Here’s a link to my prediction of disappearing listings. Today is the 10 of May. I bet these will disappear by May 17. Check on them.

Open 4/15/2012 Sunday. 1-4pm. I will have a list of other opens for you if you want to do a walking tour of the hill on this nice afternoon.

Buyers are coming into the market because they believe they can get a good deal but they are also very picky about what they want. New buyers are not inclined to do work on a house so they are making offers (sometimes competing on homes) on homes that are done. No painting or repairs to do. They want good bones and a home in good shape. If a house is dirty and not kept up it is viewed as comparable with bank owned or short sales and buyers will discount the price.

Buyers want to “feel the love” and are drawn to homes that have been well maintained and wisely remodeled.  Negatives or flaws in a house in a declining marketplace are magnified by buyers. Anything that is a negative (old windows, old carpet, dated appliances) is an excuse not to buy a house. “Let’s wait and see what comes on the market that will be better.”

So when preparing your home for sale, do what needs to be done to show buyers it is a good house. Paint, super clean, fix broken things and get rid of the stuff that will get in the way of buyer’s dreams. Take a look at your sewer line, roof, wiring and plumbing and, while we probably wouldn’t have you do a lot of work on these systems, get bids to do the improvements that typical buyers want.  If you don’t have that master bath, how much would it cost? If the roof is old, get a bid for replacement. That way any buyer will have real numbers to plug into their purchase equation.

Then price your home realistically. If the house next door was completely remodeled two years ago and sold for $500,000 last week compare your house to that one. Is yours in similar condition? Similar floor plan?  How much would it cost to do the same to yours? Get the facts. That is what we can help with.

And nothing is binding unless it is written down in this business. You need records and good forms. We use the preprinted rental forms and screening services of the Puget Sound Rental Housing Association. It’s a good organization for online info and forms. Plus they have good trainings and advice.

We are hosting an evening on March 20 about investing in residential real estate for long term income. If you are interested email me at pennyb@windermere.com and we’ll put you on the guest list.

We just experienced this over the weekend when our View Ridge listing received six offers. We prepared it well, got good pictures and priced it attractively and stepped back to see what would happen. View Ridge is a popular neighborhood and there have been only a couple of view homes available there in months. So everyone came and 6 people were ready enough to make good offers.

It will be interesting to see how long this continues. Will more people list their homes and provide more inventory to the buyers who have been waiting for years to buy? Will too many sellers come on the market? We think that homes that are presented well and priced competively should continue to sell quickly even if inventory increases.