Real Estate Information Archive

No, this isn’t just another timely spooky story, although it just may have to do with ghosts!  Be you a believer or a scoffer, the fact is that there are pieces of Chester County PA real estate on the market which are purported to be haunted and thus are more difficult to sell.  Known as “stigmatized” properties, these houses have the reputation of being haunted or are the site of a previous violent crime--and the perception of ghosts and gore is not easy to erase.

So what to do?  First, make yourself (and your Realtor) familiar with state laws regarding disclosure. Contact the PA Real Estate Commission to see if you’re required to disclose information about the stigma attached to your Chester County PA being upfront about your home’s paranormal guests or ghoulish histories is always the best moral policy.  

Then what?  Pay attention the appearance of your property—inside and out.  To minimize any thoughts of ghosts, your home needs to look spirit-free and inviting on the outside. Avoid a dark, forbidding atmosphere by clearing away dead trees and hanging branches; replacing rusty iron gates with a white fence, and getting rid of unwanted residents like stray cats and spiders. On the inside, think warm, bright, and clutter-free. Doing away with darkness and gloom that could promote the idea of spirits may require removing outdated, musty furniture, antique rugs, old pictures of ancestors, and any other items that contribute to an “eerie atmosphere” so that you can alleviate any pre-conceived notions in potential buyers.

If you simply cannot dispel persistent beliefs about the “dark side” of your Chester County PA real estate, you may have to resort to bringing in a Ghostbuster.  David Frankin Farkas, owner of HouseHealing.com, makes a full-time living ridding properties of specters and/or negative energy.  Click here to find groups who will investigate paranormal

And finally, pricing your Chester County PA real estate to sell is another strategy you must consider.  By lowering your price 20-25%, you may make your property more attractive to potential buyers, especially investors.

Unfortunately, selling your Chester County PA home in the current real estate market can be both difficult and frustrating.  As much value as you may feel your home has, the current conditions might say differently. In this buyer’s market, accurate pricing of your home is imperative in getting your property sold quickly and for the best price possible. While this might sound simple enough, correctly pricing your property is far from easy and is a decision which requires time and effort on your part.  The following tips should help make the pricing process a smooth and beneficial one for you.

1. Do your research: It’s important to know what other homes in your area are selling for right now in order to get an idea of a price point for your own property, but you shouldn’t rely on that alone. An Automated Valuation Model, better known as an AVM, is a web-based technology that immediately generates home values based on data analysis of recent area comparable sales, tax assessments and price trends. Click here for free sites.
    
2. Find the right Realtor: Hiring the listing agent who quotes you the highest price isn’t always wise.  Interview at least 3 Realtors familiar with the area around your Chester County PA home and choose the agent who supports a suggested price with comparative market data. It is the job of your Realtor to know the current market and market trends inside and out, to be closely connected to the real estate market at large, and to be aware of other properties currently for sale in your particular neighborhood.
    
3. Cast emotions aside:   It’s important to remain as realistic and objective as possible when pricing your property. Although your home will most likely be invaluable to you, focus on the statistics from your research and on the advice given to you by your real estate agent for a satisfactory sale.
    
4. Avoid overpricing at the outset.  Because your property has the best chance of selling within its first seven weeks on the market, the longer it stays on the market, the less it will ultimately sell for.  In addition, you will lose out on savvy potential buyers who won’t even come by to look, and fewer knowledgeable Realtors will preview your Chester County PA home.  Lowering your price later will only result in delays and suspicions that something is wrong with the property.

There are many reasons to consider downsizing your present living quarters—retirement, an empty nest situation, financial pressures, a desire to have more free time, health conditions, etc.—but it is not a decision to be made without first doing extensive research, examining your finances, and evaluating the emotional impact of such a move.  As with any major change which affects your life, there are both pros and cons to be recognized and analyzed before taking—or not taking—the final step.  It is wise to consult a Realtor who specializes in downsizing and to read this article on the subject from Smart Money magazine as you investigate the possibility of leaving your Chester County PA home for a smaller residence.

Reasons to stay where you are might include:

• Needing the room you have in your current Chester County PA home for guests and visits from family, especially grandchildren!
• Being unable to part with so many treasured items or large furniture pieces
• Requiring a great deal of storage space
• Feeling comfortable in a large home where you have room to move around
• Belonging to a familiar neighborhood surrounded by friends
• Finding the task of packing and moving too daunting to consider
• Paying high HOA fees and living with restrictions in a condo or townhouse community.

Reasons to downsize include:

• Increasing your monthly cash flow.  Downsizing will result in a smaller mortgage payment; lower utility bills, maintenance costs, and property taxes; and less expensive insurance on your new home.
• Having extra free time once spent on cleaning, doing yard work, and maintaining a larger home.
• Enjoying an easier, less stressful lifestyle with fewer responsibilities.
• Moving to a neighborhood of like-minded individuals—a golf or tennis community, e.g.
• Planning ahead for unforeseen health problems and aging.

If, after weighing both the pros and cons, you decide to downsize your Chester County PA home, there are many sites on the Internet that can help you analyze your finances, estimate moving costs, deal with the emotional factor, and organize the downsizing process itself.  RISMedia offers five solid tips for efficiency, and About.com deals with market timing and when to sell your current home (answer: before you buy a smaller one!)

It is also helpful to personally talk with others who have downsized, Those who decided not to, a Realtor, and your accountant.  This is, after all, a major step in your life, and the more input you receive, the easier it will be to make an intelligent decision.

Yes, you realize that the economy is tough, and, yes, you’re well aware that it is a buyers’ market in the real estate world.  But your Chester County PA home has been for sale for a long time now, and similar houses in the area have been selling.  You’re asking what you consider a fair price for the property, and you allow your Realtor to have periodic open house showings, so what is going on?

Generally the problem lies in one of four areas:  price, condition, availability, and location.

• Price:  In today’s economy everyone is looking for a bargain. With access to so much information on the internet, buyers cannot be fooled because it is very easy for them to compare prices. Many people won’t even bother looking at a house if they believe it is overpriced. Therefore, you should make sure your Chester County PA home is not priced higher than similar homes on the market. However, if you are looking to sell your home quickly, you should set the price even lower than the competition.  For more help with pricing, visit RIS Media and Realtor.com
   
• Condition:  The condition of your home inside and out is critically important to making a sale. If your home doesn’t show well, a potential buyer is going to head elsewhere. Because most buyers are looking for a house they can move into without a ton of small repairs and cleanup, you should make any interior or exterior repairs on your Chester County PA home that may be noticeable. While some buyers may be willing to negotiate on the price when there are repairs that need to be done, there are many who are looking for a home with a “move in worry free” condition. Clean and de-clutter thoroughly, and eliminate all odors  For staging suggestions, go to About.Com
   
• Availability:   Getting as many people as possible to view your home is important. Too much restriction on viewing times will naturally lessen the chance of selling the house quickly. Also, restrictions on viewing times may make a buyer may feel that the seller is not flexible and would not be willing to negotiate on anything else.
   
• Location:  When it comes to buying a house location is everything. No matter how beautiful a home is, if it is in a bad location, it will be hard to sell.  To compensate for a bad location, you may reduce the price of your Chester County PA home substantially if it needs to be sold quickly. Click here for possible solutions to a location concern.

This article from Rismedia.com is great news for Chester County PA real estate:

Housing starts will nearly double and home prices will begin to rise in 2013, with prices increasing significantly in 2014.

Those rosy predictions come from a new semi-annual survey of 38 of the nation’s leading real estate economists and analysts by the Urban Land Institute’s Center for Capital Markets and Real Estate. The economists foresee broad improvements for the nation’s economy, real estate capital markets, real estate fundamentals and the housing industry through 2014, including:

• The national average home price is expected to stop declining this year, and then rise by 2 percent in 2013 and by 3.5 percent in 2014.;
• Vacancy rates are expected to drop in a range of between 1.2 and 3.7 percentage points for office, retail, and industrial properties and remain stable at low levels for apartments; while hotel occupancy rates will likely rise;
• Rents are expected to increase for all property types, with 2012 increases ranging from 0.8 percent for retail up to 5.0 percent for apartments.

These strong projections are based on a promising outlook for the overall economy. The survey results show the real gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to rise steadily from 2.5 percent this year to 3 percent in 2013 to 3.2 percent by 2014; the nation’s unemployment rate is expected to fall to 8.0 percent in 2012, 7.5 percent in 2013, and 6.9 percent by 2014; and the number of jobs created is expected to rise from an expected 2 million in 2012 to 2.5 million in 2013 to 2.75 million in 2014.

The improving economy, however, will likely lead to higher inflation and interest rates, which will raise the cost of borrowing for consumers and investors. For 2012, 2013 and 2014, inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is expected to be 2.4 percent, 2.8 percent and 3.0 percent, respectively; and ten-year treasury rates will rise along with inflation, with a rate of 2.4 percent projected for 2012, 3.1 percent for 2013, and 3.8 percent for 2014.

The survey, conducted during late February and early March, is a consensus view and reflects the median forecast for 26 economic indicators, including property transaction volumes and issuance of commercial mortgage-backed securities; property investment returns, vacancy rates and rents for several property sectors; and housing starts and home prices. Comparisons are made on a year-by-year basis from 2009, when the nation was in the throes of recession, through 2014.

While the ULI Real Estate Consensus Forecast suggests that economic growth will be steady rather than sporadic, it must be viewed within the context of numerous risk factors such as the continuing impact of Europe’s debt crisis; the impact of the upcoming presidential election in the U.S. and major elections overseas; and the complexities of tighter financial regulations in the U.S. and abroad, says ULI Chief Executive Officer Patrick L. Phillips. “While geopolitical and global economic events could change the forecast going forward, what we see in this survey is confidence that the U.S. real estate economy has weathered the brunt of the recent financial storm and is poised for significant improvement over the next three years. These results hold much promise for the real estate industry.”

A slight cooling trend in the apartment sector—the investors’ darling for the past two years—is seen in the survey results, with other property types projected to gain momentum over the next two years. By property type, total returns for institutional quality assets in 2012 are expected to be strongest for apartments, at 12.1 percent; followed by industrial, at 11.5 percent; office, at 10.8 percent; and retail, at 10 percent. By 2014, however, returns are expected to be strongest for office, at 10 percent, and industrial, at 10 percent; followed by apartments at 8.8 percent and retail at 8.5 percent.

The forecast predicts a modest increase in vacancy rates, from 5 percent this year to 5.1 percent in 2013 to 5.3 percent in 2014; and a decrease in rental growth rates, with rents expected to grow by 5 percent this year, and then moderate to a growth rate of 4.0 percent for 2013 and 3.8 percent by 2014. This may be indicative of supply catching up with demand.

For the housing industry, the survey results suggest that 2012 could mark the beginning of a turnaround—albeit a slow one. Single-family housing starts, which have been near record lows over the past three years, are projected to reach 500,000 in 2012, 660,000 in 2013, and 800,000 in 2014. The overhang of foreclosed properties in markets hit hardest by the housing collapse will continue to affect the housing recovery in those markets. However, in general, improved job prospects and strengthening consumer confidence will likely bring buyers back to the housing market.

In December of 2007, Congress signed into law the Mortgage Debt Relief Act to aid distressed homeowners.  Under regular circumstances, when a lender chooses to forgive all or part of a borrower’s debt, that amount is considered income and the borrower is liable to be taxed on it.  However, this law offers relief to the owner of Chester County PA real estate in that debts discharged through calendar year 2012 are not taxable.  Limited to primary residences only, the amount of forgiven mortgage debt allowed to be excluded from income tax is $2 million per year.  Debts reduced through mortgage restructuring as well as mortgage debts forgiven in connection with foreclosure qualify for this relief.

On the fence about selling your underwater Chester County PA real estate as a short sale?  Consider this: if your home isn’t sold before January 1, 2013, and you owe $50,000 more than its market value, you could realistically end up paying more than $12,000 in taxes in 2013 if you’re in the 25% tax bracket! Once you decide on going the short sale or foreclosure route—and remember, short sales often take a long time to sell--the first thing you need to do is to request that your lender officially and in writing  waive any deficiency connected with your Chester County PA real estate.  If this waiver is not granted, the lender has 20 years to obtain repayment from you via collection agencies, garnishments, and/or liens.

Because of the impending deadline and the length of time required for short sales and foreclosures, many real estate and financial gurus stress the importance of acting now to set wheels in motions.  They urge distressed owners of Chester County PA real estate to realize that there is no tax exclusion allowed on pending closings/foreclosures.  Only transactions completed by December 31, 2012, are eligible for income tax relief—and there are no indications that the current deadline will be extended!