First-Time Seller Advice!

For several years, it has been a new world out there when it comes to selling your home…and a not particularly pretty one!  However, it can still be done (we do it all the time!), if you are realistic from the start.  More importantly, hire a Realtor who knows how and to what demographic to market your home…the Atkinson-Thompson Group.  We do it all for you, and we are relentless in marketing your home!  Take a peak at Dana Dratch’s article for RISMedia, 3 Tips for the First-Fime Home Seller, for some great reality checks on selling your home.  These tips don’t apply to all first-time home sellers, but they certainly do to many!  These tips are good advice for repeat home sellers too!  Consult us, and we can advise you on what homes in your neighborhood are selling for! 

To recognizing the realities of today’s market~                                                 Rosemary, Atkinson-Thompson Group                                         

Gotta Sell Your House? Consider a Short Sale!

There are many reasons that people have to sell their homes in an imperfect real estate market…loss of a job(s), job transfer, new employment, divorce, death, marriage.  With the current state of the real estate market, many sellers are “upside-down” in their mortgages, meaning that they owe more on their mortgage than their home is currently worth on the market.  If this is the position in which you find yourself, you are far from alone!  Many of your neighbors are in exactly the same position; you just don’t know it!  Not everyone can wait for  the proverbial “market to come back”; life intervenes!  You can release the chains that bind you to your depreciated home in numerous ways, as set forth in Marcie Geffner’s article for Bankrate.com, 3 ways to dump your house.  Your best alternative is often a short sale, a type of transaction about which Betsy and I have considerable knowledge and experience.

If you are faced with the situation of having to sell your home under a less-than-desirable scenario, Betsy and I are more than prepared to advise and assist you, and in our opinion one of your best options is to opt to attempt a short sale.  A short sale is when you request of your investor (the bank) and your investor agrees to accept less for the sale of your home than you owe on your mortgage.  Although there are short-sale horror stories out there, Betsy and I both carry the designation of Certified Short Sale and Foreclosure Resource (SFR), and because of our knowledge and experience, short sales do not have to be a long-term exercise in frustration.  Many investors have improved their short sale procedures immensely over the past year, speeding the process considerably.  In fact, Betsy’s and my short sale transactions have been smooth and have taken no more than a couple of months from initial offer to closing.   Also, more and more investors are willing to include a non-deficiency clause in their short sale approvals (and you want to request one!), meaning that the investor agrees via a clause in your short sale approval to never pursue you for the monetary shortage that occurs when a short sale transaction takes place.

There are ways to set yourself free from a home which has lost value.  Although Betsy and I suggest attempting approval of a short sale from your lender as your first course of action, read Marcie Geffner’s article for Bankrate.com, 3 ways to dump your house, for some insight into not only the short sale option, but a couple of others as well.  If you ever need advice regarding the re-sale value of your home and options for selling your home, feel free to check out our website, atkinson-thompson.com, which contains our contact information.  We’d be delighted to assist you!

We’re here to advise and help~  Rosemary

Home Pre-Inspections: A Good Idea?

If you are getting ready to market your home, a home pre-inspection can be a money-well-spent, great idea!  Buyers today are more concerned than ever with the condition of the home they are purchasing, and there can be so many deficiencies in a home of which the homeowner is not even aware…the need for a radon mitigation system, evidence of termites, roof damage or deterioration.  The list goes on!  If sellers are aware of deficiencies in their home, whether they be electrical and/or plumbing issues, heating and/or air conditioning issues, foundation issues, or one or more of those I mentioned earlier, they can be addressed before the home is marketed, avoiding costly surprises when a buyer orders their own home inspection and requests that the issues unacceptable to them be addressed.  If you have not had a home pre-inspection, repair items are not going to be something you have either already addressed, figured into the cost of selling your home, or figured into the price you ask for your home.  With a pre-inspection, you can avoid a lot of unpleasant surprises for the relatively low cost of a home inspection.  Click here for a good article on the subject on Housemaster.com’s website.  

To smooth post-contract negotiations and closings with no surprises for the seller~ Rosemary 

Understanding Marketing & Selling a Home in the Current Marketplace

The logistics of  marketing and selling a home have changed quite a bit over the last few years!  Due to the uncertain economic climate, many buyers are avoiding going overboard or stretching themselves to the limit on a mortgage.  Above all they are looking to feel that they have gotten a good, fair price on a home.  Forget about incentives…price your home well with advice from your realtor!

Jim Buchta’s article for RISMedia.com, Real Estate Incentives Out of Style among Price-Focused Shoppers, provides some great insight on what many of today’s buyers are looking for and some solid ideas on how sellers/realtors can work together to get a home sold.  Betsy and I are always coming up with new tactics!

Come to us for advice~  Rosemary

Seller’s Checklist…A Very Useful Tool When Getting Ready to Sell

I have blogged before regarding the importance of home inspections for buyers, but a seller getting their home ready for a buyer’s home inspection is very important!   As a seller, you don’t want to have to go through the sometimes nightmarish and cash-requiring process that can result from a less-than-happy home inspection by your potential buyer!  And, quite frankly, after you have lived in a home for years, you will have become oblivious to some of the defects in your home, but a home inspector hired by your potential buyer won’t be oblivious, and neither will your prospective buyer!   

So,  I came across a great little tool on HouseMaster.com!  It is their Seller’s Checklist.  It is a pre-listing checklist for those getting ready to have their homes marketed by a realtor.  All of the items on the checklist are, for sure, going to be among the items that a home inspector will be inspecting!  Grease your transition from the excitement of a contract to the joy of closing by avoiding what can be a stress-inducing negotiation between buyer and seller on what the buyer considers unacceptable conditions after having your home inspected!  You’ll be so glad you did!

To happy home inspection reports~ Rosemary

When Marketing Your Home…Open House & Showing Advice

When marketing your home, your realtor is often going to suggest a few open houses, and your home is going to be shown to prospective buyers on a regular basis.  Selling your home is a big event, and you have to treat it like any other big event in your life…plan, prepare, get ready for it!  Click here for an article by Stephanie Andre for RISMedia for a  pretty complete list of things you can do to prepare for marketing your home.  Make us happy, work with us, and we’ll bring you the results you want!  When Betsy and I have motivated sellers, sellers that are just as motivated as we are to sell their home, we are happy realtors.  Even though we go above and beyond for our clients in marketing their home via many avenues, there is no better favor you can do yourself as a seller, or your realtor as your marketer, than to get your home in showing shape.  And, as pointed out  in this article, CLEAN and BRIGHT are huge!

You have your work cut out for you~  Rosemary

More Staging Tips!

Staging is such an important part of marketing your home, or just updating it!  Click here for a great article from Rismedia.com, Home Staging Tips That Focus on Largest Customer Segments.  It’s a good one; I loved reading it…well-thought-out, fun tips.  Enjoy!

Best~ Rosemary

Home Staging Tips

Well, start with a thorough spring cleaning, and go from there!  Click here to read 10 Staging Tips to Help Your Home Sell by Jean Patteson for RISmedia.com.  Good advice here!  Even though many suggestions may not be the way you “live”, they do need to be the way you sell!

Best~  Rosemary 

Spring Spruce-Up

If you’re contemplating putting your home on the market come spring, now is the time to start getting your home ready.  Yes, I know there is still snow on the ground, but in the world of real estate, spring is upon us!  The experts are saying this could be a banner year (considering the last three!) for home sales.  Betsy and I have three listing appointments scheduled for just the next week!  Click here to read a very helpful article by Luke Mullins of USNews.com on 10 projects that you can undertake relatively cheaply to increase the appeal of your home, inside and out. 

Curb appeal, folks, is sooooooo important, and this article addresses that aspect in suggestions No. 1 and No. 2.  You want buyers to drive up to the front of your home and say, “Oh, I love it; I want to live here!”  You want to draw them inside!  The front of your home is a buyer’s first indication of how the home has been cared for; don’t let them just drive on by!  So, time to get a jump-start; don’t make yourself  crazy by trying to accomplish everything in a two-week time span! 

Best~  Rosemary