ONLY TOUGH SELL THINK ABOUT SELLING YOUR LAS VEGAS HOME TO YOURSELF
If you are at all typical, you probably won’t put even minimal thought into planning for selling your Las Vegas home until there’s a good reason to do so. One of the best parts of being a homeowner is the comfort you feel from having a stable home base. For a lot of us, thinking about selling your home (and then finding another; then moving) produces the opposite reaction. If we don’t have to start planning for migrating the whole household, we’d just rather not, thank you very much. In truth, doing this theoretically-only kind of thinking won’t be so disquieting. Since an actual sale and move is nowhere on the horizon, thinking about how you would prepare isn’t nearly as stressful as the real thing. And there are a couple of practical reasons why it can be worthwhile: REASON 1: When it comes to actually selling your home in Las Vegas, you will almost certainly find some minor (and even major) features that must be changed to make the place more appealing to prospective buyers. It might be upgrading or expanding a backyard deck; it might be turning a shopworn kitchen island into a butcher block showpiece. Some of those upgrades might involve a level of expense that we’d postpone until it was absolutely necessary. Yet as a business proposition when you’re selling your home, such improvements may be just what’s needed to make your place an irresistible buy. So the first good reason to plan for selling when you have no intention of selling is that, instead of passing on a more livable place to the next owner, you get to benefit from living in the much more livable place yourself! This is really the best reason. It’s amazing how often I hear sellers say, “(big sigh) I wish I’d done that years ago. Why didn’t I do that years ago?” REASON 2: When you’re not planning to sell your Las Vegas home anytime soon (or perhaps anytime at all), you have an advantage that won’t be available when selling is imminent. That’s the ability to think about how the place will look and feel five or ten or twenty years down the line—and doing something to make it the best it can be. Most often, this involves landscaping decisions that can be made now for a next to nothing—and yield big dividends later on. Saplings that are inexpensive to plant this year can grow to provide shade and peaceful beauty a decade hence. Likewise, a problem tree that’s perfect right now (but whose roots will one day undermine your front walkway) might be mitigated by a young replacement nearby. When the offending tree has to be removed, the Las Vegas won’t left barren. Thinking about the selling of your Las Vegas home long before you have any serious plans to do so is a little like selling your home to yourself. You’re a discriminating prospect, after all. If a few improvements will make the place a richer environment for all the years you and your family will be living there, it’s certainly worth thinking about—and acting on—before the time comes to move on. P.S. And just in case the time for selling your home arrive sooner rather than later, I’d be delighted if you will consider giving me a call!
FACTORS THAT SHAPE THE LAS VEGAS LUXURY RESIDENCE MARKET
When you have a Las Vegas luxury residence ready put on the market, you are about to enter a specialized Las Vegas of the real estate realm. The luxury home market is, as the name implies, other than ordinary—and so are some of the ways to effectively navigate through it. First off, we have to recognize the importance of the fact that the pool of prospective buyers is a good deal smaller than that for a standard home. By the National Association of REALTOR®s’ assessment, it comprises only about 8% of the buying public. This speck of a target audience might seem to create a discouraging marketing handicap—but it’s balanced by the fact that these well-heeled buyers are only attracted to about 8% of the homes presented in the Las Vegas listings. These buyers have more defined objectives than most: a true luxury home prospect isn’t about to accept any other than a high-end residence. Because there are fewer of such properties on the market at any given time, your own luxury residence stands to benefit. The limited supply is, after all, the simplest marketing cure for a limited demand situation. One characteristic that distinguishes the best luxury residences is exactly that: it’s distinguished. Luxury residences do well when they have distinctive, notable features in their design or setting—even better if those features create a theme that’s memorable. Lacking that, a property may be able to depend upon sheer size or quantity (bedrooms, bathrooms) as well as quality construction to validate its place in the luxury category. To be in show condition, a property in any category that is up for sale in Las Vegas needs to be well maintained and presented. But for luxury residences, there may be a difference in the degree of attention required. The finer the property, the more attention any lapse attracts. Fair or not, people have a tendency to notice (and remember) even minor maintenance miscues—anything that stands out. The last thing you want is for a minor flub to be the most memorable thing a prospect takes away after an otherwise sterling showing. There is also a seemingly extraneous factor that can help a luxury residence sale: the homeowner’s disposition. Eligible buyers in this category are typically busy people with demanding schedules. They may also be used to calling the shots in their own careers—and as potential buyers of an expensive property, assume they will be treated like what they are: VIPs. Since the owners of Las Vegas luxury residences probably have similar credentials deserving the same degree of deference, being asked to accommodate a buyer’s sudden schedule change can be grating. The more understanding an owner can be, the more likely to result in the kind of positive atmospherics that produce the hoped-for result. The actual mechanics associated with the sale of a luxury residence are generally more involved than with run-of-the-mill home sale transactions because financing, inspections, etc. are usually more time-consuming. To keep the proceedings on track and as efficient as possible, a key ingredient is the same as that which propels the entire process: close communication between the owner and the owner’s REALTOR. It starts with the kind of no-obligation consultation I’m pleased to offer—and it’s only a phone call away!
LAS VEGAS LISTINGS ONLINE EVOLUTION WAS FORESEEABLE
Ever since the real estate world turned the corner and plunged full bore into the virtual world of home computers, cell phones, and iPads, Las Vegas home buyers and sellers have benefitted greatly. There had been an issue about the fate of the once closely-held and jealously-guarded Secrets of the Kingdom—“the listings.” The Las Vegas listings are the compilation of current details about homes that are up for sale in Las Vegas. There is no single national clearing house for U.S. listings. They are run regionally at Las Vegas and state levels. But in just about every part of the country, being in possession of the latest listings book was a necessity for real estate professionals. As computers and then dial-up modem connectivity put real estate offices in touch with new digital listing databases, it became possible to replace the once-a-week listing page mailings with instantly updated listings. Even the most stubbornly technology-resistant could not deny the obvious superiority of electronic listings. Next, as Internet access became more and more common, it became clear that the digitized listings could go online for clients, too …creating something new: instant public access. You can imagine how much resistance many in real estate’s old guard put up against that development! Historically, the only way a buyer could be sure to find out what Las Vegas properties were for sale had been to thumb through an agent’s listing book, or to have their Realtor® copy the relevant pages. Giving away that irreplaceable asset seemed to some to be the height of foolishness. On the other hand, the forward-looking segment of the industry saw the writing on the wall and embraced the idea that easy, universal access to listings was going to be inevitable. Their vision won out. A surprising thing then happened—pretty much the opposite of what the foes of open access had feared. Although the volume of homes sold by rose and fell, all right—it did so in the same way as before: up and down as the economic fortunes of the country waxed and waned. Las Vegas real estate brokers and agents didn’t wind up losing business at all. In fact, with clients now freely browsing through instantly updated listings, they were becoming more knowledgeable on their own. They were becoming better and better clients! It turned out that the real estate pros’ services continued to be in demand by both buyers and sellers. Today, the percentage of sellers who choose to rely on a REALTOR is actually rising. When it comes to everything from creating conforming listings (with buyer appeal) to handling all the technical details involved in completing a sale, going it alone—even when the online tools are so tempting—is still a last choice for most. Ditto for the buyers, who now frequently begin their house hunt on their own. The choice to opt for professional help is popular not just because of the support services they receive, but also because of another feature buyers appreciate: they’re available at no cost to themselves. There’s no doubt in my mind that the advent of Las Vegas listings online is a terrific boon, across the board. It’s a valuable addition to the experience I bring to facilitating the buying and selling process—equally accessible with a simple phone call to my office!
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