Posts Tagged ‘selling real estate’

Just because the real estate market isn’t doing so well, that doesn’t mean people aren’t selling and buying real estate.  it is possible to sell your home, even when the forecasters tell you it is a bad time.  People still need and want to from their home and there are plenty of people who want a good deal on a first time buy.  If you are trying to sell your home and haven’t had many prospective buyers, here are a few things you can do to sell your home during a recession.

First, get some free evaluations as to the home’s value.  Real Estate agents are usually glad to do this if they think it may result in some business for them.  Get more than one evaluation because sometimes agents will inflate the value of your home to get you to sign with them.

Be realistic about your property’s worth.  If you over-estimate, it will be very difficult to generate interest in your property.  But, don’t drastically under-price it, either or people will wonder what’s wrong with it. 

A good method for getting your house noticed is to be creative and original in your advertisement for your home.  Be honest, however.  Don’t sound desperate in your advert.  The hard sell usually doesn’t work in real estate. This is very discouraging to potential buyers.

Another gimmick to sell your property quickly is to organize a viewing of your home.Set up a viewing on a specific day between certain times to give the impression you have too many viewers to keep up.  Also, because the competition is right there, a buyer could offer you more than you are asking for the house if they really want it.

It is very important to remain positive while selling your home.  Your house will be sold.  It may simply take a little time to do it.It is important to make sure you are happy and relaxed when showing your home.  A potential buyer can tell if you are nervous or anxious.  Also, if you don’t look happy in your own home, they may not look happy in it, either.  A smile can help to sell your home quickly.

At FindBuyers.com, their unique home buyer and seller matching system can also reduce the time it takes to sell you home in a recession.  FindBuyers.com works much like a dating site and it is FREE to sign up.

Why make life difficult in this depressed housing market, when there are new online methods to lead you through the real estate procedure, expedite communication between buyer and seller, and ultimately sell your property or buy the perfect home.

A revolutionary idea gaining recent headway is the concept of house swapping provided by Internet start-up company, onlinehousetrading.com. It’s really simple: ‘Since, I would like to buy your property and you would like to buy mine, let’s trade!’

Though onlinehousetrading.com charges each customer a $20 registration fee, it offers house selling tips, house trading myths, and provides an overview guiding guiding clients through house trading processes and procedures.

The benefits of the company include the potential match of buyer and sellers, access to housing opportunities across the country. There are shortcomings in using this method of transaction. As a new company, the number of buyers/sellers in its database will be relatively small compared to other sites, like Craigslist. Also, house swapping places constraints on  both the buyer and the seller and with the each others property. Onlinhousetrading.com is just one of the recent approaches to ease the buying or selling your home.

This next real estate company has been hailed by the Washington Post as the online dating site for home buyers and sellers. Findbuyers.com matches buyer preferences with seller offerings through its comprehensive database. As a private and professional site, www.findbuyers.com retains customers anonymity until the seller and buyer have given consent for disclosure. Findbuyers.com provides communication channels for the matched buyers and sellers. The site not only guides you through the process, but provides tips and information about many aspects of real estate.  Unlike, onlinehousetrading.com, find buyers.com does not charge for their services and information.

Another real estate option is Craigslist. With monthly traffic flows of over 20 million viewers, it is no wonder Craigslist provides information on almost any topic through its classified ads and forums. Available in six languages, the site caters to people in 50 countries across the globe.  Though sifting through the multitude of topics ranging from personal ads to discussion forums would normally take lots of time, Craigslist organizes its ads, forums, classifieds, services, and other divisions into easy to find, easy to read headlines under the ‘Craigslist blog’ link. For example, suppose you were looking to rent an apartment, the site provides links for your chosen location and a link for ‘housing wanted’ in that respective city. It displays the most recent posts and search engines for specific preferences. Much of Craigslist is free, the company may charge you to post ‘content’ in particular areas of the service.

Don’t overburden yourself when it comes to finding your perfect home or selling your property. Most of the grunt work can be completed online. Start searching for your dream home, today.

When you are selling real estate, what should you say in your flyers, advertisements and listings? Almost everything. Okay, not your motivations, how low you will go on the price, or anything else that will hurt your negotiating position. But everything else.

Think about this for a moment. Do you like shopping where there are no prices on the products? Of course not! And if you saw a list of vacation packages, and some neglected to name the destination, you might pass over those ones, right? It is no different in real estate.

So why do real estate agents advertise homes with no price, and sometimes trick people into assuming a home is in a town, by failing to say where it is? Are these good techniques for selling real estate? Perhaps for the agent, but not for the owners of the properties.

You see, the agent is hoping to get curious people to call. He doesn’t care if a $120,000-buyer is calling on a $250,000 home that listed no price. Once he has him on the phone, the agent hopes to sell him any house he can. If a buyer calls, thinking a home is in town, so what? He can be steered to one that is.

Meanwhile, the poor sellers have the real potential buyers skipping over the ads for their homes. Many people like myself won’t waste time on misleading ads, or those that list no price. There are enough other homes with prices and decent information to look at.

Okay, you can see that for selling real estate, more information may be better. Buyers know that you either have something they might want, or they don’t waste your time. They pre-qualify themselves for you. What should you let them know then? At least the following.

Information To Give When Selling Real Estate

You should always mention the price and terms in any written information, as well as the location, style, square footage, number of bedrooms and bathrooms and school district. Look at what others are advertising, and opt for as much information as you can fit in a given ad or listing.

In addition to this information, have more information ready for interested buyers. Your goal here is to take away as much uncertainty as possible. For example, if the buyer have to replace the roofing in a year or two, get a quote. A buyer may be okay buying a home with a poor roof, but walk away if the cost of this is unknown. Uncertainty kills interest.

I once bought a piece of land, and then sold it for 35% more a month later. I am convinced that what helped sell it was marking the property lines and outlining where a driveway could go. I spent a dollar for spray paint for this project. When I bought the property, it was difficult to see where the property lines were. People like to know what they are getting.

Are you selling real estate that has problems? Hiding problems can be illegal as well as unethical. A better idea is to either resolve them, or get quotes on what it will cost to resolve them. Generally, a buyer is less frightened by the prospect of paying $2,300 for new carpet than by the prospect of paying an unknown amount for it.

This probably fits your own experience, doesn’t it? You want information when you buy anything. We will always pay something more for less uncertainty. Every buyer will, so have that information ready when selling real estate.

Suppose you are selling a home. What are you selling? If you put an ad in the paper, will it just say “house for sale?” Of course not, because you are always selling more than just a “house.” You are selling a location, a certain amount of living space, and much more.

To properly market your home, you need to consider what exactly you have for sale. The house may fit many people’s criteria for a good home, but there will be some few things that are most important about your house for the most potential buyers. These are what you need to identify and use in your marketing.

Then, when the buyers come, the focus changes. The question becomes “What are they buying?” As long as your home meets their needs, you sell them what they want, not what you like about the home.

What Is For Sale?

Ask some questions to identify what you are really selling. These may include:

- Why did your neighbors move here? (Ask the most recent arrivals.)

- Why do people buy this type or style of home?

- Who buys this type of home, and who buys in this neighborhood?

- What about this home gets the most positive comments?

- Do people move here for the schools, parks, or proximity to jobs?

- Is the home large for the price?

- Is there a lifestyle associated with this home? (Is it on a lake or golf course?)

Buyers need some details when they read your ads or the listing for your home. They also need to know other reasons why they should be looking at it. Tell them it has a view. Show the view in the photo, instead of the garage. They know they are buying a house. Tell them what else they are getting.

What Are They Buying?

You want to appeal to the most potential buyers in your marketing. In your showing of the home, and talking to specific buyers, though, you want to focus on what they are looking for. If they mention that they need space for a playroom for the kids, show them the convertible basement space. So what if they never see the beautiful deck you built out back!

Ask buyers what they’re looking for in a home, and they will usually tell you. It will save you time if there is no way your home can fit their needs. It will also help you sell the house if you can show them how it can fit their needs. Selling a home is done by marketing to the masses and then catering to the individual.