an interview with Brad Korn of The Korn Team, Keller Williams Real Estate:
You were featured in an episode of "My House is Worth What?" On HGTV. What were the major factors you considered when deciding on the value of the home?

To determine the true market value we look at 3 different reports from the MLS. Where we are different from most Realtors, is we don’t find 3 comparable homes that are for sale, and 3 that sold. When you use that appraiser type method you are picking the 3 homes YOU feel is most like. Appraisers have a contract price in front of them when they do an appraisal. They are hired to help the bank determine if they should loan this amount to the buyer. When an appraiser finds 3 comparable homes, that average the sale price, they are letting the bank know that 3 other homes did average around this price. Where we get in trouble is if everyone is always using the 3 highest sales. Anyone can justify a price…but what are the true buying patterns of the buyers in the market place. The appraiser method isn't wrong, it just does not take into consideration ALL the supply and ALL the demand. To prove the point, if you use 10 different appraisers and give them 10 slightly different sale prices on a property, it would be rare to see all 10 use the same three comparables. They are using their opinion. The best opinion to determine the price of a property is a true buyer (not being sold by an overly aggressive sales person) that looked at 10 similar properties and see what they say the fair value is compared to all the homes they saw.

Here is another thought about why prices are different. Some agents (and even appraisers) might include a foreclosure in the neighborhood into their evaluation. Here is where that might not be a valid comp. If a homeowner is not in a distressed situation think of this scenario: If a neighborhood had 10 regular, non-distressed closed sales and 2 foreclosures sold, do you think the values are dropping in that neighborhood? It appears that a more significant number of regular sales are happening than foreclosures. If you are getting the value of your property from someone that uses the lowest price and the highest price and calculates an average price…that average is skewed and is actually lower than the true average. Can you see how IF the subject property is a regular sale and there are significantly more regular sales..why wouldn't you only use the average of the regular sales (if there were only 1 or 2 foreclosures)? The typical buyers out there in the market place right now, do not see values dropping in that neighborhood because of a couple foreclosures. The sale prices show the actual buying consumers are still paying regular price. The flip side is, if there are 10 foreclosures and 2 regular, non-distressed sales, then what buyer in the marketplace is going to want to buy in a depressed neighborhood when they are comparing that neighborhood to 10 other neighborhoods that may have more “regular” sales.

It is truly all about Supply & Demand! Remember that class in high school everyone hated…ECON 101? Guess what, that is what real estate is. If there are 10 homes on the market and a homeowner wants (or needs to be) priced at the #10 spot on that list that would make them the MOST expensive home on the market. In a FLAT or Depreciating market, that overpriced listing will make #1-#5 look like a really great deal! That is when I would advise a homeowner to not sink any more money into the property. It is already  going to sell for less than they want, so why lose more money? Each property and each day brings a new set of circumstances therefore you truly want someone knowledgeable in this aspect of valuing property to help you determine what the market will bear.

The best value for spending money on a home is adding square footage or adding a bedroom. Believe it, or not, adding a bathroom is truly not going to add more to your sale price (UNLESS you are going from one bath to get 2 baths in your property). Think about it…do you really think a buyer will pay $5,000 more for a home that has 2 ½ baths vs 3 baths? When they compare the two…they may make the offer on the home with 3 baths, but they will offer the price they would have paid for the 2 ½ bath home.

See more about our HGTV episode at www.kornteam.com

interview with Brad Korn, The Korn Team, Keller Williams:
What trend do you see when it comes to individuals house hunting? Are more people looking for new builds or homes in established neighborhoods?

They are looking for BEST VALUE! Buyers typically look at 10 homes before they make a decision. In today’s market they might even look at 20 homes. Remember, as I said in the nicest home comment…buyers are comparing a property to 5-10-20 other homes. The nicest home can only sell for the top dollar if it wre the ONLY home for sale. A Seller typically gets bad advice from the everyday, average Realtor that is pricing in negotiating room. Again, this only works if you property is the ONLY home on the market. When a seller puts negotiating room into a price, then the other house on the market that is now priced properly TAKES THEIR BUYER! When seller’s say, “well, they can make us an offer” the reason they don’t get the offer is because they just made their competition look like a better deal AND the buyer made the offer on the better deal…not the overpriced listing.

The Korn Team has one of the most aggressive marketing plans in the country! While others are cutting marketing out, we continue to do the things that help our clients get 1-4% higher sale prices over almost all of our competition. Don't trust your equity with just anyone. Contact The Korn Team today at (816) 215-KORN (5676) or visit our website at www.kornteam.com to see how our marketing plan can help you find more buyers and get more exposure to your property. Our marketing plan has proven to help us average over 100 sales each year for the past 7 years.

interview with Brad Korn, The Korn Team, Keller Williams:
What advice would you give to individuals trying to sell an older home in this market?
 

Before you spend a lot of money, we need to truly evaluate the “return on investment” in any money being spent just to sell. An older home can look and compete if the seller first does some easy things without spending money. The main thing is to STAGE the house. When The Korn Team says “stage” we mean pack up everything! Well, really our general rule of thumb is no more than 1-2 things on every wall, shelf, flat surface, etc. AND there are 2 rules that go along with that. #1- no personal or family photos anywhere. #2) nothing sitting out that reminds the buyer they are in someone’s home. Buyers are uncomfortable ‘snooping’ through a total strangers’ home. Put the daily things you need, coffee pots, toasters, toothbrushes in the cabinet. Heck, just pack everything up that you don’t need for the next 30-60 days and put the daily needs in the cabinets. You are moving, right?

Don't just trust anyone with your equity. National Board of Realtors track that the average agent only sells 4-6 properties per year. Unfortunately, many Realtors don't sell enough houses each month to truly help home owners take advantage of a market or give you the real true advice you need to hear. The Korn Team has average around 100 sales per year for the past 7 years. We know what it takes to get the most equity out of a market. You can get a free, no obligation evaluation by contacting us at (816) 224-KORN (56756) or visit our website at www.kornteam.com. We can schedule a convenient time to meet and evaluate how your home will compete in today's market.

interview with Brad Korn, The Korn Team, Keller Williams:
How do you feel being the nicest home in the neighborhood affects the ability for the home to sell?

My normal response in a market like this is that “you do not want to be the castle in the neighborhood” and therefore if someone ‘TRULY’ has the nicest house in the neighborhood, they need to realize that is not going to help them. The only way this can help is if they were the only house for sale…or there is very low inventory AND everyone currently on the market is way overpriced. Remember, it is truly about Suppy & Demand…NOT 3 most-like comparable sales. Let me explain. If you have 12 homes for sale, and use the 3 highest sales as comps…we can justify why someone would price higher, but what about the true read on the market that there are 9 more sales lower.

We help a seller with the nicest home in the neighborhood realize that they are going to get just a little bit more than the other homes if they have incredible updates, however, hopefully they have some enjoyment value from living in an incredible house.

If you feel your home is one of the nicest homes in a neighborhood, be sure you contact The Korn Team at (816) 224-KORN (5676 or visit our website and reach us at www.kornteam.com. We can help you determine if you can put more equity in your pocket. Do not list with anyone else until you have met with us. Our meeting is not a sales pitch..it is an evaluation of your currrent situation and we help over 100 home owners and home buyers get the most out of these market conditions every year.

October Real Estate Update as we enter the 4th Quarter of the Year

This is a National perspective from our friend Terri Murphy who shared this information with us in a recent podcast on tips for sellers. She mentioned there are some interesting changes on the home sales front. Existing home sales INCREASED in August even though we are still impacted by tighter credit and appraisal issues. Add to that the regional disruptions by Hurricane Irene, NAR reports that we actually saw monthly gains in all regions. Total sales that included single family, townhomes, condo’s and co-ops rose 7.7 percent and are 18.6 percent higher than August of 2010.


Terri also shared that when we look at PENDING home sales, we see a slightly different picture. The numbers for properties that are pending, but not closed slipped a bit in August, but are higher than a year ago according to the same report by the National Association of Realtors. There are some positive market fundamentals. And the NAR chief economist says they may be the result of sales that were delayed in the preceding months. But we still enjoy great low rates for favorable affordability. And Joe, we see a rise in rent which of course motivates more buyers and investors to absorb foreclosed properties.

So with great low rates, and good pricing and high motivation, it’s a great time to buy and sell. But we do know that properties that are staged sell faster and for more money. The Korn Team has had a record summer selling properties in the Greater Kansas City area. They are helping seller's stage their homes to get top dollar given the current market conditions.

In the past 2 months, the Korn Team actually helped 2 seller's sell their property (in the 300k price range) who had been on the market for 6 months and the other, 1 year. We simply helped them restage their property, put a better marketing plan in place, and sold them both in under 30 days. That is after they had been on the market with not much activity. There really is no reason your showings should be slow, or that you should be on the market for 6 months. Let us help you show you how to position yourself in the market to be one of the next properties to sell and stage your home so you can win the buyers over when they see you home. You can schedule a one-on-one marketing evaluation strategy plan for your property by giving us a call at 816-224-KORN (5676) and if you would like to hear our latest podcast on staging tips, visit http://www.kornteam.com/ and click on our podcast icon on the left side of our webpage.

Do You Rely on a Computer
to Give You the Value of Your Home?

I recently received a request from a gentleman that would like to move. He visited some sites to see what the value of his home would be. He contacted The Korn Team because we have been endorsed by national radio personalities on their programs and we sell over 100 properties throughout the KC area in both Missouri and Kansas. We also have a team and sell in Lincoln, NE.

This property was located in a small rural community just about 30 minutes south of the Greater Kansas City area on the MO side in Cass County. One site he may have relied on lead him to believe his home could be valued at clost to $150,000. As you can see from an indepth market review through our MLS and even looking outside of his community and using data from the entire County...There are only a few homes that sold higher than 70k....and the absolute most expensive property that did sell and close in the past 8 months was for 122k.

The tax assessed value on this home is $67,840. As a professional we do not rely on computer systems, let alone the tax assessed value, by itself. We must truly evaluate what is the demand for properties in the area under the current market conditions. Once we determine what the actual sale prices have been, then we can determine how much competition we have at that price...what is currently for sale. Does that sale price postition you as one of the cheapest homes on the market? In my experience after evaluating thousands of homes...yes it does. SO, be careful!!!! You may underprice your property if your supply is low and every other seller is underpricing thier properties. In that case, you might be able to position slightly higher and get more out of the market than you are supposed to.

On the other hand, if the supply is high, and there is a 1-2+ year supply of homes on the market, and they are priced low, you must position yourself competitively...wether you like that price or not (of course that is if you must sell your property or home).

The Korn Team, Keller Williams Eastland Partners can help you determine where you should be positioned in the market to get the most money, in the shortest amount of time. Don't Take ANY chances when considering selling your home. Too many people out there may tell you want you WANT to hear. The great news is not only will The Korn Team be honest with you, but if you made a great investment, we may tell you what you want to hear as well. Remember, you have worked hard to protect your equity. You owe it to your self to make sure you get professional advice from someone that sells a lot of real estate AND can properly help you intrepret the market. Visit our site at http://www.kornteam.com/ to see how we market properties, tell us you are thinking of selling, or if you want to shop our list of over 19,000 homes currently for sale in the Greater KC area. You may also contact us directly at 816-224-KORN (5676) or email us at brad@kornteam.com

Low Interest Rates and Strong Housing Inventory Provide Opportunity and Promise for Summer Home Buyers

Mortgage rates recently dropped to all time lows with conventional 30 year fixed rates approaching the 4.99% range in April of this year. It must be working because mortgage applications rose 1.1%. The Credit Unions are jumping into the mortgage game as well. They have been able to get customers with slightly higher credit ratios into a loan. There are typically low costs to join credit unions and many times that local connection is a nice touch.

So, not only is it possible to get a loan right now, with summer here there is a lot favoring buyers right now. We have all heard the saying, more homes sell between Memorial Day and Labor Day. The reality to that statement is that the most amount of homes to chose from are available during those times. With increased competition, that can help a buyer find more homes that meet most of your needs and wants. We typically advise buyers in this market that instead of getting 5-6 of the things you want in a home (during a fast selling market with low inventory) you can get 8-9 of the things you want when there is a lot of homes for sale. There is just more to choose from.

It is important if you truly want to take advantage of this market that you do several things. First, identify your preferred area. We can help you put together a checklist of what areas to look for and how to ensure you know about properties as they become available. Second, (and probably most important) is to get your finances in order. If you truly want to take advantage of a great deal this summer we can show you how this one step can be the difference between buying your dream home AND getting a great deal OR losing out on that home. Losing the right property to another buyer can be avoided if you are pre-approved.

Just those two points validate that using an experienced agent to negotiate the best price and guide buyers through the inspection and to closing is so important when someone is dealing with one of the biggest purchases in their lifetime...a home. Plus, buying a home should be fun and exciting. This is not the transaction where you want to give that up by using an agent that only sells 4-10 homes a year. When you find an agent or team that sells 100 homes a year, there are going to have 10 times the experience and most likely have systems in place to make the home buying process and enjoyable as possible.

You can hear more about this topic by visiting our Korn Team Podcast at http://goo.gl/t9fas and if you would like to start you home buying experience visit http://www.kornteam.com/ where you can search our list of over 20,000 homes currently for sale in the greater Kansas City area. You can call us directly at 816-224-KORN (5676)

Will Sell Your House for FREE!!!

We just had a call from a potential client that has an upper bracket home to sell. Since we met and discussed the marketing program The Korn Team uses to get homes sold, the owner received some enticing offers from other Realtors. We showed the homeowner how we are getting more exposure to our clients properties which means more people see our clients homes AND because more people see our homes, our clients are reaping the benefits of 3-4% more equity than our competitors in the same marketplace.

You see, 90% of all agents truly do not spend any more money than they have to to get more exposure to a property. National Association of Realtors states that the average agent is selling 4-6 properties each year. That is only one sale every 2 months. There just is not enough margin in Real Estate to make a decent living AND have money to spend on marketing. Now, the reality is that most full time agents might be selling 12-20 homes each year. If half of those are buyers, that means they are helping only 6-10 sellers sell their home each year. Again, that is only 1 sale every couple months. It is truly hard to get the experience and become the BEST if you are only doing something once or twice a month.

As a home owner, your equity can disappear quickly...and it disappears by the THOUSANDS!!! Contracts don't get negotiated for a couple hundred here, couple hundred there...it is a Thousand here AND a Thousand there...

So, what was the enticing offer?
After talking, this homeowner mentioned that a Realtor from their church had offered to sell their home for FREE! Wow, really, free is awesome....if the Realtor will get the house sold, and get them the most money. I asked, my soon to be new seller client, who was the agent? Let's see if they have sold a lot of properties. The home owner did mention that this was a pretty successful agent and had seen their stuff around quite a bit, and knew them from church or school (can't remember which they said). I had heard of the agent before so I they have probably been selling real estate for a little while. When I pulled up the sales from the Multiple Listing service, we found that in the past 14 months, this realtor had only sold FOUR homes (that were listings). "Is that really who you want helping you sell your upper bracket home?", I asked.

When a home owner is hiring someone to sell their property, you think you would want someone that sells a LOT of homes. Not just homes (because that could be a lot of buyers), but homes they were marketing to sell. I even went back over the past 26 months and this agent sold 7 listings (14 total sales including buyers). That is a home every 2 months. The Korn Team in that same time frame had sold and closed 100 properties (not counting the buyers we have helped buy homes) and averaged between 97%-98% of our clients' asking price. That was just the signs we put in yards and marketed to sell. FREE sounded great, however, when you think about it...who really can market your property to get you top dollar and do it for free? If anything, you will be leaving equity on the table because all the marketing that needs to be done can get done for free. It costs money to make money.

In today's market (and truly, even in great markets) we have watched home owners sell homes fast in hot markets and we have seen homes sit on the market with no activity....Our homes get shown because our marketing definitely gets our listings in front of more potential buyers. We get our properties sold faster and for more money because we find buyers other typical agents may miss. Brad always says, "if you get more eyeballs on the property, you will get more for the proeperty and sell it for the most the market will bear."

Don't take ANY chances with your equity. There hasn't been much in the past few years, and every thousands of dollars in equity you have in your property is yours to get. You just have to have someone that is not afraid to spend money and focus on marketing that will get you the most exposure possible for your property. It costs nothing to meet with The Korn Team and it might make you THOUSANDS!

Take your interview process very seriously. There are so many things you need to be aware of when considering marketing your home or property.

You can see how the Korn Team markets properties at http://www.kornteam.com/ and click on featured properties. We take over 100-150 photos of our listings. We use wide angle lens and photo software to show our properties off. We have virutual tours, best positioning for print media, upgraded websites on the real estate sites that matter and we have 24/7 marketing for our clients where buyers can get information about the property. More exposure means more equity. Call The Korn Team today for your free, no obligation market evaluation. You can find us online or call directly at 816-224-KORN (5676)

The Korn Team
http://www.kornteam.com/
(816) 224-KORN (5676)

Now is the time
Mortgage Interest rates are at ALL TIME low's
and they will not be there forever.

What were the interest rates in the 1980's? Did you know they were actually around 13% when I got into Real Estate 20 Years ago? today the average rate on a thirty year mortgage is as low as 4.36% as of August 2010. That is lower than mortgage rates have ben in the past 50 years. Home mortgage interest rates for the same time last year were averaging 5.19%. Did you know that is a difference of $90 per month on a $200k home with 10% down. Also, when that rate drops from 5.19% to 4.36% that is a savings of $32,460 over the life of the loan. If you would like to find out how you could save almost $100/month in your mortgage payment and put another $32k towards your retirement, contact us at http://www.kornteam.com/ either by phone, email or text and we will send you a free copy of our ebook explaining why NOW is the best time to buy real estate and move into your next home. (816) 224-KORN (5676)

Buyers Have an Edge in this Market:

Cheif Economist from NAR (National Association of Realtors), Lawrence Yun released information stating that buyer this year have gotten great deals. He also went on to say that buyers will have an edge over sellers for the remainder of this year. Because mortgage rates are still at rock bottom, buyers affordability will be reaching all time highs. The low rates were helped partly by the Fed's very accomodative monetary policy. Contact The Korn Team if you would like a free ebook explaining why now is the prime time to buy a home. You can reach us at 816-224-KORN (5676) or visit our website at http://www.kornteam.com/ for more infomation about the Kansas City Real Estate market.

It's Prime Time to Buy a Home!

I was just reading some great information in a new ebook called "7 Reasons Why Now Is a Great Time to Buy a Home!" Just when we start to believe the real estate marketing is not doing well, I found a book that really tells it like it is. This book is filled with true, real, exciting information to help buyers take advantage of this incredible opportunity in our market right now. Over the next several weeks I will be sharing some of the information in our Kansas City Real Estate Update Blog. If you would like a free copy of this ebook, don't hesitate to contact our office directly. We will make arrangements to get you a copy right away. The Korn Team & Brad Korn have over 20 years of experience and combined with the information in this ebook we could help you truly take advantage of the current market conditions.

Tips for Selling Home In Todays Market

Establishing the correct sales price for your home in the most important step.

If you are trying to sell your property yourself, you will want to make several phone calls. Keep in mind that as a consumer most pricing is based on what is for sale, not what has actually sold and closed. Therefore you may be pricing your property incorrectly.

When determining what the asking prices are for similar homes in your area, be sure to ask how long they have been for sale. The tricky part, when doing it yourself is to find out what the actual sale prices have been. You can get this information from a Realtor who will bring you a 'market analysis' or in some areas called a 'comparable sale report'. Many Realtors should provide this information, however along with that come the sales pitch as well. The Korn Team provides Kansas City Home Owners with this information to help you get a clear understanding between the difference of what is for sale, and what homes are sold. This information will help you develop a strategy to not overprice your property, but take advantage of the current market to get the most equity from your property.

Overpricing your property up front can end up costing you time, money and potentially, lost opportunities for a buyer. The laws of Supply & Demand will continue to keep the Kansas City Real Estate market in check. You can determine the buying patterns of the current buyers in your market by reviewing the actual sales, not what is for sale.

The Korn Team, Keller Williams Eastland Parnters office in Blue Springs / Independence (servicing all of Eastern Jackson County) offers a no cost, no obligation Broker's Price Opinion for any property. Our data will show you what has sold in your area, and what similar properties have sold for. We will then help you determine where that would position you in the current market to get the most activity and highest price the market will bear.

Korn Team on NBC Action News

We just posted a story about Seller's offering incentives to get their property sold. In August, a story aired on NBC Action News in Kansas City about one home owner selling their home and offering an incentive....their car! The car was a 1997 Honda Accord and had 75k miles. They had signs on the street advertising a free car.

NBC News Action Reporter Lisa Benson called me, on my way to my high school reunion. They wanted to air the story that evening at 10pm and wanted to come meet me in the parking lot while I was at my reunion. I posted some more information about the story at http://kcpropertiesforsale.blogspot.com/ where you can read more about our comments on offering incentives, and see the full interview.

If you are thinking of selling in this market, be sure to give us a call. The Korn Team sells over 100 homes each year (even in this market) and we can show you how to take advantage of the current market conditions and get the most equity possible from this market. If you are selling your home yourself, and trying to get creative ideas, give us a call. We can share with you what is helping us get more exposure to our properties and how we are getting 97%-98% of our Seller Clients asking price at the time we get them an offer.

You can reach The Korn Team at (816) 224-KORN (5676) or visit our website at www.kornteam.com

Sell Your Home without "Being There"

Here is an example of how to really Sell your Home without giving away the farm.

There were 5 Tips on GMA today. I am not sure where Tip #5 came from, and thought GMA might want to have some caution with that statement.

I have been selling for over 19 year. It was a great point that the Home Owner can sell the property better, however, home owners also can come across as desperate and commit to fixing things they may not have to, to get a sale. They are excited about their home, and they become overly excited when a buyer comes through the property. The caution is to not over-sell and appear to be desperate. They may have 10 buyers through before they find one that is willing to pay their price. Unfortunately, if the home owner is home, and with the buyer...they will really try to "SELL" it by the 2nd or 3rd buyer and may "give the farm away" to get that buyer to make them an offer.

I realized this from the moment I came into the real estate industry. There is truly not a lot of "marketing" happening.

We create an increadible brochure for every one of our clients. Not just a flyer or an MLS sheet....but a booklet with interior photos, utilities, plat map, room sizes, and most importantly, our TOP TEN Lists which the seller puts together a list of the Top 10 things they LOVE about thier home and the community. They also make a list of all the updates, inside and out, they have done to the property. We also have had them write a paragraph about what they love about living there. These are the tings that can accomplish #5) Be There, without giving away the farm.

Here is an example of what our Brochures Look like.

Top 5 Tips on Good Morning America:

Gary Keller Gave some great Tips and comments on insider information to get your property sold. The big ones were 1)Price to Sell....don't try to make a profit (doesn't mean you can't have your equity). The message is to price just below the last comprable sale, so you will be one of the next homes to sell. 2)Stagging. This is SO important in the current market conditions. As Gary mentioned...Price will get interest. Stagging with get Offers!

One caution that GMA posted was Tip #5) Be There. Here is the thing you must be extremely cautious about. GMA stated that you can sell your home better than anyone. The thing to be extremely cautious about is that your urgency to sell will come through. You may also give hints to the buyer that you will fix and replace things or they may percieve you are desperate to sell when in reality, you are just excited about your home. The Korn Team has been helping our clients accomplish the "Be There" advantage...without physically being there. We can show you how to sell your home and get the buyers focused on all the positives...without giving away equity. Remember, when you negotiate offers...the amounts are in THOUSANDS of Dollars, not hundreds. It is critically important to use the experience of your Realtor, especially someone who is very experienced and has a great reputation in your community. They will help you get the maximum equity the market will bear.

If you would like more information on how you can truly "play the market" for your property, contact us. All of our information is available at www.kornteam.com. You can also call us at (816) 224-KORN (5676) or email to: brad@kornteam.com

Brad Korn
The Korn Team
Serving Greater KC (and Lincoln, NE)

Find out what Home Seller's Should know when Selling in this Market:

Real Estate Expert, Gary Keller is scheduled to appear on Good Morning America (ABC) TOMORROW, Friday, Feb. 26. (Time not available. Air date subject to change.)

Tune in to hear what Gary has to say in an interview regarding home selling strategies.Don't miss it!

Gary spends the majority of his time studying the Real Estate Industry. He has an incredible sense of where Real Estate is headed and is always looking ahead 2-5 years. This will be valuable information for anyone who owns a home.

Tune into GMA today

If you Live in the Kansas City area and would like to know how this information apply's to your and your property, don't hesitate to contact The Korn Team at (816) 224-KORN (5676) or email us at brad@kornteam.com

You can also visit our website for home selling tips, search properties for sale, and to see how The Korn Team markets our clients properties to get them the most equity possible. Go to www.kornteam.com to have a look.

My House is Not Selling! I Will Wait till After the Holidays or Spring...

Never give up. My advice around the Hoiday's for our clients that decided they wanted to "take a break" was always as follows. I would ask them a question. "Do you still want to sell?" Most would say yes. "If a buyer comes into the market place tomorrow, and they would be a buyer that could fall in love with your property, and if they would offer you full price (or even just a $1,000 less) would you still want to sell?" If they answer, Yes...then I say, "well, if your home is not on the market, and that buyer does show up, they may settle for 2nd best and buy something else. That, unfortunately is a missed opportunity, and most people who buy a home will not move for another 3-5 years...so, we never get that buyer back."

Just to prove these are not just words.... We sold a home on Christmas Eve. The purchase price on the offer was full price! This home had been on the market for 6 months, and the Seller made a comment that she was just going to take it off the market till Spring. That could have been a HUGE mistake.

The Korn Team NEVER stops marketing our properties. Did you know that over the past 60 days (November and December we have had 198 showings on our properties. There are buyers out there, and we never give up looking for them until we get an offer on our client's property.

If you are feeling frustrated and want to give up on the selling process...give us a call. Let us help you understand and intrepret the current market conditions. We can help you come up with a plan to get your property SOLD! In 2009 we helped over 111 Home Buyer's and Seller's accomplish that. In fact, The Korn Team sold 11 properties at OVER asking price. Another 15 or so sold within $1k-$2k of asking price, and 10 of our properties sold in less than 30 days.

Feel free to contact us at 816-224-KORN (5676). It is a tough market out there, but properties are selling. Don't give up, and be patient. With our proven markeing plan, the buyer for your property will know your property is available the day they come into the marketplace.

Brad Korn
The Korn Team
www.kornteam.com
(8716) 224-KORN (5676)
brad@kornteam.com

Staying on the Cutting Edge Marketing Properties in Kansas City

Here is one of our newest marketing ideas...creating a Blog for each property we have for sale. This is a copy of the email we sent to our clients.

The Korn Team is continually looking for methods to get you more exposure to the property. One of the most recent Marketing Tactics we came up with was to create a Blog about your property. Blogs are very powerful marketing tools on the web. I was having a discussion with a marketing person and during that conversation we had talked about individual blogs on each property.

People looking to buy homes love to hear from a seller and what they like about their home. We asked our clients to send us an email... a letter from them about what they love about their home, the neighborhood, the area, schools, parks, etc.

By using the neighborhood name, city name, school name, and anything else that web surfers may search for, buyers will find our properties faster on the web. We even ask them to talk about Kansas City, the Plaza, Chiefs stadium (oooh...don't mention them :) ..... anything that would be a searchable word that might come up in buyers searches. We will copy our content along with pictures, etc. in an effort to get you more exposure.

We were thrilled to have received a call from Keller Williams International that our KW website had stood out as a site (among 700+ offices and over 70,000 agents) that was consistently getting some of the highest traffic counts in the company. We feel it is because we stay on the cutting edge of technology, and keep what is most important for our clients at the forefront of our new strategies...more exposure to their Properties.

Brad Korn
The Korn Team
www.kornteam.com
(816)224-KORN (5676)
(816)268-3839 fax
brad@kornteam.com
Your Personal Real Estate Consultants....for LIFE!

Instant Listing

The Korn Team has created a system for our Seller's that truly helps them get th ebsolute most exposure possible on their property. We have created the Instant Listing. Our philosophy on marketing property is that every day your property is not getting full exposure to the market, you could be missing that "one" buyer that would have paid the most for your property.

It is typical for a home, once listed to take several days, if not a week to get all the marketing in place. Our team realizes if it takes a few days to get all your marketing in place, there may be a buyer in the market looking at another home for sale in a similar price range. Maybe they have been looking for months, and now they are going to settle for 2nd best because your home did not get in front of them quick enough. You may have signed the listing paperwork..you might even have a sign in your yard...but did you know that it takes several days for your home to hit the websites? Did you know that once your property is on MLS...if there is missing information (such as square footage, pictures, room sizes, schools...etc) by midnight, the night it goes on MLS...that shell of information will be scooped up by many websites, however, those websites will not come back and update your information the next day.

Most of the websites your property will feed to only update once or twice a month. Those sites only look for brand new listings every night at midnight. Therefore, if you do not have all the pictures you can have, with your MLS listing on the system the day it is entered, you may not have pictures on those websites for weeks. This is extremely frustrating for the buyer you are looking for. In fact, in my conversations with buyers, many say they just pass over a property that doesn't have photos. Don't be passed over. Invite us over to show you how we get you the most exposure and how our Instant Listing program could be the difference in thousands of dollars in equity.

You can contact us for a FREE, no cost, no obligation evaluation of our marketing plan and how we can help you get the most equity from your property.

What if I am Upside Down in My Home?

In this economy, many homeowners are faced with a move and need to sell their home. Unfortunately, some banks have over-loaned on the property or they may have just bought the home in the last few years, and (in the Greater Kansas City area) there has not been any appreciation. Therefore, almost every home The Korn Team has seen for sale in this market is selling for about the same price it was selling for at the end of 2005 (as long as the homeowner didn't pay too much for it then).

The great news is that we are not seeing many neighborhoods and communities that are depreciating. Most have had their values flatten out. More good news is that means that many of the subdivisions are not depreciating either. However, if you purchased your home in the last 3-4 years, you may feel like you are losing money. That is because, typically, if you lived in the property for 3 years, your appreciation would have more than covered your cost to sell the property.

The other issue is when the boom was going on, the banks and mortgage companies were loaning money pretty freely. If you had excellenet credit, they could typically push the appraisal value on the property to give you some equity to borrow against. Doesn't mean the appraisal weren't justified...but many really may have pushed the upper limits. Understand that Banks make money on Interest charged. If you are borrower with impeccable credit, they would love for you to borrow as much as you can. They really didn't have to worry about you defaulting based on your credit history.

The biggest solution you can do is talk with The Korn Team about a true market evalutation on your property. We can bring options for you to get moved. In many cases where our clients may have borrowed more than their home is worth...and might come up a little short on sale date or not have as much equity as they thought they would, were glad they called us. Because of the current economy, we have helped many of our clients buy their next home at such a discount they are getting double the savings on what they gave up on their sale side.

One particular client absolutely had to get 5k from the sale of his home. However, the MOST his home would probably sell for was for him to break even because he had borrowed money against his home and got his equity out early. We promised him he would not be homeless and that in most cases we might be able to get his closing cost paid by seller, bank, or some other way. What ended up happening was we sold his house in less than 30 days, and even though he broke even, he purchased a home about 30-40k under market value...and it was move-in ready. You can see his testimonial video at http://www.youtube.com/user/wwwKORNTEAMcom#play/uploads/7/P8Cuyndj5UE where he talks more about his experience in the real estate process.

If you want to know what ALL your options are, don't hesitate to give us a call at 816-224-KORN (5676) or go to our website for all of our contact information at www.kornteam.com

$8,000 Tax Credit...TIME IS RUNNING OUT!

We just put together a new website to help more First Time Home Buyers take advantage of the FREE $8,000 Tax Credit they can get at the end of this year. What most people may not realize is that if you don't act quickly...you just won't get any of the 8k credit. Loans today are taking, on average about 45 days to close.

That means if you start looking for a home today in Blue Springs or somewhere in Kansas City....and it takes you a week or two to find a home, you only have a few months before the Tax Credit Deadline arrives. If you find your new dream home, write an offer and you and the Seller counter-offer once or twice you may be talking about 2 days to a week to get it finalized. If you can't come to an agreement, and have to go out and look at more homes and it takes you another week (or two) to find your next favorite but there are multiple offers because it was such a good deal...and you miss out again... you are still another week or two from possibly finding a home that you get an accepted contract on.

Once you get an offer accepted, you will want to make sure you are still in the "Safe Zone". I would consider the safe zone to be October 15th. That would give you only 45 days before the deadline the Government and President Obama set for the First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit. If your closing got delayed for any reason at all, or you had inspections done, and the seller did not complete them so you could close on or before Nov 30th... you would be legally obligated to purchase the home even if the closing occured after Decemeber 1st AND you would NOT get the Tax Credit of Eight Thousand Dollars.

DON'T Miss out on one of America's most incredible opportunities...Home Ownership, and a true...$8,000 credit on your taxes. You can find out more about your time frame, the process of purchasing a home and finding a Team of Realtors that specialize in helping you take advantage of the Real Estate Market in these current market conditions..go to a new website at http://www.iwantmy8k.com/ and get approved and find your next home.

If you think you don't have perfect credit...understand if cost you nothing to find out. Just go to Set 1 at http://www.iwantmy8k.com/. If you would like more information about the entire home buying process just visit http://www.kornteam.com/ and click on the I Want My 8k yard sign. There is no cost and no obligation.

Brad Korn's Recap of the
Dave Ramsey Town Hall Meeting.. HOPE

HOPE, Town Hall Meeting with Dave Ramsey
6,000 locations did Live Webcast
We want to help spread the message Dave wants to share with the whole world!!!!

The American Economy has been doing great. When things are going great…we can get a little “sloppy”. When things are going good…any idiot can make it. He made comment, even a Turkey can fly in a tornado!”

Doesn’t understand why some were melting down and freaking out about the market, and other of his friends didn’t. Some had just let fear in.

Some Economist think the government is going to need to get involved to bail this out. Dave doesn’t know what “book” they are reading because he isn’t reading the same book. He really doesn’t think the government getting involved is the answer. He went back into history and went over the 1930’s when Roosevelt was in office. John Mainard Cains. He is the one that suggested the Gov’t has to bail out. By 1944 the recession is over and the next boom is in place, and the success was based on that idea. This is what economist have been taught. The Gov’t spending got credit for what the War actually did.

Milton Freedman began to challenge these ideas and prove the Govt’ spending model was wrong. Dave Ramsey is doing that again tonight.

Dave is a believer in Capitalism. However, some take advantage of that. Business’s need to have moral restraint. Those in business are called to serve our customers…not milk them like a cow. We need a moral in our business system that value their employees and values their customers.

When he has employee come in and ask for bigger base…he says, no… you need to go get more sales. When someone gets rich, it doesn’t leave others less. In fact, our economy is set up where everyone can have as big of a piece as they want. However, it is up to you. That is how Capitalism really works.

He talked about how we need to reintroduce the word “NO”. You can’t have that corvette…you are too young and inexperienced, you get the 80 chevette!. No… I am not going to do business with you or anyone like you. I refuse to be ripped off and taken advantage of anymore. We need to quite going crazy and say NO.

He did say that many Christians sit around and pray that things will get better. The reality is that you can pray WHILE you are working! It is up to us to take care of “us”.

He took questions from calls, emails, text message, twitter and talk about the economic situation. David Asner was the MC for the evening.

-Dan from NY. Is this our generations great depression. What are diff from now and then.
Dave: the people from the great depression were changed and got smart with their money. Grandpa pulls a nail out, straightens it out and puts it in a can to use later. How many of us have a grandpa that did that, and how many of us do that? In great depression unemployment was 25 percent and REAL breadlines. Stock market lost 97% of value. Today we have only lost a little more than 50% of value. Great depression had inflation of 11%...today, we don’t have inflation. It is non-existent right now. This isn’t near as bad as the 70’s or 80’s tough economy.

We have to stop the “freaking out” the fear is driving all this hysteria

-What options do we have for investing (401k’s, mutual bonds, looking bad, etc)

I know wisdom says long term is good…but the fear is making us question everything. Were there is not vision, the people will perish. Patience during a recession is a major thing. When you live your life, thank god its Friday or oh no its Monday. When you invest and try to time the market…when you live in a panic, you will always buy at the wrong time, and sell at the wrong time.
Home depot
Mcdonalds
Coke
Microsoft
Dell
Walmart
Will they all be perfect…no. but as a group, those will be worth more 15 years from today.

Dave is continuing to invest in stock market and continuing to invest in Real Estate. It is like you are at K-Mart and the blue light is on!!!!

-bought in May ’07. When can he expect value to rebound back to its old value.
Dave – of course he doesn’t know. His opinion is that Housing will probably bring us out of this recession. At 4 3/8th interest rate. This is an ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS time to buy…and they are all ON SALE! (40-42min into town hall meeting)

The Dam is buiding. There are a bunch of buyers that havn’t bought, and they are all going to flood the market at once, that that is going to pull us out of this economy. 35 counties represent 50% of the foreclosures. It is in isolated areas? Of course the foreclosures are up…but not anywhere near Panic mode…. But the fear is causing everyone to hold back.

When existing inventory sells off, and new construction starts, the existing home prices will come back up close to the new construction. It cost just as much to build a new home today as it did a year ago. BUT….don’t buy a house if you are broke! You must have your reserve of 3-6 months in place.

-audience member, single mom, quit job, went back to school and getting ready to put son through school.
Who to trust and where should I put my money?
52% of single moms live below poverty line.
Do the baby steps.
1) get 1k cash in bank as fast as you can
2)get your debt paid off
3) finish emergency fund,
Now laid groundwork to start your investing. That’s retirement. Stock Growth mutual fund.
Use your instincts on who to trust. If you talk to financial advisor and feel you are being sold…get up and leave. They should be teaching you, coaching you, if you are learning. (48-50 min into program)
Made prediction that 10 yrs from today she will be killing it.

-Chris from Youtube. Had question about his bank. How does he know his money is safe.
Dave doesn’t do business with big banks. They have not soul. With a small banks you can go into the bank and put your hands around someones neck (kidding of course). He does not want to be a digit….he wants to talk to a person that cares.

-Jazz in Text messages. With all the $$$ going into circulation…what do we do with our savings?
Dave says – congress is out of control. If they don’t get it under control and quit flooding the market it is making it worth less, causing inflation. If they don’t, will it break it? No… I don’t think the gov’t, in our time will fix it…let alone, break it.
Invest in things that go up when inflation goes up. Real Estate is a great example… Housing goes up rapidly. Back in the 70’s houses were going up 1% a month. 110k house worth 110k in one month. In two months, it went to 121k. With that type of investment you have a hedge fund against inflation. You are riding the wave up.
Pay for it, don’t bet on inflation to bail you out…that is the definition of bankrupt. (52-54 min into program)

-had question about wether or not to buy gold.
Dave says Gold is the snuggie of investments. If it’s sold on midnight cable and if you buy it, it will make you look stupid. From 1833 to 2001, Gold is averaged 1.5% per year. From 01- today it averaged 15%. Gave example of Dot Com got over 100% but next year was zero.
People think Gold is going to be the medium of exchange. Gold hasn’t been used in a failed economy since the Roman empire. Katrina in New Orleans with it’s failed economy, gold didn’t become the exchange. But a bottle of water, a tarp were worth a lot. Goods and Services are what become valuable.

-should I start a businesss in this economy? (this caller was starting a tile company)
Dave said the buiding may be a tough thing to get started in, but be smart. Most extremely business’s were started in bad times. Look at Bill Gates, He started Microsoft right around a depression. David who started Hobby Lobby and started in garage in ’72 (’73-’74 were the worst recession). They are doing so well now, he looked at all employees and everyone making less than $10 an hour was bumped up to $10. While this recession was going on, there sales have gone up 5%...he knows he needs to take care of his employees.
-Chick Filet…was brought to market in ’46 right around the World WarMichael Dell started Dell in his Dorm room just following recession

***************************************
I hope you liked this information. We are proud to be selected by Dave Ramsey as a preferred Real Estate Team for the Kansas City area. You can see our ELP status on his website at www.daveramsey.com . We are proud to be associated with Dave and truly run our business as he discussed in the Town Hall Meeting. We are here to educate you on the Real Esate opportunity...not just get another sale.

If you want to listen to this broadcast in it's entirety visit www.kornteam.com and click on the "Listen to the Broadcast" link.

Brad Korn
The Korn Team
www.kornteam.com
brad@kornteam.com
(816) 224-KORN (5676)

$8,000 Tax Credit Info:

We recently had a very successful lender, Gene Pulliam at Bank of America give us more information about the First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit.

* $8,000 Tax Credit - up to 10% of home purchase price, capped at $8,000 maximum.
*First Time Homebuyers - defined as those who have not owned a principal residence during the last 3 years.
* 2009 Buyer ONLY - eligible home purchases must occur after Jan 1, 2009 and before Dec 1, 2009.
* Income Limit - $75,000 adjusted gross income for single buyers and $150,000 AGI for married couples. Higher incomes - up to $95k single/$170k joint - may qualify for reduced tax credit.
* Refundable - unused portion of tax credit is refunded to homebuyer by the IRS, if they owe less than $8,000 in taxes.
*Recapture - if home is sold within 3 years of purchase, the entire tax credit will be returned to the government; one home ownership exceeds 3 years, there is no longer any recapture liability.
*Repayment - NONE!! this credit is not a loan to be repaid, like the tax credit offered in 2008.
*2008 Tax Return - this credit can be claimed on your 2008, 1040 filed by April 15, 2009 - IF the home was purchased after Jan 1, 2009.

If you have more questions about wether or not you qualify for this FREE money, give us a call today at 816-224-KORN (5676) or send us an email at brad@kornteam.com and speak with one of our first time home-buyer specialist.

Should I offer a Carpet Allowance to get my Home SOLD?

This is a great question from many Home Seller's. It actually is a great thought if you have carpet that is in rough shape or dated. However, it just does not have the effect you would think it would. Here is an email conversation with a current client, and how I responded to that question:

---Original Message---
Sent: Tuesday, March 10, 2009
To: 'brad@kornteam
Importance: High

Brad and/or Sonya,
I want to add a $5000 carpet and paint allowance to the listing. The number one thing that seems to be consistently noted in our showing feedback is how “outdated” and/or poor condition the carpet and wallpaper is so I would like to try and address this directly. Somehow I want to get the point across that we acknowledge the situation and instead of us presuming we know what carpet a potential buyer would prefer we would instead prefer to give the buyer the choice on this as part of the sale. I am a little amazed that so many prospects cannot get past the carpet and seem to think that replacing the carpet and doing some simple paint work is some sort of heavy duty remodeling effort but based on the feedback we have gotten to date this appears to be the case so I think making some sort of attempt to address this directly rather than simply through the price itself might be a good marketing move.
Thanks

---Response---

I would like you to consider one more option. Consider doing a 90 days, same as cash type deal to put brand new carpet in…or even get (the carpet guy) to put some cheap carpet (but decent looking) in and just pay for it to get it in the house.

Unfortunately, with all my years of selling, even the allowance will not get them past picking your home. It is truly a “Beauty Contest” AND a “Price War” and you have to win both. Obviously the price is not keeping them away…we are getting some decent traffic.

Even a cheap new carpet is still new and looks great. A neutral, light color is important. But also understand that if you do change the carpet, you may still want to get some neutral paint colors on the walls. Really, I think both will work great together in that home, and you will definitely see a return (by getting more for you home than if you don’t do it).

I know you are both busy, so you might want to decide if you would rather discount the price and not do the work…make is such a good deal that anyone will overlook the carpets, etc…….OR…..do a little work to make it neutral (cream, off white, wheat colors, etc…) and have a better shot getting the price you are at.

The honest truth is...if your home blew their socks off from the minute they walked into the home, carpet and paint would never keep someone from making an offer. Based on the other homes in the market competing for your buyer...they are seeing either better values out there, or maybe even homes that don't need the work, and are priced very competitively (sometimes even more than you...but no work needed, and completely updated).

Thanks.
Brad
http://www.kornteam.com/
brad@kornteam.com

Enjoy Life More:

I am at the Lodge of the Four Seasons today and just listened to our Past National Association of Realtors President, Richard Mendenhall. He made a very interesting comment about our enjoyment of life. He said, "Did you know that Television can reduce your enjoyment of life by 50%" Wow....think about that for a moment. Do you watch a lot of TV? Do you shows help enhance your life? Does the news get you depressed? Why not turn off the TV. Make your life what you want it to be. Richard also showed a clip from the movie with Will Smith, Pursuit of Happiness and you can make happen whatever you want...you just have to dream.

If you don't own a home, it may be easier than you think. Call us to see how we can make your dream come true.

Brad
The Korn Team