The housing market is still slowing down. There doesn’t seem to be a stop sign to the recession ahead. But recession or not, as a real estate investor, you’re still going to have to sell that house.

In the state that the housing market is in nowadays, people would consider it lucky enough when you’ve lowered the price just to hove sold the property. And you might be thinking: Is this the only way?

The answer is no. You can always sell it. Just sell it. No need to lower the price. Just sell it.

5 Tips In Selling the Property

1. Create a Listing That Is Credible and Great!

When you’ve got an agent who wants to scan the list of properties you have at hand, engaging his or her attention will be important. Catch their interest by taking charge of your MLS listing and making it look great! Don’t just depend on the real estate brokers to create the listing for you.

Most MLS listings can be very boring to look at. To capture the attention of your clients, make your listing more lively. Print pictures that display the appealing parts of your property. Make sure the pictures are clear and well-photoshopped. Take pictures of the property in its most desirable form.

2. Directional Signs

You have to make sure that your property can easily be located by your clients. Use lots of directional signs to avoid misunderstandings on the location. This is especially helpful for properties that are far from the main roads.

3. Put up a Professional Sign In Front.

You can give out a sense of credibility and professionalism through putting up a professional sign in front of your property. As much as possible, do not use cheap signs where you have to roll up your flyer. A sign that has an attached flyer holder will instead be preferable, making it easier for people to pull out your flier when they pass by.

You can also encourage interested prospects to take a peek in the house by putting up the flyer box on the stoop of the home. All you have to do is place an arrow with a “More Information” phrase on your sign to direct them into your house.

4. Not Just an Ordinary Flyer

Many people wouldn’t pay much attention to flyers. This is because almost all flyers are basically boring. Most investors would sometimes just print flyers in black and white. With a boring flyer, how could you possibly expect someone to notice it?

For starters, a flyer will catch a person’s attention if it’s in color. Lots of clear pictures will also add to the trick. Another concern about flyers is that they mostly focus on facts. Information alone won’t get a person to be interested in your property. Focus on showing pictures of your property in the fliers. Remember, you’re selling the house.

5. Give that “Push”

Most sellers would be contented by having prospects take a look at the property and leaving them to make up their minds. This, though, will not be enough to make that sale.

Many prospective buyers are actually already ready to buy a house. They’re just not sure which house. In order for that house to be your house, you have to give the seller a little push to consider your property.

Always be ready with a contract. Try to get the buyer to leave you a deposit check, even if it is refundable. You never know he or she might really go along with buying the property. Get as much commitment as you can.

In real estate, contracts are a must. But what can sometimes be surprising is that despite the fact that it is a common requirement for deals and investments, only a little of it is understood. Nevertheless, it doesn’t matter if you’re beginner or an expert in real estate investing. You have to be equipped with contracts when working on your deals.

As real estate contracts are based on common law principles, it is naturally important that real estate investors understand the general flow of contract law: offer, counteroffer, and then acceptance. Although there are some differences in the contract law of each state, generally all contracts come down to a center point: mutual agreement between the parties.

Basically, the contract is initially drafted and serves as the “offer.” If the seller wants to add to the contract (another condition or a clause), then the seller is making his counteroffer. If the seller agrees to the terms of the contract, then there is “acceptance.” The result would be a mutual agreement between the two parties, making the contract binding.

Unilateral and Bilateral Contracts

A real estate contract can either be unilateral or bilateral depending on the kind of deal you’re making. If you are involved with a sales deal, for example, the contract would have to be bilateral. This means that it’s a two-way agreement wherein the seller agrees to sell and the buyer agrees to buy. The bilateral contract is most often used in real estate, since almost all the deals require the assent of both parties.

If you’re involved with options, however, a unilateral agreement is appropriate since in this kind of deal the seller is obligated to sell but the buyer is not obligated to buy.

Basic Requirements Of a Contract

Each state has its own standards and criteria for the real estate contracts. But all contracts more or less have most legal requirements in common.

Written and In Print: Verbal agreement is not enough when it comes to real estate deals. Real estate contracts have to be in writing for it to be enforceable.

Identification of Both Parties: The contract must clearly state the identification of both parties. It may not be really legally required, but full names and middle initials helps to avoid possible mistaken identities or misunderstandings.

The Property: The property to be sold and bought should of course be written down, along with a legal description and location.

Purchase Price: The purchase price of the property must also be written in the contract. If the purchase price has not yet been determined, you can state a reasonably ascertainable figure in the contract.

Mutual Assent: Mutual agreement is the most important criteria in a contract to be binding. This is especially important as almost all real estate contracts are bilateral and can only be enforced with both the parties’ agreement.

Signatures: For the contract to be enforceable, it has to be signed by both parties. The law requires both parties signing to be of legal sound and mind, of course. A facsimile signature is acceptable as long as it is stated in the contract that facsimile signatures are valid.

Consideration: Consideration is what induces a promise. It is something of value or interest bargained for in exchange of the property. It binds a contract and makes the contract enforceable. The amount won’t really matter, as long as there is a consideration. Money is the most common form of consideration, but another property, a promise to perform, or something else in value is acceptable.

You may have noticed that despite your efforts in improving your advertising campaign may not always produce good results in bringing you prospective buyers for your property. This isn’t really surprising. Advertisements — fliers, posters, etc. — do not guarantee to bring you buyers. Which is why you would have to put effort in personally engaging in many real estate transactions. One of which is research that would focus on finding signs of a motivated or prospective buyer.

This is not to say, of course, that you discard any advertising. Your advertisements and marketing strategies are still the gateways for you to find out if there are interested buyers out there for you. Efforts put in advertising and campaigns would not go to waste once the prospective buyers know of you.

The main thing to remember when you do your advertisements is to target your specific market. If it would be a waste of time and effort, and not to mention more costly, if you direct your ads to just anyone without even thinking if they are the people that you are looking for. When done properly, your ads will pay off and it is the prospective buyers themselves who will be coming to you, not you to them!

A proper strategy for advertising and marketing yourself would definitely be a factor in looking for prospective buyers. Flyers, brochures, and TV ads are still being used, but the most popular type of strategy employed by many real estate investors today is direct mailing campaigns. This type of marketing effort will allow you to directly narrow down prospective buyers and at the same time it is cost-efficient (see Direct Mailing Campaigns). Another marketing strategy of favored by many successful real estate investors is marketing themselves and their expertise online.

Putting Yourself In Your Buyer’s Shoes

One effective way to know how to meet a prospective buyer’s expectations in a property is to be one, or at least just think of yourself as one. Put yourself in the shoes of a buyer who wants a residential home. Then ask yourself what a residential home should have enough for you to want to buy it. Most usually, it would go down to three things:

• stability
• comfort
• accessible

The property has to be stable and well-repaired. No buyer would want a run-down property, or a house that looks like it can just go down the drain any minute. Check the property to make sure it meets your expectations (posing as a buyer) and make changes when needed.

Everyone also wants to own a house wherein they are comfortable. This would involve a proper staging and design from you. Keep the rehabbing simple and do not either overdo or underdo in the renovations.

Last is that the property has to be accessible for the buyer. A property in a good and clean neighborhood is a “yes.” Nobody would want a property standing solitary in a dark area.

With these three as your starting points, you will be able to find out what your property lacks and what not to put in the property. Always remember to be more customer-centered, meaning that you should put yourself in a buyer’s prospective to know what your property needs to be bought.

When selling a home after buying it, your primary focus would be how much your profit would be in the sale. So naturally you would want to raise the resale value of the house. In raising the resale value of the house, you look into the improvements you can make to make the raise possible.

You’re probably wondering what repairs and improvements to make that would surely increase the home’s resale value. The first part of the home that you should look into improving should be the kitchen! Nothing is more dramatic and noticeable to a buyer than a kitchen renovation.

Why the kitchen? The kitchen is like the social centerpoint of every family. This is where families get together and socialize with one another or with guests. It’s the one room wherein family members can completely gather around everyday!

So how do we start with the kitchen renovation? Here are some of the starting points:

Cabinets and Storage

Cabinets actually set the tone of mood of your kitchen. They determine how organized the workspace will be and will provide a clean look to the room. Closed storage is preferred; no glass doors or open shelves. Adding a little design (not too much; leave some designing for the buyers) and some fixtures can also liven things up.

Cabinets and storage are one of the biggest investment in a kitchen renovation, but they the most dividends.

Countertops

Countertops made of granite or marble are now popular because of their strength and aesthetic appearance.

Appliances

A fridge, a stove, and a dishwasher ought to do the trick! With these three already in the room, anyone can say that the kitchen is modernly redesigned already. Now if you opt for the appliances to be high-end and stainless-steel, not to mention energy-efficient, then your kitchen will definitely be seen as upgraded.

When looking for an alternative for a stainless steel finish, white remains the most popular. It exudes a clean and fresh feeling to the room. A white finish also costs less and can be as good as the stainless steel finish.

Flooring

What’s for the floor? What is popular right now is having light-tone wood and mahogany finishes, or bamboo or hardwood. These look great with white cabinets. If you’re worried about the tiles getting easily worn out and you’ve got heavy traffic in the kitchen, you can opt for oversized ceramic (or slate and limestone) floor tiles. Sheet vinyl flooring is a lower priced alternative. These two are definitely preferable to the peel-and-stick tiles.

Lighting

Last but not least is the lighting in the kitchen. You’ll need three types of lighting: ambient, task, and accent lighting. Ambient lighting is used to cast over a general illumination around the room. Task lighting is used when doing chores like cooking. Accent lighting is used to create an attractive focal point in the room.

With the housing market still a little unstable and adjusting to the current economy of the country, grounded investing principles are needed and are more important then ever. Over time, real estate investors have gone on to making their own tactics in making their investments. Some would buy properties at full retail value and make a profit by flipping the property. Others get stuck with properties they paid too much for and undervalued.

The simplest and most common advice to avoid predicaments such as these would be to go back to the basics of buying and investing right.

When someone comes to you and tells you that you should buy a particular house or property, the first thing you should ask that person is why that property would be a great investment. Even before that, you should have already formed your own perception of what a great investment is.

Many people perceive a great investment as something that would make them money in the future. There is a little problem with this perception and that is that an investment that may generate some profit has the probability that it also might not. Ideally, if you’re going to invest in something, you make sure that you will generate a profit. And to make this happens, you have to redefine your perception of a great investment.

A great investment, to many successful real estate investors, is something that will be able to generate profit at the present time that you made that investment. We all know what we are looking for in every investment, and that is profit and money. Having these two in mind, you cannot just stick to an investment that may or may not give you these.

How do you know if a deal is a great investment? The answer is simply to go back to the basics.

Going Back To the Real Estate Basics

The basics of real estate investing, like any other basic studies, is actually simple. All you need to do is follow three steps:

1. Make sure to know the value of the property. It could be the appraisal value or the after repair value or the market value. Learn the recent appraisals that the sellers can give.

2. Make an estimate of the expenditures you’re going to make for the repairs.

3. Decide on how much you’re willing to invest. Decide on how much you think a property is worth and don’t just take into account the seller’s price or the banker’s. It’s your investment, after all.

Once you’ve finished setting up your limits and considerations, it is time to ask yourself two questions:

• If I pay cash on this deal, what is the most I will pay?
• If I can buy the property by keeping the existing financing in place, what is the most I will pay?

These two questions will certainly keep you out of financial loss and enable you to make a profit. It would then be up to you how you negotiate and play the deal. Always stick to your limits and maximums.

These are the basics — simple yet effective.

Real estate investing can be tricky, and there are sellers who can be skeptic on real estate investors. Just like any other business, credibility is also important in real estate investing. Sellers want to be assured that the real estate investor handling his or her property can really do what he says he can do with the property.

Here are some tips on how to build credibility with the sellers:

• Be punctual

As much as possible, stick to the schedule. Be on time in meeting with your seller and in making plans for the property. Being late can put a mark on you that you might be late for anything! Sellers may think that you might not be able to sell the property quickly, or that you cannot be trusted to keep a steady and organized pace in your business.

• Dress For Success!

It’s sometimes a good idea for a real estate investor to dress up casually. But, in general, this will make it feel like you and the seller are on the same ground. As the real estate investor, you have to show him that you know how the business works more than he or she does. A seller will feel more reassured if he or she can see that you are confident that you can solve whatever problem they have with selling the property.

• Have Proof Of Your Credibility

As proof of the many deals they’ve done and the success they’ve had with them, many real estate investors take pictures of the properties they’ve bought and sold. Others take testimonials from their past clients. These are proof that they have done a good job in the past and will not fail in their present and future projects.

Don’t forget that in presenting these, you have to bring out the benefits that these bring to the seller. Present yourself in a way that the seller knows he made the right choice of selecting you to help out with his or her property. Make it less about you and your company. Remember that you are trying to reassure the seller that you can do what needs to be done.

• Get Testimonials

As explained above, testimonials are helpful to build credibility. Testimonials are proof that you can do what is required of you. They show that your past clients had faith in you and were satisfied with your work.

Try to get a testimonial from every single seller that you can. Before the closing of your real estate deals, kindly ask the sellers to write down their assessment of how you did with the deal. If you want to publish their testimonials on your website or public journals, ask for their permission first. You can also ask if they can be reached by the public in case a potential seller inquires about you and how you did on their deal.

• Join the Better Business Bureau

The Better Business Bureau well-known for its credibility in regulating businesses in the country. To be a part of the Better Business Bureau is to assure the sellers that you are also a credible source of help with their properties. Let it be known to every one of your professional contacts that you are a member of the Better Business Bureau!

To be better known that you are indeed a part of the Better Business Bureau, include their logo on you business cards and your letters to the sellers. When the sellers see this, they are assured that you can be trusted to do a deal. This also gives them a little ground control on how you do with the deal; they have the option to complain about you to the bureau if you have not reached their expectations.

• Honesty and Trust

Don’t lie. This is a rule you must not violate, for the consequences can be your downfall in the business. True, you might not have the experience and you may still be a beginner, but that does not give you the assumption that you can tell the sellers that you know all there is to know about investing in a property. Once the seller knows that you lied, then there is no more trust between the two of you. Trust is very important between a seller and a real estate investor if they are to work together.

It is not just among the sellers that you will be in trouble with when you are caught lying. Your image and reputation among the real estate investors will also be ruined.

To build credibility with the sellers, and among your fellow real estate investors, will definitely result to more leads. More leads mean more deals. This will obviously lead to your success in the real estate market.

Many real estate beginners usually start their careers using the traditional method of buying a property then selling it for a profit. In these situations, they usually have to borrow money from banks and money lenders to invest in the property. You probably thought that there was no way to start real estate investing without having to pay much. But there is: real estate options.

Problems of Real Estate Beginners

We all started at the bottom so we know how a beginner would feel when starting his or her career in real estate investing. Most of us had little or no cash when we started. Some even had full or poor credit! Finance and funding are always the first problems that a beginner feels pressed to solve. He or she might not be able to afford the properties he or she picked.

Real estate beginners also have this fear of lack of experience. There’s also the nagging thought that he or she doesn’t have enough knowledge on real estate, or that he or she doesn’t know how to find deals.

These problems had already been addressed. In finding deals, all you need to do is brush up on your marketing skills and learn how to promote yourself. Learn tactics on how you can get people to come to you. Get referrals. Learn through the tactics of the real estate investors before you.

Regarding lack of experience, didn’t we all feel that at first. The best thing to do would be to educate yourself and continuously and constantly learn about the market. Even the most successful real estate investors nowadays still educate themselves and observe what goes on in the different niches of real estate.

Regarding the lack of cash, there are banks and hard or private money lenders that you can borrow money from.

There is an alternative, however, to real estate investing without these many problems and disadvantages. With real estate options, you can do real estate investing in a simple and inexpensive way!

The Advantages of Real Estate Options

With real estate options, you are given the exclusive right to control a real estate property without buying or owning it. And on the period of your option, no one else can buy or sell the property! Your option has to be satisfied first.

What does this exactly mean?

This “exclusive right” means that you have control of the property, and that, while you are really not the owner, you have the right of an owner. No one but you has the right to buy or sell the property without satisfying your option. It is you who either sells the property, or the option.

Another advantage of the real estate options involves the finance and funding of the investment. With options, you are not going to be the one to handle the property expenditures and holding costs. You’re not the owner, after all (you only have the right of an owner). It is the owner who will pay for these expenditures.

Regarding the money needed to get an option on a property, there is also only little cause for worry. Real estate options deals are low-risk in a way that you can negotiate a 90-day option of a $100,000 for as little as $10! Yes, you read it right: $10.

This’ll all boil down to how well you can market yourself to the homeowners that they would agree that you option their property. One way you can get them to agree to a real estate option is that you show them a pool of eager buyers who can readily buy their property. Having a pool of buyers ready can prove to the homeowners that you can sell the property quickly.

Using options on real estate also doesn’t require you to have a license! And the last advantage or a real estate option is that you can do it with almost any type or property. Single residential homes are the most common properties used with options, but you can also use options with land, commercial properties, and apartment buildings.