Louisville Real Estate News

Continued from Negotiating the Offer

Once the repair request is successfully negotiated the rest of the home selling process involves completing tasks in an orderly manner and dodging landmines.  In our case, we were moving into a small investment property while we continued to search for a new home.  This involved a little more planning as we had to determine which of our belongings we were taking and which went to storage.  Goodwill and Eco-tech also received their fair share. 

The agent is generally responsible for defusing the mines or taking the brunt of the impact.  Fortunately, we barely encountered a hiccup after the negotiations.  The buyer's agent was on top of her game and made sure the buyers completed all their necessary tasks.  I had to kick my clients in the tail every once in awhile, but they too got everything done :).   

The closing was drawn-out, but anti-climactic.  Our 5:00p start time slowly slippped to 6:30p as funds were transferred and papers were corrected.  The burden of keeping our twins from bouncing off the walls was relieved by Youtube videos of Tom and Jerry as the iPhone continued its rapid ascent up my list of Greatest Technological Achievements of All-Time. 

At the end, we signed forms, they signed forms, we all shook hands and they left with the keys.  Due to the relatively late finish, our celebratory meal was Chick-fil-A to go.  Oh well.  It is sort of a bittersweet event anyway.  We have a lot of good memories from that house, but it was time for something new. Hopefully, the buyers will love it as much as we did. 

In a few weeks we will close on our new home and start a new chapter of our lives.  

Final Results

• Days of Preparation: 14
• Days on Market: 11
• Days under contract: 35
• LP/SP: 96.8%

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Erik Hitzelberger is a licensed real estate agent with RE/MAX Alliance in Louisville. If you need a Bullitt County Real Estate agent please email me or call 502.921.3989.

I specialize in the following areas of the Metro Louisville Area: Jeffersontown (J-Town), Okolona, Fern Creek, Shepherdsville, Mt Washington, Hillview, Brooks and Pewee Valley.  Click the following links to learn more about Louisville and Bullitt County Real Estate or Search for Shepherdsville Homes or Search the entire Louisville MLS.

Continued from The Second Showing

We were thrilled to receive an offer as quickly as we did, but were shocked to see that it was for less than full price.  Don't these people know how great our house is?  What the heck are they thinking?  This is insulting!  I don't even want to respond.  

Well....maybe it wasn't that bad.  Besides, I always recommend countering an offer no matter how ludicrous the initial offer.  In this case, the buyers were not too far from the number my wife and I expected.  After a couple passes back and forth, we were able to come to a price that was acceptable to both sides. 

Despite having a signed contract, it was still not time to celebrate.  In Kentucky, it is very easy for a buyer to walk away from a deal based on home inspection results.  The buyer can ask for any and all repairs/updates.  At this point, negotiations open up again and unless both parties agree, the deal is cancelled.  Knowing this we were nervous while waiting for the results.

Unfortunately, the radon level in our basement can back at 4.1.  This is 0.1 higher than the EPA recommended range for mitigation.  While it is important to note that the EPA standard is based on multiple short-term tests, cost and time factors generally prevent more than once test while a home is under contract.   

Once the buyers submitted their repair request (including radon mitigation) we had 3 choices

1. Complete all repairs as requested
2. Negotiate which repairs would be completed and who would pay for each
3. Refuse to complete any repairs

Because we were comfortable in our position, we chose option 2.  After a few tense days, we once again reached a consensus with the buyers!

Woohoo! We can finally relax a little.  Two potential roadblocks are left (appraisal, underwriting), but I feel confident in the appraisal and the buyers are pre-approved.  It's never done until the papers are signed and the keys are exchanged, but things are looking pretty good.  Now, where the heck are we going to live?

 Next... The Closing

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Erik Hitzelberger is a licensed real estate agent with RE/MAX Alliance in Louisville. If you need a Bullitt County Real Estate agent please email me or call 502.921.3989.

I specialize in the following areas of the Metro Louisville Area: Jeffersontown (J-Town), Okolona, Fern Creek, Shepherdsville, Mt Washington, Hillview, Brooks and Pewee Valley.  Click the following links to learn more about Louisville and Bullitt County Real Estate or Search for Shepherdsville Homes or Search the entire Louisville MLS.

Continued from The First Showing

The Tuesday after the insane woman viewed our Shepherdsville home, another agent called to setup a Wednesday showing.  The good news was the kids hadn't been able to do much damage to the house during the preceding days.  The bad news was the combination of a 4:30p showing time, my previous plans and the fact that both kids had colds meant my wife basically had to drive them around for 15 30 45 minutes while this couple toured our home.  Oh well, we all have to make sacrifices :)

As I turned into The Pointe around 6:30, my phone rang.  The buyer's agent wanted to know if her clients could come back and see the house again.  They were about 5 minutes away and wanted to do so before returning to their current home.  "Of course," I said and then muttered a quick prayer that the kids hadn't scattered toys everywhere or weren't in the bathtub yet. 

My prayers were answered and we were able to load them into the car, turn on all of the lights and get out of the door in about 4 minutes.  For us, this is the equivalent of a 12-second pit stop at the Daytona 500. 

It just so happens Shepherdsville was being hit by a wind storm around this time.  With trees, telephone poles, etc already weakened from the ice storm, we decided not to venture too far from home.  And since we didn't want to take sick kids to friends' homes or traditional safe havens like McDonalds, we opted to pull into a driveway of a vacant home.  While waiting the 15 30 45 60 minutes for the couple to complete their second tour, I reached the conclusion that car DVD players rank in the Top 5 greatest technological achievements of all-time.

Upon arriving home, we got the twins into and out of the bath and ready for bed (more speed records).  I contemplated calling the agent for feedback, but hunger prevailed and I decided to eat dinner instead.   Then the phone rang.  Recognizing the agent's number, I pushed aside my sandwich, grabbed a pad and hit the green button.  After a brief exchange, I heard one of the best phrases in real estate, "I have an offer for you." 

Still a lot to do before we celebrate, but at least we can put the bottle on ice.

Next... The Offer

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Erik Hitzelberger is a licensed real estate agent with RE/MAX Alliance in Louisville. If you need a Bullitt County Real Estate agent please email me or call 502.921.3989.

I specialize in the following areas of the Metro Louisville Area: Jeffersontown (J-Town), Okolona, Fern Creek, Shepherdsville, Mt Washington, Hillview, Brooks and Pewee Valley.  Click the following links to learn more about Louisville and Bullitt County Real Estate or to Search for Shepherdsville Homes.  

Continued from Listing My Home

This isn't my first rodeo.  I've sold homes before.  I've even sold investment properties that I owned.  For some reason, every day that passed and I didn't get a call, was nerve-racking.  The remnants of the snow and ice storm pretty well shot the first weekend.  People were too busy cleaning up and restocking their current homes to bother looking for a new one.  By mid-week, my buyer clients and leads started calling.  They wanted to schedule showings or get more information on homes.  The work was distracting, but I still kept waiting for that first call on my Shepherdsville home.

After an eternity(7 days according to the calendar), the call finally came.  Good news!  A woman wanted to see the home Sunday afternoon.  The less good news was that the house was suffering from lax cleaning efforts.  Additionally, my wife was supposed to make chili for a Sunday luncheon at VIPS.  Obviously, cooking chili before buyers come is a no-no as overwhelming smells can be a real turn-off.  So on Saturday, she cooked, I cleaned, and the kids made a mess.  We got up on Sunday made a final push to pick up the remaining toys and got out the door just before the buyer arrived.

I knew from the buyer's agent that the buyer was seeing multiple homes that day.  Therefore, I not so patiently waited until Monday morning to call for feedback.  The call was brief.  What I think she said was, "The house looked great, but my client wants to make an offer on a house in Mt Washington first."  What I heard was, " The house looked great, but my client is certifiably insane."

After initial disappointment, I realized this was for the best.  It's never a good idea to enter into contract negotiations with lunatics :) 

Now, when the heck is my phone going to ring again!? 

Next - Picking up the pace - The Second Showing 

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Erik Hitzelberger is a licensed real estate agent with RE/MAX Alliance in Louisville. If you need a Bullitt County Real Estate agent please email me or call 502.921.3989.

I specialize in the following areas of the Metro Louisville Area: Jeffersontown (J-Town), Okolona, Fern Creek, Shepherdsville, Mt Washington, Hillview, Brooks and Pewee Valley.  Click the following links to learn more about Louisville and Bullitt County Real Estate or to Search for Shepherdsville Homes.  

Continued from Setting the Price

All of the preliminary work is complete and it is time to let buyers know that my Shepherdsville home is for sale.  The next step is to implement the marketing plan.  You simply cannot sell a house if the prospective buyer does not know it exists.  Therefore, I concentrate on informing as many people as possible that the house is for sale.  

By casting a wide net, I increase the odds that I find THE buyer who is willing to pay the most money in the shortest amount of time.  Like average listing agents, I put a sign in the yard and place the home on the MLS.  But that's where the comparison stops.  In addition to producing high-quality flyers and postcards and emailing other agents, I spend the time and money to properly market homes online.  I know for a fact that at least 30% of potential buyers who view my visual tours come from my flyers, postcards and/or websites not fed from the MLS.  This is a huge benefit to my clients (in this case me).

The best laid schemes o' mice an' men/Gang aft agley." -- Robert Burns 

No amount of integration or planning could overcome the ice storm that crippled Louisville and left tens of thousands without power for days on end.  While ours was only out for a few hours, I decided to postpone listing the house for a few days.  Figuring that no one, including myself, was spending much time looking for homes, I didn't see any reason to list until the roads were at least cleared.  Finally, I loaded everything Friday night and Saturday morning.  

On a personal note, I don't think it hit me until I was done that we really planned to move.  Until that moment, I had something to fix, prepare, plan, implement, etc.  Everything on the list was now crossed off.  The only thing left to do was to get excited.....and nervous. 

Next- WooHoo! - The First Showing 

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Erik Hitzelberger is a licensed real estate agent with RE/MAX Alliance in Louisville. If you need a Bullitt County Real Estate agent please email me or call 502.921.3989.

I specialize in the following areas of the Metro Louisville Area: Jeffersontown (J-Town), Okolona, Fern Creek, Shepherdsville, Mt Washington, Hillview, Brooks and Pewee Valley.  Click the following links to learn more about Louisville and Bullitt County Real Estate or to Search for Shepherdsville Homes.  

Continued from Promotional Materials

Completing a full CMA and determining a reasonable listing price and expected selling price is normally one of the first things I would complete for prospective clients.  As I pay particular attention to all real estate activity in The Pointe, I have a fairly good idea of my home's selling potential.  Since, I was comfortable with the price range, I put this exercise off until I was ready to list the home. 

Once all of the preparation was complete and the marketing materials were ready, it was time to get serious about the numbers.  Today's market demands extra vigilence when setting price.  Even being off by a few percent can mean the difference between a successful closing and an expired listing. 

I use a 3-stage system for calculating listing price and expected selling price.  First, I complete an automated CMA using MLS data for the last 6 months.  I can filter the input data to include or exclude homes based on size, proximity, construction and a host of other features.  In populated areas with similar homes, the computer will spit out a number that is +/- a couple thousand dollars.  In less dense areas, the variance is greater.  Regardless, I only consider this a starting point. 

The second phase is to create a spreadsheet showing the subject house (in this case, mine) versus all other similar listings in the area over the last 6-12 months.  I make price comparisons based on size, # bedrooms, and a host of features such as the presence of garden tubs, fireplaces, walk-in closets, etc.  I make adjustments based on my familiarity with the properties after touring, when possible, or reviewing the mls photos.   

The third step is to visit the house and make final adjustments based on the condition of the home and intangibles such as the way the house flows and the impressions a buyer will have. 

Note: For a variety of reasons, I am not including my analysis here.  However, I am confident that a listing price of $190,000 is appropriate for my Shepherdsville home and I expect it will drive traffic.

Next - Let the Game's Begin aka Listing my Shepherdsville Home

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Erik Hitzelberger is a licensed real estate agent with RE/MAX Alliance in Louisville. If you need a Bullitt County Real Estate agent please email me or call 502.921.3989.

I specialize in the following areas of the Metro Louisville Area: Jeffersontown (J-Town), Okolona, Fern Creek, Shepherdsville, Mt Washington, Hillview, Brooks and Pewee Valley.  Click the following links to learn more about Louisville and Bullitt County Real Estate or to Search for Shepherdsville Homes.  

Continued from Preparing the Home

Although the house is ready for buyers, I wanted to have all of the promotional materials completed BEFORE the house hit the market.  In order to accomplish this goal, I needed to lay the foundation for my integrated marketing campaign.  Among other things, this includes 

1. Take photographs and resize them for various outlets
2. Create a Virtual Tour
3. Create and order Flyers and Postcards
4. Research Neighborhood, Schools, Taxes, Etc

Photographs - Of course, a wide angle lens is a requirement.   

Create a Virtual Tour - Upload photos and develop descriptions for each. 

Flyers and Neighborhood Postcards- I use a common design theme for flyers, post cards, open house notices, etc.  Of course, these are printed on high quality, glossy card stock and contain the link information to the Visual Tour.  

Additional research - Since this is my home, my normal level of research is greatly reduced.  I already have a Neighborhood post for The Pointe and a post containing information on Schools in Shepherdsville.  So, once I looked up Bullitt County Property Taxes, I was all set.

Next -  Setting the Price

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Erik Hitzelberger is a licensed real estate agent with RE/MAX Alliance in Louisville. If you need a Bullitt County Real Estate agent please email me or call 502.921.3989.

I specialize in the following areas of the Metro Louisville Area: Jeffersontown (J-Town), Okolona, Fern Creek, Shepherdsville, Mt Washington, Hillview, Brooks and Pewee Valley.  Click the following links to learn more about Louisville and Bullitt County Real Estate or to Search for Shepherdsville Homes.    

Continued from Selling my Shepherdsville Home ~ Part 1

Once we decided to sell our Shepherdsville home, we immediately made a list of everything required to prepare it for sale.  To compile this list, we went room by room and tried to see the home as a buyer would.  The biggest areas of focus were the 3 C's of Staging...

1. Clean
2. Clutter-free
3. Color

From dusting the ceiling fans to wiping down baseboards, our first priority was to make sure that buyers wouldn't have any reason to think that this was not a well-kept home.  The carpets had been cleaned over Christmas, so we did not redo this.  Everything else was mopped, wiped, dusted and/or polished.

To make sure potential buyers could focus on the home and not our belongings, we decluttered the whole house.  This included packing all non-essential items including summer clothes, seldom used kitchen accessories, extra linens, toys, pictures, etc.  We also donated many items to Goodwill and threw away all that stuff that was saved 'just-in-case.'  In total, we filled 8 Rubbermaid crates and 10-15 boxes.  When we were done, no closet was more than 1/2 full, the kitchen counter was clear, and everything visible was there intentionally.

The biggest challenge was our basement.  We built this as a playroom for our kids.  When doing so, we chose bold colors for them and a carpet that was 1) cheap and 2) durable.  Not everyone has young children though and we didn't want to turn anyone off.  We removed the slide, painted the room and installed new carpet.  While we still have toys for the kids, I think you'll agree that our efforts made a substantial difference.

The final step was to complete repairs.  Our house is only 3-years old so there was not a lot to do.  However, 5-year olds can certainly leave their mark.  I patched most dings in the wall, touched-up the paint where needed, replaced any burnt-out lights, replaced smoke detector batteries, etc.

Total Time: ~2 weeks 

Only after all of this was done, was I ready to work on the promotional materials. 

Next --- Getting Ready to Promote our Shepherdsville Home

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Erik Hitzelberger is a licensed REALTOR with RE/MAX Alliance in Louisville. If you need a Shepherdsville Real Estate agent please email me or call 502.921.3989.

I specialize in the following areas of the Metro Louisville Area: Prospect, Middletown, Jeffersontown (J-Town), Fern Creek, Okolona, Shepherdsville, Mt Washington, Hillview, Brooks and Pewee Valley.  Click the following links to learn more about Louisville and Bullitt County Real Estate or to Search for Bullitt County Homes 

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