The most common days for real estate closings are Fridays and the last working day of the month.
Here were the most popular days in 2014:
•June 30th (Monday)
•May 30th (Friday)
•August 29th (Friday)
•April 30th (Wednesday)
•July 31st (Thursday)
As you can see from the list, the spring and summer months are the most popular.
Source: National Association of REALTORS®
Using an agent can net you 13% more studies have shown: FSBO $208K versus agent assisted $235K.
How do buyers look for a house: 88% search on-line, 21% newspaper ads.
How do buyers find the house they buy: 43% on-line, 9% yard sign, 1% newspaper.
Here are the people that you’ll have to negotiate with to sell your house: the buyer, the buyer’s agent, the buyer’s lender, the inspection company, the appraiser, the title company, plus possibly others.
Before you decide to take on the challenges of selling your house on your own, sit down with a real estate professional to see what they have to offer you.
Source: Keeping Matters Current
•Don’t overprice – This will only lead to disappointment and your house will get “market worn”.
•Take care of needed renovations – In today’s market most buyers are looking for a move-in ready home and not a fixer upper.
•Make sure general maintenance is done – Taking care of the details will help your home to shine and stand out from the crowd.
•Remove the clutter – Pick-up and clean-up. You want your home to have a clean and spacious feel for the prospective buyers.
•Leave for showings – Buyers will feel more comfortable looking at your home if your not around, plus you will not be put on the spot with questions that you might handle differently if asked through your agent.
•Remove the clutter – put small things away
•Brighten areas up with light – open drapes and blinds, add lighting
•Re-purpose rooms – add some new furniture and paint
•Vary wall hangings – try different groupings
•Bring nature inside – add plants and fresh cut flowers
•Group in threes – odd numbers are preferred when grouping accessories
•Give areas a face lift – add new counter tops or cabinet doors if dated
•Add some color – paint with warm tans, honeys and soft blue-greens
•Beware of layout – pay close attention to the traffic flow of each room
•Clean – this is the cheapest and easiest way to improve the look of your home
Leading Real Estate Companies of the World® is a network of over 500 of the very best real estate firms that are located in nearly 50 countries. These firms have 3,500 offices with 120,000 sales associates. In 2013 these firms had sales of $314 billion dollars representing over one million transactions, which placed Leading Real Estate Companies of the World® #1 in sales volume in the United States.
Sales volume numbers for 2013 were as follows:
Leading Real Estate Companies of the World® – $314 billion
Coldwell Banker – $267 billion
Re/Max – $221 billion
Keller Williams – $131 billion
Century 21 – $122 billion
Prudential – $114 billion
Berkshire Hathaway Home Services – $80 billion
Real Living – $44 billion
Sotheby’s International Realty – $28 billion
ERA – $22 billion
Realty Executives – $19 billion
Better Homes & Gardens – $12 billion
Firms affiliated with Leading Real Estate Companies of the World® can offer sellers global exposure of their home in addition to strong marketing expertise at the local level. Leading Real Estate Companies of the World® has the resources to market your property to the highest possible number of potential buyers. With 120,000 talented associates around the world, they expose your property to buyers on six continents ensuring more eyes are on your property. In addition they receive inbound clients from other affiliates around the globe who are interested in purchasing a home.
If you are looking for the best real estate firm to sell your home, then you need to consider a firm that’s affiliated with Leading Real Estate Companies of the World®.
Source: Leading Real Estate Companies of the World®
The NAR 2013 Profile of Homebuyers and Sellers gives some key insight into what today’s typical seller is thinking when it comes time to move.
97% – Recent sellers typically sold their house for this percentage of the listing price.
88% – Sellers that were assisted by a real estate agent when selling their home.
59% – Purchased a newer home than they’d owned previously.
47% – Reported that they reduced the asking price at least once.
36% – Sellers that offered incentives to attract buyers.
13% – Sellers that had to delay or stall selling their home because the value of their home was worth less than their mortgage.
A recent independent poll commissioned by Discover Home Loans provides insight into how consumers use technology in the real estate buying and selling process, and how they view it as a resource. A few key findings point out how much consumers use technology for real estate activities:
93% – technology allowed them to do things remotely
92% – technology helped them save time
90% – reported an overall positive experience when using technology
89% – used some form of technology to help them with the home buying process
83% – technology helped them to stay organized
47% – technology helped them to save money
64% – Quality of neighborhood
58% – Convenient to job
42% – Overall affordability of homes
36% – Convenient to friends or family
32% – Convenient to entertainment / leisure activities
29% – Convenient to shopping
27% – Convenient to parks / recreational facilities
26% – Design of neighborhood
20% – Convenient to schools
19% – Quality of school district
12% – Convenient to health facilities
8% – Availability of larger lots or acreage
7% – Convenient to airport
5% – Other
4% – Home in a planned community
Source: NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®, 2013 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers
This information was obtained from an annual survey that was conducted by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. Here are the highlights from the latest report:
•Thirty-three percent of recent home buyers were first time buyers.
•For 43 percent of the home buyers, the first step in the home-buying process was looking online for properties.
•Ninty-two percent of buyers used the internet in some way in their home search.
•Real estate agents were viewed as a useful information source by 98 percent of the buyers who used an agent while searching for a home.
•Seventy percent of home sellers only contacted one agent before selecting the one to assist with their home sale.
•The share of home sellers who sold their home without the assistance of a real estate agent was nine percent.
Source: NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®
These terms are handy to know terms when you are involved in either buying or selling real estate:
Disclosure Statements
These are most often prepared by the person selling a property. They can include a property condition disclosure, a lead based paint disclosure (for properties built prior to 1978), and a septic disclosure to name a few. You should ask for copies prior to preparing a written offer.
Good Faith Estimate
A lender is required to provide a borrower this document at loan application. It provides the borrower a breakdown of their loan costs, closing costs and downpayment required. It also gives an estimate of the total monthly payment. The numbers from the Good Faith Estimate and the closing statement should align fairly close, if not you should ask questions.
MIP
This stands for Mortgage Insurance Premium. If your obtaining a mortgage with a loan to value greater than 80%, then the lender will require mortgage insurance in most cases. The premium is usually paid as part of your monthly house payment. For some loan programs a portion of the premium is collected when the loan is funded.
Lien
This is a claim by someone or a company on a property, usually for money owed. In Tennesse a Deed of Trust is filed with the Register of Deeds in the county where the property is located. This document reflects the terms of the loan, and is a matter of public record.
Buyer’s Market
This is a a term used when the market is in the buyer’s favor. The buyer usually has the advantage when it comes to negotiations. A buyer’s market occurs when there are more homes for sale than there are buyers to purchase them, thus forcing sellers to me more aggressive with pricing. Usually homes take in excess of six months to sell in this type of market.
Seller’s Market
This term is used when there are not enough homes available for the number of buyers looking to purchase. This environment gives the seller the advantage when it comes to negotiations. In this type of market you will see home prices on the rise as many properties will receive multiple offers. In this kind of market, homes that are priced right and in good condition may only be on the market for a few weeks.