If you are currently in the need for more living space or you are tired of your outdated home, it’s a tough decision to know if you should spend the money to remodel, or if you should altogether move to a new house and location. If you are dealing with this tough decision, here are some factors to take into account:

• What changes do you need and what changed do you want? Make two separate lists, first the “changes needed” list, and research how much these changes will cost in renovation. If you still have savings left after considering these costs, move onto the “changes wanted” list.

• If you cannot figure out a way to renovate your home to make these changes possible, or if the cost is much higher than you expected, consider moving. Though the cost of moving is substantial, you also receive a revenue from selling your house. With a renovation, it’s money out of your pocket now, and no return investment, although a renovation might help increase the sale of your home in the future.

• How much do you enjoy your location? If you need a larger home, but you absolutely love your neighbors, your children’s schools or your quick commute to work, you might want to add onto your existing home. Don’t give up everything you love for the sake of extra space.

• According to an article from bobvila.com, many houses provide the space that is needed, but are just configured incorrectly. Walk through each room and consider how you could rearrange furniture or purchase new furniture in order to utilize the room better. For an improved judgment, ask an outside family member or friend.

• With remodeling or add-ons, once you receive a cost estimate from construction firms, contact a lender if you will need a loan. Will you want to move in the near future? Taking out a loan now might postpone future move plans if you have too many loan payments at once.

All in all, here are the considerations that it should come down to:

• Remodeling considerations: How much of your personal time will need to go into this project? How long will the whole process take? Is the weather suitable enough for this project to be completed in a timely manner? Will the noise of construction and inopportune walls being knocked down distract you from your work done at home? Do you have space to add onto your home, and will you mind space from your yard disappearing? Will you need extra air conditioners, water heaters, etc. to fill the added space? Will the upgrade add to the value of your house? When it’s all said and done, is the outcome worth the price and time?

• Moving considerations: Would a new layout benefit you more than the one you have? Could you still commute to work from a new location? Are there good schools, convenience stores, etc. in the new area? Is the price doable? Can you afford the higher taxes that go with a larger home? Is your house in a condition to sell? Is your credit in well enough condition to receive a loan? Is every family member on the same page with moving? Do you have the time that goes into cleaning up the home, decluttering, hosting open houses, packing up and unpacking somewhere new?

If you’re still torn, consult with a construction firm to find out a cost estimate for remodeling. Then, figure out the market value of your home and what type of new house you could afford, and visit www.BuyOwner.com to shop around, and attend open houses. It might be easier to start with a new layout, and plan your new extra space accordingly. Though it’s a hard and complicated decision to make initially, no matter which choice you make, the end result should suit your needs perfectly.

Estate sales are commonly run by professionals on behalf of a deceased property owner. However, you may hold your own estate sale for many reasons:

• if you are downsizing
• if you are moving to a facility where you are unable to keep your belongings (assisted living, retirement home, etc)
• if you want to get rid of unnecessary items to avoid foreclosure

Why hold your own estate sale?

The bottom line is that running your own estate sale saves you money. Not only must you pay a professional for his/her services, but you’ll also have to fork over a pretty penny for advertising, research, security, refreshments and other fees. The professional will often take a percentage of the profit, as well, which could run anywhere between 20 and 50%! If there has been a death in the family, it may be too overwhelming for you to conduct the estate sale of your loved one’s belongings. However, if any of the abovementioned reasons apply to you, it would be a great idea to run the sale by yourself.

What are the logistics?

Depending on the amount of items you want to sell, estate sales last from one to three days. There is often a price reduction at the end of the last day, to ensure that every item has been sold. The advantage of hiring a professional is that he/she will do extensive research in order to accurately price your precious pieces. However, professionals are sometimes more stringent on bargaining with patrons, so you might end up giving quite a few things away for free in the long run if you cannot sell them within the first few days. By attending some estate sales in your area, you can get a sense of how things work and how to price your items. And don’t forget to advertise. Post a free listing on Craig’s List or print up some flyers to hang about town in super markets and other businesses with high amounts of foot traffic.

There are many reasons why people choose to file for Chapter 13 Bankruptcy instead of Chapter 7. For one, if you had already filed for Chapter 7, you may not do so again for another eight years. Also, if you want to make up missed payments on a mortgage, you may only do so via Chapter 13. Whatever the reason, many homeowners that file for bankruptcy find themselves concerned with how they will make enough money to pay their debts over time. Moving to a smaller home/condo or renting an apartment might be a great plan for the budget, but the ultimate question most people find themselves asking is, “Can I sell my home while I’m under Chapter 13?”

Simple Answer: YES!
However, there are a few factors that go into play before you may sell your property:

1. Both the court and the creditors must be informed of the home’s sale price and given written proof of the value of the property.
2. Your attorney must notify all of your creditors before the property is sold.
3. You must inform the court and the creditors how you plan to distribute all the proceeds from the sale.
4. The final step is getting an approval from the bankruptcy court.

Before you consider anything (i.e. putting your house on the market), you should first consult with your lawyer. You need to make sure you have plenty of time to get an approval from the courts, as there is quite a bit of paperwork involved. You should also tell all prospective buyers about the bankruptcy situation. If you don’t, once it is revealed in the midst of negotiations, the buyer might get scared and back out of the deal.

It may take up to a month to receive an approval from the judge, so give yourself plenty of time to close the deal. If the proceeds cover all of your debts, your case will be discharged. However, if you need some of the money in order to purchase your new home, you and the judge must come to an agreement on the amount of money allocated to the bankruptcy trustee.

With seasonal changes comes seasonal upkeep. Each season presents new chores to keep up with, especially outside. When your house is for sale, it’s vital that you keep up with the curb appeal of your home. When potential buyers see the Buy Owner sign in the front yard, all they have to go off of is the external appearance. When potential buyers visit for an open house, the external appearance is what they judge first. In your ads, the first picture potential buyers will view is usually of the front exterior.

• In order to keep up with the curb appeal as much as possible, consider the natural elements. Fall means raking up leaves and trimming bushes. Winter means shoveling the snow off the driveway and the walkway. Spring means cleaning out the gutters, planting flowers and fixing paint chips. Summer means planting more flowers and mowing the lawn.

• Every couple weeks, stand in front of your house and just look at it. It’s often hard to judge your own home, so consider asking a neighbor or friend for advice too. By stepping away from the home and looking at it from the view of potential buyers, you’re more likely to notice little nicks, cracks or stains that you would otherwise pass right over.

• After taking a good look at your house from a distance, look closely at each individual aspect. Browse the entire scope of the roof and the siding, using binoculars. Walk up the driveway and walkway, while closely reviewing the surface. Stroll through the grass, look up in the trees and brush cobwebs off the bushes. Take your time.

• Handle one issue at a time, so you don’t feel overwhelmed. If the driveway could use a renewal, plan a day to resurface it. Once that chore is complete, wash around the windows that you noticed were collecting spots. Then, trim bushes and pick dead flowers from the pots.

• Continue to enjoy your curb appeal. If you’re proud of the appearance of your home, others will take notice. Relax on the front porch and breathe in the fresh air. Decorate the walkway with annual flowerpots, or with pumpkins and gourds. Build a snowman in the winter. Make the appeal clean, upgraded and homey.

In last week’s selling-tips post, we looked at the importance of avoiding two mortgages and recommended selling your existing home before buying another, while keeping your eye on the market throughout your sale.

But what should you do if you’ve already purchased a second home, obtaining a second mortgage along with it? What if you’re trying to sell but not finding the buyer?

Here are three options to consider:

1) Rent your old home. When people aren’t buying, they’re renting, so what potentially seems like a tragic home market could be the perfect time to become a landlord! If you can find renters whose monthly payments will cover your old home’s mortgage payments, you’ll take a huge strain off your finances.

2) Lower the price of your old home. The importance of pricing aggressively cannot be overstated, particularly in a competitive market such as today’s. If your home isn’t attracting interest, consider lowering the price.

3) Refinance. Talking to your mortgage provider(s) can be helpful in situations like these, where it may be in both their and your best interest to refinance. You may also want to check with Buy Owner to see what best rates we can connect you with!

“Don’t get caught with two homes. You find your dream home and decide to put it under contract assuming you can sell your home before you have to close on the new one. Big mistake in this home market and this economy. While the housing market is improving, it is still taking longer to sell homes than in the past…” (The Birmingham News)

The old real estate formula has changed. What was once as simple as shopping, buying & selling has become a waiting game, at best, for unknown lengths of time, hoping for the right, qualified buyer to come in and make it possible for you to shop for and buy a new place.

If there’s one rule that seems to hold true today, it is this: Sell your house before you buy a new one.

It seems easy enough, but selling before buying can be tricky, too. What if you can’t find a home you want in the window of time you have before closing—Should you rent while you wait? Should you settle for whatever you can find?

Here are three tips for avoiding the dual-mortgages nightmare:

1) Shop casually while your home is for sale. Once you’ve decided to move, go ahead and browse around online for a new place—just remember the key word is browse. This way, you’ll get a feel for what prices and styles and locations most interest you. If you happen to find the property of your dreams, you can make an offer, but do it under contingency.

2) Don’t buy until you’ve sold or, buy under contingency. Sellers are much more flexible today about accepting contingent offers, especially as offers are so hard to come by. The catch here is that someone else could swoop in and steal the place, but ask yourself: is paying two mortgages worth grabbing this particular residence? If not, wait.

3) Price aggressively to sell. Think like the buyers who are coming to look at your property: they want a home that’s in mint condition, offered for a fantastic price. If you set your asking price at or just below the competition, you stand a much greater chance of selling quickly.

The bottom line is this: while you can’t control when your home sells, you can control your decisions surrounding the sale!

Want to know what to do if you’ve already gotten stuck in the two-mortgage trap? Stay tuned for another post on that very topic in one week!

You probably already know how significant the listing price of your home can be. Price too high, and you scare away qualified buyers; price too low, and you get less money than you could have. We’ve written here at the Buy Owner Blog about the perils of poor pricing before, but let’s talk now about the way to do it right:

Determine Your Margin
One of the first factors you need to consider is equity. If you’ve been in your home for several years or if you put down a large down payment, you have a pretty good idea how much money you’d like to get out of the house when you sell. That number may be tainted by your financial situation, if, say, you’re in financial trouble and need to sell quickly, in which case it could be best to lower your price, even if you take a short-term loss. No matter what, you need to make sure you’ll get enough money out of your house to pay off the mortgage and find new living arrangements. In today’s market, in some areas, the upside-down nature of real estate could make this a difficult proposition.

Do Some Research
The local MLS and a quick online search can help you identify properties that are considered to be comparable to yours. If you want to sell your house quickly, price your home as the best deal on the market by setting your price lower than all similar ones in your area. By using Buy Owner, you’re already cutting the cost of commissions, so lowering your price should be possible to do without taking a significant hit to your profit.

A real estate appraiser can also help you price your home. Most buyers will need a recent appraisal in order to qualify for a mortgage on your home anyway, so it may be worth the small investment required to have the home appraised prior to putting it on the market. Any time you can sell your home “below appraisal,” you have a better chance of selling it quickly.

If you price your home and no one comes to see it, you may have priced it too high. Remember that one of the best reasons to sell by owner is the flexibility it allows, and you can always lower the cost of your home if activity is less than you desire or if offers come in significantly lower than your asking price.

While it’s most common to sell a home unfurnished, so that you can transport your existing belongings into your new location and buyers can bring theirs into your old one, there are homes bought and sold fully furnished all the time. In certain cases, it’s a situation that makes most sense for the seller and the buyer, and here’s why.

Why Sell Furnished?
Sometimes, whether because of downsizing or extensive relocation or something else, sellers cannot bring all of their furnishings to where they are moving. They are then faced with not just needing to sell a home but also the majority of its contents, and so lumping everything together saves a step. Other times, the property may be a vacation home, in which the sellers do not need to keep the furnishings or specifically purchased them for that individual location, so it doesn’t make sense to transport them.

Why Buy Furnished?
Buyers sometimes prefer furnished homes, particularly when they are significantly upgrading, moving from somewhere very far or purchasing a vacation home. The furnishings offer convenience and time-saving help so that their move can be a little simpler.

Cautions & Advice
If you are a seller thinking of offering your home fully furnished, there are some things you’ll want to keep in mind.

First, consider the quality of the furniture—is it clean, in good condition, free from damages? In order for the furnishings to be an incentive, they must be showroom-quality. Otherwise, buyers will find it better to buy a vacant home to fill with the right kind of merchandise.

Second, look at staging for inspiration. Professional home stagers make their living off helping people stage their homes to look impressive enough to buy. Statistics favor staging as a fantastic method of not only increasing a home’s selling price but also decreasing its time on the market. Use this information to your advantage by making your furnishings work for you, not against you!

Third, eliminate that which clutters. All excess furniture and decoration should be put away, whether sold, donated, stored or trashed. If you don’t want to take it with you and it doesn’t add to the value of your home, get rid of it!

In today’s buyers’ market, you as a seller may be especially excited when an offer comes in for your home. Yet in your celebration, don’t rush too quickly! Remember there’s much to consider before accepting a bid as offered.

To make the process a little better for you, we’ve created a list of eight steps to keep in mind during the process.

Start the process early. Have an inspection completed right when your house goes on the market, so that whatever needs fixing gets fixed. That way, when negotiating a deal, a potential buyer can’t use a valid problem against you.

Do your homework. If a potential buyer has a concern about your asking price being too high, and has data to back them up, be familiar with the circumstances that they are presenting. Find out what homes in the area are being offered for and being sold for.

Consider all your offers. If the offer is significantly lower than your asking price, ask why. If the buyers did research and found other homes in the area to be sold at a lower price, you have a particular topic to discuss and review. If they have no particular reason, explain to them why you priced your home as is.

Take your time. You are allowed two or three days to consider an offer, so take that time to think it through. What is your home worth? Will you be making a profit? How soon do you need to move? Consider your options before professionally replying with a written acceptance or a counteroffer.

Know the financial situation. Make sure that the potential buyer has been preapproved for a loan, if need be, and find out how much they plan on offering as a down payment. You’ll save yourself numerous headaches down the road if you settle financial questions early on.

Prepare a counteroffer if you are unwilling to accept the initial offer. Usually the first offer you receive is less than what the potential buyer is willing to spend, but the final negotiation might still end up below your asking price. Decide whether you’d rather wait for a higher offer and continue to pay your mortgages, or take a lower offer and pay fewer mortgages.

Be fair. If you are dealing with more than one offer at a time, make sure the buyers are aware of this. One, it might cause them to offer a higher bid. Two, it make them aware that even if they agree to your counteroffer, you can still deny it if you receive a higher bid.

Be obliging. This is, after all, still a buyers’ market. Be willing to throw in the washer/dryer set or a lawn mower; think creatively about incentives. Find out when the buyer needs to move. Discuss financial matters to find out when and how the buyer plans on paying. Be professional and calm through the entire process.

For more helpful tips on negotiating, read this past blog.