Primer for Buyers and Sellers

What is a Realtor?
A Realtor is a professional in home buying and selling. Guided by a code of ethics, a Realtor shows, markets and prices houses as well as educates sellers and buyers of current financing options and costs. The most important aspect of a Realtor’s job is negotiating a contract that best suits seller’s and buyer’s needs, maximizing the seller’s market potential and the buyer’s buying potential.

Any home listed with the Multiple Listings Service (MLS) is available for Realtors to show their clients. A Realtor is paid a commission for these services, generally through the sale of the house.

A House is a Piece of Machinery
There are mechanical and structural systems in a house that buyers should be aware of because, soon, they will be responsible for them. In Minneapolis, a consumer report called the Truth-in-Housing is prepared by city licensed, independent inspectors, and is required for any house for sale. In St. Louis Park, a Certificate of Compliance is required before a house can be sold. Independent inspectors are available for hire for a Buyer’s Complete Home Inspection from one to two percent of the Purchase Price.

Educate and Locate
Educate yourself for perhaps the single largest investment of your life. Read, ask questions and begin to make lists of your needs and wants. Get a sense that the three most important items in buying a house are - location, location and location.

You Create Your Credit File
If you are thinking about purchasing a home in the next few years, you can prepare for that today. One of the most important items needed for qualifying for a home loan is your credit file. You can look at yours now, see if there are errors and get them corrected, now. Call 1-800-288-2585 or go to www.creditbureau.org to find out how to receive your credit file.

Financing Options
Current finance opportunities are excellent. More options are available than in the past to meet most any buyer and seller needs. For sellers with equity in their homes there are “low hassle” programs at the normal market rates. Today’s adjustable rate mortgages (ARM) programs mean buyers can qualify for more house.

Beat Inflation
Dollars invested in real estate have generally outpaced inflation while money socked away in traditional savings instruments is many times a loser after inflation.

Fix Up Your House
A house is “sold” by the time a buyer reaches the living room. Emotionally, a buyer has made the unconscious decision that this is the home for them. Factors such as price and location were determined before reaching the house. “Curb appeal” is an important factor in the “emotional” decision. The buyers want their visitors to have the same good feelings about this house as they have just experienced.

So when contemplating putting your house up for sale, concentrate on the front of your home. If debating about sprucing up the garage versus landscaping the front lawn or sanding floors in the living and dining rooms, take that buyer’s walk yourself. The answer should be clear.

Caution: Do Not Over Improve
The best reason for making improvements on your home is to enhance its livability for you. However, improvements can have a dramatic impact on its salability and resale value as well. Some improvements can give you a dramatic boost. Others may actually detract. So, before you improve, why not give Meg a call. She can help you evaluate the impact changes may have.

The Value of Investment Property
Do you want to leverage those dollars? Think about investment property. Take a duplex worth $350,000. If you’re making $60,000 a year, it could be worth $9000 in tax-deductions or $3,000 less paid annually to the IRS. Depreciation is the word. It’s a great way to get more bang for your buck! Consider tapping your equity in your present home and add this investment to your portfolio. Plus single family homes as rental are more affordable since real estate taxes have equalized.

Shelter Yourself and Your Income
Presently 15 percent of your income to as much as 38 percent goes to Uncle Sam. Home ownership will help reduce this tax bill. Ask Meg how you can pay less to Uncle Sam. It may be equivalent to a down payment.

Steady Market
Presently the housing market is steady. It’s not an inflated market for buyers or sellers. Housing inventory is not overstocked nor is it scare. Which means a less stressed transaction, more educated decisions and reasonable prices and offers. In general, it’s a much better time to buy or sell, with the added bonus of still good financing.

Start Packing Now
When preparing your home for marketing, realize you are moving, so why not, literally, start packing now. As you look at each room in your house, does your eye flow quickly around it, seeing the architectural elements of your home? This is your goal! Realize you are selling your house, not your personal memorabilia. Your “house personality” is important and certainly inviting. But concentrate on featuring what remains after you move out.