Home Selling Guide | Selling Your Home

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Warmer Weather Is Here, Will Home Sales Follow?

from our BLOG

Spring time is when the housing market traditionally heats up as first time home buyers look to jump into the market, while others trade up to new homes or move away in pursuit of a job or change in scenery. But, 2012 is not an ordinary year as the country continues to grapple with a deep recession.

Truly, it is difficult to gauge how the market will shape up over the coming months, but there are some trends to keep in mind if you plan to buy or sell a home this season:

Home Inventory Is Stable — In most years, early spring housing inventory usually grows as homeowners put their houses on the market. Not this year. Instead, it remained stable which is actually a good thing for sellers: the housing glut isn’t worsening, which could mean that prices will begin to stabilize.

Mortgage Rates Are Low — 30 year fixed mortgage rates have been flirting with the 3-4% mark since the beginning of the year, with some mortgage brokers breaking through that barrier by offering their lowest interest rate to people with excellent credit. Having a good, secure job (not an easy task these days) and plenty of money to put down are two attributes lenders are looking at this year.

Federal Foreclosure Stabilization — Details are still be worked out, but expect that the federal government will intervene to rescue millions of mortgage holders. What this will do to our national debt is to expand it but it could also have the short term effect of halting foreclosures while also stimulating the economy. Look for home prices in some markets to stabilize as a result of these measures.

Finally, before you head out to your first open house or meet with a real estate agent, get pre-qualified for a mortgage to see how much home you can afford. Home shoppers who have a pre-qualification letter from their mortgage broker arm themselves with just the right document to help seal the deal.

Home Selling Tip

for the weeks of: May 13

GETTING YOUR HOME LISTED ...

One of your first steps when selling your home is to get your home listed on major real estate networks.

If you are working with an agent, the agent will list your home for you. If you are working FSBO, you will need to make the listing.

Either way, most home sales begin with an internet search using this popular home listing services.

Weekly Tip:

view home listing services

Home Prep On The Cheap!

from our BLOG

Give Your Home An Exterior Makeover For $5K Or Less

I have some good new and bad news for you, but first the bad news…all of it!

Your company is laying you off, ending what had been a long term climb up the ladder. In order for you to find a comparable position you’ll most likely have to move so you are entertaining several offers hundreds of miles from your home. Clearly, you’ll have to put your home on the market and hope that it’ll sell in the deepest real estate correction in many years.

Worse, you’ll be on your own as far as getting rid of home. Your new company will pay a flat relocation fee, but they won’t help you sell your number one asset. Money is tight all over and your new employer cannot possibly afford to carry your home for many months, perhaps longer.

The good news? Well, if your home is in top shape and you live in a desirable neighborhood, you may be able to sell it sooner than what you think. Regardless of what you may have beenn hearing on the news, homes are buying and selling, just at a pace slower than this time last year.

Big On Curb Appeal

Of course, if you are planning to sell you’ll want to make certain that your home is in the best position to move quickly, which means one thing: how high is your home’s curb appeal?

Curb appeal is defined as the attractiveness of a home as viewed from the street including how its look compares with other homes in the neighborhood. True, curb appeal is subjective as one person’s yard art is another person’s front yard trash! But, there are some things about the look of the house which can truly make it look nice especially for the person who might actually stop in if they are driving by.

Quick Fix Its On A Budget

Real estate agents will tell you that curb appeal is the most important aspect to presenting your home for sale. This doesn’t mean that you won’t need to fix some things on the inside before it goes on the market, but it is those exterior polishings which can sell your home.

Let’s take a look at several projects you can to that’ll cost you less than five thousand dollars total:

Paint or Replace the Front Door — Very few things on the front of the house say “welcome” more than an attractive looking front door. In some cities around the globe, including Dublin, homeowners take pride in the unique styles and colors of their front doors. In the US, we’re understanding how important that is too as people replace old, rotted doors with weather resistant fiberglass doors. Prices range from $400 to $2000 on up. Consider upgrading the lighting too.

Replace Windows — Some homeowners think that they have to replace all of their windows at the same time, but that can be expensive. Instead, spend the $400-500 or so to replace the 4-6 windows on the front of your home choosing those which are highly energy efficient and easy to maintain.

Beautify the Grounds — Winter weather still has a lock hold on much of the nation, making it difficult to bring out the best in a lawn. What you can do now is make sure that leaves and branches have been picked up, that bushes have been trimmed back and if you live in a snowy area that walkways and driveways are cleared and dry. If you live in a warmer climate such in the Carolinas, then you know that pansys thrive in cool weather, giving your yard just right amount of color to help it get noticed.

Miscellaneous — Obviously, you cannot paint a home in cold weather while new siding can be expensive. Before you tackle any project, speak with a real estate professional who can give to you an objective opinion on what should be done to your home before it is placed on the market. When time is of the essence, you want to be able to complete such projects within a week or two so that you can get on with your life.

Of course, you’ll also want a real estate agent who understands the market, with a good grasp on current home pricing, how long homes are on the market, etc. You may have to aggressively price your home in order for it to sell a decision you’ll need to weight against pursuing employment in a different area of the country.

Zillow Says Most Americans Aware Of Home Value Decline

from our BLOG

One of the most bitter pills Americans have had to swallow over the past 2 years or more is the notion that the value of their homes has not only quit rising, but in some cases has dropped significantly. After seeing annual double digit sales increases for most of the past decade, home prices in many markets started to decline toward the end of 2007.

Real estate agents have been having a difficult time convincing some sellers to lower their home prices in a bid to move their property as these owners have told themselves that their homes are worth more than they really are.

Zillow Surveys American Homeowners

Zillow, which is an online real estate marketplace where homeowners, buyers, sellers, real estate agents and mortgage professionals can share their information for free, recently surveyed American homeowners discovering that 57% believe that their own homes have lost value though that number is below the 76% of homes which have actually been declining in value.

Most surveyed homeowners were optimistic, believing that their homes will quit losing value this year with some expecting that prices will even increase. Zillow says that 70% of those surveyed believe that the worst has past while the remaining 30% believe that additional losses will be realized in 2009.

Quoting Dr. Stan Humphries, Zillow’s vice president of data and analytics, “It’s clear that the ‘not my house’ sentiment that was so prevalent in earlier surveys is waning, and homeowners are opening their eyes to the unfortunate reality of significant losses in home values across most of the country. That said, there’s a curious optimism for homeowners when asked about the future – most seem to believe we’ve hit a bottom and the worst has passed. Unfortunately, the data tells another story. With year-over-year home value losses continuing to accelerate, most areas of the country will see housing values get worse before they begin to stabilize.”

Check With A Real Estate Agent

For homeowners who aren’t planning to sell, refinance or take out a home equity loan or line of credit, their current home value probably isn’t effecting them all that much especially if they’re mortgage free.

But, for the person who is planning to sell their home, there is good reason for them to be aware of what their current home price is. That value can be determined by contacting a real estate professional and having them examine comparable home sales in the area as well as seeking an independent appraisal from a trained professional.

Put together, the homeowner should have a clear, realistic picture of what their home is worth and market their property accordingly.

Of course, for many homeowners, they could be in for the shock of their lives, discovering that they are upside down with their mortgage (owing more on their mortgage than what their home is worth). In that case homeowners are faced with two choices: selling their home for less and absorbing the loss or waiting out the market until prices rebound.

Source: Zillow.com