from Realtor.com – A house that “sparkles” on the surface will sell faster than its shabby neighbor, even though both are structurally well-maintained.

From experience, REALTORS® also know that a “well-polished” house appeals to more buyers and will sell faster and for a higher price. Additionally, buyers feel more comfortable purchasing a well-cared for home because if what they can see is maintained, what they can’t see has probably also been maintained. In readying your house for sale, consider:

• how much should you spend
• exterior and curb appeal
• preparing the interior

How much should you spend?

In preparing your home for the market, spend as little money as possible. Buyers will be impressed by a brand new roof, but they aren’t likely to give you enough extra money to pay for it. There is a big difference between making minor and inexpensive “polishes” and “touch-ups” to your house, such as putting new knobs on cabinets and a fresh coat of neutral paint in the living room, and doing extensive and costly renovations, like installing a new kitchen. Your REALTOR®, who is familiar with buyers’ expectations in your neighborhood, can advise you specifically on what improvements need to be made. Don’t hesitate to ask for advice.

Maximizing exterior and curb appeal

Before putting your house on the market, take as much time as necessary (and as little money as possible) to maximize its exterior and interior appeal. Tips to enhance your home’s exterior and curb appeal:

• Keep the lawn edged, cut and watered regularly.
• Trim hedges, weed lawns and flowerbeds, and prune trees regularly.
• Check the foundation, steps, walkways, walls and patios for cracks and crumbling.
• Inspect doors and windows for peeling paint.
• Clean and align gutters.
• Inspect and clean the chimney.
• Repair and replace loose or damaged roof shingles.
• Repair and repaint loose siding and caulking.
• In Northern winters, keep walks neatly cleared of snow and ice.
• During spring and summer months consider adding a few showy annuals, perhaps in pots, near your front entrance.
• Re-seal an asphalt driveway.
• Keep your garage door closed.
• Store RVs or old and beaten up cars elsewhere while the house is on the market.
• Apply a fresh coat of paint to the front door.

Maximizing interior appeal

Enhance your home’s interior by:

• Giving every room in the house a thorough cleaning, as well as removing all clutter. This alone will make your house appear bigger and brighter. Some homeowners with crowded rooms have actually rented storage garages and moved half their furniture out, creating a sleeker, more spacious look.
• Hiring a professional cleaning service, once every few weeks while the house is on the market. This may be a good investment for owners who are busy elsewhere.
• Removing the less frequently used, even daily used items from kitchen counters, closets, and attics, making these areas much more inviting. Since you’re anticipating a move anyhow, holding a garage sale at this point is a great idea.
• If necessary, repainting dingy, soiled or strongly colored walls with a neutral shade of paint, such as off-white or beige. The same neutral scheme can be applied to carpets and linoleum.
• Checking for cracks, leaks and signs of dampness in the attic and basement.
• Repairing cracks, holes or damage to plaster, wallboard, wallpaper, paint, and tiles.
• Replacing broken or cracked windowpanes, moldings, and other woodwork. Inspecting and repairing the plumbing, heating , cooling, and alarm systems.
• Repairing dripping faucets and showerheads. Buying showy new towels for the bathroom, to be brought out only when prospective buyers are on the way.
• Sprucing up a kitchen in need of more major remodeling by investing in new cabinet knobs, new curtains, or a coat of neutral paint.

RISMEDIA, February 1, 2011—Even with the economy improving overall, it would be false to say the real estate market is booming, especially for home sellers. Unfortunately, negative financial headlines are causing some potential sellers to needlessly hide in fear. For many, it truly is not the ideal time to put their home on the market. But, even in a less-than-robust economy, you might be in the right—perhaps even the ideal—situation to sell. Unfortunately, some common impediments may make you run from doing so. Here are a few of those mental roadblocks, and how to overcome them:

I know my house is too big and expensive to maintain, but it’s filled with good memories. A lot of people, specifically in their 50s and 60s and beyond, are reticent to sell a home, because it’s where they raised their kids. At holiday time, that pull becomes even more powerful, when family comes back to visit. While memories are extremely important, they can keep people in a home that’s too expensive to maintain and too large for them, for too long. And, what’s worse, sometimes young adults pressure their parents to hold onto a home. If you’re one of those folks who’s just left the nest and you suspect that your parents are hanging onto the home just for memory’s sake, a little conversation goes a long way. Let your parent or parents know that you want the best for them, and if that’s a newer, easier-to-maintain home, that’s OK by you. Often, giving a parent gentle encouragement to move on, frees them up to make the decision they know they should make: to sell and downsize.

There’s so much inventory out there. Who’s even going to stop to look at my house? It’s true: in this market, there are a lot of options out there for buyers. But sellers who lament a flurry of potential competition often use this as a bad excuse not to sell. Many real estate professionals these days know a lot about preparing a home for sale, including conducting a home inspection to clearly understand the condition—and value—of your home. Speaking with a real estate professional can give you inspiration and ideas that you never imagined regarding how to distinguish your property. That’s the thing about selling your house: you don’t have to go it alone. In the best case, you can enlist a team full of great ideas.

The housing market’s down. The Federal Reserve recently noted that after losing ground in the spring, Americans’ wealth grew 2.2% throughout July-September, and household net worth rose to nearly $55 trillion. But despite this, the value of real estate holdings sank 3.7%. It’s true, the real estate market truly hasn’t fully recovered, and it would be disingenuous to sugar-coat it and say that you’ll easily get your ideal asking price in a week if you sell. But still, too many people read the second statement above—home prices are down—without taking it in stride with the first: things are improving overall. A lot of us focus on bad news without looking at the good. Home values have not fully rebounded. But the increase in Americans’ wealth means there are more people with cash freed up to buy. Also, these figures don’t take geographical areas into account. Your area might be doing better than the national average; values aren’t depressed in every single market. The best way to know what’s best for you is to ask a trusted real estate professional. Communication is the key to success, rather than hiding when you see a negative headline.

by Dan Steward, president of Pillar To Post Professional Home Inspections.

For more information, visit www.pillartopost.com.

After taking a negative slide in 2010, economists are predicting an upswing in the number of homes sold in the US and also a rise in the median home price.  They do make one caveat though, the business spending and consumer confidence levels have to do their part.

Most Realtors that I’ve talked to seem to think that we are the market is turning for the better as well but it will be a long, slow recovery.

That said, rates should rise but not to alarming highs, prices should stay affordable and 2011 should be a great time to be in the real estate market.

Here is the data examined and a link to the full article in Realtor Magazine.

The holiday season is a time for giving, sharing and enjoying family and friends. Unfortunately, it’s also a season for criminals, who have more targets carrying extra money with lowered awareness.

But there are ways to protect yourself and to lessen your chances of a crime happening to you.

Here are some good ways to protect your home.

Good locks, simple precautions, neighborhood awareness, and common sense can help prevent most property crimes.

Install and use good deadbolt locks in your doors (half burglars enter through unlocked doors and windows).

Secure sliding glass doors with locks or a rigid wooden dowel wedged in the track.

Lock double-hung windows by sliding a bolt or nail into a hole drilled at a downward angle through the top of each sash and into the frame.

Trim back shrubbery hiding doors or windows. Cut back tree limbs that could help a thief climb to the second story.

Make sure all porches, entrances, and yards are well lit.

Maintain the neighborhood. Dark alleys, litter, and rundown areas attract criminals.

Do not hide house keys in mail boxes, planters, under doormats or in other easy to find places.

Do not put personal identification on key rings.

Leave only your ignition key with mechanics or parking attendants, keeping other keys safe.

Install a peephole or viewer in all entry doors so you can see who is outside without opening the door.

Do not trust door chains. They can be easily broken.

Don’t open the door to strangers. Insist service personnel verify their identity before letting them in.

Don’t give any information to “wrong number” callers.

Check references of any person calling about a survey or credit check before offering information.

Hang up immediately on threatening or harassing calls.

Make your home appear occupied when you go out.
–Leave lights on and the radio playing.
–Keep your garage door closed and locked.
–Use timing devices to turn inside lights on and off.
–If you will be gone several days, arrange to have the mail and papers stopped or picked up. Many burglaries occur during the day when neighbors could report the thieves.

BASIC CRIME PREVENTION FOR YOURSELF

Stay alert.

Keep your mind on your surroundings, who’s in front of you and who’s behind you. Don’t get distracted.

Walk purposefully, stand tall, and make eye contact with people around you.

TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS.

If you feel uncomfortable, leave.

Make yourself a “tough target.”

Don’t think that it can’t happen to you.

Should you resist? Every situation is different.

Always be aware of your surroundings.

If being followed call 911 or drive to a police station.

For more information http://www.roadandtravel.com/travelsafety/holidaycrime.htm

Ah, Thanksgiving, one of my favorite holidays of the year.  Why?? Because 1. I am very thankful for the numerous blessings I have received in my life and 2. I LIKE TO EAT!  But while many of us are enjoying wonderful food and time with family and friends, there is a large population of people in Nashville who are homeless and may not have the chance to have a good meal.  That’s where these two events and YOU come in.

The first event is the annual Great Thanksgiving Banquet at the Nashville Rescue Mission.  They feed hundreds if not thousands of Nashville’s homeless and strive to make it an extra special day.  To make this happen, they need all the donations and volunteers they can get.  Click here to learn more about this amazing event and how you can get involved.

The Second event is the Boulevard Bolt race down Belle Meade Boulevard on Thanksgiving morning.  In it’s 17th year, this sometimes wacky and beloved run has raised over $1.2 million dollars to support outreach to Nashville’s homeless community.  There are a number of ways to get involved too, you can run, walk, volunteer or donate.  Click here for more information on how you can participate in the Boulevard Bolt.

I hope you’ll consider giving this Thanksgiving.

By Brett Arends, The Wall Street Journal

At the peak of the housing bubble, plenty of people thought a house was the key to riches. Now they’re wondering if buying a home even makes sense anymore.

You can get a good deal

You can get a house at a bargain price now — especially if you play hardball. This is a buyer’s market. Most of the other buyers have vanished since the tax credits on purchases expired.

We’re four to five years into the biggest housing bust in modern U.S. history. And prices have come down a long way — about 30% from their peak, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Indices, which track home prices in cities across the country. Yes, it’s mixed. New York‘s prices are down only 20%. Arizona‘s have been halved.

Will prices fall further? Sure, they could. You probably won’t catch the bottom, but it doesn’t really matter so much in the long haul.

Mortgages are cheap

You can get a 30-year home loan for about 4.3%. What’s not to like? These are the lowest rates on record. As recently as two years ago, they were about 6.3%. That drop slashes your monthly repayment by a fifth.

If inflation picks up, you won’t see these mortgage rates again. And if we get deflation and rates fall further, you can refinance.

You’ll save on taxes

You can deduct mortgage interest from your income taxes. You can deduct your real-estate taxes. And you’ll get a tax break on capital gains — if any — when you sell.

Sure, you’ll need to do your math. You’ll get the income tax break only if you itemize your deductions, and you may be better off taking the standard deduction instead. The tax breaks are more valuable the more you earn and the bigger your mortgage. But many people will find that these breaks mean owning costs them less, often a lot less, than renting.

It’ll be yours

When you own, you can have the kitchen and bathrooms you want. You can move the walls, build an extension — zoning permitted — or paint everything bright orange. Few landlords are so indulgent; for renters, these types of changes are often impossible.

Also, you’ll feel better about your home if you own it. Many years ago, when I was working for a political campaign in England, I toured a working-class northern town. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had just begun selling off public housing to the tenants.

“You can tell the ones that have been bought,” said my local guide. “They’ve painted the front door. It’s the first thing people do when they buy.”

It was a small sign that said something big.

You’ll get a better home

In many parts of the country, it can be hard to find a good rental. All the best places are sold as condos. Money talks.

But this is a case-by-case issue: In Miami right now there are so many vacant luxury condos that owners will rent them out for a fraction of the cost of owning. Generally speaking, however, if you want a good home in the best neighborhood, you’re better off buying.

It offers some inflation protection

Although housing can’t entirely protect you from inflation, studies by professor Karl “Chip” Case, of Case-Shiller, and others suggest that over the long term, housing has tended to beat inflation by a couple of percentage points a year. That’s valuable inflation insurance, especially if you’re young, raising a family and thinking about the next 30 or 40 years.

In the recent past, inflation-protected government bonds or Treasury inflation-protected securities offered easier forms of inflation insurance. But yields there have plummeted of late. That also makes homeownership look a little better by contrast.

It’s risk capital

Your home isn’t the stock market, and you shouldn’t view it as a way to get rich. But if the economy does surprise us all and start booming, sooner or later real-estate prices will head up again, too.

One lesson from the past few years is that stocks are incredibly hard for most normal people to own in large quantities — for practical as well as psychological reasons. Equity in a home is another way of linking part of your portfolio to the long-term growth of the economy — if it happens — and still managing to sleep at night.

It’s forced savings

If you can rent an apartment for $2,000 a month instead of buying one for $2,400 a month, renting may make sense. But will you save that $400 for your future? Most people won’t.

Once again, you have to do the math, but the part of your mortgage payment that goes to principal repayment isn’t a cost. You’re just paying yourself by building equity. As a forced monthly saving, it’s a good discipline.

There’s a lot to choose from

There is a glut of homes in most of the country. The National Association of Realtors puts the current inventory at around 4 million homes. That’s below last year’s peak but well above typical levels and enough for about a year’s worth of sales.

More homes keep coming onto the market, too, as the banks slowly unload their inventory of unsold properties. That means great choice as well as great prices.

Sooner or later, the market will clear

Demand and supply will meet. The U.S. population is forecast to grow by more than 100 million people over the next 40 years. That means maybe 40 million new households looking for homes.

Meanwhile, this housing glut will work itself out. Many of the homes will be bought. But many more will simply be destroyed — deliberately or by inaction. This is already happening. Even two years ago, when I toured western Florida, I saw bankrupt condo developments that were fast becoming derelict.

And, finally, a lot of the glut simply won’t matter to you. It’s concentrated in a few areas, such as Florida and Nevada. Unless you live there, the glut won’t have any long-term impact on housing supply in your town.

Statistics are an interesting thing. They can be “bent” or skewed to achieve the desired effect by the one who is calculating.  You can always justify throwing out anomalies or change the sample size or any number of other factors.

Here’s a good example, I heard one Realtor say that the average days on market in a certain neighborhood is 61 days. In this market, that’s great!  Now knowing that neighborhood, I knew of several houses that had been on the market much longer than that and still hadn’t sold.  So I decided to do a little research. Turns out that what he meant was of the houses that had ACTUALLY sold, they were sold in an average of 61 days on market. This statistic left out that several houses had expired or withdrawn from the market or had been re-listed after a price drop, renovation or other change to the property and had previously been listed for a long time.  So the statistic did not really give a clear picture of what was really going on in that neighborhood.

To this Realtors credit, he did later talk about the other things going on in the neighborhood and use his stat to hammer home the point that if you do the right things when you go to market (have the right list price and have your home in proper showing condition) your house WILL SELL. And he is right, those sellers who listen to their Realtor’s advice are successful.

That’s not the point though. The point is that when you get ready to put your house on the market, make sure you are working with someone who is open an honest about current market conditions, not just someone who fluffs up the facts to make you feel good about selling. Don’t be afraid to ask for more information. A Realtor who knows and presents all the facts up front will know how to get your home sold and chances are it will actually be in 61 days!

For many people, a home is one of the largest investments they’ll make in their lifetime. Unfortunately, over the past four years we’ve seen some rocky times in the housing market. That doesn’t mean though, that it’s still not an excellent time to look into the opportunity and advantages of owning a home. Renters, especially those that have never owned before, stand to gain a lot from owning. Here are some of the biggest advantages:

• Tax Benefits
  The health of the housing market is a great indicator of the health of the economy and the Government likes to see people making an investment in homeownership. This is why they give homeowners several opportunities for significant tax deductions. For example, the interest you pay on your mortgage is tax deductible up to a limit of $1 million. Homeowners can also deduct any money spent on points to reduce the interest rate on a mortgage. There are several stipulations surrounding points bought when refinancing, taking out a home equity loan or a loan secured by a second home. The Government also lets you claim property taxes you pay as income tax as deductible and allows you to write off many moving costs if your move is at least 50 miles closer to your job than your old home.
• Appreciation
  A home is an investment and shows up on your balance sheet as an asset. As a general rule of thumb, a home will appreciate 3-5 percent each year. Keep in mind that percentage may fluctuate from year to year. Take for example someone who just bought a home with a mortgage for $200,000. If they put down an initial $7,000 at the time of the purchase, using the 3 percent rule (conservatively), their home would increase in value by $6,000. That’s almost a 100 percent return on investment within just one year … what stock does that?  Conversely, if you had spent $1000/mo. in rent, at the end of the year you have spent $12,000 that you will never recoup.
• Equity
  Equity is the portion of the home’s value that you actually own. It’s the money in your pocket once you’ve paid off your mortgage, or the appreciated value. The U.S. Federal Reserve Board’s Survey of Consumer Finances showed home owners had an average financial net worth of $184,400 while a renter’s net worth was just $4,000. Building equity through homeownership is simply a matter of paying down your mortgage and watching your home’s appreciation grow. Having that kind of financial freedom can come in handy down the road.
• Borrowing Power
  Speaking of big ticket purchases, owning a home allows you to tap into a whole new realm of borrowing power. By continually paying your interest and principal on your current mortgage you can borrow against it through a home equity loan or tap into a whole new line of credit for say, a second home, an investment property or home improvements.

If you would like to see a rent vs. buy estimate custom tailored to your situation, give me a call and I’ll be happy to put one together for you and then meet with you to walk you through it free of charge.  Remember, the Byrd Real Estate Group exists to help people just like you.

If your home was affected by the recent flooding in Nashville, you may qualify for a variety of tax relief efforts by the metro Nashville government.  Here are the big ones and links for more information.

Ø  Property tax reassessment

Deadline to file September 1, 2010

A property tax reassessment could lower the property tax rate as a result of lower home values due to flooding.

Visit the Davidson County Property Assessor’s website: http://www.padctn.com/flood_real.html

Ø  Sales tax refund

Deadline to file November 30, 2010

A state sales tax refund is available for some disaster repair related expenses purchased before September 30, 2010.  These include: boxes, trash bags, drywall, paint, and other construction tools. To qualify, the purchase price must be less than $500.  Some damaged or destroyed household items also qualify for a tax refund.  These include dishwasher, microwave, oven, washer/ dryer, etc.  The purchase price must be less than $3,200.  For the complete list of eligible items visit the TN Department of Revenue website: http://www.state.tn.us/revenue/misc/floodrelief.htm

Ø  Federal income tax disaster write-off

Deadline to file or amend April 15, 2011 (If you have already filed 2009 or are filing for 2010)

There will be a considerable amount of paperwork associated with this.  Tax professionals will be available to help, however, flood victims should be collecting receipts for flood damaged property, tax history documents, and hiring an assessor, etc.  Visit the Nashville Recovery website for more information. http://www.nashvillerecovery.com/

For more information from the Internal Revenue Service visit http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=222406,00.html.

To watch a Mid-TN Legal Aid Society Tax Relief Video visit

http://www.las.org/booklets/tax_problems/2010_flood_tax_guide.