Found 73 blog entries tagged as selling your home.

Labor Day signals the end of summer, a return to school for the kids, and a welcome three-day weekend for most folks. It can also be a key date for Santa Cruz real estate.

If you have your home on the market, you may have heard that if your house hasn’t sold by Labor Day, you should take it off the market. While there is some truth to this persistent myth, the answer (as in many things real estate) is more complicated. Largely, it depends on your circumstances. 

Blessed with a home that you would like to sell and the Labor Day weekend, you may be wondering where the summer went and where your perfect buyer is hiding. While in some areas of the country summer is the time for home purchasing, the season extends well beyond the Labor Day cutoff in many…

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If you’re considering selling your Santa Cruz home, you may have heard rumors that there is a new tax going into effect in January, 2013. Here’s the rundown on what the tax really is – and isn’t. 

The new tax is called the ‘‘Unearned Income Medicare Contribution.” It is a 3.8 percent tax on the net investment income of high-income taxpayers. The tax will apply to those with an adjusted gross income of more than $200,000 ($250,000 for joint filers), with no indexing for inflation.

The Good News
Odds are that you will never pay this tax. 

Why You Most Likely Won’t Pay the New Tax
The tax will apply to capital gains, not sale proceeds. Because of the current exclusion of gains on home sales — up to $500,000 (joint) or $250,000 (single) on a primary…

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When it comes time to sell your house, you want to do everything possible to sell quickly and for top dollar. An aggressive marketing strategy can help drive showings and generate offers. However, potential buyers can become annoyed if Santa Cruz homes for sale don’t live up to their advertised images. Below are some common mistakes sellers make and how to avoid them.

• You don’t post any photos online. Almost all buyers start their searches for Santa Cruz homes for sale online. If you don’t have any photos, many buyers will skip your house entirely. Instead, ensure you at least take photos of the major rooms and outside front, and post them online.

• Your marketing photos don’t match the house. Nothing upsets buyers like deliberately deceptive…

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In these times of tighter controls on mortgages, making sure your Santa Cruz real estate appraises at an accurate value is crucial. Mortgages have fallen through because of low real estate appraisals.

Here are three tips to help you get an accurate appraisal on your home:

1. Give the Full Story – If you and your Santa Cruz real estate agent have done the research on comparable properties in the neighborhood, be sure to have your agent pass that information along to your appraiser. Also send along information about upgrades you’ve made on your home and amenities that might be overlooked. No one knows your home better than you do.

2. Stay Calm and Out of the Way – Having the sellers at his elbow during the appraisal can be distracting for the…

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If you’re putting your Santa Cruz home on the market, you know you want to make it irresistible to buyers. Here are five updates to consider:

1. Replace or paint garage doors. If you have an attached two-car garage, it is a very prominent feature of the front of your Santa Cruz home. You probably don’t even notice the garage doors anymore, but buyers will. If your garage doors are showing their age, consider painting or even replacing them for a new look.

2. Replace old windows. If your windows are single pane, this is a must. New double-pane windows will not only look great, they will increase the comfort and energy efficiency of your home significantly. In these energy-conscious times, buyers are not interested in a home with drafty old windows.

…

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If you are about to put your Santa Cruz home on the market, it’s worth investing some time and a small amount of money in staging. It not only helps your home sell faster, but it can also help you get a higher price for your home.

Here are six staging tips: 

1. Banish clutter – Removing excess clutter is the single most important thing you can do when staging your Santa Cruz home. Clean, open space will sell your home. Non-descript, non-threatening décor allows people to envision living in your home and putting their individual stamp on the place. Ogling your collection of troll dolls, no matter how much they may be worth, will interfere with this process. Consider putting excess possessions in storage and keeping out only what is absolutely…

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When it comes time to put your home on the market, you need to be prepared for the fact that you’ll be opening up your life to a whole lot of strangers. While most are actually interested in purchasing your Santa Cruz real estate, there could be a crook masquerading as a potential buyer looking to make a quick score at your open house.

Don’t fall victim to deceptive con artists! Look over the quick tips below to make sure you and your home are safe and protected:

1. Hire a licensed, reputable agent. Make sure you ask around for recommendations. Check with the state to make sure he or she is properly licensed and inquire with the better business bureau to see if there have been any complaints filed.

2. Double-check the lockbox. Reputable agents will…

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For the last few years, the news in the housing market has often been gloomy, but the tide is finally beginning to turn for buyers and sellers of Santa Cruz homes! The Pulsenomics LLC survey of 100 economists points to modest gains in home prices starting in 2013 -- and those gains will continue through 2016! 

Improving Real Estate Market

While some prices are still slated to drop in 2012, those losses will likely mark the bottom of the trough.  The tumultuous times in the real estate industry are, according to most economists, behind us.

Those tough times have left their mark, however. For instance, many former homeowners who have gone through foreclosure will find it difficult to return to homeownership because of the impact on their credit.…

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Setting the sales price for your Santa Cruz real estate is the most important factor to get it sold quickly and at a price you’re happy with. Why is it so important?

• A high price can turn people away. Pricing doesn't just influence how much money you’ll make off the sale of your Santa Cruz real estate, it also dictates whether buyers will even take the time to look at your home. Price your home too high and it could sit on the market for months until you lower your asking price. Identify your home's true value in today’s market, and set the price slightly under that price if you want to sell your home as quickly as possible.

• Your home’s appeal drastically decreases after the first two to three weeks of showings. The amount of traffic that a…

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Open houses take some work on your part in order to make them successful, but they’re worth the effort. According to the National Association of REALTORS®, almost 50 percent of buyers used open houses as a key part of their home search. Additionally, it allows you to pull large numbers of buyers inside to preview your Santa Cruz home for sale.

Here are three tips for getting tons of buyers to attend the next open house for your Santa Cruz home for sale:

1. Invite the neighbors. You might think you don't want neighbors coming to your open house. Actually, neighbors are a great way to find a buyer for your home. They might have a friend or coworker who is looking for a home, they already know everything about your neighborhood and they have a vested…

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