Selling your home can be a stressful and overwhelming process. Thankfully, there are many steps you can take to make the process easier. In this article, we'll provide you with tips and tricks to help make selling your home easier, from hiring a great real estate agent to making home improvements and investing in staging and photography. We'll also discuss the importance of setting the right asking price and hiring a real estate lawyer to help you navigate the legal complexities of the home-selling process.
A skilled, experienced real estate agent is an invaluable asset in selling your home quickly and easily. Somebody who knows your local market and the real estate business will be able to give you personalized help and advice, as well as put in the work to find potential buyers and show your home. This will ultimately increase the chances of you selling faster and for a higher price.Â
For this reason, it’s important to make your choice of real estate agent carefully, talking to multiple people before you commit to one. It can be helpful to ask your friends and family for referrals and recommendations.
Depending on your budget, see if you can afford to add some home improvements that will increase the value of your home. This includes things like:
The way your home looks from the outside is key to the first impression that you will make on potential buyers. That’s why it’s important to clear your yard, prune your bushes, cut your grass, and generally make sure that everything looks nice and tidy. You can improve your curb appeal even further by adding some potted plants, touching up exterior paint, installing a new mailbox, and adding flower window boxes or mulch.
An important part of selling your home is making it so that potential buyers can imagine themselves potentially living there. This means that it’s important to remove any particularly personal items like family photographs and other knickknacks specific to your taste. If you’re still living in the home during the selling process, you can simply put these away for photographs and showings.
In real estate, your home is only as good as its listing. This means that your photographs can make or break your ability to sell your house quickly and easily. This makes it worthwhile to invest in home staging and high-quality photography. Work with a professional to stage your home so it is both neutral and appealing. Remove visual clutter and any objects that might make a room smaller. And be sure to give attention to every part of the house, from the entryway to the deck or patio.
Next, do your home some justice by hiring a professional photographer to take high-quality photos. A real estate photographer will know what types of lighting and angles will most flatter your home and make for a listing that really pops. If you want to take it a step further, you can even hire a videographer to help you create a video tour, which can help your listing stand out amongst others.
Setting the right asking price may make a huge difference in how easy it is to sell your home. The right price can attract more buyers and even trigger a bidding war. In contrast, too high of a price may prevent people from coming to see the house. If anything, it’s better to start on the lower side to entice buyer interest. However, don’t be too worried about having to figure it all out on your own. Your real estate agent should be able to use their experience and expertise to find a price that will work best for your property.
Selling a home involves complex legal matters that can be difficult to navigate on your own. That’s why it can be so helpful to work with a real estate attorney. They can help represent you and give you advice throughout the home selling process, including reviewing and drafting your purchase agreement, dealing with title issues, reviewing closing documents, and addressing any legal disputes that may arise during the sale process.
Buying and selling property can involve complex legal matters which can be difficult to navigate. For this reason, it is recommended that anybody engaging in commercial or residential real estate works with a real estate attorney. This ensures that you will correctly fill out all paperwork and follow all relevant laws such that everything goes smoothly.Â
If you plan to work with a real estate lawyer, there are several questions you should ask them in order to receive valuable advice and information. We take a look at these questions below.
It’s important that your real estate lawyer has the proper licenses to practice in your state. You can double-check this on your state bar’s website. Additionally, you can ask if the lawyer has completed any specialized training in real estate law, such as a master’s degree, certificate, or continuing education coursework.
It’s likely you will want to prioritize hiring a lawyer with significant experience practicing real estate law. Ask your lawyer what type of cases they have worked on in the past and which aspects of real estate law they are most comfortable with. Generally speaking, the more years of experience a lawyer has, the better.
Some attorneys practice in other areas of law in addition to real estate. For example, the same lawyer may work on real estate and family law, or real estate and trust law. This may be desirable if your case relates to multiple areas of law. But if you’re seeking help with something exclusively related to real estate, you may prefer to hire a lawyer who practices exclusively real estate law.Â
Not all real estate lawyers are willing to take on all types of cases. Ask your real estate attorney which types of cases they specialize in and are open to working on. This may include any of the following:
If the lawyer you’re speaking to isn’t willing to work on the type of case you’re dealing with, they may be able to recommend another attorney who can help you out instead.
Learning how many clients your lawyer works with will help you discover two things. The more clients a lawyer works with, the more expertise and experience they are likely to have. However, if they have too many clients, that may indicate that they will not have the time and resources to support you sufficiently.Â
If you’re working with a larger real estate firm, it may be the case that more than one lawyer will work on your case. There may be an entire team assigned to you, including lawyers, paralegals, and junior attorneys. It’s important for you to know in advance how many people will work on your case. This will give you the opportunity to meet your entire team and confirm that you are comfortable with each of them. And if you prefer more personal, one-on-one treatment, this question may be an indicator that you should keep searching for a different lawyer.
Naturally, it’s important that you understand how much your lawyer charges, what their fee structure is, and how billing works. Be sure to ask this question early on in the process so that you understand whether or not you can afford their services before you commit to working together.Â
Any legal case comes with its challenges and potential issues that you may come up against. An experienced lawyer should be able to review the details of your case and anticipate potential problems in order to prepare for and resolve them. Asking your real estate lawyer about the challenges that they foresee may arise with your case will give you an important heads-up about what’s to come.
Managing rental properties can be a lucrative venture, but it requires effort, time, and careful planning. Landlords must ensure their properties are habitable and comply with state laws in order to avoid any legal issues.Â
In this article, we share some tips that landlords can follow to ensure a smooth and profitable experience while renting their property.
The right tenant can be the difference between an easy renting experience and a huge headache that wastes your time and money. In the long term, it’ll be much cheaper to keep the same tenant rather than having to continually change tenants, which comes with cleaning and advertising costs. This means that selecting the right tenant should be your top priority.Â
Be sure to use the background screening and credit check tools at your disposal to ensure that you find somebody reliable who you can trust to pay the rent. Aim to advertise in such a way that targets the type of tenants you want to find. Always meet your tenants face-to-face before signing to get a good impression and sense of whether or not you can trust them.Â
According to the Federal Fair Housing Act, it’s illegal to deny an applicant because of their race, color, nationality, family status, disability, or sex. Be sure you are not rejecting any prospective tenants for discriminatory reasons. Instead, focus on the factors that you can legally base your decision on, including credit history, employment history, and income.Â
Note that if you do reject an applicant because of their credit history, you must provide them with the name and address of the credit reporting agency you used. For this reason, it’s best to keep written documentation of your applicants, including reasons for their rejection when applicable. Strive to use the same screening process consistently with each and every applicant.Â
Your lease, or rental agreement, is an extremely important document that can legally protect you in case your tenant breaks the terms of your agreement. For this reason, it’s best to have a professional such as a real estate lawyer draft your lease to ensure that it is legally valid and protects your best interests. Your lease should include:
As a landlord, you are legally required to provide your tenants with a habitable rental property. This means that you must perform regular inspections to ensure that the premises are habitable. This includes protecting tenants from one another and criminals who may enter the property, as well as keeping the unit and surrounding areas in good condition without hazards.
Another part of your responsibility to keep the property habitable is responding to your tenant’s concerns and requests for repairs. This is legally referred to as the "implied warranty of habitability." As such, you should strive to promptly repair any issues your tenant brings up that you are responsible for. This includes:
Depending on the state, if you fail to make a repair, your tenant may be able to legally take one or more of the following actions:
Most states protect tenants’ privacy by placing restrictions on when landlords may enter a rental unit. Typically, you may only enter a rental unit to make repairs, inspect the property, show the property to prospective tenants, or because of an emergency. In any case, you must provide verbal or written notice of your intent to enter a minimum of 24 hours before entry. If there is an emergency, such as a fire or gas leak, this overrides the requirement of notice.Â
In the event of a legal issue, it’s important that you be able to easily access documents such as current and prior rental agreements, insurance documentation, and more. As a landlord, it’s absolutely key to stay organized and use a filing system that helps you easily find what you need. It’s up to you which organizational system feels most intuitive for you, but it may be worth considering using an electronic filing system, which reduces the likelihood of you losing important documents.Â
Some states limit the amount you can charge for a security deposit to one month’s rent. Many also require you to return a security deposit within a certain time after the tenant moves out, as well as to allow the tenant to be present during a move-out inspection. Familiarize yourself with local laws regarding security deposits and be sure to follow them. Inspect and document the rental’s condition before tenants move in to avoid disputes over security deposits upon move-out.
If a dispute arises with your tenants, try to resolve it informally. If that doesn’t work, you can often find a free or low-cost mediation service to help out. Otherwise, you may have to go to small claims court, where you can collect unpaid rent or seek money for property damage if the security deposit does not cover it. A consultation with a lawyer may help you determine the best course of action depending on the nature of the dispute.
It is essential that landlords get the necessary liability and property insurance coverage to protect themselves from lawsuits by tenants as well as losses from issues such as fires, storms, theft, and vandalism.
As a tenant renting an apartment, you have a right to live in a property that is suitable for living. To that end, your landlord must make reasonable repairs. But what exactly does this mean? What repairs are landlords required to make, and which are the responsibility of the tenant? We explore these questions in the article below.
All tenants have the right to live in a habitable property. Even if it is not specifically outlined in your rental contract, your landlord is legally responsible for keeping your building and/or unit in livable condition. This involves:
While landlords may help with fixing a variety of minor problems, they are not usually required to by law. This includes::
Although these issues may bother the tenant, landlords are not legally required to repair themÂ
However, there are certain situations in which the landlord would be required to make these types of minor repairs. These include:
If there is a major repair required that a landlord is legally responsible for, there are multiple steps that a tenant can take in order to have the landlord pay for the repair. These include:
Because a landlord is not legally obligated to make minor repairs, tenants cannot use the same actions as they can with major repairs. Rather, they can try some of the following ways to get their landlord to make a minor repair.
If you are having a conflict with your landlord over the issue of major or minor repairs and believe you may need to take legal action, your first step will be to speak to a lawyer experienced in these types of disputes. They will be able to give you a free review of your case and advise you regarding the next steps.
