Top Five Signs You Should Buy A Condo – Or At Least Consider It
"If you have been renting for years, you may want to purchase your own so that you can build equity and start making your money work for you. If you are thinking about buying, you have the option of buying a home or buying a condo. These five signs may indicate that you would be happier in a condominium community:
1) You are in a transition stage of your life. If you want to make the transition from renting to buying, a condo is a good way to ease into ownership. Similarly, if you are in retirement and want to scale back without renting, condominium communities can offer a great way to do so.
2) You want more home or more amenities than you can afford. Condominiums offer plenty of bonuses, such as spacious common areas, workout facilities, swimming pools, underground parking, valet or maid services, and other amenities. While the extras offered vary from one community to the other, in general it is less expensive to enjoy these communities as part of a condo community than pay for them yourself.
3) You have a lifestyle that includes lots of entertaining or plenty of travel. If you are entertaining often, condos offer the front-door security you may want as well as the open space designs that are great for group gatherings. If you travel a great deal, a condo may be more secure than a home that is obviously left empty. Condos are also great for meeting new people, as many communities today really do foster a community spirit. Certain lifestyles just fit well with condo living and if you lead one of these lifestyles you may want to consider a condominium.
4) You don’t want to – or can’t cope with – home maintenance. While renting helps someone else become wealthy, owning a home involves raking the leaves, maintaining the property, painting, and other common chores. If you are unable to keep up or don’t want to bother, a condo offers hassle-free living.
5) You want some control over neighbors. The condo homeowners’ association will generally make sure that no resident allows common areas or private residences get too sloppy or unattractive. This ensures that everyone’s property values remain high and quality of life doesn’t take a nosedive because of one bad neighbor. This is a level of control simply not available with apartments or homes.
Do these five signs apply to you? If so, you may want to start combing the ads for condo deals in your area!"
Seven Steps For a Quick Real Estate Sale
The longer a piece of property stalls, the greater threat it poses to your marketability and profit. There are 10 simple things you can do to enhance your home’s appeal, get warm bodies through the door and close the deal sooner rather than later.
1) Open houses
This is one of the most popular weekend activities. Letting people walk through your home – touching it, feeling it, picturing their children playing in your backyard – is a highly effective way to generate interest. However, an open house is only as effective as the traffic it generates. Without some other key home-selling strategies, you may find your open house events sorely disappointing.
2) Perks
Creativity is key in some areas where the housing market has peaked, leaving sellers at their wit’s end. Throwing in perks like a cash rebate disguised as a “decorator’s allowance” or homeowner’s association fees for a year can be very enticing. It can also be considerably cheaper than letting your property languish on the market, forcing you to slash the price. One of the standard incentives is to cover closing costs for the seller. When including perks, be mindful of the buyer’s perception. You don’t want to seem over-eager, because they will then question your motives and probably use that against you in price negotiations.
3) Hire the best
Hiring a good agent with years of experience and knowledge of the market and its current trends is crucial. For Sale By Owner properties are generally preyed upon by opportunistic investors who plan to flip the property and see this as a way to take advantage. If you don’t have the knowledge and the real estate savvy, get somebody on your side who does. Hiring a good agent will generally bring you a higher sale price, and is worth any commission you may have to pay out in the end.
4) Make a map
Just as real estate investors create a plan for their investments, sellers must map out their selling plan. What is a reasonable price for that market and how far would you be willing to come down off that price? Set a date on which you will reduce the cost if the home has not yet sold, as flexibility is key. A good agent should have the know-how to help you with mapping out your strategy.
5) Get organized
Cleaning out all your personal stuff can make a prospective buyer start viewing the home as their own. A clean, open, clutter-free space leaves room for imagination and creativity. Does your home have a wealth of storage space? Show it off by cleaning and organizing your closets and cabinets. Above all, make sure the home stays clean. Nothing kills a deal faster than seeing hairbrushes and dirty dishes lying around.
6) Get chic
An interior decorator with an eye for design can be your best friend. Their skills can entice buyers and help transition the house from “your home” to a “show home.” Spring for new end tables, pillows, decorating accessories, fresh paint on the walls and ceilings. You may even want to remove your old personal effects, such as family pictures. Small details like setting the dining room table as if you were about to host a dinner party can also help prospective buyers picture themselves in your home.
7) Professional photography
Just as professional models attract jobs by using professional photographers for their head shots, so should you give your home top-notch treatment. Quality photos of not just the exterior, but several different rooms on the interior, can enable prospective buyers to take a “virtual tour” of your home. Internet shopping is becoming increasingly popular as an essential step that precedes an actual home tour. It is important to gain interest up front with these photos, and a professional can help capture the true essence of your home. It is a worthwhile investment to drive up interest and foot traffic.
Eric Bramlett is the Broker and co-owner of One Source Realty in Austin Texas. Visit Eric’s Austin Real Estate Guide, visit his Tulsa Real Estate company’s website, & his Austin Lofts website. He has seen considerable success in real estate, and looks forward to many more years in the business.
Three House Flipping Tips for Beginners
One of the most difficult parts about flipping houses is learning the ropes when you first start. Because it’s something new that you have little experience doing, it can be intimidating. What follows are three of the most important tips for beginners to learn when they start out with the goal of flipping houses to make money.
1) Know *Exactly* How Much You Can Sell The House for After It’s Fixed Up
This sounds like common sense, but many beginners make the mistake of just guessing how much they’re going to be able to sell the house for after they fix it up. Knowing the selling price ahead of time is the surest way to guarantee that you’ll make money by flipping the house. On the other hand, misjudging how much you can sell the house for after the fix up is the quickest way to lose a ton of money. Often people are too optimistic about the selling price and don’t factor in all the variables that determine how much a house will sell for.
2) Know *Exactly* How Much it’s Going to Cost to Fix Up the House
Probably the biggest mistake people make when they flip a house is underestimating how much it’s going to cost to get the house fixed up to sell it. It is vitally important to be as thorough as possible when looking into the cost of the fix up. Sometimes unexpected expenses can make the difference between losing money and making money on house flip. The worst part is when the cost of the fix up is so much that it causes the house flipper to ask too much for the house. This will not only cost money, but will keep the house on the market much longer than desired.
3) Don’t Be Afraid to Make Low Ball Offers
Beginners in real estate and house flipping sometimes are easily intimidated and are more concerned with not upsetting the real estate agents and the sellers. Remember, you’re in the house flipping business to make money, not make friends with the sellers. If you allow yourself to be intimidated by the sellers, or by angry agents who get upset with low offers, you’ll make money much slower than if you have the guts to make low offers.
HouseFlipTricks.com is a site devoted to teaching people how to make money by flipping houses.
