Thursday, December 08, 2011

Barter Your Goods and Services For Marketing and Selling Your Home


Armstrong Field Real Estate is now a member of New England Trade - a business bartering group that serves New England with affiliations across the United States. What does that mean for you? If you own a business, and want to sell your home or business, we will represent you and market your Massachusetts home (or business) for no cash out of your pocket! You trade your services or goods for it. Now many of us already do some private bartering with other business owners. But if you are an electrician who does a $1,000 job for someone that owns a dog grooming business, well, you probably don't need $1,000 work of dog shampooing and styling. What happens with New England Trade is the $1000 gets credited to your account, which you can then spend with any of their other members - and there are literally thousands of different products and services available. See a sampling here: http://www.newenglandtrade.com/what-can-i-buy/goods-and-services.aspx

What are some the advantages of bartering through a trade group?

  • You will receive new customers who would not normally do business with you. New England Trade members tend to travel longer distances then your regular customers because they would rather pay in trade credits.
  • You can buy things that you need for your business - office equipment and service, printing, advertising, bookkeeping, web design, etc. on trade, and save your cash for the utility bills and rent.
  • Increase your inventory turnover of billing hours.
  • Fill up your slow times with business you normally wouldn't receive.
  • Barter credits can be used regionally and nationally.
  • Take a vacation on Trade (I've been on a cruise to Bermuda and a trip to Jamaica on trade with a previous business)
There are many more advantages. So if you own a business of any kind, and you want to sell your home, call me and I will explain how it works. If you don't want to sell your Massachusetts home or business (at least not now), but would like more information on joining this trade group, contact Tammy Penny at New England Trade at 781-388-9200.

Jim Armstrong
Broker/President
Armstrong Field Inc.
Cell 978-394-6736
Office 978-740-8700

Wednesday, December 07, 2011

Homes Sell Better in the Winter?

RedFin Corporation, a Seattle based real estate company, released some statistics on selling a home in the winter versus other times of the year. The data is from approximately 750,000 homes sold over a year across the country, and then analyzed by season. Here are the basics:

  • Homes listed in the winter sell faster compared to the summer: 46 days versus 55 days.
  • Homes listed in the winter are more likely to sell at all: 59.2% versus 53.1%
  • Homes listed in the winter sell closer to their original list price: a drop of 2.7% in winter versus a 5.2% drop in the summer, which is more than $7,000 on a $300,000 home.
Surprised? Most people would be. But the fact is, there are less homes on the market, which means less competition for qualified home buyers. There are less home buyers in the winter, also, but the ones that are looking are the really serious buyers and not just the lookers and nosey neighbors, who we don't want anyway.

The time of year where a home sells the fastest is still the spring, spending 15% less time on the market than the median for the entire year. Winter takes second place in this category, though (over summer and fall), selling 6% faster than the median.

I'm not guaranteeing that your home will sell quicker and for more money than other times of the year... or even at all. There are too many other factors and variables that come into play to make an across-the-board statement like that. What I am saying is that in most cases, winter is NOT a bad time to list and sell your property, and if you want to sell - don't wait until spring!

- Jim Armstrong
Want to talk? Call me at 978-394-6736
Armstrong Field Real Estate


http://blog.redfin.com/boston/2011/12/should_i_wait_until_spring_to_list_my_home_-_boston_edition.html


Thursday, December 01, 2011

Real Estate Facts & Figures

Below are some facts and figures about the current real estate market, and what people think about it.

  • 81% of Americans view real estate as a good investment
  • 78% of Americans feel that housing prices will hold steady or increase over the next 12 months.
  • It is cheaper to buy/own a home than to rent in 80% of the major markets in the US.
  • 25% of young Americans plan to buy a home in the next two years.
  • 95% of homeowners are happy they decided to buy a home.
  • First time home buyers comprise 35% of the total home sales.
  • 67% of first-time home buyers said that the real estate market conditions gave them the opportunity to purchase a home sooner than expected.
  • 50% of buyers found a home in a better neighborhood than expected.
  • 61% purchased their home at a price better than expected.
  • 43% received a mortgage interest rate better than expected.
  • 69% of Americans say that now is the best time to buy a home
  • 88% of people search for homes on the internet, and 40% found the home they eventually purchased on the internet.
  • 87% used a real estate agent to buy a home.
  • For Sale by Owner homes reach a record low, only accounting for 6% of total sales.
  • The average home seller was in their home for 9 years, and had 16% increase in equity when they sold it.
  • The median age of a first-time home buyer was 31. The median age of a home seller was 53
  • 60% of first-time home buyers bought because they "just wanted a home of their own".
  • The median down payment for first-time home buyers was 5%.
This information was compiled from two surveys, including one just released by the National Association of Realtors.