5 Things To Consider If You Are Considering Selling Your Charlotte, NC. Home in 2013

2013 seems to be the year that people are going to say that the housing market climbed out of the hole. So, sellers are preparing for the first time in over six years to sell their homes and might have a slight edge.... But there are things to consider when you decide to sell your Charlotte, NC. based home still..... First, how you price a house will be a key factor. I was reading an article the other day on CNN money and it was talking about pricing a home. The incredible statistic was that according to their research 75% of homeowners felt the price the Realtor recommended nationally was too low in comparison to what they thought they should get for the house. I have witnessed that in the Charlotte NC market and have lost listings because other agents are telling them that they can get more than the house is worth. One of two things is happening. They either are not getting an offer on the house or the house is not appraising when it does sell. A home that sits on the market for any extended length of time makes buyers think there are issues with the house besides over pricing of it and can actually cause the house to sell for significantly less than if it were priced right. I have gone through a spurt recently with listings that were priced correctly getting into multiple offer situations and selling quickly and for more money than the sellers anticipated they would get for the house. Being a few thousand over what it should sell for can be adjusted for based on inflation and lack of inventory right now. Being $15 to $20 thousand over cannot be adjusted. Second, your home's condition. The market is shifting and sellers are getting more for their homes. But do not under estimate the fact that a buyer is still looking for a good deal. A home that has small repairs that need to be done should get done up front. Fresh paint in a room and carpets that are freshly cleaned can go a long way to helping you sell your home for top dollar and quickly. Fix the things you know are wrong with the house. Buyers today are coming out of this recession as well and do not have the extra money to be spending on repairs after the closing..... Third, stage your home. One thing i tell every seller to do before they put a house on the market is to declutter it removing oversized furniture and re shuffling furniture around to showcase the space in a room can go a long way to helping get the home sold. There is nothing like walking into a house that is full of stuff. It makes the house look small and dingy and takes away from the value of the home. Fourth, landscaping. You all have heard the old saying first impressions make lasting impressions. Well the first impression a buyer is going to have of your home is when they pull up to it. That is why curb appeal is so vital for a house. We are in a spring market. Plant colorful flowers or hang flower baskets with bright colorful flowers. Throw some fresh mulch down around the shrubs, cut the grass, clean the yard, power was the house. Make that first impression so outstanding that they cannot wait to get inside of your house. Fifth and probably the most important one is to make your home accessible to showings. I know in this market that the sellers are trying to dictate some of the ground rules. But truth be told; if I am giving you a couple day’s notice and you decline my showing because it is "not a good time for you"; then i do not feel like you want to sell your home and my client has moved on to the next home. Dave diCecco Realtor/Broker Coldwell Banker United Cell:704-519-7895 ddicecco@cbunited.com www.davedicecco.com

5th Annual Realtor Care Day April 19, 2013 Charlotte, NC.

The Charlotte area Realtors turn in their smart phones and I-pads for hammers and paint for one day every year. On Friday April 19, 2013 we will celebrate Realtor Care Day. This will mark the fifth year of the program where Realtors are giving back to the community. We volunteer 100% of our time for this one day event. Materials are donated or paid for by corporate donations. Since this initiative started the Charlotte regional association of realtors has helped over 100 families with much needed repairs to their homes. The repairs ranged from brand new roofs, to painting, repairing steps and decks to yard work and other repairs needed. This is my fourth year of volunteering and I am excited to be doing it again. For one day I will take my cell phone and put it in the car and work together as a team with other fellow Realtors to help families in need. The best part of it is the expression of gratitude you see from these homeowners for what we are doing for them. No amount of money can replace the joy a good deed can make you feel like. Over 500 Realtors will be scattered throughout Mecklenburg and Iredell County for the day. You will see groups of people this year dressed in t-shirts using hammers and paint brushes to help make someone's life a little easier. My past experiences have gone from replacing roofs on homes, to cleaning out the yard, to installing a ramp for a wheelchair and making the home wheelchair accessible. As Realtors we live by the community and help families buy and sell homes every year. But it is nice to know that we can also come together as a community and help families in need…. Dave diCecco Realtor/Broker Coldwell Banker United Cell:704-519-7895 ddicecco@cbunited.com www.davedicecco.com

Does the Cleanliness Of Your Home Help Your Home Sell Faster?

Being in the spring market I am very busy with listings and buyers both locally and out of the area looking at homes and me previewing homes for listings. One thing came up this past weekend when i was showing homes that made me sit down last night and think and reflect back and realize something.....The cleanliness of a home tells more about the value of the home than some homeowners think..... Because Charlotte, NC. is more a sellers market right now, I have noticed a trend that was not there last year or the past couple of years. One of the things I noticed in the trend is that homeowners are not all keeping their homes spotless for showings. I am not saying that if you have two to three or more kids and you get a showing request in the next hour that it is realistic to think that the house is going to be perfect on a Saturday....But if you get one a day or two in advance I would expect it to be clean and presentable for the showing the next day. I showed homes in the $300,000 range on Friday afternoon and all day Saturday. Most of the homes were extremely clean and well kept up. Something I would expect since I booked the showings a couple of days in advance. However; there were a couple of homes that were not. One home was empty and I was very shocked at the lack of cleanliness of the house. Especially since no one was living there currently. The other one someone was living in and you could see the dirt in the carpet and the fresh stains in the carpet and cobwebs blowing from the corners of the rooms when you looked up at the ceilings. It was so bad my buyers told their children NOT to touch anything in the house and Dad even picked up one of them and carried them throughout the house for fear of what she might touch and put in her mouth. Now both homes have been on the market in excess of six months. They were both priced well below the market value for the neighborhoods they were in. In fact, for this blog post I did the actual market analysis and found the empty house to be 18% less than the average asking price in the neighborhood and the other one to be 13% below the average market value of the asking prices in that neighborhood. Yet neither one has sold...... My buyers ruled both homes out. They both said that as soon as they walked in and so the filth (as they worded it) in the house they were concerned about the way the sellers maintained the house itself. If someone is that lazy to not clean a house; what might be wrong with the house? Maybe nothing but the perception and first impression is there once they walked through that front door of the house..... Spend a little extra money and hire a cleaning service to come in and give your house a thorough cleaning before putting it on the market. Then maintain the house and run a vacuum and broom regularly through the house. It can make the difference between selling your home today and not selling your home for months. As well as the how much you will actually get for your house based on the cleanliness of it. As an FYI, my buyers selected a comparable house in one of the neighborhoods and we have agreed to a price that is still 6% above what the other home was asking for theirs. The homes had similar floor plan and a few differences....but ultimately it was the overall cleanliness of the home that kept them away from it...... Dave diCecco Realtor/Broker Coldwell Banker United Cell:704-519-7895 ddicecco@cbunited.com www.davedicecco.com