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Archive for the 'Real Estate' Category

Want Curb Appeal… Play Dress-up

Published by
admin
at February 23, 2006 in Homeowners, Real Estate and Landscaping. 0 Comments

Curb Appeal

“Curb Appeal” is a very powerful term used in Real Estate, usually leading homeowners to believe, that drastic changes are necessary in order to sell their homes. Unfortunately, most sellers usually either spend too much on their property makeover, or ignore the laws of curb appeal all together. When trying to sell a home, both of these mistakes can cost you.

Here are 4 tips to better curb appeal, that won’t break the bank:

1. A view from the road: Many people perform their house hunting by driving around the neighborhoods they would like to live in. It would be a shame if they decided to stop at your neighbor’s house instead of yours because they simply couldn’t see it from the road. Unless your house is set back a long distance from the road, has a privacy fence or a screening of trees; make sure the limbs of all your front yard trees are pruned up in a way that your house is clearly visible from the street.

2. Size matters: Another important factor in viewing a home, is the presentation of size. Especially important in ranch and cape style houses is the relationship between the size of your foundation plantings and the size of your home. Overgrown shrubs and trees along the foundation of your home can block up to 50% of the view of your house, including windows. This will dwarf your home, making it look smaller than it actually is. Pruning or removing overgrown shrubs and trees can make a world of difference in terms getting your home noticed.

3. Keeping it clean: Most people would agree that a sloppy presentation on the outside is a fair indicator of a sloppy presentation on the inside. People are judged by their cover, and so is your house. So if you want to be sure your home is looking its best for weekend viewing, follow these steps:

3a. Cut the lawn on Thursdays. A fresh cut before the weekend makes a huge difference in appearance. Plan your cutting on Thursday to build in a rain day. Hire a company if you can’t do it. You will probably need them to take care of maintenance until you close on the house, while you are in transition to your new home.

3b. Remove all child and pet toys from the yard.

3c. Maintain weeds in planting beds, walkways, driveway and along street curbing.

4.A Touch of Color: Fresh annuals and perennials planted in flower pots or in landscape beds, will be a refreshing welcome those who visit your home. Be sure to consult your local nursery or landscaper, to select the right flowers for your zone.

Good luck and happy selling!

How to Simplify the Process of Selling a Home

Published by
admin
at February 9, 2006 in Business, Homeowners and Real Estate. 0 Comments


Selling Real Estate

Admit it… for years, or even decades – it has truly been your home sweet home. And now, you refer to it as a plain ‘property’ to sell.

Selling a home need not be a bitter encounter. We should healthily treat it as a source of marketable commodity, a money-generating property, a real estate. We should see our property as not just a plain house or a shelter, but as a fortress! In selling a home, we should also let other people (especially prospective buyers) get the same home sweet home experience we had.

One good move in selling a home is to first cut off your personal attachment from it. Have it ready for others to see and in time, they’ll consider buying it.

People usually are not looking for big houses. They might consider the size more important if they have a large family, but most probably they’ll look for the comfort and homey feeling it brings. In selling a home, remember to restore its best features – just like the way it looked when you first stepped in.

Remove all posters and frames of photos and de-personalize before selling a home and presenting it to prospective buyers. Make sure you have a final walkthrough to see if all personal memorabilia has been removed. Then try to see the parts of your home that need some re-conditioning.

Removing all the clutter is also a major step in selling a home. Sadly though, this part is also the hardest to do for homeowners as they have become emotionally attached to it. On the part of the buyer, seeing clutter is a very negative thing that will drive them away from the idea of buying. In selling a home, highlight all spacious area of the house and clear away all visible clutter.

In selling a home, you will most likely meet two types of realtors. Realtor Type #1 will present and come up with prices much lower than what you’ve estimated and will strongly strengthen their statements with sales records of homes similar to yours. Then here comes Realtor Type #2 who perfectly agrees and matches with how much value you are expecting to get, or sometimes they may even declare a higher value. Study their Competitive Market Analysis before you decide.

With the few tips provided in this article you CAN get started. Review your plans, pair up with the right realtor, and in just a short time you will feel much more comfortable in buying and selling real estate.

INTERESTING TOPICS:

To ask for interior design tips guide is very easy. Inculcating those interior design ideas can be very difficult. The reason maybe the fact that although now people accept the need of an interior design program, they still try to cope without using it. People are actually of the view that by ordering really fancy living room sets and getting new curtains, they can capture the essence of classic interior designing. Whether we are talking about wall paper, or furniture pieces, everything needs to be co-ordinated according to the decor. This is why leather dining chairs seldom find room in ones house.

Can You Really Buy Property with NO MONEY DOWN?

Published by
admin
at February 6, 2006 in Homeowners and Real Estate. 0 Comments


Yellow House

If you’ve ever had insomnia and watched late night television you may have seen the infomercials telling you that you can buy real estate no money down. But can you really purchase investment property without having any cash? The answer is, “yes!”.

Anyone can purchase property without having any cash, but it’s not nearly as easy as the gurus proclaim. Can you do it even if you have bad credit?? Yes, but it’s a whole lot easier to do it if you have good credit.

In fact, with good credit it’s easy to get cash when you buy. Here’s how you can get paid when you buy a piece of property.

Example: Property is for sale for $100,000.

1. You ask the owner of the property to give you a note for $30,000 secured by other property you own or even as an unsecured note (you can put a VA clause in the note allowing it to be moved back to the subject after the closing).
2. You get a conventional loan for 75% of the sales price.
3. You ask the seller to pay your closing costs.
4. You ask the seller for a carpeting allowance of $2000.

Here’s how the deal works;

- You buy the property for $100,000.
- You pay the bank on a $75,000 mortgage.
- You pay the owner on a $30,000 mortgage.
- The seller pays your closing costs.
- The seller pays you $2000 for carpeting.

If the property is rented out for $1000, you collect the rents and security deposits.

In the above example the buyer would walk away from the closing with a $100,000 property, $5000 from the over finance, $2000 for the carpeting, and $2000 for the rent and security deposit. That’s a total of $9000 for buying a piece of investment property. NOT TOO BAD.

Will every seller be willing to do this deal with you? No, maybe only one seller in ten or twenty will be willing to do this deal. But there are sellers who will do this deal. What you have to find is a motivated seller.

What makes a motivated seller?

- An owner who is in foreclosure.
- An owner who got the property as part of an estate.
- An owner who no longer wants to deal with tenants.
- An owner who is in divorce.
- An owner who has been transferred out of state.

Now that you’ve bought a property and put money in your pocket be prepared to deal with the tenants.

Good Luck!