More Than Just "Curb Appeal" - The 360-Degree View!

From the "For What it's Worth" department: According to MSN, today's developers/builders in response to consumer preferences are realizing that ALL elevations of a new home must be appealing, not just the front elevation. So, they're working on the sides and the back views to achieve a pleasing 360-degree view.

But what about existing homes? According to MSN and Jim Wentling of James Wentling, Architects in Philadelphia, there are several things homeowners can do to enhance the 360-degree views:

• Add side or wrap-around porches, or both. Make sure if a house faces the street on two sides that both look good. You can wrap a front porch around to one or both sides of the house to create architectural interest depending on the style of your home and the amount of available space.
• Use the same siding materials on all elevations of the home. An attractive siding, cultured stone or brick veneer used not only on the front elevation but also on the sides and back of the home makes it look less like a movie set and more like a complete house.
• Create a pent roof on one side of the house. A pent, or shed roof, has a slant on only one side and is a great way to create architectural interest on an otherwise bland side of the house.
• Add a sunroom. It may seem like an interior improvement, but think, too, how a sunroom enhances the back or side of your home from the outside.
• Relocate or add replacement windows and exterior doors. Breaking through walls to add new windows and doors can get pricey. However, like a sunroom, a well-placed bay, bow or picture window — or a bank of windows — does more than just improve your indoor living space.
• Build a covered or screened-in back porch with a gabled roof. A back porch will certainly increase the size of your home's rear, but it's an elegant addition you won't be at all ashamed to show off.

Keep a few things in mind if you are thinking of these or other improvements for your home:
• When making additions, be sure the roof line is considered from all sides.
• If you have a house that faces the street on two sides, it needs curb appeal on both.
• Finally, consult with an expert designer and architect to make sure you can achieve the overall effect you expect.


Exerpts from MSN Real Estate

Top 10 Improvements Sellers Can Make That Add Value!

In the White Mountains AZ real estate market, #10 (a fireplace) is probably a lot higher on the list! In the White Mountains of AZ, our vacation and 2nd home buyers really, really want the mountain lifestyle feel that a crackling fire imparts. Whether it's wood-burning or gas, a fireplace adds important ambiance in our AZ mountain market!

But these Top Ten Improvements all are very useful food for thought for White Mountains AZ real estate sellers who want to maximize attractiveness AND sales $$. If you've already got a fireplace, think about pulling up that wall-to-wall carpeting and replace it with a hardwood floor! Looking at these guidelines as to what percentage of buyers think are important, and how much more they'll pay-- you'll find one or two ideas that you can manage!

And when you're ready to sell your White Mountains AZ home, we're excited to see it, list it and sell it!

Over-Pricing a Home Builds False Expectations - Dreams to Nightmare

We're not talking about "wiggle room", we're talking about crazy not in your lifetime pricing. Wild over-pricing by 10s of thousands of dollars, maybe even 100s of thousands. Not only does the home not sell on the first go-round, the sellers, having been convinced that SOMEONE will buy the home at the unsupportable price, get fixated on the number FOREVER. When the home doesn't sell, they may hear that "It's the market"; or "The market will come back". Which further serves to set the crazy price in their minds FOREVER.

So, they take the property off-market for a year in "reasonable" (in their minds) belief that during the interim the price-point somehow becomes supportable. They've been led to BELIEVE that. And they start calling around looking for another listing agent in the belief that a change could add to their success. Many listing agents will tell them the truth: Not possible. How crushing is that? It's horrible.

As real estate agents we want to "Make Dreams Come True". But the foundation for a dream has to be reality-based or it's fiction, a fairy-tale. A dream based on false hopes can turn into a nightmare.