Marketing your home... WEBSITES?

In today's real estate market, the best Realtors are seeing the light and are beginning to use tomorrow's technology. This means websites, blackberries, wireless laptops, digital phones, etc. etc. etc. With these new things, people are getting away from print material. Jen and I use over 22 websites to market our homes. This includes Google, Realtor.com, Craigslist and many others top websites. We have 6 of our own websites and are working on 2 more as we speak. In New York City, agents that are not up on today's technology are getting fired. If they can't give a client information right then on the spot with the latest means, the buyer/seller moves on to someone who can.

Lower Commissions

As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. Jen and I have taken over many listings in the past few years. Those sellers were unhappy with the service they received from another agent, either they felt the agents weren't doing enough to market their home, or most likely, they never heard from their agent after they took the listing. Jen and I try to make it a point to be in touch with our sellers as much as possible. We almost always give feedback from a previous showing ASAP, unless we can not get in touch with the showing agent. (Believe it or not, sometimes agents don't call us back or never answer their phone.) Most importantly, Jen and I put in all of our listing contracts, if you are not happy with our service, you can cancel at any point.

Going to sell? But you don't know when...

Here are a few tips if you are thinking about selling in the future, but you don't know quite when that will be.

1. Take outside pictureS of your home in case you have to sell during the winter and the grass is dead. Pictures are the main marketing tool in selling your home. That will determine if buyers even want to look at it. Take LOTS of pictureS! (from different angles)

2. Maintain the property. Get some cosmetic items done before the buyers start coming. You do NOT want the buyers to be distracted by things they shouldn't be.

3. De-clutter... This goes back to the buyers not being pre-occupied by unnecessary items. Less is better in the real estate world. The more of the house the buyers can see and the bigger it looks, the better your chances of selling quicker.

Bubble bursting article on MSN.com

Here is part of an article I found on line at MSN.com. I hope this is not true...

Gollis has been big on Denver for some time, seeing it as a market that went through a rough time -- it lost thousands of telecom jobs a few years back -- but it is returning to a level state. The market has caught the attention of national builders in recent years, there is major construction underway and the Stapleton Airport redevelopment is one of the largest projects of its kind in the nation. Yet the NAR reports that in a year when the vast majority of markets showed double-digit increases in appreciation, Denver's rate was 4.4%, and Local Market Monitor reports that it hasn't been above 5% since 2001. The good folks at Fortune predict that for the next couple of years, Denver's rate of appreciation won't see half that number.

To read more of this article, go here: http://realestate.msn.com/buying/Articlebankrate.aspx?cp-documentid=421682&GT1=8012

Homes, Homes, go away…

The number of unsold homes on the market continues to rise in the Denver area. As of last Friday the 7th of April, active resale homes were up 18% from a year ago at 27,309 (23,848 in 2005). That is also up 7% from February 2006. I think the biggest problem we are having are sellers not accepting contingent offers and buyers not willing to make contingent offers. If the ball doesn’t start rolling somewhere, the cycle will never begin. Buyers and sellers need to start working together to make this market move!

Owning vs. Renting

Did you know that you can almost pay the same amount in a monthly mortgage payment as you can pay in a months rent? You might pay a little more a month to own a home, but in the end (filing your taxes) you will be ahead. This happens when you take the taxes breaks you gain from owning a home. You are also building equity when you own a home and could have more than just your security deposit when you sell you home.

Appreciation rate in Denver

The worst was Bennett with a –58% median price drop in the past year. The best was Nederland with a 26.7% increase in median price. Golden followed with a 25.6% increase in the past year and Littleton with a 25.3% increase. To see what other areas/zip codes did, go to www.dqnews.com/ZIPCO.shtm. You can also see other cities like Phoenix, Las Vegas or Chicago.