Taking time to prepare your home increases the homes desirability, provides a marketing edge, and ultimately results in taking less time to sell.

Below are some things a home seller can do to entice potential buyers to have a look at your house.

Before Buyers Come To Your Home

• Turn on all inside lights. Keep the inside clean, light, and bright. Turn on lights even during the day.
• At night, make sure all outside lights are on.
• Play soft music to give your home a welcoming atmosphere.
• Ensure that the temperature is kept at a comfortable 68-69 degrees.
• If you have pets, make sure they are kept in a separate area and clean litter boxes daily to prevent odors.
• Keep money, prescriptions, and other small valuables out of site or hidden.
• Keep shades and blinds open to allow the most light to come in.
• Open all doors inside the home except for closets.

During the Showing

• If the home owner is not in the home, the potential buyer will likely spend more time previewing it.
• If you can’t leave the home, have the children play outside or group them in front of the tv and watch quietly with the volume on low.
• If you are following or preceding a prospective buyer, you may make them feel uncomfortable, as if their presence is an intrusion.
• Let the agent show and sell the home.

By ensuring that potential buys have plenty of time to preview the home, you greatly increase your chances of making a great first impression which will generate a lot of interest from the buyer.

New rules will take effect for contractors and landlords who perform repairs, or renovations to structures built prior to 1978. The EPA now requires that the contractors need to take a training course to learn how to work with lead based paint and be certified in it’s proper removal. Since 1978 lead based paints are no longer used in residential markets.

The lead can remain undisturbed if wall-papered over or painted over. An exception to the new ruling might be to test for lead and then paint over it; once determined that the level of lead that is present is safe. Paint that is undisturbed will not have to be performed by a certified contractor and the new ruling wouldn’t be applicable.

Any renovation activity in an area that is 6 sq. ft. on the inside and 20 sq. ft. on the outside will be affected by this new ruling. It will also apply to window replacement and will include landlords who do their own renovations. Any disturbance of the surfaces that have paint on them prior to 1978 are affected by this ruling.

Here are some sites that can give you information on the harmful effects of lead based paints and their remedies: www.epa.gov/lead

http://www.hud.gov/offices/lead/enforcement/disclosure.cfm

http://www.commerce.wa.gov/site/515/default.aspx

Mailing Address:
Department of Commerce
Lead-Based Paint Program
PO Box 42525
Olympia, WA 98504-2525

Contact Information:
General Email

Lead Line Phone: (360) 586-LEAD (5323)
Fax: (360) 586-5880

One of the most difficult aspects of selling a home is determining the selling price. Especially in this market there are a number of considerations that need to be reviewed.

Accurate Pricing Strategy

The pricing strategy that you choose to employ relies heavily on what the current market is like. In a buyer’s market, there are more homes available than there are buyers. This would cause home prices to be lower. In a seller’s market, there are more buyers than there are homes available. This causes home prices to rise. It’s supply and demand.

Once the house is on the market, a well priced home will sell. If a house is overpriced the majority of offers will be low offers that may not be considered, when in actuality, the low offers could be more accurate than the inflated price. A well-priced home will entice people to offer what the home is worth as they can see that the value represented in the price is accurate.

Pricing a home accurately maximizes your opportunity to reach the most potential buyers. Often, when qualified buyers are looking for a home the first thing they evaluate is the price. Before they consider any aspects of a home, they want to know how much they have to spend. When your home is marketed at a price that is similar to other comparable properties in the buyers price range, they will have the opportunity to view it.

Targeting the Right Buyer

A home receives it’s best exposure during it’s first several weeks on the market. Statistically, the longer a home spends on the market the lower the selling price. People will see that it’s been on the market for awhile and may start to assume there is something wrong with it, when in reality it’s the price that has kept it on the market so long. If your price is too low, you could lose thousands of dollars of one of the largest investments in our lifetime.

Let Your Agent Help You Price Your Home

With many years of experience a good agent will be able to accurately price your home and make sure the price represents the value. If you need help pricing your home, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Hi all,

Sorry for the inconvenience, but due to the increase in spammers we’ve had to temporarily disable commenting.

The Queen Anne Hill Writing Team

Things that can make a home sale hard to close or not close at all…

If the buyer wants to buy a home contingent on, i.e. before, selling their primary residence the transaction can sometimes get very stressful as deadlines near. This situation can sometimes be remedied by a bridge loan. Bridge loans are temporary loans that bridge the gap between the sales price of a new home and a home buyer’s new mortgage, in the event the buyer’s home has not yet sold. The bridge loan is secured to the buyer’s existing home. The funds from the bridge loan are then used as a down payment on the move-up home.

Delays can be caused by the agent not having previously worked with the lender. Communication between the two parties may not be as open as with people who have worked together before. Ensuring open communication can make all the difference!

When phone calls or email are not responded to it’s amazing what glitches can come up. All parties need to stay in close contact with each other throughout the entire transaction right up until closing.

An out of town appraiser can often cause a bump in the transaction time line if they are unfamiliar with the area, types of property in the area or area pricing. Neither banks nor mortgage companies will lend above appraised value. This can be remedied by the buyer bringing in a larger down payment, reevaluation of the original appraisal or ordering an entirely new appraisal. These are not cures but could be options.

Inspections are utilized to find hidden defects even the seller might not be aware of. There may be issues that would not normally be recognized by the consumer. These can generally be remedied by price adjustment or repair.

Improper permits can often delay a transaction. Additions to garages, MIL’s, work sheds etc. When work is not properly permitted nor is grandfathered in it can sometimes disrupt the appraisal or inspection process.

Be sure you understand what the rules and regulations are for sewer systems and underground oil tanks in the area in which you are buying. Some of those guidelines are ever changing in regards to various environmental regulations. Some oil tanks can be filled with sand, some have to be dug up, some can be certified as is and won’t disrupt anything. Regardless, be aware.

Mold, lead based paint or homes where there was illegal drug manufacturing can all be environmental issues that can derail a transaction.
Certain changes in the financing terms can be limiting factors as well. Change of terms or fees can affect an outcome of a loan. Be sure that the good-faith estimate of fees and rates is seen by the buyer within 3 days of receiving an application. This is a pretty accurate disclosure of what the loan is going to cost the buyer.

The Preliminary title policy commitment is the best way to see if the property is “encumbered.” Encumbrances can be anything having to do with water rights, property lines, easements, clouded ownership or workman’s liens, among many others. Often a good title officer can find solutions to these situations. However, they can be the cause of some stressful hurdles in the transaction.

You don’t have to know everything about everything in order to buy a house. But, the pertinent things that apply to your loan or the property you want to buy are important enough to have enough information to ask the questions. . . . .

Hire a good agent!