Thursday, August 14, 2014

Home Prices & Market Trends - July 2014

Median Home Prices up 12.5% over last year. Find out what your home is worth by going to my blog and filling out the questionnaire: summerlinmarketreport.blogspot.com

Real Estate Reports by Laura Walters

Monday, July 14, 2014

7 Signs of a Soon-to-be Super Hot Market

7 Signs of a Soon-to-Be Super Hot Market (and Why You Can’t Ignore Them!)

Real Estate is an industry that’s all about your hyper-local expertise. As an agent, you specialize in specific zip codes, home types, client types—you name it. This industry is as much about niche specialties as it gets.
That said, if you want to be the agent who blows away the competition and makes your business go gangbusters this year, you need to know how and when to expand your expertise into new areas of interest. And that means that you need to anticipate what neighborhoods are going to be super hot in the near future. If you establish yourself as the go-to agent in those markets now, there will be no stopping you in the future.
Here are the top telltale signs of a soon-to-be hot market. Play your cards right, and your business (and clients!) will thank you for it!

1. On-trend businesses are moving in.

In my neck of the woods, when a co-working space, a Whole Foods or a Blue Bottle coffee moves into the neighborhood, it’s a sign that the nature of things might be changing. This is just as true for small, local businesses that attract people with disposable income as it is for businesses that sell the basics with flair. In fact, most larger businesses do a fair amount of economic research and projections on the neighborhood before moving in. Watching big industry and business moves can be a great way to spot emerging areas with strong fundamentals way before other agents might otherwise be able to see them.

2. Uber-convenient location in a land-impacted metro.

If you live in a densely populated metro area—especially one that is coastal—or an urban setting with intense governmental restrictions on building, demand for homes will continue to grow as the population does, but the supply will remain somewhat limited. In many of these situations, neighborhoods that have been downtrodden but have very convenient proximity to employment centers, public transportation, freeways and bridges tend to be prime for whole-neighborhood remodeling in times of population growth or rapid real estate price rises in already-prime areas.

3. Downsides have an expiration date.

If there’s one major issue that has caused an area to be less desirable for decades, and that issue is being eliminated or ameliorated, it could set the neighborhood up for a turnaround. For example, striking crime decreases or a major employer moving into the area where none were before can spark a serious real estate renaissance in an area which has some of the other desirable features on this list.
Also, keep in mind that a new generation of home buyers has a new set of values, and might simply not be concerned or deterred by things their parents might have viewed as turn-offs. Living above a commercial unit might have been a deal-killer for my parents, but my son thinks it’s cool—even desirable, depending on the business on the ground floor. Similarly, gritty and urban might not be the descriptors of your dream home, but some twenty-something first-time buyers in major metros are seeking exactly that feel.

4. Architectural themes with a following.

Many up-and-coming neighborhoods find themselves pulled by aficionados of the particular type of architecture that characterizes the neighborhood. Often, down-at-the-heels neighborhoods that are riddled with Tudors, Victorians, Spanish-style homes or even Mid-Century Moderns will see a surge of revitalization when a fresh generation of frugal home buyers falls in love with the style and realizes the deals that can be had there vs. other, already prime areas in town.

5. At least one major economic development is brewing.

Never underestimate the power of a major economic development to overhaul a neighborhood’s fate. From Google and Microsoft building cloud storage data centers in Des Moines to a new light rail station going live in Denver, one large-scale employer or infrastructure development can be a very early, very strong sign that an area will see it’s real estate fortunes rise. (That said, areas dependent on one near-obsolete employer or industry can see their fates decline rapidly. Look for industry-wide investment in an area, vs. a single company’s investment.)

6. Fixing is in the air.

When you see that an area long known for its rundown homes has a number of homes being renovated and rehabbed from the inside out, this can be a sign of fledgling neighborhood turnaround. If you spot these sorts of projects visually, it might be worth taking a trip down to the City Building Permit counter to see whether the staff has seen the same uptick in individual owners’ investment in the area, and if so, what they think the story of the neighborhood might be—or might become. City staffers often have a wealth of information at the ready, everything from pending commercial development applications that could change the whole landscape of an area to projects the city itself has funded or will prioritize due to its own development initiatives.

7. Slow but steady decrease in DOM.

Ten years ago, I listed a charming, pristine home on a not-so-charming, less-than pristine street—the location was its fatal flaw, and the place just lagged on the market as a result. Now, Millennials buying their first homes are salivating over that precise location, for its mix of urban feel; new trendy restaurants and yoga studios; and complete convenience to both the subway and the Bay Bridge. In between now and then, though, those who were watching carefully would have noticed how homes that once took 90 days to sell gradually were selling in 45, then in a couple of weeks—and would have noticed that this decline in the number of days an average listing stayed on the market (DOM) occurred way before the home prices themselves increased. A slow, steady decrease in DOM is a smart, early sign that a neighborhood might be poised on the precipice of up-and-coming status.
So, there they are—our top signs of a soon-to-be super hot markets. Learn to spot these signs early and stake your claim and you may just be the soon-to-be super hot agents to work with!
Tell us! What are there signs you would add to our list?

Written By Tara-Nicholle Nelson More about Tara-Nicholle Nelson

Friday, July 11, 2014

6 Simple Things You Can Do To Appeal To Buyers

Modest. Affordable. Starter. There is no shortage of words we use to describe a home that cost less than the average in an area. But no matter how —shall we say,budget-friendly—a listing is, or how constrained the buyer’s wallet may be, every home-owner hopeful still has the wish-list of luxury features that they simply think they can’tlive without.
It can drive agents batty. After all, in real estate, you get what you pay for. If you have a beer budget, that’s okay! But don’t expect that you’re going to get Champagne.
Still, when it comes to buying a home, it’s going to be the biggest investment most consumers make in their lifetime, and even a home that’s budget-friendly is going to feel like they’re dropping big bucks. Think about it: almost no one looks at their monthly mortgage statement and says, “Wow! It’s just so cheap!”
Luckily, there are a few little luxuries that sellers and agent can easily install or fake that don’t cost a fortune and that potential buyers go wild over!
Here are a few of those little, affordable luxuries! If you’ve got a listing that needs some more buyer love, these little fixes can go a long way toward closing a killer deal.

1. Automation

For a home to automatically anticipate your preferences and living habits, and conduct itself accordingly, is a serious luxury that no longer requires a serious investment. Easily programmable thermostats and smart home systems are now available at very low prices. Check out the Nest Learning Thermostat for one of the most simple-to-use, inexpensive alternatives around. Created by the man who designed the iPod, it learns the temperatures you prefer without any complicated programming process, it can detect when no ones home and change the temperature accordingly, and it is even remote controllable via Wi-Fi and mobile app.
In some areas, home cable companies are now bundling temperature automation and smart home features like remote-controlled lighting, temperatures and security systems and even smoke and carbon monoxide monitors right into the same online dashboard you use to pay your bill or order a movie on-demand. Word of mouth raves from users of these sorts of systems often include delight at money saved on overall more efficient use of electricity, time saved coming home to check that doors are locked and other little daily assists beyond the expected convenience.
These next-gen automations are able to be had in the $200 or less range, up front, though the size of the home and number of devices required can send costs upward.

2. Nature Niceties

Visiting my grandmother recently, I was reminded that there is nothing quite so luxurious as craving a piece of fruit or a particular meal and being able to walk right into your backyard and grab the fixings for it—cost and chemical-free. This doesn’t even factor in the beauty of a kitchen garden right outside your window, or the healthfulness of gardening as a habit.
The range of cost for landscaping and creating what many now call outdoor rooms is vast. But there are also dozens of inexpensive projects that can level-up a home’s nature factor, like:

installing raised vegetable beds in the backyard;
hanging a vertical garden on the kitchen wall;
putting in window boxes or outdoor seating;
installing a bird bath or planting a new tree.

Lush, green anything is a luxury that can cost very little to enjoy for years on end.

3. Delicious Details

Customizing, sprucing and even adding little details can make a tract home feel custom, a condo feel personalized and can even take a home with character and imbue it with your character. These little projects can also be bizarrely high in the aesthetic impact and feeling of polish they add to a home vis-a-vis the relatively low investment of time and money they require.
Walk through the listing and see where you can work with the sellers to add, improve or tweak the details— consider projects like:

Adding crown moldings or baseboards;
Adding interior or exterior shutters;
Painting moldings, baseboards, mantles and door trims a contrasting color to the surrounding areas;
Replacing doors and lighting fixtures (I just replaced the pendant lighting fixture over my own kitchen table and have to say, it looks like a new room!) ;
Replacing dated faucets, sinks, toilets and hardware— even recessed lighting soffits and door handles;
Painting exterior eaves, doors, trims and fences.

4. Solar

A survey by Sunrun revealed that over 40 percent of Americans believe a solar system cost more than $20,000. And get this: eight out of 10 homeowners said they would install a solar system at home if cost wasn’t a factor. Solar is not for everyone, and not even for every home, but in states with sunny, hot summers and energy bills to boot, installing a solar system can create the double luxury of allowing owners to run the home on renewable energy and reduce energy costs in one fell swoop.
The truth is, in some states, cost isn’t a factor. There’s a new generation of companies— solar power service providers— who will pay for a solar system, install it on the home for little or nothing, and pay for its maintenance. In turn, the homeowner pays them for the power used.
These arrangements are not available everywhere, but it’s certainly worth investigating whether you can find a solar service provider in your neck of the woods who can boost the perceived value of the listing.

5.Built-ins (or faux ones)

Built-ins like desks, book shelves, closet systems and even kitchen recycling centers feel particularly luxurious because they offer a polished approach to efficient use of the space in a home, and often eliminate the need for bulky pieces of furniture.
You might be surprised to realize how affordable it can be to build a desk or closet organizer into your existing space. Or, get up to speed on all the off-the-shelf built-in alternatives that are on the market, like a kitchen nook dining set in lieu of a built-in banquette. Think creatively: placing a day bed under a window with a bookcase on each end is a fantastic alternative to building a window seat between built-in shelves. Look for built-in alternatives on Craigslist or Freecycle, then have it painted or reupholstered, to get a luxe, custom look at a very low price.

6. Dedicated Spaces

Like custom built-ins, dedicating a space to a particular favorite activity is a special luxury, even if the home is not otherwise especially luxurious. The idea here is to simply dedicate a space to an activity, painting it, installing the appropriate furniture and carving out a place for all the supplies that are involved in that activity. At my house, I just painted the office in bright colors that researchers have found to boost creativity, installing new project tables and bookshelves to facilitate the organization and stand-up work style I prefer. My friend A.G. has turned one bedroom into a room for her menagerie of pets—dogs and birds alike!
Tell us! What little luxuries do you think buyers love?

Written By Tara-Nicholle Nelson More about Tara-Nicholle Nels