Relocate to Wisconsin

This morning we attended the Public Works Committee meeting for the city of New Berlin, Wisconsin. We testified at the pre-meeting, Privilege of the Floor as to our opposition for a proposed bike/walking path which would cut the back yards of residents in our sub-division ourselves included by 25 feet.  The street behind us has become busier in the 10 years that we have lived there.  We have planted 14 pine trees now towering over the phone lines...many other residents also have spent many thousands of dollars on landscaping with berms, trees, plantings, etc. The "natural pine fences" provide privacy, reduces noise...adds beautiful greenery to the area.  Enter the City of New Berlin....there is a very good possibility that the city will receive a federal grant which would add a shoulder to 124th Street from the north end of our sub-division at Layton Avenue to several miles south, Grange Avenue.  The path is an extension to this project which no one wants...no one who lives in the area that we have found to date...just some members of the City Council.

       My testimony said it was only common sense...take land, destroy trees, less privacy, more noise....and a devaluing of the property.  In addition, though it is not the immediate plan, the property owners may at some point be required to maintain these paths...which for many due to the steep terrain, detention pond, irregular landscape....would mean lifting a snowblower into a trunk....a physical impossibility for most people....climb through snow banks which this year are more than a few feet deep at various times in our turbulent winter...hauling the snowblower...(that will happen) and blow the path that no one wants....Years down the road,...or the path, we may well be assessed for re-surfacing, mudjacking, replacement of concrete or asphalt...now there's a real selling point for property owners !  We also explained that what diminishes one property also has an effect of lowering the value of many others because it may well be used as a sold comparable.  One alderman said he had evidence he "forgot at home" that said side paths actually increased the value of homes by 40 per cent !  What he was hoping we would not remember is that he tried that at the last meeting and this quote was from a bicycle association.  Mmmmm...too bad bike associations aren't the economic barometer for pricing homes.

    We need some help.....we have a small window when we wll petition residents, take pictures to show the erosion of the landscape and need for retaining walls, moving phone lines, destroying trees...but what I would really greatly appreciate or realtors and appraisers of  AR is for you to address this depreciation in comments to this blog so I may add that to our credible evidence...please use your designations and titles and know that the residents of Country Estates, Nicolet Woods and Hales Heights Sub-divisions in New Berlin, WI are eternally grateful for the help you are providing in trying to prevent the destruction of backyards, trees, etc. THANK YOU !

     Lots of people in Wisconsin and other parts of the country believe that the best time...and for some, the ONLY time to put their homes on the market is in the spring....Ahhhhh...the return of warmer weather....lawns start to turn from brown to green...crocuses and daffodils begin to poke their heads out of the thawing ground...the neighbors decide it is warm enough to take their Christmas lights off the roof, wooley socks and layers of heavy clothing yield to brighter and lighter colors and the results of that diet and exercise program that you resolved can be shown off wthout a bulky coat and sweater.   IS Spring really the only....Or even the best time to list your home ?

      
         Part of the pricing in real estate depends upon the laws of supply and demand.  The greater the supply...the lower the price...the less the supply, the higher the price.  If you join the "Sell in the Spring" crowd, you will likely be competing with more homes on the market than there are now. We always counsel sellers to put their "best house forward."  Put on the fresh coat of paint, fix the obvious problems...consider our suggestions for updates and know that we want you to get the best possible return on one of your biggest investments. Remember, your home is being compared to all the others in the area n the same price range.

     If your home did not sell last year there are probably several reasons for that...and it could be a combination of reasons.  Yes, the market was slower. 

• Did you list with the agent who told you the highest list price ?  In the industry, we call that "buying a listing". The agent told you what you wanted to hear not what the last 6 months.,..not the last year said in terms of comparable homes that sold...not that were listed...were sold.  Think about it...and I appreciate that is hard when you have the emotional involvement of the property being your own home. Would an agent who works on commission give you a lower price when that means he/she will make less commission ? Did you ask your agent typically how many price reductions past listings have had ? Did you ask her/him how the listings he/she had compared to others in the area in therm of the number of days they were on the market ? Did you ask what the list to sale price percentage was for their last several listings ? You may find if you ask these questions and interview agents with varying commission levels, that the least commisson doesn't translate to the quickest sale or the most profit for you.
• Did you use the excuse that if you replace that worn carpeting, remove the pink plastic tile from the bathroom walls, updated the kitchen light fixture and got new switchplates that it might not be the same taste as the prospective buyer ?  While the new owners may elect to change your beige living room to blue at some point...there is no buyer that will not buy a house because of neutral decor.  Know that anything that a buyer imagines he/she has to do automatically has a HUGE price tag...it raises an objection to buying your house...or results in a lower offer while the buyer multiplies and calculates all the imagined expenses in making the home more to your taste.
• What was the marketing plan of the agent who listed or will list your house ?  How much promotion are they willing to do or did they do to make sure your listing stays in front of both agents and prospective buyers ? If you have selected a "do it yourself" realtor that makes you responsible for the marketing and promotion..mavbe you have paid to just get your listing in MLS or maybe all the promotion is up to you...know that you cannot begin to buy the advertising and promotion that a full service agent can provide you.  That is not to say that every agent is an active marketer....check out their marketing plan.
  If you do not feel qualified to evaluate it...use the questions about the number of days on the market and the percentage of list to sale price to gauge how successful the agent has been in the past.
• LOCATION ! LOCATION ! LOCATION !  You have heard it a zillion times...But you say...your house is where it is and that's not going to change if the railroad tracks are in the back yard...the high school football field is next door or the freeway goes past your front window.  Soooo what can you do about location ? Have an agent who makes sure that every possible buyer and agent KNOWS the location of your home...and for the some of the same reasons you chose that location, the next buyer will be attracted to your home for the same reason.

   Wait till spring ?  Probably not....What to remember....Price, Condition, Promotion and Location...Happy Selling !

   I opened my E-Mail box to the pleasant sound of cash slapping against the window.....and I opened the ne-mail to learn it was not really in an area close enough for us to service well....Oh well, I thought, as I sipped some morning mocha....it was nice he thought of us.....and then I read further.

   The referring agent wanted someone familiar with the area....we are....and I began my response saying that I knew agents in that area  I would refer at no charge....and then looked at the referral fee.....40% ....I know lots

of agents in lots of areas...and thanks to AR, lots more...but no agent, no relocation company...no anything that I know gets 40% for picking up the phone or spending 5 minutes at a keyboard.  I love getting and giving referrals...we do it more than most agents I would guess...I am hoping this was inexperience talking and not what some folks from the other side of the country may come to view as normal....not from me or anyone I know in the midwest.