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Category: Tips for Sellers

Specific tips on displaying your home and closing the deal.

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Negotiations

In a tight market, there will be offers. Be ready for all offers and don't be offended if someone tries to lowball you. You know what your condo is worth. Sometimes a lowball offer is just a buyer's way of asking you if you'll negotiate. Your reply should be, "Sure I'll negotiate, but I'm not stupid." For this reason, decide in advance what price and terms you’ll find acceptable.Then, respond with a counter-offer to keep the ball moving. For more information or to set up an appointment call Nesbitt Realty at (703)765-0300.

4 Easy Tips for Staging a Home to Sell

Here's some of our simplest and easiest staging tips:
  1. Store toasters in the cabinet because it is almost impossible to keep them looking clean.
  2. Take all the magnets off the refrigerator.
  3. Stow knick-knacks, personal items and photographs
  4. In a pricey home, get rid of any furniture that looks cheap. It interferes with the buyer’s ability to imagine themselves living there.
“Using a real estate agent is a very good idea,” says the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). "All the details involved in home buying [and selling], particularly the financial ones, can be mind-boggling. A good professional can guide you through the entire process and make the experience much easier." Selecting the right professional is the key to a successful real estate transaction. Better than working with a simple real estate agent, you’ll want the services of a Realtor®.

What’s the Difference Between a Real Estate Agent and a Realtor?

More than two million people have earned real estate licenses but only a small percentage of these are Realtors. Realtors are members in good standing of the National Association of Realtors, their state association of Realtors and a local real estate board. Realtors are held to high standards of ethical behavior and must undergo continuing education annually to remain accredited. All agents of Nesbitt Realty are Realtors!

What Does a Realtor Do?

Realtors in {Location_Name} are required by law to:
  • perform necessary and customary acts to assist in the purchase or sale of real estate.
  • perform these acts in good faith and with reasonable care.
  • properly account for money or other property placed in his or her care.
  • disclose “adverse material facts” which are, or should be, within the agent’s knowledge.
Realtors can help buyers pre-qualify for mortgages and keep abreast of the latest home listings. They can assist sellers in preparing their homes and screening potential buyers. They can show investors the properties that fit their risk profiles and long-term investment strategies. Nesbitt Realty in {Location_Name} can quickly locate the perfect home for you, or sell your home in the shortest possible time frame. Our agents can efficiently organize and coordinate meetings with potential buyers and sellers. A Nesbitt Realty Realtor will be well acquainted with the important things you'll want to know about the neighborhood you may be considering:
  • the quality of schools,
  • the safety of the community,
  • traffic volume,
  • price,
  • Metro accessibility
  • nearby parks and attractions
Our agents have immediate access to homes as soon as they are put on the market, saving you hours of wasted drive-around time. When you’re ready to make an offer on a house, our Realtor will help structure the deal to save you money. He or she will explain the advantages and disadvantages of different types of mortgages and guide you through the mounds of paperwork. When it comes to selling your home, a Realtor will save you time and aggravation. Their commission will vary depending on your location. Realtors pay for all advertising, schedule all open houses and make sure potential buyers are qualified. The money they can save you is often more than the cost of their commissions. For more information or to set up an appointment call Julie at (703)765-0300.

Don’t Let Buyers Move in Before Closing

Sometimes a seller will ask to take possession of the property prior to closing. If the buyers need a place to live until their property closes, tell them to stay with a friend, relative, in a hotel, or send them on a vacation, but whatever you do, avoid allowing them to take possession of the property prior to closing.
Carlyle Towers Bedroom
Carlyle Towers Bedroom
The liability is too great and the risk of failure to close too severe when sellers let buyers move in early, but if such a situation is unavoidable, here are some of my key recommendations.
  • Insist that the buyers sign a separate lease agreement with a two- or three-month security deposit.
  • Use a lease agreement generated by an attorney or other real estate professional.
  • Make sure that there is appropriate insurance in place. Standard homeowners insurance doesn’t cover the situation.
  • Document the condition of the property with extensive photos and videos.
For more information or to set up an appointment call Stuart at (703)765-0300.

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4 Fundamentals of Selling a Home Today

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We can help you sell your property quickly and at the highest price possible.

Here are four things sellers should understand about today’s market to make their homes as saleable as possible:

  1. Time and time again, we find that real estate pricing is very local. That means real estate professionals and homeowners need to closely examine comparables. We have to see what nearby properties have sold for in the past three months.  We also look at the competition and what's under agreement. The bottom of the market is probably behind us, but it's hard to know how much your home will sell for today until we study trends in your home's "micro-market".
  2. Online marketing works.  Therefore it's important to get high-quality property pics online.
  3. Don't wait for a home inspection. Fix what you can and disclose what you can't.  Every home has problems, but disclosing quirks and problems builds trusts and makes selling a property go smoothly. When the buyer discovers defects, there are last-minute re-negotiations, cold feet and sometimes the deal explodes.
  4. There is no more cost-effective marketing than cleaning your home.  By "clean" we mean clean, clean, super-clean: A clean and clutter-free property makes potential buyers likely to pay more.
For most people, the prospect of selling their own home can be positively daunting. First of all, there are usually plenty of things to do just to get it ready for the market. Besides the traditional clean-up, paint-up, fix-up chores that invariably wind up costing more than you planned, there are always the overriding concerns about how much the market will bear and how much you will eventually wind up selling it for. Will you get your asking price, or will you have to drop your price to make the deal? After all, your home is a major investment, no doubt a rather large one, so when it comes to selling it you want to get your highest possible return. Yet in spite of everyone's desire to get the top dollar for their property, most people are extremely unsure as to how to go about getting it. Talk to a Nesbitt Realty agent and we'll give you a market analysis of your property's value as well as a report on trends in Northern Virginia real estate and real estate in your neighborhood.  We're a local family-run business and we appreciate the opportunity to serve you.

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Essential Negotiating Skills

Will Nesbitt angry1. Be prepared. This works for negotiators just as it does for Boy Scouts. Be sure all facts are available and verified before you begin. Postponements for fact-finding can bog down the negotiation. 2. Present a united front. You might not agree with your clients’ position but don’t share that with the other side during the negotiation. Privately, you can try to get your clients to change their mind. 3. Leave your attitude at the door. Don’t let your personal opinions of the parties or the situation cloud your judgment; that could endanger the transaction. Treat everybody with respect; if you disagree, disagree with an idea, not with the person. 4. Hold something back. Plan beforehand what concessions your clients are willing to make and then use them when the bargaining gets under way. 5. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Never let a negotiation bog down over a minor point. If you can’t agree, put the point aside and come back to it later. Concentrate on getting agreement on major points like price and terms. 6. Get all the decision makers together. Nothing is more frustrating than to think you have an agreement, only to find that somebody else must sign off on it. 7. Avoid distractions. Choose a location that’s pleasant. Ask everybody to turn off phones and pagers, and don’t accept calls until the negotiation is complete. 8. Don’t share information unnecessarily. Knowledge is power in a negotiation, so giving the other side extra information may weaken your position. Conversely, learn as much about the other parties as you can. 9. Just keep quiet. Greeting an offer or concession with silence undermines the other side’s power and often prompts an immediate reaction.Will Nesbitt Happy 10. Leave something on the table. Remember that a successful negotiation is not the same as grinding the opponent into the ground. No one should leave a negotiation angry; you never know when you might have to negotiate with the same people again. For more information or to set up an appointment call Nesbitt Realty at (703)765-0300.

4 Reasons Your Listing Might Not Be Selling

Do you have a home lingering on the market? MSN Real Estate recently polled real estate professionals to find some of the most common reasons why some properties won’t sell, besides trying to overcome a poor location. Here are four common reasons listings don’t sell in a timely manner, according to the MSN survey:
Closet Connected to Bathroom at Park Place
Closet Connected to Bathroom at Park Place
  1. Unreasonable price: “It’s always price for condition or price for location,” says Kathy Opperman, a broker-owner with Century 21 Alliance in Philadelphia. “That’s one of the main reasons [homes] sit.” Some sellers are just unrealistic about what their house can truly fetch, or they may be underwater and just unable to lower their price tag. “In my market, the only reason a property would stay on the market for longer than three months would be that the price is too high,” Ron Redfern, a real estate professional from Greeley, Colo., told MSN Real Estate. “Price will overcome any objection.”
  2. Bad decor: Loud patterns, bold colors, and dated decor styles can distract home buyers. For example, agents say that mirrored walls, cheap wood paneling, and 1970s kitchens can be turn-offs. To try to appeal to the widest buying pool, agents advise clients to stay neutral with their design, give buyers a “minimalist canvas” for them to project their own tastes on.
  3. Awkward floor plan or missing necessities: Strange or dated floorplans may also make a home linger, such as older homes where you have to walk through a bedroom to get to a second bedroom, MSN Real Estate notes. One home in Catskill, N.Y., has lingered on the market for more than four years because it’s missing a driveway.
  4. Awful photos: If your listing has yet to sell, you may want to revisit the photos you're using to present it on the MLS. For example, one Chicago listing showed dirty clothes and clutter in the photo, which may prompt buyers to question the hygiene of the rest of the home, as well as assume it has a lack of storage. Be choosy about the photos you upload to the MLS, and remember that less can be more, Opperman says. Have photos showcase the best rooms and features of the home. "If a buyer isn't excited about a home after seeing it online, they won't want to see it in person," Opperman says.
Source: “Listing Losers: 8 Reasons Your Home Isn’t Selling and What to do About It,” MSN Real Estate (March 13, 2013)" Nesbitt Realty is a family-run brokerage. We appreciate every client and we'd love to help you achieve your real estate goals. Get in touch with us today to learn more about what we can do for you in {Location_Name} or to get a free assessment of your property's value. Nesbitt Realty has received numerous awards and recognitions for client satisfaction because we get results that make our clients happy. We'd love the opportunity to show you about why our clients rave about our service.  

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Have your condo docs in order

In the Commonwealth of Virginia (and in other states) the buyer must be allowed an opportunity to review the condo docs.  From the time the condo docs are delivered, the buyer has 3 days to cancel the contract without cause, other than to say the condo docs contained information which caused the cancellation. The buyer doesn't have to explain why or what the problem was. Recently a client of mine was buying a condo and when he received the documents, the condo docs said that the unit did not pass architectural review.  The problem was that the clientdocuments had made changes to his unit without first seeking permission of the association and then never had the changes inspected. The change that the seller made?  The seller had installed an overhead microwave and changed a cabinet without seeking any approval from the association. This was indeed a minor change. Furthermore, the seller claimed that he didn't actually make the change. It was his claim that a previous owner made that change and that the seller had NEVER read his condo docs. My client, the buyer, was a very above-board and by-the-book type of character. It was his position that if this guy "hid this fact" who knows how much else he withheld?  Even if he believed the seller's story (he did not) then it would show that this is a very inattentive owner.  My client canceled the contract based on condo docs. At another location and with another buyer and seller, the property went under contract and the seller did not deliver the condo docs, because the seller didn't have condo docs. The seller didn't have the condo docs because the seller didn't order his condo docs. The selling agent explains that the law allows for 14 days for the delivery of condo docs.  I replied, "That's why you order docs when you list."  Because if you allow 14 days for preparation and 2 days for delivery and then 3 days for review, then the buyer can cancel the sale 22 days after the contract is signed. Here are the lessons for sellers:
  1. Order you condo docs when you list your condo for sale.
  2. Review your condo docs to make sure that your condo doesn't have any defects according to the association.
  3. Have your agent deliver your condo docs PROMPTLY once your contract is ratified.

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More Taxes for Sellers to Pay

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Virginia House Bill 2313 which recently was approved by the Virginia General Assembly. Among other provisions, each designed to facilitate statewide transportation funding, the Virginia Grantor's tax charged to all Sellers of real property will increase from $1 per thousand (in the greater of the sales price or assessed value) to $3.50 per thousand. Consider this a pyrrhic victory, as the original proposal called for an increase to $5 per thousand. Unlike a number of years, this Bill will not be struck down as unconstitutional. This change will take effect July 1, 2013, and should be factored into your seller's net sheets for all transactions sent to record on or after that date.

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8 Steps to Selling Your Home

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Advice from Northern Virginia's littlest agent.
  1. Define your needs. Write down all the reasons for selling your home. Ask yourself, "Why do I want to sell and what do I expect to accomplish with the sale?" For example, a job opportunity in another city may necessitate a move or a growing family may prompt your need for a larger home. For your goals, write down if you'd like to sell your house within a certain time frame or make a particular profit margin. Work with your Nesbitt Realty real estate agent to map out the best path to achieve your objectives and set a realistic time frame for the sale.  Continue reading

What’s the Best Day of Week and Month to List?

Friday is the best day of the week to sell a home. Homes listed on Friday sell for 99.1 percent of their original asking price, a higher percentage than homes listed on any other day of the week, according to a study by real estate broker Redfin, which analyzed more than 500,000 home listings and sales records. The best month to sell? April, according to the analysis. Homes sold in April tended to sell closer to their asking price. In April, homes were found to sell for a 99.2 percent sale price-to-list ratio, compared to a 97.3 percent ratio of homes listed in December. Springtime is still a good time to sell for a higher price and also in the fastest time too, according to the study. Homes tended to sell within 90 days of being listed during March through June, according to the study. Redfin also found that pricing the home competitively from its debut is critical because that’s when it’ll receive the most traffic. During the first week a listing debuts on the market, it receives nearly four times more visits on real estate Web sites than it will a month later. Number of sold homes in Alexandria Source: Redfin