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October 26, 2007

Selling Your Home Alone

Filed under: FSBO, Real-Estate — Harold Febis @ 1:57 pm

Selling Your house is one of the top most stressful human activities.
Delays or anything else that disturb the planning only increase your stress degree.
Every miscommunication or misunderstanding can lead to frustration.
This article provide you with tips to avoid stress and frustration when selling your house.

First you need to decide if you should sell privately or use a professional real estate agent.
In a very hot market you may be able to sell privately, but it is not an easy task.

If you decide to sell privately make sure you have the proper time to devote to it and a strategy to marketed the house effectively.
You will also need to know about all the legalities involved.

The next step is to set a reasonable asking price by comparing prices in your area.
Don’t just look at what other sellers initially asked for, but what price they ultimately got.

Knowing what to say to the potential buyer can sometimes make or break the deal.
You have a strong emotional attachment to your home and this alone can make it very hard to remain objective!

When people come through your home if you hover over them and appear anxious to sell, the customer may think you are desperate.
This could trigger a lower offer. A good agent knows how to talk to the client and bring them to the table with a fair offer.

Most houses are not perfect and you must admit it to yourselves if this is the case.
There won’t be much chance to sell your house quickly if the house is in need of repair.
Book a house inspection and act on the recommendations accordingly.
When everything is fixed, you won’t have to bluff your way thru with potential buyers.
The money will be well spent when you get a quick sale.

Don’t neglect the garden and outbuildings if you have them. Remember that the people viewing your house could be seeing dozens of others too.
A detail like an orderly garden shed could just make the difference and you could sell your house quickly on the strength of it.

When people come around to view the house, they will want to see a clean and tidy home.
Remove any clutter and help them to imagine themselves as the new occupants.
If you have any unwanted items in the house, you may as well have a yard sale to off load them.
The trick of baking bread or making coffee to get a pleasant aroma can’t hurt!
At least make sure that there are no bad odors to put people off.

If they appear to be interested, they’ll most likely want to haggle. Don’t be inflexible about the price if you want to sell your house quickly but don’t be a push over either.

For sale by owners often over price their home. This is due to the emotional attachment to the home and not having the training to evaluate a home’s worth.

There are many variables to consider when pricing a home. Your home could be worth substantially more or less than a similar home on the same street. This can affect your bottom line and lose you many dollars if you appraise your home incorrectly.
You really should pay for an appraiser to price your home properly, if you are going it alone!
Agents are trained to do proper market assessments of the neighborhood and homes that have recently sold.

In conclusion, it has to be your decision whether you sell privately or hire a professional.
Sellers certainly have successfully sold on their own and have done very well.
One question to ask is, could the sellers have done even better had they used a professional agent? We may never know!

You may consider trying to sell your own home for a month or so. If you get discouraged because no offers are coming in, you may want to hire a professional realtor.

There are lots of books out there that can help you sell privately.

Harold Febis, Online Marketer specialized in article marketing author of numerous articles, earns hundreds of dollars in affiliate commissions every week!
http://www.qualitycontentarticle.com

October 20, 2007

Home Seller Secrets: ‘The Rule of Half’

Filed under: FSBO, Real-Estate — Michael E. Hart @ 11:02 pm

Don?t put that sign up until you?ve had a chance to take a good look around at what you?re selling. Is there work to be done? Remember that you?re only going to get one chance to make a good first impression, so don?t blow it!

Go on a ?clean and repair mission? starting with the outside of your home. Walk out to the curb and take a good look at the landscaping and exterior of the house. What do you see? If you see dead plants, scattered toys, garbage cans, broken tree limbs, or anything else distracting, here’s what I suggest:

?If it?s ugly, dead, distracting, out of place, or in any other way has a negative impact on the overall look or feel of your home, GET RID OF IT! If you can?t get rid of it, do your best to cover it up. If you can?t cover it up, do your best to divert attention from it by highlighting other areas.?

When you get to the interior, it?s clean and light (not dark), and roomy and spacious (not cluttered), that buyers want and expect to see. That means you should clean the house floor to ceiling. Paint rooms lighter colors if painting is needed. And very importantly, de-personalize and de-clutter.

Make your home look as roomy and spacious as it can look.

How? One way is to gather up those cool little collections of antiques, knick knacks, stuffed animals, baskets, family photos, Disney characters, cookie tins, and so on, and ? I hate to say this but ? box it all up and put it away in the attic or in storage until your house is SOLD!

Why? Because too many small items in a home will make a home look cluttered. A home with too many personalized items makes it harder for a potential buyer to visualize the house as ?theirs?.

Most sellers don’t want to hear that. And that’s understandable given that many times their ‘collectables’ are associated with fond memories and special times. That fact aside, the truth is … something that may give you or I the ‘warm fuzzies’ is, more often than not, a ‘distraction’ to a potential buyer. But if you expect to sell a house (and put money in your pocket), you have to prepare the house for the buyers. And that means you must depersonalize and declutter.

One way to do that is invoke ?THE RULE OF HALF!?

This is a rule born of necessity as I tried to help a friend sell a home that was getting plenty of ‘lookers’, but no offers, no buyers. I knew the price was more than fair, but I also knew the house was, well … a ‘clutter box’. Her house was litterally overrun with little collectibles and personal photos.

I told her, to get her home sold, she would have to invoke ‘The Rule of HALF’! Yes, I made up that rule ‘on the fly’, but I did so because I knew to say anything different could have been taken as an insult (as most of the items were given to her by family and friends).

I knew she would have to pack up ‘at least half’ of all her collectibles, photos and knick knacks (even better would have been to put away ALL, but I settled for half), and half of all her kitchen gadgets (to give the look and feel of more counter space), and half of everything in her closets (shoes, clothes, hats, boxes, etc).

This made a huge difference in the look and feel of the house. The following weekend she showed her house three times, and received an offer (which she accepted) the following Monday.

Remember that most people are moving because they want or need more space. Declutter and depersonalize your home to make it look and feel as spacious and comfortable as possible.

If you can’t bear to put away all your ‘warm fuzzy’ items, then try this idea yourself … invoke ‘The Rule of HALF’. You’ll be glad you did when the offers start coming in!

Michael Hart is a former real estate agent, a private real estate investor, and author of several articles and reports such as ‘Top 10 Tips To Sell Your Home By Owner’. He is also a Mortgage Consultant based in Peachtree City, Ga. For more information he can be reached through the internet at http://www.InternetLoanCenter.com or by phone at 678-318-3542.

October 9, 2007

How Does A ‘For Sale By Owner’ Seller Determine A Realistic Asking Price?

Filed under: FSBO, Real-Estate — Michael E. Hart @ 7:22 am

There are really only two ways to set a realistic asking price for your home.

1. Call at least two local real estate agents and ask for a FREE ?Comparative Market Analysis?.

2. Call an appraiser and pay $300-$350 for a formal appraisal.

Some would argue that there is a 3rd option ? which is to get an ?online evaluation? from one of the ?online real estate evaluation? sites. Personally, I say ?hogwash, don?t bother!?. I?ve checked these sites myself a few times just for ?gee whiz? . They?re ?pricing?, even on a median priced home, could be $10,000?$30,000 higher or lower than true value. Give them a couple years, then maybe, just maybe they might be more reliable ? for now, stick with real estate agents and appraisers!

When you call your local real estate agents, tell them the truth. Tell them that you?re looking to put your home up for sale soon and you?re going to try the ?by-owner? route before you consider signing up with a real estate company. Tell them you?re just not quite sure what your asking price should be.

Just about any agent you speak with will offer to do a FREE ?C.M.A.? for you, which is a ?Comparative Market Analysis?. This little CMA report is a very valuable resource to you as a ‘By Owner’ seller. It provides you with information such as ? what price other homes similar to yours in size and location have sold for recently. This report should also tell you … the original asking price, the eventual selling price, and the number of days the house was on the market before the house sold.

Very useful information to have. It will help you set a realistic asking price and determine what may ultimately be a fair selling price. And the best part is that the real estate agents that provide you with this information won?t mind putting it together for you for FREE.

Why? Because they know that the majority of people who try to sell ?By Owner? usually give up after only 4-6 weeks. Then they call the realtor they felt gave them the most information and help when they had ‘By Owner’ questions, and sign a ?listing agreement? with that agent.

That being the case, a good real estate agent knows that if they?re helpful to you now, you may come back to them later if you decide selling ?by owner? is not for you. Just be sure you call on more than one agent and one company for your free CMA. You?ll find that some agents are much more helpful, courteous, professional (and likable) than others.

Another method of determining price is to pay for a formal appraisal. Unless your home is ?atypical? or in an unusual location, I would opt for the cheaper (free) method and call a couple of different real estate agents and ask for a Comparative Market Analysis.

An appraisal in my area runs about $300-$350 for an owner occupied single family home & $450 for a non-owner occupied (investment / rental home). Save that for advertsing your ‘By Owner’ home. Buy yourself some signs, pay for printing some flyers, and pay for a classified ad in your local paper. It will likely be ‘money well spent’ … or better yet ‘money well invested’!

Michael Hart is a former real estate agent, a private investor, author of many articles and reports such as ‘Top 10 Tips To Sell Your Home By Owner’. He’s also a mortgage consultant based in Peachtree City, Ga. and can be contacted through http://www.InternetLoanCenter.com or by phone at 678-318-3542.

October 7, 2007

10 Quick Tips To Help Sell Your Home By Owner!

Filed under: FSBO, Real-Estate — Michael E. Hart @ 4:48 pm

1. Have a garage sale to get rid of a few household items you no longer have use for…and use the opportunity to hand out a sales flyer about your home to every person that comes by!

2. Make sure to put ?Shown By Appointment Only? below your phone number on your sign, and on your flyer. This won?t stop all ?door knockers? but it will stop most from showing up unannounced, expecting to walk right in at any time they like. (Not everyone is as well mannered as you or I!)

3. Make sure your home smells nice! Try vanilla scented candles or even better, bake some chocolate chip cookies in the oven just before your ?Open House?. Just pick up a can of the ?ready made dough? at the grocery store and pop them in the oven!

4. Burning candles in the bathroom and adding some fresh cut flowers on the dining room table can add to the ambience of the home when entertaining potential buyers.

5. During an ?Open House?, if you have pets, keep them at a friends house or some other location for the day. Many people are allergic to dogs, cats and other pets that we love.

6. Go by the local plant nursery and pick up few fresh plants to perk up both the inside and the outside of your home (like the front porch). One great place to place fresh plants is just outside the front door. Not only do they look good, but they smell nice too.

7. Make sure to check with your neighbors when you?re planning an ?open house? to let them know you?re probably going to have a few visitors and ask if it?s okay to allow people to park in front of their homes while viewing yours!

8. Open the curtains and blinds and put the lights on in any dark rooms of the house to lighten things up. Bright rooms look larger, cleaner and more appealing than closed up dark rooms.

9. Start packing items you don?t often use and put them away in the garage or attic. This will improve the look and feel of the house and make it easier on you when the house does eventually sell.

10. Organize, organize, organize. Go through your entire house, including garage, pantries, closets, and basements (all areas that will be seen by would be buyers) and organize the contents to make each area look as spacious as possible. This will enhance the overall appearance and appeal of your home.

Michael Hart is a former real estate agent, a private investor, author of many articles and reports on real estate and investing. He’s also a Mortgage Consultant based in Peachtree City, Ga. and can be contacted via the internet at http://www.InternetLoanCenter.com or by phone at 678-318-3542.

September 30, 2007

How I Use ‘Open House’ To Save Time And Maintain Sanity!

Filed under: FSBO, Real-Estate — Michael E. Hart @ 2:42 am

When you’re busy at work, the last thing you need is the frustration of having to run home 2, 3 or 4 times a week to show your home. It’s especially aggravating when realize that at least 1 out of 4 people who schedule an appoint … won’t even bother showing up!

I?ve found that the best way to maintain control of my time (and my sanity), is to hold a ‘OPEN HOUSE’ each weekend, until the house is sold. I set up a time frame a week in advance. Usually 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.

When I return calls to people who?ve left messages on my ads and flyers, I give them these specific time frames and tell them ‘this is when you can see the interior of the home if your’re interested’.

I also put ‘Open House’ (days and times) on my flyers (in bold print) so that everyone who picks up one of my flyers from my info box knows they’re able to come back to see the inside of the house over the weekend.

I do this for three reasons:

1. I?ll have time to get the house cleaned up so that I’m prepared for my guest.

2. Odds are that the more people I schedule for these times, the better my chances of having someone show up, so that I?m not wasting my time. And when 2 or 3 potential buyers show up at the same time, it can create a sense of urgency (competition) among them that works to my favor.

3. The main reason for setting up showings in this manner is so that I maintain control of my own time. Otherwise, I could end up running around like a chicken with his … well, you know what I mean. Been there, done that … didn’t like it!

I know some will say I loose buyers this way, and that may be true … but personally, I think the trade off is worth it.

Now, I will show a house at times other than just the weekend ?OPEN HOUSE?, but usually I?ll only do that for people who?ve already been there for a weekend showing. Often, you’ll get people who want to come back for a second look. Sometimes it’s because they want an opinion from a trusted friend or relative.

Keep in mind that ’serious’ buyers generally ask a lot of questions too. Since buying a home is usually the biggest investment of a lifetime, that’s understandable. So be gentle my friend … your potential buyer is probably a lot more nervous than YOU are!

As a precaution, I always suggest that when you have an ?OPEN HOUSE? you should keep valuables safely hidden away where someone isn?t likely to pick something up that they weren?t suppose to. And don’t forget to use the ‘buddy system’. Call a friend or neighbor to hangout while you have visitors in the house. Besides, you’ll need someone to help make sure everyone gets a flyer … and some of those chocolate chip cookies you’re going to bake just before ‘Open House’ starts!

Michael Hart is a former real estate agent, a private investor, author of many articles and reports on real estate and investing, and also a mortgage consultant based in Peachtree City, Ga. He can be contacted through the internet at www.InternetLoanCenter.com or by phone at 678-318-3542.

June 25, 2007

Secrets to Pricing Your FSBO for Quick Sale and High Profits

Filed under: FSBO, Real-Estate — Evelyn Grazini @ 1:07 pm

When you choose to go the For Sale by Owner (FSBO) route, you decide to take on a lot of extra work. Hopefully the extra profit you’ll pocket will be worth it. However, now not only will you need to be ready show your house at a moments notice, but you will also be in charge Marketing, Market Research, and Advertising.

Out of these, Market Research is the most important. The price you set on your house is the main determining factor on how quickly you will sell your FSBO. But how do you come up with the right price? Here are a few things you might want to consider.

Appraisals - Most people think that appraisals are the only way to determine the price of a house. However, appraisals cost around $300 - $500, and may still not give you the information you need. The best way to find out what your house is worth is by asking a Real Estate Agent (yes, you can ask an Agent, even if you are going the For Sale By Owner route).

Agents commonly provide what is called a CMA (Comparative Marketing Analysis). They use this as a sales proposal to solicit your listing. It is best to get a CMA from three different agents. Make sure you select agents you would want to work with in the future, in case you decide not to go the FSBO route.

The CMA should include information on: 1) Comps - What homes similar to yours have recently sold for; 2) Suggested listing price - If you talk to three agents, you may get three different prices. Usually, one will be high, one lower, and one in the mid-range. You should be able to get a good feel for the average with the three different opinions. 3) Marketing Strategy - because the Agent wants your listing, he or she should be able to tell you what types of marketing will be done to help the sale (example: Web site or Newspaper advertising, open houses for brokers and buyers, etc.).

You might have enough information to make your decision after speaking to these Agents, but you should also do a little research of your own by looking around your neighborhood and checking out prices of homes similar to yours.

After all of that, you may still be unsure if the price you have set is the best one for a quick sale, but here are a few things to calm your mind.

Your for sale by owner price may be too high if you do not immediately get agents asking to set up showings; you have not had one or two serious buyers in the first couple of weeks (serious buyers are those who have come back for a second look); or you have not received a valid offer within four to six weeks. In this case, you may want to consider lowering the price by 2 to 5 percent for two to three weeks and see what happens.

Don’t worry too much about under-pricing the FSBO. If your price is right, you will get multiple offers, which, in the end, will raise the selling price.

Good Luck!

Evelyn Grazini delivers For Sale By Owner (FSBO) advice to help you sell your home fast! - Find free articles and a free report on ‘What to Repair and What to Remodel to Obtain TOP DOLLAR when you sell! http://www.fsbotactics.com/asale.htm

June 19, 2007

For Sale By Owner and MLS Listings

Filed under: FSBO, Real-Estate — Raynor James @ 12:19 am

There is a common misconception among people who decide to sell their home without a real estate agent. The misconception deals with getting their home in MLS listings.

For Sale By Owner and MLS Listings

Making the decision to sell your property without a real estate agent makes sense from a financial perspective. The commission rate charged by a real estate agent is traditionally six percent. This equates to a fee of $18,000 on a $300,000 home, $24,000 on a $400,000 home and a whopping $30,000 on a $500,000 home. Anyway you cut it, that is a lot of your hard earned equity to pay out. In fact, it may have taken you three, five or ten years of monthly mortgage payments and appreciation to build up that amount of equity.

Given the above figures, why do people use real estate agents? In many cases, they do so because they think using a real estate agent is the only way to get into the multiple listing service for their area. The multiple listing service, better known as MLS, is a directory of homes for sale in the area that real estate agents and buyers can access. What most people selling their own property do not understand is that they can be listed in the MLS without retaining a real estate agent.

In many areas, access to the MLS has been opened up to for sale by owner individuals. You can contact discount brokers that will list your home in the service. The brokers typically charge you a flat fee for the listing. The fees can be a bit pricey, but they are always much, much less than paying a realtor commission. If you feel like you need some additional help as well, most discount brokers offer tiers of service where you can pay a bit more to get help with closings, contracts and so on. Again, the ultimate fee is much less than paying a realtor commission.

While inclusion in MLS is probably a wise decision, it is not absolutely necessary. One of the reasons MLS listings are now easy to get has to do with the Internet. Simply put, the web has revolutionized the real estate industry. A recent study found that over seventy percent of buyers now do their initial research on the web. This makes sense given the fact it is lot less time consuming to simply point and click through a large number of homes without having to blow money on gas driving all over town. In simple terms, this means you need an Internet advertisement for your property more than you need a straight MLS advertisement.

If you are trying to decide whether to sell your property without an agent, do not worry about MLS listings.

Raynor James is with the site - FSBO America - FSBO homes for sale by owner.

June 18, 2007

For Sale by Owner Excerpts: Selling Your Home

Filed under: FSBO, Real-Estate — Kara Kritzer @ 6:07 pm

PREPARING YOUR HOME

Preparing your home for sale is essential for getting it sold and getting top dollar. Owners who take a little time to prepare their home will net thousands more dollars than those who just put a sign in the yard. Which upgrades add value to your home is a topic of much debate. However, cleaning and painting are small changes you can make that will definitely bring you the most in return. Do not put your home on the market before it is ready. You only get one chance to make a good first impression.

Paint
You can?t predict what your buyer?s taste in color schemes will be, so you want to market to the average buyer. Paint your home in bright neutral colors so that they will be able to visualize themselves living in your home.

Keep it clean
Make the bed, put the dishes away, and hide the kids? toys. You should also consider hiring cleaning professionals to come through and give your place a deep cleaning.

Odors
Be careful of strong cooking odors like onions and garlic. Pet odors are also a big turn- off for buyers. Put litter boxes in a place that will contain the odor. Do what you need to do to remove pet odor from carpets and furniture. Fabric freshener like Febreze can help make your space smell cleaner.

Light makes your home look larger
Clean the windows and keep all window blinds and shades opened. When possible, turn on as many lights as possible, even during the daytime.

Remove personal effects
Your personal items are a distraction to buyers. Put away your personal pictures. Remove any distracting art from the walls. You want buyers to be able to visualize themselves living in your home.

Landscaping
Mow the lawn; generously water and fertilize it. Clear the weeds that grow up along the house. Prune overgrown trees and shrubs. Remove any unnecessary equipment from the lawn. Put bicycles and kids? toys in the garage. Get rid of run down playground equipment. If the exterior of your home is uninviting or rundown this is the first impression that the buyers will have, and it will be a hard one to recover from. To get an objective view of your home try standing on the other side of the street or a few homes down and comparing the exterior of your home to your neighbors? homes.

PRICING
Pricing your home is the one of the most important parts of your marketing plan. Too high a price and your home won?t sell, too low a price and you lose money. In a hot market you have much more room to experiment. If your market is slow or slowing, pricing becomes much more crucial, and you?ll want to get it right the first time.

Comparables
When Realtors price your home, they use a method called a CMA, or Comparative Market Analysis. They compare your home to homes that have sold in your area within the last 30-90 days, and to homes like yours that are currently on the market. The formula is simple but the real value comes from knowing which comparables to pick. Two CMA?s done on the same home can vary greatly if the same comparables are not used. This can be difficult to perform objectively. If you think it could be difficult for you to look at your home objectively, it might be best to get a third party opinion. Below are a few things you will want to consider when comparing your home to the competition:

Square Footage: This is a big one. Buyers often use square footage in comparisons, and on occasion use a dollars-per-sq.-ft. analysis when analyzing home prices.

Age: If your home was built in 1920 and one of your closest comparables was built in 1995, you will need to make an adjustment for this. As homes age they change categories. They can be new, outdated, old, or even historical. Again when picking comparables it is very important to compare apples to apples, so if possible keep the age of comparable homes within 5 years of yours.

Lot size: Try to keep comparables within .05 acres of your lot size. Also consider the position of the home on the lot.

Baths: The location of a bathroom can be very important. Having a bathroom off the master bedroom adds value. Also, keep in mind that there is a big difference between a full bathroom and a half bath.

Here are a few things to avoid when determining the asking price of your home.

Adding the cost of upgrades and improvements to your asking price: As discussed in another section, not all improvements will recover their costs at closing. Even if your home is substantially nicer than most homes in your neighborhood, you?ll need to make sure it is still affordable to the buyers who are looking to buy in your neighborhood.

Pricing your home based on what you want or need to get out of it: You might know the exact amount of money you need to achieve from the transaction, after the closing process, in order to put a down payment on your dream home. However, the buyers looking to purchase in your area are not concerned with your next home purchase. Be careful not to miss opportunities by pricing your home above market value.

NEGOTIATING

Preparation
There is no substitute for knowledge. Exercise diligence in your research and you’ll have an accurate assessment of the subject property’s value. This is the most important piece of information in negotiating a deal. All the arguments in the world won’t change the value of a property. If you’ve independently determined what that price is, then you’re not going to sell too low or pay too much. At this point, negotiating becomes an attempt to learn the other party’s level of knowledge.

Don?t feel pressured to answer right away
While you might be told the offer is only good until a certain time and date, don?t feel like you have to accept an offer right away or on the spot. Tell them you would like to discuss it with your spouse, or you would like to sleep on it, or perhaps run it by a friend or lawyer. You?ll find that the decision-making process will become much easier once you?ve had time to ?sleep on it? and allow yourself to go over all the information.

Be detached
The quickest way to lose control of a negotiation is to become too emotionally involved. Obviously, buying and selling something as expensive as a house is an emotionally loaded experience, but cultivating a detached demeanor will help convince your opponent that you are a competent negotiator who is comfortable with his/her position. Being too emotional will always be interpreted as desperation and that gives the upper hand to the other side.

Ask for more than you will accept
Even if both sides of the bargaining table have perfect knowledge of the property, they?ll still need to feel as if they have negotiated a good deal. It’s hard to feel you’ve accomplished something by negotiating if the starting and ending points are the same. Each party should feel that they’ve gained substantial benefit from the negotiation.

Get it in writing
Get the first offer in writing so you can see all the terms. A polite, ‘we will consider all written offers’ can greatly enhance a nervous negotiator’s ability to control the process. It will give you time to evaluate the offer fairly and greatly reduce the effectiveness of pressure tactics. After the first offer you can counter verbally. Make sure that there is an attorney review period as part of the contract. During the attorney review you will want your attorney to be able to evaluate the contract and make any necessary changes or void the contract if necessary. Putting offers and counter offers through a fax machine a few times will make them unreadable. Once you verbally agree to the terms then get signatures on a fresh contract and send it off to your attorney for the attorney review period (usually around 5 business days).

We hope you?ve enjoyed these excerpts! To receive the complete, complementary For Sale by Owner guide to selling your home by Berg Properties, please visit:
http://www.bergproperties.com/fsbo_guide.php

Article Written By Scott Berg

Scott Berg has extensive experience in sales and customer service. Prior to founding Berg Properties, Scott Berg was a consultant for the Boru Group and helped many small businesses in a myriad of industries improve sales and customer service by automating their business processes.

Berg Properties was recognized in the Chicago Tribune by the Chicago Association of Realtors as a Top Tier Producer in 2004 with the most residential units and the highest volume sold as a new comer.

March 2, 2007

Take These Steps To Make Buyers Remember Your Home

Filed under: FSBO, Real-Estate — Raynor James @ 3:49 pm

When selling a property, it is important to remember that most buyers are looking a lot of listings. This means your goal is to make them remember your home.

Take These Steps To Make Buyers Remember Your Home

Some people get a bit conservative when it comes to selling their home. They tend to view it as a family heirloom. Instead of taking all possible steps to make it attractive to a seller, they get offended by even the remotest of suggestions that any such steps need be taken. The simple fact, my friend, is the moment you decide to sell, your property goes from a family residence to a product. If you fail to make this emotional leap, you are going to have problems selling it.

When you show your property to buyers, it is important to remember something. They did not jump into the car just to come see you. Nope, they are two, four and maybe even six timing you. By this, I mean they are most likely visiting multiple houses on the day in question. Put in practical terms, you are in a competition with those other mystery houses and you must make your stick in the mind of the buyer.

To “win the day”, you obviously need to have your home in good overall condition. This means the structure needs to be in acceptable shape. The paint should be perfect. The landscaping should be cut back to something less than a rainforest. Clutter should be removed. Basically, you should give the property the once over.

To really make your property standout, however, you need to take a few extra steps. First, emphasize comfort by playing some soft music. Second, bake something that smells nice, but is not to strong. If you can’t cook, go to the baker and get a cake or something. Third, potpourri should be used in all bathrooms. Fourth, cut and put fresh flowers in various rooms that otherwise appear bland. Five, provide more detailed information on the home in a written form you can hand out. Six, if there is a particular reason you are moving, tell the sellers on said memo. I just want to cash out or the new neighbors are noisy, is not a good reason!

If you take these steps, the buyers will remember you at the end of the day. If your property is one that fits what the buyers are looking for, an offer will soon follow.

Raynor James is with the site - FSBO America - FSBO homes for sale by owner.

February 17, 2007

Sell Your Home by Making a Good First Impression - Even if Your Home is Already on the Market

Filed under: FSBO, Real-Estate — Jeanette Joy Fisher @ 9:36 pm

If you’re a homeowner who has become frustrated because your home seems to have been sitting on the market too long, perhaps it simply isn’t making a good first impression on potential buyers. If that’s the case, don’t despair. Even if your home has been on the market for some time, there are some simple things you can do to help your home make a better first impression, the second time around.

As the old saying goes, you only get one chance to make a good first impression, and that’s true both for real estate agents who may be touring your home during regular property tours or for buyers looking at homes in their price range and target neighborhood. But don’t despair if your home has already been on the market for awhile. It’s not too late to improve your chances of selling your home at a good price.

However, even if your home is currently on the market, you can still upgrade and improve your home to make it more attractive, and once you’ve done that, you can ask your agent to schedule your home for another agent property tour to show off the improvements. It’s entirely possible that the upgrades will make your home just what someone has been looking for, even if it didn’t impress them during the first viewing.

The first key to successful selling is to remember that even though it’s been your home, once you decide to sell it, your house instantly becomes just another commodity being sold amid competition from all the other houses in your price range and area. Therefore, you must make your house stand out from the competition if you’re going to sell quickly and for a higher price.

The second key is not to spend a huge amount of money on upgrades. You want to make a dramatic difference without affecting your bottom line too drastically. One of the most effective ways to do that is through the use of paint, both inside and out. It’s by far the most cost effective way to dramatically improve the look of a home for the least amount of money. Using neutral colors will allow buyers to visualize their furnishing in various rooms without worrying about the time and expense they’d have to incur repainting walls.

However, there’s another dramatic upgrade that’s often overlooked, yet can be done for virtually NO cost. That’s de-cluttering. You live in your home every day and get used to certain messes or smells that can make a huge difference in your home’s buyer appeal and the types of offers you’ll get. So walk through your home, or better yet, have someone else walk through with you and tell you what areas need cleaning, de-cluttering, or deodorizing. It can be an eye-opening situation, but it’s critical that your home make a good first impression on potential buyers.

If your home hasn’t sold, it’s possible that you need to take charge of the situation and give it a second chance to make a good first impression!

Copyright © 2006 Jeanette J. Fisher

Jeanette Fisher helps home sellers use interior design secrets for top dollar sales. Free Home Staging Information Free home sellers information at http://sellfast.info

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