Top 5 Lehigh Valley Seller Questions

Lehigh Valley Real Estate & Homes - Top 5 Lehigh Valley Seller Questions when selling a home in the Lehigh Valley PA Area.  Lehigh Valley Real Estate selling techniques and suggestions including Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton.

When thinking about selling a home it can be a very stressful and overwhelming time for you.  If you get 3 Different Real Estate Agents to give you a CMA (current market anylasis) Bascially, Tell you what you can list and sell your home for...you may get varied answers, but each one should be within the same range...unless they are just tell you what you want to hear.  But, hopefully with the following information it will give you a bit more knowledge about selling your home in the Lehigh Valley and a few of the Top Questions most Seller's have in today's market.

1) What is my Home worth?

The only way to find out what your home is worth is to have a local real estate agent come out to your home to conduct a walk through and then return to the office and research the Lehigh Valley MLS for properties that have SOLD in your community recently (3 to 6 months) max if possible and by comparing features, updates/upgrades, lot size, bedrooms and Baths (within a 1 plus or minus) and sq feet (within 300 sq ft plus or minus) and see how they compare to yours. This is the way a Mortgage Appriaser for the Buyer's Mortgage Company will establish value to your property and the Buyer's Agent will establish market value for the buyer when they are making an offer. See about Blog about establishing market value by using Online Consumer Resources like Zillow & Trulia.

2) What if I owe more on my home than it is worth right now AND you want to SELL?

If you are a seller who NEEDS to sell your home due to a financial hardship which is or will cause you to fall behind on your mortgage at sometime in the near future you can wither sell your property and bring the difference between what your home sells for and what your loan amount/Closing costs area OR you can work with a local Real Estate Agent who is educated in the Short Sale Process and conduct a Short Sale on your property.

3) Is Today a Bad time to sell?

For those sellers who have owned their home prior to 2004 the average appreciation in the Lehigh Valley Typically has been between 3 to 5% annual.  Most capping about 4% So, if you look at what you purchased of your and added 4% appreciation every year...the final number should be right around what your home should be worth if you have maintained your home and added average updates.

Those who have purchased and/or Refinanced their homes between 2004 and 2007 may find it difficult to sell their home in 2009 through 2012.  The reason is because the value's of homes during 2004 and 2007 where inflated and frankly properties where appraised for values they should have never been valued at.  Values where increasing 20 to $30,000.00 just over a few months.

So, the issues with the Housing Market are all steaming around the time period of 2004 to 2007 and if you where not involved with the purchase or refinance during this time period, this should be a good time to sell.

4) What should I do to get my home ready to sell?

This is something that can not be answered as everyone's situation is different.  It will depend on what your home is worth in it's current condition compared to other properties sold and currently on the market.  It depends on what the numbers are.  The important point you should know is a home can be sold outdated and needing TLC but it just needs to be priced correctly in the market place.  The key is - You should be watching the market daily like you are a buyer looking for homes just like yours, in your School District, price range, sq foot and bed/baths...think like a buyer and have a search setup like a buyer...if the buyer is seeing other homes like yours that are showing nicer for a lower price...then your home that is currently listed on the market.  All you are doing is helping sell the other homes.  You NEED to compete with the other homes on the market as you are in a compeition to make your home be the best overall value fixed up or not.  There are many people in today's market that need a home that is larger but NOT updated/upgraded with all the highend stuff...because they can better afford purchasing the home without the $20,000.00 in updates and then do the updates slowly as they have the money.  You see? So you just need to price it fairly and they will come. Price it over market value and you will get no showings and the home will just sit on the market wasting time while all the other homes get sold.

5) Shouldn't we Add 20 or $30,000.00 to the current market value price when we list it so we have room to negotiate with the Buyer?

ABSOLUTELY NOT! I know this seems like a common sense approach to selling a home and this may have worked many years ago before buyers where being represented by Buyer Agents and before 1999 when there was no such thing as the Lehigh Valley MLS.  But, now. This is HANDS DOWN the worst thing you can do when selling your home.  Let me give you a few reasons why.

Reason #1: The current market value of your home is proven by other homes that sold recently (3 to 6 months) so, The buyer's setup their search with a Professional Buyer's Agent Guiding them.. for the price range of homes current market value and what they can afford for homes like these.  Let's say you are selling an semi updated Cape Cod in South Whitehall/Parkland Schools.  Homes like these are worth currently 179,000.00 needing just a bit of work to $200,000.00 all updated...Your home is worth max 190,000.00 because the homes at $200,000.00 have double the size lot, Central Air, Finished Basements and 2 car Garages. You list your home at 210,000.00. Well, The problem now is the Buyers price range for homes is caped at 200,000 or under because that is the current market value for a home like yours.  But, BECAUSE you have OVER priced your home...your home is not even coming up in their search results.

Reason #2: Because you have decided to over price your home so you can "negotiate" with the buyer who never even views your home because it is not within their price range...or even the price range of other homes like this..you will not even get an offer on your home from this buyer because they will not be looking in that price range.  The price range you have selected to put your home in is for homes that are bigger and better and your home will now be helping the other homes sell faster.  Remember, when buyer's search for homes to view they conduct searches by area, schools, bed/baths and sq feet - sometimes lot sizes.  You need to be right in the middle of the search conducted for the type of home you have OR you will never come up in the MLS and thus your home will never be seen and never sold. Think of it like a beauty compeition....weather it be an upscale or average compeition...everything needs to be equal or better and on the same playing field to compare and sell againts other "like" properties.

Reason #3: The longer your home is on the market - The Buyer's think...what is wrong with that home? Why didn't it sell? Now, if they are working with a Buyer's Agent...the Agent will explain typically, the reason why homes do not sell is because it was not listed at current market value when they are initial listed on the market..they are over priced.  Eventually, when the seller realizes this...after being with 2 or 3 Agents...they end up at the price that the 1st Agent told them to list at which is current market value for the property! If you look at all the homes that are listed at current market value and SOLD..you will notice the days on market are all 27 to 45 days..this means they actually sold within a week or two.  Because, they where in the right search for the buyers and the buyers evaluated all the homes in this price range for this type of home and it sold BECAUSE IT WAS PRICED RIGHT.

Reason #4: Save Time, Money and Frustration by just listing your home at current market value.  Yeah, it takes time & money to clean for showings, it is frustrating to have a showing request when you are not feeling well....selling is not easy...but, you are not doing yourself any favors listing your home wrong...yeah...you can find a Real Estate Agent that will tell you what you want to hear and then just sit and do all the work for nothing...when you will end up selling for current market value anyway...or even worse...less than current market value because you are just sick and tired of showing your home or you have already found your next dream home and you do not want to loose it.  JUST Do everyone a favor and DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME.

Reason #5: True Professional FULL TIME Real Estate Agents will not agree to listing your home over current market value without getting a pre-signed agreement within 2 weeks of listing your property reducing the property to current market value upon no showings and no offers.  Remember, You hire a Real Estate Agent to sell your property for Fair Market value nothing more and nothing less...then in order to accomplish this goal we must do what needs to be done right the first time.