Realtor discusses business with Rotary

For many people, a home is more than just a few walls and a ceiling, but instead the place where years of memories are created.

This nostalgia is often extended to the nooks and crannies of every house, where even things like peeling wallpaper or an overactive furnace are looked upon with a certain level of fondness.

For prospective homebuyers, though, these things are seen without the benefit of rose-colored glasses.

“We cannot be objective about our own homes,” said Realtor Steve Mauro. “We think it’s worth way more than an appraiser does.”

The area real estate agent offered up this and other bits of wisdom during his presentation to the members of the Dowagiac Rotary Club at its meeting Thursday afternoon. Mauro, who works with Pier Reality out of Berrien Springs, shared advice with the members about what steps they can take to ensure their home is sold for every dollar possible.

Among the information the agent shared was about the changes his company has seen with homes in the Dowagiac-Marcellus area. Compared to 2013, last year the area saw positive growth, with the average price of homes up going up more than 10 percent.

“The price of a home, the amount you would get back for your home, would improve 12 to 18 percent,” Mauro said.

Helping matters these last few years have been changes made since the passage of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which was passed in response to the housing market crash of 2008. The provisions of the law impacted the ways that appraisers could value homes, having a dramatic impact on housing prices, Mauro said.

“Over the last five years, some of these restrictions have been loosened, and you’ve seen a corresponding improvement in home values,” Mauro said.

Despite this, there are some things that homeowners can do to improve the evaluations of their homes, the most important of which is to put themselves in the shoes of a potential buyer. That can mean everything from making improvements to the house’s painting to removing pet dander that could set off a buyer’s allergies.

“Someone will always find something wrong with your house,” Mauro said. “If you need to sell your house, then we negotiate some of these things with a price change, or we sweeten the terms in some way.”