I had a very interesting conversation with a couple who’s home I’ll be listing in a couple weeks. Obviously we had the customary conversations about price, how long it will be listed, where their home will be advertised etc.
But then we started to talk about the MLS. No doubt if you’ve had your home listed in the past few years your agent touted the advantages of the MLS heavily.
It’s great, don’t get me wrong. But I see one inherent problem that no one wants to talk about…
Which reminded me of a post I wrote in June 2009. The post had 2 takeaways:
- Statistics on who will probably buy your home.
- How the MLS is like a grocery store.
The article is below. Enjoy!
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Have you met yet? Probably not…
But first, why should you care who will buy your home? As long as a buyer offers a price you can live with…what does it matter?
In the past not much because their was only so much a Wisconsin Rapids home buyer could do when purchasing their first or next home.
In the old days, you know 2004 , a home buyer would usually:
- check the Daily Tribune and Buyers’ Guide
- look through the local MLS on the internet
- find some homes that looked promising
- contact an agent
- walk through 15 homes before purchasing
Through the entire process the real estate agent was in control. How? The buyer was always given bits and pieces of information. Newspaper and Buyers’ Guide? A picture and a few lines of text, always ending with “call so and so at 423-call-now.” MLS? A few more pictures, but your listing would still contain a limited number of words. Then buyers did the only thing they could – they called an agent (You remember 2004, email still wasn’t huge, and besides an agent always wanted to get a person on the phone – remember we used to be called a “Real Estate Salesperson). I shudder just thinking about that…
And once you made contact, the agent shuffled you around from house to house showing you homes they picked out… And 15 homes later, plus more time than you could imagine, you purchased a home. But those days are long gone.
Enter 2010 and Generation Y
Lets now meet the next owner of your home.
The average home buyer is 31 years old. (Odds are, you’re around 41 and and your typical agent is in his/her 50’s) These new buyers are technology driven. The internet has empowered this new generation. This has caused these new home buyer’s to become confident and self-reliant in their decision making.
If they have questions, they “Google it.” If they want to buy something, they go online (giants EBay and Amazon to name only two). If they rent movies, they have a membership with Netflix. If it’s time to buy a new car, they go to Auto Trader to find the best deal. Are we (I’m generation Y) concerned about 1100+ auto dealerships closing? No. We’ll find the car we like online, drive to the dealership, drive it around a little, haggle and then buy it. We already knew we were going to buy it before we got there. Why? We compared multiple cars together online–mileage, amenities etc. and found the one that suited us best. Does it matter if we had to drive to Appleton to get it? Nope.
This ability to find information easily and quickly has caused buyers to need real estate agents less. There’s very little your agent can control outside of marketing it aggressively and making sure your home is where this new buyer hangs out, the internet. (When it comes to selling a home, I believe my main job is as a marketer. The real estate stuff is easy, I earn my money by marketing your home 5x better than older agents.)
Does that mean your MLS listing is enough to reach this new buyer? That’s the internet… Right?
Yes, the buyer will probably see your home. But will they REALLY see it? You know, enough to make contact to walk through your home? Does a few pictures and a 500 character description do your home justice?
Lets picture a trip to the grocery store. You only need milk, bread and some cereal for breakfast. So you head to the back of the store for milk–oh yeah, eggs too–next the cereal aisle–Kellogs is on sale so you buy two–next on to the bakery–but wait–roasts are on sale, that’ll be good in the crock pot tomorrow–ugh, you don’t want to have to make dinner tonight–good Tombstone pizzas are on sale–almost to the bakery department–made it, finally–might as well buy a couple loaves of bread. Time to check out–your total comes to 28.83. You wanted three things–bread, cereal and milk. But you ended up with those plus meat, pizza, and eggs.
The MLS is the same way. Too many choices. When your home is alongside hundreds of other homes what are the odds that a buyer will choose your home? If an agent promises internet marketing, and that marketing sets your home alongside every other home, how is he/she marketing YOUR home?
This is why I create a single property website for your home. When I’m marketing your home I funnel all advertising to your home’s website. You know, because you want your home sold…
Originally published June 4, 2009
You’ve heard the saying that after awhile a dog and its owner start to look the same. And obviously, after awhile, your home starts to take on your traits as well.
I personally detest cleaning. Well, guess what? My home has a tendency to be on the messy side. Eventually the dishes get done; it just might take an extra day. Okay, it takes more than an extra day…or two.
Maybe you have a penchant for the color purple. Or you’re into collecting things. For my parents, it’s auctions.
All of these things are important to you. But now that your home is for sale, this is the question you have to ask yourself: how important are these things to a potential buyer?
Following are 8 inexpensive ways you can help your home look more less you, and more like the person who’ll call your home ‘home.’
1) Clean it. Everything. From floors to walls to the woodwork. Make sure all floors are impeccable–carpet, tile, grout, etc. Check all caulk, especially in the bathroom. Or for less than $100, you can have a professional cleaning service come in and do the dirty work for you. Let them do the heavy lifting and all you’ll have left is a little maintenance while your home is on the market.
2) Let there be light. Dark rooms or shadows cast doubts in a buyer’s mind. Consider adding lamps and dimmers to existing lights allowing you to set moods for specific rooms.
3) Swap it out. Think about updating cabinet handles, switch plates, and any other small pieces of hardware that were more popular in days of yore than today. Your kitchen cabinets can go from typical oak cabinets to a ‘Wow’ kitchen by simply adding modern style pulls. Do your faucets have more gold than they know what to do with? Head to a local kitchen and bath department and find something in a ‘brushed’ color. I prefer brushed nickel, but that’s just me.
4) Hide it. The dent in the wall from when a lamp fell over. Or where Billy’s toy car crashed through the drywall after being launched from a Matchbox car ramp. Smooth out the wall and then do #6.
5) Organize. I’m the king of clutter. I’ve got more stuff than I know what to do with. The problem is that this tells prospective buyers that my home is too small for their stuff. So I’d need to remove a bunch of it, and possibly add a shelf or two. Maybe some hooks in the garage where I can hang things that would normally take up a bunch of floor space. If a few hooks and a shelf won’t help your situation, consider a storage unit for a few months.
6) Paint it. Paint is one of the easiest and cost effective ways to really change the way your home ‘feels.’ Neutral colors are your best bet. Have you heard that grey is the new brown? Welcome to Paint 2.0… (Have you heard of Real Estate 2.0 or Internet 2.0?) They’ll make each room feel larger. You know how you feel when you wear a brand new outfit? Buyers will also feel that same way about your home when they walk through.
7) Add some green. Bring nature into your home with some potted plants and fresh flowers. Having fresh flowers also adds to the ‘feeling’ that buyers get about your home. And in the end, it’s the buyers emotions that are going to compel them to write an offer.
8 ) Move it. Take a look at each room. What if you removed a piece of furniture or two? Would the room feel larger? What if you moved a piece from one side of the room to the other? Would the room have better flow? What if you took a piece from the living room and moved it into a bedroom? Mirrors also help rooms feel larger…
There you have it, eight low cost, easy to implement ideas that will go a long way toward creating an exciting first impression for any potential buyer. You’re trying to up the ‘Wow’ factor. Average is not what you should be shooting for in today’s real estate world. And these tips will help make your home memorable and ultimately help sell your home for more money.
Picture credit
Very important note: Not me. I repeat NOT ME! 
‘The weather’s too good for it not to be spring soon’ edition of our area’s real estate market report…
You can read previous market reports to see for yourself what our real estate market has been doing.
Fifty-four homes were added to our MLS this month. Including 40 homes in Wisconsin Rapids. This is a huge jump from January and December.
If you’re ready to start formally searching for homes, you know, moving from just online to getting in touch with an agent… Let me know and we can get you started. Plus I’ve recently changed my contact page, so you know, why don’t you check it out?
Happy house hunting!
First time here? This is a monthly post designed to shed light on our real estate market. I publish this report because now is an excellent time to learn about the Wisconsin Rapids real estate market. By arming yourself with a little real estate education you’re setting yourself up for success when you decide to buy or sell your next home. Want to stay up to date? Click here and articles will be delivered directly to your inbox. As always, it’s free. Plus you can always unsubscribe at any time. Every month more and more people are signing up. It makes me feel like you like my writing…
The data was gathered through the MLS, so the data is deemed reliable but not guaranteed. You know the drill…
Single Family Wisconsin Rapids Homes:
- Active Homes for Sale: 139 (including 40 new listings in February)
- Average List Price: $96,744
- Homes Sold in February 2010: 19
- Average Sale Price: $94,154
- Median Sale Price: $95,000
- Average Days on the Market: Active: 229 Sold: 121
- Average Sale Price/List Price: 95%
- Expired Listings: 8
Single Family Nekoosa Homes:
- Active Homes for Sale: 26 (including 10 new listings in February)
- Average List Price: $105,892
- Homes Sold in February 2010: 4
- Average Sale Price: $112,625
- Median Sale Price: $119,500
- Average Days on the Market: Active: 166 Sold: 201
- Average Sale Price/List Price: 92%
- Expired Listings: 6
Single Family Port Edwards Homes:
- Active Homes for Sale: 19 (including 4 new listings in February)
- Average List Price: $103,628
- Homes Sold in February 2010: 0
- Average Sale Price: $–
- Median Sale Price: $–
- Average Days on the Market: Active: 204 Sold: –
- Average Sale Price/List Price: –
- Expired Listings: –
Trends I’m Seeing
- No, the number of homes for sale in Wisconsin Rapids and Nekoosa did not fall dramatically from January. Our MLS changed the way it’s reporting city data. I’ll get it back to normal, it will just take me a day or two…
- Action picked up tremendously in February. 54 new homes hit the market. Gotta love the tax credits! Are you next? Call me.
- Even with 40 new homes, Wisconsin Rapids still has the average days on the market for active homes at 229. But if your home sells, it averaged only 121 days on the market. What does that tell you?
- Nekoosa continues to have a low sale price to list price percentage of 92%. Remember that’s the comparison of what the home owner accepted as the sale price to what it was listed for. And that doesn’t take into consideration any price drops, so it may actually be significantly lower.
What next?
As always, my goal is provide not only valuable but also useful information that you can put into action. If you like what you’re reading and want a little help remembering to come back, why not click here and have all upcoming posts sent directly to your email inbox? You can read a description on how this works here if your unfamiliar with the process. I promise it’s not scary, nor will your email be given to anyone.
For More Info:
- Thinking about selling? Quickly see what your home’s worth in our market.
- Have you thought about getting in contact? Why Not? Click here to get in touch with Adam. I’m a peach… Really…
PHONE: (715) 572-8372
My name is Adam Holberg and I’m a Realtor with First Weber of Wisconsin Rapids. This website is designed to inform and help bring conversation to a topic I love, real estate.