The market is slowing and investors are drowning in house payments. Is there an end in sight? Probably not. But, is there something you can do about it? Certainly dropping the price until you get it sold it one way to do it. I’ve got a better solution - SELL the house.

What amazes me is that most sellers don’t sell their houses. They advertise houses, they list houses, but they don’t SELL houses. In a good market you can rest on your laurels, but in a soft market you have to be willing to do something different. Stop whining about the slow market and start SELLING your houses!

There’s 5 tips for selling a house faster in a slow market:

1. Make Your Listing Look Great!

Most MLS listings are boring, informative and don’t sell the house. That’s because most people leave it up to the real estate broker to create the listing, which is communicating with other brokers. Instead, take charge of your listing.

Make sure the pictures are great, not average. Photoshop the pictures so there’s excellent photos of the front, the kitchen and the most appealing features of the house. If there’s a grey sky, wait until there’s a blue sky. If there’s a dead lawn in the photo, pick up that Photoshop paint brush and make it GREEN. When a buyer’s agent is scanning the MLS with their clients, you’ve got two seconds to catch their attention and initiate a showing - make a good first impression!

2. Use Lots of Directional Signs

A sign in front of your house is good if you are on a main street, otherwise you have to get traffic by your house. Use dozens of directional signs from the nearest main road to your property. On weekends, tie bunches of balloons to the main sign on the road.

3. Use a Professional Sign in Front

Don’t, I repeat DO NOT use the cheap sign you find at Home Depot, particularly the info tube that requires you to roll up your flyer. Invest in a solid metal-framed sign that has an attached flyer holder that makes it easy for people to pull out your flyer. If the house is vacant, have an arrow with the words “More info” pointing to the house, and put your flyer box on the stoop of the home. This will get people peeking into the home, which is what you want.

4. Get a GREAT Flyer

It amazes me how boring and technical most home information flyers are prepared. The lazy real estate broker usually prints the flyer in black and white off the MLS listing computer. Instead, use a full color flyer with excellent high-resolution photos of the inside. If you are not a digital camera buff, go on craigslist.org and hire a high school kid to shoot and edit some photos. Sell the features of the house, not the facts.

5. Sell People on the House

Most sellers show houses, and say, in effect, “Ya’ll come back now”. Let me ask you a question… is this what car dealers do? Of course not! The cardinal rule of a car salesman is to NEVER let a customer off the lot. Why should selling houses be any different? If you elicit the right information out of the buyer to understand that he is in the decision making mode, push him to make a decision.

Can you remember walking into a car dealer thinking to yourself, “I’m just looking, I have not made up my mind yet”? And then, for some inexplicable reason, you left with a new car! Why? Because that salesman SOLD it to you, he didn’t just let you test drive.

Not all buyers are ready to make a decision, but if he’s been looking at a few houses for a few weeks, he may be ready to make a decision, even if he says otherwise. Be ready with a contract and try to get the buyer to leave you a deposit check, even if it is refundable. Get as much commitment as you can; instead of showing the property, SELL it!

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Written exclusively for Legalwiz.com by Attorney William Bronchick, Certified Registered Nationally-known attorney, Author, Entrepreneur and Speaker.



Real Estate Professionals

Trying to sell a house in the midst of a global recession is not a fun thing to do.. Not only does there seem to be more time wasters on the prowl, but the serious buyers seem to always come up short on cash. However, by taking a proactive approach to your sales strategy you can turn your luck around quite easily. This article shows you how!

The Recession Salesperson

You need to take aim at people’s wallets. If they’re looking to buy a house in such a bad economy, they’re probably rich. Keep this in mind when choosing your asking price. Don’t just offer your house for half price, as you’ll be cheating yourself out of cash. Focus on a small profit that doesn’t overstretch the mark.

Urgent, No-fuss Advertising

When setting up your marketing campaign, think about the message you want to convey. Don’t seem desperate in your approach, as you’ll attract only low bidding prospects. Instead, focus on speed and originality. “Own This House Today” is a much better call-to-action than “Urgent To Sell To Avoid Foreclosure”. Be original and exciting!

IKEA Tweaking Guide

To boost the perception of high value in your home, consider the following IKEA options:

- Go out and buy modern, attractive light and shower fittings. Think about energy efficiency and water saving options, as being eco-friendly will boost your sale chances.

- By some cheap furniture and do the wood staining yourself. Sell these bits and pieces with the house for a bit of extra value for your buyer.

- Door knobs, cupboard handles, even your shower curtains will make a big impression on how much your home seems to be worth.

- If you’ve got an outdoor entertainment area, think about buying cheap but attractive outdoor furniture set. Again, you can do the wood staining yourself to give a less IKEA-style appearance.

If you want to stop trying to sell house and start selling within 3 weeks, check out this website now: Sold In 21 Days

Alternatively, check out this article: Trying To Sell A House But It Just Won’t Sell!



Repossession

The whole process of buying and selling houses can be very expensive and is additional stretch on people’s finances. Two of the biggest costs are conveyancing and tax which can add thousands of pounds on both the buyers and sellers bills.

Recent figures show that the average cost of a conveyancing service for someone purchasing a property is now over one thousand pounds, whereas the costs for a seller is around five hundred pounds. If you add these costs up with stamp duty, and mortgage fees buyers especially are going to find the bills can get very expensive. In addition these figures can be made worse if a sale does not actually go through. Many people start the conveyancing process for buyers and sellers to back down at the last minute and change their minds. Often there are no refunds policies for fees on properties which fail to complete leaving many people out of pocket. It is estimated that the UK population spend around £98 million pounds every year on property sales that fail to actually complete.

Avoiding this situation can be difficult as it is hard to second guess whether or not the buyer or seller is completely committed to the deal. However there are a few things that can be done to protect your finances against an uncompleted sale. One such thing is to negotiate a fixed fee with the solicitors for the conveyancing work. This means that you know the costs up front and they are unlikely to spiral out of control, which could happen if you are paying by the hour. Some solicitors firms do advertise a flat rate for carrying out conveyancing work, which can be an attractive alternative, but you do need to remember that the fee does not include additional charges such as the fee to transfer money from your bank to your lender.

Trying to reduce the costs of moving house can be tricky but there are some ways that it can done. Typically it has always been the buyers that stump up the majority of the moving costs, but that changed last year with the introduction of the Home Information Packs. This pack carries out some of the searches that previously buyers had to pay for when purchasing a property. However not all mortgage lenders will accept the results of these searches and will demand that they own searches are carried. There is little that can be done in this situation so buyers should make sure if they know whether this will be the case or not before they commit to that lender.

Using an online conveyancing is another way which could save both buyers and sellers money. Online conveyancing works by handling the case through email and post, which costs down on expensive face to face time.  However you need to make sure that the lawyers are insured in case anything goes wrong, otherwise you could find yourself having to fork out for the service for a second time somewhere else. In addition you could try completing some of the conveyancing work yourself in order to bring the costs down. You can purchase the forms from a number of sources, but again you need to be careful of getting it right because you will be liable for any mistakes.

Using some of the methods listed above will help reduce conveyancing costs but whilst we continue to have the same legal system, costs for moving house in the UK will always be high.



Repossession

My sister and her husband have a house that I have been taking care of for the past 5 years. They have a quick claim deed. She and husband are divorcing. Last year, she wrote me a notarized bill of sale for the house. How do I have the quick claim deed transferred into my name? The house does NOT have a current abstract and NO, I don’t plan on getting one updated either. I plan on selling the house and splitting the monies with my sister.
I know it is called a QUIT CLAIM DEED for crying out loud! It is also COMMONLY known as a QUICK CLAIM DEED as well! Just for your information. According to the county clerk, the bill of sale is legit because of the way the names are written on the quit claim deed. Either party is able to sell this house without the others signature.

Real Estate Professionals

I want to renovate parts of my home but my budget is low. I was wondering this question to see if I could count on a little more income to add to the budget.

Thanks

Rent Back

I have already moved and need to sell my house really fast. I need to sell it qucikly and with very little interaction because I live several miles away. What is the quickest way to do so with out lossing my profit? This was my first house so I have no clue what I’m doing.

Sell House Quick

All of us know about the various bank foreclosure house sales that take place almost bank every day. However most of us do not know about the real deal behind the sale of the foreclosure houses. Here is a look at what is it all about.

The foreclosure of the house starts when a borrower is not able to payback the borrowed amount to the lending institutions. As a result the bank has to seize and foreclose the property which was placed as a guarantee against the loan. The bank as a result has a right to foreclose the property.

In worst cases, the owners of the property permit the investors to enter a negotiation with the banks for a short sale. Form short sale it is meant that the concerned party will get a lesser amount of money than the whole loan amount. Short sale is often done by the banks to prolong the whole period for which they can keep the foreclosed house with them. This is a very problematic thing for the bank as the cost of maintaining the house rises constantly. Thus the bank has to come up with something to get their hands off the bank. Thus the bank places the foreclosed house son sale so as to recover some of the money borrowed by the previous owners.

The bank foreclosed houses are then given up for sale during the county foreclosure sales. At this point, the investor is no longer able to negotiate with the bank or the financial institution holding the rights over a property. There the bid is open for everyone whoever has some interest in buying the foreclosed houses up for auction. There always is a possibility that the winner bidder will pay a good amount for the house, therefore it is profitable both for the buyer as well as bank.

In short a deal selling the foreclosed houses can be profitable for both buyers and the sellers. Both of them just need a little bit of smartness and sense of going for the kill at the right time.



Rent Back

The red letters are coming more often, think we are gonna have to rent again but would like to move fast! Any tips for a quick turnaround would be great!

Quick House Sale

If you have watched episodes of the famous TV reality show “Flip This House”, you should be familiar with its maverick host Armando Montelongo.  Dubbed the “flipping machine”, he is your classic example of a self-made man who has gone from rags to riches and inspired many.  Through hard work, shrewd business acumen and a positive approach to life, Armando Montelongo has hit it big in the real estate arena.  In just over five years, he has turned his small family business into a major real estate firm, Montelongo House Buyers, which on average flips 25 houses every month.

Armando Montelongo’s story is definitely one for the movies.  In 2001, unemployed and heavy with debt but not discouraged, he decided to go back to his hometown of San Antonio, Texas.  Back then, he and his wife Veronica and their baby boy were staying in his in-law’s garage in Southern California.  They had no choice because their house was foreclosed.  He didn’t work to take care of his wife and their baby who were then suffering from major health problems.  Savings were completely depleted to pay off huge medical bills.  Faced with such a dilemma, Armando Montelongo did not lose hope. Instead, he decided to start life anew with his small family in his native San Antonio.

With just $1000 in his pocket courtesy of his in-laws, Armando and his family set out to San Antonio.  Lucky enough, he was able to negotiate for two months free rent. They literally struggled to make both ends meet even to the point of selling their furniture to buy food.  During those times, he observed that there is money in the real estate business.  He discovered that buying a rundown house, renovating it a little and then selling it at a higher price makes savvy business sense.  This has come to be known as house flipping. And the rest is history.

With the overnight success of his flipping business comes the offer to host his own TV show about flipping - Flip This House.  Together with his wife, his brother David and sister-in-law Melina, they feature various projects that are flipped, their transformations, the many challenges that are involved and other important aspects of flipping houses.

The show has become a very good training ground for those interested in flipping.  It has attracted millions of televiewers making the reality show a top-rater.  In the process, flipping has catapulted San Antonio, Texas as one of the fastest growing real estate markets in the United States and Armando Montelongo a famous celebrity.  He has been featured in radio talk shows and in national publications.

To reach online viewers, Armando Montelongo created and hosts a website where he teaches and shares the many strategies and techniques of house flipping.  He has even developed educational CDs as part of his desire to share his vast knowledge to those interested in flipping.  His book “Flip and Grow Rich” further proves there is money in flipping.

As he always tells people, back then he had no mentor to guide him through the ins and outs of the real estate business.  But the beauty of it is he discovered flipping and learn to make a fortune out of it. 

Today, Armando Montelongo’s real estate firm flips about 200 houses a year - a far cry from when he moved back to San Antonio in August of 2001 with $50,000 in debt.

 



Rent Back Fast

If you are looking to sell your home, you will find that there are many options open to you. One option that will be quite tempting to you is the option to sell it yourself rather going through a real estate agent. Before you take this step there are many things consider; there are advantages and disadvantages to it, and there are options that you may not have considered.

One of the largest advantages of selling your own home is that you will receive all of the profits. When you get a real estate agent involved, he or she will often end up taking a hefty cut. The commission that a real estate agent will earn from the sale of your house can be quite a lot of money. For example, 6% is an extremely common commission that a real estate agent might take, and for a house that sells for 200,000 dollars, you will find that the agent receives 12,000. Ask yourself if it is possible that you would spend 12,000 dollars in time and resources when you go to sell your house yourself. It is important, however to keep in mind that that 12,000 dollars will buy you not only the real estate agents time, but also her resources. Your real estate agent will be able to offer you her skills and her expertise as well as whatever contacts she has to make sure your house sells. If your house is a tricky property (in a bad area, has a bad reputation, etc.) this is something to consider.

Another factor to think about is speed. If you need to sell your house quickly, getting a real estate agent involved can make things a little more complicated. A real estate wants to get you the most money for your house because then his commission will go up. Of course, the real estate agent isn’t the one pay for some of the things that he is pushing, like investing a lot of money towards repairs. Repairs take time and money and depending on why you are selling your house, you might not have a lot of either. In addition, due to their training, there is a good chance that your real estate agent will overprice your house, and this is a trick that is known to many home buyers. This leaves you in the position of waiting for someone who will want to buy the house as it is, accepting a counteroffer that is designed to knock down your own price, or spending time bargaining with prospective buyers.

Experience is another thing to consider if you are trying to decide how to sell your house. While a real estate agent ha a lot of experience selling houses, no one knows your house as well as you do! You know many of the selling points and many of the weaknesses, and you will be able to explain them in detail to prospective buyers. On the other hand, a real estate agent has experience on how to present them, something that, unless you have had training in presentation and speaking, you might not be able to do as effectively.

Something that you should keep in mind, however, is that when you are looking to sell your house, you may be able to bypass all of this! A real estate investor is a buyer who is looking at your home in a different way than most; he will be interested your property as an investment rather than a home to live in, and this can work to your advantage. Instead of needing to make extensive repairs, there is a good chance that you will be able to sell your property as is. You will not need to pay a commission as you don’t need a realtor to make contact with a real estate investor, and you will be able to sell your property quickly and with only two people involved. You will also find that a real estate investor will be able to make an offer very quickly. Rather than waiting on a family that needs to consider many factors before moving in, you will be able to have an offer often within a week.

There are many things you will be thinking about when you need to sell your home and many decisions that you will need to make. Think about what your situation is and remember that there are many options available to you!



Rent Back Fast