Santa Cruz Real Estate
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If you’ve considered selling your home in a slow real estate market you may wonder if you can get a fair price for your home. Fortunately, you don’t have to be afraid of the rising foreclosure rate. Smart sellers know how to compete with foreclosures when selling their Santa Cruz home.

1. Smart sellers ask for what their home is worth. You need to set your asking price based on the market value of your Santa Cruz home. The bank wants to get as much money as possible for their properties. Their asking price for foreclosures is as close as possible to the current market value of the home.

2. Smart sellers make sure their home is in its best possible condition.  Before your home goes on the market, touch up paint, replant the garden, and service appliances.  If a foreclosed home is selling for significantly less than other homes in the area, it is usually because the home needs major repairs.

3. Smart sellers give information to their potential buyers.  Tell potential buyers about home improvements and repairs, renovations, and the condition of major appliances. Don’t keep information from your buyer. Foreclosures are sold “as is” which means the bank is not making any guarantees about the property’s condition. Furthermore, lenders are exempt from disclosure laws so they aren’t required to tell buyers about any major problems with the home.

4. Smart sellers do what they can to expedite the closing. You should make the selling process as easy as possible for your buyer. Buying a foreclosure is a complicated process that can take weeks or months to complete. Most buyers simply cannot wait that long and deal with the extra paperwork involved.

5. Smart sellers know they may need to adjust the price.   If your home stays on the market while others sell, you may need to adjust your asking price or offer something extra, like a home warranty, to the buyer. The real estate market is constantly fluctuating, and it is possible for your home’s market value to decrease while it is on the market.

Don’t let competing foreclosures keep you from selling your home. Let me help you sell your Santa Cruz home for top dollar. Call me today at 831.662.6522 or email me at lauren@laurenspencer.com

LINKS:

1. Paint 

2. Appliances 

3. Home warranty

When you sell your Santa Cruz home, you want it look as good as possible. To do this, your real estate agent will help you stage your home or, if needed, help you find a professional to stage your home. This means de-cluttering your home, re-arranging furniture, and de-personalizing each room.

A staged home is more appealing to buyers and helps to highlight your home’s positive features. However, staging is not meant to cover major flaws in your home. Some things just have to be repaired.

1. Roof problems. It doesn’t matter how pretty your Santa Cruz home is, your buyer is going to expect you to fix roof problems or adjust your price to cover them. Your roof is one of the most important parts of your home.

2. Cracked tile. Of course, you can use throw rugs to cover cracks in your tile, but chances are your buyers are going to look under them. Then they may think you are trying to hide a serious problem like a shifting foundation. Save yourself the headache and have your floors fixed.

3. Broken windows. You have to expect your buyers to walk around your home checking out the views from the windows. They’re going to notice any cracks. If you have the budget, consider upgrading your windows and making your home more marketable. At the very least, you should have the glass replaced.

4. Torn screens. If you have torn screens, your buyers may think you don’t take care of your property. Yet, screens are fairly easy to fix on your own. With the right supplies from your local hardware store, you can have new, sleek screens in less than a day.

As your agent, I will make sure your Santa Cruz home is ready to sell fast. Call me today at 831.662.6522 or email me at lauren@laurenspencer.com

 LINKS:

1. Common roof problems

2. New windows

3. How to repair a screen

Trying to sell your Santa Cruz real estate in a slow market is definitely frustrating. You may find that it takes longer to sell and you cannot get as much money as you could during a booming market. However, you can’t believe all the hype about a sluggish real estate market. Do your research and separate the facts from the fiction.

1. You won’t get a decent price. Your Santa Cruz real estate will sell for whatever a buyer is willing to spend on it. A comparative market analysis shows you what other buyers spent on real estate like yours. Of course, if you bought your real estate when values were up, you may have to take a loss. However, most people can get a fair price and even make a profit in a slow market.

2. Your real estate will stay on the market too long. While it’s true that real estate tends to take longer to sell during a slow market, it’s not impossible to sell them. People do still buy real estate in slower markets. If your real estate is priced right and prepared for sale, you can still sell it within a reasonable amount of time.

3. Buyers only want foreclosures and short sales. The truth is that buyers want good deals, and this can be in the form of money or time. The price of a foreclosure or short sale may certainly be attractive, but they can take a considerable amount of time to close while the banks negotiate their terms. Paying slightly more for a traditional sale is sometimes well worth the time they can save.

Selling your Santa Cruz real estate in a slow market isn’t easy, but it can be done. Using my proven marketing plan, I can help you sell your real estate whether it’s a slow market or a booming market. Call me today at 831.662.6522 or email me at lauren@laurenspencer.com

 
LINKS:

1. Find your home’s value

2. Prepare your home for sale

3. How foreclosures work

When you signed a listing sales agreement with your Santa Cruz real estate agent, you both no doubt expected your home to sell within the listing time. Usually, that is exactly what happens. Sometimes, though, the listing sales agreement expires before you sell your home. If this happens, you need to figure out why your home didn’t sell and make some changes.

1. Change the price. If your listing agreement expired, it means no one was willing to pay what you asked for your home at that time. Maybe your home was overpriced for the market. Perhaps other homes in your neighborhood with more features suddenly appeared on the market. Ask your real estate agent to find updated comparable homes in your area so you can make sure you are asking a reasonable price.

2. Consider your agent. During a seller’s market, homes practically sell themselves. When the market is down, though, you need to make sure you have an experienced, professional REALTOR®. Does your agent really know how to market your property? Is your Santa Cruz real estate agent doing everything possible to show your home to the right buyers? This is the time to find a new real estate agent if you are not happy with quality of service you are getting.

3. Check your curb appeal. Did you really do everything you could to make your home look as good as possible? Ask someone you trust to walk through and around your home pointing out what might turn off a potential buyer. Seriously listen to the advice and do whatever you can to correct it. It may be something as simple as cleaning the ceiling fan blades or something as complicated as replacing some bad windows.

Ready to get your home sold?  Let me show you how my proven marketing plan gets the job done fast.  Call me today at 831.662.6522 or email me at lauren@laurenspencer.com

Links:

1. Find home values

2. What a REALTOR® can do for you

3. Curb appeal

In an increasingly competitive Real Estate Market it can not be overemphasized how important pricing is. Price it right and you will sell your home, price it even 5% above market value and you are reducing your market of potential buyers by half. When a home is priced just 15% above market value it only has a 20% chance of selling. In other words, if the market value of your home is 750,000 and you decide to "test the waters" at 850,000, you are doing significant damage to the possibility of selling your home. Overpricing will attract fewer potential buyers and the home will sit on the market for longer. Once a home sits on the market for too long it becomes stigmatized and agents stop showing it to their buyers. Another problem with overpricing will come from pressures from lenders. If you do find a buyer who is willing to meet your price, chances are they still need to obtain financing. Lenders look at the fair market value to determine the amount they will finance and often require the buyer to make up the difference in cash.

Some of the factors that influence the price of your home include:

• Physical Qualities: location, floor plan and style
• Market Conditions: interest rates and availablility of financing, buyer and seasonal demand, state of the economy and recent property sales
• Competition: number, pricing, condition and location of comparable properties on the market.

Remember that the price you paid for your home or the proceeds you "want" from the sale have no effect on the value of your home! For more information on pricing and current market trends see Preparing to Sell Your Home on my website.