By Melissa Dittmann Tracey, REALTOR® Magazine
Haunted houses must not be too spooky because 32 percent of potential home buyers say they’d buy a haunted house or a home with suspected paranormal activity, according to a new Realtor.com survey.
While some potential buyers may be willing to overlook any skeletons in the closet, they do expect a discount for the paranormal intrusion.
Seventeen percent of the potential home buyers say they’d expect a discount of 51 percent or more on the “haunted” home’s market value, 19 percent say they expect a 31-50 percent discount, and 18 percent say a 21-30 percent discount would suffice for them. Only 15 percent of those surveyed say they’d be willing to pay full market value for a “haunted” home.
Discounts aside, if those ghosts acted up during the house tour, most buyers say all deals would be off. Warm or cold spots possibly produced by any lurking ghosts or suspicious noises like footsteps and slamming doors would be a deterrent to these buyers. That said, 41 percent say they are OK with ghosts staying in the home–as long as they remained invisible and didn’t bug them.
Ever find yourself having to list a home with suspected paranormal activity? Try staging the home with the “Ghost Busters” theme song playing in the background. After all, these buyers “ain’t afraid of no ghosts.”
By Melissa Dittmann Tracey, REALTOR® Magazine
Both real estate agents and home sellers see the value in simple home improvement projects, saying they believe small renovations can go a long way in helping a home sell faster and for more money, according to a recent Realtor.com survey.
Home sellers may not need as much convincing as previously thought on the reasons why you should spruce up your property before the for-sale sign goes up, according to a survey of 450 REALTORS® and more than 1,600 home owners.
But as sellers realize the importance of home improvement projects to improve a home sale, are they targeting the right projects to attract home buyers?
Apparently so, according to the survey.
Sellers and agents agree on the top three areas of a home that sellers should focus their most time and budget on with home improvement projects. Those are: Continue reading »
By Melissa Dittmann Tracey, REALTOR® Magazine
Photo Credit: Tori Lynn Wallitsch, Alliance Real Estate and Ross Designs LLC, Omaha, Neb.
The majority of real estate professionals encourage their clients to list their home during the holidays because, they say, the holidays can be a great time to sell a home, according to a survey at Realtor.com. So if you have a home for-sale during the holidays, should you stage it decked out in holiday-spirit and glow?
Most real estate professionals say “yes”–just maybe not in the Clark Griswold holiday-overkill kind of way.
About 37 percent of real estate professionals say they advise their sellers to display non-religious holiday decorations during an open house in order to make the home feel more inviting during the holidays, according to a survey by Realtor.com. Twenty-eight percent of real estate professionals say they advise their clients to display ALL of their holiday decorations–including the religious decorations. And then about 8 percent of Scrooges tell their sellers to tuck away all forms of holiday cheer and seasonal decorations, and keep the home staged how they would any other time of year.
For those who do recommend staging for the holidays, here are a few subtle ideas agents often give to their clients, according to the survey:
By Melissa Dittmann Tracey, REALTOR® Magazine
Nearly 50 percent of American adults say that their New Year’s resolution for 2010 is to go green, and even more said they are going to strive to reduce their household energy usage this year, according to a new survey by Move.com.
If they hold true to their “green” desires, Realtor.com offers some help in narrowing their search for a home. Home-shoppers can now customize a search to include energy efficient homes on Realtor.com.
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