Are you a reasonable home seller? In some metro Atlanta real estate markets, supply and demand has reached equilibrium and in some cases, a seller’s market. As noted in a previous post, many Atlanta home buyers are finding that the news headlines bear no resemblance to the real world. Many micro markets, mainly north from Atlanta between I-75 and I-85 and up the 400 corridor are bucking the bloody national reputation Atlanta real estate presently carries; homes are selling at or near list (some over) and buyers are found in quantity.
Price it correctly. What is a house worth? The two most scrutinized and altered aspects of the post-crash real estate industry have been mortgages and appraisals. Agents have been cackling incessantly about appraisers “killing deals”, that’s most likely due to ignorance of the appraisal process but it can’t be disputed that contract prices have been running ahead of appraised values over the last couple of years. Problems are occurring so ensure that the listing agent completes a prelisting analysis that focuses on COMPARABLE CLOSED SALES. Look at the home objectively and as an appraiser will, the closed sales are what matter to underwriters and consequently, to appraisers.
Expose the listing to agents AND buyers. The exponential growth of the internet has made the average home buyer a pseudo agent; buyers routinely bring potential homes to agents as often as agents bring them to buyers. Any listing MUST be exceptionally well presented to those searching buyers. Social media sites, public real estate sites, email newsletters, blogs, agent sites, company sites and naturally all MLS systems must be exploited to the maximum advantage. Its mind blowing to see how many agents present their listings; poor or missing photos, no custom narratives, inaccurate information…..A buyer will stick around a few seconds on a listing; if there’s not something to capture their attention they are gone.
No deferred maintenance is best. Gone are the days of “allowances” in contracts, underwriters will consider these incentives or kick backs and reject the loan. Sellers should prepare their homes so they are in “move in” condition, these will typically attract the most buyers. If your home needs work it also needs a buyer with the financial assets to do them AFTER closing, many buyers don’t feel like dishing out money after closing. Add to that the inability to refinance soon after purchase; meaning that money spent on routine updating is likely to remain in the home. Of course there is a segment of buyers always looking for projects, but a seller needs to understand that the cost of the work required will be reflected in the offer price.
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