Realtor Tips

How To Make A Strong Offer When You Find The Home of Your Dreams!

July 18, 2017 By Deborah Ward

You’re ready to move on up and out, but aren’t sure how successful you will be finding the home of your dreams. Relax! It can be done! Just put a few things in place or in motion before you start the hunt and you’ll be golden.

Here’s how to make a strong offer a home seller will find hard to refuse.

First, be preapproved for your mortgage. I can’t say it enough that a buyer coming in with financing in place is much more attractive to a seller. It says to them that you are serious about buying, you’re financially ready to pull the trigger and will have a much shorter time between offer and closing than a buyer who isn’t pre-approved.

If you have a home to sell, put it on the market now. Having your home under contract and ready to settle, or even sold, will mean that you don’t have the need for a “I need to sell my home” contingency. That seller knows how that can go, and you having to sell your home first will not be as attractive to them as a buyer without that encumbrance.

If you are renting, let your landlord know you are home shopping and when you expect to move. Giving your notice will mean less problems in getting back a needed security deposit or delay settlement because you can’t afford rent and a mortgage payment.

Agree to shorten up inspection times. This doesn’t mean give up the right to inspections, but have a company ready to go for your home inspection, water testing, termite inspections, etc. Lining them up early means you don’t have to delay and you’ll know the answers to questions about them should a renegotiation be needed due to inspection issues.

Lastly, if the area you are looking is a seller’s market, make your offer over asking. Even if it’s over by just a few hundred dollars, it will make your offer irresistible to a seller.

Should You Ask For Seller Concessions In A Hot Market

July 12, 2017 By Deborah Ward

It’s a hot seller’s market and you finally found the right home for you. When walking through it you noticed some issues that you might want to ask the seller to fix, or know you need some help with closing costs or want a home warranty.

Should you ask the seller for those concessions? Probably not. Concessions dig into the profit the seller will be making on the sale of the house.

Clean offers

In a hot seller’s market there are others who will be willing to make an offer without any requests for concessions. Those clean offers will definitely compare better to yours, even if you are offering more money.

Replacing carpet, fixing a roof or fixing other items in the home can be expensive. Paying a portion of the closing costs is as well. So even if your offer is a few thousand dollars more than a clean one, the savings to the seller in taking a lower clean offer can mean more money in their pockets.

So what can you do?

See if you can live with the needed fixes. Carpet is a mess? Have it cleaned before you move in. Even renting a carpet cleaner is only $30-$40 for a day. If the flooring is worn, see if it could be covered with a throw rug or furniture until you can afford to get it fixed.

See what the inspection report says about the roof or other fixes. No home is perfect. If it isn’t feasible, or the fixes are necessary and more than you can afford, it might be time to look for a different, lower priced home.

Home buying is always a negotiation, but knowing the market can mean starting off with the best offer you can give. Be smart and purchase the home that is best for you!

How Real Estate Agents Are Paid When You Buy Your Home

July 4, 2017 By Deborah Ward

You want to buy your first home, but don’t want to use part of your hard earned deposit to pay a Realtor to help you find one. Set that worry aside because as a buyer you are usually not required to pay any of the Realtors, buyer or seller. No, seriously, it’s true. Here is the rundown on how it works.

Real estate commissions

Real estate commissions, the money paid to Realtors for their services, always sound high, but they are typically shared among several people. Depending on whether your agent works for a broker or not, the commission paid is typically split between the listing agent, the agent who took the listing from a seller, the listing broker, the company employing the listing agent, then your agent, and the company who employs your agent. It may involve less people if one or the other (or both) are independent agents or if the listing agent finds the buyer.

Seller pays

Despite how many agents are involved, the commissions are paid from the proceeds of the sale, from the money that will be due to the seller. That means the seller is responsible for paying any and all agents. That doesn’t mean they pay a higher percentage of the sale if there are multiple agents. The agents share the commission in the listing agreement. For instance, if the listing agreement has a 6% commission, which is pretty typical, then the seller’s agent gets 3% and buyer’s agent gets 3%. If there are brokers involved, the percentage the agent/broker gets depends on the agreement between them.

So as a buyer, you aren’t responsible for payment to the agents, yours or theirs. So start your search and jump into the home ownership fray!

How Are Real Estate Agents Paid When You Sell Your Home

June 27, 2017 By Deborah Ward

You’ve decided to sell your home but aren’t sure how it all works for a seller. After all your current home was your first home purchase. So you have a lot of questions, the least of which is how your Realtor gets paid.

I mean, who has hundreds of dollars laying around to pay an hourly fee to a professional? Relax, that’s not how this works.

Commissions

Unlike many other kinds of professionals such as lawyers or accountants, Realtors do not bill their clients by the hour. They are paid when, and only when, your home sells. But what if the house sells, but the contract falls through? That happens all the time! Am I supposed to pay them then? And how do I know how much to pay them?

Again, relax, “when it sells” means they collect a check when the deed is signed and money changes hands.

So how do they get paid and how do we know what to pay them, you’re thinking

Well a Realtor works with you, the seller, for however long it takes to sell your home, or until the listing contract you have with them expires. If the home doesn’t sell, they aren’t paid for their time.

Realtors are paid a commission. This commission is based on the sales price of the home and the percentage of that sales price is spelled out in the listing agreement you have with them. The average commission percentage is 6%.

As the seller, you pay the commission

How that works is pretty simple. When you go to settlement to sign all those papers the lawyer or title company will know ahead of time what the percentage is for the commission.

They will prepare a statement that both buyer and seller sign. This statement has all of the financial information surrounding the sale on it: sales price, taxes due, money due from the buyer to the mortgage company, money due from the seller for fees, etc.

One of those line items is the Realtor’s commission. It is taken from the proceeds of sale and a check is cut right then for the Realtor. So technically no money directly out of your pocket, but paid from the lump you are getting at the settlement table.

My #1 Suggestion For Cleaning Out Your Home For Sale

June 20, 2017 By Deborah Ward

You hear the advice all the time, declutter and clean out your home before you put it on the market! But what do you do with all that stuff? The point of decluttering is to move it out of view and make your spaces look bigger. How can that happen if they are in your storage space?

The best idea yet is to rent a storage space or a portable storage space

The most popular one is PODS®. Another is 1-800-PACK-RAT. These companies offer varied services. Usually a customer will order a portable container which is then delivered to the location where you need it. You fill it up and lock it up, then you can do a few things. You can leave it on site. You can have them pick it up and store it. You can have them deliver it to your new home. Or all of the above. Or some of the above.

So why use that instead of a storage space?

Well, there are a few reasons. While that storage space may be cheaper, you have to pack, drive the boxes and stuff over to it, unpack the car or truck into the storage space and then repeat until you are finished moving. Then you have to do it all over again when you move into your new space.

With a portable storage space you have it brought to you

You can take the time you need to pack it up and since it’s where you are packing, you can forego the driving back and forth to the storage place and the multiple moving of boxes and stuff from one place to another. Then they send a driver to come get it and take it to a secure space where it is stored for you until you are ready to move again. Then they take it to the new space for you and leave it until you are finished unpacking.

So what does that mean for selling your home? Less clutter, no boxes stored in closets and a faster sale!

Deborah here…I really do give ALL of my clients this advice! I find that using PODS will make your entire home sale process easier and less of a pain while it is on the market!

How Big A House Does Your Family “Need”?

June 13, 2017 By Deborah Ward

Small spaces seem to be all the rage, but sometimes a bigger house is what a family needs. So how do you know if you really need a bigger home or really just want one. How big a house does your family really need?

Start by taking a look at your family and their habits

Several things can help you make the decision about how big or small a home you need. Start with your family size. Do you have a bunch of kids or just one or two? Even if you have just two, are they the same sex?

If you have three or more children or even a boy and girl, having enough bedrooms so that they have their own rooms, or boys in one and girls in another, means needing at least three bedrooms or more.

Extended family?

Next consideration might be your extended family. Living in Florida means that your home may just become vacation central for your extended family and friends. So having a home with an extra room or two for guests could come in handy.

Another extended family consideration could be whether there is extended family that will be living with you permanently. Does your mother or mother-in-law (or father or father-in-law) or a grandparent, sibling, etc. live with you? Those family members will need their own space and bath.

If you like to entertain in your home having a lot of space is important. Inside you’ll need a bigger kitchen and extra baths. Outside having a big deck or patio will mean space to have plenty of friends and family over to visit.

Lastly, do you work from home?

Having distance from the working area and living area is important for the person who works from home. At the very least, having an extra room with a door can give a dedicated area to work. So figure out if you really do need more home, and then get looking!