A Short Sale occurs when a Bank (mortgage holder) is willing to accept less than the amount owed to allow the sale of a property. Many distressed homeowners believe that because they are having problems and they owe more on the property than it is worth, that all they can do is let the Bank foreclose…Not true! Though most homeowners are not facing the fear of losing their home, I doubt that there are many of us that don’t know a friend, family member or co-worker facing the challenge of keeping their home in this declining real estate market.

Here are some common seller questions and answers:

Is this option right for me?

Mortgage lenders are increasingly willing to work with borrowers faced with a financial hardship. If you are faced with a hardship and are unable to meet your obligation on your mortgage, your lender would prefer to settle the matter with you as opposed to taking the property through foreclosure. As you consider the option of pursuing a Short Sale, remember your lender is looking to minimize the potential loss on your loan. By agreeing your lender has arrived at a solution that is “financially” better for them than foreclosure. (more…)

Many agents have come across the client who wants to sell their house and who wants to get rid of their clutter, but has no idea of how to go about it.  A garage/yard/lawn sale is a terrific way to both get clutter out of the house and put some money in your buyers’ pockets.  It’s also a good way to develop a rapport with your clients.  Here are some tips for you to organize a garage sale with your clients and then get all the deadweight out of the house!

• Take your clients through the concepts of staging.  Impress upon them the need to have everything uncluttered to attract buyers.
• Give your clients an action plan.  For instance, have them divide each room into “Keep, Consider and Sell.”  Once everything is divided, they need to go through the Consider pile and make a final decision.
• Offer to put the ad in the paper.
• Tell them to consider buying a few flats of pop to sell for $1 during hot garage sale days.
• Help them obtain enough tables for the day; people like browsing on tables as opposed to blankets on the ground.
• Help them with pricing items.  A price tag should be on everything.  One thing that can help are pre-printed stickers that you can purchase at most print shops or print out yourself using your computer.
• Remind them that the main goal is to get rid of clutter, not get the maximum price.  For more valuable items that they wish to dispose of, suggest consignment shops, Craigslist or E-Bay.
• Ensure that their float is suitable.  A good number is $100 broken down into a $20, $10s, $5s and change.
• Provide them with a cash box for use on the day.
• Offer to assist with set-up and take-down.
• Help put up signs.
• Arrange for transporting the articles they don’t sell to thrift stores, family centers or the dump.  Don’t give them a chance to get it back in the house, because it will stay there. (more…)

Staging a home for sale is critical in order to get the best price possible for your home. You want to make a great impression when buyers first walk through your home. If your home is appealing to the buyer, the minute they walk in, they will want to see more. As a result it will be easier to negotiate a selling price that is close to what you want. Follow these five simple steps to staging a home and you will be handing the keys over to the new owner before you know it.

1. Rent a Storage Unit
Your home will look better with less furniture. Take out any furniture that blocks paths and put them in storage. Take extra leaves out of your dining room table to make the room seem larger. Leave just enough furniture in each room to show the room’s purpose with lots of room to move around. You don’t want buyers scratching their heads and saying, “I wonder what they use this room for?”

2. Cut any Ties You Have With Your Home
• Face the fact that soon this “house” will no longer be yours
• Tell yourself, “This is no longer my home; it is just another house. It must be sold, so I am going to do everything possible to get it ready for sale”.
• Say your goodbyes to every room and get started
• Close your eyes and imagine the future– don’t look back
• Picture yourself handing the keys and appliance warranties over to the new owners (more…)

If you’ve recently attended a tax sale with the hopes of buying tax properties for just the delinquent taxes owed, you probably left empty-handed. Many people research properties and show up at the tax sale without realizing they stand next to no chance of getting their desired properties. Large companies with teams of lawyers and full-time researchers attend these sales and buy up all the good properties– and because they have more money, they can afford to make a smaller return on their money. You’re virtually guaranteed to be outbid, every time.

The truth is, buying tax properties at tax sale is probably the worst way for the average investor to buy tax property. Even if you are successful in bidding, in most states you won’t be able to take possession of the property for at least a year. This is because the tax commissioner or other tax authority generally gives the delinquent owner a year or more to resolve their tax issue. In some states, you have to wait as long as five years before you get the deed or can foreclose!

It’s disheartening, but you’ll be happy to know there is a much simpler way to buy tax properties, without ever attending a tax sale– by purchasing these properties directly from the delinquent owner, just before they are about to lose the property permanently.

(more…)

The problem is replacing the home will eat up all of the money that they have received from the sale of their home! Well it does not have to happen, there is a way to keep most of your profits and live in a home of your choice without having to pay cash.

First let’s look at the options

If you purchased your home 30 years ago you most likely paid a lot less then your neighbors in the area. So lets say you purchased your home for $100,000 which 20 years ago would have been a higher end home. Now we went through the years of tremendous appreciation and maybe you had the opportunity to sell your home in 2005 for $750,000 but, you decided that you would hold out for more. Then it hit; the devaluation period that started in late 2006 and in some areas of the country is still going on today. So now you are thinking you better sell before you lose any more money and not have any left to purchase a replacement home.

Determining today’s value

You paid $100,000 for your home 20 years ago; now take that 30k and calculate 4% per year compounded over 30 years this would be about what your home should be worth today. You have calculated the value you should be looking at a home worth around $220,000 in today’s real numbers based on 4% appreciation, or look at it this way 100% return on your home purchase. Remember forget about what you could have gotten back in the boom most if not all of the value at that time was false or inflated. Now you have a value that you can realistically rely on receiving today if you sell! So now what do you do to replace your home. Well what are the choices and what is the net that you will have to work with after all is said and done.

(more…)

For those in a position to seek out investment property for sale, the process can be quite a complex one – especially if they are considering buying one abroad. This article looks at the places that such properties might be located, and what things should be considered before an offer is put in for a property.

There are a great many companies that specialise in bringing investment property for sale to the attention of those who have the capital required to make the investment. These firms invariably list such properties on their website, where full details can be looked over.

For UK investors considering buying properties in Britain, there are likely to be fewer problems than for those who decide to buy up somewhere abroad. France, for example, is a very popular location for those seeking property, but along with the delights of the French countryside or coastal landscape – comes the need to fully understand French property law/protocol. Not only this, but the language barrier can also be something which requires extra effort and planning in order to make the process smooth.

(more…)

Buying foreclosed or tax delinquent homes is really quite simple. If you’re dealing with a bank foreclosed home, you can buy that property directly from the bank (usually via a real estate company). If you are interested in a government foreclosed tax delinquent property, in most cases you will bid at auction for the deed to the property, or a lien on the property.

In both cases, by the time the property is available for you to purchase, it should have a clean title. In the case of bank foreclosure, during the court process to settle the foreclosure, other lien holders would have to come forward in order to get anything out of the property. Any judgments left over would follow the previous owner, not the property. So if you’re buying a bank-owned property through a real estate agent, you don’t have to worry about anyone else having an interest in the property.

The same goes for a tax foreclosure. Tax deed sale wipes clean any mortgages, liens, or other interests in the property. If you are the winning bidder on a property, and you get a deed in your name to the property, then you are the free and clear owner and you don’t have to worry about any judgments or liens crawling out of the woodwork. (more…)

Buying and selling of a house is not an easy affair a lot is involved thus making the process complicated. There are good real estators who offer good services when it comes to looking and finding a house. The myriad of questions that come when wanting to know about real estate buying are many. A house sale has to take a process which has to be made legal and agreeable to parties, the buyer and the seller.

An individual can acquire a house with a real estate agent or without. Buyers will always be put off by for sale signs that have stayed in front of a house for too long. Before settling on which home you want to buy make sure that you have inspected the house thoroughly. Since many companies do not offer refunds incase of any damages. As a buyer you need to be aware of the laws that come with buying of a house. The seller too has an obligation to inform the buyer of the underlying disclosure laws. (more…)

The global economic slow down has had a dramatic effect on the state of the housing market with prices dropping by up to 50% in certain areas. However, the market for log cabins has experienced quite different fortunes. There are a growing number of families swapping their traditional homes for these rustic wooden structures. This trend may surprise you but when you hear of the multitude of benefits that log cabins have over regular homes, you will almost certainly appreciate this growing change.

For one thing, they are more affordable. You can purchase a perfect three-bedroom unit complete with large bathrooms and a screened-in porch in peaceful suburbia for a price less than that of a one bedroom condominium in the middle of the city. The maintenance and on-going repairs are also a great deal cheaper. This is particularly evident when considering energy efficiency and this is where these wooden structures really do excel. Apart from economic issues as well as practical aspects, log cabins are also very strong and durable structures that can repel pretty much anything that mother nature can throw at them. Contrary to public belief, they are one of the most sturdy structures because they are very well planned in advance meaning that very few errors are possible once the construction process commences. Not to mention the fact that log cabins, especially those built near tranquil lakes or up in the mountains, can be peaceful and cosy places for people to stay. (more…)

For Sale By Owner is a sales channel whereby the property owner, himself, is selling his own property-for-sale. The most common practice in real estate selling is that a property owner courses his for-sale-property to an accredited agent or broker. The broker will be fully responsible for the marketing, closing of sale, sales legal documentation and even after sales care, in trade of a commission percentage.

Hence, sales in this channel, frees the property owner from all the hassles and nitty-gritty details of the entire sales transactions. However, a number of property owners still opt to do the selling themselves for various reasons; it might be due to some financial considerations, personal inhibitions or any other reasons of personal logic. Such sales channel of personal selling of one’s property is duly acceptable but entails some downside considerations:

Limited Marketing Network

Selling a real estate property entails an effective marketing strategy and networking to acquire the best deal possible. Personal selling of one’s property, undoubtedly, is more arduous than when it is channelled through an authorized real estate professional broker. For one, personal selling has a limited network of prospective buyers; whereas, professional real estate brokers have their own marketing networks which can directly provide them a string of prospective buyers. (more…)