The credit challenged buyer. Though there are still some loan programs and remedies for less than perfect credit, not every buyer that may want to buy your home is going to be able to do so within the time period you want. Furthermore, since the rules are changing almost daily, there is a distinct possibility that a person with credit dings approved today, might not be approved tomorrow.
It is very important to have an understanding of the purchaser's ability to get financing for your home, before even accepting the terms of the contract. Then it is equally important to make sure that the buyer proceeds to get financing as soon as possible after the contract is written, to insure that you do not tie the home up with someone that ultimately can't purchase.
There are two sides to most issues, and this is no exception. Qualifying is best done by an objective professional third party. One who is experienced, stays on top of the changes and is reliable. Otherwise you risk alienating the buyer and losing the contract on a qualified prospect.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Monday, May 17, 2010
Qualifying Purchasers; Weeding out the dreamers
You have enhanced and packaged the home for sale, price it with the best market price and exposed the house to all of the potential buyers. Now the buyers are starting to show up and it is time to qualify them or in other words to insure that you are dealing with the right people to sell your home.
This crucial step will insure that you don't tie yourself to the wrong person taking your home off the market prematurely and/or wasting your time and money.
The less than serious buyer
This person likes to feel important and is sometimes a dreamer. They appear interested in buying your home, but are really interested in a great deal, they will buy if it is under market, or includes some fantastically unique feature. Even with these conditions this is the type of buyer that will use anything possible to get out of the contract, when they get cold feet at a later date.
It is important that you qualify the potential buyer as being serious about buying a house. The buyer needs to have a genuine desire for buying a home or better yet a need, such as relocating from out of town. The buyer needs to also have a definite time frame for buying the home. Best of all the buyer needs to be serious about buying your home.
This crucial step will insure that you don't tie yourself to the wrong person taking your home off the market prematurely and/or wasting your time and money.
The less than serious buyer
This person likes to feel important and is sometimes a dreamer. They appear interested in buying your home, but are really interested in a great deal, they will buy if it is under market, or includes some fantastically unique feature. Even with these conditions this is the type of buyer that will use anything possible to get out of the contract, when they get cold feet at a later date.
It is important that you qualify the potential buyer as being serious about buying a house. The buyer needs to have a genuine desire for buying a home or better yet a need, such as relocating from out of town. The buyer needs to also have a definite time frame for buying the home. Best of all the buyer needs to be serious about buying your home.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Expose your homes to the widest pool of buyers possible
Market the home where buyers are. Internet (personal and company sites, listing sites, social media sites, advertising sites) agents, neighborhood, print
According to the National Association of REALTORS® 87-percent of home buyers use the Internet to search for homes. A Brokerage with a strong company internet presence is helpful, but any seller will need to utilize:
Listing sites such as Realtor.com, Zillow, and in Richmond, Richmond.com.
Social media sites, such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo and others.
Advertising sites such as Craigslist.
Finally personal blogs and websites, such as this also add a chance to communicate with buyers.
To get the most benefit from each of these sights, requires taking advantage of what they have to offer. If 10 pictures can be uploaded, then 10 pictures should be uploaded except in special circumstances. If a virtual tour can be made available, then it should be linked appropriately. Descriptions that paint a clear view of the benefits of the home and contact information that is readily accessible are absolutely necessary to maximize these sites.
There are still other buyers out there and signs, for those in or canvassing neighborhoods, print, and direct communication with buyers and the agents that have pools of buyers will expose your home to the widest available buyer pool.
However you market your home, be prepared with a plan to tap into the largest buyer pool possible with the maximum market exposure.
According to the National Association of REALTORS® 87-percent of home buyers use the Internet to search for homes. A Brokerage with a strong company internet presence is helpful, but any seller will need to utilize:
Listing sites such as Realtor.com, Zillow, and in Richmond, Richmond.com.
Social media sites, such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo and others.
Advertising sites such as Craigslist.
Finally personal blogs and websites, such as this also add a chance to communicate with buyers.
To get the most benefit from each of these sights, requires taking advantage of what they have to offer. If 10 pictures can be uploaded, then 10 pictures should be uploaded except in special circumstances. If a virtual tour can be made available, then it should be linked appropriately. Descriptions that paint a clear view of the benefits of the home and contact information that is readily accessible are absolutely necessary to maximize these sites.
There are still other buyers out there and signs, for those in or canvassing neighborhoods, print, and direct communication with buyers and the agents that have pools of buyers will expose your home to the widest available buyer pool.
However you market your home, be prepared with a plan to tap into the largest buyer pool possible with the maximum market exposure.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Packaging your home for profit
Before you put your home on the market it is important to take time to enhance and package the home for sale.
Once you have made the decision to put your home is on the market, it is important that you look at it as a product for sale. Like any other product the better it is packaged and positioned for the sale the more money and buyers it will attract.
It is critical to enhance the home, even though it may be great, because buyers buy with their emotions and their eyes, and we don't get a second chance to make a good first impression.
Unfortunately, most buyers don't take the time to do this properly. It is unfortunate, because not doing it properly, costs them extra aggravation and sometimes thousands of dollars. They don't do it properly because they feel comfortable there and think that others will also. However, many of these same people would take their car to the carwash to have it detailed before trying to sell it, because they know that properly preparing the car may bring a couple of hundred dollars extra.
To properly package the house, will absolutely require a fresh set of eyes. An objective third party (don't put your friends in the middle of this) will be able to give advise on what changes if any will appeal to a buyer. Someone with experience and knowledge of the market can transfer that knowledge to you so that you can minimize your costs and maximize your profit.
By utilizing reports, checklists, and experience, and when the stakes are really high, possibly multiple sources of outside expertise, you can enhance your home, investing a dollar and returning 3 dollars and sometimes much more.
Yes, this critical step may take some time and some money but in the long run may save much more of both.
Once you have made the decision to put your home is on the market, it is important that you look at it as a product for sale. Like any other product the better it is packaged and positioned for the sale the more money and buyers it will attract.
It is critical to enhance the home, even though it may be great, because buyers buy with their emotions and their eyes, and we don't get a second chance to make a good first impression.
Unfortunately, most buyers don't take the time to do this properly. It is unfortunate, because not doing it properly, costs them extra aggravation and sometimes thousands of dollars. They don't do it properly because they feel comfortable there and think that others will also. However, many of these same people would take their car to the carwash to have it detailed before trying to sell it, because they know that properly preparing the car may bring a couple of hundred dollars extra.
To properly package the house, will absolutely require a fresh set of eyes. An objective third party (don't put your friends in the middle of this) will be able to give advise on what changes if any will appeal to a buyer. Someone with experience and knowledge of the market can transfer that knowledge to you so that you can minimize your costs and maximize your profit.
By utilizing reports, checklists, and experience, and when the stakes are really high, possibly multiple sources of outside expertise, you can enhance your home, investing a dollar and returning 3 dollars and sometimes much more.
Yes, this critical step may take some time and some money but in the long run may save much more of both.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
So, what is the best price for your home?
The answer to this question may be the key to the sale of your home. Price it right and you maximize the return on your investment and have a quicker, smoother sale. Price it incorrectly and you will most likely leave some of your money on the table or risk losing potential buyers.
There are three essential steps that are involved in determining what price to market your home for. First you must determine what the market is, second your place in the market, and third the market's direction within the current trends. Leaving out any of these steps, will likely lead to frustration and lost profits.
Step one - determine what the market is, by looking at what is available for sale and what is selling, what size, layout, number of rooms, neighborhoods, price ranges, how long on the market, what amenities, and then what is not selling. This will give you a broad view of the market and your competition, and likely clues as to where you will have to position your price to sell.
In step 2 you will need to zero in on your position within the market. You do this by taking the pool of homes that have recently sold that are similar to yours and making adjustments to their price based on comparisons of what they offer versus what your home offers. When your home offers something that the comparable home does not you add the value of that feature to the price that the other home sold for. In essence what you are saying is that if the other home had this item, it would have been able to sell for X number of dollars more. Conversely if the other home had a feature your home does not, you would subtract that from the sales price of the other home.
To properly make the price adjustment you will need a large pool of homes and then you can compare the value of an item by isolating the prices of homes with a difference in that feature. You can do this for any individual feature or group of features and will want to consider such things as differences in square feet, layout, number of rooms, number of beds and baths, quality of construction, maintenance of the home, the lot, location, school system, accessibility and the neighborhood and any other factor that can effect the salability of the home.
The final part of this step is to take the information about the similar homes apply the adjustments and determine what the market is willing to pay for your home, versus the competitive homes that are on the market now. You should now know whether you need to be priced lower or could sell for more because you have additional features, or will just have to wait until the competitive home is sold before yours will sell.
Step three is to make adjustments for the current trends in the market. The market is not static and may make significant corrections within a very short period of time. To determine the current trends, you will need comprehensive information on the current sales, available homes, and of historic sales versus available homes. The goal is to establish relationships between the number of homes, the number of sales, the sales prices, time on the market and then adjust those trends based on what is happening in the economy that will affect the curve.
Unfortunately, since most people don't gather actual data to determine where the current trend is, they are usually months and sometimes years off. This results in you having a home on the market that looks to be priced right, but doesn't sell.
There are three essential steps that are involved in determining what price to market your home for. First you must determine what the market is, second your place in the market, and third the market's direction within the current trends. Leaving out any of these steps, will likely lead to frustration and lost profits.
Step one - determine what the market is, by looking at what is available for sale and what is selling, what size, layout, number of rooms, neighborhoods, price ranges, how long on the market, what amenities, and then what is not selling. This will give you a broad view of the market and your competition, and likely clues as to where you will have to position your price to sell.
In step 2 you will need to zero in on your position within the market. You do this by taking the pool of homes that have recently sold that are similar to yours and making adjustments to their price based on comparisons of what they offer versus what your home offers. When your home offers something that the comparable home does not you add the value of that feature to the price that the other home sold for. In essence what you are saying is that if the other home had this item, it would have been able to sell for X number of dollars more. Conversely if the other home had a feature your home does not, you would subtract that from the sales price of the other home.
To properly make the price adjustment you will need a large pool of homes and then you can compare the value of an item by isolating the prices of homes with a difference in that feature. You can do this for any individual feature or group of features and will want to consider such things as differences in square feet, layout, number of rooms, number of beds and baths, quality of construction, maintenance of the home, the lot, location, school system, accessibility and the neighborhood and any other factor that can effect the salability of the home.
The final part of this step is to take the information about the similar homes apply the adjustments and determine what the market is willing to pay for your home, versus the competitive homes that are on the market now. You should now know whether you need to be priced lower or could sell for more because you have additional features, or will just have to wait until the competitive home is sold before yours will sell.
Step three is to make adjustments for the current trends in the market. The market is not static and may make significant corrections within a very short period of time. To determine the current trends, you will need comprehensive information on the current sales, available homes, and of historic sales versus available homes. The goal is to establish relationships between the number of homes, the number of sales, the sales prices, time on the market and then adjust those trends based on what is happening in the economy that will affect the curve.
Unfortunately, since most people don't gather actual data to determine where the current trend is, they are usually months and sometimes years off. This results in you having a home on the market that looks to be priced right, but doesn't sell.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Tips for selling your home. Part 1
Tips for selling your home. Part 1
I had some recent discussions about marketing homes and what makes the difference between languishing on the market and selling, between getting top dollar or getting less than may be possible.
Ultimately, we have to remember that purchasers have expectations based on tons of information. It may have been possible in the past, to hope that they looked at your house and fell in love and bought it, but today they do that with a comprehensive look at the value and expectations based on not just friends, but TV shows, tax records, computer valuation models, Twitter, Facebook, countless blogs and more.
1) Price is always, always, always #1 in selling your home. Price it too high and nothing else matters.
I’m going to devote the blog to home marketing tips for a while with a lot more tips and a complete explanation of each, but perhaps the best thing to do is let this one sink in for a while.
I know, you heard about how important location is and then there is condition and curb appeal and all these other things that affect the value of your home, but since price will overcome any of these issues, we’ll look at how to price it tomorrow.
I had some recent discussions about marketing homes and what makes the difference between languishing on the market and selling, between getting top dollar or getting less than may be possible.
Ultimately, we have to remember that purchasers have expectations based on tons of information. It may have been possible in the past, to hope that they looked at your house and fell in love and bought it, but today they do that with a comprehensive look at the value and expectations based on not just friends, but TV shows, tax records, computer valuation models, Twitter, Facebook, countless blogs and more.
1) Price is always, always, always #1 in selling your home. Price it too high and nothing else matters.
I’m going to devote the blog to home marketing tips for a while with a lot more tips and a complete explanation of each, but perhaps the best thing to do is let this one sink in for a while.
I know, you heard about how important location is and then there is condition and curb appeal and all these other things that affect the value of your home, but since price will overcome any of these issues, we’ll look at how to price it tomorrow.
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