Real Estate Tips
In an ongoing attempt to provide top quality client service,
J Ray Realty would like to offer monthly tips for successfully handling your real estate needs.
JANUARY'S TIP: List Locally
If you are looking to sell your home or land, look no further than your hometown agents. Local agents can offer a much more personalized service than agents located miles away. A local broker will be more readily available to show your property to potential buyers than an agent that must schedule a trip to come to your town. Local agents receive more requests for listings specifically in your hometown than agents located in other cities. J Ray Realty takes pride in providing the perfect balance of a professional and personalized real estate relationship. If you are looking to sell your home or land, our agents would like to offer their top quality service to not just list your property, but to sell your property.
FEBRUARY'S TIP: Buyer's Representation
The concept of "Buyer's Agency" was created to offer buyers equal representation throughout the process of any given real estate transaction. In general, real estate agents are working for the seller. Their goal is to push for the best interests of their seller. On the contrary, a contracted "Buyer's Agent" works for the buyer and pursues the buyer's best interests. Buyer's Agents utilize all material facts to improve the negotiating stance of the buyer. Buyer's Agency is especially beneficial to individuals moving to an unfamiliar area. A Buyer's Agent can provide information on neighborhoods, school systems, market prices, and a wide array of other conditions that could be essential to your housing decision. Additionally, a Buyer's Agent can coordinate contacts with lenders, home inspectors, attorneys, surveyors, and other local professionals throughout the individual's absence. As you are looking to purchase your next home, J Ray Realty's experienced agents would like to represent you and help relieve the stresses that inevitably arise throughout the real estate transaction process.
MARCH'S TIP: Co-Broking
Does the agency selling your property agree to co-broke? If so, at what percentage is the commission split? If you don't know the answers to these questions, did your listing agent even explain the concept of co-broking and its benefits? Co-broking is a very important part of listing your property as it determines how many potential buyers will get to look at it. If your listing agency agrees to co-broke, it means that other agencies have the opportunity to sell your property, greatly increasing the number of those potential buyers. If your listing agency does not co-broke, then you are limited ONLY to the clients that contact that agency directly. In addition to knowing whether or not your agent will co-broke, you should also note how they split commissions with other agencies. The ideal scenario is always a 50% split, where your agency gets half of the commission for listing and the other agency receives the other half for selling the property. If your agency splits in any other way, it will greatly reduce the number of outside agents willing to show your home. Consider this: a buyer's agent has the choice to show one of two properties. Property "A" is listed with an agency that gives 50% of the commission; property "B" is your property listed with an agent that only offers 30%, 35% or 40%. The buyer's agent will choose property "A" every time, while your property just continues to sit overlooked. Most buyer's agents won't even look at the listings of an agency that offers less than 50%. If you don't know how your listing agent will co-broke, just ask - it could certainly determine the exposure that your home gets on the market. J Ray Realty is always happy to co-broke... remember, J Ray Realty is NOT here just to list your property, J Ray Realty is here to sell your property.
APRIL'S TIP: Spring Cleaning
Spring and Summer are just around the corner - and with the warmer temperatures come Real Estate shoppers. Now is the best time to get your home listed and advertised if you are looking to sell. As soon as you have your home on the market, it is your listing agent's responsibility to take care of getting clients to take a look. Once the clients are inside, the best thing you can do to promote your own home is keep it clean. Clean homes always sell much quicker and easier than messy ones. Just a few simple things can go a long way in leaving a positive impression on potential buyers. First and foremost, box up and store away anything and everything that is not in immediate use. Fewer things sitting around means less space taken up, giving the impression of bigger, more open rooms. This concept applies to floors, closets, cabinets, and especially countertops. Sweep, mop, vacuum, and dust regularly. Keep windows, mirrors, and glass doors wiped clean and streak-free. If you have white blinds, make sure they look white. Clean stains out of tubs, showers, sinks, and toilets. Remove any lingering smells (i.e. pet odors, cigarette smells, old food, etc). Steaming cleaning carpets and burning scented candles will help drastically. These are just a few suggestions to improve the look of your home. When your J Ray Realty agent comes to list your home, he/she will be happy to make suggestions to giving your home the best presentation possible.
MAY'S TIP: Pre-qualifying for a Loan
Loan qualification is one of the most important aspects of the Real Estate buying process. Buyers have several options of times to speak with a lender. Contact with lenders can be made before looking at homes, after finding a home of interest, or even after making an offer on the desired home. Although each of these times are acceptable, there are several benefits of speaking with a lender before shopping for homes. Clients who are pre-qualified will already have a more specific price range that will work for their budget. This will sometimes open up some options that the buyer previously thought were out of reach. Speaking with the mortgage lender before deciding on a home will also save time after the offer is made, allowing the closing process to move quicker. In fact, some sellers prefer to limit showings of their property to only those buyers who have already been pre-qualified. If you are in the market to buy a new home, but are unsure of the local lenders, ask your J Ray Realty agent to put you in contact with some excellent lenders that will be happy to assist with your financial needs.
JUNE'S TIP: Renting vs. Purchasing
One of the biggest decisions that individuals may face is renting or buying their next home. Whether the clients are newly married, about to get married, moving to a new community, or any other of life's changing scenarios, renting vs. owning can be a very difficult decision. Renting usually seems to be the easier of the two choices, simply because of the "short-term" nature of the arrangement. What many individuals don't realize, though, is that renting can be much more of a burden than buying. For example, that very same "short-term" quality presents a whole list of added stresses in itself: What will you do when the lease expires? How much of your personal property should you move to the rental and how much should you put in storage? You may also believe that renting is much cheaper than buying. When you consider your expenses on a monthly basis, factoring in security deposits, pet deposits, storage fees, moving costs at move-out, tenants' insurance, and other various rental costs it sometimes can become more expensive than owning your home. What happens if your landlord decides to sell his/her property while you are living there? It does happen and it leaves you facing the stresses of moving all over again - and it doesn't matter whether the move-out is convenient for you or not. When you buy your home, all of the money you are spending is going into something that belongs to you, instead of something that belongs to someone else. If you decide you want to move in just a year or two after buying, you simply put the home on the market to sell - usually for more than what you paid, so you pay of your loan and put a good amount of money in your pocket. Sure, some circumstances exist where buying just isn't an option. When you do have the choice, you should really think long and hard before jumping to the assumption that renting is "easier". J Ray Realty's brokers are happy to discuss your situation with you to help guide you in making the best decision.
JULY'S TIP: Standing Out in a Crowded Market
There are lots and LOTS of homes on the market. Everywhere you look, something else is going up for sale. How do you get your home sold with so much competition? You could always just put a sign in front and hope for the right person to come along at the right time. Or you could make your listing more attractive than the rest. Of course cleaning, updating, landscaping, or any other improvement can be good selling points, but what if everyone else is doing the same things? There are many "extras" that you can offer with your home to draw in more and more attention. Offer your buyer a 12-month home warranty. This gives the buyer a satisfying feeling of not having to worry about picky repairs within the first year. Most home warranty companies even offer their service to the seller until the closing for discounted costs or even at no charge. Another incentive you could offer for buying your home is closing cost assistance. Everyone in every transaction has closing costs, some greater than others. Buyers, especially, have fairly high closing costs with loan down payments, inspections, appraisals, surveys, etc. Sellers' costs come off the proceeds from the sale, buyers' costs have to come out of their pocket or savings account. If you are offering to assist in covering some of these costs (still out of the proceeds, not your pocket), a buyer will notice and will be more likely to choose your property. These are just a couple of examples of how to make your listing stand out in the crowded market. For other examples, feel free to contact your J Ray Realty broker and set up a time to discuss your listing.
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