Archive for month: February, 2018

Selling a home is undoubtedly an expensive endeavor, but it can be even more costly if you go it alone. Without the help of a real estate agent, you could find yourself making some expensive mistakes and missing out on lucrative opportunities.

Sure, agents charge commissions, which is the main reason why sellers might consider selling their homes on their own. But there are plenty of reasons why they shouldn’t, and here are just a few.

1. You’ll Waste a Lot of Time

Selling real estate is a full-time job. It’s not something that can be easily or successfully done when doing it a few hours on the weekend or whenever you have the time. Instead, selling homes requires full-time attention, which you likely don’t have time for.

It’s a widely-held misconception that selling properties is just a simple matter of putting up a few images and description of the property online and waiting for the offers to roll in.

Instead, selling real estate requires a lot more time and effort than the average person may not realize. There is a ton of work that goes on behind the scenes, and it can be extremely time-consuming.

Unless you are a full-time agent yourself, you likely won’t have enough time in your schedule to dedicate to all the ins and outs of selling your home. In this case, your best bet is to leave it to the professionals to handle it for you.

2. You Might Not Present Your Home Appropriately

It’s one thing to clean up your house and keep it tidy while it’s on the market, but it’s quite another to understand the buyers in your area and know what they’re looking for in a home. Professionals know the buyer demographic in the areas they work in. Using that information, they can effectively guide homeowners in prepping their homes in such a way that it is more attractive to a larger pool of buyers.

At the very least, your home should be neutralized and de-personalized, which means eliminating any personal artifacts and decorating in colors that more buyers would be attracted to. Real estate agents either know how to do this on their own or have connections with professional home stagers who do this job for them.

As a home seller, will you know exactly what to do to make a positive impression on buyers? If not, you’d be better off having a seasoned realtor help you to ensure this impression is a good one.

3. You’ll Have Far Less Marketing Reach

How exactly will you get the word out there that your home is listed for sale? Sure, you can put some images on free websites out there, or even paid ones. But are you able to advertise your home across several websites and social media channels to attract buyers and their agents on a local and even national level? 

Real estate agents have the knowledge and experience with using specific marketing tactics and analytics to ensure your listing is communicated to a targeted audience. They’ll know which type of print media would be appropriate for your listing in order to maximize every advertising dollar spent. They’ll know exactly which type of images will produce the greatest amount of attention.

Real estate agents are also able to access to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), which is a database of properties on the market. It’s managed for real estate agents, by real estate agents who pay a fee to have access to it. The MLS offers the largest database of homes on the market, and since all paying realtors have access to it, your property will get a lot of attention if you are represented by a realtor.

If you go it alone, your marketing reach will suffer a great deal, which can have a negative impact on your ability to find the right buyer who is willing to pay what your home is worth.

4. You’ll Miss Out on an Agent’s Extensive Network

Agents know other agents. They might know of an agent who is representing a buyer looking for a home just like yours. They’ve always got their fingers on the pulse of what’s happening in your market and can use the connections they have with other professionals in the industry to help make a sale happen.

Real estate agents also network with related experts in the field, such as photographers, home stagers, lawyers, home inspectors, contractors, and mortgage specialists who can all play a role in a real estate transaction.

If you don’t work with an agent, you’d likely be missing out on this extensive network of professionals that can make your sale a lot smoother.

5. Your Emotions May Get in the Way

It’s not uncommon for sellers to be emotionally charged when selling their properties. Many sellers have a tough time detaching themselves from their homes, and these emotions can get in the way of a successfully negotiated deal.

To sellers, properties are homes where they’ve built memories. Dealing with the emotions involved in putting their home on the market can prove to be difficult.

If you allow your emotions to get the better of you, it’s possible that the sale of your home will suffer. That’s why it’s always best to have a professional real estate agent act as a buffer between you and the buyer. That way all negotiations will be handled in a professional manner without allowing any emotions to cloud the process. 

6. Your Negotiation Skills May Not Be Enough

Once you receive an offer from a willing buyer, will you know how to respond to it? Will you know what to look for in an offer to make sure it’s a good one? Are you savvy when it comes to working with buyers and knowing what it takes to ensure a meeting of the minds?

This is where a seasoned real estate professional can be extremely useful. Agents have the skills and experience negotiating real estate deals to make sure their clients’ best interests are protected while working with buyers’ needs to result in a successful deal. Negotiations can be an intricate process, which is why you’d be in a better position if you have an agent working in your corner to achieve the outcome you’re looking for. 

7. Your Listing Price May Not Reflect the Current Market

As a seller, you obviously want the most money for your home, but you’re not going to get it just by listing your home at a random high price. Getting top dollar for your home requires careful strategies, one of which includes choosing the right listing price. In fact, it’s the listing price that plays the most important role in a real estate transaction.

If you price too high, you’ll scare off prospective buyers. In turn, your home will sit on the market, wasting valuable time. The longer it sits on the market, the more of a stigma it will gain. Buyers will start to wonder what’s wrong with the home, and you may be forced to reduce your listing price at some point in the future.

That’s why picking the right asking price is so important. Do you know how to come up with the right price? What type of resources will you look at to help you determine this crucial number?

It’s not enough to simply look at what other homes in the area are currently listed at. What they’re asking for doesn’t necessarily reflect how much they will realistically get. Not only that, you need to make sure you’re comparing apples to apples, as the listing price of a home that’s dissimilar to yours won’t give you much to go on.

Real estate agents will be able to conduct research on similar homes in the area that have recently sold to come up with a listing price that accurately reflects the current market. By doing so, you’ll be in a better position to attract prospective buyers in your area and sell your home sooner rather than later.

The Bottom Line

Going solo when selling your home is a big mistake, and you’ll likely realize that shortly after listing without an agent. Trying to sell your home without a professional isn’t the best way to try to save some money on real estate commissions. Instead, a real estate agent can be your best ally when it comes to getting the most out of your transaction.

When you put your home on the market, expect to have a lot of strangers visit. After all, buyers will obviously want to check out your home in person before deciding if it’s the one for them.

But it would be very unpleasant to have someone book a showing at the last minute, leaving you scrambling to get the house in order and make plans to be out of the house for the next hour or so. That is, unless, your home is vacant and you’ve already moved out. In that case, buyers should be free to schedule a showing any time, as long as it doesn’t overlap with another showing. In this case, they can get their realtors to access your home via a key in a lock box on your property.

Otherwise, you should be given a reasonable amount of notice before a buyer shows up for a scheduled viewing. That’s why it’s important to specify how much time is required before showings directly in your listing description. That way buyers and their agents will know exactly when they can expect to see your home after making an appointment.

That said, how much notice is appropriate before you allow buyers to show up? Not enough time will leave you with a very tight window to clean up and get out, while too much time can frustrate buyers and even result in a lost lead.

So, how much notice is considered reasonable when you’ve got your home on the market?

What Happens if You Ask For Too Much Notice?

If you happen to be in a market where homes are snatched up just as fast as they’re listed, then you could be doing yourself a major disservice if you ask for way too much notice before allowing a showing. If a buyer is able to book some showings for other homes before your window, you might lose out on a potential buyer.

As a seller, you really need to carefully consider how much time you realistically need to get ready for buyers. Ideally, your home should always be in showing condition, ready for last-minute showings. That means your home should be clean, free of clutter, and freshly scented. Sure, this can be a real pain, but it can mean the difference between snagging an interested buyer and missing out on a potential deal.

As far as a reasonable amount of notice is concerned, any more than a few hours is probably too much. In general, 24 hours or more is simply far too much notice for buyers to have to provide. Usually, buyers will see a listing they’re interested in and want to book a showing that same day. If you’ve got a 24-hour notice in place, that same buyer could skip over your home and look for another property that is available to be seen with shorter notice.

Buyers usually book a series of showings one after the other, and but listings that require too much notice can make scheduling these showings a nightmare. Essentially, asking for too much notice will simply make it more difficult for buyers to see your home and will throw an additional obstacle in front of them. It may seem irrational from the perspective of the buyer to have to give sellers so much time to get ready for a showing.

What is Considered a Reasonable Amount of Notice?

Generally speaking, 24 hours’ notice is simply too much. Even 12 hours may be considered too long for buyers to have to wait before being able to schedule a showing. Of course, there may certain situations whereby more notice will be needed, such as if there is a tenant living in the home who requires advance notice of their home being shown. In this case, the owner is obligated to provide 24 hours’ notice to their tenant before a prospective buyer can show up.

However, under normal circumstances, anywhere between 2 to 4 hours should be enough to time to put a few things away and get yourself out of the home before the buyers arrive. If you’re at work or are already out for the day, you should always leave your home in showing condition before you leave in case a showing is booked while you’re out. It would be a major hassle to have to run back home to prep the place if a buyer requests to see your home during the time that you’re away.

At the end of the day, you want to be competitive in your market. Take a look at other listings in your area and see what appears to be the standard amount of notice required. If 12 hours is the norm, then perhaps that might be a reasonable amount of time to ask for. If you’re asking for far more time than any other seller on the block, you’ll lose your competitive edge.

The Bottom Line

There’s no rule written in stone that dictates how much notice you should request buyers to give before scheduling a showing. But it’s important to keep in mind that more notice will likely have an impact on the number of showings you end up booking, which can inevitably impact a sale. Before you decide on a time frame for notice, be sure to consult with your realtor and heed their advice about how much notice you should request from interested buyers.

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$1,359,000

4 beds 4 baths 2,871 sqft

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VIEW FULL LISTING

Whether you’re buying or selling a condo or other type of home governed by a homeowner’s association (HOA), there are few extra considerations that need to be made compared to the average freehold home.

No matter what type of home you buy or sell, there will definitely be a list of closing costs that you’ll have to pay. And when it comes to homes governed by an HOA, there may be HOA transfer fees to pay on top of all other closing costs.

HOA’s are responsible for managing the housing development and collecting fees from all homeowners in order to cover the costs associated with the community’s upkeep. They also establish and enforce a set of regulations that are meant to maintain the value of the community, and all homeowners are required to abide by them.

Among the rules that HOA’s may have in place are HOA transfer fees, which might have to be paid when a unit in an HOA is sold and thereby transferred to a new owner. But what exactly is this transfer fee, who pays it, and why does it have to be paid at all?

What Are HOA Fees?

HOA transfer fees are actually standard fees that may occur when a property is transferred from one owner to another. They are meant to cover the costs associated with preparing documents, handing out HOA’s rules to the new owner, dealing with property inspection records, changing names in the homeowner databases, changing security codes, creating new security cards, and other administrative costs.

How Much Do HOA Transfer Fees Cost?

HOA transfer fees vary from one community to the next and are established by HOA management. These costs are charged based on the specific types of services that the HOA provides to both buyers and sellers involved in a transaction. That said, these specific types of fees typically range between $100 to as much as $1,000, though the average is somewhere around the $250 mark.

While it’s the HOA that determines the cost of transfer fees, state laws can come into play to regulate them. For instance, California state laws only allow HOA’s to charge transfer fees for costs directly associated with gathering, copying, and distributing documents.

Buyers and sellers should be aware that HOA transfer fees aren’t always included in real estate contracts. That’s because it’s not a term that can be negotiated between the two parties as it’s a fee that is mandated by the HOA.

Having said that, HOA’s are sometimes required to disclose these transfer fees to all parties prior to the sale. In California, HOA’s must make certain disclosures to buyers and are required to provide an estimate of the transfer fees within 10 days following a request for disclosure documents. Buyers and sellers would be well-advised to get in touch with the HOA management team to find out about any transfer fees that may be charged.

Who’s Responsible For Paying HOA Transfer Fees?

In California, HOA transfer fees are usually the responsibility of the seller and are added to all the closing costs when escrow is complete. However, there may be cases where the buyer is billed for this expense.

It’s important for both buyers and sellers to determine who will be responsible for paying this transfer fee in order to budget for all closing costs accordingly.

The Bottom Line

It’s not uncommon for buyers and sellers to be surprised by certain costs by the time their real estate deals close, and HOA transfer fees can be one of them. Don’t let these fees come as a surprise to you and make sure you do your due diligence, no matter what side of the real estate playing field you happen to be on.