Home staging has long been recommended by the vast majority of agents. In fact, 81% of agents say staging makes it easier for prospective buyers to visualize the property as a future home. Staged homes also have historically sold faster and for more money than those that aren’t staged. Let’s take a look at home staging stats, FAQs and whether it’s worth the money. What Is Staging? Staging is a marketing strategy that shows your home to its best advantage with furniture, art, and other décor. The idea is to flatter the property, adding current design trends and highlight the homes best feature ..read more

The generations well versed in life hacking are applying those skills to the housing market. A combination of high prices and interest rates is making homeownership difficult for first-time buyers, and “house hacking” appears to be a growing trend. Here’s why Gen Z and millennials are increasingly willing to house hack to become homeowners. What is House Hacking? House hacking is a catchy term for something that’s been around for years: renting out part of your home or the entire property for extra income. But the trend is ticking upward, with close to 4 in 10, or 39% of recent homebuyers call ..read more

There’s a lot that goes into pricing a home to sell. And while every house requires its own strategy for pricing, one thing remains constant: the number you land on needs to reflect local and current market conditions. Today, I’m sharing some thoughts on pricing strategies and considerations when you’re selling a property. Pricing a Property: What to Keep in Mind Since pricing strategies should account for precisely what’s happening in the local market, you’ll need to take your cues from that. In an environment with little urgency, what can be done to trigger urgency? Is it smartest to price u ..read more

All week, San Francisco is hosting APEC, the most significant gathering of world leaders in the city’s history. The Four Seasons Hotel, along with all major luxury hotels close by, are hosting several high profile delegations, resulting in heightened security measures. My colleague, who works for the fire department, says San Francisco has never seen an event like this in its 247-year history. What is APEC?  The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation was established in 1989 to leverage the U.S. to advance economic policies in the Asia-Pacific region and promote free, fair, and open ..read more

By nature, most people have pack-rat tendencies. We might be organized about it, but chances are good your cupboards, bins, baskets and other storage spots are pretty darn full. If the idea of decluttering fills you with dread, try starting small. According to the experts (designers and professional organizers), most people are guilty of overdoing it with specific household items—and you’ll probably be surprised (and guilty as charged). Here are eight things to declutter immediately. Office Supplies. It seems strange, but even folks without a home office seem to be up to their eyeballs in off ..read more

For decades, Reno was largely considered a smaller, less glamorous version of Las Vegas. I remember my dad, who lived here when I was born, calling it a “poor man’s Vegas.” But the biggest little city in the world stopped trying to be a mini Vegas years ago—and it shows. The picturesque high desert city, which is situated roughly 20 miles north of Lake Tahoe and about 10 miles east of the California border, was just crowned the happiest U.S. town to live by Outdoor Magazine. From Divorce Capital to Outdoor Destination Hub Sure, Reno is still a casino town, and you can enjoy the buffets a ..read more

When it comes to buying a home, one of the most common metrics buyers consider is the price per square foot.  It never used to be that way, but my career pre-dates the websites with online listings that feature the price/per square foot so prominently, which quickly became a lazy way to determine value without really digging in.   On the plus side, it is a value that offers a straightforward way to compare properties and assess their relative value. On the downside, price per square foot has serious limitations and should really be just one of many factors buyers consider before ..read more

Finally! It’s been a long time since buyers even had the chance to negotiate, and while the reasons for that aren’t great (decades-high interest rates) and some properties are definitely still benefiting from multiple offers (location, type and original asking price dependent), there are some good properties that have been sitting. Now and into the end of the year is the best time to start sifting through them, which brings us to the much written-about, invaluable art of negotiation.   In real estate, negotiation is an indispensable skill that’s honed over time with experience ..read more

In most things, experience is at best an asset. Real estate is no exception. Now, research from the National Bureau of Economic Research published a paper in September of 202 confirms that the level of experience of your real estate agents does in fact have a monetary effect on your outcome. Let’s break it down. From the Study A professor of real estate and a professor of finance at Yale School of Management looked at data from 8.5 million transactions between 2001 to 2014 and found that homes listed by inexperienced agents were less likely to sell. What’s more, the flat commission structure ..read more

For years in this country, working agreements between a buyer and a real estate agent amounted to a handshake agreement, and sellers have been the ones to pay both sides of a transaction through the commission portion of a listing agreement. More and more, however, buyer’s agents are routinely asking for a document known as a buyer-broker agreement to be signed upon developing a working relationship. Below is a description of the buyer-broker agreement, why things have recently changed, and how to navigate your own buyer-broker agreement.  What is a Broker-Buyer Agreement? This form ..read more