This past weekend I was in New York City visiting two  of my grown children.  On Saturday night, Jane and I went out with some friends to dinner.  We all jumped in a cab and our friends told the driver the address of the restaurant.

They had also mapped out the directions so they tried to tell the cab driver which way to drive.  It got interesting because the cab driver disagreed with the directions and of course, both parties thought they were correct.

To be compliant, the cab driver started to follow our directions until we came to a dead stop in traffic.  At that point, the cab driver turned around and told us that we should have listened to him because he does this all day, every day and knew that there would be bad traffic at that particular time of day.

This reminded me a lot of the real estate market.  Every day you will encounter people who think they have an idea of what their property should sell for or how their property should be marketed to sell.

Sometimes you need to trust the market expert and their local knowledge – they can get you where you want to go.

Yesterday I got a call from a client interested in selling his house and he was asking about the market.  After we talked for a few minutes he said that any time you have too much of anything it affects pricing.  I’m really surprised more people don’t understand this concept.

It’s true in any commodity – corn, soy beans, gas – inventory affects pricing.  My client fully understood this concept even though he didn’t put it in these exact words.

So you are ready to list your home; what should be one of your first steps?

Well, if your room looks like one of these you might want to consider doing a little home “decluttering”.

Why?  Well, as much as you might like your collection of artwork that covers every inch of the walls or your 500-piece cat figurine collection, it can often be a distraction to buyers.

One of my top rules when attempting to “declutter” is to take at least 20% of your “stuff” and remove it from the house – box it up and put it in the attic, move it to storage, donate it, sell it – just remove it from the home.

It’s human nature for us to collect things over time.  My mother is 86 years old – I love her dearly, but she has a lot of stuff.  All of it means something to her, but to a buyer, they only see clutter and it makes it hard for them to see themselves living in that home.

Let me know if you want more information concerned decluttering your home before you put it on the Hilton Head Real Estate market or if you would like the name of a great home stage expert who can help you get your home looking its best.

I recently went on a listing appointment on Hilton Head.  While I was going over what was going on in the market I was stopped mid sentence.  The owner said that these market conditions didn’t apply to them because they had a unique home – despite the fact that most homes prices have fallen a significant amount since 2005.

This particular owner said that his home was worth what he paid for the home in 2005 because it had such a good floor plan and view.  I once even had an oceanfront homeowner tell me his house was worth what he paid four years prior because he had a nice swimming pool. 

It’s important to remember – the rising tide lifts all boats – the same applies in reverse.

A Realtor friend of mine from Maryland and I were talking about how much advertising, promotion and work would have to be done to sell a house for 20% more than the market value in today’s real estate market. 

She said you can’t do it – she said she could fly a banner all over DC with the address of the home, but if the owner has it priced 20% above market value it is not going to sell. 

In a busy market you might be able to accomplish this, but it is completely different in a slow market when there is an overabundance of inventory.  People tend to compare everything and they take their time making a decision. 

So it’s important to remember that no matter how great your Realtor is, you have to be realistic in the market to get your property sold.

In 1988 our 4th child, David was born.  At that time Jane was driving a Volvo station wagon and she decided that she needed more room so we needed a van.  It was a cash deal and we didn’t trade the Volvo in.

We came home and tried to sell the Volvo ourselves – and for 6 months we tried to sell the Volvo for $5,500. 

Finally we took the car to the Volvo dealership and before we could even get home they called to say that they had sold the car for $6,000.

I couldn’t believe it – we had tried to sell it for 6 months and hadn’t had a bite – and within an hour at the dealership they had it sold – for more money!

The same applies to the real estate market.  Many people will try to sell their home themselves – most times with little success.  They they will list it with me and we will get it sold. 

Why?  Just like the Volvo dealership has buyers for Volvos – I have buyers for property on Hilton Head Island. 

So if you need to sell your car you need an expert in that field; and if you need to sell real estate on Hilton Head Island – you need a real estate expert!

I called a client yesterday to let them know that I would be showing their property the following afternoon.  I told them that in addition to their home that they buyer would be looking at several other homes. 

The seller said that he did not care what else they were looking at – just about his. 

Unfortunately, you might not care about what else is on the market, but it is important to remember that competition drives price – especially in a market with an overabundance of inventory.

It reminds me of the time that Jane and I were driving home from Florida and we stopped to get gas.  Two gas stations sat directly across the street from one another – one with gas priced .25 cents below the other. 

The higher priced gas station might say that they don’t care about what other gas stations are selling their gas for, but in the end, if they don’t get customers while the other station stays busy – it affects their bottom line. 

Real Estate works like any commodity – gas, oil, soy beans, corn, etc.  Supply and demand affect the market.

There has been an increasing problem with appraisals in today’s real estate market. 

Last week I had an appraiser from Savannah call me to appraise a home I had under contract in Sea Pines Plantation.  The appraiser called to ask me whether the home was on Hilton Head and they were asking directions to Sea Pines.  I just don’t understand how you can appraise a property if you know nothing about it – including where it is and how to get there. 

In a similar situation I had an appraiser call from Nashville, TN to do an appraisal on a piece of property on Hilton Head.  He told me that with Zillow and MLS pictures he could appraise a piece of property anywhere.  I lived in Nashville for 10 years, but that definitely does not mean that I could price a piece of property there in today’s real estate market. 

Hopefully we will get back to a regular market and the appraisal process can get back to normal.

Unless someone has been living under a rock for the last several years, most people are aware of what is going on in the real estate market. 

I recently had someone call me about selling their property.  When I got to their home they told me that they didn’t care if their property sold, but they are only selling at their price and their terms. 

My thoughts, if you don’t care if it sells, you might not want to list it in this market.  I might be able to find a buyer who likes your view or color scheme, but they are not going to pay more than what it is worth in today’s market.