The info is from the National Association of Realtors and it shows that there is a pretty significant increase in the number of homes that are purchased by foreign buyers. Apparently warmer climates are more popular than colder climates. Even New Jersey is warmer than Minnesota.
No one knows for sure what baby boomers will do as they age. I am a baby boomer but on the younger end of the generation. The generation spans many years and I don’t think we will age or retire the same way and if we all wanted to move into some kind of senior housing we couldn’t because there won’t be enough of it. By staying put we are contributing to the shortage or homes for younger generations.
The first time I heard the term “NORC” was a couple of years ago at the West 7th Community Center. I had to stop the meeting and ask for a definition. NORC is an acronym for Naturally Occurring Retirement Community.
NORCs are very real estate related and they are not planned communities. Rather, they evolve as people:
I would rather have my own home refurbished or retro fit so I can stay put. I don’t buy into the idea that stairs are the enemy or that doors have to be widened for wheelchairs. I think leg exercises that involve resistance training and yoga are the way to go.
I would rather make my home more energy efficient and add more technology. Yet it doesn’t hurt to have a home with main floor bedroom and a main floor shower that could easily be converted to a roll in shower.
We tend to lump seniors into one group. There can be a huge difference between the over all health of a 65 year old and a 95 year old. There are 70 year olds who are caring for their elderly parents. I see it all the time. I also know people in their 80’s who have full or part time jobs. We have a 70 year old president and senators in their 80’s.
It is Friday and Fridays are for fun. You may think it is too soon to be thinking about Christmas but retailers have the back to school stuff out and by the end of the month we will start seeing Christmas decorations too.
There are only about 155 days left until Christmas and subtract 2 from that number and you have the number of shopping days assuming the internet remains open and worst case scenario delivery takes two days because of the holiday rush.
Now is the time to start planning to break the cycle of buying stuff for people that don’t need stuff so that they have to buy more storage containers and perhaps move into larger houses or rent storage units.
Sure our economy will collapse if people don’t spend enough money on stuff but capitalism is only working well for the very wealthy anyway and probably isn’t sustainable in it’s current form. Together we can build something bigger and much, much better. Believe me. Happy holidays!
St. Paul home owners can find out if their home has a lead water line leading from the property line to the water main. Just go to online water bill pay You will need to login to your account or create an account. I write this today because I just got my water bill. There is also information about lead in water and testing for lead.
I know for sure that line from the street the house is copper. These are all questions to ask when buying a home. . . the more you know . .
Our listings (homes for sale) are all over the internet and on all the local agent and real estate company web sites. HomeSpotter is a mobile app that works with our MLS, and it gets a lot of traffic. Homes for sale also get viewed on Realtor.com, which for some reason I have to track separately.
Homes for sale also get a lot of traffic in our MLS as Realtors view them and they get sent out via email to home buyers. I have statistics on each home, how many views it gets and how many buyers mark it as a favorite.
This is why real estate photography is so important. Pictures of homes for sale make a first impression that will be good or bad.
As for internet traffic, it isn’t the same as an offer but it is a great start.
Over the years I have sold three homes for my family. One of the challenges of selling a home that is or was owned and lived in by an elderly person is making it look as appealing as possible to younger home buyers. Sometimes the homes look as if time stood still.
The first hurdle can be getting the owners to give up some decorating choices they made long ago. My mom doesn’t know that I had the wallpaper border removed from the kitchen, and repainted or she would be upset about it. Often “grandma’s” house is in good repair and is an excellent opportunity for first time home buyers to fix some of the cosmetics and build equity.
As a seller, I don’t want to put any more money into the home than I have to. Here are some of the things I did that were fairly inexpensive that helped sell grandma’s house:
1. Clean everything
2. Repaint in light neutral colors.
3. Replacing old drapes with sheers in shades of white.
4. Replacing any window shade or blind that was anything other than white or just remove them.
5. Buy new shower curtains, towels and coordinating rugs for the bathrooms for staging.
6. Replace light fixtures and shades.
7. Remove wallpaper and paint walls.
8. Remove worn carpeting to expose hardwood floors. It is better to have wood floors that need a little work than worn carpeting.
9. Remove worn linoleum and replace.
The list isn’t really prioritized by importance but it is in order of how much the project is likely to cost. It is important to have a budget and to stick with it. If the improvement won’t help sell the home faster or for more money it isn’t worth doing. The smallest improvements that give the greatest payback. Cleaning and painting have the highest ROI.
Removing a wallpaper border can have a tremendous impact. Putting a new backsplash in the kitchen can also have a high return on investment. Consider new switch plates and don’t forget t clean light fixtures.
It is also a good idea to have furnace or boiler serviced and have any repairs were done that are needed. As a rule, anything that leaks should be fixed and there are usually other obvious repairs too. Sometimes small maintenance issues result in low offers.