Whether it be because you have an adjustable rate mortgage that is getting ready to adjust up or already has, or because there was a job loss, etc. For whatever reason, your mortgage payment is too high and you just can’t afford it any longer.

There may be help for you. There is something that’s called a loan modification out there. This is where you or a 3rd party can negotiate with your mortgage company and get them to lower your mortgage payment.

So, if you’re really interested in staying in your home then I suggest you learn how to do a loan modification on your current Pennsylvania mortgage.

One more thing, there’s no cost incurred on your part upfront by your mortgage company for a loan modification. The reason I say upfront is because sometimes if you are behind on mortgage payments then can put them on the back-end of your mortgage and you’re going to, of course, be paying interest as usual with your mortgage.

P.S. This is one of the techniques you can use as a way to avoid foreclosure in Pennsylvania.

Despite any not so pleasant things that may be going on in your life with your property or job or what have you, let’s not forget all of the wonderful things that we are thankful for.

I just wanted to say that I am very thankful for my partner, all of my family and friends, for my kitty cats, for my health (especially since I have been eating better, losing weight and not getting heartburn) and for my knowledge and my ability to learn and grow more each day.

Have a great turkey day everyone!

The aunt is being unrealistic and this will be a problem with each and everyone of you who want to sell your house quickly.

Tip #1- If your house was paid off (or almost paid off) and you kept refinancing it and pulling money out well please, please, please realize that you already got PAID from your house. You just chose to take the majority of the profits from your house BEFORE you sold it.

Tip #2- Any amount of money is better than $0. When the bank forecloses on your home they take it from you and you walk away with no place to live and NO MONEY! I can’t stress this enough. Please remember tip #1 especially when you’re complaining about how little money you’re going to receive from the sale of your home.

Tip #3- The more repairs your house needs the less money you will receive. Please do not try to compare your crappy, beat up, run down house to a completely rehabbed and updated house that’s a few doors down. There is no comparison, I promise. Be realistic, your house needs work and you have to take that into consideration when pricing your Pennsylvania house for sale.

Listen, I know you may not want to hear this type of talk, but this is reality folks. I don’t want to sugar coat anything for you, that won’t benefit you in the least.

Feel free to post any questions here and I’d be more than happy to help. Also, check out this cool ebook on How to Sell Your House in 21 Days!

It’s now time to take your marketing to the next level: house showings. How are you preparing for it? You’ve inspected, checked and cleaned your house thoroughly. You made sure everything’s in place, or if they’re not, in the most ideal place to be shown. Showings are, after all, the chance to impress the home buyers by flaunting everything your house has. And remember, you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Ok, now relax. Showing your house to home buyers is especially easy when you’re trying to sell your own house by yourself. This is a good opportunity to get personal – homebuyers would want to see more than just the house they saw in the advertisement picture. As you move throughout the house, pay special attention to objects that created some memories during your stay. Things like “My father did this beautiful carving when he was 18” will add some personal note to your home. But remember, you should have decluttered and depersonalized your house as much as humanly possible prior to showing your home. Right? Did you remember reading that in our post “Reasons to Stage Your Home for Sale?” And while you’re on the business of using your family, don’t hesitate to let your family members take part. Assign jobs for them in advance for emergencies or short-notice showings, but try not to have the whole gang around when it comes to showing your home.

You want the home buyer’s full attention on your house. But at the same time you want some elements of your house to be insignificant enough to provide a comfortable environment. Make sure the house is well aired and lighted by opening windows (during possible weather) and positioning all the coverings to show maximum sunlight. A dark house, especially when it’s a big house, will create the effect of gloom and depression; not exactly the kind of house you’d buy.

During those times when you’re forced to keep all your windows shut, make sure the air inside your house is in good, clean condition. Some homeowners will bake cookies to keep that “fresh” air hanging, but if you’re not keen on taking it that far, just be sure to wipe out any pet / bathroom odors or smoke. In house showings, the air should do what it needs to do – allows human to breathe – and do nothing more.

Having a pet around is highly discouraged. No matter how well behaved they are, or how much you may love them (I know they are family too…trust me, I have 3 cats!), it’s not a good idea to bring out your animal. God knows what kind of behaviour they can suddenly break into in front of your guests!

Last of all, if an agent is showing your house to home buyers, try as hard as you can not to be at home. Homebuyers tend to feel like intruders when they’re checking details of a house with its owners watching.

And one final word of caution: If you are showing your house yourself, because you decided against using a real estate agent, please be very, very, very careful. You are letting strangers that you do NOT know into your home. Try to get their name and full address if you can and some form of valid i.d. BEFORE letting them into your home. It’s probably a good idea to have more than 1 adult present as well. I don’t say this to scare you, I just say it to make sure that you are prepared. It’s better to be safe then sorry.

Yep, I know you’ve seen those before, right? They may have been a different color or said something a little different. Maybe it said: “Stop Your Pennsylvania Foreclosure!” or “Avoid Foreclosure” or “We Buy Houses Fast” or any combination of those. You’ve probably seen them in every color too, from white with blue letters to yellow with black letters to everything in between.

And if you’ve had a house for sale you know that those little signs at least piqued your curiousity, right? Well, today is the day where I let you know if those “We Buy Houses” sign people really do work.

Here’s the deal: the people that put out those signs are generally local area real estate investors who actually are looking for houses to “buy.” Now I put the word buy in quotes, because you get all kinds of investors on the phone after calling on these signs and different investors want to do different things.

First things first, let’s talk about the actual investor that is on the other end of the phone when you call. You may be talking to a brand spanking new investor. I mean this investor is so new that it’s still crying from the doctor spanking it’s rear end. Know what I mean? These are called newbies. Pretty much, they have no idea what they are doing. They’re winging it. Now this isn’t to say that they can’t actually buy your house and that they can’t actually get the deal done…..because we ALL were new at something at one point or another, right?

Next you’ll have the intermediate investor. This investor has done a few deals, may even have some rental properties and such. They know what they are doing, in that they know what they can and can’t do. There are still probably some situations that they can’t handle though be it where you owe too much than your house is worth or that you have major foundation issues or that you have a very emotional and messy divorce or estate situation going on.

Finally, you have the experienced investor. They pretty much can handle just about any situation you throw at them ALTHOUGH they generally are very picky in regards to which deals they want to deal with and which deals they don’t want to deal with. Why you might ask? Well they know their business and they know which types of properties and deals fit their business model best. Some experienced investors may only want to deal with foreclosures, some may only want to deal with estates, some may only want to deal with “pretty” houses that don’t need any work and some may only want to deal with houses that are paid for and are owned free and clear. Each investor has their own business model that they have created and improved over time and they run their real estate business with that business model in mind.

Ok now on to buying your house. Well, not everyone of the people that has these signs out want to buy YOUR house per se and quite frankly, not everyone of them may be capable of buying your house, either.

You should be able to get a feel for the type of investor you’re dealing with my talking to them. Do they seem nervous? Do you get the sense they know what they are doing? Does it feel like to you that they’ve been through this process before? You’ll get a feeling for the kind of investor you are dealing with by just talking to them.

Next, if they say they will pay you CASH for your house, do they have proof of funds to show that they have the cash available to buy your house? Ask them that question. That question will let you know who is a real deal investor and who is a newbie that’s just “winging it.” Now, keep in mind, even an experienced investor may not have all cash available to buy you’re home, but they may still be quite capable of buying your home. So don’t be intent on dealing with investors who just have cash. If they can’t prove that they have all cash, ask for a pre-approval letter from a bank or mortgage company. Any experinced investor will not have a problem giving you a pre-approval letter or showing you proof of funds. It’s generally the newer and intermediate investors that may have a problem with these and that’s usually because they don’t have it!

Ok so some mean they are actually going to buy your house in the real sense of buying, where you have a settlement, you get money and they get the keys to your house and you both go about your separate ways. (They may have bought your house with all cash or with a mortgage, either way, at settlement you are walking away with a CHECK. The title company/attorney will not let you walk out with a pile of cash in bags, etc.)

Next, there are folks that when they say buy your house they actually mean other things. Like they may want to wholesale your house. What that means is that you and they agree on a price for your house and you sign a contract together. They in turn, turn around and sell their right in the contract to someone else for a fee. They generally sell the contract to another investor. The other investor is the one who actually brings the cash (or mortgage) to the settlement, where you will get paid. (And you didn’t think houses could be wholesaled like other things in the world are, huh?)

Then there are the people who want to actally do a Lease Option with your house. This is where you sign a lease with someone along with an option to purchase the property. So they are basically paying you rent (and you in turn are paying your mortgage) and what they do is sub-lease it out on a nt to own basis. The person they sub-lease it to is, of course, paying them a higher rent then they are paying you and they have also sign a purchase agreement, along with the lease. What happens is that when the sub-leased tenants are able to get mortgage financing then the initial investor will execute his option with YOU and in turn the person they sub-leased to will purchase the home from them.

You also have folks that will just take ove your mortgage payments. Some folks that use the lease purchase method will say they are taking over payments (and they are for a period of time with the lease) but if the lease ends and they can’t find a buyer, they do NOT have to pay you anymore. Keep in mind this is when their lease and option expires. But there is something called “subject to.” This is when you deed your house to someone and they take over your house subject to the existing financing. So all of the financing on your house stays in place, it’s just that someone else is paying it.

There are soooo many ways that folks can “buy” your house and honestly, every single way that I’ve mentioned above is absolutely and 100% legal here in Pennsylvania. And if you don’t believe me, ask a competent real estate attorney and they will confirm this.

So, if you call on one of these signs and you hear out they investor and they sound “experienced” and capable, but they don’t want to buy your house for cash….just hear them out. One of the options they talk to you about, may actually work for you, even though it’s not the way you are use to doing a real estate transaction.

One word of caution: If you ever encoutner an investor that wants YOU to pay them some type of fee upfront in order to stop your Pennsylvania foreclsoure, please do me a favor and RUN QUICKLY AWAY FROM THEM! Stay away from any type of person who says they are a foreclosure rescue person or company and that requires you to pay them a fee. If you don’t take my word for it, you can research plenty of info on local and state government websites that will tell you the same thing I’m telling you here. Do not do business with these people.

But if you want to get an offer right now from an experienced investor and don’t want to have to wait for a “We Buy Houses” sign then you can call Real Home Solutions, Inc. at 610-999-6410 or you can fill out our form online here.

We are experienced,, local Pennsylvania investors who can pretty much handle any type of situation that you throw at us and best of all, we’re easy to deal with. Don’t take our word for it, check out our testimonials.

Got any questions? Maybe you’ve already called someone and you want to know what they were talking about? Post your question here. We’ll help ya out.

The first thing you should do when you are thinking of selling your home is to hire yourself a qualified real estate agent who knows the neighborhood. An agent who knows your neighborhood will know the ideal price for your home, and help you sell it at the ideal price. If your home is priced right for the neighborhood, chances are it will sell. If it is priced too high, you might not get any offers or anyone interested in buying the home and your home will just sit there.

Once you have a real estate agent, you and your agent will need to develop a strategy or plan if you will. You’ll need to decide on the price and how long you will leave it on the market before you think about a reduction. You’ll also need to discuss the agents commission as well, which will help to avoid any misunderstandings in the future. (By the wa, in Pennsylvania ALL real estate commissions are negotiable. Don’t ever let any real estate agent tell you any different. The average commission price is 6 percent of the sales price though.) If you talk about these types of things when you first start out selling your home, you’ll find the entire process to go much smoother.

In some cases, you may run out of time before you are able to sell your home. In this situation, your real estate agent may recommend renting your home out. This isn’t always the best option for most folks. Check out our article “ShouldYou Become a Landlord” before deciding to listen to this advice from your real estate agent. Remember, you can always contact a local, real estate investor who buys houses in your area quickly and for cash in order to get your place sold. You can fill out our Sell Your PA House Fast form here.

Keep in mind that selling your home will take you some time. You can also sell it yourself if you prefer, without a real estate agent. This can save you quite a bit of money as well, as you won’t have to pay a real estate agent any commission. If you are planning to go this route, you should make sure that you know the value of your home and you know the neighborhood. You can put a “for sale by owner” sign in the yard, and list your home in local newspapers, and on the Internet as well. This way, you’ll get your home out to the market of potential buyers. One thing to keep in mind is that when folks contact homes that are listed for sale by owner they sometimes automatically deduct 6% off of your sales price because they know you aren’t paying a real estate commission. So, you’re definitely going to have to put your negotiating hat on. Check out our article “How to Sell Your PA House Yourself Quickly and Keep Thousands in Your Pocket” in order to get our step by step approach to selling your house yourself.

Got any questions about your house? Need a tip about a particular situation your’e dealing with….ask us for help here. To keep up to date with all of the articles, tips and ideas that we post on here regularly don’t forget to subscribe to this blog here.

The very first part of your home presentation is your price. Your home absolutely, positively MUST be priced right, especially in this super tough market. If you over-price your home you are just doing yourself a disservice and wasting your real estate agents time if you have one. Over-pricing your house with the idea that “you’ll take less if someone makes you an offer for less” is the absolute worse strategy to use in any market let alone a buyer’s market. Figure out what comparable homes sold for, take the advice of your real estate professional, do your own due diligence and price your home PROPERLY. That can not be stressed enough.

Now make sure the rest of your presentation looks fabulous. If the property you are selling comes with a garage, you’ll need to go through your garage before you sell your home. Chances are that you store things in your garage, which can easily pile up over time before you realize it. If your garage is in a messy condition, you’ll obviously want to clean it up. Buyers look for homes that are in perfect condition, and anything less than perfect will look bad in the eyes of the buyer.

Most homes have some truly outstanding features inside of them. You should always do your best to highlight the best features of your home, instead of just hoping that the buyer understands what they are. The ideal way to bring out the best features of your home is to use the proper lighting. If your home is clean, you can use lighting to bring out the best features in your home, and ensure that they stand out to the buyer.

When a potential buyer first pulls up to your home; the first thing he will see is your lawn. If your lawn is trimmed and well taken care of, he will get a good impression right off the bat. If your lawn is a wreck, he may immediately pull away. To give the best impression to the buyer, you should put some thought into how things look. You can always plant flowers around the walkway and throughout the yard, which will look great to a potential buyer.

You should also make sure that the entrance into your home is a positive as well. The front door should be in great shape, as well as the entry area into the home. You can add some plants, paintings, and rugs to ensure that your buyer gets a good impression. When the buyer walks through the entry way into your home, you should make sure that the view he or she takes in is a good on. Your biggest goal when showing your home is to ensure that the buyer is pleased.

Now for the final part of your presentation…marketing. You have to make sure that you are doing everything you need to do to market your picture perfect home and let the world know it’s for sale. If you have a real estate agent they should be heavily marketing your house for you. For tips on marketing your home yourself check out our article: “How to Sell Your PA House Quickly and Keep Thousands in Your Pocket.”

Keep in mind though that it may take some time to sell your home, especially in a buyers market. These days, homes can sit on the market for months even up to a year at a time before they actually sell.

If you are having trouble selling your home you should take a look at your overall presentation. Always start from the beginning of your presentation with the price and move on to each aspect from there. You’re going to have to adjust things. Speak to your real estate professional about it, if you have one. If you are selling your home yourself then go through everything step by step and be honest with yourself and adjust things accordingly. You can always reduce the price or simply go back to the basics. Eventually you will sell your home – although it may take more time than you think.

One of the best things about staged homes is that they sell in less time. Which of course is awesome news for sellers. In most cases, you won’t have to worry about your home staying on the market for super long periods of time. Research has shown that staged homes sell nearly 40% faster than other homes on the market.

Staged homes also tend to sell for more money. Homes that have sat on the market for a long period of time will normally get lower offers due to the fact that home buyers will begin to think there is something wrong with the. Staged homes on the other hand look more attractive and therefore may very well sell quickly when they are listed becasue of the attention they draw to themelves.

A staged exterior will also draw viewers. When home buyers first arrive at a home that is up for sale, they instantly make up their mind whether they should get out and look around, or drive off. If the yard is staged with flowers and the yard is manicured and properly taken care of, chances are that buyers will want to see more. This is called curb appeal. It’s of the utmost importance. If you entice your buyers by showing them how nice the home is outside, they will surely want to know what the home is like on the inside as well.

Once a buyer has stepped inside of the home, they will know within a matter of seconds whether or not they like the home. To get the buyer’s attention, you’ll need to stage your home to the buyer’s liking. You don’t want the buyer to feel rushed or get the wrong impression, which is why you should always set the stage and entice the buyer to take their time and get a good look at the home.

Staging the living rooms and kitchens will also help to sell the home. Buyers love living rooms, which is why you should always make sure that the living room is the center piece of your home, and decorate it accordingly. Kitchens on the other hand, is where you should really go all out, decorating with fruit and such. You should always make sure that everything is in place as well. Buyers love to see homes that are ready to move into - and not ready to be worked on.

One thing to keep in mind though when staging and trying to make your home looking appealing to the buyer: your buyer doesn’t like clutter and your family pictures crammed into every space of your living space isn’t going to make your buyers feel warm and fuzzy. So always remember when staging to DE-CLUTTER and DE-PERSONALIZE your house first.

Staged homes will also attract more real estate agents and get more advertising as well. If a real estate agent loves your home, they will want to show it off. If you stage your home, chances are that real estate agents will eat it up. When they do, they will advertise your home more than others, just to get you some deserved attention. This way, you can benefit from a lot of exposure at absolutely no extra cost.

There’s no other way to look at it, other than staged homes sell. They attract more buyers, more real estate agents, and they give people the feeling of home. When you go out of your way to make the buyer feel that your home is their dream home, they will physically want to make it their dream home.

Homes that aren’t staged may sell, although staged homes sell much faster and for more money. If you’ve been looking to sell your home, you should look into staging it and get the ball rolling in the right direction.

I want to end this with one more word of caution and I can’t think of any other way to say this but like this: You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig. Get it? So please be honest with yourself about your house before persuing staging, because if your house is an asbolute wreck which needs to be gutted, well after you stage it, guess what? It’s still an absolute wreck which needs to be gutted but hey, you could make a fee bucks buy selling the nice stuff you bought to stage your house with

Does that make sense? If you have any questions, feel free to post them here.