Category Archives: Highlands, NC Real Estate

Highlands Listing Author Reviews Listing Language Critique

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Anyone who creates listings can’t help but be drawn to critiques of real estate writing. There aren’t a whole lot of those to be drawn to, so when a respected national media titan like The Wall Street Journal comes up with an essay on real estate listing language, this is one Highlands listing writer who considers it a must-read.

The poetic analysis in question appeared just last week. From the outset, it presented itself as a less than flattering critique: “Real-Estate Pros Pen Purple Prose” was the headline—with an explanatory blurb to the effect that higher-priced real estate listing lingo tends to get a little bit flowery. Never mind that the Journal put a hyphen between ‘real’ and ‘estate’—this was clearly going to be an authoritative commentary!

Bottom line: astronomical listing prices get more poetic language. In some cases, extremely poetic:

“Majestically poised along the shimmering Gulf of Mexico” was the first example quoted, for an $11 million beach home listing. The critic didn’t bother pointing out that ‘poised’ indicates that there is at least a possibility that the beach home will eventually topple into the shimmering Gulf of Mexico. Instead, the point was that the example 222-word listing includes such lyrical descriptions as the ‘unique harmony’ of this ‘haven of serenity’ suitable for ‘undisturbed reflection’ (we are left to imagine how undisturbed the serenity will be once the place pitches into the Gulf).

Unlike most literary commentators, the Journal’s critic relied on science and mathematics to underscore the evaluation. The Gulf house listing, for instance, registers at the “12th-grade reading level based on the Flesch-Kincaid scale.” (Who ever heard of that?) Mathematically, an analysis of recent samples of 1,000 listings found that the language used differed greatly depending on the listing price. For homes priced below $750,000, there were 13 words in an average sentence. Above $10 million: 18 words per sentence. Average syllables per word? $750,000 and below: 1.55. High end? 1.7 syllables. Average characters per word? –well, you get the idea!

As someone who is more than peripherally involved (there’s a 5-syllable one right there!) in creating Highlands listing prose, I feel I really should point out that the number of words per sentence, characters per word, etc., really isn’t what makes an effective listing. It needs to be attention-getting, quick and easy to read (prospects don’t dawdle over listing language, most of them scan quickly), positive—and accurate! When a buyer is attracted enough to request a property showing, it better live up to the prose (purple or not).

In case you were wondering, this blog registers a solid 8.9 on the Flesch-Kincaid. But in case you are soon to need a level-headed real estate agent to create an appealing Highlands listing that describes your own home in a way that pulls in buyers, you can call anytime!

Every Open House in Highlands is its Own Unique Special Event

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If you are planning for your own open house in Highlands, you won’t have much trouble finding good advice. Here’s a quick list of what you’ll find:

⦁ Don’t leave your pet behind
⦁ Don’t forget the yard
⦁ If you’re not confident in your house cleaning ability, trust that instinct (hire a pro)!
⦁ It’s the kitchen, stupid (really: don’t leave dirty dishes in the sink)
⦁ Clear out the medicine cabinet
⦁ Fresh bath towels
These are all sound pieces of advice­­ (although the medicine cabinet one should be more comprehensive: any valuable items should also be packed away). It’s why you’ll find some variation of those pointers on just about everyone’s ‘Top Ten Tips for Holding an Open House.’

There are also some open house tips that may not apply to every Highlands open house, but which deserve to be in the running anyway. One good idea syncs with the last bullet point: white-out the bathroom. Instead of just seeing that the towels are fresh, use fluffy white ones that you only bring out for your open house or other showing. White and fluffy = fresh and bright to most people. If your Highlands home has a shower curtain, consider whether replacing it with a white one might be worth the effort as well.

Another tip is to turn on every lamp, flip every switch, check every faucet, flush every toilet. Picture a house visit that’s going really well—then is interrupted when a switch doesn’t work or a faucet leak can’t be stopped. Every agent knows what happens: they flip the switch back and forth three or four times (or use both hands trying to turn the faucet)—and the conversation is immediately derailed while they fiddle with the single tiny mishap. Those kinds of events plant doubt in anyone’s mind: it’s unreasonable, but human nature. As a side corollary, don’t run your facility check five minutes before the open house begins. A failed overhead light means hunting down a ladder, finding a replacement bulb, etc.; a faucet leak or running toilet, much longer to fix.

An extra tip is to give the floors special attention. If you have taken good care of beautiful floors by protecting them with throw and area rugs, unless they are themselves showpieces, you’ll probably do well to roll them up temporarily. Wide areas of open hardwood flooring can be a real selling point.

Every Highlands open house and showing appointment is its own special event—one that that calls for some preparations that are unique to your property. I can help with this: being able to call upon experienced ‘eyes on the target’ is one of the benefits my clients are able to rely on. Call me!

Homing in On Highlands Rental Investment Opportunities

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It’s a good thing that the human body is constructed the way it is, which is to make it difficult to do any real damage by kicking yourself. Particularly after many of us recall quite clearly how incredibly low Highlands prices dived during the last decade’s real estate meltdown. When you see the bounce back the intervening years have brought, if you are at all investment-minded, you want to at least smack your forehead…

The good news isn’t just that the rebound looks to be progressing still, but that in the realm of Highlands rental investments, the wished-for growth in underlying value of any investment property may be only half the goal. There is also the ongoing cash-generation to consider.

If you were to set out to search for a property to become one of the Highlands rental investment income producers, one place to start out is to think about a two-part qualifying question:

Part 1: will you be actively managing the rental investment property? Realistically, do you have the time and inclination to do so? As a true investment rather than a sideline avocation, the answer to that question should take into account what your time is worth elsewhere. Whether you are a fully-engaged professional or a massively-overstressed soccer mom (or, heaven forbid, both!), the cost of hiring a professional management firm might be the better choice. Zillow notes a starting point for estimating management services at around 6%-8% of the rent number (which may or may not include services like re-leasing services).

The answer to that Part 1 consideration will give you a firm basis for estimating the answer to Part 2: What is the price range of the properties you should consider. Managing the rental yourself will increase the bottom line, but that’s only one of your rental’s operating expenses. The complete operating budget will include maintenance (generally ballparked at 1% per year of the property’s value), insurance, taxes, and any HOA and gardening fees.

The next step is to investigate what the income stream is likely to be. The local classifieds will show what comparable Highlands rentals are going for. There are also a number of online information sources like Rentometer, craigslist, Zillow and Trulia that should supply a good approximation of today’s market. Once you find where those rates stand, you’ll be able to pencil out the cash-generating potential of candidate property.

At every step of the way—from first looks at the many promising Highlands rental investment properties, to introductions to the kind of reliable local tradespeople who make a landlord’s life easier—I offer my clients fully-engaged service and advice. Give me a call!

Coming Decision Could Affect Highlands Mortgage Interest Rates

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It’s really as simple as this: when Highlands mortgage interest rates are low, good things happen in Highlands real estate. And last week, when The Washington Post commented on the news coming out of Washington, it indicated exactly that. “Mortgage rates fall for the third week in a row” was the headline summarizing the latest data from Freddie Mac. It was good news—but there were also new grounds to wonder how long it was going to last.

One of the key reasons for the strength of Highlands’s residential market has been shown in the ‘affordability’ index, which gives a numerical answer to the question every prospective local home buyer understands: can I afford it? The index uses a number of economic factors to come up with the answer to whether typical families can afford the monthly cost of a typical home. Of course, it all revolves around what that monthly cost actually is. For local buyers, that cost rises and falls along with Highlands interest rates.

So the latest figures once again signaled smooth sailing. Nationally, Freddie Mac reported that the 30-year fixed-rate average had ‘slipped’ to 3.93%. Anything less than 4% is, in historical terms, really low. As homeowners who were around at the start of the 1980s will tell you, when mortgage interest rates climb into double digits, the monthly payment amounts grow so steep the whole market is hamstrung (in 1981 and 1982, mortgage interest rates averaged north of 16%!)

That’s the reason why anyone who is even beginning to lay plans to buy or sell knows their budget will be affected by the direction Highlands interest rates head. Consulting expert opinion hasn’t helped much over past few years, either. Most seers have been predicting a rise in rates for quite a while. They’ve been consistent (in being wrong).

Nevertheless, at the end of last week it looked increasingly likely that their expectations might finally be met—and soon. Federal Reserve’s Chairman Yellin has been issuing statements that indicate a bias toward raising Fed rates, if the economy can sustain them. On Friday, the latest labor reports were widely hailed as indicating the kind of strength that she had been talking about. The year’s final Fed meeting will take place on December 15-16. If they do raise the benchmark federal funds rate, Highlands mortgage interest rates will certainly follow. The real question on both fronts was how much…

When you decide to buy or sell a home, Highlands mortgage factors are important, yes—but they are only some of many considerations. One factor that won’t change is that I will be standing by, ready to help on all fronts!

Mathematical Formula for a Highlands ‘For Sale by Owner’ Sign

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If you go down to any Highlands hardware store, you’ll be able to find them. They are right there in the corner, somewhere on the rack that has all the ‘GARAGE SALE’ and ‘BEWARE OF DOG’ placards. They’re the ‘FOR SALE BY OWNER’ signs.

They cost about $8.99 ($17.98 for two). Or, it is also possible to buy a couple of “For Sale by Owner” signs online for about the same price (although getting them delivered to Highlands might run extra).

No matter which way you would get hold of the signs, you should be alerted to some possible extra costs. I don’t mean ‘shipping and handling’ charges you sometimes find tacked onto other offers. These are extras that have cost other sign purchasers thousands of dollars.

Naturally, anyone who buys a ‘For Sale by Owner’ sign has decided to sell their Highlands house on their own rather than going with the crowd and listing through a Highlands Realtor®.

The sign purchaser has probably made that decision for one of two reasons. The first is the less likely—namely, being convinced that he or she will do a better job. Selling your house without the specialized tools—the marketing connections, office backup, support of the professional real estate community—lacks most of the appeal of other Do-It-Yourself projects. Even just handling the technical details (hmmmm…where am I going to put the deposit money so it’s in escrow—or whatever they call it…).

The second reason is much more likely: saving commission dollars! Just thinking about the car you could buy with the savings makes for an appealing daydream…until you remember that you will probably have to pay half of the intended savings to the buyer’s agent. Maybe it’s a used car you could buy…after you’ve paid to post the listing; bought media advertising; maybe printed up some full color marketing materials…

But those aren’t the most crucial ‘extra’ costs associated with those ‘For Sale by Owner’ signs. The extras are head-turning. The latest figures from the NAR show that the ultimate price paid for a FSBO home was $39,000 less than for agent-assisted sales (which typically sold for 98% of their listing prices). The reasons may be many—the most frequently cited being that real estate professionals are experts in attracting qualified buyers. It is, after all, what we do!

So the all-in cost for a couple of ‘For Sale by Owner’ signs could be calculated using a whimsical formula like:

FSBO Cost = 2 x $8.99 + Y

Where Y=a total unknown, but it well might be as much or more that the cost of the car the sign buyer had been hoping to save.

More seriously, though, only 8% of U.S. homes wind up being sold by owners acting alone. Something like 70% of homeowners who tried to sell their homes themselves eventually go with an agent. Then their outlay for ‘For Sale by Owner’ signs is a 100% loss (the hardware store won’t pay anything for the used ones). The good news is, you can avoid all those costs—hidden and otherwise. Just call me: I’ll provide the signs!

Resilient Highlands Housing Prices Do Not a ‘Bubble’ Make!

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The possibility that a Highlands real estate bubble might be forming again is a subject that draws everybody’s attention. For all of us who went through the subprime mortgage mess and drop-off in Highlands real estate prices, the possibility that the current ongoing rebound might be evidence of another price bubble is a matter of serious concern. For anyone who bought their home near the 2006 peak—then had to wait for a decade before its nominal market value returned—it was an unpleasant interlude. Even if any ‘loss’ was actually only a paper abstraction, “My nerves!” could have been rattled aplenty.

Whether you are a first-time homebuyer or someone who is plotting out the move to a next house, the main deciding factor will probably be simple necessity. First-timers will do the math and deduce that it’s simply too costly to continue renting. Existing homeowners will be motivated by the need for more living space (or less)—or see a financial path that makes possible a move to a more desirable neighborhood or school district. But hanging over such major factors are the uncontrollable surrounding conditions, like the national and world economies. And the presence—or absence—of a real estate bubble.

Last week came an examination of the real estate rebound that at first looked like bad news, but actually convincingly scotched any Highlands real estate bubble concerns…at least for the next 17 years. It appeared as an entry in The Wall Street Journal’s economics blog, wherein the author examined national measures of home prices (the S&P/Case-Shiller Index, NAR existing home sales report, CoreLogic’s Home Price Index) all of which pointed to the fact that “Home prices have been growing at a rate that some see as alarming…”

Why any such alarm bells needn’t be sounding for a while is due to a simple fact. Yes, home prices may indeed be nearing or surpassing peak levels touched in early 2007; but, No—that does not a bubble make.

The reason: those steadily-rising price numbers don’t take inflation into account.

Now, most everyone would agree that although inflation is an ever-present fact of life, lately it has been so tame as to be barely perceptible. The rise in supermarket prices may have been noticeable on some aisles, but lately, more than offset by falling energy prices. However, the cumulative effect of 10 years of inflation, tame or not, can make a big difference. Today’s dollars aren’t what they used to be. In fact, when inflation is taken into account, at the current rate of residential price appreciation, it will be 17 years before the old real estate ‘bubble’ levels are equaled.

So as a practical matter, fears that a new Highlands real estate bubble is being inflated seem to be overinflated…because they aren’t inflated…(well, you know what I mean)! As prices continue to strengthen at sustainable rates, the truth is, you can find a lot of good values on the Highlands market. Give me a call to discuss investigating what’s out there!

A Place Where Home Asking Prices “Have No Shame”

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I’ll admit it: the tease was irresistible. There was no good reason why I should take the time to read on, even though it was near the top of the Wall Street Journal’s Real Estate section. This was not likely to be the kind of relevant background information that would be useful in my daily Highlands real estate dealings.

But the tease was not something I could just skim past and forget. The words were dangling there on the screen; almost a dare:

“Where Home Prices Start at $115 Million.”

It wasn’t just the $115,000,000 home price that aroused curiosity. After all, this was the WSJ Real Estate section—where there are almost always stories about properties somewhere or other in the world with asking prices that numb the mind. It was the idea that there could actually be anywhere on Planet Earth where home prices start north of one hundred million!

Think of what the comparables reports would look like!

Now, I was fairly certain the answer wouldn’t be Highlands—home prices here tend to be considerably more modest. But the way the tease was worded, it seemed likely they were talking about somewhere in the U.S., because the home prices were in dollars. A whole lot of dollars.

Before clicking on the READ MORE box, I tried to guess the answer. Somewhere in Silicon Valley? Downtown Manhattan? Connecticut? Palm Beach? None of these seemed likely, if I recalled earlier articles about the haunts of the famous and newly down-and-out who are having to give up their mansions (often because they are scraping the bottom of the barrel, down to their last $10 million). Those estates usually have home prices in the $ single million range. I decided there must be some gimmick, wherever it was.

So I gave up and clicked:

Los Angeles.

Bel Air, to be precise—“in a new development.” And the gimmick is that this is a three-home development, “The Park Bel Air.” And it seems that none of the homes are actually built yet. These are spec homes in an 11-acre development “currently under construction.” Asking home prices do start at $115 million “and go up to $160 million, with upgrades and custom furnishings.”

I spent a minimum of time musing over what kind of upgrades would bring in the extra $35 million, and skipped down to the part where, elsewhere in the L.A. area, there is a spec home with an “unprecedented” asking price of over $500 million. The head of a New York-based appraisal firm was quoted as saying, “It’s almost as if there is no shame in wildly overpricing a listing anymore.” And down there near the very end, the article admits that there is only one thing missing from the phenomenon. Buyers.

This December’s Highlands home prices are certainly bargains—particularly when compared with The Park Bel Air’s. There are other advantages, too: they are actual homes that are already actually built, instead of just planned. Give me a call: we can actually go visit them!

Recalling the First Thanksgiving—and a Notorious Lamb

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11-25-thanksgivingIt turns out that there is a connection between Highlands’s Thanksgiving celebration and a notorious lamb—but it’s historical rather than culinary.

The early history includes tale of one uncanny happening that befell the Pilgrims when they went ashore in in the spring of 1621. They had reached the New World the previous November because of a delayed departure, and the early onset of a harsher winter than expected had given them no chance to establish their settlement. They spent that long, miserable winter in the cramped confines of the tiny Mayflower. Illness and near-starvation followed…

By the time spring arrived, nearly half of the settlers and crew had perished. It was shortly afterward that a native stepped out of the forest and the uncanny happening ensued. Rather than fleeing, he raised his hand and greeted them.

In English.

He may not have said, “What up, bro?”—but it’s certain that this must have been low on the list of anything the astonished Pilgrims could have expected. Later, the famous native Squanto showed up to explain in detail. He had been kidnapped by slavers years before, taken to Europe, escaped, and eventually returned, where he had shared his adventures (and the odd language of London).

It turned out to be the beginning of a beautiful relationship. Squanto instructed the settlers in how to grow corn (which probably saved their lives). At any rate, to the pious Pilgrims, it’s small wonder that by the time of the first Thanksgiving celebration, what had at first seemed “a hideous and desolate wilderness” had been transformed into bounteous proof of “the loving God” they had traveled so far to worship in peace.

Today’s Highlands family Thanksgiving celebration may now include football (and we now substitute turkey for the eagle and swan that prevailed back then), but the core of Thanksgiving—gratitude—remains. The connection with the lamb happened centuries later.

A young girl named Mary Sawyer had a pet lamb, and one day her brother urged her to take it to her one-room schoolhouse. A visiting college student was an onlooker, and wrote a few lines of a rhyme memorializing the giggling uproar that resulted. The poem survived, and was appended with another stanza by the poet and editor Sarah Josepha Hale. The schoolhouse was purchased by Henry Ford, who moved it to its current location in Sudbury, Massachusetts. The poem was immortalized by Thomas Edison, who recited it as the first demonstration of his new invention, the phonograph. Of course, it’s ‘Mary had a Little Lamb.’

The connection with Highlands’s Thanksgiving is due to Ms. Hale, because it was she who was responsible for the campaign that turned a pious local New England tradition into the national holiday we in Highlands celebrate every year. She’d had to petition four Presidents before Lincoln finally gave in. Also an accomplished educator (she helped found Vassar College), still remembered for her optimism and faith, added an explanatory final stanza to the poem:

“Why does the lamb love Mary so?”
The eager children cry.
“Why Mary loves the lamb, you know.”
The teacher did reply.

You can be sure the Pilgrims would have understood!

For Highlands Homes for Sale, Some Feature Plusses May be Minuses

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There are many generalizations that can be truly instructive for homeowners with Highlands homes for sale. The undeniable importance of “location, location, location!” is a good one; de-clutter! as a main order of business is another…as is the wisdom of researching neighborhood comparables.

Anybody with homes for sale in Highlands can usually visit the National Association of Realtors® website for useful nuggets of that kind of information. However, one article that appeared there last week seemed to me to be less than real estate gospel—although it was thought-provoking. It dealt with features that might make some homes for sale harder to sell; features that most people might assume would improve rather than curtail a home’s appeal.

The article named seven otherwise “awesome” features that the author, Jamie Wiebe, thought belonged in that category.

First was a school next door, for the main reason that traffic tie-ups deter many buyers. That’s a pretty common complaint, yet even the author had to admit that younger buyers might see the advantage of having school within walking distance. This one is a tossup—but having school a block or two away would have to be a plus!

Next came middle-of-the-action location, meaning homes for sale on busy streets, because while “you might be intrigued by the activity,” future buyers might not. That’s true of any home for sale and any feature, of course; but it’s probably true that there is some degree of risk that the current popularity of being able to walk to frequent destinations (rather than drive or use public transportation) might fade over time.

More possible minuses were assigned to multistory homes for sale (which might be avoided by older prospects shunning stairs); big backyards and small backyards (fear of yardwork for the former, lack of privacy for the latter); a swimming pool (admittedly, a must in warm climates); and tile flooring (difficult to remove). That last one is where local readers with Highlands homes for sale might realize that citing these ‘drawbacks’ is not a uniformly useful exercise, since potential buyers who appreciate the beauty and easy maintenance of tile flooring might not be giving much weight to how difficult it is to remove. And come to think of it, people who garden might actually be willing to pay more for homes with big backyards! Just as people who hate mowing might…etc.

But we shouldn’t be too critical of the author’s approach. It’s always a good idea to consider the pros and cons of how a property will be greeted by the public. And the seventh feature is one I think every Highlands real estate professional will agree is questionable: over-the-top renovations. The risk of striking some prospective buyers as ostentatious is possible, but the higher probability is of pricing yourself out of the market.

Part of what I offer is marketing that emphasizes a property’s most marketable features in an unarguably positive light. Give me a call if you are interested in going over how your own home is likely to fare in today’s fall market!

Highlands Real Estate Observers Greeted with Multiple Surges

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If you are a Highlands real estate observer, last week was the time of month when you typically look for the major data releases which detail how residential sales and prices performed in the previous month. Highlands observers weren’t disappointed: last Tuesday, the key National Association of Realtors® report came in right on schedule, with national media interpretations appearing close on its heels.

The NAR decreed that September’s existing-home sales numbers, which showed a 4.7% increase from the month before, indicated a resumption of the momentum that had momentarily faltered. The seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5,550,000 completed transactions was hailed as a strong rebound, marking the twelfth consecutive month of year-over-year increases.

Realty Today agreed that the “more than expected” sales pace “suggests that the housing market continues to show strength compared to the rest of the economy.” In fact, the increase did contradict expectations from some observers. Their school of thought had been based on the common sense conclusion that if residential real estate price rises continue to outpace wage growth—as it has—the pace of sales would certainly slow. That prediction ran head-on into these latest figures. So much for common sense.

The financial press, which views real estate news from their own perspective, had a slightly different take—one that was equally positive. “Good news abounds,” wrote CNN Money. “After years of flunking, the American housing market finally merits a B+ grade.” The financial publication’s ebullience was based on data which indicated that building activity was picking up “at the fastest pace since the recession.” That meant that the real estate sector had turned an important corner, with “the housing market…finally starting to be a real boost to the U.S. economy—and stock market—instead of a drag.”

The Wall Street Journal gave Highlands real estate watchers an even more upbeat takeaway—going so far as to apply the rarely-invoked ‘surge’ word…twice! “U.S. Existing Home Sales Surge in September,” greeted WSJ readers on Wednesday. It was “a big increase” that put the real estate “market back on track for its strongest year since 2007.” Elsewhere, over the picture of a North Dakota roofer hard at work, another headline blared, “Home Construction Rebounds Amid Surge in Multifamily Units.” With all that ‘surging’ going on everywhere, Highlands readers might have begun to worry about keeping their balance…

But they needn’t have worried—economic writers wouldn’t be performing as expected if they didn’t include at least some hand-wringing. The Journal didn’t disappoint on that score, either. They found one economist, Richard Moody, who complied. “I have this list of things that worry me about how we can sustain this,” he fretted.

If you are a current or prospective Highlands homeowner, national real estate performance is of more than passing interest. I’m here to help you transform your own personal Highlands real estate projections into real performance!