Archive for the ‘marketing your home’ Category
Neighbor’s Eyesore Home Stops a Sale
The appearance of nearby and neighboring homes absolutely affects a homeowners’ abililty to sell their property. Even if your home is the gem and pride of the neighborhood, buyers will be turned off if you live next door to an eyesore.
Problems with neglected, abandoned property and homes that have fallen into disrepair has escalated since the economic meltdown.
Why 6 recommends that sellers take action by placing a friendly call to the homeowner, explain they are trying to sell their home and ask them clean up their property. Or, if it’s appropriate, a seller can offer to clean up unsightly messes themselves. If a phone call fails to resolve the concern, contact local code enforcement officials or homeowners associations to find out if there is a code violation. If so, file a compliant.
A shabby run down home devalues every home near it. It’s your neighborhood. Step Up!!
Thank you for visiting Why6Percent.com. Place a Property listing on your local MLS, Realtor.com and all major real estate sites for $399…why pay 6 percent????
10 Tips for Open House Weekend!
Open House Strategies for Success
- Set the Stage. Mow, clean, store and pack. Open the windows and pull back the drapes. Turn on the lights and light a few candles.
- Consider taking your pet to a neighbor or pet sitter during your Open House.
- Use a sign-in notebook to record contact information and invite comments and feedback.
- Ask a mortgage company to assist you in holding an open house. Many local companies provide an on-site lending officer to assist buyers in calculating payments and exploring financing options.
- Consider calling your local title company to see if they offer assistance to sellers holding open houses. Most of these companies offer a variety of free, helpful assistance, often including food, signage, advertising, etc…
- It is best to keep your Open House an adult only event. Consider arranging for your children to be away during your Open House.
- Don’t crowd the attendee’s or become their tour guide. Greet each visitor at the door and be available to answer any questions they might have, but stay in the background. Encourage the buyers to tour on their own and at their own pace. Make every effort to insure that each person is at ease. Allow them the privacy and time they need to discover all features of your home that interest them.
- Place small items, such as jewelry and medications, in a safe place during your Open House. Theft and stealing are very rare, but do occur occasionally in some areas. Safekeeping a few items will give you peace of mind and will assist you in your effort to Stage and Show your home.
- Be prepared for comments that you may not appreciate and try to not go on the defensive. You are selling, but remember buyers are buying. Remain composed when hurtful comments are made about your décor, price, neighbors, floorplan or location. Bite your tongue, smile, remain professional and courteous. Showing your own home is a most difficult task. To do it successfully, it is necessary to remain objective and most of us are not, especially about our home. Be polite and helpful to the buyer at all costs, no matter how hard.
- Smile, relax and enjoy meeting new people. Your Open House is your time to stand in the spot light, so greet your visitors as you would like to be greeted.
In conclusion, remember that holding an Open House is not mandatory for selling a home. It is a valuable marketing tool because it allows home shoppers easy access to your home. They are also very cost effective in terms of exposure, if you get the buyers to attend. On the other hand, you may not want the public touring your home or open houses may not be popular in your area. The decision to host or not is up to you…
Thank you for visiting Why6Percent.com. National Open House Weekend is this Saturday and Sunday. Buyers will be looking for Royal Blue balloons flying at Open Houses held by Realtors. Make the most of this opportunity and make sure blue balloons are flying at your house, too. Best of luck and let us know how you did!
Tips for a Successful Open House
For Sale Signs are popping up like tulips and National Open House Weekend is this Saturday and Sunday.
InfoTube.net is posting a series of short articles about Holding a Successful Open House prior to the event. To read todays post…CLICK HERE…
Todays Topics Include:
- Chosing the Perfect Time
- How to Draw a Big Crowd
- Where to Post Your Advertisement for Free
- Much More
Tomorrow, InfoTube will give you the inside scoop on preparing for the big event this weekend…so check in with us daily and start sprucing up your home now!
Thank you for stopping by Why6Percent.com blog. Our job is to keep you informed about events and topics of interest to home sellers. Click links to Follow our Blog or become our Facebook Fan for instant info and updates.
Make Sure You’re Ready for National Open House Week!
Flat Fee MLS or Not? Separating Hype from Fact
What is the MLS?
The Multiple Listing Service is a database of homes for sale. Run by the local Board of Realtors®, the MLS is the traditional method agents use to find homes for their buyers or advertise their listings to other agents. MLS listings include detailed information about the property. Besides address and selling price, a listing generally includes the number and size of rooms, annual property taxes, local schools, selling agent and more. Most include photo’s of the home.
Facts about the MLS:
The Multiple Listing Service (MLS) is the fantastic way real estate brokers provide information to one another. MLS allows each agent to see all properties for sale in a given market, greatly expanding the sales force of all properties.
The Internet now provides MLS property information, in real-time, to brokers, agents, home sellers and homebuyers. The MLS is looked at by potentially thousands of real estate agents in your market that might have a prospective buyer for your home. And, it reaches 90 Percent of the Home Buyers who search on the Internet.
- Benefits of MLS Advertisement: There is one very significant benefit to having your home listed in the MLS listing…EXPOSURE! The fact that your home is for sale will now be known to the hundreds, if not thousands of real estate brokers and agents in your market. To maximize your benefit from this exposure, you will need to be willing to “co-op” a real estate agent, if they bring a buyer to purchase your home. Co-op means that you will cooperate in a commission incentive to the real estate agent. Typically buyer’s agents earn between 2 and 3 percent of the sale price of the home.
- Reach Buyers Searching on the Internet: Another key benefit to listing your home on the MLS is in most areas of the United States, the property appears on websites like MSN HomeAdvisor, Yahoo! Real Estate, Realtor.com, Google.com, Zillow.com, etc. and local state websites. Many of the multiple listing services send their inventory directly to these sites to enable even more exposure for homeowners. Millions of people from all over the U.S. use these various websites to search for homes daily. Recent data shows that the first thing homebuyers do is search the internet, often far in advance of their actual move.
- Global Reach: MLS also reaches the transferee’s moving to your town. In today’s transient society, people relocating from all over the U.S. first find the homes they would like to see on the internet. They supply their “must see” list to the buyer’s agent located in the area they are moving to. When relocating buyers are in town searching for a home, time is limited and every minute counts. Buyer’s agents quickly become critical to the transferee’s home search and relocating homebuyers rely heavily on assistance from a buyer’s agent. Therefore, the MLS can be key to exposing your home to relocating buyers.
Considerations: The MLS is a wonderful way to expand your advertising reach and certainly has value. If your goal is maximum exposure, then MLS is an answer. Contact Why6Percent.com and get started Today!
Thank you for visiting Why6Percent.com. Remember, you can sell your home! You have the ability and there is a buyer for your home. Stay optimistic and remember, the money you save will justify the time, energy and emotion that you will expend!
InfoBox for Real Estate. Mystery Solved.
InfoBox delivers information that homebuyers want in one sexy, smart, easy to use product.
Buy an InfoBox or InfoTube and remove the mystery about what is behind your front door.
Instant, wireless seller to buyer communication. No software, squinting at tiny screens, internet modems or waiting forever for downloads is required…
Why6Percent.com is changing real estate. Reach millions of homebuyers and buyer agents for a few bucks and save thousands in fee’s and commissions. Why Pay 6 Percent??
PS Check out InfoTube.net for Real Estate Facebook Page. It’s fun, it’s cutting edge and it’s interactive. If you like real estate, you’re going to love this!
Uncle Sam Pays the Tab for New Windows
Does a cold draft blow around your head while you relax in your easy chair? Does the sound of actual street noise drown out the sound of the NASCAR race on TV? If you answered “Yes” to either question…it might be time to replace those old, drafty, ugly, noisy, single paned, aluminum frame windows with some good looking, energy efficient ones.
Why Replacing Your Windows Pays Off…
- New windows improve the curb appeal and increase the value of any home.
- Buyers pay up for new windows. Numerous studies show that home sellers recoop 90+ percent of the costs for window replacement at the time of sale.
- Homeowners realize the energy savings immediately, while increasing comfort.
- Energy efficient windows are a Green home selling feature.
- New models of windows are easy to clean and maintain.
- Improve your view. New glass is so clear it’s just like looking through… nothing at all.
- Maybe Best of All…Uncle Sam Pays for It. The government will pay 30 percent of the cost (up to $1500) to replace the windows in your home through December 31, 2010. And, don’t forget to check out the additional rebates and savings on windows that are being offered in most states, cities and townships.
Tip for a Tight Budget
- Just replace some of the windows. Choose the ones on the front of the home, because they improve the curb appeal. Or, replace the windows that get hammered by the most weather, be it sun, rain, snow or wind.
- Or, Roll the Dice…and, maximize the tax credit by replacing half of the windows in 2010. Then, gamble on an extension of the credit into 2011 and replace the other half.
- Uncle Sam picks up a Third of your bill and smile (:
Practical Advice About Window Replacement
- Use a company that carries a wide range of window brands. Make sure they use their own employee’s (not subcontractors) to do the installation.
- Profit from the Housing Crash. Be a hard negotiator and get at least 3 quotes. You can save Big on labor and materials because the housing market is slow.
- Replacing windows is a big, messy job. Cover up anything important such as electronics and furniture. Sawing and Ripping out windows is dirty business, no matter how good the installer.
Thank you for visiting Why6Percent.com. We have a program for home sellers that offers the MLS, Realtor.com and advertisement on dozens of real estate listing posts for one cheap price…and the seller keeps the commission. Call 1-800-381-9496 or visit http://www.why6percent.com today for the details. You will be happy that you did!!!
10 Towns for Real Estate Steals and Deals
It’s our job at Why6Percent.com to have our finger on the pulse of real estate from coast-to-coast. Recently, we have been telling you to get ready for a big home selling season this spring.
Why? Interest rates are rising. Job losses have slowed to a trickle. Factory and Industrial output is up for the first time in years. And, we feel that the Fed is holding back information, for now, on the job creation that is happening as we speak.
So, where are the best real estate deals in the country?? We have identified 10 cities that are offering up Trump-type deals of a lifetime. CLICK HERE to see where the action will start first.
If you haven’t placed your property listing on the MLS, Realtor.com, Zillow, Google, MSN, Military.com and all the other major real estate websites…you are missing buyers. Go to the Why6Percent.com website and sign up NOW!!Don’t wait a minute longer. Tax Credits, Rising Rates and Gutted Home Prices are creating a stir among buyers early this spring. You snooze…you lose… And, we certainly don’t want that.
Pent Up Demand for Housing Explodes This Spring
Depending on where you live, you may have never experienced a winter like this one. I know I haven’t. Week after week, snow, rain, mudslides and/or freezing temperatures have pounded the country. With only 1 state out of 50 snowless, it’s easy to see why no one is attending Open Houses… Fortunately, with February nearly over, the crocus will soon appear and we predict that homebuyers will hit the streets enmass.
Home Sellers Get Ready. The nasty, record setting winter certainly put a halt to home sales, but the upside is the pent up demand it created. People who expected some typical, nice days to tour homes after the holidays, have found themselves stuck inside with nothing to do but watch HGTV and dream about buying a home. We predict these stir crazy buyers will hit the streets at the first opportunity.
$8000 Reasons to Motivate this Spring. The $8000 tax credit for homebuyers expires in 43 Days. To cash in on the lucrative tax credit, buyers must be under contract for a home before April 1st or they forfeit $8000 grand!! That’s a lot of motivation to get serious in a hurry.
Cheap Money. The Fed and Mortgage Bankers all acknowledge that interest rates will increase this spring and continue moving upward through 2010. Buyers know that if they snooze they lose the chance to lock in a cheap, fixed rate loan and risk pricing themselves out of their dream home, entirely.
Get Ready. Get Set. Sell. Home sellers should prepare for a surge in buying activity this spring that has not been seen in several years. Make every second count now by deciding on your selling strategy. Agent? FSBO? FSBO, combined with the power of the MLS? Whichever you chose or want to pay for, make sure you use the internet for all it’s worth. And, get to know your local home market like the back of your hand.
Why6Percent.com will make sure you are ready when the buyers show up. Place your property on InfoTube.net for FREE exposure to thousands of buyers each week. Advertise your home listing to every buyers agent and on every real estate website with our cheap, flat fee MLS listing, and keep the commission. Either way you chose, act now. You can’t afford to wait until the buyers are looking. This is what you’ve been waiting for.
Share Your Property Information and Idea’s
InfoTube.net announced some recent updates to it’s website that make it easier for homeowners to share information and property details on the internet.
Share Your Property Information with One Click
InfoTube.net has provided a direct “Share” link on every home listing. The “Share” link automatically feeds your property listing to all major sharing websites such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc. If you use social networking or RSS feed websites, simply select where you want your property listing posted and click. It’s that easy. (The Share Link can be located under the “Email Seller” link on every home listing.)
Sellers and Buyers Communicate, Learn and Get Advise
InfoTube.net for Real Estate has an Offical Facebook and Twitter page where you can post pictures, questions, idea’s or funny real estate stuff you want to share. Become a Fan and Contributor Today.
Thank you for visiting Why6Percent.com!! If you haven’t placed a FREE property listing on InfoTube.net, please do so Today. Without InfoTube.net you miss buyers, exposure and the free assistance that is available to you. InfoTube.net, combined with the MLS, provides a one-two punch for a knock out home sale!!!