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

The Korn Team Recently Quoted by the Associated Press in Article about Midwest Real Estate Conditions:

Just posted today by David Twiddy in the Examiner was a story about the Midwest Homes sales. Even though there were some slight drops in the number of sales, the agents quoted throughout the story are all pretty much saying the same thing...that it appears to be getting busier. That this is a great time to buy with Government incentives and rates still around the 5% range.

As I told David Twiddy, the writer for the Associated Press, we are not necessarily seeing the values of homes dropping over the past 3 years but the number of sales seemed to have slowed down. Now we are getting a lot of activity, calls and going out to show a lot of homes. As it was stated in the article, it seems to have taken a year for consumbers to realize that it truly is a good time to buy.

You can read more in detail by following this link to google where the story was posted http://www.bradkorn.com/rismedia.htm and get more information. if you are interested in finding out information about your home you can call us directly at 816-224-5676 or visit our website at www.kornteam.com for more information about how your local area has affected your values.

How do you get more exposure on your property?

When selling a home, most owners want to get the most money they can get. They are trying to get as much equity as possible. If you want to ensure you actually get the most money for your home when you sell, you want to make sure you get the most exposure possible. The more exposure you have, the more buyers you will reach, the more buyers you meet and if you find them all at the same time...you can create an auction effect on your home. That will help you ensure you get the most equity from your home.

For example: if you hold an open house and get a buyer who makes you and acceptable offer..would you be happy? Of course! What if I told you there was a buyer that would have paid $3,000 more than the one that showed up at your open house??? What is they were at a church activity the day of your open house. What if they were out of town? You see, you got the first buyer to show up.

Contact us today to find out what other methods such as print media, websites, and even how a real estate sign can make a difference between finding one buyer vs finding 2 or 3 or as many buyers as there are in the market.

You can call us at 816-224-KORN (5676) or visit www.kornteam.com for more information about real estate in KC.

Creating a WOW experience

Today we heard from Jeff with Disney Institute at the annual Keller Williams Convention. He talked about what makes Disney so magical. There are many things that happen behind the scenes to make everything appear magical. There are over 60,000 employees and everyone has a task in their position. Everyone's task is different depending on their job title. However, the purpose of every Disney employee is exactly the same. To make sure the guests have a WOW experience while in the park.

The Korn Team is set up the same way. Everyone on our team is a specialist in their piece of the real estate transaction. We all have tasks to complete to ensure our clients have a smooth move when they buy or sell. However our purpose is the same. We understand that the average person moves every 5 years or so. Because it is not something the average person does often, there is a lot of uncertainty and concerns when planning a move. Our Purpose is to take away as many of the stresses of selling or buying as we possibly can.

A simple example is our moving truck. We understand that finding a moving truck can sometimes be difficult and frustrating. How about moving boxes...that is even more frustrating to find. We offer those to our clients as a courtesy so that you have two less stress items you will have to worry about.

If you know anyone who is planning to buy or sell in the next 6 months or so, don't hesitate to have them contact us. We will be glad to discuss their or your situation and formulate a plan to ensure you have a Disney type experience. After all, you should be able to completey enjoy the process of buying or selling your home, and want to celebrate when you get to the closing table.

Does "Staging" a home bring more money?
Many clients ask if staging really works...or what do the need to do to their home to get it ready to sell. Many times they think just picking up after their children is good enough. Others may think they need to move out of the house before they can sell it.
The good news is there is a very simple "rule of thumb" that I tell clients when I am preparing them to sell. The general rule of thumb is that there should not be more than 1-2 things on every wall, shelf or flat surface (including a wall). Also, there should be no personal pictures.
I also advise them to not get crazy in this process. Don't stay up till 4am packing your entire home. Basically start with a box in one room and pack up things until you are down to 1-2 things on each flat surface...the quit for the night. Tomorrow night, do the same thing in a different room. In one week you will have been through your entire home.
After they have been through the home once, then I will come back and advise them if they need to move or elimate more furniture, dressers, etc.
Just by simplifying your home, your home rooms will seem a little larger and most importantly...the potential buyers will focus on your home...not the stuff!
Good luck with the advice. The best news is if they do get a great price on thier home, but the buyer wants to move in quickly...you are already packed and more ready to move than if you hadn't spent 15 minutes in each room every night.
The Korn Team
Serving Greater Kansas City
www.kornteam.com

How does the Kansas City Market Conditions compare to the rest of the Country?
As you may have heard me say in our monthly podcast at www.kornteam.com the KC market has been sheltered from the doom and gloom around the country. Did you know at after selling real estate for over 18 years, The Korn Team sold more homes in 2008 than every previous year except one (2005-the last "best" year we had in the real estate markets). This year looks to be off to a great start as well. To give you an idea of what the market conditions are like in KC...we have either listed a home, written an offer on a home or received an accepted contract on one of our listings every day since Jan 1, 2009. That is a great sign that people are taking advantage of the incredible interest rates and even though they may not quite get what they would like to get on the sale, we are helping them pick up that savings on the buy side. Over the last 6 months, The Korn Team is getting our seller clients 3-5% more equity than the national average. On almost 20 listings sold, and closed in the last 6 months, we have averaged 98% of the list price for our clients.

When you hear us say, this is a great time to buy...we aren't just saying that. If you have outgrown your home or want to move...this might be one of the best times to do it. If your payment is too much to keep up with, do not just give up. You just might have some equity in your home and don't think you do. Give us a call. We will give you an honest opinion, and help you look at all your options. Remember, it doesn't cost anything to meet with us. We always offer a free, no obligation evaluation of your property. We look forward to helping you when you do get ready to do anything with real estate.
Brad

Investment Tip from The Korn Team

Here is a recent response to one of our investors that buys and flips homes. We are currently listing a property (which they did make a good investment on) and wanted to give him some additional tips to consider for the next property he purchases.

One thing I may have mentioned in the past is to really keep your eyes open for 3+ bedrooms with at least 1 1/2 baths. When considering a one bath home you will want to be getting a SUPER SUPER good deal, and/or if you plan to ad a 1/2 bath, then I would be careful on those properties. There are so many 3 bedrooms with more than one bath currently for sale, and it really does seem to take longer to sell the one bath homes over the 1 1/2 plus bath homes.

Garages are another HUGE plus! Even having a one car garage has much more demand than a home with no garage.

Good luck investing. If you would like a list of the investment values in Kansas City, just give us a call at 816-224-KORN (5676) and we will sign you up for our FREE Instant Notification Program that will email you properties the day they become available.

Summer Is Here...It is Time to Move!

Many home buyers have been watching and waiting in the Real Estate Market. As the Media coninues to build hype about how BAD the market conditions are...the buyers are realizing this is a GREAT time to buy! The National Association of Realtors reported that the market has picked up about 3% in existing home sales during the month of February. In fact, The Korn Team closed 17 properties in March.

The interest rates continue to hover around the 6% rate, and with some of the great values out there in the market place it is hard to not want to make a move. The Department of Housing and Urban Development is making it easier to with the recent increase in FHA loan limits that are tied directly to the median home prices is giving buyers greater access to affordable funds.

To take advantage of this summer market, Sellers are going to need to put some extra effort into getting their homes ready for sale. It is still a competitive market and Buyer expectation are still pretty high. It is basically a "Beauty Contest AND a Price War". So, don't even slack off for one day. Do not leave dishes in the sink. Make your beds EVERY day! If you are in the Kansas City area or the Lincoln, NE area contact us to get a personal assessment on how to stage your home. You can get all of our contact information at http://www.kornteam.com/ or http://www.weselllincoln.com/.

So, go get some moving boxes, stage your home, and get ready to move this summer and take advantage of some of the best interest rates and home values we have seen in over 40 years.

Brad Korn
The Korn Team

Are Contingent Offers Bad?

I was just reading some comments about how contingent offers on a home can be bad and put the seller at a disadvantage. Contingent offers typically mean a buyer can make an offer on a home, but must sell their home first. The writer mentioned the normal reasons why... your home won't be shown as much; you will typically have to wait for their buyer's buyer to find a buyer; You might be willing to take a little less for your home so you don't have to wait...and several others.

I have been selling real estate for over 15 years, helping over 120 families a year buy and sell real estate. Let me share with you my thoughts about automatically assuming a contingent offer is a bad deal...because it is not. If you have the right, experienced agent working on your behalf, it could be a VERY prosperous deal for you.

Here is my response:
I totally disagree with sellers being at a disadvantage with contingencies...and I will tell you the other side.

1) in many larger priced home, a buyer is going to have a home to sell to get thier equity. If you have a home that has been on the market, and a buyer can only write a contingent offer, you might be in a better position to get them under contract NOW and get the terms locked up. If you make them wait till their home sells, they may find a home they like better, because they will continue to house shop if you don't take their contingent offer.

2) if their home is priced to sell, they could be a more valid buyer than the other one you have (no one). As a listing agent we will require the buyer agent to submit a CMA of the buyers home to evaluate if they are indeed priced to sell. If they are, this could be a very lucrative offer...because you can ask a buyer to pay more for a home and counter offer bigger prices or terms when the seller is willing to take a contingent offer. Buyer's typically pay more for the home to 'inconvenience' the seller a little.

3) Contingent status typically is a default with Active homes on MLS. The only buyers who don't look at contingent offers, are other buyers who have homes to sell and would be contingent as well. The cash buyers and non-contingent buyers still look at contingent homes because typically those offers can be bumped out. Which in turn helps your seller get a better price as well, because they typically won't accept much less than the higher priced contingent offer they negotiated.

4) Very seldom is there a chain reaction. Obviously the higher priced the 1st home is will determine if the others will have a home to sell.

5) It is good advice to see if you can get the buyer to buy non-contingent, but if it means they will have to walk, you should at least consider it. This of course does not apply when a market is extremely strong. But if you are working in conditions that are typical accross the country, I think you might be giving the consumers, and agents some not so good advice.

I have been explaining the benefits of contingent offers to my sellers for over 15 years, and I don't feel like any offer we have ever taken put them in a worse postition than not taking the offer originally.

When you are representing a buyer, I can explain how accepting our contingent offer is great if they don't want to take a contingent offer. Unless they enjoy cleaning and rushing out of their home 5-10 times they can relax if they take our contingent offer. 6-7 of the 10 have homes to sell. If you accept our contingent offer, all the contingent buyers (whose offers you really don't want to take anyway) will quit coming to kick you out of your house for 1-2 hours ever day.

So, if you are trying to sell your home in today's market, you might want to contact The Korn Team to evaluate your particular situation. If you are wanting to buy a home in this market and you have a home to sell, and you really need to get your equity out of your current home to buy... then you must absolutely contact our team of specialists. We are watching WAY TOO many homebuyers putting themselves in HUGE financial stress by buying homes non-contingent when they really should sell thier home first. Let us show you how to get your offers accepted and how the seller will benefit by accepting your offer.

Brad Korn
The Korn Team
Serving Greater Kansas City (and Lincoln, NE)
http://www.kornteam.com/
http://www.weselllincoln.com/
816-224-KORN (5676)

Is Feedback from Showings on my Home Important?

We notify our seller's immediately IF an agent sends feedback. Here is our updated information during a market review with one of our seller's:

"Showing traffic has been very good considering the market conditions. Very consistent.
You should be getting emails with the feedback, etc.

The feedback seems to be a little mixed as to whether or not you are overpriced. Half say it high, half say it is good. The other consistent feedback seems to be that there is still work to be done. I don't know what they may be focusing on other than just the picky little things (which is a common thing in this market). The buyers want over the top immaculate."

Typically only 2 out of 10 agents in the KC market will actually provide feedback. It has been my experience the best feedback is to evaluate what homes received contracts after our seller's home was on the market. Agents telling you to change colors of rooms is not necessarily the best feedback. Our team will help you decifer that feedback to see if it is a valid comment, or just them giving their opinion.

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

Is the Real Estate Market in Greater Kansas City Really Bad?

The Korn Team doesn't think so, in fact, with (supposedly) the worst market ever, we personally set a new team record over the past 15 years. In June, The Korn Team sold 23 homes. That was an all time high since we started our team.

In fact, just to show you what the market conditions are like for our team: In 2005 ( the third best year of Real Estate KC had ever seen, we sold 114 homes). In 2006 (the worst market Missouri had ever seen) we sold just under 120 homes. So far this year we have sold just under 70 homes, and we are on track to close right around 120 homes again this year.

Unfortunately, not everyone can say that. The day's of just putting a sign in the yard, running ads and open houses don't work in a tough market. Anyone can sell a home in a good to great market. Even the homeowner can! But in a tough market, you are going to need even more than just MLS to sell your home for top dollar.

No matter what the market conditions are, we have proven we get our client more equity than the average agent. According to the National Association of Realtors, homes typically sell 3%-5% under the asking price. When we compare our stats from 2006 and 2007 to our competition, we are blowing them out of the water. Much of our competition in these market conditions are getting contracts accepted about 5%-7% under asking price. Want to see The Korn Team actual statistics for 2006 and 2007? Keep in mind these are just our "listings". These are the sellers that hired us to sell their home. This does not include all the buyer's we have helped.

We sold over 60 listings in 2006 and of all those sales, we averaged our sellers 99% of their asking price. That was the first solid year of the worst market KC has ever seen.

So far this year (as of the posting of this blog) we have sold 38 listings (not buyer sales, just our listings) and we are still averaging 99% of thier list price at the time of offer. We are getting them 97% of the original asking price. So, we try to get them top dollar, but even after making a small adjustment, we get the offers negotiated back up to almost full price.

So, don't trust your biggest asset (the equity in your home) with just anyone. Contact our team today for a FREE, no obligation review of the market conditions for your home. We promise to blow your socks off when you see our proven marketing plan.

The Korn Team
Serving Greater Kansas City & Lincoln, NE
http://www.kornteam.com/ or http://www.weselllincoln.com/
brad@kornteam.com

How The Korn Team gets more buyers to your Open House

Everyone wants to sell their home. Open Houses have, for the longest time, been a regularly requested activity. The truth is, less than 1% of all homes actually sell at thier own open house every year. My team has been selling real estate for over 16 years and we have multiple open houses every week.

We have never sold a home AT the open house. Don't get me wrong, we sell homes because we held a home open....just not the one we were sitting at during the open house hours. It does happen...just not enough that you should be kicked out of your home every Sunday for hours on end.

However, for those of you who do like open houses, here is just a few ways The Korn Team ensures we get the most traffic possible to your home on that day.

1) Put the signs up a week in advance, all over. knock on the doors of the homes and invite the homeowner whose property you put the signs in on Monday morning.

2) Call anyone in our database working with or knows a buyer in the 125k price range for that particular area. Then, call and invite them to the open house.

3) There are SEVERAL websites that you can also post the open house on. Definitely let us know so we can get it on realtor.com. It should be on MLS and KWLS as well. We post it on as many sites as possible...at least by Monday or Tuesday so you can get more traffic than you ever imagined.

If you are trying to sell a home, or know someone that is, have them contact us today for a free, no obligation evaluation of their home in this market.

Brad KornThe Korn Team
(816)224-KORN (5676)
(816)268-3839 fax
brad@kornteam.com

Your Personal Real Estate Consultants....for LIFE!

You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want. Zig Ziglar

ps. Shop our list of over 19,000 homes currently for sale in the Greater Kansas City area, for FREE! visit http://www.kornteam.com/
pss. You can also keep up to date with the Kansas City market by tuning into our monthly Podcast and Blogs at http://www.kornteam.com/.

I can't sell my house! What is wrong?

The real estate market is tough all across the country. Here is a recent converstation with another top agent in the area that spells out exactly what you need to do to ensure you get your home sold. If you are not selling your home, and frustrated because you are not getting any offers, listen to this comment:

My collegue states: "The truth of the matter is that there are 3 times the amount of homes on the market now as compared to last year. Is yours the best staged, best priced and the easiest to see? If not, it won't sell, but it will help the competition to sell." There are tips and tricks we know that can help you get more showings. It always comes down to Location, Price and condition & in this market...the marketing plan can play a BIG part to make sure the eyeballs at least get on your property.
On Aug 21, 2007, at 3:10 PM

For all your real estate needs, contact The Korn Team Serving Greater Kansas City & Lincoln, NE. We have already sold over 70 homes so far in 2007. You can't be one of our next sales unless you contact us today! 816-224-KORN (5676) or visit http://www.kornteam.com/ to see how we market our listings.