SELL THAT HOUSE: SET UP FINANCING

Many people start to search for a home to buy before they review their finances.  It sounds a bit odd when you consider that buying a house may be the biggest investment that one makes in a lifetime.  Some of these shoppers will state that they will seek financing once they find a home that they like.  They figure that if a lender pulls their credit that it will reduce their credit score and if they do not find a house right away, then a lender will pull their credit again which will reduce it even further.  Also, the price  of homes may be going up or down and interest rates may be going up or down, which would make it difficult to determine just what they really could afford at any given time in the future.  These excuses miss the point.  Reviewing one's finances and talking with a lender can give one an idea as to a range of prices which are reasonable for them to add to their budgets.  Nonetheless, these potential buyers are out there and they may be looking at your house.  Maybe they can and maybe they can not afford your house.  If they like your house, you could then wait for them to go through the financing approval process or you could provide that support upfront.  There are lenders who are willing to work with home sellers to provide financing options and prequalification services to potential buyers.  The lender uses it as a source of leads.  Even those buyers who do not buy your house may want to use this lender for their eventual mortgage.  However, if this lender prepares various financing options for purchasing your house, then your house becomes that much easier for any given buyer to purchase, since you, through the efforts of the lender, have done some of the work for them.  If this is done well, then the financing options will be prepared which most likely meets the needs of the buyers who are most likely to be interested in your house.  For instance, is your house near a military base, which may bring more buyers who may be able to use a VA loan, or is it in a neighborhood where the prices are best suited for an FHA loan, or perhaps it is in an area which has several closing cost and down payment assistance programs available.  A good lender along with a knowledgeable real estate agent can help to put a set of options together based upon your particular house.  Sometimes, even the most beautiful house needs extra efforts to make it sell.  We can sit around and wonder why our wonderful home is not selling or we can take the extra efforts.

Contact Ron Trzcinski of Zenith Realty at 410-935-5844 for more information on this topic.