2008 May

Three Make or Break Issues for Simi Valley Home Sellers

May 29, 2008 By Ted Mackel Leave a Comment

[digg-me]The following Video Blog is the guide to get a home in Simi Valley sold quickly for the highest price in the current market conditions. My experience with Buyers (in my car) only reinforces how critical these three issues impact the ability for a home to sell. Simi Valley Homes that don’t fight these make or break issues are selling in 90 days.

Currently 83% of all single family detached homes that have sold in Simi Valley since January 1, 2008, had an average sale price of less than $575,000. The volume moved up in April to a total of 98 single family detached homes sold, however only 72 single family detached homes have closed escrow for May. Both these numbers are below the volume for the same months in 2007.

Filed Under: Sellers Tagged With: Buyers, homes, Sellers, Simi Valley

Recongnition from Trulia is welcome

May 28, 2008 By Ted Mackel 1 Comment

Follow this link to see the original blog post

Trulia Voices Video Comments on the Rise?

I am a big fan of Trulia. I have been thinking of ways to cut through the noise of other Real Estate professionals that answer on Trulia Voices to better help those who are asking questions. My biggest concerns with some of the answers I see are:

1. Real Estate Professionals answering questions that are not from the area the question is referencing. i.e. A Real Estate professional in New York answering a real estate question about Simi Valley.

2. Real Estate Professionals trying to be more than they can be. i.e. Soliciting business in areas too far away to serve. There has been an agent in the city of Orange (Orange County California) soliciting business in the Ventura county area through Trulia. While there is nothing illegal about this (as our real estate licenses cover the entire state of California), my legitimate concern is that this Real Estate Professional (like others) does not have local knowledge and in one answer it was clear that he had no knowledge of current market conditions. It’s better when you get far enough away from your true trade area, that we can find an agent to refer your business to. I recently referred my client to a real estate professional (I knew and trusted) in the Huntington Beach area. Sure I could have driven there and sold them the house, but in the best interest of those I served I knew a local expert that could take great care of them and provide them important local knowledge.

3. Real Estate professionals that answer…”Find a local Real Estate Professional, blah, blah, blah”. People who come to Trulia are trying to do research on their terms and at their own pace or they live far away and Trulia is more convenient. They are smart enough to know to contact a local professional.

These three issue have driven me to find a way to hopefully stand out and be a real Trulia Voice!

Filed Under: Personal Ramblings Tagged With: blog, professional, real estate, Trulia, Voices

What the heck is RSS & why you should use it?

May 27, 2008 By Ted Mackel Leave a Comment

Watch the following video from www.commoncraft.comand share your comments. You can use RSS to benefit you in your business, pastimes or personal needs. On the business front you can subscribe to websites/blogs that report on information related to your work and stay much better informed as information will be delivered to you as it happens rather than you having to hunt it down.

If you find RSS appealing and you get a reader. go to the very bottom of this page and subscribe to the RSS feed for this blog and update your reader with my posts.

I subscribe to the local newspapers, business sections, a Finance and Economics Blog and many Real Estate related news sources to keep me informed. I see this as an important tool that is not explained, but thanks to commoncraft what seems technical is now very understandable.

Filed Under: Computer Tips, WIKIs Tagged With: commoncraft, RSS

Simi Valley Cajun Festival Video Blog

May 26, 2008 By Ted Mackel 8 Comments

[Digg-me]Saturday and Sunday of Memorial Day weekend marked the 19th annual Cajun Festival of Simi Valley, hosted by the Simi Sunrise Rotary Club. The unusual cold weather did not keep the crowds away and the event was a big hit with regulars as well as first timers. Mark your calendars for next year’s Festival.

SORRY, My web hosting service was down from 8:30am till 1:40pm today.
The Video is available on Youtube, just make sure to click the high quality link. I load to Vimeo since the quality tends to be better than Youtube. The file size is large so you may want to pause the video for a minute to let it load ahead before playing. Enjoy and please post your comments below and share your Cajun experiences from this year.

Filed Under: Local Events & Activities, Simi Valley News Tagged With: Cajun, festival, Memorial Day, simi sunrise rotary, Simi Valley

Zillow Simi Valley Home Price Report

May 25, 2008 By Ted Mackel Leave a Comment

Zillow Simi Valley Housing Report

Zillow emailed the following report for Simi Valley real estate home values. Whether you love or hate Zillow, I have been monitoring the Sold listings and it is clear that the average Sales Price has dropped this year. See my following blog post for the lastest numbers:

http://homebuysblog.com/2008/05/10/simi-valley-real-estate-homes-sales-update/

Until the fallout of the lending industry has reached it’s cooling point, the buyers will definately have the advantage under the current market conditions.

A great quote from the February 25th, 2008 edition of Time Magazine (Ignore the Headlines! page 54) “When prices are falling, few people have the discipline to buy stocks, a house, gold, art or any other asset. But those who do pull the trigger excel in the long run.”

In the same article Peter Lynch is quoted as saying “A top reason to not buy stocks, is if you don’t already own a home, in which case that should be your first investment.”

According to N.A.R. the average networth of a home owner compared to a renter is 36 times. This is a great time to make a real estate move in Simi Valley. Even if you are a frustrated Simi Valley home seller remember that the home you purchase will be bought at a bargain and you will have more choices.

Filed Under: Buyers, Sellers Tagged With: home, home values, real estate, Simi Valley, Zillow

Video Blog: Trulia Voices Answer on House Flipping

May 24, 2008 By Ted Mackel 2 Comments

This is a great question that was asked on Trulia. The answers were pretty interesting and the format of Trulia really does not give the best environment to handle questions like this in the matter of detail these questions deserve. Below is the link to the original question, followed by a Video Blog response. Whether you can agree or disagree, please comment in below.

My husband and I are thinking of flipping a house in the Thousand Oaks, CA area…is now a good time?

Filed Under: Buyers, Personal Ramblings Tagged With: house flipping, Trulia, video blog

Simi Valley Home Seller Tips: Staging Your Home is no longer optional

May 23, 2008 By Ted Mackel 2 Comments

No matter how great your Simi Valley home is, it is always a great idea to get new perspective on how to enhance it’s appeal to any buyer that comes for a showing. You may have features of your home that you are not aware of that could be very attractive to a prospective buyer. These features need to be spotlighted and staging is what will help show off your home so that prospective buyer will not miss all the great things you have loved about your home.

What always amazes me is the resistance that sellers have to hiring a stager to help them ready their home for sale. Staging could be as little as a few hundred dollars to as much as a few thousand dollars depending if you need to rent furniture, paint or take on other more major enhancements.

But let’s put this in perspective……….Most people I know would not hesitate to spend $200 to have their car detailed (staged) before selling their car.

If you sell your car between $10,000 – $12,000; that would be 1.6% – 2.0% of the selling price of the car and people do this all the time without a second thought.

Consider minor staging at $500.00 on a house that is selling for $750,000; this is less than one tenth of one percent of the total sales price. A person’s home is probably the largest, most significant investment they have and the very same people who have no qualms in spending 1.5% in detailing a car they will sell; will not even consider staging because of the cost.

Here are some staging tips from Barbara Corcoran of CNBC. While her report does not talk about the cost of staging, it was very interesting to watch her pick apart this house so quickly and the significance of the items she points out were very important. Having that other set of eyes to look at your home will save you a ton of headaches.

Filed Under: Sellers Tagged With: Barbara Corcoran, home, Seller, Simi Valley, Stage, Staging

Simi Valley Home Buying Guide for 2008

May 19, 2008 By Ted Mackel Leave a Comment

As an adjunct to my Perfect Storm Blog post. I went to NAR’s website and looked at the historical sales data, to study the trends as I am constantly asked how long will a recovery take or when will the bottom hit. Those waiting for the bottom will likely miss it as the laggards in every business cycle always do. Sure there is probably some hold out time left, but if mortgage interest rates rise, then the rise in rates will washout perceived gains in timing the bottom.

The issue of mortgage rates is critical as in the Simi Valley Moorpark area, a typical home is well above the FHA preferred rate limits and the increased conforming limits under Fannie and Freddy just require a large down payment.

The volume of sales has been declining, but declining from what?

NAR Stats Chart >

The following decades show the volume trends nationally:

Decade	Low	Average	High
1970s	1.6 mil	3 mil	3.9 mil
1980s	2.2 mil	3.3 mil	4 mil
1990s	3.1 mil	3.9 mil	4.9 mil

In 2005 the Volume reached an all time high of 7.1 million homes sold
in the united states. 40% of these homes were non-owner occupied compared to a typical year where only 12% of the volume would yield to non-owner purchases. The market was so hot the Fed jacked the interest rates to cool off the speculation.

NAR is forecasting 4.5- 5 million units to be sold in 2008. Does this mean that the market will continue to decline? Different areas will have opposite reactions, for Simi Valley Moorpark, we will most likely see more of the same until the REO/short sale market begins to lose steam.

Let’s face it, the banks were giving money away and now they are holding on to their money with very restrictive lending requirements. Easy money will no longer drive our market.

Most of the major carnage has happened. Some neighborhoods are poised for continued price adjustments, however good homes that are priced well are selling and selling with multiple offers. If you find the home that you fall in love with and are worried that whether you have the timing just right, let me assure you, if you wait a replacement home that gives you the same feeling, it may not be available if you wait.

Ask yourself the following questions:

Is this the house I love for what I can purchase now?

Size?

Location?

Affordability?

Amenities?

Can I see myself living here for the next 5-10 years?

If your answer is yes to these questions then don’t try to second guess and let’s write your best offer

Filed Under: Buyers Tagged With: buying, fannie mae, fha, freddie mac, guide, home, moorpark, nar, Simi Valley

Simi Valley Cajun Festival is almost here

May 17, 2008 By Ted Mackel 8 Comments

For those of you that can hardly wait till next weekend to get alligator on a stick, beer and enjoy world class Cajun Music, here is a sneak preview to next weekend’s event. The Sunrise Rotary club of Simi Valley treated those at the Simi Valley Town Center to two hours of one of the live bands (Bonne Musique Zydeco) that will participate in the Memorial Day weekend event.

YOU CAN GET MORE INFORMATION AND BUY TICKETS ON LINE AT: http://simicajun.org/