Selling your home Archives » Larry & Kathy Reichle

Upscale Kitchen Features That Can Boost A Home’s Value

November 17, 2021 by Kathy Reichle Leave a Comment

Between preparing to host family and friends for Thanksgiving and making gift lists and checking them twice, the whirlwind of activities during the busy holiday season can feel more like a blast of arctic air than a hint of festive cheer.

Kitchens are put through the ultimate stress test on Thanksgiving, with every appliance and inch of countertop space pushed to the limit. However, certain kitchen features are not only better equipped to handle the pressures of entertaining a crowd, they could increase a home’s sale price when it comes time to move.

Steam oven: Of the more than 220 features or design elements Zillow researched, steam ovens topped the 2021 list of home features that sell. When this trendy appliance is mentioned in listing descriptions, those homes can sell for 4.9% more than similar homes without one.

“Steam — usually combined with convection — fuels a powerful cooking appliance that can enhance a kitchen designed for wellness,” says Jamie Gold, author of Wellness by Design. “A combi-steam oven offers health benefits and functionality. It cooks food with reduced fat and better-preserved nutrients, and allows home cooks to multitask and get food on the table quickly. This popular appliance type will perfectly cook protein, vegetable sides and pie at the same time.”

Butcher block: This is the only countertop material that can also serve as a cutting surface, which comes in handy when cooking for a crowd. Buyers snap up homes that include butcher block in their listing descriptions nearly four days faster and for 2.7% more than expected.

Smart appliances: Tech-connected kitchen appliances allow cooks to control everything from their grocery list to a dish’s cooking time, all from their phone or tablet. Smart refrigerators can send homeowners a text message to let them know they have run out of milk, while smart ovens can monitor how the turkey is cooking and automatically shift to warming mode when it’s done.

When it’s time to move, homes with smart appliances can sell for 3% more than expected.

Quartz: Homes with this durable countertop material can sell for 3.2% more than expected, and for good reason, according to Gold.

“Quartz, also called engineered stone, offers a low-maintenance kitchen work surface ideal for busy households and Thanksgiving meal prep,” Gold explained. “This countertop material has grown in popularity for its heat, stain and scratch resistance, and for increasingly realistic stone looks. Quartz’s nonporous properties make it an ideal surface when handling raw turkey or eggs, because it won’t harbor bacteria.”

Dual-fuel range: This stove offers the best of both worlds for home cooks with a gas cooktop and an electric oven. Electric ovens can offer more consistent results for baking, ensuring the Thanksgiving mac and cheese or pumpkin pie is evenly browned. A gas cooktop heats quickly and offers more precise temperature control for cooking cranberry sauce and gravy.

Home buyers also eat up this feature, and can spend 2.2% more on properties that include mention of a dual-fuel range in their listing descriptions.

Wine fridge: Extra beverage storage is always helpful when serving a crowd, and a wine fridge can chill much more than just wine. Plus, homes with this useful feature can sell for 1.7% more and nearly two days faster than expected.

Pot filler: A pot filler installed over a cooktop or range swings out from the wall and extends over a pot, making it easy to fill when preparing to cook pasta or boil potatoes, saving cooks the trouble of carrying a heavy pot of water from the sink to the stove. Plus, Zillow research finds this faucet can contribute to homes selling for 1.5% more.

Touchless faucet: With health and safety top of mind for today’s buyers, homes with touchless faucets can sell nearly two days faster than expected and for 0.6% more. Motion-activated technology turns on the kitchen faucet, making for easier Thanksgiving cleanup and preventing the spread of bacteria and viruses.

There are many factors that contribute to the speed of a home’s sale and to its sale price, and installing these kitchen amenities does not guarantee or definitively cause a home’s ultimate sale price to rise. Instead, these features contribute to a buyer’s overall positive impression of a home, and in turn, the buyer’s willingness to pay more for that home.

And one more note: If these features just happen to deliver a dry turkey and burned pumpkin pie, consider a pizza oven, which can contribute to a 3.4% sale premium.

“The kitchen has long been the heart of the home and it’s become even more important this past year,” says Amanda Pendleton, Zillow’s home trends expert. “As a result, pandemic-era home buyers appear willing to pay a premium for high-end kitchen amenities. Homeowners who plan to put their home on the market would be wise to flaunt these features if they’ve got them. But resale aside, these value-boosting features also increase a kitchen’s functionality, especially during the holidays.”

By:

Brenda Richardson

5 trends fueling one of the hottest housing markets in US history

June 2, 2021 by Kathy Reichle Leave a Comment

The housing market is on fire.

What began as a pickup in demand early in the pandemic has evolved into an all-out buying spree. Sales of new and previously owned homes, while off their peaks, remain elevated. Construction has picked up somewhat, but contractors are struggling to shore up supply. With inventory sitting near record lows, price growth has accelerated to rival the 2000s housing bubble.

Reports published Tuesday confirmed the boom is alive and well. Prices soared through March at the fastest rate since 2005, according to S&P CoreLogic. Separately, Census Bureau data showed new single-family home sales slowing 5.9% through April. Still, the sales pace sits well above the pre-pandemic norm.

But it’s not just conventional gauges posting shocking superlatives — fundamental change is afoot in US housing. Alternative data, from lumber prices to the realtor-to-listing ratio, show a handful of structural shifts taking place throughout the market. Glenn Kelman, CEO of real-estate brokerage Redfin, unpacked several of them on a Twitter thread that racked up more than 14,000 likes in less than 48 hours.

1 – Buyers face a persistent shortage of available homes

Home for sale — A real estate sign is seen in front of a house for sale in West Los Angeles on November 20, 2020.

At its core, the market boom is simply a result of too few homes. Economists are largely confident that, while trends are similar to the mid-2000s bubble, it’s a nationwide supply shortage driving prices higher, and not risky lending practices.

More realtors than listings

The number of available homes in the US totaled 1.16 million at the end of April, according to the National Association of Realtors. NAR ended last month with 1.48 million members.

The association’s membership has exceeded listings through much of the year as sales bite into home availability.

Historically low inventory

The national supply of available homes in the US plummeted to record lows at the start of the pandemic and have only just risen from those levels through 2021. The monthly inventory rose to 4.4 months in April, but the bounce has as much to do with a slowing pace of sales as it does with a pickup in construction.

Homes selling at a record pace

When homes are coming up for sale, they aren’t staying on the market all that long. The average home now sells in a record-low 17 days, Kelman wrote on Twitter.

2 – People are fleeing cities for cheaper locales

BOSTON, MA – SEPTEMBER 1: Edward Cardona (left) and Cameron Secorsky take it carry a house plan on top of a couch as they move in Allston, Sept. 1, 2016. September 1st in Boston is also known as “September Worst” because of the chaos of moving, and “Allston Christmas” because of all the things that are left on the curb for the taking when people move in and out of apartments. (Photo by David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

The story of the 2020-2021 housing market is also one of migration. Americans largely fled densely populated cities for suburbs and traded their apartments for homes while mortgage rates were low. And after years of intense crowding in metropolitan areas, people seeking more space during the work-from-home period rushed to less populated states.

Low-tax states seeing huge inflows

Attractive tax rates seemingly played a major role in the moving bonanza. Four people moved into low-tax states for every one that left, Kelman said. That ratio rose to 5:1 in Texas and 7:1 in Florida.

Moving families face a new status quo

Americans who moved during the pandemic took a few risks. In a Redfin survey of 2,000 homebuyers, 63% said they bid on a home they hadn’t seen in person yet.

Separately, those moving to low-tax states enjoyed far lower housing costs. In many instances, the money saved allowed one parent to stop working, and many buyers are retiring early, Kelman said in a Wednesday tweet.

Inventory and prices up in SF and NYC

Still, some of the country’s biggest cities aren’t down for the count. Inventory has swung higher in New York City and San Francisco by 28% and 77%, respectively, according to Kelman. Yet prices are increasing steadily in both markets, suggesting that, while many are moving out, enough are moving in to support already lofty prices.

3 – It’s getting more and more expensive to build homes

construction workers building home — Construction workers build a new Centex home on Tuesday, June 23, 2020, in Houston.

The simplest solution to slowing homes’ rapid price growth would be to increase supply. Yet the combination of a historic surge in demand with supply-chain bottlenecks as the economy reopened have hindered contractors.

Lumber prices exploded higher

Most recently, surging lumber costs cut into builders’ efforts. Prices soared to record highs earlier in May and closed 280% higher year-over-year on Tuesday.

Not enough building space

Even if lumber cost less, there’s scant room to build homes. The New Home Lot Supply Index — which tracks lots ready for building — fell 10% to a record low in the first quarter, according to housing analytics firm Zonda.

Even the firms that have empty lots are running behind in converting them to sellable homes. About 242,000 authorized homes hadn’t been started yet in April, the Census Bureau said last week. That’s the highest level since 1979.

Builders waiting for the opportune moment

The various shortages and bottlenecks have led builders to hit the brakes and wait for profitability to rebound. Nearly one-in-five contractors surveyed by the National Association of Realtors in April said they’re delaying construction or sales.

About 47% said they added escalation clauses to contracts last month. The clauses allow contractors to lift homes’ selling prices to offset an increase in building costs.

Downsizing Your Home To Upgrade Your Life

April 7, 2021 by Kathy Reichle Leave a Comment

When one thinks of downsizing, empty nesters often come to mind. Couples whose children have left the home find the maintenance and expenses of a larger home not worth it anymore, and look to move into a smaller space. But the benefits of downsizing are being enjoyed by many with a ‘full nest’ looking to simplify their life, free up their time and yes, save money.

Denaye Barahona, the founder of Simple Families, a blog, podcast and community dedicated to helping families thrive through simple living, recently downsized her own home. “The American Dream has always been about the big house with the big yard. We lived in a large home for three years and very quickly learned that the American Dream wasn’t our dream.” Barhona recalls. “I realized that I didn’t want to take care of this anymore. We wanted less.”

The obvious benefits to downsizing your home are the financial ones. Mortgage, insurance and utilities can be significantly less with a smaller house. But as Barahona points out, it’s not just the costs of the house that add up, it’s the time and responsibility that came with the larger house that weighed on them. “When we bought the house, what surprised us most was not the cost of the mortgage; we knew how much that would be. It’s everything else that came along with the house. The maintenance, lawn care, repairs, and all the other unexpected ‘stuff’. There’s so much more to maintain and fix and think about with a larger home. I didn’t want to spend all my money on mulch and all my time calling repair people to fix broken appliances. If you have two toilets, there are only two toilets that can break. When you have five toilets, there’s a significantly higher chance of one needing repairs.” In fact, she said after they moved to their smaller home they booked a ski trip for the whole family during that first spring. “That’s exactly when we’d normally book our landscaping for the old house. And coincidentally, it was the exact same amount of money. We are trading stuff, home and responsibilities for experiences and fun.”

While the financial relief of a smaller house can be dramatic, for Barahona and many others, it was more about the freedom a smaller home provides. However, Barhona recoginizes the there is a big difference between choosing to downsize your home and doing it out of necessity because of financial reasons. In fact, she recently discussed this with Tiffany Aliche, better known as ‘The Budgetnista’, on her Simple Families Podcast. Aliche had also recently downsized their home, and they talked about how it was sometimes awkward telling people that they downsized. “Tiffany and I discussed how it can sometimes be uncomfortable to tell people we’ve moved into a smaller house, because they assume that means we are in a bad place financially. Tiffany summed it up perfectly. She said she simply tells people ‘I downsized my home to upgrade my life.”

Liz Frazier

3 Things You Should Be Doing To Sell A Home In 2021

January 30, 2021 by Kathy Reichle Leave a Comment

Depending on where you live, selling a home this year might be more challenging than usual. You may be in a time crunch to sell your current home and liquidate that asset. You may be in a buyer’s market with plenty of competition. You may live in an area where open houses and broker events are not possible due to the pandemic. Agents and sellers alike are dealing with a host of issues that make closing deals more difficult. But there’s good news: Homes are being sold. The market is picking up, and getting a deal you can be happy about is possible. If you want to get your home sold for the best possible price in 2021, these three tactics will make your listing stand out among the rest.

1. Make Your Home Instagram-Ready.

Video tours and social media are selling homes right now. Many people are relocating across the country and are unable to view homes in person; Others are avoiding in-person meetings out of caution and prefer to do virtual tours. In fact, many agents are finding buyers through Facebook ads now that magazines are no longer the best way to show off a listing. What does that mean for you? Make sure that you and your agent understand this market and are catering your listing to it. Use vertical listing photos (which display best on mobile phones). Next, make each space as visually appealing for a social media audience as possible. Something as simple as a collage of black and white photos on the wall creates a more eye-catching background than a solid paint color. Plants play really well on social media, too—add a ficus, fig, or orchid to liven up the room with lots of green. As we all spend more time indoors, plants really make a space feel more alive—and they also give the implication that your home gets plenty of natural light.

2. Create a Home-School or Home-Office Area.

Almost every family in America needs a home office right now—whether for the parents, the kids, or both. If you don’t have a spare room, find a spare nook—any space in your home that can be converted for this purpose is worth it. Creating this high-value feature that nearly every buyer needs will make your listing stand out from the rest. Buyers will love seeing there’s a dedicated home office area ready to go—both for their own practical use and (depending on the set-up) for home office tax-deduction purposes.

3. Don’t Jack Up the Price.

The majority of U.S. is experiencing a seller’s market, but that doesn’t mean you should overprice your home. It’s a common mistake to set the number high and assume someone will be willing to hit it. Here’s why: The buyer who wants the home the most will pay the most, so a smart seller lets the buyers create the market. Set a fair price that will create interest and bring in the most buyers. Then, buyers will bid against one another and drive the price up on their own. Don’t forget—interest rates are at rock-bottom right now, so many sellers will be able to go a little higher on their bid as a result.

Ryan Serhant

These features could boost your home’s sale price by over 30%

April 28, 2019 by Kathy Reichle Leave a Comment

A kitchen with top-end features like this is a dream to home buyers and sellers alike.

A new report from real-estate firm Zillow ZG, +0.44% found that home listings touting premium kitchen features sold for 30% or more above the expected price. To complete the analysis, Zillow examined the listing descriptions for 4.6 million home sales across the country that were on the market in 2017 and 2018, identifying specific features that led to a higher sales price or faster sale.

The biggest money-making features were steam ovens, wall ovens that pump in steam to cook food in a healthier manner. These netted a 34% sales premium, higher than any other feature. Of the 10 home features that generated the biggest boost in the home’s sales price, six were kitchen-related. These amenities included professional-grade appliances (32% premium) and wine cellars (31%), and “pot fillers,” attachments that extend a faucet so it’s easier to put water into a big pot (28%).

‘Having a steam oven, a heated floor or other luxury features in the home is a signal that there is more than the home’s basic features at play.’

—Skylar Olsen, director of economic research at Zillow

Money-making features that weren’t specific to food and drink included steam showers, a “garage studio” and heated floors.

Home feature	Sales premium
Steam oven	34%
Professional appliance	32%
Wine cellar	31%
Steam shower	31%
Pot filler faucet	28%
Shed/Garage studio	27%
Heated floor	26%
Waterfall countertop	26%
Outdoor kitchen	25%
Prep sink	24.1%

Generally, faster sales were associated with properties that had features that have been popularized by remodeling shows on television, such as open shelving (11 days faster than expected) and subway tile (10 days faster).

For buyers of starter homes, a slightly different set of amenities had more appeal. The No. 1 feature among these properties were free-standing bathtubs — properties with these sold for a whopping 59% above asking price.

The “Chip and Joanna Gaines Effect” — a reference to the hosts of the HGTV show “Fixer Upper” — is also still in full-swing: Craftsman features prompted starter-level homes to sell for 38% above their expected price. Other popular features in starter homes include pizza ovens (47% premium) and coffered ceilings (32% premium).

Home feature	Sales premium for starter homes
Free-standing bathtub	59%
Pot filler	49%
Wine cellar	47%
Pizza oven	47%
Solar panel	40%
Prep sink	39%
Craftsman	38%
Dual range oven	36%
Coffered ceiling	32%
Mid-century	32%

These amenities, however, don’t boost a home’s selling price singlehandedly. Indeed, most home improvement projects don’t even recoup their full costthrough a higher resale value.

Rather, these features — when identified in the home’s listing description — can act as a signal to buyers that the property is in good condition.

“If you have these features, flaunt them,” said Skylar Olsen, director of economic research at Zillow. “Having a steam oven, a heated floor or other luxury features in the home is a signal that there is more than the home’s basic features at play. These homes are special. They likely come with an elevated design sense and the extra touches valued by home shoppers who can afford the best.”

Zillow shares are up 16.4% year-to-date. Comparatively, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.31% is up 12.4% and the S&P 500 SPX, +0.47% is up 14.6%.

JACOBPASSY

How Color Helps Sell Your Home

February 28, 2019 by Kathy Reichle Leave a Comment

Yes! Just like curb appeal matters, the colors of your home can and will influence buyers. With that in mind, we explore which colors tend to appeal to the masses.

The color scheme of your home, from the outside in, sets the tone. It’s like going to see a theatre play and seeing an intricately crafted and appropriately painted set for the production. It can immediately intrigue you–before the play has begun and even if you know few details about the play.

When it comes to color, be sure to consider the location. A peach-pink home in a retirement community might be okay, but that same color in an upscale, urban city may be unappealing to younger city dwellers.

The outside of your home is one of the largest areas potential buyers will see. So make your decision carefully and be sure to have a professional paint job done. If you choose white for the exterior, your home is likely to appeal to the masses, according to one study that indicated upwards of 40 percent of people liked white homes.

The great thing about a white home is you have plenty of options to make the home stand out by using an accent color for the trim. The downside is that white gets dirty very fast and shows it more than other colors. So before you list your home, make sure that you have a fresh coat of paint applied or pressure wash the exterior to bring back that newly painted look.

Also take into consideration the color of other homes on the block. Typically, white will not look out of place. However, if you had a purple home on a block where the homes are mostly beige and neutral colors, you’ll get noticed but won’t likely get the kind of attention you want.

Beige with neutral-colored trim is another popular color scheme. Both beige and white are safe exterior colors. They don’t turn buyers off.

There’s also been a trend to paint just the front door a deep, rich color like red. This may not be appealing to all. However, buyers would tend to overlook it because it’s a simple change as well as one that can easily and cheaply be changed to the new buyer’s choice. As long as the colors look good together, this wouldn’t necessarily turn buyers away.

The paint inside your home is equally important. In fact, one good tip for sellers is that if they can do nothing else, they should get some fresh paint up on the walls. The new paint helps showcase the home and gives it a new-home feel.

There are a wide variety of interior colors. Don’t feel like you have to go with only beige. You can be a little more daring, using bold accent colors. Just make sure the paint colors you choose don’t give a dark, closed-in feeling. Aim to create comfort, a sense of calmness, relaxation, and a place where family can unwind. Earth-tone colors convey this very well.

For a more chic and sophisticated look, interior designers often choose from the grey palette. A dark grey color can create a bold statement and attract the eye to a particular area.

Whatever colors you choose, remember that your aim is to appeal to the masses. Test the colors out first. Get opinions from the experts.

Your real estate agent has likely been in hundreds of homes and can offer you some very good guidance.

WRITTEN BY REALTY TIMES STAFF

Halloween Decorating and Marketing Tips For Selling Your House

October 12, 2018 by Kathy Reichle Leave a Comment

Planning to deck your house out with ghosts and skeletons and every last one of the pumpkins and gourds in your supermarket’s produce department? If you’re also planning to sell your home, you might want to rethink that strategy.

There are mixed opinions on how much to decorate for Halloween—or if you should at all—when selling your home. Can it actually help you sell a home if you turn the holiday into a marketing opportunity? Possibly. We took the temperate of the industry for some guidance.

When should you put up your decorations?

You may want to keep an eye on your neighbors for this one. If you’re the first house on the block to decorate, your home may stand out for the wrong reasons. If you’re still worried that your Halloween décor may distract from the home, follow Mass Realty’s advice. “Overall, you won’t want to put up spooky Halloween decorations until the night of Halloween and make sure to take them down the next morning,” they said. “Instead, it’s alright to put up seasonal decorations, such as pumpkins, bright leaves, or colorful corn cobs. That way, no one gets offended and you can keep them up for weeks to feel the spirit of the season.”

Should you continue your annual spooky theme?

You may be known for your elaborate displays that have a different theme (Friday the 13th, Carrie) each year, but perhaps it’s best to forgo that when trying to sell your home. “If Halloween is your holiday, it is best to take a break this year,” said Shorewest Realtors. “Over decorating will hide your home and turn off potential buyers. Instead think of how you will decorate your new home!”

If you do want to add some Halloween-specific decorations, use common sense. “Experts say keep Halloween decorations neutral,” said Lyst House. “So what Halloween decorations should you avoid? Well for starters…clowns, dead children, blood and gore, and rotten pumpkins.”

Time your listing photos right

Be careful with your listing photos if you do decorate for Halloween. If your home is still for sale come Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year’s and even Valentine’s Day, your photos will look extremely dated. This will likely turn off buyers, who may wonder what’s wrong with you home because it’s been on the market a while. A good tip is to use spring photos, if possible, said Fortune Builders. “If you can, try to take property photos when the sun is shining and you can take advantage of all the great natural light that spring has to offer. It will help your property stand out in a cold (and gloomy) market.”

Don’t miss a marketing opportunity

“If you must decorate for the holiday, hold a Halloween open house to attract buyers with children or those young at heart,” said Mass Realty. “Set the date for the weekend before the spooky holiday to bring in more potential buyers. Offer homemade cookies and a $10 gift certificate to an ice cream shop for the adult with the best costume who registers at the door. Take photos to compare costumes after the open house. Have your real estate agent contact the winner to pick up the prize, giving the agent time to discuss the home with all who registered.”

Turn it into a party

We love this idea from Opendoor, who threw Halloween Open Houses in three Arizona cities on Halloween night last year. “We greeted trick-or-treaters at three Opendoor houses in Glendale, Gilbert, and in North Central Phoenix,” they said. “We gave out more than 1,000 candy bars…as well as other tasty treats. We had games and activities for the whole family, including a fun real estate trivia game. The big hit, though, was the haunted GIF photo booth to capture the fabulous costumes of our visitors—we had lines at every house! The event was a huge success. We saw more than 1,200 guests across all three homes and, more importantly, we brought our neighbors across the valley together on Halloween night.”

WRITTEN BY JAYMI NACIRI