Expert: Home Prices To Stay Steady In '07
Mark Nash: Neither Buyers Nor Sellers In Driver's Seat; Offers Tips To Both
NEW YORK, Jan. 4, 2007
(CBS) It will be steady as she goes for housing prices in the new year, according to real estate expert Mark Nash.
On The Early Show Thursday, the Chicago real estate broker, author, and syndicated columnist told co-anchor Julie Chen things aren't as bad as they've been portrayed.
"The market, in general, is made up of many local markets," Nash said. "But I think prices are stabilized. In some states, like Texas, we're still seeing a big rise in home appreciation. I was talking to a real estate journalist in Syracuse, N.Y., and he's like, 'Oh, Mark, we're just starting that rise up."
Overall, predicted Nash, "We're gonna be somewhat plateaued, price-wise," though he stressed it's difficult to characterize the nation as a whole.
Nash points out that personal income hasn't kept up with home price appreciation, and that's resulted in prices finally stabilizing.
It's not a buyer's market, Nash says. Buyers perceive that the pendulum swung in one fell swoop from sellers to buyers last year, but in reality, we are in a balanced market, where no one is driving real estate transactions. Prices have flattened or even declined two-to-five percent, but homes that are priced right are still selling within six percent of their asking price, and extremely popular homes still command multiple full-price offers.
Nash says he firmly believes the first half of 2007 will feature many "deferred demand" buyers — those who sat on the sidelines in 2006 with concerns about buying at the top of the market, and those who were struggling with high gas prices. The demand from those buyers may even be strong enough to spur some spotty market frenzy, as we saw in 2004-2005. The last two months of 2006 saw some of the strongest market activity of the year, and that's usually a very quiet time, even in a hot market. Nash feels that activity bodes well for 2007.
Based on all that, what advice does Nash have for buyers and sellers?
BUYERS
Don't make low-ball offers: In the current balanced market, making a low-ball offer on a correctly-priced home can backfire and alienate sellers.
"I think buyers really perceived in 2006 they were gonna be driving the market, which was so contrary to the previous years," Nash said to Chen. "They're like, 'Oh, yeah, we finally have some power,' and sellers, if their home was priced right, they knew it, and they had recent comparables from the last six months. So, you bring in a low-ball offer on a priced-right home, and sellers are going to say, 'No, thank you.' You might alienate them."
Beware of home valuation Web sites: "A lot of people have started to go to the Internet to use for home searches," Nash told Chen, " … and it's a great tool. But the biggest problem with the home valuation Web sites at the moment is they rely on public records for recently recorded deeds and mortgages. In some areas of the country, it can take up to six months to have a deed or mortgage recorded. You want up-to-the-minute information, which at this point, the best database for that is your local is the multiple listing service."
SELLERS
Don't utilize incentives: Nash has seen sellers offering to throw in flat-screen TVs, cars, and more to entice buyers. But, he says, buyers aren't buying into these "mark-up to discount" tactics anymore. So, cut to the chase and lower your price up front.
Limit the number of open house you have to one every three weeks, tops. Endless open houses speak to desperation. Buyers know this and track it.
NEW FEATURES EMERGING AS SELLING POINTS
Upscale Garages: No longer an out-of-sight, out-of-mind dumping ground, garages are decked out with cabinet and storage systems, durable-but-residential-looking flooring, and even mini-fridges, insulation, heating and air-conditioning.
"Snoring Rooms": Smaller, second bedrooms located adjacent to master bedrooms. As the name suggests, the rooms offer relief from a partner's "buzz saw," and is a luxurious alternative to the couch.
"Man & Mom Caves": Personal, dedicated spaces for one person in a household, serving as sanctuaries where the person can work on projects or simply chill out without being disturbed.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Watch video clip here:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/04/earlyshow/living/money/main2330484.shtml
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Orlando Sentinel
January 5, 2007
It's a good thing,' home builder thinks
Stewart community to be built here
Jerry W. Jackson
Sentinel Staff Writer
January 5, 2007
Lifestyle diva Martha Stewart is bringing her taste in homes and decor to Central Florida real estate.
The first Stewart-inspired development in Florida will be built by KB Home on 31 acres southwest of Windermere, company representatives confirmed this week.
The model homes should be completed by May for a grand opening of the Avellino community, designed for 143 homesites and a "new urbanism" look," said George Glance, president of KB Home's Orlando division.
"It's a huge deal," Glance said of the project, which is in unincorporated Orange County just west of County Road 535 and just south of Overstreet Road.
Martha Stewart-branded subdivisions are already top-selling communities for KB Home in Cary, N.C., and Fairburn, Ga., Glance said, and the Avellino community near Windermere should also see strong demand.
"We think with Martha's influence and track record, it should sell out in 12 to 14 months" once the first home is occupied, which could be as soon as October, Glance said.
A second Florida development is also in the works for Ormond Beach, in Volusia County, though no start date has been set for that project.
Glance said that all of the homes in Avellino will feature architectural styles inspired by Stewart, including a number of units "themed after some of her own homes."
Chicago real-estate broker and author Mark Nash said he thinks the cooperative venture between Stewart and KB Home "is a great fit" and trumps other celebrity development tie-ins.
"Martha Stewart is really known for houses -- inside and outside," Nash said. "I think, of all the media-types and names, she really brings a unique perspective. It's a home run for KB Home."
Nash said that, with the nationwide slowdown in home sales, the name recognition that Stewart brings to the KB Home projects could be the extra edge to help those communities stand out in the market. He said Stewart's marketability has rebounded since she was released from federal prison in March 2005, having served five months for lying about a 2001 stock sale.
"Her new daytime home show has done well and has good ratings," Nash said. Martha Stewart Living, on the Style cable-TV network, touches on a range of subjects from home renovations and decor to entertaining.
Steve Hoffacker, an independent home-building consultant in West Palm Beach, said KB Home deserves credit for crafting a marketing tie-in with Stewart, whose name is better known among many consumers than California-based KB's. Still, he said, it is a bit of a marketing gamble.
"In general, it wasn't a bad idea for KB Home to do this, but it may not create the positive reinforcement they were seeking," he said. "Her name may mean a lot to some people and others may be turned off by her name being associated with a community."
Satisfied homeowner
Mark Kistler, an assistant professor at North Carolina State University, bought a home in July in the first Stewart-affiliated community, a development called Twin Lakes in Cary, N.C. He said Stewart's name did play a role in his family's decision.
"One of the things that intrigued us was the fact that it was a Martha Stewart community -- the first in the country," Kistler said. "It drew us initially."
Kistler said the two-story Lily Pond model he bought -- said to be patterned after one of three styles of homes Stewart has lived in -- "has a lot of nice touches" inside and out, including a brick front and faux Shaker siding.
"We're very happy with it," Kistler said of the 2,496-square-foot home. But the clincher for the sale was the price he got from the developer, who was eager to remove the home from its inventory after the first buyer backed out of a contract. Kistler said he paid about $359,000, or $41,000 less than the original asking price.
New-home sales throughout much of the country have cooled during the past year, as a glut of inventory and a backlog of existing homes for sale have put pressure on prices. But Kistler said homes in his Stewart community are selling well, as are homes throughout the region because of strong demand created by nearby Research Triangle Park and the well-known universities in the Raleigh-Durham area.
A former instructor at the University of Florida, Kistler said he is still trying to sell his house near Gainesville, though after nine months he has had no takers for the 2,100-square-foot home offered for $309,900. "The market here [near Raleigh] is definitely stronger than in Florida," he said.
Kistler said Stewart's past legal problem was not an issue for him personally, and he considers her name and brand in the home-fashion and design fields to be rock solid.
"She made a mistake and paid for it and is trying to get on with her life," Kistler said.
The Avellino community near Windermere will differ from the first Stewart development in North Carolina in a number of ways -- and all of the proposed Stewart-inspired communities are planned with local landscapes and tastes in mind.
The west Orange County homes will feature front porches, garages at the rear of the homes accessible by alleys, and smaller lots with community open spaces and sidewalks to encourage people to walk and mingle in the neighborhood.
Prices for the single-family homes are expected to start in the low $300,000s; town homes in the mid-$200,000s. They will range in size from 1,594 to 2,700 square feet, and all of the model homes will feature furniture and decor from Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc.
Four other KB Home/Martha Stewart communities are planned -- a second one in Georgia, a second one in North Carolina and one each in Texas and California.
Glance, the top KB Home executive in the Orlando area, said the west Orange project, unlike some "new urbanism" developments elsewhere, will not include any retail space or "town center."
But he said the many Stewart-inspired touches, including a community flower garden that will change with the seasons, will make Avellino a must-see development for new-home shoppers.
"There will be a sense of community and a more sustainable feel" than in a conventional subdivision, he said.
Copyright © 2006
Link to article here: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-marthahomes0507jan05,0,5603129,print.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-orange |
HOT TRENDS FOR 2007: Master bedrooms getting a makeover
Kitchens, too, get new focus
By Alma E. Hill
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 01/04/07
The conjugal bedroom is sooo last year.
In 2007, cohabitating couples will have their cake and a good night's sleep, too, by creating adjoining bedrooms within the master suite, trend-spotters predict.
This prognostication was among a bevy of such forecasts by folks who make a living figuring out how we will live in the future, then selling us products to help us along.
Slumber, say the pundits, is the next wave.
"Sleep is the new sex. If you're going to have sex, you're still anxious to get a good night's sleep," says Marian Salzman, executive vice president of the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency in New York and co-author of "Next Now: Trends for the Future" ($26.95, Palgrave, Macmillan).
"The trend I'm seeing is master suites broken into two sleeping rooms," she explains. "This is going to allow couples to be separate by choice and come together as they wish out of the family eye."
And away from the noise. Some will turn a sitting area in the master suite into a "snoring room" and furnish it with a daybed instead of a couch or love seat.
"A lot of people said, 'I didn't want to leave the bedroom, but I needed to get away from the chain saw.' Mainly women —- who are not the snorers —- have moved into the space," Mark Nash says.
A former real estate broker and author of five books about buying and selling homes, Nash published a list of "What's In, What's Out With Homebuyers in 2007," after surveying more than 900 industry execs who subscribe to his monthly "Agent to Agent" online magazine.
Weary from long commutes, the isolation of suburbia and oversize homes, American consumers are dictating changes in housing design and space planning, trend-spotters say.
The result will be homes with dedicated rooms where families can work, play, relax and entertain without having a lot of excess square footage to clean and maintain.
So what happens to McMansions?
"Over," Salzman says. "They're very unenvironmental. It's a little like driving the SUV right now. They take up space and burn unnecessary electricity and oil. Existing McMansions will stay. But you're going to see people gravitating back to smaller, bungalow style houses in the inner city."
With less space to design and decorate, consumers will make sure the rooms they have are as functional as they are attractive.
For example, kitchens will gain even more prominence as the nucleus of the home. The trend that began a few years ago of removing the walls and opening it to the family or great room will continue, and we'll start seeing kitchen islands on wheels that can be moved wherever we need them at the time.
"The reason I'm envisioning this is we're going to have several things going on in the kitchen at any one point," Salzman says. According to her book, it's become the entertainment hub of the home.
Outdoor kitchens will also be more popular, whether outfitted with an expensive grill and luxury furniture or a plastic table and a $49 sheet-metal cookery on wheels, she adds.
To sum up, says Salzman in her book, "Watch as homes in the next decade become fully equipped compounds that offer both comfort and entertainment —- and very little reason to leave."
OUR HOMES, THEY ARE A-CHANGIN'
What we can expect to see in the months and years to come:
> The luxe garage. The parking pad as upscale retreat, equipped with heating, air conditioning, flooring, fancy cabinetry and storage systems, even mini-refrigerators. "If you want to hang in the garage and drool over the car, you can have a beverage," says former real estate broker and author Mark Nash.
> A room of one's own. Nash calls them "man caves and mom caves" off-limits to other family members. "It's a room where you don't bother him unless it's an emergency. For women, it's a quiet space where they can read or write. But they still have the same theme: 'Don't bother me. I need time out from the relationship or the household.' "
> His-and-her home offices. The couple may also rent space at an "officetel" to use when they need a business setting for presentation or to negotiate a contract. "I know from people in the survey there's a growing need for this type of space," Nash says, "but I can't tell you where it's going to end up."
> A spiritual spot. "It's a mini home spa ... or perhaps a prayer room," Nash says.
> Laundry rooms closer to the laundry. Washers will move into the master suite. "People find it easier to do laundry at peculiar times. It's in the name of efficiency," explains ad exec and author Marian Salzman.
> "Command central" for teens. The kid's bedroom will be furnished with a flat-screen TV, a mini-refrigerator and space to serve all his electronic needs. "It isn't all that different from a studio apartment. Kids are going to put so much more of themselves into these rooms," Salzman predicts. "They're not going to leave when they're 18."
> No reason to leave. Children will stay comfortably ensconced until their late 20s. Loud music is no longer an issue since the advent of iPods. Individual cellphones solve the problem of teen telephone hogging. "There's less of a generation gap, so kids won't be so anxious to move," Salzman says.
> Eco-houses. Sustainable home design and building materials replace the disposable society. "We're moving toward an environmental mindset to reduce, reuse and recycle," Salzman says.
> A buyers' market. Expect a 5-8 percent drop in home prices. "Sellers in previous years really thought they could throw a price on and test a market," Nash says. "But '07 is not about testing the market. It's about being reality-based. So forget the fudge factor."
Link to article: http://www.ajc.com/living/content/printedition/2007/01/04/lvtrends0104a.html
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5 home trends we never saw coming
Some unusual items that more and more home buyers have on their wish lists. Plus: What's out.
By Les Christie, CNNMoney.com
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Some of the latest trends in homebuilding and remodeling were not too hard to spot. Is anyone surprised that Americans, already living in monster homes, want even bigger ones?
But there were some developments we never saw coming.
Here's a few that Mark Nash, author of Real Estate A-Z for Buying and Selling a Home, has gleaned from a survey he conducted questioning 923 real estate agents, brokers and industry executives.
Upscale garages: Who knew that those smelly, greasy spaces overstuffed with junk and empty boxes would morph into showplaces for Home Improvement types? "Today's owners want [garages] decked out with cabinet and storage systems, matching refrigerators, air conditioning and residential looking flooring," says Nash. The Web site contractor.com reports a garage remodeling starts at around $7,500 and goes up, sometimes steeply, from there depending on size and just how nice you want it.
Nash, a real estate broker himself, says he has had home sellers so infatuated with their upscale car storage unit that they become livid when house hunters get a bit of dirt on the floor.
Caving: People want more personal space - for both mom and pop. Apparently, married people often like time alone. Who knew? So, an amenity of choice these days is "personal, dedicated space for one person in a household to go and work on projects or simply 'chill,'" says Nash.
Read entire article here:
http://money.cnn.com/2006/12/05/real_estate/home_trends_we_never_saw/index.htm
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1001 Home Buying And Selling Tips
NEW YORK--(CBS) Lots of money is at stake when homes are bought and sold. Most of the time, homes are people's biggest assets. Real estate broker Mark Nash has written several books on this, his area of expertise.
The latest is a complete guide to selling and purchasing called, appropriately enough, "1001 Tips for Buying and Selling a Home." He dropped by The Early Show Friday to talk about it.
Nash told co-anchor Rene Syler that members of consumer focus groups say they don't go through the process often enough to really understand it, though, they add, they finally do understand the process by the time their transactions close.
But consumers want to be proactive, rather than reactive, in purchases and sales of large assets.
Nash says he designed the book to be a true "how-to," with more than 1,001 numbered tips with related bullet points. Readers, Nash asserts, can pick it up and put it down and independently grasp each tip, without having to read a copy-heavy 500-page book and sift out what's applicable.
Read entire article here:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/04/earlyshow/leisure/books/main678059.shtml
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Business Week
Where's Your Man Cave?
By Chris Palmeri
December is when publications like to forecast upcoming trends for the new year. Mark Nash, author of a number of books on real estate, has come up with some good ones, based on a survey of more than 900 industry professionals. Here's some of the features homeowners should be looking to put in their dwellings in 2007:
Upscale garages. "It's no longer the out-of-sight-out-of-mind dumping ground. Today's garage owners want them decked out with cabinet and storage systems, mini-refrigerators, insulation, heating and air conditioning and durable but residential-looking flooring."
Man caves and Mom caves. "Personal dedicated space for one person in a household where they can go and work on projects or chill without being disturbed."
Two home offices. "Rising gas prices and commuting times have created more two-work-at-home families. Size matters, make sure each is at least ten-by- ten feet."
Rejuvenation rooms. "A one-stop space for exercising, meditation, yoga, sauna and fancy steam showers. Showers are going upscale too. Waterfall fixtures, programmable temperature."
Heated patios, walkways and driveways. "Northern baby-boomers are tired of shoveling and are looking for ways to decrease winter maintenance, plus many have discovered how also heating the patio can add an extra couple of weeks enjoyment in spring and fall."
Snoring rooms. "Adjacent, second bedrooms to the master, offer relief from the buzz saw and an alternative to the couch. A godsend for millions of relationships nationwide."
Read entire article here:
http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/hotproperty/
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Business Week
What's out!
By Chris Palmeri
A couple of days ago I shared author Mark Nash's research on some hot new trends in housing. Here's the opposite--what Nash says is out in 2007.
-"As is" in home sale marketing. Anything went in the boom market, but if you're planning to use "as is" in 2007, forget it. The two letter-two word kiss of death, buyers see it as a red flag about the home and you the seller. You have too much competition to be chasing buyers away.
-Bedrooms not large enough for a bed. In the boom, rehabbers and
developers learned the fastest way to profit was to increase the room count of a home of an existing home. Bedrooms shrunk to walk-in closet size when a four-room one-bedroom was gut-rehabbed into a four-room two-bedroom. Savvy agents kept asking, can you fit a queen-size bed in either room? And the answer was usually, no.
-Glass upper kitchen cabinet doors. Buyers say it looks great, but
many who specified and experienced it, firsthand don't have the time to keep their kitchen cabinets organized. Plus if you hate washing the windows.
-Bowl-shaped bathroom sinks. The splashing and up-keep have earned these the reputation of nice to look at, but you don't want one.
-Any shiny metal finish. Brushed nickels and pewter's are in. Antiqued and polished brass is out.
-Stainless-steel refrigerators and dishwashers are a fading trend. The cold look and higher maintenance of steel is shifting buyers to specify warmer colors.
Read entire article here:
http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/hotproperty/
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Home buyers seen slowly gaining more clout
Housing developers add incentives, but lowball tactics still may not work
By Gayle B. Ronan MSNBC contributor Want a free flat-screen TV? How about $5,000 worth of furniture along with an hour of interior design advice? A growing number of real estate developers are hoping these types of inducements will get you to closing on a new home.
“Buyers are seeing concessions where there has been a frenzied addition of new inventory,” says Gopal Ahluwalia, vice president for research at the National Association of Home Builders in Washington. That covers a fair number of markets, though far from all. The association’s recent survey found 75 percent of all new construction is currently being offered with an incentive or financial concession.
However, Mark Nash, author of "1001 Tips for Buying and Selling a Home" and a real estate broker in Chicago, cautions against using the proliferation of builder concessions to declare the start of a buyer’s market across all residential real estate market segments. “What the concessions are, are signs of excess inventory,” he says. And while such incentives and concessions are a bonus for buyers, so far they are generally less obvious in the existing-home arena.
Read entire article here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15116116/
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Smart Moves by Ellen James Martin
TIPS FOR BUSY FAMILIES PREPARING TO SELL THEIR HOME
For many families, the household "to-do list" runs off the page: Pay the bills. Shop for food. Walk the dog. Wash the clothes. Clean the car. And things can get really out of hand if, on top of all this, you have to get your house ready for sale.
"It's like having open-heart surgery. Your family's needs don't stop just because you're going through a big transition -- like moving from one house to another," says Ray Brown, a real estate author and long-time broker.
A myriad of chores await families intending to sell: painting, pruning, cleaning and winnowing through their numerous possessions. And all this frenetic activity must be packed into schedules that already involve the parents' jobs and commutes -- not to mention household management and child-rearing. Here are several pointers for families planning to sell their homes.
-Try to plan backward rather than forward. Once they decide to sell their home, the first action most people take is to call a real estate agent and sign a listing agreement. But usually there are many more steps ahead before the property is ready for market.
"Conscientious agents won't dance around the issues to make you like them. They'll tell you candidly all the things you should do to your house to maximize your profit," says Mark Nash, author of "1001 Tips for Buying & Selling a Home."
Nash advocates creating a written timeline as an effective tool. Fill in the date you want your property ready for showings, including your first open house. And then enter, in sequence, all the dates by which the various steps must be completed to meet your self-imposed deadline.
Read entire article here:
http://www.uexpress.com/smartmoves/
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Be sure to read association documents in advance
Mark Nash, author of "1001 Tips for Buying and Selling a Home," says that home buyers should always read their homeowner's association documents.
Getting rid of Fido because you didn't know you were moving into a no-dog building is an example of why every buyer should request and read association rules and regulations. But at least as important are association declarations, meeting minutes and budgets.
Ask whether there are any special assessments (typically for capital improvements such as new roofs, windows or elevators) or planned ones. Special assessments can run into the thousands of dollars.
Read entire article here:
http://www.startribune.com/206/story/203405.html
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What can you buy for $1 million?
(in some cases, not as much as you think)
By GAYLE WHITE, JULIE B. HAIRSTON
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With the youngest of their four children at Georgetown University, Mark and Mirjam VanStekelenburgwanted to downsize. So, last fall they sold their house at Reynolds Plantation near Greensboro for $2 million and moved into their empty nest—a new $1.2 million classic brick house at Sugarloaf Country Club. They immediately expanded to add porches, patios, a pool and a spa with a small waterfall. The house now appraises for about $1.4 million.
And it still has an unfinished basement.
Just a few years ago, any Atlanta-area house worth a million dollars was a mansion. Now, in hot areas such as Buckhead, and in gated communities such as Sugarloaf, buyers find themselves compromising or renovating as they plunk down seven-figure checks.
"Everybody wants everything," said Danny Storey, who built the VanStekelenburg's house and the addition. "It's hard to get it all in there for a million dollars."
Although most people only can dream of a home with all those zeroes on the price tag, the number of million dollar homes sold in Atlanta rose from 36 in 1995 to 554 in 2005, according to Steve Palm, president of Smart Numbers, a real estate research firm.
And despite a housing market that has slowed dramatically from a national perspective in recent months, real estate experts both here and elsewhere are continuing to express faith in Atlanta's ability to absorb the growing inventory in $1 million homes.
Mark Nash, a Chicago broker and author of 1001 Tips for Buying and Selling a Home, lists Atlanta as one of the markets where residential real estate is continuing to hold its value.
Read entire article here:
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/stories/0730millionmain.html
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Six Tips for Great Window Treatments HGTV.com
By Rose Kennedy
Home buyers don't necessarily have the time or the design skills to make their own kitchens pretty, so they're looking to buy something with "built-in cute," says real estate broker Mark Nash of Evanston, Ill. One sure-fire way to create a look that sells is to focus on the window treatments, says Nash, the author of 1001 Tips for Buying and Selling a Home.
Nash and Sue Pelley, national spokesperson for Interiors by Decorating Den, based in Easton, Md., offer these ideas for window treatments to wow potential buyers:
1. MINIMAL IS IN
"Strip away heavy window coverings and replace them with simple shades," says Nash. "Younger buyers in particular are into a streamlined look. And no one seems to want a lot of fabric."
Read entire article here:
http://design.hgtv.com/kitchen/Article_detail.aspx?id=571
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Six simple ideas for beautifying your home
Sumit Daily Staff Writer
By JOYCE NENNINGER AND ALLISON SIMPSON
Question: Allison, you and Joyce have written quite a bit about preparing a home for sale. I never paid much attention but now find I have to sell my house quite quickly. Do you have simple tips?
Answer: When potential buyers look at a half-dozen similar homes, chances are the one they will buy is the one they consider the "prettiest one," says Mark Nash, real estate professional and author of "1001 Tips for Buying & Selling a Home."
Here are a half-dozen tips for making sure that your customer's home is the prettiest.
Read entire article here:
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20060726/REALESTATE02/107260036&SearchID=73265414927315 |
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