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Under Contract! 146 Eastern Avenue - Bunker Hill Waterbury CT Home For Sale

146 Eastern Avenue - Bunker Hill Waterbury CT Home For Sale

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$179,900 Single Family Home Main Features 3 Bedrooms 2 Bathrooms 1 Partial Bathroom Interior: 1,872 sqft Lot: 0.52 acre(s) Location 146 Eastern Avenue Waterbury, CT 06708 USA To get updates on open home dates and other property events, please click the "Like" button below:

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William James Walton Sr WEICHERT Realtors - Briotti Group (203) 633-6189 william@williamsplaces.net http://www.williamsplaces.net Listed by: Weichert, Realtors® - Briotti Group

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It Is Up To You, Mr. Seller

So, Mr. Seller, you’ve made a decision that you want to sell your home. Scratch that. You’ve decided that you need to sell your home.

That’s great. You start looking at what other homes in your neighborhood are selling for. You research market statistics on homes that have sold. You peruse some websites that allow you to obtain a market analysis of your home. You go to Zillow to get some more information about the prices of similar homes in your area. You read the local newspaper, looking for tips on how to sell your home.

You’ve been gathering information for some time now, and you are weighing your options – do I use a realtor, or do I try to sell my home on my own? You evaluate all of the pros and cons of each avenue and you ultimately decide against selling it on your own and you decide to reach out to a few realtors – those whose sites you used to get a free evaluation from, and one who was recommended to you by a co-worker who recently sold his own home.

After speaking with all of the agents and listening to their presentations, you’ve settled on one agent. You just…clicked. He explained to you in detail his marketing strategy, established how he would communicate with you during the process, and provided his rather extensive resume of closed transactions over the last several years.

So you ask the usual questions as you prepare to sign the listing agreement:

• At what price should I list my home?
• How long do you think it will take for the home to sell?
• What should I do to make the home more appealing to buyers?
• Will the house actually sell in this market?

My response to those questions? It is up to you, Mr. Seller.

The whole process of selling your home is dependent first and foremost on the attitude that you bring to the table. You established that you wanted and needed to sell your home, so your actions should be consistent with that motivation.

But you’re the Realtor. You’re the professional, so you should know the answers to my questions.

That is true, I am the professional. But consider this:

·         I performed a comparative market analysis of your home and came up with a suggested listing price range of $150,000-$160,000. Did you concur with my professional opinion supported by the market statistics, or did you insist that you needed $195,000 in order to place your home on the market?

·         I toured the home prior to our listing appointment and took some pictures. I made several suggestions that would improve the curb appeal of your home, and even provided you a list of vendors who could perform the needed repairs at a minimal cost to you, if you were unable to complete the repairs yourself. Did you follow through with my suggestions, or did you refuse to even trim the hedges and mow the lawn, let alone make any repairs?

·         I suggested de-cluttering several rooms and making some minor rearrangements of furniture so that buyers could visualize the amount of space available. Did you take my advice, or ignore it altogether?

·         I informed you that the majority of buyers would be uncomfortable touring a home with either one of us present, and that your schedule needed to be flexible in order to accommodate potential buyers who want to see your home. Did you make arrangements to vacate the premises during a showing, or did you insist on being present to meet each buyer, as well as unreasonably limiting the times in which your home could be shown?

Sellers, if you are serious about selling your home, only you, based on the actions that you take, can determine whether your home sells or not. Your actions during the selling process must be consistent with your need to sell or your want to sell, and especially if you both need and want to sell your home.

In the final analysis, Mr. Seller, whether your home sells or not is entirely up to you.

Not Following The Competition...

In today's market, making the decision to sell your home can be a difficult one. Once you have decided to sell, the best decision you can possibly make is to list your home with a reputable realtor whom you already know and trust, or one who demonstrates competence and knowledge of your local market trends so that they can best market your property.

One thing that I have come across with many sellers who had their houses on the market for some time is "I want to wait until spring to relist...". It is a common refrain from many sellers who are weary of the cycle of listing their homes, only to have them sit for 6 months and see relatively little activity and no serious offers.

Only thing is, almost every seller who is seriously considering relisting their house is thinking the exact same thing: wait until spring, more buyers will be available to see the house, etc. By doing what everyone else is doing, you've just ensured that your house will be one among many that will flood the market at the same time, thus decreasing the chances that it will be your house that gets sold.

Unless you have home improvement projects underway that will seriously add value to your home, then delaying the listing of your home may not work in your favor. Projects such as adding/updating a bathroom, updating the kitchen, finishing the basement, adding a garage, etc. are serious enough undertakings to not be interrupted by buyers coming by to see your house. Your projects should be completed before relisting.

If you do not have any projects planned, and do not intend on starting any, then you give yourself at least two important advantages in listing your house today over those who wait until spring without having a serious reason (besides unreadiness) to do so: you house will have more market exposure, and you will have relatively less competition to deal with.

What does that mean? Simply put, your house will be the one that sells because you are one of a few to be considered, as opposed to one out of a dozen or more.

Lead your competition - the other sellers - by being the first to list your house. Don't follow the competition!

Dear Mr. & Mrs. Seller, Your Absence Is Appreciated…

          When people are selling their homes, there is sometimes an unnecessary presence. Sellers (and sometimes their agents) remaining in their homes during a showing to potential buyers. I cannot fathom why any seller would so eagerly and willingly sabotage the sale of their home in such a fashion. Nor can I imagine why an agent would be a party to such a move. Either agreeing to such conditions being stipulated by the seller upon listing the home, or neglecting to counsel sellers that their absence during showings would be in their best interests’ amounts to a failure on the part of the agent to fulfill their fiduciary responsibilities to their clients…

          Now, this must be a universal phenomenon.  This is only the umpteenth time (ok, maybe I’m exaggerating, but I digress) that I have read about this as I track my blog’s progress and read other real estate blogs, both here in the Rain and elsewhere. Recently, Mark Hall and Todd Clark wrote posts highlighting the consequences for sellers who chose to remain in the home during a showing. In both scenarios, a potential buyer backed off and chose another home because of the actions of the seller, who was present during the showing. When the time for feedback came, I am certain that neither the agent nor the seller were happy with the results…

          If it has never happened to you, then you are lucky. I happened to be one of those buyers, once upon a time. I went to view a home with my wife and our agent, and the seller was at home. Not that she (and she was an elderly lady) said anything, or went out of her way to make us feel uncomfortable, but we all got that vibe. I went and put in a full price offer on the house anyway…only to have the seller back out and eventually change her mind about selling the place at all. I seriously think now, in retrospect, that I should have never made an offer on the house, considering the suspicions the lady aroused in all of us.

          The surest guarantee of getting a house sold is an absent owner. Now, I know that many may argue with that premise, simply because price is king…but I would argue that a good agent can negotiate the price, but cannot negotiate any negative feelings that may arise because of the unnecessary and unwanted presence of a seller and/or their agent. Buyers’ being able to tour a home without either the listing agent or the seller present enables several things to happen:

1.     A thorough examination of the home;

2.     Buyers to confer openly with their agent about any possible issues that may have been spotted as the buyers toured the home;

3.     Establishes an atmosphere of sincere interest. The seller wants to sell, and communicates that to the potential buyer by not being there.

So, Mr. and Mrs. Seller, next time there is an appointment to show your home, your absence is greatly appreciated!

Sellers and Buyers BEWARE!!! Everything on the Internet is not what it seems.

When it comes to local real estate information, your most trusted source should always be a local real estate agent who knows the neighborhoods, the demographics, the people, and the homes on the market, in a way that no internet corporation will ever know.

Zillow may have its fine points, but up-to-date information on the local real estate market is not one of them.

For all sellers, this checklist of items that you will need to do before you move out of your home is invaluable. Following these tips will reduce the stress involved with selling your home and moving into a new one.

Sufficient Contact With Clients? What Constitutes "Regular" Contact?

The number one complaint that clients have with their realtors is that they do not communicate with them enough. If this is indeed true, then what is meant by "enough"? A phone call once a week? A personalized e-mail and a phone call once a week? An automated response from a listing service such as Trulia or Zillow?

Who determines what constitutes "regular" contact? Is it the clients? Especially with sellers, who may not see activity on their listing for weeks at a time, should they establish with their agents that weekly contact is necessary? Or bi-weekly? Via e-mail? Or even text message? Or should there be a real estate industry standard of contact with clients? Or should it be left to each individual seller/buyer and agent to determine what level of contact, and what type of contact is acceptable?

Questions for the Potential Seller in the Greater Waterbury, CT Area, Part 3: How Can I Prepare My Home To Be Sold?

If you are a potential seller in the Greater Waterbury, CT area (that would be Waterbury and the surrounding towns of Watertown, Plymouth, Wolcott, Prospect, Naugatuck, Middlebury and Southbury), then the question of how can I prepare my home to be sold is the final question that you must ask yourself before you actually put your home on the market.

The question of how can I prepare my home to be sold is perhaps the easies of the three questions that you will ask. The answer to that question depends on you, the seller, and your home.

There are two major areas which need to be addressed when answering the question how can I prepare my home to be sold: the outside and the inside.

The outside of your home’s power to attract buyers is known as its curb appeal. The outside of your home is usually the first thing that potential buyers see when they look at homes, whether it is in person or on the internet. As such, you always want to put your best foot forward and show off your home in its best possible light. You can accomplish this by doing the following:

 §Keep your lawn cut and your shrubbery trimmed. If there is snow or ice, make sure that you clear as much of it as possible from the walkways around the house.

 §If you have a fence, keep it in the best possible condition. Make any repairs if necessary and, depending on the type of fence you have, apply a fresh coat of paint to it.

 §Make sure that you do not have any rubbish or other disposable items lying around near the house or in the yard.

 §Clean your gutters, roof, and siding using a power washer. If there are algae on the roof or on your walls, a bleach solution will eliminate those unsightly green stains.

     §When your Realtor is taking pictures of your home on the outside, make sure that you car is either in the garage, or if you do not have one, parked away from the house so that it is not included in the picture.

Understand that as a potential seller, you are trying to make sure that your home is ready to be sold…but buyers will not make any offers on your home if their first impression of your home is a negative one.

Once you have captivated the buyers with the outside of your home, then you must match what the buyers saw outside with what they will see once they enter into your home. Depending on how much needs to be done, and what you are both prepared and capable of doing, prepping the interior of your home for sale can be inexpensive or it can be a major undertaking. The following suggestions will aid you as a potential seller in preparing the interior of your home for sale:

 §Start by packing away as many of your personal items as you possibly can. You want buyers to see the house, with as few distractions as possible. Packing away your personal items such as clothing can also allow potential buyers to properly evaluate the roominess of your home and the availability of closet space.

 §Update the décor in your home. Buyers do get turned off by outdated items in a home. If updating is not an option for you, then your Realtor should be able to recommend a professional home stager who can make the necessary adjustments in the home’s décor so that it is more inviting to potential buyers.

 §If it is possible, and necessary, update your kitchen and bathrooms. Doing so may not necessarily add real value to your home in terms of increasing its price, but buyers do perceive such upgrades as making the house much more valuable, so they might decide to put in a full price offer on your home.

 §Keep your home neat, clean, airy, and dust-free.

The bottom line for you as a potential seller in deciding how to prepare your home to be sold is that after the price is considered, you must give buyers every reason to put an offer on your home.

Questions for the Potential Seller in the Greater Waterbury, CT Area Series:

Introduction

Part 1: When Should I List My Home?

Part 2: What Price Should I List My Home At?

Questions for the Potential Seller in the Greater Waterbury CT Area: What Price Should I List My Home At?

If you are a potential seller in the Greater Waterbury, CT area (that would be Waterbury and the surrounding towns of Watertown, Plymouth, Wolcott, Prospect, Naugatuck, Middlebury and Southbury), then the question of what price should I list my home at is possibly the most important question that you can ask yourself before you actually put your home on the market.

The question of what price should I list my home at is one that your Realtor will provide you with the necessary information so that you can answer that question correctly.

Correctly? What do you mean by “correctly”?

As a potential seller, you need to understand several things:

 § There is a correct price at which to list your home for sale. 

 § That price is determined by the current real estate market and is shown to you by means of what is commonly known as a market analysis, or a comparative market analysis. 

 § The market analysis takes into account the location of your home, type of house, size, number of bedrooms, condition, and other pertinent features of your home and compares them to similar homes like yours in your area that have been sold within a specific timeframe(usually within the last 6 months).

 § The price (or price range) which the market analysis suggests is the result of adjusting the prices of the homes that have been sold that are like yours either up or down, depending on the specific differences in features, and the length of time between the sale date and the analysis date.

 § The market analysis may also show similar houses like yours in your area which are currently on the market as a means to help you price your home competitively.

The correct price at which to list your home, which is the answer to the question “what price should I list my home at”, is the price at which your home will sell, all other factors being equal.

If your expectations of the price are too high, then do not list your home at the price you want. The statistics for the Greater Waterbury, CT area show that houses that are overpriced do not sell. They sit on the market for months, and months…change listing agents…and still sit for months, and months. That’s because the house was not priced correctly.

If the price at which the home will sell is economically unsound for your financial situation, then do not list your home. Period. If the price suggested by the analysis does not allow you to pay off your existing mortgage, and pay the necessary taxes and fees without putting you into debt (unless you are in a short sale situation), then it would be in your best interests to wait until such time comes that you will be able to sell the house and walk away with a clean slate, or better yet, a small profit.

The price at which you list your home should not be based on what you expect to net from the sale of your home. You, as the potential seller, should calculate your net proceeds from the sale price after taking into consideration

1.      Taxes. In Connecticut, all real estate transactions are subject to    

- a state conveyance tax of .5% of the first $800,000 of the selling price; the amount above that is taxed at 1%

-a municipal conveyance tax of .11% of the total selling price. That tax rate applies to all of the Greater Waterbury, CT area towns (Watertown, Plymouth, Wolcott, Prospect, Naugatuck, Middlebury, and Southbury; for Waterbury, the municipal conveyance tax is .25% until the legislation that extended it expires and is not renewed, at which point it will revert back to .11%)

2.    Professional Representation Fee. Commonly known as the commission, this amount is also a percentage of the selling price and is determined by you and your Realtor at the time that you list your home. The percentages can vary depending on location and price, and there is no set percentage (by law). Be aware that choosing a lower commission does not necessarily mean that you will net more, and ask what type of service are you getting for every percentage point you are given. Also, keep in mind that usually, the commission is split between the listing broker and the cooperating (buyer’s) broker.

The bottom line for you as a potential seller in deciding the price at which you will list your home is that you must price your home to be sold – not to attract lookers, but to attract buyers who will actually put an offer on your home. Trust the Realtor of your choice to give you guidance on what that price should be to ensure the outcome that you desire.

There are some things that can affect the buyer’s perception of the price that you have chosen. The market has provided you with the price, but you as the potential seller must prepare your home for sale in such a way that it reflects that price.

Next in the Questions for the Potential Seller in the Greater Waterbury, CT Area Series: How can I prepare my home to be sold?