Navy Fellas Realty Group

Real Estate, Residential sales and purchase

5 Tips for Crafting a Counter-offer That Doesn’t Scare Away a Potential Home Buyer

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5 Tips for Crafting a Counter-offer That Doesn't Scare Away a Potential Home BuyerIf you’ve recently put your home up for sale, one of the most exciting parts of the selling process is getting an offer. However, all is not said and done once you’ve received an offer, as you’ll probably want to negotiate a better price. If you’re wondering how you can counter without losing a potential buyer, here are some tips when the time comes to negotiate.

Lower Your Price (A Little)

As a seller, it’s important to believe in the price you’ve put your home on the market for, but lowering your asking price after getting an offer will tell the potential buyer that you’re flexible. While you may not want to compromise too much, you’ll have to move a bit to keep them interested.

Pay For Closing Costs

There are so many costs involved in home ownership that many people are tired of all the associated fees of buying a home by the time it comes to closing. Instead of budging on your price, offering to pay for the closing costs can serve as a significant financial benefit for many buyers.

Hold Off On Offers

It can be a risky strategy, but choosing a specific day to consider offers can create a healthy competition for your home, and may stimulate interest without losing potential buyers. While you’ll want to be careful how you navigate this, it can work out well when it comes to bumping up the offers.

Provide An Expiration Date

Most counter-offers come with a timeframe that will allow those interested to accept the deal; however, consider adjusting this period to a timeframe that will work better for you. While you shouldn’t wait too long, a period of more than one day will tell the potential buyer that you want your home to be the right choice for them.

Be Reliable And Responsive

For an interested homebuyer, there’s nothing worse than having a home-seller that is not responsive to their offer. Instead of sitting on an offer too long, ensure you’re letting interested parties know that you’re considering their offer and will get back to them as soon as you’ve made a decision.

The art of negotiating can be complicated when it comes to selling your home, but by being responsive and showing flexibility, you may be able to get the offer you’re looking for. If you’re currently getting prepared to buy a new home, contact your trusted real estate professional for more information.

Four Ways a Real Estate Agent Can Help Your Home Sell for More Than Your Asking Price

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Four Ways a Real Estate Agent Can Help Ensure Your Home Sells for More Than Your Asking PriceMost home sellers are thrilled to get the asking price they’re looking for when putting their home up for sale, but many have not thought about the possibility of getting even more! If you’re wondering what tricks of the trade your agent can use when it comes to getting a higher offer, you may want to have them test out some of the following tips.

Price It A Little Lower

It’s generally said that you should price your home at market value so it will not linger on the market, but by having your real estate agent price it slightly lower you may be able to get a lot more people through the door. Instead of lowering the price of your home, this can actually work to stimulate a bidding war for those who see the value in your home and are willing to pay more.

Hold Off For The Right Offer

The benefit of using a real estate agent is that they know the market and will be able to determine what amount the offer on your home should be, so make sure you consult with them before saying yes. It’s easy to be tempted by the first good offer that’s close to your asking price, but it’s often worth it to hold out for the amount you really want.

Sell In The Springtime

It’s possible to get a good price for your home at any time of the year, but Spring is the time that homebuyers like to hit the market and this means that you may have a lot more interested parties to choose from. Instead of waiting for buyers to come to you, put your home on the market when there will be a lot of people ready to invest.

Make It Unique

Whether you’ve recently made some renovations or your home has a number of unique features, ensure that these details are being properly promoted in your marketing material and at your open house. Not only can these features add a lot of value to your home, they can make potential homebuyers remember it so they’ll be willing to negotiate.

Most home sellers put their home on the market with the hope of getting a certain amount, but by highlighting unique features and holding out for a better offer you can get more than you asked for. If you’re currently on the market for a home, you may want to contact one of our real estate professionals for more information.

Selling Your Home? Understanding Why a Buyer Might Withdraw — and How to Win Them Back

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Selling Your Home? Understanding Why a Buyer Might Withdraw -- and How to Win Them BackIt may seem like the hard part is over once you’ve received a few offers on your home and are preparing for the negotiation process. Unfortunately, anything can happen until the papers and signed and this means that potential homebuyers can back out. If you’re dealing with a wavering bidder and are wondering how you can win them back, here are some reasons they might withdraw and how you may be able to win them over.

The Price Is Too High

It’s possible that when it comes to negotiating, many interested parties will offer to put down a little more than they otherwise would have; however, when it comes to sealing the deal, they may realize the price is a little higher than what they wanted to spend. Instead of letting the negotiations fall through, consider lowering your price slightly to give the potential homebuyer a hook. You don’t have to lower your price by a significant margin, but it will let them know that you’re still interested in selling to them.

An Unresponsive Negotiation

The power may be in your hands when someone is interested in your home, but it’s still very important to stay responsive so that you can ensure a potential homebuyer won’t lose interest. If you may have rubbed someone the wrong way with a slow response time, ensure that you reach out and keep them aware of the process and your timeline. It may seem like a small gesture, but it means a lot to someone who is interested in your home and may be working under a time crunch.

Still Not Convinced?

There are a variety of reasons that a homebuyer may withdraw from negotiations, whether it’s the neighborhood or too much home or they’ve found a better deal. But, if you’re really interested in the offer you’ve received, you may want to consider offering a little extra in order to win them back. Whether you decide to pay their closing costs or provide a closer move-in date, there are plenty of little things you can do that will make them re-consider their options.

There are many reasons that a buyer might withdraw their offer on your home, but by being communicative and offering some extras you may be able to re-negotiate a deal. If you’re currently preparing to put your home on the market, contact your trusted real estate professional for more information.

Selling an Apartment or Condo? How to Use Snapchat to Target First-time Buyers

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Selling an Apartment or Condo? How to Use Snapchat to Target First-time BuyersThere are plenty of ways to market your home online, but social media has become one of the best ways to catch the attention of interested homebuyers in the past few years. If you’re currently determining a marketing strategy for your home and are wondering about social media, here are a few ways you can use Snapchat and see your chances for selling increase in an instant.

Focus On The Details

Since Snapchat is all about striking, quick pictures that appear and disappear before your eyes, it’s a great way to highlight the best features of your home so you can pique the interest of a homebuyer. Whether you decide to take a snap of your unique bathroom tile, the expanse of your backyard or your stainless-steel appliances, the instant visual can give interested parties the impetus they need to show up at your open house or stop by for a more in-depth look.

Create Your Own Geofilter

Many users of Snapchat like to use geofilters, which are an illustration or overlay that appears on top of the picture to give the viewer a sense of where they are. In the case that you’re trying to sell your home, you can enlist the help of your agent to create your own geofilter with your home’s address or neighborhood. A geofilter will not only add a touch of uniqueness to your picture, it will allow potential homebuyers to determine if your neighborhood and home are what they’re looking for.

Deal With An Experienced Agent

It’s entirely possible that you already have your own Snapchat account and many followers, but if you don’t, it’s best to enlist the services of a seasoned real estate agent who will be able to use their network to attract interested buyers. The only people who will be able to see your snaps in the event that you’re selling your home will be users linked to your account, so having a real estate agent who can leverage their connections makes it much easier to sell your home to the world.

Social media is a great marketing tool when it comes to putting your home up for sale and attracting buyers, but it’s important to have a following and engage the viewer with the right details. If you’re getting prepared to put your home on the market, contact your trusted real estate professionals for more information.

Hosting an Open House? Try These 3 Mood-boosting Aromatherapy Scents

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Hosting an Open House? Try These 3 Mood-boosting Aromatherapy ScentsFrom making sure the exterior looks impeccable to touching up the paint, there are a lot of things that go into the kind of open house that will draw in potential buyers. You may not know, though, that the senses can have a significant impact on how people will perceive your home, and scent can be highly powerful. Instead of leaving your home sale up to a clutter free space and an elegant exterior, try out the following aromatherapy scents to make an even better impression.

The Calming Influence Of Lemon

There’s a reason that lemon is one of the most common scents when it comes to cleaning products, and it’s no different when it comes to harnessing the power of aromatherapy. Instead of cleaning the tabletops with a lemon-scented cleaner, however, test out a lemon scent as a way to naturally calm the system. Not only does it assist in boosting circulation, it will also serve as a calming influence if your buyers happen to be anxious or having an off day.

Greater Retention With Rosemary

Most people are familiar with the herb of rosemary when it comes to cooking or baking, but its lively scent can also have a positive impact when it comes to your open house. Because rosemary can improve memory retention and wake up the body, it can be perfect for helping viewers remember a lot of the little details of your home. It can also help to improve fatigue and aches, which can help home buyers feel at ease in your space.

A Peppermint Energy Boost

The scent of peppermint may be more common around the holiday season, but a small dose of it can actually have a positive impact on a person’s overall well-being. Since peppermint is an instantly invigorating scent, it can work to boost energy and help with a person’s ability to reason. For someone who’s an interested buyer, it may very well help them see the benefits of your home and come to a conclusion more quickly.

There are many ways to make your home appeal to home buyers, but adding an aromatherapy scent can go a long way in engaging the senses and truly enriching a viewer’s experience of your home. If you’re currently looking for staging tips and are getting prepared to put your home on the market, contact your local real estate professional for more information.

Struggling to Sell Your House in the Winter? Try These Innovative Home Staging Tips

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Struggling to Sell Your House in the Winter? Try These Innovative Home Staging TipsWith all of the busyness of the winter months and most people settling in for the season, it can be hard to achieve a successful home sale at the end of the year. Fortunately, if you simply can’t wait to put your home on the market, here are some staging tips that will engage potential buyers so you won’t have to wait much longer for an offer.

Add Accents To Your Neutrals

It’s often the case that a home with neutral colors will show better because potential buyers can envision themselves in it, but there are ways to dress up neutral tones that will add spark. Instead of leaving your place too ho-hum, try punching up the color palette with a few bright pieces that will catch the eye. Whether you add a throw, some pillows, a vase or a vivid painting, this can be a simple way to create a lasting impression.

Let The Light In

The winter months can be a more difficult time to let natural light in, but few things will have a more positive impact on how your home shows than the lighting. A warm, homey space that is lit in a way that maximizes your home’s best features will be sure to make potential home buyers interested. In addition, good lighting will work to minimize any flaws that might be more visible in a less flattering light.

Don’t Forget About The Senses

It’s easy to get so involved in cleaning and de-cluttering your home that you forget about creating ambiance, but engaging the senses can have a very positive impact on potential home buyers. Instead of leaving this aspect to chance, you may want to bake something to create a pleasant scent or play music so that people viewing your home will stick around a little longer. Potential home buyers may not be aware of it, but engaging the senses can have an unconscious effect on the impression your home leaves.

The winter months are not always the best time to put your home on the market, but it may just mean that you’ll need to put in a little more effort to make the sale. By engaging the senses and adding color to a neutral palette, you may just snag an ideal offer. If you’re currently preparing to put your home on the market, contact your local real estate professional for more information.

Selling Your Home? 3 Ways You Can Use Your Social Network to Speed up Your Sale

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Selling Your Home? 3 Ways You Can Use Your Social Network to Speed up Your Sale There are many traditional ways to sell your home, from the MLS listings to a sign in the front yard. However, the ease of the Internet and the utility of social media can make it easier than ever to find the right buyer. If you’re getting prepared to put your home on the market and are trying to determine a strategy, here are some ways you can use social media to improve your selling odds.

Tweet Out The Details

Twitter accounts may more frequently be linked with a person, but because of the short burst of information involved in a tweet, it’s actually a great way to market your home. Whether you want to shout out a particular detail that’s worthy of recognition or make a more general statement about what it offers to potential homebuyers, this can be a clever means of getting the attention of interested parties. It’s just important to make sure you don’t overdo it, so stick with a few tweets per day.

Create Your Own Website

Most homes will have a page on their real estate agent’s website, but having your own website for your home can be an easy means of drawing people in to its best features. While it doesn’t have to cost money or be too fancy to attract the right people, you’ll want to make sure that you have professional photos and pertinent information so the right buyers will be able to determine if it’s a good option for them.

Post On Facebook

According to Postling, up to 80% of real estate agents use Facebook to market their properties online, and this means that Facebook can be an ideal site for you to find an audience. It might seem surprising, but many people search for homes for sale on Facebook, so having a page set up that provides the right details and has some striking images may just snag you the homebuyer you’re looking for. It’s also a great way to leverage your group of friends and reach even more potential buyers.

It’s beneficial to utilize more traditional methods when it comes to selling your home, but there are plenty of ways that you can use social media to enhance your home’s profile and find unexpected leads. If you’re currently getting prepared to put your home on the market, contact your local real estate expert for more information.

5 Things Nobody Tells You About Selling Your First Home

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5 Things Nobody Tells You About Selling Your First HomeIt’s often so exciting to think of buying a new home that homeowners forget about the sale, but there are a lot of details involved in putting a home on the market. Whether you’re just considering selling or are readying to put your home up, here are some things you might not know about the process.

Marketing Strategy Is Important

The days of putting a sign on the front yard and waiting for buyers are gone, so it’s important to have a strategy that will successfully highlight your house. Whether you decide to make a website, use social media or invest in a professional photographer, ensure you’re prepared to put your home out there.

The Right Price Is Everything

You have the ability to change your asking price at any time, but it’s best to hit the market with a price that is both reasonable and competitive. This will not only prevent your home from lingering on the market, it will make it more likely you’ll get the offer you’re looking for.

Fixing It Up Is Important

You might want to avoid minor fix-ups before selling your home, but maintenance issues can impact the offers you’ll receive. Instead of leaving these for the next homeowner, put time aside to do paint touch-ups, repair doors or insulate the windows so the small things don’t affect your offer.

Prepare To Pack

It’s great to receive an offer on your home, but packing up can be one of the most stressful aspects of moving. Instead of leaving this to the last minute, do some preliminary ‘spring cleaning’ to discard the stuff you won’t use and pack up the stuff you won’t soon need. This will make moving out a little smoother.

Be Ready For An Open House

It can be a pain to stage your home and leave on short notice to accommodate an interested homebuyer, but a good open house is one of your best bets for selling your home. This means your house should be clean and clutter free all the time so only a few last-minute fix-ups will be required.

There are a lot of things involved in selling your first home, but by completing the little fix ups and choosing the right price, you’ll be well on your way to an interested buyer. If you’re currently getting ready to put your home on the market, contact your real estate professional for more information.

Trying to Sell Your Home Without a Real Estate Agent Is a Big Mistake — Here’s Why

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Trying to Sell Your Home Without a Real Estate Agent Is a Big Mistake -- Here's WhyWhether you’re new to the real estate game or you’ve bought and sold a home before, there are many details involved in selling. It can be enticing to think about taking on the responsibility yourself and going it alone, but there are a number of reasons it’s wise to use a real estate agent. Before you make a decision on selling your home, ensure you consider all the details you’ll have to deal with.

Misunderstanding Of The Market

It’s entirely possible for a home seller to look at the MLS listings and determine a price range for their home, but the right real estate agent will have a wealth of knowledge to draw from. In all likelihood, they will be familiar with the neighborhood and may even have sold a few homes in it. This means they’ll be able to determine the right offer for your home and ensure it’s feasible on the market, which may mean a higher price and a shorter selling time.

It Takes Time

While a real estate agent will get a certain percentage of the price for helping you sell your home, you won’t be getting paid anything to do the legwork. However, it’s easy to underestimate how much time it can take to market your home, arrange open houses and deal effectively with all of the negotiating. It may be enticing to do it on your own, but what it might save in money, it may end up eating in time.

The Closing Details

If you’ve determined the price of your home and you’ve received an offer, it can be a great feeling to know that you’ve taken the right steps. However, what happens after you receive an offer is one of the most important parts of selling your home, and a real estate agent will be able to guide you through counter offers and lowering your price if needed. While it may seem like this will be easy enough to navigate, having an agent who’s waded through the waters can help to simplify things.

Selling your home on your own may seem like a money saving opportunity, but the right real estate agent will be able to navigate the market and do the legwork for you while still getting a good offer. If you’re currently preparing to put your home on the market, contact your local real estate professional today for market tips.

4 Terrible Mistakes Made by First-time Home Sellers

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4 Terrible Mistakes Made by First-time Home SellersThere are a lot of different factors that go into selling a home for the first time that can make it a stressful process, but there are a few things home sellers should avoid for a successful sale. If you’re going to be putting your home on the market in the near future and are hoping for quick success, here are some common mistakes you’ll want to be sure to bypass.

Pricing Your Home Too High

It’s entirely likely that there’s an amount you have in mind when it comes to selling your home, but it’s important that your asking price is in line with the market conditions and what’s being offered. Instead of winging it, check the local neighborhood listings and see what similar homes are selling for so yours won’t be left to linger on the market.

Forgetting The Small Repairs

After you’ve put your home up for sale and have arranged an open house, one of the first things people will notice is the small repairs; like paint chips or loose doorknobs; that haven’t yet been fixed. Instead of letting this negatively impact the offers you’ll receive, complete the little fix-ups before you schedule your open house so potential homebuyers are not turned off.

Missing On Marketing

There are so many avenues for selling a home these days that it can be hard to know which way to go. However, it’s best to consider all of your options and utilize social media to widen the audience you’ll attract. Keep in mind that if you’re investing in a website or brochures, it’s important to hire a good photographer to show your home in its best light.

Selling It On Your Own

Hitting the market on your own can be rife with a lot of questions, so as a first-time seller you may want to consider the services of a real estate agent. It’s just important to ensure that the person you choose is qualified and has experience in your community so they can steer you in the right direction and offer up helpful advice when it’s required.

Selling a home for the first time can be a stressful thing to take on, but by utilizing the right agent and having reasonable expectations, it may be off the market before you know it. If you’re getting ready to put your home up for sale, contact one of our real estate professionals for more information.