The Open House

An open house is an excellent way to get your home sold fast.  Many home sellers have successfully sold their homes by taking just one weekend and opening up their house to prospective buyers.  There’s a very good chance that a friend, relative, or neighbor of yours knows someone who is looking for a house.  By advertising your open house, it gives buyers a chance to come by and see what you are offering.
The first thing for you to do is choose a date and time for your open house.  Weekends are the best time because most people are off work.  Saturday afternoon or Sunday are the best times.  Check the community calendar of events to make sure that there are no conflicting events with the date you choose for your open house.
 Here are some tips for a successful open house:
To make your home look spacious bring as much light into the home as possible.  You can do this by opening the blinds and curtains and turning on all the lights.  Pay close attention to entrance light in your foyer, dining room and living room.
Allow buyers to envision themselves in the home.  If you have too much of your own personal effects in your home, this will be difficult.  Remove family photographs from the walls and tabletops.  Not only will the sparse decoration enable the buyer to imagine living in the home, it will also create the illusion of a larger space.
Create a welcoming aroma in your home.  You can do this by baking cookies or bread or by boiling cinnamon sticks.  Put bowls filled will potpourri in the bathrooms and bedrooms so the aroma will be present in every room in the house.  Fresh towels and soap in bathrooms will give off a fresh scent.  If you have pets, put them away and clean their areas.  People who are allergic or afraid of pets may be turned off to the home because of the presence of pets.
Have as few distractions as possible during your house.  Arrange for your children to visit a neighbor or friend so you can give your full attention to showing the home.  Do not turn on the television as this can also distract buyers from the showing.  Never apologize for anything in the home during the open house.
 Before the start of the house, you should gather a few essentials.  Prepare a guest book in which buyers can write their contact information.  You can use this guest book to keep notes of the buyers that show interest so you can contact them later on.
 Blank sales contracts are necessary because someone might want to buy your home during the open house.  You can purchase real estate sales contracts from a major office supply store like Office Depot or Office Max.
 Finally, prepare a flyer that buyers can take with them.  Include a photo of the home, facts about the home, the listing price, and your contact information.  If you have a web page advertising your home, be sure to include the web address.

To inspire you more on how to effectively conduct an open house in Bryan/College Station, you can set up an appointment with Gordon Pate for details.

Closing the Deal

Once the buyer signs the sales contract, you might feel the urge to relax.  Don’t sit back and kick your feet up just yet.  Your work is not complete just yet.  The buyer can still back out of the deal if certain things go wrong in these last steps of the for sale by owner process.  Buyers tend to get cold feet at this point.  They see other for sale by owner homes they like for a lower price.  You have to take steps to make sure the buyer doesn’t back out of the deal.
After the for sale by owner sales contract has been signed, the buyer’s lender will have an appraisal done to ensure that the borrower isn’t asking for more money than your home is actually worth.  The lender will not provide a loan if the home is appraised for less than the sale price.  You can avoid this by having your own appraisal done when you are setting your price in the for sale by owner process.  Alternatively, you can make sure that your price is comparable to that of similar homes sold in your neighborhood.
The lender might have your for sale by owner land surveyed to establish the property boundaries.  In most cases, this doesn’t present a problem.  If your for sale by owner property has not been surveyed in the last 50 years, has recently been subdivided between other people, or has a boundary that changes like a creek, then you should pay attention during this part of the process.
The buyer might have his own inspections done as allowed by the sales contract.  These inspections are done at the buyer’s expense and include termite, roof, and general inspection.  Be available during the inspection.  Ask questions about anything you do not understand.  If you so choose, you can have your own inspection completed.  It could prove helpful if you need to dispute a report, but is not necessary.  Your primary concern should be to fix problems and keep the buyer from backing out of the for sale by owner contract.
You should notify your lender that you will be paying off the balance of your mortgage and ask for a statement of your balance.  Collect appliance instruction books and warranty information to give to the buyer.  Finally, when you know the closing date, you should notify service providers like electricity, water, cable, and trash of your final billing date.
 The for sale by owner closing date will be about 30 to 45 days from the date the sales contract is signed.  Depending on your state, your real estate attorney might handle the closing.  Alternatively, the lender’s attorney might handle it and your attorney will act as your representative.
At the for sale by owner closing, the settlement statement is reviewed.  This statement details the money received.  This includes: the lender’s check for the mortgage amount, buyer’s down payment, and the buyer’s earnest money deposit.  The settlement statement also includes money that must be paid out: balance on the seller’s current mortgage, real estate agent fees (if applicable), and closing costs.  Finally, the statement will detail the amount you get to keep.
 The title to the house is then transferred to the buyer and the process is complete.  Your hard work has paid off.

To facilitate the process of selling your home, Gordon Pate will be of great help, more specially if you are disposing a property in Bryan/College Station.

Why You Might Not Want to Sell Your Home

Selling your home seems like an excellent idea.  You can do so much more with a few thousand dollars than pay it to a real estate agent for commission.  Even though saving money is a good reason to sell your home, the money savings might not be worth the work involved with selling your home.  This is especially true if you have to lower your asking price as many for sale by owner sellers end up doing.
When you sell your home, you take on all the responsibilities real estate agent would normally handle.  This includes marketing the home, fielding phone calls from potential buyers, having open houses, making the negotiations, and closing the deal.  If these steps were as easy as they might seem there would be more real estate agents.
Consider that a real estate agent’s only job is to sell real estate.  The agent doesn’t have an emotional attachment to the home.  He (or she) is experienced in juggling multiple priorities and can quickly determine what a buyer is looking for in a home.  In many cases, buyers feel more comfortable working with a real estate agent because they feel freer to voice their true opinions on the home than they would with the home owner.
Many sellers are not able to show the home to potential buyers in an objective manner.  Often the seller skews the home showing to his own point of view, talking about experiences that he and his family have had in the home.  This can make it difficult for the buyer to truly get a feel for what it would be like for them to live in the home.
Pricing the home is vital to the sale of the home.  A seller with no prior experience in setting home prices might end up setting a price that is too high.  Often homeowners have unrealistic expectations of how much their home is worth.  This expectation stems from emotional ties to the house.  A real estate agent, who might work with several houses a day, is better able to look at the home objectively and set a succesful selling price.
Sellers often lack the negotiation skills necessary to ensure that they are getting a good deal from the sale of the home.  If the buyer has an experienced real estate agent, it could be difficult for the seller to negotiate a favorable deal.  This is the reason that many sellers end up walking away with a lower price on the home than they initially expected.
Buyers have schedules just like sellers do.  Selling put the seller in a position where he must schedule his day around showing the home to prospective buyers, some of which might not even show up.  This can end up being extremely frustrating for the seller.

Learn a few more of how easy and how fast you can sell your property from Gordon Pate.

Why You Might Not Want to Sell Your Home

Normal 0 false false false EN-PH X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Selling your home seems like an excellent idea.  You can do so much more with a few thousand dollars than pay it to a real estate agent for commission.  Even though saving money is a good reason to sell your home, the money savings might not be worth the work involved with selling your home.  This is especially true if you have to lower your asking price as many for sale by owner sellers end up doing.
When you sell your home, you take on all the responsibilities real estate agent would normally handle.  This includes marketing the home, fielding phone calls from potential buyers, having open houses, making the negotiations, and closing the deal.  If these steps were as easy as they might seem there would be more real estate agents.
Consider that a real estate agent’s only job is to sell real estate.  The agent doesn’t have an emotional attachment to the home.  He (or she) is experienced in juggling multiple priorities and can quickly determine what a buyer is looking for in a home.  In many cases, buyers feel more comfortable working with a real estate agent because they feel freer to voice their true opinions on the home than they would with the home owner.
Many sellers are not able to show the home to potential buyers in an objective manner.  Often the seller skews the home showing to his own point of view, talking about experiences that he and his family have had in the home.  This can make it difficult for the buyer to truly get a feel for what it would be like for them to live in the home.
Pricing the home is vital to the sale of the home.  A seller with no prior experience in setting home prices might end up setting a price that is too high.  Often homeowners have unrealistic expectations of how much their home is worth.  This expectation stems from emotional ties to the house.  A real estate agent, who might work with several houses a day, is better able to look at the home objectively and set a succesful selling price.
Sellers often lack the negotiation skills necessary to ensure that they are getting a good deal from the sale of the home.  If the buyer has an experienced real estate agent, it could be difficult for the seller to negotiate a favorable deal.  This is the reason that many sellers end up walking away with a lower price on the home than they initially expected.
Buyers have schedules just like sellers do.  Selling put the seller in a position where he must schedule his day around showing the home to prospective buyers, some of which might not even show up.  This can end up being extremely frustrating for the seller.

Learn a few more of how easy and how fast you can sell your property from Gordon Pate.

Why You Might Not Want to Sell Your Home

Normal 0 false false false EN-PH X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Selling your home seems like an excellent idea.  You can do so much more with a few thousand dollars than pay it to a real estate agent for commission.  Even though saving money is a good reason to sell your home, the money savings might not be worth the work involved with selling your home.  This is especially true if you have to lower your asking price as many for sale by owner sellers end up doing.
When you sell your home, you take on all the responsibilities real estate agent would normally handle.  This includes marketing the home, fielding phone calls from potential buyers, having open houses, making the negotiations, and closing the deal.  If these steps were as easy as they might seem there would be more real estate agents.
Consider that a real estate agent’s only job is to sell real estate.  The agent doesn’t have an emotional attachment to the home.  He (or she) is experienced in juggling multiple priorities and can quickly determine what a buyer is looking for in a home.  In many cases, buyers feel more comfortable working with a real estate agent because they feel freer to voice their true opinions on the home than they would with the home owner.
Many sellers are not able to show the home to potential buyers in an objective manner.  Often the seller skews the home showing to his own point of view, talking about experiences that he and his family have had in the home.  This can make it difficult for the buyer to truly get a feel for what it would be like for them to live in the home.
Pricing the home is vital to the sale of the home.  A seller with no prior experience in setting home prices might end up setting a price that is too high.  Often homeowners have unrealistic expectations of how much their home is worth.  This expectation stems from emotional ties to the house.  A real estate agent, who might work with several houses a day, is better able to look at the home objectively and set a succesful selling price.
Sellers often lack the negotiation skills necessary to ensure that they are getting a good deal from the sale of the home.  If the buyer has an experienced real estate agent, it could be difficult for the seller to negotiate a favorable deal.  This is the reason that many sellers end up walking away with a lower price on the home than they initially expected.
Buyers have schedules just like sellers do.  Selling put the seller in a position where he must schedule his day around showing the home to prospective buyers, some of which might not even show up.  This can end up being extremely frustrating for the seller.

Learn a few more of how easy and how fast you can sell your property from Gordon Pate.

Key Elements of Propertry Sales Ad

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Your  ad will be one of the most effective marketing tools that you use for selling your home.  It is possible that hundreds, maybe even thousands, of buyers will be exposed to your for sale by owner ad.  You must write an ad that stands out and calls attention to the home.  Your ad should catch the buyers attention and ultimately cause him or her to have a strong desire to know more about your home.  The heading, home features, and closing are the three key pieces of your for sale by owner ad.  Perfect each of these elements and you will have a winning ad for your  home.
Attention Grabbing Heading!
The first part of yourad that buyers will read will the heading.  Of course, you need to have a heading that will quickly read them over.  The heading of your ad should inspire the buyer to read more of the ad.  Your heading can touch on any of the aspects of your home.  Are you looking to advertise your home based on its price?  Try something like “The Price is Right.”  Do you want to hook the buyer by flaunting the size of your home? Tailor your headline to focus on that aspect of your home.  Remember the headline is the first thing the reader to see.  Make a good first impression.
Best Features Highlighted
Once you’ve hooked the reader with a stellar heading, it’s time to give them a verbal view of the goods you have to offer.  Think about the things that make your  home spectacular.  Did you just remodel the kitchen?  That’s something you can include.  How was the home constructed?  Most finishes other than vinyl siding are worth mentioning.  Fireplaces, finished basements, and screened-in patios are all features of the home that should be highlighted.  Don’t forget about the location of the home.  If your home is near schools, shopping, or interstates, you should include it.
Great Closing Line
How you close your is just as important as how you begin it.  End your ad with a closing line that will make the buyer want to pick up the phone at that very moment and ask about your home.  As you think about your closing line ask yourself why the buyer should call right away.  Is your home a deal that won’t last long?  Say it.  Is the home a buyer’s dream come true? Say it.  Your closing line should have a sense of urgency that pushes the buyer to inquire further.
Look through the classified section of your local newspaper to get a feel for how some home ads are worded.  Take note of those that seem be put together well.  Highlight several of these well-written ads and use them as a guide for how you write your  ad.  Once you put your  home ad together show it to some of your family and friends to gauge their reactions.

for help with you property sales ads, Gordon Pate will gide you all trought out the process.

Pre-Qualifying A Buyer

A big issue and pressing question for a lot of  sellers is how to determine if a potential buyer can afford to purchase the home for sale. This situation is known as pre-qualifying a buyer. At first glance, this may seem like a complicated process and a complex dilemma but in actuality it is relatively simple and involves crunching a few numbers in some basic mathematic equations.
 It is important to determine the meaning of some terms that are involved in this process. The first term to understand is the acronym PITI. This stands for Principle, Interest, Taxes, and Insurance. This is a figure that represents the total cost, monthly, of the mortgage payment including principle and interest as well as the monthly cost of property taxes and homeowners insurance. The second term is Ratio. This is a number that most banks use in order to determine how much of a buyer’s monthly gross income they can afford to spend on PITI. The most commonly used ratio is twenty eight per cent. This ratio is determined without considering any other debts such as credit cards or car payments. Sometimes this ratio is referred to as the front-end ratio. When other monthly debt is taken into consideration, a ratio of thirty six to forty per cent is acceptable. This is called the back end ratio.
 The calculations are as follows:  the front-end ratio is determined by dividing the PITI by the gross monthly income. The back end ratio is determined by dividing the PITI combined with the debt, by the gross monthly income. Four things are needed in order to determine the PITI. The sales price, the mortgage amount, annual taxes, and annual hazard insurance. From the sales price you must subtract the down payment in order to determine how much is needed from your bank.
 The mortgage amount is generally the sales price minus the down payment. To determine the principle and interest portion of the payment you must use a mortgage payment calculator and input the loan amount, the interest rate, and the term of the loan in years. Mortgage calculator websites are available and can be found without much difficulty. Annual taxes are divided by twelve in order to determine the monthly property tax payment. The annual hazard insurance must be divided by twelve in order to come up with the monthly property insurance payment.
 All of these terms and figures seem daunting, but once put into practice, things become easier and more self-explanatory. This is the most complex portion of pre-qualifying your buyer. Other requirements include the standard credit check and job history check. A good credit rating as well as at least two years of consecutive employment are usually necessary in order to get the best terms for a mortgage and to get the lowest interest rate possible.
 It is not as difficult as it sounds in order to pre-qualify a buyer. This can usually be determined by a simple conversation where figures are discussed. With a small amount of due diligence, this process can be much simpler than it sounds and a profitable transaction can be completed.

4587 Barnstable Harbor, College Station, TX 77845

Outstanding & immaculate 4 or 5 bedroom, 4 full & 2 half bath home in Nantucket on almost 3 acres wi th a 2,000 sq. ft. RV barn with full bath & a pond! Amenities include media room, sun room, great ro om, Chef's kitchen w/ Thermador & Kitchen Aid appliances, Butler's pantry, study with built-ins & ha rdwood floors!

Listing provided courtesy of: RE/MAX Bryan-College Station Listing Agent; Gordon Pate  979-7774081 Click Here For more homes for sale in Bryan College Station

Risks Of Selling Your Own Home

It is often a good idea to intensely analyze a situation before delving right in. Selling your home for sale by owner is one of these types of situations. Thorough preparations must be made in order to minimize cost and to ensure as smooth a transaction as possible. Mistakes are at times unavoidable, and in most situations they are inevitable, but the important thing to remember is to use caution so the costly mistakes are at least minimized if not completely eliminated.
 As with all situations involving a high reward, there is a high risk involved in attempting to sell your home for sale by owner. Caution must taken during each and every step of the way in order to ensure a successful sale with the satisfaction of all parties involved.
 When utilizing a real estate agency to sell your home, it will be listed continually on what is called the Multiple Listing Service so the exposure will be constant albeit not attention grabbing. However, when selling your home for sale by owner, it is completely up to you to keep your advertisement fresh and exciting in order to constantly draw potential buyers into showing an interest in your for sale by owner home.
 The risk involved here is one where would-be homebuyers might not interested in what your home. This could be due to a number of reasons such as the advertisement is not in a high traffic area and therefore is not getting the type of exposure it could be getting or the ad in the newspaper is not as noticeable as it could be. Maybe this is because of the language used in the ad. Quite possibly the verbiage is simply not captivating enough. This in itself perpetuates your risk of not being able to sell in the time frame you need to sell in.
 Usually, a  home will sell in about 60-90 days depending on a number of factors, but this is a pretty safe estimate to go with when using a real estate agency. There is no such guarantee when selling your home . It depends solely on the methods you are using to advertise and how much effort you are putting into advertisement.
 Oftentimes, if a seller is trying to save money, there is some sort of time constraint as well. This can put unwanted and unneeded pressure on the seller and can cause a lowering of the asking price. A domino effect of inconvenience can easily be created in order to make up for the last inconvenience and this can be a snowballing process!                                                            
It is a very worthwhile idea to sit down and seriously look at the risks associated with selling your home . The reward can be great but if this is the case then it must go without saying that the risk is going to be equally great.
 Risks, whereas they cannot be eliminated, can be prepared for. It can be a really good idea to sell your home , depending on your specific circumstances and your needs but it is important to remember that risks are present and should be seriously considered before a decision is made.

Understand more of these risks and get instant clarifications on what to avoid, you can visit Gordon Pate.