Tag Archives: selling

Selling Your Home

Selling your home involves much more than just placing a “For Sale” sign in your yard and going to the closing. As a REALTOR®, we are here to help you prepare your home for sale, market your home, and guide you through the sale process to ensure you sell your home within your time frame and get the best price possible.

As your REALTOR®, we will determine the correct price range for your home, point out things you should do to make your home more appealing to buyers, and devise the most effective plan of action. Here are some of the steps we will take to sell your home:

  • Review the selling process–without the technical jargon
  • Perform a comparative market analysis
  • Determine the list and target prices
  • Market your property
  • Keep communication open
  • Present the purchase agreement

Factors That Affect Your Home’s Sale

There are three main factors that determine how marketable your home–price, financing, and time.

Price – If your home is priced too high, you must be willing to wait much longer for your home to sell. Either it will take that much longer to find someone to pay more than the home is worth, or the market will eventually catch up to the asking price of the home through inflation.

Financing – You may not realize it, but the financing of your buyer can have a tremendous impact on the success of selling your home. Try to offer very attractive financing options. Consider carrying the financing yourself at a below-market interest rate or preparing your home for government financing. This could open the door for many buyers that otherwise wouldn’t even consider your home.

Time – If your time frame is important then you must be willing to lower the price.

How Much Should You Ask for Your Home?

Of course you want to get the full market value for your home. The first step to getting the best price is to determine your home’s value. As your REALTOR®, we can help you set an asking price by taking the following factors into consideration:

  • Your home’s value may depend on recent selling prices of comparable homes in your area. After reviewing the selling prices for such homes, the price is adjusted according to current market trends.
  • Buyers most likely look in the price range determined by their monthly payment ability and down payment. Buyers are often very knowledgeable in their price range and purchase by comparison. Unreasonable asking prices are an immediate turn-off.
  • Inviting a potential buyer to make an offer shows that you are willing to bargain. However, if your asking price is outrageous, the buyer’s offer will most likely also be unreasonable.
  • It’s necessary to offer pricing, terms and conditions that are competitive in your market. This will help you sell faster and get the full market value.

Downsizing a Home Requires Downsizing Contents

You find that the children have moved out and you do not need that big of a home anymore.  Another thought is that you are going through a life change such as financial distress, divorce, death of a loved one, or illness.  You want to move to something smaller, but the task seems overwhelming.  Every closet and room is full and it is overflowing in the storage building.  What to do with all the STUFF that makes up the years you have been in the home.

You can get experts to help you get moving or sometimes incorporating good friends and family.  The key to downsizing is to sort through your stuff regularly and get rid of what you no longer use.  You’ll thank yourself on moving day.  There is a lot of trash when you have been living in the same place for many years.

Emotional Effects

Think about how much storage space you will have in the place you are moving to.  Space gets even tighter if you are moving to a condominium, nursing home or assisted-living site.  You have to think about the emotional impact of going through your belongings.  There are a lot of memories packed into those boxes in the attic.  It is easy to feel “overwhelmed” and to procrastinate and then become frozen.

Sometimes it is just the act of “getting started” that is the most difficult.  One way to get going is to have a family get-together.  Make it a party where each of the children puts Post-its on what he or she wants.  If  you want there are also companies that specialize in helping with downsizing.  They help organize estate sales or auctions, line up items for donations and assist with packing.  Having someone to walk you through the process is a big help.

Since there is less room for boxes of old belongings in a smaller home, there is also going to be less room for the person moving in.  You have to learn to live in a smaller space.  Before moving try to think about the practical aspects of everyday life.  How much will you miss a yard or having a garden?  Can you get by with a one-car garage or no garage instead of the two-car space you always had?

You will find often times that letting go and making room for that new chapter in your life is quite exciting.  Time to make some new memories!

"Should I Sell First or Buy First?"

Homeowners who are planning to make a move wrestle with the dilemma of how to get the home sold so that they can purchase a home.  Which comes first depends on the market — is it a buyer’s or a seller’s market — and your personal motivation.  However, for most sellers and buyers, the smart thing to do is to sell before you buy.  Currently the Baton Rouge real estate market has several months of inventory that is not selling right away and buyers are wanting to negotiate.

Let’s first talk about what would be some good reasons to sell first and then buy:

Negotiate Your Terms

First, by selling before you buy, you get to take your time and do not necessarily have to take the first offer that comes along.  You have the ability to negotiate terms without as much pressure since you have a place to live.  It is your home.  Also, since you are not under pressure to sell, you often obtain a higher sales price because the buyer does not think you are desperate.

Closing Contingent on New Purchase

When you do get a buyer for your home, make sure you negotiate that the sale is contingent on you closing on your new purchase.  That way if you can’t find a home to buy, you are not under any obligation to sell your home.  You may be required to put a time period of 7-21 days for you to locate a replacement home or cancel the contract.

Renting After Closing

If you want to wait for that perfect home, another alternative is to opt to rent after closing.  If the buyer does not require immediate occupancy, you might want to request to rent back your home for the amount of the buyer’s new mortgage payment.  One other choice is to move out, put your belongings into storage and rent a furnished, short-term apartment.

An Offer You Can’t Refuse

If the deal is too good to pass up, it may be especially good to buy before selling your home.  There could be a number of reasons that the sellers are extremely motivated to sell, and you might want to be the first offer before word spreads across town.  In this case it makes sense to buy before you sell, because the money you make walking into the deal is worth making double payments until your home sells.

If a seller is not willing to accept a sale-contingent offer, you may want to then consider if your home could sell soon enough for you to be able to close on the new purchase or look for alternative financing.

Each sale faces different circumstances and it is not always easy to know what is the right choice.  If you gather enough information, you can be comfortable in negotiating your contracts to state what is in your best interest.