Celebrating Americana on the Half Shell
November 15th, 2009 categories: Entertainment, Real Estate News
“The first man gets the oyster, the second man gets the shell”
Andrew Carnegie
Fortunately, during last weekend’s 52nd Urbanna Oyster Festival, there were plenty of oysters to be had, even for those in the back of the line. Everyone had loads. And, most of us, way too many! If you’ve not had the chance to venture to Urbanna, Virginia, for the annual oyster celebration, you’re not only missing great food, but also a special glimpse of small town America.
Urbanna is located in Virginia’s Northern Neck, which is situated North of Williamsburg, and Southeast of Fredericksburg, hugging the Chesapeake Bay.
It’s been called a “historic town”, and, in many ways, it is. It’s among the places you’ll see on the National Register of Historic Places. But, each year, on November 6th & 7th, you’ll find some 75,ooo folks headed to this “sleepy” coastal town for oysters, fritters and other assorted dishes, and loads more fun. I can tell you, it’s likely on the “must see” list for those who enjoy touring the country in their RV’s, because there were plenty of those big boys parked in and around the festival.
The two day festival has an assortment of activities, from an oyster shucking contest to the crowning of the festival’s Oyster Queen, among others.
Any number of booths selling food, jewelry, art work, intricate wood design (well, you get the picture, like you’d see at the County Fair), and assorted items dot the town’s landscape. Parking is available, but plan on paying a minumum of $10 or Friday, and $20 on Saturday to park.
And, for those visiting for the first time, it doesn’t matter where you park, the prices are the same. So, for convenience sake upon leaving, use the lots before you come into town.
Enjoying the sights and sounds of Urbanna, and the Oyster Festival, the kids having fun, the adults enjoying each other’s company, the interaction with the booth workers, reminded me of the abundance our Commonwealth has to offer. While most of us relish the time away from work on the weekends, and the relaxation it provides, you might mark the calendar and set aside this early November date next year. It is a piece of Americana that you don’t want to miss.
You’ll meet some very nice people, view a beautiful part of the state, and enjoy some appetizing food dishes. But you might do yourself a favor. In case your eyes are too big for your stomach, don’t forget to bring the Tums!
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Home Buying and Selling Help From Uncle Sam
November 9th, 2009 categories: Real Estate News, Relocating
In times like these, all of us appreciate a bit of assistance. Fortunately, the government has taken steps to extend a couple of programs designed to assist home sellers and buyers. The first is the Housing Assistance Program (HAP) for military personnel selling their home, the second is the First Time Home Buyer Credit, specifically for those purchasing property.
The Department of Defense’s (DoD) HAP offering is designed to provide financial assistance to its personnel who have to move, and will lose money upon selling. Due to the dramatic decrease in home values in recent years, this program was originally designed to provide financial relief to those required to move due to DoD’s Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) initiative. It expanded to include those DoD personnel whose reassignment or military move was further than what’s categorized as commuting distance. A brief summary of guidelines and what HAP offers can be found here: http://hap.usace.army.mil/Eligibility.html
The original deadline for eligibility was the end of November, 2009. As you might imagine, eligible members were scrambling to get their applications in, and to get their home on the market. Fortunately, the deadline was extended.
Here’s the official announcement of DoD’s Processing and Extension of the HAP Program. It’s got the details, including an extension through Sep 2012. You’ll find the info here, http://tinyurl.com/y8d99pv
Another piece of good news for those in the home market, was this week’s expansion of the First Time Home Buyer’s Tax Credit.
Not only was the tax credit of up to $8000 for qualified first time home buyers extended, but the expansion also offered an additional credit for repeat home buyers. The beauty of the original credit was their definition of a first time buyer; any prospective purchaser who has not owned a principal residence during the three year period prior to the new purchase.
The additional, or expansion of the program included a $6500 tax credit for move-up or repeat home buyers purchasing a home. There are specific details that you need to examine before you assume you qualify for the program’s benefits.
While we can’t always count on the federal government to assist us, it is refreshing to discover their helping hand in times of need. Amid the existing economic downturn, Uncle Sam not only decided to come to the aid of military home sellers whose home values have decreased, but also to help those in the market to buy a home. Let’s hope the prospective beneficiaries of both these offerings are well aware of what’s available, and are taking advantage of them. Who knows when we’ll see this type of assistance again.
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Cleaning Up the Short Sale
November 5th, 2009 categories: Market Trends, Real Estate News
Have you ever been in an uncomfortable position or arrangement that you couldn’t get yourself out of? If your answer is no, then lucky you. Most of us have run into these predicaments a time or two. So, what’s the solution? What steps can you take to try and improve a difficult situation you might be stuck in. And, no, divorce is NOT an option.
Let’s be honest, the “Short Sale” isn’t going anywhere. I know what you’re thinking, “Of course it isn’t going anywhere(in other words, no action by the lender!)”, but, what I mean to say is, they’ll be here for a while. In other words, we’ll be seeing plenty more of them in the the next few years. As long as the economic downturn is with us, there will be homeowners in states of distress who are unable to pay their mortgages. So, how do we turn this lemon into lemonade? (And, believe it or not, it takes more than a lot of sugar!)
Earlier this week, a few local Brokers and Instructors had the opportunity to sit down with Lem Marshall, the Special Counsel to the Virginia Association of Realtors(VAR), to discuss ways the Realtor community can improve the short sale process. By improve, we mean, enhance the chances of a successful short sale. During his presentation, Lem volunteered some helpful hints at how Realtors can maximize their chances of succeeding in dealing with Short Sales.
He began by reminding us that on average, about one in four short sales transactions, nationwide, are successful. While the real estate community doesn’t control all the variables involved in the process, there are a couple of items we do influence. It is those items or factors, if handled and executed properly, that can sometimes mean the difference between success and failure. While Lem conceded that lenders are the main short sale players doing most of the transaction decision making, Realtor’s decisions and actions, if done incorrectly, doom the transaction.
The starting point for Realtors in any transaction, but especially in Short Sales, is competence, according to Mr. Marshall. Understanding the process involves an appreciation for all the moving parts. To begin with, the agent must know what they are doing, and what they’re dealing with. Agents will consider and interact with four main participants in this transaction; the other agent, the property, the client, and, most importantly, the third party, or lender. Let’s begin by looking at the importance of understanding the first two.
THE OTHER AGENT
Since a short sale is a special type of real estate transaction, understanding what’s required takes more than a license to sell real estate. Being aware of what the agent on the other side (especially the Listing agent) of the transaction knows about short sales is important in considering the likelihood of success. If they know what they’re doing (proper valuation of the property, good communication with the lender’s representatives, etc), then chances for success – all things being equal – are probably fairly decent. If they don’t know what they’re doing and are unfamiliar with what’s required, then watch out! You’ll be doing a lot of hand holding (with the other agent, as well as your client), but may be doomed from the beginning.
It’s unfortunate, but until specialized training in short sale procedures is mandatory for all agents handling these transactions, many agents will be unprepared to properly handle what’s necessary. The Certified Short Sale Professional (CSP) course provides agents a comprehensive examination of the requirements of the entire process, and what is required for success. Other than actually handling a short sale transaction, it’s about as good as it gets in preparing agents for dealing with the short sale of a home.
But, as mentioned earlier, if you’re dealing with an inexperienced agent, and that simply means, in this case, one that is inexperienced with short sales, that’s not been trained, then the chances of success are minimal. Why? Because, it is imperative that the Realtor is aware of the specific ins and outs of this unique process. To begin with, the listing agent must be able to properly price the property to be sold.
PROPERLY PRICING THE PROPERTY
Absent a proper valuation of the short sale property, the lender has little incentive to consider any proximate offers on the property by prospective buyers. Real property is worth what someone is willing to pay, nothing more…or less. Believe it or not, lenders are aware of this.
Determining what price a home should be marketed for, whether a regular home sale, or a short sale, depends upon the use of accurate comparables. In other words, what are like or similar properties in the area selling for? Successful Short Sale Specialists advise that these properties be priced just below ($10,000-$15,000 below) the lower price range of similar homes on the market. Remember, lenders WILL be appraising these homes, or ordering a Broker Price Opinion (BPO), at the least. Lenders aren’t going to give these homes away, they’re trying to limit their losses while getting the property out of inventory. So, accurate pricing by the listing agent is a must. Banks, like any normal home reseller, will be asking for market value, or maybe, a little less. That doesn’t mean 20-50% below market value, despite what you might hear from uninformed experts.
Improving the success rate of short sales involves an understanding of what’s required, and the successful completion of the necessary steps by all the parties involved in the operation. For Realtors, not only must they know what’s needed in order to succeed, but it also helps to know what the other side of the transaction knows, as well. With a good idea of what the other agent and their listing have to offer, agents will be better able to communicate effectively and accurately with their client(s) and the third party that’s involved. Those are just the initial steps on the path towards completion of a winning short sale.
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The Details of Home Marketing
September 13th, 2009 categories: Real Estate News, Relocating
What’s the best way to market a home? While making sure your visuals (pictures, virtual tours/videos) are exhaustive and don’t leave anything to the imagination, the details of the listing are just as important in attracting prospective buyers.
PROPERTY DETAILS
Properly listing a home requires much more than good visuals. While they are important, providing the specifics of the home is a valuable aspect of marketing as well. How many times has a client wondered about room sizes, while sorting through the homes they actually want to drop by to see, only to find that data is missing from the listing? Is it in the best interest of the seller to include those room sizes in the listing? Yes, it is. What about a description that highlights the home’s best features?
PAINTING A PICTURE
Providing a brief “highlight reel” of what the property has to offer is what the “REMARKS” narrative section of the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) is all about. But, how well is it being used? Is the agent painting a picture of the property’s best features? Given the limited amount of available characters the MLS allows to describe the property, is the narrative accurate as well as compelling in describing the home? Or, is the listing agent’s property description more fiction than fact? When searching for prospective properties, since buyer’s agents do their best to match what their clients are looking for in a home with what’s indicated on the MLS, providing an accurate and complete depiction of the property, benefits the seller as well as the buyer.
Yard Signs & Lockboxes
Yard signs and lock boxes are tools of the trade that have long been staples of listing hardware. While yard signs “mark the spot” of the home for sale, they also provide a visual alert to those who drive or walk by that the property is on the market. Traditional signage emphasizes the name and number of the listing agency, and, oftentimes, the listing agent.
But, some have taken advantage of the sign to provide more information of what the house has to offer through pictures. This simple yet effective method of providing a glimpse inside the home may be the beginning of a more effective use of an old marketing method. Jim Duncan, an agent from Charlottsville’s Nest Realty, uses signs to provide the property’s address, price, a website address for more property information, as well as the listing company’s contact information. Oh, and there are property pictures as well. A more effective way of making the most of the yard sign, don’t you agree?
A lock box is a lockbox is a lock box, right? Well, not in Northern Virginia, right now. Our ongoing controversy over which lock box is the best one is to use is currently very heated, often with more misinformation involved in the discussion, than accuracy. The bottom line for a property listing is this; make sure, whatever lock box is being used on a property, that fact is accurately included in the listing. There are few things as frustrating for a Realtor, or a prospective buyer, than arriving at a property only to find it secured by a different lock box than that indicated on the MLS.
Getting the most out of the marketing avenues available when listing a home depends on knowing what tools are available, but more importantly, using those resources properly. Every seller wants the widest exposure for their product. As the Realtor’s Code of Ethics instructs them, it is a listing agent’s duty to act in the best interests of a client in fulfilling their marketing responsibilities. Is your agent using the marketing tools available to properly showcase your home? Let’s hope so.
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Marketing Your Home
September 2nd, 2009 categories: Real Estate News, Relocating
How much is “enough” when marketing a home? What does it take to adequately showcase a property that’s listed?
Simply put, that’s a question best left up to the homeowner. Or, is it? Do homeowners know the market? Do they know what it takes to get their home “under contract”? Well, as many Realtors can attest, there are plenty of homeowners who think they know what’s required to get their home sold. But, what’s to be done, how it’s to be done, and the importance of integrating the different marketing methods to successfully showcase a listing, is best left in the hands of the professional, the Realtor.
As the Listing Agent, Realtors are bound, according to Article 1 of their Code of Ethics, “to protect and promote the interests of the client.” In other words, the agent is ethically obligated to use their best efforts to accomplish the client’s objective. For most home sellers, this means a sale of the property in the least amount of time, for the best price and terms. And, believe it or not, marketing a home consists of more than simply putting a sign in the yard and waiting by the phone for calls from prospective buyers. There are a number of steps to take when marketing a home, some more important than others. Let’s begin by looking at the essential steps first.
What’s Necessary
1. Multiple Listing Service (MLS) – Job Number 1
Most home buyers use a Realtor to find and purchase a home. Realtors use the MLS to find homes. While there continue to be more and more “open source” alternatives to the MLS for locating homes for sale, the MLS, unlike the other platforms, is required to keep the accurate status of homes listed. According to Article XII of the Metropolitan Regional Information Systems (MRIS) Rules and Regulations guidelines which govern the MLS, a property’s status must be updated within forty-eight hours of a change. Frequently, other home listing sites like Realtor.com, Zillow, Trulia and others, will list a home as being actively “For Sale”, yet, in reality, the property is already sold, and the status of the property not updated for days, or, in many cases, weeks. Yes, weeks!
Inputting listings into the MLS isn’t as seamless as one might imagine. Well, it is a simple process, but how accurate, how extensive, and how many pictures are posted are entirely up to the agent. If listing agents aren’t making the most of the MLS platform in advertising their listing, then they should be. Agents should take the time to get complete home details from their sellers. Buyer’s agents are depending upon the MLS for accurate information. And, yes, more information and pictures ARE better.
2. Listing Syndication
Ubiquity – the state of being everywhere at once. Yes, you want your home to be everywhere on the web. Today, that’s where many prospective buyers first see the home they’re considering purchasing. Of course, most home sellers want their home listed everywhere possible. Do you think sellers want their property seen more than the competition? Sure they do.
Our area MLS provider, MRIS, provides a listing syndication option available to Brokers. This option, ListHub, provides brokers the ability to distribute their listings to other real estate property sites like Trulia, Zillow, Yahoo Real Estate, and many others. Another similar property listing syndication service provider is Postlets. And Postlets, unlike ListHub, is free.
3. Video and Pictures.
Let prospective buyers preview what they’re getting! If a picture is worth a thousand words, you think a video is worth…maybe, ten thousand? Well, that depends on the viewer, and more importantly, the quality of the video. What is required for quality pictures and video?
For quality pictures, you can find excellent digital cameras with plenty of megapixels for less than $250, that will meet your needs. Using software designed to blend or “stitch” the pictures together, you can produce a virtual tour that effectively showcases and highlights the home’s best features. While still photos give the home viewer a good idea of what’s inside the home, using software that provides panoramic views and tells a story of the home at the same time, completes the picture. Real Estate Shows is an inexpensive tool that accomplishes this task. Visual Tour costs a bit more, and does a little more. Using video, the production is even better.
Another program that offers a few more thrills, and also uses video for its productions, is AgentCasts. Whether using video or still pictures, they provide a menu of services and costs that’ll meet your needs, and provide a quality finished product.
Something as simple as the Flip Video or Kodak Zi6, costing less than $175, might be tempting to use for filming the home video, but don’t sell yourself, and your client, short. While it’s not necessary to spend thousands to get quality video, spend a few hundred more than a Flip and utilize the enhanced capability of a better camera to showcase your property in the best light.
For software programs, Microsoft’s Windows Movie Maker, included in most Windows packages, is a simple but powerful video editing package for creating movies, or short videos.
If you’ve never used it, don’t worry. As they say, “even a 6th grader can do it”! Just go to YouTube.com and you’ll find instructional videos on how to use Movie Maker. You’ll find a number of “how to” videos with very good instructions on how to use the program.
There’s lots to do in marketing a home for sale. Using the MLS, and plenty of photos of the property, or, even better, video, are important first steps in showcasing the home for interested agents and home buyers. But, the devils in the details. Great pictures, video, and a detailed listing may draw buyers in, but the finer points of the listing that comprise the marketing strategy developed with your seller(s) are just as important to success. Its those details we’ll examine when we complete the marketing discussion.
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Twice As Much Pleasure
August 17th, 2009 categories: Entertainment, Relocating
I can’t say I enjoy food as much as many of my friends. But, I do enjoy an enjoyable night of dining.
This weekend I was treated to a couple of evenings of dining at two of the area’s finest establishments. And, while I enjoy good barbeque, or a visit to Chipolte with my sons, on Friday, I had another opportunity to spend the evening at one of Fredericksburg’s finest restaurants, Claiborne’s. It may be the best in fine dining to be had in the area.
Located in one of the orginal Old Town Fredericksburg’s train station buildings, the restaurant’s rooms allow for small parties as well as larger groups numbering more than fifty. Whether your dining pleasure is filet mignon, chicken, fish, or something a bit more exotic, the menu won’t disappoint you. Neither will the service. The wait staff is polite, punctual, and knowledgeable. While Friday night’s was a treat, Saturday night’s outing may have been better. It was certainly a different setting.
The Inn at Kelly’s Ford, is a site that should be a “mandatory formation” for visitors to the Commonwealth. It’s simply an exceptional example of what the state has to offer; a joy for the palette, and the eyes.
In Remington, Virginia, the Inn is situated on the historical site of the Kelly´s Ford Civil War Battlefield, on 150 acres, which is part of a larger 500-acre estate. As its website claims, there truly is a “casual elegance” that’s unmistakable upon arrival at the facility.
While the occasion for Saturday’s visit was a wedding, I’d been there a couple of times previously. The setting and view from the dining area is truly picturesque. In the middle of the Commonwealth’s horse country, the countryside’s rolling hills, and green pastures, provide the ideal setting for a quiet evening of exquisite dining.
Similar to Claiborne’s, the menu at the Inn is full of dinner delights. The Entree list includes:
While the cost of the entree selections is a bit more than one might expect at your routine “in town” restaurant, the Inn is anything but the usual, and you won’t find anything quite like it in the city. Additionally, the menu features are some you won’t soon forget. Not only are the dishes delicious, but their presentation is very impressive as well.
The Fredericksburg and Stafford, Viriginia region has much to offer. Whether on vacation, or an area homeowner enjoying a night out, Claiborne’s and the Inn at Kelly’s Ford are two fine dining choices you’ll enjoy immensely.
Before making your reservation, make sure your night out is one during which you can relax and enjoy the atmosphere and appreciate the experience. Each of the establishments leaves you wanting to remain a bit longer, to enjoy the experience even more. In these cases, it’s an urge worth indulging.
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