Want More Happiness? Take Charge Of Your Life. Project Happiness Teaches Proven Habits To Increase Happiness

Florida island living. For more amazing homes follow us on homeadverts.tumblr.com

House Hunting On-The-Go: The Top Real Estate Apps

Instead of replying to texts or scrolling through Facebook while waiting in line at the grocery store or during your lunch break, use that time to productively search for your dream home. Now, you can take house hunting on-the-go with an endless surplus of real estate apps that you can download right to your smartphone.

These apps are all free to use, so don’t hesitate to go download-crazy and have as many tools available to you as possible to assist you in finding your new home. The real estate market is becoming more competitive, so having multiple outlets to search through will only benefit you in finding the right home for you before it’s taken off the market and is a missed opportunity.

Zillow

Zillow is one of the most downloaded real estate apps at the moment. It gives homebuyers a customized look into desired homes and locations. In addition to looking through high-quality images, you can also go on a virtual walkthrough of the home to see if it’s worth scheduling an in-person showing. This decreases the amount of time spent wasted at showings where the images don’t tell a true story of the home. You can also research a home’s surrounding area to find information that could affect your decision to buy, like neighborhood crime rates or the quality of the local school districts.

Redfin

One of the major benefits of Redfin, aside from its vast database of listings and detailed search capabilities, is its efficiency. The app updates its listings every fifteen minutes, which means that you won’t be unknowingly scrolling through older properties that may be close to selling. Redfin is also able to predict how fast a home is projected to be sold, so you will be able to prioritize the order of the homes you go to for showings.

Trulia

Trulia is another one of the most popular apps used by homebuyers and professionals. Trulia, like other real estate apps, offers personalized searches with detailed information about the area to help you make the most informed decision. But one of the areas where Trulia surpasses its competitors is with images. Instead of a map, you can browse through packages of photos that will show you different features you are interested in, like new, renovated kitchens or even fixer uppers for those who are interested in having control in the renovation process of their new home.

Homesnap

You are out driving around and a stunning home for sale catches your eye – how will you ever find that listing online? With Homesnap, you can take a picture of the home and learn more about it through the actual app to see if it’s a worthy candidate to schedule a showing!

If you are serious about finding your dream home, take full advantage of all of these tools that are available to you, whether you are at home or out and about.

Originally published on David Taran’s website.

Want more Happiness? Take charge of your life. Project Happiness teaches proven habits to increase happiness in individuals and communities worldwide. Join us.

Want more Happiness? Take charge of your life. Project Happiness teaches proven habits to increase happiness in individuals and communities worldwide. Join us.

Frankfurt Skyline by Kiefer

Stop Using These Terms When Selling Properties

When people are looking to buy a home, they aren’t just taking the visuals into consideration. A commitment as substantial as buying a home requires more thought, more research, more scrutiny. Every word they read in a listing and every word they hear at a showing will remain in their thoughts to be analyzed later. They will be narrowing down their final choices by not only comparing pictures of their top choices, but by comparing descriptions of each home as well.

There are a few words and phrases that real estate professionals are urging that people cease using when describing a property. Finding the right words may not be a simple task, but avoiding this terminology will ensure that you aren’t setting yourself up for a loss at the onset:

“Good Value”

Saying that your home is a “good value” detracts from all of the important information that you really should be sharing. And this missing information is exactly the type of description that potential buyers want to read or hear. Instead, focus on using words that help to visually paint a picture of the reasons why someone would want to live in the home, with an added emphasis on its physical attributes.

“Luxurious”

High-end, classy, you would think that this word should be included in your description since it eludes to the home being very desirable. When you use the word “luxurious,” you are implying that there is an element of the home that sets it apart. When the buyers come to the home for the showing, they will be searching specifically for that luxurious element. If you use it out of context just to sound impressive, that letdown could ruin your chances of selling the home. This word is so frequently used anymore that now it’s lost its meaning, which means that if you truly do have a luxury home, it may not mean anything to potential homebuyers until they actually come to see the property.

“Freshly Painted”

Before you sell a home, there are renovations that are not only necessary, but will lend to an increase in asking price due to the improvements made. But you need to be selective when you are speaking about the renovations that have been completed. If you only include one renovation, like the home being “freshly painted,” the prospective buyers may interpret that as being the only remarkable characteristic about the home. If you have done more to the home, be sure to mention that.

Put yourself in the mindset of a homebuyer when you are writing or speaking about the home for sale. When you describe it, analyze the meaning behind every word or phrase that is being used and look for any disguised meanings that, when interpreted, could potentially hurt the sale of the home.

Originally published on David Taran’s professional website.

3 Questions You Should Ask Before Buying That Home

You’ve finally made the decision to purchase either your first home or another home! This means that it’s time to start the homebuying process. You’ve either experienced this for yourself or heard it from others, but purchasing a home is both a time and financial commitment. 

The last thing any homebuyer wants to feel is that they’ve made the wrong decision. There are lists of questions that you could ask, but here are 3 questions you should ask yourself before deciding which home to purchase:

Have you explored every area of the home?

Do you know what the neighborhood is like?

Do you know the house’s past?

Learn more by reading the full article on David Taran’s website.

A Desired Commodity: How Real Estate Prices Are Affected By School Districts

When searching for a new home, what attributes are potential homebuyers prioritizing over others? Obviously the details of the home are important: the square footage of the home, the number of bedrooms, the age of the home, etc. But there are other factors that will influence whether a home is purchased or sold. In addition to considerations like the neighborhood crime rate and the home’s closeness to important amenities, the quality of the school districts in the area also takes top priority and can actually affect the surrounding real estate properties.

More Money For Better Schools

Some families are so particular about the type of school district they enroll their children in that it will single-handedly influence whether or not they look at a home in a certain neighborhood. The home could match every quality they are looking for but, if it is outside of an esteemed school district, they may not even bother scheduling a showing.

The standard for a good school district is so high that buyers are even willing to make sacrifices if it means they can live in an area with a better school. A study done by realtor.com found that one in every five buyers would sacrifice something like an extra bedroom to be in a good district, with one out of every three buyers willing to downsize to a much smaller house.

It doesn’t stop at a spatial downsize, either. That same study found that one person out of every five homebuyers would pay between 6-10% over their original budget, while one out of ten buyers would be willing to pay 20% over budget. Depending on the market, that could be a substantial difference in what a home could ultimately sell for.

Better Schools Can Determine The Price Of A Home

Because homebuyers are so particular about the surrounding school districts, homeowners who live in one of these desired areas can sell their homes at a higher cost – the data clearly shows that people are willing to pay for it. There are two main reasons why a better district has become such a sought-after commodity:

A Focus On Education

The primary – and perhaps most obvious – reason is that individuals who either have a family or who are planning to start a family in the near future want to make sure their children are receiving the best education possible. If a better education means spending more on a home, it’s evident that people are willing to pay more out of concern for their children’s futures.

A More Desirable Property

Some individuals who don’t have children, or whose children have grown and moved on, look to buy a home in one of these areas simply because they will have a better chance at not only selling their homes in the future, but making more of a profit when they do.

This is definitely something to keep in mind whether you will soon be looking for a new home for your family or if you already live in an area with a good school district and are planning to eventually sell your home.

Originally published on David Taran’s website.