Home Stagers?

Judging by the number of folks who claim to call themselves "Home Stagers" today, you'd think it was the world's largest growing industry. However, just because people call themselves Home Stagers doesn't necessarily make them qualified. In fact, many would-be Home Stagers have had no real training at all. They just assume the designation and then hang out their shingle.

Regardless of what wannabe Home Stagers may say, staging a home for sale is an art, designed for the sole purpose of giving that home a competitive edge in the marketplace. The intent is to help a property make an immediate positive impact on potential buyers.

Home staging is different from interior design, which is intended to make living in a home more pleasant for those who inhabit the space, based on their lifestyle and personal tastes. On the other hand, home staging is meant to make the home more appealing to as wide a range of potential buyers as possible. In other words, interior design is geared toward home owners, while home staging is geared toward home buyers.

Over the years, statistics have shown that it's actually more cost effective for owners to raise the level of presentation of their homes through the use of home staging than to lower the price of their homes in an effort to sell them more quickly. In most cases, the homes that generate the highest offers are those that are well presented and beautiful, including the furnishings.

Home staging is an art and a science, and a professional Home Stager should possess both a knowledge of home buyer psychology and an innate design and decorating sense. Therefore, when you begin your search for a Home Stager, make certain that they can demonstrate a strong knowledge of both. As for referrals, and arrange to visit homes they've staged that are currently on the market.

At those homes, talk with the sellers to see if they believe having the Home Stager help them has been a positive experience. Has it generated more favorable responses from potential buyers? How long has the property been on the market? What type of feedback would they give you, now that you're in the market for a Home Stager yourself?

Also talk to clients who have successfully sold their homes after hiring the Home Stager you're interested in hiring. They'll be the most likely to offer genuine information about whether they would do it differently if they had to do it over again.

Once you've interviewed the Home Stager, as well as current and past clients, you can make an informed decision as to whether hiring that person will be advantageous in your own situation.

Copyright © 2006 Jeanette J. Fisher

dollar sale. Learn how to profile your prospective buyer and make your home "simply irresistible" with interior design secrets. Jeanette Fisher offers free Home Staging tips and how to sell your home fast information. Learn how to stage your home without paying high fees. Plus, get the added benefit of expert real estate advice. Stage your home for your profiled buyer's emotions. Explore Jeanette Fisher's Home Staging books and free information at http://sellfast.info

Home Staging for a Quick Sale and More Profit

Every home seller is looking for two things: a quick sale and a good price. That's a given. However, there are ways to help insure that you'll meet both of those goals, both of which involve staging your home before you put it on the market.

In short, staging your home simply means to get it ready to make as positive an impact on potential buyers as possible. There are ways to accomplish that goal without spending a great deal of money. Here are a few simple tips:

In the bedrooms, always make sure every bed is made, since you never know when buyers may want to visit. Encourage everyone in the house to make their beds before they leave in the morning. That will eliminate the need for a mad rush to make beds when a real estate agent calls to make an appointment to show your home.

In the bathroom, keep all toilet seats in the down position, pick up all dirty clothes, keep the counter free of brushes, toothpaste containers, and the 101 other things that often get put there and not picked up. Make sure there are fresh towel hung neatly on the towel racks, as well.

In the kitchen, keep all surfaces clear of clutter and pristinely clean. don't let dishes pile up in the sink, and keep all garbage receptacles are out of sight. Also make sure there are no smells coming from garbage cans under the sink. Offensive odors are often the very first impression buyers get from a room, so make sure none of your rooms, whether it's the bathroom, kitchen, or laundry room, give buyers a reason to turn up their noses.

When the home is being shown at night, all lights should be on to show off your home to its best advantage. During the day, drapes should be open to give each room a light and sunny feel. The idea is always to give buyers the impression that your home is spacious and homey feeling, and flooding rooms with light, whether real or artificial, is a good step in that direction.

Regardless of which room buyers may be viewing, it's important to remember that you'll only have a few minutes to make an impression on them. And as the old saying goes, you only get one chance to make a good first impression. Doing your homework to stage your home to its best advantage can pay big dividends--in both a quicker sale and higher sales price.

Copyright © 2006 Jeanette J. Fisher

Go beyond the basic home staging methods with Design Psychology methods for a top-dollar sale. Learn how to profile your prospective buyer and make your home "simply irresistible" with interior design secrets. Jeanette Fisher offers free Home Staging tips and how to sell your home fast information. Learn how to stage your home without paying high fees. Plus, get the added benefit of expert real estate advice. Stage your home for your profiled buyer's emotions. Explore Jeanette Fisher's Home Staging books and free information at http://sellfast.info

Home Buying Tip: 7 Key Questions to Ask a Home Inspector

This home buying tip will help you ask the right questions when researching home inspectors.

A proper home inspection will give you the comfort of knowing your new home has been checked for breakage, disrepair and other problems.

But it all starts with choosing a professional home inspector who can give your home the thorough review it needs. So don't be afraid to ask plenty of questions when choosing a home inspector. Here are seven key questions to ask:

1. What all do you inspect?
Different states have different rules for home inspectors. So you need to know up front what your state requires of inspectors, and then you need to make sure the inspector will actually cover those areas. Ask to see a blank copy of their inspection report or checklist. This will show you exactly what the inspector covers. If they have a problem showing you this document, find another home inspector!

2. What certifications do you have?
Like other home-based industries, home inspection has its share of frauds and phonies. It's safe to assume they represent the minority, but it still pays to ask about certification. A professional home inspector will be happy to tell you about his certifications.

3. Do you specialize in residential or commercial inspections?
Be sure your inspector specializes in what you want him to do. In this case, make sure they specialize in residential / home inspections (instead of commercial property inspections).

4. How long have you been inspecting homes in this area?
General experience is fine, but regional or local experience gives a home inspector an extra edge. For instance, if an inspector has been working in your area for a long time, they probably know about unique conditions to watch for (radon levels, basement moisture, life expectancy of roofing, etc.).

5. How long do your home inspections usually take?
* Home buying tip -- The average home inspection runs anywhere from two to four hours. If a home inspector tells you they can do it in an hour or less, you might want to dig a little deeper. Anything less than two hours is probably not a thorough inspection.

6. How much will the inspection cost?
* Home buying tip -- Home inspections average between $300 and $500. This will depend on the size of the home and other factors. The cost of a home inspection is nominal when you consider the peace of mind it brings, but you still need to ask about the cost in advance. You don’t want to be surprised by an outrageously priced inspection after it has been completed.

7. Can I attend the inspection?
A home inspection is a great opportunity to learn about the inner workings of your home. Many home inspectors will let you proceed through the house alongside them. That way, they can educate you about your roof, heating and cooling system, water heater, etc.

Conclusion
This home buying tip will help you choose a professional, qualified home inspector. As a result, you’ll get a more thorough review of the home before buying it, and you’ll enjoy more peace of mind!

* Copyright 2006, Brandon Cornett. You may republish this article if you keep the byline and author's note, and also leave the hyperlinks active.

Learn more!This home buying tip was brought to you by HomeBuyingInstitute.com, the Internet's largest library of home buying advice. Increase your home buying intelligence by visiting: http://www.homebuyinginstitute.com!

America's Real Estate Market Trends

The median home price hit $506,000 in Los Angeles County in March 2006, climbing above the half million dollar mark for the first time in history. That figure is double what the median price for the area was just four years ago.

The good news for prospective homebuyers in other areas of the country is that a half million dollars can still buy quite a bit of home in much of the rest of the United States. For instance, even though Central Oregon is experiencing a considerable rise in both population and home prices, the median price is lower than LA County, although still higher than a significant number of other areas of the country. For instance, the median price for a home in Bend rose more than 30% in 2005, to $327,500. Another Central Oregon town, Madras, saw a 187% increase in the number of home sales in the first quarter of 2006.

The major force driving the boom in Oregon home prices, as well in Southwestern states and the Pacific Northwest, is an influx of Californians who are selling their more expensive homes and moving to areas where they can typically purchase more house for less money. Another factor is that with increasing values, many local homeowners are cashing in the equity of their homes and trading up to more expensive ones.

Another area that is growing significantly is San Antonio, Texas, where the median price of a home rose more than 9% over the past year to $131,900. San Antonio's real estate market mirrored that of LA County, however, with few sales, even though prices were higher overall. There is also a considerable amount of new home construction taking place in that area, as well.

Some areas of California are booming as a result of skyrocketing prices in Southern California. One of the busiest is the area that includes Riverside, Ontario, and San Bernardino, which has seen an unprecedented increase of new residents from 2000 to 2004, of which and estimated 46,000 were transplants from the Los Angeles metro area.

In the southeastern United States, Florida also continues to grow at a brisk pace, fueled in large part by an influx of former residents of the greater New York City area. In fact, an estimated 41,500 people moved from that area to Orlando, Miami, and Tampa in 2004. One reason the area is experiencing such rapid growth is employment opportunities. The area's employment scene was once dominated by Disney World, but that's no longer the case.

Copyright © 2006 Jeanette J. Fisher

Jeanette Fisher teaches beginning real estate investors how to find, finance, fix, and sell houses for top dollar. No matter what the real estate market does, smart investors still make money. Find out how to make more money using interior design psychology strategies and get a free ebook, The Truth about Making Money Flipping Houses at http://www.doghousetodollhousefordollars.com

Selling your Home yourself on the Internet

If you want to sell your home, you can do this through a variety of ways. The simplest is to just put a “For Sale” sign on your lawn and hope it attracts the attention of passers by. You can also make little flyers and distribute them after mass, or during soccer games. If you don’t want to hand out flyers manually, you can just make several big posters and put these in well frequented places like groceries and post offices.

In case you want to reach a wider market, you can place an advertisement in your local newspaper. Unfortunately, this may be costly and the ad may only run for a few days. If you don’t want the hassle, you can simply hire a real estate agent and then just let him do the leg work. Finally, in recent years, a new form of advertisement has cropped up – advertisement via the Internet.

Through the internet, you can put your home up for sale at a low cost and yet reach such a wide market. There are several real estate websites on the World Wide Web and, for a small fee; you can upload information on your property. Depending on the kind of subscription you have, your ad can stay on the World Wide Web for at least 6 months or as long as it is still available for buying. You can upload photos (usually a maximum of six) or just include links to other sites (photo albums, etc). You can also upload descriptions of your home and since you will have more space for text (and your rate will not be dependent on number of lines or square cm – like newspaper ads), you will not be constrained to use usually unintelligible acronyms. With all these benefits, it is not surprising that a lot of home owners opt to place online advertisements for the properties they have on the market.

Naturally, there are downsides. You may receive inquiries from bogus buyers, or even buyers from out of town (or country). With the large number of real estate websites on the Internet, the competition is also huge. Your advertisement may not reach your intended market. However, the benefits outweigh the down sides, thus making Internet advertising one of the most preferred marketing activities for individual home sellers today.

Selling your Home Yourself? Need a Real Estate Contract?

Answering Phoned Inquiries About The Home You Are Selling

When you are selling your home, expect a lot of people to “intrude” on your privacy. If your home is being handled by real estate agents, then most of the calls and inquires would be handled by them. If you are selling your home by yourself, then you’ve got a big job in your hands.

As an independent home seller, you may be flooded by a long line of emails and unending phone calls from potential buyers. Answering emails will not pose much of a problem since you have time to compose your thoughts and you can do those at your own convenience. Handling phoned inquiries is another matter altogether.

One thing you should remember about conducting your business through the phone is that, contrary to what you may think, you are not invisible. The person on the other end of the line can sense your mood at that particular time. If you’re angry, bored or irritated, although they can’t see your facial expressions, they can feel your emotions through the tremor of your voice. With this in mind, try to be warm and friendly. No matter how inane their questions are, do not show your irritation.

In addition to this, you have to know every little thing about your home. It would be safe to assume that you already know the basics (how many bedrooms, toilets, how many cars can the garage accommodate), but you should also be prepared to answer other unexpected questions (i.e. when was the last time you had the property treated for termites). Nothing will irk a buyer more than someone who does not know much about what they are selling.

It would be best if you could attend to all phoned-in inquires yourself. However, in the eventuality that you can’t stay at home, make sure that you leave specific instructions with someone who would be capable of taking these calls. If no one can do the job well, then make sure you can be reached through your cell phone.

LegalHomeForms.com provides all the forms needed to sell your home. Download a Home Sale Contract or any of our other real estate forms.

Advertising Your Home

Have you ever wondered why that beautiful and well-kept house at the corner is still up for sale after almost six months? You’ve been there, asked around (no murders there), found the price reasonable, and yet … they have not received an offer to sell. You look around, and you notice nothing.

A house, no matter how beautiful or how ideal it is, will definitely not sell if it is not properly advertised. If you are selling your home through an Agent, the Agency will handle most (if not all) of the advertising and marketing needed to sell your home. If you are doing everything by yourself, you have to make sure that no stone is left unturned. This doesn’t mean that you have to spend an entire fortune on advertising alone; you just have to know which advertising methods will bring the maximum media mileage for your property at a cost that is agreeable to you.

The easiest and most economical way of advertising your house is to put up a “For Sale” sign in your yard and putting up posters in areas that generate a high volume of foot traffic (supermarkets, post office, etc). However, even if you put several posters in several key places, you will most likely, not reach the right market. Mind you, there is a chance that you will, but it will be very small.

Putting up an on-line ad is another fast, easy and fairly economical way of marketing your home. For a small amount, your home and some photos can be uploaded onto the World Wide Web for a specific amount of time for everyone to see. Unfortunately, since it is available on the net, you are most likely to attract a wide range of people. It may take time before you can sift through all the inquiries your ad has generated.

Placing an advertisement in a newspaper or a magazine that specifically dedicated to homes may be old fashioned, but it still is still one of the most effective ways of marketing your home. You have the option of putting a photo and you can lure buyers in by writing an interesting description about your home its features and amenities.

You are not limited to just one form of advertising method. You can use just one kind, or all three. It really depends on you and your budget. In addition to the marketing effort, you should also prepare a Fact Sheet about your home. The fact sheet should contain all the pertinent details about your home. Don’t just put the number of rooms and toilets in your abode; make sure that you include the year the home was built, and the year when the last renovation was made.

Tips on Showing Your Home to Potential Buyers

After you’ve primped and prettified your home for the purpose of making it look more attractive to potential buyers, the next logical step you will have to take is to actually make these buyers feel welcome in your abode.

Whether or not you’re selling your home on your own or through the assistance of real estate agents, the basic tips for successful home showing remain the same.
The first is that you should always be ready to show your home to potential buyers. Naturally this does not mean that you should entertain guests who come knocking in the middle of the night. It simply means that you should be flexible with your availability. Always be ready to show off your home and greet your guests with a smile even if your guest comes in 15 minutes early or 15 minutes late. Don’t worry; clients who know that they are running a bit late usually call to advise you.

Unless you’re selling your home by yourself, it is also ideal if you discreetly remove yourself from the premises when the agents are showing off your property. Although it is understandable that you would want to see the reaction of the buyer, buyers may feel uncomfortable when you’re around. They many not be able to ask the agent questions about your home, nor feel free to open doors, windows, even lights. If you’re doing the selling, you may open and close doors yourself and naturally, answer their questions. However, try to keep your distance. Give your guests privacy and let them explore the place on their own.

As a home seller, it is also important that you remain slightly impersonal in your dealings with clients. This does not mean that you would act like a robot to your guests. It simply means that you should avoid bringing up your opinion on controversial topics such as religion or politics.
It is also advisable that you keep your pets away from the guests as they may be frightened by your friendly Labrador or may find the distinct animal aroma your pet emits offending.
Finally, for your own safety, try to know as much about the potential buyer before you allow them inside your home. You can verify the details they have provided (phone number, email, etc), by making a return call or sending them an electronic message. It is also ideal if you could have another person on site when you are showing off your home. If this is not possible then make your guests enter the home (and the interior rooms) first and situate yourself by the door at all times. This way, you can easily run off if something goes wrong.

What To Do If A Buyer Has To Sell His House First

Imagine this: It’s been a few weeks since you first put out an advertisement on your house. You’ve already entertained so many potential buyers; however, no one has yet signified an interest to buy your home. Then, just when you least expect it, you receive word from an agent that their client likes your home and is planning to buy it. Unfortunately, there is a catch: apparently this buyer is part of a chain, and before he can place a deposit on your home, he has to sell his own property first. If you’re faced with a situation such as this, what would you do?
There are several courses of action you, as a home seller, can take. However, to protect your interest, it would be advisable to gently advise the buyer that you cannot put your property on hold until he has sold his house. Reassure him, however, that in case your home is still on the market by the time his unit has been sold, nothing would prevent you from transacting business with him.

Most buyers would be willing to present you with contingent offers but it may work to your disadvantage. Once you accept a contingent offer, you will have to advise your agent (or the real estate agents of other buyers) about this. Buyers or agents who are aware that someone else has “laid claim” to the property may have second thoughts about even considering your home. You may not get back up offers from other potential buyers as they will think that your home has already been “reserved”.

In addition, buyers who can afford to purchase a home outright would not want to wait until the 1st buyer reneges on the contingent offer. They would rather spend the time wasted waiting for the reply, looking for other available homes.

If, however, you decide to accept the contingent offer, do not remove your house off the market. Remember that you are unsure of the buyer’s capability to make good on his promise. You just have to inform your potential buyers of your outstanding agreement. If the buyer you are talking to is serious about purchasing your home, this pending contract will not deter him from making an offer.

Warranty Deed vs. Quit Claim Deed

When you’re in the process of selling (or purchasing) a house, you will most likely, encounter several kinds of documents: all with different names and with different uses and functions. Two of the most misunderstood documents are the warranty deed and the quit claim deed. Many think that these two forms are alike, but they are not.

A warranty deed is a document which the seller presents to you and is used in majority of all sales transactions. The warranty deed simply states that the seller owns the property being sold and that it is free from any sort of liens. By presenting a warranty deed, the buyer is assured that the holder of the title has the legal right to transfer ownership of the unit and is assured that no one (financial institution or other creditors) would come after him to make a claim on the property. In the eventuality that someone does lays claim to the property that has just been purchased (or that the claims stated in the warranty is erroneous), the buyer is further protected by law, and would be entitled to receive a form of compensation. Warranty deeds seldom stand alone as these documents are usually backed up by a title insurance policy.

A quitclaim deed, on the other hand, is presented to a buyer by someone who does not necessarily own the property being sold, but holds responsibility for it. This occurs due to several reasons such as when the owner dies and bequeaths the property to one of his heirs, or when there is a marriage and the owner wants to include the name of his/her spouse to the title (among others). A quitclaim deed offers a lower level of protection to buyers. This kind of document is used primarily when the property in question will just stay within a family.

Incidentally, there are times when both a warranty deed and a quitclaim deed are presented to a potential buyer. An example is when the property lies on the border of rivers and or lakes; where ownership of the underwater land on which his property stands on remains unclear.

If you are unsure which kind of deed works best for your property, consult a real estate agent or a real estate lawyer.

Purchase a Quit Claim Deed Today $4.99

Essential Tips for Real Estate Appraisals

When you have the perfect home picked out and you know this is the home you want, your lender will require you to have an appraisal upon the request to use the home as security for a loan. A real estate appraisal will help in establishing a property's market value, the sales price it would probably bring the seller, if offered in an open and competitive real estate market.

The reason the lender requires the real estate appraisal is because they want to ensure that the property would sell for at least the amount of money you require for your loan. Simply put, if the lender should ever have to foreclose, they want to ensure they would be able to get their moneys worth.

A real estate appraisal is not to be confused with a comparative market analysis (CMA). Real estate agents commonly use a CMA as a tool to determine a realistic asking price for home sellers. Although, an experienced agent may come extremely close to an appraisal price with the CMA, an real estate appraisal’s report include a lot more detailed information, not to mention the fact that it is the only evaluation report a bank will accept when making the decision of whether or not to loan money.

When having a home appraised for this purpose you should have an appraiser that is an objective third party. The appraiser should have no financial or any other connection with either party involved. If you have never experienced a real estate appraisal before, here are a few things that are included in the report.

There will be many details about the property in question as well as side-by-side comparisons of three different properties like it. There will be an evaluation of the areas overall real estate market. Any issues an appraiser feels can be harmful to the value of the property. Notations about any serious flaws will also be made; these are all coupled with many other items on the detailed appraisal report.

Real estate appraisals come in two different methods for appraising homes. There is the sales comparison method where the market value is estimated by comparing the property to other similar properties that has been sold in the same area. This method uses the similar properties to make several estimates of what they would have sold for if they had the same feature as the property in question.

Then there is the cost method, this is generally used for new properties when the costs of building is known. In this method, the appraiser estimates the costs involved in replacement of the structure if it were to be destroyed.

It is important to note that you should not depend on an appraisal to help you determine if the home is in satisfactory condition. This is a job for a home inspector. During a real estate appraisal, the appraise may take notes about obvious issues, however they will not test appliances, inspect the chimney or roof.

Rory H. Hawkins writes about real
estate appraisal and other interesting topics. For more information on real
estate appraisals visit us today.

Overpricing Homes: Sellers #1 Mistake When Listing Their Home

Home sellers said that overpricing was the biggest mistake they made when listing their homes. Next worst mistake is dealing with the same real estate agent who represented the buyer.

Overpricing a home is the number one mistake sellers said they made when listing their homes, according to a new national real estate e-mail survey. The margin was nearly three-to-one over the second choice concerning homes for sale.

Survey respondents said their next biggest mistake was “dealing with the same real estate agent who represented the buyer,” thereby setting up a possible conflict of interest and possibly a perception that the buyer was getting a better deal with the home price.

Third biggest mistake was “failure to disclose known defects or problems.” Virtually tied for fourth place were: “under pricing their real estate properties” and “not utilizing Internet technology to market their homes.”

“With the rapid home price appreciation we’ve seen in many housing markets across the country, it’s not surprising that sellers expectations sometimes outran their local real estate market reality,” said Michael Bearden, president and CEO of HouseHunt, Inc.

Bearden expressed surprise over the negative response to agents representing both buyers and the sellers: “Usually it boils down to good communication with the consumer. The agent who communicates effectively and stays in touch throughout the real estate transaction usually has a positive experience with both the buyer and the seller.. With automated response systems customer communication should not be a problem.”

Monte Helme is a national public relations consultant with HouseHunt, Inc.
Previously, he was vice president of public relations and publications for
Century 21 Real Estate Corp.; vice president of communications for AmeriNet
Financial Services (now LendingTree); assistant city editor/Orange County for
the Los Angeles Times; executive sports editor of the Rockford, IL, Morning Star
and Register-Republic; and reporter for the Dixon, IL, Evening-Telegraph. Find real
estate, homes for sale through public MLS
and check what my home is worth
by visiting websites: HouseHunt.com and moveUp.com powered by HouseHunt, Inc.

FSBO vs Realtors

When you think of selling your home, you really have two options: list it "for sale by owner" or list it on the Multiple Listing Service with a professional real estate agent. What's the difference? What are the pros and cons of each? Read on to find answers to these questions and more.

The Scoop on Realtors

A real estate agent, or Realtor (if they belong to the Realtor trade association), must go through some extensive training in order to lawfully help you sell your home. They must become licensed with your state and maintain a good standing in order to act on your behalf in a real estate transaction.

Some of the common duties real estate agents will perform for you or help you with are:



Set an asking price


Point out needed repairs and recommend upgrades


Screen buyers


Handle paperwork


Provide legally required disclosures


Advertise and market your property to the buying public


Negotiate with buyers
The traditional fee for real estate agents is 6% of the final selling price of the property. That's $18,000 on a property worth $300,000. Discount real estate brokers have made a splash in the real estate world with the help of the internet. Sellers can commonly find discount brokers who charge 4% of the final sales price. That's still a $12,000 fee for a $300,000 property.

The Scoop on FSBO (For Sale By Owner)

The reasons many home owners decide to list their home FSBO should be obvious at this point. There's a lot of money to be saved if one can successfully sell their home on their own. Historically, 13-16% of real estate sold annually in America has been sold by the owner, without the help of a real estate agent. However, almost 9 out of 10 sellers who initially list their home by owner wind up hiring an agent. Why?

The varied reasons include:



Time. The FSBO didn't get offers as fast as needed, and became convinced an agent could help them sell faster.


Money. The FSBO didn't price the home right and therefore didn't get any offers.


Knowledge. The FSBO didn't know enough about the steps required to complete the sale.
There are other reasons, but those are the big three. Can they be addressed by the average home owner? Sure they can. Almost all knowledge is available to us on the internet these days, and armed with knowledge, more home owners can successfully sell their home on their own.

The Pros and Cons

Before deciding to list your home for sale, consider how much time you have to devote to the task yourself. If you are extremely busy already, you may want to hire an agent right off the bat. There is definitely a time requirement when it comes to selling by owner. You'll need to handle advertising and marketing, take calls, show your home, entertain offers and make sure you comply with all the local laws to complete the sale.

There are people and resources available to help you like for sale by owner web sites, where you can advertise your home to a nationwide audience, and your local mortgage broker who can pre-qualify buyers that show interest in your home. Other local professionals like title companies and attorneys can help you with legal requirements.

The immediate benefit of hiring an agent is that all these duties become their responsibility, not yours. You can continue on with your life, avoiding many of the headaches that come with the sale of real estate. That is, until it comes time to actually move. But that's another story. However, hiring an agent can be a double-edged sword. If you hire the wrong one you will probably rue the day for years to come. Most brokers require you to sign a listing contract for at least three months, though most want six months to a year. This means that they have the exclusive right to sell your property for that length of time, and you will have a hard time firing them if things don't work out and you want to go with a different broker.

So do some homework before you hire an agent, if that's the route you choose. Ask questions like:



How long have you been in the business?


How many properties did you sell last year?


How many properties have you sold thus far this year?


Can I call some of your past clients for reference?


Do you do this full-time?
The answers to these questions should give you a good idea of where a particular agent stands in relation to any other agent.

The Bottom Line

A comparison can be made between going FSBO versus hiring an agent, to selling your car in the newspaper versus trading-in. The former takes a little more time and effort than the latter, but it can save you a bundle.

The author of this article is a contributor to one of the leading for
sale by owner websites on the web, where home owners can advertise their
property without paying any fees if the web site doesn't send any buyers.

4 Shockingly Simple Steps to Getting a Massive Response from your 'Home For Sale' Ad

Copyright 2006 Geff Long

The problem most people make (including real estate agents), is trying to do too much in the ad. They try to sell the home in that one ad and it just can’t be done. It will cause the ad response to drop dramatically.

As backwards as it seems, the more information you provide in the ad, the lower the response rate. Now, I’m not saying don’t give any information… I’m saying pick and choose the information you will include carefully. There is only ONE job the ad should have… and that is to get the reader to take ONE action.

That’s it. Nothing more.

You see, people are reading those house ads to try and ELIMINATE homes to call on or look at. That changes your perspective a little bit, doesn’t it? Common sense would tell you that they are searching for houses to look at, but that isn’t the case.

There is no way they can visit all those homes listed in the newspaper, so they have to eliminate some of them. If you give them a big ad with all the information and show them a picture, they are quickly able to eliminate it and cross it off their list. Don’t give them that option.

There are 4 important and essential parts to your ad. You must grab the reader’s attention, capture their interest, create a desire, and get them to take action. And believe me, it is not rocket science and if you stick to that plan, the response will surprise you.

Let’s look at each part individually.

1. Grab Attention

To grab the reader’s attention, you need to show them that the ad pertains to them. The easiest way to do this is by starting your ad with the name of the city or neighborhood your home is in. It’s that simple. Anyone looking for a home in your area will start reading your ad.

2. Capture their Interest

The easiest, fastest way to capture interest is to give the reader some financial information. People are starved for this information, but the real estate industry rarely gives it to them. Simply get in touch with a Bank or Loan Officer and ask for a Good Faith Estimate for your home. They will be able to show you some exact financial numbers that you can use. You will use Down Payment, Monthly Payment, Loan Amount and the APR (Annual Percentage Rate) information in your ad.

3. Create Desire

Part of this is already done by the low down payment and financial information. It creates a big interest and starts creating a big desire. You can continue on and push some “hot button” issues to really create desire in the reader. Use terms that give a positive emotion. Quiet Street, Fenced Back Yard, Fireplace... these types of terms are "feel good" terms.

4. Getting the Reader to Take Action

What is it you want the reader to do? Only give them ONE option. You can have them call a phone number, go to a website, or attend and open house. Choose ONE option and make that the focus. Having them call a phone number will generally get the biggest response.

There you have it. Four ridiculously simple steps that will skyrocket the response from your "For Sale" ad.

This article is authored by Geff Long, author of the book "Open House
Secrets". His book can help you get a massive response to your advertising
and sell your home FAST. You can find more information at: http://www.openhousesecrets.com

Selling For Sale By Owner—Simple Effective Strategies

When you've made the decision to sell For Sale by Owner, the method in which you market your home is what makes the difference. This is what's going to bring prospective buyers to your doorstep and eventually get it sold. Let me provide you a summary of some basic marketing ideas that should help.

Upfront you'll need a turnkey solution, it should be easy to implement and simple in terms of advertising. One of the easiest courses of action would be to run an ad in your local newspaper. By running a simple yet descriptive small ad, this can be an effective marketing strategy and yield positive results in a short amount of time.

Generally, people looking to purchase real estate initially look at the classified ads to discover what's available. Ultimately, this provides a good amount of exposure to individuals as well as real estate professionals.

For most, successful marketing boils down to providing a systematic awareness that, you have something to sell, and you are able to get the word out on a consistent basis.

Obviously shoving a sign in the yard is the most basic techniques you can do. It's a simple strategy and you could just luck-up and have your dreams answered by having some stop their car and make you an offer on the spot.

This however usually does not happen and is generally not enough. You'll need to do more if you want to serious attempt at marketing your home.

Another simple step is providing a highlight sheet; you should consider it a must. I recommend making them in color. Having a nice flyer with all of the pertinent information makes your home easy to remember after a long day of looking at different homes, and makes yours standout from the rest.

Keep them fresh and constantly available. Make at least fifty to start if you live in a suburban area. If you live in a rural area maybe less than that but be sure to keep a steady supply available.

Selling your home by owner is not that complicated. It does however take consistent action and a solid strategy.

By understanding the ins and outs of investing and selling real estate, you
can accomplish selling on your own easily with the right techniques. For more
tips and tricks on selling your own home follow this link How
to Sell Your Own Home and see how you too can sell your home without using a
realtor.

Are You Committed to Selling For Sale by Owner?

In today's real estate market, a home-grown website, ad in the local paper and yard sign with directional signs on the corner, are just not enough. For most for sale by owners (FSBO), little incentive exists to invest the time and effort in building a meaningful web presence and the long-term upfront costs of running local newspaper ads to promote your property is impractical.

Unless you get lucky, illogical strategies like "I'll try it on my own for a month or two and then turn it over to a realtor", are doomed to failure. Such strategies illustrate a lack of confidence as well as a coherent plan for effectively marketing your property. It takes both to be successful and unfortunately, far too many for sale by owners (FSBO) start out with strategies like these.

Whether you're a first time for sale by owner (FSBO) or seasoned real estate professional, buying, selling or renting a property requires commitment and hard work. If you don't have the time, don't kid yourself. Hire a real estate professional. Trying to market your property on the 'cheap' usually offers little reward. In most cases, you'll end up wasting valuable time and money. But if you're serious about going it alone, do some research to understand what you’re up against and how to avoid common pitfalls.

Fortunately, most of the information you will need is readily available. You only need to avail yourself of the numerous for sale by owner (FSBO) resources currently available on the web. Since much of this information is written by real estate professionals, it’s fairly comprehensive. These resources cover every aspect of the for sale by owner process, including property preparation, determining and setting the selling price, the advertising process, buyer/seller negotiation, as well as understanding the closing process. Even the contracts and forms required to close a property are available and best of all, many of these services are free!

Barry M. Milteer

President
Home Advancement, LLC
- An Atlanta Real Estate Advertising & For Sale by Owner Company.

Help Your Agent Show Your Home

Once your home has been spruced up, both inside and outside, you're ready to let buyers begin looking through it. However, since you also have to live in your home during the listing period, it means that you'll have to get the home ready for showings by agents, sometimes on short notice. Here are a few secrets you use to make your home look its best when you know agents are bringing clients by for a tour.

First, keep your kitchen countertops clear, and keep dishes out of the sink. Both of those situations make a negative impression on potential buyers because they make the kitchen look cluttered and less-than-clean, even if the rest of the kitchen may be spotless.

Next, go through the house and open all the curtains, shades, and blinds. You want your home to look spacious, warm, and bright, so you want to get as much light into each room as possible. If it's a nighttime showing, turn on the lights in each room, to make them look inviting and homey. Of course, if you discover that a light bulb has burned out, replace it before the buyers arrive.

If it's cold outside and you have a fireplace, put a log on to give a cheery, warm feeling to the room. If it's summertime, the fireplace should be clean. Either way, it shows off the fireplace to its best advantage.

If you have pets in cages, take them to a neighbor during the showing. Some people are turned off by small pets like rats or hamsters, so don't let those bad feelings taint a buyer's impression of your home.

It's also best if YOU can be gone during the showing, if at all possible. That allows buyers to feel free to make comments without having to worry about hurting your feelings. Being able to speak freely is an important part of the home touring process, so don't stifle it by being home.

If you absolutely must be home for some reason, find one room in the house, preferably a family room, den, basement, or out-of-the-way room, and stay there. The buyers will want to look closely at the kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms, and master suite, so you'll want to allow them free access to those rooms.

Try to keep the house picked up and vacuumed as much as possible, to avoid last minute cleaning frenzies when you get a call from an agent wanting to show your home. It will make your life a lot less hectic, and will allow your home to make as good an impression as possible at all times.

Copyright © 2006 Jeanette J. Fisher

Jeanette Fisher, interior design instructor, helps home sellers with color
psychology to make their homes more saleable. Jeanette Fisher, author of
interior design, real estate investing, and home staging books teaches home
sellers five ways to get more money from their home sale. Home
Selling Articles Free home seller's reports Sell
Home Fast.

Real Estate Marketing: Why Agents Should Think Outside the Zillow Box

I've heard a lot of agents discussing Zillow.com lately. Some complain the website (founded by Richard Barton, former CEO of Expedia.com) will hurt their business by taking away one of the key services they offer clients -- namely, comps.

My first advice is not to rely so heavily on comps and consultations in the first place. My second bit of advice is to view Zillow.com in the proper perspective.

Don't Rely on Comps and Consultations
This is a point I’ve been making for years, and the Zillow.com discussion brings it back into the light. If your real estate marketing program relies on comps, then your marketing program is flawed (long before Zillow ever came along). Likewise, the days of hanging your hat on the "free consultation" have passed.

Much of the information you would share during a consultation can be found on the Internet, if you know where to look. And believe me, your prospects know where to look. They can view homes online. They can find current interest rates online. And now (with the advent of such websites as HouseValues and Zillow) , they can get a ballpark valuation of their home based on comps.

Sure, comps are part of the service you provide, and they definitely help your clients understand the big picture and proceed accordingly. So keep offering them. Just don't make it the focal point of your personal marketing efforts. It worked ten years ago ... it doesn't work anymore.

A Closer Look at Zillow.com
The data Zillow provides is nothing new. The way they interpret and present the data is new, but the data itself has always been publicly available. Zillow has just simplified the data acquisition process and created clever phrases like the "Zestimate," fancy talk for their own best guess.

They say it themselves on their website: "We've done the legwork by getting huge amounts of data ... and creating something unique that the public sources don’t provide -- a Zestimate..."

Why I'm Not a Mechanic
Let's imagine there was a website where I could enter a description of car trouble I was having: engine lags when accelerating, blue smoke comes from exhaust pipes, etc.

That website might give me a rough idea of what the problem is. It might even give me detailed instructions on repairing these potential problems, and an estimate of how long it might take. But that doesn't make me a mechanic. And it doesn't make me any more inclined to perform the repairs myself. That’s what a professional mechanic is for.

Sure, I might take this diagnosis to a mechanic and say, "Here's what I think the problem is." But I'll still need the mechanic's help.

Now consider the fact that houses cost 10, 20, or 30 times more than a car (Rolls Royce aside), and you'll see my point.

Just because I know how much a house might be worth doesn't mean I'm ready to write up a contract and steer the sales process myself. That's a big undertaking that requires professional help. Zillow will not make professional agents out of your clients any more than Weather.com will turn me into a meteorologist.

Zillow is a number cruncher. It can't listen to clients. It can't look out for their interests and respect their needs. It can't offer them unique advice for unique situations. And it can't help them adapt to unforeseen challenges.

In short, it's no replacement for a real estate agent.

* You may republish this article in its entirety as long as you include the byline and author's note. If publishing online, please leave the hyperlinks active

About the Author

Brandon Cornett is the founder of ArmingYourFarming.com, a web-based company
that provides marketing guides to real estate agents. For dozens more articles
on real
estate marketing, visit http://www.armingyourfarming.com.

Six Steps To Successful Real Estate Investing

One of the best roads to financial freedom and wealth has and always will be the acquisition of good, solid, income producing real estate. Before you can successfully invest in real estate you have to become educated as to how the real estate market works.

Over the last 20 years I’ve bought, sold, and leased real estate in the United States and other countries. I’ve made a lot of money and lost a lot of money by making what I thought were good decisions but turned out to be bad when economic conditions changed unexpectedly.

Becoming educated in real estate requires a lot of work and experience. You can’t just take a class or attend a weekend seminar and become an expert. Real estate professionals who make money are some of the smartest, most educated, and most experienced business professionals in the world, but even the professionals loose millions of dollars. It is not an easy profession.

To be successful in real estate investing you first have to define what real estate is. Real Estate is its future earning power. The value of any piece of real estate is determined by the income that can be generated by that property when it’s developed to its highest and best use from today and into the indefinite future.

The value of a home is determined by the value that the person who wants to live in that home will pay. The value of a rental property in turn is determined by how much people will pay to rent that property. For any piece of real estate to have any value it must be able to be developed so that it can either provide housing or produce income.

Before you make the final decision on whether or not to purchase a piece of real estate you should always ask this question: “When and how will income or wealth be generated on or by this piece of property?” The answer to this question will tell you how much the property is worth today and how much it is likely to be worth in the future.

Here is a six step system that will help you to become a successful real estate investor:

1. Do market research to find a house that is under priced relative to the neighborhood because it is run down and needs a lot of work. A house that is under priced is one that is selling for 20% or more below what similar houses are selling for in the same area based on the costs or sales price per square foot.

2. Purchase the house for the lowest possible down payment and get the seller to carry back a 2nd mortgage or Deed Of Trust on the property. You always want to get the very best price and terms. Price and terms are very often more important than any other factor when buying a property. If you can buy at a low-enough price and terms you can make any property into a successful investment.

3. Move into the house so you can work on weekends and in your spare time to refurbish it.

4. Once you’ve fixed up the house you can do one of three things:


A. You can sell it for more than you paid for it and take the profits from the house and buy another house to renovate.

B. You can rent out the house in an amount that covers your mortgage payment and gives you additional cash flow each month.

C. You can refinance the house and get a higher mortgage amount that is based on the additional rental cash flow so that you have no money of your own invested in the property and still have positive cash flow each month from rent.


5. Keep repeating this process with more houses that you fix up and sell, rent, or refinance. If you can get to the point where you can buy a house every six months, in ten years you could not only have a substantial positive cash flow each month and you could also have a large investment portfolio with little or no money of your own invested in it.

6. As you increase you experience, assets, and cash flow then you move up to buying duplexes, multi-unit properties, and eventually apartment buildings.

The advantages of this six step system are that you can do it while you keep your full time job which enables you to generate cash flow for repairs and renovation on the property you purchase. You can start small with little or no money or risk and buy more investment properties as you gain more knowledge and experience.

One of the keys to successful real estate investing is that you have to be willing to commit, because it takes an enormous amount of time to find the types of properties that are right for what you want to do. If you have lots of time but very little money real estate is where you should start investing for your financial independence.

Copyright©2006 by Joe Love and JLM & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.

Joe Love draws on his 25 years of experience helping both individuals and companies build their businesses, increase profits, and achieve total success. He is the founder and CEO of JLM & Associates, a consulting and training organization, specializing in personal and business development. Through his seminars and lectures, Joe Love addresses thousands of men and women each year, including the executives and staffs of many businesses around the world, on the subjects of leadership, achievement, goals, strategic business planning, and marketing.

Reach Joe at: joe@jlmandassociates.com

Read more articles and newsletters at: http://www.jlmandassociates.com

Home Selling Advice: How to Create a Great First Impression

The old adage is that you only get one chance to create a first impression. That's true, but in real estate sales, there's a corollary to that statement that says: Great first impressions create quick sales. With that in mind, let's walk through a typical house and talk about how to create a great first impression in a potential buyer's mind.

We'll start with the kitchen, which is one of the most important selling points in any home that's on the market. If your house is currently for sale, you want your kitchen to be as bare as possible. If a utensil or appliance isn't something you use every day and can hardly get along without, it shouldn't be in the kitchen for buyers to see. There should also be no unusual smells of any kind, and all surfaces should be spotlessly clean.

Next to the kitchen, great bathrooms are vital to selling a home. There should be no leaks, whether in the shower, the tub, the sink, or the toilet. Like the kitchen, everything in the bathroom should be spotless. Keep nice towels out that perfectly match the color scheme of the bathroom. Make sure the mirrors are pristine and shiny. Keep countertops free of clutter, and only keep the most essential items in your shower stall. Everything else should be put in cupboards, well out of sight--or boxed up and put away, ready for your move.

Sellers often overlook the significance of closets, but they're also important, because everyone is always looking for more closet space to store things. Therefore, it's important to unclutter your closets in order to make them appear larger. Again, here is a chance for you to begin packing up things in preparation for your move, so your closets will appear more spacious to potential buyers.

Garages and basements tend to collect lots of stuff, too, so keep boxing things and putting them in storage, if you have to, in order to let prospective buyers be able to see just how big these spaces really are. It can be hard for men to do, but all the excess tools in both places need to be boxed up and put away if you're going to create the best possible first impression in your garage and basement.

In your living room, try to make everything match, as far as décor. Remove the clutter first, of course, but leave enough furniture and attractive knickknacks to make the room look as homey and comfortable as possible without becoming overcrowded. It's a fine line, but if you can get it right, your living room will create a great first impression.

The same is true with bedrooms. You want enough furniture in the rooms to create a lived-in, inviting space without crowding so much in that the bedrooms seem to shrink. Keeping bedrooms neat, with made beds and no clothes lying around, can go a long way toward creating a favorable first impression.

You only get one chance at a first impression. If you use that chance well, you'll find yourself signing a sales agreement much more quickly--often at a higher price.

Copyright © 2006 Jeanette J. Fisher

Jeanette Fisher,
author of interior design, real estate investing, and home staging books teaches
home sellers five ways to get more money from their home sale. Home Staging
Articles http://homestaging.us/articles.htm
FREE Home Staging Information

Home Selling Advice: Think of Your Home as a Product

It's not easy for most people to do, but the moment you decide to sell your home, it becomes something else -- it becomes a product, to be sold like any other product. It can be a sobering thought, but it's a necessary mental step to take if you're going to sell your home quickly, and for as much money as possible.

The first step in that process is to look at your home with a new set of eyes: the eyes of a buyer. They don't have the emotional attachment to all of your knickknacks and family photos that you do. To them, a shelf filled with various trinkets and souvenirs is merely a collection of clutter; something that prevents them from seeing the real house underneath all your stuff.

In order to attract a buyer in today's marketplace, you'll need to increase its attractiveness as a product. That can involve adding a new coat of paint, getting rid of excess furniture and other clutter, and clearing the kitchen countertops of a variety of items that aren't used on a day-to-day basis.

You don't have to do any expensive remodeling. You simply have to show off your home to its best advantage. After all, it needs to look good on the shelf, to attract a buyer's attention, then it needs to interest them enough to take a closer look, and finally, it has to fill their needs to the point where they want to purchase your product.

Of course, price is important to homebuyers, just as it is to anyone who is looking to make any major purchase in their lives. But buyers can generally find several houses that are similarly priced, so your product must have an advantage over the competition if you're to get a sale. And that begins with market research.

You can do your research by simply walking around and through your house, looking at it as if you were a buyer, seeing it for the first time. You may be surprised at what you discover, but it's a necessary process, and shouldn't be overlooked. Often a few minor repairs and touch-ups can make a huge difference--both in time of sale and in the price paid by the buyer.

Make your home as warm and inviting as possible, because more than most major purchases, people buy homes according to their emotions. That process begins by making your home feel homey without feeling cluttered. It's a fine line, but important to your overall success. If you have a wall filled with family photos, take them down. They may be your ancestors, but to buyers, they represent clutter. Whenever you can't decide whether something should stay out or not, it's best to take it out of a room. Buyers can imagine their own furnishing in rooms that aren't filled to the brim with your stuff.

So, in order to sell your home faster and for a higher price, start thinking of it as a product you want to sell to a willing buyer. It will help your get the home ready for sale, and it may even help you detach your emotions, making it easier to move once a sale has been made.

Copyright © 2006 Jeanette J. Fisher

Jeanette Fisher, interior design instructor, helps home sellers with color
psychology advice to make their homes more saleable. Jeanette Fisher, author of
interior design, real estate investing, and home staging books teaches home
sellers five ways to get more money from their home sale. http://sellfast.info/home_selling_articles.htm
Free home selling reports Sell Home
Fast

Home Selling Advice: Create a Great Exterior First Impression

If you're going to get buyers to look inside your home, you've got to create an eye-catching first impression on the outside. If the outside isn't appealing, buyers will often skip the opportunity to see what's inside, so it's vital to make your home's exterior entice potential buyers to check out what's inside. If you want a quick sale for full market value, here's some home selling advice.

First, get rid of all clutter, which includes bicycles, skateboards, balls, roller skates, garden tools, or any of the many other things that tend to get left out in the yard at the end of the day. Buyers who see excessive clutter on the outside tend to think the inside of the home will look the same. It doesn't have to make sense--that's just the way it is.

Walk around the perimeter of the house and make sure that none of the gutters sag or are broken in any way. This can make a home look run-down and shabby. If the garbage cans are in sight from the street, move them to another location. Anything you see lying on the ground that shouldn't be there should be picked up and taken care of.

Make sure the lawn and shrubbery looks neatly trimmed and well maintained. That creates a sense of stability and shows that you care about your home's appearance. don't let shrubs grown higher than the bottom of window sills. It creates a negative appearance, and doesn't allow buyers to see the size of the windows themselves.

Keep the sidewalk clean and free of debris. It creates an inviting atmosphere, and beckons buyers to approach the house. Make sure all the windows are clean, as well, because it gives the home the appearance of being well maintained and bright.

The front entrance should be inviting, and the front door should be clean and freshly painted. It's also nice to have an attractive welcome mat in front of the door. They're all homey touches that encourage people to come inside for a closer look.

If there are pots and planters on the back patio, remove them, unless they contain spectacular plants that add to the overall ambience and charm of the space. Otherwise, they'll look like clutter, which is never desirable.

Real estate agents know too well the value of a home's inviting exterior. They know that if buyers don't like the outside, they may not want to see the inside. Agents' home selling advice always includes the basic exterior cleanup. Therefore, it's crucial that you make the exterior of your home as inviting as possible if you want a quicker sale.

Copyright © 2006 Jeanette J. Fisher

If you want a quick home sale for top dollar, explore free home staging
advice. Jeanette Fisher, interior design instructor, helps home sellers with
color psychology to make their homes more saleable. Jeanette Fisher, author of
interior design, real estate investing, and home staging books teaches home
sellers five ways to get more money from their home sale. http://sellfast.info/home_selling_articles.htm
Free home seller's reports Sell
Home Fast

Home Selling Advice: How to Make Your Home More Saleable

Every home seller wants two things: a quick sale at the highest possible price. Neither of those desires is unreasonable, but in order to achieve those goals, you'll need to do a few things to make you home more saleable and different from your competition--all the other homes for sale in your neighborhood and price range.

First, look at the outside of your home, since that's what prospective buyers will see first. If you've ever bought a home, you know that you passed up potential homes simply because they looked shabby and unkempt from the street. It's just a quirk of human nature that makes a person think that if a home looks bad from the street, it will be just as bad on the inside--so don't let your home make a negative impression on the outside.

Keep the lawn and landscaping as well-manicured as possible. Keep perennials looking good, and if possible, plant some nice-looking annual flowers to dress up the appearance of your home. Make sure your front door creates a warm, inviting feeling. If it needs a coat of paint, do it. Paint is cheap, and the rewards will be worth the effort.

The kitchen and bathrooms are crucial to making a favorable impression on potential buyers. They'll be spending a considerable amount of time in each of them, so they'll be looking at the kitchen and bathrooms with an especially critical eye. Paint can help immensely in these rooms, as well as making sure that the faucets don't leak and that everything looks fresh, livable, and odor-free.

Of course, the rest of your interior rooms need to be neat, clean, and clear of clutter to make them look bigger and more appealing. Again, if paint is needed to brighten a room, do it, using colors proven to attract your specific buyer's profile. If the buyers want to change it, that's fine, but you want every room in your home to make a favorable impression from the very beginning.

You don't have to spend a huge amount of money to make your house appealing to potential buyers. However, as the old saying goes: you only get one opportunity to make a good first impression. So walk around your house, inside and out, and try to look at it as if it's the first time you've ever seen it. What things do you see that would make a less-than-favorable impression on YOU if you were looking at them for the first time? Those are the things you want to address--long before the first potential buyers pull up in front of your home.

Copyright © 2006 Jeanette J. Fisher

Jeanette Fisher,
interior design instructor, helps home sellers with color psychology to make
their homes more saleable. Jeanette Fisher, author of interior design, real
estate investing, and home staging books teaches home sellers five ways to get
more money from their home sale. Home
Selling Articles Free home seller's reports Sell
Home Fast.

Everything A Real Estate Agent Doesn't Want A Home Seller To Know! Part-2

Are you planning on selling a home? If so you may want to read this article. As a home seller you have to make a decision whether you will sell your home through a real estate company, for sale by owner or a combination of both. Not many sellers know they can do both—it all stems around the language of the listing agreement (contract) you enter into with the real estate agent and their company. If you are a smart negotiator you can have the ability to sell both ways expressed in the listing contract in a way that basically creates a “race” to sell the property between you and the agent. The concept is easy to do but hard to explain within the space limitations of this article—any real estate attorney can help you negotiate and write the face of the listing contract to reflect your dual selling option during the listing contract period. Actually, it’s a good idea to have your attorney review ALL listing contracts you are considering BEFORE you sign them. And if you ignore that advice then at least use these 5 Magic words to help protect yourself before you sign any listing contract--write the following words right ABOVE you signature:

"Subject To Sellers Attorney Approval"

Then sign the listing agreement. This way if you have a change of mind for good reasons or the listing contract is not in your best interest, you can weasel your way out of a deal with the help of your attorney.

Speaking of listing agreements—do you realize that when you contact a real estate agent to sell your home that you are basically hiring a salesperson to sell your product? That makes you an employer. I constantly preach that home buying and selling is a BIG business deal. Have you ever been interviewed for a job? Have you ever interviewed anybody for a job? If you have participated in either of those scenarios you know that you are asked (or ask) some tough questions before the employer “hires you”…and the job you are seeking is competitive—other people want the same job right? Well, the same holds true for hiring an agent. If you have a decent home, most every agent wants to list it for sale…there’s competition to get your listing. Knowing this basic information don’t you think you have the right to ask some tough questions of your real estate agent? Don’t you want to see a resume? Don’t you want to know there business background? What is their selling background? To many times agents are part timers with one toe in the tub and from my experience as a mortgage lender, many agents, especially new or part-time agents basically throw as many offers-from-buyers-as-possible on the wall and hope they stick—costing sellers time, opportunity and money. This is NOT a blanket indictment against real estate agents—there are full time professional agents in the market who have business degrees and marketing and sales experience—the top producers— but finding them is a different story.

The point of this article is to bring to your attention as a home seller that YOU are the one that has to make a hiring decision when retaining the services of a real estate agent. Many sellers choose people they know…their friends…especially in small towns…and sometimes that works okay. Sometimes it ruins friendships. The key is to treat your home like a business deal and to make sure you do everything in your power to give it the best representation in the market with a full time, knowledgeable agent who has a business background. Agents hate you hearing this kind of stuff but let me put it this way: Lawyers go to school for seven (7) years to learn the law so they can write a fifty dollar ($50.00) will. Real estate agents on the other hand, go to crash-course-training programs for 30-90 days or so and represent sellers in transactions in excess of $100,000.00! What’s wrong with THAT picture? You get the drift…

We have just upgraded our site and we have a free real estate report you can download called 101 tips for home buyers, sellers and money borrowers—it’s powerful and it's free. We have a bunch of money saving stuff you can download in the freebies section. An Ezine Article Exclusive! Until next time…

Copyright © 2006
James W. Hart, IV
All Rights reserved

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Classes In Real Estate - For Buyers or Realtors

If you’ve ever played the game of monopoly, you’ve had that great feeling of snatching up Park Place and Broadway at least once or twice, then waiting patiently to build hotels everywhere and put everyone else out of the game. Those of you, who like that feeling, may want to study real estate. Similar to monopoly, real estate professionals are masters of buying and building property all over the world. These professionals know how to make investments work for them, and once you take some real estate classes – you will as well.

If you’re ready to put value on property, real estate is where you need to be. You’ll also be closing deals, which can be very profitable. To get into real estate classes and succeed in real estate, you’ll need to be a persuasive team player who is really good with jumbling numbers. You’ll also need to be good at being aggressive, and sealing the deal when everything is finished. Real estate can be a great career if you like to make decisions and build things.

Among the several real estate classes available, you have international real estate, real estate appraisal, real estate commercial, finance, investments, law, principles and practices, and even residential. While all of them are very interesting and can take you far in your career, you should pick one of the majors as it best relates to your needs and interests. If you’re just looking to sell homes and land, residential real estate is everything you need.

Your career in real estate begins with real estate classes. There are several schools and colleges that teach real estate, all you have to do is find one in your state. The requirements and classes will vary from state to state, which would make it better to inquire ahead of time. Real estate is a career like no other, simply because you can invest in some property then sell it and make double the profit. If you’ve been looking for the perfect career to make a lot of money and challenge yourself – real estate can do it all for you and then some.

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Real Estate School

As you may know, buying a home involves many different decisions about where you will live and for how many years. Along with geographical decisions, it will often have implication for your financial future as well.

For this very reason, almost all home buyers will enlist the services of a real estate broker or agent to help them make those types of decisions. A real estate agent is someone who is licensed by their state to handle the sales of real estate, while a real estate broker is also licensed by the state, but who has the overall responsibility for the actions of a real estate agent. To determine the value and fair market retail of a home that is for sale, a real estate agent may enlist the services of a real estate appraiser.

No matter what you state you happen to reside in, you can find a real estate school to help you obtain your license. Those of you who are time restrictions or don’t like to travel too far from home, can get your license online. A real estate license doesn’t require a lot of time, yet it will help you get your foot in the door when it comes to the vast world of real estate. Real estate agents, brokers, and appraisers make really good money, and generally get a commission on each house they successfully sell.

If you’ve been looking for a career that will give to you what you put into it, real estate is the career for you. Even if you have no experience with real estate, a real estate school can give you all of the training you need. Then, when the time comes to buy your own home, you can do it yourself. Knowing the real estate market and knowing what to look for can save you a ton of money when buying your own house or property.

The author's website is http://www.welovebrandonrouth.com
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