Affordable Bathroom Makeovers

Daily Real Estate News  |  April 25, 2008

Affordable Ways to Makeover Bathrooms

Source: The Washington Post, Terri Sapienza (04/24/08)

A dreary, outdated bathroom can be a home sale deal breaker.

Remodeling magazine says the average price of a mid-range bathroom remodel in 2007 was $14,445. But $500 worth of nips and tucks can upgrade the room, says Lytel Young, host of HGTV’s "Save My Bath."

"There are three important things in a bathroom," Young says. "Clean, simple, and orderly. That's the key for every budget, whether it's $500 or $40,000."

He recommends these inexpensive steps to sellers whose baths need a facelift:

• Rip out the dated medicine cabinet and replace it with a big mirror.

• Replace the lighting with new sconces on both sides of the mirror plus a new overhead fixture on a dimmer.

• Re-caulk the tub and shower.

• Repaint with a neutral color, but decorate with big, fluffy colorful towels.

• Hang some framed art.

If you are interested in a 'bathroom makeover' call me. I have a person that does this type of light construction who is dependable and very resonable.

San Francisco #2 in "Top 10 Best Cities for Home Sellers"

How is the market? That is what I get asked every single day from at least one person. My answer is always, depends on the property.

Forbes.com just released a Top 10 Best Cities for Home Sellers list by analyzing and comparing "job growth, amount of new construction, vacancy rates, and credit availability" in the top 40 metro areas in the United States.

And San Francisco ranks #2, just behind San Jose, CA and above Salt Lake City and Austin, TX!

There are buyers in San Francisco and when the conforming loan limit recently jumped from $417,000 to $729,750, it made it easier for them to get financing. In addition, our economy is still doing well, and perhaps more importantly, it is more diversified than in 2000 during the dot.com revolution.

It is definitely not a market where every property goes over asking with multiple offers, but there are certainly properties that are getting multiple offers and going 6-figures over asking. And more than just a few. At the same time, there are properties that are sitting, and not selling at all. For these properties, it seems like no matter how much the agents lower the price, they still sit.

The tale of two markets, which is quintessential San Francisco.

Market your property to Chinese buyers in Chinese

 

If you are planning on selling your property to one of the largest buyer segments in the local San Francisco Bay Area real estate market, you can not do it in English-only anymore. In a recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle, it was reported that 20% of one new condo building's buyers were foreign, and that Chinese were in the top 5 of the list. With San Francisco's close proximity to Asia, the large Asian population and the recent developments by the Chinese government to allow Chinese citizens to buy real estate overseas it is wise to make sure that your property is being marketed properly to this market.

Marketing vs. Translation

While there are translation widgets available that will translate your properties information into every language in the world, reviews by native speakers often reveal that they are less than perfect when conveying your properties unique characteristics. Translation like these do not pick-up on translating English nuances well into foreign languages at all.

At sfcondomap.com, a recent listing also prominently offers information in Chinese that captures the true meanings and essence of the English text. The differences can be as dramatic as reading bad writing vs. good writing to the reader! And this will effect their perception of your property.

The "Best Practices" in marketing to particular foreign buyers is to have a native speaker that is fluent in the target markets language and that is also fluent in real estate marketing to do the translation. You can see the example at sfcondomap.com here.

For more information on marketing your property to foreign buyers, please contact Scott Pierce at 415-595-3519 or email at scott@sfcondomap.com.