Should you have an Open House?

Should you have an Open House? Will it sell your home?


Consumer sentiment about open houses has waxed and waned over the years, along with the ups and downs of the real estate market. In 1995, 41% of buyers surveyed relied on open houses to sell their home, according to data from the NAR. By 2000, it had dropped to 28%. Beginning in 2003, however, as the market started to heat up again, that number began rising. By 2005, the last year for which data is available, 51% of all sellers were using open houses, though not all agreed they were effective. Some 45% of sellers found open houses only "somewhat useful" and another 12% didn't consider them useful at all, according to the NAR.

One of the BENEFITS OF AN OPEN HOUSE an open house can be a valuable opportunity to get feedback about what is and isn’t attractive about a house.

WHO WILL COME?

• Nosy neighbors – they just want to see what your home looks like – they migh:
  • know someone who might be interested in your home
  • they could be thinking of selling and checking us out
• Bored Shoppers – looking to do something on a Sunday Afternoon, especially if it is raining
• Current Sellers – listed with another agent. We encourage you to check out the competition, so we expect that a percentage of our visitors are doing just that
• Recent Home Buyers – checking out the market to reassure themselves that they got a good deal
• Folks looking for decorating ideas – you never know, they might walk in and fall in love and decide to sell what they have and buy your home
• Buyers ready to purchase a home!
• 
  
• So you never know - it just takes one!
  
  

The real estate market may be tough, but Lauralei Properties, llc in St. Louis is trying to help homeowners who have already seen some of their equity disappear from the recent market downturn. The addition of the popular Flat Fee MLS service to the already successful Discount Marketing Programs is just another reason to trust the sale of your home to this experienced company.

Flat Fee MLS can help sellers save many thousands of dollars in real estate commissions and is the most flexible marketing plan for sellers as it allows For Sale By Owners as well as traditional sellers to place their home in the Realtors Multiple Listing Service for $195 instead of a high listing commission later.

The Multiple Listing Service is what most Real Estate agents belong to and where they typically search for home to show their buyers. The listing is also placed on the popular web site Realtor.com and other top real estate web sites including having the homes listing appear the web sites of local real estate agencies.

If the homeowner finds their own buyer without the assistance of a real estate agent, no additional fee is due. Lauralei Properties, llc has lots of experience offering discount commission programs. While there are other companies offering flat fee mls service, few offer such a wide range of discount services as well as being a local "full service" broker. Some are just Internet based companies who farm out the listing to another agency.

For Sale By Owners tend to gravitate towards Flat Fee MLS. Many feel they don't need the full range of real estate services most brokers offer. They see this service as a way to gain the massive exposure of the MLS and major web sites, while still retaining the ability to sell on their own, and not pay a selling agent commission. Should the buyer end up coming from a real estate agent, the seller is only obligated to pay the selling agency portion of the commission. They save the listing commission or approx. 50% of what most sellers pay. The small upfront Flat Fee of $195 is a bargain for the exposure offered when you consider how much newspaper ads and other services cost.

While For Sale By Owners, commonly referred to as FSBO's, are the main users of Flat Fee MLS services, it really makes sense for most sellers. Any serious seller can save thousands of dollars compared to selling through a higher commission broker. While an agent is not there to hold your hand every day throught the process, everything you really need to get your home sold is included.
Visit our web site http://www.lauralei.net for more details and the latest information.

I sold my Home!

I sold my home! And the best part i s that the person who is buying my house is as excited as I am - he seems to really love the house and is nervous that I will change my mind.

Even tho, I am a realtor, I am selling without any other realtor involved and YEAHHHH I don't have to pay any commissions!

No more pulling weeds - I don't have to worry about shoveling snow - or having a vacant house that might be vandalized - oh what a relief it is!

Virtual Staging a vacant home for sale

Now this is a new one to me - Virtual Staging a vacant home for sale - they take the actual photo of a vacant room and superimpose furniture into it - Have you ever noticed that pictures of vacant homes all look alike with neutral walls and sometimes unidentifiable rooms?

This seems like a good idea to me - wonder how hard it would be for the average real estate agent to do - home staging without ever leaving home!

Will my house ever sell?

Will my house ever sell? I had to go by one of our city houses and yank on weeds and tree bushes....

I am so TIRED of doing that - I did not even begin to do the inside cleaning - tons of cobwebs and the toilet is dirty - How does the toilet get dirty in a vacant house???

Some water spots came through on the paint job - OLD water spots - that i put kilz on - and now i have to touch these up because it will look like the roof leaks, even tho it doesn't anymore.

Oh yeah and someone poked a hole in the wall!!!!

After I left the house, I immediately came home and dropped the price by $5000 - someone buy this house!!

St louis in top 10 cities

Wow.....Here are the top 10 cities where Forbes magazine says this is the economic reality now and the conditions are likely to get even better as health care, technology, and energy draw more employees into their ranks:

1. Dallas
2. Houston
3. Minneapolis
4. Austin, Texas
5. Washington, D.C.
6. St. Louis
7. Seattle
8. Atlanta
9. Kansas City, Mo.
10. Denver


What great news for St. Louis - too many times we are in the bottom in the good things and rated top in the bad things.
Source: Forbes, Francesca Levy (09/03/2009)

Renting down - Homes Sales up

Just read in Realtor magazine that renting is on the down swing and first time home buyer saless is on the rise ----- no suprise here.




Even though this comes as no surprise, it is sure great to hear good news for
a change. For years we have heard nothing but doom and gloom about the
economy and the housing market, which just seemed to make things worse. Even tho everyone in my circle of friends seem to be doing the same financially, there is the feeling that you need to tighten up and not spend so much, etc.