The Real Estate Browser Volume 10, Issue 4 | Page 42

42 — Say you saw it in The Real Estate Browser of Lynchburg — Volume 10 Number 4
should have reminded everyone that real
estate prices can indeed fall, and fall a lot.
Economist Robert Shiller created an infla-
tion-adjusted index for home prices dating to
1890 and found that home prices have fallen
a number of times over the years, including
in the early 1990s, the early 1980s and the
mid-1970s.
You should renovate your kitchen and
bathroom before you sell. If your kitchen
and baths work, a major remodel could back-
fire. Prospective buyers may not share your
taste, but they don’t want to redo something
that has just been renovated. “You’re better
off adjusting your price accordingly,” says
Kevin Brown Jr., president of Praedium Real
Estate Services in Pittsburgh and a regional
director of the NAEBA. “Most buyers want to
put their own spin on things.”
You’ll earn back what you spend on
renovations. If you fix the heating and air
conditioning system or roof, you will sell
your house more quickly, but you probably
won’t recoup what you spent. According to
Remodeling magazine’s 2015 Cost vs. Value
Report, the only renovation that is likely to
net you as much as you spent is a new front
door. You’re likely to recoup only 67.8 per-
cent of what you spent on a major kitchen
remodel and 70 percent of what you spent
on a bathroom remodel on a mid-range
home. “Very few things will bring you great
returns,” says Sabrina Booth, an agent with
Redfin in Seattle. “If you’re going to do these
www.LynchburgRealEstateBrowser.com
projects, it’s better to do them for your own
enjoyment.”
All the properties listed in the mul-
tiple listing service show up online. Your
agent must choose to let the listings show up
online. Most do, but it never hurts to verify
that yours will.
Open houses sell properties. Homes rare-
ly sell to buyers who visited them during an
open house. Agents like open houses because
it enables them to find additional custom-
ers who are looking to buy or sell homes.
If you or your agent choose not to have an
open house, it probably doesn’t hurt your sale
chances – although holding a broker’s open
house for other agents may be worthwhile.
The agent who shows you homes or lists
your home represents your interests. Maybe
and maybe not. In about half the states in
the U.S., agents may be “transaction brokers”
who don’t have a fiduciary duty to either the
buyer or seller. In many states, a customer
has the option of signing an agreement for
the agent to represent him as a listing agent
or as a buyer’s agent. Before you start work-
ing with the agent, ask about your options
and do some of your own research. Most bro-
kerages require buyers and sellers to sign a
form indicating that they understand whom
the agent represents.
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