Positive Real Estate News
By Mount Snow Real Estate | July 6, 2008
http://www.positiveonrealestate.com/
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Mount Snow Announces $5 Million Snowmaking Expansion
By Mount Snow Real Estate | July 6, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
WEST DOVER, VT – (April 28, 2008) – Mount Snow announced today that it will install more than 150 additional fan guns this summer, investing over $5 million in energy-efficient snowmaking. Combined with last summer’s installation of 101 of the machines, Mount Snow will have the most new-technology fan guns in North America when it opens for the 2008-09 ski season.
The project is part of an expansive snowmaking investment by Mount Snow’s new owners, Peak Resorts. Several well-trafficked trails will be flanked by the new guns, including Ridge, Meadow, Upper Nitro, Lower Titanium, Mine Shaft, Deer Run, Canyon, Lodge, and Lower Exhibition, as well as other assorted locations.
Tim Boyd, president of Peak Resorts, offered his congratulations to the Mount Snow community: “We believe that by improving the snow surfaces and the overall guest experience, Mount Snow’s potential can be realized. We appreciate your support during our first year.”
New-technology fan guns run on electricity and feature on-board air compressors. With this year’s investment, Mount Snow eliminates the need for 16 diesel compressors typically used during the season to power traditional air/water guns. This will save approximately 200,000 gallons of diesel fuel per year.
“It certainly became very clear to us that fan guns are the real deal, as we were the first ski area to open in Vermont—with top-to-bottom skiing and a terrain park on day one—and we were among the last to close in late April,” said Mount Snow’s General Manager, Kelly Pawlak. She noted that fan guns are able to make more snow in varying weather, and produce better quality snow overall.
In addition to the $5 million snowmaking expansion, $1.4 million will be spent on painting chair lifts, improving the guest locker room, and upgrading the Mount Snow Golf Course, reinforcing Peak Resorts’ commitment to maintaining a quality resort.
For more information on Mount Snow and Peak Resorts, visit www.mountsnow.com.
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Common Q&A About Selling Your Home
By Mount Snow Real Estate | July 6, 2008
| Seller’s Resources Q & A: Common Q&A About Selling Your Home
Click a question to jump right to the answer: Do sellers have to disclose the terms of other offers? Sellers are not legally obligated to disclose the terms of other offers to prospective buyers. How do I prepare the house for sale? First and foremost, put it in the best condition possible, especially if you are in a market with few buyers and lots of homes for sale. That means taking care of any major repairs that could deter a buyer (such as replacing any broken windows or replacing a leaky roof) if you can afford it. Next, work on your home’s curb appeal. Make sure your landscape is pristine. Mow the grass, clean up any debris and weed the garden beds. Plant a few annual flowers near the entrance or in pots to be placed by the door. Other quick fixes that don’t cost a lot of money but can help you get top dollar for your home:
How long do bankruptcies and foreclosures stay on a credit report? Bankruptcies and foreclosures can remain on a credit report for seven to 10 years. Some lenders will consider a borrower earlier if they have reestablished good credit. The circumstances surrounding the bankruptcy can also influence a lender’s decision. For example, if you went through a bankruptcy because your employer had financial difficulties, a lender may be more sympathetic. If, however, you went through bankruptcy because you overextended personal credit lines and lived beyond your means, the lender probably will be less inclined to be flexible. Should I add on or buy a bigger home? Consider these questions before making a choice between adding on to an existing home or moving up in the market to a bigger house: * How much money is available, either from cash reserves or through a home improvement loan, to remodel the current house? * How much additional space is required? Would the foundation support a second floor or does the lot have room to expand on the ground level? * What do local zoning and building ordinances permit? * How much equity already exists in the property? * Are there affordable properties for sale that would satisfy housing needs? Ultimately, the decision should be based on individual needs, the extent of work involved and what will add the most value. What are some tips on negotiation? The more you know about a seller’s motivation, the stronger a negotiating position you are in. For example, seller who must move quickly due to a job transfer may be amenable to a lower price with a speedy escrow. Other so-called motivated sellers include people going through a divorce or who have already purchased another home. Remember, that the listing price is what the seller would like to receive but is not necessarily what they will settle for. Before making an offer, check the recent sales prices of comparable homes in the neighborhood to see how the seller’s asking price stacks up. Some experts discourage making deliberate low-ball offers. While such an offer can be presented, it can also sour the sale and discourage the seller from negotiating at all. What do all of those real estate acronyms in the ads mean? If you find yourself stumbling over weird acronyms in a real estate listing, don’t be alarmed. There is method to the madness of this shorthand (which is mostly adopted by sellers to save money in advertising charges). Here are some abbreviations and the meaning of each, taken from a recent newspaper classified section: * assum. fin. — assumable financing * dk — deck * gar — garage (garden is usually abbreviated gard) * expansion pot’l — may be extra space on the lot, or possibly vertical potential for a top floor or room addition. Verify actual potential by checking local zoning restrictions prior to purchase. * fab pentrm — fabulous pentroom, a room on top, underneath the roof, that sometimes has views * FDR — formal dining room (not the former president) * frplc, fplc, FP — fireplace * grmet kit — gourmet kitchen * HDW, HWF, Hdwd — hardwood floors * hi ceils — high ceilings * In-law potential — potential for a separate apartment. Sometimes, local zoning codes restrict rentals of such units so be sure the conversion is legal first. * large E-2 plan — this is one of several floor plans available in a specific building * lsd pkg. — leased parking area, may come with an additional cost * lo dues — find out just how low these homeowner’s dues are, and in comparison to what? * nr bst schls — near the best schools * pvt — private * pwdr rm — powder room, or half-bath * upr- upper floor * vw, vu, vws, vus — view(s) * Wow! — better check this one out. Resources: * Real Estate’s Ambiguous Language You Oughtta Understand, Glennon H. Neubauer, Ethos Group Publishing, Diamond Bar, CA; 1993. |
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What is Market Value?
By Mount Snow Real Estate | July 6, 2008
The explanation of market value in this article applies to single family houses only. Different methods apply to apartments and other commercial real estate.
The meaning of market value confuses many people. As consumers, most people shop at retail stores and pay the price printed on the price tag. A sweater is worth $24.95 because the price tag says so. A hammer is worth $10.95 because the price tag says so. We really don’t question it, because we are programmed to pay the amount of money listed on the price tag.
When stores have sales on certain items, it is because the store did not sell all of these items for the listed price within a certain period of time. The sweater was not worth $24.95 to enough people. Therefore, the store must now lower the price to persuade people to buy the remaining sweaters.
At the beginning of the Fall clothing season, the market value of the sweater was $24.95. In March, when we have more interest in Spring clothes, the market value may drop to $9.95.
Market value is simply the price at which something will sell within a reasonable period of time. In a normal or average real estate market, reasonable means one to three months. Here is our definition:
Market value is the price at which a particular house, in its current condition, will sell within 30 to 90 days.
This definition contains three elements:
1. Particular house
2. Current condition
3. 30 to 90 days
The only real measure of market value is what a particular house sells for. Period. However, unless you have a crystal ball, you might think you cannot predict how much someone will pay for the house in the future.
Not true. You can learn to come very close to predicting the true market value of any house even without a crystal ball. Real estate appraisers do it every day. Even so, the appraisal of real estate is more art than science. An appraisal is only an opinion, an educated guess. Let’s start learning to predict market value by analyzing each of the three elements of our definition.
The particular house
When you determine market value, you must always remember that you are estimating the market value of one particular house. The location, or neighborhood, of this particular house is the starting point for your investigation. The exact same house in the next city, or even on the other side of the same city, is not relevant to this determination.
For example, a house located in La Jolla, California could be worth half a million dollars. But if the exact same house were located in San Diego (the city next door) it might be worth only $225,000. That’s still a hefty price. But it’s less than half the price of the La Jolla house.
Although this may seem like an extreme example, house prices throughout the country fluctuate significantly from city to city and from neighborhood to neighborhood. Therefore, whenever you determine the market value of one particular house, you must compare it only with similar houses in the same or nearby neighborhoods.
Current condition
Next, you must assess the current condition of the particular house. The current condition determines the number of buyers who are interested in purchasing the property, which affects the amount of time the house remains for sale on the market before it is sold.
Most home buyers want to buy the prettiest house on the block. Is the house gorgeous and ready to move into? Or is it a dump that needs a major renovation?
Simply subtracting the amount of estimated fix-up costs from the selling price of other similar houses in the same neighborhood is not an accurate way to determine current market value for a particular house. If a house in good condition could sell for $80,000 and the house you are interested in needs $4,000 worth of repairs, that does not mean the current market value of your house is $76,000.
Here’s why: Far fewer buyers want to buy a house that doesn’t look pretty. When a house attracts fewer buyers, it takes longer for the house to sell. To attract more buyers and sell the house sooner, the price must be reduced by much more than the mere cost of repairs.
Although the current condition of the house is an essential element of market value, it is almost impossible to determine exactly how much the physical condition of the house affects its value. This simply is not an exact science. As a general rule, you should be fairly safe if you subtract two to three times the amount of the fix-up costs.
30 to 90 days
In a normal real estate market, if a house doesn’t sell within one to three months (30 to 90 days), the reason is simple: The price is too high. Even perfect houses don’t sell within this time frame if the price is too high. On the other hand, if a house sells within one to two weeks, the asking price was probably too low. A house that sells within one to three months is priced at the true market value of the house.
Imagine this scenario. It will take a year to sell a particular house for $100,000, six months to sell it for $90,000 and one week to sell it for $70,000. The price that will sell this house within one to three months lies somewhere between $90,000 and $70,000. The price that will sell this house in one to three months is probably right around $80,000, its true market value.
Market Value is simply the price at which something will sell within a reasonable period of time. I’ll explain exactly how to use comparable sales to calculate the current market value of a particular house next time.
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Setting Your List Price
By Mount Snow Real Estate | July 6, 2008
Pricing Considerations
In setting the list price for your home, you should be aware of a buyer’s frame of mind. Buyers will determine which houses they want to view, based on comparison with other homes that are on the market and those that have recently sold. Consider the following pricing factors:
If you set the price too high, your house won’t be picked for viewing, even though it may be much nicer than others on the buyers may be considering. You may have told your REALTOR® to Bring me any offer, frankly, I’d take less. But in that list of properties, yours simply looks too expensive to be considered.
If you sell the home before there has been market exposure, you may shortchange yourself by selling too low.
No matter how attractive and polished your property may be, buyers will be comparing its price with everything else on the market. Your best guide is a record of what the buying public has been willing to pay in the past few months for property in your neighborhood like yours.
Your REALTOR® can furnish data on sale figures for those comps, and analyze them for a suggested listing price. The decision about how much to ask, though, is always yours.
The list of comparable sales we will bring to you, along with data about other houses in your neighborhood presently on the market, is used for a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA). To help in estimating a possible sale price for your property, the analysis will also include data on comparable properties that failed to sell in the past few months, along with their list prices.
This CMA differs from a formal appraisal in several ways. One major difference is that an appraisal will be based only on past sales. In addition, an appraisal is done for a fee while the CMA is provided by your REALTOR® and may include properties currently listed for sale and those currently pending sale.
In the normal real estate sale, a CMA is probably enough to let you set a proper price. A formal written appraisal (which may cost a several hundred dollars) can be useful if you have unique property, if there hasn’t been much activity in your area recently, if co-owners disagree about price, and any other circumstance that makes it difficult to put a value on your home.
TIP: If you do order a market value appraisal, make it clear you don’t need an elaborate or full narrative report–the kind that’s complete with photos of the house and neighborhood, a map specifying the site, and floor plans is sufficient.
A Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) often includes Days on the Market (DOM) for each comparable house sold. When real estate is booming and prices are rising, houses may sell in a few days. Conversely, when the market slows down, average DOM can run into many months.
We will tell you whether your area is currently a buyer’s market or a seller’s market. In a seller’s market, you can price a bit beyond what you really expect, just to see what the reaction will be. In a buyer’s market, if you really need to sell promptly, offer an attractive bargain price.
Once you’ve been given an estimate of market value by your REALTOR®, you can get a rough idea of how much cash you might walk away with when the sale is completed. This can be particularly useful as you start looking for a replacement property.
From the estimated sales price, subtract:
- Payoff figure on your present loan(s)
- Broker’s commission
- Closing Costs
- Any prepayment penalty on your mortgage
- Attorney’s fees, if any
- Unpaid property taxes
In addition, you’ll be informed as to whether local customs or rules expects the buyer or seller to pay for the following items:
- Title insurance premium
- Transfer taxes
- Survey fees
- Documentary Stamps on the Deed
- Inspections and repairs for termites and the like
- Recording fees
- Homeowner Association transfer fees and document preparation
- Home protection plan
- Natural hazard disclosure report
As far as closing costs are concerned, you and your eventual buyer may agree on any arrangement that suits you, no matter what local practice dictates. Your REALTOR® will assist you in estimating what your final closing costs will be. It is difficult to predict what the exact closing costs will be when you negotiate with a particular buyer.
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Mount Snow Vermont Real Estate News
By Mount Snow Real Estate | July 5, 2008
Welcome to our blog. Here you will find many interesting articles about real estate in the southern Vermont area.
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