Thinking of selling your North Conway home? Before you place the “For Sale” sign in front of your house, there are a few things you should consider in order to maximize your home value and make the sales process smooth and efficient.  Be prepared to discuss the following subjects with your real estate agent when you’re ready to sell your home and you’ll be one step ahead in the market.

1) Best Time of Year to Put Your House on the Market
Conventional wisdom dictates that spring is the best time for selling a home.  The weather is getting warmer, the school year is coming to an end, and people who have just received their tax refunds may now have extra cash to use for a down payment on a home.  However, since not everyone can sell a home in the spring, here are some other seasonal factors to consider. According to annual home sale data from the National Association of Realtors, the slowest selling months of the year are typically January and February, since fewer home sales occur during the holidays.  In spite of this, with less competition in the marketplace, you may be able to ask for a higher price for your home, or a quicker closing.  Additionally, temperate locations like Florida and California don’t see the seasonal fluctuations in the housing market, where house-hunters are almost always looking.  And a late winter or early spring in the Northeast may extend the typical “selling season.”  These seasonal variations, as well as a variety of local factors, will all influence the housing market in your area.  Be sure to talk to your real estate agent regarding the current state of the market and how it will affect the sale of your home.

2) Open House Strategy and How to De-Clutter
At an open house, first impressions count, so you’ll want to enhance your home’s perceived value. Make your home inviting by taking care of bothersome minor repairs; clean bathroom and kitchen counters and clear them of dishes and clutter. Arrange storage areas neatly and put unused items in a closet. If you have pets, consider having a neighbor watch them for the duration of the open house. It’s a good idea for you to be absent during the open house, also. If you must be present, let your agent do the talking.

Decorate your home to sell by arranging the furniture to look as spacious as possible. Add color and fragrance to any room with fresh flowers. Lastly, don’t forget the outside of your home. Put away all gardening equipment and neatly arrange outdoor items like firewood or furniture. Even take a hard look at your mailbox and make sure it reflects the value and character of your home.

3) Features to Accentuate
While you may have long determined which aspects of your home you love, having a fresh set of eyes assess its best features is a smart idea. If you’re considering selling your home, take the time to walk through it methodically with your real estate agent. Together you can determine which features of the home should be accentuated.  Does your home have a wonderful view? Make the most of it by sprucing up window treatments and arranging furniture to draw the eye toward the windows. Perhaps the location of your house is truly incredible. Your real estate agent can help accentuate this feature in sales and marketing materials.

4) Desired Price and Bottom Line Price
It’s great to shoot high, but when determining your home value, it’s also important to identify your bottom line. By assessing recent home sale statistics in your area, your real estate agent can recommend an appropriate target price range. Working with your agent, you can set an initial asking price, as well as privately determine the absolute lowest price you would comfortably accept for selling your home. By crunching the numbers and setting parameters early on, you can avoid emotional rollercoasters during the process of receiving, countering and accepting offers.

5) Disclosures
When selling your home, you may be obligated to disclose problems that could affect the property’s value or desirability. In most states, it is illegal to fraudulently conceal major physical defects in your property, such as a basement that floods in heavy rains. And many states now require sellers to take a proactive role by making written disclosures on the condition of the property. Ask your real estate agent for the particular laws of your state.

North Conway Real Estate-now on YouTube!

Coldwell Banker Real Estate recently launched an innovative branded YouTube™ channel designed to offer consumers a new way to search for and interact with real estate information and listings.  Named Coldwell Banker On Location (www.youtube.com/coldwellbanker), the channel was created to more fully tap into the power of video for real estate search and discovery, and to drill deeper into the local insights that consumers want.
To create On Location, Coldwell Banker Real Estate closely collaborated with both YouTube, a Google subsidiary, and Google to develop a customized framework and user experience – offering what is arguably one of the most comprehensive and immersive brand channels on the YouTube platform.  On Location is the first branded YouTube channel to use dynamic IP lookup to search for videos, which automatically serves up local results when visitors first hit the site.

An Emphasis on Video and Local Content

Two areas of strategic focus set Coldwell Banker On Location apart from other real estate Web sites.  First, it showcases the power of video to bring real estate more vividly to life – offering behind-the-scenes looks at towns and neighborhoods, smart tips and timely news on real estate topics, and video listings of homes for sale.  Second, content posted to On Location has a strong emphasis on local information and insights, so consumers can dig deeper into the areas of the country that interest them most.
Supporting this highly localized perspective is one of the more unique aspects of Coldwell Banker On Location – the ability to search for videos through a special map feature that has been developed specifically for the site.  The map ‘widget’ is a prominent feature at the top of the On Location site and the main starting point for consumers searching for a home, a specific area of the country or more information on a real estate topic.
At launch, Coldwell Banker On Location will be the first YouTube brand channel to use dynamic IP look-up, so visitors to the site will automatically be shown video search results from their own area / zip code.  Then by clicking the link “Browse By Map,” consumers can enter the city / state or zip code of their choosing – which will immediately pull up all videos posted to On Location associated with that area.  These video results are displayed as icons on the map.
Each search will return a wide range of video results, including video listings, spotlights on that local community and Coldwell Banker sales associate/representative profiles.  Consumers can click through to view specific videos – as well as connect back to the main Coldwell Banker Web site to learn more about a specific property for sale.
“Video is a critical part of how today’s consumers want to explore real estate, and we intend to use it to an extent never before seen in our industry,” said Jim Gillespie, president and chief executive officer, Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC.  “On Location provides an exciting new platform for our vast network of thousands of sales associates to directly share the kind of local insights and knowledge that is invaluable to consumers hoping to learn about a new area.”
Gillespie noted that the site will appeal to a broad range of consumers.  “You might be a first time homebuyer deciding between a few different towns in your area, someone about to relocate across the country, a Boomer thinking ahead to where to retire, or simply a person who’s dreaming about your ideal home.  No matter what stage you’re at in your life or the real estate process, On Location has the insights you need served up in an exciting new format,” he said.
“Coldwell Banker On Location is about building the Web’s richest array of real estate video content that is also the richest in local insights,” said Michael Fischer, senior vice president of marketing, Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC.  “It’s the combination of these two missing pieces of the puzzle that make this site so exciting.  In addition, Coldwell Banker Real Estate is the first in the industry to put the full power of its brand and network behind a tool that represents the future of real estate – the video listing.”
“Every month, millions of people search on YouTube for real estate content,” said Sam Sebastian, Classified and Local Advertising Director at Google. “Consumers are hungry for real estate-related videos. I’m thrilled that Coldwell Banker is developing such a substantial innovation for real estate video. I look forward to seeing Coldwell Banker build On Location into one of the most active destinations for real estate search, discussion and engagement.”

It extends the company’s already robust social media strategy, which includes Facebook pages for the brand and its two founders, Colbert Coldwell and Arthur Banker, a Twitter feed (www.twitter.com/coldwellbnkr) and profiles on Flickr and FriendFeed.

In addition to using YouTube as a platform, Coldwell Banker Real Estate is using the Google family of ad networks and channels for promotion of On Location.  This includes both Google and YouTube search ads, YouTube banner promotions and Google TV.

To learn how Coldwell Banker Wright Realty leverages these cutting edge technology tools to help you buy or sell your home visit our North Conway NH Real Estate website or see a video about Coldwell Banker On Location please visit:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1AKZDhUrLY

As more homebuyers and real estate agents use the internet to research properties, first impressions are more important than ever. Before scheduling appointments or visiting open houses, homebuyers and their agents will often drive by homes for sale and make assessments based on the exterior. More often than not, if a homebuyer doesn’t like the outside of a home, they won’t care to see the inside. Yet, it is possible to dramatically alter the appearance of your home with a few simple tasks. As you prepare to list your home, consider implementing some of the tips mentioned here to maximize your property’s curb appeal.

Before you begin making repairs to the exterior of your home, you may want to analyze your home from a distance. Look at your home from across the street and try to pinpoint the best and worst qualities of the property. As you walk towards your home, try to make note of both your first impressions and any elements that stand out. When looking at your home from the exterior, you may also want to compare its appearance to other homes in the neighborhood. While you may feel as if you know the details of your home intimately, this step can help you think like a potential buyer and assist you in maximizing the curb appeal.

When it is time to get to work, you should approach the exterior of your home in the same way you would a bedroom or kitchen. Just as you wouldn’t want a prospective home buyer to see dirty dishes in your sink, you want to make sure the front of your home is as attractive as possible. While the chores associated with maximizing curb appeal will differ from home to home, the following are the most common and effective methods of enticing potential buyers indoors for a closer look:

•    Paint – Perhaps the most effective of all pre-sale repairs, a simple coat of paint to the exterior, doors and shutters can make your home appear well cared for and in good condition. When painting the exterior of the home, you may also want to consider if new door knobs and other hardware could boost the appearance of your home. If you don’t replace any of the metal on the exterior of your home, polishing brass hardware and cleaning or painting iron fences can also give your home a fresh look.

•    Lawn – There are a number of landscaping tricks that may improve the curb appeal of your home. First, the lawn should be mowed, raked and edged. Next, try to thoroughly weed all planter boxes, trim larger plants and include some extra flowers near the front of the house. If any large trees hang over your home or obscure the view from the street, you may want to cut away some large branches. You may also want to consider investing some extra money into landscaping by hiring professionals to make your front yard as attractive as possible.

•    Windows and Gutters – Much like the fresh paint applied to the exterior, taking time to clean the windows can certainly change the appearance of your home. Likewise, try to keep your rain gutters free of leaves and debris as you never know where a potential homebuyer might look.

•    Driveway – If you have an old, cracked driveway, hiring a professional to reseal the surface can add to your home’s curb appeal. If the driveway rests in direct sight in front of the home, this step can become even more important.

•    Lighting – As potential homebuyers could drive by your property at any time, you want to make sure your home is inviting at night. By installing a street lamp and a front porch light – both of which should match the style of your home – you will dramatically boost your home’s 24/7 curb appeal. If you anticipate potential homebuyers coming onto the property after dark, calm lighting that lines the driveway and path to the front door can put your visitors at ease.

•    Pressure Clean – This process can be applied to both the exterior of the home and the driveway. Just one treatment can eliminate years of dirt, mold and mildew from your property.

If you need to improve the curb appeal of your home before putting it up for sale, the best tool could be your ability to think like a buyer. By repairing or minimizing your property’s flaws and drawing attention to key selling points, you may be surprised by the responses you receive from potential homebuyers.

The staff at Coldwell Banker Wright Realty writes select articles about important topics related to real estate. For more information about buying a home or selling your current property, visit WrightRealty.com today!

The Official North Conway NH Real Estate Website!

For more than 30 years we have served the real estate needs
of our neighbors and customers in:

Albany NH | Bartlett, NH | Brownfield Maine | Conway NH | Denmark Maine
Eaton NH | Effingham NH | Freedom NH | Fryeburg Maine | Gorham NH
Hales Location NH | Harts Location NH | Jackson NH | Madison NH
Ossipee NH | Conway NH | North Conway NH

SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: “Protecting your Privacy when your NH Home is on the market”, url: “http://blog.wrightrealty.com/north-conway-nh-home-privacy/” });

You love you pets and so does the rest of the neighborhood. However, when it comes time to sell your home, you shouldn’t expect the same of those interested in your property. While it is difficult for some homeowners to understand the negative perceptions about pets held by some prospective buyers, you should try to make your home as appealing as possible to everyone who walks through the door. Before showing your home, consider some of these steps to minimize the impact of pets and potentially maximize interest from prospective buyers.
Before showing your home to buyers, you should try to remove all signs of your pets. Start by putting away any food and water bowls, pet toys and litter boxes. If your dogs use a doggie door to get in and out of your home, consider replacing or sealing up the door. If you keep photos of you and your pets on display, pack the images away when prospective buyers are in your home. Lastly, if you have any items that are too big to hide – like cages or dog carriers – find a discreet storage location in the garage or outside the home.
To ensure that you don’t offend the eyes (or noses) of prospective buyers, you may want to devote extra time to cleaning your home. If you have cats or dogs that roam freely in the home, start by vacuuming the entire house. Next, as most pet-loving homes have a carpet stain or two, consider hiring a professional cleaner to get rid of the offending spots. If you find any stains that cannot be removed, you may want to replace the carpet or flooring before showing your home. To remove the last whiffs of pet smell from your home, avoid air fresheners (some of your guests may have allergies) and try using a heavy-duty enzyme cleaner. When you are confident in your cleaning, ask a friend or extended family member to inspect for stains and smells before showing the home.
Ideally, homeowners may want to try relocating their pets while their home is on the market. Rather than keeping your four-legged loved ones locked up in the garage, consider asking your friends and family to help out. If you can’t find anyone with the ability to watch your pets, you may need to consider using a nearby kennel. While this might be incredibly difficult to do – for pet and pet owner alike – this step could go a long way towards helping prospective buyers feel comfortable in your home. By keeping your pets out of your home while it is on the market you will be able to minimize the impact they’ve had on the property and avoid any mishaps with prospective buyers. However, if you can’t bear to part with your pets while your home is on the market, you should still try to remove your furry friends during open houses and tours.
While there may be plenty of pet-friendly homebuyers that visit your open house, it is important not to offend anyone who looks at your home. In fact, even some pet owners might be turned off by the presence of your pets. After all, plenty of pet owners believe their own animals to be cleaner and better behaved than anyone else’s. Hence, when it comes time to show your home to prospective homebuyers, you should try your best to minimize your pets’ impact.

A statement from Rural Development regarding Income Limit Modification:

As a result of a direct final rule published in the Federal Register, income limits will change effective April 20, 2009. The existing income limit structure will be revised for the Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program (SFHGLP). Instead of eligible adjusted income limits based on households ranging from 1-8 persons, a two tier income structuring consisting of a 1 – 4 member household and a 5 – 8 member household will replace the 1 – 8 person structure. The present add on limits for larger households will remain the same.

What this means is that more buyers will be able to take advantage of this great program!

In Carroll County, for a 1-4 person family, the income limit is $84,100. For a 5-8 person family, the income limit is increased to $111,000. The increases are substantial, especially since a lot of NH home buyers are in this range.
The Rural Development Guaranty Program allows customers to purchase a home with no down payment, no monthly mortgage insurance, and the seller can contribute up to 6% of the sale price, which is usually more than enough to pay the closing costs!

NH Home Sales are looking brighter

Before we can look forward we have to look back, even if we would rather not. During the first two months of this year, fewer than 1,000 residential units were sold and year-to-date sales volume ($214 million, not including condominiums) was half of what it was three years ago.  Condominium sales volume ($39 million) was 70 percent lower than in 2006.

Whatever the weather, this could turn out to be the coldest winter on record for New Hampshire Realtors.  We can only imagine how bad it must be in other states where the economy is in so much worse shape than it is here in the Granite State.

Our state has by far the lowest unemployment rate in New England (See Chart above) and one of the ten lowest rates in the nation.  Our state also has the fourth highest index of economic activity, according to the Federal Reserve (See Chart II).  The problem, in terms of consumer confidence, is that these indicators of the substantially better economic conditions here in New Hampshire are unknown, except for a few savvy real estate investors.

Tables I and II at the end of this piece show the county level details of home sales from NNEREN for the first two months of this year.  But the last column on Chart I also shows a very important indicator: the ratio of median home value to median household income.

Historically that number, which is one measure of general housing affordability, has usually been at 4.0 or below.  When it rises above 4.0, too many buyers are not able to purchase a home.  When it returns to 4.0 or below, it signals a time when many more potential buyers will think that a home they would like to buy is within their reach.

Potential buyers, however, must also have some level of confidence that better economic times are in the near future.  And lenders need to feel more confident, too.  So far, that confidence has not shown itself.  But early believers in its imminent return will be able to buy one, or maybe even two, very reasonably priced homes.

What is important to keep in mind, however, is that the median sales price figures in tables I and 2 are very heavily influenced by foreclosed and short sales.  While it is true that home foreclosures are less than one percent of all owned homes in New Hampshire, they can be, and often are, a much larger fraction of all sales in a county, particularly when there are so few transactions.  This distorts the perception of home values.

—By Peter Francese

Things for Buyers to Consider when Determining the Appropriate Property Value and Offer Price

Determining the value of home can be sometimes a difficult task for a buyer. Just as there are many factors that can impact a home’s value, the details and potential success of your offer also rely on several pieces of information. If you are thinking about buying a home, you may want to consider the following tips to gain a better understanding of property values. By utilizing these recommendations and discussing the findings with your agent, you might be able to not only find the best house for your money, but also a home that surpasses all of your expectations.

1. Investigate Locally

When searching for a new home, many prospective homebuyers start by checking local listings. After the search is narrowed down to a few neighborhoods of interest, walking or driving through these areas can give you a better idea of overall neighborhood quality. As you narrow your search, it might help to attend a few open houses in the local market to gain an understanding of pricing trends and witness how much interest is being paid to the homes already for sale.
In the early stages of shopping for a home, it can also be helpful to have your agent perform a Comparative Market Analysis. This report will show you the past sales prices of homes in the area and allow you to contrast those statistics with the current homes for sale.

2. Get behind the numbers

After you have compared the list prices of the homes you are interested in with other homes that have sold in the area, there are a few assessments of value you may want to consider. The most telling estimate of a home’s value will be a professional inspection.
Another statistic that will provide you an estimated value of a home is the assessed tax value. However, as the assessed tax value sometimes doesn’t take into account the amenities of a home, upgrades to the property or the nuances of the housing market, this value can vary from a professional estimate. Work with your agent to compare the details of your appraisal and the assessed tax value, taking into account all of the home’s amenities and any issues of particular importance to your family – including such factors as the quality of the neighborhood, local schools and even how the home matches up to your long-term goals.

3. Think about the market

When trying to determine the value of a home for sale, it might also help to consider the status of the overall housing market. First, take into account national trends and determine whether it is a “buyer’s market” or a “seller’s market.” Next, compare the local housing market to the national trends, considering both the neighborhood of the home for sale and a broader geographical region incorporating the surrounding city or other nearby communities. It is quite possible that a particular area may not be affected by national market trends, creating for instance a small seller’s market within a broad buyer’s market, or vice versa.

4. Pay attention to the details

Besides looking at local and national housing trends, there are a few more issues that can affect the value of a home and the details of your offer. First, you and your agent should find out how long the home has been on the market. It is believed by many that if a home has been for sale more than 30 days, sellers are often more motivated to sell and are more receptive to lower-priced offers.
In addition to the time spent on the market, you and your agent should also try to find out if there are any additional factors that could motivate the seller for a quick sale. For instance, if the seller has already purchased another home or is relocating to another state, you may receive a better response to your offer sheet.
After taking all these factors into account, you and your agent should be able to determine both the market value of the home and the right amount to bid if making an offer. Furthermore, the more you take the information you’ve gathered into account, the better you will be able to prevent potentially overbidding – which, of course, costs the buyer more money – or underbidding – an error that could discourage a seller from further negotiations.

Lastly, try to remember that the process of ascribing value to a home is not an exact science. Each time a house is sold on the open market the sales price will represent careful negotiations between the buyer and seller, with all of the factors here taken into account by each party. Therefore, above all else, the right home should not only represent a good value when analyzing appraisals and various market factors, it should also be the best value for you and your family.

The staff at Coldwell Banker Wright Realty writes select articles about important topics related to real estate. For more information about buying a home or selling your current NH propertycall toll free 800-447-2120 or browse all of the homes in the North Conway NH real estate market. We are here to help.

Want to live longer? Move to North Conway New Hampshire!

The annual 50 state check up done jointly by the American Public Health Association, The United Health Foundation and Partnership for Prevention ranked New Hampshire #3 among the 50 states for the healthiest place to live with the nation’s smallest percentage of children living in poverty.

The #1 state was neighboring Vermont state for the second year in a row.

Check out AmericanHealthRatings.org to see how your state stacks up!

The Official North Conway NH Real Estate Website!

For more than 30 years we have served the real estate needs
of our neighbors and customers in:

Albany NH | Bartlett, NH | Brownfield Maine | Conway NH | Denmark Maine
Eaton NH | Effingham NH | Freedom NH | Fryeburg Maine | Gorham NH
Hales Location NH | Harts Location NH | Jackson NH | Madison NH
Ossipee NH | Conway NH | North Conway NH

What is a North Conway, NH GREEN Home?

A green house, also known as a sustainable building, is a structure that is designed, built, renovated, operated, or reused in an ecological and resource-efficient manner.

Green buildings are designed to meet certain objectives such as protecting occupant health; improving employee productivity; using energy, water, and other resources more efficiently; and reducing the overall impact to the environment.

What Are the Economic Benefits of Green Buildings?
A green building may cost more up front, but saves through lower operating costs over the life of the building. The green building approach applies a project life cycle cost analysis for determining the appropriate up-front expenditure.  This analytical method calculates costs over the useful life of the asset.

These and other cost savings can only be fully realized when they are incorporated at the project’s conceptual design phase with the assistance of an integrated team of professionals. The integrated systems approach ensures that the building is designed as one system rather than a collection of stand-alone systems.

Some benefits, such as improving occupant health, comfort, productivity, reducing pollution and  landfill waste are not easily quantified. Consequently, they are not adequately considered in cost analysis. For this reason, consider setting aside a small portion of the building budget to cover differential costs associated with less tangible green building benefits or to cover the cost of researching and analyzing green building options.

Even with a tight budget, many green building measures can be incorporated with minimal or zero increased up-front costs and they can yield enormousavings (Environmental Building News, 1999).

The Official North Conway NH Real Estate Website!

For more than 30 years we have served the real estate needs
of our neighbors and customers in:

Albany NH | Bartlett, NH | Brownfield Maine | Conway NH | Denmark Maine
Eaton NH | Effingham NH | Freedom NH | Fryeburg Maine | Gorham NH
Hales Location NH | Harts Location NH | Jackson NH | Madison NH
Ossipee NH | Conway NH | North Conway NH

“North Conway NH, Wright Realty” Thanks Google!

Once again, internet giant, Google has developed another application that makes searching for information fast and easy (not to mention, free!). Instead of calling any of the pay-for 411 information services, simply call Google at 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411) follow the prompts and speak your town and desired business or person to get the phone number immediately.

I checked for us under real estate in Conway NH and Google found us easily. This is a great service from the industry leaders in search technology!

Watch the video for more detailed information:

Conway NH Real Estate |  North Conway NH Real Estate |  North Conway NH Homes for Sale

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