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10 Things That Will Absolutely Kill Your Home Sale

When you're selling your home, you need every advantage you can get. And there are few homes that are magically market ready without a little help. If your home needs a touch more than a little help, it's time to get focused. After all, listing your home when it's not in the right condition to sell will probably only end in frustration. And, in this case, frustration means: your home sitting on the market for months with no offers or the errant, offensive, lowball.
If you want to make sure you get home sold quickly and for the right price, you'll want to avoid listing it with the following:

1. Excessive damage


Maybe the home you're selling was used as a rental and trashed by frat boy tenants, or maybe you just haven't kept it up as you should. Either way, those holes in the wall that look like the living room was used as a boxing gym, the scratched-up wood floors on which dinosaurs have clearly been racing, and the yard that's barren except for those two-foot-tall patches of weeds are not what buyers are looking for. Unless you're planning to offer your house for a price that will make buyers emphasize the good and ignore the bad and the ugly, it's going to need some attention.

2. Carpet in the bathroom

It's just gross. And everyone who walks into that bathroom is thinking one of two things: 1) There's gotta be mold under there; 2) There's gotta be pee on the floor around that toilet. This is one update you'll want to do before you list. Or, if you're already listed and your home's not selling.

3. Big, nasty stains
A buyer shouldn't know where your dog likes to mark or where your kids spilled the entire bowl of holiday punch. If the stains on your carpet are that bad, potential buyers will stroll in and run right back out. No one wants to buy a pigsty. Invest a few bucks in new carpet. You'll make the money back since you won't have to drop your sales price.

4. Pet smells

Speaking of pets…they smell. You probably don't notice since you live with them everyday, but buyers will, and it might be enough to turn them off. Deep clean the carpets and the upholstery, invest in some air fresheners, and remove cat boxes from the house for showings. The last thing you want is a potential buyer referring to your house as "the stinky one."

5. Loud dogs who bark every time someone approaches the home
One last word on pets. Barking happens, whether it's your dog or one that belongs to a neighbor. But you don't need that on the day of your open house. Offering to pay for doggie day care for a neighbor's pooch can eliminate the issue and help create the serene setting buyers want.


6. Your dead lawn
Lack of curb appeal won't necessarily kill a deal. In many cases, you won't even get potential buyers to get out of the car. If the front yard is a mess, buyers will naturally think the mess continues inside.

7. A bad agent
Face it. Not all of them are winners. If your agent is: rude, uninformed, lazy, uncommunicative, belligerent, or unwilling to take your opinions into consideration, get a new one. An agent who isn't giving their client the right type of attention probably isn't going to get the job done.

8. Your sloppiness
Those drawers and cabinets you shoved everything into when you cleaned off your kitchen and bathroom cabinets could be a deal breaker for picky buyers. We all know buyers open stuff. They look in drawers, they open cabinets, they examine closets. If these spaces are messy and overstuffed, they may assume there's not enough storage space.


9. Unreasonable sellers
Big problems in your house can be deal killers, but they can also be deal sealers, if you are reasonable. If your inspection uncovers plumbing, electrical, or roofing problems (or all three!) and you're unwilling to negotiate, you can kiss that sale goodbye.

10. Bad Taste
Your poor decorating choices and failure to keep up with trends from this year—or century—may haunt you when it's time to sell. If it's true that many buyers have no vision—and all you have to do is watch House Hunters and observe a buyer getting hung up on a paint color to know that's true—then you are really in for it with your crowded house full of ugly, outdated crap. A few simple updates can help it to look fresh and give buyers something to fall in love with.

Tips for making your home ready for sale

If you have to put your home up for sale, prepare your home as you would like to find a home when you are house hunting. For potential buyers, it just takes seconds to decide whether the house feels up to their standards or not. No one is going to give second thoughts to your home if they feel that they will have to make additional expenses towards renovation, unless, of course, you are giving away your property at throw-away prices.

Tips to Make Home Ready for Sale

Here are some tips that will immediately enhance the look of your property, and help buyers make up their mind about making it their home.

• Spruce up the Door:

A door is the first thing that people will look at. A brightly painted door immediately attracts attention and sets the tone of the house. So, get your front door painted nicely. If you are lousy at DIY, don’t do it at all – nobody likes to be welcomed with a door that has dried dripping paint on the edges.

• Lighting is Important:

Good lighting can completely transform a dull area into a warm, comforting space. If the entry to your house is via a garden, make the pathway to the front door inviting by installing lights concealed in trees or shrubs.

• Clean the Windows:

Dirty windows are easily spotted from a distance and they can mar the look of a house from the outside like nothing else. If you have casement windows, clean the edges of the sashes well. Rotten window frames are a big turn off; it is advisable that you replace them with good quality ones. You can check out products from Fenesta which is one of the best door and window manufacturers in India.

• Add Some Green:

Even if you have limited space, adding some greenery can bring life to your house. Creepers trailing up houses or main entrances are a beautiful sight to behold, and all you need is a little piece of ground to grow them. Alternatively, get some window boxes and plant ivy or a flowering creeper that will drape your house.

• Brighten up the Façade:

Re-paint your dull walls and repair damaged brickwork. Peeling plaster will scare buyers away even before they enter the house. Choose a subtle paint color for the exteriors, reserve the bright ones only for the door.

There’s something called the “curb appeal”. It’s a term that refers to the overall impression your house makes when one looks at it from outside.  Apart from the building, the impression will also be made by the surroundings around your home that also includes your neighbor’s home. So, instead of whining about their garbage cans lying helter skelter around the premise, clean them up as you would do to your own. Make sure that your lawns or gardens are not littered with leaves or covered with over-grown grass. Because when they say the first impression is the last impression, they are probably right.

Buying or Selling?  Please go to my website; http://www.joebunch.com; for powerful search tools and more real estate information.

The Three Most Important Responsibilities Buyers Have

The American dream of owning a home is something everyone should have if they want it. You should be able to live where you want and enjoy the features of your environment that help you relax, entertain, play, and do more of the things you enjoy without the restrictions imposed by a landlord.
You can own a pet, build a treehouse, paint the walls your favorite color, and play music and videos as loud as you like without disturbing your neighbors. That's the essence of the dream -- independence.

For most first-time buyers, it's better to accept that for dreams to come true, you have to do the groundwork. Yes, you will be far more independent than you would as a renter, but you will still have some very real responsibilities to make homeownership work. Here are the top three responsibilities you'll have as a homeowner.

Financial responsibilities

You owe your lender timely payments. Paying on time helps you build your credit. With great credit, you can take on more projects such as remodeling, or you'll be able to buy furniture, cars or other things you want with lower interest on your payments.

Your debts should never be more than 40 percent of your income. If you get overextended, you'll have problems meeting the minimum payments. Instead, limit the amount of credit you actively use and pay off balances every month. Don't add new charges until you've paid off your balances.

You should also be in a position to save money, which you can do several ways. You can put money in your 401K, you can pay extra on your principal every month, or you can buy bonds or invest in the stock market, according to your tolerance for risk. You can put money in a safety deposit box or under the mattress as long as you are saving rather than overspending.

Common wisdom is to build six months of cash so you can continue to make your house payments if you lose your job or become ill. You need savings for emergencies, large expenses such as student debt, and retirement.

Neighborhood responsibilities

When you buy a home, your household becomes part of the neighborhood. You can influence whether or not the neighborhood prospers or declines simply by the way you treat your neighbors and your home. It's up to you to uphold or to set a higher standard for the neighborhood by keeping your lawn and trees trimmed, your home freshly painted, and toys and trash picked up from the entry.
This is the way you can protect your investment and those of your neighbors. It's one of the reasons many neighborhoods have homeowners associations -- to protect values by standardizing safety and maintenance for the community.

To get the benefits the HOA provides such as higher and consistent home values, you have to pay your dues and obey the covenants. You can volunteer to help or you'll have to abide by the decisions others make. Before you buy a home in a HOA-managed community, read the covenants so you'll know what you're getting into. If not being able to use certain exterior paint colors bothers you, then don't buy the home. Find something else.

Household responsibilities
You owe yourself and the other members of your household the best life you can possibly provide. Buying a new home is a great time to step up your lifestyle and enjoy what your new home and the community has to offer.

Your home should help you be who you want to be. That's the purpose of shaping your environment. You have control over whether you entertain like Martha Stewart, paint in your studio like the next Picasso, or grow a lawn as sleek as the Augusta fairways.

Choose a home that meets as many needs as you can within your means. Separate bedrooms for the kids may be doable, but you may have to compromise on a Jack and Jill shared bath. This is an excellent opportunity to teach your older children about prioritizing, delayed gratification, give and take and winning and losing gracefully.

Make sure the area you select offers amenities that your building doesn't have. If you don't have a yard for the kids and the dog, make sure there's a park and playground nearby.
Think about how far and how long it will take you to get to shopping, work, and other friends and family. Think about how a long commute will affect your family. Would you rather be sitting in traffic or attending your son's ball game?

You and your spouse may want the prestige of living in a certain area, but if your house-payment is too high, you'll introduce problems into the relationship you don't need. It's about making choices that make sense. Better to buy a smaller home in a great neighborhood and keep the arguing down.
Buy the best home you can that's within your means and it will see you through years of comfort.

Interested in Buying or Selling a Home??  Go to my website, http://www.joebunch.com, for more information about Real Estate.

How Important is Square Footage??

MLSs use it. Insurers use it. Appraisers use it. Tax Assessors use it. When it comes to real estate, there's no avoiding square footage as a measure of any home's value.
But how much is square footage worth to you as a homebuyer? Knowing the square footage can be helpful, but it shouldn't be the main tool to determine your offer price.


Square footage measurements aren't exact, nor are they taken the same way by every person. For example, your local tax assessor or appraiser may determine square footage by measuring the outside of the house. A real estate professional, on the other hand, typically counts only indoor living space to determine square footage.

Real estate listings for single-family homes do not include square footage for covered "outdoor" spaces, including porches, verandas, balconies and porte-cocheres. Yet, in high-rise buildings, square footage quotes often include balconies.

Further, some elements such as stairways and closet spaces are also open to interpretation. If you're buying a home with a two-story foyer, is that foyer space also counted on the second floor?
Another measure that's subjective is the price per square foot, which is determined by the number of square feet divided into the price of the home.

High-end homes with expensive materials such as granite countertops and finishes such as hardwood floors tend to have a much higher price per square foot than more affordable homes. But what if those high-end features are 20 years old, and you're comparing them to other similar homes in the area that are brand new?
Hallways, landings and stairs can add hundreds of square feet to any home, but is that space really livable? An open floor plan may have smaller square footage, but be much more pleasant to live than a larger home with too much space allocated to getting from one room to another.

All this means that valuations based on square footage are and should be somewhat subjective.
If you're confused about what you are paying per square foot for your next home, ask your real estate professional how the home was measured for the listing and compare it to local tax roll data you can find. If there is a bank appraisal, you can ask the appraiser how the square footage was determined.

Five Ways Bargain Hunting For Homes Can Backfire

It's natural to want to save money when you're making a purchase as large as a home. You want to buy the best home in the best neighborhood at the best price, and to do that, you may think you have to shop in the bargain bin.

FSBOs (for sale by owner,) foreclosures, and short sales aren't as plentiful as equity listed homes -- homes listed with a real estate agent by the seller. You may even scour the MLS (multiple listing service) for signs of desperate sellers, such as homes priced AS-IS, or homes that have been on the market for months.


While some people are successful buying a bargain basement home, you may not be so fortunate, if you put price first. Here are five ways a low price can backfire on you:

The home doesn't suit your needs. A home is a good buy only if it suits your family's needs for space, features, comfort, and function. If you buy a home without enough bedrooms or baths, it's not as comfortable or functional.

A bad fit costs you later. To get out of a home that's too small, too old, or too far from where you need to be, you'll likely to pay more in transaction costs to sell the home and buy another than if you'd chosen more wisely in the first place.

Bargains are rare. If a home is priced lower than others in the area, there's a reason. Sometimes bank-owned home will appear to be a bargain compared to other similar nearby homes, but you may notice a real difference in the way it's been maintained. It's not much of a bargain if you find out that all the appliances have been stolen or all the copper wiring has been pulled out of the walls.

The home needs updating. A home priced below market value usually requires expensive repairs or updates. Are you willing to perform the work or pay someone else to do the work? Any remodeling you do will be at today's prices. Before you buy, get a home inspection and then talk to professionals who can help you bring the home up to today's standards.

You lose ground trying to lowball the seller. Just as you want the home you buy to appreciate in value, sellers purchased their homes as investments, too. They want to net as much as possible, because they've already taken on the risks of buying and maintaining a home. That makes sellers less willing to negotiate on homes that are well priced and well maintained.

If a home has been on the market for a long time without a price reduction, there's usually a good reason. You have an unmotivated, unrealistic, or upside-down seller, any of which could waste your time unmercifully.

An unmotivated or unrealistic seller simply won't negotiate to your level. For example, for-sale-by-owner homes are typically priced the same as listed homes, even though the sellers aren't paying real estate agent commissions, including for your agent, if you have one. Why would you pay the seller not to represent your interests?

Furthermore, a bank foreclosure or bank-approved short sale could take months to close. What if interest rates go up before you close? You may get the home at a bargain price, but the savings could evaporate in higher interest payments.

Right now, home prices are still below previous market highs. Mortgage interest rates are hovering near historic lows. And inventory levels are improving in most areas.

Under these circumstances, you're buying a home at a bargain already. The best strategy for today is not to try to beat the seller down, but to offer a fair price for the home you think is best for your household