Medford, Malden and Melrose Real Estate: Massachusetts

Expired: How to Sell a Home That Didn't Sell (Part 1)

 

     If your home has just come off the market and hasn't sold, don't be discouraged. The reason it didn't sell may have nothing to do with your home or the market. In reality, your home may have been one of the more desirable properties for sale.

    If your listing has expired and you still want to sell, you need to a good look at your options. Knowing all of your options-including not selling at all-is key to getting the results you want.

    There are actually 4 key things you need to consider before you hire another agent to sell your home.  I'll be covering each of them in detail over the next couple of weeks.

Do You NEED To Sell Your Home?

     First, you need to ask yourself: do I really need to sell right now?

     As I write this, it's the beginning of December.  Turkey Day is over and done with, and the holiday season is in full swing. Needless to say, you're fully aware of this...because you're probably as busy as I am.  

     So if you're anything like me, you're working full-time, taking your kids to sports and class parties, agonizing over finding the right gifts...and worrying about getting it all done before the "big day". 

     These are the shortest days of the year-in more way than one.  Because we're all so busy this time of year, it's much harder to deal with the day-to-day hassles of selling a home.  Keeping a house "showing ready" isn't easy, especially now.

     And of course, potential buyers for your home are feeling the same pressures.  In my experience, all but the most motivated tend to "hibernate" this time of year. The rest of your prospective buyers will start to poke their heads up around Groundhog Day.  That means a couple of months with minimal activity.

    So...if you're not absolutely sure about selling, you might want to consider taking your home off the market until the middle of January or so.  Normally I would suggest holding off a bit longer, but there's a good reason for jumping back into the market so early-the $8000 homebuyer tax credit.

    As you may know, the home buyer tax credit was extended until April. Many real estate analysts think that the tax credit is the reason for the "bounce" in home sales during the fall.

    Because of the extension, I think the Medford real estate market will take off early this year.  And it will stay strong through April.  But when the tax credit expires, the market could slow down-big time.  So the sooner you get your home on the market, the better.

    Now, if you MUST sell now-don't be too discouraged.  In every crisis, there's also an opportunity.  And you have the opportunity to sell your home to a very motivated buyer-if you following the steps I'll lay out in my next blog post.

    In it, I'll explain exactly how you can use the slow holiday real estate market to your advantage.  I'll also show you what to do-and what not to do-in order to make your home sell for the most amount of money.  And I'll even throw in a few marketing tips, too.

   If you're a subscriber, you'll get an automatic notification when I post that new article.  And if you're not--why not subscribe today so that you can find out about my "Winter Home Selling" post as soon as it hits the Web?

   Ok...off to work.  I've got a few closings to go to and then it's time to play chauffer for the kids. Have a great day!

Brian

If you'd like to learn more about selling your home in a down market, just visit www.FlynnTeam.com or call my office at 781-395-4000.  I'll be happy to help. And there's no pressure and no hassles-just free, helpful information that can  get your home sold quickly and for top dollar.

1 commentBrian Flynn • December 01 2009 02:53PM

Selling a Home in A Foreclosure Market

One of the most difficult challenges I see clients facing today is selling their home in a market with a lot of foreclosure properties. Medford, Malden, Revere, Everett, and Chelsea all have a fairly high number of foreclosures compared to the larger Massachusetts real estate market.  If you have to sell your home in this market,  you do have options. And in many cases, you can actually use the fact the home up the street has a "foreclosure" sign on it to your advantage.

 Especially if you need to sell your home quickly, having to compete with bargain-priced homes-often on the same street-is not easy.   Bank owned properties almost always come at a discount, and in many cases they are in very good condition. 

 If you do find yourself in this situation, you have some very good options.  First-don't panic!  It can be hard to do when you see that "foreclosure" sign go up in front of your neighbor's old house.  You may find yourself worrying about whether or not your home will sell at a good price-or at all.  Don't worry.  That's completely natural.

It's important to realize that many home buyers flat-out refuse to look at foreclosed homes. There is a strong stigma attached to them in the mind of the general public. It's totally unjustified,  because in most cases a bank owned home is just, well, a home.  But the people looking at your house may be very strongly opposed to buying one.

 Also, many agents will try to "sell against" the idea of buying a foreclosed home. Although it's strictly against the Realtor TM Code of Ethics, some agents strongly discourage their buyers from looking at foreclosures.  Why?  Well, the banks can be difficult to deal with-and in some cases, they've been known to cut an agent's commission at the last minute.  As a result, a good number of agents prefer to work with home sellers like you.

So as you can see, it's not the end of the world if you have to sell your home in a market with a lot of foreclosures.  Yes, it will likely take longer-but if you have a good agent and a good marketing plan, you can usually sell fairly close to your asking price. 

That said, it's extremely important that your agent does a full 30-point marketing plan-including a heavy dose of online marketing-to make sure your home sells on your schedule.  Be sure to ask your agent exactly what they'll do to make sure your home doesn't get lost in the foreclosure shuffle. And if they don't do exactly what they promised, find a new one.  You can't afford to risk losing money on your home because of poor marketing.

If you're selling a home in Medford, Malden, Everett, or Revere and you'd like to get access to dozens of free special reports--and potentially save thousands of dollars when you buy or sell a home--please visit my website at http://www.FlynnTeam.net .  You can also call my office directly at 781-395-4000.  I'll be more than happy to answer any real estate related questions you may have.

Brian Flynn

The Flynn Team

RE/MAX Results

www.FlynnTeam.net

781-395-4000

2 commentsBrian Flynn • August 05 2009 01:16PM