Deborah Ward – Page 5

3 Home Sale Tips Your Realtor Might Not Tell You

November 17, 2021 By Deborah Ward

If you’ve had a discussion with a Realtor about selling your home, there are three things that he or she didn’t tell you. They probably didn’t tell you right up front because they didn’t want you to list with someone else. The problem is, these three things are important. You SHOULD expect your Realtor to tell them to you no matter what.

Pricing

First, you made it very clear to the Realtor that you MUST get, you NEED to get a specific price for your home. Guess what? It doesn’t matter what you must get or need to get for your home. Your Realtor doesn’t set the price of your home, the market does. You can list it for whatever you want, but unless you list it for a price that the market will support, it won’t sell. Any Realtor who doesn’t realize that fact isn’t much of a Realtor. Any Realtor worth their salt will tell you this first fact up front.

Repairs and updating

Second, you know all those things that need to be fixed or updated that you’ve been putting off? Thinking that you can just pawn them off on the new owners isn’t smart, and it isn’t like the Realtor missed them when you walked through together. He or she was making a list. That list should have been shared with you right away. Why? Because you DO have to fix them all. If not, you have to start with a lower asking price. It’s one or the other. Knowing now instead of waiting until later would be better for you so that you have time to get them done.

Viewing schedule

Third, you realize that when people want to come see your home when listed on their schedule not yours, right? Oh, and you’ll have to be elsewhere when that happens. You were told that, right? No? Well they should have. You don’t get to set the showing schedule and you also need to not be there when people come. How can they feel comfortable looking through your home, cabinets, closets, etc., with you there? They can’t and that feeling of discomfort will transfer to their feelings about your home. End result – no sale.

So, if you weren’t told these facts, now you have been!

If you would like to work with a Clearwater Realtor who will always tell you the truth, give the Irish Realtor a call today! 727-410-0336

Selling Your Home – Think About What Buyers Want

November 17, 2021 By Deborah Ward

It may sound like a silly thing to say, but when you are selling your home you should think about what your buyer wants. That could mean a lot of things, but if you think about how your home looks from the eye of a buyer, you’ll probably do more to sell it.

So what do buyers want in a home?

Of course they are looking for things like school districts or the amenities a neighborhood can offer, but those things aren’t really in your control. You may have bought your home not thinking about kids and schools, or about whether shopping, restaurants or entertainment is close or farther away from your home. The school system may suddenly have got better or worse, or something could have been built close by, but again, it’s beyond your control.

What you can change is your home and yard.

Start outside and look at your home from the perspective of someone buying. Is it inviting or overgrown? Is it tidy or strewn with toys or trash?

Take some time to work on your landscaping. Paint or clean your front porch and/or door, back deck or patio, sidewalks and driveway. First impressions count. Don’t turn buyers off before they even step foot in your home.

Now that all of that is finished, time to fix your inside.

Declutter, clean and touch up or completely paint. Bring your Realtor in to get his or her input on what furniture should go and what should stay. Remove all extra furniture and stage all rooms to make them look inviting, spacious and new. Update where your Realtor says you should, budget allowing. Then keep up the staging and cleanliness.

Make what you can control the best you can and you will attract the right buyer for your home.

Why We Can’t Tell You If It’s a “Good” Neighborhood |Clearwater Realtor Tips

November 17, 2021 By Deborah Ward

You know you’ve wanted to ask it when you last house hunted. That question was on the tip of your tongue with each house you walked through. The question? So is this house in a good neighborhood? If you did ask it, you know that you didn’t get an answer, or at least a straight one. There’s a reason why they didn’t tell you.

The Fair Housing Act

The most important reason is that your Realtor can’t tell you whether it is not. If they do they will be violating
the Fair Housing Act. That law, which was enacted to make sure landlords don’t discriminate based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability or family status, keeps Realtors from making statements that characterize a neighborhood as good or bad. The law actually prohibits any real estate professional from steering you, as a buyer, toward or away from a particular neighborhood if that steering is based on a basis of discrimination.

What will violate the act?

Even an innocuous comment like “this neighborhood is perfect for singles” would violate the Act. How? It would imply to people with children or older/elderly people may not stay interested in a home because they pick up on the implication that it isn’t “for them” because they aren’t a young single and the neighborhood caters to young singles. Even answering questions about crime or schools can be a problem. Someone may interpret an answer about crime statistics or bad schools as racially motivated.

So what do you, as a buyer, do?

You want to live in certain areas with similar people to your lifestyle, or you are worried about schools for your kids, but you can’t ask knowing your Realtor won’t be able to answer you? Well, you can do some of the leg work on your own.

For instance, you want to live in a neighborhood with great schools, largely Christian, conservative neighborhood. So you will need to call the local churches and political groups for their demographic information. Check with the State Board of Education for school statistics.

Then narrow to the neighborhoods that apply and go there to see if it is a good neighborhood. Talk to people who live there. Ask them questions. Go during election season and see whose signs are in which yards. People are usually rather forthcoming about where they live. Just don’t be obnoxious with your questions!

Then ask your Realtor to show you listings in those neighborhoods!

Pricing Your Home – Don’t Make These Mistakes

November 17, 2021 By Deborah Ward

Pricing your home is really tricky. It’s the most important part of the selling process, and the one that can be the hardest to do. Not to mention the part that can derail the process fast. It’s easy to make mistakes.

Basing the price on what you paid

One mistake you could make is basing your price on what you paid for your home. This can be especially true if you purchased at the height of the market and are not trying to sell when it’s lower.

It also doesn’t matter if you need to make more on the sale than you paid. Buyers don’t care what you paid or what you need. They care about paying the right price for the home they want to purchase, not what you may think it’s worth based on what you paid.

Expecting to make money back on improvements

That leads to the second mistake, expecting to make back the money you put into improvements to your home. Generally there are some improvements that help your value and some that don’t, but expecting to make anything back is hubris. Too many other things feed into value.

Don’t price too high

Next mistake? Leaving too much room to negotiate and not in the right direction. That means pricing your home high in order to leave room to negotiate. Legitimate buyers will never find your home since most search online by price, and those who could buy based on price won’t be interested.

Don’t base your price on your neighbor’s

Another common mistake? Basing your asking price on your neighbor’s. There are so many different things that could make your neighbor’s home worth more or less than yours. They may have higher priced updates, a finished basement or other plusses that you don’t have. You could have things that they don’t. It’s just not a good idea.

Leave out emotions

Lastly, don’t get emotionally involved in the price of your home. Easy to say, hard to do. Your home has your memories and attachments. Buyers don’t have the same ones and they may not be willing to pay a huge price to make it their own.

How To Price Your Home – You Have To Mind The Comps

November 17, 2021 By Deborah Ward

You’re working with your Realtor to price your home and he starts talking about comps. So what are they and why are they such a big deal when you price your home.

What are comps or comparables?

Comparables, or comps, are lists of homes that are similar to yours that have recently sold. They use it to get an idea of market price. Here’s how it works. Let’s say you have a 4 bedroom, 2 bath home on a quarter acre. Your Realtor will put that information into a database of recently sold homes and find ones that are like yours to see what their selling price was. It’s a typical way to get a price, though not all comps are created equal.

Comps work well when your home and the comps are from a very similar area

The problem comes in when there are one of a kind items in your property or in the others. That can seriously affect how your home is priced. If it prices your new home too high, you’ll have problems selling. Too low and you cheat yourself.

Here are things that can seriously affect comp values

Living in or close to a crime ridden area, or more accurately, on a crime ridden block or two. If you live on a good block, but one or more of the comps are from a not so great block, their values would be lower than yours should be, or visa versa. If this is the case, your Realtor should hit the streets and find sales closer to home. Should being the operative word.

In the same boat is if your property, or the others, have the misfortune to be next to a serious problem, like a Superfund site, mill, water or waste treatment plant or airport.

Check the comps yourself

Check the comps and see if they are not just beds and baths similar, but square footage similar as well. There is a big difference between a 3 bedroom home that has 1500 square feet and a 3 bedroom home with 2500 square feet. Also the size of the rooms matters. A 1970’s home has impossibly small bedrooms as opposed to a newer construction that made bedrooms larger.

Your best bet is to be educated and not be afraid to challenge any comps you see that aren’t truly comparable.

Luxury Real Estate Tips – Why You Should Use Drone Videos In Your Waterfront Listing

November 17, 2021 By Deborah Ward

You hear about drones everywhere. Amazon is planning on using them for local deliveries. And of course, people using them to buzz the White House or other troublesome or illegal uses. But did you know that using them as a Realtor of luxury homes and especially of waterfront listings can seriously give you the edge on other Realtors?

Drones are hover crafts in varying sizes

They do many things, but most have a small camera attached that can record what it “sees” as it flies. Since a drone can fly in places where people can’t walk, the videos can be really cool to watch.

They are also invaluable for the luxury Realtor who specializes in waterfront homes. Think about it… most waterfront homes have the front of the home facing the water.

Isn’t that the first impression you want to make on a prospective buyer? Have you ever tried to take a photo on a boat? Unless it’s a big one, those photos won’t be very good. A drone can hover in place and take a fantastic photo of that property frontage. A drone can also show the neighborhood, the condition of your roof and other perspectives that you can’t get from the ground.

Find a service

Now you need to find a service, unless you have and are good at using a drone yourself! There are services out there that can provide the drone and video/photos for a fee. Generally it should run you about $300-$500, depending on the location. Obviously big cities will cost more than smaller ones.

Make sure it is legal in your area

Be sure that you can actually legally use a drone for these purposes. Check with state and local authorities. There are some areas where you can’t use them. For instance, if you live near a military base, airport or other restricted area. Also be sure that any service you hire has the FAA licensure they need to be able to operate.

So show off that luxury home in a way competitive listings don’t.