Oct 1, 2015 | Home Seller Tips
Selling a house in a slow market is like playing the world’s worst waiting game. But for sellers who want to make a deal quickly, there are ways to boost your offers and close a bid in short order – even if the market isn’t that hot. If you’re struggling to sell your home, try these four strategies to boost buyer interest and start bringing in offers.
Choose An Agent With Strong Marketing Skills
In a slow market, your choice of real estate agent may make or break the sale. When there simply aren’t that many people looking for homes, you’ll need to make a strong case for why your home is the ideal choice. And that means you need a great marketing campaign.
Look for an agent that has a marketing presence and appears to keep their ear to the ground when it comes to the realestate world.
The right agent can implement a great marketing strategy to line up buyers all the way down the street.
Invest In Great Staging And Curb Appeal
In a slow market, you need to offer as much value as you can – and that means making your home look amazing. A fresh coat of paint can do wonders for your décor, while a professional staging can make your home more appealing to potential buyers. You can quickly boost your curb appeal by painting your door, installing some outdoor light fixtures, or adding pieces of outdoor art like birdbaths and sculptures.
Price Your Home Around The Median
Of course you want to get the highest price you can for your home, but keep in mind that in a slow market, there’s a limit to how much you can reasonably ask for. Overpriced houses tend to sit on the market for quite a while, so talk with your real estate agent to see whether your home is overpriced. Ideally, your home should be around the median figure of what’s considered fair market value.
No Immediate Interest? Cut The Price Sooner Rather Than Later
Even if you’ve done everything right, you may not see immediate interest in your home – and if that’s the case, you’ll want to address the problem sooner rather than later. The longer a house sits on the market, the less likely it is to sell, as people may start to think there’s something wrong with the house. If you’re starting to come up on the average sale time without any offers, talk to your agent about cutting the price.
Selling your home in a slow market isn’t easy, but it is possible. With the right strategy, you can bring in the offers and find a buyer. Contact your local trusted real estate agent to learn more about selling your home.
Sep 29, 2015 | Home Seller Tips
When it comes to buying a home people are more apt to consider a newer model. After all new homes are more energy efficient; require less maintenance the perks many buyers want. For homeowners with older homes getting a competitive edge can take a lot of extra work, especially in today’s real estate market.
Give Older Homes A Fresh Look
But there are ways to make older homes stand apart from newer homes on the market. Start by sprucing up the outside out the house. It’s amazing how a fresh coat of paint and a newly paved driveway can improve the curb appeal of an older home. Also, it’s good to remodel any room that could use a fresh, updated look like the kitchen and the bathroom for instance.
Homeowners of older houses don’t have to spend a fortune to make their homes look like new, but it helps to help the prospective buyer feel easy about not having to commit to a heavy remodeling job if they buy the house.
Staging Works Wonders For Selling A Home
While cosmetic touch-ups are wonderful, there’s one thing the serious home seller should apply and that’s home staging. The ultimate goal of staging is to make a home as attractive to as many potential buyers as possible. More interested buyers means the home could potentially sell for more and sell faster. Staging isn’t new but has become more popular in this tough market.
Home staging is often mistaken for decorating, but it’s much more than that. Expert home stagers know how to present homes in the best possible light. This often means suggesting paint colors, or rearranging and moving items to make a particular space more appealing to buyers.
For instance, most lived in homes have one thing in common, clutter. Showing a house with clutter can make a buyer feel a home is too small. Expert home stagers know how to open up a home so the perspective buyers can see themselves living there.
According to the Real Estate Staging Association, home staging reduces listing time by as much as 81 percent. Also, there’s an up to 10 percent return on investment when home staging technique is implemented.
It is true that staging a home can be a bit of a challenge. Some homeowners may be bit put off by a stager’s suggestions, and by the inconvenience of the process itself. However, the result can be well worth it if it results in a quick sale.
Homeowners should call their trusted real estate agent, right away before deciding on a home staging professional. A real estate agent may even have a list of professional home stagers he or she regularly refers.
Sep 24, 2015 | Home Seller Tips
With the real estate game in a state of constant flux, getting an offer on your house or condo might seem encouraging enough. However, there’s always the possibility that your property might hit the market hot, and this could mean more than one offer on your home. While having multiple offers can be the best of all outcomes, there are a few ways to handle this situation and make the most of your home sale.
Communication Is Key With Potential Buyers
The occurrence of having multiple offers on your home may put you in the power position, but you’ll want to keep potential buyers in the loop and aware that you’re fielding other offers. Ensure that each buyer supplies you with a pre-mortgage qualification letter and an offer by a deadline you choose, and let them know the tentative timeline on making a decision. This will keep your buyers aware of the situation, and reduce the chance of missing out on a potential sale.
Weigh Your Offers Before Making A Decision
Right off the bat, it may be tempting to go with the offer that seems the best on paper, but make sure to carefully consider the reliability of each potential buyer. It’s important to look over each buyer’s offer and determine if they seem like a consistent candidate that won’t change their mind. Once you’ve determined your ideal buyer, you can move on to negotiating the sale of your home, just do this in a timely manner because any serious buyer will expect a timely response!
Don’t Forget About Following Up
It can sometimes happen that the seller will get so excited about an offer on their home that they’ll forget about everything else and prep for the moving vans. However, it’s important to follow-up with each potential buyer to ensure selling success. Not only will this instill good will with each potential buyer, it may even provide a back-up offer in the event that the initial deal falls through.
Having a number of offers on your home is a great situation to be in, but you’ll want to make sure you handle it appropriately so you don’t miss out on the best deal. By keeping your potential buyers in the loop and following-up in a timely manner, making the sale might end up being the easiest part of your move. For more information on selling your home successfully, contact your local real estate professional today!
Sep 20, 2015 | Home Seller Tips
Selling a home is more than real estate listings and making the home appealing to potential buyers. One factor to take into account when buying a home is its location, meaning the community surrounds the home.
For sellers as well as buyers, it’s important to highlight the benefits of living in a particular community. After all, neighborhoods will have an enormous impact on the future buyer’s living experience.
It’s All About Walkable Neighborhoods
According to a Portland, Oregon-based company, City Observatory, there’s a growing demand for homes located in walkable neighborhoods. A decades-long love affair with commuting from suburban areas to work in the city has greatly lost its appeal.
Also, the growing demand for walkable neighborhoods is fueled by people desiring convenient access good schools as well as to entertainment options like movies, restaurants, and shopping. There’s also an appeal for easy access through reliable public transportation.
This trend has been around for a while now. In 2013, the National Association of Realtors found that 57 percent of study participants wanted smaller homes and shorter work commutes.
Fifty-five percent of participants said they would gladly get a small house with a small yard if it meant easy access to stores, schools, and restaurants. Plus, a walkable neighborhood also significantly increases property values. So play up the nearby community benefits that would entice potential buyers.
Great Neighborhood Amenities
Other favorable community amenities bicycle paths and libraries, parks. These are great bonuses for neighborhoods to attract fitness-minded individuals and promote a family-friendly atmosphere for buyers with kids. Speaking of kids, living in an excellent school district usually yields higher home values.
According to a survey conducted by the Demand Institute, almost half of participants wanted a pet-friendly neighborhood. In fact, this factor ranked higher than easy access to public transportation and even public schooling.
Neighborhood Safety
Safety is a top concern for most homebuyers. Although, there’s little one can do to quell neighborhood violence there are things an owner can do to make their home safer. They may want to consider studying security features on homes in their neighborhoods and adopt what they can, within reason.
What Potential Home Buyers Don’t Want In A Neighborhood
According to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), fewer home buyers were least impressed with communities with golf courses, a high population, gated communities, and mixed-use communities.
Homeowners, when listing a home, seek the help of a professional real estate agent experienced in listing the best features of both the home and the community surrounding it.
Sep 15, 2015 | Home Seller Tips
Selling a home is more than real estate listings and making the home appealing to potential buyers. One factor to take into account when buying a home is its location, meaning the community surrounds the home.
For sellers as well as buyers, it’s important to highlight the benefits of living in a particular community. After all, neighborhoods will have an enormous impact on the future buyer’s living experience.
It’s All About Walkable Neighborhoods
According to a Portland, Oregon-based company, City Observatory, there’s a growing demand for homes located in walkable neighborhoods. A decades-long love affair with commuting from suburban areas to work in the city has greatly lost its appeal.
Also, the growing demand for walkable neighborhoods is fueled by people desiring convenient access good schools as well as to entertainment options like movies, restaurants, and shopping. There’s also an appeal for easy access through reliable public transportation.
This trend has been around for a while now. In 2013, the National Association of Realtors found that 57 percent of study participants wanted smaller homes and shorter work commutes.
Fifty-five percent of participants said they would gladly get a small house with a small yard if it meant easy access to stores, schools, and restaurants. Plus, a walkable neighborhood also significantly increases property values. So play up the nearby community benefits that would entice potential buyers.
Great Neighborhood Amenities
Other favorable community amenities bicycle paths and libraries, parks. These are great bonuses for neighborhoods to attract fitness-minded individuals and promote a family-friendly atmosphere for buyers with kids. Speaking of kids, living in an excellent school district usually yields higher home values.
According to a survey conducted by the Demand Institute, almost half of participants wanted a pet-friendly neighborhood. In fact, this factor ranked higher than easy access to public transportation and even public schooling.
Neighborhood Safety
Safety is a top concern for most homebuyers. Although, there’s little one can do to quell neighborhood violence there are things an owner can do to make their home safer. They may want to consider studying security features on homes in their neighborhoods and adopt what they can, within reason.
What Potential Home Buyers Don’t Want In A Neighborhood
According to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), fewer home buyers were least impressed with communities with golf courses, a high population, gated communities, and mixed-use communities.
Homeowners, when listing a home, seek the help of a trusted real estate agent experienced in listing the best features of both the home and the community surrounding it.
Sep 11, 2015 | Home Seller Tips
Moving is stressful. Don’t worry. There is an app for that. Technology makes moving easier than ever. Here are three mobile apps that help sellers manage their moves efficiently and with minimum stress.
App One: Move Advisor
First on the list is Move Advisor. This app not only received top reviews from users, it is free. The easy-to-use interface walks sellers through the moving process with four features.
Move Advisor provides users with a comprehensive moving timeline, a home inventory checklist, a moving company locator, and a moving quote.
The moving timeline lets users put in their moving date and any other information. The app then creates a personalized to do list. Each week is broken down into tasks to ease stress and prevent last minute panic.
The home inventory helps itemize the household. The app allows users to easily map out their homes room by room. The app keeps track of what needs to be moved, the volume and weight of the shipment, and how many boxes, furniture blankets, and moving vehicles are needed to move.
Finding a mover is easy with this app. It provides a list of local movers and quotes to make the selection process stress free.
App Two: My Move
My Move is another free app that streamlines the moving process. It focuses on informing users about what to expect from a move, finding a moving company, and properly organizing the move.
Information is invaluable. The app provides access to blogs about moving as well as an in-depth article about what to expect from a move on the app homepage.
The professional relocation assistance searches the top moving companies by state or name and includes reviews to help users make informed decisions. The quote process is as easy as a few taps of a finger. The relocation checklist is easily customized and straightforward, simplifying the packing process.
App Three: State Farm Move Tools
State Farm insurance company offers a highly interactive and visually appealing moving app designed to provide organizational assistance during the move. It comes with a to-do list, a packing tool, a label tool, an inventory, and many helpful moving tips.
Moving is easy with these three apps. Simplify the moving process by downloading one or all today. For more useful tips, contact a real estate agent for professional advice about moving, buying, and selling a home.
