Blog • Buyers • Real Estate Resources & Information • December 19, 2016

Home Buying Tips & Tricks

by agentimage

Stay ahead of the game with current real estate information and tips that will save you time and money! Check back for new tips and tricks every two weeks.

How To Buy A Home With Zero Cash

The Zero Cash Down Payment Program offers you a way to buy a home with no down payment. That’s right zero down payment. Program Qualifications:

9 Common Buyer Traps

A systemized approach to the home buying process can help you steer clear of these common traps.

1. 1. Bidding Blind – Know the market value of the home.
  2. Buying the Wrong Home – Clearly define your wants and needs.
  3. Unclear Title – Have a preliminary title search done.
  4. Inaccurate Survey – Request an updated property survey.
  5. Undisclosed defects – Conduct a thorough inspection early on.
  6. Not Getting Mortgage Pre-approval – Know what you qualify for.
  7. Contract Misses – Make a list of agreed issues. Check them off.
  8. Hidden Costs – Uncover ALL costs.
  9. Rushing the Closing – See ALL paperwork BEFORE you sign.

5 Facts About Fixer Upper Homes

Before deciding that your next home should be a fixer-upper, you should do some homework. Consider these facts:

1. - Necessary renovations can be a costly investment.
  - Home inspections are necessary even for fixer-uppers.
  - Location is key! Don’t buy in a bad neighborhood.
  - No matter how much you invest, the market will only return what it can bear.
  - Some single family homes cannot be converted to multi-family dwellings. Check zoning laws!

8 Reasons To Buy A Home Now!

1. - Pride of Ownership – Give your family a sense of stability and security.
  - Appreciation – Over the years, real estate has consistently appreciated.
  - Mortgage Interest Deductions – Home ownership is a superb tax shelter and our tax rates favor homeowners.
  - Property Tax Deductions – Real estate property taxes paid for a first home and a vacation home are fully deductible for income tax purposes.
  - Capital Gain Exclusion – You can exclude up to $250,000 for an individual or $500,000 for a married couple of profit from capital gains.
  - Preferential tax Treatment – If you receive more profit than the allowable exclusion upon sale of your home, that profit will be considered a capital asset.
  - Mortgage Reduction Builds Equity – Each month, part of your monthly payment is applied to the principal balance of your loan, which reduces your obligation.
  - Equity Loans – Consumers can borrow against a home’s equity for a variety of reasons such as home improvement, college, and medical.

Reasons NOT to buy now…

Following are red flags that you may want to ponder before plunging into buying a home or making the decision to continue renting. Don’t by if…

1. You have NO down payment
2. You have bad credit
3. You have high debt ratios
4. You have little job security
5. Renting can be 50% cheaper
6. You tend to move every year
7. You have an unstable relationship
8. You travel constantly
9. Everyone else is doing it

The Answer Book for Buyers • November 21, 2016

About the Home Inspection

by agentimage

WHAT TO KNOW

About the Home Inspection

Some items should always be examined.

Structure
The home’s “skeleton” should be able to stand up to weather, gravity, and the earth that surrounds it. Structural components include items such as the foundation and the framing.

Exterior
The inspector should look at sidewalks, driveways, steps, windows, doors, siding, trim, and surface drainage. They should also examine any attached porches, decks, and balconies.

Roofing
A good inspector will provide very important information about your roof, including its age, roof draining systems, buckled shingles, and loose gutters and downspouts. They should also inform you of the condition of any skylights and chimneys as well as the potential for pooling water.

Plumbing
They should thoroughly examine the water supply and drainage systems, water heating equipment, and fuel storage systems. Drainage pumps and sump pumps also fall under this category. Poor water pressure, banging pipes, rust spots, or corrosion can indicate larger problems.

Electrical
You should be informed of the condition of service entrance wires, service panels, breakers and fuses, and disconnects. Also take note of the number of outlets in each room.

Heating and air conditioning
The home’s vents, flues, and chimneys should be inspected. The inspector should be able to tell you the water heater’s age, its energy rating, and whether the size is adequate for the house. They should also describe and inspect all the central air and through-wall cooling equipment.

Interiors
Your inspector should take a close look at walls, ceilings and floors; steps, stairways, and railings; countertops and cabinets; and garage systems. These areas can reveal leaks, insect damage, rot, construction defects, and more.

Ventilation/insulation
Inspectors should check for adequate insulation and ventilation in the attic and in unfinished areas such as crawl spaces. Insulation should be appropriate for the climate. Without proper ventilation, excess moisture can lead to mold and water damage.

Fireplaces
They’re charming, but fireplaces can be dangerous if they’re not properly installed. Inspectors should examine the vent and flue, and describe solid fuel-burning appliances.

Blog • Sellers • May 12, 2016

Pricing Your Home Right | The Secret to Selling Your Home Fast

by agentimage

Despite our great Listing Plan, Staging, and Marketing Plan it is pricing your home that is the most important factor in selling your home fast.

PRICING your home properly is the single biggest factor, that will determine whether your home SELLS OR DOES NOT SELL.

Our approach to Pricing your home or Price Positioning is unique. We will determine a listing price based on our expertise in analyzing Market statistics, not just a simple CMA as many others do.

Pricing your home right is important because the price your home will sell for is NOT based on:

What you paid for it
What your neighbor’s house sold for
The amount of money you need from the sale
Your personal attachment to the home
What another agent said it is worth

Our secret to success is the 3 steps we use to price your home
We set our price to sell for the highest possible current market value in the shortest time.

An Analysis of the Las Cruces Real Estate Market
A Comparative Market Analysis for your home (CMA)
An Analysis of the Las Cruces Real Estate Market

A good Real Estate Market Analysis will show you past, current, and potential future Market status and trends based on these statistics:

The number of Homes Listed for sale (Supply),
The number of Homes Sold (Demand),
The Median Price of Sold Homes,
How long it is taking Demand (Sales) to absorb the available Supply (Listings).

Months, Quarters, and Years need to be evaluated, and the data for each period must be compared to previous periods to determine a Market Trend.

Different segments of the Market like locations, price ranges, and new vs. resale homes can behave differently, and these need to be analyzed separately.

The Real Estate Market Analysis only tells us the status, and the trend of the Overall Market, or particular Segments of the Market. The important conclusion is whether Supply and Demand are in Balance, is it a Buyer’s Market (S > D), or a Seller’s Market (D > S), and which way is the moving (Trend).

Comparative Market Analysis or “CMA” and what it really tells you

Sellers often explore the internet looking at homes and prices. They may get an online Free CMA, and then both the Seller and most Agents try to base the price of the home entirely on an interpretation of the data found in this single report.

A CMA is a Report that looks at properties in the area around your home that can be considered similar (Comparable) to yours. You must be sure that all the data is current, all the comparables are truly similar to your home, and you must be sure that bias has not been introduced by the addition or exclusion of certain properties.

What you will find in any CMA Summary Report is that there is a range of Prices, and Price per Square Foot among the “comparable” sold homes. You and/or your Real Estate Agent will then need to “estimate” a price range that your home falls into, and then “estimate” a single listing price for your home. You don’t really want to guess. You want to know what is the actual Fair Market Price for your home.

To set the RIGHT Price for your home:

We need to narrow our price range up or down based on the current state of the Market and expected future trends and look at the range of prices that similar homes have recently been selling for (CMA).

The critical difference is to look at the pool of active listings in our price range that we are actually competing with and combine that information with the Market Analysis and CMA.

The goal is to determine a price that positions your home at the top of the list of all competing homes. Buyers will WANT to see it, and Agents will want to show it. This Price Positioning concept is Absorption Rate Based Pricing which we discuss below.

Absorption Rate Pricing

The Real Estate Market Analysis (above) told us about the Overall Real Estate Market, the CMA (above) has given us a price range in which your home would probably sell, but we have not yet looked down into the actual pool of homes that your home is competing with. Buyers are looking for VALUE. They want the best QUALITY home for the lowest PRICE.

Absorption Based Pricing / Positioning enables you to price your home so that it is the best possible value among its competition.

Absorption Based Pricing maximizes the chances of your home selling soon.

Every Potential Buyer is watching each new listing as soon as it comes on the Market. If they are going to buy they will compare all the available homes, and select the home that gives them the Most Value and the Best Price.

You must Position your home’s Value and Price correctly from day #1.
YOU ONLY GET ONE CHANCE TO MAKE A FIRST IMPRESSION

Your home needs to rank as high as possible among the pool of all competing homes. You have a 90-day window before your home is stale. read…

Pricing your home during the golden window of opportunit

THE KEY CONCEPT OF ABSORPTION BASED PRICING

What do you need to do to rise to the top of homes that Buyers want to see and Agents want to show?

You must now see all of the competing homes through the eyes of a Buyer. You must be unemotional and unbiased. Take every active listing surrounding the estimated price/price range of your home that you perceive as your competition, and do a comparison of your home against each of these homes.

Pricing your home correctly is the only way to sell your home in this Market.

A summary of this final pricing tool is presented here:
Absorption Based Pricing Presentation

Blog • May 12, 2016

Selling Your Home – Our Marketing Process

by agentimage

Over 90% of potential buyers start their home search on the internet. We have a dominant Online presence which is designed to provide Buyers with all the information they want and need.

We position your home by providing the maximum Buyer exposure!

Our goal Online is to be impressive, unique, and ultimately result in Buyers and Agents wanting to see your home. We provide all of these services for every home we list and sell. This discussion uses examples from many of our home listings to show how we tailor our marketing to each home’s best features.

How do we use Online Marketing to sell your home?

Professional Quality Marketing Photos

These reflect the results of your repairs, renovations, and most importantly the staging efforts that you have accomplished. We highlight all the features and amenities of your home to be sure that it will rise to the top of the Buyer’s “must see list”

Almost always these Photos are the buyer’s first impression of your home, and you only get one chance to make a first impression.

Every Buyer Survey says that Photos ( the more the better) are the number one thing the online Buyer is looking for. Where possible, we will use up to 50-photos.

Photos of your home are the heart of everything we do to expose your home to potential buyers. We pride ourselves on presenting the maximum number of high quality photos of your home allowed in every phase of our Marketing Program

Virtual Tour and Property Video

Our Virtual Tour is made from our 50- professional quality photos, and it is designed to reflect the “Quality” and “Value” of your home.
We also produce a an HD-Video Tour of your home.

An Online tour of your home with detailed descriptions of features and amenities is the #2 thing online buyers are looking for.

Your home’s Virtual Tour and Video Tour are placed in your home on a DVD for Buyers and Agents to take away with them at showings. They will remember your house as the one that has gone above and beyond any competing homes.
We use these Tours as part of our Directed Agent Marketing Program.
They are an integral part of your home’s MLS Listing, and it can be found on all of its Online Listings – On our Websites as well as every Website that we syndicate your listing out to (discussed below).

In addition to all of these uses of your Home Tours, we maintain a Video Home Tour section of our Website, as well as a specific channel for all of our Listing Videos. We also post your home’s video on all of our Social Media Sites (discussed below).

This is a powerful tool. The internet empowered consumer / potential home buyer wants to be able to receive information anytime, anywhere, and in any format they want to see it. It needs to be immediate, time is precious, and the days of “driving around and looking at houses” are gone. We provide an open house for your home “virtually,” every day, 24/7.

Multiple Listing Service Database Marketing

To assure perfection, we post your listing personally. We use your MLS listing to provide all of the things that Agents and Buyers want to see:

maximum allowable content in photos
Virtual tours
Comments,
Features
Important Legal Documents

Property Brochures Our Brochures are not only on your “For Sale Sign,” and inside your home, but they are used online on all of Our Websites and Syndicated Websites. Additionally, our computerized, target market campaigns distribute the brochure to the top REALTORs, and potential buyers initially, and then redistribute it periodically via various outlets and media. When the Evelyn Bruder Dream Team puts your home Online, it receives unique positioning and exposure.

The power to customize and maximize the presentation of your home.

We draw in home buyers. A potential home buyer may be searching for information about our area, or something else that is provided on one of our niche or specialized sites.

They can get their desired information easily, but all of these sites allow them to search your home among our “Featured Listings.”

Most potential Buyers will want to search the MLS database. Each of these sites encourages them to search, and makes it easy for them to do that. We have created the Most Advanced Homes Search Possible, and we make the home buying experience, not only easier, but actually fun.

All of our Websites offer information or services which results in many of these browsers identifying themselves as potential home buyers, and by following up quickly, we can find out if they might be a buyer for your home. They then become a part of our Targeted Marketing Campaign

Our Internet Marketing efforts for your home is far from over.We pay for, and provide you with, an enhanced property listing created on Realtor.comr. This is the largest and most used national home search website. It accounts for 82% of all real estate searches in the US. We in effect are creating (and we market it as such) a single property website for your home.

Enhanced listings are seen first on Realtor (yielding as much as twenty times more exposure than non-enhanced listings). We will provide you with weekly reports of the number of times your home has been “viewed.”

Syndication. In today’s Internet World, one does not know where a potential Buyer may be on the Web when they decide that they are going to look for homes for sale. We have joined with providers that “feed your listing” or “provide syndication of your listing” to hundreds of other websites making your home available to literally millions of viewers. We use our Internet Hosting Service, the Las Cruces Multiple Listing Service, Virtual Tour, homes.com, Realtor.com, as well as other portals to syndicate your listing for us. Because you listing enters the “Web” through multiple channels, it may be listed several times on the same Website.

Social Media online, and via mobile Smartphones, are “home” to a vast audience of potential home buyers.

We have a business presence on all the social media sites with links below for you to check out.

The time and effort we take in this aspect of our business and personal lives benefits you and the potential sale of your home. As we have said,the internet empowered consumer / potential home buyer wants to be able to receive information anytime, anywhere, and hundreds of millions of people are engaged socially on these sites, and because we don’t know when a potential Buyer may want information about homes for sale, we are there too ready to tell them about your home. Local, National, and International Buyer and Agent Marketing;.Our Market Plan includes offering you the massive capabilities of the Steinborn and Associates Real Estate Website and its Agents, and the National and International Real Estate Power of our partner Leading Real Estate Companies of the World. See a profile of these entities and the benefits they bring to our process of selling your home.

We know that all of our Internet activity seems beyond the capability of any agent or team, but we are lucky to have Murray Bruder and Alfonso Loya to continuously update and maintain all of this internet technology and marketing. Because of this we can offer an Online Marketing capability that others cannot.