Immobilienmakler Digital

Role of a Real Estate lawyer

First your lawyer will send you a letter outlining what documentation he or she may need from you. Since you will likely be paying at least $1300 plus for legal services, I think it’s important that you know what your lawyer will be doing for you! Below is some detailed information on the role of a real estate lawyer and on what you need to do when working with your lawyer and securing a mortgage. Don’t wait to higher a lawyer just before you taking position of your new purchase, make sure you interview them way before your closing date.

Your Real Estate lawyer should advise you what expenses you’re likely to incur with respect to the closing procedures, including:

Land Transfer Tax

disbursements

legal fees

property tax

If you’ve bought a new home from a builder, the Real Estate lawyer can give you an educated estimate as to how much you should budget for „hidden charges“ such as:

Ontario New Home Warranty Enrolment Fee

Hydro and Water meter installation charges

Fencing charges

Grading Deposit charges

many others

If all the conditions in the Agreement have been met and the Offer is firm, the lawyer proceeds to investigate the title to the property. Initials searches include:

utility searches

property tax searches

building, zoning and planning searches

registered title searches

Letters are sent by your lawyer:

to all municipal or regional utility departments to confirm that there are no arrears or outstanding charges

to ensure there are no conditional sales contracts, easements or unregistered agreements, liens

to discover other encumbrances affecting the property or equipment being left by the Seller

Easements are a big issue and cases are always being written up in the newspapers and real estate journals, about buyers who didn’t realize they weren’t allowed to put up fencing or create a parking space because the property survey they were working from didn’t actually show the City’s rights to access the property. Your lawyer’s job is to make sure all this is disclosed to you. Your lawyer will also advise the utility departments of your name and the scheduled closing date, and request that final meter readings be done on the closing date so the final bills can be sent to the Seller.

A Tax Certificate is requested by your solicitor to verify the amount of the current year’s taxes and to ask about any arrears and outstanding charges for taxes. Your lawyer will also write to the Building and Zoning Department to get the full particulars of zoning by-laws and restrictions and permitted uses (so you’ll know if you’re allowed to operate a business from your home or build a huge deck, for example). It’s important that you send your lawyer a copy of the survey for the property as soon as possible – if the Seller has a survey, I’ll get it for you if it’s not already included in the offer documents. If no survey exists, tell your lawyer so he/she can advise how your interests can be protected through Title Insurance.

A Search of Title to the property is begun in the Land Registry Office to make sure the Seller is the true owner of the property, has the right to sell you the property, and that the property is not subject to any encumbrances, encroachments, easements, liens, agreements or mortgages that were not disclosed in the Agreement or Purchase and Sale. You may have heard of fraud cases where people’s homes were sold out from under them by con artists who had no title to the land! This is where your lawyer really earns his fees. This search has to be completed prior to the Requisition Date (title search date) shown on your Agreement of Purchase and Sale.

Other important functions of your lawyer include:

Carry out a search of Executions in the appropriate Sheriff’s Office to ensure that there are no executions against the prior owners of the property that would affect your title.

Prepare and deliver a letter to the Seller’s lawyer requesting that any items revealed in the initial searches be dealt with on or before closing.

Review the contents of the Mortgage Commitment letter your bank will prepare when you arrange your financing, and consult with you about the results of signing it.

Advise you of any closing-day costs related to mortgage financing when your financial institution provides you with a final Mortgage Commitment Letter.

If your lawyer is also acting on behalf of the financial institution (it often happens), he/she will prepare all necessary documentation for the mortgage and submit this package to the financial institution for approval prior to closing:

– Certify title of the property to the financial institution on closing.

– Advise you about any government programs designed to assist home buyers that would apply to you, including Land Transfer Tax Rebate programs, Ontario Home Ownership Savings Plans, RRSP plans, and CMHC 5% Down Payment information.

– Let your insurance broker know the name, address, phone number and fax number of both your lawyer and of the financial institution providing your mortgage. Your lawyer needs a letter confirming that insurance coverage is in place effective on closing – this is super important because the bank will not advance the $ to close your purchase until they know that you have property insurance.

Immobilienmakler Heidelberg

Makler Heidelberg

Real estate investing is all about perception. Your perception of where the market is going, in conjunction with where it’s actually going. The aim, as always is to buy low and sell high.

You want to buy a cheap tract of dirt and sell it as a high priced piece of developed real estate, after it’s appreciated enough to turn a tidy profit. Selling the property is an art in and of itself.

Buying an initial tract of dirt lends itself to some solid, rational guidelines:

First, look at trend lines for housing prices in your area. While most housing markets are in decline (and the housing markets in Florida and California are adjusting from more than a decade of over-valuation), there are markets where the housing prices are going up. This is a decent leading indicator that there’s a market for expansion.

Second, look for job related news. Home purchases require a steady source of income. New employers moving into a city, or a government branch office opening up are a strong indicator that good, well paying jobs are likely to come up. Where well paying jobs roost, home purchases follow.

Related to this, talk to your local city planning office. Are there recent purchases of „right of ways“ to lay down sewer lines? Is the local telephone cable making plans to run out fiber optic lines – a „must have“ trend in new home construction. These things point to areas where home growth is immanent. Other big tip offs are school bond issues (found in your local news paper) and new parks being opened up.

Before you look at the land, check out the adjacent commercial real estate usage. Look for „family friendly“ or „residential friendly“ commercial properties: Houses that are close to grocery and clothes shopping tend to fetch a higher price than ones that are farther away. If there’s a movie theater nearby, or plans for an elementary or middle school, factor that into the size of the homes you build, and what their amenities will be; buyers looking for those features are looking for „mover upper“ homes – with a bit more floor space, and two (or three) bedrooms for the kids. Other spots to look for are anchor stores, like Wal-Mart and Best Buy. These companies spend millions on surveys of purchasing patterns before buying a store location; if they’re buying a plot of land, you’ve got about a year to a year and a half window to look into nearby real estate for single family residential and rental residential properties.

You can even flip this on its side – if you can talk to a group of commercial real estate investors, building a shopping center as the nucleus for home development is also a viable combined strategy. This also applies to highly urban areas. Many downtown areas that have been abandoned by businesses can be converted to apartment buildings, and some of the older housing projects are being torn down for mixed-use spaces with combined commercial and residential areas. In particular, you can often get block grants to help with the financing on projects like this, and there are programs from HUD that can help out a great deal with „urban renovations“.

Another source to investigate is the demographics in your area. Look at the US Census figures (and local county figures) for median age, and median birth rate per capita. You want to invest in areas where the population is growing already. High skews in the ’40s and ’50s indicate that you’ve got a bunch of people who are going to retire soon, and retirees are highly prone to selling properties off. Places to watch carefully are most of the urban parts of California, and great swaths of the rural Midwest, where demographic trends have been changing entire towns since the 1950s as the country’s population has shifted to urban areas.

If there’s a local planning council, or urban development council, make it a point to get the minutes of all the meetings from the past year. The city council offices will have them on file as a matter of public record. Also try to get into the next range of meetings as an observer. Discuss with the city and county managers where they see housing and construction trends moving. What you’re looking for is real estate that will be desirable in two to three years; look at road planning atlases, and look for all the data you can find. Also look for real estate that will be scenic – lake front property is as close to a guaranteed bet as you can get in real estate investing, particularly if there’s a lake that’s at the „far end“ of a development axis. Likewise, if there’s land that the city council is looking to acquire for parks, buying the adjacent lots now means you’ll be able to sell them later.

Lastly, talk to the professionals in your communities. Talk to architects who can tell you if they’re busy or not. Maintain professional contacts with engineers, bankers and attorneys. They will usually know about projects well before the general public. Also make a habit of reading the local newspaper’s business section. Often times, the first clue that a business may move in to your area is buried at the bottom of a column on page 8.

Using the guidelines suggested above will help you to find „sleeper“ raw land properties. These „sleeper“ properties are perfect for the buy low, sell high strategy used by successful commercial real estate investors.

Immobilienmakler Heidelberg

Makler Heidelberg

To install or not to install?

This question is at the forefront of debates concerning the management of nursing homes. At present, the issue of whether or not to put security cameras in nursing homes and where these should be placed is extremely controversial and is far from resolved.

Merits of Installing Security Cameras in Nursing Homes

The most important argument in favor of security cameras is their deterrent value against abuse and substandard care. These security cameras have been given the moniker „granny cams“ and are said to be a positive step in reducing the potential for elderly abuse. Experts believe that granny cameras could singlehandedly restore public confidence in nursing homes because they give family members instant access to recently stored footage. They can, thus, closely monitor the well-being of their parents or grandparents.

Security cameras retail for at least $630 and may go up as high as $1,590. On top of this, there is a $20 monthly fee for accessing the server and another $10 monthly to upload images via a data-only line.

Drawbacks of Installing Security Cameras in Nursing Homes

Not surprisingly, the strongest opposition to the use of granny cams comes from the industry itself. Nursing-home operators and staff consider video surveillance a needless invasion of privacy. They fear that security cameras would make it so much harder to retain good staff and attract new ones. Moreover, they believe that use of security cameras will compromise a patient’s dignity, particularly when bathroom and bathing activities are filmed and then reviewed by security. Another argument used is the additional expense. After all, a nursing home would need not just one, but several, security cameras distributed in strategic places throughout the nursing home.

The Debate Continues

While not trifling, however, the costs of purchasing the equipment and the installation expense are comparable to the cost of updating housekeeping, food, or recreation services. This means that the purchase and installation of security cameras should be treated as necessary an overhead cost as staff salaries, for example.

Additionally, experts believe that security cameras help nursing home operators minimize their legal responsibility should an employee or a nursing home resident be found guilty of abusive behavior. By having digitally captured evidence on hand, nursing home owners can thereby reduce unnecessary and groundless litigation.

At present, a dozen state legislatures are actively considering passing the granny-cam legislation. Existing laws mandate that an operator must inform the staff ahead of time of the presence of cameras and their respective placements. Otherwise, video surveillance may be considered illegal. There are no law expressly prohibit the use of security cameras. What prevents their wide use, however, are practical barriers in the form of pricing and vehement opposition from the nursing-home industry.

So, to install or not to install security cameras?

Nursing-home operators vehemently answer „no“ while experts openly advocate their mandatory use. If you are a nursing-home owner, the added institutional cost would mostly likely make you cringe. If you are one of the many in search of a nursing home for a loved one, your answer to this question should dictate your choice of nursing homes. However, do not make it your only consideration. Check the facility’s history of deficiencies and citations from formal regulatory inspections.

It will be very difficult for this controversy to be resolved speedily because it is an issue that hits too close to home. It simply is not possible to put a price on safety, or negotiate dignity.

Immobilienmakler Heidelberg

Makler Heidelberg

Title and Author: The 7 Golden Rules of Milton Hershey by Greg Rothman

Synopsis of Content:

This little book recounts the failures and remarkable success of Milton Hershey, founder of the Hershey Chocolate Company and Hershey, Pennsylvania. He was born into a poor family and his father was a failure at everything he tried. He received a fourth grade education. Hershey made multiple attempts in business, mostly in the confectionary trade, and all of them failed. He attempted to open a candy factory, store or both in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Denver, Chicago, New Orleans, New York City, and back again to Pennsylvania. For years success eluded him.

Finally he did find success after a great deal of experimentation and dogged persistence. Eventually he built the largest candy empire in the world. He founded a city named after himself and a school to train poor children. Hershey chocolate became a household name throughout the world.

Hershey did develop Seven Golden Rules that he believed were essential to success. Those rules are here explained by Rothman and given more contemporary names. They include:

1. Thinking Outside the Box

2. Perseverance

3. Hard Work

4. Take Risks

5. Take Care of Your Workers

6. Give to Live

7. Your Life is Your Legacy

These rules will come as no surprise to those who study success minded people throughout history. They echo the same principles of success claimed by most successful people.

Readability/Writing Quality:

This is a very easy book to read. It is small, only 43 pages long, but packed with insight and a fascinating story of the king of chocolate and the secrets to success he found.

Notes on Author:

Greg Rothman is a noted and successful realtor in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Three Great Ideas You Can Use:

1. Perseverance: if there is one golden rule of success from Hershey it is the underestimated power of persistence. Hershey met one failure after another in seven different American cities before he found success. He tried different types of candy, different processes and different packaging. In time he mastered a milk chocolate recipe that not only appealed to the masses but also was easy to manufacture in bulk and had a good shelf life. It took many „failures“ before he found that success.

2. Hershey was a firm believer in hard work. He found that he could accomplish his goals only through hard work and observed the same of those around him. But he also enjoyed working hard. If you enjoy your work it goes more easily and you are able and willing to work hard. If you love your work it rarely seems hard and you can devote as much time to it as you wish.

3. Hershey believed in taking risks. His risks were calculated, and with more maturity and experience became increasingly calculated. He did not advocate reckless risk taking. However he recognized from his own life lessons that big rewards do not come to those who will not take a risk.

Publication Information:

The 7 Golden Rules of Milton Hershey by Greg Rothman.

Copyright: 2005 Executive Books.

General Rating: Good

Immobilienmakler Heidelberg

Makler Heidelberg

Buying a home is a big step in your life and should be a very exciting time. Unfortunately, many individuals rush into buying a home with out considering the implications is has on their future. If you’re considering making the move to own it’s important you weigh all the options, and consider what if anything will affect the feasibility of you’re purchase. If this is you’re first time in the housing market consider the following before you make your big move.

1. Get Your Finances in Order

   Have a lot of debt racked up? If thats the case, you may want to play catch up before you even think about buying a home. Bad credit is bad news for those who want a buy a new home. In most cases you will need to get a mortgage before you buy and this means your credit will be under scrutiny. Start getting acquainted with your credit score and begin fix the problems well before you apply for a mortgage.

2. Think about the Future

   If you have a job or other obligation that may require you to move or travel for extended periods of time you want to think twice about rushing into the housing market. Buying a house is a commitment that will tie you down to a particular location for at least a few years. It’s not easy or economically feasible to pack up and sell your home at the drop of a hat.

3. Educate Your Self

   As a first time home buyer one of the worst thing you can do is go into the market unprepared. Familiarizing your self with words and phrases that are used will allow you to better comprehend the market. A better understanding of the home buying process will enable you to make a well educated decision when it comes to you’re final purchase. Entering the market blindly can turn you’re home buying dreams into a nightmare.

4. Be Rational

   We all want to live in the home of our dreams. Unfortunately, like most things in life, the housing market must be approached from the bottom up? Renting is the start of the home owners journey. With your dream home serving as the final destination you will most likely need to take a few stops on the way there. The logical step is to buy a house you can afford not one that lands you in economic turmoil. Consider your first home an investment that you can improve upon over time. Once the home is improved you can sell it and bring yourself one step closer to your dream home. Buying out of your league can be a huge problem so set a budget and find a home within your means.

5. Ask For Help

   Don’t be determined to have a go at it alone. Buying a home is a complicated process and sometimes it really helps to have someone walk you through it step by step. Agents are more than willing to help you look through home listing, find what your looking for, and ultimately take you from start to finish.

Immobilienmakler Heidelberg

Makler Heidelberg

1) How much of a Down Payment do I need to come up with?

In the recent past, people used to think 20% down was necessary to qualify for a home loan or to have a reasonable mortgage payment. For the most part, this is no longer the case. There are many types of mortgage programs that allow for low down payment options or no down payment in some cases. You also don’t have to be a first time home buyer to qualify for these programs either.

FHA Loans are one of the most popular types of mortgages applied for in today’s market, this is mainly because of low down payment options and the flexible qualifying requirements. Without down payment assistance, you just need a minimum of 3.5% down. A lot of people think FHA is strictly for first time home buyers, but that is not true. it’s a government-backed home loan, but they don’t require you to be a first time home buyer. FHA stands for Federal Housing Administration.

Conventional Loans have been gaining a lot of traction over the last few years and will soon replace the FHA loan program as the most popular loan product on the market. Conventional loans allow for a minimum down payment as low as 3% down and also allows for several creative ways to buy out the monthly PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance). This strategy helps reduce the monthly payments while increasing your buying power.

Minimum Down Payment requirements for each loan type below:

VA Loans – No Down Payment required

USDA Loans – No Down Payment required

FHA Loans – Minimum 3.5% Down Payment required

Conventional Loans – Minimum 3% Down Payment required

You can use gift funds for any of the programs listed above. Also, If you are a first time home buyer be sure to ask your loan consultant if you qualify for any down payment assistance program.

2) What Credit Score do I need to qualify for a Mortgage?

Aside from income verification, one of the biggest determining factors in qualifying for a mortgage is your credit score. The higher the credit score the better your chances will be in qualifying. When a mortgage company or bank checks your credit for a mortgage application they will pull what is known as a tri-merge. That is when a credit report is combined with data and individual scores from the 3 major credit bureaus. Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. The middle of the 3 scores will be used to determine your qualifying score. Ideally, you want to have a middle credit score of 680 or above. In most cases, the higher your credit score is, the better your rate and terms will be as well.

There are minimum credit score requirements for every loan program, but to ensure you get qualified for the most competitive terms it is important that you do everything you can to learn how to increase and improve your credit.

Below are the minimum credit score requirements for each loan program:

VA Loans – 620 (some lenders may allow for as low as 580+)

USDA Loans – 620

FHA Loans – 580

Conventional – 620

3) What are the Income Requirements and Guidelines for a Mortgage?

Proving your ability to repay the loan is one of the most important requirements in the qualifying process. That is why showing sufficient and consistent income documentation is crucial when going through the pre-approval or qualification process. If you are a W2 employee and paid a salary then the verification process is fairly simple. However, can be more difficult for people that receive and/or rely on commissions, bonuses, overtime, etc. For borrowers that are self-employed and/or receive a 1099 it can be even more difficult and complex especially since you can have a lot more write-offs and deductions when you’re self-employed.

First and foremost you need a 2-year work history to even qualify using any income source. However, for full-time hourly or salaried employees that doesn’t mean you have to be at the same company or industry for 2 years. That used to be a requirement but not anymore unless the lender/bank has their own overlay. If you receive and want to use commission, bonus, overtime or other types of income then you have to show a minimum of a 2-year history and the bank/lender will use a 24 month average for qualifying purposes. Self-Employed borrowers are now able to qualify with 12-24 months bank statements for certain nontraditional (non-QM) loan programs.

Qualifying Income Sources:

* Full-Time W2 Income/Salary

* Income from Part-Time Jobs (must be at the job for a minimum of 1-2 years in some cases)

* Income from a second full or part-time job

* Overtime, Commissions, Bonuses (must average over 24 months)

* Seasonal (must prove 2-3 years consistency)

* Self-Employed Income

* Bank Statements (12-24 months)

* Permanent Disability

* Retirement/Pension

* Child Support/Alimony (Sufficient documentation required)

* Asset Depletion

What are the Required Documents Needed?

There are specific required documents needed that your loan consultant will request in order to process your loan approval. You should at least have the below list of documentation readily available and be ready to provide more depending on your particular situation.

* Complete Federal Personal and/or Corporate Tax Returns for the past 2 years (ALL SCHEDULES)

* W2’s for the past 2 years

* 1 Month worth of Pay Stubs

* Bank Statements (may need anywhere from 2-24 months)

* Retirement/Pension and/or Social Security Award Letters

* Disability Award Letter

* Divorce Decree

* Business License

* Asset Documentation

Immobilienmakler Heidelberg

Makler Heidelberg

If you are going to buy your first home, you may be excited as well as nervous. This process can be full of complexities. Therefore, you may want to be properly prepared in order to make sure that you buy the best home to satisfy your needs. Given below are some common mistakes that you may want to make during this adventure.

1. Not doing Proper Research

First of all, you may want to understand the needs and finances of your family. For this purpose, you may want to analyze your assets and liabilities. Once you are approved for finance, you can go ahead and start your search for the right house. You should be familiar with your neighborhood as well. Make sure that your neighborhood has quality schools, transport facilities, and other amenities.

2. Opting for the Wrong Mortgage

Before you look for the best house, you should be in the best position to negotiate. Make sure you choose your finance package after proper research. You may also want to use the services of an independent finance broker in addition to your bank. These institutions have access to a lot of finance products and lenders.

3. Waiting too Long

There is no doubt that the prices of real estate properties continue to fluctuate based on the rule of demand and supply. However, if you just keep waiting for the prices to come down, you are putting the future of your family at risk.

So, what you need to do is set your budget considering your future needs. This will help you buy the right house at the right time.

4. Crossing your Budget Limit

It is not a good idea to go beyond your budget limit. You may want to go for a property that can satisfy your budget. Even if you like a house, you should only go for it if it falls in your price range. After all, you don’t want to get in trouble down the road.

All of us want a little more than we can actually afford. So, no matter what your real estate agent suggests, you should never be tempted. Spending more than what you can afford can put you in financial trouble in the near future.

5. Falling in Love

If you have found a house that you have fallen in love with, make sure the seller’s agent does not get even a hint of it. Typically, agents are very smart, which is why they can read your emotions. If you cannot afford a house that you just love, don’t just pay more than what you can afford. You can find a better alternative at the right price.

Long story short, you may want to avoid these 5 mistakes if you are looking to purchase your first home. By avoiding these common mistakes, it will be easier for you to get the right house at the right price. Hopefully, these steps will help you get the best deal without making costly mistakes.

Immobilienmakler Heidelberg

Makler Heidelberg

This subject gets pondered a lot, by both buyers and sellers. I want to address it, but I want to disclose upfront that I am a realtor, so my perspective will be somewhat biased.

If you are purchasing a new home, I would always, ALWAYS recommend using the services of a realtor. First of all, and this may be your most important reason, you do not pay for any of the services provided. That’s because the realtors on both sides of the transaction are paid by the seller as part of their Listing Fee.

Beyond any economic reasons, however, a realtor will have access to every property for sale that is listed on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) for your area. Simply by providing a few details about what you are looking for and where, a realtor can literally make hundreds of homes available to you for your review (depending on how specific your parameters are). That gives you the chance to review the list from the comfort of your home and weed out those properties that don’t suit your needs. If any questions are raised during your research, your realtor will be the one to track down the answers for you..

When you have narrowed down your selection and have chosen properties you’d actually like to visit, working with a realtor is key. Most sellers that list their home, do so in order to make sure that their home is being shown to „real“ buyers being accompanied by a licensed real estate professional. For convenience, most listings provide for a lockbox or Sentrilock box for secure access to the home. Obtaining the lockbox code will be impossible unless you are a licensed realtor. Homes that are being sold by the owner (FSBO’s) are a different matter and I will get into that later in this post.

The buying process includes a number of steps that a realtor can not only facilitate, but expedite, as well. Once a buyer has decided on a property, the realtor can prepare your offer documents (contracts, addenda, disclosures, etc.) for your signature and present them to the seller. One your offer is accepted, your realtor can guide you through the process to a successful close of escrow. This will include having the home inspected, the attorney review of the contracts and the processing of your mortgage financing. If a buyer doesn’t have access to an attorney, lender or home inspector, a realtor will be able to provide references for those services.

Your realtor can also provide significant help in the negotiating process. They know the current market and can tell you whether the home is priced accordingly. They will also be able to assess the market value of the home based on its condition or any upgrades the seller has made.

From a buyer’s perspective, it only makes sense to utilize the services of a professional as you search for your dream home. This is especially true when you consider that you pay no fee for those services.

As a seller, the decision becomes a bit more complicated. Many sellers are discovering that the market value of their home is not as much as they had hoped and they have to sharpen their pencils in order to break even. When you consider a realtor may charge a listing fee of anywhere from 4-6%, the list of costs to sell your home, after the payoff of your mortgage, can make that break even point difficult to attain.

The advantages to listing your home with a realtor are myriad. They include, but are not limited to, the accurate analysis of your home’s market value, the Open Houses, staging recommendations, signage, Multiple Listing Service inclusion and, most of all, the extensive marketing of the home (THE most important advantage).

If a homeowner decides to sell their home by themselves (FSBO or For Sale By Owner), all these costs are borne by the seller. Obviously, the marketing becomes the most costly item. Putting a For Sale sign in your yard and paying for a 2″ x 2″ ad in your local newspaper will not reach the amount of prospective buyers needed to sell your home in a reasonable amount of time. The speed at which a home is sold is directly proportionate to the amount of buyers that view the home. A realtor’s marketing campaign, if effective, can produce a consistent stream of showings. Showings produce offers and offers lead to successful closings.

In the final analysis, a seller has to look at their net proceeds to determine the viability of listing with a realtor. Even with all the advantages listed above, if a seller has to bring money to the closing table, that will weigh heavily on their decision. Being a realtor, I would always recommend listing your home with one of my esteemed colleagues. However, I am not oblivious to the economic conditions that many homeowners face and many people have successfully sold their homes as a FSBO.

Whatever your decision and whether you are a buyer or seller, there are always going to be obstacles that you must overcome. If you find you can’t seem to navigate these obstacles alone… call your local realtor.

Immobilienmakler Heidelberg

Makler Heidelberg

I’ve done it myself; taken what I thought were great listing pictures and used them for my online MLS listing. My clients thought they were fine and I thought they were just fine, until I started working as a buyer’s agent in Seattle a few years back.

I worked with over 40 different buyers a week and everyday I’d hear, „Did you see those listing pictures? There’s no way we want to see that house, it’s a dump! Does the listing agent know how bad they are?“ Obviously, the listing agent didn’t spend anything on real estate photography.

My buyers would also see some great listing photos and want to get in to see the home that afternoon. We’d step inside and they’d wonder if it was the same home they saw online. They felt cheated because the pictures were nothing like the real home. (but at least the listing agent got buyers walking through the house).

It all came down to the listing pictures they saw online. That’s essential marketing for listings! Give buyers a great picture and they’ll jump inside the house that day. Give them a „do-it-yourself“ picture and they’ll move onto the next home. The listing pictures make the difference, especially when you spend a few bucks on professional real estate photography!

Even when the listing pictures were better than the actual house, guess what? It still got the buyers inside! That’s your goal as a listing agent; get as many showings as possible. Professional real estate photography makes that happen.

With upwards of 80%+ of buyers looking online now, the listing photos are the first thing they’re looking at and basing their initial impressions on.

How much money in lost commissions do you think you’re missing because you won’t spend a couple hundred bucks for professional real estate photography?

If you did spend the well invested marketing dollars on some professional real estate photography…….

1. You could have more satisfied clients because the home sold faster.
2. You could have made more cash because you didn’t have to drop the sales price when the listing became stale on the market.
3. You could look like a top producer in the area because of the quicker sales, better looking listings and more satisfied clients. Your overall image is enhanced, big time!

Isn’t it funny how such a small aspect of your business can affect the whole thing? Anytime you realize how one issue affects your net profits, that’ll make you perk up, right?

Now don’t give me the excuse that it’s too expensive because it’s not. Look at it as a marketing and advertising expense because that’s exactly what it is. And real estate photography is one of the best things you can spend your marketing dollars on.

You have a couple options……..

You could grab a professional in real estate photography in your local area and offer them $50-$200 to come to your listing and take some fabulous photos. Make sure they’re top notch, have all the right equipment and understand the goal of these photos. You don’t want to pay for real estate photography that’s no better than your own.

Your other option is to go with a company like Vicaso.com who does real estate photography exclusively. Their business is listing photos for real estate agents!

You can schedule your photo shoot on their website, pay about $200 or so and get the most captivating listing photos you’ll ever see. Even if you have a crack house listed for sale, their real estate photography will make it look like a palace.

I’m telling you; don’t skimp on your real estate photography. Look at the cost as an investment. If you spent $200 on professional real estate photography and got back another $20,000 in commissions that year from faster sales, more clients, and higher listing prices, wouldn’t that be worth it? You betcha!

Immobilienmakler Heidelberg

Makler Heidelberg

Online and automated real estate lead generation services are provided by companies that do the bulk of your lead generation work for you. In return for payment, they provide you with targeted leads of prospective clients who are investigating the sale of their home, thinking about buying a home or actively searching for a real estate agent.

But who are these companies, how do they work, what information can you expect to derive from their services, and what do they charge? For a breakdown of some of the industry’s most popular real estate lead generation companies, keep reading.

Realty Generator

Realty Generator syncs your local MLS listings with your website, manages search engine advertising spending, offers cell phone alerts, and includes CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software.

House Values

House Values is a website that lets homeowners type in their zip code and real estate property info in exchange for a home evaluation, provided by you. In turn, they collect the visitor’s contact info and pass it on to you for a nominal fee.

House By Mouse

Through a variety of websites and MLS listings, House by Mouse collects visitor information and passes it on to you. You get email updates, including those local prospects‘ contact info and, in turn, pay per lead generated. They charge about $12.95 per lead.

Realtor Exposure

Realtor Exposure works by providing you with a personal website that is designed to capture leads from buyers and sellers who are searching for home information in your area. Those leads are delivered to your cell phone or email. They also guarantee that your site will appear on the first page of search engine results, but this isn’t confirmed.

1to1Red

1to1Red allows you to set your monthly budget and then creates a personalized lead generation program based on that budget. They can manage advertising, online campaigns and pass on potential leads right to your inbox. Their focus is on quality leads and providing you with all the tracking information you need to stay on top of your marketing.

For an average of 5-15 quality leads per month with 1to1Red.com, you can expect to pay approximately $500.

HomeGain

HomeGain’s biggest selling feature is that you only pay a referral fee if you close a deal. They offer customized coverage areas for a low monthly subscription rate and, in turn, provide you with the contact information of web searchers looking for a home evaluation or realtor.

Immobilienmakler Heidelberg

Makler Heidelberg