So You Wanna Sell Your Home? Step 7: Get Ready to Close – Real Estate News and Advice – realtor.com

6 previous steps:

1) Clean Up

2) Hire Realtor

3) Determine Price

4) Pretty Up the Place

5) Market Your House

6) Strike the right deal

 

Earnest money

When the buyer makes an offer on your house and you accept, the buyer will write you a check for a deposit known as earnest money. Everyone at some point gets a bit puzzled by earnest money. It comes down to a simple idea: This is money you put forward that proves that you are earnest about your intentions to move forward on the deal. These funds are held by a third party until you close the deal; on average, buyers pay about 1% to 2% of the offer amount.

If the deal goes through, the earnest money becomes part of the buyer’s down payment (or full cash payment). If the deal falls through because you’re unable to meet the buyer’s contingencies (for example with the inspection or appraisal), that money gets returned to the buyer. Usually. However, if buyers back out just because they randomly change their mind, you get to keep that money for all the hassle—consider it a hefty consolation prize for having to put your home back on the market.

The seller’s disclosure

As soon as you accept an offer, you will need to supply the buyer with a seller’s disclosure—basically an itemized list of any problems with the house or surrounding area. But how much do you have to disclose?

It all depends on your state laws. The legal site Nolo.com has a list of disclosure laws for various states, and your agent can also provide you with the requirements for your area. Generally, expect to dish the dirt on:

    Basic information about the house, like the age or utility costs
    Structural problems, like the condition and age of the roof
    Environmental issues, like if the property is located in a flood plain
    Known issues, like flooding in the basement

Even if your state doesn’t have strict requirement rules, you can also disclose more than the minimum, and it may make sense to do so. “I always advise sellers to include as much information as possible,” says Cathy Baumbusch, a Realtor® with Re/Max Executives in Alexandria, VA. It sounds counterproductive—after all, you don’t want to scare the buyer away—but withholding information could come back to haunt you. Like poltergeist-level haunting.

After all, the seller will find out sooner or later, so it’s best to be up front.
The inspection

Unless you’ve sold the home “as is” (and sometimes even if you have), the buyer will want an inspection on the home. The inspector’s job is to look for problems  like:

    Roof damage
    Structural problems
    Plumbing problems
    Fire hazards like bad wiring or improperly working chimneys
    Major appliance and HVAC issues

Since the buyers hire the inspector, the report will go to them. If they spot anything amiss, trust us, you will hear about it, as it may become a negotiation point you’ll have to work out before you close.

Basically, the buyer may want some repairs done after reviewing the seller’s disclosure and conducting the inspection. The repairs have to be legit problems (the buyer can’t just walk because the stove is outdated). “You may be asked to get it repaired, or give the buyers a credit so they can pay for repairs themselves,” says Baumbusch. While fixing it yourself may seem cheaper, it’s faster to offer a credit, so be sure to consider what a delay would cost you.

The appraisal

If your buyers are getting a mortgage, they will also have to hire an appraiser. An appraiser is similar to an inspector, in that he comes to your house and checks it out, top to bottom. Only the purpose is different: Rather than looking for problems and repairs, an appraiser is trying to estimate what your home is worth, so that the lender knows the investment is sound. To do that, the appraiser will not only size up your home in person but check out the sale prices of comparable houses in your neighborhood (much as a Realtor would do for you). If the appraiser’s price matches the one your buyers are paying (or even if it’s higher), all is good.

But if the appraisal comes back lower than the asking price, it may become a problem. Typically, lenders won’t loan buyers anything above the appraisal amount. The buyers have two choices: Pay cash for the difference, or negotiate a lower sale price with you. If they choose the latter, you’ve got two choices, too: Accept the lower home price, or walk. To decide, ask yourself: How easy would it be to find a new buyer? If you were deluged with offers, it may be in your interests to move on, but keep in mind that you might run into the same problem with subsequent appraisals. So unless you’re confident your home is worth more and you’re willing to head back to square one, you may want to take a hit just to keep moving forward.

So You Wanna Sell Your Home? Step 6: Strike the Right Deal – Real Estate News and Advice – realtor.com

Here are the first 5 steps:

1) Clean Up

2) Hire Realtor

3) Determine Price

4) Pretty Up the Place

5) Market Your House

    Getting those offers in

    If you’re not in a rush to sell your house, it may make sense to see what offers roll in over a few months. But if you need to sell quickly (or just don’t want to wait), your agent might be able to push things along by setting a deadline—usually within a week or two of listing.

    “When you expect multiple offers because your price is competitive or your home is in a popular neighborhood, you should always set a deadline,” says Cathy Baumbusch, a Realtor® with Re/Max Executives in Arlington, VA. But you’ll need to be confident that your home is priced right, relative to its appeal. If all goes well, you can sell for over asking.
   

Reviewing your first offer

    Once you have an offer in hand, you’re probably scanning for one thing: the price.

    “In our area, houses rarely sell for less than 90% to 95% of the asking price,” Baumbusch says. The offers on your home should fall in that range, but don’t rely on price alone. According to Baumbusch, every offer has five important components:

        Price
        Closing assistance
        Closing date
        Buyer financing
        Contingencies

    

    Some offers may seem great on the surface, but significantly less so once you dig in. For instance: Is the buyer asking for closing assistance? Often first-time buyers don’t have enough money to cover the down payment and the closing costs, so they’ll ask the seller to foot some of the bill—about 2% to 3% of the total closing costs is a common request. If you agree, any assistance you give will lower your bottom line, so factor this amount into the asking price.

    The buyer’s time frame to close may not seem like a big deal on the surface, but it can actually matter a lot, especially if you give the buyer a long leash. If the deal falls through, you’ll have to put the house back on the market and wait for more offers. On the other hand, if the buyer wants to move in right away, you might be left scrambling (and, quite possibly, temporarily homeless). Make sure the timing works for you.

    Good so far? Now make sure the buyer has financing. Hopefully, the buyer’s agent included a note verifying the buyer’s financing and how much the buyer will put toward the down payment and earnest money. The last thing you want is to accept an offer, only to find out afterward that the buyer can’t come up with the necessary cash.

    Finally, look over contingencies, which give the buyer the option to back out of the deal if something goes wrong. The buyer may say the final sale is contingent on an inspection, or he may want to move in early. Both requests are fairly standard and acceptable. But keep an eye out for buyers asking for too much. For example, “it would be over the line for a buyer to ask a seller to wait more than 30 to 60 days for the property to go under contract,” Baumbusch says.
   

When to counter

    You always have the option to return the buyer’s offer with a counteroffer of your own.

    “You should always counter if the price is not what you are looking for, or if you can’t support the amount of closing cost help they are looking for,” Baumbusch says. But if you do, keep it reasonable. If the buyer was 15% below asking, he probably won’t go up to full asking amount. Consider being flexible with your price; you can always make it up in other ways. For example, submitting a counter with a slightly higher price and contingencies that may help you—like having the buyer waive an inspection to speed things along—might pay off in the end.

    “If your home is in a popular area, [you] have an advantage,” Baumbusch says. Keep in mind, the buyer may not accept your counter outright. You can play Let’s Make a Deal, but always consider your bottom line. Is it worth it to keep countering for a small amount of money or single contingency? Don’t get trapped in a loop; consider the buyer’s side of things. These prospective buyers may be maxed out. To help you decide, ask your agent to call the buyer’s agent and hash it out it with them. Get some insight into the buyer’s state of mind, and whether he can budge.

    Once you’ve accepted an offer, it’s time to close. Scary, we know! But we’ve got you covered in the next installment.

5304 Alan Avenue , San Jose 95124

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Yajnesh Rai

408-547-7845

YRai@KW.com

www.YajneshRai.com

509 Porpoise Bay Terrace #G

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Thanks, Yajnesh

408-547-7845

www.YajneshRai.com

YRai@KW.com

So You Wanna Sell Your Home? Step 5: Create an Eye-Catching Ad – Real Estate News and Advice – realtor.com

Previous Steps:

1) Clean Up

2) Hire Realtor

3) Determine Price

4) Pretty Up the Place

5) This Step

 

Long before home buyers set foot in your place, declare with a flourish “This is the one,” watch the clouds part and the rainbows form, and make you a terrific offer, they have to know you’re selling it first. And it’s up to you and your Realtor® to spread the word. Only how?

Look no further than this fifth installment of our weekly Home-Selling Guide, which will show you how to put together an attractive online ad that will win you plenty of admirers—and plenty of honest-to-God prospective buyers!
Take great pics

Online house shopping is a lot like online dating. Everyone will tell you they loved your bio, but really, they’re  just looking at the photos. To show your home in the best light, consider hiring a pro.

“The photos the pros take just stand out over amateur snapshots,” says Darbi McGlone, a Realtor with Jim Talbot Real Estate in Baton Rouge, LA. A pro will be able to find the best angle, make your small half-bath look relatively palatial, and even touch up some of the photos to make them truly pop online. Ask your Realtor for suggestions, or look through the Real Estate Photographers of America and International.

But if you (or your Realtor) want to take a crack at snapping some winning images yourself, we learned these tips from a professional photographer:

    Store away everything you can before you start shooting. Movable art, throw pillows, brightly colored small appliances, and other knickknacks might make your home look cozy and inviting to buyers in person, but those small items don’t translate well in photos. For your photos to look the best, you want to draw the eye to the key elements of the room—such as the fireplace or the huge bay window. Too much going on in each shot? Those eyes won’t know where to focus.
    Don’t use your smartphone. Let’s repeat this one: Don’t use your smartphone. This is your house you’re selling, remember? For the best shots, the camera and the lens matter. Aim for using a digital camera with HDR (high-dynamic-range mode) capabilities, and take photos with a wide-angle lens that can capture the whole room without making the space feel squished. “I’ve tried all the tricks, but unless you have a wide lens, you are wasting your time,” McGlone says. So invest, OK?
    Try shooting from every viewpoint imaginable—and then add a few more that you might not have originally imagined. Take plenty of shots of each room from every angle. To make rooms appear more spacious, crouch down and snap at knee level. Experiment.
    Edit and retouch your photos using software such as Photoshop—but remember, less is more. “I will brighten a photo if it looks too dark but never touch up so much that it is not realistic,” McGlone says. Stick to the basics and add just enough to enhance the photos, otherwise buyers may think you have something to hide. And most likely, you do.

Write a winning description

After the photos, buyers will read your listing details. At the top of your listing should be the basics: number of bedrooms and bathrooms and the square footage. Next come the stand-out features. “That includes things like interior exposed brick, a fireplace, an outdoor kitchen, or any upgrades,” says McGlone.

While your Realtor will usually write your listing, you can (and should) have final approval. And it turns out certain words reel in buyers better than others. Here are five words correlated with a higher sales price, according to research featured in Freakonomics:

    Granite
    State-of-the-art
    Corian
    Maple
    Gourmet

 

The reason these work: They’re specific. Granite countertops give you a good idea what that kitchen is like, as do maple floors. Terms that are vague or appear to be trying too hard will backfire. Below are five terms correlated to a lower sales price:

    Fantastic
    Spacious
    !
    Charming
    Great neighborhood

 

So keep an eye out for eye-roll-inducing adjectives that might very well turn off buyers.

Build buzz on social media

To get the word out, your Realtor will post your listing in the local multiple listing service, worldwide sites such as realtor.com®, and their own brokerage business website. To add to the potential buyer pool yourself, get to sharing. Social media isn’t only for pictures of cats and political opinions; you can find a buyer for your house, too.

“These days you really have no choice but to smartly use social media to promote your listings,” McGlone says. After all, your friends and acquaintances will take a special interest in helping you out—make doing so just a click away. Even if they aren’t looking to buy, someone in their own network could be, so encourage your friends to share the post and pass it along. While Facebook is a tried-and-true favorite for posting listings, you can also use Twitter or photo-driven Instagram to great effect.

Make sure to market offline, too

Even in today’s Internet-obsessed world, you and your Realtor need to do some offline marketing as well. Remember those yard signs from seemingly bygone days? They may not be the reigning house marketing tactics anymore, but it’s still a good idea to let your Realtor pop one in the yard. A study by the National Association of Realtors® found that 48% of buyers still relied on yard signs to help their search.

Bottom line: You never know which avenue will reach the right home buyer who will lay eyes on your home and fall in love. And all you need is love—however you find it.   

The Main Motivators Pushing Home Buyers | Realtor Magazine

The Main Motivators Pushing Home Buyers

Daily Real Estate News | Tuesday, March 01, 2016

One in four home buyers say they want to buy a home because their rent is too high, according to a new survey by the brokerage Redfin of 750 home purchasers. The number of home buyers citing high rents as a main motivation to buy is rising – up from one in eight last August.

Still, affordability remains the chief concern on home buyers’ minds. Twenty percent are concerned about the limited number of homes for sale – also on the rise. Sixteen percent are concerned about too much competition from other buyers – a five percentage jump over last quarter, according to Redfin’s survey.

Home buyers are also braced for home prices to rise in the coming months. Fifty-three percent say they anticipate prices will rise soon compared to 48 percent of previous survey respondents from last quarter. But mortgage rates remain important to them. Sixty-seven percent of buyers said mortgage rates were important or very important motivators in their purchase decisions.

How To Budget: A Simple, Flexible Method For Everyone – Forbes

Creating a budget can seem overwhelming.

The categories often used to classify our expenses are too numerous to count — transportation, utilities, business, education, entertainment, financial expenses, food, gifts, and so on, plus all the subcategories within them.

On top of that, we don’t always spend the same amount per month in each category. We might need $200 in our electronics budget one month for a new smartphone purchase, but none the next month. We might need $20 in our health budget one month and $220 the next.

Since we can never be that exact and consistent by category, and since the overall goal anyway is to stay within one’s means, over the five years that I’ve covered personal finance (during which I paid off debt and saved up enough money to start freelancing), I have come to prefer a simplified method of budgeting that uses the 50/20/30 guideline of budgeting (or numbers tailored to your situation) in which a certain percentage of your budget is allocated to certain large categories, and weekly allowances to keep you on track.

This strategy allows you flexibility while also making sure you reach your financial goals and that your spending aligns with your personal values. Here’s how to make it work for you.

1. Tally your necessary expenses, aiming to keep them under 50% of your take-home pay.

After you’ve paid taxes and made your employer-based retirement contribution, such as to a 401(k) account, there’s a certain amount that you take home every month. If you’re paid monthly, it’s equal to your paycheck. If you’re paid biweekly, your take-home pay will be slightly more than two paychecks, because every six months you will receive one extra paycheck. In that case, multiply each paycheck buy 13 and then divide by 6. That’s your take-home. If you get paid weekly, it will be slightly more than four paychecks, because every three months, you will receive an extra paycheck. In your case, to get your monthly take-home, multiply every paycheck by 13 and then divide by 3. (Alternatively, if you get paid weekly or biweekly, you can budget as if four or two paychecks equaled your monthly budget and then treat the extra paycheck that would come every quarter or half year as a bonus that you could put towards savings or debt or another goal.)

After you’ve determined your monthly take-home, divide it by 2. For most people, the number that you calculate is the upper limit of how much you should spend on all your “necessary” expenses. These include housing, transportation, groceries and utilities. If you don’t typically use a set amount for your groceries, allocate a reasonable amount now, a number that you can easily stick to.

If you can get the sum to be less than 50%, it leaves you more room for paying off debt, accumulating savings, or having more play money. In particular, because housing and transportation costs tends to be our largest expenses, if you can keep these low, you can keep the portion of your budget devoted to necessary expenses low overall.

2. Aim to allocate 20% or more of your take-home pay to your financial priorities.

This is the section of your budget devoted to your big goals. Financial priorities include paying off debt, saving for retirement, saving for any big financial goals such as buying a house, taking a dream vacation, or starting a business. If you’re paying off debt, make sure that this amount can at least cover your minimum debt payments, preferably more. (Check out this guide for more information on paying off debt, and this article to see how to prioritize between debt payments and retirement contributions.) If you don’t yet have emergency savings, start small by building a “curveball fund” of about $1,000 or $2,000, which could cover any unexpected car repairs or health expenses. Then, contribute regularly to an emergency fund with the goal of saving at least three months’ worth of your necessary expenses (though most people — again, and the exact amount depends on your personal circumstances — should aim to eventually reach six months’ worth).

Once you’ve determined how much you can put toward your debt payments and savings contributions, put those on auto-pilot, so that the debt is being paid and the savings is accumulating without requiring you to manually transfer the money every week. For your savings account, choose a bank such as Ally or Smartypig that allows you to have sub-accounts, so you can divide your savings between emergency fund, a trip to Patagonia, and the down payment on your house. (Get tips on choosing a bank here.)

The way that each person splits up their financial priorities money depends on their own personal situation. But if you don’t have debt payments and have enough of an emergency cushion, you can devote this area of your budget toward your own retirement accounts such as a traditional or Roth IRA. If you can, max out those accounts, which have a contribution limit of $5,500 a year for the year 2016 ($6,500 for those 50 and older), and do so through weekly, biweekly or monthly automated transfers. If you max out both your individual IRA as well as your employer-sponsored accounts, you can put additional money toward a brokerage account. Just don’t forget that for any investment account, not only should you set up auto-transfer of money into the account, but also the automatic purchase of the investments.

If you can’t imagine putting 20% of your budget toward savings or paying off debt, start with whatever percentage you can manage now, and then increase it by another percentage point or two at regular intervals as you find ways to cut costs or make more money. For instance, if you receive a 2% pay raise (here are the mistakes to avoid when asking for one), continue living on the same amount, but increase the financial priorities section of your budget by two percentage points. If your necessary expenses are below 50%, such as 40% or 35%, you should more easily reach the 20% goal and even surpass it to, say, put 25% or more of your budget toward your financial priorities.

Note that because this calculation is based on your take-home pay, retirement contributions that you are making to an employer-sponsored account such as a 401(k) are not included, and so your total retirement contributions should be even greater than the dollar amount that you are contributing from this part of your budget.

3. From the remaining 30% or less of your budget, set yourself a weekly allowance.

This part of your budget, which is devoted to discretionary lifestyle expenses such as dining out, shopping, entertainment, charitable donations, gym memberships, electronics, etc., should be no more than 30% of your take-home pay. Since some months are longer than others — unless you’ve decided to treat that extra paycheck per quarter or half year as a bonus — in order to determine the weekly allowance, tally up the total of your take-home paychecks for the year — multiplying by 12 if you get paid monthly and by 26 if you get paid biweekly. Then divide by 52 and multiply it by 0.3 (or, if you are able to put more toward your financial priorities, perhaps you are living on a smaller percentage, such as 25%, in which case you would multiply by 0.25) to determine your weekly allowance. This is the amount that you can use at your discretion every week for all your other expenses. Knowing this number will help you plan for big expenses. If, one week, you know you’ll spend a large portion of it on, say, your sister’s birthday, you can plan in advance and enter that week knowing that you’ll need to ratchet down your other spending to make room for that.

In order to be sure you stick to the weekly allowance, if you’re in debt and need to be especially careful about adhering to this number, start by taking out that amount in cash every week. For those who feel they can be a little more relaxed, track your expenses with an app, on a Post-it note in your wallet, or on a spreadsheet.

You can also use your allowance to save up for larger than normal purchases, by, for instance, taking $50 out of your allowance every week for four weeks to save up for a $200 purchase. And, if you ever go over your budget one week, you can then just cut your allowance for next week and vice versa.

Is 50/20/30 doesn’t work for you, come up with your own guideline, but stick to it.

If you have a budget that falls out of the norm for some reason — perhaps you’re fresh out of college and are saving on housing costs by staying at your parents’, but have high student loan payments, or perhaps you are a new parent that has high child care costs, you may find that a completely different ratio of necessary expenses to financial goals to discretionary expenses works for you. If so, then follow that. The 50/20/30 guideline does not, and is not meant, to work for everyone. The point of the overall exercise is to determine what’s necessary, what your financial goals are, and what’s discretionary and the best allocation toward each of those buckets — and then to stick to those amounts.

If you find it difficult to stick with your budget, look for ways to cut costs and to make more money, and then tweak your budget again. Every time your financial picture changes, revisit this calculation in order to keep your spending in line with your current situation. However, once you’ve determined that you’re living within your means and automated your good financial behaviors, the only other ingredient you need to achieve your goals is time.

So You Wanna Sell Your Home? Step 4: Pretty It Up – Real Estate News and Advice – realtor.com

    Stash your stuff

    When you’re just living in your home, a bit of clutter is business as usual. You know the drill: video game cartridges in the bathroom, toolbox in the kitchen, tuxedo shirt inexplicably in the garage. But when you’re trying to sell, all this disorder can be deadly. That’s because clutter can make even spacious homes look cramped and dirty, distracting from substantial assets, says Darbi McGlone, a Realtor® with Jim Talbot Real Estate in Baton Rouge, LA.

    One way to help pare down your belongings is to go room by room, boxing up anything you haven’t used or worn in at least six months. What’s that you say? There’s nothing you’re not using? Try anyway. You’ll probably be surprised by the stuff you won’t miss. (Bonus: You’ll have less to move later.)

    One area where you’ll want to be merciless is your kitchen counter: Remove everything but your coffee maker, so people will think, “Wow, such a huge kitchen!” And to allow home buyers to really envision themselves living there, you’ll also want to pack up personal items such as the framed photos, report cards on the fridge, or your kid’s collection of “Star Wars” snow globes.

    But don’t just stuff those things in the closet.

    “Closets often end up being the dumping ground to store all the clutter that was visible,” says McGlone. “Which is never good, because closet space is an important buying consideration. You want potential owners to be able to see the true amount of space in each closet.” Instead, stack boxes neatly in the attic, basement, or, best of all, a storage facility—the perceived extra space you add to your home could be worth the rental cost and then some.

    Stage to sell

    These days, home staging is all the rage: On average, staged homes sell 88% faster and for a whopping 20% more than ones where home sellers just kept their furnishings in place. And while you can hire a professional stager, you can also cop a few of their tricks for free.

    For instance, hanging curtain rods higher can give the illusion of taller ceilings. Well-placed mirrors can make rooms appear bigger and brighter. Want to go the extra step? Paint your walls white, layer in neutrals, then add pops of color with pillows or a cashmere throw on the couch for a cozy glow.

    “I always think to move the furniture toward the walls to make it feel like there is more space,” McGlone says. Push furniture out and away from each other to open up floor space, but be careful to keep window space clear. Conceal flaws whenever possible; if the view out a window isn’t great, put up sheer curtains so the light comes in but the scenery stays hidden. And as with all your possessions, think “less is more,” although stagers do sometimes strategically add furniture (such as a cozy reading chair in a bedroom corner) to give the illusion of more space. Go figure!

    Boost your curb appeal

    Finally, it is time to take a hard look at the outside of your house. After all, that’s the first thing buyers will see when they pull up, so you’ve got to work that curb appeal hard.

    For starters, take a good hard look at the paint. If it’s looking dull or dingy, try power washing first. You can rent a power washer from most home improvement stores; a good wash can take off layers of dirt that make your home look shabby. Most professional paint jobs come with a 25-year warranty, and if you’re long past that, it may be time for a new coat. At the very least, slapping a coat of paint on your front door will give you the most bang for your buck—because that’s what buyers will see up close before they even knock.

    Paint aside, your yard also needs to be in order. Overgrown trees can make a home seem dark and creepy. If your trees are touching any part of your house, you should scale them back. If your front lawn is lacking in shrubs and flowers, add some. Even in winter, you can find hardy plants such as evergreen boxwoods and holly bushes. Also make sure your lawn is mowed, and if you have a pool that’s open, keep it sparkling.

    “A dirty pool will remind people how much upkeep there is, even if they asked for a pool,” McGlone says.

    Once you’ve gotten your home looking fantastic both inside and out, it’s time to break out your camera and spread the news that it’s up for grabs. Stay tuned next week to learn the ropes!

So You Wanna Sell Your Home? Step 3: List It at the Right Price – Real Estate News and Advice – realtor.com

Repeat after us: What you paid doesn’t matter

You may have a dollar figure in mind—perhaps based on what you paid originally, plus a little extra. Because homes appreciate, right? Maybe yes, maybe no. While a hefty increase in value is nice in theory—and in general, it’s expected to be a seller’s market this year—“ultimately, it’s up to the market,” says Chandler Crouch, broker of Chandler Crouch Realtors in Fort Worth, TX.

Think of it this way: Would you buy a banana for $1 if those same bananas were on sale down the block for 69 cents? Of course not! And, of course, a home ain’t no banana.

No matter what you paid for your home, market values fluctuate—both up and down. This can work for you or against you. But all that matters on the open market is what buyers are willing to pay now.

Use all your tools: Comps, AVMs, and your Realtor®

The best way to get a handle on your home’s sales price are the prices of similarly sized homes in your neighborhood—otherwise known as “comparables,” or “comps.” For example, if a house near yours with the same square footage and numbers of bedrooms and bathrooms, and in similar condition, sold for $230,000 within the past three months, you can bet your own price will be in that ballpark.

For a quick snapshot, several websites (including this one) offer automated valuation models, or AVMs, where you type in your address and then get a price based on an algorithm that factors in comps in your area. But AVMs are just a starting point.

“No one has actually put eyes on your house, so an AVM can’t really give you an accurate price,” Crouch says. That’s why you need your Realtor to visit your home, so she can factor in your home’s unique strengths and weaknesses along with comps to come to a better estimate.

When your Realtor tells you a price, check it. Ask her how she came up with the amount, and look into the comps in your area yourself. Once you’re able to pore over the info, Crouch says, “you’ll be able to see a price range for yourself, so you won’t feel like you’re just having to blindly trust your Realtor.”

Factor in upgrades with a grain (or two) of salt

Yep, you poured $10,000 into your brand-new chef’s kitchen, or $15,000 to install an in-ground swimming pool. Sweet! So it stands to reason that you’d make that money back when you sell, right? Well, not quite. Surveys by the National Association of Realtors® show that your return on investment for home improvements depends on what kind of renovation you’ve pulled off—and how much prospective buyers want it in your area. Refinishing hardwood floors, for instance, will reap a 100% return, paying for itself. Convert a basement to a living area, and you’ll recoup only 69% of those costs. The harsh truth: Not everyone is going to fall head over heels with your five-seat built-in hot tub.So do your research and find out what those upgrades will really get you.

Leave some wiggle room

Most buyers love to negotiate when you’re trying to sell your house. So it helps to “let them win one,” Crouch says. Instead of starting out with the absolute lowest price you can afford to go, add a bit of a cushion. How much? Crouch says you should round off your asking price in $5,000 increments. “It’s just how people think,” he says. So if you know you want $347,000 for your house, you can play it safe and round up to $350,000.

Also keep in mind that many first-time buyers may have a hard time coming up with cash for closing in addition to their down payment, even if their finances are good and they’re qualified for a loan. Offering to cover closing costs—while sticking to a higher asking price—might help seal the deal.

Price with Internet browsing in mind

Once you find yourself a ballpark price you’re happy with, it’s time to fine-tune it. Keep shoppers’ online search parameters firmly in mind—small differences in your price can spell a big difference in your exposure.

“Home buyers typically fill out a Web form that has a minimum price and maximum price,” says Crouch. “If you’re a dollar outside of that range it is going to be like your house didn’t exist—they’ll never see it.” In other words: Price your home at $300,000, and you could miss out on a whole lot of people who are searching in the $250,000–$299,999 price range. So if you’re on the cusp, consider rounding down to capture more eyeballs. Remember what we said about padding? It cuts both ways.

Test the waters with a soft rollout

While choosing a price can be scary, consider this one small loophole: Some brokerages offer a “soft” rollout plan in which they highlight the house as “coming soon” online, without officially listing the house in a multiple listing service. That buys you time to test the market, see if people will click at that price—then adjust accordingly without having to officially lower or raise your price on the record.

8 Bad ‘Home Improvement’ Habits | Realtor Magazine

Home owners can overdo it when it comes to the upkeep of their home. This Old House recently spotlighted several ways that home owners’ enthusiasm for home ownership may actually harm the house.

1. Having light bulbs that are too bright. You want a well-lit home, but exceeding a lamp or light fixture’s recommended wattage can be dangerous, particularly with incandescents or halogen lights, says John Drengenberg, consumer safety director for Underwriters Laboratories. “Using a bulb with too-high wattage will cause the fixture and its wiring to overheat,” he notes, which could then allow the heat to travel to the wall or erode the insulation on the wires and lead to a house fire. Check the fixtures label to make sure you use the correct wattage.

2. Planting trees near driveways or walkways. A line of trees to the house may up its curb appeal but adding young trees near driveways or walkways could be putting your slab at risk. As these trees grow taller, their roots will go outward, potentially pushing up the paving and causing it to buckle or crack. This Old House recommends planting small trees that will remain under 20 feet at maturity and that are at least 10 feet from paved areas. For larger trees, leave at least a 20-foot radius.

3. Overscrubbing a sink. Don’t overdo it with abrasive cleaners; they can scratch the sink. “Cleaners with a grit or grain to them will wear away at the finish and dull it,” Kohler‘s Mike Marbuch told This Old House. “That will make the sink more prone to gunk sticking to it—actually making it look dirtier.” Try a liquid cleanser like vinegar or lemon juice on the sink and avoid scrubbing it every day.

4. Overdoing it with can lights. Excessive recessed lighting in a home can cause a lot of air leaks. Recessed lighting is known as causing heat-sucking air leaks, especially when the fixtures are unsealed in vaulted ceilings. Airtight recessed lighting fixtures are available that are rated for insulation contact (IC). Also, use as few recessed lights as you can, especially when it comes to adding them to cathedral ceilings or in rooms directly below unconditioned attics.

5. Spreading too much mulch outside. “Over-mulching will suffocate plants, confuse their root systems, and prevent water from percolating into the soil,” notes the article at This Old House. “If you’ve mulched so much that tree trunks and flowers’ and shrubs’ lower branches are covered by or dragging in it, you’ve gone overboard.” Have mulch no thicker than 3 inches.

6. Using glass cleaner on mirrors. Watch out for store-bought sprays that promise to make your glass sparkle. “A drop of liquid running around the mirror’s edge can cause the reflective backing to lift or craze,” This Old House notes. The black edge can occur from using ammonia- or vinegar-based cleaners. This Old House recommends using warm water and a soft, lint-free cloth to clean mirrors. Or if you do use the sprays, spray it onto a dry cloth first and not directly onto the glass.

7. Repainting too much. “Excessive paint is detrimental – especially on an older house, which may have layers of thicker oil-based paint, which becomes brittle with age,” notes This Old House. To avoid thick, cracked, or peeling paint, be sure to carefully power-wash prior to painting, sand areas that need it, and then use 100 percent acrylic-resin exterior paint.

8. Fertilizing too much. Fertilizing too often can spur more weeds to grow. Also, the Environmental Protection Agency warns over-fertilizing can cause “nutrient pollution,” which is when nitrogen and phosphorus runoff from lawn fertilizers and then leads to an overgrowth of algae that can even pollute local waterways. Some lawn experts recommend only fertilizing twice a year, late summer and fall only.