If you don’t see the MLS printout on your property when it’s on the market, you could be missing errors and typos that have slipped past your agent.  Or you may simply prefer that certain elements be emphasized over others.  I’m convinced that many Silicon Valley home sellers never view or critique the agent report or comments though – if they did they’d probably have a bit of a heart attack.

Errors and typos are not uncommon.  Once I helped a buyer to purchase a 3 bed, 2 bath home which was incorrectly represented in the multiple listing service as 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths.  This of course was to our advantage, but the seller probably had less traffic, and ultimately a lower sales price, because of the data entry error.It should have been caught by the agent, of course, but the seller too should have been more responsible. No one knows your home like you do!

Sometimes the typos are funny, if unintentionally so.  I saw one house which boasted dual pain windows (makes you wonder!).  A walk in pantry was once said to be a walk in panty. This happens not just on the mls of course.  One friend mentioned to me reading a termite report that said that the wood debris in the crawl space of a home was called “cellulite debris” instead of “cellulose debris”.  Mistakes happen. If you’re the seller, try to find them before they go public – or worse, viral!

The comments sections (most for everyone, but a few for just real estate licensees and members of the MLS) are crucially important to a successful sale – almost as important as having a lot of high quality photographs.   Let me give you an example.  Would you rather have your home described by the first or second set of comments?

1. LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION! Nice home in great area!!!
2. Classic, updated & remodeled Victorian on tree lined streets close to SJSU. Large formal entry, remodeled kitchen with granite & profession 6 burner range, large living & dining rooms. Newer furnace. Foundation upgraded in 2005.  Big front porch & private back yard. (more…)

The Silicon Valley real estate market is a mixed bag and home buyers and sellers here may read the headlines and wonder why things seem so different in the news than in their own personal reality!

Here are a few quick facts and observations about the San Jose and Santa Clara County real estate market for houses, condos and townhouses:

• It is a seller’s market for both houses and condominiums in Santa Clara County (homes are selling well and very close to list price on average)
• The average and median sales price for houses & duet homes is down month over month and year over year (properties that are selling are those which are priced lower)
• For condos and townhomes, prices are up month over month (but down year over year).  The condo market here has taken a huge beating in recent years.
• The market is not equally hot everywhere!  It’s red hot in Palo Alto, Los Altos, Cupertino, and areas nearby (Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Mountain View).  It is also hot where there are low priced foreclosure houses which can be bought at bargain rates.  The move-up market has been tough entry level houses in the best school areas are very sought after right now.  (The market is decidedly cooler in Los Gatos and Almaden Valley.)
• Homes that are selling best are completely remodeled and have no “issues” (such as high voltage lines, poor floorplan, proximity to something undesirable etc.) and priced aggressively  OR are distressed sales with great pricing

In the best areas, or those with the hottest markets, we are seeing some multiple offers with overbidding.  At the same time, we are finding homes that look great but languish on the market due to some issue or another or pricing that’s not as competitive as it needs to be for today’s market (or both). (more…)

One of the worst marketing efforts, in my opinion, is a rider attached to a “for sale” sign stating “I’m gorgeous inside!“  It’s as if to say “I know the exterior is really bad, but just wait ’til you get past the front door!”

A better approach than an apologetic rider sign is to tidy up the front of the home and yard so it gives a great first impression.

If you are a potential seller, drive through your area (zip code, subdivision etc.) and have a look at the outside of other properties for sale which are generally similar to your own for size, pricing and so on. How’s the competition doing with curb appeal?  Pretend that you’re a Saratoga, Almaden or Cambrian home buyer.  Take notes.  What do you see?  Be brutal in your assessment and then take your observations back to your own home and keep the same standards.

First, pay attention to these landscaping elements in the yard:

1. The lawn, if there is one: is it green?  Weedy? Healthy? Does it have bare or dead spots? Is it level or “bumpy”?  Is it fairly uniform, or are there patches of various types of grasses in other areas, making the lawn uneven in color, texture, or density? Putting in fresh sod may give you a super “bang for your buck” or return on investment.Why does this matter? Because if your lawn looks neglected, buyers may wonder what else is neglected, too.
2. Bushes and shrubs should not impede sidewalks, walkways or views of doors and windows.  Buyers will feel crowded if they sense that plants are blocking their passage or that of light!  The yard, like the home, needs to feel uncluttered. As you look at the other homes’ yards, do the bushes look appealing or unruly? Are they a help or a hindrance to the home’s curb appeal?  Many buyers do not like ivy or juniper, by the way, unless they are exceedingly neat and in small quantities.

(more…)

Normally I don’t publish press releases, but this one is important – and has some consequences that I think should be mentioned lest weary, distressed home owners think that they are now out of the woods with short sales in California.

First, though, the press release from the California Association of Realtors (a trade group to which I belong).  Afterward, I’ll mention (some of) the negative impact and discuss why I see short sale lawsuits looming on the horizon in Silicon Valley and why this change may add one more reason for litigation.

CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® applauds Gov. Brown on signing SB 458 into law

LOS ANGELES (July 15) – The CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.) applauds Gov. Jerry Brown on signing SB 458 (Corbett) into law.   SB 458 extends the protections of SB 931 (2010), to ensure that any lender that agrees to a short sale must accept the agreed upon short sale payment as payment in full of the outstanding balance of all loans. (more…)

About a year and a half ago, I wrote an article for Silicon Valley home sellers about preparing the house or condo for sale: Preparing Your Silicon Valley Home to Sell and Return on Investment.  In that piece, my hope was to convey to sellers that strategic improvements to their real estate prior to sale will result in a good return on investment.  Too often, sellers don’t want to do enough prep work so that they can maximize their sale price.

Sometimes, though, I meet property owners with a bent toward the other extreme.  They decide to do a whole ton of renovating (almost as if it were a house which they are flipping or one they want to be like brand new) in order to get more money from the sale of the house.   What they plan to do may be overspending or over improving.  It may be going too far such that the return on investment is actually lessened rather than improved.

Most of the time, your best investment will be in doing small, strategic repairs, renovating or improving.  You get a good return – even great – on things like paint, floor coverings and touching up the front landscaping.  Often even fresh sod can bring a good return because an attractive front yard will get home buyers to look inside, whereas really poor curb appeal may cause them to turn away. Counter tops, light fixtures, and maybe new interior doors can wow a buyer and give you a good bang for your buck.  Totally remodeling a kitchen (with new cabinets) or bathrooms may recoup you less than what you’re putting into it. Hire a great Realtor and then work with her or him to determine which improvements will net you the most.

Think of the pre sale home improvement like this: it’s lipstick and rouge, not cosmetic surgery.  Go too far and you not only won’t net the most from the sale, but you could actually lose money too.  “Balance in all things” applies to preparing your home to sell too.  Not too little, not too much.

If you have just bought your first Silicon Valley home, you may feel very relieved to have survived the contracts, negotiations, the disclosures, the appraisal and the escrow and made it all the way to closing.  You are a successful home buyer!  You move in, unpack and then…. what? What do you do?

I have a few suggestions.

First, while it’s fresh in your memory, pull out the disclosures and inspection reports and (if you haven’t done this already) make a list of the items you must do and want to do.  I suggest you include at least 3 categories:

1. Health & safety items
2. Protecting the house from damage
3. Lower level items with aesthetic value (decorating and in some cases remodeling)
4. Ongoing projects you want to remember to do periodically around the house and yard such as changing the smoke detector batteries, cleaning out the rain gutters, doing a “walk around the house” to check for any issues with vent screens, roof tiles etc. (If you have bought a condo or townhouse, this is still important.)

It is too easy to focus on updating to dual pane windows (gratifying since they look nice) and ignoring foundation cracks, electrical problems and termites, so making this type of list will help you to keep on track with the better priorities (1 and 2 as opposed to 3).

Second, pull together all of the expenses you laid out in purchasing your home. Create a file with a spreadsheet of your costs and the receipts that go with it (include a copy of your HUD 1).   This will be helpful in establishing your tax basis and may protect you when you eventually sell the house from paying more taxes than you’re legally required to do.  Go over it with your CPA or Enrolled Agent or Tax Professional as some of them may be deductible on your taxes this year and some may not qualify as related to your tax basis. (more…)

If you are planning to purchase a home in Silicon Valley, most likely you’ll be working with a real estate professional and together you will use either the California Association of Realtors (CAR) purchase agreement form or the Peninsula Regional Data Source contract (PRDS). Both of them begin with the same basics: who is making the offer, what property is involved, how much is being offered to the home owner and how much is being put down or put into escrow as an initial deposit or good faith deposit.

What is the initial deposit in real estate contracts?

The initial deposit, or good faith deposit, is the amount of money which the buyer puts into the escrow account at the beginning of the transaction. It is usually given in a personal check, which is cashed within a day or two of being brought to the escrow holder (in our area, that’s a title company – in southern California, they tend to use escrow companies or even one of the real estate brokers).

How much is the initial deposit?

In Santa Clara County, or the San Jose area, often the initial deposit is anywhere from 1% to 3%.  I have occasionally seen offers with as little as $1,000 on them but have not seen sellers want to take those offers.  They want to know that the buyer they get into contract with “has a little skin in the game”. (more…)