Robin Lynch's Discussions

n deciding to sell your own home you have made the choice to take on quite a bit of responsibility. Selling a home is a complex thing but the results of selling yourself can be highly rewarding. You will of course, need to plan the whole sale process down to the last detail and take into account the fact that advertising is going to be a major concern. You will also have to tackle on aspect of the sale that even owners who sell with agents seem to have trouble with. That is, the proper determination of the value of your home and subsequently the proper asking price. Price is usually the biggest issue in any home sale as sellers want to receive the most and buyers want to pay the lease. The trick to to come to an agreeable middle ground that both parties can live with.The usual problem with pricing is the fact that there is a disparity between what the seller feels the home is worth and what the home's actual value is. The home's actual value is a difficult thing to determine without the aid of a realtor and many FSBO sellers utilize local agents to perform a CMA on their home to help with the pricing concerns. Another way to go about this would be to have a full home evaluation done. Once these are finished you should have a good idea of what comparable homes in your area are selling for and the evaluated value of your home and then you should be able to decide upon a reasonable asking price that takes all the comparable factors into account.One must be careful in pricing a home. It is quite easy to price the home out of the market or to price too low and end up with less profit that you could have. One thing that you will have to deal with during the sale process is negotiation and when dealing with your own home it is very easy for emotion to creep into the situation. Cool heads always prevail when negotiating. Remember that even in selling a home there I definitely a budget that must be observed for the sale to be successful.

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I agree with Julia. Zillow has a Good Neighbor Policy which I think needs to be more strongly enforced.

Not all homes are right for an open house, but those that are require finesse. This means working the buyers who come through by pointing out impressive features of the home without making the buyer feel oppressed or hounded, and that in itself is an art. It requires the service of an experienced sales person. Many discount brokers refuse to hold homes open.Full-service agents counsel sellers. They find out what made the seller decide to buy the home and how that moment happened. Then, they employ that knowledge at open houses. For example, suppose a seller said that moment came when she first stood gazing out at the pool. When she turned to her husband and gasped, "I can't believe we can afford to buy this home." Good sales people at an Open would ask buyers to stand in that same spot by the pool. Then, they'd share the seller's first experience verbatim.

Across the country low interest rates have masked the effect of rising taxes and insurance costs on monthly housing payments. But as the real estate market cools down, interest rates continue to rise, and catastrophic losses reveal the exposure of vulnerable geographies, attention is shifting to the volatility of insurance underwriting and pricing.Affordable insurance is critical Many remedies have been proposed to address insurance concerns. The disproportionate impact of Hurricane Katrina on the poor and the uninsured has prompted community groups in hurricane and flood zones to increase outreach and education regarding the availability and benefit of both hazard and flood insurance. ...Access to affordable insurance will ultimately determine the success of community-based outreach to protect homeowner assets. Those already insured will have to keep up with the mounting expense of insurance and rising deductibles... For the uninsured, establishing coverage can be difficult without prior insurance history. Personal credit scores are now used across the industry to approve and price insurance, and this practice may adversely affect low-income homeowners.Insurance tab drives housing costs upward In higher-risk markets such as California, Texas, Florida and New York, coverage has become more restrictive and deductibles have risen. In some areas the number of companies underwriting insurance is dwindling. In Florida, for example, some insurance companies have been allowed to leave the state and others have become insolvent, so there are fewer providers. Lack of competition combined with the increased market risk is fueling double-digit increases in premiums there.

Conventional mortgage rates aren't necessarily lower than VA rates. Once approved for a VA loan, the veteran or active duty service person is eligible for the best rates regardless of score or credit history. VA rates are comparable to conventional rates where the borrower has near perfect credit and 20% to put down, only with a VA loan the borrower can have less than perfect credit and no money down.

Buyer's or seller's market?Is your town a buyer's or a seller's market? Since real-estate is local and housing markets' strengths may vary from city to city, keep an eye on these clues to determine how housing sales are faring in your neighborhood.ook at the amount of time (per the current sales pace) it would take to sell all the homes currently up for sale -- you can get this information from your real-estate broker or on sites like Trulia.com. Less than 6.5 months is a seller's market; more than 6.5 months is a buyer's market.? Compare how many days it takes to sell a home against say, six months ago to see if the amount has risen or decreased. (You can also obtain this info from your real-estate broker.) If homes generally take less than a month to sell, it's a seller's market. More than 90 days is a buyer's market.? Pick a handful of local homes that are on the market and track them weekly. If you notice frequent price cuts, exclamation signs in their real-estate listings or multiple open houses, the market is probably weak.Top cities for home sellersWhich city has the most favorable housing market for homeowners looking to sell? Raleigh, N.C., according to a Forbes.com study, which features a slideshow of its top-rated metros. The Web site looked at cities' supply versus demand ratio and evaluated factors like current sales rates, changes in those rates and price stability. Data from Moody's Economy.com and the National Association of Realtors was used. Positive factors boosting Raleigh's housing market are a lack of a significant inventory glut and a healthy local economy, Forbes.com says. San Francisco was ranked as the second-best U.S. seller's market, followed by Austin, Texas; San Antonio; St. Louis; Houston; Portland, Ore.; Dallas; Denver and Baltimore. While Seattle is generally a favorable market for home sellers, there was insufficient data to include that city in its ratings, Forbes.com says.Coping with contingenciesHome-buying conti

Yes. Thanks.

Radon is a cancer-causing natural radioactive gas that you can?t see, smell or taste. Its presence in your home can pose a danger to your family's health. Radon is the leading cause of lung cancer among non-smokers. Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in America and claims about 20,000 lives annually. EPA has launched a new series of television, radio and print public service announcements encouraging people to test and fix their homes for radon. This is a good time to focus on testing and on fixing homes with a radon level of 4 pCi/L or more. Heed the Surgeon General's warning. Take action now to reduce your family's risk of lung cancer from radon!Radon Public Service Announcements (PSAs) EPA has released a Public Service Announcement (PSA) campaign for radon. The campaign features the U.S. Surgeon General's warning that radon causes lung cancer and that you should test your home. These TV, radio and print PSA materials are available in English and Spanish.Exposure to Radon Causes Lung Cancer In Non-smokers and Smokers AlikeLung cancer kills thousands of Americans every year. The untimely deaths of Peter Jennings and Dana Reeve have raised public awareness about lung cancer, especially among people who have never smoked. Smoking, radon, and secondhand smoke are the leading causes of lung cancer. Although lung cancer can be treated, the survival rate is one of the lowest for those with cancer. From the time of diagnosis, between 11 and 15 percent of those afflicted will live beyond five years, depending upon demographic factors. In many cases lung cancer can be prevented; this is especially true for radon.Studies Find Direct Evidence Linking Radon in Homes to Lung CancerTwo studies show definitive evidence of an association between residential radon exposure and lung cancer. Two studies, a North American study and a European study, both combined data from several previous residential studies. These two studies go a step beyond earlier f

Serious buyers come out in the winter months. During the spring everybody comes out to look but not necessarily buy because the long hard winter is over.