Real Estate Blog

Topics of interest to help homeowners when thinking about selling their home.

Three Ways To Get More Bang For Your Home

Mario AvalosLeave a comment

more bang for your homeSo how can you squeeze every penny out of a buyer interested in your home without the use physical force or black mailing?

Yesterday, I met with a potential client that wanted to get $400,000 when similar homes in her neighborhood were going for $350,000.  Here is how the dialog went.

  • Client: what can we do to up the price?
  • Me: how long would you like to sell home in?
  • Client: as soon as possible, but renting this property may also be an option.
  • Me: is upgrading the property an option?
  • Client: depends on the upgrades and their cost

Given her responses, below were my three suggestions to her.

1. Ride The Market

Although I don’t recommend this option (you’ll most likely be wasting time and attracting window shoppers), if you are itching to get your home in the market…then do it. But do it with the expectation to sit still for an extended amount of time.  As time moves forward, the expectation is that other homes will progressively sell at higher prices.  So once homes in your area begin to reach the price point you are looking for, your door may begin to get knocked on.

2. Upgrade Your Home

This option is a toss up because it all depends on the cost of the upgrade versus how much more money you will get for that upgrade.  Eighty percent of the time (given location of property, market conditions, and desired upgrade), my advice to clients is not to do the upgrade for most likely you will break even or loose money. Again, depending on the latter variables, seldom will an upgrade benefit your bottom line.

Why? Cost of construction/remodeling has gone thru the roof compared to a decade ago.  Parts and labor are not what they used to be…cheap-eeerrr.  Due to this reality of life, it makes things difficult for say a $15,000 pool to bring up the value of your home by more than…$15,000 (get it?).  Example:

– $15,000 cost of pool +$15,000 home appreciation = $0.00 more dollars in your bank account.

3. Sit On The Sidelines

What sidelines? I mean don’t put your property for sale. And wait till prices pick up.

This is the same as option 1 without placing your home in the market.  And this option is the one I recommend the most if you:

  1. Are not in a rush to sell, and
  2. Want more money for your home

Until the next real estate bust, prices should continue to move up, or at worst…stay flat.

Equity Sales Surge YTD May 2014

Mario AvalosLeave a comment

 

Average Home Price – Single Family: Year-to-date May 2010 vs Year-to-date May 2014

Below graph details the comparison between the average home price in 2010 versus 2014 by city. For example.  Kendall’s average home price year-to-date May 2010 was 273,875.  Such average price has risen to $341,090 year-to-date May 2014.

average home price

How’s the condo-townhouse market? Learn more.

Days On Market or DOM – Single Family: Year-to-date May 2014

The below chart shows the number of days a property stays in the market for sale until it is sold. For example. Kendall’s DOM year-to-date May 2014 is 121 days. In other words, on average…from the moment a home hits the market for sale until it is sold is approximately 121 days.

days on market

 

Transaction Type – Single Family: Year-to-date May 2014

The below graph details the type of sales taking place by city. For example. In Kendall…16% of all sold properties are bank owned. 70% are regular sales. And 13% of all sold homes are short sales.

type of sale

Must do Obstacle Race in South Florida

Rocio Casales1 Comment

Obstacle races are a challenging twist to ordinary running and a whole lot more fun! I personally don’t like running but if you add fun obstacles in between then I am all for it! Merrell Down and Dirty Obstacle Race is a great starter race for anyone who is interested in giving these races a try. I actually got my family and a friend to try it and they loved it!

Merrell Down and Dirty is a yearly race conducted at Miami Metro Zoo. It consists of two courses: 5K and 10K (3 and 6 miles) with 20 or more obstacles. I had my family and a friend try the 5K course since it was their first time and they had never done long distance running before. Don’t feel intimidated or nervous about not being able to make it to the finish line. You can run on your own pace and do the obstacles you are comfortable doing. If you are unable to do an obstacle, their “punishment” is push-ups or jumping jacks.

Another fumerrell down and dirty obstacle racen twist this obstacle race allows you to do is run in teams. You and a group of friends can get together and customize your own running outfit and team name. My friend and I were recently taking belly dance classes and decided to name ourselves “Shimmying Latinas” while wearing belly dance shimmy coin belts.

The terrain consists of dirt trails, some gravel, and limestone trails and all on flat land. The race starts with about a mile run before you hit the first obstacle. Obstacles consist of net climbing (up to 20 ft!), crawling through mud pits, balance beams, rock-wall climbing, ladder walls and much more!

If you do plan on racing on this awesome obstacle course let me give you a few tips I felt helpful:

  • Moderate training is advised. If you have not done any sort of running or exercise activities, I recommend running or jogging every other day at least a month before the 3K race. This way you build endurance and will not get too tired during the race.
  • Have a good nutritious prerace breakfast. This consists of mostly carbohydrates and some protein such as bagels, oatmeal, peanut butter and jelly sandwich or dried fruits with yogurt and toast.
  • I recommend wearing comfortable all terrain running shoes! I’ve seen some racers wear the five finger barefoot like running shoes on these types of races and all I heard were complaints with the end results of blisters and cuts on their feet. Regular running shoes should do well too.
  • Wear shoes and sportswear you don’t mind getting mud all over! The amount of mud you get in towards the end of the race is massive hence getting “down and dirty”.
  • Maintain a steady comfortable running pace. If you are getting too tired you may slow down or speed walk to keep the momentum going.
  • Bring towels and/or extra set of clothes for after the

I hope most of you decide to take on this adventure and try something new! It is an experience definitely worth trying! If you do decide to race, I wish you the best of luck! Now go get down and dirty!

From Client To Fan. It’s Easier Than You Think.

Mario AvalosLeave a comment

fanJust a few minutes ago I got an email from Men’s Warehouse asking me to take a survey.  Under usual circumstances, I would have pressed “delete”.  Not this time. Why?  Because their client service rocks!

So next thing I though….wow…let me write about client service.  And I started thinking what other places have I been to that rock the boat.  And there are a handful of places, but here are the three I will write about:

  1. Men’s Warehouse at The Palms (or Town and Country for us adults)
  2. Cheesecake Factory in Dadeland Mall
  3. Sole Runner off SW 117 avenue and Kendall Drive

Disclaimer: I love Miami, and I can’ think of any other place to live at this moment in my life. There are so many great things about this city, but client service is not one of them (in many places).   So I will not talk about the obvious “good client service” everyone expects.  Rather, I will pin point the details that stood out.

Men’s Warehouse

Every time I walk into this place there is someone with a smile and enthusiasm greeting you near the door.  Every time! Macys? Target? Pay attention.

I mean…who does that?  Not even my wife I tell you.  These people must be on Red Bull all the time.

Cheesecake Factory

If your server goes MIA, and you ask another server for the bill or an extra fork, etc…they will bring it you.

So many other places I have been to.  Same situation. My server is MIA, so I ask another server for something.  Their response?  “This is not my table” or “I’ll tell your server”…WTF?!

This reminds me of a time I went to Home Depot on SW 137 avenue and Kendall Drive. I was looking for God knows what but couldn’t find it. So I ask this lady for help.  Her response?  “I am on break, you’ll have to wait till I’m done, or find someone else”.  Then she walked away.  I promise you I am not kidding.

Sole Runner

These people are out of control.  The guy that was taking care of me was way too nice.  Not freaky nice…but nice.  Who would have thought there was a whole science, and angles, and measures, and foot pressure, and how I step, and how I run, and so on and on…in calculating the right shoe for you.

You think you are wearing the right running shoe?  Ha! Unless you bought a shoe in this place, chances are that you are not.

So what’s the moral here without putting you to sleep?  For the most part, in my experience, clients will return for your business if you use minimum client service common sense.  But if you add one or two details (you don’t have to align the moon and stars in order to create the perfect sunset and make them happy), you’ll create a raving fan or a referral machine.

One or two added details. That’s it.