For Sale By Owner

Strategies have changed in the sluggish U.S. real estate for sure.  Now home selling is converted to an activity of acute planning and execution of marketing skills and lethargy in any form is unaffordable.  The realtors report that more than 80% of advertisements for sales of housing properties are carried through MLS listings, FSBO category and flat-fee brokerage listings.

This is directly attributed to the keen tussle among home sellers to get their properties noticed properly.  Just some five or so years back, home selling was not this difficult and the home owners got what they wanted with regard to prices and dictated terms to buyers.  Gone are those days now.

Similarly home buyers, particularly newly weds wishing to establish their future in a sweet home of their own, focus their attention more to MLS listings, FSBO category and flat-free brokerage listings to select their dream home.  The offers are so many and because of this abundance in availability, much time is being wasted on the selection process.  Open houses recently are filled with such indecisive lots more than what they were years back.  Only serious contenders were in the fray then and the finalization of the deal finished without much loss of time.

According to real estate agents, who manage and interact in transactions of properties contained in MLS listings, FSBO category and flat-fee brokerage, time wasting is more apparent now a days.  House hunters are pampered with an array of housing properties of different models even within a specified neighborhood.  This causes distraction of their decision making power a lot too many.

On the other side, home sellers are yet to get up from the notions of the boom years, when homes fetched prices for the asking, more so an inflated one, arising out the circumstances obtaining then.  So when a property listed in MLS listings, FSBO category and flat-fee brokerage listing remains unsold for many months, the main reason could be tracked down to over-pricing.  The home owner will find it difficult to digest and before the realty strikes and he reduces the price to practical level, time gets oozed up.

From both the ends, wastage of time costs them dearer.  The home buyer, because of the indecisive nature, loses very good opportunities coming to them, apart from testing the patience of the buying agent.  The result will be obvious – to end up with a property that may not be squarely meeting the needs of the buyer – price and other contingencies-wise. Home sellers get frustrated and are forced to compromise with what is available when they are mentally ready.  The lesson is – planning and execution is of utmost importance with a time management sense – for both sellers and buyers.

Home selling through advertisements in MLS Listings, FSBO category and flat-fee brokerage in local markets is facing ups and downs based on many factors.  The aftermath of the mortgage crisis in 2005, turning into the foreclosure crisis and pushing down home prices all over the country, has telling effects on this count.

Home sellers keep their fingers crossed whether they can scrape through the sales in respect of their properties listed in MLS listings, FSBO category and flat-fee brokerage arrangements. The mortgage lenders are backing out from the field where the home inventories unsold in the locality are soaring.  Tightening up of scrutiny at every level of processing home loan applications is apparent as the lenders have learnt a lesson the hard way.

As the scenario prevailing in the U.S. real estate market is not healthy, the government is keen to set right the housing market to its original track, where it was sailing on smooth sea for over decades.  The reduction in interest rates announced by the Federal Reserve three times from September 2007 is an indication of the government’s concern to bring back order in real estate business, a major contributor to the economy.

Home buyers searching MLS listings, FSBO category and flat-free brokerage listings are also equally concerned.  They are watching the trends with caution before taking a decision to embark on the real plunge.  The interest rates on Fixed Rate Mortgages and Adjustable Rate Mortgages have dipped to their lowest in the recent past and this can be moral booster for home loan applicants. Such an opportunity was never available for those who jumped the band wagon of home buying, taken by the buoyancy of booming markets just a couple of years back.

But the fact remains that those investors, who joined the fray without the basic and necessary calculations of their real financial worth and repayment capacity, are paying the price now with the repayment installments of mortgage loans shooting up out of proportion. The housing loans have landed them in default and forfeiting their homes to foreclosure crisis.

In this context, the Government sponsored housing loan agencies, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have announced enhancement of their housing loan limits. The FHA – that is insuring the home loans against defaults has increased the limit of coverage up to 125% of the median prices prevailing in the area. All these measures are the outcome of the recently passed Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, aiming to regulate the housing market.  Experts say some 250,000 U.S. citizens will be enthused into embarking on home buying activity this year.  Whether all these conducive measures culminate into usurping the spirit of home buying is to be watched over time.

There is onslaught of bad news about home selling regularly in the media but it is also true that recent reports bring cheers to home sellers , having placed advertisement in MLS listings, FSBO category and flat-fee brokerage arrangements.  The home sales statistics of major metros like San Jose, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Austin and Kansas City glitter with increased home sales and prices.

The real estate experts, who made the in-depth study, are of unanimous opinion that the buying activity from prospective home buyers hinges mainly on right pricing.  The home sellers while releasing advertisements for sales in MLS listings, FSBO category and flat-fee brokerage listings may do well to note this.

Now that the market is flooded with foreclosure properties on distress sale, made available to buyers at a price that is a fraction of their real values, the competition is stiff.  The thinking of any common buyer will automatically tend to go in favor of the huge savings in buying these foreclosure properties.

But that does not mean every home buyer will vote for buying from distress sales, because there are greater risks involved in these properties, mainly in their understandably poor conditions. The home owner, defaulted in payment of mortgage loan and forfeits the property to foreclosure, could not be expected to maintain the property in good stead. The very fact that the financial affordability of the distressed home owner is at doldrums, speaks volumes about the ability to afford repairs and rehabs needed by the home very direly.

Therefore it is obvious that foreclosure properties listed for sale in MLS listings have some adversities while considering for buying, not withstanding their below-market prices.  The repossessed properties by banks and mortgage lenders also fall in the same classification, for upkeep and maintenance of them in a sale-able condition.

It is here the home owners, desirous of releasing advertisements in MLS listings, FSBO category and flat-fee brokerage listings have the necessary leverage.  First of all these home owners make a hard decision to sell their properties out of pressing needs, after exhausting all other options.  So the home selling activity should be planned perfectly to get through with the desired results successfully, given the present market conditions.

The property intended to be sold should be made ready squarely on all aspects – cleanliness, no immediate-repairs and rehabs needed, face lifting by inexpensive techniques like painting etc. to make the prospective buyer feel high about it. Pricing is the most important factor of course, but a well-prepared and ready to occupy secondary home by the owner with the right price, will surely tilt the balance in their favor, looking from the buyers’ angle.

Looking for the positive things even in adverse conditions is a healthy mental attitude.  The media hype about the bleak conditions of U.S. real estate and inventory of homes advertised in MLS listings, FSBO and flat-fee brokerage listings stagnating, prices of secondary homes falling down, foreclosure of homes crossing million mark in the country etc. are the darker side of the episode.

But what is encouraging is the government is gearing up to mitigate the grievances of distressed home  owners and taking all measures possible to control the situation going out of hand.  It is true that foreclosure is engulfing as an epidemic in almost all States.  At the same time the light at the end of the tunnel is sales of these foreclosure properties is also picking up on the expected lines. The inventory of these distressed properties are fast depleting because of their attractive prices.

The brighter side of the market softening is it gives a never before opportunity to home buyers, who are grazing the MLS listings, FSBO category and flat-fee brokerage listings, to buy homes at neighborhoods they could not have dreamt of at prices of all-time low.  Statistics blare that median price of homes in the country – taking single family homes for specific study – has come down to $356,000, a whopping 32 per cent decline from what it was in August 2007.

Home buyers can consider this while embarking on searches through MLS listings, FSBO and flat-fee brokerage listings for their dream homes.  Is it not a wonderful opportunity they have been waiting for?  Figuratively this means a saving of thousands of dollars in real money while buying a home.

Already early birds have started penetrating the market to cash in such advantages.  According to reports in certain States like Virginia home sales are picking up fast, eating up the inventory of secondary homes considerably.  The spectacular increase in the last 6 months is stated to be more than double that is 105 percent.

So the lesson to be taken here is to check the indicated prices of homes advertised for sales in MLS listings, FSBO category and flat-fee brokerage listings for all models – single family homes; multi-residential condos and apartment communities with care.  A comparison of prices at which properties of these models were sold some 6 months back, will give an indication to the quantum of decline in them.

A prudent investor will make the calculations right in counting the benefits accruing over the present prices and further waiting to plunge into home buying activity may not be advisable.

Home selling in the sluggish U.S. real estate market is getting tougher, in spite of many advertisement channels being open to home owners like MLS listings, FSBO category and flat fee brokerage listings.

Hence home sellers have to get as much knowledge as possible to defy competition and achieve the best results as expected.  Preparing the home for sale, prior to adverting in MLS listings, FSBO category and flat fee brokerage listings is getting more priority.  The home buyers are pampered with lot of options presently in highly preferred neighborhoods.  As such it should be understood that home selling is no more a cake-walk as it was during boom years.

Talking of preparations of the product for sale that is your house, it begins with the predominant task of cleaning it.  You may wonder that this is being done regularly and what is so special about it in marketing your home.  The answer is “cleaning” has a totally different meaning in packaging your home for sale.  The entire building of a housing property should be thoroughly “cleaned” from the dangers of pests, insects and disease-causing fungus, like molds etc.

The awareness of eradication of pests from building is growing as never before as the U.S. laws are being tightened towards this.  Health hazards posed by these pests are voluminous and therefore call for strict implementation of the rules specified therefore. In this background, homes that are changing hands through sales come to the limelight, as the parties concerned, the home seller, the buyer and the agent are involved neck deep in answering to the authorities.

Every home selling transaction, after advertising in MLS listings, FSBO category and flat-fee brokerage involves home inspection and certification by the Value Assessors.  These professionals check the property from every angle – stability of construction, soundness of the building structures; materials used for the building; repairs and rehabs if any noticed and also cleanliness for health-hazard free from pests of any description.

They are duty bound to certify all the above aspects after scrutiny in the light of their expertise.  Supposing they find the property is not cleaned properly and is having a “farm of pests” they will spontaneously make a report of this in their document. Apart from inviting trouble from health-authorities, the entire deal will be in jeopardy for failure of the home owner to implement the rules.

But it is easy to circumvent such unwanted headaches, by the home owners voluntarily making a thorough inspection of the home by the appropriate professional, “clean” the property in its entirety, which is not so difficult one. They should do this first and then place an advertisement for sale in MLS listings, FSBO or flat-fee brokerage listings right-royally.

Are you going to advertise your home for sale, in any of the channels of MLS listings, FSBO category, or flat-fee brokerage arrangements? Wait.  There are certain things to do before you put your property in the market, which will dramatically change the volume of the sale proceeds.

You have been seeing your home from your perspective as owner and how comfortable you were while living there.  Well – it is natural to have these emotional ties because the home is either constructed or bought with your hard-earned money and gave you a feeling of pride.  But please understand that it is going to be viewed as a commodity for sale in the eyes of the person going to buy it. So it may differ totally from your perceptions.

You must have expected a price for the property as per your wishes and estimates and sometimes based on your commitments.  This expected price need not necessarily match with the fair value that the prospective buyer will feel right, because it depends on many factors.  The valuation of the property is arrived at by a prospect in relation to the location, neighborhood, conveniences and amenities available in and around the property, proximity to schools, workplaces, commutation facilities like public transport etc.

In addition the ultimate closing prices of similar properties in your area that fetched during the recent past – say 3 to 6 months – have a bearing on the closing price to be negotiated for your property. Also the availability of such properties in the same location for sale presently will also be taken into consideration by the buyer.

Hence it is of top-most importance as how well you prepare the property as a sale-able one readily.  This requires sprucing up things related to your property – like face-lifting, painting with pleasing colors, changing the carpet, fixing up leaking roof, checking the functioning of all electrical appliances to work efficiently etc. – which is known as “packaging” in marketing technology.  Your product that is the property will easily attract the consumer that is the buyer if you follow these essential and less-expensive strategies well.  The expenses you make towards the above preparations are worth the cost and will return in manifold proportions in the ultimate sale price.

A property in vacant position, devoid of the hassles of murmurs and discomforting a tenant living there during home inspection, will be very ideal for quick sale.  The prospective buyer’s mind will work out these advantages and induce them to pay you what you want – your huge margins included. If so, shoot out your advertisement in MLS listings, FSBO category and flat-fee brokerage listings.