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There are five factors that influence how quickly a
home sells: 1) Price, 2) Condition, 3) Neighborhood, 4) Terms of
the deal and 5) Availability of the home.
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Price. The lower the asking price,
the greater the number of offers. Imagine how many offers you
would receive if you were asking $1.00 for your home. How many
offers would you receive if you asked $1,000,000 for the house? The
cheaper the house, the greater the number of offers.
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Condition. Buyers do not have an
imagination. Buyers want to be able to plop their moving boxes
down and unpack without having to have the house painted, replace the
carpeting, or gut the kitchen. Your home's condition reflects how
well it has been maintained (really, who wants to inherit someone
else's problems?). And while the average sales price of a home is over
$100,000 in most areas around the country, who wants to spend that
much money to buy a piece of junk? A home that shows
better will sell better.
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Neighborhood. In real estate,
certain neighborhoods sell quicker than others. This may be
a result of better schools, proximity to shopping, or better
maintained homes. Certain areas are more desirable than others.
Who wants to live in Slumville when you can move into Beverly Hills?
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Terms. For many buyers, price is not
the issue; rather, it is just being able to buy that becomes the
primary issue. For reasons including credit issues, lack of money, or an
inability to qualify for strict conventional financing, a buyer may
feel that he or she is unable to buy a home. As a seller,
focusing on favorable terms for the buyer, such as seller financing,
down payment assistance, or seller paid closing costs, for example.
By doing so, you may
open your home up to a virtually untapped pool of potential buyers
that are waiting for the opportunity to buy.
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Availability. Availability deals
with how quickly a buyer has to move into your home. You may receive an offer from a buyer that must
first sell his or her home, for example. You may receive an
offer from a buyer that has to move in immediately. The more
flexible you are about availability, the easier it will be to sell.
As a seller, the key to selling your home quickly
is to give the buyer at least one good reason to do so--whether it is
the price, condition, neighborhood, terms and/or availability. You
have to have an edge over your competition that makes your home stand
out from the rest.
Often in situations where a seller wants to sell
quickly, he or she will employ one or more of the following strategies:
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Offer a lower price than the competition.
Instead of having to make your mortgage payments each month while the
home is on the market, offer it lower than the competition. For
an immediate sale, drop it
significantly lower than the competition.
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Offer seller financing. Add a sign
rider to your yard sign promoting this incentive. If for any
reason, buyers will call just to find out the type of
financing available.
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Offer down payment assistance. As
discussed in other sections, down payment assistance programs are a
means for buyers to purchase a home with little to no money out of
pocket. Furthermore, the contribution you make may be tax
deductible. In an age of home buyers with little cash, the less
money that is required to buy your home, the greater the number of
eligible buyers to purchase it.
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Offer to pick up the buyer's closing costs.
If down payment assistance is not for you, consider picking up all or
part of the buyer's closing costs. This could translate into an
interest rate buydown (which would make the monthly payment on your
home cheaper than the competition), no escrow charges, or possibly no
lender fees. Be sure to talk with a loan officer about the types
of costs you would be expected to pay before considering this option.
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Offer a $2,000 redecorating bonus to the buyer.
Instead of offering to pick up the buyer's closing costs, offer to
give the buyer $2,000 to redecorate the home anyway he or she chooses.
This works because the buyer has the flexibility to spend the money
where he or she sees fit. (It can also be a $1,000 bonus or any other
amount that you feel comfortable with).
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Offer special selling bonuses to real estate
agents. If you are willing to offer a co-brokerage fee
(usually a 3% fee), consider increasing the commission paid to that
agent if you receive a full
price offer. If an agent knows that he or she is able to make a
few extra dollars, many of them will try to do so.
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