Chris Cooke

Mike,

You have received some good advice from some knowledgeable agents. I have a slightly different perspective. The three most important things for selling a property quickly in this market are as follows:

1. PRICING - Price the property correctly. Too many Sellers try to list for a price that does not reflect the market. I recommend going out with your agent and looking at the competition prior to determining the list price. Look at your direct competition and ask yourself honestly how your property compares to the competition. When you find the best value in your pool of competition, price your home below that property. I find that Sellers will list the property for the right price, if they are confident that the Listing Agent has done everything to achieve the highest price the market will allow.

2. MARKETING - Make sure the agent that you use has a comprehensive marketing plan for selling your property. Make sure the agent works primarily in the area of your property. Ask the agent how many properties they have sold this year. Ask the agent for addresses of other properties that they are listing. 90% of the Buyers find their properties online. Check for yourself (online) and see how the agent advertises the property. I find countless properties that are advertised with no pictures. Pictures are everything. The pictures that your agent uploads into the Multiple Listing Service are the same pictures that the major retail and broker web sites use. They are pulled from one central database. If the property pictures are bad in the MLS, the agents will not show the property. Because these same bad pictures are displayed on the retail sites, the Buyers will not ask their agents to show your property. It hurts you in two ways. I have a full-time marketing manager on my staff dedicated to advertising client properties.

3. DETAILS - Walk through your property and take care of any punch list items to include: paint, spackle, cleaning, etc. With the abundance of properties available, Buyers are looking for reasons to remove your property from their list of potentials.

I feel that offering closing cost help is a good idea. Flat screen TV's are a waste of money. I would respectfully disagree with the agent that recommended auctioning the property. Few people are showing up at auctions today. In this market, Buyers are taking their time and being very selective and deliberate in their purchases. I would also respectfully disagree with the agent that said that you need to have a 3% coop fee or higher to get showings. I feel that agents recommend high coop fees to compensate for poor marketing. I have yet to meet an agent yet who would not show a property or submit an offer because the coop fee was 2.5% vs. 3%. In addition Buyers often provide the Buyers Agent with a list of properties that they are interested in seeing. Can you imagine an agent telling a Buyer that they can't look at a property because the coop fee is too low?

Properties are selling in this market. We recently listed a property for about $500K that had been for sale for over two years with five well known real estate agents. We placed this property "under contract" in less than 3 weeks for close to full price. I am on pace to complete $20 million in sales / 100+ transactions for 2008. We have achieved these results through a very detailed sales & marketing program. I have a staff of assistants that religously executes this program to sell our client properties quickly.

I wish you the best of luck,


Chris Cooke
TEAM LEADER
The CHRIS COOKE Team
RE/MAX Sails Canton
443.802.2728 - Wed Nov 5 2008, 15:47

There are several historic tax credits for Buyers purchasing in Baltimore. The most common historic tax credit in Baltimore is the CHAP credit. This credit offers a city tax credit that is equivelant to the difference between the preconstruction assessed value (at the time application was made and preliminary approval was given) and whatever the new assessed value (after improvements). The value of this credit can change (float) year to year to reflect any increases in the assessed value of the subject property. It is a ten year credit (from the time of the approval) and it can be transferred an unlimited number of times within the ten year period. The credit is only available in certain neighborhoods, and is very difficult to obtain if you do not make application prior to completing your improvements (the guidelines are stringent and the average contractor / homeowner would most likely unknowingly do something to disqualify the credit). It is rarely seen retroactively. I would not assume that you could purchase the average house and then apply for the credit. Be careful, many area real estate agents do not understand this credit and will not exsplain it properly. To qualify for the credit, the cost of the improvements must be equivelant to 25% of the properties preconstruction assessed value. I have sold over 40 properties with this credit and my personal residence has this tax credit. It is a great deal. I work with two of the largest tax credit Builders in the Canton / Fells Point area. Many Buyers are taking advantage of this credit.

The second common credit is The Heritage Preservation Tax Credit Program which is offered by the Maryland Historical Trust. This credit offers the homeowner Maryland income tax credits equal to 20% of the qualified costs of the rehab of a qualified “certified heritage structure.” This credit will also only be available in certain areas. The homeowner must invest at least $5,000 within a 24 month period. The total credit for an individual property is capped at $50,000 for a single property. The credit received is offset by any tax liabilities for the year the credit is submitted. i.e. - If you owe $5,000 to the state and your credit is worth $40,000, the state will send you a check back for $35,000. Hope this helps. Now the challenge is finding a property. Good luck - Wed Aug 6 2008, 15:56

Like many urban cities, Baltimore has a tremendous number of properties that have lead paint. I have not heard this information about lead paint being banned in Baltimore in 1951. If you are concerned about lead and particularly if you have young children, I would recommend getting the lead inspection done. Lead inspectors are in business to make money and will inspect the condo unit as well as any areas of the building that you instruct them to inspect. The larger the area that requires inspection, the greater the cost. Lead inspectors have "guns' that they can point at walls, trim, etc. to get a lead reading. They also take swipes from different areas within the subject property. Common problem areas are windows. The lead inspector will know instantly if the property has lead. A detailed reading from swipes may take a few days. The lead inspection is a contingency like any other contract contingency and the test should not require a long period of time. I am not sure why the Seller would have a problem with this. If the Seller is reluctant to have a lead inspection as part of the contract, you might ask him permission to conduct the lead inspection prior to writing an offer. Good luck! - Wed Aug 6 2008, 15:35