How to Sell a House Fast in a Slow Real Estate Market E-Book

William Bronchick

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2008

Seitenzahl: 331

Beschreibung

In a slow real estate market, selling your house can be difficult- especially if you owe more on your mortgage than your house is worth. In times like these, it's not enough to simply list your home and wait; you actually have to sell your home. This practical, important book shows you how to use marketing techniques, advertising, repairs and upgrades, home staging, and other creative, effective tactics to get your house sold fast-- no matter how bad the market is.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Introduction

CHAPTER 1 - Attitude Is Everything in a Down Market

A History Lesson on Real Estate Cycles

Which Comes First, the Value of Your House or the Value of Your Time?

How Many Buyers Does It Take to Sell a House?

Maintain a Positive Attitude, Assuming a Negative Result

Media Reporting on the Real Estate Market Is Biased

Ready Fire, Aim, Fire

Don’t Be Cheap

Use This Book as a Competitive Advantage

Chapter Summary

CHAPTER 2 - How to Research Your Competition and Learn Your Market

Knowledge Is Power

Hiring a Home Inspector Will Give You a Competitive Advantage

Do Your Due Diligence—How to Get the Macro-View of Your Local Market

The Micro-View of Your Local Market

Chapter Summary

CHAPTER 3 - The Secret of Effectively Pricing Your House for a Quick Sale

Know Thy Competition

Pricing Your House: The No-Brainer and Giggle Tests

Chapter Summary

CHAPTER 4 - Preparing to Show Your House for Sale—You Only Get One Chance to ...

Deciding What to Renovate

Is Rehabbing for You?

Different Levels of Renovation

A Checklist of Staging Ideas

Make It Unforgettable

Additional Tidbits

Engage the Help of Others

How to Finance Your Renovations

Chapter Summary

CHAPTER 5 - The Best Offense Is a Good Defense—Getting Your Information Organized

What’s Up Doc?

Creating a Killer Flyer

Create a Web Site

Tools of the Trade

Chapter Summary

CHAPTER 6 - Choose the Right Agent or Sell It Yourself—Which Is Right for You?

It’s All About the Customer (RAW)

Trying It on Your Own

The Basics of Brokers

Limited Service or Discount-Fee Brokers

Will the Real Top Agent Please Stand Up?

You Get What You Pay For

Measure Twice, Cut Once

Timing Is Everything

Broader Strokes of Data Entry: An Art Worth a Few Percentage Points in Your Favor

Chapter Summary

CHAPTER 7 - Owner Financing—Your Secret Weapon in a Soft Market

Advantages of Owner Financing

Owner Financing Mechanics

Advertising for an Owner-Financing Buyer

The Lease/Option—Cousin to Owner Financing

Lease/Option Versus Land Contract

Chapter Summary

CHAPTER 8 - The Right Way to Do an Open House

It’s a Numbers’ Game

Be Prepared

Go Fish!

Sell the Appointment

Grand Opening: Big Splash or Testing the Water?

The Open House: It’s Show Time!

The Logical Showing

Psychology of Selling

Please, Make Yourself at Home!

Are They Qualified?

Buy or Die

Chapter Summary

CHAPTER 9 - Negotiating the Deal—You’ve Got a Buyer, So Don’t Blow It!

Do You Have What It Takes To Be a Skilled Negotiator?

The Three Keys to Successful Negotiation

Building Rapport

Where and When to Negotiate

The Power of Probing Questions

The Test Close

The Three-Letter Word that Can Make You Thousands

The Rhythm of the Negotiations

The Hungriest Fish Get Fed First

The Double-Offer Conundrum

The Close

Putting It in the Contract

Chapter Summary

CHAPTER 10 - It’s Been Several Months and It Hasn’t Sold—Try the Round-Robin ...

Benefits of the Round-Robin Auction

Your First Consideration—Your Equity

Picking the Right Weekend

Doing the Legwork

Create an Informational Packet

Marketing For the Auction

The Open House

The Auction Is Over, Now What?

Getting It In Writing

Closing the Transaction

Frequently Asked Questions

Chapter Summary

CHAPTER 11 - Help, My House Is Worth Less than I Owe!

Why Would a Lender Accept a Short Sale?

How to Approach a Short Sale

Pitfalls of a Short Sale

What if the Lender Won’t Play Ball

Chapter Summary

CHAPTER 12 - Review and Action Plan

A DOCTOR’S Advice

Action Plan

Final Thoughts

Chapter Summary

WEBSITE DIRECTORY

APPENDIX A - Cost of Various Professionals

APPENDIX B - Checklist of Repair/Replacement Items

APPENDIX C - Comps Sheet Analysis Form

APPENDIX D - Staging Checklist

APPENDIX E - Sample Ads and Signs for Lease/Option or Owner Financing

APPENDIX F - Open House Sign-in Sheet

APPENDIX G - Round Robin Bid Sheet—Cash Sale

APPENDIX H - Round Robin Bid Sheet Owner Financed Sale

APPENDIX I - State-by-State List of Commonly Used Security Lien

INDEX

Copyright © 2009 by Legalwiz Publications. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Bronchick, William. How to sell a house fast in a slow real estate market : a 30-day plan for motivated sellers / William Bronchick, Ray Cooper. p. cm. Includes index.

eISBN : 978-0-470-46262-1

1. House selling. I. cooper, Ray, 1965- II. Title. HD1390.5.b765 2009 643’ .12-dc22 2008018569 .

INTRODUCTION

This book explains a somewhat unorthodox, yet highly effective system for selling your house quickly and for the highest possible price in a slow market. The strategies and techniques in this book have been tested and honed thousands of times in two decades of market cycles. They have helped countless homeowners, investors, and professional real estate agents sell their houses quickly and for the highest possible price.

First, though we’d like to congratulate you for having the courage and the wisdom to invest your time and money in this book. You have made the decision to take the first step toward solving your house problem, which is the hardest step. You have the guts to be one of the 5 percent that actually are the “doers” in life, while the other 95 percent will sit back and wonder what has happened. You have also taken the first step toward putting more money in your pocket.

Of course, simply reading this book is not the solution to your problem. It’s not the be all and end all. You are the solution to your problem, because only you can take what you learn and implement the strategies and techniques that will help you to sell your house, put many thousands of dollars in your pocket, and a big smile on your face for a job well done. We give you powerful tools. However, you must pick them up and use them at the right place and at the right time. You can do it!

Many of you need to sell your house fast—you want to be under contract in 30 days or less. Some of you may be holding vacant investment properties and making mortgage payments on two or more properties. You’re seeing how quickly this will drain your bank account if you don’t do something right now. No matter what your local market looks like, following the principles in this book will help you achieve your goal of selling your house fast.

A TYPICAL SUCCESS STORY—SELLING A HOUSE IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER, IN A LOUSY MARKET

Greg is a good example of a success story. He and his wife recently sold their house, in an extremely slow market, in less than 30 days. How bad was it? In Greg’s town, there were 418 houses for sale, and only 40 that had closed in the last month. Normally under these terrible conditions it would take six months or more to sell a house—even at a reasonable price. Greg and his wife followed our advice and prepared their home for sale by first having the house professionally inspected for obvious defects (see Chapter 2). Second, they did their due diligence and very carefully studied the direct competition to their home and the homes that had recently sold (see Chapter 2). They knew that their home was worth not less than $600,000 and not more than $650,000 in a stable market. Because they were very motivated and serious sellers and could not afford to wait 6 to 12 months to sell, they decided to use some of the strategies we will later discuss, including the price range listing (see Chapter 3). The ultimate selling price was $625,000, which was well within their estimated range. This price range represents the highest range of the town (top 5 percent), yet still Greg and his wife were able to sell their house quickly, in the middle of the winter, in a down market. Under these circumstances, it’s easy for homeowners to feel helpless. The main reason this house sold so quickly was because Greg and his wife took immediate action, made no excuses, and implemented the strategies we outline in this book.

Time is of the essence for you—no excuses, no delays. You must be willing to commit to marketing and selling your house for the next three to six to eight weeks. It will take some work and some effort on your part, but the increased profit to you will be well worth it. The time you invest in preparing and marketing for the open house will pay you back many times more than your current profession. Imagine investing a few weekends of your time to make an extra 10 percent on the sale of your property; this time translates into an hourly wage of more than $1,000 an hour!

For those of you who are not under any immediate pressure, but are thinking about selling your house a few months from now, you also need to commit to doing what’s necessary to reach your goal, but you have more time to do the things that are necessary to get your house priced-ranged effectively and ready to sell itself.

In Chapter 1, we discuss the foundation of our success principles: the right attitude. You can’t manage what you can’t measure, so you must take a measurement of your local home-selling marketplace. In Chapter 2, you learn how to research your market, including the all-important comp book.

Chapter 3 shows you the exact formula for determining how to sell your property quickly at the highest possible price.

Chapter 4 reveals how to get your home ready for sale, including the secrets of staging. You only get one chance to make the right first impression, so you will want to read this chapter twice.

Chapter 5 is a page from the football playbook—the best offense is a good defense. You learn how to organize your information to strike while the iron is hot.

Chapter 6 answers the all-important question of whether to use an agent or do it yourself. You learn how to sell it yourself and a revolutionary method to make sure if you do choose an agent, you find the best one to sell your house.

Chapter 7 explains how to finance the sale of your house in a New York minute, so your buyers don’t have to deal with traditional banks.

Chapter 8 is all about driving customers to your open house by developing a killer marketing plan. You learn the “goose that lays the golden egg” principle that helps flush out the highest and best customer who is most likely to pay you the highest price.

In Chapter 9, you learn the secrets of effective negotiating so that you can convert offers to cash with the lowest risk of losing the deal.

Chapter 10 reveals how to employ an unusual, yet effective strategy for the hardest-to-sell house—the round robin auction. You learn how to get dozens of people through your house in one weekend bidding against each other for the right to make you an offer.

Chapter 11 deals with the difficult issue of having a house for which you owe more than it’s worth. Your only practical option is a short sale, which is outlined in detail.

Chapter 12 outlines the strategies of this book and how to put them into action. Throughout the book, we also offer advanced tips for real estate professionals and investors.

At the moment, you may not see the light at the end of the tunnel. All you’re hearing is talk about the weakening real estate market conditions. This is typical of market psychology when prices are down, and many people are overreacting. Eventually the brave veterans show the way to the next up cycle, which will definitely come again as it has in past market cycles. It’s not a matter of if, just when. The first clue will be the housing supply quotient (see Chapter 2) turnaround, as it did in the mid 1990s, after a period of decline. Real estate markets tend to take the elevator down and the stairs up. But up they will go and go as the population invariably continues to climb and people in your area need a place to live.

Now, let’s get ready to sell your house!

CHAPTER 1

Attitude Is Everything in a Down Market

Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you are right.

—Henry Ford

In any difficult housing market, most people who need to sell their property become convinced that their local market is hopeless. Instead of working harder to market their property, they sit back and suffer. This is why having a positive, proactive attitude is your best advantage in a highly competitive market. Some people reading this will argue that a positive attitude doesn’t always work. Well, maybe not, but we know one thing for sure——negative thinking and a negative attitude never work! So your only choice and your only chance for success in this market are to stay positive and focus your energy on doing everything you can to sell your house. That’s exactly what this book will help you do.