Archive for buy sell home

Things to Beware of When Buying an Older Home

April 18, 2009 at 8:37 am · Filed under Buy a Property?, Buying Real Estate, buy sell home ·Tagged , ,

You’ve decided to not hassle with building and want to get an older home. There can be some major expenses associated with this, so be careful. Always get an inspector out to the property and make sure to have him check the following 3 things.

If the house is 20 years or older, most likely the utilities are at the end of their lifecycle. You can probably bet the warranties on the water heater and air conditioning units have already expired as well. Will you be left making all the replacements? Most homeowners do not want to front the expenses associated with utility repairs or replacement and would rather move before that becomes an issue.

What condition is the roof in? Depending on what area of the country you live in, roof maintenance can come every 10-20 years. Is it ready to be replaced as well? If you’ve ever paid for a new roof, you know how expensive they can be. Check out the shingles to see what condition they are in. Make sure that is not another chunk of change you will have to fork over come a year or two.

Lastly, make sure you have the walls and siding thoroughly checked. Sadly, a lot of people will slap a new coat of paint over any suspicious cracks or water damage. You don’t want to get in a home just to find you have to replace all the sheetrock or the wood siding. If you are buying a home in a more humid climate, mold is a major issue. You don’t want to chance a member of your family getting sick down the road. Get particular and make sure you dig up all the home’s dirty secrets.

The most important rule of thumb is to speak up and make sure you know what you are getting into. Hiring a home inspector isn’t enough. Some of the state laws don’t require enough from the inspector. Do your own homework as the buyer and thoroughly question both the seller and the inspector. Then when you are ready to sign those closing papers, you can do so knowing exactly what you are getting into.

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12 Quick Tips on Selling Your House

April 15, 2009 at 11:13 am · Filed under Selling Houses Fast, Selling a home as is, Want to sell your home?, buy sell home

You’re going to sell your home. You could go at it bald-headed, or think for a bit. Imagine you were a potential buyer; what would be foremost in your mind?

Here are some simple and inexpensive ways to get the best price possible:

1 – Determine the fair market value for your house.

The best way to sell your home is by having the right price. Buyers will be looking for a deal. You might be looking to make some money but don’t over-price your home. Doing so will ensure you don’t sell it right away. A home that sits on the market too long is unappealing. This makes people afraid to buy it.

2 – The front of the house is where the first impression starts.

If you want to sell your home, make the front look perfect. Start with the outside. Lawns should be well mown and landscaped. There should be nothing to distract the eye from its best features. Tidy, clean, uniform and pretty should be your watchwords. The first look will sway buyers towards or away from your home.

3 – Remove your personal items.

Most lived-in homes have pictures and items of sentimental value. Remove them when the home is being shown. Buyers don’t want to be attached to your memories. They will want to see the quality of the walls, not your pictures of your family or your knick-knacks.

4 – Clear out clutter.

Every home has clutter. If you’re showing your home, do your best to remove yours. Remove anything you don’t need. Pre-pack and place the packed items in storage. Then buyers can have a better look into their potential property.

5 – Keep colours neutral.

Spruce up a home before sale by painting it. Paint your home in neutral colours. People will shy away from a home with highly coloured walls. They may not like your colour choices. Buyers do not want to paint the minute they move in. Most look for colours they can live with or mould around their decorations.

6 – Keep your kitchens and bathrooms in good shape.

Homebuyers pay special attention to these two rooms. They must be spotless. Keep the rooms well lit. If you have newer appliances and plan to leave them, have buyers check them out. They will be more interested in these special incentives.

7 – Never apologise for your home.

Your home is what it is. You should not apologise for that. By apologising, you give the buyer a reason to consider another home. If you are not proud of your home why would they want to be? If your home has problems, then offer solutions. Never apologise for what is yours.

8 – Work with your agent, not against them.

Help your real estate agent to sell your home. Give them the information they need and step back. Don’t go behind their back and try to sell your home. All showings should go through the agent. They have the experience to get the job done. If they didn’t you would not have hired them.

9 – Only show by appointment.

If you want to see serious buyers you should have them screened. Many sellers only allow showings to pre-qualified buyers. Your agent can set this up. They will weed out the dilettantes. If a buyer shows up without an appointment, give them your agent’s card. Have them set one up.

10 – Sell before you need to.

No one can give you a definite time frame to sell your home. You should put it up for sale before you plan to move. Putting the home up for sale three to six months before you plan to move gives you leeway. Once you have a serious offer you can begin looking for your new home. You won’t have to worry about trying to offload your home quickly. You will get the price you deserve, not the price you must settle for.

11 – Advertise.

This should be your realtor’s job. He should have an advertising plan. Find out what it is before you sign a contract. Make sure your home is listed in as many places as possible. A good price won’t help sell your home if no one knows it’s for sale.

12 – Remove emotion from the sale.

You have fond memories of your home. The buyer will not. They will notice every flaw. They will not care about your reason for selling. They will care about making a deal. Make sure when you look at offers you do so rationally. Don’t let emotions rule your sale.

In your mind, have already kissed your house goodbye, and take your wonderful memories with you. This will make the sale easier. In the end, realise that a house is a material thing, and that all such things are transient.

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The Easy Way to Assess Property Value

April 15, 2009 at 10:27 am · Filed under Basics of Real Estate, Buy a Property?, Buying Real Estate, Buying an Appartment, Buying and renting low priced homes, Key to Real Estate Success, buy sell home

The notion that assessing a property to arrive at good decisions is difficult is globally ubiquitous in the minds of property-investor starters. It’s not that hard actually if you just know how to compare logically and if you practice prudence in your judgment particularly in giving percentages in the process of rectifying/adjusting the differences of the comparables’ features.

Though there are a lot of books that teach how to assess and select a good property to invest to, these starters usually, after reading such books, still end up investing their money on the wrong property because of rush decisions and of not thinking that there might be more properties out there with the same or more superior features offered at much lower prices. I’m not saying that they should go from one state to another state just to look for such property but what I would advise them to do is to look around first in the neighborhood for other properties with same features and try to compare their prices before buying the said property. It’s that simple.

A lot of them tend to forget immediately what they have read and make some rush wrong decisions inadvertently. Why? Because instead of trying to look around first and give themselves more time to think before buying it, they let themselves fall in the pit holes prepared by agents just to be able to convince them and make a sale. Right there and then they will decide to buy it without even canvassing by just taking a look around in that area for other offers. As a result, they will just realize later that they have become a victim of overpricing after knowing that there are more properties in the neighborhood with superior features offered at much lower prices.

Now, let’s go to the basics of comparing properties and what are they. These are the price, location, physical attributes and of course, the improvements and land developments if there are any.

Location should be based on the kind and condition of its fronting road, potential of the whole property and the activity in the vicinity.

Physical attributes are characteristics of the land such as the lot’s dimensions, size, shape, elevation and topography.

Land developments are developments introduced on the land such as landscape, perimeter fence, driveways and pathways, and swimming pool. Improvements are buildings whether residential, commercial or industrial depending on the kind of property you’re considering but just make it sure that it conforms to the property’s HBU and the neighborhood’s prevailing structures as well.

When you compare properties, you have to make sure that you’re comparing the same types of properties that are located within the same neighborhood. It’s a rule that you compare only same classification/type of properties.

In comparing you have to assign percentages to the differences of the properties’ locations and physical attributes by evaluating which is more superior. If your subject property is inferior, you have to deduct a certain percentage of the price of the comparable but if it’s more superior then you have to add. How much percentage you will add or deduct will depend on your observation of the extent of superiority or inferiority of your subject property to that of the other property or comparable.

On improvements, you should determine the areas of each property’s building(s) and cost grades, and their corresponding ages for you to be able to get their depreciated building values. It’s the same thing with land developments but then you have to determine which property has developments that are more attractive to you and the others as well.

These are the nitty-gritty of direct comparison method. Simplified for you to easily imbibe and adopt if you want to avoid the pit hole. However, it’s your prudence in judgment that matters for you to make good decisions. Bear also in mind that if you don’t use your common sense even if you know how to compare properties, you are sure to fall in that pit. So, be meticulous and be cautious . . . and you’re sure you will end up with a good property to invest to.

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Essential FSBO Tips

April 15, 2009 at 9:59 am · Filed under Buy a Property?, Buying Real Estate, buy sell home ·Tagged ,

Selling your home without a real estate agent can be a difficult task. Here are some tips to help you as a for sale by owner seller.

Price it Right the First Time

The price of your for sale by owner home will play a huge factor in whether or not you receive offers from buyers. Whats the worst that could happen if you overprice your home? Well, it could remain on the market for months, growing stagnant and unattractive to buyers. Thats the last thing you want to happen. Do the work necessary to price your for sale by owner home correctly the first time you put it on the market. Even if you have to go slightly under what your ideal price, its worth it. A house sold is much better than a house unsold.

Little Fixes Go a Long Way

You dont have to put in marble countertops and stainless steel appliances to increase the value of your for sale by owner home. Youd be surprised as all the little things you can do that make your for sale by owner home look more attractive and boost the value. Since the kitchen is one of the rooms that buyers want to look up to date, start there. Replace the faucet, add new door handles to cabinets, and update lighting fixtures. Bathrooms are next most important. Putting in a new toilet seat, putting down vinyl tiles, and replacing tile grout will all do wonders for the bathroom.

More Than One Way to Advertise

Simply putting a sign in your yard and calling it a day wont do much in the way of advertising your for sale by owner home. There are a number of innovative and inexpensive ways that you can advertise your home. Pass the word around among your friends, relatives, and co-workers. Use a for sale by owner website. Create flyers and pass them around. Design a website to showcase your homes best features. Use several methods of advertising for the best results.

Answer and Return Phone Calls

Even though youre selling your home, life is still going on around you. Dont let that keep you from accomplishing what youve set out to do. Answer phone calls as much as possible. When buyers leave messages with someone else make sure you return the call. You never know which ring is going to be the selling offer. Dont want to sacrifice quality time with your loved ones? Subscribe to voice mail or purchase an answering machine. Let the answering service pick up when you are too busy to answer the phone, but make sure you always return the phone calls.

Let Sentimental Attachments Go

Undoubtedly your for sale by owner home has many memories attached to it, especially if you have lived in it for an extended period of time. Selling your home doesnt mean you have to let these memories go. However, if you let your sentimental attachments get in the way, you could end up botching a deal unintentionally. Preserve the memories of your for sale by owner home by creating a scrapbook or starting a photo album. You dont have to be callous about the home. Rather, you should remain objective as if youd never lived in it.

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Staging Your Real Estate for Potential Buyers

April 15, 2009 at 8:43 am · Filed under Basics of Real Estate, Best Way to Find Deals, Best commercial real estate, Selling Houses Fast, Selling a home as is, buy sell home

An empty house is like a blank piece of paper that needs to be transformed into a book report. It can feel overwhelming to have to make a home out of an empty canvas. That’s where staging comes in. Staging helps potential buyers visualize how they can arrange the home to their liking.

While professionals can be hired to perfect your house’s appearance, there are plenty of simple ideas and tips that can help you increase your selling power on your own. Some of them are listed below.

Curb Appeal
The most obvious place to start your sprucing up is outside. The exterior of your home is what will entice buyers to enter. A fresh coat of paint, preferably in a neutral color, and a well-manicured lawn can make a huge impact. If you want to go a step further, break out your green-thumb and plant some colorful flowers that compliment the house paint and trim, and remember to keep your foliage within your property. Tree limbs that cut across lawns are not only unsightly, but a buyer does not want to worry about arguing with a neighbor over property lines.

Clean and Minimize
The first step to staging the inside of your home is, of course, making it as clean as humanly possible. Get the carpets steamed, corners scrubbed, and degrease the kitchen. Your house needs to sparkle.
Another way to keep your house looking fresh is to minimize clutter and get organized. Although you want buyers to be able to visualize how furniture can be arranged, they don’t need to see your stuffed animal collection showcased on the couch or know how you like to use old CDs as coasters.


A Wide Range
You are attempting to make the house enticing for as many people as possible. So ditch the sewing rooms, arcades, and exercise equipment. Most people aren’t looking for an extra bedroom to turn into a personal gym. Bedrooms should look like bedrooms. Don’t have an extra bed? Throw a box spring on some milk crates and cover with a comforter instant bed.
Keep in mind your location as well. If you live in a city full of young, single business men and women, consider making one of the rooms as an office. Regardless of how you decide to delegate extra rooms, be sure they have a clear purpose. A bed, computer desk, and mini-fridge all crammed into one room will only confuse buyers.

Details
Although it is better to keep your staging sparse, a few inviting touches can balance out any coldness. Open the curtains and let the natural light in so people can see how bright and airy the home can be. Use adequate lighting where necessary and put up a few pleasant wall decorations and some fresh flowers. Turn on some calming music and add a couple puffs of air freshener. You are having guests over, after all.

Staging can make a huge impact in the way potential buyers view your home, so spend the time and put in the effort. It might make the difference between a quick, profitable sale and a sluggish return.

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