Saturday, August 05, 2006

Home Buying Tip - Open House Inspections

When visiting an open house don't just look at the house in isolation.

Are other homes in the area presentable and are they of the standard which you want to live with?

Do neighbors take pride in their properties?

What are the neighbors like?

You might even consider introducing yourself to neighbors and ask them about the neighborhood.

Friday, August 04, 2006

How Home Buyers Have Choices Of Real Estate Representation.

A real estate office usually takes property listings and represents the seller. However, a lot of real estate agents are also happy to represent a buyer of the same property. They become what's known as a "dual agent".

The problem with a dual agent situation is the perception that neither party is truly "represented" due to the conflict of interest. Despite reassurance of indepenence, there is always that element of doubt as to whose interests the dual agent is really representing.

Some real estate agents have a policy not to work as dual agents and will only represent one client in any real estate transaction. Personally, I'd rather have a real estate agent who is representing me and me alone.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Prepare A “TO DO” List If Selling Your House FSBO

Many home sellers have high stress levels, or fail to succeed to sell their own home FSBO because they won’t, or cannot, sweat the details. It is important to see the big picture, but it is equally important to get details right.

Any expert in time management will tell you to prioritize your tasks. The best way to achieve this is to detail everything you have to do to sell your house FSBO. Write tasks down on a “TO DO” list and then prioritize them. Do the most important tasks first and the least important last.

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Real Estate Selling Tip - Accept That Not Everyone Will Like Your House

When you use a real estate agent to market your house for sale, he or she usually hears all the comments (good and bad) about the property. The realtor will usually provide you with feedback from open house days and show throughs. When providing feedback, the realtor might "tone-down" some of the comments, so that you don't get offended by what people say.

However, when you are selling your property yourself (FSBO) , you’ll probably hear these comments first hand. Although, realize that sometimes people will have a different attitude when talking directly with the property owner. Either they’ll be more polite by not telling you what they really think about your house, or they’ll be very direct and attempt to knock the price down by criticizing the property at every opportunity.

Anyway, be prepared for people to pick holes in you home. It may not always be pleasant as to some extent they are criticizing your personality. You probably chose the décor... you planted the trees... you designed the kitchen layout etc. So when someone says “it sucks!” …that’s not very nice to hear.

Accept that you are never going to please everyone.

TO SELL YOUR HOUSE -IT TAKES ONLY ONE QUALIFIED BUYER!

By using a systematic marketing plan you should have a steady flow of potential buyers that make the negative observations of any single person look irrelevant.

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

How Landlords Can Overcome High Vacancy Rates

If you had a property with high vacancy rates, then the first thing is to figure out why. You could start by talking with neighboring tenants, property owners and business owners to see what you can find out.

These are the sort of things you will want to clarify:

  • Is your vacancy rate in line with other properties in the neighborhood?
  • Is the local market or economy going through a bad patch?
  • Is your rent too high when compared to other properties in the area?
  • Is there something happening in the neighborhood that is driving tenants away (ie: gang activity, businesses going under, etc.)?
  • Are there better properties available for similar or lower rentals?
  • Is there something wrong with the property such as the wrong number of bedrooms, bad location, poor facilities, poor condition, too much maintenance, poor garaging etc.
  • Is your advertising effective?
  • Have you tried advertising on the internet?
  • What kind of concessions (move-in incentives) is the competition offering?
  • Should you offer similar concessions or incentives? Possibilities might include a "rent free" period of a few weeks or months, a complimentry gift basket or shopping voucher, a temporary rent reduction?
  • Keep your current tenants happy (maintenance, return their calls, etc)...they will give you referrals. Should you include the utilities in the rent?

Íf you are going to solve a problem of high vacancies then the answers to those question will be a good starting point?

Monday, July 31, 2006

Do A SWOT Analysis Before Buying Or Selling A House

After you have determined your own personal strengths, do the same thing for the house or property you are about to buy or sell. Better still, do a SWOT analysis. Here is an example of what I mean:

Grab a sheet of paper and using a pen divide it into four. Head the top left rectangle "S" for Strengths, the top right rectangle "W" for weaknesses, the bottom left "O" for Opportunities and the bottom right rectangle "T" for Threats. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

STRENGTHS - Here are some examples of strengths you could include:

  • Close to city location (3 minutes drive).
  • 2 car under-cover drive-on parking.
  • Established trees and srubs in landscaped garden.
  • Private.
  • Good indoor/outdoor flow with lagre deck.
  • Generous open-plan living area.
  • 3 large bedrooms plus study and sleepout.
  • Newly renovated kitchen.
  • Schools, shops, bus stops etc close by.
  • Large fully-fenced section that could be sub-divided.
  • etc. etc.

Now write down what you could do to maintain or capitalize on these strengths?

WEAKNESSES - Here are some examples of weaknesses you could include:

  • Exterior paintwork on house front wall looks tired.
  • Busy road assessible to south flowing traffic only.
  • Driveway has holes.
  • No garage – undercover car port only.
  • Trees over-grown and block sun.
  • Sleepout below standard of rest of house interior.
  • Blocked view.
  • Neighbours have large rusty wrecked campervan on front lawn (unsightly).
  • Guttering and spouting leaks.
  • etc. etc.

Now write down what you could do to overcome these weaknesses?

OPPORTUNITIES - Here are some examples of opportunities you could include:

  • Paint front wall of house.
  • Fix pot holes in driveway.
  • Fix spouting and guttering on house.
  • Paint and tidy-up interior of sleep-out.
  • Trim trees to let in the sun and improve view.
  • Talk nicely to neighbours – maybe offer to move unsightly campervan.
  • Talk with developer about potential to subdivide.
  • etc. etc.

Now write down what you could do to take advantage of these opportunities?

THREATS - Here are some examples of threats you could include:

  • 5 similar houses in street just put on market.
  • Rumors of road speed limit being increased – would make access to driveway more difficult.
  • Termites discovered in east wall.
  • etc. etc.

Now write down what you could do to overcome or limit the effect of these threats?

For more helpful real estate buying and selling tips and ideas have a look at this real estate resource.

Sunday, July 30, 2006

Knowing Your Strengths And Weaknesses When Selling Your Own Home Yourself

If you have decided to sell your own home FSBO then your role will be pivotal in the whole sales process. You will be chief organizer, sales person, negotiator etc. So, start by making a list of your personal strengths and weakness. You’ll then be better prepared to capitalize on your strengths and overcome your weaknesses. You might be quite surprised at what you come up with.

You might also become more aware of the areas where you may need help from others especially professionals like an accountant and real estate solicitor.

You could end up concluding that you might be better off using the services of a real estate agent. We are all different and some people are better suited to selling their own home.

The main thing is to think through the FSBO process before you decide either way.