Past Home Buying & Selling Tips
Week #10
Home Safety!
Did you know that Alaska State law requires every home to have a smoke detector & a carbon monoxide detector (CO)? While most homes are equipped with smoke detectors, most do not have CO detectors. Smoke & carbon monoxide detectors should be tested at least monthly and batteries should be replaced twice yearly. A good time to replace your batteries is when you change your clocks for Daylight savings during the fall & spring. Don’t forget to “spring” your clocks ahead this weekend for Daylight savings
*Bonus Tip*Smoke & Carbon Monoxide detector placement
The question is always asked where to place and how many to use when it comes to smoke & CO detectors. Alaska state law requires that each and every house have one of each, it is a very good idea to have several. If you only have 1 smoke detector, make sure to place it close to the sleeping area and up high, preferably on the ceiling. It is recommended placing a smoke detector in each bedroom or just outside, in the kitchen area and in the area of your furnace or heater. CO detectors should be placed within 15 feet of the sleep areas, one on each level of your home, family rooms and not nearer than 15 feet from a fireplace, furnace or any other fuel burning appliance. It is recommended to place them near floor level for best results. They will also function near the ceiling as well. Combination smoke & CO detectors can also be purchased at most stores locally.
Week #9
Contingent Offer?
You finally decided that it’s time to purchase your new home. You do some research, go on a few showings and find your dream home! In order to purchase your new dream home you must first sell your existing home and you haven’t even started that process yet. Some will make their offer on their new dream home contingent upon selling their existing home. In some situations this may work. Most sellers will not accept this type of contingency unless the house is currently on the market, and even better yet, if it has an accepted offer. If this situation is similar to yours, make sure you execute the right sequence of events to ensure you get your dream home. *Bonus Tip*Right Sequence of Events. If your new home purchase is going to be contingent upon getting your existing house sold, then you don’t want to put the cart before the horse. You need to get your current residence listed & on the market. It’s even more desirable to have an accepted offer on your home before you start making an offer on your next new home. Would you rather run the risk of having to make 2 house payments until your house eventually sells, or would you rather get your home sold, maybe have to rent an apartment for a few months and then move into your new home? The choice is yours! Week #8
Why Use a Realtor®
Using an experienced Realtor® can be the difference between a deal or no deal! An experienced Realtor® brings many quality traits to the table when it comes to selling your home faster and for more money. They have knowledge of the local real estate market. Just because you hear something on the news about someplace else, it doesn’t always hold true for your market area. They are also able to provide an objective outside perspective on your home and situation. They also provide know-how and experience when it comes to the transaction and potential pitfalls in the transaction process.
Week #7
Finding the right Realtor®
Finding the right Realtor® to help you with buying your new home can be the difference between a smooth transaction and a very bumpy transaction. You should at least interview a few different Realtors to learn what each one has to offer. Each one will have a different style, personality and approach to the real estate transaction. Find one that fits with your own style. One proven method for finding a qualified Realtor® is by using a referral. If you have a friend or family member who recently had a positive experience while shopping for a house or selling their home, get the realtor’s name and number.
*Bonus Tip* Make sure you choose a REALTOR® who will provide top-notch service and meet your unique needs.
· How long have you been in residential real estate sales? Is it your full-time job? While experience is no guarantee of skill, real estate — like many other professions — is mostly learned on the job.
· What designations do you hold? Designations such as GRI and CRS®, which require that agents take additional, specialized real estate training, are held only by about one-quarter of real estate practitioners. · How many homes did you and your real estate brokerage sell last year? By asking this question, you’ll get a good idea of how much experience the practitioner has.
· How many days did it take you to sell the average home? How did that compare to the overall market? The REALTOR® you interview should have these facts on hand, and be able to present market statistics from the local MLS to provide a comparison.
· How close to the initial asking prices of the homes you sold were the final sale prices? This is one indication of how skilled the REALTOR® is at pricing homes and marketing to suitable buyers. Of course, other factors also may be at play, including an exceptionally hot or cool real estate market.
· What types of specific marketing systems and approaches will you use to sell my home? You don’t want someone who’s going to put a For Sale sign in the yard and hope for the best. Look for someone who has aggressive and innovative approaches, and knows how to market your property competitively on the Internet. Buyers today want information fast, so it’s important that your REALTOR® is responsive.
· Will you represent me exclusively, or will you represent both the buyer and the seller in the transaction? While it’s usually legal to represent both parties in a transaction, it’s important to understand where the practitioner’s obligations lie. Your REALTOR® should explain his or her agency relationship to you and describe the rights of each party. · Can you recommend service providers who can help me obtain a mortgage, make home repairs, and help with other things I need done? Because REALTORS® are immersed in the industry, they’re wonderful resources as you seek lenders, home improvement companies, and other home service providers. Practitioners should generally recommend more than one provider and let you know if they have any special relationship with or receive compensation from any of the providers.
· What’s your business philosophy? While there’s no right answer to this question, the response will help you assess what’s important to the agent and determine how closely the agent’s goals and business emphasis mesh with your own.
· How will you keep me informed about the progress of my transaction? How frequently? Again, this is not a question with a correct answer, but how you judge the response will reflect your own desires. Do you want updates twice a week or do you prefer not to be bothered unless there’s a hot prospect? Do you prefer phone, e-mail, or a personal visit?
· Could you please give me the names and phone numbers of your three most recent clients? Ask recent clients if they would work with this REALTOR® again. Find out whether they were pleased with the communication style, follow-up, and work ethic of the REALTOR®.
Week #6
Are they Pre-Approved?
So you have done everything correctly so far. You’ve conducted a pre-listing inspection, fixed all the items, removed the clutter from the house & garage, staged your home and baked fresh cookies before all of your showings. All of your hard work is now being rewarded by having received an offer on your home! Great news, but the work isn’t over yet. The price is great, the terms are acceptable, everything looks good, but are they a legitimate buyer or just tire kickers? Did their offer have a pre-approval letter (or 90% letter) from a local lender? If not, these could be warning signs of problems to come. You don’t want to waste your time with a buyer who isn’t qualified to buy your home and potentially miss out on the buyer who is.
*Bonus Tip* Pre-Qualified vs. Pre-Approved? What’s the difference one might ask? Aren’t they both the same? The answer is no they are not. Pre-qualified means that the buyers have been in to a lender, they may have provided the lender with some of their financial information. Being pre-qualified doesn’t require the lender to verify much, if any of the buyers information, do a credit check or other tasks to check the buyers ability to qualify for the loan.
Pre-approved means the buyers have completed a complete review of the buyers financing, including work history, income, bank funds and credit reports. A pre-approval letter from a lender is worth way more than a pre-qualification letter!
Week#5
Get Pre-Approved First!
If you are looking to buy this year, it will be in your best interest to get pre-approved from a local lender first. There are many reasons to do so. First you will know exactly how much you can afford or are willing to spend on a home instead of guessing at how much you can afford. Also, by submitting your pre-approval letter (also known as a 90% letter) along with your offer you can show the sellers that you are a serious buyer and already pre-approved for your new home. Always use a trusted local lender. While others advertise rates & terms too good to be true, often they are. Ask your Realtor® to provide you with a few names of local lenders to use.
*Bonus Tip* Pre-Qualified vs. Pre-Approved? What’s the difference one might ask? Aren’t they both the same? The answer is no they are not. Pre-qualified means that the buyers have been in to a lender, they may have provided the lender with some of their financial information. Being pre-qualified doesn’t require the lender to verify much, if any of the buyers information, do a credit check or other tasks to check the buyers ability to qualify for the loan.
Pre-approved means the buyers have completed a complete review of the buyers financing, including work history, income, bank funds and credit reports. A pre-approval letter from a lender is worth way more than a pre-qualification letter!
Week #4
Get a pre-listing home inspection.
It’s a good bet that the buyer who will buy your home will have a home inspection performed after a contract has been negotiated. So why wait? Get a pre-listing home inspection from a certified home inspector. There are several good reasons to do so. You will know up front of any repairs or defects in your home. You can decide which repairs you will make and take away the buyers ability to negotiate repairs based on their home inspection report. If a buyer can’t choose between two homes, and yours has a pre-listing home inspection, they will more likely feel comfortable with yours. Your home could seller faster & for more money because of having a pre-listing inspection. Additional pre-listing inspection tips can be found online @ http://www.homebuyingsellingtips.com/
*Bonus Tip* Deals are less likely to fall apart as compared to when buyers have a home inspection and unexpected problems arise with the need for repairs or concessions. You get to choice your home inspector, as opposed to being at the mercy of the buyer’s choice of inspectors. Repairs made ahead of time help your home show better. Gives you time to shop for competitive repair bids as opposed to over inflated bids obtained by the buyers. Providing buyers with a pre-listing inspection report might encourage the buyers to waive the inspection process completely and accept your report. They also show good faith on the sellers part in trying to provide full disclosure to potential buyers.
Week #3
Items to Inspect on your 1st Visit!
Here are a few things to look for when you do your first walk-through. No need to knit-picky, but take a good look around. Inspect the walls, ceiling & floors for their overall condition. do they need new paint, flooring? Check the faucets & drains in the kitchen & bathrooms to make sure everything works. Also check the electrical in all of the rooms, do all the lights work, do the outlets have covers on them? Check the outside of the property as well, does everything look like it’s in good condition, windows, trim & the roof? While these items may be small, they might be indicators of bigger items yet to be found. While none of these items are major problems or difficult to fix, they might be an indicator of general maintenance that has turned into deferred maintenance. If they don’t fix the leaking drain in the kitchen sink, do you really think they will fix the furnace?
*Bonus Tip* When in doubt, hire a professional to inspect the home or a somebody that specializes in the field. While it may cost a couple hundred dollars up front, it could save you from several thousand dollars later!
Week #2
Start Packing Early!
If you are thinking of selling your home this year, do yourself a favor and start packing early! To potential buyers homes with too much clutter appear to be smaller than they really are. Remove excess furniture, clear all item not used daily from countertops (bathroom too) and remove unused items from the closets. The garage is magnet for clutter as well; a small initial investment in time & storage space can pay big dividends when it comes time to sell!
*Bonus Tip* Bedroom Closets, take a close look at your closet. If you haven’t worn it in the past year, either donate it or garage sale it, just get it out. Pantry, even if you don’t have a large pantry, by removing excess items you will provide the buyer with the illusion that you have extra pantry space.
Remember you are trying to sell the house to the buyer, you are no longer selling your home. Start by depersonalizing your home by removing your personal collections, awards & trophies and knick-naks. Don’t forget to remove some of the family photo’s as well, we want the buyers to visualize this as their home, not somebody else’s.
Week #1
$20,000 Free!
If you bought or refinanced your primary home during 2007, then you will want to take advantage of the borough’s offer to exempt the first $20,000 of your residential property taxes. To apply for this exemption you need only fill out a simple one page form and mail in or drop off at the borough building. Filing deadline is January 15th, 2008 so don’t wait. Click here to download the exemption form.
*Bonus Tip* Don’t forget to apply for your Alaska Permanent Fund online as well. Click here for the link!