In this current real estate market it's very important you get a professional real estate evaluation from an experienced Realtor. Your Realtor is the only one who can provide you with an honest assessment of your home's value.

As a professional real estate agent focusing on the luxury real estate market, I base the selling price on many real estate market factors, including:

• Real Estate Market Conditions
• The Actual Condition of your Home
• Repairs or Improvements your Home Needs
• The Timeframe for Selling your Home

The sales price you set is a critical factor in selling your home. If your home is priced correctly, you should be able to sell in your alloted timeframe. If it's not, you might sit on the home for awhile.

When I evaluate the sales price for any home, the goal is to get the home priced at market value. Market value is the price at which a particular house, in its current condition, should sell within 30 to 90 days.

If your home is priced too high this will limit potential buyers. My goal is to show your house to as many potential buyers as possible. Another downside to an incorrectly priced home is time on the market. When a home is on the market too long, it may get the wrong perception. Buyers may wonder, "what’s wrong," or "why hasn’t this sold?"

If your home stays on the market longer than the average selling time, you might ultimately get a lower selling price. To sell it, you might have to reduce the asking price several times. Ultimately, you will probably get less than if you had priced the home correctly from the start.

Homes that are properly priced in the beginning always get you the fastest sale for the best price!

For more information on selling your home, please read these articles:

• Selling Luxury Real Estate
• 5 Steps to Sell Your Home
• Ten Important Features to make your Custom Home Stand Out from the Crowd
• To Remodel or Not to Remodel
• Show Off the Sizzle Not the Steak in Real Estate Sales
• The Seven Seller Sins

A short sale is a process where lenders let homeowners sell their properties for less than is owed on the mortgage loan.

In April, there will be new rules governing how lenders handle short sales. Short sales can help homeowners avoid foreclosure. Short sales also create great deals for home buyers.

Currently, the short sale process is incredibly slow. The process puts homeowners and buyers in limbo while the bank (and/or mortgage holders) decide whether to approve or decline the short sale.

The new rules coming out in April are aimed at speeding up the short sale process. These new rules could clarify the steps of the short sale process, but it's really unknown as to how much the new rules will speed-up the process.

Let's hope homeowners and buyers will see improvement in the speed and efficiency of the short-sale process!

We are seeing some great deals here at Montreux, and with other luxury real estate around the Reno area. If you would like to be contacted with information about these deals, please fill out my contact form. I will put you on my short-list of prospects looking for great deals for themselves, and for investments!

Step #1 – Take Re-Financing Appraisals with a Grain of Salt

Many homeowners make the mistaking of thinking that they can sell their home for the same price as a recent re-financing appraisal. More often than not, the market price of your home will be less than a recent refinancing appraisal. Lenders often estimate the home value to be higher than the actual market value of your home in order to qualify you for more money.

Step #2 – Contact a Realtor Who's an Expert in Your Specific Neighborhood or Location

Not all Realtors can be experts at everything. The majority of Realtors (at least the good ones) have a specific niche that they focus on and know inside and out. Specific niches include: high-end luxury, affordable condos, golf course communities, horse properties, ect. Find a Realtor that is the expert in your particular area and seek out their opinion on what your house is worth today. That realtor will have their finger on the pulse of the quickly changing market and will give you the most accurate information, including valuable comparables. Values are changing day by day!

Step #3 - Price Your House to Sell From Day One

The most common mistake that causes sellers to get less than what they had hoped is listing too high during the first days on the market. Listings reach the greatest proportion of potential buyers immediately after they are listed. All new listings show up as "New" for agents that participate in the Multiple Listing Service. If the property is dismissed as being overpriced, or if perceived that the seller is unrealistic, the potential buyer will then elect to wait it out and not seriously consider the property. As the number of days on the market grows, later price reductions are the result. Overpriced properties tend to take an unusually long time to sell, and they end up being sold at a lower price than they likely would have, had they been priced properly at the onset.

Step #4 – Show Off Your Homes Assets

Leave nothing to the imagination of potential Buyers. Show off your home to its highest potential. Make all necessary repairs, such as: touch-up paint, fixing dragging doors, clear out clutter, and remove everything that you can from counter tops. Don't assume that a buyer can see the "potential". If your home looks well taken care of, a Buyer will assume the home is in good repair in areas that they can't see, e.g., overall construction quality.

Step #5 – Choose the Right Realtor

Selling your home could be the most important financial transaction in your lifetime. As a result, it is extremely important that you select a Realtor who is the right fit. One who has your best interest at heart. Make sure to verify their overall experience and specialty in your particular area. In today's technology depended times, the right marketing plan must include a Realtor who is savvy on all the latest online marketing and social media avenues and a website with heavy traffic is a must.

Average 30-year fixed mortgage at 4.97, down from 5.01

As of Thursday, the 30 year Mortgage rate dropped now lower than 5 percent, according to Freddie Mac.

One year ago, the rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage averaged 5.16 percent, Freddie Mac said. The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage was 4.97 percent this week, down from an average of 5.01 percent last week.

December rates were a record low at 4.71 percent. The rate has hovered in the 5 percent range, many giving credit to the Federal Reserve’s program that has put $1.25 trillion into mortgage-backed securities. These efforts have kept rates low and have made home buying, ideally, more affordable. As of March 31st, this program is set to come to an end.

Freddie Mac collects mortgage rates on Monday through Wednesday of each week from lenders around the country. Rates often fluctuate significantly, even within a given day, often in line with long-term Treasury bonds.

The average rate on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages fell to 4.34 percent from 4.40 percent last week, according to Freddie Mac.

Rates on five-year, adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 4.19 percent, down from 4.27 percent a week earlier. Rates on one-year, adjustable-rate mortgages rose to 4.33 percent from 4.22 percent.

The rates do not include add-on fees known as points. The nationwide fee for loans in Freddie Mac's survey averaged 0.7 point for 30 year mortgage. It averaged 0.6 point for 15-year, five-year and one-year loans.

These positive financing numbers also lead to an increase in refinancing activity. Upwards of 60% of all mortgage activity are home owners looking to take advantage of refinancing at more attractive rates.

The overall trend of luxury real estate sales in 2009 showed improvement over 2008.

The total number of Montreux homes sold significantly increased year-over-year, yet the pressure on prices was evident.

There was a total of 17 Montreux homes sold in 2009--an increase of 30% compared to the full-year 2008. Additionally, 5 custom Montreux lots were sold. This represents a 40% increase in Montreux custom lots compared to the previous year.

Although overall sales numbers increased in 2009, home prices dropped. The average price per square foot for the Montreux homes sold in 2009 dropped by 30%, in comparison to 2008.

With the correction in prices, many of the buyers in 2009 found Montreux real estate and Montreux custom homes now represented an incredible value.

Of the 22 Montreux properties that were sold in 2009, the sales break down included:

• 1 Chalet
• 1 Cottage
• 2 Creekside Manors
• 4 Custom Homes
• 9 Renaissance Homes
• 5 Custom Homesites

Check my website often to get updates on Montreux real estate and luxury real estate listings.

In addition, I have also opened a Twitter account. I will post relevant Montreux real estate information as well as general real estate news. Click here to follow me on Twitter!

If you have any questions, or would like to visit Montreux, please contact me today!

Home resales in September clocked the largest monthly increase in 26 years as buyers scrambled to complete their purchases before a tax credit for first-time owners expires.

Sales jumped 9.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.57 million last month, from a downwardly revised pace of 5.1 million in August, the National Association of Realtors said Friday.

That pace was the strongest in two years and beat Wall Street forecasts. Sales had been expected to rise to an annual rate of 5.35 million, according to economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

"There's a mini-boom going on in the housing market," said Thomas Popik, who conducts a monthly survey of real estate agents for Campbell Communications, a research firm.

Nationwide sales are up nearly 24 percent from their bottom in January, but are still down 23 percent from four years ago.

Prices, however, continued to be dragged down by foreclosures and short sales, where the mortgage exceeds the sales price. The median price last month was $174,900, down almost 9 percent from $191,200 a year earlier, and slightly lower than August's median of $177,300.

The inventory of unsold homes on the market fell about 7 percent to 3.63 million. That's less than an eight-month supply at the current sales pace, and the lowest level since March 2007.

Sales rose around the country, especially in the West, where they grew 13 percent from a month earlier.

First-time homebuyers and investors are snapping up those homes and taking advantage of low mortgage rates. These buyers can also take advantage of a tax credit of 10 percent of the sales price, up to $8,000, if the sale is completed by the end of November.

The tax credit is so important to some buyers that they are adding a clause to their contracts, allowing them to back out if the sale doesn't close by Nov. 30. However, economists note that bargain-priced foreclosures and low mortgage rates are making a big contribution to the sales boom.

"We think the housing market has touched bottom and it is now only a matter of time until home prices stabilize -- something that we anticipate to occur in late 2010," wrote Joseph LaVorgna, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank.

We have seen an increase in buyer activity in Montreux as well. Demand for luxury real estate seems to be getting better. This is a good sign for Montreux real estate and Reno real estate in general.

The market value of U.S. homes in 20 major cities rose by 1.6% in July compared with June, the third monthly increase in a row, according to the Case-Shiller home price index released Tuesday by Standard & Poor's.

In July, prices rose in 18 of 20 cities. Only Seattle and Las Vegas recorded lower prices in July than in June.

In the past year, prices are down 13.3% in the 20 cities. Prices are down 32.6% from the peak, and are now at levels seen in late 2003.

Prices in all 20 cities were lower in July 2009 than in July 2008. Read more from S&P.

The figures are not seasonally adjusted. Prices typically rise in the summer months when demand is stronger.

The figures indicate a "stabilization in national real estate values," said David Blitzer of S&P, who cautioned that the expiration of the first-time home buyer tax credit and increased foreclosures could put more downward pressure on prices.

The Case-Shiller 20-city index tracks repeat sales on the same properties over time, but it closely tracks only 20 cities, not the whole country.

Following are, in descending order, the price changes in each of the 20 cities over the past year, based on the Case-Shiller data for July:

Las Vegas, down 31.4%; Phoenix, down 28.5%; Detroit, down 24.6%; Miami, down 21.2%; Tampa, down 18.4%; San Francisco, down 17.9%; Minneapolis, down 17.3%; Seattle, down 15.3%; Los Angeles, down 14.9%; Chicago, down 14.2%; Portland, down 13.9%; San Diego, down 12.3%; Atlanta, down 11.8%; New York, down 10.3%; Washington, down 9.8%; Charlotte, down 9%; Boston, down 4.9%; Denver, down 2.9%; Dallas, down 1.6%; and Cleveland, down 1.3%.