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

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

A traditional bank loan isn’t the only way to purchase Santa Cruz real estate, even if you have less than perfect credit. One of your options is owner financing. Owner financing happens when the seller chooses to carry all or part of the loan on the home.

This is a great situation for buyers because the down payment is flexible, closing costs are lower, and they can get into the home quicker. Sellers also benefit from tax breaks, a shorter listing term, and often a higher sales price. There are three main types of owner financing.

• Land contract. In this situation, you make payments directly to the seller for the property. The contract is valid until either the loan is paid in full or you secure your own financing. At that point, the deed is transferred to you and you become the legal owner of the property.

• Promissory note. A promissory note is a legal agreement for a buyer to make payments to the seller. Promissory notes are commonly used when the seller has a mortgage on the property because it gives them some measure of legal protection. If you do not make your payments, the seller has proof of your agreement and can attempt to recover their money.

• Lease/purchase agreement. With this arrangement, the seller leases the property to you and gives you equitable title. Once the lease purchase agreement is fulfilled, you receive the title. To fulfill the lease, you either get your own loan or pay cash to the seller for the remainder of the purchase price. Of course, you also receive credit for the payments made during the lease period.

Don’t let financing worries keep you from purchasing Santa Cruz real estate. I can help you find the right real estate for you. Call me today at 831.662.6522 or email me at lauren@laurenspencer.com

LINKS:

1. Property deed

2. Promissory note

3. Lease

California’s housing market can see a very faint glimmer at the end of the tunnel. Slow sales and rising inventories made home prices more affordable. More bargain-hunters have been attracted to the market, according to Ryan Ratcliff, an Anderson Forecast economist.
In the San Francisco Bay Area sales were down year-over-year more than 23 percent, as home sales in May dipped to their slowest pace at least since 1988, when DataQuick began monitoring sales. One in four homes sold in May in the 9-county area were foreclosure properties..

The median price paid for a Bay Area home was $517,000, down a record 21.7 percent from $660,000 in May last year and down 22.3 percent from the peak $665,000 median in June and July 2007.

The last time the Bay Area median was lower than $517,000 was back in September 2004, when it was $510,000.

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