Adult children living at home is one of the main reasons that Dave Liniger, founder of RE/MAX, cites for helping the housing market in 2012.  Ordinarily 5 million adult children between 18 and 30 years of age, live at home with their parents.  Of course this means 5 million adult children who may very well want to be not only living back on their own, but also taking advantage of great homes and housing prices in places like Lacey, Olympia, Tumwater, and areas around JBLM.  At this point in our great recession, and in the current market, there are 29 million adult children at home.  That's a lot of parents and children who would like to see the improving economy enable them to purchase a home.  There has been a marked increase in real estate activity for the last several weeks.  Low prices + low interest rates = a great time to buy (and perhaps an empty nest...again!)  :-)

In our current market, there are several things you can do to increase the appeal of your home that is for sale.

• Pricing - in addition to location, location, location, the next most important point is price.  You may have added a new kitchen, remodeled a bathroom, and changed paint colors throughout the home, but if you are priced higher than the comparable homes in your area, buyers will look for the value in the home as much as the amenities.
• Curb Appeal - many buyers drive by a home listed for sale before requesting a showing.  Walk out in front of your home to the curb and take a good look.  Does the home needs some fresh paint, trimmed bushes, or general maintenance such as mowing or in the winter --raked leaves or shoveled sidewalks?  Appearances mean a great deal to a buyer and first impressions only happen one time.
• Move in condition - it is important to look at the interior of the home for the little things.  This means making sure that light switches, appliances, doors, plumbing fixtures, and cabinet drawers all work correctly and that they are consistent with local building codes.  Small things may seem trivial but they give buyers the impression that the house isn't well maintained.
• Consider adding value to your sale - you can make your home stand out from other similar homes by adding something of value to your sale.  This can be as simple as offering a home warranty or leaving larger appliances such as washer/dryer and refrigerators.
• Clutter - throw out or file stacks of newspapers and magazines.  Pack away most of your small decorative items, and store out of season clothing to make the closets appear bigger over packing them tightly.  Consider the use of a storage unit for excess furniture in order to make the rooms appear spacious, over using the garage for storage.

Sometimes it is just the simple things that work to improve your home and create an overall impression of better value in the buyer's mind, which leads them to making an offer on your home, instead of your neightbor's down the street.  This advice is as valid for Olympia homes, Lacey homes, and Tumwater homes, as it is in any other part of the country.

Vicki

On a local perspective, your friendly RE/MAX and redballoonagent.com brokers have been observing an increase in buyers looking and making offers, and houses that are listed being sold.  In fact, the activity is more like real estate in the spring than real estate from Thanksgiving to Christmas.  Good prices, motivated sellers, and incredibly low interest rates are part of the market here in the Olympia, Lacey, Tumwater, JBLM, Fort Lewis, and Greater South Puget Sound area.

For more information about the RE/MAX national housing report, it is available on line by clicking here

Vicki

Short Sales have been in the news more and more, alongside the reports on foreclosures.  So what exactly is a short sale?  

In a short sale, the homeowner sells the house for less than the balance owed on the home, with bank approval.  This is an attractive alternative to allowing a home to go to foreclosure.  Short sales are still damaging to the homeowner's credit, but experts cite not nearly as much as a fully completed foreclosure.  The banks know, statistically, that they lose between 30 and 50 percent on the selling price, once they take possession of the home through foreclosure.  For the homeowner, a short sale is a way to get the best price for the home (and for the bank), while working to mitigate the impact on their credit.  Here at RE/MAX, and servingwateam.com, we have expertise in helping homeowners through this process, which includes recommended consultations with real estate and tax law specialists --so a homeowner is well informed and reassured that their decision to make a short sale is a good one.  There are many different aspects to the short sale process, which I can explain to you.  The only way to go wrong, is to do nothing, so if you are facing financial difficulty, or are behind in payments, let our team help you navigate the short sale process in Olympia, Lacey, Tumwater, and the South Puget Sound area.

Of course if you are interested in buying a short sale, it is just as important to have an experienced agent on your side, who knows all about the short sale process.

On the lighter side of real estate, RE/MAX is known for coming up with some very humorous videos & commercials.  Kick, where buyers sitting on the sidelines are humourously kicking themselves is one of the more entertaining videos online and for a while, on television as part of the RE/MAX commitment to be the industry leader.  A more recent viral video is RE/MAX is Wack, which leads into a rap song about the benefits of working with a RE/MAX agent.