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Tips for Preparing Your House For Sale

Highlights: The top goal is to sell the home for the best price possible! There are many small projects that you can do to ensure this happens! Your real estate agent will have a list of specific suggestions for getting your house ready for marke

Source: Tips for Preparing Your House For Sale [INFOGRAPHIC] | Real Estate with Norberto Villanueva

Valuating the home for sale

A Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) makes adjustments to the home for sale as compared to others sold or list price based on differences in amenities. Keep in mind, ranch style homes have the highest resale value of all floor plans.

Pricing the home for sale

After filtering for distressed and non-arms length transactions, the CMA will provide a range of market values. Contrary to popular belief, pricing the home for sale at or below value actually shortens time on market. In the competitive seller’s market we find ourselves, it also has a tendency to create bidding wars. Conversely, pricing the home for sale too high may end with a property stigmatized by excessive time on market, negatively affecting perceived value and price.

Once determined, adjust the home for sale’s value according to condition, upgrades, style and appeal. This is crucial, because the assumption is that it is as good if not better than the homes used in comparison. Failure to do so will either price the property too high, resulting in a longer time on market or too low, leaving money on the table.

Selling the home

Ensure the buyer is qualified with a lender letter for financed offers, proof of funds for cash ones or a combination of the two as appropriate. Look for any concessions being requested and how they affect the bottom line. Sometimes a low ball, cash offer is actually better than a full priced financed offer which may take 45 days or more to close, resulting in additional mortgage, insurance, utilities and other monthly holding costs of the home for sale.

Don’t be the fool

“He who represents himself has a fool for a client” – Abraham Lincoln

There’s a reason 70% of all real estate transactions happen through a licensed broker. Prepared with tools such as a MLS and its thousands of member brokers, net sheets, contracts and more, getting a licensed, experienced broker on your team is most likely to result in receiving the highest price in the shortest amount of time for the home.

Thanks for reading.

14,767 Homes Sold Yesterday…Did Yours?

There are some homeowners that have been waiting for months to get a price they hoped for when they originally listed their house for sale. The only thing they might want to consider is… If it hasn’t sold yet, maybe it’s not priced properly.After all, 14,767 houses sold yesterday, 14,7

Source: 14,767 Homes Sold Yesterday… Did Yours? | Real Estate with Norberto Villanueva

Atlas Real Estate Group has many homes sold, with thousands of transactions worth hundreds of millions under our burgeoning belts.  Atlas professionals are experts at valuating, selling and managing investment real estate from Phoenix to Detroit and all along the Front Range.

Learn the secrets to our success at the next Real Estate Investment Hour on September 20th in Colorado Springs.

Seating is limited! Please RSVP here: http://bit.ly/2ctdsLH

Real Estate Inventory Shortage Increases Demand

Two weeks ago, we posted a blog which explained that current increases in home prices were the result of the well-known concept of supply & demand and should not lead to conversations of a new housing bubble. Today, we want to look at home prices as compared to current incomes.

Source: Further Proof This Isn’t a Housing Bubble | Keeping Current Matters

Is it a Buyer’s or Seller’s Market?

In a balanced market, one that is neither in favor of buyers or sellers, there is six – seven months of inventory. In a buyer’s market, the amount of inventory is higher resulting in a market that leans in favor of buyers because they have more choices. Conversely, when the amount of inventory is lower the market leans in favor of sellers because buyers have fewer choices. Of course, this we call a seller’s market.

Absorption Rate

According to our friends at Investopedia.com, absorption rate “is the rate at which available homes are sold in a specific real estate market during a given time period”.PPAR Homes for Sale Feb 2016

To calculate this, you divide the number of days in a time frame (30 days) by the number of sold listings in that time (1,150) to get the number of homes sold per day. This number includes all single family, town and patio homes and condos. Then, you multiply that number by the number of active listings (2,033) to get the absorption rate.

Take a look at the graph to the right, which shows a tremendous drop in inventory from July 2015 – February 2016.

As of this writing, in the Colorado Springs market there is less than two months of inventory, 53 days to be exact meaning, we are definitely in a seller’s market and have been for quite sometime, along with the entire nation for the most part.

Supply and Demand

PPAR AvMedian Feb 2016Economic principles are such that prices are determined in great part by scarcity meaning, the less of something, the higher its price and real estate is no exception as we see home prices rising steadily in many parts of the country.

To illustrate this in the Colorado Springs market, median prices, that point at which exactly half are higher and half are lower than a set data point, have risen roughly 6.25% from Feb 2015 – Feb 2016 where the average home price has risen even higher to just about 8.2%.

This is called appreciation, which is just one of the many reasons to invest in real estate as opposed to other investment vehicles, such as deposit accounts, CD’s, mutual funds, etc., and certainly cars, big screen TV’s and the like.

RE ROI

Are We There Yet?

Though climbing due to market conditions, also consider that with interest rates at historic lows, the dream of home ownership is a reality for more consumers, even with the tighter lending restrictions that came about as a result of the market crash, though it is not unheard of for even those with challenged credit to still qualify for a home loan.

So, is now a good time to buy? A good time to sell? Yes!

On the one hand, buyers that are willing and able AKA qualified, and keep in mind qualified is a relative term, are well advised to heed the urgency of now to take the plunge into home ownership. And why not? Prices are rising, meaning now is the time to “buy low and sell high” as they say and take advantage of appreciation all while their affordability is maximized due to the current low-interest rate environment which may change in the future.

On the other, sellers have a unique value proposition: there aren’t that many of them around! This means their product (homes) are at a premium that if priced right can sell in days, sometimes hours and many times for more than their asking price!

Thanks for reading.

A trade name of Norberto Villanueva, the Axiom Realty Team at Equity Colorado is a REALTOR member in good standing of the Pikes Peak, Colorado and National Association of REALTORS, holds an Employing Broker level license and is a former REALTIST member of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers. Certified as a Short Sale and Foreclosure Resource (SFR) and a Real Estate Owned (REO) specialist, he focuses on win-win-win solutions or none at all, offering expert analysis, acquisition, disposition and specialty finance consultation for retail buyers and sellers as well as private and institutional investors alike.
Contact the Axiom Realty Team at Equity Colorado for all your real estate investment needs by using the contact form found in the lower right of this page.
We are the ART of Real Estate and look forward to serving you.

Real Estate 101: What Documents Do You Need to Buy a House

Stop wondering “What do you need to buy a house?” and assemble the necessary documents, from paychecks and your driver’s license to a pre-approval letter.

Source: What Do You Need to Buy a House: 19 Documents to Have – Real Estate 101 – Trulia Blog

Don’t Go It Alone

Buyer beware also applies to sellers who buy into the notion they can save money by selling their home by owner (FSBO). First, National Association of REALTOR statistics show only 8% of completed home sales through November 2015 were completed by owner and of those, 38% knew the buyer. This is important because time is money, meaning the homes that did not sell often end up being listed with a REALTOR anyway after much time on the market.

Given the title of this article, you might be wondering why there is so much about selling implications. To state the obvious, every buy-side has a sell-side of the transaction, to which there are many legal implications which many FSBO sites and service providers will not guide you on since they may not be a licensed broker. Ignorance is no excuse, and overlooking even the slightest detail or disclosure can cause significant hassle or financial loss to the unsuspecting seller.

Conway-Bogue

Helping HandIn a landmark case, Conway-Bogue Realty Investment Co. v. Denver Bar Ass’n, 135 Colo. 398, 312 P.2d 998 (1957), the Supreme Court ruled that real estate licensees are allowed the practice of law insofar as helping their clients interpret and complete the extensive documents, forms and processes involved in a legal real estate transaction. This is important because misinterpreting or completing these forms can cost a lot money and the cost of hiring an attorney to help with the process can really add up. Not to mention, the average person rarely completes more than one or two of them in a lifetime as opposed to the licensee who will complete many times that in the normal course of their career. All in all, the commission earned on the contingency of a sale is money well spent.

A trade name of Norberto Villanueva, the Axiom Realty Team at Fathom Realty is a REALTOR member in good standing of the Pikes Peak, Colorado and National Association of REALTORS, holds an Employing Broker level license and is a former REALTIST member of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers. Certified as a Short Sale and Foreclosure Resource (SFR) and a Real Estate Owned (REO) specialist, we focus on win-win-win solutions or none at all, offering expert analysis, acquisition, disposition and specialty finance consultation for retail buyers and sellers as well as private and institutional investors alike.
Contact the Axiom Realty Team at Fathom Realty for all your real estate investment needs by using the contact form found in the lower right of this page.
We are the ART of Real Estate and look forward to serving you.

Energy Efficiency Assistance

Dollarphotoclub_72894076 - energy efficiency small

Energy Efficiency Assistance

As an incentive for new and existing homeowners to buy homes with high energy efficiency ratings or make upgrades (furnace, insulation levels, windows, etc.) to an existing home, the state of Colorado is offering up to $8,000!Dollarphotoclub_81671951 - Down Payment Assistance

Qualifications

  • New or existing homes (existing homeowners OK)
  • Lender must reserve the incentive amount before closing
  • Energy upgrades completed within 120 days of purchase

Additional Down Payment Assistance Programs

There are hundreds, if not thousands of extra programs that help with adapting homes for folks with disabilities, down payment. closing and other costs. Check them all out here!

Return On Investment (ROI)

 

RE ROIReturn on Investment (ROI)

According to Investopedia, ROI measures the amount of return on an investment relative to the investment’s cost. To calculate return on investment, the return of an investment is divided by its cost with the result expressed as a percentage:

ROI

Real Estate ROI PPAR Average_Median Sales Price Chart dec 2015

Compared to precious metals (silver, gold), stocks and bonds, at 6.8% real estate provides the highest ROI on a national scale. Not to be confused with ROI, consider the Pikes Peak market saw a 8% increase in average sales prices from December 2014 – December 2015.

Make Money When You Buy

Not that it is risk free, but with variables such as appreciation, comparative property values, income history and such accounted for with relative certainty, in real estate it is said the money is made at the time of purchase, not so much at its sale. It is no wonder more millionaires have been made in real estate than anywhere else and with careful analysis, you could be the next!

Hot PropertiesWith access to every home listed in the area, we analyze and maintain a database of properties sold as-is which include short sales, estate sales and bank owned properties available at all times. Just click the image to the left for your free download.

Thanks for reading. We look forward to serving your current or future real estate needs.

Sell Your House For More

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Every homeowner wants to make sure they maximize the financial reward when selling their home. But, how do you guarantee that you receive greatest value for your house? Here are two keys to insuring you get the highest price possible. 1. Price it a LITTLE LOW. This may seem counterintuitive…

Source: Sell Your House For More

Sell Your House – Fall 2015

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With our incredible guide to selling your house, you will learn expert strategies that will help sell your home faster and for more profit including:

  • Five reasons it really is a good idea to sell in the fall
  • The importance of using an agent
  • Pricing it to sell from the beginning
  • And more!

Don’t miss out on one of the last opportunities we’ll have this year to sell your house. Download your free guide today!

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