Aztec Group Inc Florida Singapore Tokyo Japan Real Estate Investments 8 real-estate tips
by Amber Johannes bloggerLooking
to buy a home? It’s better to be on a “Way” than a “Street,” pick a female
real-estate agent and try to be close to a Starbucks.
That’s
the advice of Spencer Rascoff, CEO of Zillow.com, who collected statistics from
his site’s database of 110 million homes to find trends in real-estate pricing.
Along
with Zillow economist Stan Humphries, he has written “The New
Rules of Real Estate” (Grand Central), out Tuesday. Some of his findings:
- The
Starbucks effect. Take two identical homes sold in 1997. One near Starbucks
would have sold for an average of $137,000, while the same home without a
Starbucks would have sold for $102,000. Fast-forward 15 years: the average US
home appreciated 65 percent to $168,000, but the property next to Starbucks
skyrockets 96 percent to $269,000.
- All
renovations are not created equal. The greatest return for your investment is a mid-range bathroom remodel,
a $3,000 job that returns $1.71 for every dollar spent. The worst home
improvements for value are kitchen remodeling and finishing a basement. A
top-of-the-line kitchen reno will cost you $22,000, and you’ll only get about
$0.51 back for every $1 you spend.
- Use
the right words in a listing. Avoid “unique,” “TLC,” “investment” and
“potential” — these could lower sale prices by as much as 7 percent. But words
like “luxurious” for bottom-tier homes and “captivating” for top-tier homes
could add 8.2 percent to your home’s value. Longer, more-detailed listings
often sell for more.
-
“When” is as important as “how much.” In New York, the worst time to sell is
the second week of December (listings sold for 2.8 percent less than average).
The best time is March, when homes sold faster and for 2 percent more.
-
Seven is an unlucky number. Homes with “777” as their address sell for 2.1
percent less than their estimated value; house numbers that just include 777
(such as 17779 Main St.), sell for 1.8 percent less. Oddly, houses with just 7
as their number sell for 1.8 percent more than the estimated sale price.
-
Psychological pricing works. Listings with a nine in the thousand digit
($450,000 vs. $449,000) sell anywhere from four days to a full week faster.
-
Female agents tend to sell homes faster and for higher prices.
-
What’s in a name? A lot of cash, according to Zillow’s data. Homes on named
streets tend to be 2 percent more valuable nationwide than numbered ones
(unless you’re talking about New York City, where it’s a wash). But Main Street
homes garner 4 percent less than America’s median home value. Street names with
Lake or Sunset will sell upwards of 16 percent higher. Suffixes also matter.
Avoid “Street,” which has the lowest home values of $183,120 nationally, and
find a “Way,” which has the highest home values averaging around $312,000.
Sponsor Ads
Created on Dec 31st 1969 18:00. Viewed 0 times.