When Should You Accept A Low Bid?

If you are selling your home and are motivated to get the deal done quickly, you may be tempted to accept a low bid. Whether you need to sell because you are being relocated or need to downsize to save your financial investment, there are several things you should consider before accepting a bid that is below your asking price. Here are a few tips on making that decision a bit easier.

How Motivated Are You?

The decision to accept a low bid should always be influenced by your actual financial position rather than simply wanting a quick sale. If you are in a situation in which you may lose your home due to foreclosure, accepting a low bid may be your only option. If, on the other hand, you are simply tempted to take a low bid because it is more than you originally paid for the home, you may want to reconsider. For most people, the motivation will lie somewhere in the middle, and balancing your motivation to sell and the potential financial loss of accepting a low bid should be carefully evaluated.

Avoid Becoming A Motivated Seller

The best way to sidestep having to take a low bid is by avoiding the position of being a truly motivated seller in the first place. If you are having trouble paying your mortgage, be sure you have exhausted any refinancing options that may exist. Another common reason people feel obligated to accept a low bid is that they have already purchased a new home and do not want to be in the position of paying two mortgages at once. So before purchasing a new home, first sell your existing home.

No matter your reason for considering accepting a low bid for your home, be sure you get the advice of both a REALTOR® and a financial advisor to ensure you are making the right decision. 

Have more tips? As always, I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Be well,

Rhonda

PS. Thinking of buying a home or selling yours? I'd love to sit down and talk with you about the process and the market. You can reach me anytime at 401-326-2928. 

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What Season Is Best To Sell?

So you are ready to sell your house, but you look out the window and see several feet of snow on the ground. Should you bother putting your house on the market in the winter, or should you wait until spring? Is there a better season in which to sell your home? The answers to these questions depend on a few basic factors.

Where You Live

In a place where the climate is very cold in the winter, it can be wise to wait until spring to sell, because fewer buyers will be venturing out to look at homes. In an area where the sun shines year round, weather is not a concern, and people will have no trouble coming out to see your house. This doesn’t mean, however, that season doesn’t matter in a warm climate! It can still affect how many potential buyers will come out and the odds of selling.

Watch Out For The Holiday Slump

People are usually too busy from Thanksgiving through Christmas to spend much time house hunting, and in January they are often recovering financially from holiday over-spending. Most experts will recommend that you avoid listing your home until after the worst of the holiday slump in the market is over and people are looking to buy again. This is true no matter what the climate!

Particulars Of Your Home

If your home is near a high school, you might want to consider selling in the summer when things nearby are a bit quieter. The noise and traffic of the school year might put some buyers off. If your home is near a lot of fun winter activities, this might actually be a selling point that will be highlighted better in the winter months. Looking for these details of your area and capitalizing on them will help you to get your home sold.

The season does matter when it comes to home buying, and spring is usually a good time to list. Your REALTOR® can help you to determine what season makes the most sense for listing in your particular case, providing you with market information in your area and helping you pinpoint the particulars of your home that make it appealing in a specific season. 

Have more tips? As always, I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Be well,

Rhonda

PS. Thinking of buying a home or selling yours? I'd love to sit down and talk with you about the process and the market. You can reach me anytime at 401-326-2928. 

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Daily Tools and Technology for Real Estate Professionals

Here is a list of my favorite technology tools:
1.  Getting your emails on your phone:  I resisted having to pay that pesky data charge to my cellular carrier for years.  However, the fact that I can be out of the office all day and stay on top of my emails won out in the end.  Many of my clients correspond with me via email and being able to respond in a timely manner makes us both feel good :-)

2.  Voice Recorder:  It happens everyday. You are out driving around and see a property that you need to make note of.  You start fishing around for a piece of paper and a pen all while trying to stay in your own lane.  Then you scrawl (it's so badly written it can't even be classified as a scribble) the address down and pray you can decipher the chicken scratch later.  Save yourself, your car and everyone else on the road - use a voice recorder.  Most cell phones have the ability to capture voice notes. If yours does not, you can purchase a tape recorder anywhere for next to nothing.

3.  GPS:  Time is money.  Grab yourself a GPS to take you door to door instead of driving around in circles because the street sign is missing or there's no number on the property.  With so many models available you can easily find one that fits your needs without breaking the bank.

4.  Flashlight:  This is on the list more for me than for you since I never seem to have a flashlight with me when I need one.  Keep one in every vehicle, throw an extra one in your bag.  There is nothing worse than arriving to show a property that has no electricity and realizing you don't have a flashlight with you.

5.  Measuring Device:  There are many options from a traditional tape measure to a wheel to a laser measuring device. This is another of those tools you should never be without.

Have any other items that I left off the list? Let me know! As always I appreciate your feedback.

Be well,
Rhonda

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