Real Estate Investing

A recent New York Sun article about two women arrested for stealing ladies’ high-end fashion accessories during open houses brings an issue front and center. That of security when trying to sell your home. Surely this is a one-off situation, but on the other hand, what if they’re just one of the few who are caught in the act.

Video surveillance footage proved to be the women’s undoing. Video surveillance is certainly a first step in home security, particularly if the homeowner is wealthy enough to possess the Louis Vuitton handbags and Tiffany bracelets that were reportedly among the two women’s loot.

Here are some other tips to protect your security during the house showing phase.

If you are a realtor, discourage open houses altogether. Realtors have been attacked and even killed at these events. Bone up on your common-sense safety tips and consider taking a self-defense class.

Thieves often work in pairs - one distracts the realtor and the other raids the house, as in the aforementioned example. Realtors may consider buddying up and showing the house with a colleague in tow. This can also protect realtors against accusations of misconduct, like sexual assault.

If you are a homeowner and decide an open house is necessary, remove all valuables and personal items, such as photographs, from the home prior to the showing.

Keep a sign-in/sign-out log of visitors.

Enlist family and friends to help watch visitors.

Keep the property well-lit, both inside and out.

Stay aware, alert and never turn your back on open house visitors.

Keep insurance policies up to date.

We’ve talked about home auctions. We’ve talked about Internet marketing. But what about Internet home auctions? Indeed, eBay is now the marketplace where more than 4,364 properties are sold each month, the internet auction company claims.

eBay says you can offer virtual home tours around the clock and reach a much broader and more diverse audience. Plus, you can benefit from the excitement and increased prices that an auction atmosphere can generate. Anyone who has ever found themselves blindsided with a regrettable eBay purchase understands that all too well. You just want to win so badly nothing else matters. Click now, think later.

You can purchase eBay authorized real estate signs to post, telling the local public your deadline and auction web site. It sounds like a home seller’s dream, a realtor’s nightmare. The drawback - there are apparently no contractual obligations to pay for real estate on eBay, as is the case with other purchases on the site. The cost is minimal at $150 for a 30-day ad or auction listing, $300 for a 90-day ad listing and no fees or commissions on the final sale price. Hey, it worked for Bobby Cave, owner of the 13-acre town of Albert, Texas. Cave is $3.8 million richer after an Italian buyer purchased his “town” over eBay. For frustrated home sellers at their wit’s end, eBay may be just the saving grace they need.

Believe it or not, there is a whole design psychology to selling homes. What colors draw buyers in and make them want to live in your house tomorrow? Is it better to paint a house exterior in two tones or four? Homes painted with at least three exterior colors look more dramatic and can help a home be more marketable than its competition.

As for the interior, white walls are neat, clean and, unfortunately, extremely impersonal. Some say this is good because it helps prospective buyers view the home as a blank canvas for them to decorate. Problem is, buyers sometimes have a hard time doing that. All they may be viewing is toddlers’ handprint smudges all over the walls or the dreaded painting party right off the bat after moving in.

When choosing colors for your home, consider such things as the time of year. Springtime lends itself better to pastels and cooler colors. Darker hues, warm colors and earth tones maybe be more suitable for the interior of a home being shown during the fall and winter. Yellows and greens work well for kitchens, and there is a persistent philosophy firmly held by many that yellow houses sell.

If your home is stalling on the market, consider changing up the look. Either hire an interior decorator and throw in a little elbow grease to help, or do it all yourself from start to finish. There are several excellent computer software programs to assist with the brainstorming. Ideally, mixing up your home’s color pallette will help you see more green in the near future.