We Buy Houses!

We’ve written several times about home selling, and weighed the pros and cons of using a licensed realtor to assist you in this process.  The advantages to turning to an experienced professional include the training, experience and network at their disposal.  Moving homes is something they’re familiar with, and a task they can fully devote themselves to.  This is not to say you can’t be successful on your own; however, if you do decide to go it alone, know that there are several easy (and potentially costly) mistakes you can make.  The most common tends to be overpricing your house.

It’s not a flea market.

If you’ve ever gone to a street sale or marketplace, you know that haggling is part of the process.  The selling price is whatever you can get it lowered to, and half the fun is low-balling until you and the vendor reach an agreement.  This is not how the home market works.  Drastically overpricing a house isn’t a good policy; potential buyers will be scared off, and will skip over your listing until they find something within their price range.  Your best bet is to determine its market value, and set the price close to this number.

Know your surroundings.

Another good move is to take into account what comparable homes in the neighborhood have sold (or are selling) for; if the other two story townhouse across the street has already been appraised and priced, it might not be a good idea to list yours on the market for twice as much.  Still, use common sense when determining a price.  If your home is in better condition or has features that many of the other homes in the area lack, don’t be afraid to set the bar higher.  Hiring a professional can be useful in this case because they can provide you with a CMA, or Comparative Market Analysis, which evaluates your home against others in the area.

As you are probably well aware, we are the largest homebuying service in the greater DC area.  We buy and sell hundreds of homes every year, and can save you the time, frustration and cost of shopping your house for months on an increasingly stingy market.  If you’d like to talk to us about your home or would like to know more about how we operate, take a look at our website and feel free to give us a call when you’re ready.

Although we prefer to use our blog to create a forum for discussion and provide helpful advice rather than talk too much about ourselves, we have some exciting news to share with you today.  Express Homebuyers will be appearing in a promoted feature in April on Channel 4 News at 11 pm, as part of a special segment on businesses that have managed to do well in a down economy.  We will be discussing the houses we provide as well as our company as a whole.  Be sure to tune in if you’re interested in learning more about us and the services we offer!

Selling your house can be one of the most difficult decisions you’ll ever make.  A home comes to mean much more to its owner than just four walls and a roof: for many, it represents comfort, safety and family, as well as a substantial investment.  Letting go of a piece of property can feel like an act of betrayal, like abandoning a loved one during tough times instead of working things out.  No matter how much it hurts, walking away can sometimes be the only decision that makes sense.

Downsizing

This can have several meanings.  If funds are tight and spending needs to be reduced, a less expensive house can make all the difference.  The number many use as their cutoff point is 60%, as in they know it’s time to unload their home when mortgage payments eat up over 60% of their monthly paycheck.  Sometimes the decision to downsize isn’t made out of necessity, but for the sake of convenience.  If your family becomes smaller (when a child leaves for college, for example) it may be time to look for a home with fewer bedrooms and less overall space.

More trouble than it’s worth

If you’ve ever owned an old car, you’ve probably had the following conversation at least once:
“You should really get those brakes fixed.”
“No way, that repair would probably cost more than the whole car is worth at this point.”
This probably won’t literally be the case for your home, but a house that constantly needs repairs can be an incredible waste of time and money.  If your “things to fix” list keeps growing and you’re racking up serious expenses, consider scaling down to a more affordable renovated home, one whose issues have already been identified and corrected.

If you can relate to any of these circumstances and decide that selling your home is the right move, check out our website at www.expresshomebuyers.com, we’re happy to discuss your situation and assist you by either buying or helping you sell your home.