Home Selling Tips: Sell Your House Quickly

Home selling has become a complicated process and not as easy as it used to be. For a first time seller, the prospect of selling one’s home, from preparing the required documents to finding a client and finally closing the deal, can be a bit overwhelming.

Home staging is still one of the most effective and proven way of attracting the right clients, so, before you even start putting your house in the market read through the list below.

• Make your house anonymous. First and foremost, de-personalize your home. Make it anyone else’s house. Remove the personal stuff you have gathered over the years so that buyers can imagine themselves living in your house with their own personal belongings. Maximize the full potential of your house by arranging the furniture to best showcase the floor plan.
• Invest in small fixes. Do not overdo the upgrade as you might not get your money back. Small fixes will go a long way such as applying fresh paint to the interior of the house, replace the tattered and stained curtains, fix leaky faucet, and make sure that closet doors are in place.
• Keep it pet-free. Not everybody is a dog lover or a cat lover so make sure to clean your house properly. Hide or remove the pet bowls and food, sofas and carpets should be fur-free, and keep it smelling fresh.
• Make the most of the first impression. Preparing the exterior is equally important as staging the interior of the house. Before the buyers enter your house, they have already judged it based on its outside appearance. It is important that your house should look warm and welcoming so buyers will be encourage in taking a look at what is inside.

The next phase is finding the right broker. Or, if you want to get your hands on, you can sell your house on your own. This means that you will work on marketing your house, making yourself available for the showings, and dealing with all possible negotiations.

Don’t have time or the experience to sell? You can sell your house with the least effort on your part by selling it to private property investors. Visit Lucas Properties for more details.

Don’t Hire a Realtor Just Yet

Many home owners are tempted to sell their home bypassing the services and fees of a real estate agent. Realtor’s fee can be a lot depending on the value of the property; if home owners can save this money they can sell their home for a few thousand dollars less. Dropping the price can lead to a quick sale.

Before you decide to go FSBO (For Sale by Owner), there are potential challenges that you might want to consider. You need a significant amount of time to sell your own home. Without a realtor, you need to research about your market condition and price your house accordingly, you need to make your home as attractive as possible, you need to plan your advertising, and you need to be available during showings.

You can do what an agent can. Realtors market your property to potential buyers and arrange for showing if any is interested. You can do this too. First, think of how much you are willing to invest in marketing your property. What marketing strategies are you going to utilize?

Do not limit your marketing plan to one method only. Remember, you have to reach as many buyers as possible. Use any means necessary as long as it stays within your budget; online listing, personal website, directory listing, flyers, and social media.

Agents are not lawyers. If you choose FSBO, hire a real estate lawyer to review contracts and provide advice on legal issues. A home owner’s common mistake is not disclosing relevant information about the house. If your house has a history of being infested by termites, you should let the prospective buyers know about this. Let them know what has been done about it and what the current situation of your house is.

Do you have the time and energy to sell your home? Does bypassing the agent’s fee worth the hassle? Do not give up just yet. You can still bypass the agent without the hassle. You can sell your house to a private investor like Lucas Properties. 

Know Your Local Real Estate Market

Before you put your house up for sale, it is important to know how your real estate market is behaving. Is now a good time to sell your home? Real estate is local; this means that if there are more buyers in New York it does not necessarily means the real estate in California is the same. So, if a 4-bedroom house in New York is selling at $120,000 it does not necessarily mean that a house with the same features in California will also sell at $120K.

The easiest and fastest way to get information about your local real estate market is by talking to an agent. Agents have access to the local multiple listing services so they are more familiar with how the market works, how many houses sold and at what price. By knowing these, you will have an estimate of how much your house will sell.

This may seem old school but another great way to research about the local real estate market is by reading the newspaper. Check out the local newspaper by subscribing or by visiting their website. There is a section in the newspaper which is dedicated to real estate alone; If you have not done it already, keep track on number of similar houses sold and the corresponding prices.

Make use of the Internet. With today’s technology, you can find almost anything in the Internet. You can even get an estimate of your asking price by using an online calculator. You can also interact with agents online or via social media sites.

You can also talk to a local appraiser. Appraisers are normally hired by banks to evaluate the real estate’s fair market value. They can be good source of information about the latest market trends.

Ready to sell your home? Do not wait for buyers to make an offer. You can sell your home quickly to Lucas Properties, a private investor who buys houses in any condition at any given time.

Step by Step Home Selling Process

Home selling process is identical whether you are hiring an agent, selling in an auction, or by FSBO.  There may be slight variations from state to state, but selling process includes one or more of the following steps.

1. Check the local market and how it will affect your sale. If you are lucky enough to be in a hot market where there are more buyers than sellers, you can price your house aggressively. Buyers will compete with each other and will more likely bid higher.
2. Set a price that sells. Over-pricing can make buyers move on to the next listing while low-pricing can make you look desperate. Buyers will be suspicious about your house and will probably move on to the next listing. Review the actual selling prices in your area and set your price within the same range.
3. Prepare your home for the showing. Before you put up your house in the market, make it look as nice-looking as possible. Buyers gravitate towards a clean house as they picture themselves living in it. You don’t have to do a major revamp; a new paint or wallpaper can do a lot in improving the look of your house.
4. Market your house. This part is done by a realtor should you ever hire one. Realtors have access to Multiple Listing Service where they can list your home. You can reinforce this marketing tool by creating a website for your house, distribute flyers, put up a ‘For Sale’ sign, and hold an open house.
5. Receive an offer. If you are in a hot market, you can expect multiple offers from different buyers. Do not fall for high offer alone as most buyers with exceptionally high offer do not have financing yet. Offering a very high price is their attempt to get your house while waiting for financing approval.

If you are in a cold market, do not despair because you can still sell your home and even get cash. Sell to private investors like Lucas Properties.

Lucas Properties buy houses as is, houses that need repair, distressed houses, and houses with tax issues. 

Get Your House Ready to Sell

When you buy a house the first time, you think of it as your future home. A home is where you live in, build your dreams, raise your children, and make memories with family and friends. But when you find the need to sell your home, the first thing that you should do is disconnect your emotions. Why? You need to make buyers think that is their future home and not yours. You may not realize it but in real estate business, your home can be anybody’s house so treat is as a saleable property.

Oftentimes, the first step is the hardest. As soon as you get through it, it will be easier to de-personalize your house. Note that I already used the term ‘house.’ Since your goal is to make your house somebody else’s home, remove your personal items such as photos, trophies, personal memento, and other collectible items. When buyers see personal items during showings, they break their daydreams of being in your house themselves. Do not store them in the garage or attic but place them somewhere else. Removing them from your house will help you too. It will give you the sense of certainty; that you are finally letting the house go.

Now, it’s time to put your house up for sale. How are you going to do it? Will you sell it on your own? Are you going to hire a broker? Will you try selling it at an auction? Your choice should be based on whether you have the time and experience to sell it on your own, how much are you willing to spend, and how fast do you need it to sell.

If you want a quick sale without spending another dollar than necessary, sell your house to Lucas Properties. Sell your house for cash in as short as seven days.

Home Selling: Pros and Cons of Open Houses

Open houses are a good means of selling a house but like any other methods, it has its share of advantages and drawbacks. Before you decide if it’s worth it to have an open house, make sure you know the pros and cons.

Pro

Open houses attract buyers. There are people who are not comfortable working with an agent so they prefer to buy houses on their own. Open houses provide a less intimidating way of viewing your home. Potential buyers who do not feel pressured by hovering agents will have a good time of considering themselves in your home.

Con

Open houses attract the wrong crowd. Not all onlookers are serious buyers. Some are just nosy neighbors while others are looking at some things they could steal upstairs while you are busy answering questions from other house shoppers. A large number of shoppers also pose risk of property damage. Visitors who tend to get comfortable with your belongings might leave dirt tracks or worst, break valuable vases and furniture.

Pro

You can save on staging costs with open houses. Staging your house for the sale involves time and money. Drawing multiple buyers at the same time could mean less private showings resulting in less last-minute preparations and staging. Since open houses are less intimidating, people are inclined to give you feedback about your house. These feedback can be valuable information towards improving your house and close on the next buyer.

Con

Not all houses’ location is perfect for an open house. Some cannot just accommodate several cars parking in so the owners can go inside the open house. If you are still living in the house you are planning to sell, open house means you have to vacate the premises together with your children and pets.

Bottom line, open house does not work for everybody. If you want to have a quick sale without the hassle of home staging and showing, sell your house to private investors.

LucasProperties is a private investor who has been in business of buying houses and other properties with cash. Over the years, they have helped property owners disposed their homes hassle-free.

Advantages and Disadvantages of FSBO

FSBO also known as For Sale By Owner has definite advantages in certain situations. What made it popular to home owners is the cost they save on realtors’ or brokers’ fees. At most, home owners save up to 6% of the asking price when they opt for FSBO. At times, this amount can be tempting enough to forego the realtor’s services. But before you make a decision, let’s take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of going the FSBO route.

Marketing

Realtors have marketing leverage. They can list your home in MLS plus they have contact with other agents through their network which gives you the advantage because you are sure to reach wider prospects. On the other hand, since realtors handle multiple clients at once, you cannot expect them to devote their time on your property alone. It is true that realtors can list your home in MLS but it will only become as one of their many listings.

Property Showing

When you hire a realtor, he will take care of showing your property to prospective buyers. He will help you prepare or stage your house before the showings. He will answer questions from buyers, set up open houses and handle financing and closing issues. With FSBO, you will be doing all these work by yourself.

Money

With FSBO, you can save up to 6% of the asking price. Let’s examine this further by taking a look at these situations:

• You will be paying your own advertising – online listing, local papers, making of signage, flyers, posters, and print ads.
•  You will be paying for an attorney who will be handling the legal issues and drawing up of contracts.
•   If you don’t know how, you will be paying for a consultant who will do the comparative analysis of your home.

Do you think you can still make the most money after examining these costs? Do not forget that when you choose FSBO, you will also invest time and effort in the selling process.

Are you still decided to go with FSBO? You can skip the marketing and property showing and still save on the realtor’s fee by selling your house to private cash investors.

Sell your house for cash to Lucas Properties LLC. Unlike realtors, they do not ask for commission. They take away the strain by taking care of the closing documents making every transaction hassle free.

Fix It or Sell As Is

If you are planning to put your house in the market, it is expected that you will face competition. There are already hundreds of ‘for sale’ houses in your area that you might think to fix your house before putting up the ‘for sale’ sign to set it above the rest. Fixing up means either repair or renovation and there’s a big difference between the two. Repair can be refer to fixing up a broken water system while renovation can be refer to applying a new paint color to any part of the house.

While fixing up can boost your house’s sale ability, it requires time and money. Before you make any decisions, think of your target buyers and how much fixing up will do.

Target Buyers

Do your buyers need a fixed up home? In your area, check the houses that were sold for the past six months. Are they being fixed or renovated before they got sold?

Some buyers prefer a house that requires a little repair. Usually, they are the ones who don’t qualify to buy a more expensive house or they simply want to ‘personalize’ the house. Some buyers are house flippers; they are the ones who want to make a profit by fixing the house themselves.

How far would you go?

While minor repairs are not a problem, over-improving can be an issue. Buyers will normally look for the least expensive house in the most expensive and desirable subdivision they can manage. If you overdo your renovation, this will put your house at the top of the market from the pricing perspective. It’s not bad but it’s also not the best place to be from a selling standpoint.

If the cost of improvement won’t return the investment, it may be unwise to go through with an upgrade. You can sell your house as is and still make some money. Sell your house for cash to private property investors.

Lucas Properties buys houses in any condition. You can walk away with cash in as short as seven days. Contact Lucas Properties now.