For Sellers

Selling your home has always been challenging, and the past few years have made it even harder.  To help earn the best possible price for your home in the timeframe that works with your needs, you need to choose a real estate professional with the local knowledge to price your home, the marketing tools to bring buyers to your door, and the business experience to negotiate the possible best deal.  You need an Executive.

Executives Versus Agents

A real estate Executive is more than an agent.  An Executive is a trusted source of local information, familiar with every block of every neighborhood, able to promote what’s special and unique about your property, and savvy enough to answer hard questions from sellers.  An Executive understands local market conditions to set a price that will be attractive to buyers, but still get you what you need format he sale.  Above all, an Executive is a professional, with years of experience negotiating deals and managing legal and regulatory red tape.  When you’re dealing with an Executive, you can relax and focus on the next stage in your real estate journey, knowing you’re in good hands.

Setting the Stage

An Executive will work with you to balance your financial desires and time constraints with the current market situation in your neighborhood and region.  Your Executive can also advise you about the viability of home repairs and additions, home staging, and other pre-sale improvements that could help you sell your property–or end up losing you money.

Marketing Your Home

Once you’ve settled on a price and prepped your home for showing, your Executive will market your home in a number of ways, including yard signs, print ads, Web marketing, and email campaigns.  When you work with an Executive, you can expect highly-targeted exposure that bears results.  Executives are expert networkers with years of experience finding buyers–not just browsers.

Sealing the Deal

By the time you receive an offer, you and your Executive will have established a negotiation strategy and financial baselines.  When negotiations begin, Executives can use their knowledge of the process to field counter-offers and work within your guidelines to ensure that you accept only the best possible deal.  Part of that deal includes limiting your legal liability, to avoid unexpected post-sale costs related to unknown issues with your home.  Your Executive will escort you through the entire buying process, until the final paper is signed, escrow is closed, and the check has cleared in your bank.

I’ve included some relevant blog posts and links for your review.  If you would like more information on how an Executive can help you sell your home, please contact me.

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Should You Sell or Rent Your Existing Home

Being a landlord means maintenance, contracts, and responsibilities you might not have planned on.

You’ve found the perfect new home, and you’re ready to make the move, but do you sell your current home or try to rent it out? Selling now could give you some handy cash up-front, but renting could provide a long-term income source and a nest egg for retirement or hard times.

Your situation may not allow you to consider renting. For example, if you need a large amount of money in a a short period of time, a second home may be a luxury you can’t afford. But if you think you might be able to squeak by without selling and are wondering if you should, take our four-question quiz.

1. Can you handle your purchase without it?

For most buyers, selling your old home isn’t just an option–it’s a necessity. Most of us don’t have enough savings to pay a downpayment while maintaining our old property and paying for moving expenses. If you’ve run the numbers and they’re on the borderline, you should strongly consider selling your existing home before you purchase a new one. Too much leverage can cause stresses that could lead to losing both homes. On the other hand, you may not be able to sell your home without taking a huge loss. Buying a new home in this situation is also dangerous, unless you have a very strong rental market (see question 4).

However, if you’re in the enviable position of being able to scrape together a down payment and your first few months of rent without selling your home, you may be an excellent candidate for renting your old home.

2. Do you want to be a landlord?

If you’re moving more than driving distance from your old home, the answer is simple. If you’re staying in the area, you’ll have to perform some soul-searching. Being an active landlord can certainly save you some money, but it also means getting calls in the middle of the night, risking strained relations with your tenants, and possibly having to hire professionals to fix things you might break.

If you hired third parties when you lived in the home, don’t expect to become more of a handyman after you’ve moved out. Management companies will take a percentage of your rental income as a fee, but they usually handle problems more efficiently and may be able to rent your property for a higher price than you could on your own.

3. Can you cover the old mortgage?

Now that you know whether you’ll be fixing broken faucets yourself, add any management costs to maintenance, mortgage, taxes, insurance, and other related expenses. If possible, throw in an extra 10 percent to cover items you’ve forgotten. Now price out average rental rates for comparable homes in your area. Can your rental income cover that number? If not, is the surplus going to break the bank? Don’t forget–the average rental price of a home will grow over time, while the mortgage payment will not, so if you can cover expenses now, you will probably turn a profit in the future.

4. Is your rental market strong?

Your home may be worth the average rental price, but it could take some time to find tenants who will bite. Strong rental markets will see vacancies snatched up almost immediately, while homes in very weak markets might go vacant for 6 months or more. Generally, be sure to assume a month or two of vacancy before your tenants move in, and expect the same every time your tenants leave. If you’re in a particularly weak market, you may find that reducing your asking price actually saves you money in the long term.

If you answered “yes” to questions one, three, and four, you should put strong consideration into renting your old home. This is true regardless of your equity in the property. If you have a large loan balance, a self-sustaining rental allows you to build an equity position at no net cost, while allowing you to wait out appreciation as the market recovers. If your loan is nearly paid off, your rental provides free income while you decide whether and when to sell. With today’s deflated home values, renting may well provide a better return on investment than flipping the home and investing outside of real estate.

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Three Ways to Increase the Value of Your Home

Buyers only get one first look at a property, and they don’t want to use their imagination. They assume the house they see is as good as it’s going to get. If you want your home to sell, step out of your comfort zone and think like a buyer. Here are three ways to help you turn your house into the home of someone else’s dreams. We’ve broken down each category into low-cost, “Basic” tips and tricks, and an “All-Out” blow-the-budget transformation. How far you take it is up to you.
Continue reading – Three Ways to Increase the Value of Your Home

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Find the Best REALTOR® to Sell Your House

By: G. M. Filisko
Published 2010-03-11 16:55:53

Ask detailed questions about their experience and skills to help you find the right agent for your home sale.

Working with the right real estate agent can mean the difference between getting prompt, expert representation and feeling like you’re going it alone when selling your home. Here are 10 questions to ask when you’re interviewing agents.
Continue reading – Find the Best REALTOR® to Sell Your House

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6 Tips for Choosing the Best Offer on Your Home

By: G. M. Filisko
Published 2010-02-10 11:32:13

Have a plan for reviewing purchase offers so you don’t let the best slip through your fingers.

You’ve worked hard to get your home ready for sale and to price it properly. With any luck, offers will come quickly. You’ll need to review each carefully to determine its strengths and drawbacks and pick one to accept. Here’s a plan for evaluating offers.
Continue reading – 6 Tips for Choosing the Best Offer on Your Home

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