3 COMMON ERRORS SELLERS MAKE WHEN SELLING THEIR HOUSE FAST

3 COMMON ERRORS SELLERS MAKE WHEN SELLING THEIR HOUSE FAST

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Unless you sell houses everyday, it’s easy to make a mistake when you need to sell your house fast.Of course, everyone makes mistakes, but when it comes to selling your home a mistake might cost you tens of thousands of dollars.

So it’s best to do your research.

Fortunately, many of the most common mistakes that homeowners make can be easily avoided if you know what to look for.

1. THE HIGHEST OFFER IS NOT ALWAYS THE BEST OFFER

When you need money it can be tempting to just accept the highest bid on your property. However that might be one of the biggest mistakes you can make, especially if you need money quickly.

Many buyers in Seattle, WA know that a fast sale means you’re looking for money and so they’ll over-inflate their bid, knowing that they’ll never go through with the sale at that price.

Instead, they wait until after you’ve accepted their offer and find a reason in your contract or after an appraisalto ask for a reduction in price before closing.

That’s because buyers know that once you’ve committed to selling to them, you’re likely to be emotionally invested in the sale and are more likely to agree to their request.

Not only does that net you a lower amount in the end, but it can also result in wasted time while the two of you find a new compromise.

2. DON’T PAY TOO MANY REAL ESTATE FEES

In the desire to make a sale was quickly as possible, some sellers agree to take on more than their fair share of expenses: transaction fees, closing costs, real estate commissions, appraisals, and/or a list of items that the buyer wants fixed before closing.

Remember that all of these expenses are negotiable. Before agreeing to a deal you should decide which of these fees you’re willing to pay for and which are off the table when it comes to the sale.

Some buyers may even agree to an “as-is” sale, which can decrease your expenses dramatically.

3. MAKE SURE THE BUYER HAS THE ABILITY TO CLOSE

Before agreeing to a bid make sure your buyer actually has the ability to close. This is especially true if you’re looking at a cash home purchase.

Always ask to see bank statements or other proof of ability to pay. Otherwise, you may get tied up in a contract, just to have the buyer try and assign it to another buyer.

Worse yet, if they can’t assign it to another buyer they may walk away completely and leave you stranded.

So make sure to pick a buyer that is qualified to buy your home and actually has the funds to follow through.

SELLING YOUR HOME QUICKLY AND PAIN FREE

Spend a little bit of extra time making sure your buyer has the funds they promise actually available and evaluate all the offers on the table. The little bit of extra time spent upfront will help you save time in the long run and may help lower your final expenses.

Follow these tips and, before long, you’ll be busy enjoying the money you made from the sale of your home.

 

 

 

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John Marcotte
Marcotte Real Estate Group
720-771-9401

john@boulderhomes4u.com

Search for homes on my website @ www.boulderhomes4u.com

When thinking of Real Estate, think of John Marcotte
I’m never too busy for your referrals.

 

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HOW DO I GET MY HOUSE READY TO LIST?

 

HOW DO I GET MY HOUSE READY TO LIST?

 

GET RID OF CLUTTER!The biggest thing that I see, both as a listing agent and when showing houses to a potential buyer, is unbelievable clutter in many houses. Junk everywhere. Clothes everywhere. Dishes and food lying around everywhere! Too much furniture in every room. Get rid of it! It is hard for most buyers to look beyond the clutter to see the underlying house for what it might be. Your stuff, no matter how much it might mean to you is just getting in the way. Get organized to attack this problem.

If you don’t have enough room to neatly store stuff away, consider renting at a local storage facility (size depends on how much clutter you have). Box everything up that you don’t need to have right at hand up and move some of your stuff out. Even consider moving some furniture out, if you have rooms that are too full of furniture. Your precious collection of Beanie Babies all over the bedroom just looks like clutter to someone else. Get them out! Even your knick knacks and hobby stuff may just look like clutter to someone else. Store them off site.. If you don’t want to store it, have a garage sale and get rid of your excess stuff.Read this article on getting rid of clutter before you even attempt to spiff the place up a bit for listing.

Clean the place up. Beyond clutter there is just common cleanliness. If your place smells bad or is excessively dirty, it’s a turn off that will sink the chances of anyone wanting to buy it or will cause them to low-ball the house, since they see a big clean up ahead. This is particularly true of anything that smells of mold or rot. Clean it up. Disinfect and get the smells out! Pay to have the carpets cleaned, so that the buyers won’t automatically be subtracting for replacing the carpets. Cobwebs, spider webs, dust bunnies, dirt tracked floors and other obvious signs of un-cleanliness are red flags to potential buyers that there may be other issues caused by the same slovenly behavior. If you have to, hire a cleaning crew to come in and give the place a good deep cleaning. Here’s a link to a house cleaning guide that can be downloaded. It was put together by professional house cleaners.

Paint or touch up the paint. A $20-30 can of paint could add thousands to the perceived  “value” of a house. I see many houses where the walls are nicked or marked, due to normal wear and tear and the owners have done nothing to make them look better. How cheap can you be? Repair the walls and paint them if they look bad. If you have walls with tons of pictures hanging (especially family pictures); take them down and repair the holes in the wall and put on a fresh coat of paint. Kids’ rooms, especially teenager’s rooms are usually riddled with holes or places where tape has pulled off the paint. Buyers hate to think of having that kind of project right away after moving in and they don’t care about your pictures.

Many kids’ rooms have also been painted in colors that only a kid cold love. Dark purple or black rooms may appeal to a moody teen, but they are a turn off to would-be buyers. The cute clouds with stars on the ceiling of your little Princess’ room also need to be painted over, as well as the mural of the Unicorn on the wall.  Good clean, repaired and painted walls are inviting to buyers and they can envision putting their tons of pictures up. If they want to have clouds and stars for their little Princess, they’ll put them up later.

Get on the “deferred maintenance” items. That’s a polite way of saying to do all of those little things that you’ve been meaning to get to or which you’ve just learned to live with; but, that need fixing. Put plug and switch covers on those open wiring boxes or replace the ones that broke. Replace that piece of shoe molding that the dog or cat crewed or clawed up or that door molding that got roughed up when you were moving something in or out. Replace those light bulbs that burned out and you never got around to replacing. Put up a new curtain rod to replace the one that pulled out of the wall when the cat got snagged on the curtain. Replace or fix that dripping faucet in the laundry room or in the bathroom. If you need help identifying these little projects, ask your Realtor to walk through the house and make recommendations. You know that those little maintenance jobs are there, but maybe you’ve been in denial so long that you just can’t see them anymore.

Be an informed seller. Get a professional home inspection done. Here is link to aHome Inspection Checklist that you can use yourself to do an “inspection” of your home. It is not meant to substitute for a professional job, just to get you thinking about all of the areas of your home that an inspector will be looking at later. You can make these visual inspections without having to get into the depth that the inspector will, but they will tell you a lot about your home and what may need attention. A good home inspection will cost $300-500 depending upon the size of the house, but it is well worth it to avoid show stopping discoveries later. Once you have a buyer in hand you do not want them finding something during their home inspection that will cause them to walk away. Many times this inspection will uncover something that is also bad for your family’s health and must be fixed anyway. It’s better to find out now.

 

 

John Marcotte
Marcotte Real Estate Group
720-771-9401

john@boulderhomes4u.com

Search for homes on my website @ www.boulderhomes4u.com

When thinking of Real Estate, think of John Marcotte
I’m never too busy for your referrals.

 

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Boulder homes for sale

Summer Sidewalk Sale

 

Summer Sidewalk Sale

Date: Friday August 2, 2013 – Sunday August 4, 2013

 

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Downtown Boulder’s annual sizzlin’ Summer Sidewalk Sales happens August 2-4, 2013.  This not-to-be missed shopping extravaganza offers great deals from Downtown Boulder’s favorite merchants both on and off the Bricks.

Let’s Get Local!  Come out to take advantage of special offers and promotions throughout the weekend and remember that for every $100 spent locally, $68 stays in the local economy! Support hundreds of downtown businesses and get in on some of the hottest summer deals around!

Please check back as new offers are added daily.

Please see individual business for any restrictions or exclusions that apply.

Alpaca Connection As part of their 25th Anniversary celebration The Alpaca Connection will be offering discounts up to 75% off beautiful clothing and summer sweaters.
Artmart Gifts Select frames, jewelry and magnet boards 50% off and select other items 25% off
Art & Soul Gallery  Jewelry, craft, and gift itemsdiscounted up to 60%
Art Source International Tables of merchandise priced up to 75% off. Ready made frames, framed art, antique prints & posters all priced at least 50% off!
Barbara & Company Take an additional 40% off all sale items, already reduced 40–60%!
Bayleaf Select items outside on sale up to 70% off
Billabong Check back for details
Boulder Army Store Check back for details
Boulder Arts & Crafts Gallery Boulder Arts & Crafts Gallery will have a selection of handmade craft items, unique cards and gifts at up to 75% off
Boulder Book Store Great books at great discounts!
Boulder Creek Market Mention Sidewalk Sale and get $2 off whole or $1 off 1/2 sandwich.
Boulder Furniture Arts Check back for details
Chantique Check back for details
Chelsea Final Blowout of the Season: Additional 40% off already-reduced clearance prices on Spring and Summer clothing and jewelry
Clutter Select items at 50% off and specials throughout the store
Common Era Summer sidewalk sale mania will be in full swing for the August sale!
Earthwood Gallery Selected Jewelry and Art Glass up to 40% off
El Loro -10% off Sterling Rings and Chains
-Woven Friendship Braclets $1
-Cotton Tai Chi Shoes $10
Fabricate Markdowns on fabric, books and sewing kits throughout the weekend
Fresh Produce Additional 25% off all marked down items
Gypsy Jewel  50% off all items located outside
Hurdle’s Jewelry 40% off Raymond Weil Watches
Island Farm 20 – 25% off select clothes & home accessories
Jackalope & Co. Check back for details
Jovie HUGE Markdowns on summer inventory: $5, $10, $15 and $20 racks, 10% OFF all new fall arrivals and introducing Girls sizes 4-6x!
Kidrobot Kidrobot 20% off Summer Apparel Sidewalk Sale!
Liquor Mart Check back for details
Lunieva
– Cotton Dresses and Tops 50% and 70% off
– Hand Knit Sweaters 50% off
– Cotton Jackets 50% off
Nod & Rose Fashion forward and timeless designs for men and women. 30-60% off select designer brands!  Look for booth on Pearl Street Mall
Oliverde Check back for details – Look for booth on Pearl Street Mall
Pedestrian Shops – All Sandals 20-50% Off including Birkenstock, Dansko, Keen and many more!
– Columbia Apparel – 25-50% Off including summer and  winter apparel
– Vibram FiveFingers 25-50% Off
– Shop the Last Pair Sale Rack, all items 40-50% off, and buy 2, get the 3rd pair free!
Pitaya Buy One Sale Item, Get a Second Sale Item 1/2 Off
POSH Artwork by local artists, as well as most POSH paintings offered on their calendar, on sale for $19.95.
prAna Twice yearly sale.  40% off spring and summer product!
Retail Therapy $5, $10, $15 racks as well as 50%-75% OFF on select pieces!
Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Buy a pound of fudge and Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory will send a pound to our troops overseas!
Savvy 20-40% off select sandals,TOMS, UGG boots and clothing.
Shoe Fly Check back for details
Spa at St Julien Enjoy special pricing on all items in the Gift Shop. Our highly effective botanical skin, body and hair care products will be available, as well as, mineral makeup, clothing, loungewear and jewelry.
Two Sole Sisters Up to 50% off on summer merchandise!  Discounts on shoes, handbags, scarves, and jewelry!
Violette Shop multiple sale racks outside the store
Wasted Sun Select Premium Tees 50% off
Weekends Stop in for food & drink, live music and a gift with purchase!
Zeal Optics Free gift with purchase of sunglasses- Look for booth on Pearl Street Mall

 

 

 

 

John Marcotte

720-771-9401

Search all Boulder homes for sale 

 

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5 Inexpensive Home Updates to Complete before Listing Your Home

5 Inexpensive Home Updates to Complete before Listing Your Home

 There is no perfect formula for selling your home efficiently, but by following these five tips prior to listing you can increase your chances to close quickly at a higher price.

1.) Update your old garage door(s). Garage doors seem like a non-issue, but many times they make up a significant percentage of the front of a home. Because of this, they are one of the first things that buyers notice when they pull in the drive way. Replacing, or even just painting, these central fixtures will do wonders when it comes to instantly impressing perspective buyers and standing apart from your competition. The market has changed drastically since many of us purchased our homes here in town. I frequently hear buyers say that they have taken a house off their list because of the lack of curb appeal. This issue is especially important to people on busier streets, corner lots, or near a neighborhood eyesore. If you’re planning to upgrade your residential garage door and looking for good garage door repair or garage door spring replacement, contact a professional garage door opener repair contractor.

2.) Replace old windows. Outdated windows age a home significantly, and you can often upgrade standard windows to vinyl for a reasonable $300 per window. The average home has 8 windows, so this upgrade doesn’t cost nearly as much as you might think and it will make a huge difference to the value perceived by prospective buyers. Key point to remember is that when buyers view a home they love, if they see it has older windows, they consider it a time consuming and costly headache. First time buyers have never replaced windows and often dramatically overestimate the cost to cure this issue. By replacing pre-listing you an actually save money. A well priced, move-in condition home will sell for far more than one with windows in need of repair. And for the most versatile window glazed options, you can visit a good place like tripleglazedwindows.uk for more helpful info!

3.) Assess your floors . If you have hardwood flooring or even vinyl flooring like the ones at vinyl flooring Melbourne, it’s worth the investment to have them refinished considering buyers put an extremely high value on them; you’ll get the most bang for your buck if they are refurbished.

As per carpet cleaning smyrna ga, carpets should be shampooed and replaced if they are stained or look worn. You don’t need to spend large amounts of money on the highest grade or most modern name but something inexpensive and neutral will certainly bring you a return on the investment. Even the smell of new carpet will make buyers set your home apart from the comparable.

4.) Paint the trim. Learn why you should choose professional painting services in Dublin. If you can’t afford the daunting task of painting your entire house, painting just the trim will still make a big difference when it comes to curb appeal. Painting the whole house can be expensive, time consuming, and delayed by weather conditions; painting just the trim will give your home a fresher look. House painters Painters Pittsburgh PA reminds everyone that interior trim is equally as important.

5.) Update fixtures. Keep an eye out for sales at home improvement stores and replace outdated lighting, plumbing and hardware fixtures. Simple replacing lighting fixtures and knobs in the bathroom or kitchen can update the entire look of the room. You can find many modern brand name fixtures online on contractor supply websites by just searching for terms like sale faucets, sale plumbing fixtures etc.

Lisa Johnson Sevajian is Vice President of a real estate firm in Andover, MA.

Thank you, www.rismedia.com

I’m happy to come look at your home and offer my advise before you list your home.

John Marcotte

720-771-9401

Search all homes for sale @ www.boulderhomes4u.com

5 Things You Need to Know to Sell a Home That’s Underwater

5 Things You Need to Know to Sell a Home That’s Underwater

 More and more people are in over their heads when it comes to their home. In this tough economy, many have fallen behind on their mortgages and don’t know where to begin to rid themselves of the property that they can no longer afford.

1. Understand the process. A short sale is when a lender agrees to discount a loan due to an economic hardship on the part of the homeowner. Typically, a short sale is used to prevent a home from being foreclosed. Usually, a bank will allow a short sale if they believe it will result in a smaller loss than the expense required for foreclosing.

2. Compare it to foreclosure results. Foreclosure can be extremely damaging to an individual’s credit report and it can have long-term effects. Since we live in a credit driven society, keeping a good credit rating can save a family thousands of dollars in attractive finance rates for vehicles, home mortgages, and other large items. A negative credit report and poor score can affect everything you do from renting an apartment to buying a car.

3. Bankruptcy and its impact on your future. Filing for bankruptcy will consolidate your debt and can wipe out your liabilities, but it will not prevent an eventual foreclosure, it will only delay it. However, if all you need to do is delay a foreclosure and there is little to no other major outstanding debt which needs to be settled, then there are other methods which may be more suitable. Trying to conduct a short sale while in bankruptcy requires strategy and a plan. It is best to consult with a knowledgeable bankruptcy attorney prior to making any decision in order to gain the proper information and make an appropriate plan. If your home is the only debt that is creating an uncontrollable situation for you, a short sale option is likely your best bet versus a bankruptcy. If you have other debt you need resolved after filing bankruptcy, a short sale is still a necessity unless you don’t care about a foreclosure eventually being reported onto your credit.

4. Discover if you are qualified. Though the process differs based on individual, it is broadly understood that in order to qualify for a short sale, the seller/homeowner must show legitimate hardship. Common reasons include: death, divorce, loss of job, relocation, etc. As long as the property is inevitably headed towards foreclosure it will qualify for a short sale.

5. Consider the benefits. One of the major benefits of a short sale is that it ends the financial and emotional nightmare quickly. From the day a homeowner accepts a contract to the time the property will close can take up to 90-120 days. Losing one’s home is a painful process, but short sales can help families to decrease the time and frustration they spend in financial limbo, and it can help to maintain their credit and move forward into the future.

For more information, visit www.chicagolandshortsale.com/

 

John Marcotte

720-771-9401

Search all Boulder homes for sale