Blog – Page 28

5 Great Things To Learn About Selling Your Home From HGTV

October 27, 2021 By Deborah Ward

If you are addicted to those home shows on HGTV and are thinking about selling your home, you can get some great ideas on what to do (and not to do) to make your home a winner!

Flip Or Flop

Tarek and Christina are real estate investors who are always buying some property sight-unseen and then “flipping” it to make a profit. If you watch them for any time, you will notice that there is always some major “gotcha” that catches them off guard and makes their remodeling a nightmare. That is what your buyer is afraid of! They worry that all those little “problems” in your home will add up to big money down the line.

Tip: Have a pre-home inspection done if your home is in great condition. This will mean that your buyer won’t do their own inspection, but it will take away many of the scary thoughts swirling throughout their heads when considering making an offer.

Tip: The only time they really have a hard time selling their home is when they price it too high for the market. Don’t “try” to get a higher price than the market will bear for your home. Consider the actual price and condition of your home and then price it right.

Fixer Upper

Chip and Joanna are also house flippers, but their hook is that they make amazingly beautiful HOMES for their clients by decorating and staging them before they move in. The “afters” on this show are overwhelmingly beautiful and completely done.

Tip: Take some time to stage your home for selling. Get out the china and set your table, have high end linens and great bedding. The nice thing is that you can take any staging materials you use to your new home and having a cohesive look will WOW your potential buyers.

Love It Or List It

Hillary and David battle to find out whether a couple’s home can be “saved” with remodeling or whether they need to move by “listing” it. Many buyers worry that the home they are buying now will not meet their needs down the road.

Tip: If you are trying to appeal to first time buyers, make sure you have areas that are staged to look like kids live there. High end buyers will want high end fixtures like granite countertops and gourmet kitchens. KNOW who your potential buyers are and take the time to show them that your house will be perfect now and in the future!

House Hunters

If you watch house hunters for any length of time you will notice that they are VERY picky about all kinds of things that we think are silly. The other thing you will notice is that they generally have a smaller budget than their “dream home” features allow.

Tip: Anything you can do to make sure that you house is the shining star of your price range is a good thing. Check out the competition and figure out if there is anything that you can do to set your home apart!

Rehab Addict

Nicole is huge about keeping the charm of old houses. She makes sure that instead of just tearing out everything that you maintain the features that make it special.

Tip: If you can keep the travertine floors and 1950’s tiles. Now, we are aren’t saying to maintain ugly features, but not to just throw out every feature that makes your home special.

If you are considering selling your home, call us today! We are happy to take a peek and see what you need to do to make your home a superstar! 727-410-0336

Clearwater Real Estate: Selling Your Home When You Live Out of Town

October 27, 2021 By Deborah Ward

If you own Clearwater real estate, but don’t live here, selling can be a challenge. It doesn’t have to be, however, and using the right Realtor can make it a breeze. It just takes good marketing, a little coordination and a lot of trust.

Find The Right Realtor

The first thing is making sure you find the right Clearwater Realtor. Make sure to look for one that will be diligently marketing your property even when you aren’t around to be sure the job is being done. Be sure to discuss with them your expectations about number of showings, types of marketing, etc., just as you would if you were local, but also how you’re going to hold them accountable since you aren’t there.

Ask Some Questions

A reasonable question to ask would be “how much real estate have you sold for absent owners?” The more real estate for absent owners, the better. Be sure to also ask what their average time on the market is for both local and absent owners homes. Also ask them about after they get the offer/contract on the home: what’s their process for handling that with you.

Settlement Questions and Repairs

Then, after the contract has been put in place, then find out their process for helping you through settlement. Of course you can make a trip to do the actual settlement, but what about taking care of any necessary repairs that the inspection uncovers? And final walk-throughs? Again, having a Realtor you can trust to take care of that is priceless in the sales process.

Selling Your Real Estate

Selling your real estate from far away doesn’t have to be a chore. If it is handled for you by a Realtor with integrity, a process, and fabulous marketing strategy in place, your Clearwater real estate will quickly be off the market, sold FAST and for the most money!

Looking for a great Realtor to represent you in your out of area home sale, give Deborah Ward a call today!

727-410-0336

How To Price Your Home To Sell (Instead of Sit!)

October 27, 2021 By Deborah Ward

When you listed your home for sale you wanted it to sell, not sit. So you trusted your Realtor to price your home to sell. Here is what your Realtor did to make sure of it.

The first thing that your Realtor does is meet with you

He or she will talk with you, even before touring your home, to find out what your motivation to sell could be. Why is this important? Well, because it could make a difference in how high or low within the range of market value to price your home. For instance if you need to sell quickly because you have to move due to a job relocation, pricing it lower will help it sell quickly. Or let’s say you want to sell to up or downsize. You know you’ll need the most you can get out of your home. Pricing it on the high side of the market rate will help with that. Motivation is very important in pricing to sell.

Next thing that your Realtor will do is check comps

Comps, or comparison listings, will show a Realtor what prices similar properties in the same area sold for and give him or her an idea of how to price your property. It doesn’t mean what your neighbor 2 doors down sold their home for, but what a home sold for that has similar features to yours. Your neighbor may have a bigger or smaller lot, better or worse upgrades or more or less living square footage than your home has. Comps are very important for pricing your home.

Now your Realtor will take your home into consideration

They will assess the condition of your home. They will take into consideration the upgrades, square footage, lot size and cleanliness of your home. They will also look at the location of your home. What is nearby? Proximity of shopping, entertainment and other amenities make a difference. How are the schools? Excellent school systems are a feature that many families, or families to be, are looking for. On the other hand being close to airports, railroad tracks, highways or in higher crime areas will lower the value.

When you want to sell, not sit, make sure your Realtor prices your home right!

Homebuyers : How To Avoid Getting Into A Bidding War

October 27, 2021 By Deborah Ward

The housing market has improved and homebuyers have to be aware that the chance of a bidding war is out there. Do you know how to give yourself the best way to win that bidding war? Here are a few things that should put your offer at the top of pile.

Financing

First thing you should do as a homebuyer, is make sure you have your financing in place before you start your house search. Find the lender you wish to use, apply and do everything the lender requires in order to give you a preapproval letter. Have it in hand before submitting an offer.

Keep a folder with current pay stubs, bank statements and all of the paperwork they will need to process it once you do have the pre approval. In some places, it’s common to accompany your offer with a financial information sheet detailing your job history, salary and bonuses, 401(k) balance, how much you have for a down payment, and where the down payment money is. Show the seller that you are serious and able to purchase their home, and you will win the war.

Next, make a fair offer. In a seller’s market, that means make a full price offer. If there have been other offers made, consider an above asking offer. Also make sure you have a higher than average deposit.

Contingencies

Another good idea is to keep the amount and type of conditions out of the offer. Things like contingencies for selling your current home, or extended times for financing approval. Some people will say drop the home inspection contingency, but that isn’t a good idea. Instead, read all disclosures and ask if the sellers have had a home inspection prior to listing the home.

If that is acceptable, you can still have your own inspection in order to provide information on the home’s condition. You can also have an inspection done prior to making an offer, or bring one along with you when you tour the home, and if they feel it is acceptable then make a non-contingent offer. If you do this you should have a home inspector ready almost the day the home goes on the market.

Being prepared will get you the home you want. Be prepared!

The Worst Home Improvements For Selling Your Home

October 27, 2021 By Deborah Ward

You’re thinking about selling your home but you know it needs some upgrading. You have a lot of ideas but you aren’t sure which will bring you the best return on your investment. Here are five things you shouldn’t do.

Pools

Pools sound like a good idea, especially in Florida, but they cost a lot to install, between an average of $20,000 to $60,000 or more. It will add value, but only about 6 to 11% for an in-ground pool doesn’t make the price tag worth it. An out of ground pool adds zero to value, so again, not worth it.

Garage as living space

If you have a garage and think that making it into extra living space, think again. Adding space onto a garage can cost up to $60,000 and only brings about a 60 percent return on investment. That’s not bad, but the problem becomes how the buyers will view it. If they don’t need the extra space won’t like it and if you make the garage itself into something like a man cave or family room may mean that those who would want a garage instead will look elsewhere.

Sun room or home office

Think making your deck into a sun room would be a good idea? Don’t! A sun room will actually drop your home’s value. The home improvement itself will actually lose 54% of it’s value. Keep the deck. Don’t think about adding an outdoor kitchen to that deck or patio area either. A barbecue is always a good addition, all the other additions aren’t and don’t add much, if any, value. If you have a bedroom set up as a home office, make it back into a bedroom for sale showings. If you think adding a separate space designated specifically as a home office think again. You can spend up to $30,000 constructing it and may only get about half of your investment back when you’re ready to sell.
Don’t make these costly errors.

The Top 4 Ways Your Real Estate Sale Can Go Sideways

October 27, 2021 By Deborah Ward

Your Realtor brings you an offer on your home and you think “Hooray! It’s SOLD!” and then it happens… the sale goes sideways. There are a few ways that it can happen and also ways you can either fix it or be proactive to keep it from happening in the first place.

Problem 1:

Your buyer can’t get a mortgage for the purchase. Having financing go awry happens. One way to avoid it is to reject offers from prospective buyers who are not pre-qualified.

Pre-qualified buyers have already started the mortgage process and are less likely to have issues being turned down before settlement. It can happen, for example, if they take out a large loan before settlement, but a buyer savvy enough to get pre-qualified is probably smart enough to not make those kinds of mistakes.

Problem 2:

The bank won’t appraise your home’s value high enough to support the mortgage requested. While this problem may seem to be out of your control, there are things you can do to avoid it. Have your home appraised prior to putting it on the market. Don’t ask a Realtor, ask a bank.

You can get a much better idea of what they will value it for, and can price our home accordingly. If a bidding war gets the price higher than the appraisal will support, ask that the eventual buyer put a large enough down payment to cover the “extra”.

Problem 3:

The home inspection turns up a lot of problems. There are two distinct things you can do if this happens. First, have a home inspection done prior to putting your home on the market. That way you know what issues are there and can fix them ahead of time.

If they turn up at contract, you can offer to contribute to the fix, or if they are minor issues, offer to fix them yourself prior to settlement.

Problem 4:

Buyers back out better known as buyer’s remorse. This one is a hard one to predict. It can happen for many reasons: They might have decided the price was too high, or found their monthly payments were going to be too high. They may have found that repairs were going to be too expensive.

You may be able to counter offer a lower price, or offer to help with closing costs.

these Realtor Tips presented by Deborah Ward, Clearwater Realtor