Marketing Tips: Steps to Take Now for a Faster Home Sale Next Year

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Marketing Tips: Steps to Take Now for a Faster Home Sale Next Year : News : Realty Today

When it comes to selling homes, finding the right methods and approaches is among the best options to satisfactorily sell a home. A home sale is a decision that any person have to think through.

It doesn’t happen at night and thorough planning is needed before deciding to sell your home. According to a recent statement by yahoo.com, “Investing in strategic home improvements will help facilitate a quicker and more profitable sale.” When it comes to selling homes, there are various factors that are involved. Factors such as emotional and financial aspects are all involved when it comes to selling homes.

One method to ensure a faster home sale for the next coming year, is through connecting with a local agent. According to a recent report by Zillow, “Real estate agents shouldn’t just show up, list a home, hold an open house and move on.” When real estate agents are helping homeowners in selling their homes, there is a higher possibility of sale than those that solely depend on themselves to sell their home. Zillow further reported that, “A good agent will provide helpful information, advice and assistance on an ongoing basis, in hopes of working with you on the eventual sale.”

The second method to ensure a faster home sale is conducting a proper property inspection. Yahoo previously stated that, “For a few hundred dollars, homeowners can have a licensed property inspector assess the home’s major systems and components.”

The third method to ensure success is through revamping their homes or implementing developments. When a home is revamped, there is a higher possibility of selling it in the market for the next few days, weeks and months. Yahoo suggested, “Cosmetic fixes like laying new carpet, painting cabinets or cleaning the yellow grout in the bathroom.”

The final assurance for easier home sale for the next coming year is getting a home warranty. Based on a report by Yahoo, “A home warranty is like a one-year insurance policy that addresses major appliances and most systems.”

 

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Home Inspection For Home Buyers

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Home Inspection For Home Buyers : Home : Realty Today

So your offer for a house in a really cool neighborhood just got accepted. However, the house is a bit old and your real estate agent says that a home inspector may refer you to other inspectors. Now, you’re just all confused.

Just what exactly are the home inspections that a buyer should do? Well, your real estate agent should have the knowledge on the types of home inspections that are generally conducted in your area. But generally, home inspectors look for defects, and if they detect something unusual that is not in the scope of their expertise, they are likely going to suggest for a more specialized inspection.

Here are just some of the types of home inspection that buyers can do according to About Home:

Wood destroying pest

Wood destroying pets are a household in any part of the country, especially in areas with warmer climate. A pest inspection will reveal termites, powder post beetles, and even a dry-rot.

Chimney

An inspector’s job is to ensure that the chimney is still working well to discharge smoke. Sometimes, older chimneys lack flue liners and the inside brick may have already begun to crumble.

Electrical

A home inspector could tell the age of an electrical box and whether it still complies with the city code, while an electrician is the right person to tell the best brand to replace it with and the cost of the replacement.

Heating and air conditioning

An HVAC specialist is able to tell why the furnace is malfunctioning as well as how much it will cost to repair it or whether replacement is a far better option.

Lead-based paint

Since 1978, lead-based paint use has been prohibited by the federal government, however, there’s still a possibility of use for homes newer than 1978. You can have a home tested for lead-based paint, and a lead abatement contractor can help with its removal.

Square footage

Public records are human inputs, so if you want to verify a property’s square footage, you can either do it yourself or you can hire an appraiser.

Foundation

If you want to know whether a home is built on a slab or a raised foundation, hire a home inspector. But, a foundation engineer is the right person to tell if the home is sliding or if the foundation is faulty.

Roof inspection

It is important to get a roof certification especially on an older roof. Get a reputable company that is likely to still be in business if you have a claim for later.

Mold

Have the air quality tested if you want to check for mold. There are many different kinds of mold and they could pose health problems even in healthy individuals.

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Is it better to buy or rent a home?

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Is it better to buy or rent a home?

 

To initiate a discussion with a real estate professional, please contact Yajnesh Rai – yrai@kw.com, 408-547-8745.

Do you fork cash over to a landlord in exchange for freedom of responsibility for residential maintenance, or take out a mortgage and shell out monthly for the pride – and eventually financial payoff – of homeownership?

A recent study from Zillow, the online real estate service, shows that homebuyers nationwide face more challenges this year, with inventory down 6.5% from 2014 and home values up 3.3% over roughly the same period.

While the market appears to be in the seller’s favor, many still opt to buy for stability, tax benefits or some other plus. As a financial planner, I often discuss real estate’s potential effect on a financial future.

There are plenty of reasons to buy and likewise plenty to support renting a home. Below are a few considerations.

Buying. A home provides a place to live – stability for you and your family. When you own a home, you are no longer at the mercy of a landlord who changes terms or, even worse, sells the property. With each mortgage payment you also know you’re closer to outright owning that asset.

Among other good points:

• No surprises. While a leaky roof or broken water heater might catch you off guard, your monthly payment typically doesn’t vary. This helps with budgeting, cash flow and other aspects of a comprehensive financial plan.

• Tax benefits. As a homeowner, you can deduct many related expenses. And unless you owe more than $1 million, all the interest in your mortgage payment is deductible.

• Diversification. While real estate doesn’t always prove the best investment over a long time – often barely keeping up with inflation – it can serve as a great portfolio tool.

Just as you commonly invest in stocks, bonds, cash, certificates of deposit and the like through brokerage and retirement accounts, you can use real estate as another asset class that can help diversify your investing. Plus, as a tangible asset, real estate appeals to many other potential buyers and investors.

•  Equity building and retirement planning. As a homeowner, you build your equity through paying down your mortgage over the years. If successful, you will likely enjoy a lower cost of living in retirement.

Renting. If you’re part of the population that’s unable to buy at this time, you have a few good reasons to rent.

• Flexibility. Maybe you prefer to move around, seeing new neighborhoods and cities; it’s hard to put a dollar value on that experience and enjoyment.

If you anticipate a career or job change renting might suit you better, as buying a home can hinder your flexibility to pick up and move.

• Avoiding homeownership costs. Homeowners are painfully familiar with such extra, unforeseen and often hefty costs as Realtor fees, mortgage origination fees to start your loan, property taxes, moving costs, furnishing, decorating, leaky pipes, gardener wages – you name it. As a tenant, you enjoy the perks of your home without the worrisome financial burden.

• Liquidity. Generally, you can’t turn a house into cash overnight. Many people invest a lifetime’s savings into a home, putting the bulk of their net worth into an illiquid asset. Risk comes with tying up a large portion of your wealth in such an asset. Renting allows you flexibility and other investment options.

• Building credit. As consumers, we need a healthy credit for pretty much all we do, from getting a new cell phone plan to buying a car. While renting doesn’t boost your credit rating the same as owning a home, creating a history of on-time rental payments can, in some cases, help build your credit to qualify for a mortgage down the road.

This history begins when (and if) your landlord reports your payment data to credit agencies. Third-party services can help you report this information on your behalf.

Once your credit is solid, you can reevaluate if owning a home seems right for you.

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Average rate on 30-year mortgage rises to 3.89%

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To take advantage of these interest rates before it goes up, please call Yajnesh Rai – 408-547-7845, to set up a home buying consultation.

Average rate on 30-year mortgage rises to 3.89%

WASHINGTON — Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates rose this week after a sharp drop the previous week, as global markets continued to whipsaw amid economic disruption in China and uncertainty over Federal Reserve interest-rate policy.

Mortgage giant Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased to 3.89 percent from 3.84 percent a week earlier. The rate on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages advanced to 3.09 percent from 3.06 percent.

The rates remain well below their levels of a year ago, when the 30-year loan rate was 4.10 percent and the 15-year rate was 3.24 percent.

Mortgage rates have been tracking the yield on the 10-year Treasury bond, as investors have fled turbulent stock markets in recent weeks for the safety of U.S. government bonds, and then markets have sharply recovered.

An increase in bond prices reduces their yields, and vice versa. The yield on the 10-year bond, which dipped below 2 percent early last week when stocks plunged on Wall Street, recovered to 2.19 percent Wednesday as the market rebounded. That was close to its level of 2.18 percent last Wednesday. The yield was at 2.17 percent Thursday morning.

As the markets have gyrated, investors and economic observers are straining to figure out whether the Fed will raise a key interest rate this month, as has been long anticipated. A rate hike by the Fed could bring higher rates for home loans. The Fed has kept its key short-term rate near zero since the financial crisis struck seven years ago.

Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer left the door open for a Fed rate increase this month, saying Saturday that the factors that have kept inflation below the central bank’s target level have likely begun to fade. Fischer said, for example, that some effects of a stronger dollar and a plunge in oil prices — key factors in holding down inflation — have already started to diminish.

To calculate average mortgage rates, Freddie Mac surveys lenders across the country at the beginning of each week. The average doesn’t include extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates. One point equals 1 percent of the loan amount.

The average fee for a 30-year mortgage was unchanged from last week at 0.6 point. The fee for a 15-year loan also held steady at 0.6 point.

The average rate on five-year adjustable-rate mortgages rose to 2.93 percent from 2.90 percent; the fee remained at 0.4 percent. The average rate on one-year ARMs was unchanged at 2.62 percent; the fee held at 0.3 point.

 

 

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Top home improvements that help sell your home

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Focus on following few things:

1. Upgrade Kitchen

2. Upgrade Baths

3. Clean Windows

4. Clean or new floors

5. Curb Appeal

 

Top home improvements that help sell your home – Ellwood City Ledger: Home & Garden

While certain home upgrades provide obvious aesthetic enhancements, it’s important to ensure the projects are worth the expense.

The following three home improvements provide especially impressive returns on their respective investments, making them excellent choices to consider with an eye on selling your home.

Bath and Kitchen

Bathroom and kitchen renovations are great bets, according to the National Association of Realtors. However, ripping out these rooms and building them completely anew is an extreme expense that might not give you an immediate investment return.

Instead, check out refinishing services, whose work can provide more value than a full replacement. For example, Miracle Method takes ugly bathtubs, countertops, faucets and other fittings, and refurbishes them to look newly installed. This service will increase the useful life of those fixtures by more than 15 years, at a fraction of the cost and time of a replacement.  

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Why September Is The Best Month for Buyers

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Why September Is The Best Month for Buyers | Realtor Magazine

Buyers who are willing to close on a home purchase during the off-peak seasons – like fall and winter – tend to have the upper-hand, according to Jonathan Smoke, realtor.com®’s chief economist. September, in particular, is the best month of this year to sign a contract to purchase a home, according to his analysis.

For one thing, supply is rising, providing home buyers with more choices of homes for sale than they’ve had in the past 10 months. In the third week of August, inventory was at 1.91 million units, an increase from 21 percent since January, according to realtor.com®.

“Normally inventory peaks in August and begins to slow as the nights grow longer,” Smoke says. “But this year the typical seasonal decline will start a bit later. There will be more choices in September than any other month in 2015.”

Also, he says that overall demand is down now that the school year has started so buyers will provide less competition this month too.

“And, of course, with less competition for the most listings all year, pricing power weakens as inventory takes longer to sell,” Smoke says.

As an added incentive to home buyers, mortgage rates are remaining low, for now. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage ended the week under 4 percent due to recent stock market turbulence. In June, 30-year rates were averaging 4.2 percent, but have since fallen.

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How To Boost Your Credit Score Before Buying A Home

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How To Boost Your Credit Score Before Buying A Home : Home : Realty Today

If you have a good credit, your chance for buying a home is significantly increased. So here are some tips on how you can boost your credit score before buying according to Trulia:

Get your hands on your credit report

Make sure to get your hands on your credit report now. One way to easily solve problems is by finding out about them ahead of time – any issues, both serious and minor ones, can sometimes take a long time to fix.

Mistakes happen: get them fixed

 

1. Pay all credit balances every month in full. Even if the balance is only a few cents.

2. Set up some kind of credit monitoring

3. Work with vendors and credit agencies in case you run into issues

4. Use only 30/35% of available credit

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Over 10-Year View, Home Sales Are Strong

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Over 10-Year View, Home Sales Are Strong | Realtor Magazine

The National Association of REALTORS® finds that July 2015 existing-home sales are markedly higher than the 10-year July average. The 10-year average is an average of the data from the past 10 July months.

Median home price is higher than the 10 – year average, per NAR.

 

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Over 10-Year View, Home Sales Are Strong

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Over 10-Year View, Home Sales Are Strong | Realtor Magazine

The National Association of REALTORS® finds that July 2015 existing-home sales are markedly higher than the 10-year July average. The 10-year average is an average of the data from the past 10 July months.

Median home price is higher than the 10 – year average, per NAR.

 

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