Category: home selling

How to Encourage Homebuyers Who Are Always on the Fence?

If we’re being honest: Some home buyers are challenging to deal with. Some are indecisive and unreasonable, while others are unrealistic and rude, and few of them respect your time. They may change their necessities on a whim, want to view various homes multiple times to ensure it has the right energy or simply back out of a buy at the last moment.

However, some buyers always make excuses as to why it’s not the right time to buy. You may hear things like, “Oh, interest rates are rising,” or “the economy is getting worse, Mercury is in retrograde, and I may lose my job,” or even “prices will come down in six months.” Regardless of the buyer’s excuse, savvy agents should understand how to encourage these buyers to go through with the deal. So, how do you go about this?

Tips to Encourage Challenging Home Buyers

Though there is no surefire way to convince everyone regardless of their situation, there are various approaches you can use in this case. And it all starts with understanding the circumstances that make homebuyers want to buy, so this is what we’re going to discuss. Let’s get started with a couple of quotes.

“If it is important to you, you will find a way. If it is not, you will find an excuse.”

“You can have RESULTS or EXCUSES, not both.”

#1 Their Dream Home is Up for Grabs

The easiest way to encourage those buyers who always find excuses not to buy is to find their dream home in the perfect neighborhood that checks every box. Though this is often easier said than done, it’s been proven that buyers will accept the deal when the right property is available every time. Keep in mind that the ideal homes are not corner lots or on a cul-de-sac, but they are serviced by the best school districts in the area, great parks, excellent views, and more.

#2 The Seller Hires a Professional Home Stager to Create a Gorgeous Home

At one time, properties were flying off the market, and sellers didn’t even consider having their homes staged. However, when times are slow or you’re dealing with difficult buyers, investing in a professional home stager will work to your advantage in many ways.

From the moment they first see the home on the internet to their initial showing, home staging will provide many benefits, including:

  • It ensures an impeccable first impression
  • It highlights the home’s best features and hides shortcomings
  • It allows the potential buyer to connect with the home emotionally and picture themselves living there
  • Having furniture present enables the buyer and agent a palace to sit and get a natural feel for the home

#3 The Seller is Motivated and Flexible on the Price

When it comes to buying a new home, price is always a significant factor. Speak with the selling agent or homeowner and see if you can help negotiate a better price that works for both parties. The more flexible the home seller is, the easier it will be for you to convince a buyer who keeps making excuses not to buy.

#4 The Buyers Understands the Benefits of Owning a Home

Though many people think it’s cheaper to rent rather than buy, the truth is that over the long run, it is not. Sure, the rental deposit is far lower than the down payment on a home, but the renter ultimately pays more per month than they would if they were buying in many housing markets.

Orange County, CA home prices have been on a long-term decades old uptrend. Home equity builds up fairly quick in Southern California.

Furthermore, equity pays off over time and can help the buyer achieve their long-term housing goal. Discussing these benefits with a challenging buyer may give them enough push to buy the property. Just be sure to research every benefit and explain the most significant ones.

#5 The Agent Builds Trust with the Buyer

Finally, the best way to encourage buyers is for the agent to build trust with them. Take the time to get to know your clients and listen to every detail they share. Combine this with showing empathy and asking the right questions, and you’ll make the sale every time.

Professional Listing Photos Have Great Advantages

Since the mid-1990s to 2010, it was okay for real estate agents in Orange County and surrounding Southern California counties to just take a few photos from a low priced disposable camera and upload them to the MLS listing. Nowadays, this is not acceptable because of the internet.

Approximately 90% of buyers browse online to search for homes which means high-quality listing photos are essential. Listing photos influence the sale of your Orange County home for a few reasons! It can impact how many days on the market for your Orange County, or if your home will sell for your asking price, Yep, even in a hot seller’s market.

In a worst case scenario, your OC home may not sell at all if priced too high and if the listing has a few shoddy photos. That may make the listing expire. Bad photos don’t bring in as many purchase offers.

Contrary to popular belief, there are plenty of agents that are not using high-quality professional photos for your home. It may be better to not work with agents who don’t offer this as part of their marketing plan to get you the highest and best offer.

Quality Listing Photos
Based on research from the National Association of Realtors, 89% of buyers who searched for homes online stated photos as the most helpful feature on the home listing sites they went to. Can a bad or low quality photo be helpful?

Not really, so your listing photos have to be high quality and practical. Smart phone camera pics aren’t going to cut it. Hire and use a professional photographer to take the photos, then you stand the best chance to receive many offers that are near or above your asking price.

Regardless if the home price is $500,000 for a condo or townhome in Mission Viejo or a $2 million home with ocean views in Laguna, sellers who use DLSR listing photos have greater odds to sell their homes within six months than those who didn’t use high-quality photography.

The statistics back it up too. A recent study found that roughly two-thirds of homes priced from $400,000-$500,000 were sold in less than six months with DLSR photos, but less than fifty percent of homes in the same price range using point-and-shoot photos sold within that six-month period.

Furthermore, with advancements in digital photography equipment and the increase of stylish online platforms, virtual tours have turned out to be more significant as a marketing method. In other words, virtual tours enable realtors to serve their clients better. Digital images are ideal for a quick, professional presentation of a home’s highlights and virtual tours are excellent to search for homes when you live far away.

Faster Sales with High Quality Photography
In many instances, professionally photographed homes tend to be sold quicker and at a better price. Because a lot of prospects start their home search on the internet, this has become a vital aspect of the home buying process.

Attractive looking photos get buyers attention to put in an offer or visit the home because they have a very good understanding of what the home provides. This is in contrast to blurry or badly lit smart phone pictures that many real estate agents may still be using, compared with the real estate agents at HomeFinderOC.

It’s pretty clear and evident that listing photos affect the sale of your Orange County home, and professional looking sharp photos have the best impact. The required sharpness is accomplished through the aid of a good camera with a good lens and proper lighting. Sellers must make this request to reap the benefits!

It doesn’t matter if you are taking photos of the kitchen, guest bedroom, garage, or back yard, the sharpest photos get the best results. A recent real estate study backs up the claim that homes with the sharpest photos (in the top 10%) sold at or above the list price 44 times out of 100.

And homes with that had photos with ordinary sharpness sold at or above list price just 13 times out of 100. That’s a big gap! Are you sure you don’t want high-quality photography for your home listing photos?

How to Counter the Buyer’s Offer

A great deal of work goes into getting your home listed for sale, yet one of the most difficult steps is figuring out the price you’re asking.

Although when you ultimately pick a price, you could still have offers come in that are under your asking price.

Sometimes the proper action is to accept that offer in a buyer’s market and go ahead with the sale of your home. It’s best to know how to counter the price submitted in the event that happens.

Recognizing how to prepare a counteroffer in the sale of your home may help you keep thousands of dollars.

Think about a Counteroffer
Wouldn’t it be ideal if you put your home up for sale for the price you feel it is worth and a buyer came along and quickly sent in a purchase offer for that price?

Unfortunately, in most cases, homeowners receive offers that are below the asking price. At these times, you can accept or reject the offer, or respond with a counteroffer with a higher price and/or different terms.

Set an Expiration Date on Your Counteroffer
To begin with, think about limiting the period of time your buyer has to accept your counter offer. In California’s competitive market, sellers usually give buyers 1 to 2 days. If they fail to respond, you entertain and consider the other buyer’s offers or terms that look attractive.

Think about Crediting the Buyer’s Closing Costs
An additional method to better your probability of having the buyer accept your counteroffer is by offering to pay some or all of their closing costs.

Buyers tend to be low on funds once they get closer to the closing date, which is a big reason that buyers ask the seller to pay the closing costs.  Prior to the buyer asking, you can add closing cost credit within your counteroffer. For that matter, you may even raise the price you were asking. The buyer can pay for that through the home loan. 

Counteroffer with Your List Price
After receiving a counteroffer, the majority of buyers normally respond to the seller with the list price.  For one thing, many buyers just accept that offering below the list price is a foregone conclusion. Once they see you won’t change your price, they’ll understand you were not flexible when it comes to price and push them into offering your price.

In addition, a number of buyers are only looking for a bargain. They’ll send in various low-ball offers for multiple listings merely to see if a seller will accept it. If you counter with your list price and they’ll likely not be interested because they are not getting the deal they perceived as a discounted good price.

List Prices Are Strongest in a Seller’s Market
If you or your real estate agent had a comparative market analysis completed prior to listing your home, you understand the price your home will fetch in the neighborhood and should feel secure about the price you’re asking.

Don’t be overly concerned to counter with your original list price.
Having said that, your list price will ninety-nine times out of one hundred is supported better in a seller’s market. If you’re in a buyer’s market and their offer isn’t ridiculously low, it could be a good choice to accept it.

This is why it’s essential to pay for proven results to market your home. Regardless of the type of market you’re in, the more interest you generate, the more secure you’ll feel when you make a counteroffer.

Rejecting a Buyer’s Counteroffer
You should now understand you don’t need to accept or respond to any offer a buyer makes.

However, many buyers are not expecting a complete rejection of their offer.  In summary, it’s puts the home buyer in an uncomfortable position of not knowing what the seller will accept.

You haven’t provided them with a counteroffer to accept or a baseline for the amount they could offer the second time around. This puts pressure on them because they know another buyer could offer the right amount at any moment.

How to Handle Getting Multiple Offers on Your Home

If you’re considering listing your home for sale in Orange County, you most likely understand that the market is very healthy in the fall of 2020. Although we’re in a low interest rate environment, it’s leaning toward a sellers market.

The median home selling price in Orange County has reached $800,000. This can be partly explained when interest rates are low buyers can afford a higher priced home. In neighborhoods with constant strong demand such as Irvine, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, and Mission Viejo, buyer interest and offers seem to prevail no matter the state of the economy.

By having your home priced right and listed with the right agent, it’s not unheard of to receive offers above list price. Properties can be under contract the same day you have it up for sale.

Tips to Selecting the Right Offer
As a seller, you’ll quickly discover that not all offers you review with purchase prices that are very close are equal. You should consider other aspects besides the buyer’s purchase price such as contingencies, date to close, loan terms, and quite a bit of other conditions that buyers can submit with their offer.

Keep your agent informed
From the beginning of your agent representing you, it is best practice and recommended to include your agent in each step of the negotiation process. They can discuss typical outcomes and help you choose which offer best meets your needs. Moreover, your agent can educate you on the usual contingencies, combined with other terms that are frequently put in the offer.

Compare contingencies and financing
Besides the buyer’s offer price, you should really take a hard look at the contingencies and financing terms included within any offers you receive.

Contingencies are conditions that need to be fulfilled prior to the sale completing. Typical contingencies are home inspections, appraisal, and the loan. The fewer the contingencies the better for a seller, because the more that in the offer the more difficult it is to close the sale.

Furthermore, it’s crucial to see how your home will be bought, by cash or by financing. Cash offers tend to be regarded as the best, because you won’t have to deal with lenders and an appraisal is now optional, not mandatory. If you’re looking for a fast sale, an all-cash offer is at the top of your list

Accepting the Offer
In a hot market, some buyers will put anything in their offer to shine over other purchase offers. However, you’ll want to fully understand which terms will truly benefit you as a seller.

When you’re considering offers with financing, it’s almost always better to favor pre-approved home buyers, because they’ve done more legwork to secure their financing. Buyers who want a short escrow period of two weeks or less, pay all or most closing costs, or include an escalation clause to outbid other offers may also be a great offer to consider.

Do not forget your home’s value
If you receive lot of offers on your home from your agent, you may wind up in a bidding war. While this can push the price up considerably, you really need to not be in a hurry into agreeing to the offer with the highest bid price.

The reason is because if a buyer is financing the purchase, your home will have to be appraised. If the appraised value comes in at your original list price and not the highest bidder it creates a problem for the lender. They will only lend a certain percentage based on the appraisal or purchase price whichever is lower.

This means the buyer would have to bring additional cash into the transaction above the appraised value. This means you ought to review the highest bidder’s appraisal contingency terms or see if they included a clause they will pay the difference in cash in case the appraisal comes in below the asking price.

Gearing Up to Sell Soon?
Selling a home doesn’t need to be a demanding ordeal—at least not when you work with a top-rated local agent! Do not hesitate to contact us by phone and let us know what we can do to help with your real estate needs. We have the resources and positive experiences to get your home sold promptly and at a price you’ll like!

Keep your neighbors happy by avoiding these bad habits.

Allowing Exterior Paint to Show Signs of Wear and Tear
An old historic house is an absolute delight to see, but when you start to see paint is chipped, peeling or has rotting wood, revisit that thought. Your neighbors will consider it an eyesore and devaluing home prices on their street.

Letting Trash Accumulate
If you have so much trash that you need to stack the trash bags around your trash bin, you’re most likely irritating your neighbors. A common sense solution is to get more your more bins or containers to put your weekly trash inside. Nobody wants to look outside their window or go for a leisurely walk with their kids or dog down the street and notice bundles of trash bags stacked up every single week.

Abandoning Old Furnishings In Your Yard
You may think that tossing your old couch in the woods behind your house is an easy way to avoid hauling it to the dump, but if your neighbors see it, it becomes an eyesore and your neighbors will think you’re lazy!

Really Ugly Paint Colors
What’s equally as bad as chipped paint on a house? How about a lime green colored house? What about vibrant pink? Purple certainly doesn’t blend in well with the neighborhood either! When it comes to standard neighborhoods in Orange County, those colors are usually unwelcome and likely not acceptable by any HOAs.

Too Many Cars Parked Around the House
While some communities have restricted parking or won’t permit you to park your car on the street at all, some neighborhoods have no rules whatsoever. To be polite to your neighbors, don’t have too many cars parked on the street for very long.

Car collectors and those who have a hobby or business to restore 60s and 70s muscle cars and classics may be inclined to keep them parked around their home. Be careful of it appearing like a mini auto body shop to your neighbors. Residential zoning and code enforcement laws will probably be notified by a neighbor if it’s a nuisance.

Leaving Pets Outside
If your dog is joyfully enjoying itself in your fenced yard and running around barking at birds, at people pr things it hears or sees, you’re sure to make some enemies. It goes without saying, but owning numerous cats that roam your yard and trash area is annoying too.

Letting Your Grass & Bushes Grow Too Long
There are unwritten rules in neighborhoods and having overgrown grass and bushes looks sloppy, messy, and irresponsible. It may even be against city ordinance laws if you are not keeping your lawn properly cut because wild animals, pests and rodents are encouraged to make it their new habitat.

Never Taking Down Seasonal Decorations
It’s the month of April, but you still have Christmas holiday lights in the tree and bushes and you still turn them on at night. Or it’s August and you still have a huge Easter bunny and flourescent colored eggs in your front yard.

There’s not a lot of excuses. When a holiday is over, decorations should be promptly removed. No neighbor or visitor is going to want to see a six foot casket open with Dracula propping out on the porch in February.

Your House is Under Construction All the Time
A big renovation can certainly bug your neighbors, but as long as you have a game plan, and everything goes accordingly, you should have an end date you can give everyone.

However, when you keep changing contractors, altering plans, and adding more improvements that take a year or more to complete, the associated noise and mess that comes with it is definitely going to make some neighbors upset and who may make calls to local elected officials.

Your Security Light Shines Into Neighbor’s Window
Your security light may be effective in dissuading thieves and criminals, but it could also get you in hot water with your neighbor if you don’t angle it properly. Make certain that wherever you position it, it is both optimal for your home security and won’t shine into your neighbors windows, specifically their bedroom window.

Throwing loud parties
Frequent loud parties are a problem in some neighborhoods and apartment complexes almost everywhere. A large party can have guests taking up all the street parking, loud music playing, people jumping and playing pools, and it doesn’t stop until the morning hours.

This is intruding on your neighbor’s right to peace, quiet and even safety if you have some guests who become drunk, loud and aggressive guests leaving your home.

Too many yard sales
Having a yard sale two or three of times a year isn’t a huge problem. But if your part time job is weekly yard sales, your neighbors will definitely not like you. This brings in more people driving slowly to view your items for sale, more parking concerns, and more foot traffic. In addition, it can bring in criminals who may notice you or a neighbor’s home they can rob or do worse.