Remember the “flipping” concept? Pay a reduced price for a fixer-upper, make the repairs, and sell it for a tidy profit. As the saying goes, that ship has sailed. These days, buyers still demand the bargain price, but with all the trimmings.

“Buyers are cash-sensitive and are not looking to invest a lot of money into fixing up the interior or exterior of the house these days,” says Linda Trevor, a Realtor with Re/Max United. “They would rather it be done before they move in the house, at the seller’s expense and time.”

Demolish obstacles

It’s tough to be a seller right now, there’s no arguing with that. But Trevor’s a big proponent of the silver lining. “I try to get them to understand that if they end up taking less, they have a good chance of making up the perceived ‘loss’ in their next purchase,” she says. “Some sellers decide not to list and wait until the market turns around.”

But for those that decide to list or have to list, the house needs to be a perfect “10,” says Doris Vaughan of the Doris Vaughan team at Keller Williams Realty. “If buyers have too much work to do to move in, they will just move on to the next home. If needed, I ask my sellers to remove wallpaper and paint the entire home in neutral colors.

“Updating is also important, and my stagers make recommendations depending on the price point of the home,” Vaughan continues. “A lower-priced home should at least update the fixtures; higher-priced homes may need to update kitchens and bathrooms. Curb appeal is critical or we may never even get the buyers in the house. Power washing, manicured lawns, colorful flowers and sparkling windows will make a difference.”

Vaughan recently listed a 2,274-square-foot home in the Apex subdivision of Waterford Green for $265,000. It’s an example of a house that, in her opinion, is correctly priced. “The sellers have done everything I’ve asked them to do,” Vaughan says. “They have painted the entire interior, installed new carpet, and landscaped the yard, including putting all new sod in the back yard. They had the home power-washed and all the windows professionally cleaned inside and out.”

Trevor says agents can do their part by providing information about the home above and beyond what’s normally given. “Accuracy of home and neighborhood information plays a vital role when preparing a home for showings,” says Trevor. “Well-presented information like utilities, private pool fees, school options and lists of recent home improvements all play a role in selling a home to a buyer.”

The almighty price

Trevor compares today’s real estate market with both a beauty contest and a price war. The advice she gives about pricing and staging a home sometimes causes a little grumbling from clients. No one likes the idea that their home could have sold for more a year or two ago.

The culprit is fewer buyers. The N.C. Association of Realtors reported 956 new and existing homes sold in February 2009, down nearly half from 1,871 homes that sold the same month in 2008. The average home cost in the Triangle is down as well by 8 percent.

These two factors make pricing more crucial, and more difficult, than ever. One thing no Realtor wants is a listing to stay on the market too long. The longer an overpriced home stays on the market, says Vaughan, the less the sellers will make on the sale. “I am looking at active listings and days-on-market to determine the number of months of inventory in that particular area to position the property to sell.”

“Sellers must be flexible with their listing price,” adds Trevor, noting that’s not meant to be discouraging. “I tell buyers and sellers we are very fortunate to be in this area of the country and North Carolina. While our properties are not seeing the recent days of 5-10 percent annual appreciation, we are just seeing a correction. And while sellers would understandably like to see higher numbers for their homes, properties are still selling if they are priced competitively and show well.”

Sometimes it’s the buyers that need a reality check, says Vaughan. “Most sellers realize that their list price will be lower than two years ago,” she says. “Buyers, on the other hand, think they can buy a home for 20 to 30 percent below list price when the property may already be priced competitively.”

That could be because a lot of folks think it’s raining foreclosures in the Triangle, says Trevor, which simply isn’t true. “Only about 2.5 percent of Wake County’s current inventory is being sold by a financial institution or is foreclosure status and that equals about 225 out of the approximately 8,500 homes on the market,” Trevor says. “These types of listings are on our radar, but are still considered a niche segment in our marketplace.”

A good time to buy

Trevor takes the changing market in stride and is fielding more inquiries from buyers, as is Vaughan, due to 30-year-fixed mortgage rates at less than 5 percent for qualified buyers. The market is continually changing; it always has and it likely always will be.

“I am optimistic about our market,” says Vaughan. “The desire to move to the Triangle area has not waned. I have dozens of prospective buyers who are trying to sell their homes in other states in order to move here. Interest rates are historically low, spring is here and buyers are beginning to realize that this is a great time to buy.”

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