How Do You Know If a House is overpriced?

by admin on March 19, 2012

How Do You Know If a House is overpricedIn today’s housing market, it can be quite difficult to determine the value of a house. The housing market and the economy have been unreasonably out of whack recently, and it has confused many homebuyers, many sellers, and many investors.

Sellers often do not know what the cost of their home is worth and thus many price the house either too low or too high. How do you sort through the masses of houses for sale these days and determine what your dream home is worth? Below are a few helpful tips to help you determine whether or not a house is overpriced.

How Do You Know If a House is overpriced?

1)      Look at Neighboring Houses in the Area

One of the quickest and reliable ways to determine whether the home you are looking at is within the right price range is to look at homes around it. What have other homes in the area sold for? Do the houses match the price of the home you are currently looking at?

What does your potential home have to offer that the other homes may not? What is the house lacking? By researching other homes in the area, you are guaranteeing a fair transaction between you and the seller. For example, if your future home includes amenities that the other homes do not have, the home may be worth the extra dough. However, if it is lacking dynamic qualities found within the other homes, the price of the home should be lower than the others found within the neighborhood.

2)      Bring in a Professional

There are several people you can contact in order to provide you with an accurate evaluation of the home you are interested in. For example, a certified appraisal specialist is an excellent source of information regarding the home for sale. He or she will go into the home, look at what it has to offer and what it lacks, and come up with a fair value of the home.

He or she will look at items such as square footage, location, the surrounding neighborhood, and amenities. Based on what the specialist finds through his or her research, he or she will provide you with an accurate price of what you can expect to purchase the home for. A broker is another excellent source of information regarding what you can expect to pay for a home.

3)      How Long Has the House Been On the Market?

Another great way to determine whether a home is overpriced is to look at how long the house has been on the market. The longer the home has been on the market, the more likely the home is overpriced. Thus, it is important to ask how long the home has been on the market. Other important factors one should consider when looking at the price of a home is how many times the home has been viewed, how many open houses it has had, and any other sources of traffic it may have received.

This kind of information is important for various reasons. For example, if the home has received no traffic, the cost alone may be scaring people away from even viewing it. On the other hand, if the house has received a decent amount of traffic but no offers have been made, this may also suggest that the home is overpriced.

What is the Golden Number?

Purchasing a home can be a difficult decision to make. This sometimes frustrates me because my joy comes from matching the house to the family. But, we can be patient. As I help you purchase your home, determining the proper price may be an even greater task. I will assist you.

We will know the statistics of the housing market before walking into a situation that may prove to be over your budget. Do your research (as will I) in order to avoid scams and unnecessary payments. In today’s market, it is crucial to be informed, knowledgeable, and upfront about what you are willing to spend.

About the author: Jim Klein is a Realtor in Loveland Colorado and owner of Fort Collins Home Team, a great website where you can search all Loveland CO homes for sale.

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Excited About Building A New Home?

by admin on February 24, 2012

Excited About Building A New HomeHave you come to the stage of your life when you think you really know what you want in a home? Some people cut magazine clippings out, think about floor plans, walk through home stores and evaluate amenities and appliances, and daydream about what they want in their future home as a way of life.

Others just want to buy someone else’s vision and settle in. If you know what you want, and you have a dream home and a dream plan that you are ready to build, it is time to connect with me.

Excited About Building A New Home?

As a Realtor, I can help you take steps towards your dream—put wheels under your ideas. It will be my pleasure to share with you some of the beginning processes that you will go through as you work towards building and living in your dream home.

  • First, I will point your feet in the direction of a selection of builder or architects who have excellent reputations and have proven to work ethically.

After that, you and your builder will discuss your wants and needs.  It will be his job, for a while, to help you formulate your plan for going forward.  A smart builder will:

  • Listen to you.  He should ask you plenty of questions to discover what it is that you want and need. This may take several sessions, but it is time well-spent on his part. Your builder can only build what you want if he knows with certainty what you desire.
  • Advise you to get your essentials planned first.  I know you are building your dream and you have some special features in mind, but for now your builder will talk to you about essentials. Heating and cooling systems, wireless Internet wiring, good kitchen design—things like that matter most when the time for reselling your home.
  • Help you figure out how your “must have” dream amenities can work into your home.  If you must have a hot tub, or must have a sauna, or must have an indoor basketball court, then he will help you work it in, if at all possible. While some of these features may not support resale all that well, the truth is that you are the one who is going to live there for now. And, you need what you need and you want what you want.

Once you have chosen a builder and spent enough time with him to come up with a house plan that you love, expect a good builder to continue communicating with you. You should be made aware of prices that are different than maybe they were in the planning stages. You should have discussions about what kind of decisions really matter to you.  For example, do you care to make every choice about

  • Faucets in the bathroom
  • Hardware for the cabinets
  • The color of all of the walls
  • Where the light switches go,

and so very many other choices? As a Realtor, I know that sometimes all of those choices are the very things that make people say that they will “never build again”; or that drive a perfectly happy couple to craziness for the duration of the building process.

There are ways around this. Set boundaries for yourself and for your builder. Let him know what decisions really matter to you; otherwise, let him choose. And, if price is a big issue (which it typically is), you could even ask your builder to help you narrow things down by only showing you three potential kitchen light fixtures, three potential hardware options, and so on.

Guest Blogger: This post was provided by Jolenta Averill a Madison Wisconsin real estate agent. If you’re looking for a great place to build a new home, please visit Jolenta’s website where you can view all Madison WI homes for sale as well as get the latest Madison housing news on her blog.

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“The Donald” Got His Start by Buying a Foreclosure

by admin on January 26, 2012

Do You Want To Invest In ForeclosuresForeclosures are all around us, and housing market analysts say that we will see much of the same in 2012.  More than 3.6 million folks have lost their home to foreclosure since the beginning of the recession in 2007.

Do You Want To Invest In Foreclosures?

In 2011, the number of bank repossessions fell 25% below 2010 figures, although analysts suggest that those numbers are artificially low, since the foreclosure process can take a long time to complete – which means that there were homes in foreclosure that will not go through the process in its entirety until 2012. This sounds reasonable, since figures released earlier in the month show that it can take an average of 986 days for a foreclosure to go through the entire process in states like New York, where foreclosures must be approved via the courts.

Nonetheless, now may be the best time ever to buy.  Mortgage interest rates are still low, which makes homeownership more affordable than ever.  And inventory is high – and a large number of the available properties on the market are bank foreclosed properties.

The value of foreclosed properties is nothing new to real estate mogul and hotel tycoon Donald “The Donald” Trump.  Trump, who is consistently ranked among the savviest business leaders in the world, got his start in real estate by buying a foreclosed Cincinnati apartment complex, fixing it up a bit, and then turning a nice profit on it – way back in the 1960s.

Trump then went on to grab up some choice properties in Manhattan that had been sitting idle during the financial crisis of the 1970s.  Since then, Trump has been snapping up properties (and selling them) all over the world.  His company owns a lot of real estate, as does The Donald privately.

Trump Tower Was A Foreclosure Investment

Some of the most notable include his primary residence inside the mammoth skyscraper that is named, fittingly, Trump Tower. Notably, there are a few more Trump Towers around the world, although the one that Trump himself lives in is located on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York.  The top three floors are occupied by The Donald, which gives him a lavish 30K square feet of living space. Forbes Magazine valued Trump Tower at $318 million in 2006, while Trump’s living quarters are thought to be worth an estimated $50 million.

Trump Tower is home to world class shopping (the Gucci flagship store is located here), as well as dining, and is accentuated by an indoor waterfall and pedestrian bridge.  Other notable tenants include Saudi Prince Mutaib, Bruce Willis, and Beyonce.  Trump Tower is home to forty floors of apartments and twelve floors of offices.

Another recent Trump real estate deal saw him reaping a 130% reward on his investment is the Palm Beach, Florida Maison de L’amitie.  Trump picked this property up in 2004 for a cool $41 million.  The property is home to 22 bathrooms, a 50-car garage, and has 500 feet of private ocean on one side.

The real estate taxes alone on this property were running Trump $1 million a year.  He threw around $25 million into renovations, including lining the lavish home with diamond and gold fixtures.  In 2010, Russian billionaire Dmitry Rhbolovlev bought the Miason de L’Amitie for $95 million, down from Trump’s asking price of $120 million.

Trump is proof positive that buying a foreclosure can be a very lucrative prospect!

If you’re interested in investing in foreclsoures, you can see many on Linda Wise’s Merritt Island FL real estate website. You can also check out foreclosures in the Titusville FL real estate market and the Cape Canaveral FL real estate market.

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Neighbors That Hurt the Value of Your Home

by admin on January 17, 2012

Neighbors That Hurt the Value of Your HomeBad neighbors…the world is full of them.  Perhaps that is why Benjamin Franklin wrote in Poor Richard’s Almanac – “Love your neighbor, yet don’t pull down your hedge”.  Author Robert Frost’s simple proverb says it all.  Fences make good neighbors.  But the truth is that bad neighbors are not just annoying.  They can also bring down the value of your property.

Neighbors That Hurt the Value of Your Home

The clutter, peeling paint, junk in the yard, and other eyesores from your neighbor’s home can negatively affect your home’s value.  In fact, some real estate appraisers estimate that unsightly neighboring properties can lower the sale price of your own home by up to a whopping ten percent.  And if the neighbor’s home is a true junk pile in despicable shape and the yard is packed with junk cars and other stuff, you might even lose more!

While it isn’t breaking news that the condition of the neighborhood helps to establish home prices, the truth of the matter is that there’s so many homes on the market right now that buyers have the ability to be really choosey when it comes to buying a home.  Inventory is high.  There’s lots of competition among home sellers.  If your house is located next to “that house” in your neighborhood, you will lose out when offers on your house come in lowball, or not at all.

Solutions For A Bad Neighbor

So the big question is, what can you do about it? Is there really anything that you can do? Short of calling up the show Hoarders: Buried Alive, and asking them to help your neighbor out, you do have some other solutions at your disposal.

First of all, if your neighbor is disabled or elderly, they may be unable to maintain their lawn and property.  And perhaps, in this economy, they can’t afford it or they can’t afford to hire someone to mow the grass or do other odd maintenance jobs.  There are a number of programs out there for situations such as this, and perhaps your neighbor doesn’t know about them.

Otherwise, it is best often just to address the problem head on. Open up a dialogue.  Unless there is a safety issue with you knocking on the door and talking to your neighbor, such as dangerous dogs on the property, approach your neighbor about the issue.  Be low-key and friendly.  Let them know that you are putting your house up for sale, and that potential buyers may not know what nice neighbors they really are, and may be a bit hesitant to move in, due to the condition of their yard.  Offer to help them clean up if you are willing to do so.

If the home is vacant, or if it is a rental, contact the owner of the home and ask them to put a fire under the tenants to get the property looking good.  You can do this with a phone call, or send them a letter or email with photos of the eyesore areas.  If the property is a foreclosure that is owned by a bank, complain to them.

And if all else fails, you can take Robert Frost’s advice and erect a fence to take some of the attention away from the junkyard next door.

Article provided by Allison Klein a Fort Collins CO real estate agent who also services other areas around the Fort Collins area. You can search some of those areas including Windsor CO homes for sale and Loveland CO homes for sale on her website.

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How Historic Is Your Historic District?

by admin on January 13, 2012

How Historic Is Your Historic DistrictSo you’ve found an old house that you’re interested in, and the listing sheet says it’s in the “historic district.”

Based on the age of the house and its compatibility with surrounding properties, that makes sense, but what are the implications of that “historic” designation? Is it something you should be looking into before you take the plunge?

Well, as with all zoning issues, you definitely should be looking into it, in the same way you would scrutinize anything that could potentially turn out to be a deal killer.

We’re not talking about the National Register of Historic Places here – we’ll save that for another time – but we’re just talking about the local authorities taking steps to use their powers of zoning in their effort to preserve the town’s historic heritage.

How Historic Is Your Historic District?

There are three primary approaches to the local regulation of historic districts:

  • Some towns view a “historic district” as nothing more than the creation of an elite section of town where they can justifiably charge taxes at a higher rate because of the “snob value.” If it costs more to live in the historic district, those towns would argue, the people willing to pay that higher price will have the incentive to preserve the historic character of their own homes and therefore the whole area will be preserved for posterity. So if you’re buying into a designated but unregulated historic district, you could be dealing with one of these “snob value only” towns, in which case all you have to worry about is whether you’re paying too much in taxes, and that’s a simple mathematical question.
  • Other towns are less willing to place their trust in the residents of the district. Maybe the town is in a major tourist area, and the historic character of the historic district is part of what draws the tourists, and the only way to be sure it remains historic is to impose standards and restrictions. So look carefully at these restrictions, as they may be quite costly or even prohibitive. Let’s say your house is sided with pine clapboards that have checked and weathered beyond the point of just being able to repaint them. It would cost $30,000 to re-side the house with new pine clapboards and get it painted, but a vinyl siding job would only cost $10,000. Not so fast, the historic district commissioners say, vinyl isn’t historically accurate, so you have to use pine. And now that is also a mathematical question. Typically, these restrictions and standards are applied only to exterior features, since the goal is to preserve the “streetscape”, rather than every detail of the interior.
  • In the “carrot and stick” tradition, the third group of towns use incentives rather than restrictions to achieve the historic preservation goal. These may be towns that have suffered economic hardship – a mill closure, for instance – and are left with falling property values and an almost abandoned historic downtown. The jumpstart philosophy is to create incentives for people to buy up the downtown properties and put them back into use. The incentives might typically include relaxations of various zoning standards in exchange for historic preservation. Open up an office or a retail store and we won’t require you to provide off-street parking, for instance. Or take that massive Victorian house and turn it into three apartments even though the lot size technically isn’t large enough.

Historic preservation is an admirable goal and should be praised and encouraged. But if it’s going to drain your bank account, maybe it’s not for you.

About the Author: Paula Henry sells Fishers Indiana Real Estate, condos and investment properties. Her websites have extensive information on Fishers Homes for Sale, golf communities, Geist Waterfront Homes and more.

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Dealing with a Low Appraisal When Buying A Home

by admin on January 11, 2012

Dealing with a Low Appraisal When Buying A HomeYou found your dream home.  The inspector says everything looks good.  The bank sends out an appraiser.  You get a call saying that the appraisal came in low. What happened?  Good question, and one that many people are asking right now.

Dealing with a Low Appraisal When Buying A Home

This is a buyer’s market.  Inventory is high.  Mortgage rates are low.  There’s really, arguably, never been a better time to buy a home, at least for most people.   There are a lot of bargains out there to be had, and anyone who buys now is almost guaranteed to get a good value – and when the housing market rallies and home prices go back up – they will be really glad that they did buy.  But this buyer’s market is behind a lot of low appraisals, including:

  • Overpricing by the seller. This is a common problem.  Sometimes sellers insist on listing their homes at prices that aren’t really supported by a comparative market analysis, and that can catch up to them when the appraisal comes back too low.  This is usually an easy fix, however.  The seller just needs to lower the price!
  • Declining market values caused by few buyers shopping a large inventory can also cause a home to appraise lower than expected.
  • A rise in short sales or foreclosures in the neighborhood makes the market price lower than anticipated.
  • The property was appraised by an inexperienced appraiser who overlooked pending data from sales that could reflect a high comparable sale price.

Many would-be home buyers become frustrated when the appraisal is returned with a low appraised value.  Some may even say that the lender doesn’t want to make the loan, so they are being difficult. That’s never the case. Banks want to loan money. That’s how they make money!

How to Deal with a Low Appraisal

How to Deal with a Low AppraisalAgain, don’t panic if your appraisal comes back low.  It can be hard to stay calm when you think the sale is not going to go through.  But you have options.

Oftentimes, the buyer can choose to make up the difference between the appraised value and the amount that the seller wants, in cash.  What the lender cares about is the loan-to-home value ratio.  Just because it appraises low doesn’t mean that the lender doesn’t want to lend you the appraised value. If you can make the difference up in cash, then your deal is a “go”.

The seller can invariably lower the price, and that’s often what happens.  If the home had been overpriced, or if the seller inflated the price, then it is the best solution for the lender to lower the price. They get to sell the home, albeit for a lower price, the buyer is even happier with the purchase, and the bank has no problems.

Sometimes, the seller can take out a second mortgage for the difference between the appraised value and the asking price.  Some banks will do this.

And last of all, you can order a second appraisal.  The buyer or the seller can choose to pay for a second appraisal, and it is sometimes the case that a fresh set of eyes will see things differently.

This guest blog was provided by Kimbeley Kelly a real estate agent in Palm Springs and La Quinta California. If you’re interested in owning a home in California, check out Kim’s wonderful real estate website!

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Selling A Home During The Holidays

by admin on January 8, 2012

Selling A Home During The HolidaysThe topic of selling your home during the holidays is a debate that has been discussed over and over again.  It is a tricky situation that can have its advantages and disadvantages.

Taking it off the market for a month or so makes your life, as a seller, easier, but what if you miss the opportunity to have your house go under contract because of a decision you made?

Selling A Home During The Holidays

The choice is a pretty big one for a homeowner.  At my house, for most big decisions, we lay out the pros and cons on a piece of paper so that we can have all of the information we think we need to confidently decide on something.  So with this in mind, below are the pros and cons for selling your home during the holidays.

Some suggestions are made along the way, as well, should you decide to keep it on the market.  These tips simply help you continue to make it more sell-able to buyers who might want to see the home during this hectic time.

When you lay out the pros and cons on paper, the “pro” category is always first so, in the spirit of keeping with tradition, we will do the same.  First and foremost, there will be less competition.  In a recent survey by Realtor.com, when asked about this very topic, 61% of the realtors surveyed stated that leaving a home on the market is an advantage to home owners.  Fewer homes for sale mean fewer choices for buyers.

Holiday Home Shoppers Are Serious About Buying!

Holiday Home Shoppers Are Serious About Buying!Another advantage is that buyers who want to walk through homes on the market during the holidays are serious buyers.  In the same study mentioned earlier, 79% of the realtors felt that buyers looking for a home are serious about buying no simply looking.  These people, for the most part, are people who need to move.  Some of the potential buyers might even be people, in town visiting family and friends who are planning to relocate to the area for the first time or even moving “back” to the area.

Furthermore, homes for sale during the holidays are so warm and inviting to see.  Outdoor decorations, if done properly, can easily entice buyers to want to see more.  But, in terms of decorations, less is more.  It is imperative that holiday decorations inside and out be simple, non-religious in nature for the most part, and not cluttering as they can so often be.  For the tree, make sure the tree does not take over the room and use color coordinating ornaments and wrapping for the packages.  The whole idea is to make the home look like a “model home” not the Griswald’s home!!

Now that we have discussed some of the advantages, we need to look at the disadvantages or “cons” as we call them on paper.  It is important to look at the reasons to take your home off the market.   Sometimes, sellers are afraid they will look desperate and only attract buyers who want to make ridiculously low ball offers.  This is easy to combat if it happens by simply rejecting an offer which then gets the point across to the agents representing these buyers that there is no desperation involved.  Agents are well aware if a home is priced right and will convey that to their clients.

Always Be Ready For A Showing Even During The Holidays!

Always Be Ready For A Showing Even During The Holidays!Secondly, and a big one for me as a home owner who has sold several homes, sellers need to have the home ready to show at a moment’s notice.  With all the action and holiday entertaining during the holidays, it is so hard to keep your home perfectly neat, tidy and not cluttered.  At the same time, just because it is the holidays you don’t get a free pass to a mess.  The best and most liked homes are always perfectly staged and free of clutter to make the home more appealing.

This also goes back to making sure that you haven’t over decorated your home with every kind of holiday “doo-dad” you can find.  One very important part of showing your home at this time is to have listings with top quality photos of the home at the other times of the year so that buyers can see what it normally looks like.  This helps them look past the decorations to imagine what it might look like with their furnishings there.

Many sellers feel that just like them, buyers are enjoying their time with family and friends.  Is it worth keeping the home on the market if no one is going to want to see it?  This goes back to attracting only serious buyers.  Even if you have fewer showings, you are going to have quality showings that can very well end up with a contract now or in the very near future.

New Listings During The Holidays Standout 

New Listings During The Holidays Standout On a side note, one very important advantage of taking your home off the market during the holidays is that after the first of the year, the house is relisted.  When this happens, it is technically listed as a new listing which means much more exposure just as when you first listed the home for sale.

There are definitely pros and cons to keeping a home on the market during the holidays.  It is truly a judgment call.  No matter what you decide, feel good about your decision and know you made the right choice.  But most of all have fun!!  Remember it is a time for gathering with friends and family.  Do not let yourself get caught up in the grind of selling your home.

This guest blog was provided by Real Estate Melbourne agent Mitch Ribak who also specializes in helping buyers purchase Palm Bay FL real estate and Port St. John real estate in Southern, Florida.

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6 Ways to Irritate Your Real Estate Agent

by admin on January 6, 2012

Happy Real Estate AgentsWorking hand-in-hand with your real estate agent and communicating with your agent is the easiest way to sell your home, and sell it quickly. The same goes if you are looking to buy.

Happy Real Estate Agents = Happy Home Buyers!

Sure, your real estate agent stands to make some fairly good money by selling your home, or helping you find a home to buy, but that doesn’t mean that your agent should be taken for granted. After all, an inspired agent is one that will think and act quickly and creatively for you – and who will negotiate fiercely and wisely, for your benefit.

Most real estate agents are super easy to get along with and are essentially “people persons”.  But they are also only human.  There are some things, however, that will get under your real estate agent’s collar, no matter how professional he or she tries to be.  Your agent will be pulling their hair out and dread seeing your number on their phone if you do any of the following.  Please don’t:

  • Become a real estate expert, just because you’re connected to the Internet.  Buyers can now go online and see all kinds of available homes, pictures and all.  But online listings take a while to update, and many of them are no longer available.   Don’t give you Realtor a list of 100 MLS numbers expecting to see most of the homes on your list. Many of them will be off the market already.  Look online if you must, but put your faith in your Realtor and their ability to find homes in your price range with the features that you are looking for.
  • Keep changing your mind about what you like.  Your agent, if they are trained well, will be continually monitoring your wants and needs when looking for properties for you.  But if what you want keeps changing, then the agent can’t really know what to look for on your behalf.  Know what you want and communicate that to your agent.
  • Make an unjustified lowball offer.  Sure, it is okay if you offer the buyer less than they are asking.  But be respectful and realistic.  Your agent will be able to provide you with a comparative market analysis, so you will be able to judge if the asking price is too high.  But there’s no reason for ridiculously low offers.  They are hardly ever accepted, and they just waste your time, your agent’s time, and the buyer’s time.
  • Negotiate the price without telling the agent. This sometimes happens during escrow, and it can be irritating to the agent to not be informed when you negotiate for a lower price.
  • Request several additional showings, spend hours and hours looking at a property and then fail to make an offer.  Your agent only gets paid if they sell a house, and they are fine with that.  After a couple of showings, you should be either willing to make an offer or ready to cross the property off your short list.
  • Waste the agent’s time.  If you are not really serious about buying, keep in mind that your agent is a busy person who is working for a living.  Don’t demand a lot of the agent’s time unless you are truly ready to become a homeowner.

Article provided by Allison Klein a Fort Collins CO real estate agent. If you want to learn more about Allison, you can visit her Windsor CO real estate website where you can search Loveland CO homes.

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