If Your House Is a Mess, You Dont Have To Sell For Less

Don't be tempted by "We Buy Houses" or "Sell Your Ugly House in 9 days for Cash" ads.

These savvy real estate investors look for sellers under duress. They make the money you earned for holding your home. Investors only want to pay you up to seventy percent of the (low-end) market value. Many investors who studied late-night infomercial real estate scams want you to be their bank and carry the financing.

You do not need to be at the mercy of these scavengers. Selling your home is stressful enough without worrying about getting a fair offer.

As a real estate investor who looks for distressed houses with desperate sellers, I give you the following tips for getting fair market value for your home quickly.

For Sellers with No Money to Spend:

Start at the street and clean up the weeds
Remove dead plants and trim overgrown limbs
Plant brown spots with cuttings of ground cover from friends
Remove empty pots and containers or fill with cuttings
Wash the windows
Inside, take town tatty window coverings
Open window coverings, let the sunshine in
Air your home out
Pack up personal effects -- family photos, memorabilia, and piles of magazines
Get rid of excess furniture, especially pieces with holes
Hold a yard sale and use the money to buy flowers
After a thorough purging and cleaning, your shining home is ready to sell!

For Sellers with a Little Cash:

Spend your money wisely on improvements that make a difference in your net proceeds.

Freshen paint
Fix everything you possibly can
Use Design and Marketing Psychology to stage your home

You can sell your home, at a fair price, with a little planning and work, when you know how to fix it up for the buyer's emotions. Think about the reasons you selected your home. Was it to have a home of your home, or a move-up? Knowing your prospective buyer's motivation helps you highlight the special features that will attract the right buyer.

(c) Copyright 2004, Jeanette J. Fisher. All rights reserved.

Professor Jeanette Fisher, author of Doghouse to Dollhouse for Dollars, Joy to the Home, and other books teaches Real Estate Investing and Design Psychology. For more articles, tips, reports, newsletters, and sales flyer template, see http://www.doghousetodollhousefordollars.com/pages/5/index.htm

AFP - Speculation about the stressed financial health of US mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac swirled Wednesday as their share prices further plummeted.

Reuters - Shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac dove to their lowest levels in more than 18 years on mounting fears of a government bailout that would wipe out shareholders of the two U.S. housing finance giants.

AP - Shares of mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continued their plunge Wednesday as investors are increasingly convinced that the stocks will drop to zero if the government bails out the troubled companies.

AP - Mortgage application volume fell last week to its lowest levels in nearly eight years, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday.

Reuters - A growing number of U.S. adults are struggling to pay their medical bills, tapping into savings accounts, home equity and credit cards to cover health care costs, according to a survey released on Wednesday.

Reuters - Most Americans think that the worst of the fuel price spike that pushed gasoline above $4 per gallon has passed, but they have little hope that the housing market will stage a swift recovery, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.

AP - As mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac struggle with continuing credit losses, their ability to raise needed capital is uncertain and, analysts say, is complicated by the possibility of a government bailout of the two companies.

AP - California homebuyers sprung to life in July, pouncing on foreclosed homes and deeply discounted properties but largely ignoring pricier homes that have been languishing on the market, a research firm said Tuesday.

AFP - The euro rebounded from six-month lows against the dollar after a spike in inflation and weak US housing market figures stoked fresh concerns about the US economy.

Reuters - U.S. wholesale prices shot up in July at the fastest annual rate in 27 years, while home builders cut back on construction as they worked through a glut of unsold homes, government data showed on Tuesday.

AFP - Investments in the bonds of struggling US home-loan financers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have earned Russia more than a billion dollars in the past six months, press reports said Tuesday.

AFP - The euro rebounded from six-month lows against the dollar after weak US housing market figures stoked fresh concerns over the outlook for the US economy.

AP - The Home Depot Inc. said Tuesday that its second-quarter profit sank 24 percent and reiterated its downbeat outlook for the year amid a weak housing market that shows no signs of recovery.

AP - Whether or not the government is actually on the verge of taking over mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, investor fears that a bailout is imminent could turn such a worst-case scenario into reality.

AP - In the mortgage industry, they are called "liar loans" — mortgages approved without requiring proof of the borrower's income or assets. The worst of them earn the nickname "ninja loans," short for "no income, no job, and (no) assets."

Reuters - Investors dumped shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Monday after a newspaper report said government officials may have no choice but to effectively nationalize the U.S. housing finance titans.