It's a challenge to sell a vacant home.  When the home is empty of furniture, the buyers tend to focus on flaws such as carpet wear, nail holes and gaps in the moldings, instead of how the space flows. And this can drive the price down.

"Home owners don't realize how much harder a vacant home is to sell. In today's market, you have to win the beauty contest," says Thomas Scott, VP of Marketing at Showhomes, a home staging company. "Vacant houses simply underperform staged homes and the increased sales price provides an excellent return on what staging costs. Choosing to stage your home should be an easy decision in today's market."

If you have to move out of your house before it sells, use these tips from BankRate.com to help you keep it secure:

Insurance:  Make sure your insurance covers your empty home.  "Both your insurance company and your lender need to know if you move out, particularly because they will want to know you have taken some precautions to protect the property from damage," says Veronica Gonzales, a REALTOR® in Albuquerque. 

Make the home look occupied:  Just like when you leave on vacation, set up a few timer lights and have someone check on the home frequently to make sure the doors are locked and there are no flyers sitting at the front door.  "You can even set an alarm as a deterrent, which works even if you don't have it monitored because the sound will go off whenever a door or window is opened." suggests Gonzales.

If you have window blinds, turn them upward so people can't see in and notice that the property is empty, but it still lets in light for prospective buyers.

Keep up with the yard and have someone inspect the house regularly for any damage, such as frozen pipes.  "Use a programmable thermostat to keep the house relatively cool in summer and warm enough in winter," says Linda Zenker, an agent in Virginia. "Make sure you change the battery before you move out and change the batteries in the smoke detector. A beeping battery signals that the house has been neglected."

"You should also occasionally run the water in the faucets, run the dishwasher and flush the toilets to make sure everything is working and to eliminate sour smells from unused systems." adds Zenker. 

Stage Your Home:  The best way to sell your home is to stage it.  "Without people, even the best home quickly looks and smells vacant. Dust settles, leaves scatter, and stale smell spreads. These cues often shorten the showing time, leading to fewer sales." says an article on Showhomes.com.

"In many locations, organizations such as Showhomes and Homes in Transition place temporary tenants in your home along with their furniture in order to give a home a lived-in look." says the article. "The tenants maintain the home and are required to make it available to buyers and real estate agents at all times. Depending on the company and individual arrangements, hosting a short-term tenant could be free for the homeowner or require a small fee." 

"I recommend Homes In Transition for every vacant listing I get." says REALTOR® Hector Pimentel in Albuquerque.  

A few other staging tips and tricks from real estate agents include:

-Putting up a shower curtain and placing towels in the bathroom.
-A bowl of fake fruit and a wine bottle in the kitchen.
-Setting the table, add a few plants and maybe an outdoor table and chairs.
-Placing an area rug in a large room helps to define the living space.

"I'll sometimes leave a few books or toys in a small bedroom so that the kids can play while the parents look around," says CJ Wright, a REALTOR® in Florida. "I also put a wicker chair with a throw and a book in the family room or sitting room, or movies and a chair in the media room."

Even a few pieces of furniture can sometimes be more appealing than a cluttered home.  Buying a home is an emotional experience, says Showhome.com, "Emotion influences what people buy and how much they will pay. Vacant houses are devoid of life, and the chance to make an emotional connection is lost."

Read more "Tips for Selling a Vacant Home"

Find a Metro Brokers REALTOR® to help you sell your home.

photo credit: Marcus Spaapen

Posted in Seller Resources, Headlines

Sellers pay attention!  In recent months, buyer demand has surged and the number of homes for sale in metro Denver has dropped sharply. The number of homes available for sale dropped 42 percent in March from the previous year.

"Every house I've looked at has gone under contract within 48 hours," said a prospective buyer who says she doesn't wait for the weekend to look at houses. "This has forced me to be more serious about it. The very next house that seems like a good fit, we're going to visit it (when) it is first listed." she says in an article on Denver Post.com.

Denver is seeing a high demand for homes below $250,000. Investors are snatching up homes right and left to feed the ever increasing rental market.  The Denver market is also filled with first time home buyers eager to get in on the ground floor and who are facing an especially tight vacancy market.

Low inventory of decent medium priced homes for sale in the Denver market is becoming a concern for local REALTORS®. Therefore, with no homes to entice homeowners to "move up", the starter home market stays tight.

How fast is the market moving? A new report from the National Association of REALTORS® shows that Denver is No. 2 in the nation for the shortest time a home stays listed - 33 days - far below the national median time of 89 days.

So... Sellers, if you have been waiting to put your house on the market, or back on the market.  The buyers are out shopping! "Realtors' offices are rife with fresh anecdotes of sellers happily cherry-picking from multiple offers - some of them above asking price." says the Denver Post.

Find a Metro Brokers agent near you.

Read the full story at The Denver Post.com.

Posted in Headlines

The majority of Americans are out of touch with their debt says Credit Counseling President, Gary Herman.  You know how much you earn, but if you don't know how much you owe, how are you going to get rid of it?

The First Step: Compile a list of what you owe:  Obviously you can create a list simply by recording the statements that come in every month, but you can also go to AnnualCreditReport.com and request a free credit report once a year from all three credit reporting agencies. Credit counseling agencies can also pull the reports for you and help you go through them to determine how much you owe and to whom.

Step 2: Make a Goal:  What do you want to achieve?  Do you want to buy a home? Focusing on your goal and visualizing yourself in your new home will keep you motivated. 

To get that new home, you have to clean up your credit, reduce your credit and save money for a down payment. 

"Making a concrete goal and visualizing the rewards of achieving it is the single best way to go from wanting something to getting something."  says Brandon Ballenger on Money Talks News.  "Unless you can make your goal more powerful than your existing habits, nothing will change."

Step 3: Pick the Target:  There are two ways to go about this. "Smallest-debt-first is popular is because as debts are paid off, you feel a sense of accomplishment that keeps you motivated." writes Ballenger.  "Highest-rate-debt-first makes the most mathematical sense. Choose based on your personality and the way you'll feel most motivated. But whichever method you use, whenever a debt is paid, use the old payments from it to attack the next debt on your list."

Step 4:  Create a plan to Destroy the Debt:  It is critical to identify where you can find extra money in your budget to pay down your debt.

Where will you find it?  "If you're setting money aside for monthly savings, maybe you can temporarily use that to destroy debts." suggests Ballenger. Look at your expense list that you compiled earlier. "If you're spending a lot on eating out at work, maybe you can bring your lunch from home. If you're paying a lot for cable TV, maybe you can drop it and watch online instead. Maybe you can lower your insurance bills by raising your deductibles."

Track your monthly spending on a spreadsheet you create yourself or look for free online budgeting help.  "It's not rocket science - just keep track of the money you spend every day, divide it into categories, and review it." says Ballenger.  "You're going to find money you can redirect to debt destruction."

See the full story and video at Money Talks News

Posted in Headlines

What do you need to do to have a solid retirement plan? Start with the basics including good financial-planning advice to get you on the road to financial independence.

Plan Now. Social Security may or may not be around in the future, so it's up to you. "Things were so good in this country for so long that financial planning may have seemed like a waste of time." writes Phil Moeller on US News. "Whatever the cause, we are lousy money planners. To thrive in the future you must plan and stick to your plan."

Start with the basics.  Start with a household budget that details your expenses and track it, monthly. 

Review your monthly expenses to see where you can cut back.  "It is truly remarkable how our spending pattern becomes fixed and how dollars that were once discretionary seem to have become essential." says Moeller.  "I'm betting you can cut spending without hurting the quality of your life. But maybe some quality sacrifice is worth it in the short run to create a better retirement outlook."

Accelerate Your Mortgage: "If you have a home mortgage, consider accelerated payments." says Moeller. "For most of us, a successful retirement may not be feasible if we have to continue making mortgage payments. Making extra payments on your mortgage can produce stunning results toward a debt-free retirement."

There are many online tools that show you the savings in paying off your mortgage early.

Invest in Your Health:   "Healthcare expenses are the single biggest unknown expense in retirement." says Moeller.  "Out-of-pocket expenses not covered by insurance run more than $250,000 over a typical person's retirement years."

Take better care of yourself now to keep those expenses down.  The upside is that you will also feel better, and, possibly extend your life span, as well.

(Read "Younger Next Year", a book on living strong and fit until you're 80- and beyond.)

Whether it's planning for your retirement or staying in shape to enjoy your retirement, the best advice is to start now.

Read the full story at US News.

photo credit: 401K

Posted in Headlines

The biggest influence on housing improvements over the next 20 years will come from aging baby boomers and their echo-boomer children, according to the National Association of REALTORS®.

As the baby boomers move into retirement, the housing supply will increase as they sell their homes which will mean increased buying opportunities for echo boomers.

"People over age 65 typically release much more housing than they absorb, but the next generation will absorb 75-80 percent of the available inventory of owner-occupied housing by 2020." says NAR.

As they come of home buying age, the echo boom generation, born between 1981 and 1995, will be ready to assume the responsibilities of owning a home and be able to take advantage of low home prices.

 Current market trends favor would-be homeowners of all ages, however. "As the supply of rental housing continues to fall, rents are increasing," said NAR President Moe Veissi.  "But at the same time, affordability for homeowners is at a record high. "

Find a REALTOR® to help you decide if home buying is right for you.

Posted in Headlines