Chaperoned Showings

"Listing Agent Must be Present for All Showings"

Most listing agents -- myself included -- are usually not thrilled when a client insists that you be there for all first showings.

For one thing, it's an imposition on your time; for another, prospective Buyers and their agents can view it as crimping their schedule and privacy (showings are typically set up as a one hour window; if the listing agent needs to be present, they must commit to a specific time).

However . . . for an upper bracket home with a lot of subtle features, it can be a real advantage for the listing agent to provide a guided tour (then absent themselves so the Buyer and their agent can talk privately).

As I discovered Saturday, it also affords the listing agent the opportunity to tailor their pitch to the specific Buyer -- and can save a lot of time, depending on the Buyer's questions and interests.

Other Pluses

So, I found myself fielding the Buyer's questions about local schools, Comp's and recent price trends, (lack of) plane noise, nearby bike paths and trails, etc. -- questions that their agent, located in the 'burbs, knew nothing about, and which I, as one of the leading Realtors in the area (and a neighbor!) knew in my sleep.

Meeting the Buyer and their agent also afforded me a chance to discuss the other homes on the Buyer's showing list later that day.

It did not exactly hurt my credibility -- or my client's selling chances -- to be able to discuss each of the homes on the list, their pluses and minuses relative to my client's home, the amenities of the surrounding neighborhoods, etc.

Do You Really Want That $2M Listing??

Homes That Don't Measure Up
to Their Asking Price

The quick Realtor answer to the question posed above?

"No, not if the home's worth closer to $1.3M."

That's especially true if the owner with the unrealistic price expectations also expects a drumbeat of expensive marketing over the course of a year (or longer) -- the average market time now for a Twin Cities home carrying that price tag.

To bridge those expectations, more Realtors who specialize in upper bracket homes are presenting such clients with a proposition: 'I'll run as much advertising as you want, but you pay for it.

When (and if) the home sells, the Realtor then credits back the client's marketing outlay at closing.

(More) Naked Swimmers

"Botttom's Up" Real Estate Recovery

You don't know who's swimming naked until the tides goes out.
--Warren Buffett

3,500 FSF is the new 5,000 FSF.
--Ross Kaplan

The housing recovery is happening from the bottom up.

As any active Realtor can readily report, the lower the price bracket, the stronger the housing market; the higher, the weaker.

Clearly, that's why Congress is now extending tax incentives to so-called move-up Buyers, rather than just first-time Buyers.

Upper Bracket Woes

So where does that leave owners of upper bracket homes? (In the Twin Cities, three years ago I would have put the threshold for upper bracket homes around $800k; now . . . it's a lot lower.)

In many cases, straining under too-big mortgages on houses that have depreciated in value.

Most at risk are those who bought roughly between 2004-2007, using a lot of leverage; who have jobs or are in businesses most exposed to the recession; and whose other assets, like stocks, are down significantly (although less than last Spring!).

For those folks, the tide is continuing to run out.

That's why I expect the foreclosure pain to continue moving "up market," at least in the short run.

P.S.: one more aggravating factor for would-be sellers of larger, upper bracket homes: Americans' love affair with "big, bigger, biggest" is at least temporarily on hold. I call this phenomenon, "3,500 (square feet) is the new 5,000."