Property Disclosures

As a home seller, you are responsible for completing many of the steps that a real estate agent would typically handle for you.  Most likely you’ve already fixed up the inside and outside of the home, set a reasonable price for the home, and begun advertising your homes.  Now you’re ready to accept an offer on the home, right?  Well, not quite.  Before you begin entertaining offers from prospective buyers, you first need to prepare property disclosures.

Property disclosures for a home include information that pertains to the property condition or location.  This includes pieces of information like the age of the property, problems with the property or components, appendages that might extend beyond property boundaries, and whether or not the home is on an earthquake fault, in a flood zone, or in an airport path.  Any of these facts could affect the buyers decision to purchase the home and must be disclosed.

 Depending on the state where you are selling your home, you might need to fill out property disclosure forms about your home.  Even if you are not required to to give prospective buyers formal property disclosure forms, as you would if you were working with a real estate agent, your state’s law probably requires you to at least tell buyers information.  If you are not sure what property disclosures you have to give you can consult a real estate professional such as an agent or an attorney.  These professionals are well versed in real estate law and can give you guidance on the necessary information to give your buyers.

 An example of a property disclosure that you must fill out is the lead-based paid disclosure if your home was built prior to 1978.  This is a property disclosure that is required by federal law and must be provided regardless of the state where you selling your home.  With this property disclosure, the buyer is given 10 days to conduct an inspection for lead based paint.  You could face a lawsuit if this is not done and the buyer later discovers that the home indeed has lead paint.

Buyers must also be given material facts.  This is any information about the home that would affect the buyer’s decision to purchase or the price offered.  This means that you have to tell buyers any defects about the home, especially if these defects could potentially cause the buyer not to purchase.  At first thought, you might be cautious to reveal this information as it could cost you a sale.  Consider the alternative of being sued for thousands of dollars because the buyer was negatively impacted by a material fact that you did not disclose.

 While it might not first seem like it, property disclosures are designed to protect both the buyer and the seller of the home for sale by owner.  Buyers are given all the facts they need to make an informed purchase decision.  Sellers are protected from lawsuits by buyers that claim they were not informed.  You should keep a record of property disclosures given to your buyers, especially the buyer that ends up closing the deal.

 

Get informed how you can prevent or avoid problems arising out of this issues specially for properties located in Bryan/College Station, look for Lisa Jones and get answers.

 

 

Taking Advantage of the Internet

This is the age of electronic information.  Why not take advantage of the widespread use of the internet to advertise your home?  There are a number of creative ways that the internet can be used to help you sell your home.  Some of these are tried and true methods while others are a slightly more cutting edge.

 One of the most popular ways that home sellers use the internet is throughwebsites.  These websites allow you to list your home with pictures and a short description for a monthly fee.  You can easily find additional websites by using an internet search engine.  The best way to find a website that suits your needs is to peruse the websites for the price and the functionality provided.  You should look at several different sites before making a final decision.

You can advertise your home for free on Craigslist.org, a free online classified website.  Through Craiglist, you can place an advertisement for your home.  There are two major benefits of listing your home on this website.  For one, it is free.  There are few, if any, other advertising methods that are free.  The second benefit is that billions of people visit the Craigslist each day.  There are also a few drawbacks to using the site.  You will not be able to place pictures of your home; only text description and contact information is allowed.  Nevertheless, this is no different from placing an ad in the local newspaper.

Placing an online classified ad with your local newspaper is another option for advertising your home.  The easiest way to find out if your local newspaper has a website is by using a search engine to search for it.  The paper version of the newspaper might also make reference to its online counterpart.  In some cases, the cost of running a classified on the online version of the newspaper is the same as it would be with the physical newspaper.

Developing a website is easier than it has ever been before.  You can easily obtain a domain name and a host for a website to advertise your website for a low monthly cost.  Depending on the service that you use, you might even find free templates for your website.  Yahoo! provides domains, hosting, and free templates for creating a website.  The benefit of creating your own website is that you can customize it to look the way you want it to.  One of the major hindrances is that you have to let people know the website is there for them to find it.  Your own technical expertise can also be a limiting factor with creating a website to showcase your home.

 With so many options available to you through the internet, you should choose at least one.  So many home buyers are using the internet to purchase their homes that establishing your presence there is important.

 

To know more about the extra edge of online listing your property in Bryan/College Station you can ask Lisa Jones.

 

A Seller’s To Do List

Here’s a general list of tasks that you should complete to sell a  home.  Following these steps will lead you to a successful closing of your home.

Set your asking price.  This should be based on the selling price of homes that have recently sold in your area.

Estimate your cash profit.  Your cash profit is the amount you receive from the sale less mortgage and other bills.

Make necessary home improvements.  Only make the improvements if the cost will create a justifiable increase in the asking price for your for sale by owner home.

Prepare the for sale by owner home for viewing by buyers. 

• First work on the exterior of the home.  Manicure the lawn.  Rake the leaves.  Spruce up shrubs and trees.  Repair fences and touch-up the paint if necessary.  Repair shutters, gutters and shingles.  Clean and paint siding.
• Then work on the interior.  Brighten up your home by painting with light colors.  Remove clutter from your home.  Consider having a yard sale to get rid of items you don’t need.  Clean everything!  Eliminate all squeaks, leaks, and rattles.

Obtain the necessary forms.  In most cases, you will need sales contracts and disclosure forms.  You can get these from any major office supply store like Office Depot, Office Max, etc.

Fill out the forms.  Make several copies to have on hand at all time.  That way if a buyer accepts your price, the only thing you’ll have to do is get his or her signature.

Get a professional appraisal or inspection or both, if desired.  While neither of these is required for you to do, the lender and the buyer will often have their own appraisal and inspection done.  Having your own completed gives you a chance to make any necessary repairs.

Hire a real estate attorney or escrow.  During the process, you will need a third party to hold onto the deed and deposits made by the buyer.  You can kill two birds with one stone by hiring an attorney since you will likely need one in the process anyway.

Decide your for sale by owner home showing days.  Set the date in the future to give you enough time to prepare it for public viewing.

Start advertising your home.  Choose among several methods of advertising your home.  From internet advertising to yard signs to newspaper advertising, many options are available.  Start getting the word out about your home.

Negotiate with serious buyers.  If you receive a complicated offer from a buyer, you should review it with a real estate attorney to make sure you completely understand the terms before agreeing to the offer.

Have the buyer sign the sales contract.  At this time you also collect an earnest money deposit, which is held by the escrow agent, or your real estate attorney, until closing.

Select a real estate attorney, if you haven’t already, to handle the closing.  In some states, the lender’s attorney handles the closing.  In this case, your attorney is your representative during the process.

Recalculate your cash profit from the sale given the final sale price of the home.

Review the settlement statement before closing.  Make sure the calculations match your estimations.

Closing day.  Bring your driver’s license.  Collect your cash.  Hand over the deed.

 

Congratulations! You have sold your  home.

For more tips on how you can sell your property, visit Lisa Jones and she will help you out with everything related to your sale.

Benefits Of Selling Your Home

There are two ways to sell your home: by going through a realtor and by doing it yourself. The do it yourself method .  As with anything that requires professional assistance, selling your home with the aid of a realtor is going to cost you. On the flip side however, selling your home on your own can also cost you, but not as much.

The choice comes down to the question of what you would most like to save, time or money. If utilizing a realtor you will save yourself some time but not necessarily loads of time because there is a level of involvement that you must maintain in order to pick out the best deal for your specific situation. If selling your home, you will indeed save yourself loads of money because the only thing you are paying for out of pocket is the cost of your advertisement methods.

Selling your home through a realtor can be not only an expensive method but also a difficult selection process when trying to decide which real estate agency to go through. Once this decision is made, you must now work with the realtor to negotiate your terms and conditions for the sale of your home.

The realtor is paid according to the final selling price of your home. A commission of anywhere from 1 to 3 percent is charged at the closing. It goes without saying in this situation that a benefit of for sale by owner, selling without the aid of a realtor is one of cost. Simply put, you get to keep the proceeds of selling your home if you do it yourself.

Although real estate agencies gain exposure in the world of potential homebuyers by the use of their company’s name, your home does not get individual exposure on the level that would be given to it if you were to do your own advertising. A for sale sign does indeed go in the yard of your home with the name of the agent as well as the agency and a contact phone number, but this is comparable to placing a sign with the same information, sans the agency name.

The remainder of the process involves the home being listed in what is known as the MLS, or Multiple Listing Service. This is a long list of homes being offered for sale by numerous real estate agencies. Once again, your home will not be given the specific exposure it could be given if you were to do your own advertising.

The true benefit of selling your home on your own versus utilizing a real estate agency is the control factor. You are in complete and total control of the entire transaction from start to finish. This is often the most necessary factor in selling. With yourself in the proverbial driver’s seat, you are free to advertise in the way you see fit and to use the method you see fit. You are also free to keep all profits from the final sale, and this is usually enough to reassure the seller that the for sale by owner route is the right path to take.

 

for more information how much and how you should benefit from the sale of your home, please contact Lisa Jones.One of the elading real estate services provider from Bryan/College Station. 

 

Selling Your Home After Divorce?

There seems to come a point in almost every marriage where things just are not working out any more. As tragic as it may be, one out of every 2 marriages have ended in divorce. In today’s age of quick marriage and “easy do-it-yourself divorce” it is not as big of a deal as it once was to say, “I do” and then decide that you don’t… In some cases, things can get rather messy.

It is at times in the best interest of both parties to enlist the aid of an experienced attorney to better carry out the particulars of dividing property and assets, but sometimes this is not necessary. There have been cases, although rare, where the individual parties can sit and discuss the property and asset division and come to some sort of mutual agreement as to who gets what, but most of the time this is not the case.

As emotions are high and things can easily turn volatile, dividing property without a third party present can be a tricky and even undesirable process. However, in the event that the two parties can agree to come together and rationally discuss the property division without incident, sometimes selling the home and dividing the proceeds is the best method of being fair. It is often a difficult procedure to decide who will get the house, especially if the couple has shared life experiences as well as mutual friends in the surrounding area. For one party to get the house would be to force the other party to start over in a sense. In order to maintain equality and to minimize the squabbling over yet another item, selling the home and splitting the case is a very attractive proposition.

Although the relationship may have failed, the selling of your home is something that should involve both parties. It is petty to focus on whose name is on the mortgage note, if in fact only one person’s name is present on the note. Both parties have a claim to the home if only for emotional ties. This is something that should be approached with a sense of unity over a business transaction. If no other agreement in this situation can be reached, it must be looked at as simply a business transaction. The guidelines for advertising and for carrying out the sale of the home should still be followed to the tee. The selling price of the home should not be dictated by the amount of cash that is desired to be split by the dissenting parties, but rather the profit from the sale itself should be split equally and without incident.

A divorce can be a terrible and life-altering process. The complexity of closing a real estate deal in the midst of or as a result of the divorce can be downright overwhelming. However, with a little tact and dignity, the desired result can be accomplished. If all parties remain cool and collected, and the transaction is handled respectfully, it can turn out to be a mutually beneficial process.

 

Once you have agreed on property settlement with your ex-spouse, you can rely on Lisa Jones, to dispose your property.

3801 Barnsley Ct, Bryan, TX 77802

Publish

This stunning home features 4 bedrooms, 3 full baths & 1 half bath along with 3 living & 2 dining ar eas. Soaring foyer ceiling & gorgeous lighting are a focal point when entering the home. Beautiful s tone floors grace the entry, family room, breakfast area, kitchen & baths. Large kitchen features gr anite counters, island double ovens with lots of cabinet & counter space. Master bedroom & bath prov ide great privacy as they are tucked away for the main traffic areas of the home. The highlight of t he home is the fabulous backyard with heated pool, hot tub, 2 water falls, fire pit & the wrap aroun d back porch. Three car garage, surround sound indoors & out. Walking distance to Bowen Elementary.

Listing provided courtesy of: RE/MAX Bryan-College Station Listing Agent: Lisa Jones   255-7010

Using Home Listing Websites

 

In today’s age of information and high speed internet service, the world wide web is the perfect tool to advertise and to reach millions of potential buyers. Specific websites dedicated to the sale of homes are numerous and are widely utilized by independent sellers because of the capability of reaching so many would-be home buyers.

 Utilizing an internet home listing service is a worthwhile opportunity for those who do not wish to rely solely on the newspaper for advertisement. It meshes nicely in conjunction with the more traditional methods such as flyer advertisement, placing a sign in the front yard, and the tried and true advertisement in the newspaper or other listing publication. There can never be too many methods of advertisement when trying to make your for sale by owner home available and widely viewed for sale.

 Listing of your home for sale on a website is a way to bring your home to life. No stringent limits are usually placed upon your advertisement as far as content length since the amount of space available is so great. You have much more room to detail the intricacies of your home and to showcase the features that will serve as selling points. There may even be sections broken up, depending upon the listing service you use, to detail the various rooms of the house.

 The exterior of the home as well as the lawn and garage space, if applicable, may even have its own section for description. Size, number of rooms, and amenities are all worthwhile and mentionable qualities of home on a listing service website.

 What is known as a photo tour is also a benefit of listing your home on such a site. Photos of the bedrooms, living room, dining room, and other rooms in the home may be displayed with and /or without furniture to emphasize the space and space usage possibilities. A photo tour can include as many pictures as you see fit in order to fully and accurately display the features of the home that would attract potential buyers.

Depending on what the market is at the time, the right pictures could very well guarantee the sale. Pictures can be changed and updated as you, the seller see fit and as often as is allowed by the listing service you are using. Text description should not be changed as frequently, however, as this gives the potential buyer a chance to become familiar with the home while still gaining fresh perspective with each new picture. As the saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words.”

 It can be a good idea to browse other for sale by owner homes and to even take the photo tour provided for these homes in order to get a good feel for what sort of example of your home to put together. These can give you a framework to build upon in order to successfully showcase your home via the web.

 

For more information on how you can successfully utilize the internet resources on home listings feel free to visit Lisa Jones Realty, your one stop website for all Real Estate Services In Bryan/College Station, Texas.