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As a potential home buyer, you want to make sure that you are not only getting the best value for your money. You also want to ensure that you will be satisfied with your location as the resident of a new community.

When you decide to purchase a home, you have to make a decision as to where you want to live. Several factors may play into your decision, including both practical and emotional reasons. Selecting the right neighborhood for you and your family should be done with care. Here are tips to help to pick the right neighborhood for your next home.

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As you explore various locations to buy a home, you may have a lot of ideas in mind. Maybe you want to pick your dream location for your home. You may actually prefer just to find a safe neighborhood that has great schools and a decent commute time to work. Whatever your reasons for deciding on a particular location, you must sort out your priorities as you search for a neighborhood to live in.

As you ponder your situation, ask yourself these questions:

• Do you have teens or young children living in your home?
• Do you have preferences as to the noise level of the area?
• Do you want a lot of land or parks and other green spaces to enjoy?
• Are you concerned about having a short commute to work?
• Will the neighborhood have your preferred amenities (shopping, daycare, groceries, dining, etc)?
• What style of home do you want?
• What is your budget?

As you write down the answers to these questions, a clearer picture will emerge of your must-have elements for your new neighborhood. Some of the items may end up on your list only as features that you would like to have but are not deal-breakers.

Families

If you have teens or young children living at home, a primary concern when selecting the right neighborhood for your family should be the quality of the local school system. If you are planning to enroll your children in a private institution, you must also consider the distance between the new neighborhood and the school in order to shuttle back and forth between after-school activities and other events.

Make sure that you research local public and private schools. You should also research daycare programs in the area. Crime statistics are also important to look at for the safety of your family. The majority of real estate websites will be able to break down crime statistics by zip code in order to give you an idea as to how safe the area is in comparison to national statistics. If you would like more in-depth details on a particular area, you can ask your Realtor for assistance.

Setting

As you select a neighborhood for your home, you should envision what it would be like to live in that neighborhood. You may wish to select a neighborhood based on the style of homes offered. You should also consider whether you prefer an urban or more rural setting for your home. The proximity of the neighborhood to an urban area may have a large impact on the average square footage of a home. Also some areas may have mostly single family homes available, as compared to other neighborhoods that may have a larger percentage of multi-family homes.

You must also consider whether or not you want to live in a historic neighborhood or housing development. Both types of communities often come along with regulations that are put in place by local community associations that must be adhered to. In addition, this may also mean that you are required to do repair work on your home, as homes in historic neighborhoods may be of older stock.

Daily Routine

As you select your new neighborhood, you also want to think about your daily routine. Do you want to be able to walk places? Do you want a short commute to work? Ask your real estate agent about the public transportation options that will be available in your neighborhood, as well as, access to major roads and highways.

“Diversity, population and neighborhood characteristics are all important aspects that make a big difference on a neighborhood.” says AJ Smith of Credit.com. “Investigate how the neighborhood has grown in recent years, who lives there, and how many people to do determine if it is somewhere you would fit in or stand out.”

By talking to people that have lived in the area, you can get a more accurate idea of what it will be like to live there as a resident. This is vital insight that can not be obtained simply by looking at neighborhood descriptions online. You can also use these experiences to determine if the neighborhood meets your expectations in terms of taste. Some home buyers may require more luxurious accommodations in order to be satisfied. Others may find the restrictions of planned communities not to be their preferences.

Budget

Budget will likely play a huge role in determining your final decision on the right neighborhood for your new home. However, working with a real estate agent can really help to illuminate the differences between two neighborhoods of relativity equal value. There is always a risk that when you select a neighborhood, you won’t get everything on your wishlist. But when it comes to making sure that you stay within your budget, compromise is important.

Opt for the features of the neighborhood that will guarantee a safe and enjoyable stay in your community while skipping out on those neighborhoods that are so pricy you will spend more time worrying about your finances than enjoying your new lifestyle. Plus, as you get to know the neighborhood, you may find that there are hidden amenities that you may have not been aware of.

Buying a property in the right neighborhood is a process that must be done with care. Talk with your real estate for more tips on how to select the right neighborhood so that you can be happy with your decision.

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Selling a home is a complicated process that requires planning in order to be success. Know what you are getting into before you get started.

You’ve decided to sell your home. However, you are not quite ready to put it on the market. Selling a home is a complicated process that requires a concerted effort. Have you done everything that is needed to enable a smooth process for selling your home?

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Before you call a Realtor, there is some prep work that needs to be done. Your Realtor’s job is to help you sell your home. Therefore, in order to allow your Realtor to focus on this important task, you must make sure that everything is in order.

As a homeowner, you may want to leave everything up to your real estate agent. However, if you want the process to move at a faster pace, it is important that you get involved.

Find Important Documents

The first step to getting ready to sell your home is to find the paperwork that will be needed as a part of the sales process. You should make sure that you have the following documents on hand:

• operating manuals for appliances;
• warranty information on items that will stay behind in the house;
• key documents in regards to the title, survey, mortgage and insurance on the property.

As you search for these documents, you may find that you need to order copies from local agencies or update the information on these documents. Take care of these issues well in advance so that you don’t have to waste time on this once you contact a real estate agent.

Obtain Estimates

The next step is to obtain estimates for repairing old, worn out items in your home. Pick items that buyers are likely to be concerned about (such as old appliances or worn out furniture). By obtaining estimates, you can gain traction during the process of negotiations later on in the selling process.

There is a high likelihood that if a home has clear issues that need to be addressed, a buyer will likely want to factor those issues into the terms regarding the purchase of the home. In order to avoid ending up in a situation where the buyer is the only person with estimates regarding repairs, obtain your own estimates in advance.

Clean Your Home

Cleaning your home is an absolute must before you have a Realtor come take a look at the property. If you want the Realtor to get a realistic impression of your home, he or she can not do that while there is junk piled everywhere.

Cleaning your home to get it ready for sale means that you should make major changes. This includes packing up the personal effects that are currently lying about your home. You should also make sure that you pay attention to commonly neglected areas such as attics or garages. You should wash the windows and the exterior of the home if they haven’t been cleaned in years.

“Your agent will want to hold a couple of open houses as soon as possible, which is why you shouldn’t list your house until it’s ready for showing. This means you’ll probably be swamped with last-minute touch-ups and clean-ups to get the house ready.” says Rick Hazeltine of Realtor.com.

In addition, a home that has not been cleaned is unlikely to attract many buyers unless the price is a serious low ball offer. Therefore, if you want to make the best first impression on a real estate agent, cleaning your home is important. In addition, a thorough cleaning initially can make it easier to keep up with the routine chores once the sales process is underway.

Arrange for a Pre-sale Home Inspection

Failing to arrange for a pre-sale home inspection is one of the most common mistakes that first-time sellers make. A pre-sale home inspection can allow you to obtain insight into the trouble areas of your home that will immediately attract the attention of buyers. By performing a pre-sale home inspection, you will have the opportunity to make repairs to the home before the sales process begins.

Once you have addressed all of these issues, it is time to start searching for an agent. Look for an agent by using referral from family members, friends and colleagues.

“Having an experienced agent represent you is critically important; especially with the online shift that is occurring in the real estate industry. Marketing a home has become sophisticated and it requires a skilled, professional marketing strategy. A good real estate agent can identify the notable features of your home which will help you maximize the way you showcase those features.” says Monte Mohr of tenneseedreamhomes.com.

Get Recommendations

After you have taken the initial steps to find a Realtor, get recommendations from the agents that you interview in order to determine what changes you should make to your home. A real estate agent might suggest renovations or minor fixes that could improve the appeal of your home. You should work with a real estate agent whose advice you trust and is someone that has demonstrated experience with top-producing sales numbers.

Selling your property does not have to be stressful if you take the time to prepare. By learning what to do in the months before you put your home on the market, you can avoid some of the pitfalls that are common among inexperienced home sellers. In addition, you will also make the process of selling your home faster and easier for your real estate agent.

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As a home seller, you might be unsure as to the best time to sell your home if you are planning a move. Deciding when to put your home on the market in advance, can help you to plan your move more easily and can enable you to be successful in the sale of your old home.

If you are planning to move in order to rent or buy a new home and sell the old one, you have to be prepared to deal with a complicated situation that could take months to resolve. Working with a qualified real estate agent can help ease the burden of the process. However, it is also up to you to do the research in advance so that you know what you’ll be getting into.

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There is no one perfect time to sell your home when you are planning to move. When you sell your home will depend on your own unique circumstances and financial situation. However, taking the time to consider selling your home in advance can help you to discover when the right time is to sell.

While you may think that you don’t need to contact a real estate agent until you are ready to make the move, contacting an agent at least several months before you make a decision to move is your best bet. A real estate agent can help you to work through the process of making your move possible. The first step is to start with research.

Start With Research

The first step of the process should be to research the local market conditions and gather as much data as possible on your own. By involving an agent, you can obtain guidance on whether the current market will allow you to sell at the true market value. In addition, an agent will also be able to guide you on creating a successful marketing plan for your home that is designed to help your home sell quickly.

Unless, there is a major factor that impacts the timing of the sale, such as debt, you should opt to sell your home at a time when favorable market conditions are available for the sale. Your real estate agent may actually recommend that you wait on the sale and rent out home instead in order to get the best possible returns on the sale of your home.

Consider Your Expenses

Determining how the money from the sale will be spent will play a major decision in when you should sell. As a person with significant debts or one that is looking for better options in another city, the timing of your sale can have a big impact on your future.

If you plan to buy a new home in a new area, work with a real estate agent in order to determine just how much money will be needed for a downpayment on a new property. As a homeowner you should really think carefully as to whether buying a new home is in your best interest. For retirees, this picture may depend significantly on your expenses and if you can afford to meet your obligations.

Jane Bryant Quinn of AARP suggests several options for retirees. “You can use part or all of it to buy another house or condo, with or without a mortgage. That pot of money is now tied up. You could tap it at some point in the future, by taking a home equity loan or reverse mortgage, but that probably isn’t your plan.” says Quinn. “Alternatively, you can put the proceeds into a mix of bank accounts and mutual funds and tap those savings and investments for rent.”

As advice for all home sellers, you should also plan for temporary housing in the event that your home sells quickly so that you have a place to go. If the selling market in your area is quite competitive, you may want to have your Realtor negotiate with the buyer in order to obtain a longer escrow. This option will give you more time to find a place to move to.

Rising Rents

If you are selling your home in order to rent, it is important to keep in mind that rental prices may be on the rise in your new desired location. If you want ensure that you are not priced out of the market before you can sell your home and free up funds for rent, you should discuss your situation with a real estate agent.

Rising rents can also have the reverse impact and actually make it easier for you to sell your property. High rents mean that buyers may reconsider renting and instead want to move in home ownership. “Every time there’s an increase, it triggers the decision processes on whether [renters] should go into the market and buy. Getting more buyers into the market, especially first-timers, can help sellers feel more comfortable about their prospects. “It allows others to move up the chain in the market.” said Budge Huskey, president and CEO of Coldwell Banker Real Estate.

Plan Carefully

Regardless of the manner in which you do it, selling a home when you are planning to move is stressful. However, working with a real estate agent to develop a solid plan that gives you months to prepare for the sale is the best way to ensure that you are not scrambling to get things in order when the time comes.

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As you prepare to sell your home, you might think that working with a Realtor only means additional fees and costs. However, you might be surprised to learn just how difficult it is to sell a home without professional assistance.

Selling your home is likely to be one of the most expensive and time-consuming decisions that you’ll have to make in your life. Therefore, it is essential that you have a realistic picture of the sales process before you dive into it. Here are some reasons why it’s hard to sell your home on your own.

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If you are unsure as to whether you should work with a real estate agent in order to sell your home, you will likely have a better shot at getting the buyer offers that you are looking for if you use an agent. In addition, as a first-time seller, you likely do not have the experience and insight to obtain the best deal.

These are major reasons why working with an agent offers such advantage. However, are there actually any tangible downsides to selling your home on your own? That fact is that, opting not use an agent can have serious consequences.

Buyer Agents May Not Be Interested

Not working with a real estate agent can severely limit the amount of interest that buyers have in your home. You may find that even if you are receiving inquiries from buyers, they are making low ball offers. This is because that the perception among home buyers is that For Sale by Owner (FSBO) properties are at the bottom of the barrel.

“There are only two reasons why I show an FSBO: There is no other inventory available or the price is ridiculously low,” says Bruce Ailion, a realtor with RE/MAX Greater Atlanta. “Every experienced broker has been burned by an FSBO transaction where the seller did not pay the full commission, or any commission at all, to the agent who brought the buyer,” he says. In addition, he says, “FSBO sellers are viewed as unrealistic, unreasonable and difficult sellers whom professional realtors have rejected.”

No Access to Real Estate Networks

Unless you have personal access to a network of brokers and buyers in your area, your reach as a seller is highly unlikely to exceed that of a qualified real estate agency. Most real estate agents have spent years developing partnerships. Many real estate agents have thousands of contacts that they can quickly call on to help spread the word quickly when a home is available for sale.

In addition, even if you decide to list your home for sale on popular real estate websites, you are missing out on the personal connections that a real estate agent can bring to your case that will help to sway a buyer in your direction. If you don’t have access to a network of professionals that can help sell your home, trying to sell on your own will likely result in failure or less than stellar results from the sale.

Selling Is Hard

Part of the selling process involves showing your home to prospective buyers. You also have to follow-up with these buyers once they leave in order to determine if they are interested in your property. If you have little to no experience in selling real estate, it will be very difficult for you to determine who actually is a prospective buyer from the time-wasters. Spending time on the wrong prospects can mean missed opportunities for offers.

In addition, how will you know if you priced your home correctly to begin with? “To sell FSBO, you will have to continually monitor the new listings, prices and sales of all homes in your neighborhood. If you need a quick sale, be prepared to drop your price.” says Lisa Abrams, an agent with Re/Max Realty Services in Bethesda. Most homeowners that opt to do FSBO owner end up having to lower prices in order to get interest from buyers.

If you don’t want to worry about having to actually sell your home, leave the job to a real estate agent. Selling a home is typically a full-time job in itself and you may or may not be successful. You also don’t want to have to devote all of your free time to trying to learn real estate when you likely have other obligations to take care of.

Legal Liabilities

Since selling a home is essentially a complex legal process, you don’t want to open yourself up to liabilities by trying to sell on your own. As a seller, it can be difficult to keep track of deadlines and ensure that you have completed the right paperwork. Local regulations can change from year to year and it is the job of a qualified real estate agent to stay on top of these updates.

Unless you are a lawyer, understanding complex legal documents is time-consuming. In addition, overlooking something that may seem minor to you could cause a major legal headache somewhere down the road that could delay the sale of your home.

Regardless of whether you decide to sell your home on your own or via a real estate agent, you must consider if the choice that you make will result in a successful sale. While using a real estate agent does not guarantee that you will get the best outcome, you can greatly improve your odds by doing thorough research before hiring a Realtor. You can also use your experience with a Realtor to get acquainted with the process of real estate and to find a reliable partner for future home sales and purchases.

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The advent of the Internet has not been kind to people who made a living filling out forms and booking services for others. Think back to the last time you used a travel agent; for most of us, that was a long time ago, if ever. When you can just hop online and book your hotel and your flights yourself, there’s really no point in hiring someone to do it for you. The Internet is cutting down jobs from telephone operator and directory assistance positions all the way to travel agent, and now real estate agent has fallen by the wayside. Here’s why the real estate agent as we know it is about to fall.

The Internet Has Ruined the Exclusivity of a Real Estate Agent’s Contacts

Once upon a time there was no way for the average person to really get their home out there for sale. While real estate agents still hold the key to MSL (Multi Service Listing) lists which can be a big deal, the average home seller will do as much work listing their house for sale online than a real estate agent will.

Before the Internet, getting your home to run in all the local papers involved physically going to their offices and handing them a notice to print—or calling it in over the phone. Today you don’t have to submit to papers at all. There are dozens of sites where you can list your property for free from the comfort of your own home. It doesn’t take a lot of time and it doesn’t take a lot of effort. You used to pay a real estate agent’s commission because they were the ones doing all the work to get your home to sell. Now, you can handle it yourself.

A dedicated seller can also manage an open house by themselves. They can schedule property viewings and find out what they have to do legally to sell a home. The real estate agent is no longer the exclusive fount of knowledge.
The Internet Has Made It Easier to Learn about Real Estate

To learn about real estate before the advent of the Internet, you had to read a lot of books or take a lot of classes. You might as well become a real estate agent just to sell your own home. Today, not only is it easier than ever to access information it’s easier to figure out what you really need to know and what you don’t. Your real estate agent probably knows what you’d need to sell a home in a flood plain, but if your home isn’t in one there’s no need for you to know it. If it is, there are plenty of online articles that will bring you up to speed on how to inform potential buyers and what you have to disclose.

People who pay for a real estate agent are basically just paying for convenience at this point; people who are too busy to put in the time to read up on selling their home or organizing viewings themselves pay a lot of money to turn these chores over to someone else. There’s actually just one thing that a real estate agent has that most people these days need to sell their home.
MSL Flat Fee Services Are the Best Deal in Real Estate Services Left

Most homes sell because of a listing in the Multi Listing Service, or MSL. These agents only lists inform not only potential buyers but other real estate agents that something is one the market. With 77% of home buyers still using an agent to help them find a place, getting your home under the nose of other real estate agents even if you don’t use one yourself is essential.

Flat fee MSL listing pricing can vary, but typically costs a few hundred dollars—much less than the thousands in commission that hiring a real estate agent would cost. Until the Internet opens up MSL lists, flat fee MSL services are the best option for home sellers.

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Selling a home is often a fraught process. There are more memories in a place you live than anywhere else. Even when you’re ready to pick up and move on to something that better suits your life, leaving a home behind carries enough emotional baggage without having to deal with the complexities of actually selling it. Many people just turn their home over to a realtor and let them work their magic. In an economy where every penny earned from the sale of the house counts, however, more and more people are realizing that the magic realtor’s work can be done by anyone willing to put in the hours. These people are turning to Flat-fee MSL (Multiple Listing Service) agents to get what they need from a realtor cheaply.

The Same Listing Places

One of the biggest perks to Flat-fee MSL is that you’re not compromising the most important thing: where your home is listed for sale. Real estate agents and savvy buyers go to computerized listings of for sale homes in order to find the properties that they need. If you can get your home listed in these services the selling process has officially begun. This is one of the services that a realtor offers; when you go with a flat-fee MSL you get listed in the same places. You just don’t have to get everything else that a realtor traditionally does.
More Control over What Services Your Home Receives

A traditional realtor is supposed to pull out the stops to get your home sold. However, in this day and age not everyone is up to that task. In fact, 15-20% of realtors don’t do any online marketing whatsoever. They also tend to host private viewings and open house events, both of which are things that someone can do on their own. Depending on the realtor, they might insist on professional photography, or packing up all your belongings before you’re ready just to give your home the model house treatment. This isn’t something that works for everyone; when you use a flat-fee MSL you get to pick and choose the services that you want to pay for.
Only Pay for What You Can’t Do Yourself

If you can organize an open house, get your home in shape to sell, and make sure that it’s up on every online real estate market in your area there’s no reason for you to pay for those services with a commission from your sale. You’re going to be doing a lot of that work yourself anyway; even if you get a realtor you’re going to want to be sure that there’s no real estate site without a picture of your home on it, and so forth. In fact, more and more realtors are banking on the owner’s taking on more responsibility for advertising their home. If you’re already going to putting in the effort, why pay someone else to do it?
Drastically Lower Costs

The biggest difference, of course, isn’t even how much control you have over your home’s treatments or how much effort you’re going to put into making it sell. The major difference is the bottom line. No matter how you sell your home you can basically bank on paying at least a 5% commission; sometimes more. If your home sells for $400k, that’s $20,000 for a realtor to list your property and show people around. Instead, you can pay prices ranging from under a hundred to a few hundred dollars (depending on the service and what else you’ve decided you’d like a realtor to do for you)—the kind of savings that make any marketing you undertake yourself more than worth it.

Please visit our Open House at 2 15155 62A AVE in Surrey.

See details here

Open House on Sunday, March 22, 2015 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm

Beautiful, Quiet and well maintained unit in ‘OAKLAND’ by Polygon. Located on the best location and have a great view of North Shore Mountains in the front and of the green quiet hill in the back. Enjoy the Private Yard with quiet and safearea with your family. The friendly and nice neighborhood impresses all people coming here. Lots of windows bring bright. Open space designer concept with solid floor in main storey. Large living room with wide open sunshine in. Excellent facilities: Outdoor pool, hottub, good gym, party room, reading/social room, hockey arena, teather room, two guest suites and more. Excellent location: step to YMCA, restaurant and Sullivan Park.

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