Home Selling: Types of Home Listing

Home Selling

Home listing is part of a marketing strategy for home selling. It is one of the ways to reach potential buyers. There are several types of listing but only a few are commonly used.

Open Listing

This is commonly used by home owners who have chosen FSBO (For Sale By Owner.) As the name suggests, this is a non-exclusive listing. As the seller, you can have a listing to as many brokers as you want and you only pay commission to whoever finds a buyer first. That also means you need not pay any commission if you found your own buyer. Most brokers do not want to work an open listing unless the home inventory is low.

One-Time Show

This is somehow similar to an open listing. Sometimes, a broker will show a FSBO to one of his clients. The seller signs a one-time agreement which guarantees that the broker gets a commission should the specified potential buyer closes the deal. This prevents the seller from negotiating to the buyer directly after the showing and avoids paying the agent’s commission.

Multiple Listing

This is the very core of home listing. The goal of marketing is to reach as many potential buyers as possible; with MLS (Multiple Listing System) you can achieve this goal. MLS has a huge network of agents and these agents have access to clients looking to buy a home. This type of network will sell your home. Without MLS, for sale by owners are at a disadvantage.

Sellers with FSBO do not necessarily need to list their homes to sell. The presence of private property investors makes FSBO easier. The seller needs only to work with a decent property investor and he is guaranteed to have a close deal within a few days.

Private investors, such as Lucas Properties, have a list of buyers who are qualified to purchase a home but unlike brokers, they do not ask for commission. The biggest benefit that private investors have to offer is they provide for sale by owners an option to beat the time and expense of selling their homes the traditional way.

A Good Rental Property

Investing in real estate is always an excellent option, especially with today’s unimpressive stock market performance. Whether this will be your first rental property or your tenth, the process of finding a good rental property can be quite a daunting task.
When shopping for income properties, there are some basic features to consider with each and every option.
• Property taxes exist in every state and need to be planned for accordingly. To generate income from a rental property, you must be aware of your property tax requirements. The town office will have tax history information on a property.
• Future developments for the area are going to directly affect the success of your long term rental property plans. Check with your municipal planning department to determine future development plans for the area. A solid growth area will yield excellent rental property investment returns.
• If there are a high number of rental listings in the area and most are vacant, you may be looking at a rental investment property dead zone. If vacancies seem to fluctuate or are seasonal, then you will want to be sure that you can cover the costs of maintaining the property during the off-season.
• Check the monthly rent amount of other rental properties in the area. Even if your property is nicer, it is unlikely to rent if it is drastically more than other rentals in the area. Minimally, the amount you charge for rent will need to cover your mortgage payment, taxes and other expenses. You will also need to consider if the area has planned growth that property taxes will increase in the future and the amount you charge for rent will as well.
• It is of the greatest importance to understand your target tenants and choose your neighborhood and style of rental investment property accordingly. If you want to attract tenants with children you will want a property with a nice yard and in the good school district. Use the available amenities to determine who you want to rent to and if it is the right investment property to buy for renting.
• Two other rates to consider when reviewing the potential of your rental investment property are the employment rate and the crime rate. Your future tenants are going to consider both before calling you and you should do the same before you invest your money in a property where jobs are scarce or crime is a problem.
• Talk to other renters in the area. No one will give you more of the truth about the area than other renters living there. Homeowners are generally more “in love” with where they live.
• Single family homes will generally attract more long-term renters. Often times these renters are more financially stable and therefore pay their rent on time and keep their utilities up to date.
Finding the best rental properties in any city can take a lot of footwork. You may be tempted to work with a real estate agent, especially if you are new to rental property investing, but often time’s agents make buyers feel pressured to make a purchase and when you are getting into real estate investment, it is important to take your time and consider your purchase thoroughly. A better option is to work with a network of real estate investors or join a cash home buyer list. These networks allow their members complete discretion over their purchases, no commissions are involved and the properties are generally available at well below market value.