Submitted by Vicki Owens, ABR,. CRS, GRI, Andy & Associates, Realtors, November 2009
With the recent move up tax incentive offered through the spring, it may have you thinking and doing a little research about making your move to your next home. That can cause a bit of anxiety. Especially if you have not sold a home in a long time, or, are in your first home anticipating getting ready to go to your second. You may be doing research online about recent sales in your neighborhood and watching some HGTV on the important improvements that make your home appealing. There are some other nuts and bolts things you need to know about the details that may help you a great deal with your decisions.
The details of a home sale can be pretty extensive, let alone selling one, but buying another too. Whether you are moving up or downsizing, you have to decide what to do first. Do you put your home on the market and then look for a home? Do you find the perfect home and make an offer contingent on your home selling? Will a seller of a home accept a contingent offer? What if your home sells and you do not find the perfect home right away? Where do you go for financing to take advantage of the best rates and programs available for you? What if you find you have little equity coming back to you due to the market decline? Can you still qualify for a no money or low money down payment program?
What you need is a trusted coach. A real estate professional who has been active even in the challenged market of the last several years. You may opt to use one local agent to list your home, and if you are moving out of your immediate area, another agent who specializes in the area you want to move to. If you are moving fairly locally (within a 30 mile radius), you may want to pick an agent who can negotiate and arrange for you to close your transactions with the same title company to make the final details much smoother.
You might opt for a pre-sale home inspection of your current home when you are budgeting improvements to make sure the important aspects are taken care of. It is no fun to have surprises after home inspection are done by the person buying your home to find out that there are any major repairs to be done. Call an HVAC technician to have your furnace cleaned and serviced, generally this is less than $100 and may make your system more energy efficient. Chimney’s are another inspection item that if you have not had yours serviced or have not used your fireplace in a long time, it cannot hurt to have an expert in to inspect. If you have an old looking or leaky faucet or the pipes around your water tank look a bit corroded, you might have a plumber come in and replace a few items for maintenance. Do you have a septic system? How long since the tank was pumped? If you have a basement where mechanicals are located, spend some time looking around down there and cleaning up a bit. Remember, a buyer will look at all of those details even if you never go down there. You may even consider purchasing a home Radon test kit to see if your basement has a high level of Radon. Maybe that is not an important factor for you, but it can matter a great deal to a home buyer. If you are meticulous about the care of your home, you should have all of the important papers about your mechanical systems and maintenance together to easily be reviewed.
Not only can an agent provide you with comparable sales data in a market analysis, but can also provide you an estimated proceeds list. This will give you a list of all of the your costs to sell. There are more than just agent success fees. Title insurance, pro-rated taxes, title service, conveyance taxes, warranties and closing fees, or the buyer may even ask that you assist them with closing costs. You should know the bottom line number of what you can expect if your home sells at a specific price. This will provide you with an educated estimate of what you can expect after your mortgage loan (if you have one) is paid off. You may even want to consider a professional appraisal to be sure you are pricing your home correctly. Doing your homework ahead of time can save a lot of heartache and stress later.
When shopping for your next home, find out the costs on your inspections and closing. What additional inspections are necessary if you are moving say from the city out to acreage property? How much will those be? How will the taxes and insurance on the next home affect your monthly payment? What type of warranties will be included? All of these details for your home sale and your next buy should be addressed for you by your agent and a loan officer that you can trust. You should compare the prices on mortgage loans by asking for a truth in lending statement from a few different loan officers. This will tell you exactly how much the loan costs you including closing costs and application fees.
The bottom line is, the more you know and are prepared for, the smoother your transaction will go. Only you can decide how to go forward. Today, a standard purchase contract is 9 pages long. You should always know what you are agreeing to. Putting an experienced professional to work to assist you through the process can truly be headaches saved & money well spent.
Vicki Owens is a Certified Residential Specialist, Accredited Buyers Representative as well as a Graduate of the Realtor institute participating in over $15 million in home sales and more than 200 transactions serving central Ohio since 2004. See her website www.vickihelpsu.com for more information or call her cell at 614-440-5174 for a personal assessment of your real estate planning.