Realistically Determining The Value Of Your Home

With foreclosures on the rise and more houses for sale recently, the real estate market is now favoring buyers as opposed to sellers. Because of this current market trend, it's extremely important to price your home correctly. Realize that the market has changed and that you may not get as much for your property now as you would have a year ago. Also take into consideration that in this environment your house may take longer to sell as well. In this type of market, no one will be willing to over pay for a house. Qualified buyers have more options to choose from in a slow moving market and can negotiate better deals. When a home owner needs to sell quickly in a slow moving market, it's wise to consider selling on terms such as a lease option agreement. In this type of arrangement the home owner(s) usually get the full asking price as well as more money at closing due to the fact that the mortgage gets paid down during the duration of the lease agreement. Another benefit to selling your home by lease option is that there are no realtor fees involved, which puts more cash into the sellers pocket.

Some good advice to realistically determine the value of your home is to contact a few real estate brokers and have a compared property analysis done to see what similar homes in your area are currently selling for and also what they have sold for in the past six to twelve months. The agent should be able to provide you with sales figures to establish a starting point. Be sure they are comparing your home with others that are around the same size and have similar characteristics. Don't rely on the rumor mill of what you heard houses have sold for in your area. Often people will add about 15 percent to the actual selling price to get a better sounding figure. We at Region Real Estate Resource suggest that you rely on information provided by a real estate professional or service that specializes in comparable sales. Another thing to consider if you're going to put your house on the market is to have it appraised by a professional. This will also give you a starting point to base your asking price from as well as be alerted to any unknown defects in the property for disclosure purposes.

Most people aren't realistic when it comes to pricing their home. It's natural to believe that your home is worth more than it actually may be. It's important to realize that some sellers may get a higher asking price for a similar property because it is in better condition. Make your home as presentable as possible and increase your chances of getting your asking price. Invest some money into cosmetic improvements such as painting and new carpeting for example. You may love the current color of your living room, but potential buyers may find not to their liking and not be able to envision it a different color. When choosing the colors, go with neutral tones, nothing flashy. Paint should be off-white, with a beige tint for a soft, cozy feel. Don't use gray as it gives a cold and drab feeling. Never put up wallpaper. Carpet should be something in the beige-brown range, which is neutral and will hide some wear and tear. Use a low to mid range carpet, but go with a higher end pad. The nicer pad doesn't cost much more and it makes the cheaper carpet feel more expensive. It also makes it last longer. After making the necessary cosmetic improvements, present your home to buyers using home staging techniques such as removing photos and personal items. You want to depersonalize your home as much as possible when putting it on the market, price and presentation are the two main factors considered when buyers look at properties.

The worst mistake a home seller can make is over pricing to leave room for downward negotiations. Keep the asking price realistic and expect that it may have to be lowered somewhat when negotiating with a buyer. Generally homes attract the most buyers during the first few weeks on the market. If potential buyers are turned off by an above market value asking price, they will look elsewhere. If a home remains on the market for a long period of time, people start to believe something is wrong with it.

A wider audience increases the chance of getting the asking price. In today’s real estate market, a strong web presence is necessary because most buyers use it as a starting point for house hunting. The more access potential buyers have to seeing your home, the better your chances of a quicker sale. List your property with us on the largest network of real estate websites in the world with over 3 MILLION PAGE VIEWS each month. Buyers can get information about your property 24 hours and day, 7 days a week - 365 days a year - even while you are sleeping!

If you're going to use a real estate broker to market your home, they should expose your home to the greatest number of buyers possible by conducting open houses, broker tours, placing it on multiple listing services and working with relocation companies. However, if you decide to sell your home FSBO (For Sale By Owner) take into consideration that we buy houses and make offers within 24-48 hours.

Until next time...

Warmest regards,

Daniel Durham Founder of Region Real Estate Resource
http://www.regionrealestateresoure.com/