Real Estate Articles

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 advertising 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 and mortgage consultant, a private investor, and author of several articles and reports on real estate and real estate investing. He can be contacted through http://www.localinvestornetwork.com or http://www.pwrsll.com where his new report “How To Sell Your House Before The Next Payment Is Due!” is now available.

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 and mortgage consultant, a private investor, and author of several articles and reports on real estate and real estate investing. He can be contacted through http://www.localinvestornetwork.com or http://www.pwrsll.com where his new report “How To Sell Your House Before The Next Payment Is Due!” is now available.

Searching for the right estate agent when you have made the decision to ‘Sell My House’ is not as easy as you first think as the level of service and commission charges can vary greatly. With interest rates on the rise and the ever growing threat of property prices falling, more and more people are looking to get the maximum price when selling their own home. The average property price in the UK is now over £215,000 with estate agents charging commission between 1 and 2.5% plus VAT and these expensive fees can make a large impact on the profit you make.

There is now however an alternative way to market and sell you own home. With an estimated 75% of people now searching the internet for properties online using a specialised site designed to sell your house privately online is a great way to do this. This cut’s out the estate agent and can save you £1000’s on expensive commission fees.

Why should you make the choice to ‘Sell My House Online’ instead of using an estate agent? Because the vast majority of estate agents just send viewers round without accompanying them, leaving you to do the most important part of the process - actually selling your home to the potential buyer. Remember, estate agents are paid every time a buyer takes one of their properties, regardless of which property it is - your property is just one of many they can send the buyer to.

Many people market their houses privately as well as with an estate agent. If you do this, make sure the demarcation line is clear. If an agent can claim to have introduced you to a buyer, albeit indirectly, he is still entitled to his commission.You will need to check which type of agreement you have set up with your Estate Agent. If you have a Sole Agency Agreement you can usually sell your house privately without paying them commission. If you have a Sole Sale Agreement you may still be required to pay them commission if you sell your property even if they did not introduce the buyer. It is always recommended to check this before you market your property privately online.

Take responsibility for putting a realistic valuation on your house. You might like to get it valued by more than one estate agent but be aware they are competing with each other to get your business and there valuation may be higher than the current market value. You can check out the price of similar properties in the area by visiting the Land Registry site (www.landregistry.co.uk) to see what prices properties have fetched recently in your local area.

When you are choosing a site to advertise on browse the site for usability and look at the quality of marketing you are getting for your money. High quality images and an easy to navigate site that professionally markets your property will not only engage your customer’s interest but also give them the confidence to pick up the phone and contact you about your property.

It used to be difficult to market your property as you were limited to newspaper adverts, for-sale signboards and word-of-mouth. Now you can use the internet to promote your property sale to anyone with Internet access across the UK and around the world. Making the decision to ‘Sell My House Online’ can save thousands of pounds offering an enormous advertising medium enabling you to expose and promote your property to a huge audience of potential buyers.

Paul Rice is an internet entrepreneur who own a number of prestigious Internet business’ including an Award Winning Web Design & Development company, Ricemedia which is responsible for creating hundreds of UK sites. All of his experience and knowledge has been channeled into The House Sale which lets you ‘sell my house online‘, making it one of the best private house sale web sites of our day.