We hope to be able to provide questions and answers that may not have been answered as accurately or thoroughly as they could or should have been in articles elsewhere, with extra aspects added, and insight piecing issues together, as each and every home, client and transaction contain literally dozens of combined factors that are unique, and present different scenarios.

Please also do visit our preferred source for Real Estate News, and do take the time to browse, as there are literally hundreds, if not thousands of articles, each leading to a dozen more.   

Preparing your home, and potential repairs, and what you should, and should not do.....

Exposure, marketing options and sources........

Pricing your home correctly

Open Houses........

Your appraised value

So,you have an offer...

A Little bit about negotiation.............

The Home inspection

Financing(yours!-why you should be pre-approved before even deciding to list your home)

The difference between a home selling very quickly, and possibly months is a combination of many things.

First and foremost is always price. Buyers see many homes, and sometimes every home in your price range, and the choice of which home to purchase is always fairly simple.

Some things you can do are very simple, such as thorough cleaning, including floors(or completely redone as in cases of hardwood), boxes etc. The level of which one would proceed is, of course, on a case by case basis, depending on the specific property.

Many others can be somewhat more costly initially, but more than compensate for their expense regarding market time, and relation to asking price.(Redoing a kitchen, bathroom, both, or similar work...). Again, this is determined more on a case by case basis. Please feel free to contact us with questions and to schedule a quick walk through.

Please feel free to call if you are considering selling your home, and we would be glad to come and take a look and provide recommendations.

A quick word regarding sales, prospects, the values of different sources and similar related aspects.

As with many aspects of the property transaction, there can literally come into play hundreds of aspects to successfully close a property transaction. Each and every transaction, client, buyer, seller, and property are very different.

In addition to traditional yard signs, open houses (which are not always the best source of exposure for a property, depending on the many aspects involved) ,through newspaper ads, to the internet home sites and newer and more innovative ideas, there is no one formula and source that has proven to be most effective in securing a buyer and closing a sale.

In many cases a Realtor from a different firm will bring in the buyer, or the buyer will be from a completely different area of the region, or the country for that matter.

We have received cross country inquiries regarding virtual tours, sign calls, newspaper ad calls, literature emails, and many inquiries from varied sources. In essence it is always in the best interest of all to combine all possible sources into a full comprehensive plan, from the traditional sign, through virtual tours, and the ability to email the same, and beyond, as we are consistently exploring each and every new approach and technology that appears, and will do so as we proceed.

One really cannot predict when, or where a buyer will appear from, or from what source.Our last dozen sales resulted from buyers from different sources, ranging from a simple mailer we had sent weekly, to a relocating couple from the east coast who had viewed a virtual tour, but had not had an interest in the home, and were calling agents whose website advertising had appealed to them.

There has yet to appear a a single formula. The approach regarding exposure is best varied and as wide as one can accomplish according to their budget and expertise.

We are very proud to claim that our exposure is much more than most of our competitors, regardless of size, and growing by the day.

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First and foremost, would be pricing.

"You can sell any home,in any condition, located in any areas within days if it is priced right".

What does that mean? Does that mean that either would have to be a steal and below market?

At any given time, there are app. 60,000+ Realtors in Northern Illinois who are part of the MLSNI(Multiple Listing Service of Northern Illinois). Each and every one of those agents has buyers they are working with, and, of course, they are viewing lots of properties.

Some sellers seem to be under the impression that price is not as important as it is, or that the client really does not know the value of something. This is far from the case, and most buyers who are well into the process become well versed on the market due to what they have reviewed and viewed.

Imagine you are looking for your new home. Say, for example you are looking at homes in the $220,000-$250,000 range. You have viewed about 20 homes in that price range, and area, and paid attention to each.

While before, you may not have had a good command of the market, you now have a fair one(don't get carried away,the market, like all, changes depending on many factors, and, also, your exposure is just at that specific point in time), and a very good idea of what homes in a specific area, of a certain type and condition are going for.

Now, let's say you walk into and view a home,similar to all the others you have seen to some degree(this is very general to make a point...), and the owner is asking $270,000, and is sure it is worth every single penny.

Are you going to try and buy it?(You might try to see how low you could get it)but, here we come to another issue, often overlooked, which many sellers are just not aware of...(continued below....)

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I enjoy open houses.We have special order signs, and most do generate quite a bit of  "traffic".

Make no mistake though, the open house is not an effective marketing tool for your home, but it is a very effective marketing tool for your agent.

The occurrence of a buyer "ready willing and able" to purchase the home materializing as a walk in or sign call is a bonus for the Realtor, as commission will not be divided between the listing and selling office, but is not a common occurrence.

Most buyers attending open houses range from simply curious neighbors, to buyer beginning to contemplate their search ,desiring to obtain a "feel" for an area, and an attempt to try and familiarize themselves with local values and the market conditions relating to price.

It is not uncommon for us to provide clients in the initial stages a large amount of business cards to provide to Realtors as they view open houses when they come across them.

In some cases attendees may very well be potential sellers acquainting themselves with agents.

With the arrival such as new technology such as 24 hour information lines, fax and email on demand, and virtual tours,virtually providing almost all information to any individual with a phone and/or computer 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the open house is no longer a effective marketing tool.

A potential buyer with interest is able to obtain all information, including price, and in most cases view the virtual tour. This is preferred as this confirms the prospect may very well be a potential buyer, has has since become familiar with almost all aspect of the property.

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Appraisal: When a potential buyer does finally come along, a written contract is made for the purchase of your home.

On the contract, among many other things, will appear all standard contingencies, such as attorneys review and approval, inspection, and a mortgage contingency, which, regardless of a pre-approval buyer or not,remains in effect unless it is waived. Of course many clauses vary depending on the specific situation.

Not on the contract, but certainly a part of the approval of the mortgage is the appraisal.

If the home does not appraise for the contract price, any number of problems can arise.We could go far into specifics here, and possible scenarios, but the bottom line is:It will create serious problems for the transaction.

Possibilities?

The buyer will have to come up with more(possibly much more)money, The seller will have to reduce the price,possibly negotiation for a little of both.(The buyer will now know he is paying too much, and most likely will not proceed, unless the house is fantastic, and they will be staying there for quite some time, and..etc, etc...As you start to see,in each transaction, the possibilities, and potential problems are endless, and the objective is to do it right the first time, with avoiding those potential problems from the start.)

Please note potential sellers: If this happens, try and work to accept the offer, even if reducing the price.

Why?

Because every single buyer who comes through will also have to have an appraisal, and they will all, for the most part say the same thing.

Appraisals sometimes(sometimes more,sometimes less,an appraiser would disagree with both depending on his experiences,depending on the lender)end up having to be reviewed by the lender and, possibly agencies.(A "field review" by the lender is common depending on many factors, including the loan, area, property,etc..)

Again, there are many factors that could be involved, and to touch on them all could take this entire section.

Most appraisers that care about their profession, status and future will not, and cannot stretch an appraisal if the market cannot support their findings.

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First, lets make this clear: An "offer" is presented to you on a written document. Anything else is a statement and speculation, and should not be taken seriously. ( As the Realtors say, a verbal contract is not worth the paper it's written on. )

Your written offer to purchase must be immediately presented to your attorney after acceptance. (There are clauses related to attorneys review and approval within a specified period of time. Typically, 5 business days. While that may seem fine, we do not assume that your attorney will drop everything he, or she, is doing that very minute.Most often that is not the case)

Let him know that you are going to be selling your home BEFORE you begin, and wish him to represent you. Make sure that you have his contact information available(Name/Phone/fax)when a contract is prepared or reviewed before accepting it.(attorney information should be included on the contract) .

It is important to remember that most contracts are amended, and do change quite a bit, so, just focus on the specifics and obvious details. (Possession and closing dates may change on almost every transaction by several days due to aspects such as attorney availability,title company scheduling,and lender performance)

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Every party involved in every transaction always wants to "win".

In the smoothest transactions, it is indeed a "win-win" situation.

Always try to be reasonable.Very large transactions have dissolved due to disputes over very small items. This does not have to be the case.

When clients produce unreasonable requests and demands, it is always offered that, if the client was met with such a request/ demand, would they accept?, and would they believe it was a reasonable issue? If the client believes that this is, indeed, unreasonable, then why would one expect another to view it otherwise?

It is not an uncommon issue for a transaction from $500,000-1MM and beyond to fall through due to an issue over app. $500.

The purchase and sale of properties, specifically ones residence is often an emotionally charged experience for both buyer and seller, and it is quite easy for one to lose track of items of significant importance, and create issues out of items that are not.

Quite often also buyers and sellers are presented with situations in which they may decide to end the negotiations as emotions are running high, and choices are made which indeed, are not in the best interest of the transaction.

These matters can be addressed, and prevented from all having reasonable expectations of the other.

We have engaged and utilized at one time or another virtually each and every approach regarding negotiation. Each situation is unique and not all allow for certain approaches.

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It is recommended for any, and everyone to have a home inspection performed. Most likely the inspector will be thorough, and find things you would never have noticed. These will always be a negotiating point. (Reduce the price, offer a credit for the problem/item, repair the issue, void the sale from seller or buyers end)

Again, the possibilities are endless.You must disclose everything to a potential buyer or you risk everything to the buyer being frightened away t liability and litigation in the future.It is best to be up front regarding everything, or, repair it from the start.

It is also common to disclose defects and sell the property "as-is".

Sometimes, a seller will have a home inspection performed prior to deciding to sell the home, to be aware of any and all defects, and possibly repair them. This can be a good idea,but is not always the best way to proceed, and, again would depend more on the specific property and situation.

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Just as it is common procedure for a buyer to seek and become a pre-approval, so it should also be for a seller who plans to purchase a new home.

Financing involves much more than a credit report, and many aspects may have changed, for better or worse, during ones ownership of their home.

It is always recommended to anyone considering a purchase to speak to a/their lender first, and obtain a pre-approval before even beginning to look for a home.

Feel free to contact us and we would be pleased to assist you in preparing for your sale and/or purchase in the quickest and most efficient manner.

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