1) Buyer Agency
A buyer agent owes all his/her agent fiducary duties to their buyer, which include; accounting, full disclosure, confidentiality and loyalty. They owe honesty and fairness to the vendor. Therefore, any agent other than the one agent who listed your home is a buyer agent (including all other agents that work for the same real estate company as your listing agent).

Before a buyer puts an offer in on your home, the buyer agent will inform their buyer of:

a) the price you paid for the house (found on computer registry sales)
b) what improvements or changes you have made to the property since you moved in, c) the sale price of all other homes on your street or in your neighborhood that compare to your home.

Note: Most buyers go through 30-40 homes before they make an offer on a home. Most buyers today, are very well informed about the real estate market and it's prices.

2) Home Inspections
Home inspections usually take 2-3 hours & are attended by a qualified home inspector, the buyers and the buyer agent. The costs range from $240.00 - $375.00 including tax.

a) You will be expected to repair or pay for most minor problems such as leaky taps, wrong fuses in the panel etc.
b) If there are major repairs, such as a roof, furnace, whole new electrical system that are required, you can expect the buyer agent to come back and re-negotiate the already accepted offer price.

3) Survey
A building lot location plan or survey will show the house foundation on the lot. It may or may not show the additions or alterations such as a deck, swimming pool, sheds etc. They are signed and dated by a qualified surveyor.

Have No Survey! The price of a new survey will run $800 - $1000 including tax (in town). Title Insurance is an alternative for the buyer to purchase. It costs $250-$400 and will provide assurance to the lending institution that the house is on the property. Note: If you have no survey or your survey is too old to be acceptable to the lending institution, you may be asked to pay for a new survey or contribute to the cost of a new survey.

4) Mortgage Penalty
Example: You are being transferred to a new city after only 3 years of living in your home. You know the prices are much higher in the new city, so you have decided to rent for a year to become familiar with the area and your new job. Your current mortgage has a five-year term. You will pay a penalty...to the bank!

Total Discharge of a mortgage gives the lending institution 2 options:

a) 3 months interest penalty (Quick calculations will be 3 times your monthly mortgage payment...less a little bit!)
b) Interest Differential This is the difference between the current interest rate, which the bank could lend the new money, and the interest rate on your mortgage documents. Example: If the current rates were 7% and the interest rate on your mortgage was 9 1/2%...there would be a difference of 2.5%. 2.5% x amount of your mortgage x the remaining months till maturity x mortgage factor = penalty

5) Condition of Home vs. Price
* The more features you have in your home...the higher the price you should expect.
* The better the lot & location....the higher the price.
* Prepare your home for sale before any buyers go through it. Don't plan on doing your cleanup and repairs once it is on the market. Both the agents and the buyers will remember it from their first visit!

6) Marketing:
* Price It Right...no more than 2-3% of Current Market Value
* Strategic Planning! (don't just slap a sign up & pray!)
* Hotline
* Web sites
* Buyer Programs
* Other Realtors
* Newspapers
* Magazines
* Database marketing

Advice:

1) Choose your agent first...then your price!
2) Choose an agent who is a strong negotiator and a good marketer. (less than 10% of homes are sold by the listing agent!)

FREE

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