Pricing Your Fort Lauderdale Area Home to Sell

Fort Lauderdale Homes for Sale

Pricing Your Fort Lauderdale Home........to Sell

The selling price of your home is best determined by current market value – what buyers in the local Fort Lauderdale market are willing to pay.

The best way to judge market value and ensure you get the best price is to obtain a Comparable Market Analysis from your Real Living Sales Professional. This analysis of homes in the Fort Lauderdale area includes those that are currently on the market, expired from the market, pending a sale or already sold. The best indicator of your home's value is the sale price for similar homes in your area that have already sold.

The comparison is based on several factors, including the proximity to your home and the similarity of characteristics, such as lot size, square footage and number of bedrooms and baths. Since the goal is to obtain a balanced market view, you and your agent will look at four basic groups:

• Current listings to identify "the competition."
• Recently sold homes to indicate what buyers are willing to pay.
• Homes with a sale pending to point to current demand for this type of home.
• Expired homes to suggest what buyers are unwilling to pay.

While your Real Living listing agent will help you make sure you are taking into consideration the most appropriate details, be sure to avoid the urge to price your home based upon considerations that don't affect market value, such as:

• How much money you need to purchase your next home.
• How much you paid for your home.
• How much you paid for home improvements.
• The value of a similar home in a different community.
• Area appreciation statistics.
• The cost to build the same home today.
• Personal attachment.

Contact a Real Living Sales Professional to get a free, professional Comparative Market Analysis to find out how much your home is worth. It's the first step to making sure your home is priced to sell!

Hiring the right contractor

Hiring the right contractor is a key step in any home renovation plan.  Ensuring the contractor is licensed by the State of Florida and has adequate insurance coverages is a prudent step for any home seller.  Don't feel shy about asking for copies of these documents. Check www.myfloridalicense.com to search and verify licenses.  Following these vital steps can potentially save thousands of dollars and a whole lot of stress.

http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/article.cfm?p=4&id=277223

Buy a fixer-upper with FHA 203(k) financing

Buy a fixer-upper with FHA 203(k) financing

WASHINGTON – June 5, 2012 – Sometimes the ideal house needs a little bit of work, and private lenders don’t like doling out more money than a home is worth. Unknown to many buyers, however, is an FHA program that allows them to add up to $35,000 onto their first mortgage with the extra money earmarked for immediate repairs.

The FHA 203(k) loan is available from approved FHA mortgage lenders nationwide, providing the borrower plans to live in the home. The downpayment is approximately 3.5 percent of the total loan amount including repairs.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development lists the following steps to secure an FHA 203(k) loan:

• The first step for a potential homebuyer is to find an appropriate fixer-upper and execute a sales contract. Before bidding however, a buyer should a do a feasibility analysis of the property. The contract should then state that the buyer is seeking a 203(k) loan, and that the contract is contingent on loan approval based on the additional required repairs.

• The homebuyer selects an FHA-approved 203(k) lender and submits a detailed proposal on the work that will be done, along with a cost estimate for each repair or improvement.

• An appraisal will determine the value of the property after the planned renovation.

• Once a borrower passes a lender’s credit-worthiness test, the loan closes for an amount that covers the purchase (or refinance) cost of the property, remodeling costs and allowable closing costs. The loan includes a contingency reserve of 10 percent to 20 percent of the remodeling portion of the loan to cover any unplanned extra work.

• While the seller gets paid at closing, the extra repair funds go into an escrow account. As projects are completed, the new homeowner submits draw requests to pay the vendors who did the work.

If the borrower chooses to do so, he can also have up to six monthly mortgage payments added to the cost of rehabilitation if the home won’t be occupied for a while.

For a list of lenders offering the 203(k) Rehabilitation Program, check the 203(k) Lenders List on HUD’s website.

© 2012 Florida Realtors®