6 Tips For Selling Your Home Fast, Besides Working with Remax Realty Center in Wisconsin

6 Tips For Selling Your Home Fast

May 11 2013| Filed Under » Mortgage, Selling a Home, Home and Garden

In a declining real estate market where supply outstrips demand, a person can generally sell a house faster by lowering the price. But there are other ways to enhance a home's attractiveness besides lowering the asking price. If you're looking to sell your home in a cooling real estate market, read on for some tips on how to generate interest and get the best price possible.


Differentiate From the Neighbors
In order to attract attention and to make your home more memorable, consider custom designs or additions, such as landscaping, high-grade windows or a new roof. This can help improve the home's aesthetics, while potentially adding value to the home. Any improvements should be practical and use colors and designs that will appeal to the widest audience. In addition, they should complement the home and its other amenities, such as building a deck or patio adjacent to an outdoor swimming pool.

However, while it can pay to spice up your home, don't over-improve it. According to a 2013 article in Realtor Magazine, some renovations, such as adding a bathroom or putting new shingles on a roof, might not always pay. The data suggests that the nationwide average amount recouped for a bathroom remodel is about 58%. For a new roof, it's even less. If you're going to invest in home improvements, do your research and be sure to put your money into the things that are likely to get you the best return. In addition, if you have added any custom features that you think buyers will be interested in, make sure they are included in the home's listing information. More than ever, in a down market you should take every small edge you can get.

Clean the Clutter
It is imperative to remove all clutter from the home before showing it to potential buyers because buyers need to be able to picture themselves in the space. This might include removing some furniture to make rooms look bigger, and putting away family photographs and personal items. You may even want to hire a stager to help you make better use of the space. Staging costs can range from a couple hundred dollars for a basic consultation to several thousand dollars, particularly if you rent modern, neutral furniture for showing your home. Many people feel that stagers can make a home more salable, so hiring one deserves some consideration.

Sweeten the Deal
Another way to make the home and deal more attractive to buyers is to offer things or terms that might sweeten the pot. For example, sellers that offer the buyer a couple of thousand dollars credit toward closing costs, or offer to pay closing costs entirely will in some cases receive more attention from house hunters looking at similar homes. In a down market, buyers are looking for a deal, so do your best to make them feel they're getting one.

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Another tip is to offer a transferable home warranty, which can cost $300 to $400 for a one-year policy and will cover appliances, such as air conditioners and refrigerators, that fail. Depending on the policy, other appliances and house gadgets may be covered as well. A potential buyer may feel more at ease knowing that he or she will be covered against such problems, which could make your home more attractive than a competing home.

Finally, it's important to note that some buyers are motivated by the option to close in a short amount of time. If it is possible for you to close on the home within 30 to 60 days, this may set your deal apart and get you a contract.

Improve Curb Appeal
Sellers often overlook the importance of their home's curb appeal. The first thing a buyer sees is a home's external appearance and the way it fits into the surrounding neighborhood. Try to make certain that the exterior has a fresh coat of paint, and that the bushes and lawn are well manicured. In real estate, appearances mean a lot. What better way to set your home apart than to make it attractive at first glance?

Get Your Home in "Move In" Condition
Aesthetics are important, but it's also important that doors, appliances and electrical and plumbing fixtures be in compliance with current building codes and in working order. Again, the idea is to have the home in move in condition and to give potential buyers the impression that they will be able to move right in and start enjoying their new home, rather than spending time and money fixing it up.

Pricing It Right
Regardless of how well you renovate and stage your home, it is still important to price the home appropriately. Consult a local real estate agent, read the newspapers and go to online real estate sites to see what comparable homes are going for in your area.

It's not always imperative to be the lowest priced home on the block, particularly when aesthetic and other significant improvements have been made. However, it is important that the listing price is not out of line with other comparable homes in the market. Try to put yourself in the buyer's shoes and then determine what a fair price might be. Have friends, neighbors and real estate professionals tour the home and weigh in as well.

The Bottom Line
Selling a home in a down market requires a little extra work. Do everything you can to get the home in excellent shape and be prepared to make some small concessions at closing. These tips, coupled with an attractive price, will increase the odds of getting your home sold.

Selling Your Home? Tips to Keep the Taxes Down

Even if you make a profit from the sale of your home, you may not have to report it as income.

If you’re selling your main home sometime this year, the IRS has some helpful tips for you. Even if you make a profit from the sale of your home, you may not have to report it as income.
Here are 10 tips from the IRS to keep in mind when selling your home.

1. If you sell your home at a gain, you may be able to exclude part or all of the profit from your income. This rule generally applies if you’ve owned and used the property as your main home for at least two out of the five years before the date of sale.
2.  You normally can exclude up to $250,000 of the gain from your income ($500,000 on a joint return). This excluded gain is also not subject to the new Net Investment Income Tax, which is effective in 2013.
3.  If you can exclude all of the gain, you probably don’t need to report the sale of your home on your tax return.
4. If you can’t exclude all of the gain, or you choose not to exclude it, you’ll need to report the sale of your home on your tax return. You’ll also have to report the sale if you received a Form 1099-S, Proceeds From Real Estate Transactions.
5. Use IRS e-file to prepare and file your 2013 tax return next year. E-file software will do most of the work for you. If you prepare a paper return, use the worksheets in Publication 523, Selling Your Home, to figure the gain (or loss) on the sale. The booklet also will help you determine how much of the gain you can exclude.
6. Generally, you can exclude a gain from the sale of only one main home per two-year period.
7. If you have more than one home, you can exclude a gain only from the sale of your main home. You must pay tax on the gain from selling any other home. If you have two homes and live in both of them, your main home is usually the one you live in most of the time.
8. Special rules may apply when you sell a home for which you received the first-time homebuyer credit. See Publication 523 for details.
9. You cannot deduct a loss from the sale of your main home.
10. When you sell your home and move, be sure to update your address with the IRS and the U.S. Postal Service. File Form 8822, Change of Address, to notify the IRS.

For more information on this topic, see Publication 523. It’s available at IRS.gov or by calling 800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676).

Market Report for Waukesha County

The last 30days in Waukesha County Real Estate. www.waukeshacountylife.com

Waukesha County Real Estate and the last 30 days of market activity. The following is the real estate market activity for the last thirty days in Waukesha County Real Estate . Waukesha County Real Estate is great. The following MLS information is for 8/8/2013 to 9/8/2013


In the Waukesha County Real Estate market 569 homes sold; 111 were list and sold by the same company, and 458 were sold by co-brokes.
In the Waukesha County Real Estate market there were 669 new listings.
In the Waukesha County Real Estate market there were 280 pending listings.
In the Waukesha County Real Estate market there were 19 withdrawn listings.
In the Waukesha County Real estate market there were 0 canceled listings.
In the Waukesha County Real Estate market there were 333 expired listings.
In the Waukesha County Real Estate market there were 68 back on market listings.
In the Waukesha County Real Estate market there were 259 extended listings.
In the Waukesha County Real Estate market there are 3,398 actives listings in Waukesha County Real estate .


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5 Mistakes Homebuyers Make

5 mistakes emotional homebuyers make

By Michael Estrin of Bankrate.com

Real-estate agents say emotional mistakes are common among homebuyers, who sometimes let good deals pass them by. Or worse, buyers overpay for their "dream homes" because they let feelings cloud their judgment.
But buyers shouldn't beat themselves up for getting emotional. Buying a home is often the biggest purchase a person will make. Homebuyers "need someone in their corner who can counsel them and make sure they are making a smart investment, not an emotionally driven purchase," says Nick Jabbour, a New York City real-estate agent and vice president of Nest Seekers International.
Buyers should be aware of emotional mistakes many of their peers make. Here are five common errors, with advice on how to avoid making them.

1: Always looking for a better deal

Every market has its up and downs, but today's market has conditioned homebuyers to make the mistake of thinking a better deal is always just around the corner. While it's true prices could drop further and mortgage rates might decline, it's not a good idea for buyers to play the odds now, says Eileen Meehan, an associate with Re/Max Properties in Saddle River, N.J.
"Even in the best of markets, we cannot predict what will happen tomorrow. I can't promise you that a bigger, less expensive home will not come on the market the day after you close on this one," Meehan says. "Market fluctuations are always part of real-estate transactions.
"Be smart, do your homework, know the value of the area and the home you are buying, and be sure it meets your family's needs," Meehan says.

2: Falling in love at first sight

With real estate, there should be no such thing as love at first sight, Jabbour says. He has a simple rule for homebuyers.
"We will look at no less than five properties before we sign any contracts," Jabbour decrees. "It's easy to fall in love right away. (But) jumping on the first or second home that a buyer looks at will often result in buyers remorse, overpaying and the inability to sell at a reasonable price down the line."
Infatuated buyers who leap at a property tend to overlook the value of the process itself — from inspection to appraisal, says Fiona Dogan, a real-estate agent in the Rye, N.Y., office of Julia B. Fee Sotheby's International Realty.
"Buyers can make the mistake of falling in love with a property after a first visit (but) before they do their necessary due diligence," says Dogan, who adds that lovestruck buyers sometimes waive key conditions in a rush to make an offer. Sometimes those overlooked details end up sinking the deal.

3: Overpaying for perfection

Every buyer wants the perfect home, but unfortunately it may not exist, Jabbour says. He is concerned when homebuyers insist they've found the perfect home and are eager to make an offer.
"On the remote chance that a buyer does find perfection, the emotional attachment will sometimes become so high that the buyer will overpay or overextend themselves financially," Jabbour warns.
And even if the home is perfect and the buyer isn't overpaying, the owner could have difficulty selling.
"A 100% match for one person may be a complete disaster to the majority of the population, and a buyer must consider an exit strategy from the beginning to avoid losing money when they sell," Jabbour says. "There is definite value over time for the enjoyment and use of the home, but that number is slight when compared to the total investment.

4: Equating 'short sale' with 'deal'

In real estate, a deal is a deal, and the terms short sale and real-estate owned are marketing buzzwords designed to lure bargain-hungry buyers, says Matt Joseph, broker and owner of West Avenue Realty in Miami.
"I see buyers running into the trap of buying a foreclosure or short sale thinking they are buying way below market value, when they are really overpaying," Joseph says.
A good deal is a matter of the property's historic price, current market conditions and the home's features, as well as the buyer's own needs. Weighing all the factors isn't easy. But, Joseph says, buyers dramatically decrease their chances of making emotional mistakes by working with professionals who know the local market.
"The biggest mistake I see are buyers not using Realtors that know the local market," Joseph says. "Trying to find a home on your own is very difficult if you're not familiar with the market on a micro level. (Buyers working alone) may feel like they are receiving a deal, however, they do not get to see all inventory in the price range desired."

5: Lowballing instead of negotiating realistically

All homebuyers want the lowest possible price, but there's a big difference between firm negotiating and lowballing, says Tracie Hamersley, senior vice president and associate broker at Citi Habitats in New York City.

"Buyers can come in with unrealistic expectations about what a property should go for," Hamersley says. "It's best for a buyer to make a realistic bid not too far off from where he or she would ultimately like to end up.”
Lowball offers run the risk of being rejected outright or lengthening the process and annoying sellers. Either way, Hamersley says buyers who lowball run a big risk of losing the property.
While all buyers are capable of lowballing, Hamersley says it's a problem especially common among cash buyers who don't need to borrow money. Such buyers are more attractive, especially to sellers who need to move quickly, but often the cash discount isn't worth as much as some buyers think, Hamersley says.

Checklist for selling your home

Getting Started

1. Decide whether to go it alone

2. Find a superstar agent

3. Estimate your home's value

4. Make these must-do repairs

5. Consider home staging

6. Price it right

What makes a neighborhood great?

The best places to live rise to the top because of where they are, who lives there and what elements are in them.

By Melinda Fulmer of MSN Real Estate

© Richmond (Va.) Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau

What distinguishes a great neighborhood from the merely meh? It's a difficult question, encompassing everything from physical attributes such as good design to the right number of parks and public gathering places.
We asked urban planners, a geographer, an architect and real-estate agents to pinpoint some of the common threads that put an area on the map for buyers and visitors.
Is it a charming Main Street, good schools or an abundance of interesting shops, restaurants and other diversions? What elements conspire to create great neighborhoods such as the Pearl District in Portland, Ore., Boston's Back Bay or Fells Point in Baltimore?


People and place
If you ask Fred Kent, founder and president of the nonprofit Project for Public Spaces, it's people, not developers, who create the next big place.
"It's always a bunch of individuals coming in who think the potential for their community is bigger," Kent says. "They have this feeling that something has happened there and start to do little things that collectively add up to a big thing."
That might include a shoe-repair shop owner sprucing up his storefront, a coin laundry adding an attached coffee shop or a resident putting in a park bench on the corner to allow people to stop and talk.
"These twists give a signal that something is going on here. Pretty soon other people put a bench on the street," Kent says. And voilà, he says, revitalization is born.
In many areas, this urban renewal is started by artists – those who need to live cheaply to pursue their craft but want to be close to cultural and physical amenities.
Just look at the decades-old revitalization of downtown Portland, Maine, says Andrew Schiller, geographer and CEO of Location Inc., which operates the NeighborhoodScout website. Its downtown was once so empty that city officials refused to plow the snow from its streets during the winter. Then artists from the local college started moving into old warehouses along the waterfront, stringing up outdoor lights and opening their galleries to visitors. It was the beginning of a thriving city.
Ditto for once-moribund Asbury Park, N.J., with its beautiful Victorian architecture that has been turned around by creative entrepreneurs in the past decade.   
Elements that encourage interaction – parks, boardwalks, public plazas and wide sidewalks – serve as people magnets, Kent says. Best of all are sidewalks on a community's main street that run between café seating and storefront window displays, allowing people to walk dogs, greet neighbors and people watch. Add things such as weekly farmers markets, civic-association pancake breakfasts and multidimensional establishments that offer opportunities to linger, such as a coffee shop with art displays, a lively bulletin board and outdoor café seating, and you've got the beginnings of a great neighborhood hub.
These are the places you take friends and family when you want to show them the neighborhood, planners say.
 "People attract people," Kent says, so when businesses triangulate in one place, such as a theater, bookstore and art gallery, they give people reason to stick around.
Indeed, Kent's group, the PPS, advocates "The Power of 10" for neighborhoods – capitalizing on the 10 most important and useful places, such as the local post office, coffee shop or park. The more things that can be clustered around these places, the PPS says, the more central and beloved a neighborhood will become.

 
Location, location, location
Of course, few people are going to settle in a neighborhood if it doesn't have access to well-paying jobs, Schiller says. "The places that have the most value and that gentrified first were those closest to, or have access to, high-paying jobs. They went up the fastest and the farthest," he says.
That, he says, is why you see neighborhoods revitalized near the subway lines into Manhattan such as Brooklyn's Park Slope or Williamsburg districts, or those by light rail, such as South Pasadena, Calif.
Indeed, planners say access to good public transportation can turn even some suburbs into hot areas. A study released earlier this year by the American Public Transportation Association and the National Association of Realtors showed that between 2006 and 2011, home values performed 42% better on average if the homes were within a half-mile of public transportation with high-frequency service, such as subway, light rail or bus rapid transit. Residents in those areas had better access to jobs and lower transportation costs, leaving them with more money to enjoy neighborhood amenities.
Another perk: Transit stations often attract retail shops, services and dining, giving some suburbs without a real downtown a place to walk and linger.
Another study cited in the APTA report found that buyers in the suburbs of Portland, Ore., paid more for houses in neighborhoods with more connected street networks, smaller blocks and pedestrian access to commercial shops and services and light-rail stations.


Let's not forget schools
"By and large, the highest-value home prices in America are found in school districts of very high quality," Schiller says, preferably those with access to high-paying jobs.
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These areas, such as the Boston commuter suburbs of Newton and Brookline, are the blue-chip stocks of neighborhoods, even for people without kids, because they attract people with higher levels of education, who tend to be more active in preserving community value. Good schools and walkability are two of the biggest themes in neighborhood videos that real-estate agent Sue Adler of Short Hills, N.J., uses on her website to sell homes in her area. The videos of these commuter towns show quaint main streets and residents talking about taking a quick stroll over to parks, bars, shops and theaters in their free time.
"With millennials entering the marketplace, volatile gas prices and fringe suburban home prices in decline, the demand for walkable neighborhoods has outstripped supply in most of the U.S.," says Christopher B. Leinberger, nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, in a survey (PDF) that ranked the walkability of America's cities and neighborhoods.


What makes people want to pull over and walk in a neighborhood?
Reid Ewing, director of the Metropolitan Research Center at the University of Utah, says a whole host of elements serve as magnets to draw people out of their cars. Items near the top of the list are:

• Short blocks with relatively narrow streets and wide sidewalks.
• Ample windows at eye level that let you see activity or displays inside as well as entryways, courtyards and arcades.
• Human-scale lighting, benches and signs.
• Tree-lined streets that provide a sense of buffer from street traffic and a comfortable canopy overhead.
• Landmarks such as fountains, historic theaters, gazebos or clock towers.
• A complexity of architecture, building materials and color — at least on the first couple of building levels — as well as a mix of building uses.

In other words, cookie-cutter big-box stores and row after row of parking lots aren't found in many of America's great neighborhoods.
"A neighborhood will draw people if it's providing the opportunity for interaction with a backdrop of design that is enjoyable to look at," says Lauri Moffet-Fehlberg, principal with Dahlin Group Architecture Planning in Pleasanton, Calif.
And interaction is key to people's satisfaction with their communities. If people are happy and engaged with their community, they are more involved with its activities and work harder to protect it, Moffet-Fehlberg says.
Schiller remembers visiting a friend in Jupiter, Fla., who lived in a beautiful Cape Cod-style planned development. While it looked beautiful, he said, his friends who lived there felt isolated and unhappy because it was such a long drive from employment and other social and cultural amenities.
"The streets were empty," he says.


Can you engineer a great community?
While Kent and many other planners say that a great neighborhood usually evolves organically with its residents, Ewing says that even master-planned developments can become big draws, such as the Kentlands planned community in Gaithersburg, Md., or the Grove, a mixed retail and residential development in Los Angeles.
In these areas, complementary design, rich amenities and public spaces encourage engagement among residents and visitors with places to stroll, eat and play.
Some of the best developments, Moffet-Fehlberg says, incorporate an area's history or topography to make them feel more real, such as the Grove's location around L.A.'s Original Farmers Market, a historic landmark.
And it helps if the mix of amenities and activities is attractive to younger and older generations alike, Schiller says.


The next generation of great neighborhoods
Many of the best neighborhoods are yet to come, Ewing says, as cities encourage more creative development in urban areas.
"We expect that two-thirds of the development on the ground in 2050 will be built between now and then," Ewing says. "There is a tremendous potential to redevelop certain areas differently."
Indeed, some of tomorrow's popular neighborhoods will likely spring from former blight.
"Communities can go from being the hero to the goat to the hero all over again," Moffet-Fehlberg says.

What home sellers need to know about mortgages

Cash-only offers and high-priced bids might seem tempting, but there are other factors you need to consider when selling your home.

By Marcie Geffner of Bankrate.com

© Eric Audras/Getty Images

more from Bankrate

• 5 tips to sell your home this spring
• Find the best mortgage rates in your area
• Housing and mortgage trends in spring 2013

Home sellers who receive an abundance of offers might be tempted to grab the highest price and call it a deal. But that might not be the smartest way to choose the best offer of the bunch.
A better approach is to consider a variety of factors, including the buyer's ability to pay cash or obtain a home loan, according to Kris Berg, co-owner and broker at San Diego Castles Realty, a real-estate brokerage company in San Diego. (Bing: Are there far more buyers than homes to buy?)
"One of the first things we address is how strong the buyers are financially and how confident we feel that they're able to close," she says.


Cash only
An all-cash offer always merits consideration because a failure to obtain financing is "the most prominent reason" why transactions fail to close, Berg says. In some cases, the buyer is unable to qualify for a mortgage.

• What are homes selling for in your neighborhood?

In others, the appraiser's opinion of the property's value falls short of the purchase price, causing the lender to quash the financing due to a so-called low appraisal. With a cash offer, no lender is involved, so both risks are eliminated.
A cash offer isn't a guarantee, however. And there's another downside for the seller: Most cash offers come from investors looking to "fix and flip" houses they buy at a discount, says Bert Carpenter, senior loan officer at Nova Home Loans in Chandler, Ariz. These investors don't plan to occupy these houses for the long term, if at all.
Given cash buyers' expectations that they will get discounts, Carpenter says, sellers must weigh the risks of cash offers.
"You can take the all-cash offer," he says, "and it's a safe bet that you will get your cash at the end of the day. But you're only going to get X dollars. If you do your homework and pick a good, comfortable, reliable buyer who is looking for financing, you might make X-plus dollars. But the question is: How safe is that bet?"

• On our blog, 'Listed': Experts predict 5.4% home-price hike in 201

'Prequal' letters
The answer is where pre-qualification letters, or "prequals," come into the analysis. Prequals are written by lenders to inform sellers that would-be buyers are qualified to obtain financing. But Carpenter says not all prequals are equal, so sellers — or their agents — need to do some legwork to assess which prequals are credible.My advice to a seller would be to take a look at the qualifications of the individual who wrote that letter," Carpenter suggests.
While loan officers shouldn't disclose the buyer's personal information to the seller's agent, that agent can call the loan officer and engage in a conversation about the buyer's strengths, Carpenter adds. One question might be whether the buyer could be characterized as "qualified," "well-qualified" or "barely qualified." (Bing: What's the difference between preapproval and prequalification?)
Steven Ornellas, a real-estate agent at Steven Anthony Realty in Fremont, Calif., suggests that the seeds of this investigation can be planted even before the offers are received. The seller's agent can insist on a thorough preapproval and an understanding of the buyer's true financial capability.


FHA stigma
Some sellers automatically give the cold shoulder to buyers who want to get FHA or VA loans. FHA loans are insured by the Federal Housing Administration, and VA loans are guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Both government agencies require sellers to pay to fix certain defects.
Ornellas says he sees the motivation to avoid such costs from the seller's perspective, yet he also says he thinks FHA loans don't deserve the stigma.
Read:  6 ways to craft an offer a seller can't refuse
"Sellers might say they don't want FHA, but there's no reason for that," Ornellas says. "It's a case of not knowing what the facts are."
One fact is that most states require sellers to disclose and, in some cases, repair known property hazards regardless of the buyer's financing.
Berg mentions another twist, which is that VA loans require the seller to pay in full certain closing costs that might otherwise be shared with the buyer. Those costs can add up, again prompting sellers to kick VA loan offers to the curb.
"My husband is a veteran," Berg says, "and this breaks my heart … it's all about the money."


Closing deals
Naturally, there's a bit of self-interest in all advice of this type. Real estate pros say some agents push for cash offers to improve their chances of a commission and some loan officers tout a buyer's financial prowess to increase their odds of a paycheck. Either way, sellers should have the final say and the opportunity to choose the offer they prefer.