The key to mainstreaming green homes is to make sure that consumers understand the value of green upgrades — how cost-effective energy efficiency can be in the long run. Consumers want homes that are environmentally friendly and home values should reflect the increased savings.

Better Homes and Gardens

Recent poll results of 2,342 people who plan to purchase or do a major home improvement in 2010 show (numbers have been rounded):

• 2% of consumers are planning to have high-efficiency heating and cooling in their next home
• 3% are planning to have high-efficiency appliances
• 3% will have geo-thermal heat
• 5% said energy-efficient heating and cooling will be more important to them
• 6% said Energy Star appliances will be more important

Appraising Green

Appraisals need to better reflect the value added to energy efficient green upgrades. Legislation is pending which will require the consideration of any renewable energy sources, or energy-efficiency or energy-conserving improvements. Appraisers will tell you they have been considering green improvements for 15 years, typically, double paned windows, insulation and solar hot water heaters. The value normally attributed is  the installation cost. Continue reading this post

HomeGain rolled out its January/February 2010 newsletter for real estate agents, called “Agent Success Newsletter“.

The digital real estate newsletter included:

• Feature Story: The 2009 Top Performing AgentEvaluator Agents by Highest Home Sales Volume and Highest Dollar were announced last month by region, nationwide and by state. We were pleased to also recognize two Rookie Agents of the Year and honorable mentions. Congrats to everyone for a successful 2009!
• Agent Question of the Month: “I have uploaded my listings to other web sites like Zillow and Realtor.com. I know I can upload them to HomeGain, but why should I do that?” Get answer
  
• HomeGain News:

HomeGain Realtor members are invited to attend HomeGain Nation Live Real Estate Forum on Monday, March 1 in San Francisco.

The top 9 do it yourself GREEN home improvements were announced, based on survey results from nearly 1,000 Realtors.

• Agent Success Awards: We congratulated the newest AgentEvaluator Platinum Club, Gold Club and Silver Club members (10 real estate agents inducted).

Sign up here to receive HomeGain’s FREE Agent Success Newsletter

Read past real estate newsletters

Transportation costs may soon become a recognized expense for mortgage applications if the Natural Resources Defense Council study holds up.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the study showed that higher transportation costs resulted in a higher foreclosure rate:

The draft report looked at trends associated with 40,000 mortgages in San Francisco, Chicago and Jacksonville, Fla.

The release date for the final study has not been announced. The research included borrowers’ income and expenses, credit scores and loan-to-home value ratio.

It focused on the average number of vehicles owned per household in a neighborhood, and through a complex formula, found that the likelihood of mortgage foreclosure increased as neighborhood vehicle ownership rates rose.

If transportation costs were as much as 17% of a household budget, as the study suggests, a $5/gallon price for gasoline could negatively impact a family’s budget. Recent years’ foreclosure activity suggests that compunction towards making mortgage payments has given way to liquidity concerns. Moreover, a legal scholar suggests that any moral consideration associated with a strategic default is passe.

Let’s consider the hypothetical case of a family, with jobs in Los Angeles County, who purchased a $400,000 Riverside, CA home in 2007. The home price has withered to $300,000 and the family has “lost” their $80,000 down payment; they are $20,000 “in the hole”. This has them feeling despondent about the future of the property as an “investment”. Continue reading this post

This is my first contribution to HomeGain and thought what a better place to start then at the beginning – the importance of home staging and why it is such a hot industry in the real estate market.

In 2009 HomeGain released its national survey results for the top Return on Investment (ROI) for home sellers. HomeGain surveyed over 1,000 realtors across the country and found that the number one home improvement ROI was cleaning and de-cluttering. These two are inexpensive and truly the first two necessary steps in preparing any home for sale. The second best ROI was home staging — followed by lighting and landscaping.

The previous survey released by HomeGain was in 2007 and placed home staging behind lighting and landscaping. HomeGain estimated a 585% ROI, with average costs under $5K, and I am not surprised given the importance and success in this growing industry.

Although many have claimed starting the idea of home staging, the industry really was born out of necessity for realtors who were selling run down and cramped houses. Back then there just was not a name for it.

Savvy realtors realized that some homes needed serious help before they could put the home on the market. Continue reading this post

We’d like to welcome Stephanie Decker of Staged Homes, LLC in Mill Valley, CA to our team of HomeGain Guest Bloggers! Stephanie will be our designated home staging expert, blogging about ways to help Realtors work through home staging issues and work effectively with home sellers.

With more than 20 years in the Interior Design industry, and her California Real Estate license for the same amount of time, she combines her Interior Design experience with her real estate knowledge to successfully stage properties ranging from under a $1 million to over $5 million. Ms. Decker is an advocate of home staging, speaking and writing about its value in the real estate community.

Look for Stephanie’s first blog post on Monday!

If I wasn’t constantly being told be the TV, radio, newspaper, and magazines that we are in a financial downturn, would I know that from my every day life experiences over the last year?

My answer is no.

My life has gone on pretty much unchanged from what it was prior to this “down turn.”  No, that’s not right.  Truthfully, it is much better. My business has remained very good. As a matter of fact, the last couple of years were the best in my career.  There have been a lot of eager buyers — eager to buy a home, and eager to take advantage of the $8000 tax credit.

In some ways, business is much easier now.

Sellers are much more willing to deal and try harder to put a sale together and keep it together.  Also, builders are paying nice bonuses for selling their homes — homes that I probably would have sold anyways to the buyers that I have.  Everyone seems much more appreciative of my efforts — co-op agents, builders, mortgage lenders, title companies, etc.

As far as listings go, sellers have been less likely to try to cut commissions. Continue reading this post