http://www.briancreel.com/
http://www.placervillemls.com/
Has your lawn grown up around that "For Sale" sign? Have the wasps moved into the lock box on your front door? Did you just receive an invitation to your real estate agent's retirement party?
If so, chances are your home sale fizzled.
Here are the six most-common reasons why homes don't sell and what you can do about it.
1. Your home is overpriced.
Optimistic home sellers love to parrot the old adage, "There's a buyer for every home." But they often leave off the qualifier: "at the buyer's price."
The fact is, buyers -- not sellers -- ultimately determine the market value of a home. You can ask for the moon and set your listing price well above comparable properties in your neighborhood, but at some point it will be up to you, the seller, to accept what the buyer thinks your home is worth.
Overpricing is the most common reason homes don't sell. When you ask an unrealistic price, it sets in motion a process that often works against you. Here's why:
Most real estate agents, and hence most qualified buyers, will see your new listing within 30 days. If it is overpriced by as little as 5 percent, it will be duly noted and interest in your property will wane, especially if you show no intention of coming off your asking price. You likely already priced out buyers who might have qualified for financing at a more reasonable price. Even if you manage to find a buyer at your inflated asking price, the property may not appraise at that figure and the financing will fall apart.
Your real estate agent may have approved or even suggested the inflated asking price to secure your listing (more on this in No. 4). Conversely, other real estate agent often use overpriced properties like yours to help sell their own listings ("Here's what they are asking. Now would you like to take a second look at that first house I showed you?")
"If you have a house that really should be priced at $200,000 and you've got it listed at $260,000, you are trying to compete against homes that really are worth close to $300,000 and all of a sudden your home really is not competing well, You want to compete with what is available out there among homes similar to yours.
If your home remains on the market for too long, agents and buyers may begin to wonder if there are other, perhaps more serious reasons why it isn't selling.
"It becomes shopworn, the same as a jacket hanging in the store week after week,"
"People are aware that it has been on the market a long time and agents stop showing it."
2. Your home doesn't "show" well.
Your home is competing against shiny new houses in those pristine subdivisions out in the suburbs with their attractive prices, incentives and community amenities.
Face it: Even the best old house needs a little makeover if it hopes to attract a qualified buyer.
The good news is most of the work will be cosmetic and relatively inexpensive: a new coat of paint, a few attractive window boxes, a thorough cleaning of floors and carpets. Voila! The place may look good enough to reconsider.
A good real estate agent can advise you on where your time and money are best spent.
Price and condition are two things that the seller can do something about, I always give people my 'honey do' list. I think paint is probably a seller's best friend because it makes things smell fresh and look fresh. If it's time to paint, it's time to paint. It's the best return on investment."
3. You're in a bad location.
Nothing has a greater impact on your home's value than its location. Your humble abode might be worth a king's ransom were it located in Palm Beach, Aspen or San Francisco. It might even jump thousands in value just two streets over in the next (and far superior) school district.
"If you're in one of the higher-ranked schools around here, you're going to add $50,000 to $100,000 to the price of the same house," according to Lenn Harley, a broker with Homefinders.com Inc. in Maryland and Virginia.
The point is, location rules in real estate.
If your home's location is less than desirable, your options are somewhat limited. A good real estate agent will do his best to help you accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative of your circumstances, say by using foliage to screen off offensive adjoining properties or dampen traffic noise.
The best way to compensate for a poor location is to reduce your asking price or offer attractive incentives such as seller financing or a lease option with rent credit.
4. You have a lousy listing agent.
Yep, they exist: Real estate agents who mislead, misfire and misbehave.
Their bad advice can cost you plenty in time, money and the sheer hassle of keeping the place show-ready 24/7.
The agent from hell will allow you to overprice your home ("Here's what I can get for you if you list with me!"), not market it properly (see No. 6), fail to screen for qualified buyers, be unresponsive to interest from other agents (if they sell their own listing, they don't have to split the commission) and keep you totally in the dark throughout the process.
What's more, if your agent is abrasive, arrogant or otherwise difficult to work with, other agents may not want the hassle of showing any of their listings to prospective buyers.
5. You are battling competition or market conditions.
We've all heard the terms "buyer's market" and "seller's market." In real estate, market conditions are affected by any number of external forces, some of them predictable (the weather, sort of), some of them unpredictable (the local economy, interest rates, public optimism or pessimism).
In a "hot" or seller's market, homes go fast. Inventory (homes on the market) may be low, meaning less competition for you. Chances are better that you will get your asking price in a hot market; in fact, it is not uncommon to even be offered more than your listing price.
But in a "flat," "cold" or buyer's market, sales slow to a trickle, inventories grow and buyers can find bargains, especially when they know the seller is motivated (i.e., paying on two mortgages).
If you're trying to sell in a flat market, you're not only competing against all that vacant new construction, but against rentals as well. In this case, be prepared to settle for less than top dollar, or wait to sell until the pendulum swings once again in your favor.
6. You have ineffective marketing.
Gone are the days when an agent could simply place your listing with the local multiple listing service, hold a halfhearted open house and wait for another agent to bring forth a buyer.
Today's top performers launch a multilevel marketing plan that includes listing tours for area agents, newspaper and even TV ads, weekend open houses, listing fliers and placements in local real estate publications.
Computers and the Internet also have changed the face of real estate. According to the National Association of Realtors, today more than one-third of all home buyers use the Internet for house hunting. The best real estate agents are computer-savvy. They have your listing in color on their laptops to show clients and communicate frequently via e-mail, a particular boon when working with out-of-town buyers.
Suffice it to say that if your real estate agent isn't listing your home online through the company Web site as well as with the local MLS, you may not be getting the exposure necessary to find a buyer.
There are those who just put the listing in the multiple and pray it will sell and those that put a lot of effort into marketing their listings. Unfortunately, with this weird system of compensation we have, they all get paid the same, whether they know nothing or have many years of experience."
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Black Belt Negotiating for Homebuyers
www.BrianCreel.com
www.PlacervilleMLS.com
How would you like to save $10,000 or more off your
next house? It's really quite easy if your real estate agent has
a black belt in negotiating. The challenge is that most people in
general and real estate agents in specific rarely take advantage
of the power of bargaining, except on rare occasions when making
large purchases like cars and houses. In other countries, like Asia,
people there negotiate everything everyday and save thousands.
"What information do we need before making an offer and how
would you get it?"
"What's your experience with negotiating?" (You want someone
who negotiates every chance he or she gets whether it's a large
or small purchase.)
"What's your philosophy of negotiating?" (If the answer is "win-win"
find another agent!
"Do you prefer to present offers in-person or send them in?
"How can we make sure the seller responds to our offer right
away?"
"When you sit down with the seller what's the first thing you
do?" (If the answer is "I pull out the contract" keep interviewing
agents. You want someone who knows that closing a deal begins
with build a relationship.)
"How can you tell if the seller immediately likes or dislikes
our offer?"
"How would you react if the seller gives us a full price counter-offer?"
"What would you do if the seller asks for something additional
after the contract has been signed?"
"If the we were five hundred dollars apart from having a ratified
contract what would you do?" (If the answer is, "I'd give it to
you from my commission" find another agent. Anyone who cannot
negotiate their own fee will have difficulty protecting your interests.)
www.PlacervilleMLS.com
How would you like to save $10,000 or more off your
next house? It's really quite easy if your real estate agent has
a black belt in negotiating. The challenge is that most people in
general and real estate agents in specific rarely take advantage
of the power of bargaining, except on rare occasions when making
large purchases like cars and houses. In other countries, like Asia,
people there negotiate everything everyday and save thousands.
Negotiating is like a martial arts contest where power,
leverage and timing can mean the difference between winning and
losing. For instance, a martial artist would never go into a contest
without first spying on his opponent to find weaknesses. In the
same way, you can gain bargaining power by doing your homework.
When buying a house find out how long it's been on the market, why
the owner is selling, if there have been previous offers and if
you will be the only one making an offer at this time. Obviously,
finding the answers to questions like these could save you a lot
of money.
First, make sure that your agent presents your offer
in-person, if possible. It's very difficult to negotiate a good
deal by fax.
Before engaging in contest, a martial artist warms
up by stretching. Likewise, a savvy negotiator warms up by building
rapport and finding common ground with the other party, because
people like to do business with people they like. In real estate,
a smart agent will try to get the seller emotionally involved with
you before he brings out your offer. He should have you compose
a hand-written letter about why you want the home and perhaps even
show a few photos of you and your family. When faced with several
competing offers I have done this and gotten a client's contract
accepted even when ours didn't present the highest price but the
seller fell in love with my buyers.
Next, fighters will cautiously probe each other looking
for weaknesses. In bargaining this is done by throwing offers onto
the table to see how the other party reacts. Experienced fighters
often use guile to lure their opponents into range by pretending
a blow has hurt them more than it really did. Similarly, your agent
could pretend to be shocked by a seller's counter to your offer
to get him to come down in price. Visibly showing surprise or hurt
is called flinching and it used by master bargainers to gain concessions
without giving up anything.
Martial artists are taught to read the body language
of their opponents so they can see a blow before it is unleashed.
Experienced negotiators can literally read the other party's mind
by watching body language and listening carefully. If a seller says,
"Make us an offer" you know their price is flexible before you even
start. Also, without saying a word their body language can also
tell you if they like or dislike any offer you make so be sure your
agent watches very carefully as they show the seller your purchase
contract. If the pupils of the owner's eyes get larger as they read
the price you are well on your way to a deal but if his pupils get
smaller your agent will have to do a lot of selling.
Martial artists do not believe in win-win and neither
should you. Even when sparring their best friend they want to give
their best effort. Expect and demand you're your agent fight for
the best deal possible assuming that the seller and his agent will
take care of themselves because they will.
Fighters are supremely aware of time and try to use
it to their advantage by saving as much energy as possible for the
last few seconds of a round when they can score points against a
tired opponent. Black belt negotiators put their opponents under
time pressure by setting deadlines. Be sure that your agent mentions
to the seller that you are considering several other similar properties
in the area and that the seller must give a prompt response to your
offer.
In martial arts, as in life, there are unfair fighters
who will do anything to win, so you must protect yourself at all
times. Negotiators must be aware of unfair tactics such as nibbling,
which is asking for concessions after an agreement has been reached.
If this happens to you just remember this blocking technique, "Before
you give a concession - get a concession." For example, if a seller
suggests that to hold the deal together that you'll have to pay
for the transfer tax or other fee, remind your agent not to fall
for this trick and simply respond with, "If we did, what would they
do for us?" When a nibbler realizes that every time they ask for
something you will respond in kind they will stop nibbling.
Finally, when a contest ends, fighters will bow to
each other as a sign of respect as if to say, "You were a worthy
opponent" which makes both contestants feel good whether they won
or lost. Your agent should also congratulate the seller for having
gotten a good deal. Otherwise he might change his mind and try to
find a way to wiggle out of the agreement.
So, how do you find a real estate agent who is a black
bet in negotiating? Just ask these hypothetical questions and see
how he or she answers them:
would you get it?"
who negotiates every chance he or she gets whether it's a large
or small purchase.)
find another agent!
away?"
do?" (If the answer is "I pull out the contract" keep interviewing
agents. You want someone who knows that closing a deal begins
with build a relationship.)
our offer?"
after the contract has been signed?"
contract what would you do?" (If the answer is, "I'd give it to
you from my commission" find another agent. Anyone who cannot
negotiate their own fee will have difficulty protecting your interests.)
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
House Price
www.BrianCreel.com
www.PlacervilleMLS.com
Secrets to simultaneous real estate closings
Selling one house and buying another is like putting yourself between a rock and a hard place.
If you set both closings within the same basic time frame you run the risk of ending up with two mortgages or much worse.
If you schedule them with sufficient time between to solve any closing problems you face the prospect of renting and moving twice.
This is not a rare occurrence -- the National Association of Realtors, or NAR, estimates 6.24 million homes were bought or sold during 2006, and unless you were a first-time buyer or kept your old house as an investment property, most of those transactions involved buying one house and selling another.
But there are steps you can take to protect your best interests.
Timing your closings
The timing of your closings can be as critical as the cost of your new home or the interest rate on your mortgage. And each has advantages and disadvantages.
5 tips for successful closings
1. Specify contract terms.
2. Select date carefully.
3. Have a plan B.
4. Be an early bird.
5. Line up your money.
A dual real estate transaction means you have two choices: a simultaneous closing or a staggered closing. With a simultaneous closing, you set these two transactions as close together as possible, often on the same day -- usually selling first and buying second. With a staggered closing, you build in some time between the two transactions -- days, weeks, months or even more.
First, the bad news
With a staggered closing, you incur the cost of renting in the interim. You may have to find a place to store some of your belongings and deal with the hassle and added expense of moving twice. You're losing the equity you could be building in a new home. And there's the ever present danger you'll fritter away the profits you've banked from the last sale before you can get into your next home.
A simultaneous closing also has disadvantages. If something goes wrong in the first transaction, you could find yourself in big trouble.
If the first closing fails and you don't walk away with a big fat check, you may not be able to close on the house you're buying. Which could mean you're defaulting on that contract and could lose your earnest money deposit -- often as much as 10 percent or 20 percent of the purchase price.
If this happens at the last minute you, of course, have nowhere to live and have to immediately arrange to have all your possessions put in storage. Obviously this situation could lead to many other expenses and inconveniences. If you're more fortunate, you could quickly arrange for an extra loan to enable you to close on the home you're buying and to cover the period in which you own two homes -- so-called "bridge" financing. At best, you would only have the burden of making two mortgage payments every month.
Kristina Grebener has seen the problem from the inside. When she and her family planned to buy a bigger house in their same Madison, Wis., neighborhood, they didn't anticipate any problems. The market was hot and properties were moving. They found the house they wanted, made an offer and set the closing date for late July, thinking they'd have sold their old house by the end of June.
But in the interim, there was "a cooling in the market," Grebener says. A lot of nearby homes went up for sale, and "the buyers weren't there to support that," she says.
The family closed on the purchase in July as planned, using a home equity loan on their old house to make the down payment on their new home. But they have yet to sell their first home or move. Counting the new mortgage payment, the home equity loan and double utilities, keeping the old house is costing the Grebeners an extra $2,600 each month.
"Every month I make a mortgage payment is lost money," she says. And while the family can afford it for now, it's putting a dent in their budget -- especially with kids just a few years away from college, she says.
"It's like a game of musical chairs," Steven Rick, a senior economist at the Credit Union National Association, says about coordinating closings. "It's a function of the housing market. Now that it's unraveling, you definitely do not want to be buying a home without selling yours."
Ron Phipps, a broker with Phipps Realty in Warwick, R.I., agrees.
"Very few people have the ability to own two properties with ease," he says. "For some people, the closing date is as pivotal as the money." So the goal is often to schedule the home sale first, then set the home purchase within the next 24 hours -- often for later that same day. "Doing simultaneous closings is really the goal."
But finding a buyer to close on your home at the exact minute you find a home to buy yourself isn't always easy. More often than not, you've found one without the other -- and that can make setting the closing date a tricky proposition.
"For real estate practitioners, this is always the hardest part of the transaction," says Phipps. "Typically, you have to have the house you're selling cleared out at closing." But just as often, "you need money from the first house to close on the second house."
Just like staggered closings, simultaneous closings should be carefully planned. "It needs to be done with good advice and the best precautions," says Dave Dalzell, a regional vice president of the NAR and the owner/broker of Abilene, Texas-based Dalzell Realtors.
Another potential downside of a simultaneous closing: If the buyers know you're in a time crunch, they can use it to squeeze you for extra considerations at the last minute -- like getting you to pay for decorating upgrades or more of the sale costs.
A Fort Lauderdale, Fla., couple told Bankrate they were "held-up" by the buyers of their home in this manner. "An inspection had showed a slight leak in a shower and so we had it repaired by a licensed plumber a few weeks before closing. To make sure it was done right, we had the entire shower removed, a new shower pan installed and the entire bathroom retiled. At the closing table, the buyer said he wouldn't accept the repair because it had not been done by someone of his choosing and refused to close. This was the third delay in closing, and the buyer knew that we had to close on our new home that day or lose a $20,000 deposit. In the end, we had to give the buyer a $5,000 credit to get him to close. It was highway robbery."
It can wreak havoc if something goes wrong with the first part of the transaction," says Phipps. And nine times out of 10, if something does go wrong it will be with the first sale, not the second, he says.
The time constraints can also pressure you to gloss over closing details that may need further examination. This is one instance when it can really pay to have your own private closing attorney review the records ahead of time and either attend the closing with you or be available by phone to handle any last-minute questions or complications.
Before you agree to a simultaneous closing, analyze your buyer.
Some factors to consider:
• Who are the buyers?
• Are they financially sound?
• How stable are they?
• How firm is the offer?
• What are their repair requests?
• What is their personal situation? (Do they have to move to the area by a certain deadline or can they take some time?)
• Are they indecisive and undecided or do they really need the home?
Do the old gut-check test, too. What do you really think of these people? Are they fiscally and emotionally sound? Are their requests reasonable? And are you getting a fairly consistent message from their camp or do their needs, demands and dates keep changing?
Look at your side of the table, too. What are your resources and risks? Can you get interim financing if you need it? Exactly how much would it cost? Do you want to put your stuff in storage and rent for a month or two? How soon must you close or move?
Dalzell remembers one friend (not a client) in another state who called for advice when his closing went awry. When the two of them put a pen to paper, Dalzell demonstrated that the man's interim financing option would only add $500 to the cost of the deal.
"That's why you have to analyze all of it," he says. Ask yourself: What's the worst that can happen? And put a number on it. Then consider: What's the best that can happen? And put an estimate on that.
So which is safer -- the simultaneous closing or a staggered version?
"There's a risk no matter what you do," says Dalzell. "There's no easy way to do it."
What you can do
But there are some steps you can take.
1. Specify contract terms. First, if you have to sell a home to buy your next home, put that into your contract. That way, if your first closing doesn't occur you will have the choice of whether you still want to close on the purchase. In a market dominated by sellers, this sort of contingency clause will rarely be accepted, but in a buyer's market sellers will be more likely to accept this as a condition of sale.
2. Select date carefully. Next, put a little thought into the actual closing date. Sometimes, buyers or sellers want to close in a specific number of days and will pick a date without looking at a calendar -- which can create confusion if it falls on a weekend, says Phipps. Instead, pull out the calendar. "Set it for a date you can make things happen," says Phipps. In case you need some missing piece of paper or additional information, close on a weekday and don't set it for the very end of the month. "The end of the month is crunch time for mortgage companies, title companies and escrow companies," says Phipps. "Pick another day." And set it for early in the day," he says. "Don't try to do simultaneous closings at 3 and 5 in the afternoon."
3. Have a plan B. If you schedule a simultaneous closing, have a backup plan for what you do if the first closing doesn't go off as planned.
4. Be an early bird. The real secret of any closing -- simultaneous or staggered -- is to get as much as you can done in advance. You don't want everything being done in the last 24 hours," says Dalzell. "You want to back things up as far as you can." And that includes everything from repairs and final inspections, to reading the closing documents and negotiating moving dates. Many times a sale is contingent on a professional home inspection. Get that out of the way right after the offer is accepted. That way, if the inspector finds a problem, you have time to either fix it or rework the price well before you have to actually close. "It doesn't make sense to create challenges close to the closing," Phipps says.
5. Line up your money. At the same time, finalize the financing, says Phipps. Then, when those two steps are complete, do the title search.
www.CameronParkMLS.com
www.CaminoMLS.com
www.PlacervilleMLS.com
Secrets to simultaneous real estate closings
Selling one house and buying another is like putting yourself between a rock and a hard place.
If you set both closings within the same basic time frame you run the risk of ending up with two mortgages or much worse.
If you schedule them with sufficient time between to solve any closing problems you face the prospect of renting and moving twice.
This is not a rare occurrence -- the National Association of Realtors, or NAR, estimates 6.24 million homes were bought or sold during 2006, and unless you were a first-time buyer or kept your old house as an investment property, most of those transactions involved buying one house and selling another.
But there are steps you can take to protect your best interests.
Timing your closings
The timing of your closings can be as critical as the cost of your new home or the interest rate on your mortgage. And each has advantages and disadvantages.
5 tips for successful closings
1. Specify contract terms.
2. Select date carefully.
3. Have a plan B.
4. Be an early bird.
5. Line up your money.
A dual real estate transaction means you have two choices: a simultaneous closing or a staggered closing. With a simultaneous closing, you set these two transactions as close together as possible, often on the same day -- usually selling first and buying second. With a staggered closing, you build in some time between the two transactions -- days, weeks, months or even more.
First, the bad news
With a staggered closing, you incur the cost of renting in the interim. You may have to find a place to store some of your belongings and deal with the hassle and added expense of moving twice. You're losing the equity you could be building in a new home. And there's the ever present danger you'll fritter away the profits you've banked from the last sale before you can get into your next home.
A simultaneous closing also has disadvantages. If something goes wrong in the first transaction, you could find yourself in big trouble.
If the first closing fails and you don't walk away with a big fat check, you may not be able to close on the house you're buying. Which could mean you're defaulting on that contract and could lose your earnest money deposit -- often as much as 10 percent or 20 percent of the purchase price.
If this happens at the last minute you, of course, have nowhere to live and have to immediately arrange to have all your possessions put in storage. Obviously this situation could lead to many other expenses and inconveniences. If you're more fortunate, you could quickly arrange for an extra loan to enable you to close on the home you're buying and to cover the period in which you own two homes -- so-called "bridge" financing. At best, you would only have the burden of making two mortgage payments every month.
Kristina Grebener has seen the problem from the inside. When she and her family planned to buy a bigger house in their same Madison, Wis., neighborhood, they didn't anticipate any problems. The market was hot and properties were moving. They found the house they wanted, made an offer and set the closing date for late July, thinking they'd have sold their old house by the end of June.
But in the interim, there was "a cooling in the market," Grebener says. A lot of nearby homes went up for sale, and "the buyers weren't there to support that," she says.
The family closed on the purchase in July as planned, using a home equity loan on their old house to make the down payment on their new home. But they have yet to sell their first home or move. Counting the new mortgage payment, the home equity loan and double utilities, keeping the old house is costing the Grebeners an extra $2,600 each month.
"Every month I make a mortgage payment is lost money," she says. And while the family can afford it for now, it's putting a dent in their budget -- especially with kids just a few years away from college, she says.
"It's like a game of musical chairs," Steven Rick, a senior economist at the Credit Union National Association, says about coordinating closings. "It's a function of the housing market. Now that it's unraveling, you definitely do not want to be buying a home without selling yours."
Ron Phipps, a broker with Phipps Realty in Warwick, R.I., agrees.
"Very few people have the ability to own two properties with ease," he says. "For some people, the closing date is as pivotal as the money." So the goal is often to schedule the home sale first, then set the home purchase within the next 24 hours -- often for later that same day. "Doing simultaneous closings is really the goal."
But finding a buyer to close on your home at the exact minute you find a home to buy yourself isn't always easy. More often than not, you've found one without the other -- and that can make setting the closing date a tricky proposition.
"For real estate practitioners, this is always the hardest part of the transaction," says Phipps. "Typically, you have to have the house you're selling cleared out at closing." But just as often, "you need money from the first house to close on the second house."
Just like staggered closings, simultaneous closings should be carefully planned. "It needs to be done with good advice and the best precautions," says Dave Dalzell, a regional vice president of the NAR and the owner/broker of Abilene, Texas-based Dalzell Realtors.
Another potential downside of a simultaneous closing: If the buyers know you're in a time crunch, they can use it to squeeze you for extra considerations at the last minute -- like getting you to pay for decorating upgrades or more of the sale costs.
A Fort Lauderdale, Fla., couple told Bankrate they were "held-up" by the buyers of their home in this manner. "An inspection had showed a slight leak in a shower and so we had it repaired by a licensed plumber a few weeks before closing. To make sure it was done right, we had the entire shower removed, a new shower pan installed and the entire bathroom retiled. At the closing table, the buyer said he wouldn't accept the repair because it had not been done by someone of his choosing and refused to close. This was the third delay in closing, and the buyer knew that we had to close on our new home that day or lose a $20,000 deposit. In the end, we had to give the buyer a $5,000 credit to get him to close. It was highway robbery."
It can wreak havoc if something goes wrong with the first part of the transaction," says Phipps. And nine times out of 10, if something does go wrong it will be with the first sale, not the second, he says.
The time constraints can also pressure you to gloss over closing details that may need further examination. This is one instance when it can really pay to have your own private closing attorney review the records ahead of time and either attend the closing with you or be available by phone to handle any last-minute questions or complications.
Before you agree to a simultaneous closing, analyze your buyer.
Some factors to consider:
• Who are the buyers?
• Are they financially sound?
• How stable are they?
• How firm is the offer?
• What are their repair requests?
• What is their personal situation? (Do they have to move to the area by a certain deadline or can they take some time?)
• Are they indecisive and undecided or do they really need the home?
Do the old gut-check test, too. What do you really think of these people? Are they fiscally and emotionally sound? Are their requests reasonable? And are you getting a fairly consistent message from their camp or do their needs, demands and dates keep changing?
Look at your side of the table, too. What are your resources and risks? Can you get interim financing if you need it? Exactly how much would it cost? Do you want to put your stuff in storage and rent for a month or two? How soon must you close or move?
Dalzell remembers one friend (not a client) in another state who called for advice when his closing went awry. When the two of them put a pen to paper, Dalzell demonstrated that the man's interim financing option would only add $500 to the cost of the deal.
"That's why you have to analyze all of it," he says. Ask yourself: What's the worst that can happen? And put a number on it. Then consider: What's the best that can happen? And put an estimate on that.
So which is safer -- the simultaneous closing or a staggered version?
"There's a risk no matter what you do," says Dalzell. "There's no easy way to do it."
What you can do
But there are some steps you can take.
1. Specify contract terms. First, if you have to sell a home to buy your next home, put that into your contract. That way, if your first closing doesn't occur you will have the choice of whether you still want to close on the purchase. In a market dominated by sellers, this sort of contingency clause will rarely be accepted, but in a buyer's market sellers will be more likely to accept this as a condition of sale.
2. Select date carefully. Next, put a little thought into the actual closing date. Sometimes, buyers or sellers want to close in a specific number of days and will pick a date without looking at a calendar -- which can create confusion if it falls on a weekend, says Phipps. Instead, pull out the calendar. "Set it for a date you can make things happen," says Phipps. In case you need some missing piece of paper or additional information, close on a weekday and don't set it for the very end of the month. "The end of the month is crunch time for mortgage companies, title companies and escrow companies," says Phipps. "Pick another day." And set it for early in the day," he says. "Don't try to do simultaneous closings at 3 and 5 in the afternoon."
3. Have a plan B. If you schedule a simultaneous closing, have a backup plan for what you do if the first closing doesn't go off as planned.
4. Be an early bird. The real secret of any closing -- simultaneous or staggered -- is to get as much as you can done in advance. You don't want everything being done in the last 24 hours," says Dalzell. "You want to back things up as far as you can." And that includes everything from repairs and final inspections, to reading the closing documents and negotiating moving dates. Many times a sale is contingent on a professional home inspection. Get that out of the way right after the offer is accepted. That way, if the inspector finds a problem, you have time to either fix it or rework the price well before you have to actually close. "It doesn't make sense to create challenges close to the closing," Phipps says.
5. Line up your money. At the same time, finalize the financing, says Phipps. Then, when those two steps are complete, do the title search.
www.CameronParkMLS.com
www.CaminoMLS.com
www.ELDORADOHILLSDIAMONDSPRINGSPLACERVILLECAREALESTATEHOMES.COM
www.SHINGLESPRINGSPOLLOCKPINESCAMINOCALIFORNIAHOMES.COM
My Blogs
http://eldoradohillsrealestate.blogspot.com
http://placervillerealestate.blogspot.com
http://placervillerealestateagents.blogspot.com
http://placervillemls.blogspot.com
http://homeadvisor.blogspot.com
http://relocate-america.blogspot.com
http://hitproperty.blogspot.com
http://placervilleareahomeprices.blogspot.com
http://monstermoving.blogspot.com
http://ehousevalues.blogspot.com
http://realtylocator.blogspot.com
http://buyersresource.blogspot.com
http://cityrealty.blogspot.com
http://justlistedtoday.blogspot.com
http://houseprice.blogspot.com
http://neorealestate.blogspot.com
http://exclusivelistingalerts.blogspot.com
http://homesineldoradohills.blogspot.com
Other Links
http://www.HouseValues.com/Agent/HomeListingsRequest.aspx?ProfileID=HRAAzYwFVs
http://www.HouseValues.com/Agent/HomeValueRequest.aspx?ProfileID=HRAAzYwFVs
http://www.placerville-downtown.org/
http://www.co.el-dorado.ca.us/index.html
http://www.visit-eldorado.com/
http://www.geocities.com/hangtown4u/
http://www.toastmasters-d18.org/00-pocket-guides.htm
http://www.letip.com/chapter.asp?id=637
http://www.letipplacerville.org/
http://www.edwardjones.com/cgi/getHTML.cgi?page=/USA/IR/market/index.html&CIRN=240431
http://www.realtor.com/FindHome/HomeListings.asp?frm=byagt&rid=16229925&poe=realtor
http://www.fidelityeldorado.com/
http://www.prospector.metrolist.net/
http://sacramento.craigslist.org/rfs/
http://www.cedarwestproperties.com/
http://www.weather.com/weather/local/95667?GO=GO
http://msnbc.homepages.com/Home.aspx
Friends
http://www.lotsusa.com/ www.netprop.com http://www.gorealty.com/ http://www.renttech.com/ http://www.buyersresource.com/ http://www.relomall.com/ http://www.realtylocator.com/ http://www.cityrealty.com/ http://www.ahahome.com/ http://www.michaelstark.com/ http://www.hitproperty.com/ www.realestatesouthflorida.com http://www.iown.com/http://www.metronet.com/ http://www.erc.org/ http://www.homepath.com/ http://www.move.com/ http://www.relocate-america.com/ http://www.neorealestate.com/ http://www.monstermoving.com/ http://www.homeadvisor.msn.com/ http://www.insure.com/ http://www.homebuilder.com/ http://www.postyourproperty.com/ http://www.homefair.com/ http://www.century21.com/ http://www.remax.com/ http://www.era.com/ http://www.homestore.com/ http://www.realtor.com/ http://www.homes.com/ http://www.realestate.com/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
About Me
- Brian Creel
- Second generation real estate professional. Dedicated to helping El Dorado counties most valuable asset - Families -