Brian Ripp ~ Your Bay Area & Fremont Real Estate & Financial Agent

If you’re planning to put your home on the market in time for spring, now’s the time to get it ready to show.
But wait, it’s still a buyer’s market. What can you do to catch the buyer’s eye and get them to make an offer?
It’s going to take more than a fresh coat of paint and a new welcome mat. A buyer’s market raises the stakes, and you’ll find you need to do a lot more work on your home than you think, if you want to get the highest price possible.
You’ve heard that you should clean, paint and repair, but that may not be enough. If your home is cluttered and in disrepair, buyers won’t pay top dollar. Knowing how buyers reason should help you pick which updates are most likely to help you sell your home.
Let’s take the most basic selling suggestions and explore why these are such important mantras.
• Boost your curb appeal. A clean house with cosmetic upgrades like painting and planting flowers can help form a fantastic first impression of your home.
Why? Eighty-four percent of homebuyers use the Internet to search for homes. One-third of homebuyers use the Internet first, before any other source. That means that people are making decisions whether or not to even drive by your home based on how it looks in video, virtual tours and photographs.
• Make big fixes where you can. If your budget allows, invest in bigger improvements. Focus on “make or break” rooms like bathrooms and kitchens, because nothing says “uninviting” like an unattractive cooking space.
Why? The National Association of Realtors found in 2007 that a whopping 59 percent of homebuyers remodeled or made improvements to their homes within three months of purchase. Forty-seven percent made improvements to the kitchen, another 45 percent remodeled or improved a bathroom, and 43 percent remodeled a bedroom.
Keep in mind that the rate of new home building accelerated during the housing boom, and buyers are used to seeing as much as 25 percent of available inventory as new. That’s your competition, and the closer you can get the buyer to new, the likelier you are to sell your home.
• Be upfront with disclosures. Don’t wait for the buyer to get a home inspection, or the buyer could find a reason to wiggle out of the deal. Get a preliminary inspection yourself, so you can improve the condition of your home before a buyer sees it. Keep receipts of recent improvements and provide estimates on optional upgrades. These actions will reinforce your trustworthiness as a seller and help overcome objections from the buyer.
With new homes, buyers have some guarantees that systems will be fixed by the builder if they fail, but they have no such guaranteed with an existing home. Providing a home warranty will go a long way in assuring the buyer.
• Be realistic. Your price should be competitive with nearby comparable homes with similar features and approximate condition that have sold or are on the market within the last three months. You may find that homes are taking longer to sell and that buyers are more selective. Your buyer may be using the Internet to find home valuation sites, so search those sites yourself and be ready to defend your price with proper comparables from your Realtor.
Remember, your home is competing with new construction and with the buyer’s idea of what a home should look like. Over 33 percent of home buyers prefer a home less than 10 years old, yet the typical home purchased by all buyers was 12 years of age. That suggests that condition is very important. If you can ease your buyer’s fears about the condition of your home, you’re much more likely to strike a deal.

Brian Ripp, CRS, GRI, Broker - your  Bay Area Realtor

www.BrianRipp.com   serving Fremont, Newark, Union City & surrounding communities. Real Estate & Property Management.

Spring is typically a good time for homeowners to start preparing to sell their homes because families interested in moving will often look now so that they can buy a home just in time for the kids to go on summer break.
Landscaping and curb appeal are among the top areas that buyers notice first. In fact, some studies show that good quality landscaping can increase the value of a home from 5 to 11 percent. Elements such as curving flowering beds and design sophistication attract buyers more easily than just rectangular boxes filled with flowers. Plant size and the diversity of plant material are also important to buyers. And colorful plants that often don’t cost much to put in such as annuals can really brighten the look and the appeal of a yard.
That’s why many sellers start to spiff up their homes and gardens to make them irresistible to buyers but these things can bring unwanted guests as well. If you don’t plan carefully, you could be building an attractive garden that leads a trail of ants right inside your home.
“If you build a beautiful mulch garden around your home, you want some sort of a concrete barrier or some other material besides wood between the mulch area and your home,” says Nic Izatt, branch manager for Antac Pest Control. Izatt says it’s very important to not have any earth-to-wood contact. He says that having a garden too close to your home without any barrier can encourage ant and termite colonies to develop.
So while you may be looking to create value and appeal give consideration to things that might not only attract insects (which can be a minor or major problem) but also consider how the overall landscape is working in a yard. The American Society of Home Inspectors cautions buyers and sellers that, as they are enjoying the pretty landscape, they need to be sure to give a careful check on how the elements all function together. For instance, are the plants healthy? Is the placement of large trees, the garden or lawn in a hazardous position or sloping toward the home? Is foliage too close to the home? Again, this can become a breeding ground for insects. Taking note of these types of possible landscape issues can help to ward off future headaches. Here are a few things to watch for when either getting your yard ready for sale or when looking to buy.
Get to the root of it: while seeing exactly where trees roots are located can be a bit difficult, spotting any obvious signs of lifting or cracking sidewalks or driveways can be an indication that there is a root problem. The opposite also poses a problem. If you see areas where the yard is sunken in, that could indicate a leaking sewer line resulting from a root interference problem.
Know the topography: understand potential risks such as if you’re located at the bottom of a hillside. In heavy rains the water will flow downward toward the foundation of your home, possibly causing flood.
Limb control: notice if tree limbs are out of control, branching out in every direction and touching the roof or interfering with power lines. Watch out for tree limbs that are hanging over chimneys as animals can climb down the chimney but also the branches could block the draft, creating higher carbon monoxide levels in the home.
Close-up look: closely examine plants in your yard and be sure that you don’t see mushrooms or fungus growing at the bottom of the trees as that can be a warning sign of a health issue. Landscaping that’s been thoughtfully created and taken care of will be a huge benefit to both the seller and the buyer.

Brian Ripp, CRS, GRI, Broker - your  Bay Area Realtor

www.BrianRipp.com   serving Fremont, Newark, Union City & surrounding communities. Real Estate & Property Management.

LONGER STAY FOR TENANTS OF FORECLOSED HOMES: Effective immediately, an REO lender or buyer who acquires title through a foreclosure sale must give at least a 90-day notice to terminate a bona fide tenant as defined. A 90-day notice to terminate is sufficient for a month-to-month tenant or if a new owner will occupy the property as a primary residence at the end of the 90 days. Otherwise, a tenant with a one year or other fixed-term lease with a remaining lease term exceeding 90 days can stay in the premises until the remaining lease term ends. This new 90-day notice requirement applies to foreclosures of a federally-related mortgage loan or residential real property, except for properties under rent control, rent-subsidized programs (such as Section 8), or other state laws that provide additional protections for tenants. This law expires on December 31, 2012.

from CAR website, legal update.

Brian Ripp, CRS, GRI, Broker - your  Bay Area Realtor

www.BrianRipp.com   serving Fremont, Newark, Union City & surrounding communities. Real Estate & Property Management.

Thinking of making improvements that will add to your home’s value but don’t know how to pay for them? Many small projects can be done with little expense, so funding them may not be a problem. If you have the experience and tools to do the work yourself, it can be even more affordable.

When a professional is required, however, you may need to borrow money to pay for the improvements. One financing option is cash-out refinancing.

Interest rates and the amount of your current mortgage balance will determine whether you can refinance with enough cash to cover a remodeling project and still retain affordable monthly payments.

As with any large project, you need to keep your goals in mind. If your main goal is to increase the value of your home with a renovation, you should first determine how much value each project will actually add. That way, you can decide how your money would be best spent to gain the most value.

Brian Ripp, CRS, GRI, Broker - your  Bay Area Realtor

www.BrianRipp.com   serving Fremont, Newark, Union City & surrounding communities. Real Estate & Property Management.

The tide is rising for high-end borrowers.

Some traditionally stable housing markets are facing new stress as rising numbers of affluent homeowners find that they have little to no equity in their homes.

Last week we looked at the accelerating deterioration of jumbo mortgages, which are too large for government backing. Wednesday’s WSJ looks at a new Zillow study that says 20% of homeowners are underwater, with mortgages worth more than the value of their homes.

Jumbo borrowers were once seen as less likely to default, because they were required to put down substantial down payments—ranging from 10% to 20% or more—even during the boom when lax lending ruled. But as home prices have fallen sharply, more markets that have lots of jumbo loans are seeing an outsized share of borrowers with negative equity.

In the San Jose-Santa Clara, Calif., area, almost two-thirds of all outstanding mortgages are jumbo, according to Zillow. In that market, nearly one in five homeowners are underwater and that figure rises to around 45% when looking at mortgages obtained within the last five years.

One big worry: Negative equity situations could spur more foreclosures and short sales, particularly as more affluent homeowners lose their jobs or take new ones that pay less. Short sales accounted for around 12% of all home sales in both of those California markets last year.

Jumbo borrowers face added challenges because it’s hard to refinance without putting more money into their homes, and it’s hard to find jumbo mortgages with low rates that don’t require hefty fees. The Obama administration’s housing rescue plans haven’t dealt much with jumbo borrowers, largely focusing on helping homeowners below the conforming loan limits, which are set at $417,000 in most of the country and rise to as high as $729,750 in the most expensive housing markets.

Brian Ripp, CRS, GRI, Broker - your  Bay Area Realtor

www.BrianRipp.com   serving Fremont, Newark, Union City & surrounding communities. Real Estate & Property Management.