5 Tips to Get Your Home Sold Quickly

5 Tips to Get Your Home Sold Quickly

There are many times when selling your home quickly becomes the most important goal. This is true for couples who are in the middle of a divorce, someone whose job just relocated her, someone who can no longer afford his payments and needs to get out before the bank forecloses, and many other instances.

If you find yourself needing to sell quickly, these 5 tips can help. The goal should be to sell quickly and for as much money as possible.

1 - Hire a good REALTOR®. My advice of course, is to always use a real estate agent. But in the case of needing to sell quickly, that advice is extra true. Simply put, a good agent will sell your home faster than you can on your own. He already has everything in place to list and market your home and has a bigger network to market it to. 

2 - Set a good price! - What determines "good" will depend on the market at the time you are selling. A good agent will be able to work with you to determine the price that will get you the most money but more importantly, get your home sold quickly. For example, in a strong seller's market where homes are getting multiple offers, your agent might recommend a price slightly below your home's market value. Why? Because a lower asking price will often result in more offers which can lead to a bidding war on your home, resulting in a final selling price well above asking. Plus the lower asking price gets more people interested in your home, which means, more offers, which means a faster sell.

3 - Get inspections done ahead of time - Yes it will cost you money that most likely the buyer would have paid. But if your goal is to sell quickly, you will want to have inspections done so you know of any problems that might come up and delay the sale. Ideally, you can even get them fixed before they become an issue.

4 - Clean, declutter, and make your home presentable - Your agent's marketing can get people in your home. The way it looks once they are there can get people to fall in love with it or not. If it's dirty or cluttered you will turn potential buyers away. And the fewer potential buyers you have, the longer it can take to sell. And decluttering doesn't mean shoving everything into the closets. Get a storage unit and remove as much as you can. You want the rooms to feel big.

Click Here to Get My Complete Home Seller's Guide

5 - Take great photos - Before you hire an agent, ask about the photos they will take. Ask for samples. With a great majority of buyers beginning their home search online, the photos of your home will be the first thing they see and can make the difference between someone who comes to see your home or someone who doesn't. Some agents hire professionals and others take the pictures themselves. What matters is the quality of the pictures.

Experiencing a Divorce? 

Get My Complete Guide To Selling Your Home During A Divorce

Bonus tip - Never let a potential buyer know that you need to sell quickly! Most of the time, you will never meet potential buyers, but in the case you do, don't mention a divorce or job transfer, etc. If they know you need to sell quickly, you can expect a lower offer. You might need to sell quickly, but that doesn't mean you have to give money away. 

5 Tips for Home Buyers

5 Tips for Home Buyers

Buying a home is the biggest financial decision most people will ever make. It's not something to jump into and hope it all works out. You need to do your research and have a game plan before you start.

Here are 5 tips to help get you started.

1 - Know what you can afford. This should go without saying, but it is the first step. Look at your budget and decide how much you can spend each month on a home. Don't forget, that not only will you be paying principal and interest on your home, but you will also need to pay taxes and insurance and budget for maintenance items as well. 

2 - Get pre-approved by a lender - This helps the seller know that when you make an offer on their home, most likely the loan will go through ok. (But remember, what you qualify for and what you can afford are two different numbers. If a lender qualifies you for more than you have determined you can afford, stick to your budget.)

3 - Find a REALTOR® you can trust. As I mentioned in the beginning, this is a large purchase. There are a lot of details and paperwork and inspections, etc to keep track of. Don't try to do it yourself. Did you know that as a buyer, a REALTOR® doesn't cost you anything? The seller pays the commission to her agent and to the buyer's agent! So since the seller will have an agent working for her to get her the best deal they can, you need someone on your side.

Click here to get my Complete Guide to Buying Your First Home

4 - Shop, shop, shop and then stop - Look at several homes. This will help you narrow down the things you really want in a home and the things that are nice but not necessary. Then after looking at several homes and finding one you love, make an offer and stop shopping. If you find a home you like better and your offer is accepted you will have a sense of buyer's remorse. But if you quit looking, you won't know about that "better" home. Yes, sometimes ignorance is bliss.

5 - Listen to your agent's advice on your offer. It is tempting to offer a low price so you have room to negotiate, but in a seller's market where homes can go for 10%, 20% or more above asking price, your low offer won't even be looked at. Your agent knows the market. He knows what homes are worth and what they are selling for. He knows what offer will at least get you in the running for that home. So listen to him and work with him to come up with a competitive offer. And yes, sometimes that offer will be lower than the asking price.

The Quick SLAM Test Rates Tracy Houses for Sale 

 It’s called SLAM: an abbreviated approach that helps Tracy house hunters to quickly sort through listed houses for sale. Tracy homes that compare well using the SLAM categories warrant further investigation. 

 The four parts of the SLAM list:

Schools. The eventual resale value of a candidate property isn’t usually given much consideration early on—but should be. A major issue when it comes to resale is the neighborhood’s school district rating. Schools head the SLAM list because—especially for those who don’t have school-aged children—the quality of a property’s school district is easy to overlook. It can also be an indicator of other community quality issues.

Location. It’s the key element that can’t be adjusted, improved upon, or glossed over—and why “location location location” is the cliché that won’t go away. Houses for sale in good neighborhoods are listed at prices that reflect location’s importance. In a single word, it incorporates the quality of neighboring properties, proximity to activities, shopping, transportation, and workplace—as well as more elusive factors like neighborhood noise levels and even compatibility with the neighbors themselves.

Age. This is where personal taste factors are most likely to tip the scale. House hunters may be open to both new and existing houses for sale, but it’s important to acknowledge the advantages and disadvantages each brings to the table. The charm of an older home should be balanced against the expected convenience of newer mechanical systems. If style preferences are major considerations, they register here. 

Monthly. The last part of the SLAM list is the budgetary element: the cost in time and dollars that supporting a residence will entail. The value of houses for sale is usually ranked by that top line asking price number—but a better calculation is one that includes prorated property taxes, expected maintenance expenses, insurance payments and neighborhood association or condominium fees in addition to the mortgage payment. If there are gardens to tend, the time element may be part of the calculation (although that can be a positive if you are a green thumb hobbyist). 

The SLAM checklist is a shorthand way to quickly assess many of the factors that wind up heading House Hunters Top 10 lists. There are no hard-and-fast scoring guidelines, but if more than one of the four elements come up with definite minuses—it’s probably a good idea to move on.  

This May there are many appealing Tracy houses for sale—and helping you whittle the field down to those that will best fit your family is a service that will save you time and energy. Call me whenever it’s time to get started!

Thinking “Tracy Real Estate”? Think “Tax Advantage”

 As this season’s controversies swirl through Washington, one of them seems likely to wind up being at the top of the heap: federal income taxes. Whether or not they will be simplified (hopefully) or lowered (ummm—probably?) will be sorted out in due time, but one detail is a lead pipe cinch: when the dust clears, the real estate tax advantage will remain. 

If any politician is thinking about eliminating the real estate tax advantage, he or she is wisely being very quiet about it. For good reason: that’s an idea that would probably lead to a quick retirement from public life courtesy of many displeased voters. Certainly, that’s likely to be the case as far as Tracy homeowners and home buyers are concerned. 

I don’t provide financial or tax advice, but some of the long-standing real estate tax advantages are well-known and detailed on Uncle Sam’s public sites. The headline tax benefits of homeownership explains their widespread support—among them:

• The mortgage interest deduction (up to $1 million) on first mortgages is one that speaks for itself—and speaks loudly. Per software provider CCH, depending on their adjusted gross incomes, in 2013 average taxpayers wrote off anywhere from $7,780 to $17,060.
• Over and above the first mortgage interest payments, an additional deduction for interest on home equity loans of up to $100,000 can apply.
• Additionally, real estate taxes can be deducted in the year they are paid—as can mortgage origination fees.
• When qualifying Tracy residences are sold, profits of up to $250, 000 (twice that for married joint filers) may be excluded from the seller’s federal capital gains tax.
• For investment properties operated as rentals, there are other qualified expenses that can be tax deductible: your tax advisor will detail the rules. 

Finance blogger Bob Christman’s recent “Real Estate Markets on the Mend article centered on the  real estate tax advantage being key to why “more Americans may be in a position to buy or sell properties in 2017.” He listed more reasons, but for Tracy taxpayers, the tax ramifications can be persuasive—and another good reason to give me a call to explore today’s market!

Tracy Home Loan Rates React to Fed Announcement

 Last week, local home loan observers were hardly surprised by the news that the Fed’s key borrowing rate—the one that’s most important where Tracy home loan interest rates are concerned—was left as-is. At least for the moment. 

What that indicated to most educated guessers was that the previous three months’ worth of relatively weak economic news was probably behind the decision not to raise rates. The economic news may not have been all that weak, but it was shaky enough to provide more good news when it comes to Tracy home loans—still remarkably (and happily) hugging the bottom of the 4% range.

The reason it’s fair to call the expert observers of Fed decisions “educated guessers” is because of the noncommittal language that usually comes out of Federal Open Market Committee announcements. For Tracy homeowners or soon-to-be homeowners, the direction that local home loan interest rates are likely to be headed is an important element in planning if and when to buy or sell a home. A half-percent rise or fall in the Fed funds rate can trigger similar movements in mortgage rates. Over the course of paying off a typical $250,000 home loan, that amounts to a $25,000+ difference—for some, reason enough to make a real estate move sooner rather than later.  If only you could anticipate where rates are headed…

In that respect, this time, the Fed’s announcement was actually a tad more expressive than usual. It described the economy’s first quarter’s slowdown as “likely to be transitory.” In other words, they don’t believe it was meaningful—so, in other words, fuhgeddaboutit! Job gains were “solid;” business financing had “firmed.” Likely prospect (per the expert guessers) was for two more quarter-percent raises in 2017—with the first most likely to happen next month.

Whether the Tracy home loan outlook will trace that precise trajectory is anything but certain, of course. There’s a reason the Fed announcements are deliberately evasive. But one thing is for sure: Tracy home loans are still being locked in at historically desirable rates. And that alone is an excellent reason to give me a call!

5 Areas That Deserve Your Attention

Are you feeling the urge to tackle home maintenance this season? While you're probably up on the basics of spring-cleaning, like washing windows, cleaning blinds and shampooing rugs, there are several areas you may overlook.

Smoke Alarms 
• Rather than wait for the telltale chirp signifying low power, use daylight saving time or a holiday like Memorial Day as a reminder to replace the batteries in all of your home's smoke and carbon monoxide alarms.

Medicine Cabinets
• If vitamins, prescriptions and other medication are unused or expired, safely purge them. Not everything should go in the trash, though. Determine if you can flush what you have or if you need to find a location that will dispose of it for you.

Pantry
• Stale spices and expired canned goods are candidates for the waste bin. Take this opportunity to wipe down shelves, reorganize the contents and make a list of needed supplies.

Appliances
• Have you thought about cleaning the machines that do the cleaning for you? This simple task can help your washing machine, dishwasher and other gadgets run more efficiently.

Ceiling Fans
• When was the last time you removed the dust that's accumulated on the ceiling fans? If it's been a while, now's the time to tackle it. Simplify the process and trap the dust by slipping a damp pillowcase over each blade and slowly pulling it back. There's no point in cleaning if you're using dirty tools for the job. Be sure to replace sponges regularly and run cleaning cloths through a hot-water cycle in the washer. And don't forget the broom, which deserves a shake, vacuum and hose down to keep it clean and useful.


I'd like to thank Karen Batholomew, of Summit Funding, for this great blog. I stole it from her, with permission of course, becuase I think there are some great tips and reminders in here. If you need any type of loan assistance I highly recommend giving Karen a call. 

2016 Women in Wealth Award - BestBusiness Leader in Mortgage Consulting - Alameda County

Karen Bartholomew
Branch Manager/Sr. Mortgage Consultant
NMLS ID# 280075 
2300 First Street Suite 216
Livermore, CA 94550
Direct: 925-443-2000
kbartholomew@summitfunding.net
www.summitfunding.net/kbartholomew

Tracy Housing Affordability Heats Current Market

Every now and again Forbes magazine assembles what it calls its “top financial brain power” to comment on a topic of interest. Late last week, the topic was real estate—more specifically, the answer to the question, “Is the Real Estate Market Still Healthy?” Speaking for our Tracy real estate market, I’d have to the answer “yes.”(I'm pretty sure I’ll never be asked by Forbes to join the panel because a one-word answer doesn’t make for a very long article).

Their panelists did better at elaborating. They voiced a couple of blanket observations on homeownership in today’s market, then settled on some reassuring points on housing affordability. Their observations are aimed at the nation as a whole, but the conclusions are apt for Tracy buyers and sellers, too: 

Point One: The inventory of existing homes for sale continues to be tight just about everywhere. It’s been trending that way for quite a while—and it results in the average days on market continuing to be shorter than usual. Ultimately, that should cause new housing construction to accelerate.

Point Two: The average age of homeowners is gradually increasing. Younger first-time buyers—who have spent their entire working lives during The Great Recession and its aftermath—have been having a harder time gathering the wherewithal to buy their first home. If the latest optimistic projections about the economy prove accurate, those demographics should reverse.

Point Three: Rising interest rates have not had much of an impact on the residential market because the overall level of rates “is low enough right now…The fact is that housing is affordable.” Tracy buyers should be reassured by one investment officer (he oversees $200 billion) who says that housing “still will be affordable even if rates go up another 50 basis points.”

Point Four: In a related point, fixed mortgages are growing in popularity. As we head into real estate’s peak season, that “speaks to housing affordability” because it reflects buyers’ satisfaction with today’s rates: they don’t have to stretch the family budget to handle the resulting monthly payments.

Tracy buyers and sellers benefit when the Housing Affordability Index indicates that typical families can qualify for a mortgage loan on a typical home. That has a lot to do with the real estate market health the analysts were pointing to…and a sign that now is a good time to give me a call!

Selling Your Tracy Home: Beyond Marketing

Selling Your Tracy Home: Beyond Marketing

Selling your Tracy home takes marketing, of course. Highlighting its features—the specific details that the Tracy MLS lists for every property—is only the beginning. The number of bedrooms, square footage, lot size—even the architectural style—all help buyers eliminate offerings that won’t satisfy their housing requirements.

These are quantitative marketing specifics that qualify a residence. Most have numbers attached. They’re also the basis for the “comps” that the bank or other mortgage lender will use to estimate your property’s market value. But they are only the first step in selling your Tracy home. They can (hopefully, will) interest buyers—but they don’t do much more than that.

What’s missing is emotion. A point of view. A brand.

For instance, say yours is one of the oldest homes in your Tracy neighborhood. Was it built before 1917? Then it’s out of the ordinary: a genuine antique! It’s historic. In fact, Turn of the Century craftsmanship can be experienced throughout—so the listing blurb will include that kind of language.

So far, so good. But now all we need is that one more thing that assures that your Tracy home will be the one that sticks in prospective buyers’ memories. We need a brand! 

Often, a memorable name does the job handily. If your house really is antique, but whose only identity is its street address, naming it could be long past due! 416 Plover Drive might benefit from becoming “Plover House” or “the 416 House” or if the back yard overlooks a wooded area, “Oakview House.” 

Naming is only one way to make branding an integral element in selling your Tracy home. For a residences that are less distinctive, branding may touch on some external aspect that make living there desirable. A condominium with club facilities and a particularly lively social scene could be championed as “More Than a Condo: a Lifestyle.” If the location is eminently convenient, its brand could be “Life in the Middle of Everything!” If the opposite is true, the property may well be your own “Private Retreat.” 

Branding is a creative exercise, so it’s hard to describe exactly what makes it work best. But there are two qualities that mark successful branding. First, it should emblemize an out-of-the-ordinary facet that resonates emotionally (the intellectual appeal has already been covered in the listing details). The other key ingredient is truth. The brand makes a promise that must be kept. Being memorable is only useful in selling a home when the memory is positive—and that means the brand has to ring true.

Putting in the extra creative effort that adds a brand to your home’s marketing blitz is just one of many ways I bring my clients success in selling their Tracy home. Another one of the reasons to give me a call!

Checklist That’s not Just for Tracy Homes for Sale

 It’s that time of year again when those of us who write about Tracy homes for sale and related matters have a hard choice to make: do I run the risk of boring everyone to death by writing the same ol’ spring cleaning blog, or can we (please!) just skip it this year?

Despite my inclination to do without it for once, I just couldn't not write it. Maintenance on your home is too important and we all need a reminder from time to time So yes, here is yet another spring maintenance reminder list. 

• Of course, clear the gutters, downspouts—and any channel that water finds on your property

• Take a look at the roof—if anything looks screwy, best to assume it needs a closer look

• Seal the deck (unless you did that last year, in which case check whether it’s still doing its sealing job—with weather like we’ve had, it might not last another season)

• Inspect the driveway and walks

• Do a test run of the sprinkler system

• Change smoke and carbon monoxide alarm batteries

• Change air filters

• Take a leisurely stroll around the house to check for infestations (“leisurely” because the evidence can be minuscule)

This isn’t an exhaustive list, so as you’re taking the leisurely stroll you’ll probably notice one or two details that can use attention: some caulking here, a screen that could use replacement there. 

And here are the reasons why I always wind up deciding to repeat the same old points:

1. Because first-time homeowners often need to be reminded that now they make up the first line of defense

2. Because if and when your home comes up for sale, having religiously maintained the place will make a real difference.

3. Because for homeowners, a stitch in time saves nine…ty.

4. Because once you’ve attended to your spring maintenance list, summertime enjoyment of your property won’t be spoiled by nagging upkeep worries

That last one could be the most important. Your Tracy home will only come up for sale one time, but you can enjoy it year after year when you feel good about how it’s cared for. But from my point of view, when the day comes that your Tracy home really is on the market, not having to scramble to correct maintenance lapses makes the whole process that much easier. Then all you have to do is give me a call!