Hollywood Riviera & South Bay Real Estate Blog

If you want a good pay-off, STAGE the property!  It’s so worth the extra time and money spent upfront.  Basically, sellers that sell without staging – which includes everything from finishing little jobs that have gone undone (think handyman), painting (can mean adding color or subtracting color), bringing in furniture and accessories that are appropriate for the style of the house, and de-cluttering of personal items.  Staging can cost some money and note that it’s money well spent.  Money that often brings in double what was spent if not more.  Either the seller can do the work up front and reap the financial rewards or the buyer can buy the house in “as is” condition and do the work – thus reaping the rewards themselves. 

Why would a seller leave money on the table? 

A good realtor who is doing his/her job should be able to advise a seller of what is the best use of money spent on staging.  It’s a lot of work that also costs time, but remember the old adage, “Time is Money.” 

We have two good examples of recent listings that were Staged prior to listing.  Both homes sold in less than a week with multiple offers – a seller’s dream!  Why not position yourself in the driver’s seat vs. the “buyer’s market – seat.” 

House #1 – Brand new construction, contemporary styling, yet was “unfinished.”  And many people find contemporary homes a bit cold.  We advised the seller to finish all the small jobs – jobs that are hard to finish when you’ve just spent a year in charge of all the other new construction jobs.  Paint played a big role in the staging of this contemporary.   Adding paint to certain “feature walls” brought drama, warmth and style to what could have been a very cold atmosphere.  Bringing in just the right stylish furniture and accessories creates a “lifestyle” that is to be envied and a need for emulating.  When it’s done right, we’re talking “Architectural Digest” and who doesn’t want that?  This house was listed for $1,795,000 and received multiple offers selling over it’s list price in 4 days!  “Staged Right” was the staging company that we worked with on this job.

Via Corona – Staged Living Room

House #2 – 1950’s original – Stager gets a hold of it – mind you this is not just any “stager” it’s Laura Kistemaker of “Staged Right” who is the best in the South Bay – she  takes control of the minor remodel which included refinishing the hardwood floors (adding some in a few places), re-tiling the kitchen floor, painting throughout (exterior, interior walls, cabinetry, etc.), remodeling the 1 1/2 bathrooms completely, and some landscaping.  On top of that, she completely staged the house – bringing in furniture for all rooms and all accessories to create the lifestyle that one wants.  Again, time spent upfront, but the outcome was huge!  8 offers in less than a week and sold over its asking price of $724,900.

Greenmeadows Living Room Staging

Wow, here is a photo of a bathroom that is literally covered in personal products.  What a shame, it even looks like an upgraded, granite counter top.  However, you can’t even see it because of all the clutter.  As a realtor who knows the importance of photos in selling the home before the buyer even gets there, this is an example of an agent not doing his or her job.  I would never take this photo!!! I would have asked the homeowner to clear off the counter, or just done it myself!  People out there, if your agent takes this kind of photo and loads it onto the MLS, get rid of them, they are not doing their job!

The last two weeks have been very busy for us.  We personally staged two homes here in the Hollywood Riviera.  Both were on opposite ends of the average price spectrum.  One was listed at $1.795.000 and the other was listed at $724,900.  First the sellers were given lists of projects such as painting, landscaping and other small jobs.  Then we came in with furniture and accessories to transform the average into the AMAZING!  The staging took about 3 days per home.  What was the end result?  Both homes sold in less than a week, and both had multiple offers sending the sales price up above asking price!

 I always knew that staging maximizes a sellers profit in a home, but sometimes even we are amazed at what a powerful effect it has.   OVER ASKING IN LESS THAN ONE WEEK, in today’s market! 

Is your listing agent working this hard for you?  If your home is for sale ask yourself:

Have you staged your home for sale (with people who know how to do it properly)? 

Have you had your home on the market now for over two months and are you doing endless price reductions? 

Are you getting people who come to your home linger and stay a while, or do they bolt out the door?

If you are not having amazing results, give us a call.  We will show you the way to top dollar in no time!

Kelly & Laura take notice!  People pay us to take notice!  It’s one of our biggest assets.  Laura and I notice things – sometimes we wish we didn’t notice, but we do.  We see all the little things, and today it’s the little things that buyers see too.  Today, marketing your home must take the form of ”tip top condition.”  We did some “photo shoots” today for a couple new listings.  We work together with the photographer….we don’t just sit idly by.  We move rugs, little nick-nacks that “stand out” in a photo, turn on lights, move random “in the way” furniture, set blinds/shutters so they are all “the same direction.”  It’s little stuff like that we notice and that the camera notices.  A camera notices much more than our human eyes.  Our eyes are very good at fooling our brains.  The question is:  if we removed the items for the photographs, should the items be removed for the showings?  I’m pretty sure that’s a rhetorical question – yes, of course - it would look much better in real life if it looked better for the photograph! 

Seller’s – take notice – Selling is a lot of work and moving is even more work.  When you are the seller, you are so used to seeing these items every day that they don’t seem “cluttered” or “in the way” to you.  That is why you hire someone who takes notice!  Someone who sees things like the buyer.  We represent buyers and sellers – the good news for sellers is that when we work with buyers we hear exactly what they have to say about the sellers’ houses.   Buyers are not kind in most regards…they see everything too and want a discount for what they see out of place or scuffed or for what they can’t see as well.  Buyers need to see your house and not your stuff!  I’ve been with buyers who just stop and stare at your photos…they can’t help themselves.  It’s human nature – that is why you need to get rid of the family photos….you are not selling those.  The buyers need to imagine “their” family photos on the walls.  Buyers look in your closets, your cabinets, your pantries – they look at it all and you want them to.  The  more they look the more they most likely want to buy your house.  Take notice sellers – if you have fabulous hardwood floors don’t cover them up w/ lots of small area rugs….and don’t fill up rooms full of furniture that doesn’t belong in there.  Store it – let the buyers see your wonderful rooms! 

Take notice – and start packing now!

Seems like we are always “speaking” to sellers about staging their home and how to get top dollar.  But on the other side of that conversation is the conversation with buyers.  They want a good deal right?  They should actually be out there looking for those houses that are NOT staged.  Buyers want to try and look through all the clutter, mis-matched furniture, dings on the walls and ugly wallpaper – these are good things for buyers really…the buyers savvy enough to see through all that!   The good news about ugly furniture is that the seller will be taking it with them!   Buyers should hope that there are gorgeous hardwood floors under the old carpet that’s been there for 25 years (protecting those hardwood floors!) 

Buyers want to look for “good bones.”  Good bones include a great location (we’ve always heard the real estate mantra, “Location, Location, Location!)  It’s true.  Ideally as a buyer you want the worst house in the best location.  You can typically improve the house easier than overcoming a bad location.  Buyers want to check out the neighborhood, who are the neighbors?  What are the other houses in the area selling for?  What did the seller pay for the house?  When?  How long has it been on the market?  Typically homes that have been on the market for a long time are easier to “negotiate down” in price.  The closer to the list date a house gets offers, the closer to it’s list price that it gets.  In today’s market homes are still selling on average about 95% of list price.  So, if a house listed for $1 million dollars, it would sell in the $950,000 range.  This is an average of course…some more, some less.  Back to how many days on market and how many price reductions.  Once a home gets reduced into the “right” price range, it will get more activity and in some cases generate multiple offers. 

Believe it or not, in some cases, homes in the the Hollywood Riviera are still seeing multiple offers.  About 2 weeks ago, July 10th or so….there was a house that got 8 offers.  I showed a wonderful little house this evening here in the Riviera that has been on the market for 33 days (not even the average days on market for the area which is 69 days now.)  It was attractively priced in the first place at $859,000 (it’s a well kept original 1948 home.)  It was reduced in price twice - once to $849K and then 10 days later on the 25th of July (only 5 days ago) to $829,000 and now it has 3 offers on it.  So, obviously, a seller can get a house priced in the range where they can get in themselves in the driver’s seat. 

A buyer needs to get in front of that price and if someone would have made an offer prior to this price reduction, they might have been able to get a few more concessions from the seller.  In this multiple offer situation, the buyer will have to be willing to do what it takes to get the house – if they really want it that is.

It’s a new market and in most cases, a great one for buyers right now.   There are a lot of choices out there and as we move forward we will see how the market changes.  It is not a static market – it never sleeps and is constantly something to watch….that is what makes it so exciting!

Pricing today is like picking produce.  Think about going to the grocery store or farmers market.  If the produce is really expensive it doesn’t matter how good it looks, you’re not buying it. Pricing is the top priority in a buyer’s market.  If a house is not priced properly, nothing else really matters.   However, if it’s got a great a price, then it is important that it shows well – think lights, camera, staged – the produce can’t be rotting away in other words.   Underpricing is something a seller can really never do…even today in this buyer’s market, a home that is grossly underpriced will get multiple offers.  Maybe we should just price it for a $1 (and then I’ll take two pounds of those!)

The ultimate question “What is my home worth in today’s real estate market?”  I hear it all the time and the short answer that is always true is that “Your home is worth the dollar amount equal to what someone is willing to pay for it and what you are willing to sell it for.”  That number is very hard to arrive at sometimes.

Here in the South Bay we have seen a softening of the real estate market…properties taking longer to sell, prices needing to be reduced, homes needing to be staged and then kept in “showing” condition for the duration of the “marketing period.”  This is no easy task. 

The hardest part of this softening market is finding a price that will attract a buyer.  Sellers that are looking back at what homes sold for a few months ago are looking the wrong direction.  Sellers need to look forward to what will make someone pull the trigger and write that offer.  We need to start seeing what Just Sold or Just went into escrow and then adjust accordingly and not equal to or above those prices…but slightly under those prices.  Properties not aggressively priced are not even getting showings – so those perfectly “staged” houses are not even making a dent.  This is why pricing is the number one key to getting people in your home.  Of course, after they are there it must show better than the house they just saw around the corner.  Buyers are looking at everything right now – they are looking for a deal. They hear words like “foreclosure, bank-owned, short sale” and think they want one of these deals.   They want to be able to tell their co-workers and friends what a great deal they got.

So, you still don’t know what your home is worth – we hope we will all find out soon!

This market is changing as we speak.  Right before our eyes it is very different all of a sudden.  Spring is usually a great time to put your house on the market and I still believe it is, but don’t expect the old days’ of the last 4-5 years. 

We are still seeing multiple offers believe it or not ~ music to our seller’s ears ~ but they are not the same multiple offers of the last 5 years.  Now we are seeing “lowball multiple offers.”  And this is after only days on the market when the buyers know there are other offes.  We just had one where the buyer actually made their counter offer worse than their original offer and this was in a  multiple offer situation.  Crazy!  They did not get the house!

Pricing is all too critical now for sellers.  Staging is critical as well…having “the house on the market” that stands out from the rest and that is priced slightly under it’s competition is the key.  Pricing is not as easy to do as it was over the last 5 years.  Our number of sales are way down, so there is little sold inventory to compare to.  Even though our 2008 sold prices are seemingly 6% higher than this time same quarter 2007, one can not build that into their sales price.  I would ascertain that the 6% rise in average price for the Hollywood Riviera this year over last is due to some very high end homes selling this year and thus raising the average.  We have also seen the lowest price sale in a long time occur this year -2008- $575,000 for a fixer upper in the lower Torrance side of the Riviera.  That is lower than the last low sale of $605,000 which was an even worse location on the Pacific Coast Highway service street of the lower Torrance side of the Riviera.    We have quite a diversity of homes in our “designated-by-the-MLS” Hollywood Riviera neighborhood.  There are definitely two sides to the Riviera and two separate price ranges that go along with the different addresses. 

To date the 90277 (Redondo Beach) side of the Riviera has an average sales price of $1,375K and the 90505 (Torrance) side of the Riviera has an average sales price of $946K.  That is a $444,000 price discrepancy.  Wow – a 32% price difference. 

This is interesting here….the Redondo Beach side (90277 only) had an average price of sold homes this same period last year (Jan 1 – May 2, 2007) of $1,195K.  That means the RB side has gone up 14% year over year – same time period.  Now the number of sales has gone down from 23 last year to 11 this year…that’s more than a 50% drop.   The Torrance side had an average price this same period last year of $951K and it’s $946K this year.  They had a drop in their year over year average price of 1/2%.  Not much, but not the increase in average price the RB side had.  There were 7 houses sold in 2007 Jan – May 2nd 2007 and 9 solds for 2008.   About the same which makes their numbers a bit more in line with each other. 

Here’s the map of the Riviera with the dividing line in different colors.

What are some of the requirements to getting your home SOLD in today’s market?
Lights, Camera, Staged – SOLD!

Lights – a seller always wants to make a home feel light and bright.  Open all blinds and turn on all lights during all showings.  Part of this includes cleaning out those dust and bug filled light fixtures.  Light makes everything shine.  Another important showing aspect would be to add music…something soft.  Think about going shopping at Nordstrom’s -the lights are on and often strategically placed and there is always nice music.  Create the right atmosphere!

Camera – Digital Photography is a big part of today’s home sales.  A big part.    We use a great ”real estate camera” the Kodak v570 which has a nice wide angle lens and takes great real estate pictures.  Rooms can look quite a bit larger on film than a regular camera and it doesn’t make that weird “fish eye look.”   We’ve come up with some great Panoramic shots with it as a matter of fact!   Sometimes hiring a professional photographer can be the best thing to do, but whatever it takes – get great photos!  MLS, marketing brochures, & virtual tours are based on these still photos, and any other good marketing pieces.  Over 80% of people begin their search online and many savvy buyers use the internet to base their choices on what homes to go see.

Staged – It is critical today to be the house on the market that shows the best.  You’ve got to stand out in the crowd today.  Not only price, but Look Great!  90% of buyers don’t have the imaginatin to see past clutter or unstylish furnishings.  Nor do they have the ability to see how they would place their furniture in a vacant home, especially if there is a room that may be a bit awkward.   Prospective buyers make a decision on your home within the first few minutes of walking through the front door.  Staging creates a series of good first impressions that will make potential buyers want to linger and move in not move on.

It’s a combination of marketing efforts of course, but we’ve found that Lights, Camera, Staged usually lead to SOLD!

There are many marketing tools in a realtor’s arsenal to get a house sold but the best one and most important one is Pricing!  Everyone wants to sell their house for “top dollar” – everyone!  The job of  realtor who is really doing their job is to price it right.  Here in the Hollywood Riviera homes that are priced right and in top showing condition sell quickly and some in “multiple offers.”  Yes, I said multiple offers.  They still exist and there is no getting one on an “overpriced listing.”  If a buyer is not even interested in the house – if their agent isn’t telling their buyer this is a good deal – then they are certainly not going to spend an “extra” $10K – $30K.  Now get more than one party interested in the house and you’ve got the right atmosphere for more of an “auction” if you will. 

We believe in “staging” a home to get people really excited about a home’s potential – it’s funny, even though a buyer is not buying the furnishings/accessories, if it’s shown with really great stuff they can somehow see themselves in the house.  Often if you create the right mood – people will want to buy the house for the lifestyle it offers.   People want “move in condition” these days.  They want to feel like they got a house that was “wanted” by others – it is perceived to have more value that way.  This is part of the key to pricing – create value! This is an idea of “setting the mood.”  What a great house with a great view…it was completely staged and really looked amazing!

A seller wants to sell their house for $1.4K and a buyer wants to buy a house for $1.399K – it’s perceived as a lower price although it sure is close.  The retail stores of the world know this and use it almost exclusively.