Avoid For Sale by Owner Shortcomings
There are several ways to sell a home in Cincinnati. The most common way is to work side by side with a real estate agent like Sandy Bakst, who can help in the process of preparing, listing, and selling your home. For sale by owner (FSBO) is one viable alternative. This method allows you to bypass the agent and puts the decisions in your hands.
At first, selling your home without the help of an agent seems like a great idea. Right now Ohio has an extremely tough real estate market, and an agent will certainly cost more money. An agent may even cause the price of your home to go up, thus prolonging its market time. Not to mention that going without an agent means that you are now in control—you don't have to work your already busy schedule around someone else's.
However, most professional real estate businesses will tell you that a fair amount of legwork comes with selling a home by way of FSBO. In general, people who don't have any sort of real estate background simply don't have adequate knowledge about home sales. Most people who try to go without a real estate agent find themselves turning to contract lawyers and home inspectors in the end anyway. In order to sell a house in Cincinnati or Hyde Park, you would have to be prepared to:
Sift through all of your potential buyers. Not all "potential buyers" have the intention or the ability to actually buy a home. One issue is "window shoppers" who make a hobby out of searching for homes; but the bigger problem comes with those who have not been pre-approved or pre-qualified for a home loan. It may seem like they sincerely want to make an offer on your home, but many times the bank simply will not back them up on it. If they do make an offer, the entire process could be stalled for weeks while all of the details are sorted through., only to have the whole deal fall through in the end.
Negotiate the real estate contract. Selling a home almost always requires a contract that requires a long and tedious process. The contract must go through an attorney, a title or escrow company, and finally a notary. Most people haven't had any experience with contract law in relation to buying or selling a house. It can be both time-consuming and pricey to try to sort through these details on your own. Real estate agents, on the other hand, have the right connections, experience, and expertise to push all the paperwork through without forgetting about the little details that will maximize your return when the process is over.
Display your home properly. A real estate agent such as Sandy Bakst has a distinct advantage when it comes to showcasing, preparing, and listing your house for sale. Unlike most homeowners, an agent has the emotional detachment that is necessary in order to make positive changes to your home, or to list the home at the optimal market price.
Work with real estate agents. Because over 90% of people work with a Cincinnati real estate agent when buying or selling a home, the people who come to look at your house are most likely working with an agent of their own. Unfortunately, both brokers and real estate agents are less likely to show their clients FSBO homes. This drastically reduces your number of applicants.
Naturally, any opportunity to save money in the process of selling a house seems like a good idea at the outset. But, as with most things, taking the shortcut is not always the best option. In the end, most people wind up spending far more time and effort in the process of selling a home by themselves than they ever would, had they decided to use a real estate agent. Selling a house in Cincinnati can be a difficult process, but Sandy Bakst can help you to sidestep many of the obstacles that come with it.
Posted at 09:51AM Mar 22, 2011 by Sandy Bakst in Cincinnati Real Estate | Comments[0]
Cincinnati Real Estate: How to Beat Buyer's Remorse
Buying a Ohio home can be exhilarating. It's a great feeling to finally be able to buy your first home, or to come across your dream house after a long and tiresome search. Perhaps you've spent months in the process of finding the perfect home, taking every option into consideration and weighing it over in your mind. Or maybe the home came as a result of a last-minute decision that was simply too good to pass up. But regardless of how much time and effort you put into your decision, it is quite common to have strong feelings of regret soon after a purchase of this magnitude. It's called "buyer's remorse," and it's the feeling many people get when they first realize that they've just made a considerable commitment to a new home. If you find yourself second-guessing your purchase of a house in Mason or a condo in Hyde Park when it's too late to go back on the deal, just remember to take a step back and evaluate the situation as a whole. In nearly every case, buyer's remorse is not a permanent feeling, and it can be overcome in just a few easy steps.
- First weigh the positives and negatives of your newly purchased house. Ideally, you should do this both before and after you make your Ohio real estate purchase. Regardless of how old it is or where it is located, every house is going to have its pros and cons. Just remember not to focus too much attention on either side. Both the good and bad aspects of the house will combine to turn it into a home.
- Next, be sure to personalize the space at the first opportunity you get. Many times buyer's remorse is simply a mind game. Usually the reasons behind your regret have little to do with the house itself, and more to do with your feelings about it. You're living in an unfamiliar place, with few of the comfortable associations that you've grown accustomed. Turning a house into a home can seem like a daunting task at first, but the best thing you can do is to start with a single room. Make it yours. It doesn't matter whether you do it with paint, family photos, or a bookshelf full of all your favorite decorations. Having at least one place where you feel completely at ease will do wonders in helping you feel better about the house as a whole.
- Now you can proceed to address the flaws one at a time. Maybe you just realized that the hot water tank only offers five minutes of hot water. Or perhaps incorrectly measured the living room, and your favorite leather couch set won't fit in the space you slotted for it. Maybe you even failed to notice that the dark patch on the ceiling is actually a plumbing problem. Even the best house inspection won't find every single little flaw in your home. So forget about the "what-ifs" of your home purchase and focus on the aspects you can control. With a clear head, figure out the costs associated with repairs Look at your options for how you can adjust your setup to make the space livable and more comfortable. Many of these types of problems will arise over time anyway — no house is perfect, and even the best houses will wear and tear.
- Do not keep hunting for other Cincinnati homes. For perhaps months you've most likely been devoted a good chunk of your precious time pouring over magazines, looking up real estate listings online, and even hitting the streets themselves so that you could find the perfect home for your circumstances. Now you don't have to worry about that, so don't! It can be a hard habit to break, but it will go a long way to avoid the temptation to keep looking. Chances are, those houses you're looking at aren't as perfect as you think they are. They're just holding you back from loving your new home.
- Lastly, take time to relax and enjoy your new purchase. The process of buying a home is a big step, and it can also be very taxing. Take a brief vacation from home improvements or from moving your belongings. Try to remember why you fell in love with the house in the first place.
Posted at 12:30PM Mar 14, 2011 by Sandy Bakst in Cincinnati Real Estate | Comments[0]
