Open House Tips for Sellers

An open house is a great way to showcase your home, and an opportunity for many people to view your home at once.

Here are some tips to get your home "open house ready":

Curb Appeal is Key: The first thing a prospective buyer notices about a home is the front yard. Cut the grass, trim the hedges, rake those leaves, sweep the sidewalks, and power-wash the driveway. If appropriate for the season, include a few potted flowers to brighten up the entryway.

De-Clutter: A cluttered room can appear too small to buyers. Go through each room and divide belongings into two piles: “keep” and “give up.” Items in the “keep” pile will be used to stage the room, while those in the “give up” pile should be stored elsewhere, or better yet given away. You are not selling your things or trying to impress anyone with them. You are selling your space and buyers can’t visualize themselves or their own things there when there is too much of your stuff in the room. Don’t forget about the outdoor spaces too – de-clutter potted plants, kids’ toys, gardening items, outdoor furniture and accessories, etc…as well.

Make your place “Q-Tip clean.” A properly staged home should be immaculate, or “Q-Tip clean,” This could mean using Q-Tips to clean dead flies out of a windowsill or going around the bottom of the toilet on the floor. The purpose of an immaculate house is more than just making it presentable. If a home is messy or dirty, a buyer may wonder what else about this property hasn’t been cared for, like major and minor maintenance items.

Check the temperature. In winter a warm home is always more inviting than one that has people reaching for their coats. On a hot summer day a cool home can be a welcome oasis to weary home buyers. In warmer weather have windows open for fresh air if it’s not hot outside.

Light it up. Open blinds and window coverings, and turn on all the lights. This helps make the spaces feel bigger, and specially placed lighting can showcase special aspects of the home. It may also be appropriate to have fireplaces and candles lit to create a cozy environment.

Say “Yes” to neighbors. Some sellers are against holding open houses as they can be a magnet for “nosy neighbors”. While this may be the case at times, your neighbors are also a great resource to help get your home sold. Make them feel welcome by letting them know ahead of time that the open house is scheduled, and invite them to come check it out. The more eyes that see your house, the better.

For additional information and resources to help get your home sold quickly, feel free to contact us - we are here to help!

Colorado Landmark, Realtors
(303) 443-3377
www.coloradolandmark.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/COLandmark
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Check out our 356 Things to do in Boulder Page!

Freeze warning tonight - is your house ready?

We wondered if it was going to happen - but finally, we are seeing some real Colorado winter weather. And with the beautiful snow that has been falling comes some FREEZING cold temperatures. Unfortunately, this can lead to frozen pipes and damage to your home.

When the temperature drops, water freezes and expands. Water pipes do not expand causing broken pipes and possible flooding that can lead to hundreds or even thousands of dollars of damage.

Here are some extra precautions you can take today to prevent frozen pipes tonight:

• Set the thermostat in all areas no lower than 60 degrees.

• Open kitchen and bathroom cabinet doors to allow heat to get to uninsulated pipes under sinks and appliances near exterior walls.
  

• Turn on a trickle of water in any areas that you are concerned about, especially any faucets near outside walls. Let the warm water drip overnight.
  

• For future protection, considering adding insulation around pipes in your home's crawl spaces and attic if possible.

If you do suspect a frozen pipe, dont risk it -shut off the main water supply and call a plumber!


Colorado Landmark, Realtors
(303) 443-3377
www.coloradolandmark.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/COLandmark
Twitter: www.twitter.com/COLandmark

Happy New Year from Colorado Landmark, Realtors!

Wishing everyone a very safe and happy new year.

We truly appreciate our clients for trusting us with their business during what has in many ways been a very difficult year in real estate. Whatever your needs are in 2011, we are here to help.

Looking forward to continued success with you in 2011!


Connect with us!
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Top Ten Sales - Boulder/Broomfield Counties - Dec 1 - 15, 2010 - Location, Location, Location

Our Colorado economy is still struggling but there are signs of improvement. The Denver Post reported this week on job growth in Colorado.  "The primary indicator for any state of economic recovery is job growth, and for the first time in three years, we have experienced three straight months of job growth here in Colorado," Governer Ritter said.  That's good news for housing, but we haven't seen that translate to much sales activity in the last month.  Not surprising though given the time of year, the holidays being traditionally slow for home sales in our area.  The true test will be to see if activity picks up in the February-March-April time frame.

Approximately every other week Colorado Landmark provides detailed information on the real estate actvity in Boulder and Broomfield Counties from the past two weeks. Hopefully our analysis will help reveal what properties are selling, at what prices, how long they are are taking to sell, and other relevant information about what's going on in OUR local area - Boulder County and Broomfield County.

For the two week period from December 1 through December 15, 2010 here are the numbers:

•132 properties sold
•Price range of properties sold during this period: $72,000 - $2,290,000
•Median price: $320,500
•Average price: $389,800

•$0-199k = 31 sold this period
•$200-299K = 28 sold
•$300-399k = 25 sold
•$400-499k = 24 sold
•$500-599k = 11 sold
•$600-699k = 2 sold
•$700-799k = 3 sold
•$800-899k = 1 sold
•$900-999k = 1 sold
•$1.0-1.9M = 5 sold
•$2.0M+ = 1 sold

Top Ten Listings Sold during this period:

Information obtained from MLS and public record.

This period's Top Ten numbers reinforce a very cliche real estate phrase - "Location, Location, Location"!

When markets are bad, especially at the high end, the attributes of location and condition become even more important to the successful sale of a property, and should be carefully analyzed when it comes to pricing a property for the market. 

Properties in highly desireable locations will hold their value in a down market more so than in other areas.  Two examples of this are the properties on Marine and Highland in this week's list above, both with terrific downtown Boulder locations. This is not to say that the other areas listed, like White Hawk Ranch, the close-in mountains, and Lafayette are undesireable, far from it; they are just less so to some buyers than others. The home on Marine St. was priced appropriately and went under contract in a mere 32 days and garnered 99% of the asking price.  The property on Highland Ave. took quite a bit longer to sell - 595 days to contract - but the sellers netted 83.3% of their original asking price, which in this market is not bad for any property priced over $2 million. 

Additionally, these two homes have the highest price per square foot at $492/sq ft for Marine and $592/sq ft for Highland, when compared to other homes on the list.  Several of the other homes have argueably more luxury features, larger lots, and are considerably more spacious yet yielded much lower $/sq ft.  Consider the home on Bitterroot Circle for example - same selling price as Marine, but at $227/sq ft.  The luxury home out in White Hawk Ranch sold for a mere $310/sq ft. 
(using finished square feet above grade for comparison purposes) 

The takeaways here for me are the following:

• If you know you will be somewhere for the long haul, then buy what you want, where you want.  But if there is a chance your plans could change in 5 years or less, consider the location of your next purchase much more carefully with an eye on desireability, walkability and popularity.
• Also, if you have a home priced over $600,000 you can expect the market to continue to be quite slow for a while.  Homes under this threshhold are still selling quite well though!

Happy Holidays everyone! 

Pam Metzger
Director of Relocation and Business Development
Colorado Landmark, Realtors
800-737-MOVE
http://www.coloradolandmark.com/  
www.facebook.com/COLandmark  
www.facebook.com/365ThingsBoulder

Don't Eliminate the Mortgage Interest Deduction, Employ Basic Supply-Demand Principles!

With Shiela Mudd Roberts permission we are including here content from her blog post today about the current momentum in our legislature to eliminate the deduction for mortgage interest for homeowners.  Shiela has some great insights ... read on below or link to her blog for this article and other great local real estate information.

"I have to admit, I heard blimps of this in the news over the past few months but it is so absurd that I didn’t think it would really happen. But then I saw a headline that read “National Association of Realtor’s Defend Mortgage Interest Deduction”. Well, absurd as it is, the current administration is trying to take the change right out of our pockets and, thankfully, NAR has already reacted.

The way it currently works is that if you have a mortgage, you very likely have interest that you pay on said mortgage. Look at your statement, especially for the first say 15-20 years most of your monthly payment is interest. This interest paid is then deducted against your earned income come tax time. If you have rental property or second homes, same thing. What is being proposed is that this annual amount, totaling thousands of dollars, is no longer going to apply for a tax deduction. Things are unclear whether the proposal will protect your primary residence or not. Regardless, just like for home owners, mortgage interest deductions combined with depreciation, is a huge incentive for investors to own rental property.

Instead of taking this away from everyone, limit supply. And let me be clear, if you own your property free and clear (no mortgage) this still effects you because this proposal will affect the housing market overall. Buyers lose incentive along with current home owners and prices will drop, plain and simple. I would think a more logical way to approach this is to limit supply, specifically: new building. Sure the big builders won’t like it, but it has been high time for them to find a new gig anyway. In turn, local governments should put a moratorium on new developments. I mean, really, do we need more track homes? Just look at Boulder. There is a housing cap meaning that the supply is limited. It is no accident that the City of Boulder has consistently held it’s housing values. And, in some price points, continued to appreciate in this National “Housing Crisis.” To hit this home even more, compare Boulder to Longmont (also in Boulder County). Longmont has allowed building virtually on all sides of its city borders. At the same time Longmont’s inventory is higher with decreasing sales prices over the past few years when compared to Boulder.*


What can you do? Contact your local representative to tell them that this is not okay:


https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml


*Based on IRES, LLC data"

Shiela Mudd Roberts
Broker Associate
Colorado Landmark, Realtors
(720) 628-8454