Selling a Home – Karen's Perspective

Rent out your Home or Sell It?

According to census data analyzed by Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies and The Associated Press, the number of single family rentals nationwide jumped 2.3 million from 2006-2010. During the first half of the decade, it increased only 720,000.

Since the housing meltdown, nearly 3 million households have become renters. At least 3 million more are expected by 2015. Rentals are on the rise! Should you rent out your home rather than sell it?

Homeownership is at its lowest point since 1998 and has declined for 6 straight years.

In Costs to Sell Your Home, I listed the costs you will incur to sell your home and showed why, rather than losing your home to foreclosure or selling at a huge discount, you may want to rent your home in this growing renters market. As less qualified buyers look at more homes on the market, your options may be leading you to this solution.

Let’s look at some pros and cons of renting versus selling.

06 / 16 / 2011
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Should You Hire a Real Estate Agent?

It is not required that you use a real estate agent when selling or purchasing a home. You can sell as for-sale-by-owner and you can buy on your own from anyone. If you decide to take this route, you will use a real estate attorney or title company to handle the paperwork and the closing giving you assistance and guidance once you have found a willing and able buyer or seller and reached a purchase agreement. You will, however, be on your own for many things including lining up inspections and repairs.

So, what does a real estate agent do for you?

06 / 15 / 2011
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Wholesaling

don't own - don't rent

We had a great session on Wholesaling at our Triad Mastermind class last Saturday taught by one of our coaches, Bill Sandford. Here are some of the highlights:

Wholesaling is often described as the quickest, easiest, lowest risk way to make money in real estate. When wholesaling, you buy cheap, sell cheap, and sell fast with little or no money out of your own pocket.

Now, let’s talk about what real estate wholesaling isn’t. Real estate wholesale has absolutely zero to do with banks, loans, general contractors, mops, brooms, cleaning supplies, or any sort of repair work whatsoever. It also has nothing to do with landlording, collecting rent, speculation or anything that carries heavy risk. Sound interesting?

To wholesale, you purchase property at a severe discount and sell it to an investor or buyer, typically someone other than the final owner, at a discount low enough that they can purchase from you, repair the property and then sell it again at a profit for themselves.

The normal fee you make when wholesaling is anywhere from $300 to $15,000 depending upon the price of the property and how much discount you were able to get when you bought.

06 / 08 / 2011
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10 Tips for a Better Yard

landscape

If you’re selling your home, first impressions are everything. Make someone fall in love with your home the minute they pull up to the front.

If you’re not selling, create a beautiful yard as your private retreat and a comfortable spot to come home to.

Here are a few very easy suggestions:

1. First, if you have any problem growth areas in your yard, you can send a soil sample to your county or state’s extension service, just google for your state resource, to have the pH levels tested. This process can take up to 6 weeks so, if you don’t want to wait, check around. I found a local garden nursery that will test my soil for free and I have my results in less than 10 minutes!

05 / 31 / 2011
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Everyone Sees Your Property Differently

05 / 30 / 2011
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Pricing Your House to Sell

Guest Post

Thank you to our Triad/Triangle Mastermind coach, Fred Fetterolf of Paramount Realty Solutions in Raleigh, NC for this article. Fred gives a great summary of recent Wall Street Journal headlines regarding the real estate market.

PRICING YOUR HOUSE TO SELL

The big economic crunch started around the Fall of 2008. Since that time, many of us have been downsized, outsized or re-sized. Whatever they want to call it, a lot of the higher paying jobs have seemed to just vanish into thin air. Besides these external pressures, people deal with other issues like divorce, disability or bad health situations and elder care.

On the happier side, it is true that all that is news is not bad. Yes, some people are earning more money as they achieve well deserved promotions. With mixed emotions, my own family approaches a state called “empty nesters,” which has a certain economic impact. Whatever the reason, people need to sell homes or want to sell homes.

The million dollar question then becomes the value of the home. Well, maybe not. What we really want to know is if there is any equity in the home. The first step in this calculation is, however, the top line number we call “fair market value.” This value typically comes via a Realtor through a device called “comparable home sales.”

Before we talk about pricing methodology let’s take a look at the headline news stories found in the Wall Street Journal over the last year.

05 / 26 / 2011
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Are We at the Bottom of the Real Estate Market

My immediate response is “no”. But how do we determine “at” or “near” bottom?

Your answer, as always, depends upon your local economic and housing market conditions. Real estate is always local. To research and learn your local area, check out newspapers, online news services and industry web sites for a wealth of data that can be used to analyze your local-market trends. CNN is not local.

Five of the best local indicators to consider are:

05 / 23 / 2011
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Costs to Sell Your Home

Some people actually believe they will be “getting” what they sell their house for and are shocked at closing by the number on their side of the HUD-1 (ask any closing attorney). Warning! There are tremendous costs to sell.

What costs will you incur when you sell?

To begin with, you will not get your asking price. In this economy, a 5% discount is conservative, 10% may even be conservative (unfortunately). So, if you list your home for $200,000 an offer of $180,000 should not be a surprise.
Don’t forget to deduct real estate commission from your proceeds. I’m always amazed, truly, by the number of sellers who know about this cost but don’t deduct it mentally from what they will receive at closing. Real estate commission is a true expense if you have your house listed with a Realtor and/or if a Realtor brings you a buyer. The commission you’ve agreed to pay will be deducted from your side of the settlement statement.
Inspections. Every home inspector will find needed repairs (that’s what they’re paid to do) and most sellers have no idea how much those repairs are going to cost. Especially in today’s real estate market, buyers want all that stuff repaired.
Pest inspections. Insects such as termites, not neighbors.
Home Shield. A service contract that covers the repair or replacement of some of the most frequently occurring breakdowns of certain home system components, i.e. heating and air conditioner units and appliances. The service contract is good for one year and today’s buyers expect this to be provided by the seller.
Then there are recording fees, attorney fees, sometimes a survey, transfer tax (varies by state, even county), document prep fees, title insurance, courier fees, etc. These fees typically amount to 3%-5% of the selling price of your home.

A quick formula we use for determining costs to sell is:

05 / 19 / 2011
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House Not Selling?

This is a really tough time to be selling a house. If you have your house for sale, you already know that.

There are tons of homes on the market meaning you have lots of competition for qualified buyers.
Buyers want foreclosure prices even if your home is in perfect condition.
Buyers have so much to choose from that they want all the bells and whistles – hard surface countertops, hardwood floors, fireplace, deck, fenced yard, fresh paint, new carpets.
And, again, they want foreclosure prices!

Add to that the decline in housing prices. Are you “upside down” on your mortgage? (Do you owe more than your house is worth?) Or, even beyond that, can you sell your home for enough that you don’t have to write a check at the closing table?

Selling a house is expensive! First, you have to discount to compete, then there’s the real estate commission, closing costs, survey, inspection, repairs after it’s been inspected, current year property taxes, attorney costs, recording fees – where’s the profit?

I feel your pain because we buy and sell real estate every month. Selling has always been the hardest part but now it’s harder than ever.

May I make a suggestion? If you don’t HAVE to sell, don’t. Here’s How.

05 / 18 / 2011
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6 Options When You can’t make Your Mortgage Payment

If no longer being able to make your mortgage payment is a reality for you, here are 6 of the most commonly practiced and accepted options for any homeowner in this position.

Loan or Mortgage Modification. This is a good place to start when you feel the mortgage payment growing to a place you can no longer handle it. Whatever you do at this point, DON’T WAIT!! As soon as you know your mortgage is too much for you, contact your lender. Rest assured, the lender does not want your house. They are in the lending business, not the real estate business. They will work with you even when you are still current on your payments.With a loan mod, they may refinance the debt, extend the term of your loan or even reduce your monthly payments to an affordable level.Your loan could be permanently changed by adding what you’re not paying currently to the back end of the existing loan balance, lowering the interest rate, making an adjustable rate fixed, or extending the number of years you have to repay your loan.
Why would the lender want to do this? It keeps them from losing the loan payments and gaining a house and, ultimately, they will make more from you over time because it will take you longer to pay off the loan.

Why would you want to do this? This allows you to keep the house and keep your credit in tact. It gives you time to wait until the market turns around, house values begin to climb and you can sell for a profit.
Forbearance - Read more…