Walter Mielke

Yes, New Years is here, along with a time for new beginnings. This time of reflection of what has occurred over the past year and what action steps to take to best position your real estate portfolio to best achieve your goals.  Whoever is looking to buy or sell this year, now is a great time to seek out the best advice from Walter Mielke by calling 778-892-4745.  I will get you the best opportunities for you in 2012.

During the last two weeks of the Holiday season, I spoke to many new buyers coming into the market for the first time, buyers trying to adjust their real estate portfolio holdings and many investors looking for great, hot deals. This trend will continue as we begin to go into the big, real estate  market.

In the next couple of weeks, I expect to see a significant increase in the number of new active property listings in the Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley region. This will give home buyers new opportunities to acquire their dream home.

Christmas buyers are serious buyers. Buyers looking during the holidays are serious. They include residents who have sold their home in late autumn and need to buy before their own sale closes and soon-to-be residents relocating from out of town.  Meanwhile, casual browsers and ‘looky-loos’ are busy with other festive activities. You can expect fewer inconveniences from these serious buyers.

Walter Mielke is your working Realtor during the Happy Holidays. Walter Mielke will continue to list, market, sell your home. He will also, give you solid advice to negotiate the best Christmas present possible, the sale of your home.

Most homes look their warmest, most inviting and the best for Christmas celebrations. Christmas is a time of celebration, entertaining and sharing. Most homes are at their best – sparkling clean and beautifully decorated. The fireplace is lit, and your home feels warm and inviting. From the outside, Christmas lights and wreaths have a way of making even an ordinary home look magical. Indoors, decorations, lights and wrapped gifts create a wonderful homey feeling that sparks buyers’ imaginations.

Christmas scents help sell. My advice during this festive period is to go ahead and use the most appealing scents for homebuyers include vanilla, cinnamon and pine. During the holidays, your home is naturally filled with these smells – home-baking, pine boughs,  mulled cider. Yes, enjoy creating the merriest, most appealing environment for buyers.

Buyers have more time. Most people take time during the Christmas holidays for family and friends. For serious buyers, that means they have time to focus on finding the right home, making a decision and closing the sale. Some buyers even prefer to look during the holidays to avoid the rush during spring and fall ‘peak’ periods. For many serious couples, it is the only time of year when they can both take a week off together and focus on house-hunting.

Buying and selling a home over the holiday season will be true cause for celebrating. You will enjoy celebrating Christmas even more with the sale of your home.

1.  Buying at the Wrong Time

There are 5 timing factors to consider when buying property:

• Economic
• Market Trend
• Real Estate Stats
• Neighborhood Analysis
• Comparative Market Analysis

2.  What should a Buyer be doing?

The real estate buying system involves 7 steps:

• getting the most from your real estate agent
• buyer readiness
• house hunting
• making an offer
• subject removal
• closing-completion
• moving in

3.  Buying the Wrong Property

Buying wrong neighborhood

Buying the wrong house layout, size or condition

Wrong influence by friends and watching the wrong factors and trends

4.  Losing a dream home to another buyer

Some 80% of the dream houses you lose are SOLD before you get a chance to  view    them.  You viewed it, you liked it, but you did not make a decision quickly to buy it.  Had trouble viewing it.

5.  Paying Too Much

You are caught up in the bargaining-negotiating fever

You are confronted with a multiple-offer scenario

You or your mate fall in love with the house and are willing to buy it at all costs

Staging is the word when selling your home. Staging is organizing and decorating your home so that potential buyers can really see themselves living there. For most Sellers, staging is all about highlighting your home’s best attributes and minimizing distractions. Yes, whether you are staging a house or staging a project’s Pre-sale ShowHome, staging gives you an edge when trying to sell. I have a complete staging system for the benefit of my selling clients who list with me Walter Mielke at 778-892-4745.

Several simple staging strategies can give your home the little boost it needs to attract more buyers:

Lose the clutter.

Box up trinkets and small appliances. Pay special attention in the kitchen and bathrooms.
Emphasize counter space by getting rid of the coffee maker, toaster, mixer, and the like. In the bathroom, hide shampoo bottles and other personal care items.

Clear away personal effects.

Potential buyers don’t want to see your Christmas cards on the refrigerator, or your kid’s little league trophy. Same goes for framed family photos, your pet’s belongings, or the stack of books on your nightstand. Buyers won’t be able to picture themselves living in your home if your memories are around every corner.

Clean it up.

Now is the time to invest in a cleaning service. Consider hiring a professional cleaning crew to give your home a thorough top-to-bottom cleaning. This might include steam cleaning your carpets. Professionals know how to make your house look and smell brand new!

More light and warmth.

Make your home welcoming and inviting by opening curtains and blinds and making sure all rooms are well lit. Before having a Buyer view your house, crank the thermostat up to a comfortable temperature and light the fireplace, if you have one. Creating light and warmth is especially important in the winter months.

Minimize your furniture.

Make sure that your furniture is doing a good job of highlighting a room’s size. Oversized or too much furniture can make a living room feel cramped. On the other hand, small pieces in a large room can make the space seem cavernous and hard to work with.

Be neutral.

You might love the bright tropical colors that you hand-selected for each room in your
house, but potential buyers might not feel the same, and could be scared off at the thought of repainting multiple rooms. Consider painting walls a more neutral color to appeal to the largest group of people.

Quick fixes.

Buyers notice little things like loose trim work, leaky faucets, and crooked cabinets. Invest a small amount of time and money to fix cosmetic issues.

Small touches.

Set the dining room table. Place fresh flowers on a dresser. Add luxurious throw pillows to beds. For inspiration, think of your favorite hotel, or pick up an interior design magazine.

Home staging is an easy and affordable way to give your home a little boost, whether you’re still living in it, or if you’ve already moved out.

For a more complete staging and showcasing makeover with a new listing, please call me Walter Mielke at 788-892-4745

When it is time to sell your home, you want to price it to yield as much return as possible.  Pricing strategy is one of the most important elements in selling your home.

A market analysis of your home will help you determine value. This involves analyzing the current competition–other like properties currently on the market.  I’ll look at properties that have already sold, to determine what people have been willing to pay for similar properties.  I will also analyze properties that haven’t sold, some of which are overpriced.

The goal is to price the property accurately for the marketplace. You don’t want to leave money on the table, but you don’t want to overprice your home either.  If you overprice the property, you risk having your home sit on the market.  Then you may have to drop the price below what you could have received if it had been priced correctly to begin with.  Upon seeing a home that is fairly priced, most motivated buyers offer full or almost full price.

When you are ready to sell, I’ll be happy to stop by for a quick view of your home.  Together we will price it to sell for top dollar, in the shortest amount of time, with the least amount of inconvenience to you.

1. Falling in love with a home you viewed

If you think the house is your dream home, don’t let the seller or any of the seller’s agents know.

The buyer who doesn’t care if they get the property and are willing to walk away will get the best price on any given property.

Always have 3 or 4 properties you willing to buy and put offers on.

2. Buying a house that is not right

Your home’s layout and design should be complementary to your lifestyle.

As an investment, look ahead to the day you’ll sell the house.

Know the neighbourhood you are buying into.
Determine the value of each marketable factor that affects your buying price, will go a long way toward preventing a buying mistake.

3. Not doing proper research and preparation

Know the neighbourhood will affect your home’s value in the future.

Take a walk in the morning, afternoon and evening and talk to a dozen people on the street about how the neighbourhood is.

4. Ignoring that you make your profit in how well you buy

Inspect to discover hidden flaws, structural damage or faulty systems

Determine the level of maintenance, upgrades, improvements, renovations needed to sell it for a higher value than you are buying it for.

5. Misunderstanding the real estate agent’s role

Know what your buyer agent services are.

If an agent’s potential dual role is a concern, a home buyer should hire a buyer’s agent who is contracted to work for the home buyer.