Ten Tips For Selling Your House
July 23, 2008
One of the biggest mistakes people make when selling a house, is not understanding real estate value. It doesn’t matter at all what you think your home is worth. The value of your home, and any improvements you made, is determined by buyers. What you enjoyed about your house is irrelevant when it’s time to sell it. Think in terms of what other people want, and use some of the following tips.
House Selling Tips
1. Know your market. Find out what other similar houses have sold for, and have those examples ready to show potential buyers.
2. Decide on your minimum price - the price below which you will just not move. Don’t tell your agent what this minimum is, but work with any buyers who make an offer above it.
3. Clean the most visible things first. Buy a new mailbox, perhaps. If buyers fall in love with the house before they even enter it, they’ll forgive a lot of problems.
4. Clean up the neighborhood. If there’s a neighbor who’s yard is a mess, give their kids $10 to pick up the yard. Spend another $20 to put flowers in any common-areas, and buyers will have a better first impression of the neighborhood.
Find the Right Apartment Quickly and Easily Using an Apartment Locator Service
July 22, 2008
You’ve probably seen the ads or heard about apartment locators. But what do they really do and why should you choose an apartment locator to help you find an apartment area?
One of the biggest reasons to use an apartment locator is the fact that there are hundreds of apartments to choose from. When there are so many choices an apartment hunter can become overwhelmed with the vast number of choices available. It’s hard to even know where to start.
Another great advantage of using the services of an apartment locator is that they know which apartments are already on the market. This way you don’t waste time trying to track down apartments with availability.
I can recall times when looking for apartments either for myself or a friend where we literally hopped from one to the next, never knowing before we walked in the door if apartments were even available. Many times we’d visit with the apartment manager or even go on a tour only to discover that the apartment was out of our price range, we didn’t like the floor plan, or there was something else that didn’t match our expectations.
Real Estate Negotiation Secrets
July 21, 2008
When you bought your home, you offered less than you were willing to pay, right? That’s the most common negotiation technique. For experienced investors, however, that’s just one little secret among the many more powerful ones. What else can you do?
How To Make An Offer
1. Offer an odd amount, like $161,793. This gives the impression that you know something the seller doesn’t. They may think you have a good reason for that particular price.
2. Play dumb. Ask questions, talk slow, ask for help, and never show off your real estate expertise. Sellers are afraid to budge if they think a smarter person may be taking advantage of them.
3. Use the “limited authority” ploy. Say “I’ll have to check with my wife (or partner).” It’s easier for sellers to accept that you can’t do something, rather than the idea that you won’t.
4. Refer to precedent. “My father bought his house this way.” If the offer is at all unusual, sellers will feel more comfortable if they know it has been done that way before.
How to Sell Your Home Without a Real Estate Agent
July 20, 2008
Considering the rapid rise in home prices over the past several years, home sellers are taking a hard look at the commission they have to pay to a real estate brokerage to market and sell their home. Real estate commissions vary across the country; they average in the four to seven percent range.
According to the 2004 National Association of Realtors® (NAR) Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers fourteen percent of homes were sold by-owner. The NAR study listed the two most difficult tasks for for-sale-by-owner (FSBO) were preparing and fixing up the home for sale and getting the pricing right.
Invite three full-time mid to high producing agents to your home to give you an opinion of price. Understand that if the three price opinions are not what you think the property is worth, you should understand the danger of an over-priced property. Homes that are over-priced have been studied by large national real estate brokerages and over-priced homes take longer to sell and sell at a lower price as a percentage of the original list price.
Ask the agents to give you constructive feed back on what you should do to make your home visually appeal to the majority of buyers. Below are some staging tips to prepare your home for market.
Popping The Real Estate Bubble Myth!
July 19, 2008
If you turn on the TV, listen to the radio, or even surf the internet, you’ll notice that there is a lot of people talking about the “Real Estate Bubble”, and asking the question, “when is it going to burst?” They (these so-called experts) have been saying for years that the real estate market can’t continue this type of growth. These “experts” remind me of chicken little, with all of their prosphesy of doom and gloom, and the “sky is falling” syndrome. The truth is there has never been a real estate bubble in the past, or presently, and there will certainly never be one in the future. Talk about there being a “real estate bubble” is the stuff that urban legends are made of.
Here’s the readers digest version of what it all means. The real estate market is really, a “wave”. It’s cyclical, and we are riding on a big wave right now. Real Estate is just like Investing in the stock market, There are good years when values rise and there are years that are better, when values rise even higher. That’s it, in a nutshell. Real estate has gone up and down throughout history, and generally speaking, it is fairly stable. When you look at a graph of real estate values, you would be able to see a clear pattern of increasing values. Now some years would have higher peaks than others, and all in all, it is a gradual building slope from left to right. And it looks just like a wave.
Commercial Income Property Financing: Part 1 of 3
July 18, 2008
Welcome to this first portion of a three-part series about income property. In this first segment we will be discussing financing options for commercial income properties as well as the upside (and downside) of owning this type of property.
If you’re interested in getting into the income property business, chances are you’ll need financial assistance from your local bank or private lending institution. You’ll soon discover that making sense of the many different options available can be confusing if not down right frustrating. If you’re new to the income property market you may be unfamiliar with some of the terminology you’ll hear. The purpose of this article is to assist the novice in getting a good start in this potentially lucrative industry.
There are many different options available to you depending on the type of income property you’re interested in investing in. Most lenders will recognize three separate and distinct types of property, each with it’s own financing requirements. These properties include commercial, residential, and industrial income property.
Commercial Income Property
Buying Property In Spain
July 18, 2008
It’s high time someone advocated the use of common sense and suggested that those people looking for that dream home in Spain actually apply a cautious approach to buying!
After all, real estate is such a significant purchase for most people that you’d think people would be only too ready to think twice and long and hard before committing to purchase ? especially when buying abroad where the rules and customs differ greatly to what we may be used to.
But it seems that so many people are seduced by the sunshine in Spain and by aggressive and slick agents and developers that they are willing to purchase unseen, to buy off-plan or even remotely via the internet and to basically purchase without the slightest clue about just what it is they’re getting for their money.
People are buying Spanish property without the completion of surveys, without employing independent legal advice, without considering the long term investment potential of their property and without considering the practicalities of owning a second home in an overseas location?and what’s more worrying is the fact that due to Spain’s universal appeal more and more people are doing so every year.
Raising Money For Property Development
July 17, 2008
In addition to finding the right property, one of the most difficult aspects of property development is being able to fund the purchase and re-development of the property before putting it back on the market.
Many would-be property developers have the skills and flair for property development, but lack the financial clout to put these into practice. So what are the options for funding a property development?
Property development mortgage
A good place to begin is to talk to your bank or building society about taking out a mortgage to fund the development, however most high street mortgage providers are not fully equipped to service the needs of property developers and are more likely to refuse finance.
A better bet would be to try one of the niche mortgage providers who specialise in providing finance to property investors and developers.
Mortgages provided by these companies are often repayable on an interest-only basis and in some cases it is possible to borrow up to 100% of the development cost, however the developer is often required to own the land on an unencumbered basis.
It is also worth noting, that as the risk increases to the lender, the interest rate on repayments will also increase.
What Is Home Staging And How Does It Help To Sell My House
July 16, 2008
Home staging is the concept of preparing a house for sale. This can involve everything from removing clutter, re-arranging furniture and in some cases re-decoration, ensuring that the house creates a great first impression and helps buyer’s to feel that they could really live there.
Although the concept of home staging is not new, it has certainly taken off during the last few years, fuelled by the booming property market and popular television shows, such as Channel 4’s House Doctor.
Why use a professional home stager?
It is very difficult for people not to add their personal touch to their homes whilst living in them. However too much personalisation can often put buyers off a property.
One person’s favourite flowery wallpaper may not appeal to everyone, whilst tatty furniture or poorly maintained gardens may betray the true value of the home.
First impressions matter
A home stager will be able to take an objective look at your home, as if they were the buyer and spot areas of weakness that could cost you the sale or lead you to reduce your asking price.
New Housing Starts Do Not Guarantee Aftermarket Sales
July 15, 2008
We have been studying a trend of new home buyers in the US in light of this latest housing boom. And how we should adjust our strategies to deal with it. Last year we saw 5.56 million sales of existing homes and we all know that the number of brand new homes was substantial to say the least. This incredible surge in new housing starts was due primarily to mortgage rates at all-time historical lows. And the incredible move-in deals, for instance loans with less than 1-3% down payments. 20% of our population took advantage of this by re-financing, remodeling, moving or buying a new home. 43 million Americans moved between 1999 and 2000, this trend continued even to today’s date we see areas of hyper growth. On both sides of the country and yes, some in the middle too, places like; Dallas, Denver, Kansas City, Oklahoma, Nashville and Phoenix suburb areas all saw strong growth in 2003 and much of this is continuing as expected into 2004. In 1999 thru 2000 33% of renters moved and 9% of homeowners.
