The question often arises, "can a buyer back out of an accepted offer on a house?" after putting their home under contract. Of course, it is great to be under contract but don't think you are on easy street. Simply put, it's not over till the fat lady sings!! When it comes time to sell your home, there is always risk involved when a seller takes their home off the market for a buyer. While you have done everything possible to put a good transaction together, things happen … Continue reading...
What Makes a Successful Home Sale- Haverhill Massachusetts
I just closed on 3 Greenhill Farm Road in Haverhill. The sellers of this condominium unit approached me back in early March to discuss the sale of their condominium. One of the things that made this sale successful was that they contacted me months before they were ready to list their home for sale. At the first meeting we talked about a pricing strategy and what we needed to do to prepare their home for the market place. We spent hours over the next couple of months discussing the … Continue reading...
How will your Home Compete?
The deciding factors to determine how to price your home When deciding how to price your home, a home seller must remember that their home is competing in the real estate market with other similar homes. Home buyers have choices and your home will be compared to other homes in a similar price range. The graphic shows an order of importance of some factors that go into how to price your home and determing fair market value. The order of importance can vary from home to home and each … Continue reading...
Stop the Rumors!! 3.8% Transfer Tax on Sale of a Home- The whole truth
As a local real estate agent here in Tewksbury Massachusetts, I have been approached by many clients, friends and acquaintances about the 3.8% Transfer Tax on the sale of a home. They are in a panic thinking they should sell thier home before the tax is enacted Relax!! This is not an across the board tax to everyone who sells their home. Fact: There is Health Care Legislation that created a new tax that would only apply to a portion of a gain on the sale of any capital asset (this … Continue reading...
How to Have a Successful Home Sale
Any home can sell in any market, if you line up what I call the 3P's of Home Selling. The 3P's consist of: Preparation- What are you prepared to do to your home to make it stand out from the crowd? Pricing- The most critical piece and must be looked at very carefully without pricing your home properly there is no amount of pricing or presenting that will sell your home. Presentation- What the agent does to put the most positive spin on your home and expose it to the most amount of home … Continue reading...
Sellers Be Prepared to Close on Time!!
I recently was involved last minute in a real estate closing for an agent that works for our office. Our agent called me at the closing table to say their was a problem with the closing. The home seller was not moved out and house was not cleaned to meet terms of the Massachusetts Purchase and Sale Agreement. This is an issue I run into once in awhile with home sellers, no matter how much I push, home sellers will occasionally leave junk behind, are still in the middle of moving or have … Continue reading...
Can your photography make or break you?
I have posted several real estate photography articles in the past. I think it is important for sellers to look at their listing agents photography and ask themselves two questions: Is the listing agent taking high quality photographs? or Is the listing agent hiring a professional to take photographs? The marketing of real estate has changed drastically over the past 10 years with the internet becoming the primary way buyers are discovering properties. Buyers are no longer as … Continue reading...