You don’t list your Brooklyn home for sale on a whim; you don’t just decide you don’t like the one you have. Selling a home carries significant financial, emotional and family repercussions. Selling your home is one of those life decisions, the ones you discuss with your spouse, look over with professionals and use experts to move forward.

While you might have been able to list your Brooklyn home for sale and have it sold quickly at the beginning of the decade, that’s no longer the case. Now, you have to be truly motivated in order to get your home sold.   Unmotivated sellers, those without concrete reasons, are not serious sellers.

If you’re a motivated seller, on the other hand, you have several new marketing weapons at your disposal. These include government incentive programs, short sale practices, state-of-the-art technology and creative marketing plans to help consummate the transaction.

Are You A Motivated Seller?

So, think about it. Are you a motivated seller? There are a number of reasons people are motivated to sell. These reasons include:

1. Lifestyle Change – The time for a quieter way of life has arrived. The nest may be too empty. You may want more freedom and less household commitment. In any case, a change of lifestyle is a very strong motivation to sell.
2. Relationship Changes – Partners get together and partners divide. Marriage, divorce and newborns all set the stage for household change.
3. House Too Small – As families expand, it can be more cost effective to move rather than over-improve. For example, it can cost over $10,000 for a room extension on your home.
4. Time to Upgrade – Prior to the recession, American families moved an average of seven times per marriage. Although those numbers have dropped some, we do still seem to seek the greenest pastures.
5. Changes in Neighborhood – Many homeowners move because of local community issues. A school system may trim budgets or the homes may not be increasing in value. A desire for neighborhood change could be your motivation.
6. Health Issues – People with health issues who cannot continue or afford household upkeep are moving to smaller, more protected and service oriented communities. If this is you, you can definitely consider yourself a motivated seller.

If you’re motivated and have a Brooklyn home for sale, you already know the market is competitive. However, professional representation, an astute marketing plan and expanded reach can help you locate the perfect buyer.

Are you a motivated seller? Are You Just Curious? What’s You Brooklyn Home is Worth? This professional real estate agent would be honored to offer you a Free Market Price Evaluation, and or help you get your home sold. Call me at (718)253-9600 ext.206 or email me at [email protected] for more information.

Charles D’Alessandro

[email protected]
tel 718 253-9600
fax 718 253-9573

Brooklyn Real Estate Blog Brooklyn Real Estate – A Little Humor Goes a Long Way

Nothing makes a Brooklyn home for sale look better than a new coat of paint.  Many people are intimidated by the thought of painting the exterior of their home, and hire someone else to do it.  But, you can do it yourself, with these easy steps:

Getting Your House Ready to Paint

The first thing that you’ll need to do is inspect the house.  Look at all the walls, under the eaves and around the doorframe and windows.  Check for peeling paint, mildew and rough surfaces.

You’ll need to gather a few tools before getting to the repairs and putting your Brooklyn home up for sale:

• Power-washer
• 2-3” inch putty knife
• 2-3” inch pull scraper
• Wire brush
• Sander
• Chlorine bleach

Preparing the Surface

Power-wash the walls so you’ll have a clean surface.  You don’t need to use detergents; plain ol’ water works the best.

The putty knife and the wire brush remove problems where paint has peeled, blistered or wrinkled.  Avoid gouging the surface by holding the putty knife perpendicular to the wall and using moderate force.

The pull scraper is for areas that won’t easily come clean.  It’s used the same way as the putty knife, but it has a sharp blade attached that quickly gets through old paint.  The walls will need to be sanded smooth after you finish this step.

For small spots, a piece of sandpaper wrapped around a sanding block works just fine.  An electric sander is best for large areas; it’ll save you time and energy.

Removing Mildew

Mildew is a dark patch of fungus, like a dirty spot, often found on a damp, shady spot in your house.  If you aren’t sure it’s mildew, put a few drops of chlorine bleach on it.  If the spot fades away, you know you have a mildew problem.

Mildew shows through new paint, so you’ll need to get rid of it before you start painting.  A simple mix of chlorine bleach will kill it quickly.

All you have to do now is pick out a paint color and wait for the right weather to paint.  Soon you’ll be ready to put up your Brooklyn home for sale.

If you’re thinking of selling your Brooklyn home, I can help.  Call me today at (718)253-9600 ext 206 or email me at [email protected] for more information.

Charles D’Alessandro

[email protected]
tel 718 253-9600
fax 718 253-9573

Brooklyn Real Estate Blog Brooklyn Home for Sale – Are You Obsessing?

— @ WiseStamp Signature. Get it now

The national real estate market, state markets and city markets all seemed to be wrapped up in a nifty bundle that effect whether your Brooklyn home for sale will have a buyer. With the news reports over the last two years about the pop of the housing bubble, homeowners everywhere essentially lost their minds.

Here are a few examples:

• Some homeowners panicked and immediately put their houses up for sale
• Some homeowners chose to walk away from it all, leaving their homes vacant and mortgages in default
• Some homeowners went into a flurry of home renovations, with the idea of selling
• National and Brooklyn home for sale listings shot through the roof

The amazing thing isn’t that the real estate market seems to be stabilizing – that’s not the miracle. The miracle is that we still even have a real estate market at all.

Obsessing Over the Sale

This year opened up with a lot of homes on the market, but it also opened with a lot of sellers digging into real estate news. They’ve started obsessing; they’ve started pouring over online real estate digests, articles and blogs. In fact, the traffic for this site alone has jumped tremendously.

While it’s understandable that you, as the seller, want to know what your chances are for selling your home, obsessing is bad for business. Especially if you’re dealing with potential buyers in person, your eagerness to sell can show in very bad ways. You might end up selling the home for way less than you could have – or you might not sell your home at all if they sense desperation.

If you’re obsessing over whether your home will sell or not, stop. Take a deep breath. Relax. Even if you’re in a hurry, taking a short break from worry can help clear your mind and leave it open for better ideas.

It may be hard to remember sometimes, and giving trust is always difficult, but that’s what we’re here for. You hired your real estate agent to take care of your Brooklyn home for sale and get it off the market. We do the research on the market and we have the experience.  In other words, we do the worrying for you!

If you’d like to sell your home, I can help. Call me (718) 253-9600 ext 206 or email me at [email protected] for more information.

Charles D’Alessandro

[email protected]
tel 718 253-9600
fax 718 253-9573

Brooklyn Real Estate Blog Should You Consider a Short Sale on Your Brooklyn Home?

If you have a Brooklyn home for sale and it’s sitting vacant, it’s a perfect target for vandals. The signs are obvious, such as uncut grass and lights that never come on. In fact, a vacant house doesn’t just look vacant; it feels vacant.

Vandals aren’t the only problem for a vacant Brooklyn home for sale, however. The other problem is that a vacant home usually sells for less and sits longer than a well maintained, occupied home. So what’s the solution?

Well, if you live close by, you can visit the home, cut the grass, turn the lights on and keep it maintained. However, if this is more trouble than you’d rather go through, there’s another option – a live-in home stager.

You’ve probably heard or read a slew of information about home staging. If you haven’t, home staging is the practice of making a house look its best and has been proven to bring consistently higher prices for homes. Home stagers are trained to stage a house in the most attractive way to entice buyers.

Benefits of Using a Live-In Stager

A live-in home stager is slightly different from a traditional home stager, but provides several benefits to homeowners wishing to sell their empty houses:

• No vacancy, no vandals – An empty home brings vandals. However, people are much less likely to vandalize a home that is well maintained and occupied. A live-in stager, as the name implies, stays in the home until it’s sold.

• Home staging and maintenance – One of the worst turn-offs for a potential homebuyer is to walk up a lane surrounded by tall, uncut grass into an empty, cold home. A live-in stager brings their own furniture to turn that empty home into a visually-appealing, warm living space. They cut the grass and keep the home looking beautiful until it’s sold.

• Residual income – Best of all, you aren’t paying them; they’re paying you. Now, obviously they won’t be paying full rent. In general, live-in stagers pay 25% – 40% of the normal rental rate. However, a vacant home isn’t doing anything but sitting there until it’s sold.

If you’ve been trying to sell a vacant Brooklyn home for sale, and it’s still on the market, try a live-in stager. It may be the best decision you make this year!

If you’re trying to sell your home, I can help. Call me at Fillmore Real Estate 718 253-9600 ext.206 or email me at [email protected] for more information.

Charles D’Alessandro

[email protected]
tel 718 253-9600
fax 718 253-9573

Brooklyn Real Estate Blog Selling Your Brooklyn Home – Curb Appeal of the 21st Century and Beyond

The FHA, or Federal Housing Administration, has helped many a homeowner buy a Brooklyn home for sale by providing mortgage insurance through FHA-approved lenders. However, a change in policy, announced in January, may make it harder for those with poor credit.

Before we talk about FHA’s change in policy, let’s cover a few of the basics about the FHA and how it might help you buy a Brooklyn home for sale.

What is the FHA?

The FHA is a government agency that provides mortgage insurance to approved lending institutions.  It assists home buyers by providing mortgage insurance to lenders to cover most losses that may occur when a borrower defaults.  This encourages lenders to make loans to borrowers who might otherwise not be able to get a loan.

What is an FHA Loan?

An FHA loan is a loan provided by an FHA-approved lender and insured by the FHA. In other words, the FHA guarantees that a lender won’t have to write off a loan if the borrower defaults – the FHA will pay. Because of this guarantee, lenders are willing to make mortgage loans.

An FHA loan might help you get a mortgage by providing:

• Lower down payments
• Lower closing costs
• Easier credit qualifications

Now let’s talk about the changes FHA is making…

The Future of FHA Loans

Until recently, the FHA has managed to weather the real estate turmoil rather well. In fact, the turbulence surrounding other lenders had potential homebuyers flocking to take advantage of FHA loans. However, even FHA’s bank account is starting to suffer. In order to shore up capital reserves and keep 34 million families in their homes, the FHA is changing the rules.

Before the changes, borrowers were required to pay a down payment of 3.5% of the cost of the home. Now, borrowers with a credit rating below 580 will be required to pay at least a 10% down payment. As well, the good upfront mortgage insurance premiums of 1.75% are increasing to 2.25%. The FHA is now trying to get Congress’ approval to raise the annual premiums from 0.55%, although the amount it will seek is still unknown.

What This Means for You

If you’re interested in buying a Brooklyn home for sale, but haven’t because you’re waiting for the market to bottom out, you may end up losing out on a great deal. With almost record low mortgage rates, home values lower than they’ve been for eight years, the first-time and upgrade homebuyer tax credits and a wide selection of homes, there may never be a better time to buy.

Whether you want to use an FHA loan or a traditional home loan, I can help you cash in on this great buyer’s market. Call me Charles D’Alessandro you Brooklyn Realtor® at Fillmore Real Estate today at (718)253-9600 ext.206 or email me at [email protected].

Charles D’Alessandro
[email protected]
tel 718 253-9600
fax 718 253-9573

Brooklyn Real Estate Blog 10 Ideas to Save Money and Make Your Brooklyn Home Greener

–

Any time supply is bigger than demand, businesses start looking for a way to set themselves apart from the competition.  If you have a Brooklyn home for sale, you’re probably doing the same thing. What is the competition like, though? Are you looking for similar houses, similar neighborhoods – or is the competition nation wide? By paying attention to homes that are selling nationwide, you can find out a lot about what buyers want.

Once again, CNN Money published their “Top 100 Best Places to Live” for 2009. If your Brooklyn home for sale is in a place similar to the Top 10, you just might have a much better chance at selling, especially if you market those positive attributes. Here are just a few of the things these places have in common:

• Small towns: Whether a place is small or not is always relative. For instance, someone who lives in a town with less than 3,000 people would think Bryant, Arizona, with a population of almost 15,000 was a big place. However, the Top 100 list points the way; the population numbers range from 8,000 to 50,000. If your home is in a low population area, this could be a great selling point.

• Robust, needed industries: High-tech industries, energy services and health care are just a few sectors that haven’t been hit as hard by the recession. These industries will be needed for years to come, and the demand for trained workers is higher in areas with these industrial sectors than in others. If your home is located in an area with lower than average unemployment, brag about it!

• Low crime rates: For most, if not all of the top 100 places, crime is low, if not almost nonexistent. For instance, Papillion, New England has around 22,000 people. They also have less than one personal crime per 1,000 people. If you aren’t sure what the crime rate is around your home, check! Low crime rates are an excellent selling point; one that you could be missing out on.

• Education: Education has always been important to most people – a fact that is clear with the Top 100 list. The list averages 20 universities or professional schools within 30 miles, and over 71% of the population per place has had some college. Do you have great universities? Do you live in a highly educated community? It may not seem like a big deal to you, but it will to the buyer.

From population demographics to the number of recreational activities available, everything goes into making your Brooklyn home for sale attractive to buyers. Do the research and find out what makes your area special.

If you’re trying to find your home’s selling points, I can help. Call me Charles D’Alessandro at Fillmore Real Estate (718) 253-9600 ext.206 or email me at [email protected]  for more information.

Charles D’Alessandro

[email protected]
tel 718 253-9600
fax 718 253-9573

Brooklyn Real Estate Blog The Clock is Ticking on that Home for Sale in Brooklyn – Again

Oh, the dreaded/happy DOM question. “How long has this house been up for sale?” If it’s your Brooklyn home for sale we’re talking about, you’re probably wondering about the split “dreaded/happy” bit. For that matter, whether you’re a buyer or a seller, you’re probably asking, “what the heck is ‘DOM’?”

Days On Market

“DOM” is the shortened industry term for Days on Market, used by the multiple listing services (MLS). It’s exactly what it sounds like: the number of days your [city] home for sale has been on the market. This metric covers the time it actually goes on sale to the time the deal is closed.

Why Is DOM Important?

Remember the “dreaded/happy” part at the beginning of this article? As a buyer’s agent, I might gleefully answer, “Fifty days.” I say “gleefully”, because a house that has sat on the market for a long time is a good thing for my client. The seller is probably more eager to sell than a month before, and is most likely willing to work a deal. An eager seller makes a happy buyer in most cases.

On the other hand, as a seller’s agent, I might not be so happy about it, and for the same reason. My seller is now an eager seller. I want to get the best deal for my client, but I know the buyer has the upper hand. It is then up to me to help my client get the home sold without giving away the barn, the pool, the tool shed and the tools.

Already, you may be beginning to understand how the Days on Market metric can affect the sale of your home.

The problem with the DOM metric is that it causes buyers and agents to build false assumptions. If a home has been on the market for an above-average length of time, we start to wonder, “What’s the matter with that listing?” Even though I know there are other reasons for a home to go static and not sell, many people automatically think there’s something wrong.

Although you can’t force a house to sell, you do have control over some of the reasons for an extended DOM metric:

• The home may be overpriced – Nothing is wrong with the property itself; it’s just priced too high.

• Testing the market – Although it’s a big mistake and agents will tell you so, some sellers test the market by throwing a high price on a home they don’t care if they sell – just to see if somebody is foolish enough to take it.

• Sticking to your guns – Often, sellers get fixed on a price and won’t budge, come hell or high water. They figure they can wait around until the market can meet their price, not the other way around.

• Renovations – Sometimes, a home will go on the market in the middle of renovations. The sellers aren’t ready to let the home be seen, so it just sits there.

• Availability – A growing problem is the lack of access to a [city] home for sale. Sadly, agents and FSBOs alike seem to be unavailable when a buyer wants to view the home. Obviously, no viewing means no sale.

Don’t let your DOM get high because of simple mistakes. If you’re serious about selling your home, remember the five reasons above and make sure you aren’t doing them.

If you’re ready to sell your Brooklyn home with a professional who understands how to keep the DOM to a minimum, give me Charles D’Alessandro of Fillmore Real Estate a call today at (718) 253-9600 ext 206 or email me at [email protected].

Shopping for a home isn’t always so easy. After you go to a lender to learn how mush of a mortgage you qualify for then research the neighborhood and maybe school district you would like to live in.Now it’s time to find a Realtor to show you houses

Charles D’Alessandro
Fillmore Real Estate
tel 718 253-9600
fax 718 253-9573

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Brooklyn Real Estate Blog Keep Your Brooklyn Home Clean the Green Way

“I’m sorry. I know I have a Brooklyn home for sale, but I’m not available for questions and you can’t see it. Please leave a message after the beep.”

No More Precious Commodities

Houses are no longer the precious commodities they once were. A Brooklyn home for sale is no longer a rare occurrence. This is the biggest reason for the splurge of hints from real estate agents: update your curb appeal, stage the house, etc. Something seems to have been forgotten along the way: availability.

Where Were You When…?

Very rarely will anyone ever buy a house unseen. So the real question is have you (and/or your agent) been available for potential homebuyers, or have the potential buyers had to guess at what the inside of your home looks like?

Buyer agents are starting to complain: “I had this tour all lined up to show houses, called the seller agents and couldn’t get through. By the time it was all said and done, my list of fifteen homes to show became five.”

If you’re trying to sell a house, you have to make it available for buyers to view. Too many sellers think that buyers will look over the home when they (the sellers) are available. “Hey, it’s great that you have potential buyers who want to look at my house right now, but I have stuff to do. Rearrange your housing tour, set it back a few hours and I’ll meet you there at six.”

What if the potential buyer doesn’t have until six to look at your house? For that matter, what if I (as the buyer agent) can’t put your house in the last slot on the tour? Why would the buyer meet you at an inconvenient time for them when there are plenty of other homes available?

Conclusion

A lot of sellers have their houses listed as “by appointment only,” but this only works if you answer your phone to make the appointment. Others have seller agents who hold the keys, but buyer agents can’t get the keys without being able to reach the seller agent.

If you really are a motivated seller with a Brooklyn home for sale, remember that you have lots of competition who may be more available. Answer your phone, tweak your schedule so it’s wide open and show that you really are a “motivated seller” – make your home available.

Charles D’Alessandro
Fillmore Real Estate
[email protected]
tel 718 253-9600
fax 718 253-9573

Contact Me

Brooklyn Real Estate Blog Keep Your Brooklyn Home Clean the Green Way