You are here: Home / Archives for February 2010

Buying and Selling Real Estate in a Slow Market

February 2, 2010 By Arthur Chatroo Leave a Comment

A slow market is usually identified by little or no activity going around in the market. Normally, real estate bubble bursts are followed by slow markets where sellers find themselves at the wrong end. Sellers are reluctant to sell at low prices (because they have purchased it at insanely high prices) while buyers are reluctant to buy at high prices (because the actual value of the property is less than what the seller is demanding). It results in lots of properties lying vacant for months; supply outstrips demand, which gives buyers an upper hand over the sellers. Eventually, sellers are forced to revise their pricing and buyers are in a strong position to negotiate.

Quite obviously, Buying in a slow market is not a problem; however, you are in for some real stress if you are the one, looking to sell your property in a slow market. If you are not in urgent need of money, you may think of delaying the sale, but even then you will have to incur carrying cost (e.g. utility bills, mortgage installments or property tax). You must start from realizing that you’ll have to compromise on your asking price. Irrespective of how much the property cost in the past, you must settle on a price which is in line with the current situation. In some cases, waiting too long for market recovery will result in unsustainable financial burdens, so it’s better to sell it out on give and take basis.

Apart from the compromise on prices, you’ll have to be a little creative when it comes to marketing your property for sale. Remember that there are thousands of properties lying vacant in the market; you need to make sure that your property stands out from those properties, one way or the other. In a market, where buyers are few and far between, you need to work extra hard to tempt these buyers. There is no need of getting desperate and setting a price too low, the best idea is to do a little research and watch out for the prices of properties which were sold in recent past. It will give you a good idea of what is the appropriate selling price for your property. You can also offer good commission rates to real estate agents to tempt them into selling your property sooner than the others. Take maximum advantage of the low cost or free advertising mediums such as online property portals or local newspapers.

 This is not intended as legal, technical, or tax advice. Please speak with a licensed professional before making any decision. Information is deemed reliable as of the date of writing, but is not guaranteed. The views expressed here are Arthur Chatroo’s personal views and do not reflect the views of Realty Experts.  This information is provided as a courtesy to our viewers to help them make informed decisions.
Filed Under: Real Estate Tips Tagged With: ,

Understanding Real Estate Deeds: Warranty Deeds, Grant Deeds, and Quit Claim Deeds

February 2, 2010 By Arthur Chatroo 2 Comments

One of the most basic advices, for anyone conducting business/trade with anybody else is to write down the agreement and have it signed with all of the concerned parties. It saves you from various complications and tricky situations in the future. A business agreement or contract illustrates the rights and obligations for both buyers and sellers, the terms and conditions described in the contract allows the signers to seek legal help, in case the other party has deceived them. In real estate transactions, contracts are even more important, for the reason that a routine real estate transaction involves huge amount. A real estate contract includes the credentials of the parties involved along with their signatures, exact information about the property in question and the purchasing price. However, a contract is not the only document which is needed to transfer the ownership, the document that transfers the ownership is known as deed.

Almost all deeds are the same in nature (all are used to transfer the ownership from seller to buyer) but the accompanying terms and conditions differ to some extent. There are three common types of real estate deeds, let’s read about each of them in detail. Remember that the word ‘Grantor’ denote seller while ‘Grantee’ stands for the buyer.

Warranty Deed:

Most common form of real estate deed is known as warranty deed. In this deed, the seller pledge that he/she has the absolute right to sell the property, that’s the reason it is also called the full covenant. Which means the grantor is providing specific warranties regarding the title of the property along with the ownership, itself.

Grant Deed:

It is more or less the same as Warranty deed; however in some cases it carries fewer guarantees as compared to the warranty deed. They are the most commonly used form of real estate deeds in a number of US states and even though the law doesn’t necessitate the notarization, people still certify it legally to be on the safe side.

Quit claim deed:

Quit claim deed (as the name suggests) is limited to transferring the ownership to another party, in other words the grantor quits his/her right over the property. A quit claim deed usually comes without any kind of warranties, the grantor just gives up his/her rights without guaranteeing anything about the accuracy of the title, which means a quit claim deed is relatively insecure one. Although, these are the three most commonly used deeds, there are other types of deeds like Tax deed or Gift deed, as well.

This is not intended as legal, technical, or tax advice. Please speak with a licensed professional before making any decision. Information is deemed reliable as of the date of writing, but is not guaranteed. The views expressed here are Arthur Chatroo’s personal views and do not reflect the views of Realty Experts.  This information is provided as a courtesy to our viewers to help them make informed decisions

Filed Under: Real Estate Tips Tagged With: , , , , ,

Do you use Twitter in your Real Estate Investing Business?

February 2, 2010 By Arthur Chatroo Leave a Comment

Technology has continuously advanced in a fast-paced manner and has totally revolutionized how businesses are conducted and how communication takes place. Looking back many years ago, people are forced to travel long distances by foot just to sell their services or goods. People used carrier pigeons just to get a message through to who lives thousands of miles away. But now, thanks to man’s limitless innovation, he was able to develop better of means of conducting business and getting in touch with countless people, just by sitting in front of a computer. Websites, blogs, and social networking sites are just but a few means of communication which the modern man can utilize. One such website is called Twitter. With Twitter, you need not wait the whole day or a number of days just to get information about a particular individual or subject. Not only that, you can actually address someone in real time through it. By utilizing this website, the frustration that people before used to go through just to be able to get an incomplete answer will no longer be an issue. Since tweets of most people are also informative, it provides fresh ideas and latest updates about real estate. Homeowners find it easy to look for reliable information over the internet.

Twitter is one remarkable social networking website wherein people can immediately obtain information just by simply browsing it, regardless if it is about a particular person, topic, business or whatnot. Looking at the business perspective, this is one reliable asset. Through Twitter, they will be able to better address the needs of their customers and employees in a short period of time, resulting in better customer service and eventually increased in sales. Furthermore, a company can get conveniently get feedback through this from dissatisfied customers and then be able to do something about it in a fast timeframe, preventing a negative feedback from escalating. This will then establish a better and healthy relationship between customer and company, bridging the gap caused by bad service or product.

Overall, utilizing the technology of social networking, particularly Twitter, can make a huge difference in one’s lifestyle and business. Being able to update people just by a few simple online navigation can mean better sales, results, customer service improvement and a better interactive relationship. This is really a great advancement in technology and we should utilize it for the prosperity of our business.

This is not intended as legal, technical, or tax advice. Please speak with a licensed professional before making any decision. Information is deemed reliable as of the date of writing, but is not guaranteed. The views expressed here are Arthur Chatroo’s personal views and do not reflect the views of Realty Experts.  This information is provided as a courtesy to our viewers to help them make informed decisions
Filed Under: Real Estate Tips Tagged With: ,