basement, and turn our two bedroom into a four bedroom home before putting it on the market.

2. Paint using a neutral color. Whether it’s because of an unusual color choice, or just to cover up scuff marks, and your kid’s artwork, painting will really help to clean up your house. We have an open concept home where the kitchen living room and dining room are all wide open.

The decorator recommended the neutral paint color: Benjamin Moore, Powell Buff. Benjamin Moore paint is expensive, but you can save some money by getting a swatch, and have Home Depot or Lowes match the color with a more economical paint.

This neutral color, painted throughout most of our house, has given the house a clean/rich appearance. We also used this color in the hallway, and in our boy’s bedroom.

3. Clean the carpets and re-grout the tile. While cleaning the carpets will obviously improve the appearance of your house, re-grouting the tile was something we wouldn’t have thought to do.

We have an ivory color tile in our front entrance and bathroom. The grout was a taupe color. The decorator suggested going over the existing grout with a lighter color grout. This job is easy, but time consuming and messy. Check out Lowes for a huge selection of grout colors and tools for grouting. We chose a lighter taupe and the results are impressive giving the tile a fresh look.

4. Replace carpet if necessary. Our great room carpet was just over ten years old. It was in a room with a wood burning stove, and it was also the room where the kids hung out, and made many a mess. That carpet was stained so badly that it was an embarrassment. We were long overdue for ripping it out. We easily disposed of the old carpet right out the slider and into the dumpster.

The room is rather big at 20 ft. x 20 ft., and we agreed that faux wood laminate would be the best choice. We purchased the laminate at Lowes for about $300 (less than the price of carpet) and installed it ourselves. It was a tough, all weekend job, but the result is a nice clean “wood” floor.

5. Evaluate the furniture and replace if necessary. Our furniture was fine with the exception of our informal dining room table and chairs, and one couch that we had in our great room. This couch was nearly as old as I was (we are the third owners) and had been covered just as many times. It was in rough shape, but It had worked out great for our two messy boys! The decorator said it was time for the couch to go. That’s where the dumpster really came in handy!

The table and chairs were outdated too, and we sold them on Craig’s List. These were stored in the storage unit, and the neutral location worked out perfectly for the sale.

The decorator was gracious enough to go furniture shopping with me. Knowing we have to stay within a certain budget, she suggested we meet at Jordan’s Furniture Outlet Store in Avon, MA. We purchased our couch here for a great price. Jordan’s is where our decorator shops on a regular basis (for the clients on a budget, whose homes she stages) to get some great deals. Items are either overstocks or have some minor flaws. The turnaround is fast, because there are a lot of repeat customers scouting out the great deals.

We spent $700 on a couch and love-seat, and the couches were flawless overstocks. This purchase qualified (then) for entrance into their Red Sox Monster Sweep, which they are promoting again this year. If you purchase from them, and the Boston Red Sox sweep the World Series, Jordan’s will give you a rebate for the entire amount of the eligible item. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Using last years “Stimulus Check” and tax refund, we purchased the couches ($700) an antique white and cherry table ($167) six antique white side chairs ($57 ea.). Please refer to the photos below. We are very happy with the furniture, and of course it will come with us to our new house.

6. Move your furniture. The new couches were placed in our living room and the “old” leather living room couches were moved out into the great room.

I am no decorator, so this is where her advice was really helpful. To make the room look 100 times better, she pulled the couch away from the wall, to create the “L” shape that you see in both the living room, and the great room photos. This one change gave the room a more intimate seating area. The room immediately felt cozier and more inviting. She suggested adding a sofa table behind the couch, displaying a lamp and an ivy plant, none of which we have purchased yet.

In the great room photo, you will see that each couch is flanked by an end table. On each end table there is a 36″ tall lamp. The coffee table is centered and displays a pretty bowl. Also in this great room photo, the TV is flanked with shelves on either side. This was the decorator’s suggestion to move our shelves around the TV, and to make a focal “entertainment center” out of what shelves we did have.

The bedroom furniture was moved into the orientation shown. The decorator suggested floor length drapes for the window treatment. She suggested 24″ table lamps for each night stand, and matching pictures to hang above each night stand. The sleigh bed is now the focal point upon entering the room.

7. Decorate at a discount. The decorator took me to another one of her favorite stores, Home Goods. I think I had only been to a Home Goods one other time in my life, but this particular trip was certainly worthwhile.

Based on the living room wall color and couches, I picked out two similar pictures, that we hung close togehter behind our coach.

Spring is Here! Eight Tips on How to Stage Your House For Sale is a post from: REAL ESTATE

]]> http://www.markbashore.com/spring-is-here-eight-tips-on-how-to-stage-your-house-for-sale/feed 0 http://www.markbashore.com/marketing-your-real-estate-services-with-newsletters http://www.markbashore.com/marketing-your-real-estate-services-with-newsletters#comments Tue, 15 May 2012 13:43:13 +0000 admin ]]> http://www.markbashore.com/marketing-your-real-estate-services-with-newsletters Marketing Your Real Estate Services With Newsletters is a post from: REAL ESTATE

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Newsletters – they’re the non-threatening way to stay in touch with the people important to your success. That would be past customers and clients, your sphere of influence, and current prospects. If you can afford it, include your farm area.

Done correctly, a regularly scheduled newsletter can create a loyalty that prospecting letters, postcards, and advertising never could. They’re like little gifts that you send with no obvious expectation of return. They make your readers slightly beholden to you, while creating a warm and friendly feeling.

Letter by letter you become a trusted friend – a friend they’ll call the next time they need a real estate agent, or to whom they’ll send their other friends.

So what goes into this newsletter? News, of course.

Let your readers know what’s happening in the neighborhood. Did a business open, close, or change hands? Is there a new housing development coming in? Did a landmark building just get torn down? Folks like to know these things, and because you’re in the business of knowing, they’ll come to count on you to let them know.

What about local charities? Are they holding an event? Are you going to be there helping out? Have they just received a grant or a huge donation that’s going to make a big difference in the lives of people or animals (or trees) in your neighborhood?

Give the who, what, why, when, and where that a newspaper columnist would include.

Depending upon the volume of business and the frequency of your newsletters, you can include new listings. I don’t recommend including recently sold listings, however. I got talked into that once and it caused a whole lot of confusion. People were calling wanting to see the places that were already sold because they didn’t really pay attention to the headline. (sigh)

You can also brag a little – but not excessively. If you’ve gained a large percentage of the business in your area you can include a pie chart. If your listings are selling in record time or at a high list to sell percentage you can talk about it. This is also a good place to slip in a mention of your niche market. As in: “During the month of October I was pleased to help 7 young families move into the home of their dreams.” Or perhaps “In August, I helped 5 senior couples relocate to beach front condos – where lawn mowing duties now belong to someone else.”

If you’ve been to school and gotten a new designation, you can tell about it – but be sure to tell why you did it. The reason, of course, is so that you can do an even better job for your customers and clients.

Just to round out the news, I like to include a small column with quotes. Anything uplifting that matches your personality will do. I’ve often had customers call just to tell me that they enjoyed a certain quote – that it really hit home for them that day.

If you’re really stuck, you can get short articles from services such as pages. com. Those can be about home care, safety, new electronic gadgets – anything that fits with your style.

The next question is how to send it. I really believe that a hard copy in the mail means more to people than an email. They’ll pass it around to family, and even show it to friends if you’ve offered something interesting. And… it just feels different. Somehow more important. If you’re sending quite a few, it is worth the expense and trouble to get a bulk rate permit from the post office. You’ll have to sort, but at about 1/3 the price of regular mail, you could easily hire a high school student to do that and still be money ahead.

Be sure to include your photo on your newsletter, just as you do on your cards. Not everyone is a whiz at remembering names, but most of us remember faces.

Don’t let anyone forget you – send them a newsletter. Do it monthly if you can, but at least quarterly.

The first decade of this century has certainly been a roller coaster in terms of world events and real estate value! The Northern Virginia local Sun Gazette newspaper prints a chart each year that shows the average sales price of homes and number of transactions, as well as the percent change over the previous year. The previous decade closed in 1999 with 22,715 total sales and an average sales price of $238,496 for a home in Northern Virginia.

Looking back over the dawn of the new millennium, I recall the concern that the roll over in digits from 1999 to 2000 might bring. All the preparation led to what turned out to be a very smooth transition. Perhaps due to the effort expended for the new technology, there was a corresponding build up in market value for tech stocks, leading to the dotcom bust which began in March of 2000. Northern Virginia does have the Dulles technology corridor which was impacted some by the bust in tech stocks, but the biggest headline at that time had to do with the Presidential election and the “hanging chad”.

Then, who could forget 9-11-2001. For Americans, that date is permanently burned into our psyche. Living close to Washington, DC all of a sudden wasn’t perceived as a benefit once people in a very real way saw a plane intentionally flown into the Pentagon. It was like a bomb dropped! Being inside the beltway took on an entirely new meaning. Now, for safety reasons, many people wanted to be as far away as possible. Commerce effectively stalled, including real estate transactions. Honestly, it was like a ghost town in the halls of our McLean real estate office. But slowly people realized that life had to go on, and a new sense of normal came into existence. The Washington, DC metro area real estate market subsequently benefited because in response to the 9-11 attacks, Homeland Security was created.

Those events began the uphill ride of the roller coaster in real estate values, with 5 straight years of double-digit appreciation in sales price from 2001 to 2005. Then as the saying goes: what goes up must come down. In 2006 the market lived off the fumes of 2005; in 2007, the market lived off the fumes of 2006, and in 2008 there were no more fumes. 2008 brought the entire nation to its knees with a financial crisis brought on predominately by the crash of the housing bubble. This market crash, which went from 2007 to 2009 has been primarily attributed to the credit crisis and housing bubble. Interestingly, the peak average home sales price in Northern Virginia occurred in the year 2008 at $538,463, but the peak number of transactions of 32,735 occurred in 2004.

The Sun Gazette chart stated that the average sales price for a home in Northern Virginia for 2009 was $431,018 and that there were 19,035 sales. What will 2010 say? I believe 2010 has shown a year of recovery and that we are a couple of years away from returning to peak value. From 1999 to 2009, there was an average of 8% appreciation on home values, which is still very respectable. As a Realtor who is active in the marketplace, my perspective on 2010 is that it was a fairly normal market. Good properties priced correctly for the current market conditions sold in a reasonable period of time.

If you are a Purchaser waiting for values to go down, for most of the market area, I believe that you missed the bottom! Now is the best time to buy! If you are a Seller of real property in Northern Virginia, know that being in a normal market is still a very good time to sell. The present conditions will probably continue for several more years at least.

In the day that you have decided to buy a new house, there are some things that you need to be aware of and this article will be highlighting some of these things for you. All in all, what you are going to get are some tried and true pointers that have been in the industry for a long time now, and all that is happening here is that it is being passed down in the form of an editorial piece here that you can read and then of course, in the future, refer to if you want to.

For one thing, when you are looking at the house, you should always know about the history of the place, and the one place that you should not be getting it is the agent that you are talking to, and for the simple fact that all that he or she wants to do is to just sell you the house. I am sure you can talk to some neighbours and ask for the history of ownership of the house. If you want to be even more careful, what you can do is to actually just talk to the local authorities.

The next thing you should be doing is that you should be getting the average prices of property not only at your building or location, but the local region of the place that you are going to buy the house at. This helps you to ascertain the kind of price that you are paying, and it also will help you to ascertain the type of price that you are getting. Because sometimes too low is too low and too high is too high, if you know what we mean. Always check the prices first.

Now, the fourth thing that you should be looking at is the location of the place, and do not just look at the brochure. Little things like a convoluted way to get to the nearest shopping mall, or availability of amenities can be exaggerated in the brochure of the house, and this means that you are going to want to find out the details if you are going to be living there long term, and this includes where the facilities and travel times that you are going to be experiencing when you are needing to do your day to day duties, on a daily basis.

These are some of the things that you might want to know about when you are looking at a house for sale, and if you do know, these points can be quite important if you really look at it. All in all, what you are also needing to do is to find out more things from agents, especially those industry secrets that will help you to get an edge on the market situation. All in all, these are some of the pointers that you might want to think about, and might help you make an informed decision.