Start building your memories,
as you turn your house into a home. 

As you might guess, this document is a compilation of information from our own efforts as REALTORS, as well as input from other REALTORS in our Coldwell Banker office.  I hope it has been of value to you.  Don’t hesitate to email us with any suggestions that will make this document better for you and your fellow homeowners!

Be sure to follow us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/ElkGroveRealEstate.  For information about properties available for sale and for more information for buyers and sellers, please visit our website at www.ElkGroveRealEstate.com and don’t hesitate to give us a call or drop us an email with your questions.

When it comes time to buy or sell your home, the question sometimes comes up about whether you should work with a small brokerage or whether there are more advantages to working with a larger company.Recent housing industry news provides one more reason why bigger may be better when it comes time to pick a real estate company to represent you. Over the past few months, there has been a battle brewing behind the scenes between major online real estate companies, a rift that could seriously impact whether thousands of properties will be shown on two of the nation’s biggest websites, Zillow and Trulia. The battle came to a head in early April when ListHub, one of the nation’s leading listing syndicators (which is owned by Move Inc.), officially ended its prior agreements with Zillow and Trulia and stopped sending information about their listing to these two giant real estate websites. The move by ListHub has caused Zillow and many small, local brokers to scramble to collect as much listing data as possible. These entities hope they will still be able to provide visitors to their websites and mobile apps the freshest (and most accurate) information—and not lose valuable business generated from these sites. Many multiple listing services are now considering direct to Zillow/Trulia arrangements and are working overtime to put those arrangements into action. But at Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, it’s been business as usual. Why, you ask? Because Coldwell Banker has never relied on ListHub to send its listings to these sites. Coldwell Banker has a long standing, direct relationship with Zillow and Trulia, which means that Coldwell Banker listings are not affected by the challenges that smaller brokerages may be facing. This is just another example of why it is advantageous to select a large, experienced real estate company that has the expansive resources and robust Internet capabilities as Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage. When it comes time to sell your home, you deserve to have your property seen by the greatest number of consumers possible. The more potential buyers that view your home online (and in person), the greater your chance for selling that property faster – and at a good price. The Internet has become one of the most important marketing tools in the real estate world today. Buyers for your home not only come from across town, but from across the country or even from around the world. Getting your home exposed to the widest possible audience is critical, and you should not accept anything less unless you have personal preference reasons choose to limit. According to the National Association of REALTORS®, 92% of home buyers use the Internet as part of their home search, clearly showing the need to partner with a real estate brokerage that has a strong online presence, like Coldwell Banker.  Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage’s website presence is second to none, providing crucial exposure for our clients’ homes to the world’s audience where they are searching. The company and its website partners can show a client’s property on 700+ real estate websites including: CaliforniaMoves.com ColdwellBanker.com ColdwellBankerPreviews.com Realtor.com Trulia.com Zillow.com Homes.com AOL Real Estate MSN.com Hotpads.com HGTVFrontDoor.com Yahoo.com In addition to exposure on Coldwell Banker’s powerful network of more than 700 websites, it has a program that can provide clients withfeatured positioning on real estate’s top websites, which account for 83% of the online real estate market share—putting client homes where the majority of online buyers are. So when it comes time to find a real estate brokerage company, think BIG! If you’re ready to market your property or find the home of your dreams, just give me a call or email me today and we’ll get to work.

Start building your memories,
as you turn your house into a home. 

As you might guess, this document is a compilation of information from our own efforts as REALTORS, as well as input from other REALTORS in our Coldwell Banker office.  I hope it has been of value to you.  Don’t hesitate to email us with any suggestions that will make this document better for you and your fellow homeowners!

Be sure to follow us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/ElkGroveRealEstate.  For information about properties available for sale and for more information for buyers and sellers, please visit our website at www.ElkGroveRealEstate.com and don’t hesitate to give us a call or drop us an email with your questions.

As Realtors, we are often asked if it is worth while to stage a vacant home before putting it on the market.

I suppose that depends on if you want to sell the home quickly and for the most money or not.

As with anything, there are pros and cons, but generally the pros out weigh the cons. That is especially true if you use a stager who has a keen eye.  If you are working with us at ElkGroveRealEstate.com, we recommend a stager who does have that keen eye and will make your home look it’s best.
She is Joyce Teves at Simple Staging. 

Start building your memories,
as you turn your house into a home. 

As you might guess, this document is a compilation of information from our own efforts as REALTORS, as well as input from other REALTORS in our Coldwell Banker office.  I hope it has been of value to you.  Don’t hesitate to email us with any suggestions that will make this document better for you and your fellow homeowners!

Be sure to follow us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/ElkGroveRealEstate.  For information about properties available for sale and for more information for buyers and sellers, please visit our website at www.ElkGroveRealEstate.com and don’t hesitate to give us a call or drop us an email with your questions.

If you are like most potential sellers, you want to know if it is worth spending your money on upgrades.

The first thing I would say is to make upgrades before you are ready to sell so that you can get some enjoyment from them before you sell. That way, even if you don’t recoup the full cost of the upgrade, at least you enjoyed them for a while.

Another thing to keep in mind is that there may be things that need an upgrade that don’t recoup as much as others, but may be needed to make your home competitive with other homes in the market.

I would suggest that you talk with your real estate agent a year or two before you are ready to sell and ask your agent to show you homes that are selling in your neighborhood so that you know what they are offering and how your house compares with those that are already on the market.

If your home is really outdated, you should weigh the cost of the upgrades against the increased sales price. You may be better off saving that money to upgrade the home you are planning to buy, rather than spending it on the house you are selling. Of course, that means that you won’t sell for as much as you want; but would you rather spend $20,000 to upgrade your house so that you can get an extra $10,000 when you sell?

Start building your memories,
as you turn your house into a home. 

As you might guess, this document is a compilation of information from our own efforts as REALTORS, as well as input from other REALTORS in our Coldwell Banker office.  I hope it has been of value to you.  Don’t hesitate to email us with any suggestions that will make this document better for you and your fellow homeowners!

Be sure to follow us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/ElkGroveRealEstate.  For information about properties available for sale and for more information for buyers and sellers, please visit our website at www.ElkGroveRealEstate.com and don’t hesitate to give us a call or drop us an email with your questions.