Top Reasons to Higher a Realtor to Find Your DFW Home

With more and more information bring readily available online, clients sometimes ask "Why should I hire a real estate agent? We can look for a home ourselves online" They wonder if they could buy or sell a DFW real estate on the internet or through regular, old school, marketing and advertising means without using a DFW Realtor. It's possible, a very few do okay but most don't. If you've wondered the same thing, here are good reasons why you should want to consider hiring a professional real estate agent.

1. Experience & Education

You don't need to know everything there is to know about buying and selling a DFW home if you hire a professional Dallas Realtor who does. The trick is to find the right Realtor. In most cases, the seller pays your Realtor for you. Why not hire a Realtor with more education and experience than you, than most other Realtors?

2. Agents are Your Defense

Realtors take much of the stress out of your property showings and visits. If you're buying a new home, your Realtor will keep the builder's agents at bay, preventing them from over aggressive sales tactics. If you're a seller, your Realtor will filter all the phone calls that lead to nowhere and try to induce serious buyers to write an offer. If you are buying Dallas foreclosures your Realtor will act as you liaison between you and the bank.

3. Community Knowledge

Realtors possess intimate knowledge about your community. They can identify comparable sales and provide this information to you, in addition to pointing you in the direction where you can find more data on schools, crime or demographics. You may know that a home down the street was on the market for $235,000, but an agent will know it had upgrades and sold at $217,500 after 57 days on the market.

4. Value Guidance

Contrary to what many people believe, Realtors do not set the listing prices for sellers or buyers. A Realtor, however, will help to advise clients to make wise decisions. If a listing is at 6%, for example, a Realtor has 6% vested in the sale, but the client has a 94% interest. Selling agents will ask buyers to weigh all the data supplied to them and to choose the listing price. Then based on market supply and demand and the conditions and upgrades, the agent will devise a negotiation strategy.

5. Market Conditions

Realtors can determine market conditions, which will dictate your selling or buying process. There are many factors that determine how you should proceed. Data such as the average price per square foot of similar homes, median and average sales prices, average days on market (DOM) and ratios of list-to-sold prices, among other criteria. These things will have a huge impact on how you ultimately decide to proceed.

6. Professional Networking

Realtors network with other real estate professionals, many of whom provide services that you will need to buy or sell. Due to legal liability, many Realtors will not directly recommend a certain individual or company, but they do know which service companies have a good reputation for efficiency, competency and competitive pricing. Realtors many times, however, provide you a list of vendors with whom they have confidence in.

7. Negotiation Skills

High producing Realtors negotiate effectively because, unlike most buyers and sellers, they can remove themselves from the emotional aspects of the transaction. Because they are skilled it's part of their job. They are professionals who are trained to represent their client's as best as possible and hold client information confidential.

8. Handling Paperwork

Today's contract packages run 20 pages or more. Most real estate files average thicknesses of one to three inches of paper. One little error or omission could land you in court or in or cost you thousands of dollars.

DFW Home Buyers Returning to Market?

“There has never been a better time to buy,” said National Association of Realtors® Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. Historically high housing affordability and low mortgage interest rates, combined with buyer opportunities in the distressed sales and foreclosure markets, have increased DFW home sales. “Housing affordability is at an all-time high, mortgage rates are historically low, and interest rates are the lowest they’ve been since the days of Eisenhower,” said Yun.Shaun Donovan, U.S. Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, announced that the Federal Housing Administration is going to permit its lenders to allow qualified home buyers to use the $8,000 tax credit as a down payment.

“Now that buyers will be able to use the $8,000 tax credit as a down payment, we should see additional buyers enter the market,” said Yun. The DFW Real Estate Market has remained one of the strongest real estate markets in the nation. With these new government incentives we should see the DFW Real Estate market continue to strengthen.
The summer market will gauge the success of the first-time home buyer tax credit as many buyers who may have been sitting on the fence but are now taking advantage of the great opportunities for fear of being left out of current deals in the market. Many first-time buyers are attracted to discounted and distressed home prices. You may want to consider taking a look at buying a DFW Foreclosure to find a great bargain. Any professional DFW Realtor can help you located these DFW Foreclosure deals using the DFW MLS system. It’s a great time to buy a DFW home!

DFW Home Selling Mistakes

Sellers have a strong relationship with their DFW homes. Homes hold precious memories for families and it's common for sellers to be very emotional about selling their homes. Some DFW home sellers are emotional for a different reason; they are upset because they can't sell their home. Here are some of the top selling mistakes.

Asking is Priced Too High
• The single worst home selling mistake that a seller can make is asking too much for the home. If the home is priced too high, buyers won't look at it. You won’t “get lucky” and sell your home for an over inflated price.
• “I can list the price of my home high now. I can always lower it later”. This strategy will surely backfire as well. Your house can only be a new listing once. There is an energy, an excitement and there is interest in a new listing. This cannot be re-created by lowering the price later. Your competitive edge will be lost. The bottom line is sellers who "test the market" will “pay the price”.

Home is in Bad Condition
• Any professional DFW Realtor will tell you that getting your DFW house ready for market is more than tidying up the place. The house must not only be spotless and fresh, the home must be in good repair and have good curb appeal.
• Cleaning and repairing the house can boost chances of quickly selling and at a higher price. If items are broken or buyers see deferred maintenance, they wonder what else is wrong. It will cost you more, via lower sales price, to fix and prepare the house.
• If your house is vacant you may want to consider hiring a professional home stager to make the house look and feel like a home.
Home is Marketed Wrong
• When there is a bad photograph in the DFW MLS or only one photo a critical marketing mistake has been made. The photos are the most important marketing tool. If a potential buyer is scanning the internet for DFW Real Estate it is initially the photo that will grab their attention and get them to via your house information.
• Talking about the internet; almost everyone starting their DFW Home search start their search on the internet. Your house must have a good internet presence to have any chance of selling. Seek real estate firms that have high rankings on search engines so that more people will see your house for sale.

Hiring an Inexperienced Agent
• Hiring a good mediocre listing agent certainly will not help sell your home but it will cost about the same as hiring an excellent agent. Hire an agent that has experience in your area. They know more about and have more contacts in your area.
• If you want full-service, then hire a full service agent. If you are fairly confident your home will sell without a full-service agent, then talk to a discount or flat fee broker.

• Carefully read your listing agreement and make sure the agent who brings a buyer is compensated fairly because one surefire way to make sure an agent won't show your home is to offer a low commission percentage.

DFW Real Estate Bubble?

As we know now there actually was a national real estate bubble but was there a bubble in the DFW Real Estate Market? There is no indication that there ever was a DFW Real Estate bubble. That’s why we are not experiencing a “bust” in the DFW Real Estate Market. Why? Because of a number of factual, economic-based realities about the DFW Real Estate market keeps the Metroplex as one of the strongest and most sought after metropolitan areas to live in the country. Take a look at any web site that gives you access to the DFW MLS. In the DFW MLS you can see that there are now more houses on the market and these houses are staying on the market a little longer but the reality is that the prices of DFW homes has held relatively steady and have actually increased in some areas. If these DFW homes are in good condition and price correctly they will still sell in a relatively short amount of time.

The DFW Metroplex consistently ranks high among the best places to live in the Western United States. DFW Real Estate has maintained its value over the past several years, while many other markets around the country have struggled. Ask any DFW Realtor and they will describe the DFW Real Estate market as Calm and Steady, “Steady as She Goes”. Calmer heads have always prevailed in the DFW area and we should expect the same in the future.

DFW Foreclosures and DFW Foreclosed Homes

Mortgage companies and banks own houses because they have acquired them through the foreclosures process. These homes are called REOs, short for Real Estate Owned. When banks obtain homes through the foreclosure process, in most cases, it is because no one at the foreclosure auction bided the minimum amount, usually the amount of the existing mortgage(s), unpaid interest, penalties and legal fees.

At first look, it may not seem as though foreclosures are a good deal. After all, if it was a good deal someone would have bought it at the foreclosure auction, right? Also, if the bank wants to sell its inventory on the open market for the amount that was once owed to the bank by the previous mortgagor maybe they are trying to sell it for more than it is worth? With all that said, here are two reasons why an REO can be a great deal “value” to you.

• If two loans were obtained to buy the property (which is very common these days), the second mortgage holder sometimes does not foreclose. If the second mortgage holder does not make up the back payments to the first mortgage holed, including and back interest, penalties and legal fees and file its own foreclosure proceedings, the second mortgage holder will get wiped out in the foreclosure proceedings of the first mortgage holder. Many second mortgages comprise 20% or more of original market value

• Not being in the real estate business the bank does not want to sit on its inventory. Since it did not receive its minimum bid from an investor or home buyer during the foreclosure sale the bank is likely to price that REO home for less, just to get rid of it and to get if off their books.

About REO Listing Agents
There are many web sites available to find DFW Real Estate and DFW Foreclosures, your DFW Realtor can also find them in the DFW MLS. If you ask your buyers agent to search MLS for "REOs," you will probably find that a very small handful of real estate agents specialize in listing REOs for sale in your neighborhood. Don’t take a chance on a Realtor that tells you “sure I specialize in REO property”.

Here are tips that will help you when searching for DFW REO listing agents:
• Most REO listing agents list only REOs, not other type of property.
• REO listing agents often give commission discounts to the banks and mortgage companies in return for their business, because these REO agents deal in volume.
• REO listing agents make money by either selling a lot of REOs or operating as a dual agent, both listing the home and assisting the buyer in buying the same home. In Texas this is known as an “Intermediary”.
• REO listing agents generally represent the seller, not the buyer but can operate as a dual agent.
• REO listing agents are typically top-producing agents because of the volume of business they conduct.
• Some REO listing agents are so busy that they hire assistants to handle calls.

About Hiring a Buyer's Agent
Unless you have direct experience negotiating with mortgage companies and banks, it will do you well to obtain representation by hiring your own buyer’s agent. Be sure you interview three buyer’s agents before you select one. Choose one that has a lot of experience with foreclosures and REO homes and one that is professional and you feel comfortable with.
• Buyer's agents have a fiduciary (legal) responsibility to protect your interests.
• Buyer's agents are usually paid by the seller.
• Buyer's agents represent you, not represent the seller.
• Buyer's agents may ask you to sign a buyer’s broker agreement, which will lay out the agent’s duties to you and it will also specify who pays the commission.
• Hire a buyer's agent who has experience working with REOs.

About Negotiating with REOs
If the listing is relatively new to the market the bank usually will not come down much from its asking price. You will have more negotiating power if you make offers on homes that have been on the market for longer than 30 days. Here are more tips:
• Banks negotiate bulk discounts with title and escrow companies. If you choose to use the bank's title & escrow company, check the fees that these companies are going to charge you. In general, fees not paid by the bank but paid by, you the buyer, will be higher because title & escrow often make up those discounts by charging buyers more.
• You will likely be asked to buy the home "as is." Make your offer subject to a home inspection. Generally, the bank will not make repairs but if a serious problem comes up during the inspection you will have the right to back out.
• Many banks are moving away from paying typical closing cost for the buyer. Some fees such as transfer taxes, county and state fees, are borne by the buyer and not the bank. Banks rarely will pay for pest inspections, repairs or home warranties.
• Expect the bank have you sign their purchase contract and/or addendum to your standard purchase contract. Read it thoroughly and ask a real estate lawyer for advice if you do not understand it.
• If the bank won't budge on your offer and you receive an offer rejection, wait another 30 days and then resubmit your original offer, with the original date crossed off and your new date inserted. Maybe this time the home will be yours.
• It may take 10 days, or more, to receive a response to your offer from the bank.
• The bank may ask for you to submit a loan application so it can prequalify you; however, you are not obligated to obtain your loan from that bank.
• If you cannot close by the predetermined closing date, in many cases, the bank will charge you a penalty for each day you pass the closing date. Make sure you have a loan preapproval letter from your own lender before submitting an offer. Without one the bank may not take your offer seriously.

Preparing to Buy DFW Real Estate

When it comes to buying DFW Real Estate, proper preparation is a necessity to your success. You don't want to find yourself in a neighborhood that isn’t as nice or as safe as you had thought. You also don't want to be house poor, making high mortgage payments on a house and not being able to enjoy it. On the flip side, you don't want to fall in love with a home you can't afford? So what do you do? Do your due diligence and Prepare!

You can start the DFW home buying process by preparing a plan for your purchase and referring to it throughout the process. This will help to prevent you from missing an important item or being uninformed on an essential part of the process. Your plan will not only be an aid in buying your home, it will help you to take advantage of all of the home buying information that is available. One of the most important DFW home buying tasks is to determine your wants and needs. It can help you to avoid disappointment or the pain of buying more house than you can afford. Separating your wants from your needs will help you prevent costly mistakes in the home buying process. Establishing basic parameters and sticking to them will be invaluable to the process. When home hunting, it is easy to let your emotions take over, in the moment and you could end up with more home than you can comfortably afford. Review your mortgage options early in the process. Don't wait until after you have found the right home to begin exploring your financing options. Having your mortgage options clear before looking for a home will strengthen your negotiations powers when it is time to write an offer for the home you choose. If you are in a situation where another buyer is interested in the same home as you are, you will have the advantage if you are the one who has been prequalified for a mortgage.

Chances are that you will be working with a DFW Realtor when you start looking for DFW homes for sale. Before you go on a house search, have your Realtor provide you with the listing information from the DFW MLS and familiarize yourself with the facts of each home. Also before starting your DFW Real Estate search make sure you know how agents work and most importantly, who they represent. Many DFW home buyers have made the mistake of assuming that the Agent they were working represented them in the transaction, when, they actually represented the seller.

DFW Home Buying Trends

Home Buyers Spend More to Live in and near the City
Generally, urban infill developments command higher sales prices than homes located in the suburbs. Many home buyers are willing to pay a premium to be located near work, restaurants and nightlife. This partly due to high gas prices and people tire of long commutes and the related expenses. Some newer developments are selling for even higher prices. But these developments are located near shopping, businesses, art galleries, bars and gourmet cafés, which satisfy the wants and needs of those buyers. Some buyers do not own a car and depend on walking and public transit to get around the city.

Modern Designs
Newer homes are designed with simple, clean lines, offset by decorative lighting fixtures such as drop pendants, hand-crafted balls or hidden light sources. Some designers use creative built-ins that double to house large flat-screen televisions, which swivel between two rooms, or double-sided fireplaces that add character to the home. Granite counters are still popular but are beginning to lose appeal, perhaps because so many homes have them they are not special anymore. Buyer’s preferences are leaning toward sinks that are larger, flatter and built-in to the vanity. Rain shower heads are installed in ceilings instead of walls. Soft, cooler earth-tone colors are on the comeback. The colors are more relaxing. There is a lot of blue, gray, tan and green and less of the warmer colors such as yellow, red or orange.
Green homes are becoming more and more popular, featuring solar energy, natural fiber or eco-friendly wood flooring, compact fluorescent lighting and energy-efficient high-end appliances. Some homes even have a place in their garages to plug in an electric car.

Lofts Gaining Popularity
In many downtown areas, lofts are the design of choice. They offer work-live spaces, which are generally multi-level. The first floor is often an open space that can be used as an office, warehouse or commercial place of business. The upper floors feature floor-to-ceiling glass windows -- views are highly desirable -- exposed ventilation and duct work, with fewer walls separating living spaces such as bedrooms, living rooms or kitchens. Loft designs make the kitchen work area more compact and efficient. Appliances are smaller in dimensions. Many appliances blend with sleek European cabinets. A professional DFW Realtor will help you find a downtown loft that meets your needs.

Professional Singles are Teaming Up
Single professionals are teaming up to buy downtown DFW Real Estate together, especially those that offer two master suites. Higher prices make qualifying on a single income more difficult. Some single people find that it's easier to pay half of a mortgage than the whole mortgage on their own and it makes financial sense, particularly if half the mortgage is equivalent or close to the amount of a monthly rental. Singles are attracted to downtown areas that offer walking distance to work, shopping and nightlife attractions.

Home Buyers Desire Smaller Homes
Many baby boomers who live outside the city often decide to move back after their children grow up and leave home. They find that they have to much living space, too much upkeep and too far away from downtown attractions and easy of getting around. Many of these buyers would like to downsize and make do with a smaller space that is newer and offers more conveniences, than live in a larger suburban home not convenient to the city. The DFW MLS system is paramount in locating the home of your choice.

Before Reducing The Price of Your DFW Home

Thinking about price reductions, price improvements, price adjustments? It doesn't matter what it’s called, no one wants to hear about lowering the sales price except buyers. In slow, buyer's markets it is common for DFW Home sellers to point their fingers at their DFW Real Estate agents and say "Why didn’t you do more to sell my house?" It seems like a good question but if the seller has their home overpriced there was probably nothing they could have done to get the home sold. With that said Sellers should ask agents this question.

Before Reducing Your Price Review Your Marketing Plan and Answer These Questions
1. Do your ads contain too much or too little information?
2. How many ads have been published?
3. What kind of direct mail campaign has been imitated?
4. How many open houses have been held?
5. How does the house show online, many good quality pictures?
6. Is your sign in a good location, contain a phone number and a Web site?
7. Do you have a virtual tour online?
8. What kind of feedback have you received from agents and buyers?
9. Are you offering enough compensation to selling agents?
10. Have you had any showings?

• Are you truly serious about selling your home?

1. Maybe you don't have to sell. When the market is slow and inventory is high, demand falls. If that's the case, maybe you should take your home off the market.
2. It makes no sense to put an overpriced home in MLS that is not receiving any showings because it skews the numbers for market performance.
3. If you don’t need to move right now, you might be better off renting your house or staying put until the market rebounds.
Choosing the Right Price

If your list price is to high, you'll need to continually reduce the price until you hit the right number, and by then buyers will begin wondering:
1. What is wrong with your house?
2. How much lower will you go?

If necessary, you want only one price reduction. Consider these guidelines:
• Realize your DFW Realtor is on your side; enlist their help.
• Pull up pending sales and examine their history. How many days on market before the price was reduced and how much of a price reduction was made? You won't know the sold price, but you can determine average price reduction percentages. Your Realtor can provide you this information through the DFW MLS.
• Compare sold prices with active listings. Are sold prices higher or lower?
• Run a side-by-side comparison with active listings near the price point you are considering. Price yours so it falls in the bottom two to five listings or, if you are really committed to selling your home, price it less than anything else on the market.
• Although the DFW MLS contains much valuable information in many cases it does not contain For Sale By Owner DFW information.
Is Your Price Too Low?
• Even in distressed markets properties that are priced below what buyers are readily willing and without prodding to pay will receive multiple offers.
• It is common to have price wars among buyers who are competing for these low priced homes, which will then result in an accepted offer for more than list price.

Every House Will Sell!
It is a fact. Every DFW Home will sell if it is priced properly and every home will sell for it’s true value. The old adage is true “everything is worth what someone is willing to pay for it”

FHA and VA Financing / the Way Your Offer Should Be Structured

If you purchasing a home and you are obtaining a VA or FHA loan to do so, that information must be included in your written offer. This is necessary on these government insured mortgages because these mortgages place additional financial cost and performance obligations on the seller.

FHA and VA insured mortgages prohibit buyers from paying certain types of fees that are often charged by escrow companies, lenders, settlement agents, etc,. These fees are called non-allowable fees. The fees still get charged but as the buyer, you are not allowed to pay for them. What results is that the seller ends up paying the fees instead of you.

Most of these non-allowable fees are charged by your lender. Before you make an offer you should have already been pre-qualified for financing by a loan officer. If you are buying a DFW For Sale By Owner Property or your DFW Realtor can ask how much the lender’s non-allowable fees will be. Experienced Realtors should also have an idea of what non-allowable fees will be charged by their preferred escrow company and title insurance company.

Since these are fees the seller would not usually pay on a sale with a conventional mortgage this information must be included in your written offer. Realize that since the seller will be paying these additional fees, they may be less negotiable on their price of their DFW Home for sale. You can have your Realtor search the powerful DFW MLS for property listings that advertize that the seller is willing to pay a certain amount of closing cost on the buyer’s behalf.

DFW Real Estate Location, Location, Location

Location – Community is Important
Before you can start your house hunting you need to choose what cities or communities you want to live in. There are several factors that you should pay attention to, not only for yourself, but because you will eventually need to sell the home to someone else. Choosing your community is the first step and most important step in "location, location, location" and can help maximize your future potential resale value.

Local Services
Check on the services provided by local government. Also look into local crime statistics and see how that city compares to the national averages and other nearby communities. Are fire stations located strategically around the community so that they also can respond quickly in an emergency? Go a step further and inquiry about community services. Does the community sponsor sports and have athletic facilities and parks? Are community events sponsored? Are there activities available for children, teenagers as well as for senior citizens? Your DFW Realtor will have amassed a wealth of information on these subjects and will be happy to talk about them.

Economic Stability
When searching for a community make sure you check to see that the city has a viable and stable economy. Ten, or fifteen years from now when you want to sell your home you can have a reasonable expectation that your community will still be a desirable place to live and give additional value to your home. In addition to residential areas there should be a mixture of commercial businesses and stores. These not only provide jobs to local residents, but also add an income source that the city can use to maintain roads and community services. You should go for a drive and see how well the community is maintained. Look to live in a city that demonstrates community pride.

Schools
Even if you do not have children pay attention to the local school system. When you sell the property, many potential buyers desire to live in areas with great school systems. Find out if the local schools are overcrowded. Drive around and see if there are auxiliary trailers outside of the local schools. Call the local school district and see if elementary aged children always attend the school closest to their home? Are there enough schools to support the local population? If not, are there plans to build new schools? How will building new schools affect local property taxes? There are also school reports available for free on the Internet.

Property Taxes
When searching DFW Homes For Sale note that property taxes may be higher in one city than in another nearby city. This could affect whether potential homebuyers view a community as a desirable place to live or not. Interestingly enough, they may choose to purchase in a community with higher taxes, because of the perceived value. Higher property taxes often mean newer and more modern schools, well-maintained roads, and many community services. Also, you will often find that the cost per square foot of homes is lower in cities that have higher property taxes. This means you can buy a bigger house for less money. Many DFW Realtors and prospective buyers have a bias against communities with higher property taxes. Regardless if you are going to sell your home as a DFW FSBO or have your Realtor put your home in the DFW MLS and resale value is important to you, make property taxes a consideration when choosing the location of your next home.

Making a Lowball Offer on a DFW Home

Many potential DFW homebuyers thing a good strategy for making their home offer is to make a lowball offer thinking and assuming that they make get lucky and get their offer accepted. They figure the worst case is that the seller will counter their lowball offer, maybe half way, and they will still save a ton of money. This is possible but the chances are slim to none, closer to none. Many times a seller will be offend by the lowball offer and simply reject it. Even if that buyer submits a higher offer, the seller won’t even look at it.

Here are 5 common lowball offer mistakes buyers and their agents routinely make:
Submitting a Lowball Offer Before Calling the Listing Agent First
The listing agent can, in most instances, provide valuable information about the seller and their circumstances that will help you to write the offer in such a manner that the seller will be likely to accept. If your DFW Realtor doesn't call the listing agent first, for all you know, that home might already have a contract pending on it. Also, always call to find out how many offers the agent has received, if any.
Submitting a Lowball Offer With a Low Earnest Deposit
Earnest money deposits generally vary anywhere from 1% to 5% of the sales price. If a buyer submits an offer way below list price and then sends a small earnest money deposit it makes the buyer appears as though they are not serious or committed to buying the property.
Submitting a Lowball Offer With A Letter of their Situation
Most sellers don't want to read a hardship letter from a buyer and don't usually care if a buyer has fallen in love with their home that they can’t afford. Banks are even less forgiving in these types of situations. Explaining to a seller that the buyer doesn't qualify to pay list price sends a signal that the buyer shouldn’t be making an offer on other home in the first place. It makes the buyer appear financially weak and uninformed.
Submitting a Lowball Offer With Non Accurate Comparable Sales
Unless the home is substantially overpriced, the listing agent has already given the seller a comparative market analysis to support the sales price before putting the home on the market. Sending the listing agent a list of sales from another area insults the agent's intelligence and put them on guard that you are unethical. This also shows that the buyer's agent does not know the values in the neighborhood or the surrounding properties The best way to handle this to get your professional DFW Realtor to run recent comparable using the local DFW MLS that could possibly show that prices have in that area. If your Realtor can find a few DFW listings will much lower prices this could help support your lowball offer.
Submitting a Lowball Offer Asking For Concessions
If it's not bad enough to anger the seller with a lowball offer but it makes the situation even worse if the buyer also ask for concessions like help with closing cost on top of an already low offer price. Some sellers are willing to give a cash credit to buyers, but generally they will refuse to do so on a lowball offer. There are better ways to get a low-ball offer accepted than with making these 5 mistakes.

DFW Home Foreclosure Opportunities

You have probably seen the infomercials that portray investing in foreclosed houses as a sure money making thing. Talking to people actually buying foreclosures they are saying that buying a foreclosed home to flip or rent out isn't an easy undertaking. As foreclosure inventory continues to rise it seem the purchase of a foreclosed home is timely but the typical deal comes with more problems than the average do it yourselfer can handle. With that said investing in a foreclosure can be rewarding if you're willing to do your homework.

Range of Discounts

How much of a discount you need to make a deal work depends on your goals for that property. The shorter the time you intend to hold a property the greater discount you will need. You should buy homes for 30% off market value if you plan to flip the property, and 10% if you intend to rent it out long term, it must cash flow though.

Buying Opportunities

Foreclosure Auctions: At a foreclosure auction, you buy the house "as is" and you might not be able to do more than look through the windows prior to the auction. There are no inspection periods for these types of properties. You could be bidding on a home that has been vandalized or that has severe deterred maintenance. Vacant homes may have water or mold damage. And the property may have legal challenges: liens, difficult-to-evict tenants or, in some states, a mandatory "redemption period" that gives the former owner time to try to get the home back.

REO: REO’s (Real Estate Owned) that lenders have bought back at auction, generally offer the easiest route for foreclosure purchases. With an REO, you won't become involved with a stressed homeowner facing foreclosure. Although an REO is likely to be sold "as is," you will have the right to an inspection, a title search and contingencies. Another advantage: You can finance the purchase with a conventional loan, assuming the home is habitable. However, the buyer of an REO is generally not likely to get as deep a discount as an investor in other kinds of foreclosures.

Due Diligence

It is a great time to by DFW real estate. It is a good idea to get a professional DFW Realtor on your side to represent your interest. Although they represent you the seller, in most cases, pays their commission, giving you more money to work with. Your DFW Realtor can help make sure you do not pay too much for your foreclosed property. They have access to the DFW MLS and can give you the sales prices of compare sales of similar properties. Some careful thought and a little faith and you will be on your way to owning a foreclosed home.

All About DFW Real Estate Listing Agreements

Most home sellers don’t know it but there is more than one choice when it comes to DFW real estate listing agreements. The best listing choice for you depends on your willingness and ability to handle some of the home selling duties and the real estate market conditions in your community.
Types of Listings
Open Listing
An open listing allows a home owner to sell their home themselves. It is a non-exclusive agreement. The owner may have an open listing with more than one real estate agent and only pay the agent who brings a willing and able buyer whose offer the owner(s) accepts. The difference is that an owner will probably pay only a selling agents commission, which is about half the amount of typical real estate fees. This is because the owner is not represented by a listing agent. In this case, the owner does not pay a agent to represent them, but they do pay the agent to represent the buyer. If the owner is able to find the buyer themselves then the owner will not owe a commission to anyone. Open listings are not popular with many DFW real estate agents as they are not guaranteed to be compensated for their efforts and expenses.
Exclusive Agency Listing
An exclusive agency listing has many similarities to an open listing arrangement. The most important difference is that the agent represents the owner. The owner still has the right to sell the property themselves and not pay a commission. The agent is free to cooperate with another agent, meaning the second agent could bring an able buyer whose offer the owner accepts. Typically, this agent will be paid a listing commission that is shared with the selling agent. In this case the owner pays both fees.
Exclusive Right-to-Sell Listing
An exclusive right-to-sell listing is the most common of the listing agreements. It gives the agent an exclusive right to earn a commission by representing the owner and finding a buyer, either directly or through another agent. The owner pays both the listing and selling agents’ commissions. The owner cannot sell the property themselves without paying a commission, unless an exception is noted in the listing agreement when it is executed.
Exception to the contract: Say, your next-door neighbor has expressed an interest in buying your house. Often a listing broker will give the seller a certain number of days to execute a contract with the neighbor without them owing a commission.
Other Things to Consider
• Length of Listing
The term of the listing agreement is negotiable. Common listing agreement are 90 days, six months to one year or more.
• Selling Commission
How much will you have pay in commissions to your DFW Realtor? When there is a lot of inventory on the DFW real estate market and few buyers, to generate traffic, you may want to consider paying the selling agent more than you would in a market where inventory is tight and a lot of buyers are going after fewer listings. For example, if the total commission is 6%, and the listing agentn wants to offer 2.5% to the selling office, you could insist on paying 3% instead. Make sure your Realtor put the commissions in the DFW MLS correctly.
• Cancellation of the Listing Agreement
Will your agent let you cancel your listing agreement? If the agent will agree to let you cancel at any time, then that agent is giving you a guarantee. In that instance, the duration of the listing agreement doesn't matter.
• Expiration of the Listing Agreement
If the listing agreement expires without an automatic renewal or if the parties decide to cancel the listing agreement, the listing agent may supply the owner with the list of names of prospective buyers the agent collected. If any of those buyers contact the owner within the time frame specified in the listing contract and they purchase the property, the owner would still owe a selling commission.

Worst DFW Real Estate Selling Mistakes

There is a right way and a wrong way to sell a DFW Home. Here are some of the wrong ways.

I Want to List it High Because I Know Someone Will Offer LessWhen a DFW home seller interviews a real estate agent it's easy for them to get caught up in the excitement of choosing a sales price. If they can get more money for the home, it means more financial opportunities for the homeowner. Maybe it means they can afford to buy a larger, more expensive home, pay off some bills or take a vacation. Unfortunately, uninformed sellers often choose the listing agent who tells them they will list it at the highest list price. This is, by far, the worst mistake a seller can make.

Establishing Value The reality is that it doesn't matter how much money you think your home is worth. The only person whose opinion really matters is the buyer who is going to make an offer, and of course, the appraiser. Pricing a house is part science and part art. It involves comparing similar houses in similar communities, making the necessary adjustments for the differences between them, charting market movements and measuring the amount of housing inventory, all of this in an attempt to help determine a range of value. This is the same method appraisers use to evaluates a house. No two appraisals are exactly the same; they are however, generally close to one another.

There is no hard and fast way to just stick a price on your home. Is the Price Too Low?Houses sell at a price a buyer is willing to pay and a seller is willing to take. If a house is priced too low the seller should expect to receive multiple offers and drive up the price up to the market value. There is not much danger in pricing a home under its actual value and your competition. The danger is in pricing it too high and haveing the house sit on the market for months.How It Starts To Go WrongThe seller of a home didn't interview her real estate agents. She pick the first agent off the Internet because, "He looked like a nice guy." The agent priced her house at $250k. After 90 days of sitting on the market, the listing expired.It Continues To Go WrongThe next agent she hired listed the house at $235k. Months passed and eventually she dropped the price to just under $220k, still no offers. A few people looked at the house, but no serious buyers came forward.More Than a Year LaterBy the time she hired the last agent list her house, the seller had grown exhausted and weary. It was now more than 12 months later. The seller and her agent then priced the home at $195k and it sold very quickly.

The sad part is that the comparable sales in the neighborhood fully justified a price of $220k, but the home had been on the market for too long at the wrong price, and now the market had slowed.Protect YourselfThe question is how much money expired listings cost the DFW real estate owner? The financial losses often exceeds the extra mortgage payments paid and goes beyond the cost or the hassle factor of trying to keep a home spotless during the listing period. It affects the value that a buyer ultimately chooses to pay because it is no longer a "fresh" listing. It's now stale, dated, a home that was overpriced for too long. Don't let it happen to you. Don't be that seller of an expired listing. Be sure to hire a professional DFW Realtor to price your house correctly from the beginning. Your Realtor has access to the powerful DFW MLS and can help you determine the best list price for your house.

Using Price Per-Square-Foot to Determine the Value of Your Dallas Home

It is possible that the price per square foot of a Dallas home could be falling while the total price of the home can go up. This can happen because the per-square-foot costs that you read about are based on one of two computations. To figure the price per-square-foot of the home, simply take the sales price and divide it by the total square footage of the finished, livable space. Example: take a 1,500-square-foot home that is listed for $150,000. The price per-square-foot is $100. Maybe the home across the street is 2,000 square feet, and it is listed at $185,000. The price per-square-foot of the larger home is $92.50. Which is a better buy? Let's take a look.

Average Per Square Foot vs Median Price

•• Average (mean) price per square foot

To arrive at the average per-square-foot cost of any home add the square foot cost of each home that has sold in any given neighborhood and dividing by the number of homes that sold. This will get you the average price per square foot.

•• Median price per square foot

The median price is known as the halfway point. It is the exact middle price point. It means that half the homes in any given community have sold above the median price and half have sold below the median price. It is many times used as a more accurate measure of a home's value. It is better than a mean price, especially when there are extremes highs and lows in pricing in that community. It too is not a clear picture on its own merits.

Per square-foot costs are often used in new construction projects. The square foot cost to rebuild your home should it burn down, if it is an older home, is going to usually be higher than the cost to buy it already built. It is generally not a good idea to base the purchase price of a home you are going to buy on either the median or the average per-square-foot costs. Each property is unique, it is not a one price fits all calculation. Home prices per-square-foot can vary greatly based on, condition, location, improvements and upgrades, among many other factors. The powerful DFW MLS system that Realtors use will list the price-per-square-foot right in the listing so that you can avoid these calculations.

So is it better to buy a smaller home at a higher per-square-foot or a larger home at a smaller per-square-foot cost? Well, it depends on the typical average square footage of homes in that particular community. I know that many buyers want to buy the largest home possible but it's not always the best financial choice.

How Can You Use the Price Per-Square-Foot Help to Determine a Dallas Homes Values?

The short answer when it come to Dallas real estate for sale: You really can't. You can't take the average price per-square-foot and multiply it times the square footage of the home you are thinking about buying. It doesn't work that way. The pricing per-square-foot simply gives you average or median ranges which shows you trends. Each value is different especially when you compare a recently renovated and upgraded home against a Dallas we buy houses type property.