Pricing Matters

If you've been thinking about selling your home, I'm sure you've given the price tag lots of consideration.  You want to get the most money possible.  Doesn't everyone?  But coming out swinging with a high price tag, may not be in your best interest.

If you list your home at a higher price than the home is really worth, it is likely to sit on the market for a while.  In fact, the longer your home is on the market, the lower the offers will be.  This is because buyers see that the home has been sitting on the market for a long time and think of this as a weakness and offer a lower price.  They may think "If the home was really worth that price, someone would have already bought it."  So, the plan of listing your home at a price tag that is too high, may backfire on you.

Days on Market	% of Price Received
0-30	98.4
31-60	97.2
61-90	96.5
Over 90	95.5

Your home has the best chance to get the desired price within the first 30 days.  The longer it doesn't sell, the lower the price is likely to go when an offer does come in. 

We all want lots of people to check out our house when it goes up for sale.  That first week your house is on the market is when the most buyer are going to see it!  So price it right so that they don't just skip over your house to the next listing. 

Buyer Backlog	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4
50 people in the market	5 new people to the market	5 new people to the market	5 new people to the market	5 new people to the market

In that first week, 55 people see the house (50 already shopping for a house and the 5 people who just started looking).  Each week after that, the only people looking at the house are the 5 new buyers that join the home search. 

So here's the point (which you're all smart people and have already picked up on), you want your home priced right at the beginning so you can take advantage of week 1 and get as many people as possible to look at your home.  We want them to fall in love with it and make an offer.  We don't want them to click the next button and skip right over your gem of a home because it's got too high of a price tag.

The Real Value of Remodeling

Have you pondered a remodel project?  Wondering if it's actually worth it?  Who hasn't looked at their bathroom, kitchen or backyard and thought "this could look better."  Before you start on that project, consider a couple of things.

First, the cost!  Have you saved enough and are you willing to fork over the amount of dough needed to do the project right?  Remodel projects are not cheap and if the bid comes back too cheap, remember "You Get What You Pay For!"  Whenever you're making a big investment, you want to comparison shop. So get multiple bids for heavens sake.  Make sure the contractor is licensed, bonded and insured because if something goes wrong, you want this protection!  And never, ever, ever pay all of the money up front to the contractor.  If you pay 100% of the money before the contractor has done one iota of work, what happens when that contractor skips out on you and doesn't complete the project?  You are in trouble, my friend.

Okay, cost? Check.  Next, what is the value that you're going to get out of it?  If you put $10,000 in a remodel and the value that it adds to your home is $15,000, then that is a great project!  It's worth the cost because you'll recoup that cost when you sell.  However, if that $10K project only adds $5,000 in value to the house, then is it really worth it to you? 

Click here to see the 2015 Cost vs. Value Comparison Report for the Pacific Northwest.

Now, what do you do when you realize that the project is NOT going to add more value to your home than the cost of the project?  You need to look at why you want the remodel in the first place.  If you're doing the remodel just to make your home more valuable for resale... well, then you have your answer.  If you're doing the remodel because you plan on living in your home for another ten years and you want the new and improved space for your own use, well then go ahead and do it! It's your home, make it the space that you want to live in. 

Credit Challenges

Do you have credit problems but really want to buy a house?  Well of course you want to buy a house!  Why pay off your landlord's mortgage when you could be spending your hard earned cash paying off your own mortgage?  If you're paying $1,500 a month in rent, in five years you'll have paid $90,000 to your landlord.  That's a lot of change that could be going to pay off your own house!

Monthly Rent Added Up Over Time
Rent	Year 1	Year 5	Year 15
$1,000	$12,000	$60,000	$180,000
$1,500	$18,000	$90,000	$270,000
$2,000	$24,000	$120,000	$360,000
$2,500	$30,000	$150,000	$450,000

So let's get that credit fixed up and get you on the road to home ownership!  To begin with, stop making the problem worse.  Don't spend what you can't afford.  Don't go to Pottery Barn and put another $400 on the credit card.  You don't need those pillows and another set of holiday dishes anyway!  Better yet, put yourself on an allowance.  Give yourself your spending cash at the beginning of the month and once it's gone, it's gone.  Don't put more on the credit card. 

Next, start working those payments down.  Make paying off your debts a priority!  Take a good hard look at what you owe, how much, to whom and what the interest is on each one.  This is a perfect time to make a budget and figure out how much you can pay to each one and how long it'll take to get it paid off. 

Close those extra credit cards that you don't need.  Having a bunch of credit cards just brings your credit score down!  Having a couple cards with a low balance (that you pay off each month), builds your credit.  Having a bazillion cards, even without much on them, hurts your credit.

Talk to someone!  If you've got a credit problem, talk to the companies that you owe and see if you can work out a better payment plan.  Talk to a loan officer and see what you need to do to get a loan.  Give me a call.  I'd be happy to get you in touch with a lender and get you on the right track.

Make a plan.  Things are always easier if you have a plan.  If you're fumbling around in the dark, not sure what your credit is, not sure how to fix the problem, you're never going to get any closer to getting a house.  Even if the news is bad, it's always better to understand the problem and be working towards a way out.  You've got this!

Are You Mobile Ready?

Floods

If there's one thing we know about the Pacific Northwest, it certainly can rain cats and dogs! 

If you're like a lot of people though, you don't want to even think about flooding!  What's unknown, is best to leave unknown, right?  Or maybe not. 

The topic of flooding doesn't have to be so overwhelming to think about.  Planning for the worst, but hoping for the best is a good way to go.  It always feels better when we have answers, rather than being left in the dark... especially when that "dark" can be a cold and WET basement!

First off, did you know that a "100-year flood zone" doesn't mean that a flood will occur only once every 100 years?  It actually means that the area has a 1% or more chance of a major flood happening in any particular year.  Floods can actually happen anywhere, any time.  Any place that has rain, has the potential for flooding.... wait a minute, it rains here.  We have liquid sunshine here.  Hmmmm, something to think about.

Did you know that homeowners insurance doesn't cover floods?  The only way to be covered for flooding is to have flood insurance!

Here are some resources to check out:

• Learn more about flood risk and getting flood insurance at www.floodsmart.gov
• Homeowners who fail to get flood insurance
• Check out these flood risk scenarios. 
• Ever wonder how much of a hit you would be facing if a flood happened to you?  Check out this interactive model of the cost of a flood.