They’re giving a $3,500 credit toward closing costs. AND, they’re offering a $1,200 bonus to qualified buyers agents who sell those homes.

What do you think of that practice? Didn’t the taxpayers just bail out Fannie Mae?

I suppose you could assume that their homes are priced higher to make up the difference. But no homes are going to sell for more than their appraisal, so…?

If I was a competing bank with REO’s to sell, I think I’d be a bit peeved.

So I decided to duplicate it here…

How to get your listing clients to help sell their house…

Your listing clients may think that since you’re the expert on marketing homes for sale, there’s nothing much they can do to help. But there is – with your help.

You can draft a nice email letter for your clients to send to all of their contacts – including friends, relatives, neighbors, and co-workers.

In the letter, your clients can say that they’re sorry to be leaving the neighborhood and talk about what they loved most about the house. Then, they can ask their contacts to pass the word about their house being for sale. Of course, the email will include a link to the beautiful web page that you’ve created to showcase it’s best benefits and features.

By writing the email for them, you can assure that it gets done, that the links are correct, and that they don’t give away any information that would hurt their bargaining position.

You can also provide them with a custom signature to automatically attach to all their outgoing email: “Ask my agent about my home for sale” with a link to the home’s page on your site.

Engage & enlist the neighbors via your open house…

If you plan to hold an open house, you can involve the neighbors in your marketing by hand-delivering a personal invitation to come early.

That will give you the opportunity to spend time with them – and will make them feel special to boot.

Provide them with handouts with links to the house on line – or QR codes if they’ve caught on in your community. If they think they have friends or relatives who would be interested, be generous with extra copies they can pass around.

Of course, there’s not a huge market for homes in the multi-million dollar range, but it made me think about the profits that some homeowners are still expecting today.

According to the article, Barry Manilow purchased his home for $3 Million in 1999. Then he put it on the market for $10.9 Million in 2009. Now he’s dropped the price to a paltry $7.9 Million and it still isn’t selling.

Is that price realistic?

No, not if you look at the “traditional” (pre-bubble) appreciation.

We used to believe that on average a home would appreciate 5% per year. If we applied that figure to a $3 Million price tag, that home today “should” be worth $5.4 Million. But of course, he’s still looking at what it was “worth” just before the bubble burst.

So he probably feels like he’ll be losing money if he sells at $7.9 Million.

Another example in the article was the Pierce Bronson home – purchased as a foreclosure for $600,000 in 1996 and now on the market for $3.5 Million. I’m going assume he got a really good deal because it was a foreclosure, and the home was worth an even Million. According to my calculations of 5% per year gain, it would now be worth $2.08 Million.

Of course, that 5% rate is only an average – a number that used to be thrown out to tell buyers the value of purchasing a home. In the years from 1980 to 1990 the appreciation was much higher, and then it dropped between 1990 to 2000.

If you’re interested in housing history, I found a wonderful site showing the median price of homes in each state from 1940 through 2000. When you read it you’ll understand why your Grandmother is shocked at today’s prices – even AFTER the bubble burst. Check the Historical Census of Housing Tables for an interesting read.

According to this chart, the median home price in the U.S. in 2000 was $119,600. I didn’t find anything official, but according to a USA Today article, the national median price in the third quarter of 2010 was $177,900.

So – prices are still up. Just not up as much.

Photo courtesy of Dreamstine.

On these dark wintery days, everything looks a little dreary. So remind them to bring as much light as they can into their homes. Open the drapes, clean the light fixtures, and add some splashes of cheerful color in the form of throw pillows, rugs, shower curtains, towels, and a vase of bright silk flowers here and there.

Remind yourself…

You might want to brighten up your own presentation – with clothing in a cheerful color, and of course with a bright smile and a cheerful, upbeat attitude.

It’s easy to fall into the gloomy attitude that so many have these days. Attitudes are, after all, as contagious as a flu bug.

So… resist. Take whatever preventative medicine you need to keep your own spirits up. Let your attitude be the one that spreads like the flu!

What kind of medicine do you need? For me, a gloomy attitude can be cured by some really “hoppin’” music. I choose the kind that makes me sing along and then get up and dance around my office, even though it makes my dogs wonder if I’ve lost my mind.

A funny video clip or a good joke can also do the trick, since it’s impossible to be gloomy while laughing.

I watched a funny fishing bloopers clip recently that had me laughing out loud. You might like it too: http://www.snotr.com/video/5987

If you have some funny clips that always make you laugh, put them in a file where you can find them any time you need a “pick-me-up.”

I realize that some people are only interested in “new” and don’t give a hoot about who lived in a home in the past. But those aren’t the people who will buy your late 1800’s or early 1900’s home.

They’re the ones who might wait until the contractor puts the finishing touches on a brand new home in a brand new subdivision. So don’t worry about them – they aren’t your customers anyway.

Those who do love old homes are quite often fascinated with the history behind them. So do your research and tell the story in your marketing materials. If you’re in a small community and have a local newspaper, you might even want to run a block ad with a short version of the story.

It might read something like “Historic Watson home now offered for sale. This home, built in 1898, was home to Jeremy Watson, his wife and 8 children. Mr. Watson was a prominent member of Mytown society in the 1890’s and early 1900’s, and the Watson home was the scene of grand balls – as well as some “grand brawls.” Visit www.mywebsite.com for the rest of the story.

Yes, even people who aren’t interested in a home will follow the link and read the story – because people love stories.

But that’s a good thing. They’ll be more people who know your name and know that you do your homework!

If the current owners don’t know the home’s history, ask them to pay the small fee to have the title company trace it back to the beginning… when it was first constructed.
Find out who owned and developed the land, who was the architect who drew the plans, who lived there first, and who has lived there since.

Once you have the names, go to the library and see what you can learn about those people. If your own family has lived in the community for a long time, go to your oldest relatives and ask them what they remember – it might help in your search.

Almost anything you can learn will be interesting to the kind of history buffs who will love your listing.

You may learn that the lady of the house taught in the one-room school until she married the banker. Or, you may learn that the former occupant was one of the town’s “Founding Fathers” who bankrolled much of the town’s development. You might even find out that it was owned by the local madame!

While you’re at it, look into the builder. Was he a significant member of society in those days? Did he build many of the town’s historic homes? Did he have a reputation with a bit of “flavor?”

More and more, we want to connect with the past. So give your potential buyers a connection they simply can’t resist.

As most people know by now, The Secret is all about focusing on what you want and giving no energy to things you don’t want. It has come under fire from some quarters because some people believe that means just thinking and no doing. And of course, that doesn’t work. You have to combine a bit of inspired action with the positive thought.

What does that have to do with feng shui? Feng Shui is action. If you’ve ever studied it, you know that it means removing clutter and placing objects and color throughout your space to create good energy flow. But it does more than that, and it can help sell houses.

Because of energy flow? I don’t know. But I do know that it creates a warm and homey feeling in a house — the kind of feeling that makes home buyers feel welcome and feel like this house is a “home.”

If you have a problem house — one that just won’t seem to sell — consider using some feng shui advice on the sellers. You may not want to use those words, since some people might be put off, but if you study a little yourself you can make suggestions that lead in that direction.

There are dozens of books on the subject. My favorite is the Western Guide to Feng Shui, because it shows how to use objects we already have rather than buying special things.

While a house that has been treated to a feng shui overhaul definitely feels more welcoming, and the results of its use are well documented, a question remains: Do the positive changes occur in people’s lives because they moved things around, added color, and got rid of clutter? Or… do the good things happen because those people were focusing their thought on doing things to bring about those changes?

I don’t know the answer. Perhaps its both. What do you think?

Yours for success,
Marte