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Author Archives: Lane Bailey

What makes a Garage “Inspirational”?

Barn Garage
Image by genevievepan via Flickr

There are basically three kinds of garages…

  1. Places to store stuff
  2. Places to work on stuff
  3. Places to display stuff

Most garages are storage sheds. They hold tools, lawn mowers, cars, sporting goods, cleaning supplies and overflow food in the chest freezer.

The next most common group are working garages. Whether it is building a hot rod or keeping the family rides in tune, they have tools and parts and more tools.

Finally, there are the showplaces. These are less garage and more gallery of mobile art.  And some of them are incredible.  They are limited only by imagination and budget… and some are limited much at all.

I’d love to have one of each…

But what makes it inspirational?

I would say that what makes it inspirational is as different as the person that is inspired.  For me, a garage that allows me to get dirty and throw some sparks is what inspires me.  While I would love to have an incredible showroom for a bunch of cool toys, I love to get out there and weld and grind and paint and wrench.  I like not having to worry about dropping a wrench on the floor and chipping the marble or scarring the textured walls.

But, for others, having someplace that looks like a stable to house their prancing horses or a full-on NASCAR shop is their dream, with checkerboard tiling and powder-coated tool benches.

The first step…  Figure out what you want.  Are you going to store, build or display?

The second step…  Decide on your style.  Do you like acid-etched, polished concrete?  Epoxy Coatings?  Powder-coated cabinetry?  Stained wood cabinets?

The third step…  Make a budget.

The fourth step…  Make a plan.  Even with a modest budget, there are ways to minimize the out-lay while maximizing the impact.  Like Craigslist…  Discarded kitchen cabinets are a great way to add attractive storage to the garage.  And everything doesn’t need to be done at once, it can be done in stages.

The fifth step…  Pull it all together.

A couple of tips…

  • If you are going to work in the garage, put anything on the floor on wheels.  If it is mobile, you can move it to clean behind it.
  • If it isn’t on wheels, get it off the floor.  If it is off the floor, you can sweep and/or hose under it.  Wall mounted cabinetry is very cool.
  • Floor coatings don’t stand up to welding and plasma cutting.  Stick with polished or acid-etched concrete.

And here is a cool place to check out…  DreamGarage.com

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Pricing isn’t about Price. It’s about…

exterior_2
Image by lane.bailey via Flickr

I can almost hear you say, “Pricing isn’t about price?  Then what the heck is it about?”

Here is the bottom line.  Just about every home on the market has a narrow range it WILL sell in.  Whether it is priced at $50,000 or $500,000, there is a price at which it will sell.  Below that price and we tend to see multiple offers.  Above that price and we tend to see reducred activity.

Obviously marketing and presentation come in to play… if nobody knows it is there, or when they come to see it the home lacks attraction, then the price ceases to be the major factor.  But it still comes back to price.

First, I’ll give you a chance to review…  Price ≠ Value

Next, let’s discuss ways to NOT price a property…

  • What someone owes on the property has absolutely no bearing on the value of the property.
  • What someone paid for the property has no bearing on the value of the property.
  • How much money someone needs in order to move has no bearing on the value of the property.

Each of those are external.  Back when the market was hot, I didn’t hear people saying that they owed $147,615 on their property and so that was what it needed to sell for… and I never heard them saying that they only paid $200,000 for a property and so that was all they needed to sell it for… even if the other houses around them were selling for $400,000.  It was all about how much other properties were selling for.

The situation is a little different today…  Sellers are doing the math on what they paid or what they owe.  I understand… I can’t afford to sell my house either… and partially because of that (and mostly because we love where we live) we aren’t looking for homes.

So, how DO we price a property?

Pricing is a strategy.  Obviously it has a little bearing on the final sales price… but not as much as most people (including many real estate agents) assume.  If it is priced too low, it will attract bidding.  If it is priced too high, it will attract nothing.

So, if we use pricing as a strategy, what are we trying to accomplish?  Well, there are two different options… and neither of them ends in $___,900.

Strategy #1 – We want to get the house in front of the right people! For most homes, this is the right strategy.  When consumers search, they tend to use predictable patterns.  At the low end of the spectrum, they use $10,000 increments.  The search might be $80,000 to $100,000.  As we move up in price, we quickly start to see $25,000 increments, with searches like $250,000 to $275,000.  Then we will see $50,000 and finally $100,000 increments.

Of course there will be people searching for slightly different end points, but this is the way most searches go.  Real estate agents tend to play with the end points a little, but consumers don’t play as much.  So…

Use round numbers that correspond to the searches at your price level and price on a “node.” So, instead of $99,000, price at $100,000.  Instead of $251,000, price at $250,000.  The reason to price on a node is that you can catch searches in two places…  $200,000 to $250,000 AND $250,000 to $300,000.  Pricing at $249,900 drops you out of one of those searches.

Look realistically at the market and at the prices the specific property can compete in.  Get it in those searches.  That might mean that you add that the seller is negotiable if you are a little higher than you should be ($96,000 home in a $100,000 search range), or it might mean that you have to hold the line on negotiations ($213,000 home in a $200,000 search range).  If buyers see a price that is WAY too high, they won’t bother look…

Strategy #2 – Use a “precise” number for pricing. I think this is more appropriate for a seller’s market, but there is some data that suggests that (what I call) random number pricing, is better for holding list price and selling price in a tighter range.  By that I mean that instead of listing at $100,000, one might list at $97,372 or $103,826.  Consumers percieve these prices to be “real” as opposed to $99,900… which they think of and refer to as $100,000, anyway.

In this case, we need to be VERY realistic in the value of the property.  We can’t price in a lot of “wiggle room” or fluff because it will not be searched by as many buyers as a property priced on a node.  And honestly, I can’t vouch for the data, but I can understand the logic.  I think that it is best reserved for properties that fall too far from a node to effectively use that for pricing.

Bonus Strategy – Good Luck with Crazy 8s. In China, the number 8 is seen as good luck.  This also holds for other cultures in the area.  I had a property that wasn’t getting any love at $185,000, but got two offers at $188,888…  I have seen research that in some markets this can be an effective way to round out the price.

What is clear is that pricing ending in $900 doesn’t really work.  Sure, we see it at the grocery store and every other place we shop, and there is a psycologocal reasoning behind it… but it doesn’t carry to real estate.  Especially at the top end.  There is simply NO way that a buyer for a house at $1,999,999 isn’t going to think in terms of $2,000,000 as the price for the property… and neither are they going to look at two properties, one priced at $1,999,900 and the other priced at $2,000,000 and think one is cheaper…  Even a $10,000 difference at that point is mute.

Bottom line

Pricing is a strategy, and isn’t really about price… it is about WHO will see a property.  What picking a price, the goal is to get the property in front of people that will like it AND have the capacity to buy it.

from GwinnettGarageGuy.com

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Atlanta seems to love its Bruisers…

The giant flaming birdheads at Philips Arena, ...
Image via Wikipedia

Just something I’ve noticed…

In hockey there are players tasked with protecting their teammates.  They are referred to as enforcers…  I’ve had the opporunity to meet three of them.

Jeff is well known to Atlanta hockey fans, and VERY well liked.  In 2002 he won the Gilner-Reeves Community Service Award for his efforts off the ice in the community.  This past season, the award was split between Eric and Garnet Exelby (“X” is another of the Thrasher’s enforcers).

Dan is also a big supporter of the community.  He is a partner in the Come and Get It hockey camp.  Their goal is to help kids play better hockey… and they offer scholarships to help make sure that money isn’t an obstacle.

It is kind of ironic that the guys that make their living fighting ON the ice are often the ones that give the most of themselves off the ice… or maybe it isn’t so surprising.  On the ice, their role of enforcer is also that of “protector of their teammates”.  One could say that off the ice they want to help protect their communities.

And Atlanta seems to respond with open arms to the guys that protect their teammates!

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Wanna be a TV star?

The Canadian HGTV logo
Image via Wikipedia

HGTV is looking forsome buyers in the Atlanta area that are ready to get a deal done.  They want fun and energetic buyers.

If you think this would be interesting, let me know.  We can put in an application.

Also, if you selling a home and having trouble, there may be opportunities to have your home shown on HGTV along with some advice from their expert, Sabrina, on things you might do to help get it sold.

Shoot me a message if you are interested in either of these opportunities.

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Atlanta Social Media Breakfast, July 23rd

An example of a social network diagram.
Image via Wikipedia

That is right.  We have finally worked out some of the details and nailed down some of our specifics.  Time and location!

We will be hosting the very first Atlanta Social Media Breakfast at the Duluth Diner on Thursday, July 23rd from 7:00 to 9:00am.  We will have the WHOLE place to ourselves as their normal opening time isn’t until 9:00 during the week.

We will have a little socializing from 7:00 until 7:30 and then run a program from 7:30 until 8:30.  The program will be a round table discussion of social media tactics and technologies.  And then from 8:30 until 9:00, we will do a little more networking… and then we can all head out to work.

Ken Cook and I will release a little more information on the program as we get closer to the event.  Because this is the first event, it won’t be a total GeekFest, but rather a more general discussion about the basics of Social Network Marketing.

Ken is the co-host of the Social Media Edge radio show on Blog Talk Radio.  His show is live on Tuesdays from Noon to 1:00pm.

Stay tuned for  updates.

Also, if you are interested in attending, please be sure to let one of us know.  Email, phone, Twitter, chat… whatever works best for you.  You can find Ken on Twitter, too.

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