Top Five Myths for Home Buyers and Sellers
Whether you’ve rented, purchased, or sold a home before or not, I’m sure you had a lot of preconceived views about what the process was meant to be like. Working with a real estate agent can help dispel myths about the real estate process, but we’re here to help, too, and have produced a list of the top five fallacies that home buyers and sellers should be aware of.
Top Myths for Home Buyers:
1. You have to put 20% down on the property.
On this one, you can breathe a sigh of relief. Although a 20% down payment can help you lower your payments and get a better interest rate, many standard mortgages can be obtained with as little as a 5% down payment. If you’re a first-time homebuyer, there are even more benefits and first-time buyer programs available, with down payments of as little as 3%. Look around and make sure you’re aware of all of your possibilities.
2. You can get by without a professional inspection.
Reconsider your position. This may appear to be simply another expense at the time, but consider what it would cost if something goes wrong after the closing. Many things can go wrong in a house that isn’t evident to the untrained eye. The American Society of Home Inspectors is a good place to start. A list of qualified home inspectors in your region can be obtained. Check out their written report as well as their photos. A list of qualified home inspectors in your region can be obtained. Check out their written report as well as their photos.
3. You have to visit at least twenty homes to find “the one.”
Most buyers simply accept that they will need to tour twenty or more residences in-person to understand a neighborhood and what they want or don’t want. While this may be true for some, by the time you’ve completed all of the tours, you’ve wasted hours gazing at properties you had no right to enter. Investigate different tour possibilities to help you focus your search, then pay a personal visit to your top 5 or top 10 choices. Pictures aren’t quite cutting it? Do you have any video clips? Isn’t that insufficient? There are now some excellent live video choices available to assist you with your tour. Enquire with your agent; they’re there to help you.
4. Location
When it comes to location, you hear most often that people are looking for homes in a well-established community with a good school district, low crime, and an easy commute to/from work. This is great, but there are a lot of other factors to consider, such as whether the homes are appreciating or deteriorating; whether new businesses, buildings, and neighborhoods are sprouting up or if most new development is taking place elsewhere; whether jobs are on the rise in that area; and so on. Though security and comfort in tried-and-true regions are important, the admiration that comes from the up-and-coming is also important.
5. Trust everything a real estate advertisement says.
The sole purpose of listing agents is to sell their clients’ homes. What is a critical component of the selling process? Marketing. Because listing agents can be deceptive, it’s important to read between the lines and not take anything at face value. For example, “cozy” most likely means “little,” and “as is” most likely indicates “you’ll need to perform some work after closing.” If the listing has a lot of exclamation points, the agent was either high on caffeine or trying to create artificial excitement. If something appears to be too good to be true, it most likely is. Have you ever wondered what makes a house an “excellent starter home”?
Top Myths for Home Sellers:
1. Listing with an agent is the last step.
The best time to contact a real estate agent is when you first consider selling your home, not when you are finally ready to market it and move forward with the process. It’s best to sell sooner rather than later, whether it’s six or twelve months. An expert realtor can advise you on what people are currently buying, what repairs or adjustments may be made to attract more buyers, and when is the best time to sell in your area. Are you considering hiring a contractor to remodel your kitchen before you sell? Also, talk to a real estate agent.
2. List your home and they will come.
People are unaware of their knowledge. If you don’t market your listing in unique ways that people will notice, it will most likely sit on the market for a long time. According to recent statistics, the number of purchasers who buy a home from an open house is falling. While 92 percent of purchasers conduct their real estate searches online, your marketing strategy must cater to this demographic. Syndicate your listing across many sites, take excellent images, use virtual tour software to make virtual tours, and have a strategy in place for capturing online leads.
3.Major Renovations=Major Money.
This is related to tip number one. Huge improvements are more expensive than you might expect, and they don’t always pay off. Anyone will tell you that you should spend money on the kitchen and bathrooms. According to research, the best location to invest money is on a home’s exterior and main entryway. When selling a home, your goal is to a) get visitors in the door and b) leave a lasting impression while they’re inside. Check with your realtor to see what’s selling in your area before spending a lot of money on a new kitchen or bath, and take a look at some simple weekend tasks to improve your curb appeal.
4.No need for staging, Just keep it clean.
You don’t want to spend the money on house staging? Some folks may not need to if they have a good eye for design and their furnishings appeal to the purchasers they’re targeting. If that isn’t the case, cleaning your home may not be enough. Making your home appealing to a wide range of tastes and skilfully highlighting your property’s best features while underplaying its less appealing sections are all part of staging. Do you have a small room? To make the room appear larger, get rid of the queen bed and replace it with a twin. Is there a lot of light in the living room? Remove the blinds to allow more natural light into the room.
5. Price the house to allow for negotiation.
Negotiation 101: start high and work your way down. That’s fantastic, but the most important thing is to get potential buyers into your home. Overpriced homes discourage potential buyers because they will either expect no movement from you or a lengthy negotiation, neither of which is appealing. If you price your home too high upfront and it sits on the market for too long, it will decrease your chances of selling. Potential buyers may see how long your house has been on the market and will begin to suspect something is wrong if it has been on the market for 100 or 200 days. To price competitively for your market, be wise and listen to your listing agent. They also want the best possible sale price for you.
These are only a few of the many misconceptions about real estate that persist. Everyone can gain from assisting individuals in correcting their misconceptions. Tell your spouse you’ll paint the front door instead of redesigning the kitchen the next time they mention it.
If you are looking or planning to sell your home quickly for cash and would like more information, please contact JZ Home Buyers at 817-382-3579 or visit www.jzhomebuyers.com. We will be pleased to discuss how this could be the best option for you. We ensure that you will receive all of the information you require at no cost and with no obligation.