Putting Pearl River ‘Surprise Remodel’ Moments to Good Use

Putting Pearl River ‘Surprise Remodel’ Moments to Good Use

Marcella 845 544 4026 or email me at riggsmmarcella@gmail.com or check out properties & testimonials on my website at marcellariggs.com

Sometimes home values can undergo abrupt changes. One way that can happen is through the ‘Surprise Remodel’ phenomenon. That’s when you wake up one morning to find that your Pearl River house grew larger…overnight! Putting Pearl River ‘Surprise Remodel’ Moments to Good Use

If you are one of the many Pearl River residents whose children have left for school, the Surprise Remodel is what happened the moment you realized that that you were, in fact, suddenly in possession of an extra room. Putting Pearl River ‘Surprise Remodel’ Moments to Good Use

Sometimes it takes a few months, but as soon as you conclude that the sentimental value of leaving the high school memorabilia in place is outweighed by the value of transforming the room into more useful space, you have a number of ways to proceed:

Workout Area

Transforming the former kid room into an exercise area is one foolproof way Pearl River home values can be increased.  Remove carpeting and add flooring as needed; place a floor-to-wall mirror to one side; then add any exercise equipment you choose (garage sales can be excellent sources). 

Office Space

Have you always wanted a dedicated home office? Now is the ideal time. Paint the room a rich neutral color, add the desk (freeing up space it used to occupy elsewhere), and then add bookshelves and a guest chair or sofa. Voila!

Guest Room

In the likely event the kids will be back now and then, a subtler changeover to a universal guest room is a good answer. Memorabilia removal will go a long way toward accomplishing that goal, and home values always improve when fancier bedding and pillows are added to any room. Putting Pearl River ‘Surprise Remodel’ Moments to Good Use

Pearl River home values may not seem important until you decide to put your own on the market, but I have often heard clients say they wish they had spruced up the place while they were still living there. Any Surprise Remodel moment is a perfect opportunity to do just that. Putting Pearl River ‘Surprise Remodel’ Moments to Good Use

Later, when the time comes to list, don’t forget to call me! Marcella 845 544 4026 or email me at riggsmmarcella@gmail.com or check out properties & testimonials on my website at marcellariggs.com

No Calm to Follow Pearl River Home Sales “Perfect Storm”

Call me, Marcella on 845 544 4026 or email me at riggsmarcella@gmail.com or check out the inventory for yourself at marcellariggs.com

            Last week, Pearl River home sellers saw more than the usual number of reasons to look forward to this spring’s Pearl River home sales selling season. It looked like the opposite of the lengthy real estate “Perfect Storm” that caused freefall across the national landscape. No Calm to Follow Pearl River Home Sales “Perfect Storm”

Signs pointed to the possibility that we may be headed into the opposite market conditions. Webster’s Dictionary says the opposite of ‘storm’ is ‘calm’ – but I don’t think you would call Pearl River’s home sales outlook a “Perfect Calm.”  Far from it!  No Calm to Follow Pearl River Home Sales “Perfect Storm”

Some of the signs:

-                     Falling Inventory. Per the NAR’s Existing Home Sales Report, there’s a nation-wide shortage of total inventory. By the end of January, it had fallen another 4.9%: lowest in seven years. Raw unsold inventory hasn’t been this low in 14 years!

-                     Rising Demand. Per last week’s National Association of Home Builders’ News and Alerts bulletin, “housing demand continues to return.”  NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun, pointing to buyer traffic that is up 40% over a year ago, states flatly, “We’ve transitioned into a seller’s market in much of the country.”

-                     Buyer Attitude. Also last week, the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index showed a rebound from January. The ‘Present Situation’ index rose sharply (from 56.2 to 63.3). This remains the only less-than-stellar point of contention, I think one area could be a tipoff to gathering strength: the proportion of those expecting their income to rise is now growing, those expecting the opposite, falling.

            If this spring turns out to be the opposite of a Perfect Storm for Pearl River home sales, will conditions improve further? Should sellers wait? The falling inventory measure might suggest otherwise. If the NAR’s appraisal is correct, now that these trends are consolidating, “…it would seem likely more inventory would come to market.” No Calm to Follow Pearl River Home Sales “Perfect Storm”

            If you are a Pearl River home seller who’s been waiting and watching for the right moment to enter the Pearl River home sales listings, I hope you will consider giving me a call soon. Actually – today might not be a bad time! Because No Calm to Follow Pearl River Home Sales “Perfect Storm” Call me, Marcella on 845 544 4026 or email me at riggsmarcella@gmail.com or check out the inventory for yourself at marcellariggs.com

The Best Day for Listing Your Pearl River Home is…

The Best Day for Listing Your Pearl River Home is…

Marcellariggs.com

“Mansion” is the Wall Street Journal’s entry into the high-end real estate magazine world. Well, not quite a magazine -- it’s an extra section they run on Fridays. It’s a nice diversion for those who want to read about really rich people selling their properties. More than that, it could actually be an important source of information if you decide to buy a vineyard in the middle of Los Angeles (Bel-Air, actually -- that one was featured last week).  And The Best Day for Listing Your Pearl River Home is…

It was another article that caught my eye on Friday, though; one that dealt with a topic we agents have long debated. The article was headlined “THE BEST DAY TO LIST A HOME IS…”.  It summarized an elaborately executed study by a national brokerage revealing hard statistics on which day of the week is best for launching your Pearl River listing. The author, Sanette Tanaka, brought up several ways to look at the question. While her focus was, of course, national, the unspoken allure was to zero in on which day will maximize our Pearl River listing results.

 I bet you want to know the answer, so here it is: …(drum roll, please) -- The Best Day for Listing Your Pearl River Home is…

Friday. Houses listed on Friday spent the fewest days on market (2 fewer than Thursday, 7 fewer than the most ho-hum day for listing, Sunday).

But, reading further, there is a problem. Listing on Tuesday brought in the most requests for house tours -- by 8 thousandths of one percent over Thursday. For drawing house tours, Friday faded into the pack…

All of which points to something experienced Pearl River agents already know: statistics are helpful, but not to the point where they detract from getting the job done.  The best day to publish a Pearl River listing is as soon as it’s ready – the instant it’s ready! Buyers are constantly combing the listings, and the ideal prospect may be long gone if we hold off for any reason. The Best Day for Listing Your Pearl River Home is…NOW!!!!

If you are ready to sell your home, let's get your Pearl River listing ready to go now! Call me, Marcella 845 544 4026 or email me at riggsmarcella@gmail.com or check out some helpful hints & testimonials at marcellariggs.com

Staging Approach Helps New City Home Sellers

Marcellariggs.com

We all know the feeling – the one where guests are due and you haven’t had time to clean the house.  You shove all the…well… stuff into the back bedroom and shut the door (you’d lock it if you could). Staging Approach Helps New City Home Sellers

Now imagine that feeling times 10.  If you are trying to sell your home this spring, and you have rooms full of that…well…stuff -- you’re in for exactly that. 

You can prevent it all with just a touch of the staging approach for your New City home.  Staging Approach Helps New City Home Sellers

Not everyone has $5,000 or more to spend on professional staging, but then again, you can’t offer your home in “lived in” condition and expect to have buyers racing to write you their high-priced offers.

Real estate is in large part an emotional selling proposition – beyond their basic housing requirements, buyers want to see themselves living a better life in their new New City home. The quickest and easiest way to make that possible is to simply get rid of that same stuff!

Here’s an easy example: while a messy home office – one stuffed with papers and files – will cause many potential buyers to think too cramped for me, a well-staged home office helps them imagine their own paperwork in control. To achieve a look that’s clean and simple, box up your files and clean out the dust bunnies.  If you have allowed extra furniture to accumulate (like that folding table in the corner that holds last year’s tax records), go ahead and de-accumulate it! Staging Approach Helps New City Home Sellers

Staging of any kind may not be your first choice for how to spend an afternoon, but selling your New City home is a business transaction, and when you approach the process confident that a little elbow grease will go a long way, your pocketbook will register the difference. 

If you are, in fact, preparing for this spring’s selling season, contact me to discuss practical strategies for economically handling the repairs, remodeling, and staging that will speed the sale of your New City home. Staging Approach Helps New City Home Sellers. Call me & I will hook you up with some really good people!! Marcella 845 544 4026… riggsmarcella@gmail.com  marellariggs.com

Newest listings in Pearl River Are There (Just Further Down!)

Newest listings in Pearl River Are There (Just Further Down!)

Marcellariggs.com

You are doing some serious house-hunting.

You’ve been Googling ‘newest Pearl River listings’, but when you click on the most popular sites, somehow the ‘newest Pearl River listings’ are the same ones you’ve seen before. Worse, some of them turn out to have been sold! Or the price was wrong! Or the agent isn’t even the agent anymore! Newest listings in Pearl River Are There (Just Further Down!)

What is going on? Doesn’t Google (or Bing, or Yahoo!) promise to show you sites with the newest listings in Pearl River? How can the most popular sites (at the top of their results page: Zillow, Realty.com, Trulia) be showing ‘newest listings’ that were sold last month? Or contact numbers that take you to an answering machine that never calls back? Newest listings in Pearl River Are There (Just Further Down!)

The answer is not mysterious, but it can take a while to catch on. The top of the search engine results pages show the biggest national real estate sites because they target the national audience (and pay huge amounts to the search engines!). Hundreds of thousands of house-hunters click on them all the time because everyone in the country sees them first. Newest listings in Pearl River Are There (Just Further Down!)

The disappointment comes because of the near impossibility of their keeping current in every locality in the U.S. They can’t keep up with the avalanche of changes: changes in the asking price; changes in the listing agent; changes in availability. That becomes obvious when your contacts return a ‘home under contract,’ or ‘property sold,’ or – infuriatingly -- silence.

The good news is that the solution is just a couple of lines lower on those Bing or Google search results. Serious Pearl River buyers do figure it out eventually, and look down the search engine listings to find a web address that looks more like it connects with a Pearl River real estate brokerage. That leads to listings overseen by Pearl River businesspeople who deal every day with the homes their pages show. When they change, local agents know it first. Newest listings in Pearl River Are There (Just Further Down!)

Even better for you, you’re already here – a click away from what you are looking for – and just one click more from my invitation to visit the newest listings in Pearl River! Newest listings in Pearl River Are There (Just Further Down!)

Call me soon…Marcella…

845 544 4026  riggsmarcella@gmail.com   marcellariggs.com

Yard Dos and Don’ts to Sell Your Pearl River Home

Yard Dos and Don’ts to Sell Your Pearl River Home

Marcellariggs.com

Your yard is your Pearl River home's calling card. A dated or overgrown yard can be a huge turnoff to potential buyers – just as an appealing one can trump other objections. Yard Dos and Don’ts to Sell Your Pearl River Home

Landscape designer Cynthia Bee knows this well. "Landscaping often makes the difference,” she says, “between a prospective buyer getting out of the car for a closer look or simply driving on by."

The same goes for Internet prospects as they scan through listings in search of a Pearl River home to buy. An unappealing yard can detract from your all-important curbside glamour photo -- and cause them ‘to drive on by’ your listing. The backyard is not as important in attracting buyers, but often proves vital in holding their enthusiasm. Yard Dos and Don’ts to Sell Your Pearl River Home

To help sell a home in Pearl River this spring, right now is prime time to consider some yard-focused dos and don’ts:

DON’T allow ornamentation designed to create character -- that ‘character’ may be hard for prospective buyers to see past. In this category are mirrored globes, plastic fauna, and (definitely) gnomes of all varieties. 

DO consider maintenance issues when you plan front and backyard updates.  To sell a Pearl River home that appeals to the widest swath of prospects, avoid intricate garden plantings that shout, Weed me!  Water me! Trim me! 

DON’T let original planting design make an otherwise appealing property feel dated. It used to be considered elegant to have flat-toped and rounded bushes alongside pathways – but that was the 50’s. Today, the vast majority of buyers appreciate the natural look (and native plants).

DO consider who your likeliest prospects will be – and how your yard will fit their family. If you are going to sell a home with four bedrooms, a back yard with plenty of playing space for the kids is a good idea.

Sometimes it can be the smallest details that determine how quickly you sell a Pearl River home. So remember the Yard Dos and Don’ts to Sell Your Pearl River Home

It’s my job to help in figuring out which and what those are likely to be.  If you are getting ready to sell a home in Pearl River, I hope you will call me to put my knowledge to work! Call me for Yard Dos and Don’ts to Sell Your Pearl River Home

…Marcella…845 544 4026…riggsmarcella@gmail.com… marcellariggs.com

 

 

Home Prices Predictions: Reliable for New City Homeowners?

Home Prices Predictions: Reliable for New City Homeowners?

Marcellariggs.com

Who doesn’t want to know what will happen in the future? Are Home Prices Predictions: Reliable for New City Homeowners?

That’s a very small group, for sure, since good planning is a cornerstone of good management -- for households as well as for organizations of every kind.

So, whenever New City homeowners see headlines like “Home Prices Up ‘Unsustainable’ 5.9% in 2012,” above a MarketWatch article that explains that price growth is expected to slow, they probably would like to gauge the reliability of the forecasters.

In this case, MarketWatch is part of the relatively stalwart Wall Street Journal, so credibility goes up. But closer examination finds that the author is just reporting information real estate site Zillow compiled. Zillow is indeed an internet behemoth -- but can New City homeowners rely on its national predictions to gauge New City home prices? Can Home Prices Predictions: Reliable for New City Homeowners?

My own take is to find out how well has this source done in the past…

Looking back a very short while ago (to December 26 of last year), I find that Zillow’s survey of 100 economists and forecasters “said they expect home prices to increase in full-year 2012 by 4.6%.”

Hey! Hold it! This is only February, but now the same outfit is telling us that the actual home prices gain last year was 5.9%. Doing a little arithmetic, it seems that the 100 economists and forecasters, faced with the task of estimating home prices for a year that had just a week left, were off by 28%! (They also acknowledge that the same panel had predicted the rise would be 2.3% only three months earlier).

So I guess it’s not that surprising that they feel home price rises like last year’s are going to be ‘unsustainable’ in 2013. Apparently the actual home prices were unsustainable last year, too! But,still we ask…are Home Prices Predictions: Reliable for New City Homeowners?

Since real estate and home prices in New City are inherently local, it takes on-the-ground expertise to keep up with them.  If you’d like to know where your home falls in today’s market, contact me now to schedule an initial consultation.  I think we’re getting ready for an interesting spring season —and I’d love to help you explore your options! Home Prices Predictions: Reliable for New City Homeowners? Call me…Marcella…845 544 4026…riggsmarcella@gmail.com…marcellariggs.com