Archive for FSBO
Nov
05
I Can’t Sell My House – Help!
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Bill Young asked:
This is a very common situation, these days; and it will become an epidemic.
There are millions of adjustable rate and Option Adjustable rate mortgages that will be “resetting” to a normal interest rate as their “teaser rates” expire over the next couple of years.
This will put severe financial pressure on families who were able to buy their homes only because of those artificially low payments in the first place.
Many will be unable to refinance or even sell their homes because of the looming glut of homes on the market and the stalling of price appreciation.
Many of these people have little or even negative equity in their homes, which compounds their difficulties as realtors will not list their homes, as they see no way the home owner can pay their commissions.
These people also have little to no flexibility to reduce the price of their properties because the mortgage payoff and the closing costs will require them to bring cash to the closing to buy their way out of their homes.
Also, these homeowners will have a diminished fervor to stick it out through the hard times just around the corner if they have no equity, abandoning their homes and adding to the greater problem.
The ultimate nightmare is for people in this situation to be forced to sell their homes for financial reasons. They are headed straight to financial ruin; bankruptcy, foreclosure or both.
Selling a house is a Marketing problem. If I recall from Marketing 101, a product will be successfully sold when you position it as the most competitive product in front of the largest possible market. Painting the porch is not going to make your house the most competitive; everyone else is painting their porch too.
What if you could offer your house for sale and the buyer did not have to qualify for a new mortgage, do you think that would make your house stand out from the rest of the competition? This one change would also double or triple the size of your potential market of buyers. There is a “shadow market” of people who would love to buy a house like yours only they will not or cannot go through the “inquisition” of being qualified for a bank mortgage. These people include small business owners, self employed professionals, including real estate investors; foreigners and, yes, those with stinky credit!
They have the cash to put down and the ability to carry the payments, they just don’t want to hassle getting a mortgage and they will be very grateful to be given the chance to buy a property with no bank involvement. How grateful? We have found that they will jump at the opportunity, pay 15-30% more than the appraised price of the property and will also pay a higher monthly payment as well, which can spell P R O F I T in addition to a quick sale at or above market value. There is only one way that will allow you to sell your home without paying off the mortgage and that is with a properly structured land trust. The trust will prevent the bank from foreclosing on your mortgage for violating the due on sale clause.
An added bonus is that when you sell the property in a land trust, there is no tax due on the gain; especially important if it is an investment property or a residence that has appreciated beyond the statutory exclusion of $250 or $500,000. Now, you can sell your property quickly, take a nice down payment, receive hassle free monthly payments; in excess of your mortgage payments for years and possibly another lump of cash when the buyer sells the property or refinances your mortgage. I say, “hassle free” payments because you will have no tenant, toilet or trash responsibilities to the new buyer. You don’t call the bank that holds the title to your car if your water pump fails, do you? This has been the way out for many of our clients who were trapped in their homes and can work for you as well. Discuss this option with your realtor or lawyer.
Investing in Real Estate?
This is a very common situation, these days; and it will become an epidemic.
There are millions of adjustable rate and Option Adjustable rate mortgages that will be “resetting” to a normal interest rate as their “teaser rates” expire over the next couple of years.
This will put severe financial pressure on families who were able to buy their homes only because of those artificially low payments in the first place.
Many will be unable to refinance or even sell their homes because of the looming glut of homes on the market and the stalling of price appreciation.
Many of these people have little or even negative equity in their homes, which compounds their difficulties as realtors will not list their homes, as they see no way the home owner can pay their commissions.
These people also have little to no flexibility to reduce the price of their properties because the mortgage payoff and the closing costs will require them to bring cash to the closing to buy their way out of their homes.
Also, these homeowners will have a diminished fervor to stick it out through the hard times just around the corner if they have no equity, abandoning their homes and adding to the greater problem.
The ultimate nightmare is for people in this situation to be forced to sell their homes for financial reasons. They are headed straight to financial ruin; bankruptcy, foreclosure or both.
Selling a house is a Marketing problem. If I recall from Marketing 101, a product will be successfully sold when you position it as the most competitive product in front of the largest possible market. Painting the porch is not going to make your house the most competitive; everyone else is painting their porch too.
What if you could offer your house for sale and the buyer did not have to qualify for a new mortgage, do you think that would make your house stand out from the rest of the competition? This one change would also double or triple the size of your potential market of buyers. There is a “shadow market” of people who would love to buy a house like yours only they will not or cannot go through the “inquisition” of being qualified for a bank mortgage. These people include small business owners, self employed professionals, including real estate investors; foreigners and, yes, those with stinky credit!
They have the cash to put down and the ability to carry the payments, they just don’t want to hassle getting a mortgage and they will be very grateful to be given the chance to buy a property with no bank involvement. How grateful? We have found that they will jump at the opportunity, pay 15-30% more than the appraised price of the property and will also pay a higher monthly payment as well, which can spell P R O F I T in addition to a quick sale at or above market value. There is only one way that will allow you to sell your home without paying off the mortgage and that is with a properly structured land trust. The trust will prevent the bank from foreclosing on your mortgage for violating the due on sale clause.
An added bonus is that when you sell the property in a land trust, there is no tax due on the gain; especially important if it is an investment property or a residence that has appreciated beyond the statutory exclusion of $250 or $500,000. Now, you can sell your property quickly, take a nice down payment, receive hassle free monthly payments; in excess of your mortgage payments for years and possibly another lump of cash when the buyer sells the property or refinances your mortgage. I say, “hassle free” payments because you will have no tenant, toilet or trash responsibilities to the new buyer. You don’t call the bank that holds the title to your car if your water pump fails, do you? This has been the way out for many of our clients who were trapped in their homes and can work for you as well. Discuss this option with your realtor or lawyer.
Investing in Real Estate?
Nov
05
How To Sell Your House Fast
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Kristy Annely asked:
Selling a house is an exercise that demands loads of patience and efforts; not to mention publicity. Yet, with the right kind of approach, selling a house can be converted into a quick and even enjoyable activity. A house can be sold in less than a week if all preparations are in order.
Time is often a crucial factor in taking the decision to sell a house. If a house is being sold when the market prices are low, then it quickens the sale. However, this causes the homeowner to suffer a loss. On the contrary, houses that are put up for sale during a high in prices may not be quickly lapped up by buyers.
Once the decision is taken to sell the house, there are lots of preparations to be done. The first and foremost preparation is to spruce up the house and that includes the yard and the storehouses. Fences must be repaired if necessary, grass should be mown, gardens and pools must be cleaned up. Time must be taken to clean up the interiors of the house by removing the clutter and arranging the furniture in their proper order. If required, help may be hired in order to put the house in order. Houses with jaded exteriors put off potential customers. Hence, repainting of the house helps boost its sale. A little bit of touch up can also be done on the picket fences and interiors if necessary. Only after all this is done, the ‘For Sale’ board must be put up in the lawn.
The quickest way to sell the house is to publicize its sale in the immediate neighborhood. People living as neighbors sometimes have relations and friends whom they want to share their neighborhood with. Hence, they are the best mouthpieces for the sale. A little party can also be organized when the neighbors are shown around the house. Along with this, flyers can be distributed or posters can be stuck in shops and malls in the vicinity. These advertisements must contain the address of the property along with the contact details of the owner.
Once prospective buyers start drifting in, it is necessary that some competent family member always be at home to show them around. A locked house is a great way to put off prospective buyers. While showing them around the house, the plus points of the house must be highlighted. It is best to make clients aware of any shortcomings in the house to avoid altercations later. When the house is shown, a price can be quoted to them.
Interested buyers would definitely hold negotiations for the price. Though the seller wishes to close the deal fast, there must be no hurry to finalize the price. When both parties reach a price suitable to both, the deal can be considered struck.
The keywords to getting a home sold fast are beautification and publicity. A good looking house publicized in the right manner gets sold faster.
Scottsdale Real Estate Market
Selling a house is an exercise that demands loads of patience and efforts; not to mention publicity. Yet, with the right kind of approach, selling a house can be converted into a quick and even enjoyable activity. A house can be sold in less than a week if all preparations are in order.
Time is often a crucial factor in taking the decision to sell a house. If a house is being sold when the market prices are low, then it quickens the sale. However, this causes the homeowner to suffer a loss. On the contrary, houses that are put up for sale during a high in prices may not be quickly lapped up by buyers.
Once the decision is taken to sell the house, there are lots of preparations to be done. The first and foremost preparation is to spruce up the house and that includes the yard and the storehouses. Fences must be repaired if necessary, grass should be mown, gardens and pools must be cleaned up. Time must be taken to clean up the interiors of the house by removing the clutter and arranging the furniture in their proper order. If required, help may be hired in order to put the house in order. Houses with jaded exteriors put off potential customers. Hence, repainting of the house helps boost its sale. A little bit of touch up can also be done on the picket fences and interiors if necessary. Only after all this is done, the ‘For Sale’ board must be put up in the lawn.
The quickest way to sell the house is to publicize its sale in the immediate neighborhood. People living as neighbors sometimes have relations and friends whom they want to share their neighborhood with. Hence, they are the best mouthpieces for the sale. A little party can also be organized when the neighbors are shown around the house. Along with this, flyers can be distributed or posters can be stuck in shops and malls in the vicinity. These advertisements must contain the address of the property along with the contact details of the owner.
Once prospective buyers start drifting in, it is necessary that some competent family member always be at home to show them around. A locked house is a great way to put off prospective buyers. While showing them around the house, the plus points of the house must be highlighted. It is best to make clients aware of any shortcomings in the house to avoid altercations later. When the house is shown, a price can be quoted to them.
Interested buyers would definitely hold negotiations for the price. Though the seller wishes to close the deal fast, there must be no hurry to finalize the price. When both parties reach a price suitable to both, the deal can be considered struck.
The keywords to getting a home sold fast are beautification and publicity. A good looking house publicized in the right manner gets sold faster.
Scottsdale Real Estate Market
Nov
04
Selling FSBO? The Three Best Places to Sell Your House Online
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Deane Alban asked:
If you are selling your house for sale by owner, there are many places you can advertise. Get started with your FSBO marketing on these three of the top places to sell your house online.
And best of all, two out of the three places are totally free!
The first place for free FSBO marketing is Postlets.com. You can easily design a great looking online ad (a postlet) in less than 5 minutes. Print this out in color and you have a great looking information flier. You have a choice of many themes and colors to customize your postlet. It will even have a Google map showing your home’s location. You can upgrade for only $5 and turn your listing into a beautiful single property website. You will get a unique website address that you can include in your all marketing materials, too.
Once you have designed your postlet, you can post it and share it on following free online classifieds with a click of your mouse: Craigslist, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and more! You can directly email your new listing to friends. You will also send it as an attachment in your emails to prospective buyers. Print this flier to put in your brochure box. Also, keep copies of your flyers with you at all times.
There truly is no better place to start selling your house yourself than Postlets.
The second site for free FSBO marketing is Craigslist. I always have had fantastic results there. And because you can automatically post your ad from the flier and listing you created at Postlets.com it’s a piece of cake to have an eye-catching, professional quality ad.
The minor downside of Craigslist is you have to continually re-post your ads. As new ads are posted, your ad is pushed further down the list. I re-post every three days. I occasionally change the headline slightly so I don’t get “flagged”.
Sometimes I’ve been able to sell my house myself using these 2 sites spending NO money on FSBO marketing! How sweet is that?
If you are selling your house yourself, you will still probably want to get your FSBO listing on the Multiple List System for maximum exposure to buyers. You can use what is called a flat fee service to list your house without an agent. Your FSBO MLS listing will look identical to all the agent listings. The going rate is generally around $400, although I’ve seen it for $300. Or you can buy it as part of a package at some of the for sale by owner listing sites. Be sure to study the fine print with any flat fee listing service you are considering using. Some take their 3% commission out of any FSBO listing sale!
Using these three sites will get your FSBO marketing campaign well on its way. You will now be getting maximum exposure for your FSBO house for minimal cost.
Scottsdale Real Estate Market
If you are selling your house for sale by owner, there are many places you can advertise. Get started with your FSBO marketing on these three of the top places to sell your house online.
And best of all, two out of the three places are totally free!
The first place for free FSBO marketing is Postlets.com. You can easily design a great looking online ad (a postlet) in less than 5 minutes. Print this out in color and you have a great looking information flier. You have a choice of many themes and colors to customize your postlet. It will even have a Google map showing your home’s location. You can upgrade for only $5 and turn your listing into a beautiful single property website. You will get a unique website address that you can include in your all marketing materials, too.
Once you have designed your postlet, you can post it and share it on following free online classifieds with a click of your mouse: Craigslist, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and more! You can directly email your new listing to friends. You will also send it as an attachment in your emails to prospective buyers. Print this flier to put in your brochure box. Also, keep copies of your flyers with you at all times.
There truly is no better place to start selling your house yourself than Postlets.
The second site for free FSBO marketing is Craigslist. I always have had fantastic results there. And because you can automatically post your ad from the flier and listing you created at Postlets.com it’s a piece of cake to have an eye-catching, professional quality ad.
The minor downside of Craigslist is you have to continually re-post your ads. As new ads are posted, your ad is pushed further down the list. I re-post every three days. I occasionally change the headline slightly so I don’t get “flagged”.
Sometimes I’ve been able to sell my house myself using these 2 sites spending NO money on FSBO marketing! How sweet is that?
If you are selling your house yourself, you will still probably want to get your FSBO listing on the Multiple List System for maximum exposure to buyers. You can use what is called a flat fee service to list your house without an agent. Your FSBO MLS listing will look identical to all the agent listings. The going rate is generally around $400, although I’ve seen it for $300. Or you can buy it as part of a package at some of the for sale by owner listing sites. Be sure to study the fine print with any flat fee listing service you are considering using. Some take their 3% commission out of any FSBO listing sale!
Using these three sites will get your FSBO marketing campaign well on its way. You will now be getting maximum exposure for your FSBO house for minimal cost.
Scottsdale Real Estate Market
