4 Things that Increase Your Chances of Selling Your Home

Selling your home is a major decision for any person, and of course you’ll want to see it quickly and for a good price. Here are four ways you can increase the chances of that happening.

1. Setting the Right Price

Right off the bat you’ll want to accurately price your home, and to do that you can use an online seller closing costs calculator. You have to consider all the factors that would go into pricing your home higher or lower.

Look at what other homes in your neighborhood are priced at, research what houses your size are going for elsewhere, and consider any major issues your house may have. All these factors will help you determine just how much you can get for your home.

And having a reasonable price will certainly help you sell it quicker.

2. Making It Look Great

Speaking of issues and problems, don’t try to hide them! Sure you can hang a painting over a small scratch in the paint, but make sure your potential buyers know about major issues like foundation or flooring troubles.

If these issues won’t hurt your bottom line too much, consider fixing them up to make the house look more presentable to buyers. 

It’s important to also increase your street value. Mowing the lawn, trimming the shrubs, fixing your decor can really give buyers who are coming to tour that great first impression about your home. 

Stage stage stage! Your house must be staged and look nice and neat for potential buyers. Staging your home in a presentable way will allow buyers to admire how nice it looks, but more importantly, helps them mentally move in. 

If buyers can see themselves living there, they will certainly want to buy your home more.  

3. Getting the Right Agent

Getting an agent can sound like an unnecessary extra cost that will eat away at your bottom dollar. This is not the case. A great real-estate agent can help take a lot of the burden off your shoulders.

An agent will be able to help with the staging process, finding buyers, and accurately pricing your home. They will know the field a lot better than you, and might even value your house at more than you originally did!

4. Sweetening the Deal

Finally, a very important thing you can do for buyers is sweeten the deal. 

If a buyer is worried about a certain issue in your house, you can offer to fix it for them, in exchange for increasing the final sales price. It can also work the other way, you can knock a few dollars off the final price if the buyer is willing to accept or take on some problems with your home. 

It takes two to tango and sell a house, so making an effort to help out your buyer will definitely increase your chances of selling your home.

How Technology Has Changed Home Buying Forever

Artificial Intelligence and machine learning technologies are quickly becoming a normal part of our world. In our work, school, and personal lives, algorithms are all around us. Specifically, the real estate and mortgage industry is utilizing this technology for every step of the homebuying process. 

The home buying process begins with a simple search on Google. From there, you are scanning through listings that are in your area. Ten years ago, advanced local real estate listing websites were nonexistent. Today, we can view our cities entire inventory in minutes. While companies like Zillow and Redfin have dominated the real estate search engines, local agents are beginning to roll out their own IDX websites. This is a big win for the consumer for one simple reason: you can leverage this advanced technology with a local agent you trust, not a large multinational tech company.

The second step of the process is getting approved for a mortgage. In the past, you would go to your local bank, sit in the lobby, and spend an hour filling out an application. With the rise of direct-to-consumer marketing, mortgage companies are coming to you through Facebook, Google, and YouTube. Once you find a lender you can trust, you will fill out an application online. Furthermore, these online apps are getting more and more advanced by the day. Instead of giving the loan officer your banking information, the loan application uses an API to link to your bank accounts directly. This expedites the front end of the loan process tremendously. In some cases, mortgage lenders are giving pre-approvals out in days. Again, these advancements are only helping the consumer be more competitive in the home buying process. 

The third step in buying your home is finding a real estate agent. Chances are, you will go back to the original home search website and fill out a form. From here, you will receive automated text messaging, emails, and calls from the agent. This automated system is a new way for real estate agents to manage their lead pipeline and separate the high intent buyers from the low intent buyers. When this AI-driven bot has flagged you as ready to buy, a real person will get in contact with you. While this may seem disingenuous, it is an important step of the process. The housing market is flooded with people that want to buy homes quickly. Real Estate agents need to filter the good from the bad so they can better serve their clients. Once the agent has reached out, they will send you a DocuSign via email and your homebuying journey officially begins. 

Technology has seeped into every facet of life and fundamentally change how we live. In some cases, this is not ideal. However, when it comes to real estate and mortgage marketing, it is giving more power to the everyday home buyer. Instead of being referred to someone or using your cousin to process this important life event, you can go online and find a trusted professional that knows how to leverage technology. At the end of the day, change in the industry is going to give more power to the homebuyer. 

Guest Post - 5 Tips for Choosing the Right Contractor for Your Renovation

Whether you’re looking to remodel your home or you have specific building plans you want to explore, choosing the right contractor is one of the most important parts of making your vision come to life. From the kitchen to landscaping challenges, you need to trust the team that handles your home. If you’re looking for a contractor right now, here are a few tips to find someone perfect for you.

1. Ask for Recommendations

One of the best ways to find any kind of professional to do a job is to start with word of mouth. Ask friends, neighbors, and family members if they have anyone they truly love — and bonus points if they can show you the work they’ve done in their own homes!

2. Get Multiple Quotes

There’s nothing wrong with shopping around. In fact, you should shop around a little bit when you’re looking for a good deal on a project. Remember that you can — and should — ask for quotes before you commit to a contractor.

3. Build a Good Relationship With Your Contractor

It’s important to pick someone you can build trust and rapport with throughout the project. Having a good relationship with your contractor relies on honesty and communication skills from both parties, and it can help you get the work you want and make their jobs easier.

4. Go for Someone Reputable

It’s never a bad idea to do a background check on the contractor you’re looking into hiring, just to make sure they’re reputable. Make sure their equipment is up to code — if you can — and check online reviews and permits.

5. Be Honest About What You Want

Honesty is always the best policy, from your budget to your aesthetic preferences.

Tell your prospective contractors exactly what you want, both financially and in terms of the renovation itself. It’ll definitely serve you later!

Choosing the Right Contractor

Your home is personal to you, and you need to pick the right individuals to entrust with your space. No matter what kind of renovation you want to do, looking around thoroughly and building good relationships with the professionals you hire will take you far. So what are you working on in your home?

Author bio: Rose Morrison is the managing editor of Renovated, where she offers advice on home renovation, maintenance, and organization.nd slow-paced lifestyle now, because your little ones will be back in school before you know it!

Forget Perfect Financial Records: Avoid These Mistakes To Become a Homebuyer With Bad Credit

If you’re a renter, you likely don’t want to forever. After all, wouldn’t you rather build equity than pay a landlord? Unfortunately, some believe they are trapped in a rental cycle. If you have a bad  credit score or have made financial mistakes in the past, you might feel bogged down by your financial record. However, the housing market is not closed off to you. As you branch out to see if homeownership is in your future, steer clear of these first-timer mistakes.

Let House to Home Organizing create a clutter-free sanctuary in your home. Call 203.571.9412 to schedule an appointment. 

Mistake #1: Not Applying for a Mortgage First

In a competitive market, if you put an offer on a home, you could lose it if you haven’t already applied for a mortgage. It may be tempting to negate this first step, but you risk missing out to another buyer, and wasting the seller’s time. 

To make yourself an attractive buyer, the best thing to do is to get pre-approved by a lender. This shows a buyer you’re legitimate, and it can help you lock in a desirable interest rate. Of course, with so-so credit, it’s possible you’ll be assigned a higher interest rate. You can rectify this if you opt to buy points (aka “buy down the rate”) from your lender to help lower the rate. It’s important to determine if this is financially beneficial first, so do the math to calculate whether it makes sense for your situation. How long you plan to own the home, your loan and your current finances will dictate whether you should use points.

Mistake # 2: Go With the First Lender You Talk To

To secure a low home loan rate, you should never go with the first lender you talk to. Try to talk to a few different lenders and a mortgage broker. A mortgage broker can help you locate the best terms and rates and, in some cases, you may have better access to lenders.

First-time homebuyers have access to a few different programs. These programs include FHA loans, USDA loans and Good Neighbor Next Door programs. In an FHA loan, the Federal Housing Administration insures a portion of the loan so lenders are more comfortable lending to you. USDA loans are for those in USDA-eligible rural areas. Good Neighbor Next Door programs are for teachers, public servants and police officers. It helps pillars of the community affordable housing.

Mistake #3: Ignore Your Credit Report

According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, your first step to buying a home should be to pull your credit report. Even if you know your credit score, this number does not tell you the full picture. The three major credit bureaus, Equifax, TransUnion and Experian, collect data on your credit, and they use this data to calculate credit scores, which help lenders make decisions.

Examine your report for any inconsistencies. If there are errors, send a letter to the credit bureau to dispute the inaccuracy. For credit reports with a high balance compared to income, try to pay your credit cards down to raise your score.

Mistake #4: Miscalculate the Costs of Homeownership

Finding a low mortgage rate is only one part of the hurdle. When it comes to your monthly budget, you have to take into consideration all of the different costs of homeownership. Owning a home comes with a lot of hidden expenses. Property taxes, HOA fees and homeowners’ insurance are only three of the common expenses you’ll encounter. Homeowners’ insurance costs, in particular, vary based on your location. Disaster-prone areas cost more to insure, and this will add to your overall mortgage payment. 

Common misconceptions and mistakes can inhibit your ability to achieve homeownership, so you use these tips to help you see the forest for the trees. While poor credit history may force you to make some concessions to buy a home, you can still see your dreams come true.