Archive for March, 2008

Preparing your house for sale

Auto Date Monday, March 31st, 2008

 

 

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If we are selling our house, we all want it to be sold fast. However before the selling process starts, you have to prepare your house for potential buyers.

Once you have decided to sell the house, think of it as an item that is being sold. We usually have emotional attachment to our home so you should also prepare yourself of handing over the house.

Remove personal things like pictures, artworks etc. so as to make the buyers feel that this will be their future home with their pictures on the walls.

Clean Up. Start packing away things that you don’t really need and use. It is always a good sight to have a clean and organize home and buyers would appreciate it as well.

Making your house well kept and organize will definitely make your house worth buying.

Online Auctions

Auto Date Sunday, March 30th, 2008

post51.jpg One way of buying real estate that is slowly growing ground is the online real estate auctions. Many bid or selling sites are coming out advertising different properties that appeal to the taste and needs of prospective buyers. These online auction companies allow prospective buyers to actually seriously bid on a property with intent to sell or bid just to see how high the actual value of the property would go. After all, you must remember that most auction sites are not licensed or qualified to sell you real estate, they are more of an advertising company hosting the property and helping to link the prospective buyer with the property seller. This is mostly to get more exposure or even higher appraisal value for the property. Make sure though to read through the guidelines of the auction site before placing any bids.

Buyer’s Remorse

Auto Date Sunday, March 30th, 2008

You’ve made your offer and waited anxiously for the counter-offer. After a while you and the seller agreed on the terms of the sale and you bought yourself a brand new home! You’ve celebrated, but later in the day you start worrying if you’ve made the right decision or if you can pay your mortgage off on time. Stress and anxiety starts to kick in. If this happens to you, don’t worry because buyer’s remorse is a more normal reaction than you think.

If it does happen, take out a pen and paper and make two columns. On one column, list down the advantages of buying the property and list all the advantages on the other. Try to be as calm and logical as possible when you do this. When you’re done writing your list, you’ll realize that buying your home is a good decision.

Comparable Sales

Auto Date Thursday, March 20th, 2008

Comparable sales is when you look at the recent sales of similar houses and is the first step in determining your offer price. You should specifically look at the prices of homes that have similar square footage, garage space, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, property size, and construction type. If the home you want to buy is part of a tract of houses, it should be easier to find exact models to compare with each other.

Analyzing information from comparable sales will help you establish the price range you should consider when you make an offer. You should place more weight on recent sales but you still need to do more analysis before making your mind up on your offer. This is because you also need to consider the property’s condition, the market, and the circumstances behind the seller’s decision to sell.

Listing Agents and Buying Agents

Auto Date Saturday, March 15th, 2008

There are two different sides to each sale – the selling side and the listing side. Most real estate deals have an agent that represents each side, so that means there are two agents involved in the deal. The listing agent represents the seller’s side,while the selling agent represents the buyer’s side. While real estate agents are equipped to deal with both buyers and sellers, the majority usually focuses on one.

We recommend that you be as careful and as choosy about hiring a real estate agent as for any other professional. Ask him or her about experience, education, and focus. Buying your house is perhaps the biggest purchase you’ll ever make in your life and it makes sense to take precautions while you do it.

House Selling Online

Auto Date Saturday, March 15th, 2008

 

 

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Online buying has now become a trend to many consumers. From Clothes, gadgets, cosmetics, shoes, accessories and now even properties. Browsing has become the easiest way to search for things to buy.

There are now so many websites for home buyers worldwide. Even realtors have their own websites.

If you are selling your house then you can try to advertise it first online. You can browse for websites that offer free advertisements and upload the photos and description of your property.

Take a good shot of your house. It is better to take pictures not only of the exteriors but the inside as well. Have at least a photo of the basic areas like living room, dining room, bedroom and bathroom. If your house has a good view of something, you can also attach a photo of that.

Include the exact location of the house as well as information about the neighborhood. If there are schools, supermarkets, church near the place you can also put that information.

If you have money to spare, you can also put a virtual tour of the house in the website.

After trying advertising online and it does not work, then you could hire a real estate agent to market your house but if you can do it yourself why not, it would be much cheaper.

Hotpads

Auto Date Wednesday, March 5th, 2008

hotpads.jpgThe innovations just keep coming on people who are betting on technology which is the Internet in helping ease the crisis in the housing market. The site is said to be one of the best place to buy, sell or just look around for properties that are for sale and so much more information. Want to rent, they also have options when you begin your search to select either for sale, for rent and comparison statistics whether to buy or rent. The best thing about the site is that it does not only give you addresses with names on them, it gives you a map with all the addresses superimposed on them so you get the best view say of how convenient it would be to get to the grocery or pharmacist. The maps are a true innovation for it gives you a virtual view of the property and the general area. Check out Hotpads.com for more information on the site.