Get More Market Value For Your Orange County Home at Sales Time

Some Simple Real Estate Tips To Get A Higher Asking Price For Your Orange County, CA Home

Many times family’s in Orange County overlook the little things when they are selling their Orange County Home and live thousands of dollars on the table for something that was very easy to have fixed or upgraded at very little expense. The bottom line is this; the home you are selling needs to be in the best possible condition – especially when you are in a competitive Orange County real estate market and you are competing against many other homes for sale. This means taking care of the major repairs that could deter a buyer from putting down an offer on your home (cracked pool or a leaky roof) if you can afford it and obviously the smaller repairs.

The smaller repairs are what I refer to as your homes curb appeal and intrinsic value. You have to make sure that the landscape looks good – your home has to make a good first impression. Mow your grass (lazy), clean up the debris along the side yard and get rid of the weeds in the garden (yes, you really are lazy). Go down to the local nursery, spend a few bucks and plant a few annual flowers near the entrance or in pots which you would want to place by the front door. Other quick fixes that don’t cost a lot of money but will help you get top dollar for your home and are should be obvious but are often overlooked.

 

• Clean the windows of the home (inside and outside). No one want to look through cloudy windows on a sunny day.
• Make sure your paint is not chipping or flaking.
• Be sure that your doorbell works (it takes a lot of energy to knock on a door)
• Make sure that your home appliances works – this is simply a matter of pride of ownership! Replace leaky faucets.
• Make sure that your bathrooms and kitchens are spotless every time that the home is shown. I know this is a pain but it is a turnoff to see a dirty kitchen and/or bathroom
• Organize your Closets. Nothing will turn off a prospective buyer more than sloppy closet.
• Get rid of any bad smells in your home – do you have a cat and a kitty box? If you are going to have an open house why don’t you bake some cookies or a cake before and have the pleasant smell in the home?
• Hey big spender… Invest in couple of vases of fresh flower and place them around the house to give the home some color.
• If you have family photos or portraits plastered all over the home – remove them. People who are looking to buy your home don’t want to be side tracked into looking into your family’s history.

If a professional was to ask you if you were to invest a couple of hundred dollars today and you would make a couple of thousand dollars in a month or two, would you invest the money? Of course you would! You are selling you likely largest investment – invest a few extra dollars to insure a bigger return on your investment.

Greg Steinaker CEO BanCorp Realty

Orange County Real Estate - Orange County Homes For Sale - BanCorp Realty Prepares a CMA For Each Of Our Clients

Automated Valuation Reporting - Fact or Fiction?

Some of the nationally based real estate companies provide consumers with a automated home valuation tool (AVM) which gives them an instantaneous estimated value for a home. This predictive model can be interesting to use and many times will give the owner a “warm fuzzy” feeling about the home’s potential worth – regardless of whether the home would sell for that price in the open market. You see this home valuation tools have no way of factoring in improvements that may or may not have been done on the home or of the other homes it is being compared to. BanCorp Realty customizes Comparative Market Analysis’ (CMA’s) for each client we represent.

The best home valuation tools provide a starting point for understanding the value of your home. Assuming the estimated dollar value they provide will be your home's sale price omits the most critical factor in your home sale-what buyers think your home is worth. In every case automated home valuations are produced by a computer program that uses a variety of ever-changing data to derive the potential value of your home. The two primary pieces of data these programs use are

 

•  The sale prices of homes that have sold near your home.
•  The sale prices of homes that are comparable to yours (e.g. similar number of bedrooms, baths, square footage).

While this information helps understand what a home could sell for, there are numerous other factors which always influence a home's sale price that a home valuation tool isn't likely to know.

The condition of your home: if your home has a garage door that needs to be replaced, it is broken and out dated and needs to be completed replaced, then the sale price might be lower than that buyers paid for other nearby or comparable homes. On the other hand, a new roof, new appliances, and a well-kept yard might allow you to get more for your home than others might have received in the past.

 

Where your home is located-if your home is on a busy street with lots of traffic, the price you are offered might be less than other homes sold for that were nearby that enjoyed no ground traffic.

What is important to a given buyer-home valuation tools never know what potential buyers want. Any given buyer may find your home to be of more or less value based on what they want, not on what a computer guesses they'll want. Another reason to be cautious about home valuation tool results is that BanCorp’s Realtor’s are wary of them, and frequently we have to educate sellers to set realistic expectations about their home's likely sale price. 

A Bancorp real estate professional is paid a commission for the sale of your home based on its sale price. It is in our best interest to help you sell your home for the highest price possible. That's because it's our job to help you maximize the return on your home's sale. A result of getting you the highest possible sale price is that we’ll will earn a higher commission. 

The important thing to remember is that home valuations are computer-generated estimates of what your home might sell for, not what it will sell for. Each homebuyer has unique preferences and needs, these estimates cannot include all of the factors that they may consider when determining how much to offer you for your home.

Home valuation tools are fun to use, provide other information that a seller or buyer may find useful, and get people interested in performing a real estate transaction. However, to get an accurate analysis of your specific home's worth in the current market you'll need to obtain a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) from a licensed, professional BanCorp Realtor. 

Greg Steinaker , CEO BanCorp

Be a smart Orange County home buyer – easier and faster™ real estate applied: Be an expert Orange County Home Buyer

“Don’t purchase an Orange County home on credit (Finance) with money you don’t have to impress people you don’t know” Greg Steinaker, CEO BanCorp Real Estate Group. Recently it was reported that Americans put $1,300 on credit cards for every $1,000 they earned! This is just another way of saying that American are buying things that we can’t afford with money we don’t have to impress people we either don’t like or don’t know… We wonder why our government is in trouble? Our nation’s population is in trouble! One of my favorite quotes is: “If the grass is greener on the other side of the fence – so is the water bill.” Ever since I became the C.E.O. of BanCorp Realty I have never had to worry about my yacht having barnacles on it, you know why? I don’t own a yacht. At BanCorp Real Estate Group, when we are representing a client, if we believe they are stretching their finances and buying more of a home than they can afford (regardless of what their lender might say) we will say so. If we didn’t, would we really be a ‘real estate professional?’

Just because the bank says you are qualified does not mean that you and your family should jump up two or three levels in the housing hierarchy. It doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t either. BanCorp simply wants to bring to your attention that just because the bank says it is “good go” does not mean that you need to automatically accept their offer. The bank makes their decisions on historical information: How have you paid your bills in the past? How much have you earned in the past? How much have you been able to save (past tense)? The bank can’t foresee the future of your company or your business and neither can you. If you know that your company is experiencing layoffs on the East Coast and the rumor is that they might start on the West Coast in a year or two shouldn’t you factor this in to the equation of whether to upgrade two-steps into a home? The bank doesn’t know this, but you do! If you are self-employed and think this is going to last forever, might I just remind you of the end of 2007? 2008?

BanCorp Realty is not trying to scare you away from moving up into your next home, quite the opposite. BanCorp is in the business of “Homes | Families | Dreams”. If you are not moving forward, you are either stagnant or moving backwards (there is no other way to move). The point of this blog is to make a wise, prudent decision when you decide to trade-up one or two homes in the Orange County property hierarchy. We have seen too many instances since 1995 when a family had a stellar couple of years income wise, thought it was going to last forever and went crazy with their next home only to have to sell the home shortly after buying it because their income adjusted back to closer to normal after moving into their new dream home. I will provide a quote from a person that knows a little bit about smart investing, Warren Buffet “Don’t lose what you already have”, this is his rule #1-A. If you have built up equity in your existing home and are ready to trade-up, don’t take the chance of burning up this newly acquired equity with Realtor fee’s by buying and then having to resell a new home quickly. Just because the bank says “Okay” does not mean that you need to follow suit. You and your family make the final decision, and remember you are the ones that are going to make the payments, the bank that said “Go For It!” will be the same ones making collection calls on the other side of the phone.

 

Greg Steinaker

Relocating to Orange County? Orange County Homes For Sale – Orange County Real Estate

Orange County Buyer’s Agent – How to Win Against Multiple Home Offers in Very Competitive Orange County Housing Market.

Part Two

Many times when a family is relocating to Orange County or if they are simply relocating within Orange County they will find themselves within a multiple offer situation, whether it is a very appealing listing price, very desirable Orange County home for sale or simply the time of the year. How does the aggressive Orange County home buyer increase their chances of winning against other competing home buyers in a very hyper-sensitive Orange County sellers market? In part one of this blog I talked about the obvious: Coming in with the highest bid and also having a clean offer (lack of contingencies – having the pre-approval letter from your lender). In part two of this blog I will cover the down payment and earnest money deposit.

Regardless of whether you are pre-approved with your lender or not, the seller will always be more impressed with your offer vs. a similar competing offer from another home buyer that is pre-approved with their lender as well if your down payment is greater than theirs. It is just plain commonsense that a seller is more impressed with a twenty percent down payment than they would be with a five percent down payment. In this scenario, if you competing against someone with the exact same purchase price, exact same closing time horizon, no contingencies but you are coming in with twenty percent down and your competition is coming in with ten percent down, you win 99% of the time!

The other important part of your down payment that you need to consider is how much you want to convert in to your earnest money deposit – this makes an very strong impression on the seller when they are considering your offer. The earnest money is the part of your down payment which you simply want to put down a month earlier than you would normally do than at the closing of the escrow. This lets the seller know that your intentions are to move through with the purchase of the home and you are putting your money where your mouth is. Technically if you put your earnest money down and then break the contract you would lose your earnest money deposit. However, in Orange County, CA, this is hardly if ever enforced, if something goes sideways the homeowner (and the Realtor) usually have too much at stake to try and pry this money out of the buyer in a court of law.

So the key factors to coming in with the winning offer when you are relocating to Orange County, CA or simply relocating within Orange County is to:

• Come in with the highest offer
• Come in with a clean offer
• Have a good down payment
• Don’t be afraid to put a chunk of that down payment in to the form of a earnest money deposit.

These ingredients will nearly always lead to your family coming away with the keys of your next dream home in Orange County.

Greg Steinaker

Competitive Orange County Real Estate Market - How To Come Out On Top

How to Win Against Multiple Home Offers?

Part 1

The most obvious way to win the dream home that you and your family have been diligently looking for is to come in with the highest offer – but even though you come in with the best offer, it could be 10% higher than the next best offer might not be enough if your offer is not a “clean offer”. A clean offer is highly attractive to a seller and this simply means that there are no or very few contingencies (conditions) that must be satisfied in order for the sale to go through or reach a satisfactory conclusion.

The Orange County housing market statistics show that most typical type of contingencies that appear in a purchase offer are financing, home inspections and the worst (in the eyes of the seller) the sale of another home. If you want to put yourself ahead of a very competitive Orange County buyers market you must come into the buying process with zero contingencies – save for the home inspection that would take place after the seller accepted your initial offer. If you still have a home to sell or if you have not secured financing for the new home, you have jumped into the process to early and are not a competitive bidder and should not expect to come in with the best offer as likely your competition has already taken care of these important items.

In part 2 of this blog posting I will talk about down payment and earnest deposit and how they can help stimulate the offer IF you are already pre-approved for financing AND do not have a home that you need to sell in a contingency offer. 

Greg Steinaker

C.E.O. BanCorp Realty

BanCorp Realty - Orange County Real Estate | Orange County Homes For Sale | Orange County Realtor

BanCorp Realty is not afraid to take risks when we believe it will directly benefit our Orange County, CA real estate clientele - in fact we like to think that we are audacious when it comes to real estate!  We made an executive decision over a decade ago that we would no longer conform to the status quo of the Orange County real estate market, or what we refer to as the increasingly decreasing expectations that people have their real estate companies. BanCorp Realty uses viral-hybrid marketing to get more buyers interested in a home, creating new and better marketing channels creating increasing and better purchase offers. In essence we are disrupting the existing ordinary (and very boring!) existing Orange County real estate marketing model.

 If you are a Orange County homeowner who is selling a home and might be considering a fresh new start or searching for a real estate professional to represent you in the purchase of your next dream home I highly encourage you to take a moment and review BanCorp’s real estate guarantees in our Commitment to Service Excellence. If you are looking for a real estate agency that only tells you what you want to hear and will say whatever it takes to secure you as a client – we likely won’t be a good fit. However, if you are looking for a purpose-driven company that puts people before profit, BanCorp should be your first choice - we are a believer in and follower of Truth in Real Estate. 

BanCorp Realty is among the best real estate companies in Orange County and we certainly believe that we are able to buy and sell Orange County real estate faster than anyone else, this is why we trademarked: easier and faster™ Orange County real estate. BanCorp Real Estate Group has been serving Orange County real estate since 1995 and we are active in each and every local neighborhood and community in Orange County with expert Orange County Realtor’s located in each of these regions.  

Greg Steinaker

CEO, BanCorp Realty

BanCorp Real Estate Group releases list of Orange County real estate service cities

BanCorp Realty has released its Orange County list of cities that it currently services. In addition to the below listed 16 Orange County real estate housing markets, BanCorp Realty is also active in each cities local communities and neighborhoods. For a comprehensive list of BanCorp Realty’s service areas please visit www.bancorprealty.com.  BanCorp Realty was originally formed in 1995 and has been proudly serving the Orange County real estate market since that time.

BanCorp’s service areas:

Newport Beach Real Estate | Newport Beach Luxury Home | Newport Beach Custom Home and View Property for sale | Newport Beach Mansion | Newport Beach Realtor

Newport Coast Real Estate | Newport Coast Luxury Home | Newport Coast Custom Home and View Property for sale | Newport Coast Mansion | Newport Coast Realtor

Costa Mesa Real Estate | Costa Mesa Luxury Home | Costa Mesa Custom Home | Costa Mesa Condo for Sale | Costa Mesa Realtor

Irvine Real Estate | Irvine Luxury Home | Irvine Custom Home | Irvine Condo for Sale | Irvine Realtor

Laguna Beach Real Estate | Laguna Beach Luxury Home | Laguna Beach Custom Home and View Property for sale | Laguna Beach Mansion | Laguna Beach Realtor

Laguna Niguel Real Estate | Laguna Niguel Luxury Home | Laguna Niguel Custom Home and View Property for Sale | Laguna Niguel Condo | Laguna Niguel Realtor

Lake Forest, CA Real Estate | Lake Forest, CA Custom Home | Lake Forest, CA Realtor | Lake Forest, CA Condo for sale | Lake Forest Realtor

Rancho Santa Margarita Real Estate | Rancho Santa Margarita Luxury Home | Rancho Santa Margarita Custom Home | Rancho Santa Margarita Condo for sale | Rancho Santa Margarita Realtor

Mission Viejo Real Estate | Mission Viejo Luxury Home | Mission Viejo Custom Home and View Property for sale | Mission Viejo Condo | Mission Viejo Realtor

Laguna Hills Real Estate | Laguna Hills Luxury Home | Laguna Hills Custom Home and View Property for Sale | Laguna Hills Condo | Laguna Hills Realtor

Ladera Ranch Real Estate | Ladera Ranch Luxury Home | Ladera Ranch Custom Home and View Property for sale | Ladera Ranch Realtor

Coto de Caza Real Estate | Coto de Caza Luxury Home | Coto de Caza Custom Home and Equestrian Home | Coto de Caza Realtor

Aliso Viejo Real Estate | Aliso Viejo Luxury Home | Aliso Viejo Custom Home | Aliso Viejo Condo | Aliso Viejo Realtor

Dana Point Real Estate | Dana Point Luxury Home | Dana Point Custom Home and View Property for sale | Dana Point Realtor

San Juan Capistrano Real Estate | San Juan Capistrano Luxury Home | San Juan Capistrano Custom Home and View Property for Sale | San Juan Capistrano Realtor

San Clemente Real Estate | San Clemente Luxury Home | San Clemente Custom Home and View Property for Sale | San Clemente Realtor

Greg Steinaker

C.E.O. BanCorp Realty

Aliso Viejo Real Estate: Aliso Viejo Homes For Sale | Aliso Viejo Realtor® , Balboa Island | Newport Beach Real Estate: Balboa Island | Newport Beach Homes For Sale - Newport Beach Realtor®, Bear Brand Ranch | Laguna Niguel Real Estate: Bear Brand Ranch | Laguna Niguel Homes For Sale – Laguna Niguel Realtor®, Big Canyon | Newport Beach Real Estate: Big Canyon | Newport Beach Homes For Sale – Newport Beach Realtor®, Capo Beach | Dana Point Real Estate: Capo Beach | Dana Point Homes For Sale – Dana Point Realtor®, Central Costa Mesa Real Estate: Central Costa Mesa Homes For Sale – Costa Mesa Realtor®, Costa Mesa Real Estate: Costa Mesa Homes For Sale – Costa Mesa Realtor®, Corona Del Mar | Newport Beach Real Estate: Corona Del Mar | Newport Beach Homes For Sale – Newport Beach Realtor®, Coto De Caza Real Estate: Coto De Caza Homes For Sale – Coto De Caza Realtor®, Covenant Hills | Ladera Ranch Real Estate: Covenant Hills | Ladera Ranch |Homes For Sale – Ladera Ranch Realtor®, Crystal Cove | Newport Coast Real Estate: Crystal Cove | Newport Coast Homes For Sale – Newport Coast Realtor®, Dana Hills | Dana Point Real Estate: Dana Hills | Dana Point Homes For Sale – Dana Point Realtor®, Del Obispo | Dana Point Real Estate: Del Obispo | Dana Point Homes For Sale – Dana Point Realtor®, Dana Point Real Estate: Dana Point Homes For Sale – Dana Point Realtor®, Dove Canyon Real Estate: Dove Canyon Homes For Sale – Dove Canyon Realtor®, Eastside Costa Mesa Real Estate: Eastside Costa Mesa Homes For Sale – Costa Mesa Realtor®, Emerald Bay | Laguna Beach Real Estate: Emerald Bay | Laguna Beach Homes For Sale – Laguna Beach Realtor®, Foothill Ranch | Lake Forest Real Estate: Foothill Ranch | Lake Forest Homes For Sale – Lake Forest Realtor®, Harbor Ridge | Newport Beach Real Estate: Harbor Ridge | Newport Beach Homes For Sale – Newport Beach Realtor®, Irvine Real Estate: Irvine Homes For Sale – Irvine Realtor®, Irvine Cove | Laguna Beach Real Estate: Irvine Cove | Laguna Beach Homes For Sale – Laguna Beach Realtor®, Ladera Ranch Real Estate: Ladera Ranch Homes For Sale – Ladera Ranch Realtor®, Laguna Beach Real Estate: Laguna Beach Homes For Sale – Laguna Beach Realtor®, Laguna Hills Real Estate: Laguna Hills Homes For Sale – Laguna Hills Realtor®, Laguna Niguel Real Estate: Laguna Niguel Homes For Sale – Laguna Niguel Realtor®, Lake Forest Real Estate: Lake Forest Homes For Sale – Lake Forest Realtor®, Lake Mission Viejo Real Estate: Lake Mission Viejo Homes For Sale – Lake Mission Viejo Realtor®, Lantern Village | Dana Point Real Estate: Lantern Village | Dana Point Homes For Sale – Dana Point Realtor®, Lido Isle | Newport Beach Real Estate: Lido Isle | Newport Beach Homes For Sale – Newport Beach Realtor, Mesa Verde | Costa Mesa Real Estate: Mesa Verde | Costa Mesa Homes For Sale – Costa Mesa Realtor®, Mission Viejo Real Estate: Mission Viejo Homes For Sale – Mission Viejo Realtor®, Monarch Beach | Dana Point Real Estate: Monarch Beach | Dana Point Homes For Sale – Dana Point Realtor®, Nellie Gail | Laguna Hills Real Estate: Nellie Gail | Laguna Hills Homes For Sale – Laguna Hills Realtor®, Newport Beach Real Estate: Newport Beach Homes For Sale – Newport Beach Realtor®, Newport Coast Real Estate: Newport Coast Homes For Sale – Newport Coast Realtor®, Northpark | Irvine Real Estate: Northpark | Irvine Homes For Sale – Irvine Realtor®, Northwood | Irvine Real Estate: Northwood | Irvine Homes For Sale – Irvine Realtor®, Pelican Hills | Newport Coast Real Estate: Pelican Hills | Newport Coast Homes For Sale – Newport Coast Realtor®, Pelican Point | Newport Coast Real Estate: Pelican Point | Newport Coast Homes For Sale – Newport Coast Realtor®, Pelican Ridge | Newport Coast Real Estate: Pelican Ridge | Newport Coast Homes For Sale – Newport Coast Realtor®, Rancho San Joaquin | Irvine Real Estate: Rancho San Joaquin | Irvine Homes For Sale – Irvine Realtor®, Rancho Santa Margarita Real Estate: Rancho Santa Margarita Homes For Sale – Rancho Santa Margarita Realtor, Ritz Cove | Dana Point Real Estate: Ritz Cove | Dana Point Homes For Sale – Dana Point Realtor, San Clemente Real Estate: San Clemente Homes For Sale – San Clemente Realtor®, San Juan Capistrano Real Estate: San Juan Capistrano Homes For Sale – San Juan Capistrano Realtor, Shady Canyon | Irvine Real Estate: Shady Canyon | Irvine Homes For Sale – Irvine Realtor®, South Coast Metro Costa Mesa Real Estate: South Coast Metro Costa Mesa Homes For Sale – Costa Mesa Realtor, Talega | San Clemente Real Estate: Talega | San Clemente Homes For Sale – San Clemente Realtor®, Three Arch Bay | Laguna Beach Real Estate: Three Arch Bay | Laguna Beach Homes For Sale – Laguna Beach Realtor®, Turtle Ridge | Irvine Real Estate: Turtle Ridge | Irvine Homes For Sale – Irvine Realtor®, Turtle Rock | Irvine Real Estate: Turtle Rock | Irvine Homes For Sale – Irvine Realtor®, Westpark | Irvine Real Estate: Westpark | Irvine Homes For Sale – Irvine Realtor®, Westside Costa Mesa Real Estate: Westside Costa Mesa Homes For Sale – Costa Mesa Realtor®, Woodbridge | Real Estate: Woodbridge | Irvine Homes For Sale – Irvine Realtor®, Woodbury | Irvine Real Estate: Woodbury | Irvine Homes For Sale – Irvine Realtor®