Whether you’re meeting new clients or colleagues, on a job interview, or out on a first date, you have the same goal: to make a good first impression. That holds true for selling your home. A buyer’s first impression can make or break whether they even want to go inside for a look.  It is estimated that more than half of all houses are sold before the buyers even get out of their cars. With that in mind, be sure to stand outside of your home and take a realistic “fresh look” and write down a complete inventory of what is wrong with your home’s appearance, and then make a list of ways in which you can fix those problems.

I have seen many homes that would have benefited from even the simplest fix-ups, like mowing the lawn, painting a bit of trim, or removing litter from the front yard. These homes sold for less than their market value because the buyers assumed the home’s outward appearance was an indicator of its true value.

As a homeowner or investor with a house for sale you need to have enthusiastic buyers making offers in order to see maximum gains. Enthusiastic buyers and Realtors will result in a higher selling price in a much shorter period of time. Without question, selling your home and the curb view leaves something to be desired, it is well worth the investment to improve the home’s exterior appearance and improving your home’s curb appeal doesn’t necessarily mean wiping out your savings account.

I recommend this invaluable information and ideas to anyone who is interested in improving the exterior of their home in preparation for a sale, or simply to increase your net worth.

-         Landscaping should be well cared for, with shrubs and trees – especially evergreens – pruned and shaped. 

-         Check if there are patches of dead grass, remove them and get some grass seed.

-         Lawn neatly mowed, trimmed and raked

-         Dispose of any old / broken lawn furniture or toys.

-         Fix anything that is broken on the outside of the home, lights, gutters, shutters, door bells, etc.

-         Replace tarnished door knobs or handles. The door can be spruced up by a coat of paint if needed

-         proper outdoor lighting for evening visitors

-         Re-caulking windows and touching up window frames is easy and inexpensive.

-         Freshly painted home and/or fencing, including clean or freshly power washed siding.

-         Add some flowers to the front walkways and entrances.

With these basic steps your can dramatically improve your home’s curb appeal without breaking the bank.

If you been reading the newspapers or watching your local news you know how stressful the process of selling a house can be, especially in today’s market, with house prices falling dramatically back to early 2006. Added to this, there is a shortage of potential buyers, a higher stock of unsold property, meaning your house could be on the market for months, more likely years. When you do eventually get a buyer you are still such to a lot of demands to fix the repairs before they are willing to buy or a buyer pulling out simply because they have changed their minds. It is a buyers market today and any qualified buyers are looking for the perfect deal.

Home owners who are perhaps looking to relocate, or who are going through separation or divorce, or are currently experiencing debt problems; simply don’t have time to wait the months or years for their home to sell on the open market.  “Sell My Newport News, Virginia House Fast!” is something that our company hears allot from people in Newport News, Virginia, but what is amazing is so few people are aware that this is easier than they thought.  We don’t care about all of the work that needs to be repaired. We buy houses that need roofs, new cabinetry, flooring, and more. We buy houses that even have a poor foundation. Any home can require serious repairs and we are willing to talk to you because we buy houses in Newport News. It can be very difficult to sell a home when it needs a significant amount of repair. There are buyers who are picky about the Newport News homes they buy but there are also some who will buy Newport News houses that are in any state or condition (meaning, even the most dilapidated ones can be sold nowadays.) But be reasonable – you cannot expect a dilapidated and unwanted home to command the same market price as a well-kept and beautifully-designed home. That would be like saying an ugly and run-down car is sold at the same price as top-of-the-line advanced and new car models. It just isn’t realistic.

What would be realistic is if you were to sell your Newport News home and look into the following factors that may influence its sale price:

1)      What was the original price at which you bought your home, or had it constructed for? This gives you a baseline from which you shouldn’t budge when given offers by potential buyers.  Into the market price of any house, you will have a built in real estate sales commission of 6%-7%. That is a realtor’s commission and in reality 95% of the homes sold in America are sold through realtors. The reason for this is that most sellers don’t have the time and money to market there house properly and spend all day and night showing it to prospects. Even if they do, they realize that most of the prospects they are showing there home to aren’t really prospects because they can’t get financing to buy the house anyways. Sellers recognize that this is a tremendous waste of time and money….not to mention how frustrating it is. And, even if they don’t mind doing all of that, they probably haven’t sold more than 2 or 3 houses in there life anyways, so they are not familiar with all of the problems that will pop up along the way. Anyways, take $7,000.00 out of your sale price for realtor’s commission. That leaves you with $93,000.00.

2)      Contrary to some sellers beliefs, homes typically do not sell at full market value,    even if that is the price they are listed at. Buyers almost always negotiate at least a little bit off the asking price. Offers typically come in and are accepted at approximately 5% off the asking price. Studies have shown that is the national average. So, that’s another $5,000.00 off your price which brings you to $88,000.00.

3)      Sellers of homes often pay points on the new buyer’s loan as part of the sale, especially if the new buyer’s loan is an FHA or VA loan. Two to six is typical. Let’s take the middle of the road and go with four. That’s $4,000.00, which leaves you with $84,000.000

4)      Then there are “fix-up” costs. While most people selling there home may not see a bunch of things that they feel need to be fixed up, buyers will. It makes sense that you as the seller may not see everything that really needs to be done because you are either living in the home and have become used to seeing certain things as minor or non existent, or are expecting a best case scenario house sale….which never really happens. Unless you plan on making your property into mint condition, you can expect the sales price to reflect the work that needs to be done. Let’s say you can get away with a couple minor updates to the property which cost you only $1,000.00. That puts you at a total of $83,000.00. Now, if there are any truly noticeable issues with the home, such as roof repair needed, holes in walls, carpet or tile needed, damaged areas, plumbing or electrical problems, structural problems, etc. it can be very expensive. If a property needs this kind of fix up, a bank will not even give a new buyer a loan to purchase your property. You see, as you probably already know, when someone is going to buy your home they will have an inspection done prior to closing. This inspection is reviewed by the bank who is considering giving the buyer a loan. If the inspection lists any problems, the bank will tell the new buyer that they won’t give them a loan until the problems the inspector found are fixed. This will have to be done by a licensed contractor, not a regular handyman, which is obviously expensive. You will be expected to pay for this if you want to sell your house. And, if you think you will just find a new buyer and sell to then, think again. By law you are required to disclose any know defects to the buyer prior to sale. The defects are now documented by inspection reports and if you don’t disclose them to new prospects you are asking for a big lawsuit and other penalties. So, if you think your house may have some challenges when that licensed inspector shows up to inspect your house, you may as well spend the money and fix them now. Let’s just say that there’s a minor problem with your home that requires a contractor to fix, like a leaky roof. That could be a couple grand on the low side. If the inspector said you need a new roof, figure at least five grand into the equation. Obviously, this could get real expensive real fast.

5)      Home warranties are the new craze these days when it comes to selling a home. This is a warranty that is purchased to protect the new buyer. It is similar to an extended warranty on a car. They run about $400.00 and are paid for by the seller. Most sales contracts require them to be provided. So, you are now at $82,600.00.

6)      Even in a best case scenario, most buyers require sellers to allow $500.00 to cover repairs that an inspector finds. They never want to leave that $500.00 unused since the seller is contractually required to honor it. So, take another $500.00 out of the price, which leaves you with $82,100.00.

7)      Then there’s the cost of fees that all sellers are required to pay. With escrows, title insurance and our state doc stamps (taxes on property transfer), it costs sellers around $3,500.00 on a $100,000.00 house sale. That leaves you with $78,600.00.

      Now, lets say the process of finding a qualified buyer and getting them to the closing    table takes a total of two months ( 30 days to find a buyer to put the house under contract and another 30 days for the buyer and house to qualify for financing), that two more payments you had to pay to your lender. Say your payments are $1,000.00, which leaves you with $76,600.00.

If you decide to sell your home, then we are here to buy your home and we have astonishing set of investors who can make rapid offers to buy your house in Hampton Roads within a week. If you are wanting to Sell your house in Hampton, Newport News, Poquoson, York County- Yorktown, Williamsburg, and James City County, Hampton Roads / Tidewater cities of Suffolk, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Smithfield, Isle of Wight, Richmond, Virginia home Fast, then we can help at 757-593-1393 or visit us online http://www.757webuyhouses.com.; in any condition whether it is ugly or pretty. Community Housevestors gives you the best offer and quickly. We believe in providing uncomplicated deal, superior deal and superb deal.  Home owners who need to sell their home fast love the program of a we buy houses company. Their policy is simple: no fees, no commissions, and no closing costs. Many homeowners are opting to utilize the services of a we buy houses company in Newport News due to the ease and simplicity. Why wait 6 months to a year with a Realtor when you can simply call a we buy houses organization.

Selling your home quickly on the open market is one of the most effective ways to avoid foreclosure. Once the foreclosure process has started, your options become very limited. In the best situation you can sell your property to pay off the mortgage and still end up with a little cash in your pocket. If you can sell it early enough you can also save what is left of your credit rating as well. However just listing a home to be sold on the market is not necessarily the best option and should not be the sole option you look at.

The major downside to listing your home on the open market is time. The process of foreclosure is not going to stop just because you have an intent to sell. You will find yourself competing in a stressful race to unload your home before the lender gets it. The fact that you are going through a foreclosure process is stressful enough without adding any unto pressure on yourself.

In this economy the housing market is in a real slump. Even high end homes are dropping in value and the number of them coming on the market is growing according to the Dallas News. Homes can typically be on the market for six to twelve months before anybody makes you a serious offer. You can in some cases work with a lender to extend some time, but most mortgage companies will not but the process on hold for a year and postpone a sheriffs sale.

One way to avoid the lengthy process of selling your house is to do a short sale. This can be beneficial if you have little to no equity built up. Though short sale procedures differ bank to bank, selling short would require the lender to accept a lower amount of payoff. If the bank will accept the offer it will get you out of the foreclosure process. You will not get anything coming away from the sale, but it is better than letting the foreclosure play out and ruin your credit.

Another way to avoid a foreclosure is to sell your home to an investor. Selling your home to an investor that specializes in helping you avoid foreclosure will get your home sold quickly. Not only that, but in many cases you can come away from the sale with some extra money to take care of other needs that you have.

If you are facing an upcoming foreclosure, the best option at that point is to sell your home quickly. Find yourself a home investor that specializes in your immediate need. The sooner you can eliminate the foreclosure process, the sooner you can get your life and finances back on track.