“Your Latest Trick” by Dire Straits/Mark Knopfler.

Okay, you’ve decide to sell your home in Portland Oregon, so you’ve walked through with your Realtor and you’ve:

• Made the entryway sparkle, which could include painting the front door, changing out hardware and placing color spots.
• Landscaped the lawn, cut back bushes, edged, swept and raked and suddenly you see why people live in condos.
• Cleared out as much extraneous stuff as you can possibly live without.  You’ve staged your home to the point that you often think you are in the wrong house.
• Cleaned, mopped, dusted, picked up your underwear.
• Touched up paint, power-washed and made minor and/or major repairs as needed and you’re suddenly wondering why you wanted to move in the first place.
• Looked over the comparable SOLD data plus checked out your active competition and priced accordingly.
• Agreed with your Realtor on the marketing strategy and have vowed to have no life other than keeping your house as it looks right this very moment.

Now, why hasn’t your house sold?  Well, if it’s being shown and is “always the bridesmaid, never the bride” but the feedback is positive, both on how the home shows as well as pricing, it may simply be a matter of patience.  It’s been awhile since we’ve been in such a challenged market.  There is a smaller pool of buyers and more inventory and buyers absolutely have choice.  If it’s not being shown, it may be over-priced as compared to other properties a potential buyer can choose to tour.

What’s more important?  Low rates or low price?  Well, both of course, but low rates will trump almost anything.  There’s a good reason!  For example, if you purchase a home for $300,000 and finance $270,000 and your interest rate for a 30-year fixed rate loan was 5.25% versus 4.75%, you would pay nearly $30,000 more over the term of the loan.  This is a significant amount of money.  If prospective home buyers are waiting for home prices to decline a bit more before purchasing a home, but interest rates push higher towards 6% in the meantime, waiting could well cost those home buyers more money in the long run.

So, here are a few enticements that you could consider:

• offer to pay the buyer’s mortgage closing costs as many buyers are struggling to get the cash necessary to go forward with their housing dreams.
• offer to pay upfront points for the buyer to “buy-down” the interest rate which will lessen the payment.

There is a double bonus for the buyer by having the seller pay to lower the interest rate on the mortgage.  The buyer will have lower total costs over the life of the mortgage.  But, also the IRS treats points paid up front to lower a mortgage interest rate as pre-paid interest, regardless of who pays the fees.  This means that when buyers negotiate to have the seller pay the costs to lower their interest rate, the receive the benefit of deducting them on their income taxes in the year the home is purchased!

About the Author | Janeese Jackson

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My job is service...service to you and your real estate transactions! How can you benefit from my 25+ years of experience and expertise? What can I offer to make the process more productive? * Current information on available housing...comparative and competitive market pricing and analysis * Daily involvement in the local real estate marketplace * Thorough, comprehensive knowledge reflecting years of helping others complete their real estate business * Extensive network of professional resources to make the process as smooth as possible My commitment is to you! Being available to you...returning your calls...answering your questions...addressing your concerns...respecting your money...matching your timeline...meeting your expectations...helping accomplish your real estate goals!!

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