West Chester & Liberty Township OH Real Estate: Tuesday Open House – July 07, 2010

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It’s Tuesday, so this must be the Tuesday Open House.

What is Tuesday Open House?? Well, it’s clearly not an “open house”. Open Houses don’t sell homes… good internet marketing does… but it seemed like a good title for this weekly blog post.

It is my way of throwing the doors open on the RealEstate-Ink.com blog and offering up a few quick articles and facts on real estate for the West Chester, Liberty Township, Beckett Ridge, Mason and Fairfield Township, Ohio areas. It is not intended to be all about homes for sale, but it will be about that some of the time…

Beckett Ridge Homeowners Association:  The Board for the Beckett Ridge Homeowners Association has presented to the homeowners of Beckett Ridge a revised set of Declarations and Code of Conduct for their approval.  Each parcel in the Beckett Ridge Association will have one vote in this approval process.  The interesting fact with this vote is that the board has decided based on their legal counsel’s opinion that if you do not submit a ballot, your ballot will be counted for the resolution.  What this means is the resolution is almost guaranteed to pass as a huge majority of the homeowners will not vote.  They never do.  Your ballot must be received by July 28th, 2010 for it to count.  You can find out more about this very important resolution and ballot here >>Beckett Ridge Homeowners Association

Buying a home:  If you are currently in the process of buying a home and getting a mortgage don’t buy anything.  According to the New York Times Fannie Mae has started requiring lenders to recheck a borrower’s finances shortly before closing the loan. If a broker or lender finds significant changes, the loan could be delayed, or in some cases, denied.  For years now we have cautioned borrowers against charging up their credit cards or changing jobs before the closing date on a home loan, but now this advice seems especially prudent.  You can read the entire article on homebuyer financing here>>  Buyer Mortgage Financing

Searching for Homes For Sale:  Searching for homes for sale in West Chester, Liberty Township, Beckett Ridge, Mason or Fairfield Township?  Search for homes using our MLS search feature which gives you access to the entire Cincinnati MLS and allows you to save home searches, receive notifications of new listings and also be alerted to price changes on home listings that match your search criteria.  You can search for homes for sale by clicking here to start your search now >>Search the MLS

 

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   Click Here To Search The Entire Cincinnati MLS Database Of Homes For Sale! Wondering what your home is worth in today’s real estate market? Request a market analysis here!

Check Out My Feature Homes For Sale In West Chester, Fairfield and Liberty Township, Ohio

West Chester & Liberty Twp OH Real Estate: Preparing Your Home To Sell

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Are you getting your home ready to list it for sale?  Preparing to sell a home in West Chester, Liberty Township or Beckett Ridge can be an overwhelming task if you are not prepared.  The process of getting your home ready can be simplified by breaking the areas of your home up into groups. 

In my previous post, >>Preparing Your Home To Sell, we covered Curb Appeal, Front Entry / Porch & Landscaping.  Today we will cover your first impression (interior, foyer).  When selling your home in today’s real estate market it is critical that the first impression that home buyers have of your home is a welcoming one.  A welcoming space is one that invites the home buyer in and lures them into the rest of the house.

Many times homeowners don’t even come and go through their front door and thus don’t place a great enough emphasis on this area of the home.  This is the area of the home that starts off the showing for the homebuyer and this is where they begin to anticipate the rest of the house.

The home buyer needs to be able to envision themselves in your home, so this is definitely an area of a home listed for sale that should have all personal effects, photos and clutter removed.  Generally speaking, any furniture that is located in this area should be removed with the exception of a properly sized foyer table.  Be sure that there are no pieces of furniture or baby gates blocking the path or view from the foyer in the rest of your home.

Be sure to de-clutter your foyer closet.  A full and cluttered foyer closet simply tells home buyers that you are short on closet space.  The foyer closet should not be more than half full.  Store unused and seasonal coats in plastic tubs in a storage area away from the living spaces of your home.

All personal/family photos should be removed from the foyer area.  If your foyer has a space that you feel needs decorating consider a mirror instead of photos.

The foyer paint color should be neutral and an earth tone.  Under no circumstances should your foyer have wallpaper on the walls.

As buyers enter your home, the scent that they smell must be clean and very subtle.  The use of candles or spray air freshener is not recommended.  Many home buyers can have adverse reactions to these strong smells and in some cases may actually wonder what it is you are trying to cover up.

We have now created a great first impression for home buyers as you continue preparing your home for sale in today’s real estate market.  In the next post in this series of articles we’ll cover Living Room, Dining Room, Family Room & Study.

Read the first article in this series here >>  Preparing Your Home For Sale In Today’s Market Part I

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

Check Out My Feature Homes For Sale In West Chester, Fairfield and Liberty Township, Ohio

West Chester & Liberty Twp OH Real Estate: Preparing Your Home To Sell

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Are you getting your home ready to list it for sale?  Preparing to sell a home in West Chester, Liberty Township or Beckett Ridge can be an overwhelming task if you are not prepared.  The process of getting your home ready can be simplified by breaking the areas of your home up into groups.

1.   Curb Appeal, Front Entry/Porch & Landscaping

2.   First Impression (interior), Foyer

3.   Living Room, Dining Room, Family Room & Study

4.   Kitchen

5.   Bedrooms

6.   Finished Lower Level

7.   Rear Yard, Decks & Patio  Areas

Why is any of this necessary you ask?  Because if at all possible you want to avoid that unpleasant feeling of rejection when home buyer after home buyer comes through your home for sale and doesn’t make an offer.

If you can properly stage your home for sale, you’ve greatly increased your chances not just of selling it in today’s challenging real estate market, but of selling it quickly and for significantly more money than you otherwise would have.

Today we’ll address Curb Appeal, Front Entry / Porch & Landscaping.  Always remember, this is the first impression home buyers will have of your home.  First suggestion:  Stop cutting your grass (yourself).  Get a service to maintain your lawn while your home is on the market for sale.  There are many good lawn services in the West Chester, Liberty Township & Beckett Ridge Ohio areas.  A good lawn service can keep your lawn trimmed and edged neatly, will keep your lawn mowed regularly and can also trim your bushes & shrubs and provide fresh mulch (please use black mulch) to complete the great look.

Keep this in mind:  If your yard is beautiful and well maintained, home buyers will assume the whole house has been kept the same.

If your home has a front porch make sure that it is freshly scrubbed and clean.  If there is enough room, place a couple of chairs and a small table on the porch to stage the area.  Caution: Be sure the size of the table & chairs do not overwhelm the space.  Also keep in mind, I am not talking about the “$10 plastic chairs & table” here.  They need to be something nice!

If your home does not have a front porch just be sure the outside area around the front door is clean, no cob webs and also be sure the front door itself is clean.  More than likely the front door needs a fresh coat of paint and probably new hardware.  If you have outside lighting/coach lights they probably need replacing also.

This is a great start on preparing your home for sale in today’s market.  In the next post in this series of articles we’ll cover First Impressions (interior), Foyer. 

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

Check Out My Feature Homes For Sale In West Chester, Fairfield and Liberty Township, Ohio

Ohio Real Estate: Tax Credit Deadline Extension

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The Congress is close to passing a law to give home buyers who were under contract on a home purchased by April 30 an additional three months to close on the home and still be able to claim the federal home buyer tax credit.  The new deadline is going to be September 30th, 2010.

This will not extend the deadline for home buyers to qualify for the tax credit.  To qualify for the credit you had to have purchased and had a fully executed contract by April 30th, 2010.

The reasoning given for the extension was that many home buyers were not going to be able to close on their new homes in time for the June 30th deadline due to a backlog of loan applications that lenders were trying to handle.

The real issue here though, are the short sales.  Many of these sales were not going to able to be closed in time due to the long delays that occur in trying to complete a short, thus there was going to be a large number of  “fall-thru’s” (sales which do not close) and all of these properties were going to be coming back onto the market with a large number of them headed for foreclosure.

Looking for deals on short sales and foreclosures in West Chester & Liberty Township?  

Click Here To Search The Entire Cincinnati MLS Database Of Homes For Sale!

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

Check Out My Feature Homes For Sale In West Chester, Fairfield and Liberty Township, Ohio

West Chester & Liberty Twp OH Real Estate: Tuesday Open House

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It’s Tuesday, so this must be the Tuesday Open House.

What is Tuesday Open House?? Well, it’s clearly not an “open house”. Open Houses don’t sell homes… good internet marketing does… but it seemed like a good title for this weekly blog post.

It is my way of throwing the doors open on the RealEstate-Ink.com blog and offering up a few quick articles and facts on real estate for the West Chester, Liberty Township, Beckett Ridge, Mason and Fairfield Township, Ohio areas. It is not intended to be all about homes for sale, but it will be about that some of the time…

 

Mortgage Interest Rates:  The tax credits are gone and if you are looking for a reason to buy a home, look no further.  Thirty year fixed rate mortgages are 4.60% today according to Third Federal Savings.  This is amazing.  Just look at this example of what these low rates really mean:

$200,000 mortgage amount @ 5.50%  =  $1135.58 monthly principal & interest payment

$200,000 mortgage amount @ 4.60%  =  $1025.29 monthly principal & interest payment

This example shows a monthly savings of $110 on your mortgage payment and this is compared to a mortgage interest rate of 5.50% which is a historically low rate itself!

 

 

Has the real estate market stablized? Get your personal real estate market update and monitor home values in your neighborhood.  You’ll see homes for sale in your neighborhood right now, you’ll see detailed information on homes that have sold and best of all this personal market update will be delivered completely free and directly into your inbox with no obligation.  Get your real estate market update right now at www.HomeValuesInCincy.com

 

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Check Out My Feature Homes For Sale In West Chester, Fairfield and Liberty Township, Ohio