Selling your home in a down market

Are you ready to sell? There are more homes on the market and at cheaper prices than 2 years ago. What does it take to sell your home in today's market? Selling your home in a down market means that you are motivated. The question is are you really motivated? Why do you have to sell? Are you relocating? Are you losing your job? Is your house too small for your family?
You have to have the commitment to sell at a lower price and do more things than you would normally do when you sell your home. You need to ask yourself what is my bottom price? Or do I have to get out no matter what?
You have to make your house look good, make it appear more spacious. (More seller's tips go to www.russravary.com) You need to listen to your realtor and follow his suggestions. You home will sell quicker and for more money if you listen to his advice. You trust him right, you are paying for his advice right? You hired him right? You wouldn't go to a heart surgeon and only do one of the things that he says. I know that is an extreme example but the result is the same. No you aren't going to die but you are not going to get a good end result. The house may not sell at all, or it may take months, or a year to sell, or you may not even get close to the price you want. I am sure you do not want any of the above. If you are putting your home on the market make a commitment to yourself to listen to your realtor, to price your home right, to make the house saleable as possible. I know you will be happy in the end to achieve what you want when you sell your house. If you want search Michigan Homes free. May today little success's build tomorrow's future for you and your family.
Russ Ravary

Do you trust your realtor?

That's the question of the day. Do you trust your Realtor? If you don't then you need to get a new one. Most of them are not out to just sell a home or just make money off of you. Many of them have your best interest in mind. What I mean by that is that if they tell you you should do certain things to get your house ready to sell then you should make every effort to do that. You should trust them. They are constantly reading and learning on what sells homes. They have the experience. They take continuing education every year. They listen and hear stories from their fellow realtors all the time. They have their fellow realtors knowledge to fall back on and ask questions to. One office sometimes has 50 agents with a thousand years of experience and thousands of home sold. That is what you are getting with a good realtor.
The Detroit Housing Market is very slow, so the homeowners need to have their home priced right for the condition it is in. Or they need to be one of the best condition home. It needs to sparkle, needs to appear spacious, needs to be ready for the new home owner to move in right away.
The example I have is I have a homeowner that is a big time hunter and a wife that loves pinks, peaches, wallpaper, and flowers. It was a nicely decorated home with lots of flowered wallpaper and trophy mounts. Well as all of you know when a buyer walks into a home that want to picture themselves in the home. When you see wallpaper, buyers think of all the work they need to do. Or they can't even picture themselves in the house because of the bright blue velvet and metallic silver wallpaper (different house). I have been in beautiful houses and then walk into the kitchen and here is this overwhelming bright vegatable wallpaper. The buyer hated it and could not get past the wallpaper. The house was out of the running just because of wallpaper. So take down the wallpaper and paint it a neutral color.
People sometimes can't get past the trophy on the walls. they shudder. They want out of the house. So pack up the trophies.
I told my clients they needed to take down the wallpaper in 6 different rooms, I told them to pack up all the heads. I told them what pieces of furniture to store at somebody else's house. I told them take down some dark flowered drapes and put up some sheer curtains. I went thru the house and told them what I thought. The wife didn't totally like what I said, but they did it. She hated the brightness of the house now, her feelings were a little hurt by some of my suggestions. (Nobody likes to hear that their decorating needs to change)
The bottom line is that we got lucky and got an offer in 7 days on the house. It was now one of the nicest homes of all the Livonia Real Estate that the buyer saw.

Are you selling or aren't you?

My pet peeve of the week is sellers who won't let people in. Last weekend we set it up an appointment through another real estate office. We showed up at the house and the seller told us we could not come in. She wanted to know if 3 days from then would be okay!!! Duh. The seller just got the buyer mad and they are not coming back to look at that house. She supposedly does not empty her messages off the answering machine to know when the appointments are scheduled. Not the smartest seller in the world.

I have two more. Another one we called to see tomorrow they said how about next week towards the end of the week. This was a lease. The people need to move. They will be looking elsewhere.Another one we called to see tomorrow (a different buyer and seller) the seller said not tomorrow but how about Sat between 12-1 or Sun 4-5. 3 days later again and to at their convenience.If you are going to sell your house make a commitment to yourself and let it be shown whenever possible. It is a slow market you can't afford to let a buyer go by. There are some houses that are not getting lookers but once a month. I can understand if you have out of town guests, birthday party, a child sick, but let your agent show it as much as he can. Even if it short notice, even if it is not perfect.I sold one house this way. Another agent was in front of my buyers house and called me. They wanted to get in right then. They liked the looks of the house. I called my buyer. He ranted and raved about no notice. I told him to quickly make the bed and apologize to the prospective buyer on how it was not totally cleaned up. That buyer bought the house. They put in a bid that night!!!

If you are thinking of selling your home. Don't let the buyer get away. Don't let the buyer get away. Don't let the buyer get away.

They are far and few between right now. They will put your house on the back burner like you did them. There are so many houses on the market to look at. Make it available. Make it easy to show all the time. I know it is work to keep it clean and pretty. But if you truly want to move and sell the house then you might have to pack up the kids, the dog and run out of the house. Go to my website and do one of the March things to do in Michigan. If you want to search for Michigan Homes go to my website www.russravary.com May today's problems become solvable and easy. Russ Ravary

Open your Door and make an impression!

With the Michigan economy and sales in homes down nationwide now is the time to make sure your home is ready to sell. You need to make your home as appealing as possible to help it sell. What does your home really say from the street? Is it impressive? Do people want to come in? Are trees and overgrown shrubs blocking the house? Do you have clutter and junk on the front porch? With the internet people search for homes online first, then do a quick driveby. If they don't like the looks of the house they are not coming back. So if your picture is not good enough to draw people to come and look at your home, then you lose a possible sale. You have to get them inside. Straighten the shutters. Plant some flowers. Put some potted plants around. Trim the shrubs, and green up the grass. Trim up the low lying branches. Put everything away out in front of the house. Cut the grass more often. Edge the lawn. Make sure your picture of your house on the internet is good. Tell your real estate guy to take another picture if necessary.

Tell your neighbors you are going to sell. If you have to, cut their yard too. Nobody likes living next to an unkept house. Pull your weeds, put some fresh ground cover (mulch, stone) down. Do it as if you were going to have a party. Make your home beautiful.

Have a friend come over or ask your realtor what they think about the front of your house. Do what they say. Make your home more desirable from the street. Is your front door painted or varnished nicely? Does the door have finger prints. What do you outside lights look like? Is the caulking falling off? Are your windows clean? How do your shades, blinds, and curtains look from the outside. Does the siding need powerwashing? Borrow a powerwasher from a neighbor. Need to paint some of the wood trim. Do it. How does the front door handle look? does the key turn easily? You don't want somebody not to get it in because there is a trick to turning the key.

Sure that tree might cost $200 to trim or $400 to take down. But it may open up the front of the house.

For more home selling tips go to Russ Ravary Michigan Real Estate. You can search for Livingston County Real Estate, Wayne County Real Estate, Oakland County Real Estate or any county around Metro Detroit real estate
Did you know the city of Novi was not named after the number 6 stop on the railroad? The railroad did not come until 20 years after the city was named. Did you know that Detroit had the first street paved in Concrete?

Open houses in Michigan

What is the value of an Open house. According to statistics only 2% of all homes are sold from an open house. There is more value for the real estate agent to hold an open house because they may get more prospective clients from it.
The pros of it are that it is one more avenue of getting more people to look at your house. I try to put out fliers in the neighborhood before hand inviting the neighbors to see they house. That way more people know about the home. The neighbor may tell one of their friends, co-workers or family to come and see the house. Usually if you get 5 buyers to come through in one day you are lucky.
The con of it is the security risk. Sometimes people are there just to steal. There have been instances where Realtors have been mugged or raped in the house.
The bottom line is that if your home is for sale and the agent has time to hold an open house and he is willing to do it. What is there to lose?
I have 2 above average homes for sale right now. They are beautiful Wayne County Homes. One is a completely updated Allen Park Bungalow(1044 sq ft). Just about everything has been updated from the copper plumbing up to the roof. The other is a Livonia Colonial (2096 sq ft) with an in ground pool. It has a lot of updates and the owner has taken care of it. Search my featured listings or search Michigan homes
I am still at the on page 1 for Livonia Real Estate on MSN, Google, and AOL. Internet exposure sells house. So if you want somebody that is dedicated to getting your home out there on the Internet on as many sites as possible contact me at my website www.russravar.com Enjoy your Sunday.

Spring in Metro Detroit

Well the first of the spring showers are starting here in Wayne County and Oakland County. Now is the time to get started with the spring clean up. Clean the gutters, wash the windows, thatch the lawn, remove all the dead branches. You can loosen up the soil where ever you don't have bulbs planted. Remove all your dead plant material. Number one thing to do is check your fire alarms and replace the batteries now. If you have a carbon monoxide detector, or a radon detector change those batteries too. If it is a nice day open your windows and air out your house. Change your furnance filter and get ready to uncover your air conditioner.
One of the things I see many people do when they sell their house is to get it into tip top condition. They sometimes paint or remodel right before they sell. They put it off for years and then do it right before they move.
Why don't you enjoy the freshly painted room, or the remodeling yourself? You should use and enjoy something that you want to do or have to do before you sell. A remodeling job (even a small one) makes you feel better about your house. Simple things such as fixing the door knob, painting the kitchen, or putting new carpet in the family room makes you feel better. Do it if you can afford it.
Take the time to teach your kids to do the simple things. Teach them to paint. Give them the closet to do. How else are they going to learn if not from you. Be their mentor. Even if it is an hour of help, they are learning. Make it fun, maybe even say let's fix this and then go to putt-putt golf. Get involved with your kids.

Spring is almost here

Well tomorrow is officially the first day of Spring though you couldn't tell it here in Metro Detroit. Snow, ice and cold the day before spring. Can you believe another winter has flown by. I don't think this year's winter was that bad as compared to most. Plymouth's Ice Festival is a thing of the past and now we can start looking forward to cleaning up the yard so we have time to go out and enjoy the summer once the weather turns nice. Some of the things you need to do soon are: thatch the yard, put the spring fertilizer on, make sure the gutters are cleaned out, and wash the windows. Consistency is the key to a good yard. You know that old retired neighbor that has the beautiful yard. Well he is putting on his fertilizer/weed killer 5 or 6 times a year. Cutting the grass every 6 or 7 days all the time. Trimming the bushes three or more times. We are all so busy. We skip a fertilization here and there. Sometimes it's 10 days to get the grass cut with all the rain. And we're lucky to get the bushes trimmed twice a year after we get through running the kids around. Consistency. Let's get it done so we can head out to the ballpark.
If you are looking for something to do this week. How about going to Hitsville USA where all the big Motown Hits were recorded. Or visit Plymouth Historical Museum or contact your local city and see what historical sites they have right in your home town. There are many sites close by that will give you a background of what went on 50- 100 years before you moved into the city. If you want more ideas of Michigan Things to do by Month or a comprehensive list of all Michigan things to do visit my website at www.russravary.com for Wayne County Real Estate and Oakland County Real Estate
You can search Michigan Homes for free and nobody is going to bother you. Just put in your search criteria. May the grass be greener on your side of the fence this year. Russ Ravary