Month: April 2018

If you are going to sell a real estate for the first time, you may be going through a lot of stress. Home selling is a stressful process. According to many surveys, selling a property involves a lot more stress than buying one. You may have to bear lots of pain, frustration and anxiety due to all the paperwork involved. However, if you stay positive, navigating through each phase will be easier for you. To help you manage the stress while you are selling your house, we have given a few tips below.

Hire a good real estate agent to sell your house.

First of all, it’s better that you hire a good local real estate agent based on your expectations and requirements. The professional will guide you throughout the transaction, thus making the process free of stress for you.

Remember: it’s not a good idea to hire a friend or relative to list your home no matter what. Doing so will do nothing but add more stress to the process. The most important step in the process is to list a house and you don’t want to affect your relations.

Get rid of all the clutter

Before you list your house, make sure you remove all the unwanted stuff from your house. This will help you get rid of the clutter, thus making it easier for you to keep your house clean. Dishes shouldn’t be left in the kitchen. In the same way, vacuuming and laundry should be done in a timely fashion. Cleaning the bathrooms is important too.

If you are too busy to do all these chores, make sure you hire a professional cleaner. By keeping this neat and clean, you will be able to reduce your stress. Plus, you won’t have to do all these tasks in a rush when you get a call from your realtor.

Go on a vacation for a couple of days

At first, you may not consider it. However, if you go on a vacation for a few days after you have listed your house, it will work wonders for you. Actually, your house will get a lot of offers during the first week of listing.

You can plan a day trip like a trip to another state to visit your favorite museum. If you don’t live there, you can ask your real estate agent to schedule showings. You don’t need to get out of the house just to show it to a potential buyer. In fact, you can consider it as an investment in your health as you will be able to get your mind off your property for a while to reduce stress.

Maintain Your Health

Another way to manage stress is to adopt a healthy lifestyle. All you need to do is exercise on a regular basis, eat healthy and go to bed at the same time each night. You may want to have a 30-minute walk every day. Alternatively, you can spend time with your kids in the local park and have fun together. The additional effort will help you stay fit both mentally and physically throughout the process of selling your house.

Get all the paperwork ready

Without any doubt, the paperwork is one of the reasons home sellers go through a lot of stress. At times, home sellers have to get all the documents ready to present at a short notice.

So, what you need to do is prepare all the paperwork ahead of time. If you find it hard to do everything on your own, make sure you hire the services of a good realtor or solicitor. They will help you collect your mortgage documents, copies of your other important documents, such as title deeds, planning permission certificates and energy performance certificates, to name a few. Make sure you have all these documents ready to make the process smoother.

Be flexible

You may want to continue your routine even when you have listed your house. Any disruption in your routine may add to your stress. While you are moving, your family may get disturbed, as you have to pack all the stuff.

The longer your property is on the market for sale, the more stress you will have to go through. After you have done all the cleaning, keep in mind that it will take some time before you get a good offer on your house and the deal is closed.

In some cases, a house doesn’t sell during the first few weeks so it’s important that you be realistic. This will help you reduce the stress that you may have. Staying positive and believing your realtor is a good idea to get out of stress and close the deal.

Your home selling process will be free of stress if you follow the tips given in this article.

So, you let your home sit on the market for half a year and it didn’t sell. If you had been hoping to cover a financial need by selling the house, you may be frustrated; you may be wondering why your home didn’t sell. If you are in this situation, you are not alone.

Each year, numerous people go through a similar situation. If you are not getting good offers on your home, we suggest that you make a few adjustments. To make these adjustments, you should first discover whether you are doing a few key things wrong. Let’s talk about 5 of those common mistakes that could be keeping your house from getting reasonable offers.

1) Your listing photos are poor quality

Remember, you have only one chance to make a great first impression, especially when it comes to looking for good buyers for your house. According to the National Association of Realtors, 82% of buyers use the internet to look for their desired home.

When looking to purchase a home, most buyers look at the photos of the house taken from different angles. If you don’t use professional photos, you will miss the chance to impress potential buyers with the curb appeal of your house, so make sure your photos highlight the most important features of your property. You won’t get a lot of showings if the photos are not appealing.

2) Your agent is not experienced

The selection of a good real estate agent is really important if you want to sell your house fast. Your realtor should have a solid marketing plan for getting as many offers as possible.

Ideally, the agent should have plenty of experience getting results with their marketing efforts; and they should have a solid, detailed plan of action. They should be familiar with the local market trends. Finally, make sure the agent stays in touch with you throughout the process and gives you frequent updates on the progress they are making with the showing and sale of your home.

3) You don’t have good curb appeal

Often, as soon as a buyer pulls into your driveway, they will make an immediate decision on whether they like your house enough to make an offer, or whether they will keeping looking for something better. They will be able to tell you what they like and dislike about your house before even setting foot inside.

So, one reason your home is still on the market is probably because you don’t have great curb appeal. Focus your attention on certain key areas, and creating an inviting environment will be easy for you.

Landscaping is the first most important thing; make sure the landscaping is neat and appealing. The next on the list is the walkway leading towards the front door. What you need to do is wash the sidewalk and repaint the area around the entrance. For curb appeal, the front door carries a lot of importance. Make sure the paint on the door is fresh and the handle is in good working condition.

4) You have cluttered rooms

When buyers enter your house, they see themselves sitting in the chairs or sofas as if they lived there. So, if you have a lot of furniture or personal photos in each room, they may not be able to visualize themselves in the house.

For this reason it’s important to remove the extra photos and furniture. You can put them in a storage unit if you want to. If you don’t have a storage unit, you can buy or rent one. Keep in mind that the money spent on decluttering the house will come back to you with an awesome ROI.

5) You have overpriced your home

Another mistake that may make it harder for you to sell your house fast is the price tag. In fact, price is one of the main reasons why you are not getting as many offers as you should. If the asking price is reasonable, other things like poor curb appeal, inexperienced agents or low quality photos won’t matter as much.

On the other hand, even if your house photos are stunning, your agent is highly experienced and the curb appeal is great, you won’t be able to get reasonable offers unless you have set a reasonable price tag. No one would want to buy a house that is overpriced.

Consider a couple of factors before setting the asking price for your home. Some important factors include your motivation, market trends and recent comparable sales.

Find out about other similar houses and the price they have sold for. This will give you a pretty good idea of the price tag you should set for your house. If the price you have set is too high, you can change it accordingly.

Find out about the current market trends in your area. In a seller’s market, house prices are quite high. On the other hand, if it’s a buyer’s market, the prices will be low as there are a lot of similar houses in the area.

It may not be a good idea to fight the trend. So, if prices are going up, make sure you set the price for your home a bit higher than other houses with similar features in the area. Setting the right price for your home will be easier if you know the market trends.

Lastly, what is it that motivates you more? Is it a quick sale or the maximum price? If you don’t want a quick sale, you don’t need to drop the price. But if you want to get rid of the house as soon as possible, you may consider dropping the asking price. This will almost certainly get you more offers if other things stay the same.

The takeaway

If you are already getting good offers, you don’t need to do anything. However, if you want better offers or a quick sale, make sure you take professional photos, look for a good real estate agent, and make your house look better by removing clutter and other unimportant stuff.

By making these changes, you will be able to get the highest price for your house in a short period of time.

Today, technology offers tons of resources to make our lives easier. A few decades back, it would take a lot longer to go through the entire process and close the real estate deal, but now the process has become streamlined.

Nowadays, the professionals that you choose to represent you may use a number of tools for completing the process in a short period of time, thus saving you plenty of time and effort. They employ several tools, such as e-sign systems, electronic documents and the cloud storage to make each document available round the clock.

Without an iota of doubt, the buying and selling of real estate has become a lot more convenient today for both buyers and sellers. Let’s discuss further how technology has transformed the whole system of buying and selling properties.

Online Listings

In the past, you had to get out of your home to access the property listings for choosing a property that would cover your needs. It was a time-consuming task. Today, however, you can search through a huge database of listings from the comfort of your home provided you are connected to the Internet.

On the web, both consumers and real estate professionals can look for domestic or commercial real estate. Some popular sites that offer these listings are Realtor.com, Trulia and Zillow, among others. The credit goes to technological advancements.

Mobile Apps

Speaking of the Internet, we can’t help but discuss the importance and prevalence of mobile phones. Almost all websites of today have their mobile versions as well, so the users have no problem navigating the sites on their handheld devices. You may not have access to a laptop or desktop computer while you are on the move, but you do have a smartphone in your pocket at all times.

Now, you can look for your desired home on Realtor.com app, and the app can be downloaded from PlayStore. This application receives updates about local property listings every 15 minutes. With this app, realtors and agents review properties and make “property show” requests within seconds.

Aside from the apps that provide property listings, many other apps allow you to work out your mortgage payments that you need to make each month, based on the rate of interest, down payment and purchase price.

Virtual Tours

The next move after you have gone through property listings is to look at the pictures and have a virtual tour of the house. The agent of the seller may give a link to the live stream so that buyers can see the property themselves without leaving their home or office. It can also be a pre-recorded video.

This option is especially beneficial for those who are looking to move to a house in a different state. A virtual tour is a type of “property inspection” that you can do remotely. 

E-signature Services

E-sign is an efficient tool in the world of real estate. In the past, the process of executing a contract or offer used to take a couple of days as documents needed to be transferred physically from one party to the other.

Today, on the other hand, documents can be sent through email to sign electronically. This helps the agents on both sides of the transaction to speed up the process. And the good news is that the e-signature system is legal and electronically signed documents can be presented in the court of law as well.

Real-time Data

Another great benefit of online listings is that the information is updated in real time, meaning if a property has been sold or is no longer available, you will see the relevant status on the site, such as “closed” or “pending sale”, for instance.

Ease of Marketing

Without a solid marketing plan in place, it can be hard to get good offers on a house from potential buyers. Nowadays, agents and individual buyers shoot high quality photos or videos of properties and share them on social media as part of their marketing campaigns.

Within minutes, the post may get hundreds of thousands of views from prospective buyers across different social media platforms. The thing is that social media users tend to share photos more than a boring postcard or flyer they get in their email inbox.

Drones With cameras

Aside from mobile phone cameras, drones have been making it a lot easier for agents to take HD videos and pictures of a property and its surrounding area. Drones can take aerial pictures of a house or commercial building from different angles, thus providing a bird’s eye view of the neighborhood. So, drones help buyers make better decision when it comes to investing in real estate.

In short, these technological advancements are revolutionary and they will keep improving the process of real estate buying and selling. Whether you are a buyer or seller, you can benefit from technology to cover your real estate needs.

If you want to sell your house without hiring a realtor, know that the home selling process is going to be overwhelming, but it’s doable provided you know all the important steps and have a plan in place. In this post, we have put together the whole process of selling a house step by step. While reading these steps, you will learn some tips that will increase your chances of selling your home for top dollar.

Clean your home

Thoroughly clean your house from top to bottom. Also, don’t forget the ignored areas, such as window wells, roof gutters, blinds and baseboards, to name but a few.

• A clean house will be more appealing to potential buyers, and you will be more likely to get a higher price for it.
• If possible, hire a professional cleaner, especially for a deep cleaning service.
• Be sure to get rid of clutter to make your house look as spacious as possible.

Have your House evaluated

Be realistic when you set the price of your home. Many listings don’t sell just because the owners set a price that is unrealistically high, and the market can’t offer that much. If you don’t want to end up waiting for ages to sell your house, hire a professional to have your home evaluated. The professional will give you a price range in addition to a good reference point in case a realtor or buyer says that the price is too high.

• Relying on the property tax assessment alone is not a good idea.
• Find out how much the similar houses in your area are selling for.
• Hire a professional appraiser

Have An inspection Done

Buyers have the right to inspect your home before taking it to the next level. Therefore, you should be ready. It’s even better to have a home inspection done before you even run an advertising campaign.

After an inspection, you may have to make some big repairs to the electrical/heating systems, septic, plumbing and appliances. The buyer may also have a closer look at the foundations and roof of your home. You may follow the home inspector’s recommendations and make the necessary repairs.

Make a List of selling points

Make a list of some powerful selling points in order to attract potential buyers before you market your property. Some important items on your list may include schools, hospitals, parking lots, and recent innovations in the area.

Your ads should highlight these points. When you talk to potential buyers about your house, do point out these special selling points. This will give buyers some solid reasons why they should buy your property instead of others in the neighborhood.

Prepare for a staging

Staging is an important step when it comes to selling a house. What you need to do is make your home as appealing as possible to potential buyers. Make sure your house is not too quirky, colorful, dirty or cluttered. It’s better to stage your house to look clean, bland, spacious and typical.

Market your Property

If your house is located in a high-traffic area, install a “for Sale by Owner” signboard outside your house or in yard.

• You can list your house on a listing website, such as Craigslist. Classified ads in local newspapers can work too. You can also get the word out about your house on social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter.
• You can also consider putting up fliers, especially if they are allowed in your area.

Show your home

Within a few days, you may get calls from realtors or potential buyers. They may express their wish to see your home. Some buyers may want to see your house in the middle of the day, and you may not be at home during that time. In this case, you may ask a family member or friend to be there.

Lower the asking price

If you have priced your home too high, you might not get any offer. Keep in mind that you will have to pay for property taxes, upgrades and other maintenance expenses until your house gets sold. So, it will keep adding to your expenses.

You may set a deadline. Once the deadline is reached, you should lower the price of your home to attract more buyers and get some offers. For instance, if it’s been two months but you have got no offer, consider reducing the price by $25k.

If you still don’t get any bid, get out and take a walk around your area. Look at the other houses in the neighborhood and ask yourself, does my house look better than other houses in the area? While asking this question, be honest with yourself.

If you think that the other properties in your area look better, consider lowering your asking price so your house look more appealing.

Offer incentives

Know that even a small rebate can be a great incentive. To make your deal more attractive, for instance, you can offer to pay the closing costs. This may prove a great incentive for the potential buyers.

Negotiate Properly

Negotiation is one of the major steps in the process of selling a house. If a buyer shows interest in your property but is not sure whether he or she should go for it, use this as an opportunity to make your property appealing and convince the buyer.

For instance, if the buyer says that the patio doesn’t look good because it has not been varnished for years, you can come down a bit. This will help the buyer re-varnish the patio when they move in. you can also make a small concession for other improvements or give up an appliance.

Close quickly

After the negotiations are over, make sure you close the transaction as soon as possible. Be sure to provide the required disclosure documents.

If you don’t like the offer made by the buyer, make a counter offer instead of saying no. You may talk to a lawyer about the offer so they can evaluate it to see if it’s a reasonable offer.

Once everything is settled, you should move out as soon as you can.

So, these are some important steps that you need to follow when selling your house.

You can save thousands of dollars by choosing to sell your house without an RE agent, but is it worth it? Why do you need a real estate agent when selling your home? If you have never sold a property before, chances are that this question is on your mind.

Of course, real estate agents’ commission involves a large sum of money, and you may find it tempting to fly solo to save that money. However, this call may not be suitable for all sellers. So, you need to rethink your decision. Given below are a few reasons why you should work with a professional RE Agent to get your home sold.

1. The disinterest of Buyers’ agents

If you don’t have a professional on your side, the buyer’s real estate agent may not encourage their client to see your property since the pro knows you are not working with an agent. The agent may talk their client out of making an offer explaining that the deal involves a lot of risks as no professional is representing the seller.

Often, buyers’ agents behave like this because they fear that they won’t get the agreed amount of commission from the seller due to the absence of an agent on seller’s side. So, as a first-time seller, it is better to hire a professional to get as many offers as possible.

1. Emotional Hurdles

The process of selling or buying a property can involve emotions at times. In business, decisions shouldn’t be made based on emotions. This is true even if real estate is not your business and you have an inherited house to sell. After all, you want the maximum price for your property and this is possible only if you don’t make costly mistakes in the process. 

Having an experienced agent on your side can help you control your emotional reactions so you won’t make stupid mistakes like accepting an offer that is too low or pricing your house too high.

While you may be emotional even when you have an RE agent with you, it will be easier for you to digest the criticism that comes from the buyer’s agent.

1. Busy lifestyle

If you have a busy lifestyle, it may not be possible for you to get back home to show your property to potential buyers. You may be in a business meeting that you can’t postpone, or you may not have enough energy on weekends, if you have a job, to show your house to interested parties.

In addition, you may not be a marketing expert. If this sounds like you, your solution is to hire a real estate agent who can show your property anytime, even when you are not home, as it’s their full-time job.

1. Marketing Limitations

You can choose to list your property on the leading real estate marketplaces, such as Redfin, Zillow and MLS. But do you think it will be enough to get the word out about your home?

You can use a lot of means to attract potential buyers, but that may not get you as many good offers as a real estate agent can get for you. On the other hand, if you work with a good agent, you can benefit from their large pool of networks as they have links with other agents, potential clients and big real estate agencies.

If you can wait for months for a good offer and you are willing to settle on a relatively low price for your house, you can go alone. But if you want to get the best deal, hiring a real estate agent to work for you is a stroke of genius.

1. Needless showings

You want to show your property to someone who is qualified and has a genuine interest in your property, not just a curious daydreamer. Looking for good sellers involves a lot of work, and you may not have enough spare time to show your house 10 times each day. So, you only want serious buyers to see your home.

Realtors, on the other hand, can determine if a buyer is serious, motivated and qualified to see your house. They ask a bunch of important questions to separate good buyers from those who are just curious to find out more about a property that is on the market for sale.

Some buyers may not feel good while touring a property in the presence of the seller, and they may rush through the property without remembering much a while later. So, having a realtor show them your property is a better idea as it is likely to make potential buyers feel more comfortable.

1. Negotiating the sale

You may have some sales experience, but you may not be good at negotiating real estate. The buyer’s agent will have much better negotiation skills so they are likely to beat you in the real estate negotiation process. As a result, you could end up getting your house sold for a lower price if you do it yourself.

Experienced agents have the advantage of having sold tons of properties. They know the game and can notice when a buyer is disingenuous or nervous, but you may not be able to read these signs.

With little or no experience under your belt, you may be emotional or irrational during the negotiations, which may result in poor decisions on your part.

Moreover, if you go solo, you may not know the market or conditions. By contrast, agents do. They know which terms they should negotiate for.

1. The Flaws in your House

Do you know what sets your house apart from other houses in the neighborhood? Do you know the things that can help you present your house the best way possible to the potential buyers? If your answer is no, you need a real estate agent’s help.

An agent will let you know which changes you need to make to your home to attract most buyers for best offers. They will point out flaws that need to be fixed before your house is “show-ready”.

To make sure your house has great curb appeal, the realtor may recommend that you hire a good designer or a deep cleaner.

1. Legal Matters

Home sales involve plenty of paperwork, which needs to be taken care of by an expert. Your duty, as a seller, is to disclose all the facts that may have an impact on the desirability or value of your house. You may be held liable for a breach of contract, negligence or fraud even if it was just a mistake on your part.

On the other hand, real estate agents are familiar with disclosure laws, and they will take care of all the legal matters associated with the real estate. They will keep you out of trouble throughout the process.

The Takeaway

Without any doubt, selling a property will be one of the biggest financial decisions of your life. So, making this decision with the assistance of an expert real estate agent is always recommended. The agent will help you negotiate a better deal saving you a lot of time and hassle while guiding you around the legal pitfalls.