Happy New Year!

Last week my husband & I were in Portland visiting family and friends.  We had a dinner date with one of my husband’s clients one evening. That afternoon there had been a surprise snow storm and the roads were in total gridlock.   Of course we had no idea how bad things were until we left our hotel.  We thought about canceling, but they were game so we set out to drive 10 blocks to the train station. 

 We finally made it to dinner and we were talking about all sorts of things, and one topic that came up was cars.  Our friends were driving their parents all wheel drive Subaru and it had handled just great in the snow. I mentioned that I would like to trade in my car for a front wheel or all wheel drive to deal with our snow & ice in the winter.  Then, our friend Rob started talking about a BMW that he had & needed to sell for the same reasons... beautiful car, low miles, immaculate condition. He really loves that car!  However, the Kelly Blue Book said the car was worth 8 thousand dollars & he thought because of the condition and low miles he should ask 18-20 thousand. 

 You may be wondering how this is related to real estate, so I will explain.  This is no different from the real estate market!  Everyone thinks they have the best house, in the best condition, and the best lot in the neighborhood.  Very few sellers contact an agent with a realistic selling price.  They want to start high and then come down in two or three months, after all they don't want to leave money on the table!

 As a Realtor, we have access to market data, we track sales trends, we compare and analyze numbers and then we look at property, both online and in person, to compare homes. After doing all of that research we come up with a realistic number we think the house will sell for...much like the Kelly Blue Book does.

 But do people take our advice as experts?  Some do, but many do not.  You see, we do all that research because we don't want to just LIST houses, we want to SELL houses. 

 If you are thinking about selling your home in 2010, be realistic!  If you are not sure about a pricing recommendation from a prospective real estate agent, ask them to show you what data they have looked at and analyzed to come up with the selling price.  Trust the numbers, they don't lie.

 I am optimistic about 2010 and the real estate market in Whatcom County.  We are not out of the weeds yet, but things are definitely looking up.

 If you want a realistic, well researched selling price for your home this year, call me.