MilitaryByOwner Blog

Military homeowners were hit particularly hard when the housing sector took a nosedive. Constant relocation makes it nearly impossible for military homeowners to wait for a full recovery of the housing market before selling their home.

Bold red bathroom, extensive snow globe collection and glow in the dark stars on the ceiling. While all of these touches may personalize a home, for military personnel on the move, these items may lengthen the time it takes to sell a home.

You have read our article, “Demystifying “For Sale by Owner” and have decided that you are willing and able to sell your home without the assistance of an agent. So let’s delve into one of the areas of selling your own home that can prove to be a bit tricky… showing your home.

Your home is a reflection of your personal taste and style, where you have free reign to decorate as you please. However, when it comes time to put your home on the market, the first and often most difficult step, is to switch your mindset. This wonderful place you call home is now on the market and open to other individual tastes and opinions. While you may love the custom cases that creatively showcase your snow globe collection, chances are others will not share your passion.

Every new year brings new hope for bigger and better things, so as we move into 2013 there are many who are hopeful for a turn-around in the real estate market. Are there bright things on the horizon for 2013?

It’s not a “short” amount of time, as some would wish; it’s selling for short of the principle debt. 

While most may be tired of hearing about the fiscal cliff and are aware that most of the negotiating had to do with taxes and spending, there is an important component that was passed that affects individual homeowners who are utilizing a short sale to sell their home in 2013.

As winter approaches most thoughts turn to the holidays, festive meals and sitting by the fireplace, so if you have a home for sale advertised on MilitaryByOwner, how do you get potential buyers to come out in the cold?

The great news is there are fewer homes on the market during the winter, making it an ideal time to let your home shine. Here are tips to make your house the one that buyers want to call home.

Curb Appeal – We have discussed the importance of first impressions in our articles “Demystifying “For Sale by Owner” and “The Dos and Don’ts of Real Estate Photography” and while most people think curb appeal revolves around green grass and blooming trees, this is only one piece of the puzzle. While winter landscape is rather barren in the colder areas, it is still important to take a critical eye of how your home makes its first impression. If you live in an area with snow, clear a path to your walkway and front door. Remove dead leaves from under shrubs and pull out expired flowers that cast a brown hue over your planter beds. If you have your home on the market during the holidays, consider putting up simple decorations that will highlight the architecture of your home, but be sure to remove decorations in a timely fashion as well.

Homeowners who are trying to sell their home in this historically slow market know first hand just how hard it is to attract buyers. While location and size are important factors for buyers, the sales prices is likely the number one way that sellers attract buyers. So what is the key to setting the sales price for your home?

Determining an asking price for your home is more of an art than an exact science, but one of the key components to finding a competitive sales price is to obtain and examine a list of comparable sales (commonly referred to as “comps”) for homes that have recently sold in your neighborhood.

While you can consult online home value sites, such as: Zillow, Trulia, and Homes.com, be cautious about using these “estimated” home value sites, as they can have a steep margin of error. Your best bet is to request comps from a local real estate agent or broker who will have access to all the recent sales in your area. A knowledgeable agent will be familiar with recent sales as well as other homes currently on the market and how they compare to your home.

A couple of months ago, we examined the “The Dos and Don’ts of Real Estate Photography” where we addressed different techniques to photograph the outside of your home.  While the photograph of the outside of your home is the one that potential tenants or buyers see first, they are not likely to move any further if the inside of the home is a wreck.