Boise Real Estate Blog

Pricing Your Home To Sell In The Boise Real Estate Market

Despite all the real estate cheerleading, it’s no secret that the Boise real estate market has softened considerably in the past year or so.

If you’re thinking of selling, your most critical decision will be establishing an asking price for your home.

The usual method of pricing a new listing is to compare it to recent sales of comparable properties (we call ‘em “comps”).

In other words, you figure out what Bob down the street got for his identical home, then add $10,000 because your home has purple flocked wallpaper and his doesn’t!

That strategy may not work in a slower market for a variety of reasons, including:

• Buyers may (reasonably) expect to get a better deal than the last comparable home that sold.
• The last comparable home that sold may have included seller-paid closing costs or bonus compensation to the buyer’s agent that doesn’t appear in MLS comparable sales data (which means that Bob didn’t really get what he told you he did).
• Prices could decline further while you try to get the same price as the last comparable home that sold.
• Our market is seasonal; our slower winter market is just around the corner.

To ensure that your home sells, you should consider pricing slightly below the most relevant sold comps.

If you really need to sell, it’s a good idea to establish an aggressive price to ensure that your home will be the next home sold; not the last one!

If you don’t need to sell, well . . . . why bother competing with the 5,200 other single-family homes on the market in Ada County?

One thing is very clear in this market: The homes that are selling are the ones that are in drop-dead gorgeous condition and priced realistically for current market conditions.

July 30th, 2007 Posted in Uncategorized |  Print | No Comments »

Sellsius Guys Come To Boise !

Yeah, I know ~ the legs ~ what can I say?

At least TWO of us had shoes on!

Joe and Rudy, aka the “Sellsius Guys”, passed through Boise (and Eagle) today as part of their cross-country tour on their way to the very first Inman Connect conference for real estate bloggers.

We enjoyed a leisurely lunch at Bardenay here in Eagle, then adjourned to my home where we did (drumroll!) Joe’s laundry !!!!

They are now on their way up through the Blue Mountains of Eastern Oregon on their way to Seattle where they will meet up with more fellow bloggerazzi tomorrow morning. 

It was a terrific (too short) few hours together with lots of blogger talk, shared blogging secrets, and a good time!

July 25th, 2007 Posted in Uncategorized |  Print | No Comments »

Boise ID Real Estate Deals With Micron Layoffs

Micron, Idaho’s largest employer, has quietly laid off 875 of its 11,000 employees in Boise within the past couple of weeks.

The company announced that it would reduce staff recently after reporting a $225 million loss in its most recent quarter, and has also said that further cuts are forthcoming.

A million here and a million there starts to add up after awhile.

The rumor mill had been working overtime as word of the layoffs spread and the company refused to level with either the Idaho Statesman or the State of Idaho about the depth of the layoffs.

They company finally broke its silence a few days ago when it filed a required government report and sent a letter to the state government detailing its plans for the future.

How will this affect the Boise real estate market?

No one really knows.

Micron laid off 1,100 employees about three years ago, concurrent with Jabil Circuit closing down its operations in Meridian, and the combined 1,600 lost jobs caused barely a ripple in the local real estate market.

This time could be different due to our current abundance of homes on the market.

As of this morning, there are 5,059 homes for sale in Ada County, vs. about 3,900 at the first of the year, and about 5,000 at the end of June.

Clearly, we don’t have everyone running for the door.

But, if a significant number of those laid-off employees place their homes on the market, we could see a further softening of our market.

We are already seeing longer marketing times, fewer buyers, and an abundance of price reductions.

It’s fascinating to watch all of the newer agents as they struggle with the buyer’s market they never expected.

Many of our agents (and homeowners too) have never experienced a slower market and they’re struggling as they learn that real estate doesn’t appreciate 24% every year.

Newer agents are taking overpriced listings, encouraging buyers to make lowball offers, and failing to get their buyers’ financing pre-approved before showing homes ~ all recipes for failure in our challenging market.

So . . . you’re wondering if this is the end of Boise real estate as we knew it, right?

Hardly.

Homes that are in top showing condition and priced correctly are still selling.

Not surprisingly, the sellers who still think it’s 2005 and that they’re gonna hit a home run are the ones who are left wondering why no one shows their home.

Those who face reality will do just fine.

July 16th, 2007 Posted in Uncategorized |  Print | No Comments »

Boise Real Estate Remains Affordable

Boise real estate remains affordable when compared to other areas of the country.

The following chart, courtesy of the National Association of Homebuilders, shows new home prices around the U.S., including Idaho.

Interestingly, prices vary by as much as 300% from the lowest to the highest prices, with Hawaii posting the highest median new home price of $543,512, followed by California at $518,836.

New homes in Idaho come in at a median price of $230,000.

Yes, there are lower-priced markets, it’s good to remember that some of them include mosquitoes with landing lights and wheels, not to mention unbearable humidity, tornadoes, and hurricanes!

Yep, I think I will stick with good old Boise real estate!

Looking for the lowest price?

You can still buy a new home in Mississippi at a median price of $135,260 (better get the flood insurance!).

Here’s the chart:

July 8th, 2007 Posted in Uncategorized |  Print | No Comments »

Why Sellers Need A Tech-Savvy Listing Agent

77% of all home buyers use the internet to find their next home, according to a survey by The National Association of Realtors^®, yet many agents resist using technology to market their listings.

Despite that compelling fact, 35% of all Realtors^® don’t even have a website!

With most buyers using the internet to find their next home, you’re missing out if you list your home with a Realtor^® who’s afraid of technology!

How can you tell if a Realtor^® is tech-savvy?

Here are some things to check on when selecting your listing agent:

Does The Agent Have Their Own Internet Domain?

If they do, their e-mail address will be something like Phil@PhilHoover.com, not susieq123@incrediblycheapemail.com.

Serious agents have their own domains, hosted by commercial hosting providers to ensure that they receive all of their e-mail.

While free or low-cost e-mail providers like AOL, HotMail, Yahoo, MSN, and Google mail are okay for personal use, they are not generally adequate for business use due to file size limitations, shared servers, and possible downtime.

If the agent is using one of the free or low-cost e-mail providers, it may be an indicator that the agent is not tech-savvy or has a meager technology budget

Does The Agent Have Their Own Website Or Just A Web Page?

Here’s how you can tell ~ if the agent has a website, the domain name will be something like www.PhilHoover.com or www.BoiseReal.com.

However, if the agent only has a web page, the address will look something like www.susieq.incrediblycheaprealestate.com ~ a web page buried deep in the bowels of their broker’s website where it will never be found by a search engine like Google, Yahoo, or MSN.

If the search engines can’t find it, no one will ever see your home on the internet!

Does The Agent’s Website Provide Useful Information?

It’s one thing for an agent to have a website, but it’s a whole different deal for an agent to have a useful, deep website with the kind of useful content that buyers crave.

For example, does the agent’s website have helpful articles about the home buying process, an online relocation package, photos, virtual tours or slideshows, and other features that buyers want?

Or, is it just another boring “me too” business card website with minimal information?

Can You Find The Agent’s Website On The Major Search Engines?

If the agent has any substantial internet presence, you will easily find numerous results for them when you search for them by their name.

No results = no internet presence!

Does the agent’s website come up when you search key phrases commonly used by buyers searching for homes in your area?

In the Boise area, try searching with the search phrases “Boise Real Estate” and “Boise ID Real Estate” to see if the agent’s website can be found easily.

Does The Agent Have A Blog?

Fewer than 2% of all agents know what a blog is!

A blog (acronym for “web log”) is like an online journal and it’s interactive. Visitors can post comments to the articles (posts) that are posted by the agent, thereby creating a sense of community.

Boring, static websites are being replaced by more interesting blogs because they are informative and include fresh, personally-written content that helps them rank high in the search engines.

Check out my www.BoiseBlog.com , www.EagleBlog.com , and www.OurBrookwood.com to see how I use blogging to attract visitors and market homes just like yours!

Does The Agent Use Call Forwarding?

I run all of my calls through my home office to avoid having a human answer my calls slowly, put callers on hold, send a caller to the wrong voicemail box, etc.

Then, if I am away from my office, my calls are forwarded to my cell phone and I personally answer all calls without the caller knowing I’m not in my office.

My business card has one voice phone number on it ~ (208)938-5533 ~ instead of several different numbers for office, cell, pager, home, etc.

Clients shouldn’t have to figure out where to call an agent!

Does The Agent Push Their e-mail To Their SmartPhone?

Does the agent have a SmartPhone, or just a cheap, ordinary cell phone?

A tech-savvy agent will have a SmartPhone with the capability to receive e-mail forwarded from their computer.

I push my e-mail from my office computer to my SmartPhone so I can respond immediately to buyers who are visiting my website.

My goal is to call buyers while they are still on my website and demonstrate how responsive my service is.

I want to talk to them before they contact another agent because most buyers end up buying from the first agent who helps them.

In Summary:

These are just a few suggestions about how to determine how tech-savvy a real estate agent is before you list your home with them.

Remember:

You will miss 77% of the buyers if your home can’t be easily found on the internet, so make sure you list with someone who embraces technology vs. fearing and avoiding it!

July 5th, 2007 Posted in Uncategorized |  Print | No Comments »