Should We Host A Holiday Open House?

Dear Dave,

Our home is currently for sale and we are considering having an open house to showcase our home and offer some holiday treats to the neighbors.

What do you think of this idea?  We are getting frustrated and really need to get our home sold.  We need to do anything we can to make that happen.

Thank you,

Bonnie and Roger – Grand Junction, CO

---

Bonnie and Roger,

Oh, I know how you feel.  This is a common seller response when the showings get further and further apart and old man winter is bearing down on us.  Desperate times call for desperate measures, right?   Not so fast…..  Remember, this can be a hard time of year for home sales.  Statistically speaking the two month period from the middle of December to the middle of February are the two slowest months of the year….almost every year.  This is not to say that homes don’t sell during this time - they do, but in far fewer numbers than during the spring, summer and fall seasons.  Showing traffic can be slow and contracts can be hard to generate and frustrations can begin running high. 

In the real estate business we are competing for people’s time and attention year-round, but this time of year it is especially difficult.  Right now everyone’s time and attention is consumed by so many things - seasonal parties, school performances, kids sporting events, family get-togethers and Christmas shopping make it very difficult to find time to shop for a new home.  The silver lining is that buyers who are home shopping are generally serious and are not just kicking the tires.  Also, generally speaking, there are fewer homes for sale so every showing counts!

 I, personally, am not a big believer in open houses as a tool to actually sell homes.  Open houses are a very useful tool for meeting new customers and introducing them to your services and company, however, they rarely result in a buyer for the home being held open!  They do provide the seller some visual evidence that something is being done to sell their home and sometimes that is important enough to warrant an open house.  Especially during this time of year, I would suggest you trust that your agent has a marketing plan in place that is reaching the buyers who are shopping for a new home.  Lean on their marketing plan and expertise, not on an open house as a desperate effort to sell your home.  

I know the sale of your home is important, very important, but sometimes, patience is what is needed and this time of year patience is key.  For your own sanity, this is not the season to get desperate and wrapped around the axle.  I suggest taking a deep breath and enjoying the blessings of the next thirty days.  Focus on friends and family and enjoy the Christmas season.  If your home sells, chalk it up to your agent’s good marketing plan and finding the right buyer. If your home does not sell, I suggest meeting with your agent in the middle of January and adjusting your game plan to get the job done as the market pulls out of the Holiday Hangover.  Hang in there.  You will get it done, however right now may not be the time to pull out all the stops.

Dave Kimbrough

The Kimbrough Team  

Should We Decorate Our Home For Sale For Christmas?

Dear Dave,

We have had our home on the market since the beginning of October.  Now that the holidays are upon us, we would really like to be able to decorate for the holidays – but we don’t want to scare away potential buyers.  We would typically set up a couple of holiday blow-ups in our yard, as well as decorate our house with Christmas lights – our kids just love this.  Do you think that is too much?  What do you recommend when someone is trying to sell their home during the holiday season?

Thanks in advance and Merry Christmas!

Jack and Linda, Fruita, CO

---

Jack and Linda,

I say, decorate and enjoy the holidays.  In my opinion a home never feels more like a home than it does during the Thanksgiving and Christmas season.  I don’t believe you will scare anyone away, but remember to decorate tastefully and try to err on the side of too little rather than too much.  Believe me, if you kids love the way you decorate the likelihood is the families that come to look at your home during the holidays will love it also. 

Remember that buying a home is still very much a “feel” thing for most buyers and the more senses you get involved and the more “like a home” you make your home feel the better off you are.  I can tell you that more often than not, when a buyer gets a feel about a home and they can picture themselves or their family living there, your chances of them making an offer go up significantly.  Also, don’t be afraid to bake some cookies, pies, a cake or at the least light a candle that plays up the season.  Also note that a little Christmas music will not hurt your cause either.  We purchased our cinnamon pine cones this weekend for less than 5 bucks and they smell wonderful.  This is the greatest time of year to have fun and get immersed in the season, enjoy it because it will be gone too soon.

The key take away here is tasteful and not overdone, yet have fun and enjoy the season.  The spirit of the holidays is contagious and my bet is someone will catch the spirit at your house this season.  Have a wonderful Christmas and don’t be shocked when your home sells because it looks so good!

Dave Kimbrough

The Kimbrough Team

After Touring The Parade of Homes, We Want To Build!

Dave,

My husband and I are in a predicament—we have been thinking of moving for a few years. We've been poking around on Zillow to see what’s available and if anything sparks our interest. We weren't having any luck, but then we attended the Parade of Homes this fall. We fell in love with one of the homes on tour. The only problem is it was out of our price range. Our Realtor has shown us a few houses since then, but we can’t stop thinking about how perfect that home is for us! We need your help making a game plan. What would be better in our current market?

Option One: Stay in our current home, and strive to save a large enough down payment so we can afford to build that same house?

Option Two: Sell our home, use the equity to purchase a house in the next price range up, live in it a few years to build more equity, and then make the jump to build our dream home?

We need your help! Thank you in advance!

Laura and Adam, Grand Junction

---

Laura and Adam,

Oh my, you have what one of my friends calls the “want its” and once you get a case of the “want its” it is very hard to rid of it.  The “want its” show up when you are most unsuspecting and innocently looking at something that you may or may not really need.  While you are looking, something inside taps you on the shoulder and plants the seed of “I want that” and that is when the real trouble begins.  We have all had this disease so there is no shame in acknowledging you have it, its what you do to get rid of it that separates the men from the boys!  All kidding aside, you really do have a problem and it will take self-control and discipline to put it in the rearview mirror.   

I can tell from your question you guys are not the type to make a rash decision as both of your options are very reasonable and show financial discipline and the development of a realistic plan for the future.  There are a lot of things to consider, but option one sure sounds like it might be the best play especially when you consider that there are costs in both buying and selling that you can only incur once if you don’t do option two.  Each time you sell it will cost you on average of 6-7% and each time you buy it will cost you 1-2% and this does not include any soft costs associated with both.  Considering these costs, if you are selling $250,000 and purchasing $400,000 you will spend at least $25,000 to buy and sell.  If you don’t buy and sell in between the “dream house” then you will automatically be that much closer to your goal.  Clearly you will eventually have to sell this home and purchase the “dream home” but it illustrates that doing it twice will likely just add time to achieving the desired dream home! 

 I would also take into consideration that option one is the safer play against any economic upheaval that potentially exists during the next year or two while we grind through what is sure to be a messy presidential election cycle with plenty of potential clouds on the horizon.  I personally believe our area will remain strong over the next several years, however choice two would serve as a bit of a hedge against any potential unforeseen downturns.   

Option two might also be the right choice, especially if you are outgrowing your existing home, have had a shift in needs that your existing home does not fulfill or are just plain sick of where you live!  I am always a proponent of your home being ones “happy place” and if you are just not happy where you currently live, then option two would certainly be a more appealing choice, as I have often said “it’s not always about the money.”  My vote, on face value of your question, would be to strongly consider choice one and work hard to put the “want its” on the back burner and work hard to keep it at bay for as long as possible.  I honestly believe you will make it work regardless of your choice, as both are very reasonable and the outcome of most every decision is determined by what you make of it!  Good luck!

Dave Kimbrough

The Kimbrough Team

How do we build a home today that's easy to sell in 10yrs?

Dave,

We have purchased a lot and are beginning the process of designing our home. We are planning on being there for a minimum of 10 years, but want our design to not only fit our lifestyle and needs, but also be a design that will readily sell when that time comes. We have seen so many homes that probably fit the owner’s needs, but were built so specifically that they are hard to sell to another owner. In order to create the best design possible, what trends are you seeing in the housing markets, i.e., smaller vs larger, price ange, 3 car garages, solar systems, energy efficiency, xeriscape, ranch vs two story, RV parking, etc.. Your input is appreciated. 

Jim and Jerry, Grand Junction

---

Jim and Jerry,

What an exciting time, having a new home designed and built can be a wonderful experience and a very exciting time. I will also add that it is a labor of love that can be stressful and overwhelming, but the reward at the end will ultimately be worth the effort! This is a great question, because I too have seen many homes that were designed so specifically for the owner that it makes them very difficult to sell when the time arrives for you to move on. Building your new home with the forethought of implementing features that other home buyers will find attractive is a great idea and should save you some of the heartache of selling in the future. That being said, also understand that what buyers desire now, can certainly change. Many of the things I will recommend will be what I believe to be timeless features that buyers will still want 10 years from now.

There is no doubt that buyers are trending towards smaller homes, the days of the 5000 square foot home are not over, but certainly buyers today are willing to sacrifice some square foot space to keep the purchase price down. It has been said many times before, but it is true, some homes that are 2000 square feet live like they are 2400 square feet and some live like 1700. It all comes down to a livable floor plan that is space conscious and efficient. Open floor plans generally live much larger than more traditional / compartmentalized floor plans. As far as price is concerned, you should really stay towards the lower to middle end of your neighborhood price ranges. Homes near the middle to lower end of the neighborhood price points generally lose less when the market shifts down and gain more when the market moves up, being the highest priced home in the neighborhood or area is not always the best play for long term investment and year over year appreciation. I hope that makes sense. Definitely go with a 3 car garage, as most buyers need, or want, as much garage space as possible. As a society we all have way more “stuff” than we need and instead of recycling we tend to store, thus the huge boom in rental storage units over the past 20 years. A 3 car garage, I believe is a timeless, feature that will benefit you when you decide to sell. RV parking can also be a big selling feature, as we live in Western Colorado and many people have ATV’s, boats, campers, rafts, sport vehicles etc.. and love having a place to park them on their property. Buyers here value their personal time and spending time at play and do not like having to store these items off property..

Energy efficiency is no longer a feature that is “coming” it is a feature that is here and here to stay. Building your home in an energy efficient manor is very important and will become increasingly important as building codes and buyers expectations change as time move forward. Energy Star Ratings will become more and more important and 10 years from now I believe buyers will really see energy efficiency as a big “value add” vs. homes that are not as energy efficient. Going green is here to stay and while it is not a “must” now, it may very well be by the time you go to sell. Low maintenance is good, but complete xerisacpe can narrow your buyer pool extensively. I maintain the recommendation to still have an area of grass that will allow kids, grand children, or pets to have an outside area to play or “do their business”. (pets, hopefully not the kids, but to each their own!) Professional landscaping can make a big difference in a homes value, so do not skimp or go “cheap”.

Lastly, go ranch style if you can. Going with a ranch style home will keep your buyer pool wide and deep and not cut out those buyers who do not want to deal with stairs. Ranchers almost always command more money and sell more readily than two story homes. Stairs can be a killer for some buyers and you want your buyer pool to be as big as possible. I hope this helps a little with your design, but it would appear that you are going about the design process the right way. Also, make sure to discuss these things with your builder or designer as they will have very valuable input on what sells and what sits!

Dave Kimbrough

The Kimbrough Team

Do we need an inspection on a new construction home?

Dave,

My wife and I are currently building a house and wonder if we need to get a home inspection even though the home will be new? We don’t want to spend money if it isn’t necessary, but also want to make sure we go through every process correctly. If we do need an inspection, at what point in the building process should we have it done?

Thanks, Josh—Grand Junction

---

Josh,

Yes. It is my recommendation that you always get an inspection (especially if the home you are purchasing is NOT new), but I will say that if there is one scenario where it might be o.k. to skip the home inspection it would be in the case of new construction. You have to remember that any new home has been inspected over and over and those inspections have also been inspected. To put it mildly any new construction project has been meticulously inspected from the foundation up and this ensures that each new building has been built to local building codes and is structurally sound and mechanically safe. These inspections catch most mistakes along the way and thus limit the real effectiveness of a new home inspection for anything but minor/cosmetic items. 

A home inspection will cost somewhere between $300 - $450 and my experience is that very few substantive items are discovered on new construction home inspections. Generally items that are discovered are VERY minor, but there have been times where something more significant was found and needed to be corrected. I will also point out that virtually every one of those more significant items would have presented themselves in short order without the home inspection.  From a timing perspective, you should consider the home inspection sometime around the CO, Certificate of Occupancy. If you use this time frame, you can be confident that the home will be mostly complete and all that is left will be mostly cosmetic issues. This is also a good time to do the inspection as any items identified can just be added to the builders punch list to complete prior to close. Although there are no guarantees with getting any home inspection, they do provide some surface level peace of mind. Also remember that every builder will provide at least a 1 year home warranty for your entire home and most of them are willing to help even after that one year if the problem proves to be a material or workmanship issue. 

Ultimately what an inspection on a new home provides is some insurance that there are no major problems with the quality of construction, workmanship or mechanical systems. You have to ask yourself if the peace of mind is worth the cost? I can say that I have not seen a home inspector yet that is as qualified as the general contractor you hired to build your home and the inspections your home goes through prior to getting its certificate of occupancy have been extensive and complete. It is a call you must make, but it is completely understandable if you skip the home inspector on a brand new home!  Hope this helps and hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Dave Kimbrough
The Kimbrough Team