Uncategorized March 18, 2019

FREE HOME SELLER SEMINAR – APRIL 3, 2019

Better Homes and Gardens Rand Realty, Northern New Jersey’s premier real estate broker, will be hosting a FREE Home Seller Seminar on Wednesday, April 3, from 6:30-8:30 at the Parsippany-Troy Hills Library located at 449 Halsey Road, Parsippany.

“There is nothing better than hearing it from the experts.” states Jeffrey Halpern, 34 year real estate professional and moderator of the seminar “The knowledge, the insights, the experience, and that fact that that is what they do for a living, is to the advantage of those who can hear them speak.  They say that even if you can get one tip to help you better what you are doing is worth the time spent.”

Specific for home sellers (and buyers, too) now, or in the future, this free seminar will give sellers multiple tips, whether owner occupants, “For Sale By Owners”, those who’s listings have expired with other brokers, investors, and/or flippers, on how to sell their home.  The topics include: staging/detailing; pricing; marketing for today’s buyers, negotiating, transactional management to the closing, while avoiding the pitfalls.

The speakers that have been assembled are well known in their respected fields.

Keith Rice, Licensed Home Inspector, Nuts and Bolts Home Inspection.  Member of ASHI (American Society of Home Imspectors), Keith is also a Licensed Radon Measurement Technician and has been inspecting homes for several years.  He will be covering what a home inspector looks for when selling a home, and how to avoid running into issues related to the same.

Matt Keane, SVP for Guaranteed Rate. Matt is continually recognized for his high level of production and exceptional customer service. In addition to being a member of the President’s Club at Guaranteed Rate for the past 5 years, Matt has been named a “Top 1% Originator in America” by Mortgage Executive Magazine for the last 6 consecutive years.  He will cover what it takes to qualify a buyer.

Robert Wianecki, Esq., noted Morris County real estate attorney with offices in Boonton. Practicing law since 1994, his boutique practice takes pride in extending exceptional levels of customer service and eliminating stress from the real estate transaction while helping clients With years of real estate experience, and thousands of real estate closings to his credit. Robert will cover legal ramifications, and process, as well as avoiding legal pitfalls.

Jeffrey D. Halpern, Broker-Sales Associate of Better Homes and Gardens Rand Realty, Certified Home Stager, and 30+year veteran of residential real estate, has been assisting sellers and buyers in their real estate process.  He is also a Certified Real Estate Instructor and trainer.  He will moderate and cover the entire home selling process.

All those in attendance will receive a home-sellers kit, and have a chance to win one of several door prizes.  Refreshments will be served as well.

The seminar is, Wednesday, April 3, 6:30pm, at Parsippany-Troy Hills Library, 449 Halsey Road, Parsippany  Because of limited seating.    RSVP is recommended for this informative seminar to Jeffrey.halpern@randrealty.com or by call/text to 201.317.7527. For more information please visit:  www.realestateseminars101.com

Uncategorized February 8, 2017

LET’S GET READY TO RUMBLE!

In the past several months I have been involved with several bidding wars on homes, representing both buyers or the seller. Most of the are in the price range of $250-400,000.  Is it a good sign – yes? Is it the sign of the times – maybe (at least for the immediate future).

The good news to report is that many (not all) sellers are pricing their homes to sell (or under-pricing their homes to produce bidding wars) and all the owner-occupant buyers on the fence are coming off the fence, as well as investors and flippers. The competition is fierce.   They see value in the right priced home as well as finally taking advantage a favorable interest rates, fence-sitters become fence (and house) buyers, whereas, the investors are paying cash.  Conversely, inventory is low, driving prices up a tick and multiple offers on the little inventory there is, ticking them even higher.

Getting back to bidding wars, both sellers and buyers need to know what to do if you as a seller is lucky enough to have your house as the subject and the buyer is unlucky enough to be involved in trying to attain the home.

Seller. Without a doubt it is exciting to have your home as the subject of a bidding war. It is obvious that your home was fully marketed to enough of its target market through various Multiple Listing Sites (more than one), a slew of web sites, blogging, social and business networking, mailers, newspapers, etc., as well as pricing either at market value or just below it (yes, just below as it brings about many bids and sell for what market value is).

Because a seller has the upper hand in a bidding war, the seller can control the outcome of the final price and conditions. Seller should beware of the highest bidder. The highest bidder is not always the best of the bids and a seller must use their head and not their pocket to decide which offer to accept.

Multiple offers can come in at anytime during the selling process and actually by law, can be presented to a seller up to the moment they close with a buyer. However, in most cases, multiple bids come in when a property is first listed. When they do occur, the seller with their Realtor (and hopefully one who has had experience with them), should review each offer carefully. Do not get caught up in the hoopla as it is a business decision you must make to take the right offer.

Specifically speaking, with your Realtor, review the conditions of the contract: price; mortgage amount vs. all cash; down payment; closing date; items included in the sale; home inspection time limit; and additional contractual conditions, which may include a house to sell contingency, or the like.

From there go back to the bidders with a counter-offer, or ask them to enhance their offer. Try to avoid asking them to come to their highest and best as in my experience, there really is no such thing. It is better just to come back with a counter. If the offers are at full price, revert back to enhancement or you can actually, come back with a price that is higher than the asking price (just be wary of what it is as it may just turn all your bidders away).

The respondents will either not budge from their price, come up to a price, or just walk away to avoid the hoopla. Some may ask for the other offering prices, and although the Realtor Code of Ethics (if you are using a Realtor), with written approval by the seller, requires that the existence of other offers are present be disclosed, it does not require that the other offering prices are. As a moral and ethical standpoint, I believe that the prices be kept quiet. At that point the counter-offers are presented to the seller.

Once that has been done, revisit the contracts for a second time. If they are close, take the second highest offer – not the highest. In many cases, when the highest bidder wins they will either back out because they believe they may have paid too much, what is known as buyer’s remorse, or they will do what they can to make up the difference of what they wanted to pay, through the home inspection issues. And then there is the issue of the home appraising for that highest price (of which we are finding to be a stopping point for a good number transactions today).

Whereas, by choosing the second highest, the buyer is more apt to stay with the purchase and not ask as much after the home inspection. Giving the seller more control on the buyers requests. It must also be noted to the buyer that they already had an equity increase in the home they went into contract before they even close, as someone was willing to pay more, resulting in a higher value than their purchase price.   Plus, the appraisal process becomes more affable.

When the seller has made their choice, I advise that they keep the other offers as back-ups just in case the negotiations fall through.

Buyers. The buyer is most stressed, especially if this is “The House”. Some buyers have to buy 3-4 homes before they actually get a home  However, it is a lot simpler. Make your initial offer, look at the seller’s counter-offer, and come back to them with yours. Then do not let the hype take over and make your final price one that is not over your head.   be sure to get the assistance of a Realtor who will give you comparables of like homes in the area and in many instances, keeping you grounded.  This will give you the information for an intelligent decision. You can ask your Realtor for assistance of a purchase price but keep it in a range instead of a definitive price. (Remember, although they know the market, they are not buying the home, therefore, the value is in the buyers head more than the Realtor).

I suggest you add a letter of praise to the sellers and desire to purchase their home, to be included with your offer. There have been some buyers that have used video to let the seller know they love the home.  The video may hurt more than help as the seller may not like what they see in the video.  (It sounds wrong but people still do discriminate) If you win the bid, good for you. If you do not, leave your offer as a back-up and keep looking. It may have not been meant for you anyway or the other offer may fall through and therefore, you still have a chance.

Overall, multiple bidding can be stressful for both sides and getting the assistance from a Realtor will keep your emotions in check while giving you a representative that will work hard for you and your real estate goals