Friday, October 19, 2007

Finally – A Potential Buyer Is Coming!

Your house has been on the market for what seems like years (even though it’s only been a few days), and Macy & McKee have a potential buyer ready to view the house. What should you do? Should you be there to answer questions? Is that air freshener scent in the bathroom okay? What about the cat? Should it be locked in the basement? Though your mind is filled with questions, this guide should help.

First, try to avoid being home while Macy & McKee bring potential buyers through. Your possible buyers might feel like they’re intruding on your space if you’re there. If you can’t leave for whatever reason, try to stay in one place or room in the house. Don’t follow them from room to room, and don’t try to discuss the sale with them. If the agent asks you a question, answer it, but generally volunteering information may make you appear desperate.

Second, be sure to leave all of the lights on when you know Macy & McKee plans to show your home. It lights up the darker areas, prevents harsh shadowing, and gives it that comfy feel you’ll want buyers to perceive.

Try not to overdo the air freshener products before potential buyers view your home. Some people may be allergic to them, and most potential buyers will wonder why you needed so much air freshener in the first place.

If you do have pets (dogs or cats) who generally roam free in the house, let your agent know. Be sure they put a note on the MLS entry as well. If possible, take them with you when you leave. If that’s not possible, the backyard is the best place for the dog, and one room of the house is the best place for the cat. Be sure to put a sign on the door of that room, though, letting your visitors know.

Finally, if you know Macy & McKee will be showing your home while you are out, make sure your house is clean before you leave. Make the bed, vacuum and dust, take out the trash, and pick up the empty snack bowl next to the recliner. It may not be a model home, but trying to make it look like one will help you make that sale.

The Right Listing Contract To Sell Your Home

As you try to locate a realtor to help you sell your home, you might wonder about the kinds of listing contracts most sellers sign. This guide may help.

An open listing contract is one most typically used by people who would like to try to sell their own homes, but want some help from real estate agents. An open listing contract gives firms like Macy & McKee the ability to allow buyers to see your home. If they sell it, they get a commission. If you’re trying to sell your home on your own, you can offer an open listing to nearly every realtor in your area. This also, though, means that the realtor you sign an open listing contract with won’t put any effort or funds into marketing your property. In fact, in most cases, they won’t even place it in the MLS database.

A one time show contract is a lot like an open listing. In most cases, people who want to sell their homes themselves offer one time show contracts to realtors. The home sellers promises to pay the agent in the case of a buyer making a purchase. This helps to prevent problems that may occur should the buyer negotiate directly with the seller to avoid commission fees all the way around. Again, in the case of a one time show, the agent won’t actually market your property.

Exclusive agency listing contracts are, by far, the most unpopular contracts in the real estate industry. They allow you and the agent to sell the property. If the agent finds the buyer, he gets a commission. If you find a buyer, the agent gets nothing. In these cases, agents typically don’t waste a lot of money marketing the property to potential buyers.

The most typical kind of listing contract is an exclusive right to sell contract. In these cases, you give agents like Macy & McKee the right to handle the sale of your home. Unless a specific exception is noted in the contract, you will pay a commission on the sale of your home. In most cases, these are the contracts realtors work hardest to get and keep because a commission is guaranteed if the home is sold.

Talk with Macy and McKee today if you're ready to sign the listing contract that best fits your needs.

Why Bother With A Realtor?

Thinking about selling your home? Using Macy & McKee may help you move that property faster than you ever thought possible. Many Summit sellers choose to sell their home on their own, but choosing a realtor could be the smartest decision you’ve ever made.

Marketing

The key to selling any home, especially one in the Summit area, is the right marketing to attract the right buyers. Unfortunately, selling a home is not as easy as selling your Disney video collection on eBay. Finding the right people is key, and Macy & McKee will help to develop a plan that will truly meet your needs. From suggesting that certain cosmetic issues be taken care of before the first open house to making the right media choices for advertising purposes, Macy & McKee understands where, how, and when to meet your property’s marketing needs.

Safety

Choosing to sell your home on your own can be a serious personal risk these days. With identity theft on the rise and crime rates at an all time high in the nation, it’s hard to tell if the “potential buyer” you let in your home could hurt you or your family. Luckily, realtors prescreen and accompany prospects through your home, so security isn’t an issue.

The Negotiation Process

Like many other sales, the price on most homes is a flexible one. Choosing Macy & McKee to help you navigate each buyer’s proposal can make the sale of your home much more likely. Moreover, because so many problems can occur from an informal agreement to closing day, Macy & McKee can help by creating a legally-binding agreement that is sure to hold buyers until the very end.

Selling your home may be the biggest financial decision you ever make, and choosing a realtor to help you with that decision is essential. Macy & McKee isn’t like the competition. With a high level of knowledge about the Summit market and the right skills to get your home sold immediately, choosing Macy & McKee will help you achieve your sales goals.

Clearing the Emotional Mine Field

Selling your home may be one of the most difficult decisions of your life. Let Macy & McKee help you with the entire process. The first step to any home sale, though, is to lose the emotion involved in the process.



When you initially bought your home, you may have thought that you’d be there forever. Your home probably holds hundreds of amazing memories. From the fabulously romantic dinner the two of you had that time in front of the fireplace to the place in your bedroom where your baby’s bassinette was for the first six months, everywhere you turn, you’ll see only memories as you try to sell. As a result, an emotional disconnect is essential before you put your home on the market with Macy and McKee.



The best way to achieve that emotional disconnect is to begin making your home seem as if it were anybody’s home. Take a moment to go visit a new home’s open house in the area. You may see barely furnished rooms with classy artwork on the wall, but you’ll never see a personal belonging lying around. This is the secret with home sales. If your potential buyers can envision their families in your living space, you have a better chance of selling the home. In many cases, this will mean removing family photos from the walls and storing some of the excess furniture in your home until the sale is complete. Trophies and specialized décor may have to be placed in storage as well. For example, if you’re an avid Star Wars memorabilia collector, storing that light saber and 12 inch Luke Skywalker action figure during the sales process may increase your salability. Customers tend not to buy homes with décor they didn’t identify with, and creating an anonymous house is the best way to handle that.



Removing the personal items, though, isn’t just for the sake of the buyer. It may actually help you prepare to part with your home too. As your home begins to look more like a showroom instead of the place you’ve known and loved for many years, you’ll be emotionally prepared to turn selling your home into selling a piece of real estate.


If you’re ready to take the first steps toward making your home into the house of someone else’s dreams, contact Macy & McKee for a bit of guidance. From start to finish, they’ll ensure that your real estate sale goes as smoothly as possible

Why Let Macy & McKee Summit NJ Realtors Help You Buy a Home?

Many renters eventually have thoughts of homeownership, but is it really worth the hassle? You bet! Check out some of the reasons why you should consider letting Macy & McKee help you find the right home.

Owning a home means that you finally have a place that belongs only to you. If you’re thinking about starting a family, your own home is a great place to raise your kids and allow yourself to be part of the community around you. Your children can build the long lasting friendships and educational connections to help sustain them over a lifetime. Moreover, a home can be a legacy to your children and grandchildren, which will give you and your family a measure of security as the generations multiply.

Letting Macy & McKee help you find a home means paying less than you currently pay in rent, and the best part is that you own it after the payments are made. Not only may your mortgage payments be cheaper than rent, you get a tax break for the interest on your mortgage. That can truly offset the costs of maintenance on your new home.

Many fear home ownership because of increased payment costs over the years. However, working through Macy & McKee to find the right home with a fixed interest rate loan means that you never make higher payments on your home. Choosing a fixed-interest rate mortgage means one single payment amount over the life of the loan. You don’t have to worry about interest rates fluctuating in the market. Just write your check every month.

Buying a home through Macy & McKee means building the nest egg you never thought possible. Most analysts consider a home to be the single best investment that you can make, and most achieve financial independence after they’ve purchase the right home in their price range. The equity you build in your property will give you something to fall back on time and again if necessary.

There are hundreds of reasons that homeownership might be right for you, and if you’re ready to explore your options, consider placing a call to Macy & McKee today. They’ll help you make all of the necessary prepurchase decisions, and you’ll get the chance to look at some of the amazing homes they currently have listed.

Things To Think About Before Contacting Macy & McKee Summit NJ Realtors

If you’re in the market to buy your first home, let Macy & McKee help. The first step is to make a number of prepurchase decisions.

* Consider both the location and the type of neighborhood you’re looking for before you ever talk to Macy & McKee. It will help to narrow your decision field. Keep in mind that if you’re shopping the suburbs, the homes tend to be cheaper. However, they’re also a bit further from grocery stores, businesses, and other important locations. Urban areas, though, have their own problems. The homes are more expensive and the crime rates tend to be a bit higher.

Once you’ve decided on a general area, think about the neighborhood. Homes on busier streets tend to sell for less, but they can be noisier. Homes with corner lots have fewer neighbors, but they also tend to be more vulnerable to noise pollution and trespassers. Cul de sacs are one of the prime locations for families, but they tend to have less privacy.

* Another thing to think about before you talk to Macy & McKee is the type of home you’re searching for. If you want a single family property, you’ll get the privacy and value appreciation that you’re looking for. However, they also come with higher price tags than other housing options. Condos, town homes, and coops are cheaper, and you don’t have as many maintenance difficulties as you might with a single family home. However, you sacrifice privacy and yard space for a smaller price tag.

* In addition to the type of home, you should also think about the features of the home you’re looking for before you talk to Macy & McKee. Do you want a single story home? Remember that you can also choose from options like a split-level home to meet your needs. Think about the number of bedrooms, bathrooms and the overall square footage you need your home to have as well. If you want your home to have optional rooms like dens, offices, or workout facilities, think about that before meeting with Macy & McKee.

Once you’ve made these all important prepurchase decisions, take a moment to contact Macy & McKee to find the right home in the right location at the perfect price.

Is Timing Really Everything?

It’s hard not to notice it. If it’s not on NPR as you’re driving to work, it’s in the headline at the corner. Now is the Time to Buy a Home! Don’t Make that Real Estate Purchase Now! In some cases, it may be the topic of the water cooler in your office. Some market analysts continue to spew the idea that your timing on a real estate purchase is actually valuable. As we at Macy & McKee Summit NJ Realtors have found, though, if you’re in the market for a home, the time to buy is right now.

The biggest difficulty with trying to buy a home at the perfect time during any given business cycle is that nobody can actually predict what the future economy is going to bring. Everything in the business prediction cycle is based on guesses. While they’re accurate at times, at other times, the people guessing are simply charlatans who just don’t know what they’re doing. Moreover, as Macy & McKee Summit NJ Realtors knows all too well, the real estate market just doesn’t move the same way the business cycle or the entire nation’s economy does, and part of that is because of the way interest rates change.

When our economy is in great shape, our interest rates are typically fairly high. That means that not as many people can put together the money necessary for a mortgage on a home. Banks can charge more, and we get a bit tighter with our dollars. As our economy slacks off, the interest rates drop. More people can afford to buy homes, and that’s a great time for Macy & McKee Summit NJ Realtors. The only thing that makes perfect sense is to buy a house and hold onto it. Don’t panic and try to get out when you think the market is going south. Hang onto that property. The market will swing back your way in just a matter of time.

It’s virtually impossible to tell when the real estate market is going to explode or implode. That means that the bottom line is that if it’s the right time for you personally to buy a house, give us a call. We’ll help you find the home of your dreams in your price range. Timing is truly everything, but it’s your timing that matters. Not the timing of the market around you.

Macy & McKee Summit NJ Realtors The Best Blog In The Industry

If you’re in the market for the right home in Summit NJ, you should first consider the right realtor. Macy & McKee Summit NJ Realtors are a great choice, but how do you know for sure? Check out their blog for starters.

Understanding What You Need In A Realtor
Real estate is the premiere arena for service that is, and should be, wholly oriented toward you. Whether you’re a buyer or a seller, you’ll spend days, weeks, or even months working very closely with your realtor, and in most cases, every transaction is one that has a financial impact on your life. Macy & McKee Summit NJ Realtors are the only ones in the area that can prove their commitment to you. You need someone you can depend on, someone who has likeable qualities, and somebody who knows the Summit real estate market well. Let Macy & McKee be that someone.

Why Real Estate Blogs Are So Useful
With the recent explosion of blogging technology, lots of Summit realtors use blogs to help attract new customers and inform current ones. Macy & McKee Summit NJ Realtors are one of the few who use it well. Reading realtor blogs help you to understand a bit about an agent before you ever meet them. It’s amazing how much of a personality you can feel through an agent’s writing. You may also get a sense of their skills and the areas they specialize in just by the blog topics they choose to handle. It allows you to literally screen an agent before you ever even meet them. Moreover, looking at a number of blogs from realtors in the area may also help you understand more about the inner workings of your particular market. Knowledge like that is invaluable when you’re trying to buy or sell a home. Because blogs are typically handled on a daily or weekly basis, you get the current market information you need from an insider source – a realtor. Subscribe to the RSS feed, and you’ve got information delivered to your virtual door automatically.

If you’re looking for the right help now, don’t look past Macy & McKee Summit NJ Realtors. Take a look through the blog entries. The chances are good that you’ll find the right combination of skills, personality, and knowledge needed to make them your Summit Real Estate agents of choice.