As a homeowner, you can play an important part in the timely sale of your property. When you take the following steps, you’ll help Luke sell your home faster, at the best possible price.

The easiest and most reliable way to improve the appeal of your home is to enlist a quality home service professional. The right professional can help you get everything in order – from repainting the kitchen to providing a thorough cleaning – so you can stay focused on more important things.

1. Make the Most of that First Impression
A well-manicured lawn, neatly trimmed shrubs and a clutter-free porch welcome prospects. So does a freshly painted – or at least freshly scrubbed – front door. If it’s autumn, rake the leaves. If it’s winter, shovel the walkways. The fewer obstacles between prospects and the true appeal of your home, the better.

2. Invest a Few Hours for Future Dividends
Here’s your chance to clean up in real estate. Clean up the living room, the bathroom, the kitchen. If your woodwork is scuffed or the paint is fading, consider some minor redecoration. Fresh wallpaper adds charm and value to your property. If you’re worried about time, hire professional cleaners or painters to get your house ready. Remember, prospects would rather see how great your home really looks than hear how great it could look “with a little work.”

3. Check Faucets and Bulbs
Dripping water rattles the nerves, discolors sinks, and suggests faulty or worn-out plumbing. Burned out bulbs or faulty wiring leave prospects in the dark. Don’t let little problems detract from what’s right with your home.

4. Don’t Shut Out a Sale
If cabinets or closet doors stick in your home, you can be sure they will also stick in a prospect’s mind. Don’t try to explain away sticky situations when you can easily plane them away. A little effort on your part can smooth the way toward a closing.

5. Think Safety
Homeowners learn to live with all kinds of self-set booby traps: roller skates on the stairs, festooned extension cords, slippery throw rugs and low hanging overhead lights. Make your residence as non-perilous as possible for uninitiated visitors.

6. Make Room for Space
Remember, potential buyers are looking for more than just comfortable living space. They’re looking for storage space, too. Make sure your attic and basement are clean and free of unnecessary items.

7. Consider Your Closets
The better organized a closet, the larger it appears. Now’s the time to box up those unwanted clothes and donate them to charity.

8. Make Your Bathroom Sparkle
Bathrooms sell homes, so let them shine. Check and repair damaged or unsightly caulking in the tubs and showers. For added allure, display your best towels, mats, and shower curtains.

9. Create Dream Bedrooms
Wake up prospects to the cozy comforts of your bedrooms. For a spacious look, get rid of excess furniture. Colorful bedspreads and fresh curtains are a must.

10. Open up in the Daytime
Let the sun shine in! Pull back your curtains and drapes so prospects can see how bright and cheery your home is.

11. Lighten up at Night
Turn on the excitement by turning on all your lights – both inside and outside – when showing your home in the evening. Lights add color and warmth, and make prospects feel welcome.

12. Avoid Crowded Scenes
Potential buyers often feel like intruders when they enter a home filled with people. Rather than giving your house the attention it deserves, they’re likely to hurry through. Keep the company present to a minimum.

13. Watch Your Pets
Dogs and cats are great companions, but not when you’re showing your home. Pets have a talent for getting underfoot. So do everybody a favor: Keep Kitty and Spot outside, or at least out of the way. Also remember “If you can smell it, we can’t sell it.”

14. Think Volume
Rock-and-roll will never die. But it might kill a real estate transaction. When it’s time to show your home, it’s time to turn down the stereo or TV.

15. Relax
Be friendly, but don’t try to force conversation. Prospects want to view your home with a minimum of distraction.

16. Don’t Apologize
No matter how humble your abode, never apologize for its shortcomings. If a prospect volunteers a derogatory comment about your home’s appearance, let Luke handle the situation.

17. Keep a Low Profile
Nobody knows your home as well as you do. But Luke knows buyers – what they need and what they want. Luke will have an easier time articulating the virtues of your home if you stay in the background.

18. Don’t Turn Your Home into a Second-Hand Store
When prospects come to view your home, don’t distract them with offers to sell those furnishings you no longer need. You may lose the biggest sale of all.

19. Defer to Experience – It’s the Experience
When prospects want to talk price, terms, or other real estate matters, let them speak to an expert – Your Realty Expert.

20. Help Your Agent
I will have an easier time selling your home if showings are scheduled through his or her office. You’ll appreciate the results!

2.(Forbearance or Deferment) The borrower/owner reinstates the loan by negotiating with the bank to wrap the default amount plus fees into the loan. And possibly negotiating the payment amount to something more manageable.

3.(Sale with Equity) The borrower/owner sells the property to a third party during the pre-foreclosure period. The sale allows the borrower/owner to pay off the loan and avoid having a foreclosure on his or her credit history.

4.(Sale with No Equity) Also know as a “Short Sale” if the borrower/owner owes more than the property is worth than the property is listed for sale by a short sale agent to a third party. The sale allows the borrower/owner to pay off the loan and avoid having a foreclosure on his or her credit history.

5.(Foreclosure) The lender takes ownership of the property, usually with the intent to re-sell it on the open market. The lender can take ownership either through an agreement with the borrower/owner during pre-foreclosure or by buying back the property at the public auction. These are also known as bank-owned or REO properties (Real Estate Owned by the lender).

1. Make application with a lender and obtain a pre-approval letter. Most lenders will charge you an application fee which covers credit report and appraisal of the home you buy. Check with them to find out if it’s payable immediately or at settlement.

1. Visit available homes that meet your criteria, and select the one you wish to purchase.
2. Submit an offer on the home of your choice.
3. Write up contract papers and sign
4. Submit with the offer an earnest money deposit
5. Decide on which inspections and contingencies to include
   • We recommend that every single purchaser include a home inspection and we can supply the names and phone numbers of a few qualified home inspectors if necessary.
6. The offer will be either accepted, rejected, or countered.
   • If it is accepted, you are able and obligated to purchase the house.
   • If it is rejected, you are released and are free to submit another offer on this house or select another.
   • If it is countered, then you may accept the new terms, counter them, or withdraw the offer.
7. Once the contract is agreed to and signed by all parties, the inspections begin. First is the home inspection, which will cost about $300 and be paid AT THE TIME OF THE INSPECTION, which will be within ten days of contract acceptance. You should be present for this very informative process, and it will take about three hours.
8. Once you have the results of the inspection, you may ask the Seller to repair or replace items as a result. They may agree to some, none, or all of your requests. under most circumstances, you may also withdraw from the contract if the home inspections turns up a problem that makes you no longer want the house—a major structural flaw for example.
9. The lender will hire an appraiser (the cost is included in your lender fees) to appraise the property and ensure that it is worth the amount they are loaning you to buy it.
10. A termite inspection of the property will be performed within the last 30 days prior to settlement. It usually costs $50, which you pay at settlement. It is included in the closing costs estimate which I will prepare for you.
11. After your offer becomes a contract, you will need to be in touch with your insurance agent to purchase homeowners insurance on your new home. You must provide proof of this paid insurance to your lender at settlement.
12. At settlement, you will bring a cashier’s check or certified check made out to the title company for the amount you owe. You will sign the lender’s papers and the deed transfer. You will get the keys to the house, and it will officially be yours.

Is there an end in sight? What needs to happen is not so obvious. Of course unemployment needs to fall and consumer confidence will pick up strength. After that the flood of foreclosures in Scottsdale should follow suit and turn into a small leak instead of its current flash flood status. We then need bank cooperation to reduce the amount of inventory on the market (currently 43,000 homes). This will be the first steps in seeing a pricing turnaround. It wont be easy but it will be quick once the previously stated items take place. Again Scottsdale real estate has always been a great investment and will be again soon. Until then, put your head down and keep working hard and it will all be back to normal before you know it.

Many of these banks don’t seem to identify with the direct financial struggles of the current real estate market. Without the proper help many homeowners will face foreclosure unprepared and under educated about the future impacts of this route. As far as I can see, these banks don’t look like they are letting up on homeowners, and foreclosure predictions look like they won’t peak until next summer.

Bank of America seems to be trying to improve they way they handle short sales through their new Equator system. They have been trying to revamp the way the work with homeowners in distressed situations. Make sure you are prepared for the worst if your loan is a home equity line of credit (HELOC) as these do not fall under the Debt Relief Act of 2007. Some banks will in most cases come after the homeowner in both a foreclosure and short sale if they do not sign a release of lien before hand. For some reason it seems as if many banks do not want to help out either the new buyers or existing sellers who have legitimate financial hardships.

In order to not fall into the foreclosure category you must be well informed as to your different options. The first step would always be to speak with your attorney and/or CPA to find out what options you have.