Listening to Non-Professional Advice

So you’re shopping homes for sale in the Portland Oregon area.  Good for you.  It’s a fantastic buyer’s market at the moment and mortgage rates are awesome!  Now all that’s needed is some expert advice from a relative or co-worker.  Make sure that the last house this person bought was in Detroit and about 20 years ago.  I’m  being sarcastic.

Hey, most people mean well but unless advice comes from someone who’s emmersed in the current local market it might be good to take it all with a grain of salt.  Keep in mind that real estate markets are not national and are dynamic.  What was common practice 6 months ago may not even apply today.

The purpose of a Realtor is to negotiate the best deal possible, protect your interests and watch out for pitfalls that’ll potentially cost you money.  Get advice from people and run it by your trusted real estate broker to see how applicable such can be at this point in time.  I can’t tell you how many buyers have missed out on properties because they insisted on listening to non-professional advice.  A good Realtor will keep you on track!

Not Shopping the Mortgage Market

Shopping the mortgage market can be a frustrating experience.  Mortgage brokers are required by law to give quotes in writing along with a Truth in Lending statement.  What’s known as a Good Faith Estimate (gfe) shows closing cost numbers.  Without getting into too much detail essentially this allows home buyers to compare mortgage brokers in the same format.  Like any other industry there are honest, ethical lenders and those who you may not want to do business with.

A good real estate broker should be familiar with how to read a gfe.  He’ll can potentially identify numbers that are blatently high by comparison to the norm or those which could even be missing from the equation.  By no means should your real estate broker be considered the mortgage professional.  Double check numbers by running line item costs past several lenders.  If the numbers are accurate they should fall within a small margin of eachother on all gfe’s.

Does the real estate broker have to know your personal information?  Heck no.  Looking at a good faith estimate does not disclose buyer’s income, cash reserves, or any confidential information.  It gives a general overall picture of home purchase costs that will be related to a purchase price.  The buyer’s agent gets all this as part of the transaction’s closing documents regardless.  It’s called a closing statement and all parties involved see such.  Sharing a gfe during infancy stages of home buying with your Realtor could really help save money!

Not Interviewing Real Estate Brokers

Unless you make a point to sit down with several agents it’s tough to find a good agent.  Some are actually rated by outside companies based upon client feedback.  After puchase of a home is completed buyers will receive surveys from monitoring companies asking for ratings of agent performance.  These companies are not related to the broker in any way, keeping feedback objective.  Third party companies like QSC (Quality Service Certified) allow clients to submit feedback that actually ranks agent performance on a scale.  Agent ratings are available to anyone who wants to review such before getting involved.  Very few Realtors are monitored!

Ask for a list of referrals from buyers/sellers who’ve done more than one transaction with subject agent.  No agent with good community standings is going to object to contact of past clients.  Might want to think twice if there are no referrals immediately given.

For more tips on buying Portland real estate visit our website.  www.MaxwellSinclair.com

Homes for sale in Portland Oregon.  There are a lot of them out there.  What the heck can sellers do to differentiate themselves from the pack?  After working with buyers for the past six years I’ll share a little on the mentality of many buyers.  They could potentially be grouped into a couple of types:

1. Investor buyer; “I’m going to flip this place” type, wanting to find a place with tons of upside potential.

2. Bargain shopper buyer; ”I want an screaming good deal so let’s make offers all over the city” type, wanting to low-ball everyone.

3. Move-in Ready buyer; ”why would I pick up a hammer if I can pay someone to do it” type, looking for a perfect house and not wanting to deal with any sort of maintainance issues.

4. Average buyer, ”It doesn’t have to be perfect and a few projects are OK” type, wanting a place to call home.

Unless you need to move yesterday market to buyer #3 and #4.

Focusing on a couple of areas can greatly improve your home’s appeal in the Real Estate For Sale marketplace. First off is the paint scheme.  Don’t have an eye for color?  Go walk through a couple of new construction homes.  Agents are happy to show off the latest design, finish and style.  Second, take note of the furnishings, wall hanging, and general decor in these models.  They’re staged for a reason.

One of the most interesting points about home buyers is that few are able to distinguish the difference between personal and private property.  A warmly lit, well decorated home with manicured landscaping sells a piece of junk home better than the empty and unheated jewel down the street.

I’ve experienced staging impact several times while listing properties.  Turn on heat when it’s cold, turn on the A/C if it’s hot!  Temperature is a subconscious factor along with lighting.  If you know that the house is going to be shown turn on a few incandescant lights for glow.  It’s a lot cheaper to pay for a bit of electricity than do another price reduction!

Next comment has to do with market conditions in our area at the time of sale.  There are many Homes for Sale in Portland currently.  Sellers and agents do a CMA (comparitive market analysis) to guage where a particular home should be positioned price-wise.  Houses that are selling are doing so for one reason; the buyer sees the biggest value for his money!  Doesn’t matter which buyer type above makes the purchase.

Today’s backwards sliding home prices indicate that eager sellers can curb the effects of such by pricing agressively.  Look at the comparable sales and listings.  Come up with your theoretical reasonable price then subtract 5%.  Doing so nearly eliminates chasing the market downward.

The bottom line is that you’ll get maximum return on based upon cosmetics, selling to buyers 3 & 4.  If buyer number 1 or 2 purchases your property I guarantee that it’s netting you less in the long run.

Fore more tips on Portland Real Estate feel free to call or visit www.MaxwellSinclair.com