It’s easy to use the Internet to market and sell your Real Estate.

Be brave and set the asking price. You see the seller has always been the one to determine what their property is worth.

Don’t be afraid!  Most Sellers know exactly what their property is worth, especially the sellers of owner-occupied properties. Long before the Internet, most sellers were aware of what’s going on around the area and what’s been sold and for how much.  Sellers usually know the area property history better than most realtors.

Now with the Internet, it is so easy to pull up your area and see where your property fits into the local marketplace. Sites such as www.googlebase.com and www.trulia.com have everything most people need to use for comparable properties.

 Be careful not to use automatic price values that are available on many of the Internet sites.  Sites such Zillow publish what they refer to as a Zestimate of value but these values can range by a ridiculous amount of money, often ($200,000.) several hundred thousand dollars and more.

If you actually are unsure of where you property fits into the market, simply review the information on the Internet about what is for sale and what has recently sold in your particular area for similar properties.  Where you fit into the local market is actually the key to the pricing process.  Separate the other properties into two categories:  1) the properties that are just a little better than yours; and 2) the properties that are not quite as good as yours.  Your property is in between these two groups and so should your price.

Yes there are exceptions to this and every rule but almost always a quick look at similar properties that are for sale and similar ones that have sold recently and it will be fairly easy to figure out the pricing.

If a seller it truly baffled on pricing, an appraiser can always be hired or consider paying a local real estate agent $100.00 to perform a current market analysis. Let them know that you are self-marketing and that you want to pay for their services. They will invariably try to talk you out of self-marketing but your honesty will go far and perhaps they will be back with the buyer you are looking for.

 

 

Because of the Internet Sellers do not Need Listing Realtors

Because of the equal access to most Internet sites sellers of real estate do not need the costly, conflicting and ineffective services of a listing realtor.

The posting and sharing of information about your real estate on the Internet is easy and usually free. There are so many different sites a seller can and should place their property on. Even online Internet newspaper advertising is dirt cheap and affordable by any seller.

So much has changed over the last 10 to 20 years that it is now possible for anyone to effectively sell property over the Internet. The days are long gone when Realtors had complete control over the sales process. The National Association or Realtors has struggled to maintain this stronghold over the marketplace but the free exchange of information over the Internet has made this goal completely futile. With the only exception of access to the Multiple Listing Service everything has changed as a result of the Internet and bigger and better changes are still to come that will completely change the entire sales process even more. With or with out the blessing from the Realtor community change is coming to be sure.

Gone are the days when Realtors had the only access to listing information. The Multiple Listing Service use to print weekly books that only Realtors had copies of. This assured Realtors that buyers and sellers had to seek out information from a Realtor. Now the information is just a click away.

The National Association just cost the taxpayers of this country million of dollars in their failed attempt to limit equal access to virtual real estate offices. This failure only highlights the need for an open MLS structure.

The National Association of Realtors last bastion of control remains in their control and limits they impose on the Multiple Listing Service. This too shall change. The Internet and fresh ideas for its use will enable these changes for the better.

 

 

The Internet has provided so many positive changes for our lifestyle. The way we sell real estate is one of them and this process is still in flux. Although the National Association of Realtors still limits access and controls the Multiple Listing Service, there is now so many other alternative Internet websites that a seller can use to sell that are easy and quite often free. Selling your own real estate over the Internet without using a listing Realtor is not only completely possible now, but it will get even better in the near future with fresh ideas that will change everything.

 

In my new book LISTING REALTORS ARE OBSOLETE. USE THE INTERNET TO SELL YOUR PROPERTY AND SAVE THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS IN COMMISSIONS I explain many of the changes and conflicts of interests that take place and have a negative impact on the sellers of real estate and how so many Realtors are actually counterproductive and harmful to the Seller’s cause.

I have more than 25 years experience in the Real Estate Industry as a Broker, Builder, Developer and Investor. I have bought and sold many, many properties directly without the use of MLS or listing Realtors. In fact I have sold entire subdivisions with very little involvement from the Realtor community and I can show you how to use the Internet to sell your property without wasting your money on a listing Realtor.

Sellers do not need the negative outdated services of listing Realtors. I will show you how to work directly with buyers and cooperate with the type of Realtors that are entirely worthwhile, the buyer’s Realtors. My 12 PRINCIPLES FOR SUCCESSFUL ONLINE PROPERTY SELLING is available online for free at http://www.AskJamesJoseph.com so be sure to get your free copy.

My mission is to bring about the needed changes in this industry and reestablish control for the Sellers once more by educating sellers and property owners how to perform many of the simple steps to selling on their own.

 

 

Real Estate Sellers Should Never Negotiate a Verbal Offer

  

Under no circumstances should a real estate seller ever negotiate a verbal offer. It does not matter who is presenting the offer to purchase, a verbal offer should be avoided at all costs. If a verbal offer is passed along to a seller by the way of a Realtor, shame on the Realtor. Whether it is a buyer’s Realtor of the seller’s Realtor they should know better than to place a Seller in such a bad negotiating position. Steer clear of professionals that practice such poor behavior.

 

Included in a written Offer to Purchase should be the complete terms of the sale. Many of these items are potentially critical and all of them are entirely negotiable by the Seller.

 

Minimally an offer to purchase real estate should contain:

• Total price

• Deposit amounts
• Additional deposits and dates
• Identify holder of deposit money
• Contingencies
  • Financing amount and when obtained
  • Inspections and when preformed
  • Who pays for inspections
  • Permits or approvals
  • Who pays for permits and approvals
• Commission amounts
• Who pays for commissions
• What’s included in sale (what goes & what stays)
• Time allowed to meet contingencies
• Conflict remedies
• Special provisions
• Closing transaction date
• Location of closing
• Identification of property
• Date

 

By negotiating a verbal offer the seller is placed in two very bad situations.

First the buyer is talking (remember talk is cheap) one sidedly about the price without making an actual commitment because there does not exist deposit money from the buyer at this point to bind the outcome of the discussions. Everything that has been spoken of can change on a simple whim.

Secondly and more importantly a buyer can pick apart a seller and take extreme advantage of the seller by negotiating piece meal, one item at a time. Sellers need to see the entire proposal in order to make a good decision and prevent being taken advantage of.

By working verbally a seller could find themselves in a position where they are all excited by concentrating solely about the price only to be disappointed weeks later by any of the other sales terms. Perhaps a seller finds out much later on in the process that the buyers have a house to sell or that the buyers need the seller to carry a second mortgage in order to obtain the necessary financing. It could even be something strange like the buyers want the house to come fully furnished. With the exception of price all of the other many important terms have been left wide open because the complete sale specifications were not in print from the very beginning.

The point is the seller cannot be sure what the terms of an agreement are and they do not know what can unexpectedly appear later on because they were not spelt out early on in the negotiations. 

 

In order to have a clear meeting of the minds, there needs to be a complete understandings from both side of all the agreed upon terms. An offer to purchase needs to be in writing, contain all the necessary terms of agreement and contain a good faith binding deposit.

If you are self marketing do not fall into the verbal offer trap. Accept and discuss only what is in writing and is accompanied by a deposit. Remember that if you are unclear about what any of the terms of the sale are you need to definitely seek out legal advice before you sign.

 

 

 In my new book LISTING REALTORS ARE OBSOLETE. USE THE INTERNET TO SELL YOUR PROPERTY AND SAVE THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS IN COMMISSIONS I explain many of the changes and conflicts of interests that take place and have a negative impact on the sellers of real estate and how so many Realtors are actually counterproductive and harmful to the Seller’s cause.

I have more than 25 years experience in the Real Estate Industry as a Broker, Builder, Developer and Investor. I have bought and sold many, many properties directly without the use of MLS or listing Realtors. In fact I have sold entire subdivisions with very little involvement from the Realtor community and I can show you how to use the Internet to sell your property without wasting your money on a listing Realtor.

Sellers do not need the negative outdated services of listing Realtors. I will show you how to work directly with buyers and cooperate with the type of Realtors that are entirely worthwhile, the buyer’s agents. My 12 PRINCIPLES FOR SUCCESSFUL ONLINE PROPERTY SELLING is available online for free at http://www.AskJamesJoseph.com so be sure to get your free copy.

My mission is to bring about the needed changes in this industry and reestablish control for the Sellers once more by educating sellers and property owners how to perform many of the simple steps to selling on their own.

 

 

 

Election Will Have A Zero Effect on the Housing Market

I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news but the housing market will continue in decline and this occurrence would have been the same if the election had turned out differently for John McCain.

 

Any change in administration will not happen for months.

 

Any contemplated changes by the new administration (however beneficial) will not be acted upon for several more months.

 

Any accepted changes will then take additional time to become effective.

 

 

In the mean time;

 

Millions of new foreclosures will have hit the marketplace. A marketplace suffering from short demand that has supply added to it will have but one reaction to make, a downward effect on pricing.

 

Confusion is surrounding the bailout and whether the banks will free up lending practices or use the government funds for other purposes. 

 

The promise of a future rescue by the government of homeowners from foreclosure is much too little too late to change this housing market.  The time for positive action to help this market has long since passed because it has now mushroomed into something bigger than just the housing industry and homeowners.

Simple changes to the way the banking industry handled this situation could have been enacted quite awhile back and had a positive or stabilizing effect. Instead the financial institutions decided one and all to get into the real estate business and their track record in the real estate business has been and still is a dismal one.

The simple fact is banks do not what to own real estate because they do not know how to market real property. It quickly becomes an albatross to them.

Knowing this as one of their core beliefs, instead of foreclosing on properties and thereby becoming the owners of large portfolios of property, they could have perhaps handled thing differently to avoid the ownership and disposal role that they traditionally do not want or particularly handle very well.

Some new and radical way of dealing with homeowners that are late on their payments should have been explored. Perhaps something along the lines of converting the loan payment arrearages into second mortgages with balloon payments due on dates certain might have helped both sides in this difficult situation that now effect us all.

This idea or many others should could been investigated and enacted before the banks found themselves in the unwanted position of real estate owners.

Now we are in a situation that unfortunately has no quick fix. Although a change in administration is a great step in the right direction it will take considerable time, effort and talent to bring about changes for the better in the housing market.

Banking Bailout. Banks Handle Real Estate Marketing Wrong. The Real Estate Maven

Most of the injuries that many Banks are currently suffering from are self-inflicted. Financial institutions have been holding onto more foreclosed property than it is obviously healthy for them to own. It now seems painfully apparent this is because Banks do not have a clue about marketing and how to sell the very real estate that they were so hasty to reposes.

Trying to deal with most banks about their owned properties has been like some weird form of a cloak and dagger game. It seems that most Bankers find some sort of perverse pleasure in avoiding the very thing that they need the most BUYERS.

You see the banks have made it is almost impossible for the average buyer with interest to contact them about the very property that they are sitting on and need to sell. Even though this Property is obviously doing the banks more harm than good most financial institutions refuse to deal directly with individual buyers.

Larger financial institutions have not wanted to be bothered with the individual investors. They have sought to repackage groups of multiple properties into large portfolios to be resold to institutional investors. Maybe that is all that their staffs know how to do but it is time for them to change focus.

Many Banks have acted too high and mighty to deal with the individual investors. While they have shunned the small investor they have wasted precious marketing time and now look to the government for a solution

One can find the banks identity and address from town and city records but there is never a contact person to direct inquires to. An interested buyer cannot call these institutions and submit an offer and receive a call back. An interested buyer cannot write to these institutions and receive an answer about how to purchase the property in question. There is usually no way to have any dialogue whatsoever about the very real estate the financial institutions need to sell. It’s as if they actually do not want to sell. They do not want to be bothered with the little guy only the other giants of the industry. This attitude or strategy does not appear to have proven wise.

Some of the Bank Real Estate Owned departments utilize the services of the Realtor community. From what I have seen of the properties either the Realtor was trying to hard to impress the banks in order to obtain other listings from the banks or the banks are unrealistic in their appraisals of value. Either way the pricing I have seen has been completely out of line and this is not the time to be unrealistic.

The Banks need someone in house to see the properties, accurately price the properties and then concentrate on marketing the properties to each and every buyer they can find. Marketing over the Internet is simply not that hard to figure out.

 

The enormous difference between the RTC in the 80’s and the New Bailout bantered about this September is the Internet and the potential it creates to reach millions of individual buyers. Will the banks embrace this Internet marketing opportunity and liquidate their real estate holdings to each and every qualified buyer?

 

 

 

 

 Most banks have created an impermeable barrier that the ordinary purchaser cannot penetrate.  Financial institutions have made it all but almost impossible for the ordinary buyer to approach them about the foreclosed properties that they so desperately need to sell. Strangely, most of the very banks that turn the Government for bailout assistance make it all but impossible for buyers to contact them and negotiate to purchase on their Bank Owned Real Estate. In this volatile market banks should be looking at every buyer, big and small, as a potential sale.

 

Real Estate Marketing Advice: Now is the Time to Get Very Serious About Selling. The R/E Maven

 

 

If you truly desire to sell your property now is the time for you and everyone involved to get extremely serious about the sales task.

In the very near future trillions of dollars worth of real estate will be competing with the sale of your real estate. If you do not beat this wave you will find your properties value in decline as you attempt to compete with properties that are for sale at lower prices.

 

Simple supply and demand will affect your values to go lower. Unfortunately there is no other alternative. An increased supply of homes for sale that the government will be forced to sell at below market prices will drag everyone’s values down. The additional demand needed to absorb this enormous amount of housing stock will only be increased if the prices are decreased to such a point that new buyers cannot resist the urge to take advantage of this new opportunity. Take a good look at the current real estate market. Very few homes are selling and the interest rates and selection could not be better. This leaves the only single variable available that can change the current demand to be price and price alone.

 

So if you are serious about selling your real estate here is what you need to do.

• Move swiftly in order to beat the influx of bargain priced property
• Make sure your marketing is top notch
  • Your property is included on all the major Internet sites
  • Full assortment of pictures
  • Consider video tour
  • Pay for better placement on Internet sites if available
  • Include great property descriptions
  • Use local and regional newspaper Internet ads
  • Open houses
  • Signage – do not keep the for sale fact a secret- now is not the time
• Price needs to accurate. Do not play the pad the price game. You will lose that and more if you do not more your property soon.
• Analyze your Realtor or agent. If you suspect they are not doing everything in their power to market your property run don’t walk to find a better alternative.

 

 

The proposed bail out will have an adverse effect on the value of real estate.

With the very real possibility that the real estate market and values are going to go south, sellers need to protect themselves and do everything that can to sell their property before the further decline in property value.

 

 

 

 

 

Real estate marketing advice: Reason number 6 why sellers need to perform property inspections before marketing.

 

 

Before a seller places a property on the market they need to have all property inspections performed before they self market or list for sale thru a Realtor.

 

The reasons that performing these inspections before you seek a buyer are so important include:

1. Establishment of price
2. Learning the exact nature of the property
3. Misrepresentations
4. Avoiding price renegotiations
5. Error and omissions insurance coverage
6. Maintain arms length negotiations

 

Reason #6 is designed to maintain distance in between the seller and buyer.

 

There is an old saying that familiarity breeds contempt. Well, when it comes to a real estate transaction familiarity breeds altered negotiations.

Anything a seller does or says will most often be used against them in the arena of negotiations. The more a seller keeps his or her distance from a buyer or a buyer’s agent the less chance they will have to figure out what make a seller tick. What their motivation are for selling. What their negotiating strategy or lack of one is.

 

If a seller performs the inspection reports and gives a copy to an interested buyer before they negotiate they in effect create some very useful and necessary distance between them so negotiations will not be based from a point of familiarity.

  

If a seller is not careful they will usually tip their hand and show the buyers the real motivation behind their contemplated sale. These reasons vary greatly but this information can be used by the buyer to negotiate a better deal for themselves if they are made aware of the true reasons a seller is selling.

 The less time a seller is in the company or direct verbal communications with a buyer the better off the seller will be. Let the inspection reports do the talking.

 

At some point in the sales process it will become inevitable these reports are performed.

It is entirely in the SELLER’S BEST INTEREST to maintain this control and have these inspections performed at their own expense. In the long run it will always save the seller time, aggravation and money.

 

 

By maintaining a safe communication policy with the buyers a seller will insulate themselves from the possibility of sharing too much information with the buyers. Performing the home inspections in advance enables the seller to keep the proper distance needed to protect this policy.  The seller should let the inspection reports do the talking for them.

 

 

 

Real estate marketing advice: Reason number 5 why sellers need to perform property inspections before marketing.

 

Before a seller places a property on the market they need to have all property inspections performed before they self market or list for sale thru a Realtor.

 

The reasons that performing these inspections before you seek a buyer are so important include:

1. Establishment of price
2. Learning the exact nature of the property
3. Misrepresentations
4. Avoiding price renegotiations
5. Error and omissions insurance coverage
6. Maintain arms length negotiations

 

Reason #5 is entirely for the Sellers self-protection.

 

The inspection companies (and every professional) that the seller hires, must possess and show proof of proper error and omissions insurance or general liability insurance coverage. These insurance certificates are to be requested and obtained by the seller before any work is paid for.

The property inspection company is providing the seller with a fairly in-depth report concerning the exact nature about the property condition. This report will become the basis by which several different groups will form some very important decisions upon. The sellers shall base the worth of the property on the condition of how the property does or does not compared to other properties. Buyers will use to it formulate what they believe the property will need for repairs or improvements in the immediate future.

If the analysis of the inspection company should contain any incorrect information the sellers must have the security in knowing that they reiterated information that came from a reliable and fortified entity and that they are protected not just by the inspection company themselves but also by the insurance company that insures the inspection work.

Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, part of the largest real estate sales companies in the country has customers sign a “Disclaimer regarding service providers” which states the following “Coldwell Banker has not conducted an investigation into the qualifications or financial status of these service providers. So if the largest sales company feels the need to use this disclaimer the seller should demand that the service provider has adequate insurance coverage.

”It is nice to believe that the firm that is hired will stand up and cover their work by making good on any errors or oversights. However a seller needs to be guaranteed that this is actually the case? Sellers do not know the financial shape or ability of the inspection company as to whether they are able or not to make the seller whole after an unexpected issue arises. The seller is on a completely different footing if they know, in advance, who the actual insurance provider of the inspection company is.

 

 

 

 

At some point in the sales process it will become inevitable these reports are performed.

It is entirely in the SELLER’S BEST INTEREST to maintain this control and have these inspections performed at their own expense. In the long run it will always save the seller time, aggravation and money.

 

By demanding that the home inspection company a seller chooses to use has proper insurance coverage, a seller is in the position where the work will be guaranteed by two companies, the inspection company and their insurance company. Sellers cannot afford to risk their home sale to inadequate risks and hoping an inspector has insurance is just not good enough, they need proof.

 

 

 

Real estate marketing advice: Reason number 4 why sellers need to perform property inspections before marketing.

Real estate marketing advice: Reason number 4 why sellers need to perform property inspections before marketing.

 

Before a seller places a property on the market they need to have all property inspections performed before they self market or list for sale thru a Realtor.

 

The reasons that performing these inspections before you seek a buyer are so important include:

1. Establishment of price
2. Learning the exact nature of the property
3. Misrepresentations
4. Avoiding price renegotiations
5. Error and omissions insurance coverage
6. Maintain arms length negotiations

 

Reason #4 is perhaps the most important reason of them all.

 

Typical Realtor involved real estate transactions are handled in just the complete opposite way of what I am instructing the seller to now do. The way Realtors usually handle the inspection issue is to negotiate the terms of the transaction first and included the home inspection as a contingency that is performed by the buyers after the sales agreements are signed. This is a worry about the offer first and the inspections second mentality.

What is so wrong and dangerous with this format is that the seller’s realtor has now given the buyer the perfect opportunity to have a second bite at the price apple. The seller has been mislead into a comfort zone by believing that the transaction was completely negotiated when in fact it remains only partially negotiated. After the buyers have performed the inspections it now becomes a perfect time for the buyer to renegotiate the price based on this new information generated by the inspection. This leaves the door wide open for a second round of negotiations. The price a buyer is willing to pay will never go up after inspections.

Why Realtors choose to place their sellers in this no win predicament is completely unfathomable.

The best and only way inspections should be performed is well before the property is placed on the market. The few hundred dollars it will cost the seller is money well spent in order to insulate the seller from further price reductions.

 

At some point in the sales process it will become inevitable these reports are performed.

It is entirely in the SELLER’S BEST INTEREST to maintain this control and have these inspections performed at their own expense. In the long run it will always save the seller time, aggravation and money.

 

By performing home inspection before a property in placed up for sale, sellers avoid falling into the price renegotiation trap. Informing a buyer as to the exact condition of a property before they make an offer remove one of the two most frequent sales contingencies and can save a seller quite a substantial amount of money.

 

 

 

Real estate marketing advice: Reason number 3 why sellers need to perform property inspections before marketing.

 

Before a seller places their property on the market they need to have all property inspections performed before they self market or list for sale thru a Realtor.

 

The reasons that performing these inspections before you seek a buyer are so important include:

1. Establishment of price
2. Learning the exact nature of the property
3. Misrepresentations
4. Avoiding price renegotiations
5. Error and omissions insurance coverage
6. Maintain arms length negotiations
7.  

Reason #3 concerns misrepresentations or more accurately how to avoid making misrepresentations.

When a truly interested buyer looks at the property they will most likely have questions about the property. Since the Realtors cannot be relied upon to provide the answers, a seller needs to be able to turn to someone or something else for the appropriate answers. The buyer’s real estate agent will not be familiar with the property so they cannot be expected to know and if the seller is unlucky enough to have a listing agent, these agents and their own forms make it perfectly clear that all their information comes from the seller anyway.

So what a seller needs to do in order to have correct answers available is to have a professional property inspector perform the necessary inspections before the property is put up for sale.

 

There are four ways in which a seller can handle property specific questions:

1. From the information on the inspection reports
2. Information that the sellers definitely knows the answer to (NO GUESSING)
3. It is perfectly acceptable to respond that the seller simply does not know the answer
4. Provide the buyer with the opportunity to obtain the answers elsewhere.

 

Remember that incorrect answers can later be interpreted as decieptful or misleading answers.

At some point in the sales process it will become inevitable these reports are performed.

It is entirely in the SELLER’S BEST INTEREST to maintain this control and have these inspections performed at their own expense. It will always save the seller time, aggravation and money.

 

Sellers need to be cautious in order to avoid any claims of misrepresentation. Although this can be done innocently enough it is easy to avoid by simply having a property inspection performed before they market their property.