Pending Sales picked up a bit over the last several days so July will probably end up being similar to June’s activity. I’ll be updating the statistics and inventories tomorrow.
Month: July 2007
A home in Pismo Heights went on the market earlier this month at $950,000. It wa on the market about 2 weeks, then withdrawn. It came back on the market yesterday for $629,000 and now positioned as a fixer. Sounds like something was found during a home inspection.
What I recommend to every homeowner that is putting their home on the market is to get the Pest Inspection done ASAP. It costs less than $100 and will let you know if they find anything major before you price your home. If the report comes back clean (or with few items found), that’s a plus to use in the marketing of the home too!
Because of the water shortage in Los Osos, they are considering requiring homeowners to install low-flow toilets before they sell their home.
If you have teenage girls you probably have already been made aware of this but the Old Navy over by Costco in SLO opened last Thursday. The article I read in the Trib said the line on openeing day to check out stretched to the back of the store.
I just got back from having one of my favorite dishes at a SLO restaurant. The Chicken Mole (mo-lay) Enchiladas at Chile Peppers are OUTSTANDING. Plus, it’s a bargain. It costs $7.50 for the dish which includes 3 enchiladas topped with excellent mole sauce, cheese, salsa, guacamole, sour cream, and onions. And you get rice and beans too. I’ve tried mole at other mexican restaurants and haven’t found any that compare to Chile Peppers. I’m not aware of any other restaurant in the area that even offers mole on the menu.
There are two Chile Peppers restaurants in SLO but only one of them has mole. The one that has it is located on Broad Street, close to the intersection of South Street. It sits back from the road a bit with an indian restaurant in front. The one that doesn’t have mole is off of Foothill.
If you haven’t tried the mole at Chile Peppers, you’re missing out! You won’t leave hungry (or broke) either.
If you’re selling your home, make sure you are accurate in the way that your home is described. I recently put an offer in on a home that had many “new” things listed including a kitchen remodel. Upon further investigation, the remodel was done in 2002. Having a kitchen oven used for 5 years isn’t “new” to most people.
A few years ago, a Broker I know had to pay for new appliances in a home because the Listing Agent advertised them as “new” but they were installed and used for 9 months. I know some things may sound new to an owner, but remember how a car dealership works. A car is no longer new once the Buyer pays for it and drives it off the lot.
Seven Creative Ways to Get Your Listings Sold
Did the headline peak your interest? Well it did mine when I received this in my email today from one of the industry Broker Agent news sites. They send out articles from “experts” in the industry. Unfortunately, some of these articles seem like they are written from people that have never sold real estate. In this particular article, here are the “Seven Creative Ways” and my thoughts. You can read the full article here
1) Price it right
Is there anything creative about this one? Every home needs to be priced right or it won’t sell. The author suggests putting a 5% price reduction every 21 days in the Listing Agreement saying to “be agressive”. Hmmm…maybe they should make sure the home has enough exposure first??
2) Build impeccable lead generation and management system
This one has nothing to do about getting a listing sold.
3) Boost your co-op commission
This one just irks me. I pity a Buyer that has a Realtor representing them that is making choices of what properties to show them based on what commission is being offered. This is why Buyers need to be searching for properties on the Internet themselves!
4) Stage it properly
No disagreement with this one (as with #1), but I fail to see where the creativeness comes in.
5) Polish your listing presentation
Huh? How is going after additional listings going to help sell one you already have??
6) Prospect around the neighborhood where you’ve just listed
Is the author trying to sell the listing or telling the agent to look for more listings?
7) Auction the home
Since the target for this article is Realtors, I don’t know why this is even mentioned as no Realtor I know of has done an auction. I’ve read the articles on auctions but they all sound gimmicky to me. When I hear auction, I usually think of something that you can get well below market value.
Sorry, but this article doesn’t come close to what was promised in the headline….
Best of Caravan – Scenic Coast – Los Osos, Morro Bay, Cayucos
This week’s “Best of Caravan” goes to the charming re-modeled beach cottage located in North Morro Bay. Just blocks from the beach tract and the wide sandy beaches, the location is ideal. This home offer 2 bedrooms, both of which open to the redwood deck off of the back yard, 1 3/4 baths, hardwood floors, a one-car garage and a small fenced yard. Priced well at $442,000- this is a wonderful cozy costal cottage.
(Best of Caravan is chosen by one our team of local expert Realtors as the property that stood out on the weekly Broker’s caravan of new listings)
Best of Caravan- Atascadero
Our local expert Realtor in Atascadero sent me her choice for this weeks Best of Caravan. It’s a lovely 3 bedroom home on some acreage. But, I’m unable to describe it to you or put a photo of it on here like usual because the Lisitng Agent/Broker chose not to display it on the Internet. So, it won’t even come up in a MLS Search. It’s a shame since the photos of the home make it look like a very nice home.
Homeowners, if you have a house listed, make sure you try searching for it on one of my MLS Searches. If it shows up on one, it should show up on them all. If it doesn’t show up and you want it to, contact your Listing Agent!
In this case, not only is the homeowner missing out on it coming up on MLS searches, they also missed the opportunity to be showcased as “Best of Caravan” to the almost 4,000 visitors to this blog each month!
As of a minute ago, we are still sitting under 400 Pending Sales for the month. Being a 31 day month will help with the final number but we’re probably going to end up as one of the slowest months so far this year (we had 410 Pendings in February). If you look at the chart on the www.SloWatch.com page, you’ll see that we had a similar dip in the number of Pending Sales last July as well. It will be interesting to see what the stock market does today (Friday) since Thursday’s drop was being blamed partly on the housing market.