In this tough market many home sellers are looking for a way to set their home apart from the competition. A great common sense way to do that is to offer a pre-inspection of the property. This is something that I’ve recommend even in a seller’s market because there are many benefits, not the least of which is making the transaction smooth and worry free for both sides. In this type of market offering a benefit to the buyer that will relieve them of some of the stress that goes along with purchasing a new home may be enough to help them choose your home among the many similar homes currently available in your area.

 

A pre-inspection can eliminate a lot of stress on the seller’s side too. Buyers in this market have a number of homes to choose from and they have that in mind if anything negative is found during the home inspection. A buyer will be much quicker to walk away from a home if they know they can find something else very easily. This can make the home inspection process very nerve wracking for the sellers. Instead of holding your breath and biting your nails while the buyers conduct an inspection, why not conduct a pre-inspection. That way everyone knows exactly what they’re getting into ahead of time. 

 

Offering a pre-inspection will probably not eliminate the buyers need to conduct their own inspection. But it does eliminate surprises on both parts and it allows the sellers an opportunity to make repairs before they scare off buyers. 

 

What is a pre-inspection? Basically it’s exactly the same type of inspection that a home buyer will perform before closing on a property.  An inspector will perform a visual inspection of the property and all the major systems in the home. The average inspection can take 2-4 hours depending on the size and age of the home. A seller should look for the same things that a buyer would when shopping around for a home inspector. In addition to looking at prices a seller should make sure to find a licensed and ASHI certified inspector. Hiring the inspector that charges the least could end up costing a lot more in the long run.

If sunny August days don’t have you thinking about how you are going to heat your home this winter the rising cost of living might. Everything is more expensive right now, from gasoline, to groceries, and utilities are no exception. We could be facing record setting fuel costs this winter and some people are using the summer months to search for some home heating alternatives. 

 

One such alternative is wood burning stoves. Sales of these units are already starting to speed up in sales and in some cases models are backordered. Among the hardest-to-find items: pellet appliances, which run partly off electricity and use sawdust capsules resembling rabbit food as the main fuel. Touted as particularly clean-burning and easy-to-use — pour pellets in the hopper and push a button to ignite — pellet equipment saw national sales that were up 54% in just the first quarter of the year, according to the Hearth Patio & Barbecue Association.

Even as crude oil and gasoline prices have slipped in recent days, the average U.S. household is expected to spend 20% more this winter on heating with oil, natural gas, propane and electricity, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. In the Northeast, oil is still a prevalent form of heating fuel and the EIA predicts an average price of $4.35 a gallon, up 31% from a year ago. That sticker shock coupled with the pain of higher auto fuel prices is suddenly making wood, a renewable resource and one that many consumers can pluck from their own backyards in a pinch, look like a decent deal.

Many homes have existing open combustion fireplaces, which seem romantic and cozy but actually can be energy guzzlers, pulling heat out of the house and up the chimney. Alternatives like free-standing wood and pellet stoves and fireplace inserts with insulated doors, or even newer open fireplaces, can raise efficiency significantly. Prior to the late ’80s, many of the wood units were poor performers in terms of smoke emissions. While some clean-air advocates worry about the environmental impact of this new residential rise in wood-burning, the Environmental Protection Agency today requires all new wood stoves and inserts to burn far more cleanly than their predecessors.

Before you rush out to invest in a wood burning, or pellet burning stove make sure you that you do your math. Installation of a free –standing wood or pellet stove can cost anywhere from $3,000 - $4,200. You also need to determine how much wood and pellets cost in your area. The average for a cord of wood is about $200 and a ton of pellets sell for $250. Next you want to find out how much you will need to heat your home for the season and how much you stand to save by using less traditional utilities. Sites like  (www.eia.doe.gov/neic/experts/heatcalc.xls) and pelletheat.org offer fuel-comparison calculators.

  

In several of my recent posts I’ve talked about different strategies that sellers are using to make their homes stand out in this competitive market. In this one I’ll talk about one of my favorites, technology. There is no doubt that technology has changed and improved the way we do business in the real estate industry over the years. It has also changed the way that buyers shop for homes. The following are some of the latest trends in technology that forward thinking sellers and agents are using to set their listings apart from the competition. 

Virtual tours: Though they can take a lot of time to view and sometimes make you dizzy, virtual tours are nearly ubiquitous on real estate agents’ Web sites these days. That wasn’t true a few years ago, because the tours required hiring photographers with special cameras, at costs running into the hundreds of dollars.

But costs for professional photographers have dropped dramatically. And with a rotating tripod, a photo-stitching system, a digital camera — and a lot of patience — do-it-yourselfers can produce virtual tours, too.

Real Estate E-Cards. Though an e-card might seem too commercial for sending season’s greetings to Grandma or declaring your love to your Valentine, it’s a relatively low-key way to alert potential buyers that your house is for sale, particularly in the traditionally slow times around major holidays. Single-use cards themed to an event (think a backyard grill for Memorial Day) cost $20, while an annual subscription with unlimited use of all the cards is $150. Or, if you’re happy with a single image rather than a photomontage, you can make up a card for free on Ecards-gallery.com. Re/Max agents have the Re/Max design center and a number of e-cards at their disposal for marketing your listings.

Talking signs. On their face, chatty yard signs are simple, even mysterious. Interested parties can call a toll-free number and plug in the digits for more information, like location, price, size and maybe a description of the built-in backyard grill or the Tara-like staircase. The spiel runs 24 hours a day.

Nevertheless, talking signs have become so cheap in recent years that they’re worth considering. For example, Front Royal, Va. company Home Phone sells a 18- by 24-inch talking yard sign for $10.95, plus a $2 monthly fee.

If you’re looking for some family friendly entertainment this weekend try to check out the Gazillion Bubble Show at the Union County Performing Arts Center in Rahway. Most of us have blown some bubbles with bubble solution at some point in our lives, and if you have kids you probably feel like you’ve already seen your fair share of bubbles this summer. This show promises to take you enjoyment of the bubble experience to the next level! 

 

Creator, performer and World Renowned Bubble Scientist Fan Yang will transform soap bubbles into works of art. Yang has been featured nationally on David Letterman, Regis and Kelly, and most recently on Oprah. He holds several world records and performs feats with bubbles that you can’t imagine are possible! This show is full of entertainment and enjoyment for children and adults alike. The show will run several times this weekend. Visit www.UCPAC.org for more information.

 

Have a great weekend!

With housing prices continuing their downward crawl I am still a big believer in the resiliency of real estate. In the long term real estate is a worthy investment, and one that you can often get enjoyment and continued use out of. If you are in the position to buy in the current market there are many opportunities to be had. Prices are low and sellers are motivated. The following are some alternative real estate investments that are doing well in the current market. 

• Rural land: Rising food prices, demand for corn-based ethanol and a growing desire by many urbanites for a place in the country are making rural land more valuable. In 2007 over the year before, the average value of farmland rose 19.6% in Nebraska, 20.9% in Wyoming and 22.6% in Iowa, according to a survey by the Farm Credit Services of America. In his May 22 "Country Real Estate," column, Blue Grass, Va., land consultant Curtis Seltzer observed that asking prices for rural land "in most places seem to be holding their own, and are trending up in certain markets."

 
• Foreign real estate: Although home price growth is slowing around the globe, some countries are still on a tear, according to GlobalPropertyGuide.com. While none of these places may be your first choice for a vacation hideaway, in the first quarter of this year, home prices rose 29% in Slovakia, 28% in China, 15% in Bulgaria, 13% in Cyprus and 9% in Australia over the same period a year earlier.

 
• Dockominiums: With higher gas prices, the market for both dry and wet slips for small boats has been softening. Not so for the big yachts, meaning those over 80-feet long. Real estate brokers say demand for big-boat docks is so high that having one in the backyard can double a property’s value. But you don’t even need a residence attached to make money: At the Ocean Reef Club in the Florida Keys, a dockominium big enough for a 100-footer sold last year for $2 million; it had sold for $700,000 in 2004. The dock market is likely to remain buoyant: A study by yacht broker Camper & Nicholsons International says that there are 3,800 mega-yachts currently afloat, and predicts the number will grow to 5,000 in just two years.

 
• Fractional real estate: Many people who don’t want to acquire and maintain a second home in a declining market still yearn for a vacation getaway. That’s a big reason why fractional real estate, where an owner buys a deeded share of a residence, is gaining popularity. In many cases, developers are creating reservation systems that allow for spontaneous visits rather than locking owners into using the unit for only certain days of the year. They are also offering upscale amenities: Harborview in Nantucket, Mass., for instance, offers a private owners’ lounge, access to boats, and organized beach activities. According to NorthCourse, a real estate advisory firm based in Parsippany, N.J., fractional real estate sales reached $1.98 billion in 2007, a 20% increase over the year before.

 

If these ideas are too far off the beaten path and you are interested in investing in more traditional residential real estate let me know, it would be my pleasure to help you. Send me an e-mail at john@bendallgroup.com.

As we all know energy prices are through the roof these days so anything we can do to use less energy in our homes is going help ease some of the strain on the pocketbook.  People are also becoming more and more conscious of the conservation of consumable energy sources and therefore have more of an interest in “going green”.  With that in mind it may be time to replace the old light bulbs in our homes with new energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs. 

 

In the past replacing light bulbs with the newer energy efficient bulbs was cost prohibitive. Individual bulbs could cost as much as $7-$8 a piece in 2000. Any money you may have saved in energy costs was lost when you purchased and replaced bulbs. Now the average cost is about $3 per bulb so the cost savings out weighs the slightly more expensive bulbs. You many save as much as $30 in energy consumption over the life of the bulb. Energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs also last longer than traditional light bulbs so you will need to replace them less often. 

 

Don’t wait, stock up on some energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs today and good luck going green!