The 4 steps you can take to make sure your Jacksonville Florida Home
will stand out from the competition
The Jacksonville Florida real estate market is showing signs of improvements, but with short sales and foreclosures flooding the market, what chance does a “normal” seller have? Below is a list of tips for sellers contemplating putting their house on the market.
1)Take a complete and HONEST assessment of your situation.
Do you want to move or do you have to move? Do you need the equity from your current home, to purchase the next home? What if you don’t have enough equity in your current home to use as a down payment, do you have the funds in savings? What if you don’t have enough equity to even break even? These are questions you need to ask yourself.
2)Study the market place.
If the funds for your new house are dependent on the equity from your current house, this could be the single step that puts your plans to a complete halt! To get a snapshot of the market, you’ll want to do a little research. Find out what has sold in your neighborhood in the past 3-6 months. What is currently under contract? What is your competition?
3)Price your home a hair below the competition.
A hair? What in the world do you mean by a hair you ask? 5% below the competition? 10%? 15.6%? Every market is different and every neighborhood is different, so it’s impossible to throw the pricing strategy in a nice, neat little box. Let’s take 2 different neighborhoods. Let’s say neighborhood # 1 is a highly sought out neighborhood and neighborhood #2 is farther out and gets overlooked because it’s perceived to be too far away. If your competition in neighborhood #1 is listed for 200k, then you could start a little lower let’s say 190k-195k. People are looking there already and a slightly lower price should get you activity. Now let’s go back to neighborhood #2 that is a little farther out. Let’s say the competition is listed for 175k, a 5% difference is probably not going to get you the activity you need, but pricing your house under 150k may bring in people who for the right price would be willing to travel a little farther. As you can see, each neighborhood has unique pricing strategies. Now on the flip side, in some neighborhoods I am seeing that the non-distressed homes are selling faster and for more money then the short sale homes. Buyers are getting tired of waiting on the banks. So again, each neighborhood is different.
4)Make sure your house is in good repair.
This point would apply to any market, but with the large amount of short sales and foreclosures out there, most of those properties can’t pass your typical FHA or Va inspections, so making sure your house will pass those inspections is a huge benefit.
I’ll tell you, with the difficulties of getting short sales to close due to lien holders taking months to give an approval, buyers are getting tired of waiting! A just listed house in good condition, priced well and can close without requiring lender approval is a welcome change. Don’t make the mistake of continuing to think in terms of the 2005 real estate market, that market is long gone! Take advantage of buyers wanting/needing to close as soon as possible!
You may be wondering, where do I start? Let me help you with that! I offer a complete Home Selling Analysis completely free of charge. Here’s what it entails:
1. Market analysis showing what has sold, under contract and currently available.
2. Seller expense sheet showing you what you will net once it’s all said and done.
3. A Pinnacle Home Value Audit, showing you room by room, tips on how to have your house in top showing condition.
Now I know what you’re thinking, what’s the catch and if I let that real estate agent in, will she ever leave! Yes I’ll leave and without sucking the life out of you! If you’re thinking of selling, I offer this free service that will help you to determine if selling is the right thing for you. If it’s not, then it’s not! I hate pushy salespeople, so I refuse to be one myself. If you find that it is the right time to sell, all I ask is that I get an opportunity to interview for the job.
Want to move forward? Just pick up the phone and call me at 904-910-3516 or you can email me at pam@pamgraham.com.
If you’re wanting to know what your home is worth in today’s market, fill out my FREE Home Valuation form and within 24 hours I’ll send you your valuation results via email.
