Buying, Selling and Moving

Time-Tested Home-selling Season Lasting Year-round

By Dan Rafter
Special to the Chicago Tribune

John Ruble needed to sell his home fast. He planned to move from Chicago's Norwood neighborhood to suburban Antioch, where he'd live in a two-story ranch with his daughter and her husband.

Ruble needed a speedy sale because he planned to put a whopping 50 percent down payment on the Antioch house, and he needed to sell his Chicago home to get that money.

He put his house on the market Jan. 6. Then, he worried – that buyers wouldn't want to shop for houses in the middle of a Chicago winter, that his house would sit on the market for months, that he'd never get that Antioch home.

After all, the middle of winter, in the wake of the year-end holidays, has traditionally been a slow time for real estate.

Ruble needn't have worried. By 5 p.m. the next day, someone had bought his house. His Antioch plans went off without a hitch. "I was very surprised at how fast it sold," Ruble said. "I even got about $5,000 more than I thought I'd get. Now I have no worries at all. I'm set."

Ruble's story isn't unusual. Home sellers in the Chicago area are finding that in today's hot real estate market, it's possible to sell a house quickly any time of the year. Of course, that doesn't mean that some times aren't better than others. During certain times of the year you're likely to get a better price, and during other times you're likely to nab more offers.

So, when should you put your house up for sale? That depends on when, and on how quickly, you need to sell it.

At one time, most real estate agents would have said that putting your house on the market from March 1 to June 1 would guarantee the most offers and the highest prices. And that's still a great time to sell. Families with children often look at houses during this period, so the closing can take place after the school year ends.

But it's no longer the only time homeowners can nab a quick sale while still fetching a top price. Chicago's real estate market has been sizzling for nearly two years now. People are buying 12 months a year, even during the holidays. And home prices in the city and its suburbs continue to escalate.

"It doesn't matter anymore when you put your house up for sale," said Barry Paoli, president of Century 21 McMullen, a Chicago brokerage. "If you price it within 5 to 10 percent of market value, it'll sell in two or three days, even in the middle of December."

Paoli, who sold Ruble's house in January, said his agents sold 50 houses in December, a large amount for what is traditionally one of the slowest home-selling months of the year.

And Paoli's experiences aren't unusual, at least not in Chicago. According to statistics from the Chicago Association of Realtors, 1,351 houses in the city sold during the week of Dec. 19 to 25 last year. During the same week, 1,330 Chicago homeowners put their homes on the market.

That's Christmas week, remember, when most people are more concerned with last-minute gift shopping than they are with buying a house.

Of course, those numbers pale in comparison to some of the busiest weeks of the year. From May 23 to 29 last year, 4,420 homes were sold. Between June 27 and July 3, the total was 4,574.

But the numbers do prove that it's possible, even likely, to sell a Chicago home during what used to be terrible times to have your residence on the market. "I think these numbers will surprise a lot of people," said Diana Turowski, public relations director for the Chicago Association of Realtors. "The market's so hot now, there's no bad time to sell a house."

Elizabeth Ballis, a city real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, agrees. "I had six closings this January. Usually, I have none," she said. "When's the best time to put your home for sale? Right now."

Before sellers get too giddy about the hot Chicago-area market, they should realize one thing: Just because a house will sell in the middle of December or on Thanksgiving weekend, doesn't mean it'll fetch the best price.

Buyers who put their homes on the market during the traditional selling period (roughly from late February to midsummer) will probably grab more offers for their properties. More offers usually translates into a higher selling price, as potential buyers try to outbid each other for a desirable home.

The greater number of buyers (and offers) between late winter and midsummer is tied to the school year. When buyers purchase a house in April or May, they won't close on it until the school year ends. That means they can move during the summer. If they're moving to a new school district, their children won't have to make a switch to a new school during the academic year.

Buyers face more competition during this time, too. To guarantee getting a house, they have to offer more money than they would during the winter months, when fewer buyers are looking at homes. This equals bigger profits for sellers.

"There are more sales during this time, which means a sort of inflation of home prices kicks in," said Frank Nash, a real estate agent with Baird & Warner's North Shore office. "As homes come on the market during this time, they sell fast. When the next home comes up, it's a little more expensive. The next home after that is a little more expensive, too. You can certainly get more money when you sell during this time."

Before putting a home on the market, an owner should do some research to guarantee the most offers and the best selling price. Gary Jacklin, broker/owner of Re/Max Action in Lisle, recommends that sellers never forget what kind of buyers make up their target market.

Sellers determine this by looking at their homes. Owners selling a modest home, one with two bedrooms and about 1,000 square feet, probably will attract first-time homebuyers. First-time buyers usually don't come with school-age children, so they're not tied to the school year when it comes to moving. Buyers selling homes like this can probably fetch an equally high price in winter as they would in spring or summer.

But this isn't the case for buyers selling larger, more expensive homes, which attract move-up buyers who've already owned one or more residences and who more than likely will come with children in either elementary or high school. They want to move only after the school year ends.

Do most sellers consider such factors when moving? Not on their own, Jacklin said. "That's why people need to work with real estate agents," he said. "A lot of thought and analysis goes into selling a house. You have to think about who's going to be the buyer. You have to consider where your house is located. Will the buyers have children, toddlers or teens? It all makes a difference."

House Stagers Selling Everything but the Props

By PATRICIA LEIGH BROWN
New York Times
San Francisco, CA

There are times -- confronting a sherbet-green entryway in a house for sale or a globe light fixture from the "Brady Bunch" era -- when Ken Fulk thinks of himself as a pair of glasses, correcting people's vision.

"You don't want to walk into a house and say, 'Oh my God, the carpet,' " said Mr. Fulk, 34, one of a growing band of decorators specializing in the fine art of "staging" or "propping" houses for sale, a phenomenon that has reached epic proportions. "My job is to help create a frenzy."

Here in the nation's most expensive real estate market, where it is not uncommon to have 15 buyers in a bidding war, staging -- also called house-dressing or "fluffing" -- is rapidly becoming the norm. Eager to get top dollar, homeowners are paying $2,000 to $10,000 to have humdrum rooms transformed into scrumptious interiors. To professional stagers like Mr. Fulk, who has a retinue of haulers, painters, floor and tile refinishers and carpet layers at the ready, falls the task of eliminating the orange shag, smoked mirrors, 1960's bathroom tile and dead plants (dead is a major turnoff) that can stall a sale.

Like human eyeliner, stagers are brought in, usually at the urging of a real estate agent, to "bring out the good features of a home," particularly in aging homes, in the words of Marlene Wharmby, an Oakland stager, who propped nearly 200 houses last year and whose signature is the telltale Tiffany box she leaves on the night stand. (Arthur McLaughlin, a San Francisco stager, leaves chocolate kisses.)

"We live in a house one way, we sell it another," said Malin Giddings, a broker at TRI/Coldwell Banker, who often summons Mr. McLaughlin to stage million-dollar listings with props plucked from an inventory of some 20,000 items: linens, towels, plates, wingback chairs and lampshades. (Mr. McLaughlin buys 350 lampshades at a time.) "He does in four days what a housewife does in nine months," Ms. Giddings said. "I mean, it's a miracle."

And
then...

Objects that do not fit in are out. Mr. McLaughlin once asked a client with an original Georgia O'Keeffe to put it under the bed. "It didn't fit in with the overall décor," he explained. (He prefers to have his own artist, Janet Bogardus, copy any painting, Monet to O'Keeffe, and alter it to his own specifications -- it might need a smidgen more peach, say.)

Such staging tricks can also warm up a newly minted house, said B. J. Droubi, a San Francisco real estate agent, who estimates that staging adds $30,000 to $60,000, often more, to the final price of a home.

With a profusion of I.P.O.-flush clients, the Bay Area has become the epicenter of staging, home to some 70 professionals with names like Stage Hands, Center Stage, Stage Right and House-Dressing. Then there is Stage Interiors, a 10,000-square-foot warehouse filled with rental furniture and accessories. In this town, it sometimes seems that all the world's a stager.

"Staging was supposed to be about creating a facade," said D. J. Grubb Jr., president of the Grubb Company, an Oakland real estate agency, who dates the craze to the period just after 1991, when developers were trying to lure buyers to houses they had built to replace thousands destroyed by wildfire in the Oakland and Berkeley Hills. Now, Mr. Grubb said, "it has become an icon, the branding of a house."

Although still largely a West Coast phenomenon -- the 1920's hacienda outside Los Angeles owned by William Boyd, a k a Hopalong Cassidy, was staged recently -- the trend has caught on in cities like Minneapolis, as a strong economy and expectations among time-pinched buyers seeking perfection grow, said Martha Webb, an author of "Dress Your House for Success: Five Fast, Easy Steps to Selling Your House, Apartment or Condo for the Highest Possible Price" (Three Rivers Press, 1997). "It's harder to look at a house that's well staged," she said, "because you lose your heart."

Ms. Droubi tries to steer buyers to houses that aren't staged, so they won't get into bidding wars on overpriced properties. "A staged house evokes an emotional response -- people will pay whatever it takes to get it," she said. "I tell them to try tosee past the dirty orange shag carpeting."

Her sellers, however, are another story. "We tell them to paint the living room pale yellow," she said. "All of a sudden, it's a darling little house."

Mr. Fulk has a personality as buoyant as the sofa pillows he keeps, along with several hundred antiques, in his barn in Napa. "I see so many houses filled with bad carpets and wrong decisions," he said.

One afternoon recently he paid a visit to Charlotte Albright, 42, a confectioner who is selling the three-bedroom Victorian house she shares with her schnauzer, Rocket. "Pretty . . . I would lose it," he said of the yolk-colored sponge paint in the living room. "Let's minimize the track lights to focus on the beautiful woodwork." He then turned to the delicate matter of scent. "Anything that evokes Rocket we need to eliminate," he said sweetly but sternly.

Staging takes diplomacy. "You really have to be polite," Mr. McLaughlin said. "People's sofas are very emotional to them."

Stagers "depersonalize" a space, removing family photographs and other cherished possessions. "You don't want buyers thinking about who lives there," Mr. Fulk said. "You want them to think about themselves living there."

It's not uncommon for a houseful of lovingly accumulated objects to be banished to a garage or basement, which is what happened recently to Antoinette Broussard, an interior designer and writer in San Francisco. She is staying at her mother-in-law's house while Mr. Fulk stages her house of 22 years. "It's difficult," she said, her voice tinged with sadness. "But if you want to get the best price, you have to take your ego out of it, put your personal feelings aside."

Ms. Albright will spend $20,000 on staging. "It is a little invasive," she said, noting that she was feeling "a little protective" of the smashed-Fiestaware tiles around the fireplace, which Mr. Fulk deemed "too kooky."

Staging requires a different knack from regular decorating. Gray, for instance, is not a good resale color, "because it doesn't make a space look happy," Mr. McLaughlin said. Turquoise is a turnoff, reminding people of "the 'Miami Vice' era." Mr. McLaughlin, who has been staging for 18 years, possibly a national record, recalled a client in the Pacific Heights neighborhood with baby-blue halls and stair runners. "Baby blue is not a resale color, especially in a multimillion-dollar mansion," he said.

Maximum wattage is another staging must. "You want dramatic shadows," he said, "as opposed to dark, depressing shadows." Among the telltale signs of staging are unopened bottles of olive oil on the kitchen counters, a dining room table set for dinner (minus the silverware, an antitheft touch) and cozy-looking double duvets and mattresses piled à la "Princess and the Pea."Television sets -- "too harsh a reality," in the words of Ms. Wharmby, the Oakland stager -- are usually absent.

Staging is a little bit like romance, Mr. McLaughlin said: "You never get a second chance. First impressions -- that's it!"

For buyers, staging can present pitfalls, causing them to swoon over day lilies artfully placed in a kitchen corner where the refrigerator should be. "If at first glance a place looks like a perfect person lives there, then like nobody lives there, it's probably been staged," said Bob Powers, founder of Stage Hands.

Ralph Holman, a lawyer for the National Association of Realtors in Chicago, said sellers must disclose "material defects in a property of which they are aware,"like a crack in a foundation. But strategically placing a Venetian glass vase at a window to block an unappealing view or making a bedroom look bigger by installing a narrow antique bed are not against the law. "Most buyers are unaware of staging," Ms. Droubi said. "But there's a fine line. You don't want people to feel manipulated."

Peter Sargent, a science professor at the University of California at San Francisco, recently bought an 1883 house in the Noe Valley area that had been staged by Mr. Fulk. A pewter tray on the coffee table had green apples lined up in a grid, three on a side. "You look at it and say: 'What is this? Pottery Barn?' " he said.

But what appealed to Professor Sargent was not the things that had been staged. It was the old stove and the view of a steeple between poplar trees. Staging, he said, "reveals the pathology of the real estate industry and how calculated it has become."

On a recent rainy Sunday afternoon, it was difficult not to be smitten by a humble three-bedroom bungalow on the market for $519,000 in Piedmont, an affluent community adjoining Oakland. No detail had been left unstaged. Lamps glowed invitingly in the front window, and an antique cookbook lay evocatively on the breakfast table. The house's defects -- tiny, undistinguished rooms -- seemed like assets, the narrow antique beds and floral comforters evoking a thatched-roof bed and breakfast in Dorset.

Striving to instill as many feelings of home as possible, Ms. Wharmby placed a bottle of Champagne with four antique glasses on the dining room table. She even brought a touch of class to the "Motel 6 bathroom," as she called it, taking attention away from dated, beat-up décor with cut-glass bottles of designer perfume.

"If you have drugstore perfume," she explained, summing up the stager's art, "it's never going to have the impact of a few bottles of Chanel No. 5."

Get The Whole Story Before Buying A House

Robert Bruss, Tribune Media Services

Real estate attorneys have a term for the too-common situation where a home buyer purchases a house with serious defects that the seller and realty agent failed to disclose to the buyer. It is called a "bad house case." But with a little due diligence, savvy buyers and their agents can easily avoid bad houses. Unfortunately, not all states have statutes and court decisions requiring sellers and their agents to fully disclose known residence defects. Here are some guidelines to avoid buying a bad house:

- Don't trust the home seller or agents. I recently talked with a Minnesota single mom who wanted to buy a house in a specific suburb because of its top-quality public schools. She made this motivation very clear to her buyer's agent.

But she had a less-than-competent agent who showed her an excellent house in a nice neighborhood of the suburb at a bargain asking price. The buyer's offer was accepted by the anxious seller whose house had been on the market for several months.

Unfortunately, there was a good reason that house had not sold. The deceptive listing agent showed its school district number, but not its name, on the listing information. The buyer's agent didn't catch the major deception.

This "bad house" is located just two blocks from the top-quality school district boundary. Although nothing is physically wrong with the house, the situation could become a "bad house lawsuit" case because of its undisclosed location in the inferior school district. Fortunately, it appears the adjacent top-quality school district will accept an interdistrict transfer for the home buyer's 7-year-old son. However, as I emphasized to the buyer, the fact that house is located in an inferior school district will always hurt that home's market value.

- Stay logical. In his excellent book "Buy Right, Sell High" (Real Estate Education Co., Chicago, $14.95), author Robert Irwin tells how he and his wife bought a bargain-priced house with all the features they wanted. They didn't notice their realty agent drove them to the house via a roundabout route, avoiding a nearby slum that they quickly grew to hate. They sold that house as fast as possible. "Buy with your head, not with your heart," Irwin advises.

- New houses have problems, too. There is something magical about brand-new houses. Buyers will pay more for a new house than they will for an equivalent older home.

However, as any professional building inspector will tell you, even brand-new houses have defects--most are not significant. As an attendee every year at the National Association of Home Builder's annual convention and having inspected their annual demonstration "New American Home" houses, I'm usually not impressed.

- Include two contingencies. If you are buying a brand-new house, the builder will probably require (even if you have a buyer's agent) you use the builder's purchase contract. However, you should still insist on having your professional home inspector check the home before you complete the purchase. Before the sale closes, the buyer has maximum leverage over the home builder to correct any defects. After the closing, however, the buyer has zero leverage to get home defects corrected.

If you are buying a resale house from its current owner, you have more leverage than with a builder. Buyers of resale houses should include at least two important contingency clauses: (1) a home mortgage finance appraisal contingency and (2) a professional home inspection contingency.

Accompany home inspector. Although a seller should have obtained a professional inspection at the time of listing the home for sale and the buyer should be given a copy of that report, the buyer still needs a professional inspection after the seller accepts the purchase offer. The best home inspectors are usually members of the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI). To locate a local ASHI member, phone 800-743-2744 or go to www.ashi.com.

Managing Moving Day

Chicago Sun Times ©

Everything comes together on moving day, when a flood of last-minute details can seem overwhelming and the trip to your new home looms in front of you. Being prepared ahead of time for the little things and having a plan for surviving your trip can get you through this crucial event.

Confine your pets

If your dog is frenzied because of the moving day activity, confine it somewhere away from the action. Movers shouldn't have to confront a snarling dog (or worse, trip over it) each time they return for another box.

Provide refreshments

If it's a hot day, you should set out water and snacks for the movers. On cold days, offer them hot chocolate and coffee. If your friends are helping you move, be sure to provide food for lunch and dinner as well as refreshments during the day.

Be considerate to your neighbors, old and new

Make sure the moving truck doesn't block a neighbor's driveway. Don't block the sidewalk with furniture waiting to be loaded. Make sure the movers don't walk over your neighbor's lawn or through their flowerbeds. Try to move during the daytime, but not too early or too late. Don't leave trash, unwanted furniture or other debris on the sidewalk. Place it in proper containers, and if it begins to overflow, go to the local dump.

The Golden Rule of moving

You should leave your old house as clean as you would like to find your new house. Clean as much as you can before moving day, and then make a final check after everything is out.

Finishing up

Be available to answer any questions your movers may have, which means staying around until they're finished. Professional movers will ask you to sign a bill of lading and check an inventory sheet when they are done loading the truck. The bill of lading is a government document required for transport services to move your personal property. Read both documents carefully before signing. If you're satisfied with the way the movers handled your possessions, it's customary to tip the movers about $20 each, giving them more or less depending on the difficulty of the move and the quality of service you received. If your friends helped, provide food and drinks for a post-move celebratory meal.

Routes to success

Whether you're driving a rented moving van or meeting the professional vanline driver at your new residence, you'll be better prepared on moving day if you plan ahead for the trip from your old home to your new one.

The route taken by a huge truck may be different than the one you would normally take in your car because of size and weight restrictions or obstructions such as a low bridge or overhanging trees.

Plan ahead as much as you can. If possible, drive the route before moving day arrives, watching for obstacles and noting the time it takes to travel the route at a reasonable pace. If you can't drive the route, buy a good map or visit a web site like Mapblast or MapQuest and chart the route that the truck will take. Before you depart, contact each state's department of transportation to inquire about road construction along your planned route.

Organizations like AAA and Cross Country Automotive Services provide maps, suggested routes, alternate routes and rest-stop information. With membership, these organizations often offer premium services like roadside assistance and additional insurance coverage.

Tips for driving a rental truck

Even if you've been down this road before, it doesn't hurt to be reminded of these safe-driving tips.

-- Drive more slowly than you normally would because a loaded moving truck probably doesn't handle as well as the car you're accustomed to driving.

-- Decelerate and brake sooner. You're carrying a lot of weight, so it will take longer to come to a complete stop. Besides, you don't want your household goods to get damaged.

-- Allow extra space between you and the vehicle you're following. Also give yourself plenty of room when turning because the truck is probably wider than you're used to.

-- Know your truck's height and look out for low overhangs and tree branches. Especially be aware of filling station overhang height.

-- Anticipate other drivers' actions. Because no one likes to follow a truck, other drivers may make risky moves to pass you. By staying alert, you'll be ready to react to avoid an accident.

-- Stop and rest frequently. Driving a huge truck for a long distance is more tiring than you may realize, and tiredness can put you at greater risk for an accident.

-- At every stop, walk around and inspect the truck. Check tires, lights, and the cargo door (if you're towing a trailer, check trailer tires, door, hitch, and hitch security chain). Follow your truck rental agent's recommendation for how frequently you should check the engine oil level.

-- Secure the truck at overnight stops. Park in a well-lighted area and lock the truck cab. Lock the cargo door with a padlock.

-- Back carefully. Most accidents in large vehicles occur when backing. Before you back, get out, walk around, and check for obstacles, high and low. Allow plenty of maneuvering room and ask someone to help you back up. Talk over hand signals they should use as they guide you and ask them to stay within sight of your side view mirror.

Coordinating with the professional mover

Your goal is to get to your new home in time to greet the movers. Arrive late, and you're likely to be charged for the movers' wait. Before you depart, exchange cell phone numbers with the driver so you can stay in touch in case one of you is delayed. Plan for the unexpected by making backup plans, such as arranging for someone else to greet the movers.

Flying factors

If you are flying to your new home, check the flight schedule closely and be sure to factor in the time required to retrieve luggage and travel from the airport. Also make backup plans in case the flight is delayed or you get stuck in traffic. If you are traveling with young children, plan extra time into your schedule. Also, dress your children in bright, distinctive clothing so you can easily identify them in a crowd.

Give yourself time

Finally, be conservative in your time estimates. It may be a good idea to plan out the day in half-hour increments. Seeing a picture of the day will ensure that you have some extra time between each leg of your journey. That way you can accommodate unexpected delays that could otherwise throw off your schedule.

When To Sell & Buy	Staging - The New Industry
Get The Whole Story Before Buying	Managing Moving Day