4 Signs that Your Home is Overpriced!

It's no secret that the housing market continues to struggle throughout much of the country. Although the first-time home buyer tax credit has certainly given the market a healthy boost, there is still a glut of unsold inventory out there -- and as of right now, the tax credit is set to expire on December 1.
What does that mean for you, the sorry soul who's trying to sell your home? It means you'll have to make sure the price is right in this highly competitive, price-driven market. Unlike the good old days, homebuyers are no longer choosing homes based on emotion. In this tough economy, they're looking for the best deal. If your house has been sitting on the market for three or more tortuous months, your asking price may be to blame. Here are four tell-tale signs that it's time to slash that listing price.

1. No one is stopping by for a look.Your house has been on the market for a month or two, and showings have been scarce to none. Wait a second, do you hear that? Ah yes, it's the sound of warning bells ringing. If buyers are not even taking the time to look at your house, it's pretty sure sign that the price is too high.Of course, you may argue that this doesn't necessarily mean that there's no interest in your home. While you've had no actual showings, that brochure box by your "For Sale" sign is empty and your online listing has received hundreds of hits. If that's the case, this only proves that there is interest in your home, but something is keeping buyers from scheduling a showing. What's holding them back? You got it -- your absurdly high asking price.

2. You've had plenty of showings but no offers.So, your home has attracted a handful of showings since it's been on the market, but you still haven't gotten an offer. Of course, the Pepto-Bismol pink shower in the master bathroom or the turquoise blue carpet in the living room could be to blame. Poor design and color choices can certainly scare away potential buyers. But if your home is tastefully decorated and updated, it's more likely that your price needs to come down. Some experts say if you've had 10 showings without an offer, your home is probably overpriced.

3. Buyers shower your home in criticism.You've had plenty of showings, but your REALTOR has noticed that prospective buyers make the same negative comments about your home time and again. For example, they may continually complain that your house is plagued with a pungent odor reminiscent of wet dog and rotten tomatoes. Or perhaps they all point out that the 1970s-themed kitchen, complete with pea green appliances, is a little outdated.Be sure to ask your realtor to notify you of any negative feedback from buyers. While some of the comments may be difficult to hear, a little constructive criticism may help you sell your home in the long run. Remember, there's no room for hurt feelings in home-selling.It may turn out that other homes in your neighborhood have remodeled, modern kitchens and a more inviting smell. If this is the case, you'll either need to freshen up your home, give your kitchen a makeover or (you guessed it) cut your asking price. After all, if the price is right, prospective home buyers may decide they can live with a pea-green dishwasher - or buy a new one.

4. You have the highest priced home on the blockLet's say comparable homes in your area are priced much lower than yours. Houston, we have a problem. If your house is the most expensive three-bedroom, two-bath, 10-year old home in your zip code, it's probably going to be the last one to sell.Ask your realtor for regular updates on home prices in your area. He or she can show you the closing price on homes similar in size and age to yours and notify you when comparable homes drop their prices. This will help you decide if it's time for you to drop you price, as well. So, after picking up on some of these warning signs, you finally give in and drop your price. But you still haven't received an offer. What's the deal? You probably haven't cut your price enough.
Realtors say if you're going to lower your price, don't do it in small increments. After all, there's really no difference between $225,000 and $224,900. Buyers won't fall for that. If you're going to slash your price, you'll have to lower it by at least $5,000 for buyers to take notice.

Amy Bell, Investopedia.com

Do you have one lurking in your backyard?

Have you ever looked a home or, do you see one or two metal tubes extending from the ground in your yard? Then there are good odds that there is an under ground storage tank buried on the property. Not let me say it's an easy yet expensive problem to over come. I have had quotes from $1,200 to $2,000 to either fill or remove the tank.

However, there are some unknowns that may creep up and make the ordeal a lot more expensive. So here are some questions to ask if you are going to have one removed/filled.

What do you fill the tank with? - From my experience when they fill a tank, they cut the caps off and suck out the remaining oil/water and fill it through the same hole. If they are going to use sand which is acceptable then they need to cut the entire length of the tank to ensure an even spread. If they are going to use a sludge (cement mixture) then it is OK to use the same holes that are there, because the sludge will get to every open space.

How much does it cost if the tank is leaking? - Obviously they can not know if the tank is or has been leaking unless they take it out. Recently I had a tank removed and the tank was leaking. They charged me $85 per 55 gallon bucket of contaminated soil. I had to end up getting 6 barrels filled and hauled off. A cost that my clients were not expecting to pay.

Is it better to fill it or remove it? - It actually cost my clients less to have it removed than filled. As far as I know there is nothing wrong with filling and leaving it. Just remember that if you fill it with sludge and then you have to remove it, then you will be removing and solid barrel of cement. You will not be able to build over it, if you ever decide to do an addition. I would think that removing it would be better if you can. Sure you might have some different looking soil in the yard for a bit but you won't have a solid barrel of cement to deal with down the road.

Variables - There are several factors that go into a price to get a tank removed. Here are some...
1) Can they get their vacuum truck (the size of a garbage truck), to the area or close to it?
2) Are there any obstructions around the tank? i.e. trees, decks, patios, HVAC units.
3) How full is the tank? They will suck out all of the oil but they have to pay by the gallon to have it recycled.
4) How large the tank is. Obviously the larger the more expensive.
5) What you want to fill it with. Sand or Sludge?


An underground storage tank is one of those things that you just inherit with an older house. Fortunately for those people buying homes with FHA or VA loans, the government requires the seller to remove them. For the rest of us it's all part of the fun negotiation process. Keep in mind its quick(takes about a day) and simple, it just cost a little money.

Let us know if you have any questions or if you need the name and number of a good under ground tank specialist.

This entry was written by Brad and all misspellings and lack of grammatical structure are a direct reflection of his intelligence not the "Teams".

Open House today...Come join us for lunch and dessert.

Come join us for lunch and dessert today at these two great homes from 11:30-1pm.

5623 Sylvan Drive

4662 Pamlico Circle

Come Have Lunch on Us at 149 Shannondale Ct

Come have lunch on us today and to see this incredible home. We will be there from 11:30am - 1pm. Everyone is welcome, clients, agents and neighbors.

We are now on Twitter. Check us out and stay in touch with whats going on in the Real Estate world more often. Click here to go to our site.

The # of Showings Do Not = Sales

We have a listing that is baffling us. It has been on the market 6 months, its been shown 69 times. No agent has said it is over priced, in bad condition, or in need of repair. I have no idea of why it hasn't sold. Of course, we could drop the price, but is that really a service to our client when the comps are saying it is already under priced and in relatively great condition.

So moral to the story is, showings do not equal a sales. Last week we put a home on the market and the first person who saw it bought it. Then we have had another house on the market a year and been shown 76 times. After a little bit of research I would say that we average about 15 showings per listing, that we sell. I am not sure how that stacks up to other agents, but it sounds pretty solid to me. Let me know what you think, leave a response below.

The A.R.T. Awarded in Las Vegas

Top 1% of Agents World Wide for Prudential and all of Real Estate agents.

Viva Las Vegas....Prudential Convention Here We Come!

Andrea and I will be traveling to Las Vegas at the end of this week to be recognized at the Prudential Real Estate national convention. We will be awarded with the Chairman's Circle Platinum and the PREA 100 awards. We have had a hard long year, and in the process we have sold some homes, thanks to our Clients and Team Members.

So if you need us we will be gone from Sunday to Wednesday, but the team phone and team members will be in town if you need anything. Have a great week and lets hope I don't lose all of my money.

Productive Week in Columbia, SC!

Although the market may be "soft". It is hard to believe it on our end. Yes, we do put on more listings than we have closings per week, right now. But what the national media doesn't understand is people have to move, and Columbia, SC is no different. As the "stimulus package" kicks in ( I won't go there) and the scared buyers come out of their shells you will start to see listing starting to sell. So, until then we have to be patient, and act as if any offer could be our highest and best. I promise to our current, past and future clients; I am not working 12 hour days for no reason. We are putting in the time and energy to try and get your home sold. No matter what our facebook pages say.

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Recent "Under Contracts"

2725 Mills Ave - Druid Hills

Asking Price $159,000

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129 Hampton's Grant Ct

Asking Price $450,000
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New to the Market

6810 Longbrook - Forest Acres

Asking Price $235,000

Virtual Tour = http://www.artvirtualtours.com/6810longbrooke.html

Come live in this 3 bed, 2 bath, 2,200sqft contemporary ranch home, located in beautiful Forest Acres. This home boasts: formal living and dining rooms with tall ceilings; a large family room with built-in TV nook and fireplace; a large eat-in kitchen with updated appliances and tons of cabinet space; the spacious master suite has a large bathroom with separate whirlpool tub, a stand up shower, and a large walk-in closet. Outside you will find a large level backyard, workshop, shed and a huge screened in porch. This home a modern home in a convenient location.
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7509 Edgewater - Springwood Lakes

Asking - $139,900

Virtual Tour = http://www.artvirtualtours.com/7509Edgewater.html

This beautiful 3 bed, 2 bath, 2,000sqft ranch style home is located in quiet Springwood Lakes. This home boast; large formal living and dining rooms, a spacious kitchen, a huge great room with fireplace and built-ins, and a massive screened in porch that overlooks the large well feed in-ground pool. There are hardwoods located under most of the carpet in the house. Conveniently located near 1-77, 1-20 and Sandhills, this house won't last long.

Listing Friday!!!! Kings Grant, The Gates at Quail Hollow, Heathwood, and Cedar Terrace.

Friday was a huge day for our team. We listed almost 2.5 million dollars worth of homes. It really shows the versitality of our team. The houses range from $118k to $1.1 Million. Take a look below to see their descriptions and Virtual Tours. As always you can go to our website, www.theandreareynoldsteam.com , to see more information on these listing and anyothers in we have listed.

411 N. Kings Grant

Finally a home worth a million dollars! Come live in luxury in this traditional Kings Grant mansion. This 1 year old 6,000 sqft, 5 bed, 4.5 bath home boasts: a grand foyer; a formal living and dining room with high ceilings, hardwoods and thick moldings; a large family room with built-ins and a fireplace; a large eat-in kitchen with granite, an island, state-of-the-art stainless steel appliances, a computer nook and a bar. The huge master suite has a walk-in closet, stand up shower, whirlpool tub and double vanities. Upstairs are 4 bedrooms; one with a large media room, one with a sitting room; and a frog. Outside are a three-car garage, deck with gas hook ups, and a large easily maintainable yard.

31 Deer Haven Ct

Come live the luxurious life in this Gates at Quail Hollow Mansion. This contemporary 6100sqft, 4 bed, 4.5 bath home is an entertainers dream. This home boasts: a formal living room, dining room, and office/library; a master suite on the first floor with his/her walk-in closets, separate shower, whirlpool tub, & double vanity; an eat-in state of the art kitchen with unique granite & stainless appliances; the family room has 12+ inch cawford ceilings, fireplace and built-ins; upstairs are three large bedrooms with baths; a huge game room with built-in bar; a 10+ person media room. Outside are a patio, a screened-in porch and two verandas over looking a well-manicured backyard.

4012 MacGregor

Come live in this charming Heathwood home. This beautiful 3 or 4 bed, 2.5 bath, 2600sqft home has oodles of character and charm. This home boasts: formal living and dining rooms with a built-in china hutch and bookcases, hardwoods, and high ceilings; an updated kitchen with newer appliances, custom cabinets and computer nook; a large family room with a wet bar and half bath. Downstairs you will find another large living area or it could be a 4th bedroom and a walk-in unfinished utility basement. Outside, this home has beautiful front and back yards, a large deck, screened-in porch/greenhouse, portico, an oversized workshop, and a blueberry grove. This home is the epitome of Columbia Charm.

1200 Cedar Terrace

This 3 bed, 1 full and 2 half bath ranch style home is conveniently located in quiet neighborhood of Cedar Terrace. This home boasts: a large living room with hardwood floors, a wood burning fireplace and a big picture window; a formal dining room with hardwood floors and high ceilings; a large eat-in kitchen with tons of cabinet and storage room. Each of the three bedrooms are over sized and two have half baths. Outside is a large fenced in backyard with a patio and fire pit. With such a great location this home won’t last long.

Hampton Ridge Estate

NEW TO THE MARKET...

Today we just listed 6119 Moss Springs in Hampton Ridge. Everyone has their own opinion on where the best place to live in Columbia. Many say Heathwood, Kings Grant, Wildewood, Wood Creek Farms, Lake Carolina etc. I agree with them all, however, I sure do like Moss Springs. If you have never been down this road before, go take a drive. You will be very impressed.

Description - Come live the high life in this in town Estate. This beautiful 4 bed, 3 bath, 3,800sqft Williamsburg style home is located in sought after Hampton Ridge. This beautiful home boasts: a grand foyer with formal living and dining rooms, with heavy molding, a fireplace, high ceilings and hardwood floors; the spacious eat-in kitchen has hardwoods, a island, pantry and tons of cabinet space; a sunken family room with a fireplace, hardwoods, and French doors leading to a screened-in porch and a guest/master suite located on the first floor. Upstairs are: two spacious bedrooms; a master suite with walk in closet, double vanity, and fireplace; a finished bonus room; and an unfinished frog.

Seller Etiquette When Showings Are About to Happen.

Sellers are a big a part of our team as anyone else. When showings are about to happen they are our last line of defense before the miraculous "first impression" happens. When an agent calls and wants to show your home this is what you need to do...

1. Clean up! Depending on your time frame either throw stuff in closets or really put it away. The rooms need to be clear of clutter and stuff off of the floor (it makes the rooms look smaller).
2. Turn on all lights! Go through every room and turn on every nightlight, ceiling fan and bathroom light. This will make the rooms appear brighter, more open and bigger.
3. Spray some Febreze! I would recommend spraying this over other air cleaners. It gives a clean fresh smell not an overpowering lemon zest odor as soon as they walk in the door.
4. Open all blinds and curtains! This goes along with the lights.
5. Hide the Litter box and Dog Beds! I personally love dogs but I don't want to smell yours. Put their beds in the garage and spray where they usually lay with Febreze. This also goes for litter boxes.
6. Sweep off the porch and walkway! I think this explains itself.
7. Focus on the entry way! If you don't have enough time to clean the whole house then just focus on the entry way. The typical buyer will make their decision on buying your house from the drive way to the entry way. Make it look as good as possible.
8. GET OUT! Don't stay home for the showing and don't hang out to introduce yourself. Buyers will not talk as freely or as open as if you weren't there. Many people need to talk it out when looking at a home. The buyers want this to be there home and if your there it's your home. Trust me, get out. There is a lock box on the door for a reason.

We are working hard everyday to get people in your house, don't drop the ball on the 1 yard line. Good luck and happy selling.

PREA 100!!!!

This week we, The Andrea Reynolds Team, received a notice that we are one of the top 100 Teams/Agents for Prudential Real Estate nationwide. That is out of 60,000+ agents that work for Prudential Real Estate. Andrea and Myself, Brad, will be traveling to Las Vegas at the end of March to receive our award. We have had a great year, in a trying market. But you know what? If you give good service, do what you say, and follow up. The market has nothing to do with selling houses, people still need a place to live. Thank you so much to our team and clients, because with out you all, none of our success would have been possible.

Who is the Number One Agent in Columbia, South Caolina?

You guessed it. The Andrea Reynolds Team is the #1 Team/Agent for resales (homes that are not brand new) in Columbia in 2008! I can tell you that no other Real Estate Agent/Team works as hard as we do. We work 10-14 hour days and sometimes see very little of our families. But we are committed to our clients who put the trust in us to sell their biggest investment. Thank you to all of our clients who trusted us this past year.

Who Do Open Houses Benfit? Are they Worth It?

I know it's a great debate with in the Real Estate field on who Open Houses really serve? What does the homeowner really get out of being kicked out of their home for a couple of hours on Sunday? Typically about 1% of the time a buyer actually walks through the door and wants to write an offer. But we are talking about the "perfect storm" of buying a house. You have a to have a great product, a willing and able buyer and their worlds have to meet on a Sunday between 2-4pm. It has never happened to me and I have done hundreds of open houses.
At this moment I am a little biased because I am sitting at an Open House right now and have only had two noisy neighbors come through, I personally think open house are of no use. Our buyer agents get very few leads out of open houses.

Here is what we do to prepare for an open house...

1. Schedule with the home owner with in the first month of the house being listed.
2. Create and send post cards a week and a half early to three hundred of the nearest neighbors. ($157.00)
   
3. Put the ad in the open house sections in Saturday and Sundays newspaper. ($62.50)
4. Make 20 color flyers and sign in sheets. ($10.00)
5. Put the open house on three online open house websites.
6. Put out directionals the day before with balloons. (where allowed)
7. The day of, get there early (easier said than done) and sit there for two hours.

So, every weekend our team has at least one open house. We do all of this work, spend all this money, kick our "aggravated seller" out of their house on one of their days off. To return to frustrated agent with no good news and no explanations on why people didn't come or make an offer.
I really think that our team does such a great job marketing, that people don't come through our listings unless they really like it. We give each listing a Virtual Tour, Showcase status on REALTOR.com, post cards to all the neighbors, a flyer box out front and a whole lot more. So people can see inside the house with actually stepping inside, so that has to decrease the amount of traffic on open houses and showings. Do you think thats a good idea? Or should we not put as much out there so they have to come in?
So, the question of the day is who do open houses benefit? I would love to hear what you think, especially if you are a current, future or past client.

NEW LISTING...1 Links Walk Lane

Come live the high life at 1 Links Walk Lane. Located in beautiful Cobblestone Park, this 3 bed, 3.5 baths, 2,500 Neo Traditional home offers the complete easy living lifestyle. Once inside you will find: a bright and open feel with 10ft ceilings, plantation shutters, and oak floors; the kitchen has stainless appliances and granite counters; the master suite is on the main floor; and each bedroom has a private bath. Outside boasts; a huge covered front porch; two car portico, a deck and a storage shed. With the golf course and park steps away, the gym, pool, basketball and tennis courts around the corner, this home provides the ultimate in luxury living at an affordable price.

Click Link For More Information
http://andreareynolds.topproducerwebsite.com/1linkswalklane.asp

Cool Cool Tool for iPod Touch and iPod Phone

I was searching on iTunes today and I saw a cool real estate application. You can download a program from Truila.com that will show you local listings in your area. It uses GPS to help you get to the houses and gives daily mortgage rates to tell you monthly payments. If you have one of these two devices give it a try, its FREE!