Chances are that potential home buyers will drive by at least once when making the decision. It is a fact that increasing your home’s curb appeal will decrease the amount of time it takes to sell your home.

Entrance
It is very important that your home be easy for potential buyers to find, so make sure the house numbers are easy to see from the street. Have an objective person approach your door to see things you might not notice.

1. Does the door need to be painted or replaced?
2. Is there a polished doorknocker or working doorbell?
3. Are the railings secure and sturdy looking?

These initial impressions can help any interested buyers make their decision.
A clean and neat exterior will let the potential buyer know that you have kept the house in good repair. Hire a window-washing service to professionally clean windows and clear away cobwebs and debris.

Siding, Roofing and Gutters
A main concern for most homebuyers is the condition of the roof. No one wants to buy a house that might need a costly new roof in only a few months. Hiring a home inspector will help identify potential problems, like leaky roofing, that could interfere with the sale.
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I wanted to follow up our blog post, Downsizing Your Dallas Home with a reprint on a Money Magazine article from CNNMoney.com, When It’s Wise to Downsize. The article discusses the pro and cons of downsizing, pricing in today’s market, carrying costs involved and lesions learned from other empty nesters. 

Here is the article in its entirety (but don’t hesitate to visit the link to the original article to see the interesting graphs): 

“(Money Magazine) — Last year Rick and Suzanne Pepin moved from the four-bedroom 3,400-square-foot house in Minneapolis where they lived with their three (now grown) kids to a luxury condo that’s a third smaller and offers only a Murphy bed for guests. Still, the couple couldn’t be happier.

“The location of our old home dictated that we drive to the grocery store, pharmacy and cleaners,” says Suzanne, 57, a retired lawyer. Their new digs are across the street from Whole Foods and within easy walking distance of other stores and restaurants. They love the low-maintenance life.
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You just dropped your youngest child off at college and have officially joined the ranks of the empty nesters. One of the first questions that usually comes to mind is should we downsize our Dallas home. The kids are gone and we probably don’t need this big house. But is buying a smaller home right for you?

There are pros and cons to downsizing. Consider your finances and lifestyle before making a decision.

Reasons not to downsize your Dallas home:

• You want a place for your children and grandchildren to stay when they visit. The family is spread all across the country and you want to have a place for everyone to gather for the holidays and vacations.
• You can’t bear to part with your cherished belongings. You have been in your current home for many years and have filled it to the gills with mementos you don’t want to part with.
• You aren’t you emotionally ready to leave? You are not ready to pack up and leave a lifestyle you worked hard to create. Leaving family, friends and familiar surroundings is more than you can bear.
• You enjoy the prestige that goes along with your luxurious home. A smaller home will not portray the correct image of success.

Reasons to downsize your Dallas home:

• The lower house payments that accompany a smaller home would give you more discretionary funds to travel and enjoy other recreational activities.
• A smaller homes means less to maintain and more time to play.
• You or your spouse, are not able to navigate the stairs like you use to and a single level home is more desirable.
• A smaller, newer home is more efficient, costs less for utilities and is better for the environment.
• You need to be closer to a spouse or parent who is in a nursing home?

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We live in troubling times. Many Dallas homeowners are having difficulty paying for their homes. The number of foreclosures rise each month and it looks like things will get worse before they get better.

Most Dallas homeowners who are behind on mortgage payments aren’t as lucky as Ed McMahon, the longtime sidekick of comedian Johnny Carson. Ed McMahon has been battling off foreclosure for months after defaulting on a $4.8 million mortgage from Countrywide Financial Corp. Then along comes Donald Trump to save the day! Donald Trump told the Los Angeles Times he will buy Ed McMahon’s six-bedroom home in Beverly Hills and allow McMahon to live in it.

A Donald Trump bailout is great news for Ed McMahon, but what about Dallas homeowners who are struggling with mortgage payments? How do we avoid foreclosure? Here are HUDs Top 10 tips to Avoid Foreclosure:

If you have you received a notice from your lender asking you to contact them?

• Don’t ignore the letters from your lender
• Contact your lender immediately
• Contact a HUD-approved Housing Counseling Agency
• Toll FREE (800) 569-4287
• TTY (800) 877-8339

If you are unable to make your mortgage payment:

1. Don’t ignore the problem.

The further behind you become, the harder it will be to reinstate your loan and the more likely that you will lose your house.
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“Location, Location, Location.” We hear it all the time in the real estate world and many assume that location is the most important criteria to buyers when purchasing a new home. But what is it really that determines why one property sells more quickly than another?

Price. Having the right price was the most important factor in deciding on one home over another, according to 2/3 of the respondents of a recent poll conducted by the National Association of Realtors.

Sellers agreed on the importance of the right price. “Getting the price right” was and is one of the most frequently cited challenges for sellers who are not represented by a Realtor®.

Other factors that were included in the poll were – no surprise – location, but also condition of the property, staging, and upgrades.

If you are interested in learning about Dallas TX real estate prices and are thinking about selling your home, you may request your free house value report by clicking here.

If you are a home buyer and want to know more about home prices in any city or neighborhood, please feel free to call me at 972-562-0896. I am always happy to help!

You have probably heard, last week President signed into law the Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act. This is the most comprehensive housing bill to be enacted in over a decade. The bill is designed to help more buyers of Dallas real estate realize their dreams, as well as, boast the struggling housing and mortgage markets.

One of the biggest benefits, and probably one of the most talked about provisions in this legislation, is the $7,500 tax credit to first time home buyers. Tax breaks are all well and good, but they have to be paid for somehow. While first time home buyers are getting a break, second home sellers will be paying for the $15.1 million dollars in tax cuts.

Up until the new legislation went into effect last week, homeowners could exclude up to $250,000 taxable profit on the sale of their home if they’re single taxpayers and $500,000 if married filing joint returns. The catch being, they had to live the in house as their primary residence for two of the five years before it is sold.
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If you have been trying to sell your Dallas real estate recently, you probably have realized that this is not the ideal time to try to sell a house. With a struggling economy and negative media surrounding the housing market, homes are staying on the market for longer and longer as fewer buyers are making offers on them. So – what do you do if you find yourself in a situation that requires you to sell your home in a hurry? The Wall Street Journal offers the following tips that I hope you’ll find helpful:

1. DON’T WAIT AROUND.
Even in the better housing areas, it’s taking a long time to sell houses; so, don’t try to sit out the market. That’s what hundreds of other timid sellers are doing, each of them hoping — somehow, some way — that hanging on the sidelines will improve prices and, ultimately improve the chances of a successful sale. It won’t. If you want your place sold, the best way to make sure that happens is to put it up for sale.

2. FIX IT UP AND CLEAN IT UP.
Buyers are taking your house out on a date. It has to make a good impression. You don’t have to (and shouldn’t!) spend a lot of money, but ensure everything is in good working order. As you get closer to the date that the house is actually on the market, start moving out by decluttering – buyers don’t want to see a house filled to the rafters with other people’s things.

3. PRICE IT CHEAPLY.
Don’t fight the market by trying to price your house at bubble-era levels or by factoring in all those improvements you made. In today’s market, your best bet is to set a realistic, salable price on day one. Don’t let the house hang around on the market as you gradually lower the price. Forget what you think the house should be worth or what it was worth three years ago. That’s not what it’s worth today.

4. HIRE A TOP REAL-ESTATE AGENT.
Get the best listing agent you can find. When everything was selling before it even hit the market, of course, you didn’t need the best. Sellers of higher-end properties may be able to negotiate a lower commission percentage, but this is no time to quibble over a couple of percentage points. Also, offer the agent a big bonus if he or she sells the house in 30 days or at your asking price. Offer other agents bonuses if they bring in the ultimate buyer.
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Today’s Dallas real estate market is super-competitive, this much is for sure. Sellers need to do everything they can to move their homes off the market as quickly as possible. This may explain why “staging” listings has become such a hot trend when selling in the Dallas real estate market. Unlike some trends that are more trouble than they’re worth, this is one trend that can really pay off! Here are 12 reasons why you should consider staging your Dallas home:

1. Turbo Boost Sales Time
   Experts all agree and studies show staged homes sell quicker than non-staged homes. Sometimes 30-50% faster in most areas. This is more important then most people realize because the longer a home is on the market….the greater chance for a price reduction. Most buyers and buyers agents believe that, if a home has been on the market for some time, there must be something wrong with it or that the seller will be anxious to sell and will take much less than the asking price.
2. First Impressions Last a Lifetime
   People’s first impression of your listing is critical. Staging gives you the best opportunity to make a positive first impression rather than a negative one. The stronger the impression the less likely a potential buyer will be bothered if some things aren’t perfect.

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Home inspections are not just for new home buyers! It is extremely important to have your Dallas real estate inspected professionally on a regular basis – especially if you are using it as a vacation property – to ensure you keep up with any necessary maintenance or repairs. Professional home inspectors examine existing homes using professional standards as a measure to accurately report their condition to parties involved in a real estate transaction, or to the existing owners looking to repair or renovate.

Home inspectors offer many types of inspections to suit Dallas real estate owners’ needs – some of these include:

• Pre-Listing Inspections
• Pre-Purchase Inspections
• New Construction Inspections
• HUD/FHA Inspections
• Multiunit Inspections
• Annual Maintenance Checkup

When purchasing a home, it is realistic that a Dallas home buyer could save thousands of dollars by having a professional home inspection performed. Moreover, in areas with extreme weather circumstances, inspectors can help locate potential problems or damage that may be hidden to the naked eye.

To learn more about Dallas real estate or for a referral to an experienced home inspector, please call me at 972-562-0896 or visit TexasHomeCentral.com. You may also begin searching for Dallas real estate here!

I recently wrote a post about how to use a house value report. In that post I briefly mentioned using one for determining the value of your home improvement projects. Since writing that article, I have received a lot of requests for more information about this. Understanding the true return on your home improvement investment is mostly science with a little art mixed in.

Before you start a project, there are 3 steps to determining the value of your home improvements.

1. Step One - Find a good Dallas area Realtor that really knows your area or hire a professional appraiser. An appraiser is expensive (around $300) but will be more accurate than a Realtor. Plus, many Realtors have never done a TRUE comparative market report, opting only to compare bedrooms, bathrooms and square footage so they do not understand the intricacies that go into this science called an “Appraisal”.
2. Step Two - Have your Realtor or appraiser prepare a comparative market analysis or full appraisal to determine the value of your home compared to other homes in your neighborhood. Once that first appraisal is completeld, have them provide a second house value report comparing your home with future home improvements to homes in your neighborhood with those same improvements.
3. Step Three - (more…)
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