When Selling A Home In Palo Alto to Bee Or Not To Bee

I was recently asked to go to a home in the Barron Park neighborhood of Palo Alto to speak to the owners about possibly selling their Palo Alto home. We did the typical tour of both inside and outside of this lovely farm home style home from the early 20's. It had been in the family since it was built and the 3 siblings who inherited it are getting ready to sell this beautiful Palo Alto home.
There were many things that stand out about this beautiful old home, but to me the most interesting thing I saw was the largest bee hive I had personally seen in my 20 years in business.
It is not uncommon to see a termite report with a mention of a bee or wasp nest attached to the Palo Alto home for sale. When this happens as a Palo Alto real estate agent I generally tell my client that it is best to remove the wasp nest. Getting stung by a wasp is not going to give a potential buyer a warm fuzzy feeling about buying a Palo Alto home where the sting occurred. Get an exterminator!
Removing a bees nest is a little different. Bees are having some problems with survival, and we need them. They pollinate and make honey. There are a number of local companies that will remove the hives and not kill them. It is more expensive than an exterminator, but better for our environment.
I firmly believe that relocating bees when you are selling a Palo Alto home is the best idea. Not only can being stung by a bee be uncomfortable for potential Palo Alto home buyers, but it can also be a real health hazard for those with bee sting allergies.
If you have any questions about buying or selling a home in Palo Alto please feel free to contact me.
If you would like to search for homes for sale in Palo Alto click here.
Marcy Moyer
Keller Williams Realty Palo Alto
www.marcymoyer.com
marcy@marcymoyer.com
Cal BRE 01191194
650-619-9285

Where Do Palo Alto Buyers Come From Part 3

In Where Do Palo Alto Buyers Come From Parts 1 and 2 http://actvra.in/48kQ#sthash.72NoBZSb.dpuf, http://actvra.in/48hM#sthash.oRB1OcTH.dpuf I discussed the fact that 40% of buyers come from the internet and 35% come from other agents. That means that on a national basis 75% of buyers come from the internet or agents and 25% come from other sources. This blog will talk about those other sources.

On a National basis 11% of buyers will come from a yard sign. There are still people who want to buy in Palo Alto who will drive through neighborhoods looking for open houses and for sale signs. When you are selling your home in Palo Alto it really is a good idea to have a for sale sign in your yard. It is not that important what the color, height, or sign post looks like. Just make sure that the Palo Alto agent you chose to sell your home in Palo Alto has a sign with a large phone number on it so that if someone drives by it is easy to see the phone number they need to call to get the info on the home you are selling in Palo Alto.

Nationally about 6% of all buyers of homes are friends of the seller and that is how they find their home. Given that it is not a bad idea to post the fact you are selling your Palo Alto home on Facebook, take fliers of your home to work, and talk it up with your friends.

5% of homes are sold by builders so this does not apply to you if you are selling your home in Palo Alto.

2% of all homes nationally are sold because of a newspaper ad. Everyone knows that newspaper ads sell real estate agents, not real estate. So if a Palo Alto real estate agent tells you they are better at marketing because of all their beautiful newspaper ads ask to see their internet ads and put that in the mix.

2% of all homes are sold by owner. The numbers are not in your favor to try it that way.

Less than 1% of homes find their buyer in magazines.

So if you are selling a home in Palo Alto it is a great idea to keep these figures in your head when you are interviewing Palo Alto real estate agents. this will help you make a more objective decision.

If you have any questions about selling a home in Palo Alto please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty Palo Alto

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

CA BRE 01191194

650-619-9285

When Should A Buyer Do a Walk Through of a Palo Alto Home?

A buyer's final walk through of the home they are purchasing in Palo Alto can be done anytime before closing. It is ideal if it can be done after the seller has moved out, but not essential, and sometimes that is not possible.

The purpose of the walk through is to make sure the home is in a similar condition as when you made the offer. You want to make sure that nothing new has happened and that nothing new is broken. It is not a contingency of closing. So for example, if the stove has broken, you would still be obligated to close, but the seller would be obligated to have it fixed. You can do a walk through up to the day of closing but early that day.  It would have to be before recording, so that you could prove that if something broke it is the seller's responsibility. If something stops working after closing then the home protection plan will get it fixed, but if it is very close to closing then they may want proof that it was working when you closed. The walk through and the inspection reports can be used as proof.

Another purpose of a walk through is to allow the seller to show the buyer how certain things work that may not be obvious. Every house has its own little quirks, and sometimes there are complicated systems that need to be explained. I once had a client who bought a 900 square foot Palo Alto home where the walk through took 3 hours because the seller had installed so many complicated landscaping systems.

So, there is no absolutely right or wrong time to do the walk through, but they should be done. You do not want to close on a house and discover that the previous owners took the newly laid sod (true story) with them, or worse yet, your Palo Alto house burned down and someone forgot to tell you.


If you have any questions about buying or selling a home in Palo Alto please feel free to contact me.
Marcy Moyer
Keller Williams Realty
www.marcymoyer.com
marcy@marcymoyer.com
650-619-9285
D.R.E. 01191194