What’s In, What’s Out with Homebuyers in 2007 by Mark Nash is based on a survey of 923 real estate agents, managing brokers, and association executives who responded to a survey request in the electronic publication Agent to Agent, published by Mark Nash. Agent to Agent is distributed monthly to real estate professionals in all fifty states and Canada.

On

-The housing correction. My 2006 prediction “What’s In, What’s Out” forecast a mild decline in home prices in most markets. In 2007 they project a 5-8% drop in prices on average between single-family homes and condominiums.

-Houses that are fairly priced. Not the boom market of 2005, just look at comparables sold from the last six months. Forget cocktail chatter when all you heard was record prices at the shortest market times in US real estate history.

-Online home appraisal sites (Zillow.com). Mainly those that use up-to-date and reliable home sales data. Technology is great when it works, but beware of online appraisal websites. Ask yourself how long it takes your registrar of deeds and real estate transactions to register them. If it’s up to the minute, that’s fine; if not, please plan for waiting time in online valuation to provide accurate information.

– Market timing. Many buyers and sellers were on their own terms in 2006 and missed out on opportunities that were created by failing to recognize the ebb and flow of the real estate markets. Spring is a high market, the highest demand by the largest number of buyers. Summer is a good market, fall is fair, and winter is the remnant market, leftover buyers and sellers from high, good, fair markets.

-Smart shoppers. With interest rates at record lows and demand doubling from a weak year in 2006, the deals and lack of frenzy won’t last long. The “deferred demand” of 2006 could cause a mini-frenzy in some markets.

-Third places or offices. Home offices are on the rise, though those who work from one need more than a coffee shop or hotel lobby for business meetings. Look for alternative workspaces that bridge the home office with hourly rentals of conference room-type spaces that offer technology and privacy.

-Luxury garages. It is no longer the dump of what is not seen or thought. Today’s garage owners want them equipped with cabinets and storage systems, mini-fridges, insulation, heating and cooling, and durable yet residential-looking flooring.

-Speleology. The man and mom caves are coming out of the closet. Dedicated personal space for one person in a home to go and work on projects or “chill out” undisturbed, and if so, only in an emergency.

-Two home offices. Rising gas prices and commute times have created more families working two jobs at home. Size matters, make sure each one is at least ten by ten feet.

Rejuvenation rooms. A unique space for exercise, meditation, yoga, sauna and luxurious steam showers. The showers are also luxurious. Waterfall fixtures, programmable temperature and water flow are the next trend for “showers”.

-Heated patios, hallways and driveways. Northern baby boomers are tired of shoveling and looking for ways to cut down on winter maintenance, plus many have discovered how heating up the yard can add a couple of extra weeks of enjoyment in the spring and fall, too.

-Snoring rooms. Offered as options in new homes, second bedrooms adjacent to the main one, they offer relief from the “buzz” and an alternative to the couch. A boon to millions of relationships across the country.

-Modular Housing. Many think of the obsolete double-width as typical modular, but modular options and quality have skyrocketed from the top end of the 11,000-square-foot home, complete with every whistle and bell, intricate finishing details, to starter home of bread and butter of 1200 square feet. . Low cost factory construction and quick build times make this the affordable wave of the future.

-Sustainable design. Sustainable design is based on three areas; energy conservation, indoor air quality and resource conservation. Seen as a new era in building circles, sustainable design considers homes holistically, and not just a bunch of unrelated systems put together. Natural forms of energy, such as wind, solar, and geothermal, are maximized if available on site.

-Structured cabling. Right up there with all the hype about green homes is structured cabling, now entering the mainstream must-have for tech-driven homebuyers. TV coaxial cable (RG-6), Category 5E voice and data lines, distributed radio, remote camera security connect by cable throughout a house in multiple outlet boxes called home network hubs .

-Mix of finishes in low and high kitchen furniture. Matchy-matchy is all the rage in kitchen design. The new look is having stained wood bases and painted wood upper cabinets. The look of old Europe rules, but with today’s appliances.

Outside

-“As it is” in the marketing of home sales. Everything went well in the market boom, but if you plan to use “as is” in 2007, forget it. The two-letter, two-word kiss of death, buyers see it as a red flag over the house and you as a seller. You have too much competition to scare off buyers.

-Buyer incentives. Free cars don’t sell houses, realistic prices do. Gimmicks only confuse and distract buyers. Get to the point and deduct the cost of your free purchase from its current price and send a signal to buyers that you are selling real estate, not personal property.

-Infinite days of open doors. The open house pendulum has swung from “house sold on day one” to “we need to have our house open every Sunday.” Desperation is when your house is open every Sunday. Buyers know and track it. Plan every three weeks to have a public open house.

-Offers on full price. It was a strategy in the boom market to price a house low and let the market set the selling price. Not today, one thing that won’t change in 2007 is that all buyers will want a deal and walk away if they don’t get one.

-Rooms not big enough for a bed. In the heyday, rehabbers and developers learned that the quickest way to turn a profit was to increase the number of rooms in an existing home. Rooms were reduced to walk-in closet size when a one-bedroom, four-bedroom apartment was rehabbed into a two-bedroom, four-bedroom apartment. However, doors and windows eliminate the necessary wall space. Clever agents kept asking, can you fit a queen size bed in any of the rooms? And the answer used to be, no.

-Lots of glass top kitchen cabinet doors. Buyers say it looks great, but many who spec’d it and experienced it firsthand don’t have time to keep kitchen cabinets organized. Also, if you hate washing windows, having more glass in a greasy room like a kitchen requires a lot of maintenance.

– Countertop bathroom sinks in the shape of a bucket. Splashes and general maintenance have earned them a reputation for being easy on the eyes, but they don’t want one.

-Any shiny metal finish. Brushed nickels and pewter are inside and polished, aged brass is outside.

-Stainless steel refrigerators and dishwashers are a fading trend. The cool look and higher maintenance of steel are driving buyers to specify warmer colors in kitchen appliances.

-Spiral stairs. Once the rage of the mid-seventies is renewed, now death for a house seller. The boomers have aged, their children do not like them, they are not friendly with pets and small children. Take yours out and place it on a standard ladder (indoor or outdoor) before you sell it.

At the exit.

-Bamboo floors. The first reviews of this popular eco-friendly floor are in, and they’re not pretty. Easily dented and scratched, and prone to warping due to variations in our climate and humidity levels.

Laminate wood floors. Word has gotten out that these poor, noisy relatives of solid hardwood won’t hold up to multiple sanding to change color or remove stains.

-Home sellers who smoke in their home while it is being marketed. Shoppers hate stale and secondhand smoke smells. It is not the same to market your house than to live in it. If you have to smoke, go outside.

© Copyright 2006 Mark Nash