Coffee with a Professional Stager

Earlier this week, I met Karen Negrete, whose company name is "Transform Your Home," at our local Starbucks. We hit it off right away, and she showed me before and after pictures of her work.
For a nominal consulting fee, or as part of a staging contract before a home is listed, she will give early-stage advice on which furniture to stow and which to keep around. She also provides guidance on simple aesthetic choices ranging from which rooms to paint (or not), finishes, and quick fixes that make a big difference like painting wood trim, switching light fixtures, swapping drawer handles on kitchen cabinets and furniture placement.
Regardless of what’s going on inside the home, I also tell clients not to forget that curb appeal is a crucial ingredient in marketing. A few months can make a difference to Mother Nature. Sellers should augment unhealthy lawns by weeding or re-seeding, prune plants, weed, and consider using mulch to create a uniform look in garden beds or a border along the house or sidewalk. Even a newly potted plant at the front door does wonders.

Pending Sales are Up

We missed an office meeting this week because of the long holiday weekend but Nina, our manager, sent this week's statistics to us in an email. The big news is that pending sales in Sunnyvale are way up this week. On the week of the 19th, there were 174 active listings and 22 pending. This past week, there were 160 active, and 32 pending sales. Our area still leads the county in sales to listings, but we are finding that the local market is uneven, and buyers are taking their time...some properties that would have sold quickly a couple of months ago are seeing price reductions. I'll keep watching and reporting.

Common Home Hazards

I often recommend workmen to my clients, and yesterday while I was previewing a possible listing, the homeowners asked for the name of someone who could remove the shower doors over their tub. For them, the change would be cosmetic...the doors were worn and unattractive, but for a home inspector, these doors could signal a household hazard and an accident waiting to happen.
Shower doors that lack safety glass and are not properly secured can be very dangerous if a home owner slips when stepping out of the bathtub and grabs a sliding door that isn't well fastened or made from shatterproof glass.
Another "red flag" item: loose guardrails, especially on exterior stairways. And decks..These are often installed by home owners unfamiliar with building codes, and loose boards are common. I remember a terrible accident a few years ago when a party group gathered on a deck not meant for that kind of weight, causing the deck to collapse.

Real Estate...Everywhere in the News

Each day, when I check out the San Jose Mercury News, the SF Chronicle, or the Wall Street Journal, there seems to be a new real estate headline. Any change, positive or negative, in home values, loan requirements or appraisal rules, seems to merit coverage in the newspapers or on the Internet. The June issue of Money Magazine includes a twenty five page supplement called, "The Real Estate Survival Guide," full of advice and statistics. Yesterday, we had an old fashioned Memorial Day neighborhood get together in my townhouse complex, with good food and a chance to visit with new neighbors that we only saw at the mailbox. Because I send a monthly mailing to the homeowners, everyone knew who I was and had questions for "the expert." It's a good thing that I do know what's going on in the market!

Rengstorff House in Mountain View

What do Realtors do on a day off?
We look at houses, of course. In this case, it was the historic Rengstorff House at Shoreline Park. We had decided to stay close to home, avoiding the heavy smoke still blanketing the area south of us, and many people must have had the same idea, judging by the number of families were biking, playing ball games, flying kites and sailing in the lake. A sign promised complimentary tours of the old house in the park, and I had never been inside, although I had seen wedding parties in the adjoining gardens.(They rent out the facility to help with the maintenance costs.)
Tours of the house are available on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Sundays from 11am to 5 pm and are lead by docents in period costume. The grounds and gardens are open to the public during the same hours. The half hour tour was fascinating...even though the resident ghost didn't show up! The rooms have been wonderfully restored, and we learned all about the family and the area's history. Definitely worth seeing.

An Update on Sunnyvale's Downtown

The Town Center project is moving right along. I was at Target this morning, and saw quite a bit of progress. The framing has begun for the residential units over retail that will be built on both sides of McKinley Avenue, between Taaffe and Mathilda, and on Washington, east of Mathilda. Eventually, these units will be four stories tall, above the retail shops. Street level slabs for the office buildings along Aries Way are nearly done, and construction should start this summer.
Erection of the steel frames for the retail buildings that will surround Redwood Square, south of Macy's, will start this week, so maybe a 2009 opening isn't a dream, after all.
Be prepared for lane closures. The right hand lane of northbound Mathilda between Iowa and Washington will be closed for a year to accommodate trucks and construction materials, and further closures...more northbound lanes on Mathilda and sections of Iowa...are expected. Wolfe, Fairoaks or Lawrence may be a better choice for a while.

Boost Your Credit Score...Get a Better Loan

FICO scores, based on your credit file, range from 300 to a perfect 850. Nowadays, consumers with a score below 650 or 700 may be charged higher interest rates, or may not be able to borrow at all. You can get your free report once a year at www.annualcreditreport.com. Once you know your score, here are some tips to raise the number:
Pay your bills on time. It sounds obvious, but any late payments have a major affect. Raise your score 20 points just by paying bills on time for two to three months.
Keep low credit card balances. It's better to have three cards with balances at 25% of the limit than one with a high balance. Maxing out a card can lower your score by 70 points.
Don't open new accounts you don't need. Each new account lowers your average account age, and lowers your score.
Have credit cards, but use them carefully. Someone with no credit cards is considered an unknown risk.
Closing an account isn't the answer. At least four active accounts gets you the best score.
If you see a mistake, challenge it quickly. Check for fraud and errors, and notify all three credit bureaus right away.

Better Real Estate News Makes the Headlines

Sue McAllister, who covers the real estate market for the San Jose Mercury News, has a front page article today, and even though the headline reads " Home Sales Rebound in the Valley," the news is mixed. Yes, we are seeing more buyers, especially in the lower priced homes that had been ignored for most of the past year, but the statistics say it all. April sales are up dramatically from last month...a whopping 33%...but they are still down 28% from April, 2007. The median price of single family homes sold, $699,500 last month, was up only 2.2% from March, and down 12.9% from a year ago. Condo sales in the county are down 33.2% from April, 2007, and the present median of $467,000 is 13.5% less than last year at this time.
Many of these sales are properties now owned by financial institutions who want to unload their inventory, creating a great buyers' market in the lower priced areas.

Spring Cleaning

Last weekend, I worked as a volunteer at a flea market over at Prospect High School in Saratoga. A club that I belong to was selling off our "stuff" to raise money. Unfortunately, we picked one of the hottest days of the year, but we managed to unload some of our members' junk and make a little money at the same time.
My old friends at Money Magazine had some good hints for how to dispense with the results of your spring cleaning in their June issue.
They suggest that you sell the "nice stuff," either at consignment shops (which typically charge 40-60% of the sales price for their service)or through eBay...especially odd items and collectibles. Decent, but non-salable things can be donated to local organizations such as Goodwill and the Salvation Army, and individuals will often pick up "freebies" listed on freecycle.org and craigslist. org. To recycle old electronics, a good source is Electronics Industry Alliance.
For true junk, haulers will take it all away, and charge by the truckload (800-GOT-JUNK)or Google "junk removal" for the names of local haulers.

Hands Free Cell Phone Laws

Gabe Bodner, and excellent local lender with Lawson Associates, recently collected information on the new Wireless Phone Laws, which become effective on July 1, 2008.
There are two new laws. The first prohibits all drivers from using a handheld wireless telephone while operating a motor vehicle. Motorists 18 and over may use a hands-free device. Drivers under the age of 18 may NOT use a wireless telephone or hands-free device at all while operating a motor vehicle. The laws apply only to the driver of the vehicle, not the passengers.
The law allows a driver to use a wireless telephone without hands-free capability to make emergency calls to a law enforcement agency, a medical provider, the fire department, or other emergency services agencies.
In case of a conviction, the base fine for the first offense is $20 and $50 for subsequent convictions, however, with penalties they are quite a bit higher.
A violation is a reportable offense that appears on your driving record, however, DMV will not assign a violation point.
The new law does not prohibit dialing, but drivers are strongly urged not to dial while driving. A bluetooth-type earpiece is allowed, but only one ear can be covered, and you may use the speaker phone function of your wireless telephone while driving.
...and don't forget, drivers under the age of 18 may not use a wireless telephone, pager, laptop or any other electronic communication or mobile services device to speak or text while driving in any manner, even hands free!

Too Hot Not to Cool Down...

When we sell houses here in the Bay Area, some emphasis is on jobs and schools, but the biggest draw is our wonderful year-round temperate climate. Yet here we are with temperatures reaching over a hundred degrees, with more hot days to come. When I think back to growing up in Massachusetts, I remind myself that we don't have mosquitoes and excess humidity here, but that doesn't stop me from turning on the AC on days like this. I have to remind myself that steamy days don't make headlines in most of the country.
My neighbors, who are moving into a townhouse that I sold nearby, had a crew over installing dual pane windows and doors today. They were pleased to know that they will have a tax credit for the energy saving.

10 Tips to Sell Your House Faster This Spring

There's nothing really new here, but it's a good checklist for potential home sellers from www.AHSdesignation.com.
1. De-Clutter: This one is simple. De-clutter everywhere; inside and outside. If it's taking up space it is a potential candidate to be thrown out. The sellers need to make that all important mental conversion from "home to live in" to "house for sale." Personal things are a big distraction as you want the buyers to be able to visualize their own belonging in the house.
2. Repair: Buyers want everything working so don't disappoint them - dripping faucets, broken windows, leaking roofs, damaged walls and doors, etc, beg the question in the buyer's mind...What else is broken or doesn't work?
3. Lots of Light: The last thing home buyers want to see is a dark home with all of the doors and windows covered. Let the light in and open some windows to let in some fresh air. Room deodorizers leave the impression of covering something up as does a window that has the blinds drawn.
4. Clean Windows: Buyers want to know and see the view they will have from every room - don't make them look through dirty windows. If they do, the impression of a having great view is literally going "out the window."
5. Kitchen and Bathrooms: Two of the most important rooms in the house. They must be spotless and first class. Just cleaning up isn't going to be good enough - you need to "deep clean" all counters, floors, cabinets and all the fixtures in the bathrooms. In the bathrooms consider new fixtures or countertops and perhaps redoing the shower and tub enclosures. If new fixtures are not in the budget you may want to consider having them refinished. Think about having all the tile steam cleaned and make sure all grout is free from grease and dirt.
6. Odors: Absolute deal killers are cigarette or pet odors. If this is a problem - have the drapes, carpets and furniture professionally cleaned and please..."no smoking" in the house. Also, cooking odors are not a good thing. The best bet is to always for plan fresh air. Often a little lemon oil mixed with water in a spray bottle used lightly used will add just a bit of freshness without overpowering the house.
7. Paint: A fresh coat of paint on the outside or inside is an excellent way of freshening up your home. Be sure to use neutral colors and avoid accent painting. Don't try and guess what a potential buyer will like. In most cases they should use a professional painter because it's always a bigger job than most people think.
8. Yard Work: Deal with overgrown bushes, shrubs and trees. Everything in the yard needs to be trimmed, watered, manicured and "living." Remove everything lying around the yard including sports equipment, boats, trailers, toys, etc. You may also add some color by placing some annuals in planters in the back as well as in the front. Curb appeal makes that all important "first impression."
9. Furniture: The bottom line... less is best. If it's old, worn or dated, you should put it in storage. Remember that you are setting a stage and the actor needs to be the house - not their furniture.
10. Hardwood Floors: Hardwood floors can be a huge plus for buyers unless they look like a 20 year old basketball court. It may be a great investment to have them all refinished - but keep in mind that it's not a simple weekend project.
Changing "lived in homes" into "houses for sale" is what it's all about.

Better Real Estate News, for a Change

Enough negative news about the industry...we have plenty of bad news lately with all the natural disasters in the headlines. A new article on Forbes.com ranks San Jose number one on their list of the most desirable places to sell a home. (San Francisco is number two.)
We are seeing many of the items in their profile every day: low inventory that is still shrinking; a cutback in new home construction, because of financing and limited available land; and a strong job market, despite the economy. They also mention the raised limits on Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae loans, and we are finally seeing lenders willing to work with the Jumbo Conforming loans...the interest differential is down to only 1/8% from regular conforming rates.

A Double Loss to Homeowners

We were sitting at a wonderful Mothers Day brunch yesterday, talking about everything and anything, and my youngest son mentioned an article he had read in that morning's New York Times: Losing a Home, Then Losing All Out of Storage.
It seems that there is another chapter in the foreclosure story. When they lose their homes, Americans are using self-storage units to store their household goods and furniture. But many of the people who weren't able to handle their mortgage payments also can't keep up with their storage bills and storage companies are auctioning off their property for next to nothing.
A small industry has developed to profit from these lost and abandoned items. People are bidding, mostly sight unseen, for these odd lots, and selling anything worthwhile on eBay and at garage sales. The number of these auctions has doubled, and in depressed areas such as Detroit, it is even higher.

Credit Crunch Could Slow Down Our Market

In a recent article in Realty News, Blanche Evans commented on something we're running into daily...that loans are bottle necking the housing market.
The elimination of subprime loans is being made worse by the large point spread between conforming and jumbo loans of as much as two percent.
The fact that sales are being restrained by the high cost of jumbo loans is obvious from the days on market - it took 53 days to sell a home in California a year ago. In March 2008, it takes only four more days to sell. What that shows is demand is there, but it's being subverted despite the attraction of much lower housing prices. The problem has to be in loans. If mortgage interest rates rise, that will take more buyers out of the market, raising inventories further.
The good news is that loan rates could fall again. If inflation is cooled and the dollar gets the support it needs from the Federal Reserve, mortgage interest rates will come down again, says mortgage expert and author David Reed. "A lot has to happen, but rates could dip below 5.50 percent or lower over the next several weeks."

I Wish that These Prophets Would Agree

In the May 1 issue of the Wall Street Journal, June Fletcher looked into her crystal ball and wrote "Don't look for the housing market to improve until the daffodils bloom next spring. The latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index shows that new and existing home prices fell 12.7% in February from a year earlier, and according to economists who convened at the spring construction forecast conference of the National Association of Home Builders in Washington, D.C., last week, the trend will continue until early next year, dragging down prices. The consensus view was far gloomier than a few months ago, when housing economists predicted the bottom would be reached in late summer or early fall."
Then, just a few days later on May 6, Cyril Moulle-Berteaux wrote an article in the same paper, headed: "The Housing Crisis Is Over."
He started off with "The dire headlines coming fast and furious in the financial and popular press suggest that the housing crisis is intensifying. Yet it is very likely that April 2008 will mark the bottom of the U.S. housing market. Yes, the housing market is bottoming right now." His logic is that the current housing bust is already three years old, and that homes on average are back to being as affordable as during the best of times in the 1990s. Numerous households that had been priced out of the market can now afford to get in. The next question is: Even if home sales pick up, how can home prices stop falling with so many houses vacant and unsold? The flip but true answer: because they always do."
Who do we believe? This summer's sales could well be the test, but either pundit would agree that the turnaround will be slow in coming.

What a Real Estate Appraiser Says

Nancy Dierx, of Real Estate Appraisal Professionals, spoke at the Realtors' tour breakfast this morning. She talked about a new code of conduct for appraisers that will be required in the beginning of 2009, but is already being used in the field. Unethical appraisers were implicated in much of the subprime scandal, and the industry is trying to clean up its image. One of the changes that will change our market is that appraisers can only use comparable sales that are three months old or less. Six month old comparables were previously allowed.
One of the many questions involved short sales, and their impact on surrounding property values. I had heard of a case recently where the lender forgave much of the loan balance on a small condo in Sunnyvale. It sold for $280,000, but recent sales of other units were in the mid $300's. Nancy said that unless there was a pattern of these lower sales, the appraised valuation would not be affected.

Market Flash from Coldwell Banker

Last year at this time they said, “For all our regions, February to March sales activity rose by 15% at least, almost 40% at most.” And we saw a similar trend again for March 2008 as sales rose in many of our Northern California counties. Now the question is whether this is the start of a pattern leading us into the late spring and summer months?
In Santa Clara County: Sales are down year-over-year, however, that is while contrasting a particularly strong March 2007 with March 2008. We learn more from Santa Clara’s numbers by looking at an 11% increase in sales since February, or a better-than-most 10% decline in median for the year.
Interest Rates: The Fed seems to be on the right track. New York Times’ columnist Paul Krugman said recently, “I believe we’ve been lucky to have Ben Bernanke as Federal Reserve chairman during these trying times. He has thought long and hard about both the Great Depression and Japan’s lost decade in the 1990s, and he recognized, more quickly than others might have, that we were in a situation bearing a family resemblance to the great banking crisis of 1930-31. His first priority, overriding every other concern, had to be preventing a cascade of financial failures that would cripple the economy.”
Do we have a crippled economy? No, we have an economy that is not what we are used to. Do we have “easy” credit? No, but if you can qualify, 30-year fixed is at 5.72%, 15-year fixed is at 5.29%, 5/1 ARM is at 5.31%. These are remarkably nice numbers and much lower than we thought they might be this spring.
Inventory: It is spring and because of it, many counties are seeing increased inventory in their marketplaces. However, at the very high end, you might not find the selection you have enjoyed for the last year or so. This means the market is recovering, and that is a good thing.
Overall Assessment: Guarded but certainly not gloomy. Prices have adjusted downwards in many areas but interest rates have stayed quite moderate in exchange for tightening the criteria on qualifying borrowers which is helping buyers. If you are getting ready to sell your home, price your home competitively and be sure it shows well; and if you are getting serious about home buying, be sure to get pre-qualified first. You may discover that this spring and summer are the most rewarding seasons in a couple of years.

The Shredder Van was Here

Our office had arranged for Shred-It to be in the parking lot at noon today, and I hired wonderfully efficient (and strong) Clutterboy AKA Tom Anderson yesterday to help me box up my pre-year 2000 escrow files and tax records, and organize the newer ones into the filing cabinets in my garage. We filled three boxes with papers for recycling...those that had no personal information, such as condominium CC&Rs, and we threw away a big pile of broken rubber bands. I also found a check for $150 from the title company, made out to me and dated January of 2004. Wow!
Today, seven large boxes of my important, but outdated, documents went through the shredder, and I feel much more organized and secure.
If you've been wondering what to keep and what can be discarded, check this list from . Wachovia Securities

Credit Getting Tighter

Good clients of mine, with excellent credit, are hunting through various lenders to get a line of credit that would have been easy to arrange a year ago.
Getting a mortgage today is not what it used to be. Not long ago, anyone could get a loan. Now it's a challenge.
Mortgage insurers, whose backing is required for borrowers who can't afford the traditional 20 percent down payment on a home, have already flagged nearly a quarter of the nation's ZIP codes where they refuse to insure some home loans. Our entire state is blackballed on some insurers' lists because of high foreclosure rates and price declines, even though some areas are doing well.
Banks that have lost billions because of bad choices during the housing boom are now reverting to strict lending standards not seen in nearly 20 years, according to industry data and interviews with lenders.
For new home buyers and those seeking to refinance, it can mean higher down payments and a higher bar for credit scores, among other requirements. We thought that the interest rate cuts by the Fed would make getting a home loan and refinancing easier,
but this recent tightening of loan requirements threatens to dampen sellers' prospects for the spring home-buying season.

Don't Be Caught Unprepared

I wrote earlier, announcing Earthquake Preparedness Month, and sending along a useful link. On Friday, I received an even better one from my friend, professional organizer, Lynn Gross-Cerf. This one is useful, because it helps you be ready for an earthquake (and they keep warning us that another one is coming) but also various other disasters, such as fires, floods and terrorism. Don't just leave it for the Boy Scouts. Check out the DisasterCare site and Be Prepared.

Odor Removal for Good

One of the biggest problems faced by Realtors is how to explain to our sellers that there are unpleasant smells in their house or townhouse that will keep them from getting the best price when they sell...or keep them from selling at all!
Common sources such as those from smoking, pets, and cooking (especially from fish and curries) and more extreme odors from plumbing and sewage backup, are all potential problems. Air fresheners, ozone and deodorizers may mask the smells for a while, but they keep coming back. Repainting and cleaning or replacing carpets or drapes are only temporary solutions. Odor molecules can migrate through carpets to sub-floors, and through walls and sheet rock to the studs.
We had a presentation yesterday by Rainbow Services in Saratoga, a company that uses a non-toxic method to remove odors for good and guarantees its work. Several Realtors in the room had used their service and recommended it highly.