Rudy Bachraty’s Real Estate Blog

In CNET’S recent post, Sites that get your home ready to sell, columnist Don Resinger states that Trulia Voices Q&A real estate community is, “… one of the best advice pages for anyone looking to sell a house….” Selling a home is not a simple task, especially for first time home sellers. There are many steps involved. When they start to think about selling their home, naturally, they’ll have questions. So it makes sense for homeowners to do their homework. They may not know exactly where to start so looking for advice and opinions in online real estate communities like Trulia Voices is a natural fit.

Don Says:

“Although its competitors, like Realtor.com, focus on listing available properties, Trulia, which also lists properties, has one of the best advice pages on the Web for anyone looking to sell a house. So, while it might not seem like a site designed specifically for sellers, it does a great job of attracting them.

The first thing you’ll notice on Trulia’s “Advice” page is a handy question box, which allows you to ask real estate experts any question you might have on the subject of buying and selling real estate. You can also read blog entries made by other members of the Trulia community. If you’re still looking for a real estate agent, Trulia will match you up with one. Simply put, Trulia’s “Advice” page is full-featured. It’s worth trying out when you get ready to sell.”

Working with our Trulia Voices community on a daily basis, we are finding that both home sellers and home buyers are using Trulia Voices Q&A and Trulia Blogs for more than just research and advice. Consumers are also searching for their next real estate agent and are using our Find a Pro real estate directory to help them make a match. By reading the answers real estate professionals provide, reading their blog posts and by looking over their profile or real estate resume as I like to call it, consumers can get a better understanding of how certain agents think, how professional they are and whether or not the can trust them to help them with their home buying or selling needs. As our community continues to grow, so will the connections made between home sellers, home buyers and real estate professionals. Very exciting indeed.

Thanks Don and CNET for the support!

photo credit: russelljsmith

Today, we announce our July national home price reduction report. Nationally, home listing price cuts are on the rise while some of the hardest hit markets are seeing stabilization. As of July 1st, 2009, there have been $27.1 billion in price reductions for all current homes on the market compared to $27.4 Billion in June.

According to Pete Flint, Trulia Co-Founder and CEO, “All real estate is local and we’re seeing glimmers of hope as price stabilization occurs in major cities across the nation, including some of the earliest hit cities that have experienced huge declines in the past few years. On the flip side, perhaps sellers are pricing their homes more rationally to get them off the market as soon as possible.”

Trulia Price Reduction Report Highlights

• Hardest hit cities see biggest improvement from a month ago - Las Vegas 33% and Los Angeles 25%
• Average price reduction In Las vegas = 16%
• Average price reduction in Los Angeles = 12%
• 24.6% of all current homes on the market in the United States as of July 1st 2009 have experienced at least 1 price cut
• $27 Billion in price reductions
• National Average price reduced home = 10.4% list price reduction down from 10.6% last month
• Markets where sellers more drastically overpriced homes = Miami, New York City&Detroit = more drastic cuts
• Detroit, Michigan = sellers slashed 21% off original asking price
• Miami, Florida = sellers cut 15% off original asking price
• New York City, New York = sellers cut 13% off original asking price
• Month over month - 4 new cities in top 10 major priced reduced markets = Milwaukee, New York City, Chicago and Illinois
• Luxury market getting hit hard
• 25.8% of Homes over $1,000,000 seeing price reduction
• 24.5% of Homes under $1,000,000 seeing price reduction
• Luxury Homes over $1,000,000 seeing 13% cut of asking price
• Homes under $1,000,000 seeing 9% cut off asking price

Top 50 Cities - July Price Reductions

For more info on Trulia’s national home price reduction report, please visit our press release in the Trulia News room.

Big sale
Manhattan homeowners are slashing prices to move their properties. Nearly one in three homes on the market have had their prices cut at least once, according to online real estate search site Trulia. The average price cut in Manhattan is 12.7% off the original listing price  or $265,422.
Overall in New York City, nearly one in four homes on the market are now being offered for less than their original price. The average cut citywide is $143,299 or 11.9%.

If you are a disabled military veteran or a handicapped person in need who is looking for a home in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania - this home listed by Donna Olson located at 1285 Woodhaven Drive in White Haven, Pennsylvania 18661 may be for you. The asking price is $120,00 but for military veterans who meet all the requirements, it could be as low as $27,000.

Respond With Love is a Non-Profit who with the help of numerous local businesses helped build this Respond With Love Home. And now, 3 local real estate brokerages - Century 21 Select Group, Aim High Realty and The Bobhay.com Team of Better Homes&Gardens Real Estate Wilkins & Associates - are offering assistance in selling the home. Century 21 Select is donating their services to help represent the seller - America Responds with Love while Aim High Realty will donate it’s services to help represent a handicapped person who purchases the home.

According to Maggie Flarety, Broker at Century 21 Select Group, ” We want to give back to those that have helped us. I want to give back to someone who has sacrificed and given to all who live in our country. We hopefully will be able to make his/her life a little easier.”

“We are proud to support America Responds With Love,” stated Mr. C. Dino Minervini, Chief Executive Officer of Aim High Realty of White Haven. Aim High Realty is willing to donate their services to represent a handicapped person buying this home.  “My wife and I have been involved in helping the ‘handi-capable’ in our community for a number of years. This is just another facet of what we feel the people of our country should be doing to honor those who gave so much for us to have the liberties that we enjoy. Every one of us has something that we can give or do to help a Veteran or any other handi-capable person also enjoy the freedom and pride of home ownership. It is the American Dream for EVERY American. We appreciate the opportunity to serve.”

Click here to find more information about the home.

If you have a real estate story to share with us, please email me at rudy at trulia dot com.

DJ Waldow is a homeowner and first time home seller from Durham, North Carolina who is selling his home at 11 Linganore Place, Durham NC 27707 by using Twitter and Trulia.com……

Here’s the back story:

I met DJ on Twitter back in February……

DJWaldow sent me a tweet on Twitter telling me that he found his real estate agent on Trulia Voices.

We later talked on the phone where I learned more about his story…..

DJ searched Google for real estate agents and saw Trulia for the 1st time. He liked the look of the site, did some searches and set up some alerts. He asked 4 questions on Trulia Voices, our real estate Q&A community and one local realtor, Michael Colvin,  answered 3 of them promptly and professionally – without the hard sell. DJ told me he liked the way the agent presented himself. This was what helped him make his decision when choosing his real estate agent. He emailed him through the agents profile. They set up a face to face meeting and hit it off.

He is also using Trulia to do his search for their new home in Salt Lake City.

Thus far, DJ has been using all his resources to help find a home buyer for his home. Local and mainstream media have also picked up the story as can be seen on MSNBC.

And by Anderson Cooper on CNN:

And by Durham MYNC:

DJ also shared his story on his Trulia Blog.

It’s been an amazing social media consumer experience thus far. DJ has leveraged today’s web 2.0 technology tools, Trulia’s real estate community and Twitter’s social networking platform and community to help him find his real estate agent and to spread the word about his home for sale. Let’s hope that a happy home buyer will find DJ’s home soon.

It’s been an absolute pleasure for Trulia to help DJ and his agent Michael get exposure for the home.

Thank you!

If you are thinking of selling your home but don't know where to start, here's a short list that can help you get going:

1. Motivation - Why are you selling? Does it make financial sense? How motivated are you to sell quickly? Knowing the answers to these questions is a great start.
2. Paperwork - Gather and review all your closing documents, contracts, tax bills, proof of legal home improvements, etc...many items will be needed at closing.
3. Moving Time-line - Know when you have to move and start planning accordingly.
4. Stage - Clean, de-clutter, fix and stage your home so it's makes a great first impression on home buyers
5. Pick the Best Agent and Price - Find 3 qualified local real estate experts to provide you with a CMA and their references. This will help you get educated about them, your current local market conditions, recently sold properties, actives and pending sales. Then, pick the agent that best meets your criteria, Price your home correctly from Day 1 and market proactively!

If you are serious and ready to sell your home today the most important thing you and your agent must do is Price Your Home Correctly from the Beginning!

Here are some other strategies that can help you get your price:

10. Clean your Home - Remove the clutter
9. Call a Home Inspector/Contractor - Fix what's broken - Cosmetic enhancements will make your home shine - A Pre-Inspected home can provide a buyer with a piece of mind - Offer a Home Warranty too...
8. Stage Your Home - Position your home in the best light
7. Get an Appraisal
6. Use Price Per Square foot or Price Per Share [for Co-op owners] to estimate the price range
5. Be flexible - Be open to a flexible closing schedule and terms
4. Be Creative - Offer negotiable at/near asking price incentives - your homes pool table, plasma TV, art or gift certificate to a local business or restaurant
3. Know your Local market - Get a CMA - Study all the comparable sold, pending and active homes in your neighborhood, community or building - do a side by side comparison of how your home competes - Study the homes age, style, days on market, condition, price reductions etc...
2. Pick the right Price [range]  - Pick an Even number like $500,000 instead of $499,000 - Double your home views from two sets of buyer groups - $400-500K and $500-600K
1. Price your Home Competitively -  3-10% under what comparable active and pending homes are currently priced - Provide a handout/PDF of comparable recently sold homes and currently active comps to buyers -  highlight why your home is the best deal of the bunch!