My New Blog

Prepare yourself.  Selling your home can be a nerve-wracking experience, since frequently YOUR schedule and your prospective buyers' schedules don't work together.  Or more precisely, the schedules DO work together--the buyer is off work and available to see homes at exactly the time that YOU are off work and want to be relaxing at home. 

My point?  With the number of homes in inventory now, you simply MUST make it as easy as possible for prospective buyers to see and access your home.  That frequently means that you will be the one inconvenienced.  As an agent who works with both buyers and sellers, I can tell you that you should do your best to work through any scheduling conflicts since you may not get a second chance. 

As difficult and inconvenient as it can be, I thought you might like to know some of the reasons why buyers "can't be bothered" with making an extraordinary amount of effort.

• Most of the time, buyers will be physically and mentally exhausted by the time they've seen 10 or 15 homes.  The idea of having to make a special arrangement--or worse yet, having to double back--to see your home may be too much for them to take on. 
• If they're trying to see your house on a week night:  Remember, they've worked all day, too.  They want to see as many homes that might work as they can without having to build every showing around one or two firm appointments.
• The kids are screaming.
• The husband (or wife) is hungry.
• Someone needs to get back home to let the pets out.
• Their flight leaves in 2 hours.
• They've got homework / projects / work that they need to complete.

So TRY to make your home easy to see.  It's not always going to work out.  Things happen, and you need to have compassion for yourself when something happens to prevent you from being able to show the house. 

Just keep doing your best to make the house available when you can if you want to increase your chances of getting it sold!

ALERT:

Just wanted to share with you that lenders in the know are telling me that the Down Payment Assistance Programs are coming closer to extinction, and may have as little as 2 to 3 months left before becoming unavailable to buyers.  And yes, this is DESPITE court battles allowing programs like Ameridream and Nehemiah to continue to operate.

For those of you who are not familiar with how these programs work, the seller is allowed to contribute--on behalf of the buyer-- up to 6% of the sales price as a down payment.  This money was deposited with a 3rd party provider (like Ameridream or Nehemiah), so an administration fee was also required (typically $250 - $400).

The most common contribution amount has been 3%, which was what the FHA formerly required as a minimum down payment for FHA loans. 

If you are thinking of waiting more than 4 or 5 months before you make your home purchase, PLEASE do not depend on the seller being able to participate in your required minimum down payment.  The FHA guidelines have shifted in the amount that you will be required to put down from 3% to 1.5%, but it is looking more and more like this amount MUST COME WITHOUT ANY ASSISTANCE FROM THE SELLER.

Start saving!