This afternoon, I had the pleasure of showing a wonderful home in Pelican Bay to clients who specifically flew in from Marblehead, Massachusetts, (and just for the day I might add,) to see it. It actually was the third time that I had been in it and with each time, there was something new to learn about. There isn’t anything typical about this home, except the price $1,745,000, which puts it in the low end of the higher end homes in Naples, Florida. (I don’t want to sound as if I’m sticking my nose in the air, but there are so many in this price range that it isn’t funny.)

The home is a very special home, four bedrooms and four baths, with wonderful spaces both inside and out. You have to like a house with a Southwestern flair, for it has Mexican Tile throughout its 4,700 under air, and definitely is far different from the Naples norm of Tuscan or Mediterranean. The home has high ceilings and angled walls, with a tremendous amount of high windows and light. The outside pool and spa area lends itself to outdoor entertaining. It is completely walled around the whole home, giving it huge privacy. It is a house where you close your eyes and envision some great parties going in any season.

The home has been on the market for well over a year and has recently been reduced for the third time to the price it is now at, which begs the question, why hasn’t it sold because it is such a great house. The answer comes in two forms, first certainly not everyone likes Southwestern, although Pat and I would move in in a heartbeat, if we could.

But I think that the overall reason the home hasn’t sold is primarily because very few people can envision what is behind those walls, and therefore, if their realtor told them to do a drive-by, they would totally not get it because of how it is structured and a perceived lack of ‘curb appeal’. Pat and I got it immediately, when we first drove by, because we look for homes like that, and yet I’ll bet that many, many people, including realtors, have missed it.

The moral: You damn sure can’t judge this home by its cover!!!

read comments (0)

In today’s highly competitive ‘down market’, we are seeing more and more ads for auctions, as would be expected. I would suspect that we will most probably see it for the next couple of years. In the greater Naples, Florida area, as well as many other areas of the country, we need to shed ourselves of a lot of excess inventory and an auction can be a good way to do it.

About six months ago, there was a highly publicized auction here in Naples taking place at the Naples Beach and Golf Hotel on the Gulf of Mexico. The auction was being run by J.J. Manning Auctioneers, who claims over 30 Billion Dollars in sales over their 30 year history. Paul Drake, a local real estate agent, teamed with them to act as ‘front man’, (he has since joined forces with Manning and they have formed Manning/Drake Auctions in Florida.) The auctioneer was J.J. Manning.

The parcels to be auctioned included some 34 properties belonging to one local real estate investor who had a history of doing quite well in earlier years, but got squarely caught in the current downturn and now was facing fore-closure on all 34 properties, unless disposed of. Her properties represented a majority of the parcels in the auction.

I, like many other interested parties who attended, were realtors, as well as investors. My motivation was strictly to get a further indication of where the market really was. I knew that there would be bottom feeders attending, just like in any other market, but felt that it wouldn’t really matter.

What did matter though was that little, if anything, actually sold. (It was extremely hard to verify statistics in the weeks following, although Drake said that they would be forthcoming, which never really happened.) The bids were drastically, and I mean drastically, under the reserve price. Yes that’s right, the whole auction was actually a reserve auction, which wasn’t specified, so there wasn’t a chance of any bidding wars going on. It ended up quite mundane and very boring!

What I have always believed is that an auction really isn’t a true auction unless it is an Absolute Auction. I think that you can get a better feel of where the true market is in a no-reserve (absolute) auction. I have seen where, at absolute auction, where two or more parties feeling that they just have to have the property that they are bidding on and someone actually ends up paying more than what would normally be considered true market. Be that as it may, the bottom line is that I will only attend absolute auctions, because for me, the others are a complete waste of time!

read comments (0)

One of the truly great things about living and working in Naples, Florida is the shear beauty that we are constantly surrounded with, coupled with such a pristine atmosphere. I’ve always said that sometimes we tend to take it for granted and forget what a special place Naples really is. As beautiful as New England can be, where I am from, it takes a trip back up north for me to realize that nothing seems to compare.

As a realtor working with higher end clients, you get to experience the utter joy of sitting, (when doing ‘Open Houses), in some pretty incredible homes and condominiums, waiting to meet that person or couple who comes in and falls in love with the property and absolutely has to have it. I happen to be in one of those homes as I write this piece now, and it gives me a very satisfied feeling. Not only do I feel privileged, but thankful that I’m able to go to work in such surroundings.

Even in the rather flat real estate market that we are currently experiencing, one would have a hard time getting down because the sun is shining with a few clouds in the sky, the weather is warm and we live and work in one of the most beautiful places on earth.

read comments (0)

In today’s real estate market, if you’re seeking listings, it is all about pricing property correctlty. Unlike days gone by where you could price a listing a bit higher than it should be, and if the sellers were not in a rush, allow the market to rise to the price, today it is far different. With the huge amount of inventory at hand, pricing a property to sell usually means that it must be priced in the lower quadrant of the market segment and preferable be the lowest. That way, assuming all things being equal, you will be well positioned to sell the property quickly.

With that being said, this strategy can leave minimal room for negotiation meaning that you have to know in advance what issues, if any, will come up from an inspection. To take care of this, I have been asking my sellers to have a professional inspection done prior to my listing the property, so that we can resolve any issues in advance. After my explanation as to why I feel it is important, their reaction has been extremely positive.

Now with all my listings, I post the fullk inspection report as part of my property flyers. What I have been finding is that if we have addresses a majority of the negative issues that have arisen from the inspection, it helps to promote a positive atmosphere in the total buy/sell process. It also can make the buyers feel a bit more at ease, knowing that the sellers are serious about selling their property.

I have to believe that this approach, although certainly not new or unique, will become more of a standard practice.

read comments (0)

For a realtor, pricing a home in a declining market is a major challenge. If you are going to take the listing in the first place, you had better price it correctly, when you first place it on the market, which means being ahead of the curve.

In our market in Naples in Southwest Florida, we seemed to have flattened out, which makes it a bit easier. My goal is to get the price point to where it is in the lower quarter of the current active listings. I do not make price recommendations to the sellers anymore. I have started presenting charts and data reflecting exactly what is going on. I explain that three things affect where the price should be, Active Listings, Sold Listings and Expired Listings. I’ll show them the data for all three and ask the sellers, based on what they saw, where they think the price point should be.

Invariably they will still be higher than where it really should be after reviewing the data, and I ask them again how badly they really want to sell. (Naturally, I have established their motivation prior to my beginning my presentation, but I just want them to reinforce it). Sometimes they will tell what they have to get out of it based on what they paid and I gently tell them that what they paid has nothing to do with what it will eventually sell for. I tell them that there is no relationship between the two.

With regard to pricing in a declining market that has not bottomed out, it is far more difficult. The one thing that I do not want to do is help a seller price their property improperly, where you are forever chasing the market with continual price reductions. Again, in a changing market, I want the price point to be ahead of the curve. In that way I feel that I have the best shot at selling the home within the first 30 days. 

read comments (0)

With the glut of inventory on the market, it sometimes takes creative thinking to help make people aware of your particular home or condo and generate traffic.

This coming weekend is the Super Bowl Weekend, and it has been my experience that Sunday, in particular, is a fantastic day to do an open house. I’m not sure why, but maybe it’s because people know, for the most part that during the evening, they will be parked in front of the TV watching the game and they’d better get out during the day and do something. Hopefully that something will be to tour the open houses. The times that I’ve done them on that weekend, they have been excellent!

I have one listing that is a brand new 3 bedroom/2 bath new construction home in a good upscale gated community and is currently the lowest priced home in that community. There are 12 other homes that listed in that community as well. I decided that this weekend was a great time to do an open house, so I advertised it in the Saturday paper with all the details. I also called the 12 other agents and asked them if they would like to hold their listings open as well. Most all have agreed, so in effect we will have a community open house, with each listing playing off the others.

I believe that this is an excellent strategy, especially in light of a slower market. Who knows…but the added exposure certainly can’t hurt!

read comments (0)

When I’m doing a listing presentation I find that many potential clients want me to immediately tell them where I feel their home or property should be priced. I have a hard and fast rule, (and I stay true to it) that I will not divulge my price point unless I know that I do indeed have the listing. In other words, I ask for the listing and go for the close prior to my talking about the price of the home or property.

One of the biggest challenges in a listing presentation is always keeping the presentation in the order and way that you wish to present it. The potential clients will be trying to get you to change that order by asking you if you would like to see their home before you are ready, or what do you think our home is worth, etc. The key for me has always been in demonstrating that I am the professional and that, as hard as it can be sometimes, I maintain the flow of the listing presentation. After all, I did all the preparation, it is my show and I want complete control of how it will go. If I can’t maintain that control, invariably I walk away without the listing.

Again, I will never talk about the pricing that I have set for a particular property unless I know that I have the listing, otherwise it becomes a mute point. If a potential client cannot commit to listing with me at that moment that I ask for the listing, then divulging the price, in my eyes, is totally irrelevant and pointless.

read comments (0)

In a down market with many challenges, it may be time to get back to some of the basics that we’ve most likely ignored when the market was on fire, working For Sale By Owners (FSBO) and Expireds. Most of us have drifted away from working them, because we really haven’t needed the business. For the longest time, we have allowed the business to be taken over by the newer agents, who might not be the best qualified in terms of knowleomdge, etc. They were willing to do what we weren’t, stop instead of driving by or calling in the case of an expired.

The market has changed, and now despite the fact that we can cull leads from a variety of different sources, places like the internet and such, time has come to get back to two of the better prospect sources. Internet leads can take as long as 18 months to bring to the point where a sale develops, where as working with the FSBOs and expireds can put you immediately in front of their faces, if you have a compelling story.  

Bernice Ross, who writes for Inman News, recently did a great article about working with FSBOs and Expireds.

Related Must Reads…

Pricing Properly When Selling A Home
Home Inspections for Sellers
Does It Work?
Biggest Mistake Sellers Make
Quick Fix For A Better Showing
Staging…The Final Solution

read comments (5)