Talk To A Realtor Before Updating Your Charlotte, NC. Home To Sell

I have been on a few listing appointments lately where the sellers were proud to tell me the things they did prior to contacting me to list their home. They said they wanted the house ready to go when I got there and were hoping to get a hefty return on their investment. They have watched HGTV and think if they do certain things to their home it will sell faster and for more money. That may be the case sometimes but not all the time. If you are looking to sell your home consult with a couple of Realtors. Interview them and see who is a good fit for you. While you are interviewing Realtors ask them what they recommend you do to a house to get it ready to sell. Being in the business and seeing a house as an outsider with no personal attachments to the home will help give you a perspective on the home that can be beneficial to you in selling the house. Some improvements my sellers did got them no return on their investment and others were worthwhile to do....But why spend the money on an improvement or updating if you cannot get a return on it. I deal with both sellers and buyers so my perspective is a little different than a Realtor who only deals with listings. I look at a house form a buyers view and depending on the price point of the home I advise accordingly what the best option is for them. I have sold most of my listings where the seller has taken the advice I have given them and done what I have recommended in a timely manner. In fact the showings have always been very good and the price we got for the homes have always been higher than anticipated by the sellers.... I had a seller go out and spend $10,000.00 on updating and improvements prior to meeting with me...They could as easily done a little less updating and sold the home for the same price. The improvements the seller did were great and definitely helped the value and the home sell. However; they did not get an offer that they were expecting and after going through a few offers where the buyers were all around the same number they conceded to lower the price and accept an offer in that range. The money they spent did not give them a return on investment. They probably lost over half of it and could have done a lot less and gotten the same amount back in return.... So, my advice is to talk to Realtors and see what advice they offer you in terms of updating to get the house sold. If all the Realtors are on the same page then do those updates and price accordingly. If not then skip the updates and price the house accordingly as it sits...But doing it first can cost you thousands of dollars you could have otherwise kept in your pocket. Dave diCecco Realtor/Broker Coldwell Banker United Cell:704-519-7895 ddicecco@cbunited.com www.davedicecco.com

Charlotte, NC. Area Housing Trends June 2013

There is a lot of talk about the housing market in Charlotte, NC. and whether it is improving or if this is a smoke screen. Being one of the largest metro areas in the United States and one of the fastest growing this trend plays a vital impact on home sellers and home buyers alike. So I decided to do a monthly analysis versus the previous year and two years ago during the same month and see where the trends are and how they are impacting the housing market in Charlotte, NC. here are the stats for June 2013: First, let's look at inventory of available homes buyers have to choose from in the Charlotte, NC. region. In 2011 there were 24736 homes for sale in June. In 2012 there were 20040 homes for sale in June. Last month there were 15817 homes for sale. That is a decline of 36% in two years of available homes buyers have to choose from. Second, the average sale price of homes in the Charlotte, NC. region for June 2011 was $205,853. In 2012 the average sale price was $203,867 and last month the average sale price was $214166. That is an increase of 4% in the average sale price in the Charlotte, NC. market. Third, let’s look at days in inventory. How long are houses sitting on the market? In 2011 the average home sat on the market for 13.4 months before being sold. In 2012 the number improved to 10.2 months and last month it improved to 6.2 months. That is a dramatic drop in inventory of over 48% in two years. What the trends are showing is that the housing market is out of the recession and available homes for sale have decreased to the lowest levels we have seen in over 5 years coupled with prices slowly creeping back up and more buyers out there than homes available and you have signs of a robust market in Charlotte, NC. If all three factors were trending equally it could be the market fixing itself. But the fact that inventory has declined 25% less than average days on market means we are getting more buyers out there than homes right now and it is starting to cause prices to go up. This is a good thing for the housing industry and the economy. Coupled with the fact, home prices are not skyrocketing to adjust for decrease of inventory and interest rates continue to be at all time lows is keeping a stable growth in the Charlotte, NC. market. However; in comparison to last months trends the numbers seem to be reflecting that the housing market has stabilized and some prices are starting to come down. Generally this time of the year we start to see home prices slowly decline a little bit as sellers are little more motivated to sell when school is out and want to take advantage of moving the kids during the summer. In fact I have noticed it on homes I have shown that if they did not get an offer with in the first 30 to 45 days they are starting to reduce the price to compensate for the market. A lot of home owners were trying to capture a little extra in terms of price but now are starting to bring their prices down to where they should have been and correcting themselves in this market. Another factor that will be interesting to see in the next couple of months on how it impacts the housing market is the sudden rise in interst rates. Rates are still historically low and lower than they were three years ago. But with people getting used to the 3% teling them that they are now in the 4% is hard eventhough that is still very cheap to borrow money on. The impact of that though might not be felt for a couple of months after all the sales funnell through the system when people were taking advantage fo the low rates and knowing they were going to increase Dave diCecco Realtor/Broker Coldwell Banker United Cell: 704-519-7895 ddicecco@cbunited.com www.davedicecco.com