Posted on : 03-09-2010 | By : admin | In : New Home For Sale
Are you planning to put your home on the market? Review these tips for making necessary repairs, and you will achieve a quicker sale and optimum price.
Before a buyer considers your home seriously, it must meet his needs in a variety of ways. It must be a suitable commuting distance, neighborhood, design style, floor plan, size, number of bedrooms, etc. If all or most of these needs are met, the buyer will begin to move in the direction of making a purchase decision. The purchase decision is a both an emotional and intellectual response, founded on a level of trust in your home. So, it is logical that in marketing your home your goal should be to enable the buyer to build trust in your home as quickly as possible. One way to do this is to address both surface and hidden repair issues before putting your home on the market. A few small clues, such as torn carpet or leaky faucet, will create a feeling that your house is not well cared for. Once the buyer has spotted a few defects, he will be on the lookout for more. If the finishes in your home are in good condition, buyers will assume that the mechanical and structural systems are well maintained also.
Make a Complete List
Remember that potential buyers and their real estate agents do not have the warm personal memories and familiarity that you have with your home. They will view it with a critical and discerning eye. Anticipate their concerns before they ever see your home. You may look at the leaky faucet and think of a $10 part at Home Depot. The buyer thinks of a $100 plumbing bill. Begin by walking through each room and considering how buyers are going to feel about what they see. Make a complete list of needed repairs. Hire a handyman, if you need one, to fix the items in a few days. It will be more efficient to have them all done at once. Some clients choose to market their houses as a fixer-uppers. Of course, there are handy buyers out there who are not afraid of repairs, but they expect to profit from this, substantially above the cost of labor and materials. When a house needs obvious repairs, buyers always assume there are more problems than meet the eye. It is in your best interest to get minor repairs fixed before marketing your home. Your house will bring a higher price and sell faster.
Get an Inspection
Often sellers have their home inspected by a professional inspector before putting it on the market. This is an excellent way to discover unknown repair issues that may come up later on the buyer’s inspection report. By getting this done early, you will be able to address the items on your own time, without the involvement of a prospective buyer. There will almost certainly be some items that you choose to not repair. For example, building code requirements change over the years. As a result, you may not meet code for certain items, such as handrail height, spacing between balusters, stair dimensions, single glazed windows, and other items. You may elect to leave items such as these as they are, and that is OK. You should note on the inspection report which items you have repaired, and which are being left as is, and attach it to your Seller’s Disclosure. It is a good idea to also attach repair receipts to the report if you have used a contractor for some of the items. A professional inspection report answers buyers questions early, creates a higher level of trust in your home and reduces re-negotiations after contract.
Offer a Service Contract
The home service contract (also called home warranty) covers the cost of certain repairs to mechanical, plumbing and electrical systems and appliances during the buyer’s first year of ownership. The cost of the policy is about $350, but may be more if a pool or other items are added. The fee is paid to a third party warranty company, who provides repair services for the buyers during their first year of ownership. These policies help to reduce the number of disputes about the condition of the property after the sale. They protect the interests of both buyer and seller.
Should You Remodel?
Often clients ask us if they should remodel their house for sale. I believe the answer to this is no – major improvements do not make sense when selling a home. Studies show that remodeling projects do not return 100% of their cost in the sales price. For the average home, it does not pay to move walls, tear out cabinets, re-do kitchens and bathrooms, or add rooms, in order to sell. There is a fine line between remodeling and making repairs. You will need to draw this line. Here are some decisions you may need to consider:
Countertops are outdated or wrong color: It may be worth it to replace the countertops if other components of the house are acceptable. An attractive countertop can transform the kitchen, and the kitchen has a significant impact on the value of your home.
Carpet is worn, outdated or wrong color: This improvement is almost always worth doing. Sometimes sellers ask us if they should give an allowance for carpet, and let the buyer choose. Do not worry about whether the buyer will like your selection. Just choose a neutral shade, and make the change. New carpet makes everything else look better.
Walls need complete or touch up paint: This is a must do! Clean walls are crucial to a winning presentation of your home. This includes baseboards and trim. On the walls you should use neutral colors, such as cream, sage green, beige/yellow, gray/blue. Stark white, primary colors and dark colors do not contribute as much market value, and may be a negative factor.
Texture on walls is poorly done, or there is heavy “popcorn” texture on the ceiling: A clean, simple texture under paint can improve the presentation of your home. On the other hand, if there is much updating needed in other areas, it does not make sense to target this item.
Wallpaper is outdated or torn: This may need to be removed and the walls painted. However, if the home needs a good deal of additional updating, then wallpaper should be left as is.
Bathroom caulking or grout is dirty: Put this on the must do list. Old or darkened caulking is a turn-off to buyers. It is easily replaced.
There are drainage problems, or leaks in the plumbing or roof: This is a must fix! Be careful that you correct the source of the problem, use professional help to check for mold, and fully disclose the repair. Make sure your contractor gives a warranty that can be passed on to the buyer, but avoid giving a personal guarantee of the repair.
There are sheetrock holes, missing trim, torn vinyl, broken windows, rotten wood or malfunctioning equipment: These are all repair issues that should be addressed. Homes sell for more that show a reasonable level of maintenance.
Shrubs are overgrown and flower beds are bare or weedy: This is one of the most cost effective changes you can make. Mow and edge the lawn. Add inexpensive mulch to flower beds. Add a new doormat and pots of blooming plants to the porch. Cut back overgrown shrubs or remove them altogether. Large, woody shrubs can be a detraction to your home, especially if they cover windows.
Gutters need cleaning and trees rub against the roof: These are items that comes up frequently on buyers’ inspection reports. Make sure your tree limbs do not touch the roof.
Heat/AC, Plumbing and Electrical systems: All of these systems need routine maintenance. It would be a good idea to have the heat/AC system serviced and filters changed. Check for plumbing leaks, toilets that rock, corroded valves on the hot water heater and other plumbing problems. Replace burned out bulbs and electrical fixtures that do not work. Check your sprinkler system and pool equipment for little problems.
Make Needed Repairs
As you prepare your home for sale, your first step should be to make needed repairs. By making repairs you will answer buyers questions early, build trust in your home more quickly, and proceed through the closing process with fewer surprises. Your home will appeal to more buyers, sell faster and bring a higher price
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Help answer the question about home for sale
What can I do about a low home sale price in my neighborhood affecting my appraisal?A house within a block of me needing updates and repairs (foreclosure that sat vacant for some time) recently sold about 20,000 below what two other homes in the area are listed for. Because it is in the same subdivision, it is causing my value to drop about 20,000 below appraisal from three years ago. People don't move frequently from my neighborhood (stable, family neighborhood close to services and highways), and the two in top-notch condition currently on the market haven't sold yet. The most recent sale is almost a year ago. I'd like to refinance before my ARM goes up, but I can't get a decent loan to value ratio with the low recent sale.
The actual foreclosure is not counted as a sale. It only becomes a sale once the lender has successfully sold the property to another owner.
The IRS will take their liens first and then if there is anything to be divided they will send you a check although if you can prove your half is sufficient for the tax years involved they may cut you some slack but i highly doubt it .
You are being lied to for some reason or another. If you have a signed purchase and sale agreement with yours, the seller's and your respective representatives. Then there is nothing the seller's mortgage company can do to stop the transaction. In fact they have nothing to do with it. Once your lender has completed the loan packet and the appraisal, the approval, title searches and inspections are done. Then it's just a matter of drawing doc's. That is when the escrow company will get a hold of the current lien holder on the house and get the appropriate payoff's.
So agree with what the other person said, that perhaps they are trying to hold out for another offer. However if you have a finalized purchase and sales agreement then they are putting themselves at risk for a law suit particularly if you gave them Ernest money with the P&S. It also sounds to me like you are not working with a Realtor who acts as your buying agent which is a huge mistake. Never ever under any circumstances deal with a selling agent without obtaining the services of a realtor to act as your buyers agent.
The profit from the sale of your home is exempt from any tax if you lived in it for 2 of the 5 years immediately prior to the sale. Up to $250,000 is exempt if your filing status is Single and up to $500,000 is exempt if you are Married Filing Jointly.
You do NOT need to purchase a replacement home to get the exclusion. That's the old "Rollover Replacement Rule" and was a deferral, not an exemption, that was thrown out about 10 years ago.
If you wish to put some of the profit in an IRA you are free to do so if you are otherwise eligible to make an IRA investment, i.e. you have at least that much in taxable income and you have not already contributed the maximum amount for the tax year in question. If the profit is tax exempt, I'd highly recommend a Roth IRA since the gain is tax free upon withdrawal if you wait until age 59 1/2.
Yes, get a lawyer involved that way both parties interest will be safe. I would never attempt going it alone if there is friction in the family. Good luck to you.
By the way, your question was very clear to me.
When you are showing the house anything that is not included in the sale MUST be clearly marked.
We planned to take our children's Swing set with us because it wasn't concreted in and had to leave it, we asked for our Curtians in the kitchen because it matched our entire kitchen set and I didn't know I need to remove them before listing.
But yes, when you put your home on the market, if you want to keep the watersoftner or the Fridge or the Curtians, you must clearly mark it and state that in the paper work that the Fridge, curtains, water softner are not included, then lets say they wanted the water softner, you could negotiate to leave it, as some owners do with pools and pool tables.
To include the purchase in the sale and they pay for it in the purchase price by upping the purchase price.
Another thing is that you can't sell something you are making payments on. For example, we had bought a Furnace and we were not done paying for it, we had to pay it off before we could sell the house.
Hello. The usual commission for the sale of a home is 6%, split between the buyer's agent and the seller's agent, unless the same broker handles both parties.
If you are married, the amount you pocketed was under $500,000 and you reinvest it in your primary home within two years, it's no difference at tax time.
If you are single, the cap is $250,000.
Congrats in making money on your house!
You need to contact the State franchise board.
They are not used to be audited, I am not sure how they will react. They already gave out their refunds though, so obviously you have a problem.
The escrow company screwed up too, your expenses were supposed to be handled before you received your money, you should not have had to claim them after the fact.