Associated Press photo 

Housing slumps aside, home buying is usually brisk in the spring and early fall, slowish in the summer and really slow this time of year, as buyers set aside visions of settlement tables for sugar plums. So does it make sense to try to time the market if you've got something to sell?

Inquiring minds, and a reader who needs to unload a Locust Point house in the next six months, want to know. I turned to Dave Wright with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Annapolis, a Realtor since 1976.

Continue reading "How-to Monday: Timing the housing market" »

Posted by Jamie Smith Hopkins at 4:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
                    

Photo credit: Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press

A Wonk reader wonders whether it makes more sense to sell your house or rent it if you have to move -- and no doubt she's not the only one pondering this question. I asked real estate agent Dahlia Kaminsky because she works with city rehabbers, who have been pressed to consider alternatives to the fix-and-sell business plan that worked so well during the boom.

"A lot of people have their homes listed for sale and rent simultaneously," said Kaminsky, with City Life Realty in Hampden. "It's not an option for everyone, but for people who have the luxury, I would say, of being able to have options open to them, they are indeed renting or selling -- whichever comes first."

Things to consider, in Kaminsky's opinion:

Continue reading "How-to Monday: Deciding whether to sell or rent" »

Posted by Jamie Smith Hopkins at 8:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

A survey released this month found that agents are rushing to try blogs -- online journals -- and social-networking sites such as Facebook for advertising purposes. Coldwell Banker Real Estate announced in March that it had opened an office in Second Life, the online "virtual world." There are firms that send listing information to prospective buyers' cell phones and give the agent a heads-up.

I quote Joel Burslem, founder of the Future of Real Estate Marketing blog, but could fit only a fraction of the interesting things he said into the story. Herewith are some of his answers to my questions about what people are (or should be) doing to market homes:

Continue reading "Selling that home" »

Posted by Jamie Smith Hopkins at 9:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

We have an adjustable mortgage which is going to go up in October 2008 and want to refinance it before it does. We also have around $25,000 worth of loan and credit card debt that we would like to consolidate in one home equity loan. Both me and my wife have good credit scores, not exceptional, but not bad. What do you recommend we do first? The re-fi or the home equity?

I'll bet other people are weighing their mortgage options right about now, too, so I posed the question to Ethan Ewing, president of California-based Bills.com. His suggestion: 

Continue reading "Q&A: Refinance or home-equity loan?" »

Posted by Jamie Smith Hopkins at 4:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
                    

Typical suggestions include repainting (or re-wallpapering) in neutral colors, cleaning or replacing carpeting, and essentially removing everything that makes the house look like yours rather than a model home. (Unless your place looks like a model home, in which case -- why are you wasting your time reading home staging tips?)

I recently interviewed Tressa Manna, a Realtor with ReMax Sails in Baltimore, but wasn't able to fit her thoughts on staging into the home-sales story I was working on. Now seems like an opportune time to share.

Continue reading "Staging (or, how to make it look like you have more taste than you actually do)" »

Posted by Jamie Smith Hopkins at 9:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)