Archive for the 'Pensacola Sellers' Category
How Many Photos Generate The Most Interest In Your Home?
July 23rd, 2008 Categories: Pensacola Sellers, Working With Realtors
Point2 Technologies has released the findings of its 2008 Point2 Photo Effectiveness Study. The results of this study should be especially useful for both real estate agents and home sellers.
Over 100,000 real estate listings were sampled!
The graph clearly shows that more real estate photos generate more interest. But look what happens when the photo count goes from 15 to 16. Amazingly, there is a 20% jump in Views, Interest, and Leads.
The purpose of this study, according to Point2 Technologies, was to examine the impact of photos in driving real estate transactions.
Below is a quote from the Point2 Technologies article about the study:
“Results strongly suggest that adding more photos generates better response to real estate listings, reconfirming trends observed in a 2007 study also by Point2.
The Study tracked three trends, namely consumer Views, Interest and Leads. All increased significantly as the number of still photos related to the listings increased.
Listings that did not include any photos performed very poorly, generating little consumer response and business. Specifically, the Study showed that listings with zero photos attract, on average, a mere 0.02 percent of the detailed listing views that listings with 21 to 36 photos enjoy. Listings that featured a single photo fared significantly better.”
Here is a definition of the terms used in the study:
Views: how many times a real estate listing was viewed online
Interest: how many unique visitors interacted with a real estate listing, i.e. going beyond the initial set of photos to see a virtual tour, do a mortgage calculation or access more home details
Leads: the number of unique visitors who contacted the real estate broker or agent
What does this mean for real estate agents and home sellers?
Very simply, ensure that the real estate listing has 16 or more photos for maximum effectiveness.
I did my own little study using homes listed for sale on the Pensacola real estate market. I did not sample 100,000 homes. I sampled 100 homes. All were between $150,000 and $250,000 and were in various areas of Pensacola, Milton, and Gulf Breeze.
To sample, I did a search for homes in the aformentioned price range and areas. I then picked every 5th home in the list. That seems random enough to me. There were a lot more than 100 homes available to sample in the list, but by the time I got to 100, I was sick of sampling. 
The first column shows the number of pictures that were included with the real estate listing in the Pensacola MLS.
The second column shows the percentage of my sample that met the picture criteria. In other words, 10% of the homes sampled had only 1 picture. 20% had over 20 pictures.
Overall, this tells me that most Pensacola real estate agents are doing a very good job of including pictures. Around 68% included over 10 pictures.
However, with 16 being the magic number, 63% of the agents are missing a golden opportunity by including 15 or fewer pictures, according to the referenced study.
Is it always good to include pictures with your real estate listing?
Well agents, if your pictures are bad enough to end up on Athol’s Bad MLS Photo site, maybe you should just focus on working with buyers.
Related Articles On Pensacola Real Estate News:
How Important Are Pictures For Your Listing?
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How Home Sellers Can Protect Themselves From Liability For Unpermitted Improvements
May 29th, 2008 Categories: Pensacola Sellers
There have been a lot of improvements made to real estate in Pensacola. With so many homes being damaged by hurricane Ivan in 2004, most homes had some type of repair done. Many home owners took this as an opportunity to upgrade their homes. But what about permitting these upgrades? When selling real estate, permits for repairs and improvements can become an issue.
Many improvements made to a home require permits. For example, installation of new windows, new Heating/AC systems, a new roof or electrical work will require a permit. However, often times home owners would like to save a little money and do the work themselves or with some friends. It is, after all, much cheaper to buy a few cases of beer and get your buddies over for a weekend re-roofing party, rather than hire a licensed roofing contractor. How many unlicensed “weekend home improvement experts” do you know?
The problem with unpermitted work comes when it is time to sell the home. According to the most current real estate contracts, the home sellers should be able to back up any work done that requires a permit with proof that the work was permitted and approved by a licensed county/city inspector. It is very important to note that these improvements may have been done PRIOR to this seller’s ownership of the property, but the current owner is held responsible for insuring that all improvements to the property were properly permitted.
Now that doesn’t really seem fair, but that is the reality of it.
So how does a home owner handle selling a home on which unpermitted work has been done? Contact an attorney, and provide FULL DISCLOSURE!!!
This means full disclosure in writing in the real estate disclosure forms or the real estate contract. Do not use any language that suggests or implies that the work was done correctly, or “according to building codes”. Such statements or implications can get sellers into future legal dilemmas. 
When disclosing that work was done without permits, sellers should state that “no guaranty is made regarding compliance with building codes.” Sellers should also recommend that buyers hire a qualified home inspector to evaluate the condition of the improvements, as well as the rest of the property. With that kind of disclosure, sellers should be reasonably safe from complaints after the home is sold. Of course, in this litigious society, there are no guarantees.
I am not an attorney, so the best advice I can give in this situation is to contact an attorney, and take the attorney’s advice, which will likely be to provide full disclosure as described in this article. There have been cases of sellers being sued for damages from unpermitted work years after the sale of a home. Example: Faulty unpermitted electrical work causes fire resulting in the death of a resident. Huge lawsuit! Don’t let this happen to you.
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Earnest Money: Clarifying The Confusion For Pensacola Home Buyers - Part 2
November 24th, 2007 Categories: Pensacola Buyers, Pensacola Sellers, Working With Realtors
Earnest money shows commitment to buy. My real estate experience has shown that many home buyers in the Pensacola real estate market do not understand the concept of earnest money. This is an important concept to understand when making an offer on Pensacola real estate.
Click the link below to read Part 1 of this article:
Earnest Money: Clarifying The Confusion For Pensacola Home Buyers - Part 1
In Part 1 we discussed what earnest money is and how much should be offered when buying a home in Pensacola Florida. In Part 2, we will address the following questions:
1. Who holds the earnest money?
2. What ultimately happens to the earnest money?
These are 2 questions I encounter regularly when working with Pensacola real estate buyers.
When a buyer makes an offer on a home, the buyer will give their real estate agent a check for the earnest money deposit. The real estate contract 
will dictate to whom that check is made payable. The check may be written to the real estate broker, who is required to deposit it in a trust fund. However, this tends to be a burden on the brokers, so the check is commonly made payable to the title company that is expected to handle the closing of the real estate transaction. The title company holds the earnest money in escrow.
At the end of the real estate transaction, whether it be a successful closing or fail to close, there are 3 things that can happen to the earnest money.
1. It is applied to the purchase price of the home
2. It is returned to the buyer
3. It is disbursed to the seller
If all goes well and the real estate transaction results in a successful closing, the earnest money is applied to the purchase price of the home. Thus if the home is sold for $100k and the earnest money deposit was $1000, the buyer will need $99K to close.
If the real estate transaction cannot be completed, the earnest money will be returned to the buyer if the buyer complied with the terms of the contract. Most real estate contracts, including those used in the Pensacola real estate market, require that the buyer apply for financing within a certain number of days from the effective date of the contract. If the buyer makes a good faith effort to obtain financing and cannot, the earnest money will be returned to the buyer. If financing is obtained, the buyer still has the option of having a home inspection. If the buyer is not satisfied with the results of the inspection, the buyer can back out of the the contract and have the earnest money returned.
This has been a simple overview of how earnest money can be returned to the buyer. I go into much greater detail with my Pensacola real estate clients with regards to their obligations under the real estate contract.
If buyers fail to act in good faith in complying with the terms of the real estate contract, the earnest money can be disbursed to the seller. This generally happens if the buyer is determined to be in breach of the real estate contract.
A good real estate agent will do everything possible to prevent breach of contract, but ultimately it is the buyer’s responsibility to meet the terms of the contract.
As a final note, there are 2 important points that I need to address in regards to earnest money. These points are:
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Earnest money is NOT a requirement of the real estate contract
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The earnest money check is deposited, it is not held until closing
The fact is, earnest money is not a requirement of an offer to purchase real estate. If a seller is willing to accept an offer without an earnest money deposit, so much better for the buyer. However, the reality is that most sellers will require an earnest money deposit.
Buyers also need to know that they must have the funds in their account to cover the earnest money check. The check is not held by the designated escrow agent until closing, it is immediately deposited into an account. Thus the earnest money funds must be available immediately. A bounced earnest money check can cause serious problems with the real estate transaction.
Look for detailed discussions of real estate contract terms is upcoming articles. We’ll see just how interesting I can make a contract discussion. I can hear the yawns already.
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Earnest Money: Clarifying The Confusion For Pensacola Home Buyers - Part 1
November 22nd, 2007 Categories: Pensacola Buyers, Pensacola Sellers, Working With Realtors
Earnest money is all about commitment. My real estate experience has shown that earnest money is a topic unfamiliar to many home buyers in the Pensacola real estate market. I have worked with many clients who did not understand the earnest money concept when making an offer on a Pensacola home.
We’ll tackle the 4 biggest questions I have encountered when working with Pensacola real estate buyers:
1. What is earnest money?
2. What is the proper amount of earnest money to put down?
3. Who holds the earnest money?
4. What ultimately happens to the earnest money?
We’ll start with question 1, “What is earnest money?” Earnest money is money that the buyer provides along with an offer on a home. It is considered “good faith” money. The buyer is offering good faith to the seller that the buyer will do everything possible to obtain financing and purchase the home. Without an earnest money deposit, the buyer has nothing to lose by backing out of the real estate contract. Note that there are legal ramifications, but these are rarely pursued due to the legal costs involved. In other words, the real winners end up being the attorneys.
When the seller accepts an offer, the seller effectively takes the home off the real estate market. This is done by having the real estate agent mark the listing as ”Pending” in the Pensacola MLS. Thus the seller is risking losing a potential buyer while the home is under contract. Buyers in the market will no longer be looking at this seller’s home. In addition, the seller is paying holding costs up until the home is sold. For this reason, larger earnest money deposits make the seller more comfortable with the potential buyer. Larger earnest money deposits show that the buyer is more committed to the purchase of the home.
2. What is the proper amount of earnest money to put down?
The answer depends on the price of the home and local real estate market conditions. Typically in Pensacola homes under $100K, a $1000 earnest money deposit would be acceptable. For higher priced homes, generally 1% of the purchase price is generally considered acceptable.
Real estate market conditions are also a factor in the amount of an earnest money deposit. Pensacola, as with much of the country, is experiencing a strong buyer’s real estate market. In a buyer’s market, buyers generally offer a minimum earnest money deposit. However, in a seller’s real estate market, as Pensacola experienced after hurricane Ivan, the amount of the earnest money deposit can make the difference between acceptance and rejection of an offer. If a seller has multiple offers, or expects more offers soon due to market conditions, the seller is more likely to accept an offer with a larger earnest money deposit, all other factors being equal. 
A common negotiation tactic used by seller’s real estate agents is to include an increased earnest money deposit in a counteroffer.
In some situations, when acting as a buyer’s agent, I counsel my buyers to break the earnest money deposit into 2 separate payments. A minimum deposit is included with the offer. Another earnest money deposit is promised after the completion of a home inspection. This method works in the interest of both the buyer and seller. The seller ultimately gets a larger earnest money deposit, and the buyer learns of the condition of the home before making a full earnest money deposit.
In part 2 of this article, I will discuss questions 3 and 4. Who holds the earnest money, and what happens to it in the end.
Click below to read Part 2:
Earnest Money: Clarifying The Confusion For Pensacola Home Buyers - Part 2
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7 Reasons Sellers Need To Get More Competitive To Sell A Home In Pensacola
November 2nd, 2007 Categories: Pensacola Market Data, Pensacola Sellers
People who are trying to sell their Pensacola homes need to understand how competitive this market is. This article will help sellers understand why there are so few buyers in this market.
If you haven’t noticed, the Pensacola real estate market is in the dumps. It seems the only winners are the buyers who are getting good deals on homes, and there aren’t nearly enough of them to make this a decent market. On a bright note, the Pensacola real estate market dropped below the 7000 active listings mark this week. As of today, there are 6974 active listings. This primarily means that sellers with overpriced homes are leaving the market. It’s not that the homes are starting to sell. Read more about the Pensacola market numbers last month in my post on Pensacola Real Estate Market Data - October 2007. The reasons for the down market are the same all over the country, not just in Pensacola. But they apply to Pensacola as much as anywhere. Namely, there are
Too Few Buyers in the Pensacola Real Estate Market!
And this may not be changing any time soon. Here are 7 reasons we have so few buyers in the Pensacola real estate market.
1. Bought when the market was hot. Many buyers who bought when the market was hot now owe more on their home than the home will sell for. They will not be able to sell until the market kicks back up and they recover some value. This is what we call being upside down. For example, if the mortgage balance is $250K, but buyers won’t pay more than $200K for the home, the seller is upside down. Why should buyers pay $250K? There are plenty of bargains out there.
If you want to sell your home,
you must be the best bargain in your neighborhood.
Since these upside down sellers will end up waiting until market conditions improve and then just put their homes back on the market, we are looking at a long long wait before the inventory of homes in Pensacola gets back to a normal level. (That’s me, upside down, but feeling good about it. I landed on my back. Ouch!)
2. Foreclosed upon. Pensacola has plenty of foreclosures to go around. Anyone who has experienced foreclosure will not be a potential buyer for several more years, at a minimum.
3. Refinanced. Similar to those who bought when the market was hot. Many people took the opportunity to refinance their homes and take out some of that equity in cold hard cash. These people are also stuck in their home until the market corrects. See #1 above.
4. The mortgage crisis. This crisis is preventing many would-be buyers from qualifying for a loan. But aren’t underqualified buyers part of the reason we got into this mortage crisis anyway? And what about buyers that do qualify for a loan? Higher down payments are now required, and many buyers don’t just have $20,000 or more sitting around in the bank.Buyers with great credit can still get 90% and 100% loans, but how many of those buyers are out there?
5. Hurricanes. We haven’t seen one for a couple of years, but apparently no one has forgotten. Check my 
post on the current real estate market on Pensacola beach properties. Not much is selling out on Pensacola Beach or Perdido Key these days. That’s Ivan in the picture. He was not very nice to us, but he did wonders for the Pensacola real estate market, if you were a seller.
6. High Insurance Rates. Some say rates may be dropping a little bit, but rates are still so high they are preventing many buyers from being able to qualify for a mortage. Add on a couple of hundred dollars to each house payment and see how many buyers drop out of the qualifying ranks.
7. Where are the great Pensacola jobs? We hear reports of possible software development companies moving into the area, but I wonder how soon. And how much help will that really bring. Remember that 4 letter word BRAC (stands for Base Realignment And Closure). It seemed that Florida overall did pretty well in the last round of BRAC cuts, but Pensacola did not. Pensacola will be losing over 500 good paying jobs from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) within the next couple of years.
Great jobs don’t seem to be a problem in Mobile. Check out this article on the new German Steel Mill coming to Mobile. Talk about an economy-stimulating event. Why can’t our Pensacola leaders at least get us some kind of decent employment opportunities around here? Until something changes, the Pensacola real estate market is likely to remain very dismal for a very long time.
Sellers must price competitively to sell in Pensacola in this market. Otherwise, they are just wasting their time and efforts.
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7 Ways Referrals Can Make Your Move From Pensacola A More Pleasurable Experience
October 27th, 2007 Categories: Pensacola Sellers, Working With Realtors
If you are relocating from Pensacola to another city, getting a referral to a Realtor in your destination city can make the entire relocation experience much easier. Here’s why.
1. You are assured of an experienced and qualified agent at your destination.
All real estate agents now should be doing extensive networking on the internet and in person. If they are not, they are falling behind in the level of service they can provide to their clients. I regularly network with Realtors all over the country and have gotten to know many top notch professionals. 
2. Big name real estate companies have plenty of inexperienced agents.
If your plan is to call one of the major real estate offices in your destination city, you will likely speak to the person who is scheduled for floor duty at that time. Floor duty refers to the time an agent sits in the office and takes phone calls. How many truly successful agents would you expect to be taking floor duty? The successful agents are out in the field working with clients. It’s the new and inexperienced agents that are most likely to be at the office taking phone calls and hoping for leads.
3. The real estate agent knows they better take good care of you.
If I am referring you to a real estate agent in your destination city, I have already told that agent that you are extremely important clients and they know to take good care of you. I follow up on all referrals to ensure quality service. These real estate agents want more referrals, so they want me to hear only praise from my clients who I send to them.
4. You just made the best contact you may ever make at your destination.
When moving to a new city, who you know can make a world of difference in the quality of your experience. Where can you find: an honest mechanic, the best hair stylist, a good accountant or attorney, trustworthy childcare, and the list goes on. A quality real estate agent will be a rich resource of information for you, not just while looking for a new home, but for years after buying your new home. These quality agents live on referrals and they want to be there for you when you need them.
5. The real estate agent is a motivated winner.
How do I know the real estate agent I refer you to is a motivated winner? Because I meet my contacts through forums that are only frequented by agents who insist on consistent growth and continued education. They are on the forums to learn and improve their skills and expand their networks.
Many of my contacts come through the Council of Residential Specialists, a group of real estate agents furthering their education through the CRS program. Others I meet through educational forums and blogs. I know from their correspondence and feedback from their clients that they are experienced and ready to do the best job possible for any referrals I send their way. These are the winners who are out growing their businesses, not the whiners who sit at the office and talk about how tough the real estate market is for agents.
6. Reduced stress on you.
You have enough problems to worry about when moving. At least you will know that you have a good real estate agent when you reach your destination. I have already made sure of that.
7. Time savings.
If you planned on interviewing several real estate agents and hoped you would connect well with one, you just saved hours of time by getting a referral.
If you are relocating from Pensacola Florida to another city, I highly recommend that you Contact Me for a referral. I will find a top quality real estate agent for you that will help you settle in at your destination with the assurance you will be well taken care of.
Put another way, a referral ensures that you have someone in Pensacola and someone at your destination that truly care that your relocation is a complete success.
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How Important Are Pictures For Your Listing?
October 23rd, 2007 Categories: Pensacola Sellers, Working With Realtors
If your agent tells you that pictures are not that important, find a new agent.
There are plenty of professional qualified agents in Pensacola who can take great pictures.
Pictures are VERY important. If there are 5 houses a prospective buyer wants to see, and that buyer only has time to see 3 homes on a given day, wouldn’t you expect that those three homes would be the ones with the best features and pictures. Maybe that prospect will visit your home on another day, but maybe that prospect already found the perfect home before ever seeing yours, because the other home had pictures in the MLS listing.
Remember the old expression: You don’t get another chance to make a good first impression.
Without pictures, your only impression may be an entry in the Pensacola MLS and not the home tour you are hoping for. 
Most people are very visual creatures and need to see pictures to truly spark their interest. The more good pictures, the better.
Now I have to say that if your home is ugly, cluttered or downright trashed, pictures may be a bad idea. Don’t ever display a picture like this one.
Want to see more really bad pictures (not from the Pensacola MLS). Click here to see some truly bad MLS photos from around the country. This guy has a great since of humor.
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