16205 Village 16, Leisure Village CA Home for Sale - Rare Free-Standing

Adopt a Staging Mindset for Your Own Leisure Village Home Sale

Adopt a Staging Mindset for Your Own Leisure Village Home Sale

 

With spring already upon us, we stand at the threshold of Leisure Village’s first major selling season of 2014. If you are preparing to add your own property to the Leisure Village home listings, the International Association of Home Staging Professionals would like to draw your attention to some statistics that bolster their members’ proposition. None is more compelling than this one: non-staged homes remain 79 days longer on market than their professionally-staged neighbors.

 

Still, since not everyone hires a professional staging company to work their magic, you’d think there would be a few DIY alternatives that would well worth doing. Of course, there are: and some go beyond the most well-known staging rules that are basic to any home sale:

 
1. De-clutter (then de-clutter again). The stagers’ single most important line item remains this: de-clutter. There is little cost to de-cluttering a home (usually no more than a storage unit’s rental). The professional insight is that once you have done it, go back through the house and do it again! That second round might only involve boxing up a few remaining personal knick-knacks, but it can also suddenly reveal items that clash with a room’s overall color palette.

 
2. Light(en) it up: Neutral colors are the rule for staging a home, but good light can be equally important. Make sure every room is well-lit, with clean windows, bright light bulbs (some do dim over time), and plenty of lamps or fixtures. If possible, disperse the height of lighting sources by mixing floor and table lamps, windows and overhead fixtures.

 
3. Find the focal points: The largest item in the room does not always have to be the focal item. If you have an antique chest or a captivating painting, see if you can arrange the room so that it’s the first thing your eye picks up as you enter the room. A strong focal point gives a sense of character to a room. It works to your advantage, since the focal point naturally emphasizes the strongest feature of the room.

These are approaches that do take some time and effort—but imaginative staging really does make an impact on perceived value, and, as a result, time-on-market. For more Leisure Village home selling insights, give me a call anytime to discuss your own real estate plans!

Slow and Steady Price Rise boosts Housing Market Outlook

Slow and Steady Price Rise Boosts Housing Market Outlook

 

The details seem stubbornly worrisome. Mortgage requirements have grown stricter. The Federal Reserve may or may not turn off the cheap money spigot—and if anything causes the stock market to sputter, its uncertainty. Occasional bits of good news in the labor picture can’t overcome the fact that unemployment remains stuck on high in many states.

 

All of this should be bad news for the housing market in Leisure Village, except for one overriding factor: apparently, American consumers aren’t buying it.

 

Despite uncertain economic news, consumers’ overall expectations for the housing market remained steady. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s monthly Survey of Consumer Expectations, issued last week, found that most expect home values to continue to climb through 2014. The uncertainty factor remains largely stuck in neutral, pretty much as it has for most of 2013.

 

The survey found more nuggets of good news likely to affect the Leisure Village housing market. There was no reported change from last month’s report that close to 20% of respondents say they are likely to change residences in the coming year…similarly, the previous month’s finding that 44% predict their personal wealth will increase remained steady. Taken together, the two factors could likely indicate that a healthy number of home buyers will be looking for housing of greater value than that at their current address.

 

Fannie Mae’s most recent monthly National Housing Survey echoed the positive findings among consumers: “Notably, respondents’ home price expectations climbed significantly in February—with 50% saying home prices will go up in the next year…” Their finding of more volatile consumer attitudes was mainly attributed to momentarily high energy expenses caused by unexpectedly frigid winter weather.

 

Whether or not the national statistics accurately reflect local consumer dispositions, they provide a backdrop that bodes well for the impending spring selling season. Soon we’ll be entering the time of year which traditionally results in a considerable uptick in Leisure Village’s housing market activity – which may be prime time for determining whether this is the moment to make a change in your own residential outlook. For more pinpointed, up-to-the-moment details about your own neighborhood’s housing market profile, give me a call!

Leisure Village Camarillo Home for Sale - 17143 Village 17 www.ILoveLeis...

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New Fed Leadership Will Affect Leisure Village Home Loan Rates

New Fed Leadership Will Affect Leisure Village Home Loan Rates

 

On January 6, the Senate confirmed Janet Yellen to head the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, making it the first time ever that a woman has led the nation’s most important financial institution. In some respects, it makes her the most powerful woman in the United States.

 

As with every personnel change in the Fed, Yellen’s rise has fostered plenty of concerns about the direction the Federal Reserve will take under her leadership. Since it’s the institution that determines the federal funds rate—which in turn dictates how much businesses and individuals pay for their loans—any change in Federal Reserve policy has a significant impact on our Leisure Village home loan rates. Sooner or later, those rates affect just about all of us.

 

So, what clues do we have about the direction Ms. Yellen is likely to lean? One came just before the financial crisis. Before the financial meltdown, Yellen expressed concerned. In 2005 she is quoted as saying, “Analyses do indicate that house prices are abnormally high, that there is a “bubble" element, even accounting for factors that would support high house prices."

 

Last year was an excellent one for Leisure Village real estate, yet according to the Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller Index, national housing prices are still 20% off the peaks set in 2006. Research from real estate website Trulia shows that U.S. housing is still 4% undervalued (compared with a 39% overvaluation reached at the 2006 peak). Happily, Yellen, an early identifier of the previous housing bubble, has not expressed similar concerns about today’s real estate market.

 

In 2012, the Federal Reserve’s previous leadership announced an unemployment threshold of 6.5% as the point at which it would consider raising interest rates. During Yellen’s first testimony as Chairman, she stated that the Federal open market committee would likely keep interest rates near zero well past that mark. In Yellen’s view, the “recovery in the labor market is far from complete.” As evidence, Yellen pointed to 7.1 million people who are mired in part time work but who would prefer full time jobs—and to the 3.6 million people who have been unemployed longer than six months.

 

For Leisure Village home loan rate watchers concerned that a rise in rates might dent real estate values, the new Chairman has sounded some reassuring notes. In her recent address to the Committee on Financial Services, Yellen explicitly stated that she expects “a great deal of continuity in the FOMC’s approach to monetary policy.”  That could mean that interest rates for local home loans might gradually rise, it’s not likely to be precipitous.

 

The bottom line: dramatic rises in interest rates are unlikely under Yellen’s watch, but those considering getting a home loan who have not yet taken advantage of still low interest rates might do well to consider doing so.

Things Your Leisure Village Camarillo Real Estate Agent Thinks You Should Know

Things Your Leisure Village Real Estate Agent Thinks You Should Know

Real estate agents in Leisure Village are true veterans when it comes to every aspect of what needs to take place for a home to be sold. We know in advance what all the pieces of the puzzle are, and what needs to be done for them to fit together properly. We’ve also seen why some homes stay on the market for too long, while others get snatched up right away. And the best part is—we want our clients to know all those same things!

Every rule may be made to be broken, but here are three generalities that just about every Leisure Village real estate agent will probably agree are worth knowing:

1. Where speed is important, price your house just under the market. As real estate values strengthen, sellers are growing more confident about the value of their offerings—even as prospective buyers continue to believe it’s a bargain-hunter’s market. That’s a terrific opportunity for sellers who realize that by simply setting their asking price just below what an optimistic, “let’s just see what happens” price, they can peg their offering to attract the serious buyers ASAP. It’s axiomatic: the longer a house is on the market, the less likely it is to close at its asking price. The best strategy, always: sell as quickly as possible.

2. A buyer needs to walk into your house and find that it looks great. It may seem like a trivial detail to you, but real estate agents in Leisure Village know that even incidental atmospherics—little things that you’d think a buyer would know they can easily rectify—can instantaneously repel buyers. So make your home smell great! Establish a clean, fresh scent and be diligent in renewing it for every showing (after making sure any clutter is tucked away!)

3. Your Leisure Village real estate agent will help speed the process of selling your home, but there are some parts of the timeline that can’t be rushed. Know in advance: the process takes time. It takes time to get your home in shape, make the necessary repairs, list it on the market, negotiate an offer, then proceed through all the paperwork, observing successive deadlines set to allow proper execution. Here’s another area where your real estate agent will be a great resource for dependably establishing exactly what to expect—and when to expect it.

If you will be seeking the right Leisure Village real estate agent to make this spring your own hot selling season, I’m standing by to make it happen. Call me!