Lehigh Valley Real Estate Blog, Home Buying & Selling Information

Staging Your Lehigh Valley Home to Sell

If someone wants to buy my house they'll buy it regardless of how it shows!

I've heard this before and for the most part it is totally untrue. Most homebuyers don't want to purchase a house that appears small or is perceived as needing a lot of work before they can "fully" move-in. When selling your most valued possession, don't you want to get the best possible price?

One thing that helps ensure the best price is Staging Your House to sell it!

The concept of Staging has a broad definition. Vacant homes don't show very well so in this context staging may involve hiring a company to "stage" the home and make it look lived in and very stylish. The company will bring all the needed furniture and other furnishings.

Staging for a lived-in house may involve removal of clutter, painting or decorating ideas, curb appeal, or maintainance issues that may deter the buyer or cause the buyer to make a lower offer. Most home buyers are very well educated plus they typically have a real estate agent looking out for their best interest. What seems trivial may be considered a larger problem to the buyer.

Some agents, in the Lehigh Valley, include a Staging Consultation as a part of the marketing plan for the house. It is up to you, as the seller, to decide what is or is not feasible.

Lehigh Valley Home Sale Price Reductions

Over the past few months, the expired listing has become common amongst home sellers. A few months ago, the Lehigh Valley real estate market shifted and I believe it became a buyers market.

The problem was that sellers didn't realize the change or were not educated by their realtors and after seeing a market appreciation of 10-20% over the past two years thought they could sell their house for the same appreciation in 2006. Most were not able to sell at this high appreciation and as a result the Lehigh Valley saw and is still seeing lots of price reductions.

If you are a buyer, do not be deceived. Although the valley is seeing price reductions, the home prices are still going up. For instance, the median home sale price in Bethlehem increased from $199,000 in 2005 to $211,000 in 2006. An increase of approximately 6%.

Mortgage Rates Fall to 10 Month Low

With the latest news that rates are at a 10 month low should you be waiting to purchase a new home in the Lehigh Valley?

I believe the answer is NO. Now, may be one of the best times to purchase a house.

Over the past few months, the news about real estate has been very negative. As a result, Sellers have realized they can not price their home at 10-15% above last years value and have been reducing their prices. The market, with a larger supply of available homes, has given Buyers a lot of opportunites to make offers that would not have been accepted in the past few years. 

Even so, in the Lehigh Valley, prices are still increasing by 3-4% a year (ref blog 10/14/06: Are Home Prices in the Valley Declining?).

As we go into the holiday season and the cold and snowy weather, with rates at 10 month low now may be the time to buy before the sellers get aggressive again in the spring.

Thanksgiving Fun

I wonder if this great weather will hold out until Thanksgiving.

I spent most of the day in Bethlehem and Nazareth and the sun came out more than once and brightened the day.

Here are some fun Thanksgiving links to share with the family.

Billy Bear's Playground, Thanksgiving Links, Thanksgiving Jokes

Radon Gas in the Lehigh Valley?

Radon Gas is created by the breakdown of Uranium in the soil. It enters the house through cracks and other holes in the foundation and is found to have an elevated level in nearly 1 out of every 15 houses in the United States.

Although Radon is a gas that can cause cancer, if high levels are found in a house it is easy to remove (remediate) and should not scare you away from the house.

Radon is hit or miss. Your house may test low while the house across the street may have a high level. It is also possible, that your house may test low and then at a later date fail the test because of a high level. I sold a house that was a year old. When the builder finished it, Radon levels were tested and it was okay. A year later the house failed and a remediation unit needed to be installed. The Barometric Pressure can affect the test results.

When buying or selling a house in Lehigh Valley, the contingency for Radon testing/remediation is covered in the Pennsylvania Agreement of Sale. In every case I have encountered, remediation of Radon, when high levels were found, has cost less than $1000.00. It is a negotiating point on the Agreement of Sale.

Download the Environmental Protection Agencies Home Buyer's and Seller's Guide to Radon.

Radon Specialist, a remediation company, has a video tutorial about Radon. View it now

New Construction - Are Prices Decreasing?

In the Lehigh Valley, I have not seen new home prices drop. What I have seen is some of the builders offering very nice incentives if you purchase one of their houses.

Anyone who has walked into a model home probably realizes that the base price of the house and the price of the house "you want" can be drastically different.

The Model Home is typically a base model with a lot of options. It is hard not to want these options after seeing how they enhance the house.

Builder incentives usually involve giving you a credit of something like $5,000 or $10,000 that you can use to select "free" options. I've seen some builders offer low incentives and others offer very lucrative incentives.

Options I believe every buyer should include:

Emergency egress in the basement - many townships require this if you ever want to finish the basement. It is much easier and probably more cost effective to have the builder install it. The egress also enhances the marketability of the house if you ever want to sell it.

Light or electrical box in the ceiling of every bedroom -  It's nice to have a lightswitch in every bedroom that turns on an overhead light or ceiling fan. Even if you only have the builder install the boxes, you'll probably appreciate it in the long run.

These are two that come immediately to mind but there are others. You should definitely put some thought into what options are needed versus options that would be nice.

Beware, that it is customary that in order to get the builder incentives, you may have to use the builder's mortgage and title company.

Also, as far as I know, builders won't drop the base price by the amount of the incentive value...I've tried and they've always wanted the buyer to select options.

360 Degree Virtual Tours!

Today, an agent asked me about virtual tours and the different technologies available so I thought it would be a good topic of discussion.

A Virtual Tour is a method of viewing a home on your computer as if you were standing in the middle of a room and looking 360 degrees around the room. Depending on how it is setup, you can move through the house getting complete views around the rooms instead of just still shots. 

Virtual tours are a great way to market a home as well as provide information about the neighborhood and area. Houses are staying on the market longer and as a result more agents are looking at Virtual Tours as a way to enhance the marketing on the house. Internet savvy home buyers appreciate the enhanced viewing and it may be the tool that causes them to request a showing and purchase the house.

There are 3 ways of taking the pictures(s) for a Virtual Tour.

Stitching: The camera is placed on a tripod and then rotated taking a picture every 30 degrees. The pictures are then stitched together into a continuous 360 degree picture.

180 Degree Lense: A special lense is placed on the camera then two pictures are taken. One for each half of the area. These two pictures are then combined to provide a complete 360 degree virtual tour.

360 Degree Lense (Egg Solutions): A special lense is placed on the camera that takes a complete 360 degree tour in one photograph.

I personally prefer the stitching method since you have 12 pictures which can be enhanced (lightened/darkened) as needed or used for still shots.

The Egg Lense creates something known as fish-eye. As you view the tour, it appears as if the walls are coming at you.

Regardless of the technology used, Virtual Tours are a great way to expose your home to the market.

An Agent Does More Than Find the House!

I was surprised to read the following 2005 statistics provided by the National Association of Realtors. These statistics are based on questions about the importance of using a real estate agent.

The reason I am surprised is because the number 1 answer, 'Help you find the right house', is probably what I would rank as the lowest reason for a buyer to work with a real estate agent.

With the growth of the internet, it is quite common for the buyers to find the house they are interested in purchasing. The agent may have nothing to do with finding the right house.

Does that mean that agents lose 60% of their value?

To think so would downplay the role of a real estate agent.

A home purchase is probably the most expensive purchase one makes. It is also a purchase that can cost thousands of dollars with the risk that the deal will fall apart, the house won't be purchased, and the money will be a lose. The seller will not reimburse buyer expenses. Some possible expenses while a house is being purchased are:

• Mortgage Application Fee
• Property Inspection
• Septic/Water Inspection
• Termite Inspection
• Radon Test
• Certificate of Occupancy
• Appraisal Fee
• Deposits (kept by Seller)

An agent, when working directly for the buyer, has a fidicuiary responsibility to that buyer. It is the agents job to work with the buyer to write an Agreement of Sale that minimizes the possible loss of money while still making an offer that is acceptable by the seller.

Once an offer is accepted, it is then the responsibility of the agent to ensure that all of the contract requirements are met while still ensuring that everything is done to protect the buyer. This involves title searches, inspections and negotiations, appraisals, mortgage commitments, certificate of occupancies, moving permits, utilities...etc.

The agent helps ensure that once the buyer makes an offer on a house they move into the house and at the same time minimize the risk if the deal were to fall apart.

The Promenade Shops at Saucon Valley

I had the pleasure Friday night of shopping at the new Promenade Shops at Saucon Valley. It was my first visit to the new shopping center and I was impressed. The Barnes and Noble was the largest I have been in.

There were more stores than I expected and everything was laid out nicely. It was a little chilly on Friday night but during warmer weather I can imagine spending a few hours strolling from store to store.

A word of warning. The $9.95 picture set of my children for the holidays (the reason I was at the Promenade) ended up costing me a lot more. Does it ever cost $9.95?.   

For more information, you can visit the The Promenade Shops at Saucon Valley website.

Why Do I Need Title Insurance?

When purchasing a house, Title Insurance is a large portion of the closing costs. What are you getting for the cost?

Title Insurance guarantees that you own the property you paid for!

The Title is checked to see if there are any liens or encumbrances on the property. The Title is also checked for easement rights (utility companies/neighbors), mineral rights, and PUD/CONDO ownerships.

Title Insurance protects you against any future attempts to make a claim against the property.