This week we met with Realtor® survey respondents, home stagers, staging bloggers and members of the press to discuss the results of the HomeGain 2009 Top 12 Home Improvements Survey on HomeGain Radio.

If you didn’t have a chance to attend, listen to it here:

Participant Comments Included:

Stephanie Decker, Staged Homes Marin: “The timing of the results coming out was amazing because I had an office presentation that day and it was very useful information for me to include. It gave me more substance to what I was trying to say and what I am trying to do to help the Realtors. I really appreciate it.”

Lise Desormeaux, RMR Real Estate Marketing: “More people are becoming aware of what needs to be done to market a property these days. I agree with the survey findings that HomeGain has compiled. I’m appreciative as a home stager for this information.”

Gina Vierra, StagedHomes: “When was the data compiled? Where can I find the data?” (answers: October 2009; blog.homegain.com)

News coverage of the October Home Improvement  includes: Continue reading this post

HomeGain.com recently conducted its third nationwide home improvement and home staging Home Sale Maximizer™ survey (previously conducted in 2003 and 2007) to reveal the top 12 low cost*, do-it-yourself (DIY) home improvements for people getting their home ready to sell.

Nearly 1,000 REALTORS® responded to the survey. (See complete survey results)

Referring to the charts below, the top home improvement per region by return on investment (ROI) is:

• Home Staging (West and South)
• Clean and Declutter (East and Mid-West)

Lightening and Brightening is the 2nd most popular home improvement project in all regions that Realtors recommend to home sellers, except for in the Mid-West, where Landscaping takes 2nd place.

By price increase, the top home improvements are:

• West: Updating Kitchen and Home Staging (Tie for $2,500 each average home price increase)
• East: Updating Kitchen (average of $3,500 price increase) followed by Painting Interior Walls and Painting Outside of Home (Tie for $2,500 each in average price increase)
• South and Mid-West: Updating the Kitchen (average of $2,500 price increase)

The top most recommended home improvement Realtors advise their seller clients are:

• West and East: Clean and Declutter (98%)
• South: Clean and Declutter, Lighten and Brighten, Replace or Shampoo Carpets (all tie with 98% recommendations)
• Mid-West: Paint Interior Walls and Replace or Shampoo Carpets (both tie with 99% recommendations)

Complete Regional results are as follows:

Continue reading this post

It’s becoming a popular trend to coat cars and SUVs with logos, website URLs, and other contact information. It could be especially valuable for REALTORS® since referrals and local exposure is so important. But some people love their car too much the way it is. What do you think? Would you do it?

See more real estate polls

Earlier this week we published the results of the California home prices, Texas home prices , Florida home prices surveys. Yesterday  we published the Massachusettes home prices survey data, the  New York home prices survey data, the New Jersey home prices survey data, the North Carolina home prices survey, the Illinois home prices survey and Georgia home prices survey data.

Today we release the Colorado home prices survey results.

Set forth below are the Colorado home values survey results with the national data in parenthesis:

Continue reading this post

Earlier this week, HomeGain, the first website to provide free instant home values, released the national and regional results of our  home prices survey of nearly 1,100 current and former HomeGain members. The survey asked their opinions on home prices and of  Obama’s performance as President. On this real estate blog we published the complete national and regional third quarter results.

Earlier this week we published the results of the California home prices, Texas home prices , Florida home prices surveys. Yesterday  we published the Massachusettes home prices survey data, the  New York home prices surveydata, the New Jersey home prices survey data and the North Carolina home prices survey data.

Today we are releasing the Illinois home prices survey data.

The Illinois survey data shows a sharp increase in the percentage of sellers who believe that their homes should be priced higher than the Realtor recommended listing price.

In the first quarter Illinois home values survey, 51% of home sellers believed their homes should be priced 10-20% higher than than the Realtor recommended listings price and 21% thought their homes should be priced 21-30% higher. In the second quarter Illinois home prices survey, 37% of home sellers thought their homes should be priced 10-20% higher and only 6% thought their homes should be priced 21-30% higher.  The second quarter drop in Illinois home owners’ pricing expectations was temporary. In the third quarter 53% of home sellers in Illinois believe their homes should be priced 10-20% higher and 11% believe they should be priced 21-30% higher (see question 2).

Illinois home buyers also changed their views on home prices. In the current survey a greater percentage of home buyers (40%) thought home prices were over valued by 10-20% than thought so in the second quarter (33%) and a lower percentage now think homes are fairly priced (15%) than thought so in the second quarter (18%) (see question 3).

Illinois Realtors were slightly more optimistic on the direction of home prices in the third quarter. Fifty-seven percent of Illinois realtors expect home prices in their state to remain the same or increase over the next six months vs. 51% who thought the same in the second quarter (see question 6).

Illinois Realtors continued to give President Obama an overall negative approval rating. In the second quarter the former Illinois Senator received an approval rating of 46%. In the third quarter the President’s approval rating among the The Prairie State’s surveyed Realtors dropped to 36% (see question 9).

Set forth below is the first, second and third quarter Illinois home prices data with the national data in parenthesis: Illinois (National)

Continue reading this post

On Monday, HomeGain, the first website to provide free instant home values, released the national and regional results of our  home prices survey of 1,084 current and former HomeGain members. The survey asked their opinions on home prices and what they thought of  Obama’s performance as President. On this real estate blog we published the complete national and regional third quarter results.

Earlier this week we published the results of the California home prices, Texas home prices and Florida home prices surveys.

Today we published the Massachusettes home prices survey data and the  New York home prices survey data.

Today we are releasing the New Jersey home prices survey data.

The New Jersey survey data shows that  homeowners in the Garden State have increased their  pricing expectations with 57% of New Jerseyhome owners believing their homes should be priced 10-20% higher than their Realtors’ recommended listing price vs. 27% who thought the same in the second quarter New Jersey home prices survey. (see question 2).

Fifty-nine percent of  New Jersey home buyers saw homes as overpriced by 10-20% vs. 34% of home buyer who thought so in the second quarter survey.  Only 8% of New Jersey home buyers think homes are fairly priced vs. 23% who thought so in the second quarter ( see question 3).

Thirty-two percent of New Jersey Realtors now believe that home prices will decrease in the next six months vs. 27% who so believed in the second quarter. Only 11% believe home prices will increase in the next six months vs. 20% who so believed in the second quarter survey. (see question 6)

More than half of New Jersey Realtors surveyed aprove of Obama’s performance as President (vs. 42% nationally) mostly unchanged from the second quarter survey, although Realtors “strongly disapproving” of Obama’s performance rose from 20% in the second quarter to 32% in the current survey.

Set forth below is the first, second and third quarter New Jersey home values data with the national data in parenthesis: New Jersey/ (National) Continue reading this post