Sunday, November 30, 2008

Selling Your House on Your Own - Selling As Easy As 1-2-3!

Selling your house on your own may not be as difficult as you think if you are prepared and educate yourself on the process. Many people sell their own houses to save on realtor fees. But many times when a prospective buyer knows that you are selling your house on your own, they reduce their offering price because they know that you are saving money. So sometimes it doesn't work out as well as you think it might.

Don't think you can just put a sign in your front yard and everything will take care of itself. Realtors get paid because they do good work. His/her job is to drive qualified visitors to your home, negotiate the best deal for you and complete the sale. When you are selling your house on your own, you must do all these things yourself.

If you're going to sell your own house, you should consider finding an attorney that can help with the final paperwork. A good real estate lawyer will probably have good contacts with a title company also.

Selling your house on your own can be as easy as 1, 2, 3.


Price Your Home Correctly. This is probably the most important and hardest thing to do. Your house doesn't necessarily have to be the cheapest, people will pay more if they see that it's worth it. Do some research on other houses in the area. Find out what options they might have that your house doesn't have and think of ways to compensate, or highlight the best parts of your house. Don't let your emotions price your house for more than it's truly worth. Your house is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.
Get rid of the clutter. Prospective buyers are looking for a nice clean spacious home. When they walk into a house for sale, they don't want to think that they're walking into your house, they want to think that they're walking into their new house. They will look around and imagine what they want to put in their new house. If you get rid of the clutter, it will make it so much easier for them to picture their new house the way they want it.
Market your house. You can have the best house on the market but if no one knows about it, it wont sell. Get out flyers, place classified ads, use Craigsllist and any other free service. Talk to everyone and let them know that your house is for sale. If the house is in a neighborhood with a school, make sure you let the administrator know, he/she may know of families that are moving into the area.

There is a large community to help out with properties that are for sale by owners. Take advantage of this assistance. You will start to hear from many realtors that would like to sell your house for you. Don't completely rule this out. You many find that the money you save was spent in your time. The last thing you want is to make a costly mistake because you weren't knowledgeable enough.

Get In The Know now about selling your house on your own. Get information about buying and selling homes, different mortgage types and other real estate information at Real Estate - Get In The Know

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Reese_Evans

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

How to Prepare Your House For Sale With Key Home Improvements

When the majority of homeowners purchase a home, they plan to live in it for a long period of time. A house is one the largest investments we make, so it is usually something we do not do until we are older, married, and ready to start a family. When we make this investment, we spend weeks looking at open houses, comparing costs, and trying to imagine what it will be like to hear little feet running down the hallway on a Sunday morning. Once we purchase the home, however, we do not always have the opportunity to stay there as long as we had planned. There might be a job transfer or the need to move closer to family and you will need to sell the house. In order to receive the best return on your investment, you need to follow these tips!

The most important areas and rooms to renovate are the entryway, the kitchen, and the bathrooms. These rooms often look the most outdated because new designs are always developed for these areas and the style of furniture changes as frequently as the seasons!

I recommend starting with the kitchen because it is very important to make sure that this room has the latest features and appliances. One of the hottest new elements in modern kitchens is a kitchen island or butcher block. These elegant features are wonderful for additional counter space, storage space, and dining space. Add a few barstools along one edge and you have the ideal place for breakfast and appetizers for dinner. You should also consider a stainless steel double door refrigerator. The shiny metal is an attractive and contemporary look.

The next feature that needs to be addressed is the flooring. In your entryway and your kitchen, you should consider putting in large tiles that are of a neutral tone, such as a tan, off-white, or a light gray color. Large tiles, approximately one foot by one foot, are very popular now because they provide a clean look that is elegant.

Large tiles also look wonderful in the bathroom because they make a small space look larger. However, if it is a bathroom that will be in constant use, you should consider slightly smaller tiles because the more grout, the material between the tiles, the more slip-resistant your floor will be.

Try updating your sinks and faucets in the bathrooms as well. Shiny, new hardware can do wonders for an older bathroom! A new kitchen island, new tiles, and new bathroom hardware are just a few great ideas to ready your home for sale. You will be impressed by how much you can increase your home's value with these few improvements.

If you would like more information on kitchen islands or butcher blocks, please visit the Kitchen Island Shop website.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jane_Worthington

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Short Sales from A-Z This Saturday Morning

Special Note: This information is coming from an
exclusive source and is not generally available
to the rest of the public will not be presented
again in order to keep it confined to only a select
group.

This Saturday morning (time not yet set) all Platinum
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title company that knows how to close out short sale flips in ALL 50 states.

The live webcast training will take place at
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Register now!

You will be notified of the starting time. Register now!

Please have a notepad near you and if you miss some
details, you will be provided with a video of the
presentation for you exclusive use only

See you there, this will be great.

Larry Potter
www.FundsForShortSales.com

PS: 1% Funds Available for REOs too

Friday, November 14, 2008

Getting a Steady Stream of Motivated Seller Calls From Absentee Owner Mailings


Last night I downloaded an updated list of Absentee Owners in preparation for doing another series of direct mail campaigns to buy houses. Before I started to download the lists, I did some preparation work to plan the mailing I am doing.


I am doing a direct mail campaign to my local area and so I selected the zip codes for the parts of town (and one neighboring town) that I am interested in buying in. In total, I had approximately 10 zip codes that I wanted to pull Absentee Owners from. Remember, Absentee Owners are home owners that have their tax bill sent to an address other than the property address. I further limited my search to only Single Family Homes. I am not interested in commercial, industrial, multi-family or anything like that for my personal portfolio and so I excluded those from my mailing list.


With the list provider that I use, I am limited to searching for and showing the results of 1,000 records at a time, so I couldn't just ask for all Absentee Owners in those zip codes for all time. While this may seem like a limitation, it actually made it easier for me to plan and space out my mailing so that I am not overwhelmed with over 100 calls from motivated sellers in one week - like I've done in the past with Absentee Owner mailings (and vowed not to do again).


So, to break down the lists, I first made a list using Microsoft Excel with the years 1970 to our current year and then did a search for each year to find out how many Absentee Owners bought houses (and still owned them today) in those years. In the third column, I had a running total of Absentee Owners so far. Here's an excerpt of my data:


1970 - 0 Absentee Owners - 0 Total
1971 - 0 Absentee Owners - 0 Total
1972 - 14 Absentee Owners - 14 Total
1973 - 23 Absentee Owners - 37 Total
1974 - 23 Absentee Owners - 60 Total
1975 - 28 Absentee Owners - 88 Total


Then, I took that list and broke it down into groups of about 1,000. Most of the more recent years had about 1,000 Absentee Owners in one year, but some of the earlier years I needed to group together to get approximately 1,000 in that group. For example, my first group, which I call Campaign 1 was all the Absentee Owners from 1970 through 1987. It had 937 Absentee Owners on it before I cleaned it.


After I cleaned Campaign 1 of duplicates and records that did not have valid addresses or names, the list was down to about 672 Absentee Owners. Then, I went on to the US Postal Service website, uploaded that list and the post card I am using. I then scheduled it to be sent out.


I will do a mailing list like this every 5 days or so to keep a steady flow of motivated seller calls coming in, but not too many that I can't keep up with the research and purchasing of the good deals. If I start to get overwhelmed with too many, I will increase the interval between the mailings by a few more days. If I am not getting enough calls, I will mail them a little closer together. In this way, I can turn on and off lead flow like you would turn on and off a fire hose.


James Orr is a professional real estate investor, marketing expert and founder of the LearnToBeRich.com on-line investment game.


He works with a network of real estate agents, brokers and real estate investors across the United States through the AnalyzedDeals.com website.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Giving All You Have

By Zig Ziglar

Toscanini said that Marian Anderson had the sweetest voice "this side of Heaven." She sang before kings, princes and heads of governments in the opera houses of Europe and America. She had an extraordinary vocal range, going from soprano to the lowest contralto with a pure tone.Marian Anderson got her start by scrubbing floors for ten cents an hour so that she could buy a pawn shop violin.

The church she attended recognized her rare talent and raised money for a professional voice teacher to work with her. When the teacher pronounced her ready, she went to New York. She was crucified by the critics. She returned home to regroup. Her mother and her church encouraged her and paid for more lessons. This time, because of the intense racial prejudice in America, she went to Europe.

She took the continent by storm. She came back to America and sang at the Lincoln Memorial with over 60,000 people in attendance. She sang "O Mia Fernando," Schubert's "Ave Maria," "Gospel Train," "Trampin'," and "My Soul Is Anchored in the Lord," among other songs. Those who were privileged to hear both her singing and Martin Luther King giving his "I Have a Dream" speech, say her music was even more moving than his oratory.One day a reporter asked her what was the most satisfying moment in her life.

Without hesitation, she responded that her most satisfying moment came when she was able to tell her mother that she did not have to take in any more washing. Her honors were too numerous to mention and yet this was her most satisfying moment. The reporter asked her, "What did your mother give you?" And Marian Anderson responded, "Everything she had."That's greatness.

Buy that concept, and I'll SEE YOU AT THE TOP!

Zig Ziglar is a motivator and teacher. He is the author of 27 books and loved by millions of people world wide for his practical wisdom and his gift of hope.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Easy Way to Earn a Million - An Idea That Works!

Everyone's looking for an easy way to earn a million. It's really not as hard as people think, all it takes is an initial investment and a little creativity. Following is the easiest way to make your first million.

All you have to do is invest in foreclosed property. These properties are often in perfect condition and can sell for 1/10th of their actual value. Before going to the foreclosure auction, you'll want to take a look at the properties that are up for sale. You should have a good idea of how much each will sell for and figure the most you can pay for them and still see a huge return.
Don't be concerned if you don't end up buying a property at your first auction. It can take some time to get the hang of this type of competitive buying, but once you're comfortable you'll find there's a huge rush and feeling of accomplishment when you pick up a property.

Once you have your property you'll want to immediately list it for sale. If you get the property cheaply enough, you can even sell it for slightly under the market value to ensure it sells quickly. I've seen people buy a property and sell it within 48 hours! Once your property sells, be sure to return your money back to the market and buy more homes.

Before long you'll have seen your money, double, then triple. You won't believe how quickly this easy way to earn a million can make you a millionaire!

If you need money now, like I mean in the next 10 minutes, try what I did. I now am making more money than in my old business and you can too. If you want to learn how to invest a few hundred dollars in the next 10 minutes and double it before you go to bed tonight, click now to read a "Rags to riches" story by Martin Thomas that is remarkable - he did it, I did it and you can do it too! Free! Quickest-way-to-make-money-on-earth.com

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Hans_Betrell

Monday, November 3, 2008

Variations on owner financing.

Owner financing is another great option for people to take advantage of the deals you’ll find in the current economic climate.

Owner financing comes in a couple of variations: complete owner financing, where the owner holds the deed and the mortgage on the home and you pay the owner; or partial owner financing, where you take out a conventional loan for a portion of the home purchase, and pay the seller for the rest.

In complete owner financing, you typically agree to pay the owner at a higher interest rate than he or she would receive from the bank. So if the seller has a mortgage at 6%, you might pay 10% for the option of using owner financing.

Most people who use owner financing use it similar to a lease-purchase option; they take the owner financing long enough to clean up credit or save a downpayment, and then apply for a conventional loan to outright purchase a home. However, owner financing offers more flexibility than a lease-purchase option, because you’re not locked into finding financing in a specific period of time.

Partial owner financing is another tool you can use to get a home right now while deals are good.

In partial owner financing, you take out a conventional mortgage for as much as the bank will qualify you. The seller then finances the difference between your mortgage and the purchase price. For example, if you want to buy a $150,000 home, but you can only get conventional financing for $100,000, you might work out a partial owner financing deal where the owner finances the other $50,000.

In the event of partial owner financing, you pay your traditional mortgage payment to the lender every month, and then pay a second payment to the seller for the partial owner financing. This is a great option if you can’t afford a down-payment, or can’t quite get a loan big enough to cover the purchase price of the home.

Don’t miss out on the great deals you’ll find in today’s economic climate.

Fill out a buyer application from Home Seller Assist created by John Alexander and let’s talk! You don’t want to miss your limited window of opportunity before home prices go up again.

With the array of non-traditional financing options available, we can help you find your dream home now, before prices rise and you can’t afford it!