156 Hamilton St., Leominster, MA
         

You Ask, We Answer: Understanding the Real Estate 'Short Sale' and How This Process Works

You Ask, We Answer: Understanding the Real Estate 'Short Sale' and How This Process WorksA short sale is something that occurs when a homeowner is not able to make the mortgage payments on time due to a financial hardship. Instead of foreclosing on the property after one or more missed payments, the bank may agree to allow the homeowner to turn the home over to the bank, which will sell it to as close to market value as possible.

Here’s what you need to know about how short sales work and what circumstances might call for one.

Step 1: The Homeowner Provides Information To The Bank

The first step in the short sale process is for the homeowner to submit an information package to the bank. The homeowner will provide information such as the reason for the short sale, an authorization letter allowing the real estate agent to talk to the bank, and a financial statement. In addition, the seller may need to provide an HUD-1 statement as well as a list of comparable homes in the area.

Step 2: The Buyer Makes An Offer

Once the house is put on the market, a buyer can make an offer just as he or she would on any other home. The seller will then have the opportunity to accept any offer that he or she receives from a prospective buyer.

Step 3: The Bank Makes A Decision About The Offer

Once the seller accepts an offer to buy the home on short sale, the seller is responsible for sending information about the sale to the bank. Before the sale is finalized, the bank must approve the buyer’s offer. It could take as little as two weeks or as long as 120 days for the bank to approve the offer.

However, not all short sales are immediately approved. The seller’s bank bank might decline the buyer’s offer for one reason or another. A bank may decline a short sale offer if the bank negotiator thinks the house is worth more than the buyer’s offer or if the seller violates a clause in the short sale agreement – such as moving out of the property and violating a clause that states only owner-occupied properties are eligible for short sale.

Buying a home that is being sold as a short sale requires patience and an ability to move at the bank’s pace. Working closely with an experienced lender or mortgage broker may make it easier to get through the process without a lot of hassle or drama. For more information about short sales, pick up the phone and contact me.  I can introduce you to the finest real estate professionals (Realtors and Mortgage Lenders) in the area.   David 978-728-5104.

Remember when buying, selling or refinancing real estate, start with a real estate attorney.

How To Attract High-End Buyers For Your Home For Sale

How To Attract High End Buyers For Your Home For SaleThere’s at least one good thing about the drop in the dollar and it’s boosting the real estate market. Many high-end Europeans are now looking toward the U.S. for a vacation home or permanent residence, and that could mean big hope for your home for sale. However, this also means a different way of selling.

Stage A Benefit

No open house for high-end buyers. Host an event instead – maybe even a benefit dinner for a worthy charity. Let people come and view the property, but give them an avenue to mix and mingle as well. In addition, they get to see how the house handles a bunch of guests.

Showcase A Chef

If you have a gourmet kitchen (or two), check with chefs that would like to showcase their cooking abilities. This creates an entire “house-buying” experience for your guests. Again, they see what the featured kitchen can handle as well as being able to enjoy the culinary arts of a professional chef.

Host A Private Tour

If your home has beautiful gardens and a large landscape, add a private concert or tour of the gardens. A wine cellar and large sitting rooms can turn the event into a stylish wine tasting event.

The biggest trick in attracting high-end buyers is showing off the house’s best features. If the event is hosted at night, you can show how attractive the home is with an overall “candlelight” appearance. You might even go so far as to set the time for when the sky is at it’s best and frames the home just right.

First impressions are everything, so pull out all the stops. Don’t let any great feature go undiscovered, from indoor swimming pools to music rooms and manly dens. Let your home shine!

Discover Why Your Home Isn't Selling This Summer

Discover Why Your Home Isn't Selling This SummerJust when you think you’ve done everything you need to do to get your home ready for the market, months pass and your home doesn’t sell. Consider a few factors that can effect your goal of selling your home.

Priced Too High If your home has an excessive asking price, it will be harder to sell. With so many homes available today, a big price tag may turn buyers off.

And, your competition down the street may have the same home but a better price.

The Market – No longer can you simply put a home on the market and watch the offers roll in. Nowadays, you have to be diligent and knowledgeable in your approach.

Research the market value of homes in your neighborhood and know what kind of competition you’re up against. And, understand today’s buyers and what they need in order to make a good offer on a home.

Unfavorable LocationNo matter how gorgeous a home is a bad location can hurt sales. Although you can’t change the location, you can be creative in figuring out ways to appeal to buyers. Offer incentives to attract buyers or lower your asking price.

The Appearance – Does your home need some work? If so, you want to attack those issues first before putting your home on the market.

Things like dirty carpets and broken appliances can turn buyers off. Try staging your home. This will help to ensure your home dazzles potential buyers.

You Didn’t Consult A Professional – Trying to sell a home yourself can be an extremely daunting task. That’s why you need a real estate professional who knows the ins and outs of the industry and can market your home in the right way.

The good thing is that you can make changes that will improve the situation. Go over all the points listed and address any problems. Once that’s done, you’ll have a better chance of watching your home sell.

Three Easy Ways to Make Your Home More Inviting

Three Easy Ways to Make Your Home More InvitingMany home owners putting up their home for sale on the market don’t have a lot of available cash to spruce it up. While staging houses is a definite plus, it can cost a fair amount of money, as do many of the other suggested “to-dos.” Here are a few inexpensive and easy ways to make your home look more inviting to buyers.

Put Up Your Personal Stuff

Not every buyer looking at a home for sale appreciates the fact that someone still lives there. Putting away the your personal things can help the buyers’ see themselves in the home.

You will want to put your pet’s things (toys, litter box, bowls) away and out of sight. The same goes for your medications, toothbrushes and toilet accessories.

Clean up your kids’ rooms and put away any toys around the house. Minimize or put away knick-knacks and personal pictures. Remember that you want the buyer to imagine themselves in the home.

Create More Space

Small, closed-in spaces are major turnoffs for buyers. Create the illusion of more space by putting up out-of-season clothes or clothes you don’t wear very often to make your closets look bigger. A good way to make your bedrooms look bigger is by taking one piece of furniture out of each bedroom.

Packing up the small appliances in your kitchen is a great way to make your countertops seem larger. You can also take out all but four chairs in your dining room, as well as extra table leaves to give that illusion of space.

Touch On The Trends

Chances are that some of the buyers are paying attention to celebrity trends. Feng shui is a big one, and you can do your part with just a few touches like adding a fresh bowl of fruit to the kitchen. Put a comfortable couch or chair on the east side of your living room or den. Place a green welcome mat on your porch to symbolize opportunity. Go through your house and get rid of reds.

Whether you see or feel a difference doesn’t matter. Keep in mind that you’re trying to appeal to potential buyers of your home, not make the home more livable for you. If it helps, pretend that you’re the buyer, seeing the house for the first time.

If you’re trying to get your home ready to sell, I can help. Get in touch with me for more information.

How To Get The Full Asking Price When Selling Your Home

How To Get The Full Asking Price When Selling Your HomeSelling your home is a complex process and there are a lot of factors that you will need to consider. Your goal will be to sell your home in a timely manner, while getting the highest price you can.

However, many properties sell at a discount because the buyer is able to negotiate a lower price on the property.

Although it is impossible to guarantee that you will receive your full asking price when you sell your home, there are things that you can do to increase the likelihood of this happening. You will need to have a strategy that attracts highly motivated buyers and improves competition.

Here Are Some Tips To Keep In Mind That Will Help You To Get The Full Asking Price When You Are Selling Your Home:

  • First of all, make sure that you have a reasonable asking price to start with. Research your local real estate market and find out what other buyers paid for homes comparable to yours.
  • Hire a home inspector to perform a full inspection of your home, so that you can fix any problems. If you can show the buyer the repair receipts and inspection report, you will be in a better position to ask for full price.
  • First impressions are very important and can improve a buyer’s perception of your home’s value. Make sure that your property has plenty of curb appeal and feels welcoming.
  • De-clutter and clean your home – this makes it appear more spacious and luxurious and will make a buyer willing to pay more.
  • Ask your real estate agent to create a flyer that compares your home’s price to other similar listings in the area – showing that your home is a great deal. This will convince buyers that your asking price is already discounted.
  • Schedule your property tours as close together as possible. This can mean that you get multiple offers at around the same time, which will encourage the buyer who is eager to seal the deal to pay full price.
  • If you have any rooms with bright colours that might not appeal to the average buyer, give them a quick makeover with neutral tones. These are safe colours that will increase the odds that your home will sell.
  • If you have the budget to renovate one of the rooms in your home, it should be the kitchen or the bathroom. Studies have shown that renovations and upgrades in those two rooms have the most impact on the potential selling price of the home.

With these tips, you should be more likely to achieve the full asking price when you are selling your home. For more tips, contact your trusted real estate professional.

How To Emotionally Detach From Your Home When Selling

How To Emotionally Detach From Your Home When SellingLet’s face it, selling your home can be an emotionally difficult process – especially if you have lived there for a long time. When you make a house your home, it holds many of your memories and it becomes a part of your identity.

How can you sell the house in which your child took their first steps, where you held many dinner parties and where your family celebrated so many birthdays and holidays together?

You will go through a period of transition when moving house, which can be mentally and emotionally tiring.

It might be hard to sell your home, but time marches on and eventually it is time to move to a different location or simply downsize or up-size to suit your changing family situation.

The problem with being too emotionally attached to your home is that it makes it difficult to sell. When you have a sentimental attachment to your home you will estimate its value as higher than it really is and you will have trouble accepting counter offers.

Which could mean that your home is on the market for a long time when it could possibly have been sold for a reasonable price.

Here are some tips for emotionally detaching from your home so that it is easier to sell:

Remove Your Personal Items

Taking any of your personal items out of the house will make it a lot easier to sell, because the buyer will be able to imagine a blank slate filled with their items instead. Also, it will make the process easier on you if you can remove your family photos, keepsakes and personal items – because it will make the house feel less like yours.

Think About Your New Home

Whether or not you have already bought your next property, it’s time to start thinking about it as your new home. It will take some time, but you can transfer that emotional connection to the new place where you will live.

Start to focus on all of the things that you are looking forward to about living in your new home.

Preserve A Record Of Your Old Home

Take photos and even make a video tour of your old home before you move – so that you can always remember where you used to live.

Get An Outside Opinion

Ask your real estate agent or a professional home stager to take a look at your home with unbiased eyes to let you know what you should change to help it sell faster.

They might tell you to eliminate the jungle wallpaper in your son’s bedroom that you love – but they are probably correct in a way that you can’t see because your emotions cloud your judgement.

With these tips, you should be able to emotionally detach from your old home, so that it is easier to sell. For more information contact your real estate professional.