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RE: Selling a Home - 8/7/2007 11:33:19 AM

popeye1250

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From: New Hampshire
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I'd be very wary of buying in the NorthEast, parts of Florida or Calif.
Prices peaked out in 2006 and are falling.
In New England they went way beyond "value."
In my home city of Woburn, Mass houses are going for $500-$800k, in a working class city.
If you were to buy a house for $500k do you really think you could expect any appreciation in the next five years?
There's not a lot of "working class" jobs that are paying $100k these days to be able to support prices at those levels.
Anyone who can afford those prices isn't going to be looking in Woburn, Mass.
I guess the sellers think that Doctors, Stockbrokers and Airline Pilots would want to buy their houses in a working class city!
Don't they call prices at those levels, "The bigger fool theory?"
Perhaps all those "high-paying manufacturing jobs" that we were promised by Clinton if we passed "NAFTA" are going to start appearing any day now.
To my way of thinking , if there two similar houses , one in the Boston, Mass market going for $800k and one here in the Myrtle Beach market going for $250k, that tells me that the house in Boston is overpriced or the one here is underpriced.
And as for Real Estate Agents I just always use one anyway.
It saves a lot of time, money, and inconvenience.

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RE: Selling a Home - 8/7/2007 2:14:06 PM

windchymes

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Watch a few episodes of "Sell This House" on A&E. They offer really great advice and tips on how to "neutralize" a house and "stage" it for the open house to make it appeal to a large number of buyers, and they only spend a few hundred dollars doing so.

The key is, buyers need to be able to visually imagine themselves living in your home, and they get distracted by clutter, furniture, & colors.

Updated kitchens and bathrooms have the biggest return and are what potential buyers want most. If you can swing new tile floors, granite countertops, new hardware on the cupboards and stainless steel appliances in the kitchen, and tile floors and a double sink in the bathroom, it tends to add $10K to $20K onto the value of the house, and are what buyers want the most. A really great master suite is also really desirable.

I'm looking into relocating due to the high cost of living in this state, too :) Unlike North Jersey, in extreme South Jersey, the salaries are NOT in sync with the increasing costs of real estate and property taxes. I've had enough, I'm outta here.

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RE: Selling a Home - 8/7/2007 8:10:15 PM

Rockwell

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Aileen68

Well...just got my new tax bill and once again they've gone up another $800. I've come to the conclusion that it's time to sell and move. My sister has offered me seven beautiful acres in a fantstic NJ location and it puts me in one of the best NJ school systems. While my taxes will probably be the same and most likely a bit higher in the new location, I will be hopefully mortgage free and the market value of the house will be much higher than where I am now because of the location and school system. I've never had to sell a house. I've got the whole rest of summer, fall and winter to work on projects and plan on putting the house on the market probably end of March. I've started working on a punch list of projects that need to be done...some rooms need repainting and landscaping needs some tweaking. Any advice as to what becomes more appealing to a buyer since I've never house hunted either (the home I'm in has been my only home and was custom built as the new home will be). I'm trying to not become overwhelmed and I'm a little freaked by the idea of strangers in my home, but I'll get over that. Thanks for any input. Also...what's the best way to find a good real estate agent?

You keep saying "I".
Are you OK?    Are you alone? Did someone pass away?

My condolances if so.   Don't you have family or friends to help you out?
Ask around for a good real estate agent. I heard home staging consultants are available to make a place homey, loved, uncluttered.

PS a good idea someone had - caring and unselfish- anything you don't want, give to the good will or another charity. Most have trucks and will pick up for free and unburden you.

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RE: Selling a Home - 8/7/2007 10:49:15 PM

thompsonx

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woops

< Message edited by thompsonx -- 8/7/2007 10:56:36 PM >

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RE: Selling a Home - 8/7/2007 10:52:07 PM

thompsonx

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quote:

ORIGINAL: thompsonx

Aileen:
Spend your fix up money on the kitchen and the bathroom, women buy houses men only pay for them. Take the doors off of the interior rooms and stash them in the garage and tell the prospective buyers you are painting them....it makes the rooms look larger. Rent some upscale furniture...if there is room a baby grand is nice. People always think they are richer than they really are, this caters to the fantasy.
Don't misspell my name on the check. Consultation fees are tax deductible.
thompson

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Post #: 25

RE: Selling a Home - 8/8/2007 2:16:06 AM

UtopianRanger

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Aileen68

Declutterizing....ugh. Good excuse for a yard sale and countless trips to the dump.
Popeye, I do live in a part of the country that costs a lot, but salaries are much higher here so it's all relative. The type of house that will be built will have tremendous equity because of the location in the state and because we'll be building ourselves. Not contracting the work out so one can save a tremendous amount of money. I'll probably spend under $500,000 on the house and land, be mortgage free and wind up with a house that I'll be able to sell for well over a million. I did all of this eleven years ago, but unfortunately the area I live in now is a little too rural and the house is capping out at about $750,000. Not worth it for the taxes I'm paying. In fact, every time my taxes go up, the value of my home goes down since the house falls into the upper level of house prices in my area.

I guess I missed this thread earlier.

Hello Aileen.....

I've sold two homes within the last eight months and currently working on the third one. You've received good advice here so far. One thing I would strongly emphasize is that you find an agent where you can SERIOUSLY negotiate their sales commission.

Here in Oregon the standard rate is seven percent, but the last two places I sold I nailed them down at four-and-three-quarters and five-percent respectively. There's a ton of hungry agents out there and any perspective seller should capitalize on that.

Remember.... the difference between a two-point reduction in the agent's sales commission on a 500k home is a new home with free furniture or a nice vacation in Antigua after you've done all that hard work and finished your move.

Good luck.

- R

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Post #: 26

RE: Selling a Home - 8/8/2007 6:00:13 AM

pahunkboy

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taxes. this post makes me glad to be right where i am, to asn the op, push the snob appeal. in the end it is a pile of bricks,

phazes like top zip codes in abc county,,,,

one good thing about nj, er nevewr mind,,,,,

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Post #: 27