Selling your Home in Nashville TN - Are you Serious or Just Wasting Everyone's Time?

Recently I have begun to show a lot of houses. Buyers are trying to take advantage of the Tax Credit Incentive and are actively looking at houses.

Not a day goes by that I don't get responses from our request to show that "today isn't a good day for the Seller. Can you come tomorrow?" Or "The Seller has a dog and can't get over there to get it." Or "The Seller said you can come after 5 or one day next week" My favorite was a SECOND Showing on a property that had been on the market for over 400 days and we couldn't get in on Sunday afternoon because that was when their child took her nap.

The Nashville TN Real Estate market has not changed and become a Sellers Market. It's still a Buyers Market.

Some of these responses are for Saturday showings. Often they come when we're calling the day before. Really, in today's market can you afford to skip showings?

Sellers listen up here. Realtors work by appointment. If Susie Realtor has an appointment with Buyer Z for Saturday, that's the day they need to see your house. Sunday she's either with a different Buyer - with a different house criteria requirement - OR she's taking the day off to be with her own family.

If Buyer Z doesn't see your house and likes one of the homes he DOES get to see, you may have lost a sale! Do you WANT to move?

Realtors, have you explained these things to your Sellers? Do you review your showing information to see how often they turn down appointments?

Saturday and Sunday are the biggest showing days of the week. If you're leaving home, leave the house ready to show. When you leave for work everyday, leave the house ready to show. Don't ask the Buyers' agent to come some other day. It doesn't work that way. If you don't want showings, save everyone's time and just take your house off the market.

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Connie Harveyis a local agent with Prudential Woodmont Realty, serving home buyers and sellers in Nashville, TN, Brentwood TN, and Franklin TN. Let her help you realize your Real Estate goals.

Connie can be reached at 615-661-7800 x 1300 or at HarveyC@realtracs.

Follow her Blog: Nashville Tennessee Living

The 5 Most Important things that Sell your home, Part 1

1. Location - We've all heard that when it comes to Real Estate it's Location, Location, Location. That is very true. The problem is, we're here to talk about Selling Your Home. You already own it. We can't change the location. What we can do is focus on the other 4 items. They NOW become even more important.

2. Price -Start here. First do a Market Analysis of your neighborhood. What have houses in your neighborhood been selling for? How long has it been taking them to sell? How many homes are currently on the market in your neighborhood? How do you compare to them?

It's also important to see what your competition is in the surrounding neighborhoods. Depending on where your home is located, this can be a very easy process or it may need some in depth studying on the part of your Realtor.

When setting a price, it's important to remember that not only do you come to terms on a price with the Buyer, the home must also appraise for the sales price. If priced too high, you may not get any showings, causing you to be on the market longer than necessary. Price is where you compensate for any of the other variables that might make your property less desirable than another.

Pricing your home correctly in the beginning, usually results in you receiving the highest and best possible price in the end.

3. Terms - This covers several different things.

First is the availability of your home. Is it ready to show at a moments notice? Or do you require 24 hours notice AND want your agent to be present.

Next, what terms will you accept when you get to the contract stage? Can you be out in 30 days? Or do you need to find a home to buy before you can agree to a close date? Will you accept an FHA or VA contract? You have a lot of control here, but you can also hinder a sale by not being open for what the Buyers' may or may not need.

4. Marketing - This is where your Realtor needs to shine. Your home should be ALL over the Internet. 87% of all Buyers first see your home on some Internet site before coming to see it. You need multiple pictures that show the features of your property.

There are many different programs available to highlight the inside of your house. Every property is different and needs to be presented in such a way that it shows that which will create a need to see the property in person.

A good marketing plan will be customized to include a variety of ways to expose your home. It may include Open Houses, Realtor tours or lunches, print advertising in local papers or magazines and often a postcard campaign to surrounding properties.

5. Condition - This is the last item for a reason. When all of the above Items are done well the condition will determine if a buyer will purchase your property or not. Todays Buyer wants to move into a home with little or no fuss. There is an abundance of properties to choose from and it's very easy for them to move on to the next place. Condition is so important that it will be the Feature of Part 2.

A good Realtor will know how to navigate all of these issues. It's important that you Hire A REALTOR. Interview several. It won't hurt. Then you can compare marketing plans and their philosophy on how to sell your home. Hire a Realtor. You wouldn't want the plumber doing your Oral Surgery would you?

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Connie Harveyis a local agent with Prudential Woodmont Realty, serving home buyers and sellers in Nashville, TN, Brentwood TN, and Franklin TN. Let her help you realize your Real Estate goals.

Connie can be reached at 615-661-7800 x 1300 or at HarveyC@realtracs.

Follow her Blog: Nashville Tennessee Living

Nashville TN - Now offering Free Bus Routes Downtown!

The Metro Transit Authority, MTA, recently announce the beginning of 2 new FREE routes in the Downtown area. The purpose of this is to serve those who work downtown Nashville, Tourists visiting Downtown Nashville, Students and Residents of Downtown Nashville.

The buses will not be the same as the regular MTA blue and white buses. These will have a special wrap that says that they are part of the Music City Circuit. Both routes will include stops at the Music City Central Station connecting to all MTA buses.

The Red route will travel from Bi-Centennial Mall to down around the Schermerhorn and Country Music Hall of Fame passing by Riverfront Station and several of the downtown hotels. The Blue route is referred to as the Gulch Route will pass by Hume Fogg High School as it heads east past hotels to the Riverfront Station. It will also go around the Country Music Hall of Fame and Schermerhorn to loop back to the Gulch.

Nashville TN is truly making itself a very user friendly city. Imagine being able to park at the Farmers Market, or stay at one of the many Downtown Nashville hotels and being able to ride the bus free to the many popular attractions downtown including the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, the The Country Music Hall of Fame or take in a concert at the Sommet Center.

Service will be available from 6:30 am Monday through Friday on both routes, ending at midnight to the Gulch and 6pm to the Farmers Market. Saturdays 11am to midnight on the Blue/Gulch route and 11am to 6pm on Saturdays.

This information has been provided by Connie Harvey.

Connie Harveyis a local agent with Prudential Woodmont Realty, serving home buyers and sellers in Nashville, TN, Brentwood TN, and Franklin TN. Let her help you realize your Real Estate goals.

Connie can be reached at 615-661-7800 x 1300 or at HarveyC@realtracs.

Follow her Blog: Nashville Tennessee Living

Nashville TN Real Estate January Sales Increase 6%

Today the Greater Nashville Association of Realtors posted that property sales had increased 6% in the month of January 2010 over January 2009 sales. Many have been skeptical about how much the First Time HomeBuyers' Tax Credit was actually helping the local economy.

Sales had increased over 60% in November and that was very clearly a result of the Tax Credit.

The jump in January shows that local confidence in the economy is still strong compared to last year.

These numbers are significant because the unemployment rate hit an all time high of 9.4% in December. We will be watching the Fed, and whether they extend the tax credit OR extend the buying of the mortgage securities, any time in the next few weeks. As it stands, both expire.

If you are thinking of purchasing a home this year, this spring is the time to do it.

Connie Harveyis a local agent with Prudential Woodmont Realty, serving home buyers and sellers in Nashville, TN, Brentwood TN, and Franklin TN. Let her help you realize your Real Estate goals.

Connie can be reached at 615-661-7800 x 1300 or at HarveyC@realtracs.

Follow her Blog: Nashville Tennessee Living

Is NOW the TIME TO PURCHASE A HOME?

You bet it is! Intrest rates are still incredibly low and the government is giving TAX CREDITS to first time Home Buyers and to those that have lived in their homes for 5 years or more.

I am currently in the market for a home. I have been hearing more and more about the Feds ending their program to buy the mortgage backed securities in March of this year. My lender keeps telling me that the rates will go up.

I didn't want to blog about the Rates Increasing until I understood what was happening. Reading Jeff's post made me realize that I don't need to understand it all. He is the expert on mortgages. Let him tell you.

Trust me. You can Trust Jeff Belonger.

Now, read his post...

Middle Tennesseans feel the Stress of their Past Due Mortgages

Today it was reported that 5.8% of Nashville area home loans were more than 90 days past due. North Nashville, LaVergne, Antioch and Madison area codes had defaults of over 8%. The national average is 8.4% but middle Tennessee has thus far stayed well below the national average.

These neighborhoods and others like them have a high concentration of moderate to lower income homeowners. With unemployment hitting 9.4% in December, these same homeowners are often some of those first cut from their jobs when companies downsize or just trim their budgets. ALSO this is the same demographic that also fell victim to the subprime lending practices that caused this foreclosure meltdown in the first place.

If you or anyone you know is facing foreclosure call your banker and see if you can workout a repayment plan. Call the Tennessee Housing Development Agency for names of Foreclosure Counselors. Or call a Realtor and see if you can't get your home sold before it is foreclosed on. There are many First Time Homebuyers out there trying to buy their first home while the First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit is still available.

Connie Harveyis a local agent with Prudential Woodmont Realty, serving home buyers and sellers in Nashville, TN, Brentwood TN, and Franklin TN. Let her help you realize your Real Estate goals.

Connie can be reached at 615-661-7800 x 1300 or at HarveyC@realtracs.

Follow her Blog: Nashville Tennessee Living

Brentwood TN Real Estate - Copperfield 2009 Market Report

Copperfield, situated just a block from Nippers' Corner has the advantage of accessing Brentwood from either its Old Hickory Boulevard entrance or that on Cloverland on the southern end. Built in the early 90's it was very "cutting edge" when Radnor came out with these unique contemporary designs.

Located in Davidson County but with a Brentwood TN mailing address this neighborhood has easy access to all parts of Middle Tennessee. Prices dropped just 4%, very consistant will some of the other well placed subdivisions.

With many walking trails and tennis courts this is a great neighborhood to live in!

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Connie Harveyis a full time Realtor with Prudential Woodmont Realty Group in Brentwood TN. She services both Buyers and Sellers with their Real Estate need in Nashville TN, Franklin TN, Brentwood TN and surrounding areas.

She can be reached at                615-661-7800         615-661-7800 x 1300 or HarveyC@realtracs.com.

Follow her Blog, Nashville Tennessee Living.

Snow Covers Nashville TN!

Yesterday started with Severe Weather warnings. The new said 6 to 10 inches of snow and ice. The north side of town was to get mostly snow, the southern part a mixture with what they feared to be a lot of ice.

WE had plenty of groceries, but I decided to do a quick BMT run first thing just in case. (that would be Bread, Milk, Toilet Paper) I left my house around 8:30. After a couple of small errands, I stopped at the grocery. It had begun to snow but I wasn't worried. About 9:15 my husband called and told me to get my @#$ in the car because it was coming down hard! By 9:30 I was back on the road.

Amazing what can happen in an hour!

It continued to snow lightly all day. By afternoon we had a blanket of snow.

This is what it looked like out front.

By 9:30pm there was approximately 4 inches. During the night, an additional inch fell. This time it was ice.

That's the broken ice on the step. Very dangerous.

The temperatures are not going above freezing and will be as low as 9 degrees tonight.

It's going to be a cold white weekend.

Snow Angel praying for sunshine and warmer weather!

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Connie Harveyis a full time Realtor with Prudential Woodmont Realty Group in Brentwood TN. She services both Buyers and Sellers with their Real Estate need in Nashville TN, Franklin TN, Brentwood TN and surrounding areas.

She can be reached at                615-661-7800         615-661-7800 x 1300 or HarveyC@realtracs.com.

Follow her Blog, Nashville Tennessee Living.

Do Not Call Registry for your Cell Phones!

There has been a lot of talk recently about Cell phone numbers being released to Telemarketers. With more than 30% of people without Land Lines, this is the next big group for them to target. You can now call the Federal Government's "Do Not Call Registry". That number is 1-888-382-1222.

Though this is available, it is not as scary as you think. There have been many reports that you do NOT need to register your numbers because the numbers HAVE NOT been released.

However, for those of you who live by the "just in case" theory the following will let you register anyway:

Be sure to call from the phone you're wanting to register. Call from all of your phones, even those you think that you've registered in the past. The call is easy. They will ask you to press 1 for English and then to press 1 again if you want to register your phone. Then just type in the number you're calling from and your done!

It takes 31 days before they are no longer able to call you. After that, if you get a solicitation call, get the company name and then file a complaint at DoNotCall.gov.

Simple as that!

 You can check other sites for more information on this topic. Like I said before IT'S NOT AS SCARY AS YOU THINK!

One from the FTC: www.ftc.gov/opa/2007/02/dnccellphones.shtm

and www.snopes.com/politics/business/cell411.asp

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Connie Harveyis a full time Realtor with Prudential Woodmont Realty Group in Brentwood TN. She services both Buyers and Sellers with their Real Estate need in Nashville TN, Franklin TN, Brentwood TN and surrounding areas.

She can be reached at                615-661-7800         615-661-7800 x 1300 or HarveyC@realtracs.com.

Follow her Blog, Nashville Tennessee Living.