Selling your home can be a daunting process. You will want to get the best price for your home, but it is easy to make bad choices that could stop this.

This month’s best real estate articles offer many great tips to help you navigate the sales process and deal with other property transaction problems. And if you want to buy a home, there’s advice this month to give you a competitive advantage.

The Best Tips to Sell Your Home

Best Real Estate Articles March 2024

Helpful Real Estate Articles For Buyers and Sellers

 

Bill Gassett uses his 38 years of real estate experience to give you time-tested help on what to know about co-signing a home loan. Bill gives you a complete overview of what the borrower and co-signed should expect when entering this agreement.

He discusses the legal and financial responsibilities involved. The article highlights the risks and benefits of co-signing, the differences between co-signers and co-borrowers, and how to mitigate potential issues.

Additionally, Bill does an excellent job of outlining alternatives to co-signing for a mortgage. His knowledge is helpful for those looking to assist someone with buying a home without taking on the co-signer’s liabilities.

If you are considering co-signing a mortgage in Massachusetts, check out this valuable advice.

Choosing Your Real Estate Agent

When it’s time to sell your home, your choice of real estate agent is all-important. If you choose the wrong agent, it could cost you a lot. If your agent doesn’t represent your interests as they should, your home could sell for less or remain unsold on the market for longer.

Luke Skar shows you how to avoid problems that will cause you more stress during an already stressful time. He also shows you how to research agents before you make your decision and the extra steps you might not have considered taking to ensure you have the best representation.

Some real estate agents might want you to agree to allow them to represent the buyer, but while they might offer lower charges, Luke advises against this type of agreement. If the agent represents the interests of both buyer and seller, how can you be sure you are getting the best advice?

Avoiding an agency agreement that could compromise the service provided is just one of the recommendations in this article. Before you hire an agent, check out this article for the right way to do it.

What are Escalation Clauses?

Buying a home in a competitive market isn’t easy. You might find your perfect home, only to be outbid by another buyer. Perhaps they offered more money or had a more attractive offer, but whatever the cause, it isn’t enjoyable.

There are options to make your bid more attractive and increase your chances of success. Bill Gassett reveals how an escalation clause can help your bid beat the competition.

Bill introduces you to escalation clauses and how they can help in some situations. However, there are potential pitfalls when using provisions like this, and Bill covers the mistakes that can be made.

An escalation clause allows you to increase your bid when you are outbid automatically. You can choose the incremental increases and the maximum bid you will pay for the home. This mechanism can keep you ahead of other buyers in bidding wars and makes the process easier.

Before you make an offer in a competitive market, reading this article could be the difference between buying the home you want or continuing your search.

What Happens After Your Offer Is Accepted?

It can be a long road before you accept an offer on a home you love. You might have visited more homes than you remember and had rejected offers, so once your offer is accepted, it feels like time to celebrate. However, you haven’t closed the deal yet, and things could still go wrong.

Kevin Vitali delves into what you need to know and do to keep your purchase on track. If you are unfamiliar with the process, many pitfalls could block your path before closing.

While you will have been preapproved for the mortgage, you need to buy the home; any changes in your credit before closing could become a problem. If you take on new credit or close an old account you never use, your lender might not be happy with the change. Even small changes to your credit score could seriously affect your mortgage application.

Maintaining your credit is just the first of 13 steps Kevin recommends to avoid closing delays. If you have had an offer accepted or expect this to happen soon, reading this article could help prevent you from making a stressful mistake.

Who Should Know About an Address Change?

When moving, one of the most vital tasks is changing your address with the post office. As soon as you know, your relocation is a certainty; this should be done. In the excellent resource at LinkedIn, you will see the process of changing addresses.

There is also a comprehensive overview of all the parties that should know about your move, such as the IRS, Social Security, doctors, insurance providers, utility companies, magazine subscriptions, etc.

You may miss vital mail if you don’t take this task seriously. This helpful resource provides all the actionable advice and tips.

Common Reasons Houses Don’t Sell

When selling a house, you want to get everything right. Unfortunately, for some sellers, that doesn’t always happen. When homes fail to sell, there are always common denominators.

Paul Sian does an excellent job shedding light on why homes fail to sell in some circumstances. He outlines the one all real estate agents preach about – pricing your home correctly from day one. Paul also talks about a lack of marketing, zero home sale preparation, and making showings challenging.

All of these things make the best real estate agents cringe. Paul provides actionable advice on each sub-topic on what to do instead. Follow his advice and tips, and you’ll return to the right track.

Financial Freedom Through Downsizing

While you might have strived to buy the most prominent home you could afford, there may come a time when that no longer fits your lifestyle. Downsizing allows you to match your home to your current situation better and free up equity.

In another month’s article from Kevin Vitali, you will learn why you should consider downsizing and its advantages. It could allow you to become mortgage-free and use the money saved to increase your investments.

Kevin provides examples of how homeowners have downsized and saved considerable money on taxes, utilities, and maintenance costs. Downsizing can also remove some of the stresses in your life, with fewer homeownership concerns.

If you have ever considered simplifying your life by downsizing your home, Kevin’s article carefully outlines how this could benefit you.

Should You Use an Online Home Valuation?

You might see the home valuation feature when looking at online listings on websites like Zillow and Redfin. While this feature can help give you an idea of your home’s worth, how accurate is it?

Kyle Hiscock investigates online home valuations and their usefulness. Online estimators use algorithms to attempt to give an accurate valuation of your home; however, there are many problems with this.

H explains how these online valuations work and what you must remember when using them. They provide a comparative market analysis to help you better understand what your home might be worth based on similar home sales.

Kyle warns that online estimators can only give sellers a starting point to understand the value of their home. They do not consider your home’s unique differences, which will alter the price it could sell for.

For these reasons, you need to be aware of the limitations of online services like this and the benefits of a valuation from a real estate agent or an appraiser.

Dealing with Inherited Property

If you have inherited a home but there are debts or other inheritors, you could face problems. Refinancing could be the answer if you want to buy out another estate heir or deal with debts.

Eric Jeanette outlines your refinancing options for a problematic inheritance situation. While it is often assumed that a cash-out refinance is the only choice, Eric explains that you have more options.

Eric highlights the importance of agreeing with the other inheritors and choosing the right lender. He walks you through the process and the decisions you must make when refinancing.

When you inherit a family home, it can cause arguments between the remaining family members. The death of a loved one is a difficult time anyway, and family disputes don’t help the situation. This article should help make things more explicit so that you can avoid many potential repercussions when dealing with an inherited property.

Attracting Multiple Potential Buyers to Your Home This Spring

In most markets, spring is the ideal time to list your home. Cooler climates mean homeowners are ready to list when spring rolls around and hope to sell before summer.

School is also the deciding factor in many spring listings. Homeowners want to sell and move into their new house over the summer before the next school year, so it behooves them to appeal to as many buyers as possible in the spring.

While we all know the general staging tips, several places in your home can be highlighted to appeal to multiple buyers during the spring, from focusing on outdoor living spaces to providing unique yet practical rooms and layouts.

Leron Grossman offers some great tips and additional points to consider before listing this spring. Have a look at his sound advice if you’re planning on selling.

What Happens to a Home When the Owner Passes Away?

One of the questions family members ask when a loved one is gravely ill is what happens to the house. Phil Long has written a helpful article and is equipped to handle this situation.

Whether they have immediate family or not, having a sole homeowner pass away can leave a big mess for whoever needs to straighten things out and deal with the home.

Life often presents us with challenges that leave us feeling lost and unsure how to proceed. One such situation is dealing with the aftermath of a loved one’s passing, especially when it involves managing a property like a home. Figuring out what to do with the house isn’t always straightforward, as it may not simply be a matter of following the instructions in a will.

Not everyone who passes away leaves behind a will; even if they do, it might not accurately reflect their wishes or legal standing. Additionally, surviving family members could believe the will’s contents should be questioned or disputed.

Final Thoughts

As we approach the most popular time of year for property transactions, more people are preparing to buy or sell, and these real estate articles for March should prove valuable. There are many things to consider when entering the property market, and getting the right advice will put you on the right track.

I hope you have enjoyed this month’s edition of the real estate roundup.

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Luke Skar About the author: the above roundup of the best articles from March 2024 was written by Luke Skar. Luke is a 20+ year veteran of the mortgage industry. He strives to stay updated with the latest changes and trends in mortgage lending and real estate.

Through his mortgage blog, websites, and social media accounts, he aims to help the community with as much factual knowledge as possible that benefits all parties in real estate transactions.