Selling a Home – Karen's Perspective

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…

05 / 17 / 2011
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Short Sale – Offer 100 Percent Deposit!

A short sale is a sale that occurs when the lender agrees to sell the property for less than the balance owed on the loan. This occurs when the homeowner can no longer afford the property but the lender acknowledges that selling the property at a slight loss is better than going through the foreclosure process.

A short sale does not necessarily release the borrower from the obligation to pay the remaining balance of the loan, the deficiency. Being released from the deficiency is a part of the short sale negotiation. Many lenders will forgive the debt to the borrower but be sure you get this agreement in writing from the lender or they are within their rights to come after you even years after the short sale.

05 / 02 / 2011
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This Market is Tough..

This Market is Tough – What are you doing to survive?

Do you agree?

It’s hard right now to buy properties because so many are upside down! How do you buy a house and make a profit when the loan balance is higher than the value? Add to that the fact the banks don’t want to make loans right now and you’re really facing an up-hill battle. Even with a good job and great credit score, getting a loan is tough! Lenders are so afraid of making another mistake.

Selling is hard – really hard. House prices are depressed so you have to price your home well below what the market says it’s worth to attract any interested buyers. Everyone today wants to buy at foreclosure prices and they still want all the bells and whistles when they buy: hardwood floors, granite countertops, new faucets and light fixtures. You have to put a lot of money into a property just to prepare it to sell for a significant discount. Ugh.

And, there aren’t many qualified buyers. Why?

04 / 27 / 2011
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The Cost of 100% Financing

congress

Tuesday was a good day for the business. We had two closings on properties we sold.

Here was the interesting thing about one of them. The buyers came to closing with USDA financing. Are you familiar? Under the terms of the program, an individual or family may borrow up to 100% of the appraised value of the home, which eliminates the need for a down payment.

And this family did. They received 100% financing. We’ve sold a number of properties this way. What was unusual in this case was that the seller had to bring $12,112.40 to close on a $143,000 purchase. That’s almost 10% and most of it was for fees! Times have changed and borrowing is not only more difficult but far more expensive!

Here’s a sample of what the buyer had to bring to close on this property with free financing:

$1982 origination charges

$ 400 appraisal fee

$ 48 credit report

$5187 mortgage insurance

$1077 lenders title insurance