It's a Seller's Market

You read it right. Sellers are in charge in today's real estate market. Here's an article from CNN Money about selling your house and pricing it right.

Selling your home? The cards are in your favor

 

Selling your home? In most parts of the country, you have finally regained the upper hand.

To get your best price, though, you need to finesse your timing, list competitively and match your marketing strategy to local conditions.

Lower your sights to make more money.

Rising prices breed rising hopes: In a recent poll, brokers complained that 75% of homeowners think their agent's recommended listing price is too low. Pricing your property above recent sales to cash in on the momentum may slow down deals, and sitting on the market too long can stigmatize a house.

Catch buyers' attention -- and get multiple offers -- by pricing your home in line with comparable sales, says Rick Turley, president of Coldwell Banker San Francisco: "Then let the market take it higher."

Trading up? Move fast. Downsizing? Go slow.

It's tempting to postpone selling to hold out for a better price. But if you want to move to a larger place, act sooner rather than later. True, higher-end homes aren't rising as quickly, but the gap is small. So while you'll be able to sell your home for more if you wait, the appreciation on the trade-up home will be greater.

When you're downsizing, the math works the other way, so it pays to wait.

The case for these strategies should strengthen as gains slow for cheaper homes. "Investors are driving the lower end of the market, and there is a point when the investor opportunity becomes less attractive," says Richard Green, director of the University of Southern California's Lusk Center for Real Estate.

Smooth out your home's rough patches.

Repair that leaky roof and address other obvious structural problems, or you'll have to subtract the cost of doing so from your price. "In today's economy, many buyers don't have as much savings left over after their down payment for improvements," says Teri Herrera, a broker in Bellevue, Wash.

Smaller fixes that pay off the most, according to a HomeGain poll of real estate professionals and consumers: cleaning and decluttering, brightening (adding lamps and clearing window obstructions), and solving electrical and plumbing problems.

Get ready for your home's close-up.

Sellers who stage their homes -- rearranging or replacing furniture to bolster appearance -- usually do so just before an open house. The better time to glamorize: right before you post your listing online, where 90% of buyers look first. Says Realtor.com president Errol Samuelson: "Web appeal is the new curb appeal."

Guard against low appraisals.

While rapidly rising prices may attract more buyers, the upswing can make it harder to close a deal. One-third of realtors polled in December reported setbacks from low appraisals, including delays in closing, lowered prices, and cancellations.

The problem: Appraisals can come in low because they're based on transactions as old as six months out of date, perhaps, in today's market.

Solution: Have your agent personally oversee the process, accompanying the appraiser to point out improvements and supplying data about the latest comparable sales.

 

By Beth Braverman @Money

Delinquent Borrowers Get a Lifeline

By Gino Blefari, President & CEO, Intero Real Estate Services, Inc.

 

Here's some news from the past week that could potentially impact thousands of homeowners:

 

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's regulator last week said they would begin offering lower payments to borrowers without having to prove hardship – an obstacle that previously kept a lot of borrowers from modifying their loans.

 

Starting in July, borrowers who are 90 days or more past due on mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may be eligible to reduce their monthly payments by about 30% on average. Eligible borrowers would receive an explanation of the offer and then enter a trial modification period in which they make three monthly payments under the new loan terms before they become permanent.

 

The news here is that borrowers would be able to do this without having to document their financial situations. It gives delinquent borrowers a means to avoid foreclosure.

 

And although the new program doesn't call for documentation, officials said they would still encourage borrowers to submit paperwork as it could help get them even better modification terms.

 

The question begs: Will this encourage and lead to an increase in strategic defaults – the decision to intentionally fall behind on payments when the mortgage is underwater and the borrower can still afford the payments?

 

Freddie and Fannie's regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, says no. In announcing the program, officials said that they have screening mechanisms in place to detect strategic defaulters, but failed to give much detail beyond that.

 

State of foreclosures

 

Speaking of foreclosures, we got a fresh look at what's happening with this portion of the market this past week too. Close to 1.2 million properties were in some stage of foreclosure in February, according to data firm CoreLogic. That was 21% lower than the same time last year.

 

RealtyTrac also released foreclosure numbers last week showing a higher number (1.5 million), but noting that their number includes homes that have already been repossessed by banks.

 

In addition, Inman News points out an interesting nugget of info from RealtyTrac's report: When broken down by listed and unlisted status, the number of homes in foreclosure or bank-owned that were listed for sale has fallen 43% this quarter compared to a year ago.

 

That of course suggests that there may be some shadow inventory coming down the pike. Shadow inventory – homes that have started the foreclosure process but have not been listed for sale – may be just what inventory-starved markets need. In some cases, the buyers are there but the homes are not.

 

CoreLogic estimates that about 2.2 million distressed and bank-owned properties will hit the market this year.

 

This will get interesting. In some markets, you may even feel a kick into high gear.

Sorting Out Your Personal Paperwork

We don't know about you, but we've just completed sorting and stacking and entering and reconciling in preparation for handing it all over to our tax preparer. Now we're ready to throw something, anything, away. But we want to do it right. Here's some advice from CBSNews.com on what paperwork to keep and how long.