With all the negative news in the headlines, about the struggling real estate market, it was somewhat refreshing to me, to see an absolutely fabulous, accurate, and worthwhile article that appeared in the Wall Street Journal, this past Monday, titled, "How to Sell a House when you Have to Sell in Now".  http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB121553612650836199-lMyQjAxMDI4MTE1NjUxMzY2Wj.html

Contrary to what you might suspect, reading the headlines, there are houses selling in our market, every day of the week.  There are sellers who have to move, generally for traditional reasons, such as job transfers, outgrowing homes, downsizing, family circumstances, etc. There are buyers out looking at homes, every day, as well.  The article offered 7 steps to consider, in order to effect a sale in today's market.

Those 7 steps include the following:

1.  Don't wait around.  Basically the advice is that because the time on the market has increased, if you have to sell, don't sit around trying to sit out the market.  If you want to sell, the best, and only way to make that happen, is to put it up for sale.

2.  Fix it up and clean it up.  The advice in the article is not to spend a lot of money on big ticket renovations, but to make sure that everything is in good repair, including paint, etc.  Please note, that this won't necessarily give you a pricing advantage, it will just ensure that your property stands out from the competition.

3.  Price it Cheaply.  Note the language that David Crook, the author, used.  He advised to be realistic, in setting the price from day 1. Don't let the house hang on the market for month after month.  Remember that your house is worth what it is worth today, not 3 years ago.  Buyers are looking for, and buying, those homes that they perceive to be bargains.  Your price has to stand out.

4.  Although I am obviously biased, this one is my favorite!  Hire a Top Real Estate Agent.  The author's advice is to, "Get the best, most aggressive selling (listing) agent you can find."  This is self explanatory, but basically the point is, that with the market being as challenging as it is, sellers need to take advantage of every possible activity to maximize the properties exposure to the market.

5.  Promote, Promote, Promote.  This is a follow up to the above suggestion.  As a seller, the article suggests that you should have a hand in making sure that your property is exposed everywhere possible.  Make sure your house is on all of the leading web portals, including Trulia, Zillow, Cyberhomes, Realtor.com, to name a few. Get really creative.  Perhaps you can promote the property in your own corporate newsletter, and intranet listings.  If you are part of an organization, put it in your organization newsletter, or bulletin.

6.  Play the banker.  If you are fortunate enough to have lots of equity, or perhaps no mortgage, consider offering the buyer some kind of creative financing.  Might be the difference between a buyer purchasing your house, rather than some else's.

7.  Take the Offer.  I can't emphasize this enough.  I can't tell you the number of times that sellers won't take an offer, and then regret it, months later.  Negotiate the best you can, but be practical and realistic. If the offer is reasonable, and I understand that is a magical word, be prepared to accept it. Remember, that as much as you love your house, it is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.  That will, in all  probability, in today's market, be less than what you think.

As I said at the beginning of this post, I think the Wall Street Journal did sellers everywhere, at great service with this article.  Obviously the Journal has a great deal of credibility.  I have been trying to get this basic advice to sellers, for some time.  It makes a lot more sense coming from the Wall Street Journal, than from me.  If you are a seller in this market, do yourself a favor, and think very seriously about this advice.

I came across a very interesting article in one of our local newspapers, last week, regarding open houses.  http://www.nj.com/starledger/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-13/120253533995340.xml&coll=1#continue

The article focused on a 72 year old resident of a New Jersey town, who spends about half the year in Florida, and claims that he and his wife have been visiting open houses for decades.  They say in the article, rather proudly, that they never go with any intent to buy anything, they are just nosy and curious.  So, the question is, although realtor open houses are a long time staple of the industry, do they work?

I was very fortunate, early in my real estate career, to have met a motivational speaker/trainer, by the name of Mike Ferry, who was extremely opposed to open houses.  I have continued to follow that training, for the most part.  As the article referenced above points out, very few buyers actually ever buy the house they came to the open house, to see.  More often than not,  I have found that visitors to open houses are nosy, and the least motivated buyers.  What most realtors don't tell their seller clients, is that realtors do open houses, to find clients.  That's great, except it doesn't do the job that the seller has hired us to do, which is to sell their house.  I have always felt that an open house was perhaps the most passive marketing strategy available to a realtor.  You don't have any way of qualifying the buyer, or to find out if they are serious about buying a house, or not.

With statistics showing that more than 90% of actual buyers in my market place, find that the Internet is the most important place for them to find the house they ultimately buy, along with information from their realtor, to me, those places are the most productive way to market properties. 

I don't mean to ruffle any feathers, for those realtors that do focus on doing open houses, but if you are a seller, and ask those realtors for an honest and open assessment of why they are holding open houses, Sunday after Sunday, most will admit that they are using the sellers house as a tool to attract clients, in the hope of selling them something else.  Again, this is a very personal perspective, and I know that there are many, successful agents, who might not agree with me, but it is an interesting conversation to have.  I have found that the overwhelming majority of my clients, when told that I am not a big believer in the open house strategy, are relieved, and tell me that they hated the idea of doing open houses, anyway. 

As always, your comments are welcome.