How Long Will It Take To Sell Your Home?Written by Scott Riggsbee
How Long Will It Take To Sell Your Home? I am often asked how long it will take to sell a home in today's market. Many parts of country are generally enjoying a seller's market and have been for several years. Apart from obvious factors (e.g., homes in very high price ranges have fewer buyers than $300,000 homes), a word about economic reality is in order. We have all been taught that real equation in real estate is "location, location, location." This is utterly false. People actually live in Kansas! The real equation in real estate is price vs. condition. If your home is marketed effectively, (i.e., at least two dozen showings, and it's in best possible showing condition) you should get a favorable response in 1 to 3 weeks. By "favorable" I mean second showings, requests for additional information, or an actual offer. Unfortunately, most homeowners have been brainwashed into thinking that to get price they want, they must list their property for 10-15% above it's actual market value. While in actuality, they are actually hurting their chances of getting what their home is worth. Think about it for a second. Most buyers are actually using an agent to find that "perfect property". Any agent doing business, for any amount of time, has a very accurate knowledge of home values for each particular area and community. What is first step in that Buyer getting to your home for exposure? Their agent looking through MLS and finding your property in search results, is first step. Most agents, when they see a home that is 10-15% overpriced or more, alongside 7 or 8 others with comparable features, won't even set up showing. After weeks and weeks, with no bites or offers on your property, you have to make a price reduction to get it back to it's true market value. Now, because home was overpriced to begin with, this price change will seem pretty drastic to any agent looking through MLS, for their clients. At this point, only offers you will probably receive are going to be lower than your new reduced price. It's all about mindset. The Buyer sees a drastic price reduction, several weeks or months on market, and they think, "They NEED to sell. They'll take less."
| | Stopping Foreclosure with BankruptcyWritten by Jimmy Cox
Bankruptcy Will Stop Your Sale - At Least For Now For $395, you can stop your sale- at least that is what ads say. You are about to find out how bankruptcy can be good or very damaging.Bankruptcy will stop your foreclosure sale. It's a fact. However, filing bankruptcy for sole purpose of stopping foreclosure is not what bankruptcy is for. And anyone that does this to avoid foreclosure is in violation of bankruptcy laws. Here is some basic information on bankruptcy. What Is Bankruptcy? There are two types of bankruptcy, Chapter 7 and Chapter 13. Filing for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy means you are asking courts to completely discharge your debts. Filing for a Chapter 13 bankruptcy is when you set up a court- approved plan to repay your debts. Now, two types of bankruptcy: 1.Chapter 13: Chapter 13 bankruptcy is a repayment plan that will restructure your arrearage. More than 95% of all Ch. 13 bankruptcies filed fail. When you file Ch. 13, this will postpone your foreclosure sale until meeting of creditors also known as a 341 meeting. This usually takes place 60-90 days after you file. Also, when you file a Ch. 13, you are paying for 2 attorneys, your attorney to file and another to take payments and disperse money to creditors. At meeting, you will have to face your creditors. Many times this can be very intimidating. The bank will ask for their money or for judge to give them a relief of stay. The relief of stay is asking for foreclosure to continue. If granted attorney will re-start foreclosure process over with a set foreclosure sale date around 30-45 days later. IF you do not have some money for reinstatement for Mortgage Company or bank, judge will likely grant relief of stay. As you can see, bankruptcy will stop your sale, but it is only temporary. Now, you have to deal with foreclosure process all over again plus now your credit is in worse shape than before because you now have a filed bankruptcy that is showing up on your credit file. 2.Chapter 7 – A Ch. 7 bankruptcy is when you request complete debt relief. When you file a Ch. 7, you are trying to receive a discharge from all your debts that you list in your bankruptcy. If you get a discharge, this will relieve you of all your debts that are listed. Now, bank can still get a relief of stay with a Ch. 7 Bankruptcy. Even if you receive a discharge, bank can still take home through foreclosure. When you get a discharge this relieves you from debt and responsibilities of debt, however Mortgage is attached to your house as a protection for bank and their interest. Therefore, bank can foreclose even if you have received a Ch. 7 discharge.
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