Sellers Need to Get Practical About Price

Sellers whose homes have lingered on the market for months--or years, in some cases--are banking on this spring to turn the tide.

Foreclosures and short sales are still flooding the market, which means many sellers are still up against big inventories and some big bargains that may pull away buyers.

As such, more real estate pros say it’s time to have tough conversations with sellers about slashing their sales price of their home, particularly if it hasn’t garnered any traffic in recent months or years. After all, spring usually brings out more buyers, as home shoppers look to buy and move before the next school year.

"We have had a problem with sellers who are nostalgic for the way it was," says Ron Phipps, a Warwick, R.I., real estate professional and the president of the National Association of REALTORS®. He says what home owners could fetch for their home during the housing boom is not practical today. "You have to be where the market is, not where it was," Phipps says.

Phipps suggests encouraging sellers to check out the competition by visiting open houses or viewing online virtual tours of similar homes for sale to see how the seller’s house compares in price and appearance.

"You have to be very realistic about what is keeping your home from selling," Phipps says. "Sometimes it may actually be the person in the mirror, if your expectations are not realistic. Ultimately, there is a price at which all things sell."

Foreign buyers are turning to the U.S. to buy “trophy properties

Foreign buyers are turning to the U.S. to buy “trophy properties,” according to a recent Wall Street Journal blog which added that demand is so strong, leading real estate website Realtor.com plans to add features, including a translation service, to help the influx of international buyers find real estate.



“They’re feeling that investing in U.S. real estate right now may be a more stable option than investing in their home countries,” Julie Reynolds, a Realtor.com spokesperson said.



Reynolds cited a National Association of Realtors survey that showed that 55% of foreign buyers paid cash in 2009, compared with about 8% of overall respondents.



In her WSJ blog, S. Mitra Kalita concluded that, “Given the shaky state of some markets and a still-tight lending environment, real-estate agents say the rush to market to foreign buyers only makes good business sense.”



And the National Association of Realtors findings back her up: It reported that between April 2009 and March 31, 2010, $66 billion of residential property — 7 percent of the total U.S. residential market — was sold to foreign nationals, recent immigrants and temporary visa holders.



“We have definitely seen an increase in international clients this year,” said Miami realtor, Ines Hegedus-Garcia. “What’s exciting is the fact that they are not interested in just single residential properties, but multiple properties as well as commercial and industrial. They are savvy cash buyers who do their homework and pull the trigger fast once the numbers make sense.”



On Realtor.com, traffic from countries in Western Europe, the Middle East, South America, and Asia has increased by more than 50% over the past two years with the foreigners targeting properties in Florida, California, Arizona, Texas, Georgia, New York, and Nevada.



At a local level, Realtors have also noticed the surge of interest from abroad: Last year 28% of them reported working with at least one international client in the previous year (2009 – 2010), up from 23% in 2008.



Here’s how the foreign interest in U.S. property breaks down: Canadians have make up the bulk of international buyers during the past 3 years; Mexicans the fastest growing; and buyers from the UK, stung by their own housing market collapse, have posted the steepest decline.



About 50 percent of international homebuyers said they wanted to move here and make the homes their primary residences; 25 percent bought vacation homes for their own use; 14% were bought residential rentals for investment; and another 14% said they wanted their purchases to double as their own vacation home and a rental.







Read more: International Buyers Bullish on U.S. Real Estate
REALTOR.com® Blogs

64% report that they feel housing is a ‘safe investment’

* NAR revised the ‘pending home sales’ data DOWN..2.8% for Jan and 1.5% year over year. This is an important statistic to follow because its a clear indication what direction the market is headed. Few pendings = fewer closings = more price drops = more underwater owners = more distressed sellers who will need to see via a short sale to avoid a foreclosure. Watch the FREE Agent Short Sale Secrets video and download the FREE Short Sale training guide now.



* Fannie Mae reports results from a recent survey: 64% report that they feel housing is a ‘safe investment’….that is actually a slight improvement over this time last year.

http://timandjulieharris.com/2011/02/28/fannie-mae-reports-64-feel-housing-is-a-safe-investment-nar-pending-home-sales-data/