The difference is that when you hire me to sell your house – you get me, a long-time veteran of bidding wars and how to handle them with specific strategies so you sell for top dollar.
Anybody can shuffle multiple offers – my skill is getting them to compete against each other and drive the price higher.
Hat tip to GM for sending in a note about the San Diego Blues Festival this weekend, a two-day extravaganza to benefit the San Diego Food Bank:
http://sdbluesfest.com/2015-lineup/
The lineup features San Diego’s own The Paladins, who will be playing at 2:30pm on Saturday. Here’s a sample:
Starting this Saturday there is a new exhibit opening in La Jolla – and it is free!
See more here:
Yesterday, the NAR reported the national home sales for August. The number was below estimates, and there was some concern about the ‘market’.
We already reviewed the August sales on September 6th, split into two categories. To update, and to pick up the eight late-reporters, here are the August sales for comparison to the last four years:
NSDCC Detached-Home Sales, August
| Year | ||||||
| 2011 | ||||||
| 2012 | ||||||
| 2013 | ||||||
| 2014 | ||||||
| 2015 |
Our local market feels a little squishy out on the street, but statistically, it looks to be in good shape. There would need to be evidence of sellers caving (SP:LP) or buyers fleeing (# of sales) to cause any major concern.
I keep hoping that the auction format will take hold, and at least become one of the choices for sellers to consider. The Harcourts hubbub has settled down – I haven’t seen or heard of any of their auctions lately – but auction.com is finally sticking their toe in the water.
They are beta-testing their Select division, which is a happy blend of an online auction and regular transaction terms. From their website:
They just couldn’t resist the last paragraph, and it’s one that will likely be a turn-off to casual bidders. But unless they get to the reserve price, who cares – if their shill has to try to bid it up in order to hit the reserve price, then the buyer can always say no.
But they’ve only had five listings in the state so far:
https://select.auction.com/search/ca-state
The online aspect sounds convenient, but it’s the live event that makes it worth it. The live auction is where buyers might get hyped up enough to bid a little higher than they thought, and be more likely to hit the reserve price.
They have Google behind them:
http://www.inman.com/2015/09/03/8-ways-google-is-circling-real-estate
So if the beta-testing works out the bugs, and Google can spend millions on advertising it, then the auction.com Select format could be what brings residential resale auctions to the masses.
If they could incorporate a platform where ANY listing agent could utilize the service and have it be friendly to all, then we’d really be cooking!
Last year, the inventory counts in our top three price categories hit their final peak during the third week of September, then declined through January. Buyers – if you like having more homes from which to choose, this is your week!
Click on the link below for the complete NSDCC active-inventory data:
A comparison of TV staging:
We’ve dropped off our baby at college this weekend.
She’s living in the dorms with two girls she met on Facebook. The ‘efficient’ room dimensions were known in advance, so Natalie and Mom planned well, and thanks to UCLA being extremely organized, the move-in was completed without a hitch.
Natalie is a dance major, and is one of 30 kids who got into the UCLA Dance School this year. We have high hopes for her career as a professional dancer, but as the film crew found out, there is a contingency plan:
The documentary-film crew was back in town today. They captured Kayla and I filming a video tour of our new listing in the hills of Oceanside:
Kayla’s finished tour here: https://youtu.be/CnD64tW-rGM
Thanks to daytrip for sending in this article:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-16/would-you-buy-this-house-sight-unseen-
An excerpt:
One in five Americans who bought a home in the past two years said they had made an offer on a home they had never visited, based on a poll of 2,100 recent buyers conducted for Redfin by SurveyMonkey. People who paid more than $750,000 for their homes were particularly likely to make a blind bid, with 53 percent of them submitting an offer sight unseen. So were millennials, 30 percent of whom made such an offer.
Buyers: Are you making offers sight unseen because the top-quality online presentations, or because you know that you can always back out later?
Sellers: Are you worried that buyers are submitting offers without seeing your house, and once they do, they could back out? You should be!
Most listings only include photos of granite slabs, stainless appliances, and the latest in modern bedding.
With so many buyers making offers without seeing the houses, doesn’t it make sense to have the most complete online presentation possible? Yes it does!
What is the answer? Jim the Realtor video tours!
I’ve completed over 2,000 YouTube video tours and regularly use them to sell houses – it is the closest thing to being there.
Why?
Because of the audio. Instead of goofy elevator music, you hear my honest assessment of what you are looking at on the screen. It is healthy for buyers and sellers!
Get Good Help – hire Jim the Realtor!
Later today we are filming the ‘Making of a JTR Video’. The blog post will be here later tonight!
