Click here to subscribe today or Login.
By PAMELA C. TURFA; Times Leader Staff Writer
Monday, November 03, 1997 Page: 1C
If you’re selling- or even thinking of selling- your home, consider these
sobering statistics from the Greater Wilkes-Barre Board of Realtors:
The number of homes on the market locally is up 5 percent over the previous
year to 2,465, possibly an all-time high.
The average home is on the market 175 days (35 more than a year ago) before
it sells.
And, the average sold price for a three-bedroom home during the third
quarter of this year was $89,882, down $474 from the same period a year ago.
From the Mountaintop area to Plains Township, Wilkes-Barre to the Back
Mountain area, more homeowners than ever have put their homes on the market,
increasing the supply, depressing prices and giving the current advantage to
buyers.
The trend is expected to continue as the region’s aging population begins
to move out of homes they have owned for decades.
If you’re among the sellers, you have lots of competition for the buyers
that are out there.
That’s why you must price your home realistically to get buyers in and show
it in tip-top shape to impress them once they are there, local real estate
agents say.
Price it right
The biggest mistake sellers make is overpricing their homes, says Elaine
Bailey of The Prudential Landmark Properties office in Forty Fort.
Most people selling a home “are not realistic about what it’s worth. They
can’t believe this market is so depressed,” she says.
“They can think all they want what it’s worth, but the buyer’s going to
tell them what they will pay,” agrees Charles Adonizio of Atlas Realty in
Plains Township.
And, real estate agents unanimously urge against pricing high in the
beginning, thinking you can come down on the price later.
Doing so might cause you to miss out on potential sales during the time
your home can attract the most interested buyers.
“The most interest and the most exposure you’re going to get is in the
first six weeks,” Bailey says.
“People don’t want to see what’s been on the market six months; buyers
always want to see what’s new,” Adonizio says.
Price your house based on recent sales prices of similar homes in your
neighborhood (not what you heard someone else got or what you hope it’s
worth), your real estate agent’s advice and market conditions.
Claire Cummings Hart of Tom Hart Realty in Wilkes-Barre says homes in the
greater Wilkes-Barre area sell for about 7 percent below the asking price.
Based on that trend, “you shouldn’t put (the asking price) more than 7
percent above appraisal- and people have been wanting to put it a lot higher.”
Clean up, fix up, spruce up
Real estate agents also advise:
Spruce up. “Clean up and have the place so that it shows well,” Bailey
says. “Take all the trash out, get rid of all the clutter. Store it someplace
if you have to.”
Manicure the landscaping. Shampoo carpets.
“Do everything you can to present your property as beautiful as possible,”
says Carl Goeringer Jr. of Harry F. Goeringer & Sons in Wilkes-Barre.
Consider redecorating, particularly if your home has a dated look. “If you
have orange and yellow wallpaper take it down. Those colors were wonderful in
the ’70s, but they aren’t wonderful now. It turns people off before they get
past the front door,” Bailey says.
Goeringer advises that homeowners who repaint or recarpet “keep things as
conservative possible … as neutral as possible.”
“Make the house available,” Bailey says. Don’t restrict showings to only
Saturday afternoons. And, don’t insist that the listing agent be there every
time it is shown. Make it available to be shown by other agents.
Do pay attention to what the agent suggests. Make certain you are
comfortable enough with the agent to follow his or her advice before you sign
up to list your home.
Pay attention also to how your home smells. “Scents or odors are very
important,” Cummings says. “If you have a dog or cat do something to get rid
of those odors.”
Have your equipment in working, running order.
Purchase a home-protection insurance plan that covers appliances while your
home is listed and up to a year after the sale. It gives you and the buyers
confidence that the appliances will work or will be fixed.
Make necessary repairs. Repair damages like holes in the wall. If the
curtains are torn, take them down and replace with shades. Trim the shrubbery;
plant some flowers.
“The little things a homeowner doesn’t see every day will be the first
thing a buyer sees,” Adonizio says.
“I tell my sellers to go out of their home and come in the front door as if
they’ve never seen it before. … It’s very important to play buyer with
yourself and say what appeals and what doesn’t appeal to me.”
Says Bailey: “Do all of the things you never got around to doing while you
lived there.”
Features that matter
What do buyers want?
A national survey by the National Association of Home Builders shows they
want a single-family detached, two-story home with basement.
They want something about 2,200 square feet with four bedrooms. They also
want 2 1/2 bathrooms, a two-car garage, a walk-in closet in the master bedroom
and a dream kitchen- large counter space, space for a table and chairs, double
sink, walk-in pantry, island work area and Corian counter top.
Those dream homes include security system, open kitchen and family room,
specialty areas (dining room, convenient laundry area and home office),
double-pane windows, fireplace, cathedral ceiling, brick exterior, trees,
exterior lighting and nine-foot ceiling on the first floor.
Locally, buyers want a modern kitchen with a disposal and dishwasher, more
than one bathroom and a minimum three bedrooms, Bailey says. They generally
don’t want a pool and- since January 1996- don’t want to be in a flood zone.
Don’t be discouraged if your home isn’t ideal, Goeringer says.
“A first-time buyer may be willing to take something that doesn’t have a
garage or an extra bathroom.”
Typical buyers he sees are looking for that extra half bath or extra full
bath, a garage, an extra room or basement that could be set up as a family
room, he says.
Although it’s a buyer’s market, one trend is on the side of sellers and
buyers: interest rates that have remained low for more than a year.
“If it weren’t for the good rates, I don’t think we would be selling many
houses,” Adonizio says.