It’s time to talk about why Sequim listings don’t sell.  I had a great conversation with a couple yesterday who had three really great questions.  They had their home listed for over a year, and it did not sell, even though it is an incredible home.  These questions come from a couple with discernment to recognize that something isn’t quite right and perhaps there is more that could be done to successfully market and sell their home.

Sequim Listings Not Sold

The first question came with an explanation.  “We have no problem with our agent who had our home listed for over a year.  We don’t blame her for our house not selling.  This market is probably the reason it hasn’t sold, but we are just wondering if there is something that could be done that is different.  If we keep doing the same thing, we feel like we will most likely get more of the same.  So is there something we can do that would be different that could help sell our home?  In other words, is there something we have not done that we could be doing?”

I love this question.  The answer is, “There is much more that can be done to market homes (and Sequim listings) today that is not being done by many agents who have traditional approaches to real estate sales.  Marketing a home for sale has changed dramatically over the past decade and even the past three years.  Virtually everyone knows this, but isn’t it interesting that so many agents continue to market and advertise a home like they always have.   Many sellers are beginning to ask questions and are looking for a different approach.”

Sequim Listings – Why Not Sold

There isn’t enough room in this short article to lay out an entire marketing system to handle Sequim listings.  I would have to write a book to answer the question in full.  [Wait, I did.  It is The New World of Marketing for Real Estate Agents, and the all new 2nd Edition will be available in a few weeks on Amazon.com, in book stores, and in a digital version in both the Apple iTunes store and the Nook and Kindle digital book stores.]  My point here is that there is, in fact, much more that can be done to market a home.  Let me touch on a couple of things that no longer work that most agents are still doing today and what could be done that is different and new.

Traditional print advertising in newspapers and magazines is essentially dead.  It simply doesn’t work anymore.  Until recently, some brokers were still using billboards, but billboards have not been effective for real estate sales for over a decade.  The big traditional real estate offices still have agents taking turns sitting by the front phone waiting for it to ring (called “floor time).  Agents tell me they dread sitting there waiting for the phone to ring, because it isn’t ringing off the wall anymore.  (Picture the Maytag repairman, where he is sitting by the phone but no one ever calls.)  Traditional branding is also dead, and buyers no longer care about big names.  I know that, because I’ve asked all my clients for the past 3 years.

By the way Sequim listings also will not automatically sell just because they are in the MLS.  All Sequim listings gets put into the MLS.  Clearly that is not the key to a guaranteed marketing system.  A virtual tour is not the panacea either, although it is important.  And just listing properties and hanging for sale signs does not generate many leads anymore.  In other words, many of the major marketing strategies of yesteryear no longer will draw clients into your world–your listing and into your home.

Old fashioned referrals that long established agents relied upon so much for decades are no longer generating lots of qualified leads for sellers.  A full color brochure, mass mailings, and broadcast emails that some agents send out to other agents no longer are generating leads for sellers.  Most agents are really struggling to find something that works, but when talking to their listing clients, they learn to put on that confident poker face and assure their clients they are doing all they can.  But the truth is, many aren’t sure what to do.  Their brokers don’t know either.  Hence, the title of my new book, The New World of Marketing for Real Estate Agents.  It really is a new world when it comes to marketing a home.

Sequim Listings – What Does Work

There is a brave new world of marketing in the Internet world, and it involves technologies and new business models to effectively generate leads and connect buyers with sellers.  Old traditional approaches no longer work so well.  In fact, many don’t work at all.  But the truth is that very few agents are early adopters of new technologies that reach out to buyers and connect with them wherever they are at any time of the day or night. 

Why are Sequim listings not selling so well?  Some are and some aren’t, but sellers cannot afford to rely on pure luck or that “one unique buyer,” or an outmoded marketing system.  I said there were three questions, but we’re out of room, and I only answered one question today.  The next question, “Do we list at a higher price than what we want to get to leave room for negotiating, because buyers always expect to buy for less?” will be answered later this week.

If you have a home you want to sell, and you would like to know more specifically how to sell your home in this Internet age, call me and let’s meet in your home to discuss what you’ve been doing and what could be done.  I love what I do, and I’ll share with you confidentially the secrets to successfully marketing Sequim listings in this market.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Safe Internet Search for Real Estate
• How Does the MLS Days on Market (DOM) Affect Buyers?
• Looking at Sequim Homes
• Sequim Homes for Sale in the MLS – Shocking Discovery
• How a Home for Sale is Advertised

What is your idea of the perfect Sequim home?  If you’re planning to move to Sequim and retire in one of the best places to retire in the United States, how would you describe the perfect Sequim home?  Would it be a craftsman style home with 3 bedrooms on one acre?  Or would it be a two story contemporary with a water view?  Maybe a small, low maintenance lot close to downtown Sequim?  Or do you long for a little acreage, some fruit trees in rich soil and an organic vegetable garden?  Do you enjoy wine?  Maybe you want a small vineyard of your own?  I took this photo of a small vineyard on what my clients call their perfect Sequim home.

The Perfect Sequim Home

If you’re retiring from California, Texas, Massachusetts, Arizona, or somewhere else in the U.S.,  and you’ve been planning to buy the perfect Sequim home, you are in the best buyer’s market Sequim has ever seen, and interest rates are at historical lows.  But you already know that, and you’ve already figured out what your budget is for your new Sequim home.

This Sequim real estate blog is here to help you do your due diligence by giving you the best Sequim real estate tools on the Internet, and to back up these powerful free tools with decades of proven experience negotiating and closing transactions.  The tools are right here in the two right side columns of this blog.

The Perfect Sequim Home in the MLS

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The Perfect Sequim Home Research

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As your buyer’s agent, my job is to help you find the best property, negotiate the best price, draft a contract with unambiguous language and all the addendums to address the inspections and to do your due diligence, and to help you address any legal or contract issues that come up all the way to closing.  Having been a real estate lawyer for 20 years and now your buyer’s agent and your Realtor, I bring the experience to the table to your advantage, and I cost you nothing as the seller pays my real estate commission.  You’ve got to love that!  I do.

Call me if you have questions at 360-775-5424.  If I’m online, you can chat live with me by using the Live Chat button to the right.  It would be my privilege to represent you as your buyer’s agent, and I’ll help you find the perfect Sequim home.

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Sequim homes with acreage are one of the great attractions to many retirees moving to Sequim.  Many of my clients tell me they are eager to escape the hustle and bustle of Metropolis where they have lived and worked for decades.  America is evolving.  It’s not the same country we grew up in.  Some changes are good, but many are not.  City crowding, worsening traffic congestion, high crime rates, the unsettling immigration crisis along our southern borders, the recession and economic chaos, and the degrading state of political morale are motivating retirees to search for a place where the clock has been turned back 20 years.  Sequim homes with acreage, like the one in this photo, are symbolic of the peaceful and rural setting that is attracting so many retired professionals to the Sequim area.

Sequim Homes with Acreage

The home in this photo is similar to many Sequim homes with acreage.  Not everyone wants acreage, and Sequim certainly has a number of rural subdivisions with small low maintenance lots, but some aspire to have “the elbow room” they’ve always dreamed of having.  Not everyone wants chickens or horses or other animals, but some would love to “go back in time” and live more like they did when they were young.  Not everyone wants a large farm house or even a two story home, but you can have a ranch style home on acreage, too.  Not everyone wants their own organic vegetable garden and fruit trees, but more and more do.

Sequim Homes with Acreage

There was a time when water was so plentiful around the United States that no one even considered water shortages or rationing.  While the state of Washington has no water shortages, the tripartite of California and Arizona and Nevada represents a huge battle over the water from the Colorado River and Lake Mead. 

There will be a time in the not-too-distant future when Sequim homes with acreage will be in short supply.  I think there will be a time when it will be hard to find large parcels of real estate anywhere for private ownership.  National Parks are rapidly expanding, land use restrictions are filling the three ring binders at all levels of government, and large parcels are getting subdivided and sold off.  Someday large parcels will be rare and demand (and the lack of supply) will drive prices higher and higher for that 5 to 40 acre parcel.

Sequim Homes with Acreage

Here are some current Sequim homes with acreage (Sequim MLS listings) you might enjoy browsing.  You’ll notice that even now there are very few large parcels available.

Sequim Homes on 5 to 10 Acres
Sequim Homes on 10 to 20 Acres
Sequim Homes on 20 to 100 Acres

Sequim Land for Sale above 10 Acres

As a former Alaskan who grew up in rural Alaska on 30 acres with a wood stove, a Coleman lantern, and an outhouse, I appreciate the rural and peaceful Sequim valley.  Obviously, many retirees also love the idea of Sequim homes with acreage.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Safe Internet Search for Real Estate
• How Does the MLS Days on Market (DOM) Affect Buyers?
• Looking at Sequim Homes
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Among the many Sequim homes for sale, this extraordinary home just sold.  When you hear about the features in this home and how much it sold for, you may find yourself a bit envious of the buyers.  You should.  This home was one in a thousand.  Rarely will a home and a stunning property like this come up for sale in the Sequim valley, and rarely will it be available for such an unbelievable price.  I know all about this home, because I represented the buyers.  Let me give you a guided tour.

Sequim Homes for Sale is Extraordinary

Sequim Homes for Sale

Such high construction quality and attention to detail are rare among Sequim homes for sale in any market, but the builder and owner of this home (an engineer with a fastidious eye to every detail) built this home to the highest standards and then some.  Some homes have good floor plans, others have great floor plans, but this home was planned by a master with efficient design, a comfort that defies description throughout the home (and which cannot be explained in photos), with surprises in the functionality of every room.  And yet this home is not ostentatious from the outside.  But we aren’t through.  As the infomercials said, “Wait, there’s more.”

Sequim Homes for Sale

This home also has solar panels (28 of them at $1,000 each) that provide this home with 70% of all its electricity needs throughout the year, and also creates a credit with the local utility company that pays the owners $2,000 a year.  In other words, this home never has an electricity bill.  Talk about green and cost efficient.  It doesn’t get any better than this.

A vineyard is already growing in the rich Sequim soil.  (Sequim has several commercial vineyards.)  Special fencing is in place to prevent the wild deer from feasting on vines or organic vegetables.  And speaking of organic vegetables, the kitchen is a chef’s delight since it does not have the all-too-common electric stove top, but a propane stove when you want better control or when you need an open flame.  Of course, there is a deck for the barbeque in a private back yard.

Did I mention this is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home in 1,900 square feet (not counting the two garages, the additional workout room or office adjacent to the shop, and not counting the guest unit)?  Is this exactly what retirees are looking for with the main living all on one floor?  Absolutely!  I see a lot of Sequim homes for sale, but every once in a while I see one I call a “pleasant surprise.”  This home is a very pleasant surprise.

One more thing.  This home is within walking distance of the Dungeness Recreation Area and the beaches.  As the kids would say in a text message, “OMG!”  By the way, this incredible property sold for . . . $325,000.  I know.  Unbelievable.  [This was a full price offer, and there was also a second offer that came in just behind this one.]

I feel privileged to have represented a wonderful couple from New Mexico as their buyer’s agent.  When you’re looking for your retirement home among all the Sequim homes for sale, I hope you are so lucky as to find a home like this.

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• Safe Internet Search for Real Estate
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• Looking at Sequim Homes
• Sequim Homes for Sale in the MLS – Shocking Discovery
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There is a healthy inventory of Sequim homes for sale, although the best homes in the best areas at the best prices are selling while the majority of Sequim homes for sale in the MLS have too many DOM (days on market).  But one other segment of the market is new homes.  I’ve been asked, “Are retirees building new homes in Sequim?”

Sequim Homes for Sale – New Construction

Sequim Homes for Sale Compared to New Construction

There are very few new homes under construction in Sequim this summer, perhaps only 8 homes.  Why?  Because the cost of buying a lot, getting permits from the county or city, bringing in utilities, excavation, and construction are almost certainly above the current listing price of comparable Sequim homes for sale.  There are some costs over which builders have no control.  They have no control over material costs, permit costs, and only limited ability to negotiate with subcontractors, who are already operating at low margins.

Sequim Homes for Sale – The Biggest Cost in New Construction

New construction incurs a cost that current Sequim homes for sale do not.  The cost of raw land is still too high in Sequim and Port Angeles to make building competitive with existing homes.  In Pierce and King County on the Seattle and Tacoma side of the pond, big builders can purchase developments in foreclosure for as little as $15,000 to $20,000 per lot.  Not possible in Clallam County, where lots have been $80,000 plus, and only recently have we seen many developers being forced to lower prices even below their costs, but that still has meant lots at $50,000, plus or minus.  That still has made it mathematically impossible to buy and develop a lot and build a new home at competitive prices of existing homes.

But some retirees are still building, because they cannot find the ideal home with the floor plan they want, the kitchen design, and a location and view they really want with existing Sequim homes for sale.  And these retirees are willing to pay a little more than comparable prices of existing homes.

It really boils down to what you want and how much it means to you to retire and live in the home of your dreams for the rest of your life.  In other words, how much is it worth to have the perfect home for the rest of your life?  An extra $30,000?  $75,000?  This is the analysis many retirees are going through when they start looking at Sequim homes for sale.

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• Sequim Homes for Sale in the MLS – Shocking Discovery
• How a Home for Sale is Advertised

Sequim Washington homes are selling, and this chart shows the number of homes sold each year starting in 2003, from Jan 1 through Aug 31.  At the peak of the market in 2005, Sequim sold 1.33 homes per day during this time period (the first 8 months of the year).  So far in 2011, Sequim has been selling .50 homes per day, or one home every other day.  That equates to 122 homes sold in the first 8 months of 2011, and I am projecting a total of 148 homes will be sold this year in Sequim.  That leaves 26 homes to be sold and closed for the remainder of this calender year.

Sequim Washington Homes Sold

Sequim Washington Homes – Prediction on Sales

If you’re a seller, you ought to be standing up and asking what extraordinary Internet marketing you are going to do to sell your home before year end.  There are over 800 homes in the MLS, and only 26 more will sell in Sequim in the coming few months, so what will get your home sold?  The “same-o-same-o” that traditional brokers use is not working for you, right? 

If you’re a buyer, you can acknowledge that this is a buyer’s market, but you should also recognize that in this small market there are not that many perfect homes on the ideal lot in your price range.  This means out of the 26 homes that will sell in the next few months, you will have some serious competition from other retirees who have the same preferences and financial ability as you.  With 26 buyers who close on homes between now and Dec 31st, there are probably five to six times that many coming to look at homes.  In other words, between 100 and 150 qualified buyers will be looking at homes, and 26 will pull the trigger and buy (and close) before Dec 31st.

So let’s interpret this with a rational interpretation based on hard data:  While we are in a buyer’s market when it comes to Sequim Washington Homes, the available homes in the MLS that you might fall in love with for the rest of your life could be counted on one hand, and there are over two dozen retirees who will buy homes just like this in the next few months.

Sequim Washington Homes

Don’t misunderstand my argument.  My argument is not that you should a buy a house immediately and hire me as your buyer’s agent just so I can make a commission.  Don’t buy a house if you don’t see the ideal home, and if the timing is not right, and don’t hire me as your buyer’s agent if you have a more qualified agent.

Understanding what is going on when it comes to Sequim Washington Homes is very important for both buyers and sellers.  Sellers generally don’t get it.  Believe it or not, sellers are not doing their research on these issues, and sellers are not doing their research on which agent or broker to hire when it comes to listing and marketing their homes.

But buyers like you are doing their research.  In fact, buyers are doing extensive research on the Internet before they buy a Sequim home.  You may interpret this data in the chart above and the local market differently than I do, but my intention is to provide you with solid information and some analysis so you can make wise decisions when it comes to buying your home in Sequim.  I’d love to hear from you, so if there is anything else you would like me to address, just ask, and if you have another interpretation of this data, please share that, too.

There you go.  Now you know more about Sequim Washington Homes, our market, and how all this effects you.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Safe Internet Search for Real Estate
• How Does the MLS Days on Market (DOM) Affect Buyers?
• Looking at Sequim Homes
• Sequim Homes for Sale in the MLS – Shocking Discovery
• How a Home for Sale is Advertised