Marketing your home in Spokane's Tough Market :)

You need to sell your home as quickly as possible and for top dollar. But the only buyers in the market seem to be bottom-fishers who want to snap up a bank-owned property at a substantial discount. How can you sell your home when you're surrounded by foreclosures?

Foreclosures have been on the rise,  in all neighborhoods, regardless of the socio-economic status.

Sellers don't have as many options in a strong buyer's market, but there are some tactics that can tip the balance between a sold home and what Realtors call a "stale listing," which refers to a home that has been on the market so long that buyers have become suspicious as to why no one has bought it.

TIP #1

CALL ME!  :) Seriously.  I am very good at selling homes.  509-230-4153 ( see I'm marketing to you right now LOL)

On an educational note, however  you should understand that foreclosed homes, which are often referred to as real-estate-owned, or REO, aren't all the same and consequently don't all have the same impact on nearby homes that are for sale.

It's helpful to divide foreclosure properties into three groups

• "Pre-foreclosures" are homes on which the owner has fallen behind on the mortgage or which have already been taken back by the lender, but haven't yet been placed on the market.

• "Auction foreclosures" are bank-owned homes that will be sold on the auction block. Auctions historically have been dominated by small numbers of experienced investors, but these days individual homebuyers also may be found at auctions.

• "Listed foreclosures" are bank-owned homes that have been listed for sale with a local realty broker. Oftentimes, these homes will be described in the local multiple-listings service, or MLS, as "bank-owned" or "lender-owned."

Banks that own foreclosed homes, asset managers that oversee those homes for the banks and Realtors who list those homes for sale may all have information about pre-foreclosures, but this market is very fragmented, so "all they would know about would be the property in their own inventory.

Auction foreclosures typically aren't included in the MLS because they aren't listed for sale with a broker. However, the sales prices of these homes may be obtained after the auction through tax records.  (BTW:  watch out for scams here...lots of sites ask for your credit card number to give you a "magic" list of golden dgg forclosures.  Magic just isn't real folks  :)

Listed foreclosures can be tough competition for owner-occupied homes because banks and asset managers usually are more willing to negotiate prices than the typical homeowner would be. That's especially true today, since banks have more REOs on their books, and they don't want to pay the costs to maintain and manage those properties.

Home sellers should be aware of auction properties even though they may not be directly comparable because of their poor condition or lack of wide exposure to the market.  The best way to do this is to work with a bright, shiny, happy real estate agent with a brain.  (Once again my number is (509)230-4153  :)

I look forward to hearing from you soon!  Have a great day!