It’s a big day. The day you go to the title or escrow company, sign your name on the dotted line, hand over a check, and prepare to take ownership of your new home. It’s also the day that you and the seller will pay “closing” or settlement costs, an accumulation of separate charges paid to different entities for the professional services associated with the buying and selling of real estate.
Category Archives: Selling a Home
Sellers Look for Bigger, Newer Homes
According to the NAR 2013 Profile of Homebuyers and Sellers, almost half of home sellers last year “upsized” to a larger, more expensive home, and 59% bought a newer home. The report finds that the typical home seller had lived in their home for nine years last year, up from the typical tenure in 2007 of just six years.
Ventura Housing Market
2013 Pace of Ventura Sales
Last year it was easy to see that the inventory of homes was very low during 2013 and got skinnier as the year continued. You could almost feel it in the air.
The beginning of the year looked very hopeful for buyers coming into the market. For every home sold, two homes were coming on line. This meant there was certainly inventory to choose from. By December, the ratio showed only 1/2 a house coming on the market for every sale! Very little choices and sellers were really controlling the market as prices started increasing. It was a crazy time with many multiple offer situations and very short Days on Market. For buyers, pickings were slim for sure. For sellers, they were finally seeing an increase in equity because of rising home prices.
It’s Your Move
The days of bribing friends and family to help you move are probably long gone. But getting help isn’t necessarily any easier — finding a good, reliable moving company that can get the job done right takes careful research. Before you hire any moving company, do a little legwork to make sure it’s legit, in your price range and offers the services you need. USA.gov, Relocation.com and ApartmentGuide.com offer the following tips.