House Buyers – How To Deal With Them

Posted: May 28th, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Find House Buyers | Tags: , , , , , | Comments Off

What a huge change from the housing market of just a few years ago. Since it’s officially a buyer’s market, you’re likely to find house buyers who just want the moon – repairs, upgrades, landscaping, appliances, and on and on. Plus, they expect to get a really good deal too. They’re looking for lowball prices, and who can blame them? Mortgage companies are tightening up their lending standards, appraisers are afraid to come in too high in case prices drop even more.

Today’s home buyer is making sure that when they make an offer, it’s not going to fall apart down the road. And they’re also trying to ensure that they aren’t immediately under water when they buy a home, either finding out that the market price is lower than what they paid a few months back, or even worse, that they owe more on their new home loan than the home is worth six months later.

Yet some mortgage lenders are giving potential house buyers the same type of deals they were getting before. It’s still possible to get 100% financing, or just 3% down, for some borrowers. In order to get that kind of financing, everyone involved will have to feel comfortable that the home price is well within the current market, or less. As a home seller, you may want someone to “buy my home” at a high price, but the bottom line is that your home is only worth what a willing buyer will pay for it. And how much they can borrow against it.

Are you prepared to drop your price as a way to sell property fast? You can invest more money in improvements, staging, fixing up things that need repair or touching up cosmetics. But many buyers today simply expect all of that to be done anyway, and aren’t necessarily going to pay you more because the home looks good. Perhaps they’ve been spoiled by the cable home channels who show homes being staged and enhanced to sell, and they expect that you’ve done the same and still are willing to sell at a low price.

As a home seller, you should still invest in everything you can to make the home neutral, attractive, and better than the other homes available in your area. But you will need to walk the fine line between adding those enhancements and spending more money than they will repay in the selling price. Don’t expect that you are going to make a killing on your home price either. The days of doubling your money are pretty much gone, unless you bought your home twenty years ago in a stable market.

Many home owner’s expectations are remaining the same as to believing their home is an investment which has appreciated, even though the going market prices are well below that fantasy value. It’s hard to say “don’t take your home’s worth personally” because so many of us invested our money, time and lives into our homes. This is where our kids grew up, or where we built great relationships with our community. It’s valuable to us, but try not to expect that someone else is going to have the same emotional attachment you have. That attachment is “priceless” and that sometimes means that to a buyer looking at your home, unfortunately, it’s not worth paying extra.

Finding House Buyers For Your Home

Posted: April 13th, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Find House Buyers | Tags: , , , | Comments Off

Searching for house buyers who can buy your home quickly? You’re sure to find them in this market, but you might not like what they have to offer. There are basically three kinds of buyers today: those that can easily qualify for a loan and are looking for a good deal, those that can’t easily get financing and are going to look for an affordable home, and those that are investors and are looking to buy up houses at low prices. If you appeal to these three the right way, you can sell a house quick even in a slow market.

Regardless of which buyer comes to buy your house, all three types of house buyers are going to want to get a good price. That has really never changed anyway, when it comes to selling a home. But the urgency from a few years back is gone, a time when buyers for homes had to compete against each other. Now it is a buyer’s market, and that means that if you want to sell house fast, you will need to meet their price to get your home sold.

Of course there are plenty of things you can do to make your home look beautiful and appealing, such as staging the home interior, painting inside and out, or fixing the nagging items you never got around to when you owned the home. But these will only attract the buyer who can afford to pay your price, they buyers who want to live in your area and will pay what it costs. These are the hardest to find buyers, so keep in mind that other buyers may find the improvements appealing too, but may not be willing to pay for them. Remember, you’re basically asking someone to “buy my house” so they will want what appeals to them, not you, to be reflected in the home.

That’s why making some changes to your home are a good idea if you want to sell property fast, but some are not worth the cost, such as home additions, swimming pools, or other improvements that might be seen as too expensive. A good real estate agent can advise you as to what brings the most value in your area.

The third kind of buyer, an investor, is really looking for a dirt cheap deal. These are the we buy houses ads you see everywhere today.  Their guidelines usually say they need to buy a home at 50% of the market price. They will be happy to buy homes that need work, or homes where a seller is “distressed”, meaning can’t afford payment and is facing foreclosure or some other type of personal emergency and needs a quick house sale. They will not bargain for long if you stick to your market price. But if you are willing to negotiate a short sale with your lender, and absolutely need to sell house quickly to avoid foreclosure or other financial problem, and investor might be the buyer for you.

There are ways to sell your house fast if you’re willing to get a market price and don’t expect that the seller’s market of a few years ago will benefit you today. Get realistic, and you’ll find a buyer quickly.