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Posts Tagged ‘selling’
Fix it Up, or Sell As Is?
Not every home is ready to be sold when a seller decides to put it on the market. If your home needs repairs, you have a choice to make. You can fix it up yourself, or sell the home as it is, and let the buyer worry about fixing it up.
How do you decide? There are a few things to consider. For starters, realize that buyers will expect a lower price to make up for the time and expense of taking care of the repair. For example, your home is worth $150,000 after repairs. Repairs will cost $20,000, but you will probably get offers closer to $120,000, if not less. If you do take care of the repairs yourself, you’ll be able to bring in the full $150,000.
What needs to be done? Smaller projects, such as replacing a sink fixture or patching up an interior wall, are going to take less from the sale price than a new roof or water heater. The less expensive and inconvenient a repair is, the better chance you have of getting offers close to the actual value of the home. Again, you pay for the convenience of not worrying about a repair yourself; the factor to consider is how much that convenience will end up costing you.
The more economical choice is obviously to take care of the repairs yourself. Even if you choose to leave major repairs, taking care of smaller projects can have a huge affect on what your home sells for. Clean up the property, put a fresh coat of paint, in a neutral color, on the walls. As you go along, make a list of anything that is broken, worn out, or otherwise in need of repair or replacement. If you have to choose between repairs, pick the ones that will yield the most value for the smallest price. Kitchens and bathrooms will almost always improve the sale price, sometimes drastically.
Even if the home needs repairs, you should still try to make the property look well cared for. Replace worn or stained carpeting, fix broken windows, and scrub until the home shines. If a home looks like it hasn’t been taken care of, buyers will be more likely to wonder what else could be wrong with the property, and you won’t get as high of an offer.
The decision to fix a home up, or to sell it as is, is one that you should put some thought into. Even hiring someone to do the repairs for you will cost less than leaving them for the buyer to handle, but if you don’t have the money for repairs immediately available, or if you are in a hurry to move, it might be more practical to accept the home selling for less.
Tips for Selling a Home on a budget
With the economy the way it is these days, everyone has on a tight budget. When selling a house, many people think this makes the whole process even harder. There are many things that go into selling a home and there is so much to consider, but there are ways, selling a home can be done on a budget. Here are some ways to save money when selling your home. This way you can move on to your new home and future with even more peace of mind.
Ask your Syracuse real estate agent for advice
Real estate agents help many people buy and sell homes each and every day. Many of these people probably are in similar budget situations. Your agent can offer tips, advice and is a great resource of information to help get you started.
Start looking at the outside of the home
There are many things you can do to the outside of your home to get it ready for selling that does not cost that much money. These include: mowing the lawn, planting flowers, wash the windows, touch up the paint, replace lights and more.
Remove clutter and furniture
You can do this by holding a garage sale which will actually help you to make some money. Other options may include: removing photos from walls and tables, pack up books and bookcases, clean out closets and store items that are not needed, and organize.
Working on the kitchen
If you are on a budget and cannot afford new counters, just consider redoing or fixing them. Re-grouting counters, re-staining, and painting can help save you money and make the kitchen look great at the same time. Also, a good cleaning will also help the kitchen look great
Clean
A good cleaning will make any home look great and it does not cost very much. You can rent a carpet steamer to clean the carpets, dust, make all wood and ceramic floors really shine, and give everything a good washing.
These days every money-saving tip is very important especially when it comes to selling your home. It may take some work and time or some creative thinking, but selling a home on a budget can be done. This way you can save your money for your future and rest easier knowing you were able to sell your home.
Ways to Sell a Home during the Off Season
The winter months are usually considered the off season for real estate agents and for buying and selling homes. This is mostly due to the weather conditions not being favorable for showing a home to possible buyers. There is snow or ice or it is really cold and not many people like to look at homes during this time. The holidays also leave people with less money so they are less likely to buy a home. However, there are some ways to help get a home sold during this off season. Here are some tips to help get you started.
Ask a Syracuse real estate agent for advice
Even though this season is slow, it does not mean that real estate agents stop working. They are still available to help you sell your home and to offer advice for better ways to do so. They are an excellent resource.
Leave lights on
During the winter it gets dark earlier and possible buyers do not want to look at homes when it is dark. If you put your lights on a timer or leave some lights on, it will make buyers more interested in looking at your home.
Make the place appear bigger
If you have large furniture or other items that may crowd a room, it may be a good idea to move these items outside or to put them into storage while your home is on the market. This will make your house appear bigger and more spacious and more appealing to buyers.
Work on outside appeal
Make the outside more appealing and safe for everyone. Make sure the sidewalks and walkways are clear of any snow, ice, or rain. It may also be a good idea to paint the outside of the home if it needs touch ups or buy plants that do well during the winter to make the outside more appealing for buyers.
Be flexible
During the off-season and especially in this economy, it is a buyer’s market. They are going to try to make deals with you to get the best price possible. It is important to be flexible and talk with your real estate agent about things you are willing to be flexible about.
During the off-season and given the housing market right now, many sellers think they have no chance of selling their home. However, following these tips and advice can help make a difference and help get your home sold. This way you can rest easier and focus more on a happier future.
Tips for Selling a home during Holidays
Since the holidays are quickly approaching, one of the things many people selling their homes need to consider is whether or not to keep their homes on the market during the holidays. There is so much going on during this time, people saving money, buying food, gifts, helping charities, and more that is hard to think about selling your home as well. Here are some tips to help you out, so you can sell your home and enjoy the holidays as well.
Ask your Syracuse real estate agent for advice
As real estate agents, they know during which seasons and times the market may slow down or pick back up. They will be able to offer advice about selling your home during the holiday season and they are a great resource.
Not able to be available for showings
During the holidays, people are traveling and going in and out of the house shopping and doing this and that and it may get inconvenient to be available for as many showings as before.
Offers will be lower
Many possible buyers are saving up most of their money for gifts, travels, food and other items during the holidays, so they have less money to spend on buying a home. Therefore, offers are your home may be lower than the asking price.
Agent may be unavailable
Most real estate offices close during the holiday season, so your agent may be on vacation and not able to help you show your home or help you may a sale. This will make it harder for everyone and may waste valuable time.
Relist your home after the holidays
If you take your home off the market during the holiday season and relist it in January, it will help you generate more traffic, because the listing will appear new and fresh to possible buyers. Also, there may be more possible buyers after the holidays than during them.
These tips and advice for selling your home during the holidays will help you make the best decision possible for you and your family during the upcoming holiday season. This way you will not have to worry so much about your home or its sale and you can focus more on enjoying the holidays and the future.
Things a Seller Must Disclose about Their Home
When selling a home, you want to impress the buyer and make them want to live in your home as much as you enjoyed living in it. You want them to see the benefits and good aspects of your home and not as many downsides or negatives. By law though, there are some things a seller must disclose or tell a buyer about their home. Here are some of the things a seller must disclose and how to disclose them. This may help make the process easier for both buyers and sellers in the long run.
Ask your real estate agent for advice
When it comes to disclosing information about a home, a real estate agent has much experience with this. They can help you disclose information to a buyer and still make it to where the buyer may be interested. They are a great first resource.
Federal Disclosures about Lead Paint
If the home you are selling was built before 1978, the seller is required to disclose about the use of lead-based paint and the buyer is allowed to inspect the home for lead-based paint. This could save the seller money and hassles later on.
Material Facts Disclosed
This includes anything that may make the buyer reconsider buying the home, such as a defect, problems with the property, or a death in the home. Some states do not require disclosing death so check with your state.
Disclosing Cause of Death
Each state is different so you will need to check with yours, but it is a good idea to disclose this information especially if it was violent because this may effect the buyer’s decision to buy the home.
External Disclosures
These are any disclosures that could affect the property such as earthquakes, tornados, flooding, zoning, noise, water, ground or air pollution and any other possible hazard to a buyer.
Either though sellers may not want to disclose negative information about their homes to buyers, some disclosures are required and knowing what is or is not required by the seller can make the process less stressful for everyone. That way both buyers and sellers can rest easier with fewer worries in the future.
Landscaping tips to Sell Your Home
If you are trying to sell your home, you know that much work goes into the process. You have repairs to do, an agent to hire, open houses to hold, plus all the future plans and packing for your new home. When trying to sell your home, the outside of the home matters as much as the inside. If a buyer does not like the outside they may not even bother coming inside. So here are some landscaping tips and advice to help you make your home look even nicer and ready to sell.
Ask your real estate agent for advice
Real estate agents have experience with what buyers like and what may turn them off. They are a great resource in helping you to get the right curb appeal to sell your home.
Add some contain plants to decks and patios
These areas are right where a possible buyer will enter and leave your home, so having eye catching beautiful plants are a good idea. They may also lead the buyer to think about possibilities they could do with the home if they bought it.
Buy fresh mulch
This will help your place look inviting because everything will look new and attractive to a possible buyer. Plus, it does not cost that much and is easy to apply.
Add color plants both outside and inside
Adding color will help draw in a buyer’s attention and also makes the house look nice and well maintained. These are all things that will make a buyer feel more comfortable about looking at your home.
Repair faucet links and plumbing problems
If a buyer sees a faucet leaking even outdoors, they may be concerned about plumbing problems and other concerns and may pass up your home, so it is a good idea to make these repairs to not scare buyers off.
When selling your home it is a good idea to care about how the inside of your home looks, but the outside may be what attracts a buyer from the start, so it is important that the outside looks good too. With these landscaping tips, you may be on your way to a sale and on to your brighter new future in no time at all.
Movers or Do it Yourself?
Buying or selling a home usually means one thing: time to pull out boxes and start packing.
For some, packing for a move is a great opportunity to look through the memories and treasures they have gathered throughout the year. For the rest of us, it is a stressful task that we would just as soon get over as soon as possible. Finding boxes, wrapping breakables correctly, and then carting everything to your new home can be stressful, especially if you’re already busy with work and family responsibilities.
The alternative, of course, is to hire a moving company to pack and move for you. Although this is the more expensive option, it can save a lot of time, which is why most people choose to hire a moving company. However, they can be expensive, and it is sometimes easier to move on your own.
So, should you hire a professional, or do it yourself? It depends on a few factors:
1. How Much Stuff Do You Have to Move?
If you are moving from a small apartment into your first home, and you don’t have a lot to move, it’s probably going to be easier to pack on your own, and then ask some friends to help you. If your family is moving, including children and all of their things, it is probably better to hire a mover, unless you have a lot of extra time and patience. This is especially true if you have a lot of heavy, bulk, or difficult to move items, such as furniture.
2. How Far Are You Moving?
Are you just going across town, or are you going across the country? A short move, even if you do have a lot of stuff, can probably be done with the help of family and friends, if you don’t mind making a lot of trips. However, if you are moving a long distance, even more than 30 miles away, it is probably smarter to hire a moving company, or at least rent a moving truck. Being able to move everything in one load will be much easier, and won’t take as much gas.
3. How Much Time Do You Have?
If your time is at a premium, consider hiring a moving company. Professional movers can do the job with very little input from you while you continue on with your busy day. While you will need to be home while the movers do their initial estimate and while they are packing, you won’t be spending the weeks leading up to the move trying to do all of the packing yourself.
4. How Comfortable Are You With Someone Packing and Moving Your Belongings?
The chance of something getting broken by a mover is small, but it is still a possibility and one that should be considered. Even if you hire someone to do the packing and moving for you, you should still take the time to package any irreplaceable belongings yourself, and drive them to the new home in your own vehicle. Many moving companies ask you to pack any jewelry, antiques, or other valuable items yourself, to avoid something being broken accidently.
You should also consider how comfortable you are with someone going through all of your belongings as they pack. Some people are comfortable with this, but many aren’t. Instead of hiring movers to pack everything, pack all of your personal items, such as clothing, yourself, and let the movers handle things like dishes, books, and bedding.
5. How Much Help Can You Get?
If you live in a town surrounded by family and friends that can help out during a move, you may not need to hire a mover. This is especially true if you have friends with pick-up trucks. Spending a day moving as a team may even be fun. However, for those who do not have anyone nearby that can help, hiring a moving company might be the only way to move.
Hiring a moving company is a great idea, if you can afford it and can use the extra help. But don’t discount the benefits of moving yourself, especially if you can get help for free. Renting a moving truck might be all that you need to get everything moved.
Have you hired movers in the past? Were they worth the expense?
Getting Buyer Feedback When Selling
When you are trying to sell your home, what a potential buyer thinks of your home may be one of the most important aspects to selling a home. It is important to know what they liked or did not like, so you can improve or fix things and make it better for the next possible buyer. One of the ways to get feedback from buyers is to have them fill out comments before, after, or during their visit to your house or at your open house. Here are some tips to make that process easier for you and to help you sell your home as soon as possible.
Ask your real estate agent for advice
Real estate agents have experience with open houses and ways to get feedback from buyers. They are a good resource of information when finding out the best ways to get feedback. It is a good idea to start by asking them first.
Ask about their overall impression
Some possible buyers will be honest but try to be nice or may just make general comments, so it is good to try and ask what they liked specifically about the home or did not like, as well as their impression overall. It is important to be friendly no matter responses you may receive.
Include how would you compare this home with others
Ask what they liked or disliked about your home versus other homes they may be considering. This will help give you a chance as the seller to improve on different things or to fix things or to approach buyers in a different way.
Ask their opinion of the price
Asking this question will help let you know if your offer is too low or too high for what you have to offer a buyer. Try to also ask why they feel they way they do about your price if you can, but do not be too pushy.
Ask if they could see themselves living in the home today
This question will help you as a seller to determine if your home is comfortable and move in ready to possible buyers or whether or not it still needs some improvements in order to be more suitable for most buyers.
These tips and questions about receiving feedback from buyers should help make selling your home much easier. After all, if you know what someone wants, you can do your best to make it possible. This way you can sell your home and look future to your bright new future.
Negotiating a Sale with someone with a Disability
When someone decides to put an offer in on your home, the negotiating process begins. This process involves the buyer, the seller, your agent, maybe a lender and many offers going back and forth. It is a confusing and complicated process to begin with, but it may be even more complicated if the buyer has a disability. Sometimes there will be certain things to consider and it’s important to know what to expect. Here are some tips to help make the process easier for everyone involved. So this way everyone gets the best deal possible.
Talk with your agent about any concerns
Your real estate agent sells houses to all types of people with varying needs. They will be able to offer advice and tips for negotiating with someone with special considerations such as someone with a disability.
Talk to the buyer as you would any other person
It is important that you talk to the buyer with a disability as you would any other person unless directed otherwise. After all, disability or not, they are planning to buy your house, so it’s important to make them feel comfortable and happy.
Offer to make modifications to your home if needed.
In order to get the asking price you want, it may be good to offer to make any special modifications to your home within reason.
Be careful not to assume they cannot pay your asking price because of the disability
This will cause discrimination problems and just get you and your agent into trouble, so be careful when phrasing questions regarding payment.
Make sure that any special conditions are discussed
If the person with a disability requires any special conditions during the negotiations make sure these needs are taken into considering, such as meeting at an accessible place, having lower tables, and more. This will help the process to be easier and the buyer will appreciate the extra time and effort and may accept your offer.
These tips about negotiating a sale with someone with a disability will help make everyone feel more comfortable about the process. This way the buyer can be at ease and you as a seller can be put at ease too and hopefully reach a reasonable agreement about a sale price for your home. Then everyone wins and is happy in the long run.
Privacy Tips when Selling
So you have decided to sell your home and move on to a brighter future. In order to sell your home though, buyers have to walk through it and see it and they will form opinions about you and your home based on what they see. There are some personal items and things that should be kept private to make you as a seller feel safer about showing your home. Here are some tips to helping you ensure your privacy when selling your home. This way you can worry less and focus on the future more.
Talk with your real estate agent
Your agent shows homes to people all the time. It is part of their job to want to ensure the seller’s privacy while showing a home to buyers. They will be able to offer advice on how to keep your personal things private.
Do not leave mail laying around
If you do this, buyers will not be tempted to see how much you owe on loans, credit bills, as well as any other personal items. While we would like to believe, people would not do this, it can happen, so put all mail away when showing your home.
Remove any photos or documents from walls
A buyer could form a biased opinion about you and your home based on what you have all the walls, so it’s a good idea to keep personal items put away and out of sight.
Beware of the items in your closets
If you need to sell your home quickly for whatever reason, a buyer may be able to pick up this information from what is in your closets and then they may not make the offer you would be hoping for, so it’s best to try to keep all personal items locked away.
Use a lockbox or file cabinet for personal documents
It is a good idea to use a lockbox or file cabinet with a lock to store your personal documents and belongings during a showing. This way a buyer does not have the chance to make opinions about you and your home based on your personal items.
These tips will help you and your family feel safer and better about showing your home to potential buyers. This way, you can fewer worries and feel more comfortable about showing your home. Then, you can relax and enjoy your bright new future with peace of mind.