Ad words can help or hinder the selling process

Just read a great article on the Sellsius real estate blog regarding the use of ad words and their effectiveness. Certain ad words sell real estate faster, while others can cost you time and money.

Looks like we need to rewrite some the descriptions for our listings.

Bottom Line: Emphasize beauty and extravagance rather than value and price.

Good Ad Words: Sell Faster, Get higher price

• Curb Appeal
• Landscaping- 20% faster
• Gourmet
• Handyman’s special
• Beautiful & gorgeous- 15% faster
• Golf - 5.6-7% higher price
• Lake- 7% higher price but 8.9% longer to sell
• Updated- 2.7% faster, 5% higher price
• Move-in condition
• Starter home

Bad Ad Words–Longer to Sell, lower price

Rental- 60% longer to sell
Motivated- 15% longer (prior study showed 8% longer)
Good value
As-is
Foreclosure 16% lower price but no effect on sell time

Neutral- Little effect, possibly negative on price/time

Clean
Quiet
New Paint
New Carpet
Roof work & other property improvements
Vacant (4% lower price)
Moving
Must-see

Original Sources: Very interesting reading
Real Estate Agent’s Remarks: Help or Hype? [pdf] Haag, Rutherford & Thomson (Univ. of Texas) Study of 58,000 closed transactions between 1994-1997
The Selling Process, If at first you don’t succeed…Prof. Paul M.Anglin (Univ. of Windsor, Canada) Study of 20,000 listings from Essex and Windsor County MLS 1997-2000
Prof. Paul M. Anglin’s Other Working Papers.

H/T: Redfin Blog. (via LA Times)

Portland Metro 2006 update

Part of the decline in the Portland market was due to what I would call a self-fulfilling prophecy. Buyers were inundated with these story and they simply assume that the housing slow down applied to their area as well. This is why it is so important for Realtors to be knowledgeable about their markets and their neighborhoods. According to our RMLS market action report, Portland had its second highest total volume in real estate sales in 2006 with $10.4 billion compared to $10.6 last year. Further, the average sale price increased 14% and the median price increased 13.9%!

For more information on city-by-city market conditions please check out our e-Newsletter.

AP: Housing top story of 2006

The Associated Press has named the decline in the nation's housing as its number one financial story of 2006, followed by the trial of Enron's corporate officers, the decline of the auto industry and an internal spy scandal at Hewlett Packard.

"At the housing market's peak, buyers rushed to open houses, blank checks in hand," the wire service said. "Lenders gave big-money mortgages to people who could barely afford their monthly payments. That ended in 2006, when home builders scuttled projects, walked away from they'd hoped to develop and would-be buyers canceled orders."

2006 New Home Sales dropped 17.3%

The Jan. 27th edition of the Oregonian had an article about the housing market. Yes the above head line is true . . . for nationwide real estate sales. New home sales fell in 2006 by the largest amount in some time, but they were actually up for a second straight month in December. Hopefully this means that the worst of the housing downturn is coming to an end. When you read the head line above, what do you think? Most stop at the head line and don't bother to read the rest of the article. Others fail to make the distinction between national stats and our local market activity or between NEW home sales and existing home sales.

So what is happening in our local market? On the new home front we see lots of inventory and lots of builder incentives to buyers. Many of the local builders are offering kitchen upgrades, free central air, and/or paying buyer's closing cost. Builders are trying to clear their backlog from 2006, plus get ready for a flat 2007. Some experts believe that 2007 will see a 14% drop in new home sales.

So it is a good time to be a buyer in the market for new construction. But if you have to sell your home in a development that is still building new homes, you may have a tough time. We have been on two listing appointments in the last week in which the sellers' main competition is the builder that is trying to sell off their unsold inventory. In both cases the builder is offering great incentives and pricing. So if you do buy new construction, make sure you can stay in the home for a while.

Welcome to our first PDX Real Estate Blog

Welcome to our new real estate blog. If you found this site, then you most likely know how blogs work. In this forum we will offer discussions on a wide variety of subjects, but focus on Portland Metro and real estate. Hopefully our insights and experiences will inform, educate, challenge and entertain our readers week after week. Some of the best reading on blogs often comes from reader Comments! We encourage you to use the 'Comments' feature to join discussions and interact with both us, and our other readers.