How Your House is Seen….

Someone sent me these photos in an email and while it’s a funny joke, the reality is you need tools to make all the pictures look the first one.   Scroll down to see how you can do this.  

Your House As Seen By: 

Yourself… 

 

Your  Buyer… 

Your Lender…

Your  Appraiser… 

Your County’s Tax Assessor… 

First, let’s start with the buyer.  That’s hard right now, as buyers feel like they have too much power.  You need to do everything you can to make the property create an auction.  Make sure you don’t overprice your house and make sure you get a great realtor to help you.   I also like the idea of considering raising the commission to your realtor so they really work to sell your property.  

Lenders want homes to sell, or rather they want to avoid a short sale or a foreclosure.  They may not view the world in this picture - it’s more they think every homebuyer looks like some black and white photo from the depression - but you want to make sure they see you and your buyers fairly. 

The key to appraisers is making sure they use all the data.  The biggest problem is inconsistencies.  Avoid issues by studying how the lenders see the appraisal process.  Here’s a pdf file from PMI on the topic.   I also like this list from eHow on 10 steps to get ready for your appraisal. 

If you are a homeowner in a market that’s gone down, look into a reassessment from your county tax board.  Sites like LowerMyAssessment.com can help you assess the risk of an assessment and then help you through the process.  Every state is different but in California, you can actually get a refund.   The site is more of a beta as they bring more states online.  Make sure you avoid the scam artists.  Many direct mail pieces look like government documents offering you a reassessment.  These make it look mandatory and it’s not, it’s a choice and one you should only consider if you know your home value has gone down.