6 THINGS HOME SELLERS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT TODAY’S MARKET

Описание: The internet and the past housing crash has changed the way homes are sold and bought today. If you’re getting ready to sell your home or in the process of selling your home, here are some things you need to understand about today’s home buyers.

1. Today’s Home Buyers are Informed
The internet has made it easy to access information about the real estate market. Home Buyers can and will find out what you paid for your home and when you bought it. They can also find out about the costs of any permitted upgrades or repairs made. They will know what similar homes have sold for. With so much information at their fingertips, they will avoid your home if you over-price it.

2. Don’t Rely on Computer Generated Home Values When Pricing Your Home
Home buyers are likely to check the online estimates of your home’s value. Unfortunately, the information they are viewing is very seldom accurate. One of the most popular real estate portals comes within $20K of the final sales price less than half the time.


The snap shot is from the portals website and can be seen at: https://i0.wp.com/www.homesellerhomeb...

You should never rely on the computer generated values for your list price. These values are high as often as they are low. Have your agent show you the comparables for your home. Take a look at the photos of the comparables to see how they compare to the condition of your home. Adjust the price of your home to compensate for differences in condition and upgrades. How does your location compare? Does your home back up to a busy street or does it have a view that adds to its value? Your price may differ from the guestimate home buyers see online. Your agent will need to point out how they arrived at the value and why it is more accurate than the guestimate.

3. Today’s Buyers Don’t Waste Time at Open Houses – They Shop Online on the Internet
30 years ago, home buyers visited open houses. In those days, they looked at newspaper classifieds to find out about new listings and open houses or their agent looked in the BOOK which all agents had to know what homes were for sale or under contract. This information may have been updated weekly or monthly. Times have changed, now agents have information updated hourly or sometimes in even less time than that so the information is kept updated almost like a live streaming show. Some agents can send information to home buyers on an AS SOON AS POSSIBLE system so that whenever changes are made to a property that information can be sent to the home buyers that the agent is working with.

As Realtors, holding an open house can be an opportunity to meet home buyers who are just starting to look and haven’t committed to a buyer’s agent. We can meet the neighbors who stop by who may be thinking of listings their homes. Holding an open house can provide feedback for what the visitors think of a home. We seldom find serious buyers who are ready to “buy now” at an open house.

The serious buyers look at listings online. They schedule appointments for their agent to show them the ones they like. When hiring the agent that is going to list your home, confirm that they will provide professional quality photographs, include information about your home for home buyers to preview and that they include all the particulars possible about your home. Home buyers screen which homes they view by the photos, If they only see a few of the exterior, they assume there’s something wrong with the interior, then they review the information and description supplied about the home. Home buyers schedules are busy and they won’t take time to see your home if it doesn’t look appealing. Top Realtors are now moving beyond providing just photographs, a video of your home can highlight areas not visible on the photographs. This is especially useful for out of area buyers.

4. Home Buyers Have More Difficulty Getting Mortgage Approval
If you purchased a home before the housing market peaked, you may have sailed through the mortgage process. At one point, buyers could get mortgage approval based on “stated income” and with “zero down”. Getting a mortgage isn’t so easy in today’s market. The most qualified buyers may have to dig through tons of paperwork before getting their final loan approval.

Your Realtor needs to confirm that buyers have been approved by a reputable lender. It’s easy to go online and get a “Pre-qualification” letter.

A mortgage pre-qualification can be best described as a prediction on the amount a buyer can borrow. In many cases, a pre-qualification is only as good as the piece of paper it is written on. Many lenders will ask a potential borrower about their incomes, debts, and other assets and use what they are told to issue a pre-qualification. Some lenders will pull a credit report b