With fears abound that the property market is going to grind to a complete stop it is unsurprising that many property sellers are attempting a wide range of tactics to aid them in selling their property. However if sales are to be rapidly pursued it is important to remain objective and sensible in terms of where to place investment. For instance there is little point in fitting a new kitchen or bathroom into a property if the site in question is experiencing subsidence or the roof is in tatters; in this case money would be better spent on correcting structural deficiencies rather than aesthetic ones.

Having a property in a good state of repair generally assists sellers in a number of ways. Firstly it makes the house or flat more attractive to buyers when listed on the internet or in local publications. Secondly, having a property in a good state of repair gives the seller a certain amount of protection from renegotiation on prices. For instance, having a well maintained property will decrease the ammunition for buyers, increasing the power of the seller in the exchange process. Most experts agree however that the most effective way to increase the sales price of a property is to add extra space, hence performing loft conversions and constructing extensions can be extremely rewarding financially.

In addition to adding space to a property here are some of the most commonly employed tactics to speed up sales.

The golden rule of selling property is to start with the exterior; the ‘curb appeal’ of a home is the first thing to be seen by buyers and like much of life, first impressions count for a lot. This can be done by making sure the gardens are well tended and ensuring the exterior paintwork is fresh and bright. Ultimately it is about improving the general look of a property, this may mean giving the windows a good clean or simply clearing litter from the street, nearly anything will help in improve the external appearance, so get those hands dirty and the sales offers will come rolling in.

In terms of the interior it is always advisable to imagine yourself as a buyer and enter their thinking process. This naturally means that the first area to tackle is the entrance hallway. The easiest part of improving this area is to de-clutter as much as possible; a hallway that is cramped and resembles a jumble sale rather than a room is unlikely to be popular with buyers. Additionally by ensuring it is well lit and free from any odours will make it as welcoming as popular.

The kitchen is seen by many buyers to be the most important room in the house. Improving the kitchen however can be expensive if you opt for the complete refit. This does not have to be the case however; there are ways to update a tired looking kitchen that will not break the bank. By giving worktops a new coat of varnish, by painting the cupboards or even changing the handles it is possible to create a kitchen that looks wholly new. The result will be faster sales and greater impressed buyers.

Hopefully this article has given an insight into ways to speed up property sales. In these times of financial slowdown it is increasingly important to utilise these sorts of tactics with gusto. Fundamentally it is about making a home as presentable as possible, using a bit of psychology to enter the buyer’s mind is also helpful in the process. If this advice is remembered property sales should be readily forthcoming.



Rent Back

There are times when in need of cash, you may have to go in for a quick sale of property. This may be prompted due to various reasons. Circumstances can range from financial problems, losses in business, inflation rate, divorce and costs of legal proceedings, to other emergency situations. It is then that your cash needs would require you to convert your immovables into liquid cash.

Liquidating your assets as in sale of your property is perhaps the best way to get hold of necessary cash, without having to pay high interest rates as in loans. The situation is critical when your bank balance does not have the required amount. And when the requirement for cash is not met even by reliable people around you such as family and friends, you may have to take recourse to other sources such as extracting monetary value of your property in the form of quick sale.

However, quick house sale can be a lengthy process because of the documentation required. What this means is, in short, a waste of a lot of time. It could take months to get hold of the amount when what you require is a few days. This problem can be sorted out by way of estate agents. They are the ones to look out for to get you that speedy service of a property sale. They have the experience and the expertise to help you out in any circumstance. Since they deal and negotiate on your behalf, you can save yourself a lot of hassles such as that of documentation.

Furthermore, quick sale of your property through the agents is a smooth affair. They would be ready to purchase your property in any circumstance, even when you are heading towards property repossession due to defaults on your loan or mortage repayments. Quick house sale can thus help you to smoothly meet your financial requirements in an emergency situation.



Sell and Rent Back

Selling and renting back your home is an extremely important decision so it is essential that you are well informed before you take action. The more information you have the more likely it is that you will make the best decision for you and your family. The aim of this article is to describe 4 factors that you need to consider before you choose a person or company to go with.

It is important you are comfortable with the person or Sale and Rent Back company you choose as it will be a long term relationship. The following four factors should be considered carefully before you make a final decision:

1. Long Term Security: you need to be sure that the company is willing and able to offer you long term security. Get this in writing within the Tenancy Agreement which should give you the option to renew your tenancy every 6 to 12 months as long as you adhere to your obligations (i.e. pay your rent and look after the property). Some will include an automatic renewal clause meaning that the tenancy will be renewed automatically unless you say otherwise.

2. Rent: you need to confirm the amount of rent you will be charged and also how often this rent is to be reviewed. It is normal for rent to be reviewed and raised in small amounts on an annual basis but this needs to be confirmed. An annual rise matching inflation, an annual rise matching the market rents in the area, or a fixed increase of 4 to 5% would be normal. You need to be confident that your new landlord will not raise rent unexpectedly or by a huge amount.

3. Purchase Price: It is obviously in your interests to get a good price for your property but be careful when a company offers full market value for your property (or near to it) and says you can also rent it back for the long term. They will not be able to do this and make money. They are therefore very likely to be lying and they will either lower the price they offer you at the last minute, give a price that is much below market value but they pretend is at market value or try and recover their costs some other way. It costs money to buy a house and rent it back so a company needs to buy at a discount even if they only want to break even.

4. Attitude & Trustworthiness: It is important you feel the person or company buying and renting back your property will have a caring and professional attitude towards you, their future tenants. They will be responsible for the maintenance and safety of your property for the long term so it is important that they take this seriously. Some companies spend all their effort on closing the deal but fail to meet their responsibilities as landlords. As well as getting everything in writing you should feel that you trust them.



Quick Property Sale

FSBO – For sale by Owners Property for sale by Owners – There are some circumstances that could spur people to come up with the decision to sell their homes. People find themselves in situations such as financial difficulties, extreme debt, divorce/separation or any other major turn in life that could make them think of selling their properties. In some cases, homeowners opt to take this action due to a repossession order. This situation can make them realize that it is necessary to free up the capital in their homes in order to pay their creditors back and get themselves out of difficulty before the courts act against them.

As is common practice nowadays homeowners usually employ the services of a real estate agent to sell their propery. But more and more people are looking at selling their homes directly themselves through FSBO sites. Selling properties through For Sale By Owners websites(FSBO) is now becoming a growing trend and is increasing in popularity. In recent years, the percentage of home sales via FSBO in the United States alone is around 12-15% while in Canada, it is higher at 20-25%. Home selling via FSBO is also beginning to gather momentum in the United Kingdom as it reaches the 10% mark of overall property sales..

Today, almost 75% of property buyers globally begin their search on FSBO websites. This increases the potential of selling properties faster without having to deal with realtors or estate agents abroad. Below are some of the benefits of selling your home on your own.

Benefts of selling your home through FSBO Huge Savings on Commission FSBO is a good way to save a huge amount of money as you can avoid the expensive real estate sales commissions. This saving can help you in price negotiation with potential buyers. The disadvantage of FSBO in this regard, as shown by surveys, is that some buyers feel that homes being sold by owners might be overpriced because they do not know the market. However this is a changing attitude as more people become aware of the advantages of selling privately.

Selling can be faster A buyer might not pay the asking price when they know you are using an agent agent because they realise that in some cases there could be a 5% commission involved which they could negotiate off the price of the property if dealing directly with the owner. Hence, they will naturally offer less. The choice is yours between accepting less, losing more equity or waiting for a buyer to pay the inflated price. However, none of these choices are desirable. Always remember that an overpriced home will stay on the market for a longer period of time and what’s worse is that buyers will think there is something wrong with the house and that is why it is still on sale.

Greater market immunity Selling by owner makes financial and practical sense in both buyers’ and sellers’ markets. Lots of similar homes are being sold and the competition is tight. FSBO gives a competitive advantage to that homeowner because they can afford to be more price-competitive than their neighbor who is listed with a real estate agent. The buyer will normally prefer the comparable property which is being offered for a lower cost. On the other hand, buyers’ demand for homes outstrips the supply. Therefore, it is not smart to pay a commission and sacrifice any portion of your equity. FSBO will enable you to retain the maximum amount of your hard-earned equity.

Convenience You are in control when you sell on your own property. You can set the schedule of your own appointments with potential buyers. You don’t have to rush into making your home spotless and clean just in case an agent decides to bring a client that day to show the property. With FSBO, you are completely aware when people are coming for a visit. Therefore, you can make the necessary preparations.

Less stress and frustration This will make you less stressed because you are in control and could act accordingly based on your schedule. You will also know how much effort you should give in selling your own home. Therefore, you will not be frustrated that the agent you contacted is not doing enough work.

Conveyancing Many agents argue that they offer the liaison between the buyer and seller and know the conveyancing route especially as in the UK the new HIPS (Home Information Packs) packages have been introduced. However, do not be fooled there are many independent HIPS agents that can offer you the same services for a set fee.

Best results Since you are the one personally handling potential buyers, you would easily know who are really interested. Being the owner of the home, you are the one who is very much aware of its features. Therefore, you know how to explain it best.

Disadvantages of selling your home through FSBO On the contrary, a homeowner should know that there is no perfect method in selling a home. There are also risks in FSBO.

One disadvantage is that a homeowner might sell with a price that’s too low. This, because the asking price is usually below market value. The aim of FSBOs is to attract buyers who are after bargains and an FSBO buyer usually thinks that he can negotiate for a much lower price because he is aware that there are no agents fees involved in the sales.

One other disadvantage of selling without an agent is that many direct sale transactions never close. Some of these deals are aborted because the buyers aren’t properly qualified for financing before they enter into a purchase contract as opposed to this, a good real estate agent will make sure that you won’t accept an offer from a buyer who isn’t qualified. If you know how to call for assistance especially when it is appropriate to do so, prequalification and pre-approval can be accomplished quickly. One reason why many FSBO deals have not become successful is that no experienced person is working to move the transaction along and resolve problems when they arise of which, negotiations are often involved.

Summary Given these facts, property for sale by owners (FSBO) is considered to be an easier option to sell a home as there is no real secret because the truth is that homes sell themselves. Present your home attractively, give your client a fair price, be consistent with your market, advertise it and then expect offers. It only takes enough knowledge, patience and a little bit of business acumen.

View our Property for sale by Owners page filled with properties for sale directly from owners across 60 countries worldwide.



Rent Back Fast

International Property is one of the easiest way for just about anyone to achieve financial wealth. Basically, people will agree that international property investing is a great business. Just as with any business opportunities, there must be a timeframe of due diligences. One must consider both the problems and the conclusions of prosecuting a business opportunity. There are many effects on the decision of which property to buy, either nationally or internationally. Property buyers are either short term investors seeking to buy and sell their international property abruptly to make a return on a increasing property market and long term investors, who wish to use the property as a second home and/or providing extra income from short or long term letting. The most prominent thing to visualize before purchasing a property is the profits from it. The benefit is the net yearly rental income as a comparison of the many international property purchase prices. To estimate this former to a purchase, search on the web for similar international properties for rent to calculate an idea of the rental income per week you will be able to achieve. From this value you will require to subtract allowances for rental service companies and also taxation on the income. It is habitual that you can offset all costs in running the international property against rental income received.

Take a conventional approximation on the number of weeks you will hypothetically be able to rent the international property demand. Just as you should with a international property investment, look for an area that is up and coming. If an international property investment which is demanding with popular prices will be high and your potential return lower. Once you have selected the region or town you want to purchase in, try to get some inside erudition from locals. They will help you find international property of your need that suits you.

Remember, potential international property hotspots are frequently found next to existing well -liked areas. Always, consider if the essentials of the area are right. Are there enough shops and restaurants nearby? Are the resources good enough? If you are aiming rental income from holiday makers, is the airport a acceptable distance away? And will they be able to enjoy the holiday home and the nearby resources without having to hire a car or rely gratuitous on public transport?

The number one deliberation for holiday makers is often the view from the international property. That’s what people are purchasing when they select your international property to stay in. Have a walk around the area and try to isolate potential development sites for the future, so you can see if any apartment blocks could be put up destroying your view.

Next up, a consideration that you hardly ever have to think about when you find international property in Dubai: what’s it like out of season? If the area becomes a ghost town during the summer and all the shops and restaurants close, that could affect the returns on your overseas investment.



Repossession

A professional property buyer can help you to make fast cash by arranging a quick house sale. Everyone wants the best price for their home and that’s why they sell through an estate agent. But it’s not always possible to wait for the time it takes to generate interest in the home for sale. When you sell through an estate agent, you probably won’t get the asking price, and you certainly won’t achieve a fast house sale. It can take months to sell you home once you have to deal with solicitors and estate agents.

Why Have A Quick House Sale?

There are several reasons why people think about making fast cash. Debt repayment is a common reason why homeowners may need fast cash. Credit card interest rates are high and store card rates may be even higher. If you’ve also got loans that you are struggling to repay, then you may wonder where you monthly salary is going. If you want to get rid of debt, then a fast house sale may be the answer.

A fast cash sale may be all that can help if lenders begin to threaten repossession. It’s easy to accrue mortgage arrears and if you and your lender can’t agree, then a quick house sale is probably the best way to make cash fast and avoid repossession.

Inheriting a property isn’t always a blessing; it can be a burden, especially if the property requires costly maintenance, decoration or renovation. If that’s the case, selling through an estate agent will be next to impossible. An alternative is to get in touch with St Genix Fast House Buyers. We won’t mind if the property doesn’t look its best. If you don’t want the property, we will offer you cash for it and you will have the money within four weeks.

How St Genix Can Help

If you’re looking to organise a quick property sale, then you may be able to change your financial and personal life. We’ve give some reason why you might want to sell, but the reasons don’t matter. Even if you have tried to sell your home through an estate agent, we can help you. We promise that with us you will sell your property fast.

With St Genix Fast House Buyers, you will benefit from:

Low legal fees

No payments to estate agents

A guaranteed, private fast cash sale

Cash in hand in four weeks



Rent Back Fast

A property chain break is one of the biggest causes of house sales falling through. However, now when a chain breaks or if you want to move chain free, there is something you can do about it thanks to house buying companies.

A chain break is a huge wasted effort and causes stress and frustration all round. When selling a property, you will often find your sale is part of a long property chain, where your sale is dependent on a number of others. While your sale may be proceeding normally, it takes just one sale further up or down the chain to stop or seriously delay yours.

Around 20% – 30% of property completions fail to happen. 150,000 house sales last year fell through because of gazumping. Sometimes these are just short delays caused by solicitors or mortgage lenders not being ready in time and everything can be brought back together in a week or two.

However, often it’s because one link in the chain pulls out, stalling all other sales in the chain until another buyer is secured. This process can easily take 3 – 4 months and often causes one or more of the links to withdraw from the market completely.

In the past, if your property chain broke, you had three options:

· Lose the property you were buying, wasting the time and money you have spent in the process.

· Take out an expensive bridging loan, risking further cash, hoping the chain can be fixed.

· Sitback and hope your vendor will be patient and is not needing to move quickly.

Now, however, when a house sale chain breaks, a house buying company can help you.

How can house buying companies help?

In short, house buying companies can buy your house, whether you or someone else in your chain has lost their buyer.

House buying companies service either removes you from the chain completely, or enables the whole chain to complete. Either way, it guarantees your sale and the cash to buy your next house.

How does it work?

It’s quite simple. To make an offer a house buying company will arrange for 3 agents to visit your property to carry out an appraisal on their behalf.

They will then endeavour to get an offer to you within 48 hours.

On accepting our offer, they will exchange contracts and complete on the day of your choosing subject to survey and clear legal title



Quick Property Sale

There are many theories about the origin of the word Dubai, some say this term was given to the region because it was considered a smaller version of a thriving market which name was “Daba”, other theories suggest that this particular word means money. Regardless of the word’s origin, the fact is that Dubai is a well known city due to its landmarks, wealth and architectural achievements which represent a great attraction to tourists and investors.

Dubai real estate market has blossomed in the past fifteen years due to implementations of one-of-a-kind projects such as “The Palm”, “The World” islands and “The Walk”, this fantastic place has earned the interest of the world’s wealthiest people, mid-size and small investors. Today, most of Dubai population is Asian by origin, has a population which covers 185 different nationalities and offers great returns on investment to more than five thousand companies.

When someone thinks about the United Arab Emirates the first thing that comes to mind is a hot desert area, which might not be a glamorous place to live in, but the truth is that Dubai has a multicultural and sophisticated society which lives up to international standards.

Due to its accelerated growth, property investments in Dubai have become a real goldmine to everyone who is willing to contribute and participate in all the wonders this place offers. Private sector investments are now calculated to surpass the 4000 million.

The success of Dubai property sales resides in the fact that the city is properly diversified and has what are referred to as “Free Zones” which offer incentives to investors such as: repartition of profits, complete foreign ownership, tax exemptions for Levi construction and extended leases.

A few Free Zones which have skyrocketed property investments in Dubai are: media and internet city, Jebel Ali free zone, gold and diamond park, etc. Dubai property sales have also attracted major financial institutions and insurance companies which are currently regulated by the UAE central bank and are restricted to have up to 8 branches per institution after meeting government regulations.

Other important factors which have skyrocketed property investments in Dubai are the fact that businesses can be established in 20 minutes in free zones, there are no income tax and corporate tax regulations which represent a huge advantage for investors, low cost work environment as well as low energy costs and a state-of-the-art city which could be considered the eighth world wonder!.



Repossession

It is important that you promote private property sales. This is because property is not always easy to sell. It is not like other commodities where anyone can buy at a reasonable price. Buying properties is an important decision for most people so it is important that as an owner you have enough exposure and patience to wait for the right buyer.

 

There are many avenues for you to sell house privately. You can have it advertised in the local newspaper or publications. In this way, people who are often buying the hard copy of the publications will see your private property sales. You can also advertise through a signage. You can place in your property For Sale sign and put the contact number as well. You can at least tell passers by that the property is also for disposal. Also, you can expose the private property sales by asking friends and relatives to find referrals and buyers for you. But nothing will beat the modern way of promoting private property sales than the use of the Internet.

 

When you advertise through local publications, you will only have chances of getting buyer within your area. Most likely, they would only inquire and see the house for themselves. Besides, if the local residents already have a house in which they live, it might be that they would have little chance of buying another property. If ever there are possible buyers, they will only be limited.

 

If you sell house privately and utilize the signage, you would only be limited to passers by. Again these would only have local or neighborhood exposure. It is not that there are not enough passers by who may be interested or that you need more people to buy the property. It just that since buying property is not easy, most likely those who show interest may not actually buy the property. They could also have no enough resources to buy the property at the onset. Limited exposure means slow chance of having the private property sales closed.

 

The same limit is true to referrals and friend’s contacts. If there is a person among your network who will be interested, then by all means it can be good as you have successfully sell house privately. But then again, if not, then you must have limited exposure not to get the right buyer for your private property sales.

 

If you directly utilize the Internet for promotion of your private property sales, you will surely receive lots of inquiries and even competition to get your property. When you sell house privately through online advertisement, you are entering the wide consumer networks where all kinds of people visit and search what they need. The Internet utilization will give you much exposure than the previous means of promoting the property for sale. It does not only target the locals, it also targets other people from other locations who may be interested in property ownership in your place. Plus, because there are different kinds of people who are utilizing the Internet, it is possible that you get buyers with enough resources and capability to pay in cash. It could also be people who will be satisfied with the specifications of your house.

 

Overall, the interne is a good medium to sell house privately. It will get you enough exposure one time. You don’t have to spend money separately on signage or local publications. You just have to pay online advertisement and get the promotions of the private property sales that you need. 



Quick House Sale

The legal framework regulating international property sales is set by the Italian Law together with international treaties. When there is a conflict between Italian and International laws, the latter will prevail.Art.51 of the Italian law n. 218 (31st of May 1995) states that a real estate conveyance will be regulated by the law of the place where the property is located.

The Rome Convention binding the all EU Member States (19th of June 1980) regulates the applicable law to contractual obligations. The signatories to a contract may choose the law applicable to the whole or a part only of the contract and select the court which will have jurisdiction over disputes. By mutual agreement they may change the law applicable to the contract at any time (principle of freedom of choice). 

If the parties have not made an explicit choice of applicable law, the contract is governed by the law of the country with which it is most closely connected, according to the principle of the proper law (place of habitual residence or place of central administration of the party performing the contract, principal place of business or place of business responsible for performing the contract). However, specific rules apply in the following case:

• Where the contract concerns immovable property, the law applicable by default is that of the country in which the property is situated.

As a consequence, when the property is located in Italy and the sale involves individual’s resident in Italy or in other States, the transaction will always be submitted to the legal requirements of the Italian law.

EC Regulation 44/2001 lays down rules governing the jurisdiction of the courts in civil and commercial matters. A judgment given in a Member State is to be recognised automatically, no special proceedings being necessary unless recognition is actually contested. According to this Regulation, in case of real estate transactions, the exclusive jurisdiction will belong to the Courts of the country where the property is located. As a natural consequence if the property is located in Italy the exclusive jurisdiction will belong to the Italian Courts. 

You should consider yourself and your transaction to be unique. Therefore, by all means listen to, but never rely on, anecdotal or other general advice – however well intentioned it may be – given by friends or other people who already own or are in the process of buying Italian properties. The saying goes that “the devil is in the detail” and here is just one of the countless examples where this is true. Italian town and country planning regulations can vary markedly from municipality to municipality, and this is also true for also other regulations affecting Italian properties. So, what is permitted for one property may not be allowed for an identical property in the same geographical area.

At the risk of sounding self-serving, from our experience we strongly urge that no-one should attempt to buy any Italian property by relying solely on the advice of a notary or an estate agent, without having all documents checked by bilingual specialists.



Real Estate Professionals