Posts Tagged ‘west windsor real estate’

Home inspections have become a regular occurrence in residential real estate transactions today, both for buyers and sellers. We recommend obtaining one to all of our clients. Why? Put simply, it will protect you; it can save you money, it can prevent certain legal disputes, and it can facilitate a smooth transaction. It used to be that home inspections weren’t a requirement for very many people; the general feeling was, if there was a serious problem with a home, someone in the course of the deal would notice it, so there wasn’t a need for a professional inspector. Then, some buyers discovered after they had purchased a home that there were some pretty expensive repairs required for problems that were not disclosed to them before, either because the sellers themselves didn’t know about them, or chose not to mention them. Needless to say, lawsuits followed. Buyers realized that to protect themselves from buying a lemon, a professional home inspection was a wise choice. Sellers began to see that in our litigious society, the most sensible option to save them from future legal claims was to obtain their own home inspection when they listed their property for sale.

There are clearly many benefits to obtaining a home inspection. A professional home inspector could discover problems that you may not be aware of. These may only be minor repairs, costing you a few dollars to make, but if they are discovered later, disclosure issues could arise, the buyers may start wondering what else was overlooked, and you could end up paying much more. Obtaining one of these inspections can make your home more appealing to potential buyers, giving them a sense of security. You can be confident that you have disclosed any and all known issues with the house, and have gone an extra step to discover any issues that may not have been known to you before. Furthermore, if a buyer has their own inspection conducted, and a problem is reported, you have a documented professional report that you can use as a basis to dispute the claim. A transaction will conclude smoother and quicker if surprise maintenance issues don’t crop up.

It is our job to make sure your real estate transaction goes as smoothly as possible, and this means anticipating possible problems that could arise later. This is why a home inspection is a must. We want you to be protected.

When you make the decision to sell your home, one of the most important factors you will have to consider is the price. More than anything else, the price that you ask will determine how quickly your home will sell and how many offers from interested buyers you will receive. You want to try to get the highest price possible for your home, but you also want it to sell in a reasonable amount of time. To achieve this there are many aspects to think about before deciding on a price.

First, you’ll want to find out what other homes in your area that are comparable to yours have sold for recently. This will help you establish a reasonable price range to work with. Second, scout out the competition. Find out which homes are currently available, and how much they are listed for. Then, compare those homes to your own. Third, take an objective look at your home, noting any amenities that would attract buyers, and any necessary repairs that might give potential buyers pause, and adjust your price accordingly. Also, consider your location; are you at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac or next to a busy highway? The location of your home can be a very important factor in determining the price. Next, find out the current market conditions. If it’s a strong seller’s market, you can ask more for your home than in an otherwise equal market. Also, there are pricing strategies that some choose to utilize in this kind of market, for example, pricing the property on the low side to attract many buyers, and subsequently trigger a bidding war that could drive the price way up. This strategy is not always advisable, but there are certain conditions that would allow for it. In a buyer’s market the best approach most often is to price your home just below your competition, or on the lower end of your fair market value range. One final factor to consider is how long you are willing to have the house on the market. If you have the luxury of time, you can afford to test the waters a bit. You could set the price high, and adjust down based on interest. However, if like many, time is a luxury that you don’t have, you will want to set the price right the first time, in order to invite strong offers in a shorter amount of time.

There is obviously much to consider when setting the price for your home. A professional real estate practitioner can help guide you through the sometimes complicated process, and provide you with information to help you make an educated decision. If you need help with any of these aspects, or have any real estate related questions, please contact us, we are happy to help.

After deciding on a price and putting your home on the market, it’s time to get the word out. You want everyone to know that your home is ready to sell. But how exactly do you do that? Our team knows that to get your home sold fast for the highest price, we have to market it aggressively right away. Your home needs maximum exposure to its target audience, that is, ready, willing, and able buyers. Let’s review our marketing plan, which includes some commonly used methods of advertising, and some that you may not be too familiar with yet.

The first and perhaps the most traditional method of advertising is the yard sign. A large, easy to read, attention-grabbing sign is placed on a post in your front yard in full-view of all the neighbors and passers-by. This sign notifies everyone who sees it that your home is for sale. It also gives them the name and telephone number of the agent they should contact to arrange a showing, or to get more information. For those prospects that are internet-savvy, we include our website address where they can find information on your home, submit a query, or schedule an appointment. We will place a colorful brochure with photos of your home, and information detailing all of your home’s best features and amenities, along with the same contact information that is on the yard sign, so potential buyers can ask questions, schedule showings, and submit offers. You will also be supplied with a stack of these helpful flyers that you can use to hand out to friends, co-workers, and family members who might know someone looking to buy. If your supply runs out, just let us know, and we will provide you with more.

The next method of advertising that we utilize is the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). This is an online database available only to REALTORS and subscribing members from the real estate industry. Agents enter pictures and detailed information for their clients’ home. The information becomes available to all the other REALTORS in the county, who are searching for homes for their buyers. There is an interesting feature included in this service that you may not be aware of yet, the Internet Data Exchange, or IDX. This is sometimes also referred to as broker reciprocity. What it entails is this: many agents throughout New Jersey, including ourselves, have websites that allow users to search through and browse the available homes that have been listed in the MLS. They are able to do so because only the information that is non-confidential is displayed to the general public through this service, and each broker has the choice to opt-out, or choose not to have his or her company’s listings displayed. Also, in order for a listing to be displayed, the agent entering the listing into the MLS must specifically select yes, they want their listing to be made available for display through the IDX. This service has proven to be very beneficial, making it possible for your home to be displayed on every agent’s website that uses IDX.

Another traditional method of advertising that we use to gain exposure for your property is the newspaper. We place ads in The Town Topics, The Princeton Packet and Trenton Times depending on your market area. Along with a description of your home and the contact information, we also include our website address to give a potential buyer every opportunity to learn about your home, and initiate contact to view the property and submit an offer.

Our website is one of our most vital methods of advertising. Many more people today are using the internet to gather information before making a large purchase, and buying a home is for most people the largest purchase they will make. The majority of home buyers use the internet as their first resource when deciding to buy a home. In our featured listings section, your home will be displayed with multiple pictures for prospects to view, and all the important details for your property. Users are given the option to e-mail a link to your home’s listing to a friend, or print a brochure like the ones on your sign post. In addition, our current listings are displayed individually in rotation on our home page in the featured property box. We also list your home and its picture on Realtor.com, which is the most-visited site by buyers searching for their next home.. You will also be provided with a copy of this flyer to e-mail to your friends and family, or if you prefer, we can send the flyer to a list of e-mail addresses that you give to us.

Direct marketing is another very effective way to get the word out about your new listing. We mail full-color postcards to all of your neighbors, letting them know that your home has just been listed for sale, and how to contact us if they, or someone they know may be interested. We also carry with us a compilation of flyers for all of our available listings to give to anyone we meet that might be in search of a home, or know someone who is in the market. This includes every potential client we meet with, buyers and sellers, colleagues and co-workers, and our own friends, family, neighbors and acquaintances. We tell everyone about our available listings.

By utilizing all of these methods to market your property, we are able to successfully get the word out to a vast number of potential buyers, one of which will ultimately be the one to buy your home.

Marketing is one of the biggest parts of our job. A good marketing plan will bring many able buyers to the table, and get you top dollar for your home. If your home isn’t marketed properly, it may sit on the market much longer than it has to. We are aware that one of the ways people rate the performance of their agent is by how much marketing they have done, and how quickly their home has sold. A good marketing plan is essential to selling a home quickly, and getting the highest price. We want to do the best job possible for you, so we have developed the following marketing plan:

Each of these advertising methods is used for every listing we take.
1. Yard Sign: A colorful, eye-catching yard sign is placed on a post in your front yard to attract the attention of people passing by. The sign has the name and phone number of the listing agent.

2. Brochures: A colorful created is created with a picture of your home and all the pertinent details and amenities. We deliver a supply of these to you, so that you may give them to friends, family, and co-workers..

3. Newspaper Ads: We place ads in 3 papers – The Town Topics, The Princeton Packet and Trenton Times. This is dependent on the location of your home.. The ad will have a description of your and our contact information to find out more.

4. Direct Marketing: A full-color postcard is mailed to all your neighbors announcing that your home has just been listed for sale, and asking if they know of any interested buyers. Many people like to live close to friends and family, so if they find out your home is for sale, they may mention it to a friend or family member who is looking to move.

5. MLS (Multiple Listing Service): We have the ability to place your listing in
the Mercer County, Middlesex or Somerset MLS System. Your home is listed in this computer database with pictures and all the important details. Every Realtor in the area has access to this system, and when an agent is beginning a search for their client who is looking to buy, they start here. We offer a co-op incentive to any agent who brings the successful buyer, that is, we offer in this system to share our commission with the agent who represents the buyer that buys your home. This gives the agents a reason to show your home to their clients.

6. Office Caravan: Our entire office will stop by your house (on Tuesday) to familiarize themselves with all the great features of your home so that they are knowledgeable when a call comes into the office. We could have buyers immediately with a network of over 12,000 Weichert agents, our relocation division or referral network.

7. Broker Open: We hold a brokers open the first week after you put your home on the market. This is held from 11-1, and opens the home to all agents from the area to get a preview of the house – thus gaining even more exposure.

8. Weichert.com & Homesofprinceton.com
Your home will appear in these sites which will strongly increase your exposure.
Weichert’s vast marketing program includes being a sponsor in the major search engines – which will increase the likelihood of getting interested buyers.

9. IDX (Internet Data Exchange): We participate in the IDX. What this means for you is when your home is listed on the MLS, we select the option to also allow it to be displayed on the internet. Now, every other agent’s website that provides MLS search capabilities to its users will also display yours. For example, if a buyers is visiting an agent’s site and enters search criteria that fits your home, yours will be among the results of their search. This option increases your exposure even further.

10. Realtor.com: Your home is listed with a picture on Realtor.com, the most visited site by buyers searching for their next home. More and more buyers are starting their new home searches on the internet today, so it is important that we take advantage of this, and create a strong presence there.

11. E-Mail Flyers: We create an e-mail flyer with a description and pictures of your home. Then, we send it to every Realtor in town, again letting them know that your home is available if they have any interested clients.

12. Open House Program: Weichert’s successful open house program allows potential buyers to browse your home. Every Sunday or even Saturday (at your request) from 1-4, we will be present to show potential buyers through the house. Everyone is required to sign in with their name, address and phone number so that we can follow up to accelerate the buying process. Our big bright yellow signs attract a lot of drive-by traffic. Open houses have a huge success in bringing in offers resulting in sales.

All of these methods are put into action simultaneously. We don’t try one or two methods, and see what happens, adding more if they don’t work. We know that to attract as many buyers as possible, which will get you the best deal for your home, we need to advertise aggressively, so we enlist every method above to sell your home.

The following is a basic breakdown of the steps involved in the sale process, from start to finish. It is intended to give you a general idea of what to expect along the way. As every transaction progresses a little differently, your agent will help guide you through the intricacies involved in this process.

Please contact us with any specific questions you may have.

• Choose a professional agent and sign a contract
• Speak with a lender and become pre-approved for a loan
• Prepare for your purchase by repairing any credit/financial problems
• Work with your agent to find homes that meet your criteria
• View potential candidates for your next home
• Submit an offer to purchase the home
• Negotiate and/or have your offer accepted
• Start packing and make moving arrangements
• Escrow is opened with a title company
• Necessary inspections and an appraisal is conducted
• Sign loan and closing documents at escrow office
• Deposit closing funds with escrow office
• Receive keys and remotes
• Move into your new home
• Title is transferred and recorded