The Phoenix Real Estate Advisor

We found this article in the archives, and thought it would be good to publish here.  Many people think that just because they are selling their home as a distressed property, they don’t need to take the same care in preparing it for sale.  Well, now more than ever, your home needs to look it’s best.  With so many homes on the market as competition, your home needs to be the one that receives the offer.

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We’ve all heard the old adage “you never get a second chance to make a first impression.” This is especially true when it comes to your home. If you’re thinking about selling, there’s no more important audience to attract than potential buyers, who are highly influenced by how a home looks the first time they get a glimpse of it. Even if your goal is just to impress your neighbors and guests you should pay close attention to the first impression your home in making. Here are a few simple tips and techniques that can positively affect your home’s “curb appeal” and perhaps even its value.

Clean Up and Repair:
The most useful chores to tackle first are basic maintenance and repairs before moving onto larger projects. Clean windows and siding, make sure outdoor lights are working, stow away yard tools and equipment, and clean up dead branches and leaves. Make sure that fences, walkways, and the driveway are in good repair too - a home that looks well taken care of is always more attractive to buyers.

Landscaping:
A full landscape overhaul may not be necessary, but your yard, especially in the front, should look neat and well maintained. Trim any overgrown shrubs, remove weeds, and tidy up planting areas. If the season is right, add some colorful flowering plants to brighten up areas around walkways and the front entrance. It’s an easy and inexpensive way to create an instantly welcoming feeling.

The Entrance:
The front door is another key element of that all-important first impression, and should reflect the style of the home. If replacement is cost-prohibitive, consider reviving a tired, faded door with a fresh coat of paint in a great accent color and swapping out the hardware.

Paint It New:
Brighten up the exterior of your home with a new paint job. Driving around your neighborhood may inspire some ideas of what may be flattering to your home. If you’re planning to sell your home, it’s usually best to go with colors that have widespread appeal so that potential buyers won’t be put off by unusual colors or combinations. Painting the exterior can add significantly to the home’s value.

Bill Rosser
Bill.Rosser@pillartopost.com
ptphome.com/northwestvalley
602-866-7678

RISMEDIA, September 4, 2009—(MCT)—The atmosphere is electric, the deals can be dazzling, and the process can turn a bidder into a home buyer seemingly in a matter of minutes.

But as interest in real estate auctions grows, bidders are finding out it pays to read the fine print, be prepared and realize that it’s best not to hire the movers until the deal, not the auction, is sealed. Not everyone who “wins” at an auction walks away with a new home.

Consider Cicero, Ill., resident Karina Castaneda, who happily left an auction in late June thinking she’d just purchased her first home. She had the winning bid on a four-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath town home at Enclave at Galewood Crossing on Chicago’s West Side. Her bid and the associated fees totaled about $120,000. She put up $5,000 of earnest money at the auction, signed the necessary documents and a few days later was e-mailed more forms to sign. Then she received a phone call from auctioneer Rick Levin & Associates that the developer, Red Seal Homes, was not accepting her bid. Confused, Castaneda said she called Red Seal and was offered a different unit for a price closer to $200,000. She declined and felt wronged.

But language in the contract gave the developer the ability to reject her bid, even though it was the highest bid. Now, Castaneda is back in the market for a home and hasn’t ruled out auctions, because of the price breaks they offer. “I figure, what are my chances that it will happen twice?” she said.

A recent auction of the former Chicago post office demonstrates the care that needs to be taken by bidders. Despite advertising that the building would be sold “absolute,” meaning to whoever made the highest bid, a potential bidder went to court to postpone the event, arguing that language in the contract was unclear and made it sound like the winning bid could be rejected. The auctioneer, Rick Levin & Associates, disagreed with the interpretation but agreed to remove the language, and the event proceeded as scheduled.

The use of auctions as a sales technique has been growing all year, and auction companies expect the late summer and fall to yield a bumper crop of events since foreclosure moratoriums have expired and home builders have grown more desperate to shrink their inventory.

As interest in auctions has grown, the industry is trying to better educate potential bidders about what it admits can be a complicated process, particularly during the heat of the moment at fast-paced events.

Auction companies are posting pictures of properties and open-house dates on their websites. Copies of an auction’s terms and conditions and the sales contract are usually available there too. Auctioneers also are trying to do more due diligence themselves, to help sellers appropriately price properties so they will sell, rather than the auctions just being used as a marketing tactic.

Bank foreclosures may provide the best opportunities for consumers, because lenders are anxious, said Paul Rogers, managing broker of Inland Real Estate Auctions, who thinks the uptick in auctions is only just beginning. “A lot of these banks were sitting on these bad deals and hoping these things were going to turn around, and now they realize the problems aren’t going to go away,” Rogers said. “They want to structure these deals so the properties and the problems go away.”

A concern about falling comparable prices also is prompting more developers, and the lenders who hold their loans, to consider selling their best homes at auction this fall before more distressed properties enter the auction system.

“People that sell now will do better than if they sell later,” said Michael Fine, executive vice president of Sheldon Good & Co. “As the better properties get sold now, the lesser properties will be left, and that will drag down comparisons.”

Tips for bidders
-First go to an auction as an observer to get a feel for the fast-paced process.
-Read the auction’s terms and conditions sheet and the contract, and consider showing it to an attorney before the auction. Most auction companies post the documents on their websites.
-If possible, inspect the property. Most are sold “as is.”
-Research the neighborhood and comparable sales so you don’t spend more than you should for a house.
-Bring what’s required if you are going to bid. Most auctions require bidders to put up a cashier’s check for a certain amount to show their true interest.

Types of auctions
Absolute: The highest bidder wins the auction, regardless of price. The same as an auction without reserve.
With reserve: An unpublished price the seller has set for the property. It can be different than the minimum bid. The seller can accept or decline a winning bid within a specified amount of time after the auction.
Subject to lender approval: A lender, who either owns a foreclosure or who has financed a developer, must agree to sell the home for the amount of the winning bid.

(c) 2009, Chicago Tribune.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

Read more: http://rismedia.com/2009-09-03/real-estate-auctions-top-bid-doesnt-always-guarantee-sale/#ixzz0Q9T0kGXA

We just received this notice from our MLS board. We tell our sellers all the time not to let people in to see their home without a REALTOR and this is why.

The police are looking for suspects in a West side robbery/assault.

ARMLS has been asked to alert all agents to an assault and robbery that occurred at a listing near Old Town Glendale (vicinity of 43rd Ave. and Glendale Ave.) earlier this week.

The homeowner was watering his front lawn when he was approached by a passing couple who asked if they could see the house.  The homeowner did what agents teach homeowners to do and referred the inquiry to the listing agent.  The couple stayed and continued to talk to the homeowner and after some casual conversation the owner changed his mind and allowed the seemingly nice couple into the house.

Once inside, they asked about the neighborhood, then the female pointed to something on the floor and asked what it was.  When the homeowner bent over to inspect, the male visitor attacked him from behind and beat him severely. They robbed him of money and damaged his cell phone so he could not call police.

The assailants are described as white, late 30’s to early 40’s in age.  The man is 5′8″ to 5′9″ and the woman slightly smaller, both medium build.  The homeowner has been unable to provide more details.  They are driving a late model brown/dark gold 4-door Buick with a distinctive radio antenna –  it’s a coat hanger.  If you see such a couple in this car, you are urged to contact the local police department with a location and if possible a license plate number.

ARMLS urges you to reconfirm with your sellers that access to the home should never be allowed to someone the owner does not know.  All inquiries should be referred to the listing agent, for the homeowner’s own protection.

I know it seems like a little thing to let a couple see your home but this happens all across the country and it’s just not worth the risk. I guess some people (for sale by owners) don’t get much choice but if you’re represented by a REALTOR please give them the agents name and number and walk away.

We all love going home at the end of the day to a place we feel safe. Yet, residential homes are often the target of burglary, theft and other crimes. Statistically there are over 8000 reported home invasions each and every day across North America. Luckily, there are a number of measures you can take to help keep your home and valuables secure when you are at home or away.
 Secure the Yard with a Fence

A fence and locked gate are two simple ways to prevent your home from looking like a target. These tactical deterrents add an important obstacle for thieves to overcome, and burglars will avoid homes with these basic security features. Fences can also add privacy to your backyard, and keep children and pets in one place as they play. Many fencing options are both attractive and secure, so you don’t need to worry about creating a “fortress” appearance around your home.

Secure Lighting

Lighting is a basic but important burglary deterrent. Indoor and outdoor lights can thwart would-be thieves by creating the illusion that the house is occupied when you are not home, and by minimizing the number of places for burglars to hide at night. Keep your yard well lit with motion-detecting lights and put several interior lights on a programmable timer when you are away.
 Secure Garage

Garages are a favorite target for thieves because they contain easy to sell valuables like bicycles, tools and cars. Garages can also provide easy access into the home unless precautions are taken. Installing garage door openers will make access much more difficult, but it’s also important to keep all garage windows and access doors securely locked. Look into installing tempered glass in windows, or covering the inside of the windows with a sheet of durable Plexiglas. You might also consider fastening a padlock and hasp on the interior access door when you leave for extended periods of time.

Secure Entrances

Make a thorough evaluation of the entry points to your home. Make sure all doors have a secure lock and reinforce the door frames. Windows should be closed and locked at all times when you are away. You can also look into glass alternatives that are harder to break or cut.

The Right Alarm System

There are numerous variables and systems of monitoring, so research should be invested to find the perfect system that will works for your home and your budget.

Bill Rosser
Bill.Rosser@pillartopost.com  or 602-866-7678
www.pillartopost-northwestvalley.com

Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes rose one point in August to its highest level in more than a year, according to the latest reading of the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). Building on a two-point gain in July, the HMI reached 18 this month, its highest point since June of 2008.

“Home builder expectations have been buoyed by the success of the first-time home buyer tax credit and its anticipated boost to buying activity leading up to the Nov. 30 expiration date,” said NAHB Chairman Joe Robson, a home builder from Tulsa, Okla. “The question is what happens after that- whether there will be enough momentum to keep us moving toward a recovery, particularly in light of significant headwinds such as the severe credit crunch for housing production loans and inappropriate appraisal practices that are scuttling a quarter of all new-home sales. Unless Congress and the Administration focus their attention on housing right now, this improvement may well be short-lived,” he said.

“One very positive aspect of this report is the big gain registered in the component gauging home builders’ expectations for the next six months,” noted NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. “This reflects anticipated sales stemming from the tax credit as well as recent signs that an economic recovery has begun. There is definitely a sense of hope among builders that the worst of the downturn is over and that a turning point is near at hand. Meaningful action by Congress could ensure that this upward momentum continues and that housing can help push the economy back onto solid ground.”

NAHB is calling on Congress to extend the first-time home buyer tax credit for another year and to offer it to all income-eligible buyers. In addition, NAHB is urging Congress to help eliminate the credit crunch, correct faulty appraisal practices and expand Net Operating Loss tax provisions that can help avoid more layoffs. Each of these actions would generate thousands of new jobs and provide a much-needed boost to economic recovery.

Derived from a monthly survey that NAHB has been conducting for more than 20 years, the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index gauges builder perceptions of current single-family home sales and sales expectations for the next six months as “good,” “fair” or “poor.” The survey also asks builders to rate traffic of prospective buyers as “high to very high,” “average” or “low to very low.” Scores for each component are then used to calculate a seasonally adjusted index where any number over 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as good than poor.

Two out of three of the HMI’s component indexes recorded substantial gains in August. The biggest boost, of 4 points, was registered by the index gauging sales expectations in the next six months, which rose to 30 this month. Meanwhile, the index gauging traffic of prospective buyers gained three points to 16 and the index gauging current sales conditions held unchanged at 16.

Regionally, all but the South recorded HMI gains in August. The Northeast posted an 8-point gain to 24, the Midwest posted a two-point gain to 16, the West posted a three-point gain to 17 and the South posted a one-point decline to 18.

For more information, visit www.nahb.org.