Flying Through Your Listings

Want to enhance your online walkthroughs? Learn how to prepare a property for an indoor drone tour.

 

The pandemic popularized virtual home tours, and some real estate professionals turned to drones as a coronavirus-safe method of capturing video indoors. Client interest in these polished video walkthroughs is expected to remain high. When deciding whether hiring a drone video service makes sense for your listings, it’s useful to weigh a variety of factors.

At typically $500 to $1,500 per drone session (including video production), you’ll want to assess which properties show best with this marketing treatment. If you go forward, make sure you can clear a safe path through the home for the drone. You also should hire an experienced drone operator who can maneuver indoor space constraints. Avoiding damage to the home is paramount.

Why consider an indoor drone tour? It may appeal to sellers who are leery of a high volume of foot traffic as the pandemic persists. It also helps buyers reduce the number of homes they physically visit. Though properties listed with drone tours tend to draw fewer in-person walkthroughs, Ryan Young, leader of The Young Team at Keller Williams Greater Metropolitan in Cleveland, says buyers who do visit are offer-ready and have a good sense of how well the home meets their needs. The result has been that “they sell faster and for more because the buyer had a truer representation of the property” from the drone tour, Young says.

Showcase the Right Properties

Indoor drone tours work best for homes with dramatic features, such as cathedral ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows, or large doors that open to impressive outdoor vistas. “When you do a drone tour, it’s more for the ‘sizzle’ of the property,” says Thomas Wasinski, owner of Cleveland-based drone company Aerial Agents.

Waterfront properties or homes with dramatic views also are good candidates for indoor—and out-door—drone photography, says Wendy Alper, a sales associate with Julia B. Fee Sotheby’s International Realty in Rye, N.Y. Alper has used indoor drone tours for upscale listings in the million-dollar range and above, spotlighting such features as palatial spiral staircases and an indoor basketball court. For properties with large yards and impressive outdoor features, she combines exterior and interior drone footage for virtual tours.

But there’s reason to consider an indoor drone tour even for homes that aren’t aesthetically distinctive. Kara Keller, an associate broker with Baird & Warner in Oak Park, Ill., says she’s used indoor drone tours to help condo listings stand out. The tours offer unique views and seamless walkthrough experiences not available for similar condo listings. Zach Dulla, CEO of Chicago-area real estate video company Indoor Drone Tours, says he has real estate pros who hire him to produce drone footage for homes selling for as little as $250,000.

Find the Right Vendor

Choose a drone operator with the appropriate equipment for an indoor tour. Indoor spaces require smaller drones that can maneuver in confined areas. (Indoor Drone Tours uses custom-built drones the size of a person’s hand.) The smaller the drone, the easier it is to control and the less likely it will be to cause damage. Be sure the vendor uses guards on the drone’s propellers, and ask about how their pilots are trained. Someone with experience flying outside may not know how to adjust for being indoors.

Discuss with your vendor what you want the video to look like: Will it be a continuous, one-shot fly-through of the home, or will it highlight features in each room? Will you use background music, or do you want to narrate the tour? Also, be sure the vendor can edit your tour for different lengths. A one-minute video is sufficient for social media, but you will likely want longer versions for your YouTube channel and the property listing site.

Clear the Way

For the most part, you’ll stage a home for an indoor drone tour as you would for a traditional photo shoot—but with a few added touches. Secure any hanging cords from ceiling fans, overhead light fixtures, or blinds so they don’t get entangled with the drone’s propellers. Make sure all interior doors are open, especially shallow closets or small storage spaces the drone can’t fit into.

Get as much light as possible into the home. Turn on all interior lights, and bring in natural light by opening blinds and shades. Good lighting is key to a good video. Some operators may bring in lighting for particularly dark rooms. “Everything has to be perfectly set,” Keller says.

Thanks to the hyper-evolution of technology during the pandemic, consumers now expect dynamic, detailed home tours online. You may soon find that indoor drone tours are a helpful part of your marketing toolkit. Potential buyers gain the feeling of being inside a home and seeing it from angles conventional photographers can’t easily reach. Because drone tours aren’t yet commonplace, they also can convey a sense of exclusivity around a property.

“The more information you can get people, the more they get excited and the more committed they are” to buying, Young says.

 

John N. Frank John N. Frank is former managing editor for REALTOR^® Magazine.

4 Easy Ways to Light Up Your Listings

Home stagers show how lighting can improve a home’s presentation for showings and online photos.

Lighting matters for making strong impressions. In a 2020 survey of 1,000 real estate professionals conducted by HomeLight, a real estate referral company, 45% of respondents said a home with outdated light fixtures can be a big turnoff to potential buyers. Decorative light fixtures—often referred to as the “jewelry” of home design—and natural light can instantly change the feel and look of a space.

Home stagers offer up four ways to help find the right light for your properties.

1. Swap out dated light fixtures. Decorative lighting that makes an artistic, sculptural statement is a growing trend in home design. Bell says popular fixtures for chandeliers or pendants include geometric or ball-clustered shapes, spiral chandeliers, and gridded honeycomb compositions. Many of these fixtures are in gold and brass metals to make them a room’s focal point, says home stager Krisztina Bell, founder of No Vacancy Inc. and Virtually Staging Properties Inc. in Atlanta. “Builders, flippers, and investors are renovating and updating homes to impress potential buyers, and lighting is one of the features they’re going all out on to really make a statement,” Bell says.

2. Filter in natural light. Dated window treatments—like valances, drapes, and curtains—not only block natural light but also risk making your sellers’ home look outdated, said nearly half of real estate pros in HomeLight’s survey. “Let as much daylight into the room as possible,” says Audra Slinkey, president and founder of Home Staging Resource, a training center for the staging industry. “Usually this is best done by removing dated window coverings and trimming back greenery on the outside.”

 

 

Overgrown shrubbery can also block light and any picturesque views. Bell says her team of stagers often recommends removing drapes and opening blinds—and pulling them all the way up—to expose windows. This creates “less distraction so buyers focus on seeing themselves living in a home, not observing the purple curtains or heavy traditional gold draperies left behind,” Bell says. “Ensure the sun’s rays are flooding into the property as much as possible.”

3. Use softer bulbs. Swap out high-intensity lightbulbs for warm or soft white ones with a lower Kelvin rating, Slinkey suggests. “The best lightbulbs to purchase for lamps are LEDs with Kelvins at 2700 to 3500 tops,” Slinkey says. “They give the most flattering light to a living space.” Keep all the lightbulbs at the same wattage. “Consistency is key in good lighting, especially for taking photos of a staged home,” Bell adds. “A mix of cool and warm tones can make it challenging for photographers to get that perfect shot.”

4. Layer in the lights. Don’t rely solely on overhead fixtures to light up spaces. “Stagers often will layer the lighting with at least two table lamps and possibly a floor lamp, depending on the size of the room,” Slinkey says.

Using lamps for uplighting against a wall can make a room feel taller. Height and scale matter, too.

To layer lighting near a standard-sized sofa and side table, Slinkey suggests that the combined height of the table and lamp should be 58 to 66 inches. “In a room where people are moving around, it prevents them from having to look into the bulb from either a seated or standing position,” Slinkey explains.

And lighting that sits too high can appear disconnected from the sofa or other adjacent seating.

Dimming can also help highlight certain room features. A dining room becomes more dramatic if there is lower light on the periphery and brighter light on the table, especially if the light is showing off crystal and silver on the table, says Al DeGenova, a longtime lighting industry marketing executive.

Bulbs and windows aren’t the only light sources at your disposal—reflective objects such as mirrors can work, too. “Mirrors can be placed opposite a window, over a fireplace, or near a lamp to reflect the ambient light in the room and have a multiplying effect,” Bell says. Plus, “oversized mirrors that lean against a wall can help a room appear larger.”

 

 

See Getting the Right Light to better understand the variety of lightbulbs available today and how to chose the right ones for a home.

Melissa Dittmann Tracey  Contributing Editor – Melissa Dittmann Tracey is a contributing editor for REALTOR® Magazine. She can be reached at mtracey@nar.realtor. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter: @housingmuse

The History of Mother's Day

Mother’s Day is a holiday honoring motherhood that is observed in different forms throughout the world. In the United States, Mother’s Day 2021 will occur on Sunday, May 9. The American incarnation of Mother’s Day was created by Anna Jarvis in 1908 and became an official U.S. holiday in 1914. Jarvis would later denounce the holiday’s commercialization and spent the latter part of her life trying to remove it from the calendar. While dates and celebrations vary, Mother’s Day traditionally involves presenting moms with flowers, cards and other gifts.

History of Mother’s Day

Celebrations of mothers and motherhood can be traced back to the ancient Greeks and Romans, who held festivals in honor of the mother goddesses Rhea and Cybele, but the clearest modern precedent for Mother’s Day is the early Christian festival known as “Mothering Sunday.”

Once a major tradition in the United Kingdom and parts of Europe, this celebration fell on the fourth Sunday in Lent and was originally seen as a time when the faithful would return to their “mother church”—the main church in the vicinity of their home—for a special service.

Over time the Mothering Sunday tradition shifted into a more secular holiday, and children would present their mothers with flowers and other tokens of appreciation. This custom eventually faded in popularity before merging with the American Mother’s Day in the 1930s and 1940s.

Ann Reeves Jarvis and Julia Ward Howe

The origins of Mother’s Day as celebrated in the United States date back to the 19th century. In the years before the Civil War, Ann Reeves Jarvis of West Virginia helped start “Mothers’ Day Work Clubs” to teach local women how to properly care for their children.

These clubs later became a unifying force in a region of the country still divided over the Civil War. In 1868 Jarvis organized “Mothers’ Friendship Day,” at which mothers gathered with former Union and Confederate soldiers to promote reconciliation.

Another precursor to Mother’s Day came from the abolitionist and suffragette Julia Ward Howe. In 1870 Howe wrote the “Mother’s Day Proclamation,” a call to action that asked mothers to unite in promoting world peace. In 1873 Howe campaigned for a “Mother’s Peace Day” to be celebrated every June 2.

Other early Mother’s Day pioneers include Juliet Calhoun Blakely, a temperance activist who inspired a local Mother’s Day in Albion, Michigan, in the 1870s. The duo of Mary Towles Sasseen and Frank Hering, meanwhile, both worked to organize a Mothers’ Day in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Some have even called Hering “the father of Mothers’ Day.”

Anna Jarvis Turns Mother’s Day Into a National Holiday

The official Mother’s Day holiday arose in the 1900s as a result of the efforts of Anna Jarvis, daughter of Ann Reeves Jarvis. Following her mother’s 1905 death, Anna Jarvis conceived of Mother’s Day as a way of honoring the sacrifices mothers made for their children.

After gaining financial backing from a Philadelphia department store owner named John Wanamaker, in May 1908 she organized the first official Mother’s Day celebration at a Methodist church in Grafton, West Virginia. That same day also saw thousands of people attend a Mother’s Day event at one of Wanamaker’s retail stores in Philadelphia.

Following the success of her first Mother’s Day, Jarvis—who remained unmarried and childless her whole life—resolved to see her holiday added to the national calendar. Arguing that American holidays were biased toward male achievements, she started a massive letter writing campaign to newspapers and prominent politicians urging the adoption of a special day honoring motherhood.

By 1912 many states, towns and churches had adopted Mother’s Day as an annual holiday, and Jarvis had established the Mother’s Day International Association to help promote her cause. Her persistence paid off in 1914 when President Woodrow Wilson signed a measure officially establishing the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.

Jarvis Decries Commercialized Mother’s Day

Anna Jarvis had originally conceived of Mother’s Day as a day of personal celebration between mothers and families. Her version of the day involved wearing a white carnation as a badge and visiting one’s mother or attending church services. But once Mother’s Day became a national holiday, it was not long before florists, card companies and other merchants capitalized on its popularity.

While Jarvis had initially worked with the floral industry to help raise Mother’s Day’s profile, by 1920 she had become disgusted with how the holiday had been commercialized. She outwardly denounced the transformation and urged people to stop buying Mother’s Day flowers, cards and candies.

Jarvis eventually resorted to an open campaign against Mother’s Day profiteers, speaking out against confectioners, florists and even charities. She also launched countless lawsuits against groups that had used the name “Mother’s Day,” eventually spending most of her personal wealth in legal fees. By the time of her death in 1948 Jarvis had disowned the holiday altogether, and even actively lobbied the government to see it removed from the American calendar.

Mother’s Day Around the World

While versions of Mother’s Day are celebrated worldwide, traditions vary depending on the country. In Thailand, for example, Mother’s Day is always celebrated in August on the birthday of the current queen, Sirikit.

Another alternate observance of Mother’s Day can be found in Ethiopia, where families gather each fall to sing songs and eat a large feast as part of Antrosht, a multi-day celebration honoring motherhood.

In the United States, Mother’s Day continues to be celebrated by presenting mothers and other women with gifts and flowers, and it has become one of the biggest holidays for consumer spending. Families also celebrate by giving mothers a day off from activities like cooking or other household chores.

At times, Mother’s Day has also been a date for launching political or feminist causes. In 1968 Coretta Scott King, wife of Martin Luther King, Jr., used Mother’s Day to host a march in support of underprivileged women and children. In the 1970s women’s groups also used the holiday as a time to highlight the need for equal rights and access to childcare.

 

Article Direct Link – History

COURT STRIKES DOWN EVICTION BAN

U.S. District Court Judge Dabney L. Friedrich of the District of Columbia struck down a nationwide eviction moratorium Wednesday, calling it unlawful. Friedrich’s ruling applies nationwide.

 

The eviction ban was put in place last year by the Trump administration using public health powers granted to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during health emergencies.  The ban was most recently extended by President Biden through the end of June.

In her 20-page ruling, Friedrich said, “It is the role of the political branches, and not the courts, to assess the merits of policy measures designed to combat the spread of disease, even during a global pandemic. The question for the Court is a narrow one: Does the Public Health Service Act grant the CDC the legal authority to impose a nationwide eviction moratorium? It does not.”

The Georgia and Alabama Association of REALTORS®, two housing providers, and their property management companies, filed the suit in defense of mom-and-pop property owners around the country struggling to pay bills without rental income for more than a year.

NAR—which helped secure nearly $50 billion in rental assistance provided by Congress since December to help tenants pay their bills and provide relief to housing providers who have lost income—supported the lawsuit, saying the ban was no longer needed.

“NAR has always maintained that the best solution for all parties was rental assistance to cover the rent, taxes and utility bills for tenants struggling during the pandemic,” says NAR President Charlie Oppler. “This decision prevents two crises—one for tenants, and one for mom-and-pop housing providers who do not have a reprieve from their bills. With rental assistance secured, the economy growing, and unemployment rates falling, there is no need to continue a blanket, nationwide eviction ban. With this safety net firmly in place, the market needs a return to normalcy and stability.”

Oppler adds that “our attention now should turn to the swift and efficient implementation of rental assistance.”

Read the Court Opinion

Source: National Association of Realtors®

USE OF 'ESCALATION CLAUSE' SKYROCKETS IN HOT SELLER'S MARKET

As escalation clauses become more popular during this hot seller’s market, buyers should consider the pros and cons of using them – as well as the broader legal context of their offer.

 

During this white-hot seller’s market, many conversations on Florida Realtors® Legal Hotline involve multiple offer scenarios. Buyers are desperately seeking ways to try and make their offer stand out. One method that has rocketed in popularity is using an escalation clause.

There are many variations of these clauses, but the one thing they have in common is that a buyer is willing to increase the purchase price above the amount in the initial offer. A simple version of an escalation clause may read something like this: “Buyer agrees to pay $____________ more than the next highest offer, not to exceed a final purchase price of $___________.”

This is the core concept, at least. Most clauses will also include some combination of the following components, although this is by no means an exhaustive list. The clause can get increasingly more complex the more a buyer adds to the clause.

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      The amount of money to add to the next highest offer (the escalation amount)

      
      
    
    
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      The maximum purchase price

      
      
    
    
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      Seller’s obligation to show the buyer a copy of the next highest offer used to calculate the final purchase price

      
      
    
    
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      Whether the financing amount will increase, or whether the buyer will pay cash to cover the escalation amount

      
      
    
    
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      How to handle a situation involving two or more competing escalation clauses

      
      
    
    
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      Whether the buyer or seller will be obligated to sign or initial further documents if the escalation clause is triggered

      
      
    
    
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      Whether the escalation is based on the purchase price or net proceeds to the seller (to account for costs and credits in a competing offer)

      
      
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  

 

The positive side of escalation clauses is that they may make a buyer’s offer stand out. It also invites a seller to take an easy path to finalize negotiation.

Most of the confusion we hear about these clauses on Florida Realtors Legal Hotline centers around the fact that the buyer’s offer is just that – an offer. A seller who receives an offer can accept, reject, counter, or even ignore an offer.

For example, can the seller send a brief message that instructs the buyer to submit a new, “highest and best” offer, with a fixed purchase price by a deadline? Yes – the seller is welcome to reject the buyer’s offer.

What if the seller removes the escalation clause and counters the buyer’s offer right at buyer’s maximum price cap with no information about any other offers? Can the seller do that? Yes – the seller is welcome to counter buyer’s offer.

Can the seller go with a different buyer’s offer (even a lower-priced one) and never inform the buyer with the escalation clause? Yes – the seller is welcome to ignore the buyer’s offer.

As you can see, the crux of most buyer frustrations centers on the concept that the seller isn’t bound to follow the rules in the escalation clause unless the seller accepts the offer.

Please note that there are additional angles to this issue – this brief article is simply designed to give an overview of the escalation clause itself. For example, although this article mentions a seller’s right to ignore an offer, a listing Realtor must comply with this Standard of Practice from NAR’s Code of Ethics:

REALTORS®, in response to inquiries from buyers or cooperating brokers shall, with the sellers’ approval, disclose the existence of offers on the property. Where disclosure is authorized, REALTORS® shall also disclose, if asked, whether offers were obtained by the listing licensee, another licensee in the listing firm, or by a cooperating broker.

 

Joel Maxson is Associate General Counsel for Florida Realtors

Source: Florida Realtors®

RELIEF ON THE WAY FOR BUYERS? MORE SELLERS READY TO LIST HOMES?

Analysts think that over the next 6 months, more sellers are ready to list their homes in numbers that could give buyers broader choices and ease home prices.

 

Evidence is emerging that sellers who have hibernated for months are ready to list their houses. Over the next six months, enough of them are expected to add to the thinning number of homes for sale that buyers could have broader choices, according to analysts, brokers and home search sites.

Among the encouraging signs:

In a survey released Monday, realtor.com concluded that an “improving landscape” awaits first-time buyers who have been frustrated by soaring prices, as well homeowners who are looking to “trade up” for better digs.

Many sellers have been holding off listing properties for a variety of reasons, including a fear of opening their homes to people who might be carrying the virus. Others were simply riding the wave of higher prices. not wanting to leave money on the table. In many instances, their patience has been rewarded in the form of bidding wars, cash offers and an influx of out-of-town buyers.

“In the high-end market, some people now are considering selling their houses and listing because it’s gotten to the point where there is enough money to decide to sell,” said Miami real estate lawyer Mark Meland of the Meland Budwick law firm.

“They may take some chips off the table,” he said. “Is it enough to satiate the demand? I don’t know.”

The tight supply has helped drive sales of homes in communities under construction.  CC Homes is building 45, low seven-figure luxury homes in Southwest Ranches. Only five are left, said chief operating officer Andrew Miyares.  “Supply remains very tight,” he said. “We started selling in the fall of last year. We’re very pleased with the results so far.”

Much of the allure is the town’s status as a haven for race and show horses and horses for recreational riding. Most of the buyers are “almost exclusively locals” who know the area well. Another development the company is building in concert with Lennar in Miramar is 85% sold out, Miyares said.

George Ritiu, senior economist at realtor.com said the growing distribution of COVID vaccinations should give sellers of existing homes more confidence that the time to list isn’t far off.

“More supply should tame down this incredibly hot price appreciation we have seen for the last eight months,” he said in a telephone interview. “We should basically see a much, much healthier market from May through August.”

He said his firm’s survey also found 58% of the sellers surveyed expected to let go of their homes at prices that are below $350,000, “which is precisely where first-time buyers are frustrated.”

Another 28% said they would sell at between $500,000 and $750,000, which is a “sweet spot for trade-up buyers.”

“It will go a long way to solve this Catch-22 where they want to put their home on the market and they can’t find a replacement,” Ritiu said.

An overvalued market?

Those scenarios could serve as safety valves for a market believed by local analysts to be dramatically overvalued.

In Southeast Florida, homes have been selling for an average of roughly 13% more than they should, according to a report released last week by real estate economist Ken H. Johnson, at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, and Eli Beracha, a professor at Florida International University’s Hollo School of Real Estate in Miami.

Based on an analysis of 25 years, they concluded in a report released last week that properties in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties were overvalued by 12.54% in April, an increase of more than 1% from 11.52% in March.

“While still far below the 65% overpricing achieved at the peak of the historic housing collapse of 2007, the size of the month-to-month jump is a concern,” they said in a statement.

“Prices are clearly accelerating at a pace that could become worrisome,” they said. “While the re-acceleration of prices is extending the current boom, it could cause issues in the local housing market, especially if interest rates should rise because higher rates tend to suppress the demand for housing ownership and therefore housing prices.”

 

Source: Sun Sentinel & Florida Realtors®

U.S. CONSUMER CONFIDENCE RISES SHARPLY AGAIN IN APRIL

While consumers were a bit more optimistic about the future this month, the big jump came when measuring attitudes about current conditions, which surged 11% higher.

 

Consumers appear to be regaining their confidence in the economy, which bodes well for future purchases of anything from homes to appliances.  The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index rose sharply again in April, following a substantial gain in March. The Index now stands at 121.7, up from 109.0 in last month. It’s returned to levels last seen before the pandemic fully hit.

The Present Situation Index – based on consumers’ assessment of current business and labor market conditions – soared from 110.1 to 139.6. The Expectations Index – based on consumers’ short-term future outlook for income, business and labor market conditions – rose moderately, from 108.3 last month to 109.8 in April.  “Consumer confidence has rebounded sharply over the last two months and is now at its highest level since February 2020,” says Lynn Franco, senior director of economic indicators at The Conference Board. “Consumers’ assessment of current conditions improved significantly in April, suggesting the economic recovery strengthened further in early Q2.”

Future assessments, which improved only a little, still rose.  “Consumers’ optimism about the short-term outlook held steady this month,” Franco adds. They were “more upbeat about their income prospects, perhaps due to the improving job market and the recent round of stimulus checks.”

Expectations for inflation in the short-term held steady, but Franco says they “remain elevated.” However, the economist also noted that “vacation intentions” had a “healthy increase, likely boosted by the accelerating vaccine rollout and further loosening of pandemic restrictions.”

Current conditions: The percentage of consumers claiming business conditions are “good” increased from 18.3% to 23.3%, while the proportion claiming business conditions are “bad” fell from 30.1% to 24.8%.

Assessment of the labor market also improved. The percentage of consumers saying jobs are “plentiful” increased from 26.5% to 37.9%, while those claiming jobs are “hard to get” declined from 18.5% to 13.2%.

Future conditions: The percentage of consumers expecting business conditions to improve over the next six months rose marginally, from 40.3% to 40.5%, while the proportion expecting business conditions to worsen stood relatively unchanged at 11.9%.

Outlooks regarding the job market were slightly less upbeat. The proportion expecting more jobs in the months ahead fell from 35.9% to 34.5%, while those anticipating fewer jobs rose from 14.4% to 15.5%.

Regarding short-term income prospects, 17.9% of consumers expect their incomes to increase in the next six months, up from 15.4% in March. Those expecting their incomes to decrease fell to 10.9%, down from 12.6%.

The monthly Consumer Confidence Survey is based on a probability-design random sample and conducted for The Conference Board by Nielsen. The cutoff date for the preliminary results was April 16.

 

Source: Florida Realtors®