Listing Smaller Homes and Condos in Early Autumn Makes Sense (and Dollars) for Mainline Sellers

Cozy Cottage/Twin, Condos Have Early Autumn Appeal

Following springtime's crush and summer's malaise, early fall can be an ideal time for certain Mainline-area  homeowners to sell and take advantage of opportunity in the housing market.

While early fall - September/October - is probably Not the best time to get top value for your family-sized (4+bed/2+bath) Mainline-area home, right now does offer a  very worthwhile window to sell smaller 3bedroom homes and condominiums at top dollar.

The market for larger, family-houses is at its peak in the spring and early summer, when buyers with children are looking to get settled for the new school year. The 2013 market saw a buyer frenzy for quality homes of this ilk in our high-quality Lower Merion, Haverford and Radnor school districts.

But with the school year now underway, demand for family-sized homes has decidedly ebbed. Owners of larger homes, who seek to maximize sale price in our family-friendly neck-of-the-woods, would do well to use fall's nice weather to prepare your home for market 5-6 months from now and the early 2014 market. I can help to plan a strategy, along these lines, that will yield the most lucrative results.

Right Now; however, there is Opportunity for owners of smaller homes and condos to appeal to singles, down-sizers, and professional couples. These folks, traditionally, are very active home-buyers in the post-Labor Day market.

With the lazy, vacation days of summer over, the back-to-business singles, downsizers and couples without school-age kids are as motivated to buy now as they are at anytime of year. For sellers, the marketplace is less cluttered with competition this time of year, yet the interest in smaller homes and condominiums is as high as ever.

From Labor Day until Halloween, ideal opportunity exists to sell your 1 to 3-bedroom smaller house or condo at a great price. There is a captive, eager audience of singles, down-sizers, and young professionals motivated to make a move.

As a Realtor focused on the Mainline-area market, I can help you get your smaller home ready for this active early-autumn, market in a matter of weeks, while the weather is still good and homes still show beautifully and at their best.

Sellers: Save Money, Skip the Pre-Sale Home Inspection, and Let the Buyers' Beware

Pre-Sale Home Inspection: Most Sellers Already Know the Flaws

With quite a few misgivings, I do recommend that nearly all home Buyers invest in a Home Inspection report prior to purchasing a home. But I draw the line when it comes to recommending that Sellers purchase a home inspection prior to listing.

As recently described in a posting to my local Ardmore-Wynnewood-Merion Patch News site, some Realtors do advocate sellers shelling out the $400 to have a professional home inspection performed. I say save the money and put it to better use toward purchasing attractive accessories or obvious repairs that have greater chance of affecting a quality sale of your home.

The Seller-should-spend for inspection camp does have some good logical grounding. Sellers should want to present an upfront and honest assessment of their product. It promotes good-will and an air of transparency which will assist the transaction. Sellers should also want to be informed - ahead of time - of defects that could derail or adversely impact a smooth sale.

But these worthy goals can be accomplished without sellers draining the wallet. As far as appearing open and transparent with buyers, Sellers can accomplish this goal for free by providing a Candid and Informative Seller's Disclosure document and making it readily available to all prospective buyers.

As far as assessing defects to your home, a quality realtor who is not looking to blow-smoke and puff-you-up, can easily advise items that need repair to affect a quality sale. The Realtor can't  guarantee that all major elements of the home are satisfactory, but most homeowners have had years to come to grips with their home's shortcomings. It is very unlikely, a home inspector is going to tell you something you don't already know about your home.

If there is something major wrong with your house that you haven't discovered in the years you've been there, it's unlikely a buyer or home inspector is going to uncover in only a matter of hours. Experienced Realtors are not qualified to certify your home, but we've been on dozens, if not hundreds of home inspections and know exactly what home buyers and home inspectors are likely to call out. And if a buyers' home inspection does reveal a major concern, you can deal with at that time and - in the meantime - hope for the best. Believe me, if a Buyers' inspection report identifies a problem, a clean sellers' inspection report is unlikely to help.

And this brings us to the biggest fallacy about sellers paying for a Home Inspection, which is that it will substantially assist a seller in negotiations. Only the rarest of gullible buyers would entertain a seller-financed, potentially-biased and redacted report as a serious avenue for discussion or negotiation. Even poorly-coached or un-informed buyers will shell out the money for their own Home Inspection and have no need to have it usurped by a sellers' report.

Home Inspections do offer some value for their substantial cost, and this value is almost entirely for a buyer's benefit. This value includes:

*Buyer Peace of Mind (whether warranted or not)

*List of Items/Repairs to Negotiate the Price Down

*Possibility of Uncovering a Fatal or Costly Flaw.

None of this is of use to a seller. If you are selling a home you have owned for years, you don't need peace of mind about the home. You are moving on and have had years to discover the home's defects and flaws. At no charge, your Realtor can advise what's necessary to disclose or fix to sell the home. And as far as providing a Buyer with bargaining chips in advance, or the unlikely chance of discovering an unknown major flaw, buyers are going to do their own diligence so let it be on their dime and not yours.

Lower Merion and Narberth's Home Sale Transactions Under One Million for August 2013

66 Marywatersford Rd. listed for $425,000. Settled for $385,000.

For the most part, modestly-priced, family-sized homes in Lower Merion flew off the shelves this year. One exception was this 3-bed/2.5-bath, split-level single on Marywatersford Rd. near the Belmont Hills Swim Club. While lacking in recent upgrades, the home was move-in ready, featuring attached garage and a quarter-acre of property. It hit the market in early May at $425,000, about equal to its 2010 sales price of $420k. While other LM School District homes of similar ilk found buyers in days or weeks, I was surprised to see this comfortable contemporary continue to be overlooked, even as the list price dipped to $399,000. By mid-July, value-minded buyers emerged and the home settled in August for $385,000.  
We think it was one of the better deals of the month, with the rest of August sales listed below:


Lower Merion and Narberth's Home Sale Transactions Under One Million for August 2013

Street Address	Town	Sold For	Beds	Baths	Sq/Ft.	Ask Price
143 Walnut Ave	Ardmore	$90,000	2	1	1,064	$94,000
212 Greenfield Ter	Ardmore	$120,000	3	1	1,032	$125,000
222 Edgemont Ave	Ardmore	$192,500	5	1.1	1,845	$199,900
309 E County Line	Ardmore	$255,000	5	1	1586	$279,000
145 Sutton Rd	Ardmore	$300,000	3	1	1,550	$349,000
23 W Spring Ave	Ardmore	$310,000	4	1.1	1,972	$309,000
140 Sutton Rd	Ardmore	$343,000	3	1.1	1,608	$360,000
128 Rockland Ave	Bala Cynwyd	$230,000	3	1	1,394	$249,900
66 Marywatersford	Bala Cynwyd	$385,000	3	2.1	2,269	$399,000
202 Conshohock St Rd	Bala Cynwyd	$512,500	5	3.1	2,525	$525,000
31 N Highland Ave	Bala Cynwyd	$547,000	4	3.1	2,447	$569,000
410 Kent Rd	Bala Cynwyd	$587,500	5	3.1	2,781	$592,500
127 Righters Ferry	Bala Cynwyd	$612,000	4	2.2	3,342	$639,000
49 Penarth Rd	Bala Cynwyd	$626,000	5	3.1	3,011	$669,000
38 Llanberris Rd	Bala Cynwyd	$774,000	4	3.1	2,901	$774,000
333 Llandrillo Rd	Bala Cynwyd	$957,500	5	3.1	4,098	$995,000
1060 Floyd Ter	Bryn Mawr	$165,000	3	1.1	996	$179,900
718 W Railroad Ave	Bryn Mawr	$173,000	3	1	1,058	$179,900
860 Summit Grove	Bryn Mawr	$312,000	4	1.1	1,312	$319,000
301 Baintree Rd	Bryn Mawr	$599,900	4	3	2,528	$599,900
119 Kennedy Ln	Bryn Mawr	$650,000	4	2.2	2,918	$675,000
1611 Winston Rd	Gladwyne	$570,000	4	2.1	2,590	$579,000
1607 Mount Vernon	Gladwyne	$635,000	5	4	4,200	$699,000
123 Winchester Rd	Merion Station	$265,000	3	1	1,248	$268,000
133 Winchester Rd	Merion Station	$295,000	3	1	1,280	$295,000
357 Meadow Ln	Merion Station	$700,000	5	3.2	3,078	$699,000
18 Sabine Ave	Narberth	$294,500	3	1.1	1,512	$315,000
416 Anthwyn Rd	Narberth	$625,000	4	2.1	2,387	$625,000
1275 Bobarn Dr	Narberth	$630,000	4	2.2	2,858	$665,000
6 Narbrook Park	Narberth	$740,000	4	2.1	2,700	$749,900
1217 N Woodbine Ave	Penn Valley	$420,000	4	2.1	2,284	$430,000
527 Sprague Rd	Penn Valley	$495,000	4	2.2	3,009	$499,900
1101 E Tower Ln E	Penn Valley	$915,000	4	3.3	4,512	$959,900
2062 Matson Cir	Villanova	$300,000	3	2.1	1,191	$299,900
250 Broughton Ln	Villanova	$560,000	3	2	1,894	$599,000
1438 W Wynnewood	Wynnewood	$320,000	3	2.1	1,461	$329,900
519 Glen Arbor Dr	Wynnewood	$404,250	4	3	2,022	$422,000
24 Allendale Rd	Wynnewood	$470,000	3	2.2	3,000	$475,000
413 Wister Rd	Wynnewood	$490,000	3	3.1	2,564	$525,000
341 Wister Rd	Wynnewood	$545,000	4	3.1	2,961	$559,000
901 Nicholson Rd	Wynnewood	$600,000	3	2.1	2,100	$625,000
1023 Cedargrove Rd	Wynnewood	$680,000	4	3.2	2,816	$675,000
1111 Berwind Rd	Wynnewood	$697,000	5	3.1	3,820	$719,000
18 Meredith Rd	Wynnewood	$700,000	5	3.1	3,065	$735,000
501 Foxglove Ln	Wynnewood	$765,000	4	2.1	2,602	$765,000
217 Gypsy Ln	Wynnewood	$905,850	4	4.1	3,484	$942,500

August 2013's Home Sale Transactions in Haverford Township, Under One Million

7 Days to Sell: 523 Brookline, Havertown

With tip-top finishes and nice located in walking distance to shops at Brookline and Recreation sapce on Karakung Parkway, this nearly 2500 square foot Havetown colonial featured a handsomely updated kitchen and nicely redone baths.

Typical of 2013's hunger for great homes at good prices, this 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath on Brookline Blvd (below Earlington) lasted just 7 days on market and sold in August for $10k above its $429,000 list price.
Below are the Haverford Township home sale's for August, with purchase prices under a million dollars.

August 2013's Home Transactions in Haverford Township- Under One Million

Street Address	Town	Sold For	Beds	Baths	Sq Ft	Listed For
2225 Bryn Mawr Ave	Ardmore	$175,000	3	1.1	1,260	$195,000
2721 Morris Rd	Ardmore	$209,155	3	1	1,324	$225,000
1 Wickam Rd	Ardmore	$219,900	3	2	1,393	$219,900
618 Kenilworth Rd	Ardmore	$265,900	3	2.1	1,356	$264,900
805 Wynnewood Rd	Ardmore	$267,500	4	1.1	1,728	$299,000
246 Lee Cir	Bryn Mawr	$350,000	4	1.1	1,520	$375,000
1 Tracy Ter	Bryn Mawr	$627,500	4	2.2	4,000	$649,900
28 Sycamore Rd	Haverford	$180,000	3	1.1	1,668	$180,000
355 S Manoa Rd	Haverford	$200,000	3	2	1,724	$219,900
703 Buck Ln	Haverford	$269,000	3	2	1,306	$269,000
1814 Melrose Ave	Havertown	$175,000	3	1	1,350	$219,900
158 Juniper Rd	Havertown	$192,000	3	2.1	1,500	$197,500
208 Earlington Rd	Havertown	$220,000	3	1.1	1,532	$227,900
1400 Virginia Ave	Havertown	$225,000	3	2	1,228	$224,500
20 W Marthart Ave	Havertown	$225,000	4	2.1	1,805	$225,000
405 Pembroke Rd	Havertown	$225,000	3	1.1	1,292	$225,000
1103 Garfield Ave	Havertown	$230,000	4	1.1	1,448	$234,900
221 Westwood Park	Havertown	$230,000	3	1	1,212	$239,000
215 Juniper Rd	Havertown	$232,000	3	2.1	1,712	$232,000
409 Hill Rd	Havertown	$232,000	3	1.1	1,285	$239,900
42 Rodman Ave	Havertown	$232,000	3	1	1,232	$239,000
200 E Benedict Ave	Havertown	$233,500	3	2	1,645	$249,000
415 Maryland Ave	Havertown	$246,000	4	1.1	1,496	$265,000
14 Walnut Hill Ln	Havertown	$247,500	3	2	1,438	$247,500
625 Washington Ave	Havertown	$255,000	3	2	1,624	$259,900
153 Friendship Rd	Havertown	$260,000	3	1.1	1,664	$264,900
1612 Winton Ave	Havertown	$260,000	4	2.1	2,048	$274,999
308 Ivy Rock Ln	Havertown	$262,000	3	2	1,743	$270,000
1618 Mount Pleasant	Havertown	$268,000	3	1.2	1,825	$279,000
416 Brentwood Rd	Havertown	$280,000	3	1	1,292	$289,900
2107 Winton Ave	Havertown	$282,000	3	2	1,688	$293,500
2308 Poplar Rd	Havertown	$285,000	3	2	1,392	$297,500
315 Kenmore Rd	Havertown	$285,000	3	1.1	1,856	$299,900
524 Paddock Rd	Havertown	$288,000	3	1.1	1,610	$299,999
241 Clamar Ave	Havertown	$300,000	5	2.1	2,092	$299,977
2628 Wendy Rd	Havertown	$300,000	3	2.1	1,716	$315,000
213 Rodmor Rd	Havertown	$305,000	4	2	1,902	$310,000
1815 Melrose Ave	Havertown	$311,000	4	2.1	2,424	$339,900
1738 Ridgeway Rd	Havertown	$313,000	3	2.1	1,698	$329,000
1806 Earlington Rd	Havertown	$315,500	3	2	1,526	$319,000
1629 Mount Pleasant	Havertown	$320,000	3	1.2	1,800	$324,900
2710 Prescott Rd	Havertown	$325,000	4	2	1,664	$329,900
264 Glendale Rd	Havertown	$326,500	4	2.2	2,250	$334,000
288 Golf Hills Rd	Havertown	$330,500	4	2.1	2,308	$339,900
1527 Lawrence Rd	Havertown	$332,000	4	1.2	3,500	$339,500
1204 Center Rd	Havertown	$340,000	3	1.1	2,126	$349,900
208 E Turnbull Ave	Havertown	$351,000	3	2.1	1,633	$350,000
312 Lincoln Ave	Havertown	$365,000	3	2	2,134	$365,000
38 N Belfield Ave	Havertown	$370,000	4	3	2,682	$375,000
501 Strathmore Rd	Havertown	$380,000	3	2	1,862	$399,900
416 Cherry Ln	Havertown	$400,000	5	2	2,374	$399,900
523 Brookline Blvd	Havertown	$439,500	4	2.1	2,443	$429,000
61 Woodcroft Rd	Havertown	$460,000	4	2.1	2,246	$449,000
14 Llandillo Rd	Havertown	$468,500	5	3.1	3,241	$468,500
608 Hirst Ave	Havertown	$482,000	5	3.1	2,968	$510,000
1013 Severn Ln	Wynnewood	$387,500	3	2.1	2,073	$394,000