You're ready to take the plunge. You're excited but feeling a little overwhelmed about your decision to purchase your first home. After all, it's likely going to be the largest purchase you've ever made, and you're still a little uncertain about making such a commitment. Plus, it's a long and challenging process, right?
Not necessarily. Of course, there will be plenty of stressors associated with home buying, but if you do it right and understand what lies in front of you, there's no reason for this to be anything other than a pleasant transaction!
Very simply put, there are 8 steps you need to progress through before you have the keys to your new home in your hand.
Choose a Realtor
Start by interviewing several realtors in your area to
You’ve sold your house, and you’re ready to move on to the next home of your dreams. Or perhaps you’re moving from an apartment to your first home. Or maybe you’re downsizing from a large home to a smaller abode. Whichever the case, it’s time to pack.
Just reading that last line solicits a collective groan from the masses since few people truly enjoy the process of packing for a move. If you do it often, you may have gotten better at it, but – chances are – you still don’t like to do it.
So, what advice do the experts offer in order to make the packing process less painful? The trick, most agree, is staying organized and having a plan.
“Ugh, I hate plans,” you might be thinking, but those in-the-know suggest that a plan which starts as far in
Do you love your career as a real estate agent? Do you exude telltale agent traits? Is it easy for others to figure out that you adore houses – old and new - and that you love selling them?
If you're not a "secret" agent but advertise your love for the business on your sleeve, so to speak, chances are it's easy for others to figure out what you do for a living. And chances are your life has changed since you entered the world of real estate.
Just for fun, we've compiled this list of traits that seem to go along with life as a realtor. So, here it goes.
You know you're a realtor when…
You can't get enough of HGTV – Face it. You're hooked! Whether it's watching those good-looking twin brothers sell and rehab homes in Canada, house
For many history buffs or lovers of old architecture, buying an old home is at the top of their list. They salivate when they see that 1700s-built colonial or that perfect Victorian from the late 1900s. They envision an old home as the ideal house for them and the one they’ve been waiting to buy for years.
So, when the opportunity arises to purchase that perfect old house – you know, the one you purposely pass each day on the way home from work - many people jump in with both feet…without really thinking about the consequences. While the historical home you’re eyeing might be in great condition – or APPEAR to be in great condition, more often than not there are many things to consider prior to purchasing and others for which you should be on the
Whether it's a buyer's market or a seller's market, there seem to be some homeowners who insist on trying to sell their own property. If you ask them why they can no doubt provide you with several reasons as to why it's better not to get a real estate agent involved. The primary goal is usually saving money.
But if you examine the pros and cons of using a realtor to sell your home, it's easy to see that being a FSBO probably won't result in a huge savings – or a savings at all – and you'll add plenty more stress and frustration to the entire process as well.
Below we've compiled a list of 10 reasons why you should avoid the For Sale by Owner sign and opt instead for the placard of one of your area's top realtors.
If you’ve got a career in real estate, you’ve got a website. At least you should! Indeed, it is the rare business these days that is successful without a website.
But many realtors and other business owners (and, remember, you ARE a business owner) don’t spend the time it takes to keep their website fun and interesting. True, most realtors do spend time building their initial site, but then it seems to fall by the proverbial wayside, with realtors only logging on when they want to add a picture and description of a new listing.
But what the other kinds of things you can do to refresh your site? What should you post? And will those items/ideas bring you more traffic?
‘Tis the season, the saying goes. A season for fun and merriment. Family and friends. Gift-giving and receiving. Decorating, food, and a tasty little libation.
The holidays are a joyous time for most people and a great time to reconnect with loved ones. But some things might be best left until after the holidays – like selling your house, right? Well, maybe. Or maybe not.
Every year, there are plenty of houses on the market during the December holiday season. Some sellers do quite well at that time of year while others throw up their hands and think, “Why am I doing this?”
Well, there are always pros and cons to every situation, so here’s our take on whether or not you should try to sell your house during such a busy season.
Most of us rent our living spaces at one time or another. Whether it’s a room in someone else’s house, an apartment, or even a single-family home, renting is very often the best option for Americans just starting out…and sometimes for those who’ve been there and done the buying thing and are ready to scale down. (More on that in another blog!)
Anyway, suppose you’re now feeling quite settled and are tired of paying rent and watching your monthly payment disappear with clearly no financial advantage to you. You want to start building equity and want to select a place that you can make “your own”. So, in your mind, it’s time to buy. After all, if you can afford rent, you can afford a mortgage payment that’s equal to it, right?
Getting started in real estate can be fun and exciting…but it’s not always easy. Especially in areas where realtors seem to be a proverbial dime-a-dozen, new agents can have a hard time standing out in the crowd. It takes a lot of work, in the beginning, to get one’s name out there front and center AND plenty of consistent work to keep it there.
Marketing and Branding
Marketing and branding. Those are certainly two “buzz” words of the 21st century. We hear them all the time, associated with products and services of all sorts.
Anyone in the real estate business should do their best to establish a “brand”, which is defined as a name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s goods or services as distinct from
When your home goes on the market, it’s exciting because it usually means you’re heading on to something new and different. But selling your home can also be stressful, emotionally draining, frustrating, and all those other emotions. Things can go wrong, and feelings get hurt, expectations sometimes fall short.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. There are certain things you can do that will lessen the angst associated with selling a home, from proper pre-planning to other things that will keep you sane during the entire process – from the time the sign goes up until that last signature at the closing table.
Prepare, prepare!
While most of us don’t just wake up one morning and decide to list our house, sometimes we don’t give ourselves
