Abundant inventory is described as a buyer’s market: great if you’re a buyer, but what if you’re a seller? The tough news is that the value and appeal of your home will be measured against a greater number of homes than in a neutral or seller’s market. You’ve got competition and potentially lots of it. Your mission? Don’t be a “comp.”
When agents set out to determine the price of your home, either because they are interested in listing it for sale, or because they have buyer’s interested in making an offer, they will do what is called a “CMA, “ or Comparative Market Analysis. In a CMA, your home is stacked up against active, pending, sold and expired listings that have COMParable features and locations: “comps.” Homes with extras, such as a kiva fireplace, will command more money; homes without such extras, less. Because no home is exactly like another home–even tract homes may have slightly different lot sizes, orientations and upgrades–a CMA is both an art and a science.
Despite its limitations, a CMA is a fact based tool. If you don’t like the results, don’t get emotional. Mine it for info you can turn to your advantage. People tend to focus on the active listings, the price for which someone in the neighborhood is trying to sell their home. But the market value of an active is unknown until someone makes an offer. Pay close attention to the comps that have sold. Pay even closer attention to the listings that expired. Buyers voted in favor of the sold home. The expired home was kicked out of office.
Once you’ve looked at what sells and what doesn’t, use that measure against your own home. Understand that not having a fireplace might hurt you with some buyers, and accept the price cut. Now, turn your attention to your home’s assets. Barabara Corcoran addresses this brilliantly in her book If You Don’t Have Big Breasts, Put Ribbons on Your Pigtails: “What matters is that you identify and play up what you’ve got.”
Look at your home as if it were a theatrical stage set or work of art. Presenting is more than just decluttering and removing personal items. “The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak, ” said abstract painter Hans Hofmann. Let the beauty of your home speak by taking away the visual noise that prevents its charms from being heard. Try these 30 Can’t Miss Staging Tips from HGTV’s Lisa LaPorta.
If you can afford to invest a little money, Remodeling Magazine’s 2009 Cost vs. Value Report offers tips on how to get the best return on your investment. Do you have nice wood floors that are in shabby shape? Have them refinished or DIY –if you can do professional quality work. Ensure you have dynamite curb appeal: weed, trim trees and bushes, repair, remove or replace a fence, add color. (We removed a chain link fence in front of our listing, a Casa Solana Stamm located at 133 Sombrio in downtown Santa Fe. Visitor feedback confirmed what a huge impact this small gesture had on the home’s streetside presentation.)
Showings are job interviews for your home. Make sure they are dressed-to-impress.
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Real estate agents Malissa Kullberg and Joshua Maes, AKA Changing Gallery, use their listings, where appropriate, to showcase the art, photography, sculpture and other creations of emerging and independent talents. Artists receive 100% of the proceeds from any sale. Currently displaying work by Mark Frossard, Laird Hovland, Jonathan Tercero at 133 Sombrio in Casa Solana, downtown Santa Fe. To schedule an appointment, call: 231.7598. For up-to-date market info and full access to the MLS, visit: Santa Fe Real Estate Downtown.
