Sellers list at a price they hope to achieve and perception is reality. Lowering this price is often perceived as a loss, since most sellers have already calculated what they will net at this price or what they expect will be an offer. But if the home does not sell, when do you adjust and how much? Is 5K too timid, will it even be noticed by buyers? Is 20k too much, "giving it away"? Here is a video about the current trends:  http://realestateinsidernews.com/breaking-real-estate-news/home-pricing-crucial-in-this-market-video-must-sell-now-price-your-home-to-sell/ If the average time to lower a price is two months in my opinion that is too long to wait. In this market, time is money. If your presentation is perfect, you have staged, have pro pictures, great flyers, are presented everywhe... 04/08/2011

Q: What tips do you have for the initial viewing and entrance of the prospective buyers? A: It is so important in this predominantly 'buyers market' to make sure your home gets the very best shot at selling from the moment it goes on the market. Make sure the front door area is clean, well painted, the locks work easily, the doormat is straightened and clean and the cob-webs are gone. Your group of buyers could be converging there for a few minutes while the Realtor gets the door open. If the locks are not working smoothly the buyers will have ample time to study their surroundings while they wait. You would be surprised at the impressions they will adopt during that time. If it is silky smooth getting in they will only glance, but if their agent has to struggle with the locks before sh... 03/31/2011

There is good and bad news in housing and this article had a great and clear view of it: http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424052970204799304576231632524564052.html?mod=BOL_hpp_dc So there are all indications that there is light at the end of a very long tunnel. I still think, and all numbers point to it, that it will be another 5-8 years until we have a new market equilibrium but at least it looks like there i nothing else piling up to extend the tunnel. Interesting, that the government sees not paying your mortgage as a rise in income (which it essentially is), so are people who strategically default enriching themselves at the cost of the public (extending the whole mess by adding another distressed property)? 03/31/2011

A few people who were looking at my listings lately have houses to sell but do not want to pay the commission (at least not in full), trying to sell themselves. After all, how hard can it be, what does a broker really do for the money? Of course they can luck out and I am the last who would not applaud that, after all they are then able to buy again. Nevertheless most do not sell. Here is why: -pricing: they are getting a CMA from an agent. And in most cases those CMAs hold rather accurate numbers. But those sellers think, they need room to bargain and add 20K to the CMA result, pricing themselves out. The competition, priced according to their brokers, gets the offers. Note: correctly priced homes get mostly close to asking offers. Of course the is the occasional lowball but over all o... 03/28/2011

One would think that a rainy Sunday afternoon would not bode well for an OH. Well, I had 18(!) parties coming to 6275 NW Fair Oaks Dr in Corvallis yesterday. Most truly loved the home. Here is the one thing that united most of the visitors: they have to sell their house first. Looks like the market is clogged. Nevertheless very happy with the outcome. Big thanks to Margaret Oscilia for her amazing work, staging and updating! We will sell it!! Spring is everywhere, everything is blooming, Corvallis is rather stable, let's pull the plug and move! 03/28/2011

The statistics behind home ownership support it! Read here: http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2011/03/why_homeownership_still_matter.html Interesting enough the conclusion does not apply in countries like Germany. With mortgage interest not being tax deductible for own use but deductible for investment property, many more people opt to rent themselves and buy to rent out in order to create wealth. The homeownership rates are much lower in other countries mainly because of this and in addition because of the fact that property in denser populated countries is much more expensive. Nevertheless most people dream of becoming home owners, just that they have to wait much longer in average to safe up the money for the required, ratgher high, down payments. So what is the better mode... 03/28/2011

Children who are moving back in, Parents who cannot or want not live alone anymore, Teenagers who for the sake of sanity of the whole family need a "separate" living space, Patchwork Families, Partners who want to live under the same roof but not in the same space, these are a few of the models I met when offering a Dual Living Home for the first time. Since then I have listed two more that are suitable for this kind of cohabitation and they are definitely sought after. If you think about it, it has a lot of advantages. Two houses would be exponentially more expensive, not only in buying but also in keeping.  Resources can be pooled and the one party with the better credit can take on the mortgage, relying on supporting payment from the other. The other party is always in reach but not ... 03/24/2011

I have written a lot about the outlook of the RE market. It is not good. So why is buying now actually a good idea? 1: There is a certain amount at which you cannot reproduce a house. Especially when it is in a neighborhood that does not have any lots left, the houses are well cared for, the neighborhood is respected, the neighbors are solid people, buying a home that would cost a good $200 to build for $150 per sqft is a wonderful deal.  Yes, it might be that in one year the deal would be even better but is the house still there? If you love a certain corner of town and this house goes on the market, buy it, you will love to live there!!!! 2: Define what you want out of a house. Do you want an investment? Buy stocks, gold or whatever else. Or do you want a home? If you want a home, do ... 03/23/2011

The market is eroding further. Without clearing the shadow inventory, which keeps growing, not shrinking, there is no way back to a supply/demand balance. In our market we had in February inventory for 6.57 months. According to CMAs from Jan compared to Mid March most home prices went down between 5-10K. That means if you priced a home at 199K in January the ones coming on now that are comparable and accurately priced are now rather 189K. With the data at hand and some knowledge about the outlook pricing needs to be sightly below current comps in order to sell and stay current pricewise for a while. I am well aware that a lot of buyers still think they are "giving away" something, that prices will bounce back, that the values of 06 and 07 are returning, that they think they need to pric... 03/23/2011

Government intervention is always delaying pain. But the pain will always come at one point. In the movie Jurassic Park the founder of the park says it is impossible for the dinos to reproduce. Yet because frog DNA was used to recreate the dinos, nature finds a way and they are able to reproduce. Markets are the same way. If government intervenes and tries to find a way to suppress, change, influence, give it a little while and the markets find a way. The only thing that changes is the time when things happen. We might not like what markets do, "stick it to the rich", whoever and whatever that is, give it to the "little guy", let's kill and eat the cow we want to milk. This is popular and therefore politicians are doing it. It does not change the laws of nature aka markets. If you want ... 03/18/2011

So you have bought a new home. Now you really want to make it your own. Totally understandable. And maybe you are 100% sure you NEVER want to and will move again. then knock yourself out and go for the purple bathroom with pink sinks and gold faucets (I have actually seen that). But if somewhere in the corner of your mind is the thought, that you might sell again one day, think about this: any change you make that is costly and/or difficult to change again and is on the other side of main stream or "normal" taste will cost you big time or be detrimental to your sale later. Here are a few things you should think about before you do it: Landscaping: please do not plant anything that will be big, leafy and totally in the way of a good photo shot of your home from it's best perspective. I d... 03/16/2011

RAIN! Corvallis is drenched, I think it has rained for 48hrs straight now and not a little spray of rain, real heavy and tons of it. Even our chicken are hiding under the coop, that means something. But that is why we everything is lush, the climate is right. Don't be cought with an umbrella though, that is un-Oregonian..:-) Our area gets actually less rain than a lot of areas in the US. A farmer once told us (shortly after we moved here and waded through mud at a farm event) that "we keep talking about all the rain we have so that not too many people move here". It is mid March and the cherry trees downtown and all the daffodils are in full bloom, crocus everywhere, the Daphne behind our office sends scented greetings out everytime we come and go and our camelia buds look like they wil... 03/16/2011

Ok, I admit, it has happened to me before. I have an appointment with somebody who wants to sell, I go to have a look on the house and smother them with knowledge, a battle plan, advice what to change and improve and how to proceed. And shortly before I leave I see it in their faces: completely overwhelmed. I understand. I can be a steam roller. There is so much to say in so little time and they are asking for a solution to their problem: selling this home. So I give them what they want but it sometimes is way too much. Not all sellers have that problem, in fact most simply love that somebody takes the reigns and tells them where to go and what to do, boils decisions down to a yes or no, has clear goals and knows her stuff. My current listings all have sellers who are happy as clams whe... 03/15/2011

Just came back from an Open House and it was GREAT! Between 1 and 2 absolutely nobody came and then a huge storm (unannounced, as it happens in OR) knocked my sign over and blew the riders off. But with that storm my luck turned and party after party came in, great people, serious buyers, cash, on the lookout ready to buy in the next 3 months. That does not mean a change in the market but it clearly shows that a good presentation and the right price make a sale likely. So do not give up, work hard and not even a storm can keep the buyers away :-)  03/13/2011

OREGON: From 4/1/2011 on just MUST have a Carbon Monoxide Detector in the house if you have a fuel burning heat source, one alaram on each level of the house, when you are selling (and of course it might be a good idea to do it for yourself anyhow...)Rental units have to have them as well.   03/11/2011

A few days a go I saw another expired listing that was formerly listed with a company from out of the area, aka 1.5hrs away. The owner "owed the broker a favor" and the broker was willing to take a much lower commission. So what did this owner gain? Nothing. The house is not sold, the quality of the job (pictures, presentation, text) is very poor at best. There was no Open House, no broker tour, the agent is even in an other MLS. The flyer box is empty for weeks and the quality of the flyers is significantly under par. The owner lost time, with that, in this market, money, has not sold his house, in fact is miles away from it. My enthusiasm for listings more than 30min away from my house is non existent. Can I realistically serve this well when I always have to have at least 1hr of time... 02/27/2011

Corvallis           Price Range Active Listings as of 2/20/2011 Sold Listings Last 6 Mos. Average Sold Per Month Months of Inventory Av. Days on Market Solds $0 - $99,999 2 * * * * $100,000 - $149,999 5 9 1.50 3.33 191 $150,000 - $199,999  21 29 4.83 4.34 129 $200,000 - $249,999 43 47 7.83 5.49 102 $250,000 - $299,999 29 37 6.17 4.70 130 $300,000 - $349,999 21 21 3.50 6.00 148 $350,000 - $399,999 30 11 1.83 16.36 174 $400,000 - $449,999 9 13 2.17 4.15 166 $450,000 - $499,999 11 3 0.50 22.00 106 $500,000 - $599,999 12 3 0.50 24.00 314 $600,000 - $699,999 7 6 1.00 7.00 176 $700,000 + 7 1 0.17 42.00 213   197 180   6.57 168 02/21/2011

When I powered up my computer this morning, I had an e-mail from someone I didn't know. This isn't unusual, but the subject of the e-mail was ... Corvallis is my home town. Corvallis is also my home town, so I thought someone must have found me on Facebook. Nope. Rachael had found a post I wrote almost a year ago titled Famous People From Your Hometown ... Do You Know Who They Are? Here is what Rachael said to me in her e-mail. Hello - My name is Rachael and Corvallis is my home town! When I saw your blog about famous people from Corvallis I had to share my story about Meredith Brooks. It makes me laugh now that I think back about it, I thought you could appreciate my story so I had to share =). Wow ... I wrote that post on March 10, 2010 and had completely forgotten about it. The stuff... 02/18/2011

According to the Harvard School of Business in "Corvallis Metropolitan Area Economic Performance Indicators," Corvallis has 54.15 patents per 10,000 people as compared to 7.7 patents per 10,000 in the rest of the United States. The Portland Business Journal rated Corvallis with #5 leadership wellness in the state or Oregon. 02/17/2011

Some people make decisions quickly, others need time to ponder and gather detailed information. There are different means of communication we all prefer, and in working with real estate clients we believe it is important to move at the pace of the client and communicate with them in their preferred manner. This means being adaptable. A very young buyer may turn their nose up at phone calls or emails and prefer to mainly text as we find their perfect home. Others may not have the internet and will not care at all to hear about web hits and social media marketing. The important thing is to find what works and continue earning referral business from our solid reputation in Albany, Corvallis, Lebanon, Salem and Philomath as providers of personalized, helpful and professional real estate ser... 02/17/2011