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7 Steps To Get Your Expired Listing Sold

September 29, 2011 by Eric Lowry Leave a Comment

7 Steps To Get Your Expired Listing Sold

So your home has been on the market for quite a long time and it just won’t sell. The first thing you should know is that there is a problem somewhere. Homes for sale in West Chester, Liberty Twp & Mason Ohio that are priced right and are in great condition are selling, and are selling pretty quickly. Here are 7 steps for getting your home sold when it has been on the market too long or the listing has expired:

1. Consider re-listing your home for sale. Please understand, I don’t mean just re-list to get yourself a new MLS number. I mean really re-list your home. Change your price. Change your agent/broker. Change your photos. Change your mindset about selling.

2. Consider offering some incentives. Offer to pay the buyer’s closing costs. Offer to pay the buyer’s agent a higher commisson. Offer to put all brand new kitchen appliances in the home if yours are older.

3. Make your home available for showings at anytime. If you are serious about selling your home, don’t put limitations on when it can be shown. If you have pets that cause issues for showings, make arrangements for them to stay at a friend’s house or at a pet boarding center.

4. Be sure you have the best marketing. Do you have the maximum number of high quality photos, a virtual tour, a YouTube video, Craigslist advertising and exposure to all of the national as well as local internet websites? You better have, if you want your home sold!

5. Be sure you have the best photos. Yes, I am repeating this one. It is crucial that you have great photos and plenty of them. Keep in mind, if your home has been on the market for quite a while, your photos are old. They need to be current with the seasons. No pictures of homes with trees with no leaves and NO SNOW!

6. Be sure that you have the right list price. Get an updated Market Value Analysis of your home. Real estate market conditions change. Be sure you have the most current information.

7. Get your home professionally staged. I know you didn’t have it staged before you listed your home for sale the first time, because if you had done so, your home would already be sold.

So there is a good start. If your home was listed for sale for too long and you are frustrated take these tips to heart. If you are looking for solutions and want a second opinion give us a call. We can get your home sold. We specialize in homes that should have sold, but didn’t.

Just fill out the form below and we will contact you as quickly as we can.

What Are Mortgage Interest Rates In West Chester & Mason Ohio?

September 23, 2011 by Eric Lowry Leave a Comment

What are Mortgage Interest Rates in West Chester, Liberty Township & Mason Ohio??

LowryTeam.com Mortgage Interest Rate Update

Have mortgage interest rates hit their lows? Will they continue to move ~~higher~~ lower? These are good questions. The truth of the matter is nobody knows for sure. We had seen an uptick in mortgage interest rates in West Chester & Mason Ohio earlier this year, only to see them sag back down again, as you can see on the graph. The interest rates are now hovering around in a range between 4.00% – 4.25% for a 30 year fixed rate mortage.

It has seemed like in West Chester and Mason Ohio that we had seen the lowest levels and that interest rates would likely continue to edge a little higher and then the economy shows continued weekness overall and the rates sag back down again. The only certainty that exists right now is that these are historically low rates for home purchases.

Get preapproved for your mortgage before you begin to search for homes.

You can start your search for a new home in West Chester, Beckett Ridge or Liberty Township, Ohio right here using our real estate search engine – LowryTeam.com.

Wondering what your home is worth in today’s real estate market? Request a market analysis here!

Have questions about buying a home or getting pre-approved for a mortgage? Fill out the form below and we will happy to answer your questions and assist you.

Top 10 Tips When Selling a Home In West Chester, Liberty Twp Or Mason Ohio

September 19, 2011 by Eric Lowry Leave a Comment

Top 10 Tips When Selling a Home In West Chester, Liberty Twp Or Mason Ohio

Selling a home in a down economy can be a challenging thing to do. Use the following 10 tips when selling your West Chester, Liberty Township or Mason OH home to get your home sold for the highest possible price in the least amount of time.

Home Selling Tip #1: Hire an experienced and reputable real estate agent. Selling a home can be stressful, and you want an experienced and reliable real estate agent you can count on and trust to guide you through the selling of your home.

Home Selling Tip #2: Give your home curb appeal. When selling a home, you need to keep your home looking its best. If a buyer is turned off by what your home looks like from the street, you will never get him or her inside to look around. Clean up your lawn, patch brown spots in the grass, clear sidewalks, and keep leaves and other debris picked up. Potential home buyers also notice things like chipped paint and dirty siding, so pressure-wash your home and repaint before putting it on the market if needed. Do whatever you need to do to show buyers that you’re serious about your home’s maintenance.

Home Selling Tip #3: Make minor repairs to your home. Don’t give potential home buyers an opportunity to start nitpicking at the value of your home by leaving minor repairs unfixed. Replace cracked floor or counter tiles. Patch holes in walls. Fix leaky faucets. Fix doors that don’t close properly and kitchen drawers that jam. Consider painting your walls neutral colors, especially if you have grown accustomed to purple or pink walls. Replace burned-out light bulbs.

Home Selling Tip #4: Stage your home. Once you have a potential home buyer inside, it’s important that your home has been spruced up and has been staged for the market. Think of your home as a product for sale, and imagine walking through it from the buyer’s perspective. Depersonalize it by packing up family heirlooms and photos. You want buyers to imagine themselves living in the home and they won’t do that if they can’t see past your stuff. Rent a storage unit and clear out the junk. De-clutter. Remove unused pieces of furniture and window coverings and light fixtures you are going to take with you. Each room should be left with just enough furniture to showcase it as the perfect room for its purpose. Remove books, knickknacks, and anything that seems deeply personal. Clear out closets and neatly arrange your dishes in the kitchen cupboards.

Home Selling Tip #5: Clean your home! Wash windows inside and out. Clean out cobwebs from corners, ceiling fan blades and light fixtures. Re-caulk tubs, showers and sinks. Polish chrome faucets and mirrors. Clean out the refrigerator. Vacuum daily. Remove or replace worn rugs. Hang up fresh towels in the bathroom. Eliminate any musty odors.

Home Selling Tip #6: Price your home right. Of all of the 10 tips for selling a home, this one is the most important. You need to price your home competitively, perhaps slightly lower than comparable homes in your neighborhood. Unfortunately, many sellers choose the real estate agent who suggests the highest listing price, but this can come back to haunt you. Pricing your home to sell involves looking at similar properties, making adjustments for the differences between them, tracking market movements and considering present inventory to arrive at a realistic value for the price of your home. Setting your listing price just right could lead to a bidding war, resulting in a higher sales price for you. Be sure that you and your Realtor work together to price your home correctly.

Home Selling Tip #7: Capture initial excitement. Don’t put your home on the market before your home and you are completely ready. Make sure you have taken all of the steps above before placing your home on the market. When selling a home, you need to get the most out of the initial excitement that a new home listing creates in potential home buyers. Home buyers will feel like they have discovered a great find if they snatch up a home just as it comes on the market. Once it’s been listed for a few weeks, however, home buyers will conclude that it’s not such a great value. Therefore, when selling a home, make sure you’ve done everything you can to make your home attractive to potential home buyers.

Home Selling Tip #8: Don’t get in over your head. Put your home on the market well in advance of looking for a new home. Don’t place an offer on your next home until you have solid offers on the one you have to sell now. The last thing you want to do is juggle two mortgage payments.

Home Selling Tip #9: Only divulge information on a need-to-know basis. Don’t do anything to create a perception that you will lower your potential selling price. For example, if you are moving due to job relocation, don’t offer up that information. Don’t let the potential home buyers think there is any urgency on your part in selling the home. If you are asked why you’re selling, simply say that you’re ready to trade up. You have a legal obligation to disclose information about the condition of the home and property, but you are not obligated to disclose your personal situation.

Home Selling Tip #10: Be flexible. Be willing to work with potential home buyers to help your chances of making a quick sale. Offer to pay for closing costs or repairs, and be adaptable when it comes to showing your home. If you really need to sell, you need to accommodate buyers’ busy schedules. This might mean opening your home for showings on weeknights and weekends. Using these 10 tips when selling a home can help you sell your home fast and for a good price.

Wondering what your home’s current market value is??

Get your own >> Personal Real Estate Market Update

Other articles that you may find of interest:

The Top Reasons Your Home Didn’t Sell

How To Sell Your West Chester, Liberty Twp or Mason OH Home Now

Looking To Sell Your Home? Use the contact form below and we will get back to you as quickly as possible!

West Chester & Mason OH Real Estate: How To Buy A House Before Your House Sells

August 24, 2011 by Eric Lowry Leave a Comment

West Chester & Mason OH Real Estate:

How to Buy a House Before Your Other House Sells

In the buyer’s market that we are currently experiencing, the inventory of homes for sale can be astounding. Deciding on a home to buy is difficult enough, but what happens when you have one to sell beforehand? Many times, especially in a soft real estate market, a buyer may get into a situation where they find a new house before their current house sells. Acting as a buyer and a seller in separate transactions can be tricky business, especially if you need the equity from your current home to pay for the new home. Luckily there are some best practices that can help show you how to buy a house In West Chester or Mason OH before your other house sells.

>>Search West Chester & Mason OH Real Estate Here<<

Consider a Bridge or Home Equity Loan. There are many financing options available when it comes to home buying, and bridge loans can be an easy way to finance a new home sale before your existing home closes. A bridge loan is one that is used to provide funds needed for a short period until another source of funds becomes available. Sometimes called a “swing” loan, it allows a homebuyer who needs the equity in his old home to pay for the new one to close on the new home purchase before closing on the old home sale. The interest rates on these loans are typically high. However, because the loan will be paid off in a short period of time, this should not be a huge problem for buyers. In a similar vein, you might consider a home equity loan on the house you already own. This is a bit riskier, but provides the same benefits.

Rent your current home. If you can find short-term or month-to-month tenants who are willing to rent your current home until it sells, you can avoid having to worry about the house sitting vacant while you are moving into the new home. This can help you avoid having to winterize or de-winterize the property and stage the home for showings. You will also be able to apply the rental income to your existing mortgage on the house, to alleviate the financial burden of paying two mortgages. If you pursue this strategy be careful that you don’t end up with a renter that will make showing and selling your home more difficult.

Work with the Seller. In a soft market where buyers are limited, sellers are often willing to work with the buyer on a purchase agreement that works for both parties. If you’ve already found the house you want to buy, but haven’t yet sold your existing home, it may be possible that the seller will allow you to make a down payment with a signed contract that permits you to extend the actual closing of your new home by a couple of months until your old house sells.

Should I Buy a New House Before I Sell the Old One?

Buying a new house In West Chester or Mason Ohio before your current house sells is not an ideal situation, but there ways to get through it that can alleviate the risk and financial burden. If you’ve considered the options above and are still unable to find a solution that works, an alternative and less attractive choice may be to hold off on buying a new home until your existing home is the final stages of closing. As disappointing as this can be for sellers who are anxious to move, it is a more desirable situation than being stuck with two mortgages and no remaining credit for other daily or emergency needs.

Your real estate questions are always welcome. Please fill out the form below and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

LowryTeam.com Real Estate Trends Report – August 2011

August 23, 2011 by Eric Lowry Leave a Comment

Here is the newest edition of our LowryTeam.com Monthly Real Estate Trends Report covering sales for July 2011. This report, published monthly, provides a look back at the last six months worth of real estate data for West Chester, Beckett Ridgeand Liberty Township, Ohio. It is a local trends report and makes no attempt to draw overall conclusions or make predictions for the larger real estate market. In fact we believe that anyone that makes an attempt to predict future, national real estate market conditions or draws conclusions on recent historical data nationally is just out of touch with reality. There is no such thing as a national weather forecast and there is no such thing as a real estate one either. ALL real estate is local!

The source of our data is the Greater Cincinnati Multiple Listing Service. By seeking out and understanding the trends in our market place we are better able to forecast the upcoming market conditions and counsel our clients on pricing strategies to get their home sold for the highest possible price. Any thoughts and insight into what may occur in the future are solely our opinions and forecasts.

The first thing we look at is unit sales for the last six months (February – July):

It’s all about the sales numbers right now:

As we move towards the end of August and look back at this most recent six months of data, the trend that we are watching for right now is to see if there will be a continued softening in unit sales as we saw in 2010. The graph for this year’s sales show very little of what we typically call the spring market. Sales in July of 2011 finally were up over the sales numbers for July of 2010. The sales in July 2010 really dropped off after the expiration of the Homebuyer Tax Credits that were in place last year. These tax credits had really propped up the home sales in the first half of 2010.

Everyone was excited to see the increase of unit sales over the same month in the previous year. This was the first time we had seen this happen since January. What does this really mean though? First, based on the very low comparisions for the rest of the year vs. 2010, this is a trend that we are likely to see continue for a number of months in a row. And secondly, a look at how these July sales numbers stacked up against the July sales numbers for previous years is perhaps a better place to draw some perspective.

While the sales figures for July (2011 vs 2010) were up, the July 2011 sales were the second lowest in the past decade for the West Chester & Liberty Township Ohio real estate market for the month of July.

When considering the health of the housing market, everything hinges right now on home sales. Home prices will not be able to show any stability in the foreseeable future with the amount of inventory (homes for sale) that we currently have on the market vs. the number of homes that are actually selling. We have a large oversupply of homes for sale in West Chester and Liberty Township and this only puts further pressure on listing and sale prices. We believe that home values will continue to fall. For homeowners needing to sell, the best chance to get the highest price for their home is to get the home sold in the very near term. It truly is all about the home sales numbers right now!

Average sale price for the last six months (February – July) is next:

In this graph you can see the movement of the average sale price for West Chester and Liberty Township, Ohio real estate sales from January 2010 through July of 2011. The trend line continues to show you a gradual decline for average home sale prices. Average sale price gets quite a bit of attention in the media with reports that quote “home prices fell” or “home prices rose” in this particular quarter or month or whatever. The average sale price is nothing more than what it’s called – an average price of all of the homes sold in a particular time frame.

However, just to be clear here, homes are not worth more now than they were at the beginning of the year. Any increase or decrease in the average sale price is reflective of the activity of that time frame not the exact value of any one home. Falling home values do clearly effect the average sale price, but that is not the whole story. The mix of homes and their values definitely play a part in this fluctuation, ie., many more lower priced homes selling than in the luxury market.

List to sale price ratio:

The List to Sale Price ratio is calculated by dividing the final sale price into the list price to find the percentage of the list price that a given home sells for. The West Chester and Liberty Township Ohio List to Sale Price Ratio was 96.91% for July 2011. As you can see the monthly List to Sale Price Ratio has seen some big swings up and down in the last year. The swings up and down are an indicator of the lack of stability in the West Chester and Liberty Township real estate market right now. The highlighted center area of the graph shows what appears to be the middle ground right now for the market.

Summary:

As we have stated previously in the LowryTeam.com: West Chester, Beckett Ridge and Liberty Township real estate market update, our market remains challenging, yet full of opportunity. Clearly the value of homesin the area has fallen over the past couple of years and frankly, the values are likely to fall farther. The primary threats or obstacles to the second half of 2011 real estate market and any potential recovery are continued high unemployment, a considerable oversupply of homes for sale and the potential loss of the mortgage interest tax deduction. Interest rates have settled back down and are at historical low levels around 4.25% which provide a great environment for buying a new home.

Wondering what the value of your home currently is? We would be happy to provide you with a detailed market value analysis of the value of your home. You can request your Market Value Analysis here

Your comments and questions are always welcome!

Other related posts you may be interested in:

What Are Mortgage Interest Rates In West Chester & Liberty Township OH?

West Chester & Liberty Township OH Real Estate Market Breakdown – July 2011

7653 Tylers Reserve Drive West Chester OH – Tylers Reserve Subdivision

August 19, 2011 by Eric Lowry Leave a Comment

7653 Tylers Reserve, West Chester, Ohio 45069

Beautiful 5 Bedroom Zicka Resale Home in Tylers Reserve! Terrific Wooded Lot! Features Include A Gourmet Kitchen w/ 42 Cabinets & Granite Countertops, Hardwood Floors, 1st Floor Study, Formal Dining Room w/ Recessed Ceiling, Finished Lower LeveL w/ Wet Bar & Gas Fireplace(Perfect For Entertaining), Cathedral Master w/ Luxury Bath, Three Car Garage, Stamped Concrete Patio, Sprinkler System, Pool Community. One Year Home Warranty!

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7653 Tylers Reserve Drive West Chester OH Tylers Reserve Subdivison

For more information and plenty more photographs visit our webpage: 7653 Tylers Reserve DriveWest Chester Ohio 45069

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For more information about this home or to schedule a time to see it, please complete the contact form below and we will get back to you as quickly as we can. You may also reach us by phone at 513-874-1830.