St. Louis Real Estate Voice

St. Louis Real Estate Seller Tips

Getting Ready for the St. Louis Real Estate Spring Market?

7 Ways to De-Clutter Your Home by Heather Lanoue

Thinking about putting your home on the market this spring? It’s never too early to start planning the sale of your St. Louis home. And there is a lot to think about. Perhaps one of the most crucial pieces to finding that perfect buyer is staging your home properly. And that means…..de-cluttering. Having a lot of clutter lying around the house tends to tell prospective buyers that “this house is your place, not theirs”…..never a good message to send. Removing clutter will not only make your home appear clean, well maintained, and move-in ready, but will also give you the added benefit of helping you relax after a stressful day of work. Here are seven tips on how to de-clutter your home.

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Posted by Doug Aegerter | Read More | Your Comments Are Welcome! | 02.15.2010

St. Louis Real Estate – Occupied or Vacant?

Filed under: For Sellers

Do you plan on living in your home while it is on the market?

Occupying your home while it is on the market is sometimes necessary and can be stressful. Make sure that if you will be living in the house that it is always kept tidy. You never know when someone will want to take a peek inside. And remember, first impressions are everything, so you may want to put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher before you leave for work in the morning too. Another consideration is how flexible you can be with showing times. Are you willing to accommodate someone else’s schedule? The perfect buyer may ask for a showing right when you sit down for dinner. Being flexible with showing appointments will make it much easier for potential buyers to see the home and make an offer.

Now is the time to get ready for the spring market.
Call now, Doug Aegerter 314-640-1778 or Art Wagner 314-503-0335, for an appointment.

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Posted by Doug Aegerter | Read More | 1 Comment » | 02.10.2010

Saint Louis Real Estate-Market Watch February 6th, 2010

Filed under: Real Estate News, St. Louis Market Reports

Real Estate-Market Watch by Art Wagner @ Keller Williams Realty Southwest Saint Louis , Sunset Hills, MO. February 6th, 2010
The Anatomy of St. Louis Real Estate

The St. Louis Home for Sale Team provides a weekly St. Louis County and Monthly St. Charles County Market and Jefferson County Market Watch Report to review and plug into your home buying or selling scenario. Your questions and comments are welcome!

The St. Louis Real Estate Market continues to show good signs of activity, both on the buying side as well as the selling side. We see increases in active listings, homes accepting contracts and pending ratios in almost all price ranges. Our average pending ratio has increased by over 1% from last week.

Tax credits are certainly fueling buyers and sellers in the market right now. Another reason for this activity should be the pending FHA changes coming as we get closer to spring. Buyers should definitely try to get in front of those changes, as they will cost you more money, either up-front or monthly, depending on how the changes are structured.

At this point, we still have no concrete date as to when these changes will take place. As a refresher, these changes will probably involve Mortgage Insurance Premium increases, FICO credit score increases for qualifying for an FHA loan, and a decrease in allowable seller concessions to the buyer. We’ll try to keep you in the loop as to when these will be occurring.

WHO DO YOU KNOW NOW is facing challenges in our local St. Louis Real Estate Market?? We have unique solutions custom tailored for troubled homeowners, sellers and buyers. Contact us for more information.

WHO DO YOU KNOW that’s thinking of buying or selling a home?

Contact Doug Aegerter or Art Wagner for more information and a FREE Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) of your home or your neighborhood.

Posted by Art Wagner | Read More | Your Comments Are Welcome! | 02.08.2010

St. Louis Real Estate – Condition?

Filed under: For Sellers

Does your house need any repairs that will help it sell for a higher price or more quickly?

How do you feel about making some minor repairs or cosmetic upgrades to the house? It could help the house sell faster or for a higher price. If there is a lot of competition in the neighborhood, having the home professionally staged will help it stand above similar homes for sale in the St. Louis real estate area.

Want help getting your home staged and ready to sell? We work with the areas leading professional home stagers. Now is the time to get ready for the spring market.
Call now, Doug Aegerter 314-640-1778 or Art Wagner 314-503-0335, for an appointment.

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Posted by Doug Aegerter | Read More | Your Comments Are Welcome! | 02.03.2010

Saint Louis Real Estate-Market Watch January 30th, 2010

Filed under: Real Estate News, St. Louis Market Reports

Real Estate-Market Watch by Art Wagner @ Keller Williams Realty Southwest Saint Louis , Sunset Hills, MO. January 30th, 2010
The Anatomy of St. Louis Real Estate

The St. Louis Home for Sale Team provides a weekly St. Louis County and Bi-weekly St. Charles County Market and Jefferson County Market Watch Report to review and plug into your home buying or selling scenario. Your questions and comments are welcome!

The St. Louis Real Estate Market this week continues to show good signs of positive movement. Active listings are moving upward, along with the number of homes accepting contracts in the last 30 days (pending) . This activity has helped the pending ratio move up to 11.49% from 11.34% two weeks ago.

For the month of January 2010 compared to January 2009, we are about even as far as active listings and our pending ratios. However, at the end of January, we are showing almost 500 more homes sold from August 1st 2009 through January 30, 2010 opposed to the same six month time frame one year ago.

Obviously, First Time Home Buyer Tax Credits and Move-Up Buyer Tax Credits have played a part in this activity. Other contributing factors are also the low interest rates, affordability of homes in our market and of course, for those willing and able to fix up a house or a complete re-hab, there are awesome deals on distressed properties in our market.

Also worth noting is that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD has recently announced changes to the FHA guidelines which will affect most anyone in the real estate market planning to finance their purchase through FHA.

There are three major changes coming in the near future:

1. Mortgage Insurance Premium-MIP- will increase, from 1.75% to 2.25%. This is the part of the mortgage insurance premium that an FHA borrower is required to pay up front at the beginning of the loan. Now, this amount can be “rolled ” into the loan amount, but it has been talked about and proposed that this be dis-allowed at some point in the future. There is also talk about shifting some of the up-front MIP costs over to the monthly MIP premium payments, thus having a bit less of an impact on the borrower at loan inception, but adding more dollars to the monthly payment.

2. Changes in minimum FICO credit scores. Borrowers with less than a 580 credit score would be required to have a 10% down payment. Most lenders these days are requring a credit score of at least 620 to qualify for an FHA loan at 3.5% down payment.

3. Reduction in amount of allowable seller concessions. This probably affects us in St. Louis the least, but FHA is proposing to lower the maximum seller concessions from 6% to 3%. In our market, it is very rare that you see a seller giving a buyer 6% of the purchase price of the home as concessions towards their closing cost, prepaid expenses or loan points. Our usual in this market has been 3% for some time. I’m sure you can find exceptions to this here in St. Louis, but this should affect more of the higher priced areas of the country, with higher FHA loan limits.

All of these changes, and possibly more are likely to occur sometime early this spring. That April 30th deadline for First Time Home Buyers and Move Up Home Buyers may be much more important now than ever. And…who knows what the government means by “early spring”.

We’ll keep you up to date as we hear more about the FHA changes and when they will go into effect.

WHO DO YOU KNOW that’s thinking of buying or selling a home?

Contact Doug Aegerter or Art Wagner for more information and a FREE Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) of your home or your neighborhood.

Posted by Art Wagner | Read More | Your Comments Are Welcome! | 01.31.2010

St. Louis Real Estate – Your Financial Goals!

Filed under: For Sellers

What are you financial goals for the sale of your home?

Let’s face it, not everyone can sell and come out ahead in today’s housing market. It is important to know your financial boundaries before you dig too deep into the sales process. Your homework at this stage is to find out what you currently owe on your house, what the closing costs for selling your house would be, and what price you are honestly willing to accept for your house. Sharing these thoughts with your Realtor will help him understand your goals and how to go about the sale of your house in the St. Louis real estate market

Want help getting your home priced to sell? Now is the time to get ready for the spring market.
Call now, Doug Aegerter 314-640-1778 or Art Wagner 314-503-0335, for an appointment.

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Posted by Doug Aegerter | Read More | Your Comments Are Welcome! | 01.30.2010

St. Louis Real Estate – Is Time on My Side?

Filed under: For Sellers

How much time do I have to sell my house?

Timing can be everything with real estate. You need to know upfront how much time you have to sell your house. Are you strapped for time and need to sell it fast? If so, you’ll need to develop a strategy with your Realtor for a quick sale. If you can leave the house on the market until you receive the perfect offer, then you will need an all-together different strategy for catching that perfect buyer. Homes for sale in the St. Louis real estate market can sell in a day or a year.

How much time are you prepared to spend in order to meet your goals and sell your home?

Want help getting your home ready to sell? Now is the time to get ready for the spring market.
Call now, Doug Aegerter 314-640-1778 or Art Wagner 314-503-0335, for an appointment.

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Posted by Doug Aegerter | Read More | Your Comments Are Welcome! | 01.28.2010