Realtor Tips – Page 15

A Few Tricks to Make Sure Your Offer Gets Accepted

October 27, 2021 By Deborah Ward

You found it. The perfect house. Now the battle to get it begins. Whether you are the only person who is putting in an offer or one of a few or many, there are a few tricks that can help make sure you get your new home.

First, your best bet is to offer just over asking price

Assuming that your Realtor isn’t showing you fixer uppers, offering just over asking price is the perfect way to show that you are serious. Even just $100 can make all the difference. If you combine that with being in great financial shape and being pre-approved for your mortgage, your offer will shine.

Write to the seller

Think about sending the seller a letter explaining why you want and need their home. Talk about what you love about it. Talk about how it will enhance your life and the lives of your spouse/children, etc. Whatever your situation may be, telling the seller that you love their home and want to make it yours can sway them to your offer. Now be aware that not every agent will give the seller the letter, but if they do it can make a huge difference.

Keep in mind that sellers usually plan on taking their items with them

Unless it’s a fixture, basically something attached to the house that isn’t easily removed, or something that is usual that is left in the home, such as a washer or dryer, don’t weird out the seller and ask for their personal items.

Be flexible

Lastly, be as flexible as you can be with settlement and move in. If you can close quickly, do it. If the seller needs more time, do it. If you need to rent back to them, do it. Add an escalation clause to your offer. An escalation clause in a real estate contract allows you, the buyer, to tell the seller “I will pay x price for this home, but if the seller receives another offer that’s higher than mine, I’m willing to increase my offer to y price.” Of course, only do an escalation clause if you can afford the price to increase!

Why You Shouldn’t Price Your Home Using A Zillow Zestimate

October 27, 2021 By Deborah Ward

You know that you want to sell your home. You also know that getting your listing out wherever people can see it can help you sell for the best price, right? Wrong!

Many sites are way off and one, Zillow.com, has a tool called a “Zestimate” which is supposed to give you an estimate of your home’s value. Problem is, it is very inaccurate, and it will make your home look overpriced.

“Advanced algorithm”?

Yes, the fact is that in most of these cases, the Zestimate appears to be considerably lower than the asking price. Zillow claims that when they come up with their Zestimate, they use specific types of information and an “advanced algorithm” to come up with a figure.

From their FAQ’s:

“We use proprietary automated valuation models that apply advanced algorithms to analyze our data to identify relationships within a specific geographic area, between this home-related data and actual sales prices. Home characteristics, such as square footage, location or the number of bathrooms, are given different weights according to their influence on home sale prices in each specific geography over a specific period of time, resulting in a set of valuation rules, or models that are applied to generate each home’s Zestimate. Specifically, some of the data we use in this algorithm include: Physical attributes: Location, lot size, square footage, number of bedrooms and bathrooms and many other details. Tax assessments: Property tax information, actual property taxes paid, exceptions to tax assessments and other information provided in the tax assessors’ records. Prior and current transactions: Actual sale prices over time of the home itself and comparable recent sales of nearby homes.”

Imperfect information

The problem comes in with where they actually get the information. For instance, some states don’t publish any information about real estate transfers, including sales price.

The physical attributes are put in by the seller, not a real estate professional. When buyers see that inaccurate Zestimate, they think that it’s the actual value and that you are overpricing your home. It makes for bad negotiating.

Trust your Realtor

Your best bet is to trust your Realtor to truthfully and expertly evaluate and value your home. Then let your Realtor choose the sites that have your listing.

Why Overpricing Your Home At The Start Hurts So Much

October 27, 2021 By Deborah Ward

In many areas, including yours, the real estate market has become a seller’s market. So does that mean you have carte blanche to price your home where you want to price it?

As always, the answer is no. Overpricing your home from the start is never a good idea and will hurt your chances of selling. Here’s why.

Range of prices

First and foremost, overpricing your home will keep your home from being seen by people who can afford and will want to buy your home.

Most people start their home search online. When they search they set a range of prices that ends with the top of their budget.

If your home is out of that range, they will never see it. So, you think, people who do see it can afford it, right? Wrong. Those who could afford it will be looking for a higher end home than yours. That will make your home look bad in comparison.

Let’s take a peek at Realtor.com where many buyers start their search!

As you can see here, the price breaks suggested by Realtor.com are at $120K, $180K, etc. If you try to “push it” and get $125K for your home, many of the buyers who are looking for affordable housing will not even see your listing.

Another thing to consider is that Realtors tend to search in bands like $250K-$300K. If you “pushed it” and did a listing for $306K you would be seriously shooting yourself in the foot!

Appraisal

So let’s say that someone in that lower range actually stumbles on your listing and falls in love with your home. Great, so you get an offer and jump at it. Problem will be that your home won’t appraise for the amount you asked and they offered. Sale falls through and you’re back to square one.

Days on market

So, you’re thinking, I’ll just lower my price if it doesn’t get any nibbles after a month or two or that sale falls through. Not a good idea either. That means that your home has been on the market for at least 60 days. That tells prospective buyers that because it’s been on the market so long and the price is lowered, there must be something wrong with your home. They see days on the market as an indication of how nice your home is, and you lose in the assumption.

Your Realtor

Work with your Realtor to find the best price for your home. Use their expertise and experience to make sure you set the best price.

Pinellas County Magnet Schools | Clearwater Real Estate Resources

October 27, 2021 By Deborah Ward

One of the biggest reasons people move to or stay away from a particular area is because of schools. School systems are one of the biggest considerations in real estate. Pinellas County, including Clearwater, has great schools, including magnet schools.

Most schools are location based

In most school systems, where you go to school is based on where you live, not your interests. If you want your child to go to a specific school that is out of your district, there are usually huge hoops to jump through. It’s very possible, especially if the school you desire is at capacity, meaning it has all the students it can hold, that you won’t be able to get that out of district request approved and your child will have to go to the school in your district.

Magnet schools based on interests

Magnet Schools are public schools, but unlike non-magnet schools, enrollment is not based on where you live, but your student’s interests. What makes magnet schools unique is that they have special curricular focus; usually things like STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), the arts, and vocational or career paths. Children are always educated in a full range of subjects, but also get to specialize their education to their area of interest. You will most likely have to apply to have your child attend there, and as with non-magnet public schools, there are capacity requirements, but your location isn’t the determining factor in whether you child attends or not.

Pinellas County has 32 elementary, middle and high magnet schools

Specialties include academically talented, medical, criminal justice, International Baccalaureate, STEM, performing arts, as well as others. There are 15 elementary schools, a few of which also have pre-k programs, 7 middle schools, 1 k-8, and 9 high schools. All of these schools have excellent basic programs as well as the specialized magnet programs.

With all those schools to choose from, why not move to Clearwater? Your children can attend schools that cater to their talents and interests. Children who are challenged and interested learn better. And after all isn’t that what we want for our kids?

Want more? Visit the Pinellas County Schools site!

How To Sell An Estate Home

October 27, 2021 By Deborah Ward

It’s happened. Your beloved family member has passed away. While dealing with your grief, you’ve discovered that your family member has made you executor of his or her will. So now you have to deal with disposing of their worldly possessions, including their home. So what will you have to do to sell an estate home?

Well, the actual sale process is the same as any other: clean, declutter, stage and list. In fact, you’ll probably be emptying the home anyway in the process of finding and making a list of all of the deceased’s belongings for probate.

Probate is the process where the property (all their stuff, money, cars, homes, furniture, etc.) of the deceased is transferred to the beneficiaries under the will, or in the case of there being no will how the law where the deceased lives says should be the beneficiary or beneficiaries. This is where things can get complicated. Part of the probate process is paying taxes, both state and federal. You also have to provide an accounting of all the stuff and how it was distributed to the beneficiaries, or the probate court.

So here are some things you’ll need to take into consideration. First, if the will states that the home is to be given to someone specific, then you having to sell it as the executor isn’t happening.

That is a process best handled by an estate attorney. But let’s say that the home isn’t a specific bequest to someone, it is then just part of the remainder, or what is left after the specific bequests, of the estate and will probably have to be sold.

Next, you’ll need to know what kinds of estate taxes will be due. This is important because they may be taken from the proceeds of the sale at settlement. Be sure that whomever you use to sell the home, or handle the real estate settlement is aware that this is an estate sale.

Your best bet is to hire an estate attorney and a Realtor who is familiar with all of the ins and outs of the sale of an estate property. They will be an invaluable resource to you.

How Does It Work When You Have To Buy and Sell Your Home At The Same Time

October 27, 2021 By Deborah Ward

For whatever reason, job transfer, family size change or whatever, you need to sell your current home and buy a new one. The problem is that you have no idea how it will work. There are a few scenarios, but for a seamless move here is how it can and should work.

1. If you sell first then buy here’s what should happen

First you list your home. Once you get an offer and go to settlement you start your hunt for the new place. What that does is give you money to put down, a paid off mortgage and firmer standing with prospective sellers.

Even though this is the safest plan to use, it does have drawbacks. First, you are basically homeless for a few weeks while you house hunt and wait for settlement.

You have to put all your stuff in storage and rent somewhere, crash with family or friends or do a rent back deal with your buyers, if they can do that.

2. Another plan

Another plan could be you buy your next home, then sell your current home. This will mean you can move into your new home, prepare your current one for sale and not be homeless. This plan is great if you can afford the financial stress of two mortgages for some time and paying utilities and maintenance for two homes. This tends to be the plan for an out of state move.

3. Probably the best plan

The last plan is probably the best, but the hardest one to pull off. It is selling and buying simultaneously.

You put your home on the market and start your search. It takes good organization, timing and planning, as well as money available for preparing your current home for sale and money to put as a deposit.

Your Realtor can be a huge help. There are ways to be sure you can afford this option. Planning settlement on both properties on the same day can keep the financial burden at bay. Plan your sale first, then your purchase. It also means working with your mortgage company for the new place so they know you won’t be stuck with two mortgages.

Plan your sale and purchase.