By listing in early January, you might be able to catch a few of those early birds who start browsing in the winter so that they can find a brand new home before school starts in the fall, said Louis Cammarosano, general manager of HomeGain.com, a real-estate website. In fact, lots of buyers tend to start their searches online right after Christmas, and continue throughout January and February, he said. If your New Year's resolution involves selling a home in 2011, you've got some work to do: There's lots of stock out there and in a buyer's market like this one, getting an offer on a home can be challenging. "If you hit the ground walking and you're a fresh listing that has completed everything right, you've got the best shot," said Cammarosano. Think about the following tips to give your home the best chance to get noticed -- and sold -- in 2011. Price It Right from the Start Lots of sellers suffer from attachment bias, said Tara-Nicholle Nelson, consumer educator for real-estate website Trulia.com. they think that their home is worth over they'd pay for it in another context. While it's always a bad idea to overprice a home, it's dangerous in times like this because there is a lot competing stock in lots of local markets. Nelson's advice: Give yourself a reality check by looking inside comparable homes in the work of open houses. That can help you receive a clearer idea of your home's value. You might even think about interviewing a few real-estate agents to get over one take on how the home ought to be priced, Cammarosano said. Don't be afraid to advertise in the listing and advertising materials that it's not a foreclosure or short sale, Nelson said. In markets where distressed sales are plentiful, there's buyers who basically don't need to deal with the additional hassle and uncertainty of a short sale or bank-owned property, he said. The longer something sits on the market, the more cost reductions you might must make and the more potential buyers will assume that there's something wrong with the home, he said. So usually, it's best not to try testing the waters with a higher cost, he adds.
Question: What situation makes sense to refinance? How long will I have to own the home to make up the cost of the refinance? Answer: With mortgage rates near historic lows, many homeowners are considering the benefits of refinancing their current home loans. So how do I tell if refinancing is the right option for me? 2 is the key factor that is used as a general rule of thumb in the mortgage industry. 2 being the number of percentage points you would need to save on the interest rate and 2 being the minimum number of years you would need to stay in the property afterwards to make the refinance worthwhile. However, one can still see significant savings with even a smaller 1% decrease in interest rate which would make this an attractive option considering the time you plan on staying in this home. Since one would incur additional closing costs with a refinance option (approximately 2.5% of the loan amount on average) one would need to analyze the monthly savings verse the expense to find a breakeven point. This would indicate whether the refinance option really works for your particular situation. This answer was provided by Jeff Edwards of DHI Mortgage.
Google has just come out with a new feature on their google maps that I thought may be of interest. They are now mapping foreclosed properties for any given area. Just as an example I have embedded a map here of the Oviedo area and all the little red dots are foreclosures. This opens searching capabilities up to the public but some would suggest there is a privacy issue.
Let me know your thoughts....
