Not Found business of real estate | Garage with a Detached Home | Gwinnett County GA

LaneBailey.com

Garage with a Detached Home

Contact Lane
  • What's YOUR Home Worth?

    Get a free Maximum Price Analysis to find out the current market value of your home.

    Read More
  • Custom Listings

    Sign up to get notified when new listingscome on the market that meet your specs.

    Read More
  • Browse Listings

    Take a look at what is currently on the market in the areas that interest you.

    Read More
  • 1

Category Archives: business of real estate

But Zillow says…

Well....if nobody wants to play Conkers with m...
Image by law_keven via Flickr

I know… most sellers at some point take a look at the ‘Zestimate’ that Zillow produces for their property.  And there is almost always one of two reactions…

  • Those people are on crack, my house is worth way more than that” (if the Zestimate is lower than expected)
  • Wow, I didn’t know it was worth THAT much… Cool” (if the Zestimate comes in higher than expected)

The bottom line is that if it is low, it must be wrong, and if it is high, then it must be right.  It is pretty rare for someone to see a low valuation and think it could be right, or see a high valuation and think it could be wrong…

But let me tell you a truism… the Zestimate is wrong.  Blanket statement.  It could be high.  It could be low.  It isn’t dead on.

Here are the current levels of accuracy for the Atlanta Statistical Area…

Within 5% of the true value, 25% of the time.
Within 10% of the true value, 45% of the time.
Within 20% of the true value, 66% of the time.
Median error, 11.6%.

This is lifted straight from Zillow’s accuracy.  For the Atlanta MSA, you are within 5% once out of 4 times… So, are you telling people that the just gave them a $400,000 valuation, and they have a 25% chance of the house being worth $380k – $420k?  And a 10% chance of it being worth either $$360k – $380k or $420k – $440k?  Or that there is a 10.5% chance of it being worth either $320k – $360k or $440k – $480k?  Or a 34% chance that it is worth less than $320k or more than $480k?

Maybe you will let them know that about half of the time your $400,000 valuation is worth $446,400 or $353,600… since the median error is 11.6%

The thing is that the Zestimate could rise or fall by a significant percentage and still be within the range of error..

So, the thing is that 75% of the time, Zestimates are off by more than 5%.

Now, I am not going to argue with Zillow’s national or regional data.  It is likely to be much closer than the data for a specific property.  The folks there argue (and I can’t refute them in any way) that Zestimates are as likely to be high as low and therefore cancel each other out and that for larger samples, they are quite accurate.

in fact, everyone that gives you an estimate of market value is doing exactly that… giving you an estimate of market value.  Market value can’t be determined until there is a buyer…  That was the previous post…

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

My home is worth what?

Burholme estate in Burholme Park, Philadelphia
Image via Wikipedia

I can’t think of a question that I am asked more…

What is my home worth?

And there as many answers as there are times the question is asked.  There are a lot of sources for the information…

  • Appraisers
  • Real Estate Agents
  • Automated Valuation Models

And the results come in many flavors…

  • Appraisal
  • Comparative Market Analysis (CMA)
  • Broker Price Opinion (BPO)
  • Zestimates

There is one thing that they all share in common.  They are all opinions.  And they are all flawed.  That’s right… all flawed. They might hit the right value… but if they do, it purely a fortuitous accident.

Keep in mind, I work very hard on the accuracy of my CMAs.  I go over the data and try to stake out the trends as well as the differences between the subject and the comparable properties.

I know agents that do BPOs, and appraisers.  I have studied Zillow’s data that they use to get Zestimates.  In each case, they produce the best estimate of value that they can with the data available.

But they are all missing something…

What each opinion is missing is the buyer.  When it comes down to it, the person that is actually going to determine the market value of a property is going to be someone that may not have any training at all…

What is ironic is that the moment the closing is over and the sale is complete, the market value becomes a vaporous moving target again.

The market value is what a buyer is willing to pay and a seller is willing to sell for.  We can study the neighborhood values, floor plan, amenities and square footage.  We can crunch numbers and compare.  We can make spreadsheets and track trends.  But, a buyer gets to determine what the value is to them… and then see if the seller will go for it.

The point is…

It isn’t magic.  It is science… and an inexact science at that…  and a bit of art.  And pricing is actually a strategy.  The idea is to price it right to get it in front of the right potential buyers.  And that is the difference between a real estate agent, a BPO, an appraiser and an automated valuation model.  Only the real estate agent is working towards finding a willing buyer.

The other methods are important, and have a place…  And all should be in the same neighborhood.  Finally, make sure your real estate agent knows that pricing is a strategy, not a contest.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Looking for a real estate deal?

Of course you are… everyone is.  Maybe not everyone, but there are a lot of people that are looking for good deals in real estate in Gwinnett County, GA, during a buyer’s market… which is basically what we are in right now.

While looking for something semi-related, I ran across some interesting and possibly good deals out there for the right buyer.  These are basically unfinished, brand-new homes.  The builder apparently didn’t make it, and the bank has these things on their hands.

The ones I concentrated on are all finished on the exterior… except for landscaping and final doors… and a couple need replacement windows.  Possibly some other exterior repair on some as well…

The interiors are a different matter.  At the very least all of them need flooring, cabinetry, paint, fixtures and appliances.  Some also need HVAC, electrical and plumbing finish work and drywall repair. In each case, I would expect to see $75k or so to get these done and ready to live in.

Since the builder is no longer viable, I would assume that these are without any sort of warranty.  And just to be clear, these are NOT move-in ready.  In fact, as a very inexperienced construction estimator, I would guess that it would take 60 days to get into one of these after getting the work started.

On the flip side, the prices for some of the larger homes are around $250k.  Keep in mind that the ARV (After Renovation Value) of the homes should be in the $400k to $500k range.  So, one could expect that in a couple of years their $350k investment ($250k house + $75k renovation + $25k in stuff that always comes up) could yield $50k or more in profit.

That isn’t to say there aren’t challenges… the subdivision is not very built out and I don’t think the amenities are in.  The HOA doesn’t exist.

Another interesting point… all of the homes I went in had very tall garages.  With the right changes to the garage doors, I think that lifts could be installed in at least one spot of each garage.  One of the plans also had an unfinished bonus room over the garage… Interesting!

And my buddy Ken Cook at Novation is working up some special financing plans for these properties.
I noticed that several of the homes had gone under contract in the last few days…. don’t wait too long.

New Listings…

Busy Florida street
Image by lrargerich via Flickr

Things have been pretty busy around here.  We have been rolling out some new listings…

Read more ...

Cheap Sex and Real Estate…

One Night Stand (musical)
Image via Wikipedia

I don’t know why, but I was reminded this morning about two very different people, one quote from both, and how cheap sex is like real estate success… for some.

Back when I first got into real erstate, a local “power agent” told me that the goal was to list as many properties as possible.  She said that I needed systems in place to spend as little time as practical for each listing, and to avoid spending money like the plague.  Seriously. She was all in favor of spending money, but not on marketing property.  Her quote was, “It is a numbers game, the more you list, the more you sell.”  She didn’t care if the houses were over-priced, in bad condition… whatever.  It was just a numbers game.

And then there is a ‘friend’ of mine from my early college days.  He had a pattern… and it worked on occasion.  At a party or a bar or a gathering, he would casually ask girls if the wanted a one night stand.  And every once in a while… he would find one that said, “yes.”  He told me that it worked out to about one in 50 or 75…  It is a numbers game, don’t waste time getting to know people… ask and move on,” he said.  I think it goes without saying that the girls that responded with a “yes” weren’t the girls that the rest of us were looking for…

In both case, these very different people weren’t looking out for the needs of their ‘target’.  They didn’t care about the other person.  An agent that takes an over-priced listing without reservations and then refuses to market it isn’t helping anyone… and someone that will have a fling with anyone that agrees to it obviously isn’t exactly responsible.

But their attitude was the same.  It’s a numbers game. The goals, needs and desires of the client/target aren’t important.  Don’t invest in the relationship.  Meet your personal and selfish needs and/or move on.

I lost touch with the ‘friend’ decades ago.  The agent is still listing property in the area…

Sorry, but I don’t think that is a way to effectively conduct business or personal life.

Is this a bit racy?  Absolutely, but I bet you get the point…

from GwinnettGarageGuy.com

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Copyright © 2009 - 2019 Garage with a Detached Home | Gwinnett County GA. All Rights Reserved. Created by Blog Copyright.