by Kathe Barge | Nov 30, 2020 | Blog, Buyers, Buying Conditions, Home Staging, Inspections, Market Trends, Property Updates, Property Value, Real Estate, Sellers
If there was one thing you would advise us to do to our home as we continue our months “at home,” in this global pandemic, what would that be?
Whether you are planning to sell your home this coming year or not, the best thing you can do to your home is a home inspection! We all live in our homes but rarely take the time to stop and give them a careful look. Weather beats up the outside of our homes year round. Caulking fails, flashing fails, paint peels and exposes wood to rot. We forget to clean our gutters on a regular basis – gutters and downspouts fill with decaying debris, causing water to back up into our homes and cause mold problems. We forget to have our furnaces serviced and fittings loosen and cause condensate to leak and rust our furnaces. The list goes on and on. Simply living in and not doing a regular check up on your home, you are leaving it open to the possibility of major repair bills later and major depreciation in your investment’s value. A home inspection will give you a to do list of projects to tackle throughout the year to keep your home in great shape and maintain its value!
You may not think about this until you go to sell your home. Some of the wear and tear may be obvious to a buyer, who will typically have checked out every available home, be able to see signs of your “benign neglect,” and pass on yours because of its comparatively negative condition. Even if a buyer doesn’t’ notice at first, there is no doubt that a home inspector will notice! After working hard to get your home sold, you may find yourself in the all too common situation of being presented with a long list of inspection requests that you need to complete in order to hold your deal together, or worse yet, a buyer who backs out of your deal because the house needs “too much work,” leaving you in the position of having to fix everything and start all over again. A homeowner should expect simply keeping a home in acceptable condition will cost them $3,000 – $10,000 a year, depending on the size of the home – some years will be more if its time for a major project, and some less. If you’re not investing this, chances are someday you will when you are faced with a long list of inspection issues.
So while you remain “at home” waiting for the day the vaccine arrives, why not give your home a check up and attend to its needs! Give me a call if you need the names of reputable local inspectors.
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by Kathe Barge | Nov 23, 2020 | Blog, Buying Conditions, Home Staging, Listings, Market Trends, Property Updates, Property Value, Real Estate, Sellers, Selling Conditions
We need to replace our appliances. Any recommendations?
It’s a great time of year to be buying appliances – you may be able to grab a great black Friday deal! However, do be prepared for a wait – the pandemic has brought on an “appliance shortage” and you may need to wait several months for yours!
When choosing new appliances, my first recommendation is that you choose Energy Star certified appliances for several reasons. First – check with your electric supplier before you shop, but rebates are available from many electric companies when you purchase designated Energy Star appliances. Second – you will save money every month on your electric bills. Third – and most important from my perspective – younger buyers tend to be concerned about energy efficiency and often ask for utility bill information on homes they are considering. Energy efficient appliances are a selling point and will enhance the value of your home (don’t forget to point that out when you list!) As more young buyers enter our buying market (and they are buying across all price ranges), this could be an important differentiator for your home.
I still recommend that you choose stainless appliances. While there are many options out there including some pretty interesting colors, I still see buyers responding most favorably to stainless. Sure, they might be harder to care for (you will need a can of stainless polish in your cleaning cupboard), but the look is still quite appealing and “professional.” There is, however, one circumstance when I do not recommend stainless for replacement appliances. If your kitchen has another color appliance (white or black, for example) I do not recommend replacing only one appliance with stainless. If there is one thing buyers uniformly dislike it is mismatched appliances (unlike color, mixing brands is fine). So if you currently have white appliances and don’t think you will be replacing the other appliances soon, stick with white. Even though white (or black) does not have the same appeal that stainless does, a kitchen with two white (or black) appliances and one stainless is the least appealing of all!
Finally, it is worth noting that it is more the look than the brand that is important to buyers. As much as we all like to think the high-end brands are important to people it’s not what I am seeing on the selling side. If the appliance has a good look, buyers are not stopping to ask what the brand name is! So choose the brand that appeals to you – be it a budget decision or a features decision – and enjoy it while you are still in the home!
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by Kathe Barge | Oct 20, 2020 | Blog, Buyers, Buying Conditions, For Sale By Owner, Listings, Market Trends, Marketing, Pittsburgh, Property Value, Real Estate, Schools, Sellers, Selling Conditions, Sewickley
Do you think living in a top ten school district adds value to our homes?
Absolutely! There is no doubt in my mind that living in the Quaker Valley School District, ranked in the top ten in Western Pennsylvania, adds both value and sale-ability to our homes. We are fortunate to live in a district with well state-of-the-art elementary and middle schools and a hard-working board that continue to work to keep the caliber of our schools at a very high level.
How do these impressive rankings translate into more money for you? Families moving into Pittsburgh have been a significant force behind our home sales for decades. Buyers with children almost universally start their home search considering school districts. Our school district not only offers top numbers, but it is small and can afford more personal interactions between families and faculty. This personal touch makes Quaker Valley both unique and a highly sought-after school district for people moving to Pittsburgh.
Relocation buyers are not our only customers. We see dozens of home sales each year to families living in other Pittsburgh communities where the school districts are not as acclaimed looking to improve the educational opportunities for their children. Pittsburgh neighborhoods that seemed fun and exciting to DINKS give way to sensible communities with outstanding schools like Quaker Valley once kids come along.
And yet we are a small community, with limited housing options. As our educational performance continues to shine, living in Quaker Valley continues to be a strong draw for buyers coming from both near and far, and yet we only have so many places to house these buyers. The increased demand for housing in the District has continued to push our housing prices up, and that has become particularly evident in some of our more affordable price brackets, which are feeling less affordable each year.
So yes, absolutely – living in such a highly acclaimed school district is a very important component of housing value and driving more and more families to explore the possibility of living here. Despite our new construction, the very limited nature of our housing inventory, when combined with the strong demand resulting from the excellent reputation our school district has maintained, is continuing to put strong upward pressure on our housing values.
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by Kathe Barge | Oct 9, 2020 | Blog, Home Staging, Listings, Market Trends, Marketing, Pittsburgh, Real Estate, Sellers, Sewickley
Now that fall is here, do you have any tips for presenting our home well in the fall market?
Fall can be such a wonderful season here in Pittsburgh, but sometimes sellers forget that they need to take a fresh look at their home to make sure it is still presenting at its best as summer ends. Start with your yard. It’s the first thing a buyer sees! Make sure you have trimmed away all of Summer’s dead blooms and that your garden beds are looking ready for their long winter’s nap. Put down fall fertilizer so your yard looks great again this coming spring! Be sure to give your lawn its final mow, and as we move into fall, keep your leaves raked!
Don’t forget to keep your gutters clean – if your home is actively on the market, you may need to do it more than once – you don’t want a buyer to see clogged gutters and mini-trees emerging! Give porches and patios a final thorough cleaning. If your windows aren’t really clean, get that done too – as we go into our grayer time of the year, its really important to get as much sunshine inside as possible!
Inside, check all of your lightbulbs and make sure they are all at the maximum possible wattage and in good working order. As days grow shorter, it will be important for your home to be bright and cheerful inside. Clean out your garage. You will need it once snow flies, and you won’t want to be out there in 30 degree weather! Be sure that if you choose seasonal decorations like mums or wreaths, that you remember to rotate them as we move through the season so that you reflect the current season!
And of course, if you know now that you want to list in the coming Spring season, which kicks off in January, give me a call now so we can get photography done while there are still leaves on the trees!
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by Kathe Barge | Jan 3, 2019 | Blog, Buyers, Contracts, Listings, Market Trends, Mortgage, Real Estate, Sellers
It’s a new year and we’re ready for a new home! What should we do first?
Well, you are asking a Realtor that question, so the answer is probably expected! The first thing you should do is call me! Once you have done that, here is a look at what comes next! First, we will meet and determine the likely value of your home in the current market. The market is quite fluid and values move up and down depending on supply. Currently we have had very low inventory for an extended period of time and buyers are getting very frustrated, so it is possible that we may see an uptick in values again this spring. When we meet we will also review all of the many ways I will be marketing your home and the timetable for rolling out the marketing to optimize your result.
Once we set a timetable that works for you, you will want to spend some time “staging” your home. At the most fundamental level, this would involve you “de-cluttering” your home. It’s amazing how quickly we will our closets, basements and attics! Movers are not cheap – you do not want to move more than you know you will want to keep. So now is the ideal time to start the clean-out. In fact, we sometimes have closings as quickly as 3 weeks after an offer is presented, so it is best to assume that you will not have much time to pack later and do the clean-out up-front. This will also help your home show off its spaciousness and storage capabilities! If you are saving things for others (such as the pile of furniture I have stored in my basement for my adult children who I am sure are going to want my 30 year old furnishings someday!), then it would be advisable to find an off-site storage facility and move those items from your home (or more realistically, I would be happy to connect you to charities to come pick them up and give you a tax deduction in exchange – the reality is that those we save for probably really don’t want our stuff anyhow!) If this all seems incredibly overwhelming to you (and you’re thinking you would rather stay put than face the inevitable clean out), I would be happy to connect you to a home organizer that can take on as little or as much as you don’t want to do!
Once you feel you are “de-cluttered,” the next step toward selling your home would be to determine whether any repairs or improvements are needed or recommended. I am happy to walk through your home with you in advance of your listing date and discuss what you might consider addressing and its likely impact on your bottom line. Not ever seller wants to make repairs and improvements and ultimately that choice is yours, but the market data I will provide to you will help you decide whether its worth it to you to make the additional investment in your home. If repairs are not possible, we will work on using the disclosure to make sure you are sharing the items upfront with the buyer and pricing accordingly. This will protect you later from costly repairs if the inspector is the one to raise the issues.
It’s a lot to do, but together we can make your 2019 real estate goals a reality!
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by Kathe Barge | Oct 10, 2018 | Home Staging, Inspections, Listings, Market Trends, Pittsburgh, Property Updates, Real Estate, Sewickley
We have been searching for our new Sewickley home for about 9 months with no luck – there doesn’t seem to be much of a selection and we cant find our perfect home – any advice for a family of weary home lookers?
Sewickley is a small town which makes it a unique and wonderful place to live, but with it’s small town appeal comes a definitely smaller number of homes to begin with and yes, in some price brackets, inventory has been far tighter than it has been in the past. It is beginning to feel like Sewickley is such a great place to live that no one wants to move!
When we moved here 25 years ago from D.C., we had a long list of “must haves” that we searched the greater Pittsburgh area for. Our real estate agent showed us only one home in Sewickley – that’s all that was available in our price range at that time! It met very few of our must haves – it did not have a master bedroom, it did not have a two car garage, it did not have central A/C and it did not have a family room. But it did have tree lined streets and sidewalks to everywhere and that was our #1 criteria, so we bought the home despite all of its perceived shortcomings.
In the intervening years (and in the two Sewickley home purchases we have made since then), I have learned that if one wants to live in Sewickley, he or she will ultimately need to bend on the must haves a bit. Price will not help – no matter what the price point, there are simply no perfect homes. It is important to evaluate each home through a slightly different lens. Consider how close a possible home comes to meeting your needs. If it meets about 80% of your “hope to haves” and if you could change another 10% over time to be much closer to what you hope to have, with the remaining 10% being things you wish you could change but realistically cant and will have to learn to live with, then the home is likely a home run and one you should seriously consider buying. I call this the 80/10/10 rule – and I have observed that once buyers come to terms with this concept, they can finally find their place to call home. Those that hold out for “perfect” – looking for the home that meets 90%+ of their hope to haves – will find themselves sitting on the sidelines as one home after another sells – that needle in the haystack simply does not exist.
And so, for example, if you have found a great home with the space you need that is in terrific condition in a nice neighborhood and with a great yard, but you don’t love the kitchen and you think it is a bit too far from Starbucks, give it another look. 80% is likely a yes. The kitchen (10%) can be changed over time. And you can learn to adjust to the extra ½ mile to Starbucks – its still walkable! My best advice to you is to start looking at homes through this 80/10/10 lens – you may be surprised to find that “perfect enough” has been waiting for you all along!
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by Kathe Barge | Aug 24, 2017 | Blog, Buyers, Listings, Market Trends, Real Estate
We have been sitting on the sidelines for a while now waiting for a home that meets our wish list to come on the market – what’s coming this fall?
You might be surprised to find out, you are one of dozens of prospective buyers sitting on the sidelines waiting for their ideal home to come on the market. USA Today recently reported (as shared on my Facebook business page, Kathe Barge Howard Hanna Sewickley) that we are nationally at a 20 year low in available housing inventory. What is going on you might ask?
USA Today reports that the Baby Boomers are to blame! Seventy-eight percent of Boomers own their own homes, and 85% of them have no intentions to move within the next year. This is tying up a significant portion of potentially available housing inventory. Why aren’t Boomers moving? Stated reasons range from being happy where they live and not wanting to uproot their lives, to having inadequate choices in empty nester inventory to escalating prices that make scale down homes more and more expensive. Boomers are reportedly less interested in destinations like Florida and Arizona these days and are choosing to stay in the homes and communities where their family and friends are.
In Sewickley, we have very few opportunities for scale down housing, and so Boomers are remaining in their homes. As a result, our inventory continues to dwindle and there are very few new introductions. There will likely be a few relocations as we move into the spring market, but with the low inventory and huge backlog of buyers, I expect pricing will be high and bidding wars probable. To be successful in this housing market, if you define success as actually getting a home and moving, you are going to have to accept a few key premises. First, you need to reevaluate your wish list and see what compromises you are willing to make. We still have many nice homes on the market – they may not be a perfect match for you, but could you make one work? You are more likely to receive a discount on a home that has been on the market. Second, if you decide to wait and a home comes on the market that is a good fit for you, be prepared to act fast and bid high. Complete the preapproval process now so that your offer is as strong as possible.
Our market is a steady one and I do expect we will see some new introductions as we move into fall, but your best recipe for success is one that includes reevaluation of the current inventory, compromise, fast action and generous, well crafted offers.
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As an Associate Broker at HOWARD HANNA REAL ESTATE SERVICES, Kathe Barge, CRS, ABR, CNE, is ready to answer any questions you may have regarding your real estate needs. Feel free to contact her at the office (412) 741-2200 x238, or on her mobile phone (412) 779-6060.
by Kathe Barge | Jul 27, 2017 | Blog, Buyers, Home Staging, Inspections, Listings, Market Trends, Property Updates, Real Estate, Sellers
In your May 11th column, you also mentioned that updates may not affect a home’s value but may affect the chances of getting it sold. Can you clarify what you mean by that?
Upon reflection, that statement, which I quoted for a real estate website, may be a little broad. I meet with many sellers who are simply in shock with what this market requires to generate a sale. In many cases, its not a case of the updates being required to increase the chances of a home selling quickly – they are required for a home to draw an offer at all. Do the updates increase the value of the home? Technically yes, because without them the home is almost unsalable, except at perhaps the deepest of discounts.
This era of home buyers simply do not want to do any work at all. Perhaps my generation of parents did it all wrong when we handed our children life on a silver platter! They watch too much HGTV and expect to see that when they walk into a home. I have been on my soapbox many times before about many of these topics, stressing the importance of addressing them, but not from the perspective that updates are important to even generate an offer. Buyers really don’t want your wallpaper no matter how stylish. Nor do they want your colored carpets or shiny brass, to name a few other deal killers. They aren’t going to do the “few projects” you left behind for them – they are just going to move on to another home.
A recent case in point is a listing I sold after just over a month on the market. It had been on the market previously for two years with no offers. It is a fantastic home in a great location on a great piece of property, but it just didn’t sell. The sellers removed wallpaper and draperies, painted the interior in my favorite ‘greige‘, updated plumbing and lighting to a silver palate and were rewarded for their efforts with a quick offer. As frustrating and costly as this sounds, unless you remodeled your home within the past ten years, this is the price you may have to pay to get a home sold in today’s competitive market, unless you are willing to price it at, or accept, a deeply discounted price.
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As an Associate Broker at HOWARD HANNA REAL ESTATE SERVICES, Kathe Barge, CRS, ABR, CNE, is ready to answer any questions you may have regarding your real estate needs. Feel free to contact her at the office (412) 741-2200 x238, or on her mobile phone (412) 779-6060.
by Kathe Barge | May 4, 2017 | Blog, Buyers, Contracts, Listings, Market Trends, Real Estate
We have found a new home that we want to buy, but the seller can’t close until late this year. Should we put our current home on the market now or wait until we get closer to the closing date for our new home?
We are currently experiencing an exceptionally strong spring market! I have not seen a better time to sell in recent years! So now would be an excellent time to list your home for sale. However, if you do, you need to expect that your buyer is unlikely to wait for many months to close. Rate locks are generally only good for 60 days, so any closing beyond that exposes the buyer to the possibility of interest rate hikes. Additionally, this time of year most buyers are looking to occupy their new homes in time for school to start in the fall. So if you list your home now, you need to be prepared for the possibility of an interim move to a short-term rental. You may view this as the safest option because if your home does sell quickly requiring a move to an interim rental, you will at least know that you will not be stuck carrying two homes at one time!
Your other option is to wait until closer to the closing on your new home to put your current home on the market. This would certainly be the more convenient option – you would not have to find an interim rental property and store your personal effects. However, while homes do sell in the fall market, it does not have nearly the momentum that the spring market has. If you choose to wait and list your home in the fall, it is possible that you will need to carry two houses until the spring 2018 market begins. I also don’t have a crystal ball to predict whether the spring 2018 market will have the same momentum that the current market has.
In the end your decision will need to be based on which risk factor concerns you more. Would you be more unhappy if you had to spend interim months in a rental property because a buyer this spring needs your house now, or would you be more unhappy if you had to carry the cost of owning two homes for several months? The answer to this question should guide you as to when is the appropriate time to list your home for sale.
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by Kathe Barge | Apr 17, 2014 | Blog, Buyers, Home Staging, Pittsburgh, Real Estate, Sellers, Sewickley, Sewickley Herald
The warm weather is waking up the dreamer in all of us it seems! Thankfully, we all have a different idea of the perfect home, which keeps our market moving twelve months a year. Buyers are not all waiting for that one special home. They are waiting for their special home – but special comes in so many different shapes and sizes. Nonetheless, when thinking of selling, you will have a much better chance of selling your home quickly and at a higher price if you improve and decorate your home in a way that appeals to more buyers. Most homeowners settle into their cozy homes and forget all about trends and what’s hot in the market, and so it often comes as a shock when its time to sell and they have fallen behind the times in either amenities or style.
Want to know what’s in style with today’s home buying crowd? Pick up a Pottery Barn or Restoration Hardware catalog and that will give you a quick lesson on color palates and designs that are “in.” Of course, the lower you price your home, the further you can stray from current trends and still capture a buyer. But assuming you are like most of my clients, it’s sometimes easier to inventory what’s “out.” As realtors, this is a difficult message to share with your clients – the message is not that you do not have a lovely home. But in selling homes, one must first accept that you are leaving that home and then seek to minimize potential buyer objections while maximizing the “wow” factor.
With that in mind, here is my 2014 short list of the “gotta gos” – if you have these in your home, you are well advised to invest to sell: brass anything (particularly lights, knobs & plumbing fixtures), non-neutral carpeting, shag carpeting, wallpaper (unless applied sparingly and in the last 5 years), bold paint colors (except used sparingly), stained woodwork (except in dens), paneling, dated lighting fixtures, non-neutral bathroom tiles and tubs, wooden toilet seats, linoleum flooring (except in lower price brackets) and formica countertops (except in lower price points).
Looking for inspiration? It’s your lucky day! The Sewickley House Tour is just two weeks away. Its theme this year is Your Dream Home Tour – for just $35 you can tour seven amazing homes on Friday, May 2nd, Saturday, May 3rd, or both (ticket is good for both days) and be inspired by the unique vision of each of these seven homeowners! And all proceeds benefit children’s causes in Western Pennsylvania! Tickets can be purchased in Sewickley at the library, Dollar Bank, Sewickley BMW, Penguin Bookshop and Jewel Thief. Don’t wait! Quantities are limited! And while none of these seven homes are for sale, they will surely inspire you to go home and recreate your dream home, or start your search to buy a new one!
