Easily Avoid these Home-Selling Pitfalls

There are many great Reston area homes for sale. Click here to perform full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (703) 564-4026 or (301) 660-6272 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Today I am going to discuss three reasons why homes don't sell. There are many different reasons why this can happen, but I want to highlight some of the most common reasons why this happens and how you can avoid these pitfalls.

1. Is price related to the location and condition of the property? Location is an intangible factor in a home, and the condition of the home is subject to change. This requires a balancing act to gauge a correct price for your home. It needs to be an attractive value for consumers, but also one that they're willing to negotiate with. You want to avoid going too high with pricing, because then you will price yourself right out of the market.
2. Communication: The market is talking to you, and you have to listen. For example, if you've been on the market for 7-10 days with only 7-10 visitors and no contracts, you're probably priced 3-5% too high. If it's been 10-20 days with less than 10 visitors and no contracts, you're probably pricing 7-10% too high. You have to pay attention to how the market is responding to your home and capitalize off of this information.
3. Poor Marketing: Here is a surprising statistic: 40% of homes on the MLS do not sell. You cannot rely on one website to market your home. Your realtor should have a complex marketing strategy in place to get your home seen by the largest amount of qualified buyers as possible. If people don't see your home, they surely won't be trying to buy it. Make sure your property is advertised in every nook and cranny imaginable.

Hopefully this information has been helpful to you. If you'd like to discuss this issue in more depth I would be glad to talk to you. The best way to contact me is by calling (301) 660-6272.

How to Simplify a Complex Transaction

There are many great Reston area homes for sale. Click here to perform full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (703) 564-4026 or (301) 660-6272 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

I have been noticing a lot of first-time buyers coming into the market, and when this happens it allows homeowners to move into newer, better homes. These move-up owners are then asking themselves: Should we buy a new home or sell our own property first?

Well, if you sell first:

If you sell your home before buying another, you will end up in a time crunch to buy another home and may end up settling for a property that you do not want. You might also end up stuffing all of your possessions into a hotel room or storage unit, which is not an ideal scenario.

If you buy first:

On the other hand, you will have to scramble to sell your old house, and may end up settling for less. This is especially worrisome when you need to put down a healthy down payment for your next home. Also, owning two homes at once can be a logistical and a financial nightmare.

However, here are a few ways to minimize the stress involved in this process:

1. Know the market before you take action: Do the necessary research before you buy and/or sell. You need to have a good idea of what kind of market you're going to be participating in as a way to gauge what your possibilities may be in buying a new home and selling your current one.
2. Know your competition: In order to buy low and sell high, you need a realistic look at what your competition is selling for. Knowing the market well is key to the success of this process, so don't slack off with your research, it will play a key role in strategizing a complex transaction such as one like this.
3. Focus on the local market: You need to know if the market caters towards sellers, if it is neutral, or if it is a buyer's market. If you know this, then you can protect yourself when you sell or when you buy. It would also be a good idea to know the average days on market in order to accurately gauge what kind of market you'll be working with.

If you have any further questions about this process, feel free to reach out to me. Also, if you need any assistance buying or selling in Arlington, give me a call at (301) 660-6272.

Explaining a 1031 Investment Exchange & How it Bolsters Your Assets

There are many great Reston area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (703) 564-4026 or (301) 660-6272 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

If you are selling an investment property, then you will definitely want to look into a 1031 Exchange. This exchange is called a "1031" Exchange because it comes from section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code. The greatest advantage to a 1031 Exchange is that you can use the government's money to grow your holdings and save money on taxes.

Using this exchange, an investor can sell a property and purchase another property (or properties) as long as they are equal in value to the property being sold. The IRS code actually reads: "No gain or loss shall be recognized on the exchange of property held for productive use in a trade or business or for investment, if such property is exchanged solely for property of like kind, which is to be held either for productive use in a trade or business or for investment."

To elect for a 1031 Exchange a property owner must identify the property for exchange before closing. Once an exchanger sells a property, they have 45 days to identify a property of equal or lesser value. Once an adequate property is identified, an exchanger then has 180 days to close the property.

A qualified intermediary must be used in the transaction to hold all profits from the sale, which will then be distributed after the closing of the property.

If you need more information about this subject, this is a highly informative article: http://homebuying.about.com/od/1031exchanges/qt/31709_Exchanges.htm

If you need any assistance with a 1031 Exchange, or need any real estate assistance in the Arlington or Washington D.C. areas, then please contact me at (301) 660-6272 or visit www.Help2OwnAHome.com