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selling your home

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How To Estimate The True Market Value Of Your Property

Let’s say someone knocks on your door ready to write a check to purchase your property. You are ready to sell and they’re ready to buy, but how much do you tell them your home is worth? The true market value or true cash value of your home is different if you were going to sell it in foreclosure or in some other type of forced sale. The true market value is what you would get if someone did happen to show up at your home with their checkbook, but how do you give them more information if you don’t have it? Here is how to estimate the true market value of your property.

One way to determine the true cash value of your home is by looking over your property tax bills. Usually an assessor will come up with an abstract number based on the fluctuations of the economy and the housing market. Once you find the assessor’s value, you usually want to double it to get an accurate price for your property. If you were going to sell it privately, you could add a percentage point or two to your final estimate to get the best price, but you never want to gouge.

May 24, 2013

General

5 Reasons Your Home Won’t Sell And What You Can Do About It

Pundits and experts have pegged 2013 as the year that the housing market will truly start to rebound, showing a significant increase in sales and perhaps even a bump in pricing. This is apparently thanks to a foreclosure market that is finally drying up, giving homeowners a chance to compete for sales. But don’t start counting your chickens before they hatch; we’re still in a recession. And if you’ve had your home on the market for a while with nary a nibble, you can no doubt attest to the continuing sorry state of our economy. Of course, the recession may not be totally to blame for your real estate woes. There could be a number of roadblocks that are preventing you from attracting buyers. Here are just a few that could be thwarting your efforts and how you can go about fixing them.

It won’t pass inspection. Unless you’re intent on selling your home “as is” (a prospect that won’t appeal to very many buyers unless the price is right, which is to say bargain basement), you need to fix any violations uncovered by a home inspector. The reason is this: if your home doesn’t pass inspection, no bank will loan a buyer the money to purchase it. Luckily, all you have to do is get your property up to code. The home inspector will give you a detailed list of what needs to be fixed (and possibly even recommend vendors for the job).

High price. You obviously want to get the best value from your home when it comes time to sell, but in a depressed market you’re going to have to temper that urge with a healthy dose of reality. You’re not going to get anywhere near the same value as you would have before the bubble burst, so put that thought out of your head. The best you can really hope for is the top end of your current market, but even that is a risky gamble. Of course, if you overestimate the interest in your home, you can always drop the price, but that, too, could be problematic (read on).

January 28, 2013

General

Is Home Staging Worth It?

We recently went through the process of selling our home. When we met with our real estate agent he introduced us to the idea of hiring someone to stage our home in order to make it more appealing to buyers. This was a new concept for us. Our agent referred us to a home stager who then came to our home and gave us some great tips on how to paint the interior of our home and how to fix up our kitchen. Her advice was invaluable and we did what she recommended. Rather than struggling to figure out what colors to paint each room and how to redo our kitchen cupboards, her professional eye and her experience allowed her to give us great suggestions within just a few minutes of seeing our place.

May 30, 2011

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