Your Estate

Selling Your Own Home In A Tough Real Estate Market - Five Tips
If you are in a tough real estate market and are looking to sell your home quickly, you might want to consider doing a For Sale By Owner. My wife and I recently bought a new house and after trying unsuccessfully to sell our existing house through a real estate agent for several months decided to try For Sale by Owner. We found a buyer within four days and closed on the house three weeks later. However, through our experience we discovered a few things. Here are a few tips if you are considering a FSBO in a less than ideal real estate market. 1. Consider paying to have your home placed in the MLS. There are several companies out there that will do this for a few hundred dollars. With sales down, real estate agents are desperate to earn a commission. By putting the house in the MLS you are agreeing that if an agent brings a buyer to you that you will pay the agent their part of the commission (you still save the listing agents commission). If you can sell the house on your own with no agent then you won’t have to pay an agent. However, in a tough market you want as many possible eyes on your property as possible. 2. Get the word out to as many places as possible about your house. One of the best places to do this is on the internet. There are dozens of free websites that will allow you to post your house for free. Consider starting with craigslist since it has so much traffic and then spread out to the other sites on the net. It will probably take you an entire evening to get the house posted on all the sites and you will want to keep a spreadsheet with your usernames and passwords so that you can go back later and remove the listing once the house sells. 3. Design a professional looking flyer and put out for sale by owner signs and a flyer box. If you aren’t the artistic type and don’t know that much about designing things like flyers consider a site like vflyer which will give you templates for designing a flyer. Take some good pictures of the house with your digital camera and put them on the flyer. If you use Vflyer or a program like it you can probably use the same template to post the house to craigslist and ebay (if you decide to pay for a listing). 4. Be creative. When we put our house on the market we ordered an eight foot full color printed banner to put on our fence. Our house backed to a major street and we were able to get some major exposure from the banner. I have heard of people offering free vacations, big screen tvs, cash bonus’ to the listing agent and even a free car. I have also heard of people giving away a cool prize at their open house. These things can help get your house noticed which is the first step to getting it sold. 5. Make sure that your price is competitive. Consider using the money that you are saving on real estate commissions to cut the price of your house so that it is more competitive. In tough markets it is going to be very important that your house isn’t priced too high or people will find another option. In our area there were a ton of houses on the market and most of the houses that were selling were 5% or more undervalued. If that is what it takes you might need to swallow hard and cut the price of your house. Of course all of these things are just suggestions. Still, when things get tough and you need to sell your house these could be an option for you. They worked for us.Jeff McRitchie is the director of marketing for MyBinding.com and lives in Hillsboro, Oregon. He writes extensively on topics related to Binding Machines, Binding Supplies, Report Covers, Binders, Index Tabs, Laminators, Laminating Pouches, Roll Film, Shredders, and Paper Handling Equipment.
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A House of a Different Color: Painting Tips for Your Home
One of the most efficient ways to add value and appeal to your home is by giving it a fresh new coat of paint. When you’re looking for a way to boost the appearance of your home for a potential buyer, repainting is a relatively affordable and easy alternative to expensive remodeling. Follow some of these tips to make sure that you get the desired effect. -Choose Wisely - Choosing the color will be the most important decision you make when you decide to paint a room. Do some research on what colors are currently popular, but be careful not to use anything that’s too “trendy” or your home will look outdated before you know it. Stay away from dark colors - they will make the room look smaller and may make buyers feel uncomfortable. It’s especially important to use light colors in rooms that need to look clean and bright, such as bathrooms and the kitchen. Once you’ve got your idea for a color, paint a few patches on the bare wall and see how the color looks with your lighting and your furnishings. This will help you figure out exactly what shade of color you want before you paint the entire room. If you get your final shade of paint mixed at a hardware store in multiple cans, dump them all into one drum and mix them thoroughly. This will remove any small differences between each can of paint. -Don’t Skimp - You may have chosen to paint as a more affordable way to update your home, but don’t go cheap when it comes to buying your materials. When it comes to painting supplies, you get what you pay for. Make sure that you buy quality paint and quality brushes. It will end up being a better value in the long run because higher-quality paint will take less time and fewer coats to cover an area, and will last longer and look better for years to come. -Prepare - Make sure that the wall is properly prepared by cleaning, scarping and sanding. When you think you’re finished, hold a light bulb near the surface and move it around. Any blemishes and rough spots that you may have missed will cast a shadow. When the wall is clean and smooth, apply a coat of primer. That way you will need less of your expensive paint to get a nice even coat and the job will last longer and look better. -Flat or Gloss - Pay attention to the surfaces that you are painting. Rougher surfaces are best covered by a flat paint, while smooth, clean surfaces look best with a high-gloss finish. Glossy paints resist dirt, moisture and mildew, so try to use them in the bathrooms and kitchens. -Bring it All Together - When you’re all finished, mix some of your wall color with white for a trim that goes beautiful with the rest of the room. Test out the percentage of color to white ratio that you need to get a pleasing color and make sure that you keep the color consistent throughout the room. Color and fresh, new paint is one of the most important elements for making your house look more appealing to a prospective buyer. But you need more than just the paint, you need to make sure that it’s done right to get the most bang for your buck. Follow these tips and you should be well on your way.<p>Lee Cameron is the top <a href="http://www.leecameronrealtor.com/apopka.php" target="_blank">Orlando real estate</a> agent in the Orlando real estate market. Lee has over 13 years of experience in the industry, and can guide you in the process of finding <a href="http://www.leecameronrealtor.com/" target="_blank">properties in Orlando</a>.</p>
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