Time For Spring Cleaning For Spring Sales
It’s winter, time to hang the “For Sale” sign.
Homeowners shouldn’t dally if they want to sell their houses in spring, the peak season for real-estate transactions, real-estate agents say.
“If they know they want to move by summer, now is not too early to bring somebody in,” said Barbara Nowak, an agent with Long & Foster in Burke, Va.
Now — not when the tulips are in bloom — is the time to start decluttering, cleaning, making repairs, getting paperwork together and interviewing real-estate agents.
10 Reasons Why Your House Is Unsellable
O.K. maybe your house isn’t next to a cemetery but here’s a list of the big no-no’s, the relics that make a house unsellable:
Small houses
Small is not the new big I’m afraid, at least not yet anyway. People like to have space to live in and a very small house can deal a serious blow to your possible asking price. If you can’t afford to physically increase the size of your house, you need to do everything possible to make it look bigger.
How to Cut Your Home Energy Bill
Already, many parts of the country are facing severe winter weather, although the season began only recently. And with average heating costs across the nation spiking about 11% over last winter’s, the Alliance to Save Energy recommends energy-efficiency measures to help consumers cut home energy bills, increase indoor comfort, and reduce power plant emissions that contribute to climate change.
“This winter, U.S. consumers face heating costs of close to $1,000,” noted Alliance President Kateri Callahan. “Further, total 2008 home energy costs for U.S. households are projected at close to $2,200. That’s a huge bite out of the family budget. But consumers can reduce those costs by up to 30 percent, and even more in some cases, with simple yet effective energy-efficiency measures.”
Best and Worst Places for a Home Inspection
Below are ASHI’s 2007 rankings of state regulations governing the home inspection industry from best to worst:
1. Louisiana
2. New Jersey
3. Arizona
4. Texas
5. Massachusetts
6. Connecticut/North Carolina
8. Arkansas
9. Indiana
10. Rhode Island/West Virginia
12. South Dakota/Tennessee
14. Mississippi
15. Virginia
16. Wisconsin
17. Oklahoma
18. Kentucky
19. Alaska/Illinois
21. Alabama/Oregon/New York
24. Maryland
25. Nevada
26. Florida
27. Pennsylvania
28. South Carolina
29. Montana
30. North Dakota
31. Georgia
32. California
Note: Rankings are based upon the overall grading of states with existing laws regulating home inspectors where “1” indicates the best ranking “32” indicates the poorest ranking.
7 Tips for Selling a Home Faster
1. Don’t overprice your property. According to a 2002 academic study of 3,490 California listings, homes without a price reduction sold for 97 percent of the initial list price, whereas homes with a price reduction sold for 88 percent of the initial list price.
2. Set your price to show up in Web searches. A September 2007 Redfin study analyzed how online search filters affect traffic to a listing. Because real estate sites filter on price in $25,000 or $50,000 increments, listings priced at or below these thresholds — $250,000 rather than $251,000, or $325,000 rather than $326,000 — get as much as 7.1 percent more online visits.
Three Tips For First-Time Homebuyers
If you are considering buying your first home, here are some great pieces of advice to follow when setting out:
Understand the lingo. Do your best to obtain general knowledge about the homebuying process and the real estate market. Your REALTOR® can be an invaluable asset to you when starting out. You might also look into taking a homebuyer education course; at your local Department of Housing and Community Affairs offers classes around the state.