HometownGeorgetown.com

Recently, a man who is trying to sell his house without an agent asked me if I thought the price he had set was “way out of line.” This is a great question. Although I unfortunately can’t provide specific advice to someone who is not my client, I did want to help him as much as I could. I gave him a list of properties currently for sale in his neighborhood, as well as a list of properties that had sold over the past six months. This scratches the surface, but at least it gave him a starting point. (I’d be happy to do the same for you. If you want some information on properties currently for sale and recently sold in your neighborhood, write to me at jenel@moreland.com or call me at 512-876-6544. No obligation, I promise.)

Pricing is one of the most difficult challenges a homeowner faces. You want to get as much money as you possibly can. Of course. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Owning a home is a wonderful investment, and we should all try to maximize that investment. But the question becomes, how much is too much to ask?

Unfortunately, there is no magic, one-size-fits-all answer. The real estate market is fluid here in Georgetown, Texas, as it is everywhere. There is no intrinsic value to your home. Your home is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. Say there are two identical homes for sale in the same neighborhood. One is on the market for $225,000 and the other is on the market for $250,000. Which one is a buyer going to take? Duh. The homes are identical. One is $25,000 cheaper.

Now what if the $250,000 house has a pool out back? Will the buyer be willing to spend the extra money for that house now? Maybe, maybe not. Maybe that buyer has a deathly fear of backyard paradises. Who knows? Again, your home is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. Period. And that’s an ever-changing target. It depends on who is looking for a home at the time your home is listed, what other homes are on the market at the same time, and how those other homes compare to yours in terms of appeal and price. Pricing in Georgetown Village will be more cut-and-dried than in Old Town, for example, because you can find more on-point comparables in a somewhat homogenous neighborhood like the Village. In Old Town, you might have two homes that look identical on paper — similar square footage, same number of rooms, etc. — but they could be vastly different in appeal.

So how do you decide how much to ask when you put your home on the market? Take a good, hard look at the other properties currently for sale and those that have sold recently. If you can, drive around and actually look at each of those houses. These homes are your competition. Each of you is competing to win the same buyer(s). As objectively as you can, try to determine how your house stacks against them. Look at facts about the properties compared to yours — square footage, number of bedrooms and baths, garage spaces, year built, etc. Now look at the emotional and visual appeal of those homes compared to yours. Pinpoint the homes that are most comparable to yours and take a look at the listing prices. Your best chance for a quick sale is to price your homes lower than those comparables. I know that’s hard to do. You’re trying to maximize your investment, so it goes against the grain to think of taking less money.

A REALTOR with a buyer-client will generally show that buyer approximately five homes in a day. (Although I recently went on a marathon session with some out-of-town clients. We saw more than twenty homes in one day!) You want your home to be priced so that it is one of the top five homes in that price range. If it’s not, your home might not even be shown very much. How will it sell if no one sees it? Now let’s say you’re in the top five, but you’re not the absolute best home in that price range. You’re not number one. It could be, that you have just helped to sell your competition.

I could go on and on, but this is a blog, not a book. As I mentioned in the beginning, I would be happy to send you some free, no-obligation information about comparables in your neighborhood. If you want to try to sell your home without an agent, I wish you the best of luck, really. If, however, you would like some advice and guidance through the sales process, I hope you will give me a chance to earn your business. I’m here to help!

My husband and I are going to build a paved patio area behind our house. (My job in this endeavor will be to come home from work and say, “Wow, it looks beautiful, honey! You rule.”) We stopped by Custom Stone Supply yesterday to order the Belgard pavers. There was a $75 delivery fee, which seemed reasonable, so we said okay. After we told them how much we needed, he said he needed to go to their Round Rock location for them. And since our house was on the way back to the Georgetown location, he waived the fee. Cool!

 You may be seeing a theme here - I praised ClearChoice IT because they charged a lower rate, and now I’m praising Custom Stone because they waived the delivery fee. It’s not about the money, not really. It’s about the fact that these businesses cared more about doing the right thing for the customer than about the bottom line for that day. Good service means repeat customers, and that is much better for everyone in the long run.

Larry and I recently had a home built in Old Town, and we told our builder that we wanted to do our own landscaping. Our neighbor Silvestre recommended Flower Patch Nursery at 601 River Bend Drive. We’re so glad we listened to him. We compared prices for trees from them and from a couple of other places, and Flower Patch came out ahead. They were able to arrange for someone to deliver and plant the trees for us. We’ve also purchased pots, flowers, and holly from them. Everything is thriving. Later, when we wanted to buy a truckload of mulch, they said they could either deliver it for a fee, or we could meet them at their farm to pick it up. We chose the latter, and John called us when he was headed out to the tree farm. This is why I love shopping local businesses, because it’s so convenient to be able to simply pick up the phone and speak with the business owner.

By the way, it’s important that you know that there is absolutely no paid advertising on this site. I simply feel that it’s important to reward good service by spreading the word. I hope that you will post news of the good service you receive from local businesses, too. Let’s help the little guy grow!

I was heartened to see the headline on the front page of the September 26 issue of the Williamson County Sun: “Foreclosures decline for now.” We’ve all read the scary stories about the rash of foreclosures in our country, but what a lot of people don’t understand is that Central Texas hasn’t been hit in the same way as are other areas. When you read those reports from here on out, pay close attention to where the foreclosures are happening. Consider this article in the September 7 edition of the Statesman. If you read only the headline and the first couple of sentences, you might think the world is imploding. But buried about halfway down is a very telling paragraph:

“Austin has not been affected like the rest of the country. So far this year, foreclosures are down 6 percent from a year earlier, according to Foreclosure Listing Service Inc., an Addison company that tracks foreclosures statewide.”

I frequently check the headlines on the City of Georgetown’s website. For your convenience, I’ve now added the headlines to this blog. Just look over to the sidebar at the right for the latest happenings in our great town. There, you’ll find an announcement about the economic development award that I mentioned in this morning’s post.

Yesterday, I attended a Lunch ‘n Learn session sponsored by the Chamber. Our speaker, Jean Brashear, talked about the importance of taking leaps in your life, of taking risks and facing scary challenges. The only way we’ll grow and learn is if we challenge ourselves. I agree with that wholeheartedly, and Jean’s joyfulness was contagious. She is one funny lady!

The Chamber president, Mel Pendland, announced at the luncheon that Georgetown is up for some impressive honors. For eight years running, we’ve made the “100 Best Places to Retire” list. When the list next comes out, Georgetown will be number one!!! I must say, I’m not at all surprised by this. After all, my husband and I could have lived anywhere in the world when our ten-year stint in Saudi was done, but we chose Georgetown.

Georgetown is popular with retirees for good reason. Our Central Texas weather appeals to those who, like me, came from the frozen north. You can get outside and moving year-round without worrying about frostbite. Plus, the trees and plant life here in the Hill Country are beautiful; the scenery begs you to come outside. CNN’s Money Magazine provides a snapshot of our town. There are several high-quality communities for people aged 55 and better, such as Sun City, Heritage Oaks, and Texas Traditions. If you send me an e-mail to jenel@moreland.com, I’ll send you some more information on those communities, and a list of properties for sale in each.

Mel and some city officials are heading to Dallas today to receive recognition for an honor that Georgetown earned — our economic development department was named the top program for cities our size in the state of Texas. Read more about it in the Austin Business Journal.

Recently, I decided that I needed a website, and although I knew very little about it, I decided to try building it myself. (They don’t call me Looney for nothing!) I have the software I need, and I have tutorial CD’s that will show me how to use the software if I can ever find time to go through the lessons. In the meantime, I knew how to create a static page but not how to get it onto the Internet. So I went to the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce website and looked in the Member Directory for web hosting services. Great move! I found a phone number for ClearChoice IT. I called that evening, about 5:30 p.m., and Matt Wilson got me set up within an hour. Too cool! If you go to HometownGeorgetown.com, you’ll see that I have a lot of work to do, but it’s a start.

Matt was great to work with. He gave me very clear instructions on how to get my site online. He quoted a price to me that seemed very reasonable. When the invoice came, Matt gave me a discount from the price he quoted because I didn’t require an e-mail address. (I already have an e-mail address – jenel@moreland.com – and I hope you’ll write to me if you’re planning to buy or sell a home.) I had already agreed to a higher price, but Matt gave me a discount. I think that says a lot about his character.

Georgetown’s real estate market today

The MLS system has a great search tool that allows me to set as many or as few parameters as necessary as I help clients look for homes. This morning, I searched for houses for sale in Georgetown. There are 551. (There are 581 properties for sale. The latter number includes lots, farms, manufactured homes, condominiums, etc.)

Here’s an interesting fact: there are 131 properties in a pending status. This means that an offer has been made and accepted, and the buyers are working on inspections and financing. These properties were on the market everywhere from 0 days to 517! Imagine, trying to sell your home for 517 days. The good news is, approximately two-thirds of those properties sold after less than three months on the market. Just proves what I was saying yesterday: Price your house right, and the buyers will find you.