Brian R Kelly

Category: Brian Kelly

  • 7 Things for Home Buyers to Consider

    Buying home at Village Green
    Buying home at Village Green

    7 Things for Home Buyers to Consider

    are as follows:

    1. Construction matters: Types of homes have much different costs to build and the value is not reflected equally by sales prices. One example I always give my first time buyers is a one level home that has 2,000 square feet costs much more than a two story 2,000 square foot home. The 2 story 2,000 square foot house has only a 1,000 square foot foundation and 1,000 square foot roof. The one level that is 2,000 square feet has 2,000 square feet of roof and foundation costs. Regardless of the style of home, I want my buyers obtaining a good value. After all, I want to help them sell when they are ready, so having equity is a strong plus.

    2. Architecture matters: When you are young the multi-level with master upstairs and basement on a hill is a great way to maximize room for money. When you go to sell the property just realize you are limiting your buying audience to the same type of buyer and not the boomer post knee surgery buyer with loads of cash. The split-foyer design is very efficient for a buyer, but not the most desirable or valuable for the seller.

    3. Location matters: Think about and drive your commute from where you are considering your purchase. How much of your precious time do you really want to spend in your car? Generally I am selling homes to 4th and 5th home buyers that are ready to spend more to shave cumulative hours from the road to be closer to their family and friends.

    4. Nature matters: In a word “water”. I am not talking running water versus out house. I am talking water from the roof, drainage fields, underground springs, basement water proofing, landscaping issues, etc. In east Tennessee, we get a decent rainfall annually and the hilly terrain and varied soil types take a toll on unsuspecting home owners. Buyers with me today went into a beautiful home that just did not pass the “marble test”. The marble test in my mind is if we put a marble on a hard wood floor without a push, does it roll. If it does then the water may be compressing the soil in certain places and the foundation may be sinking in certain areas. We do not have sink holes like Florida or the pan clay like Texas, but we certainly see crawl space foundations moving where water has compressed the ground over years.

    5. Inspection matters: Tennessee law requires ALL residential sellers to disclose known defects. Problems with a property that are not disclosed or known by the seller, can be discovered by your inspectors. A good written agreement should allow for all types of inspections prior to purchase. Recently I helped a young couple place a contract on a home. The house had a fairly strong cat odor. We explored possible solutions prior to inspection. Once the carpet was peeled back, we found that the urine was not just in one or two spots in the middle of the floor, it was in multiple corners of rooms. The urine had soaked into the supporting wall timbers and joists and to truly mitigate the issue by replacing the wood instead of encapsulation was estimated at $6,000. The seller not wanting to make up the difference we decided to back out of the deal at no expense to the buyer.

    6. Ownership matters: True “ownership” is not having a mortgage. Your money is your business, but in the last 6 years I have seen the reality of people thinking their deed gives them rights beyond the lender’s. If you have mortgaged your property, remember you are being a steward of the bank’s property. If you are not “feeling” that, try missing 4 payments. Keep some cash reserves for maintenance and payment emergencies. ALL properties, even new homes require money for maintenance and repair. New homes may require window coverings, sometimes shower and towel rods, additional landscaping, etc. Slightly used homes may require repairs not covered by home warranties.

    7. Evaluation of value matters: Do not get caught in the $ per square footage trap. They are good for “rules of thumb” but, A. Not all homes were created equal, B. Deferred maintenance is very expensive, C. Location, location, location

    If you are considering a move to Chattanooga, TN, then read this article more specific to the area.

    There are so many more than these 7 things for home buyers to consider. Take your time, be patient, realize that emotions do play a big part in choosing home. That is great! You should be “emotional” when considering a huge investment that will be your “Home” and where you choose to live life. Enjoy buying your new home!

  • Why pay a real estate agent versus flat fee listing?

    Flat Fee ServiceA “For Sale By Owner” recently asked me “Why should I pay you a percentage of the sales price to put the house in the MLS when I can pay a few hundred dollars for a flat fee listing?”  Isn’t the Multiple Listing System or MLS the way you sell your property?  The MLS does provide a valuable platform in which to market, but it is just the start of a journey to the closing table.  Here are seven reasons you may want “full” listing service.

    1.  Security:  I recently previewed a For Sale By Owner or (FSBO, pronounced Fisbo) as Realtors call them.  The owner left work on lunch break and she was meeting me.  Her husband was going to meet with me as well, but he could not leave a work meeting.  So she left him connected on a cell phone call while I looked at the house.  It is a very limiting factor to be present at each showing.  You may even put a lockbox on your door.  But which potential buyers do you give the code to?

    2. Showing:  A buyer needs to see the “house” as their “home”.  They need to be able to say “I can see myself living here.”  When the owner is present there is a shift of mind that goes into hospitality and an underlying respect of “oh, you really like that Barney purple wallpaper and chose it for your living room, ….how lovely…”  If an owner is present it adds an additional emotional layer to the walk through.

    3. Time:  There is work involved getting people to visit spaces to make the buying decision.  Gas is burned, meetings are missed, Open Houses need hosting, etc. Your time is valuable.  How many ballgames are you willing to miss to save some money?

    4. Marketing:  The MLS is a great start and is a gateway to many sites like Realtor.com, but it is just the start.  Relationships and trust are the value that your listing agent brings to your table.  Reaching out to other real estate agents is vital to your sale.  Your credibility is unknown to the the other agents.  The agents bringing a buyer assume that they will have to do ALL your work that a “typical” listing agent would do to handle all paperwork, closing arrangements, and scheduled inspections, moving, etc.

    5. Staging:  How many houses have you been in lately?  Your winning the next buyer means that your pad trumped all the others.  This is competitive.  The buyer has choices.  A good listing agent has seen lots of houses and knows how to make yours stand out.

    6. Pricing:  Are you leaving money on the table? or are you pricing so high that few people bother to schedule a showing?  Constant monitoring of the market and seeing many places is knowledge.  Knowledge is power when pricing to sell.

    7. Success:  4,120 homes sold in Hamilton County that were listed in 2012.  37 of them were marked as MLS Entry Only listings.

    I met recently a retired couple at their home in East Brainerd.  They had recently experienced success with a MLS Entry service.  He told me that on average they spent $78 monthly in newspaper advertising for the better part of three years and really had not added up the cost of time for Open Houses and showings, etc. The couple said they were surprised at how people “lied” to them about following up, etc.  He looked a little surprised when I asked him if he had considered getting his license and using his new skills to help others.  Selling your own home is not rocket science (thank goodness, I would not have a job), but it does take work, patience dealing with the public, and some experience is a good thing as well.

  • Foosball, Zillow and Trulia are not of the devil

    Foosball, Trulia and  Zillow are not of the devil.  The post title is a play on the quote from Mama in the 1998 movie “The Waterboy”.  (Don’t worry if you did not catch the quote, it is one of Adam Sandler’s intellectual type flicks)  {Telling on my movie taste here:  if Adam Sandler or Jackie Chan are not in the film, it could be suspect}  Some real estate professionals may think organizations such as Trulia and Zillow are “bad for business.”  The real estate business as we know it is live and well and God bless Zillow and Trulia for joining the fray.   Here are five observations from this grizzled real estate broker.Zillow App

    1.  Home buyers and sellers love Zillow and Trulia:   Regardless of your opinion of data integrity, value accuracy, etc., there is no disputing that millions of buyers and sellers are using the apps.  They must have some type of value, otherwise people would not download them.  Judging from my experience it is not entertainment value.

    2.  Robots are robots:  Regardless of the power of third parties to influence our customers, they do not have the relationship with local people.  Licensed real estate agents do.  Hint to agents: focus on relationships.

    3.  Zillow and Trulia provide value:  Recent friend of mine used “Make Me Move” application with Zillow.  The buyer that responded had agent representation, so he called wanting me to represent him.  Zillow is not representing anyone regarding their “guess” to square footage, or their “Zestimate” of value.  My license is still on the line with my measuring tape in hand and on the “ground”.

    4.  Agents provide value:  We are paid well for our knowledge,  skill, and trust in relationship in context of fair dealing.  My most recent listing is 12 years old.  The owners purchased a new 2,400 square foot home for $300,000 in 2000.  Over the last decade the owners finished the entire second floor, which added space to a new total of 3,800 square feet.  There is no data that Zillow can pick up that “justifies” a price of $465,000 for the original 2,400 sqft home.  That is local product knowledge delivered by a licensed pro.

    5. Whip’em fair and square:  Groaning agents over competition bore me!  Trulia is a huge wordpress blog that strategically uses agents across the country to add value to it.  Stop!  Build your own blog and put a hurtin on Trulia and Zillow.  Reclaim your territory and bring the fight to your neighborhood.  One million Realtors or two million licensed real estate agents far out number the assets of Trulia and Zillow.

    Zillow and Trulia are not of the devil.  They are products of what current consumers are demanding in knowledge about real estate.  Start a blog, get a Twitter account and let’s serve our customers well!

     

     

     

  • 7 Home Selling Secrets Your Real Estate Agent May Not Tell You

    4 Hour Open House
    4 Hour Open House

    Seven home selling secrets that your real estate agent may not share with you are as follows:

    1. Open Houses Work.  The half truth is that your house will probably not sell to a person that comes to your open house.  What is true is that your house will most likely get an offer soon after or before an open house because of “fear of loss”.  I wrote an offer  two weeks ago with a buyer.  She knew that the house was scheduled to be open during the upcoming weekend.  She said “I hope that the Open House does not generate another buyer that I will be competing with.”  She wrote a good offer and we are scheduled to close soon.  She never attended the open house event.   Activity, Promotion, Work – Always Good!

    2. Color magazines and newspaper ads are for future listing agreements.  Much of traditional marketing for agents who sell houses is for them personally.  They know that people who are thinking about selling will pick up the latest color magazine at the grocery store to see who is promoting houses like their own.  Buyers are generally attached to agents by referral.  Buyers do not buy homes from a single small street picture.  They start looking on a smart phone app or online.  So, you may be proud to see that your agent is spending money to put a picture in the latest color newspaper ad or color magazine.  The truth is that the money would have been better spent encouraging other agents to take a look at the special features of your house, agent open house, or sending ads (more than one street shot) to specific potential buyers.

    3. Most homes do NOT sell!!   What??  Yes, check your local stats, roughly only 50% of “listings” actually sell.  You may see yard signs come and go in your area, but moving trucks show up far less often.  Why?  Most people do not “have to” sell, or sadly in the current market (they owe the bank more money than the home is worth).  They are testing the market. If they can get more than their house is actually worth, then they will sell and move. Selling a house is hard work.  So evaluate your reason and be honest with yourself.

    4.  Social and Mobile Media Work.  The average age of successful real estate agents is a generation or two “out front” of the average buyer.  Changes in advertising have come fast and furious in the last three years.  I am writing this in 2013.  I have been in real estate industry 23 years.  A few years ago I was not concerned how my listing was being presented in a Zillow app or Facebook.  Social media requires time and education.  The real estate “industry” as current day real estate agents know it is changing FAST!  The truth is that social media scares real estate agents because they are making decent money without doing it, and is the work and education worth the effort?  Successful agents are plenty busy already, and they never had to worry about Twitter to make a living in the past.

    5. Another agent will most likely bring the buyer.  The odds are against the listing agent selling their own listing.  So, a good listing agent works hard to get fellow agents good information so that they will present your house to their qualified buyers for an income event for all involved.

    6. Staging for emotional pull is important.   Buying a home is emotional.  We are a wealthy country and we have numerous “home lifestyle” options.  How someone feels about your house as they step out of the car in the driveway to the walk to the front door is important.  Are there projects to be done?  Cleaning, weeding, chipping paint, light bulb out?  Very few buyers are getting excited about paying a high price for future projects.  Involve the buyers senses and imagination as they take time to consider your house.  Retail stores spend millions to figure out what causes people to buy.  Have you been in a store selling clothes to teens at the mall lately?

    7. Getting a contract to purchase is the start of another adventure.  Congratulations, you have offers and chosen one to become a contract.  You SOLD your house!  Not so fast.  What about the buyer’s inspection, pest and mold inspection, low appraisal because of the foreclosure down the road, survey showing your driveway on the neighbors property, FEMA flood map moved your house into a flood zone, and not to be out done the sweet loan underwriter looking for the buyer’s changing credit report a week before closing.

    Now you know the seven home selling secrets that your real estate agent may be keeping from you.  Let’s just keep it between us.  Go informed, sell and live big!

  • Chattanooga real estate is up in 2013 But this is not 2006

    The number of Chattanooga home sales increased almost 12% in the last 45 days compared to the same 45 days in 2012. Optimism always abounds in the mind of a real estate agent. I am chief among optimists. It is true that the number of home sales are increasing in Hamilton County, TN. While the number of home sales are increasing the values of real estate are not enjoying the same rate of rebound. Foreclosures and short sales are a large part of the equation. While less than 7% of all active listings are foreclosures, foreclosures in 2012 made up 20% of all sales. Buyers are still looking for deals, and the deals are still out there.

  • How I Met Your Mother – Brian Kelly's story of Red Bank Sadie Hawkins Dance 1981

    Mary Dee Ballentine asked me to the Sadie Hawkins Dance in 1981 at Red Bank High School in Chattanooga, TN. The rest of the story is still being written.

  • How to use Twitter to find buyers and sellers of real estate

    You can use Twitter to find future buyers and sellers of real estate. I did and I show you in less than 60 seconds what to type in Twitter’s search engine to find yours. The power of Twitter is not in “traditional” push marketing messages or information. The power lies in relationship! Real estate agents have practiced relationship building for years. The first thing in establishing a decent relationship with anyone is listening! This video shows you how to put your first Twitter “ears on.” Got your “ears on” good buddy? Hope so, because more good real estate agents are starting to listen.