Tips for Sellers

For anyone trying to sell their home in today's Cache Valley market, this blog is definitely for you! As of today there are 694 homes for sale in the valley listed by agents. So including owners selling their home For Sale By Owner, there are closer to 750 other homes you, as a seller, are competing against.

Now what does this mean to you? As a home seller you have to set your home apart from your competition. There are a couple of different ways to do this. Today I am going to give you some tips that will help you set your home apart 'physically.'

Presentation Appeal

CLEAR THE KITCHEN AND BATHROOM COUNTERS - Store appliances, containers, bottles, and any other infrequently used items under the counter and out of site. This will make the most important rooms in your house appear larger and more livable.

CLEAN, CLEAN, CLEAN - A clean house can bring thousands more and will always sell faster. Wash the windows, clean the carpets, mop the floors, scrub door frames and light switches, dust the floorboards, scour the bathrooms, change the shower curtain.

USE YOUR NOSE - Make sure your home has a pleasant aroma. Bake cookies or a frozen bread loaf, or burn candles or potpourri. Boil cinnamon sticks. Put a dab of vanilla on a cold light bulb. Grind a lemon in your disposal. Take out all trash, especially the kitchen.

REMOVE YOUR PETS - Many people are afraid of or simply allergic to pets and will not feel comfortable in your home with a pet underfoot. Take them for a walk or to the neighbors during showings. Pay particular attention to pet odors—it will kill the sale.

SILENCE IS GOLDEN - Be polite but avoid getting into conversations with buyers. They need to become emotionally involved with your home and conversation distracts them. Turn off the TV, and put the radio on a classical station.

LIGHT AND BRIGHT - A light and bright house is cheerful and inviting. Open all blinds and curtains; turn on every light including in the closets and basement. Change light bulbs to higher wattage bulbs, and clean light fixtures.

SPLASH OF COLOR - A fresh flower arrangement will add color and fragrance to any room. Put fresh, color-coordinated towels in the baths. Set your table with your nicest china.

DON’T SELL THE FURNITURE - Don’t try to complicate the sale by offering to sell your furniture, rugs, or boat to prospects. Don’t call attention to things the buyer might of overlooked by apologizing for the appearance or condition of your home.

THE QUICK CLEAN - Vacuum, clear the dishes and wipe down the counter, make the beds, pick up the laundry, clear the front porch and front yard of toys, hoses, shoes, etc. This may be your only chance with this buyer, so roll up your sleeves and put some elbow-grease into it.

MAKE SHOWING YOUR HOME EASY - Try to cooperate with agents on the time for appointments. Allow for a key box on your home to ensure all available buyers get to see your home. If someone shows up unannounced, ask for 10 minutes for a quick pick-up and dusting, then let them in. If you can, leave the home while the showing is taking place.

Now, as important and as 'fun' as all this is to do, the BIGGEST thing you can ever do to move your home is to PRICE IT COMPETITIVELY! If you overprice your home you are losing about 90% of the buyers that would normally look at your home. From my experience sellers have more success when they price their home at a price that will move and STICK to that price than when they overprice their home thinking someone will come in with a low ball offer.

That being said, good luck! If you need to interview an agent about listing your home, give me a shot. If you need someone to price your home and give you ideas to sell it, call me at 435.760.1466 or email me at kalebkunz@topproducer.com if that's a little less threatening :)

Search Logan Homes

Logan #15 in Nation in Appreciation; UT #2

The Logan, UT area has been ranked the 15th highest appreciating area from the 1st quarter of 2007 through the 1st quarter of 2008. We have seen an appreciation rate of 6 % the past year along with a 33% increase over the past 5 years.

Utah as a whole has done extremely well. Over the past 5 quarters in has had the highest appreciation rate as a state (5.58)%; this past quarter it dropped to number 2 behind Wyoming. A couple other Utah cities of note: Provo-Orem ranked 6th at 6.76%, Ogden-Clearfield ranked 9th with 6.64%, SLC ranked 22nd with 5.39% and St. George was at 235th with a drop of 3.65%.

Aren't we happy to own homes in Cache Valley! Now obviously 6% per year is not extremely high compared to a lot of other areas that have seen 20-30% per year; but at the same time we are still going at that consistent rate while most of the nation has began to decline. This is typical of Cache Valley: fairly conservative and extremely consistent.

It's still a great time to buy a home in Utah! Rates are still low, homes are affordable, and owners will continue to build wealth off of property ownership!

Kaleb Kunz

View all homes for sale at http://www.kalebkunz.com/ "Search MLS Listings"

Cache Valley Market Update

OK, so I'm going to put you all to sleep with a few statistics about our local real estate world. Now really, stats are important; maybe not as much as working and prospecting and all that good stuff, but they are important to see how we are doing.

What I've done is compared the first 5 months of 2008 to the last 5 months of 2007.
Here we go!

Time Period: August 1, 2007 to December 31, 2007.

The biggest selling price range in the valley were the homes in the $120,000-220,000 range. 255 homes were sold during that 5 month time period. Now compare that to the next $100K range...only 71 total homes were sold. During that time the average price for a sold home was $197,927. The average list price was $220,387 and the average sold price for condos was $114,229.

Now compare that to January 1 -May 20, 2008.

The same 120-220K price range has the biggest number of sold homes at 215 (smaller than the previous time period but with the end of the month the number will be closer to 240. At the next price range the number is once again smaller at 58. The average price sold home is slightly higher at $199,343 and the average list price was 225,642. The average sold condo rose higher to $126,000.

Currently on the market there are 648 homes (not including mobile and manufactured homes) listed and 136 homes under contract.

So what does this all mean to us? Here's my take: The mid-priced home range has continued to be in high demand with buyers....which to me is typical of the economic make up of Cache Valley. The higher priced range has slowed down somewhat but not by much. Obviously the homes are keeping there values and actually increasing somewhat.
I'm personally pretty excited to see the increase in condo values. The 2 my wife and I own have been great investments so far!

So everybody, agents and consumers alike: The market is still going, despite what the rest of the nation sounds like :) Real Estate still is a great investment and there is a lot of money to be made for those who put the work into it!

Finally, buyers remember that you can search all the listed homes in Cache Valley, or all of Utah for that matter, at http://www.kalebkunz.com/web/search.html And sellers, if you need a market analysis on your home with no strings attached call me at 435-760-1466 or email me at kalebkunz@topproducer.com

Kaleb

First Blog - Here We Go!!

Hey everyone, welcome to my blog! My whole goal in starting this blog is to keep buyers and sellers of real estate in Cache Valley Utah up to speed on the changing real estate market. Obviously I can't give a day by day update on how the market is faring; my intent is to give general market updates, tips for buyers and sellers, and answer any questions people may have about the home selling or buying process.

Now besides all this real estate stuff :) I am going to post a lot of different personal thoughts I have about real estate, life and in general: feeling and being successful in all that we do. Who doesn't want to feel successful?

As a little starter, here's a little more about me, my family and my profession!

I have been a Realtor since August of 2003. I specialize in selling residential homes, investment properties and land. I work with local buyers as well as individuals relocating to Cache Valley. My goal is to give my clients the best service I can and stay updated on real estate market in Cache Valley.

I grew up on a ranch in Teton Valley, ID. Our ranch is about 8 miles outside of Driggs, ID. After graduating from high school I moved to Logan, UT to attend Utah State University. After my first year of school I served a mission for the LDS church in the Hawaii Honolulu Mission. During those two years I learned how to serve others, work hard and work well with people.

After Hawaii I came back to USU and graduated with a bachelors degree in Finance with minors in Economics and Marketing. I received my real estate license in August of 2003 and have since then sold over 100 homes, investment properties and lots.

I have been married to my wife Jennifer for 3 years and we just had our first child, Lilian, in May of 2008!!! What a change it's been so far, but I am completely and totally amazed and in love with both the women in my life!

That's it for now everybody...I'll have my next post, including some market highlights soon!

Remember: Buyers can always use my website to search all the homes in Cache County at http://www.kalebkunz.com/web/search.html Sellers, if you want a free market analysis on your home, no strings attached, feel free to email me or call me at 435.760.1466