hello you're watching real estate agency the program that providing the most current information about real estate and home staging i'm campus auto realtor and professional home stager today's guest is the very prominent and successful realtor karen marshall we're welcome back karen marshall is a peters township resident and respected real estate professional with keller williams who's made a strong name for herself in southwestern pennsylvania she's considered to be an expert in real estate and was recently awarded both the number one real estate team for ramp which is the real estate association of metropolitan pittsburgh and the washington green association of realtors for over thirty eight million dollars in sales transactions welcome karen thank you so much for coming on our show today thank you let's get right to our questions what changes have you seen in peter's township real estate over the years well being current resident for over twenty seven years my dad bought land out here fifty years ago and it was strictly farmland and since i've been living in the in the township we've seen it go from farm land to a diversification of different types of housing across the board we've gone from half a half acre lot developments to quarter and thirty developments which have afforded the developers the opportunity to create different pricing for our consumers and in the same token donate open space to the township for  for open green space that they appreciate so what's the biggest change you've seen here in peters i think different pricing points price points that everyone is there's an affordable housing element for anyone to to attain here schools have been tremendous improvements as well that has just been a drawing factor for us great so you talked about different price which is what is the current median sales for real estate and peters for the year for last year it was two hundred ninety nine six zero seems pretty average i guess what is the what is a buyer's market what's going on in the buyer's market today a buyer's market is when there's an overabundance of inventory which creates a little frenzy in the market place in that people think they're going to get a better deal on certain properties and prices do adjust to accommodate that in some cases we have been fortunate not to have been stricken with the horrible buyer's market we've just had the  aftermath of the rest of the nation so what type of house arrest in the buyer's market how so this price properly is in premier condition and has a great location it's just the same three standards pricing of course is the most critical issue right now because it has to appraise ok i will talk a little bit about pricing is it true that real estate values always go up not necessarily but we have been blessed in pittsburgh our traditional increase in values is a three to five percent appreciation we don't have any spikes either up or down and we're blessed for that even in the worst economic year last year two thousand and nine we had a one percent appreciation across the board in all the counties included within that category ok so buyers thinking that we're going to be hitting rock bottom prices dropped to the max and why are they buying right now it's i think we're having a little aftermath from the rest of the nation we didn't have it as bad last year we had a little bit tinge of it but it's this first quarter and everyone has seen that across the board i mean i talk to agents from the north hills of the west all over and we've all felt  peters township actually has had less than half the number of sales for the same time period from last quarter to this quarter and again i think it's just everyone just sitting back and thinking do they need to spend money do they need to just improve their house  but the rates are good the the eight thousand dollars credit is gone right now other than for veterans who have served so that's an that's still a nice carry out for those for those particular people but it's it's still everyone just cringing thinking that they're going to get a better deal and i don't know if they can possibly get any better deals because rates last week were in the three percent range for a fifteen year i don't think they can go any lower and be more attractive this is this is the market time to buy  there are a number of large corporations the marcellus shale industry coming to to this region the tanker mall out with the casinos all of that has an effect on us westinghouse is up on the north hills there's going to be a depleted market here soon because right now we have no rentals per se available the they're gone i mean we actually go to vacant houses now that are for sale in the market and ask where they rent them every day of daily people calling us for rentals so they are now going to start buying because they know they'll be here for long periods of time where they thought they'd only be here for a short period they're now committed to being in the pittsburgh area so i think they'll be a depletion of housing available for them so what advice can you give buyers right now flexibility they need to be a little bit flexible they need to zero in on their wish list i always ask buyers when i first meet them give me your your promised wish list and they'll give it to us and then we'll go out and see how it is and then they might adjust that which is which is always good and that's fine but you need to zero in on what is most important to you is it the location is it the school system is that the type of house you want does it have to have an attached garage all of those factors need to be evaluated and  put in a way you know this house has this many great attributes and against another a second house that might not have been exactly what you want but that my house might have the location you want so you need to just zero in and be a little bit flexible on what your your needs and  will have more talk with karen marshall only come back  water bottles clothes these forms of aid cost more to ship than you think cash donations provide immediate and effective relief to those who needed without the shipping cost if we all do our part to gather we can provide help across the world to learn more check out see i b i dot org america or because i want to change people's lives help it with a national endowment for financial education a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people just like you get smart about their money log on to smart about money dot org today and start taking control of your financial  life we're talking with karen marshall about some real estate that's happening in peter's township right now we're going to talk a little bit more about the selling aspect about real estate and the state in the area so what if i say can you give someone who's trying to sell their house by themselves that's a tough one be very cautious careful and cautious this is a very litigious society the buyers are always looking to take advantage of a seller and you do not have pre qualification necessarily available to you as a as a for sale by owner we have as as real estate agents and lenders we can pre qualify people which is so important you don't know who's walking through your house do they can they really afford your house or are they just stuck in your house those types of things the contracts have all changed today they're there change they change yearly for us it seems there are always new  contingencies one being an appraisal the disclosure statements are extremely important and can affect your liability in the long run if you have not disclosed one small item that comes up later you know how to negotiate yourself through that situation people walk away at a closing table over minor issues little and major issues so having a professional who knows how to negotiate who knows the problems with easements or die test problems which are all coming to you get what you pay for it but in the long run ok great so tell me how do you price a home and so many different specific things how do you go about it pricing is is is a critical point because everyone has a a price in mind but what you learn is that it's not what you paid for it's not what you've invested in although that does have an effect it's not what your neighbor says it's words it's what it will appraise for and i think we spoke of touched a little bit about the points of an appraisal we'll get into that a little bit further that is why we are in this situation we are so you have to price the property properly or it's not going to sell it's not going to appraise someone will not get a loan and you will not be able to move so if it process starts they take the square footage of the above grade two floors and they give that a certain value they take the lower level and give out a lower value a lesser value because it's not finished the same they add in whether it had or not it has an attached garage whether or not it has acreage with it all those factors the amenities to the package they also look at the taxes and the assessments and all the amenities as we said before and you put all that in a and m and a mix then you come up with a number you with their computer programs i like to do it separately and i also like to run it through a computer and then i know i've done a good job of the numbers are very close in that within a close range so when you say pricing properly what does that actually mean that means you have to price it for the market the market is going to dictate what number your house is going to sell it and you have to be in tune with that and listen if you're not in tune with your agent call an appraiser get a real true bank appraisal because that will dictate the real value of your home and the cost of three hundred to three hundred fifty dollars in today's market so we're talking about the appraisal what exactly should the seller be looking for more than a price the seller has to appreciate that the bank appraiser knows the market place he has to he has volumes of information and data that he can pull from statistics right now they are because of the banking industry and what happened with the fraudulent appraisals that occurred in the past they are only permitted to go one to one and a half years back on the sale property of like properties so you're comparing for a better three and a half bath with an integral garage and that's the type of like property that they need to but it can only be within one to one and a half years of the sale of this property and it can only be within one two and a half miles of the property which creates a whole nother group of problems when you are on a farm and you cannot find like properties that used to be that you had the property  over st clair that was a million five and we didn't have any comparables there in years past to go to fox chapel or swiftly and pick up something of like just to compare to today's marketplace you're not permitted to do that which is affecting all of our jobs it take much longer to get through appraisal and prove or at the bank it's just taking one in two times longer than the normal ok so tell me what is the importance of a pre inspection that's different from an appraisal that's another thing for sale by owner should do right up front if they're going to go that route all people should have a pretty inspection done because all of the agreements today are written for the buyers they are in in favor of the buyers all the way around a buyer can walk away from an agreement on anything that they do not like in the house including a leaky faucet as miners that in years past used to be major defects you were looking for it and in today's society it is whatever they don't like they will give you a list as  stringent and who in who you hire i would i would say go with a professional if you look at the national statistics you're always trying to hire a professional to do the work that you're not in tune with in interview two to three people don't go with your with just one but because you want to have a really valuation who's giving you the best service and the best value for what you're going to be paying for so be flexible on terms and conditions look at all offers but what speak to  speak to knowledgeable professionals who give you good advice who are only working for your interests not just for a paycheck but they're working as a consultant for you ok ok so tell us one of the benefits that  the transaction that i just tribute it to look at the large truck builders they sell seven to ten models on a weekend because they have staged model people come in they go to all they're thrilled with what they see they plan on the dotted line so staging your house to sell is very very critical having it first impressions are important driving up to your house make them say i serve a feel i want that helps regulate and when they open the front door they want to say that you want them to say the same thing fresh take a simple facelift can go out can do wonders for help you don't always have to invest a lot of money but a small investment with a home stager moving the things that you already own around the house creating at all beyond just critical grain thank you so much now to recap our program the average selling price in piers township is two hundred ninety nine thousand six hundred dollars the new sales agreement of sale the a denim on that sells a green states the home must sell for the appraised value of vestment to bring a greater return once again i'd like to thank my guest and everyone here at the public access station and for you who are watching real estate agency and remember home state home sell faster and for more money