Selling Your Home at a Loss - Join the Club

I recently got an email from a couple who are upside down on a mortgage loan. This means that they owe more on the mortgage than their home is worth in the current market. They have to sell their home because of a job relocation, and they were wondering how to do this in their financial condition. Someone had told them they would probably have to sell the home at a loss, but the couple refused to believe this. How could this happen to them? It was shocking. There must be some way out of it, right?

The real shock, to me at least, was that these people felt their situation was unique. In reality, millions of Americans are upside down in their mortgage loans right now. This comes as a direct result of the housing collapse and subsequent recession we have endured. In fact, I saw a recent prediction that nearly 40% of homeowners could be upside down by the end of 2010. So any of these folks who need to sell their home will end up selling it at a loss -- because they owe more than the home is worth in the current economy.

So what options do you have in this kind of situation? Is selling your home for a loss the only thing you can do? Well, it all comes down to how much negative equity you have, and what your lender is willing to allow.

If you don't absolutely need to sell the home and move, you may be better off staying put for now. If your local real estate market is on an upswing -- like many markets are right now -- you could regain some of your equity. Of course, if you live in a place like Las Vegas or San Diego, where property values dropped by a significant amount, you'll probably never regain the equity you lost. Property values just won't reach that peak level anytime soon, if ever again.

So in situations like this, selling your home at a loss may be the only option. Or you may not be able to sell the home at all. It's really up to your lender more than you. They're the one holding all the cards, so you should start talking to your lender as soon as possible. If you sell the home at a loss and have to pay something back to your lender, they may be willing to allow some kind of payment plan.

Selling for a Loss

I've been hearing a lot about this lately. For example, John and Jane still owe $300,000 on their mortgage loan. But their property values have dropped, so with the bank's permission they end up selling the home at a loss for about $240,000. Not counting the seller-paid closing costs, Realtor commissions, and other expenses, that's a discrepancy of about $60,000. The lender is not going to wave a magic wand and make that discrepancy go away. So chances are, John and Jane will have to bring a check to the closing table with them -- to the tune of sixty grand. Or, if they are lucky, the lender will allow a payment plan so they can repay that $60,000 over time.

Another option (albeit a last resort) is to walk away from the home entirely, and let the lender foreclose on it. Some people are not willing to sell their home at a loss, only to be in debt to their lender for thousands. Many folks in this situation choose to walk away from their mortgage obligation entirely. Most of them are fully aware that their credit score will take a major hit, as a result of this decision. But they simply feel trapped, so they end up walking away from home.

If you came into this article looking for a magical solution to this problem, I'm sorry to disappoint you. There is no easy way out of this situation. More than anything, I just wanted to let you know there are millions of other people in the same situation. As a result, mortgage lenders today are being flooded with requests for mortgage modifications, short sales, and other desperate measures.

So the best thing you can do is talk to your lender and find out what your options are. You may qualify for a home loan modification, where the lender restructures your loan to make the payments more affordable. Or you may qualify for a short sale, where the lender agrees to accept less than what you owe, in order to sell the home quickly. If neither of those options are available, you'll probably end up selling the home for a loss and paying the lender back in some way. But you won't know until you ask.

Where to Find Help

If you feel you are facing a possible foreclosure, you should realize that help is available. For example, you could talk to a HUD-approved housing counselor in your area to see what your options are. This type of counseling is either free or low-cost, so I highly recommend it. The counselor might tell you that selling the home for a loss is your best option. Or they might have some other guidance for you. You can learn more by visiting our foreclosure help page, or by visiting the HUD website to find a counselor near you.

How Do I Sell My House Quickly in 2010?

Reader question: "I plan to sell my home next year in 2010, and I'm wondering what I can do to sell it as quickly as possible. Do you have any tips on selling a house quickly and for top dollar?"

Let me start with the good news. Selling a home in 2010 will probably be easier than it is right now, in the current real estate market. By next year, there should be fewer foreclosures on the market. This means less price competition for people like yourself. The economy will likely be in better shape by then as well, which means a larger pool of potential buyers. But there are still certain things you need to do if you want to sell your house quickly in 2010, so get specific.

Sell it Quickly by Following These Tips

If I wanted to sell my house quickly in 2010, I would start the planning and preparation right now in the present. You may think you have plenty of time before you actually list the home, but that time will go fast. And there's usually a lot of work to do before selling your home. So the sooner you start the process, the better.

One of the areas you should focus on first is your curb appeal. There's a very good reason for putting this item at the top of your list. Improving your yard and the outside of your house can take time. For example, if your lawn is in bad shape, it may take months for it to look good again. The same goes for painting, making repairs, etc. It takes time. So if I wanted to sell my house quickly next year, I would begin devising a plan for curb appeal and home staging.

It's also wise to start tracking the real estate market in your area. This means keeping an eye on home prices, sales, and other market activity. By following the market over a period of months, you will have a good idea where it has been and where it is going. You'll also know whether you're operating in a buyer's market or a seller's market, which is a useful bit of information when it comes to pricing home.

You also need to start planning for your move. Are you moving into an apartment after selling the house, or do you plan to buy another home? Are there items within the home that you can start selling off, in order to make it easier on moving day? How will you structure the sale in order to facilitate your move? Are you going to need a long escrow period? These are some of the questions you need to start asking yourself now, so you have time to prepare.

If I was trying to sell my house quickly in a tough market that favored home buyers, I would probably hire an agent as well. You can research real estate agents in your area to find out who has a track record of selling homes quickly and for top dollar. If you don't feel like you're up to the challenges of pricing the home, promoting it, and negotiating with buyers, then you might want to have an agent on your side.

We've talked a little bit about pricing already, but I want to expand on the topic. This is an area where a lot of sellers blow it. They price their homes above market value because of the emotional attachment they have, and then the property ends up staying on the market for many months. I see this happen all the time, even within my own neighborhood. This is where all of your research and monitoring will come into play. By following your local real estate market, you'll know how to price your home realistically.

Pricing is one of the most important things to get right, especially if you need to sell the house quickly for whatever reason. A home that is staged well and priced competitively will sell quickly 90% of the time. On the other hand, a house that is overpriced will go unsold for a long time.

These are some of the things I would focus on if I wanted to sell my house quickly in 2010. I recommend following this advice as a bare minimum, and that you continue to research the process up until you're ready to sell. I hope this answers your question, and I wish you well in your selling process.

Painting Your House to Sell It Quickly - Painting Tips and Tactics

Do you need to paint your house in order to sell it quickly? In most cases, yes. If you have recently painted the home, and you chose neutral and soothing colors, you might be able to skip this part of the preparation stage. But in most cases, painting is a smart investment prior to listing a home for sale.

There are several reasons for painting a house before selling it:

• To neutralize the color scheme throughout the house
• To freshen up the appearance of the house
• A combination of these two things

We will cover these things in more detail below. But first, I want to share a couple of stories with you. One is a real-life story involving yours truly, and the other is from an HGTV home buying show I watched earlier today. Let's start with my own tale about paint colors, home selling, and first-time home buyers.

Selling a House With a Bad Paint Job

Back in 2002, my wife and I were shopping for our first home in Maryland. We pulled up to one house that was very nice ... from the curb. It was a new colonial-style home with nice architectural touches and tidy landscaping. It was a bit far out from where we worked, but we were flexible. So we went into the house with an open mind.

And everything went downhill from there.

The first room we entered was the living room. The paint color could best be described as dark pink, and it had a flowery wallpaper border around the entire room. Way too taste-specific. So right away, I was thinking about how much work I would have to do to tone down the gaudy color palette in the space.

It only got worse as we moved through the rest of the house. Apparently, the lady of the house ran a daycare from her home. She used the finished basement for this, and it was painted in true daycare fashion -- one wall was bright red, one was bright blue, the door was green with a yellow frame. You get the idea. It was over the top, gaudy, and the exact opposite of how you should paint your house when selling it.

We went into this house with an open mind, and it could very well have been the one. But the paint scheme blew it for us. I had estimated that I would have to spend 30 hours of labor -- and hundreds of dollar in painting supplies -- just to make the house presentable. No thanks!

So we left and did not look back. And judging by how long the house had been on the market, I would venture an easy guess that many other would-be buyers did the exact same thing. The homeowners were either very lazy, in a state of denial, or both. The paint colors were killing their chances of selling the house, but they weren't doing anything about it.

Bold Colors Can Kill the Sale

That was my own story of bad paint colors when selling a house. Earlier today, I saw this very same thing on an episode of The Unsellables, a home selling show on HGTV. You've probably seen this show, or a similar one. They will focus on sellers who are having trouble selling their house for some reason, and they'll bring a real estate agent through to point out the potential problems. In this episode, both the host and the visiting agent could not get past the bold color schemes. Bright orange bedrooms. Bright red living room. That sort of thing.

One of the homeowners said it herself during the episode. She said, "This is just our style ... it's how we like our house." Exactly! It's how they wanted the home to look when they were living in it, but most buyers would be repulsed by the colors. You have to put your own style aside when you are trying to sell your house.

The last thing you want to do is paint the home with a taste-specific color scheme that says, "This is our home with our unique style." After all, you are trying to appeal to the masses, as much as possible. Ever wonder why most car dealers show silver cars in their commercials? Because that color appeals to the largest audience. They rarely show bold red or green models in their TV commercials and brochures, because those colors are too taste-specific. You should use this same strategy when painting your house -- if you're serious about selling it quickly.

Which Colors Will Help You Sell the Home?

Choose soft and warm colors and avoid bold ones. A soft yellow, beige or olive color is generally a safe bet for most rooms. If you're not sure where to start, ask for advice from the paint person at your local Home Depot or Lowe's, or at a local paint store. Tell them you are selling your house and ask for their advice. They will probably be happy to give you room-by-room tips for choosing paint colors.

How to Sell Your House by Owner - The Steps Involved

Do you plan to sell your house by owner in the near future? If so, now is the time to start researching the steps involved in the process. In this article, I'll give you a quick rundown of the steps needed to sell by owner in today's economy. You can get a more detailed explanation of each step in this tutorial.

Step 1 - Find out what your house is worth.

This is a good place to start for several reasons. First of all, it might change your mind about selling your home. If your property values have fallen a lot (as a result of the housing crash of 2008 - 2009), then you might decide it's a bad time to sell by owner -- or to sell at all.

This step is also needed for pricing purposes. You can't set your asking price until you know how much the homes in your neighborhood are selling for in the current market. The best way to do this is by paying for a professional appraisal. Learn more about pricing

Step 2 - Prepare your home for the market.

Before you sell your house by owner -- or before you even list it, for that matter -- you need to make sure it's presentable. For starters, you need to fix anything that is broken. That leaky faucet or torn carpet might not seem like a big deal to you. But when buyers see these things, they immediately wonder what else is wrong with the house. This is not the mindset you want people to have when they tour your home. Learn more about preparation

Step 3 - List your house on the Multiple Listing Service.

There are many ways to market a property that's for sale. But if you are serious about selling your home in the shortest time possible, you should list it in the MLS. It's the best way to reach the largest possible audience, of buyers and real estate agents alike.

Even if you sell your house by owner without an agent, you can get it listed in the MLS. Here's what I recommend: National Real Estate Listings without the Commissions!

Step 4 - Read our comprehensive guide to selling a house by owner.

If you want to learn more about the steps to sell by owner in the modern real estate market, I highly recommending our guide to selling your own home. It's one of the most in-depth and useful FSBO guides online today.

The most important thing to take away from this article is the three P's -- pricing, preparation and promoting. In that order. If you don't price your home accurately for the current market, you'll never find a buyer willing to pay. And if you don't prepare the property before people come to visit, they won't stay for very long. Price it right, prepare it for the market, and then promote it through the MLS and other channels.

I hope this article helps you understand the steps involved in the sell by owner process, and I wish you luck selling your house for top dollar.

How to List a Home for Sale - And Where to List It

Reader Question: I want to sell my own home, and the only thing I'm not sure about is listing it. How do I list a home for sale and where are the best places to list it?

The important thing is that you realize the importance of listing your home for sale. This shows you have a good idea about how the selling process works. I will give you some tips in just a moment, but first I want to explain the terminology being used for people who are unfamiliar with it.

Definition: Listing a home for sale means that you are adding your house to some kind of property database or list of properties, which is viewable by real estate agents and/or home buyers. The most popular database of this kind is the Multiple Listings Service (MLS).

Now to revisit the question at hand. Here's how to list a home for sale effectively:

In the definition I just provided, I mentioned the MLS. This also answers part of your question. You wanted to know where to list your house in order to get the best exposure, and this is the place to do it.

When you add your home to the Multiple Listing Service, you'll be putting it in front of hundreds, possibly thousands, of potential buyers in your area. That's because the MLS is the most widely used property database, and just about every real estate agent has access to it. Here's the bottom line. If you're serious about selling, and you want to attract as many buyers as possible, you should list the home in the MLS as part of your marketing strategy.

Listing Your Home in the MLS

The next logical is, How do I get my property listed in the Multiple Listing Service? There are basically two ways to go about it -- through a real estate agent, or through one of the big FSBO websites. Let's talk about each option.

• You can hire a real estate agent and have him or her list your home in the MLS. As I mentioned earlier, nearly every agent or Realtor has access to this database.
• If are going to sell your own home, but you still want to list it with a national database, you can use an FSBO website. Many of these services offer seller packages that include an MLS listing. Here's a good example: National Real Estate Listings without the Commissions!
  

Remember, how you list your home for sale is not nearly as important as where you list it. So it doesn't really matter how you get your property into the MLS database, so long as you do it. This is the best way to market the property to the largest possible audience, which is the first step to a successful sale. If you have an agent, he or she will handle this for you. If you are selling by yourself, you should list the home through one of the major FSBO sites (see link provided above).

Before You List Your Home for Sale

Now that we have covered the how and where of listing your home for sale, let's back up and talk about what you should do before you list it. In particular, let's talk about pricing and preparation.

Pricing Considerations:

It's critical that your price your home effectively for the market. Over-pricing is the number-one mistake sellers make, especially when they handle the process by themselves. It's hard for people to distance themselves from their homes, but that's what it takes to see things objectively and price the home accurately. So before you list your home for sale, you need to find out what it's worth in the current market.

You can get a general idea of what your house is worth by using a home value website for free. But these websites cannot match the accuracy of a professional appraisal from a licensed appraiser. After all, a website can only look at data -- it cannot take into account upgrades and improvements you've made to the home.

In summary, it's important to set the right price for your house before you list it for sale, because it determines your success or failure more than any other factor.

Preparing the Property:

If you're in a buyer's market, which most people are these days, you need to work extra hard to prepare the home for sale. This process starts long before you list the home, and it includes such things as landscaping for curb appeal, freshening up the paint job, staging the property and more.

25 Tips for Selling Your Own House in a Tough Economy

This blog and website offers hundreds of tips for selling your own house, but many of these tips are spread over many web pages. So in this blog post, we have compiled 25 selling tips from all over the website and put them at your fingertips.

With each passing year, more homeowners chose to selling their own houses instead of hiring an agent. Why? There are three reasons for the increasing number of for-sale-by-owner scenarios:

1. Homeowners realize they can save thousands of dollars by selling their own house.
2. They also realize they can handle the process for themselves, using item #3 below.
3. For-sale-by-owner websites / services have improved a lot over the years.

Can you really save thousands when you sell your own home today? Sure you can. If an agent sells a $300,000 house and gets a standard 3% commission, he or she will make $9,000 off the deal. I've sold my own house before, so let me be the first to say that this is too much money to pay an agent. I was surprised how easy the process was, and I was glad we put that commission back into our own pockets.

This article offers quite a few tips for selling your own house to save money. But if you only remember one thing from this lesson, make it this. You should sign up for an FSBO service that allows you to list your home in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). This will put the house in front of a huge pool of potential buyers, which will help you make a sale as quickly as possible.

Selling Your House on Your Own

Without further ado, here are 25 things you should know about selling your own house in the current economy. Some of the items on this list are explained in detail elsewhere on the site, so I've provided links where necessary.

Initial Research & Planning

• Find out how much equity you have in your home. If you're upside down in your mortgage loan, you might not be able to sell without paying money out of pocket. So start by finding out where you stand.
• Start tracking your local real estate market to find out what's going on. In particular, you should find out how long houses are staying on the market (on average) and what they are selling for. This is one of the best tips I can offer for selling your own house, because it helps you in so many ways. Market awareness is critical for a successful sale.
• In particular, I recommend starting with the weekend edition of your local newspaper. This is a great way to find out what's happening in your real estate scene, whether it's a buyer or seller market, what homes are selling for, etc.
  
• Visit some open houses in your area to find out what kind of competition you're up against, and to see how well (or how poorly) people are staging their homes for sale.

Pricing the Home

• Listen up. This is one of the most important tips for selling your house in any kind of market, but especially in a buyer's market. Overpricing a home is one of the most common mistakes made by people who sell by themselves, and it will delay your sale more so than any other factor.
• The best way to determine your home's value (and to set your asking price) is by having it appraised by a professional appraiser. Home value websites are neat, but they only give you a general idea and do not account for upgrades.
• The appraiser will factor in the overall condition of your property, so it's wise to prepare for that visit.
• You probably have an emotional connection to your house, and that's only natural. But you need to detach those emotions when setting the price. You must base your asking price on current market values, backed up by sales data and other information. You cannot set your price on what you feel the home is worth.
  
• In a seller's market, you'll have a bit more flexibility with your pricing (i.e. "wiggle room"). But in a buyer's market, the opposite is true. This is why you need to know what's going on in your local real estate scene.
  

Preparing the Home

• Let's start with the basics. If you have things in your house that are broken, you need to fix them before buyers visit your home. In addition to showing up on the home inspector's hit list, items in disrepair suggest that you don't care about the house. This is the wrong impression to give a potential buyer.
• To prepare your house for the market, you must also go beyond the basic repairs. You must work hard to show the home at its best -- this means painting, removing clutter, repositioning furniture, etc. These things fall under the category of "staging," and you can learn more about it in this tutorial.
• Staging does not need to cost a lot of money. In fact, that's the exact opposite of the goal here. Here's an excellent article that offers free and low-cost ideas for showing off your home.
• The front of your home (including the yard) is especially important, because that's what creates the first impression for potential buyers. Prepare the entire property, but spend some extra time on your curb appeal.
  

Marketing the Property

• Once you've done your research, set your price and prepared the home, it's time to start bringing in buyers. Here are some marketing tips for selling your own house in the current economy:
• Let's start with the basics. Get yourself a yard sign to let the world know the property is available. You can buy them at Home Depot, Lowes or your local hardware shop. You can also create custom real estate signs online.
• Create a property flyer that lists information about your house. This should include basic information such as the price, schools and taxes. But it should also list all of the great things about your home (proximity to shopping, scenery, local parks and jogging trails, special features and upgrades, etc.).
• If you're selling your own house, and you want to bring the most buyers, you'll need to list the house in the Multiple Listing Service. This is a nationwide database used by real estate agents, so it will alert all of the agents in your area that your home is available.
• If you're in a tough market with a lot of selling competition, you may need to go above and beyond with your marketing campaign. Some people create websites for their home, with plenty of photos and other information. They will then include the website address on property flyers, yard signs, newspaper ads, and wherever else the house is promoted.
• If you're serious about selling your own house (and I hope you are), I recommend signing up for a service like ForSaleByOwner.com. They offer a variety of tools to help you promote your home, including MLS listings and Realtor.com placement. Get started here: National Real Estate Listings without the Commissions!
  
  

Negotiating With Buyers

• You need to have a plan for negotiations before you get into a negotiating scenario. How much are you willing to bend on your asking price? How much time do you need before the closing? What kind of contingencies are you willing to permit? You need to research and answer these questions early on.
• Back up your negotiations with hard data. If a buyer (or the buyer's agent) asks why you are asking a certain price for the house, show them the appraiser's report and the recent sales data for your area. This is the key to successful real estate negotiations.
• If you price your home realistically, and you work hard to prepare and stage it, you may be able to avoid negotiating altogether. You'll be more likely to get a full offer for the house. That's why pricing and preparation are so important.
• Don't be afraid to say no. If a buyer has unrealistic expectations or seems to be wasting your time, you have every right to dismiss them. It's not personal -- it's business. Of course, you have to make these decisions carefully, especially in a buyer's market where offers are few and farther between. Be open to negotiations, but don't let a buyer take advantage of you.
  

In closing, I'd like to leave you with my best advice for selling your own home. And that is to read this tutorial on the subject. It explains all of the things we've talked about in this article, but in much greater detail. You'll be much better prepared for the process if you read it!

How Do I Sell My Home Myself in the Current Economy?

How do I sell my home myself in a tough economy? Is it even possible? What do I need to know about selling my own house in order to sell it quickly and for the best price?

These are common questions among homeowners. The reasons why are fairly obvious. Property values have dropped in most cities, there's a surplus of homes on the market, and many buyers are having trouble qualifying for mortgage loans. Put these things together, and you have a classic buyer's market -- for the ones who can get mortgage loans, at least.

Let me start with the easy answer to these questions. Yes, you can sell your own home in a tough market, if you research and prepare for the process. An experienced real estate agent could make the process easier, but if you can duplicate the efforts an agent would make on your behalf, you can probably succeed on your own.

We have recently posted a comprehensive guide to this process. It covers the process from every angle and with plenty of helpful tips. So if you're planning to sell your own home, do yourself a favor and read our new tutorial on the process. It answers the common question among homeowners: How do I sell my home myself in the current economy?

Go Above & Beyond to Sell Your Home

When selling a house in a tough market, you really have to go above and beyond to get the attention of home buyers. We talk about this in great detail in the article I mentioned above. Basically, you have to outperform all of the other sellers in your area if you want to sell. Here are some of the things you should focus your energy on:

• Staging -- You should stage your home to showcase the best features it has to offer. This involves painting, de-cluttering, strategic furniture placement and more. Learn more in our room-by-room staging guide.
• Pricing -- If you get this wrong, all of your other efforts will be in vain. Over-pricing a home is one of the most common mistakes sellers make in the current economy. Property values have dropped in most cities across the U.S., so you need to base your price on current market values.
• Marketing -- How can I sell my home myself in a tough market? Well, you need to bring in as many potential buyers as possible. And this means putting the home on the Multiple Listing Service. Get started here: National Real Estate Listings without the Commissions!
  

We post new tips to this blog on a regular basis, so you might want to bookmark this page in your favorites folder. We offer advice on all aspects of the selling process, from the preparation to marketing and beyond. I hope this information helps you navigate the path toward a successful sale. Good luck.

Have Questions?
I want to sell my home by myself, and I have questions about how to do it. If this describes you, feel free to email us your questions. Send them to editor@homebuyinginstitute.com, and we will answer them right here on this blog.