10 Real Estate Hacks Everyone Should Know

Discover 10 real estate hacks that everyone should know, whether you are a home buyer, home seller, or you have any interest in buying or selling a home in the future. These unique shortcuts have been assembled over a lifetime of experience in just about every major facet of real estate. They are timeless and universal. And you'll only find these incredibly valuable tips here. Share this with friends, family and anyone else you know that will benefit from this information. Here are the 10 real estate hacks everyone should know:

 

The 10 Real Estate Hacks Everyone Should Know:

 

(1) Hire the Best

(2) Get 3 Bids

(3) When Selling, List on the MLS

(4) When Selling, Your List Price Can Never Be Too Low

(5) When Selling, Your First Offeror is Your Best Offeror

(6) Buyers Are Liars, And Sellers Are Too

(7) When Buying, Buy Right, or Not at All

(8) When Buying, Buy Less Than You Can Afford

(9) If You Can't Qualify for a Mortgage, Get Creative

(10) Always Maintain Walk Away Power

 

 

 1. Hire the Best

 

 

This could mean hiring the best real estate listing agent if you need to sell  a retail home that's in beautiful condition. If you have a house that needs a lot of work and you need to get rid of it as soon as possible hire the best real estate investor to pay cash for the property. It could also mean hiring the best mortgage broker if you plan on getting a loan. Thanks to the internet you can research who is the best real estate agent in your area. by visiting realtrends.com, which provides a list of who sold the most by total dollar amount.

What's so great about real estate is that the best people aren't going to tell you no, they're going to want to work with you. Whether it's an agent, investor, or a mortgage broker; hire the best, because when you do you get the best results.  The vast majority of people in real estate don't even like being in real estate. They don't like being agents, they don't like being mortgage brokers, it's just their job, but there are a few who love it, they're great at what they do and get on their horse. Bet on their horse to win the race, because they will win the race, because they're the best.

 

2. Get 3 Bids

 

The second real estate hack is to get 3bids. I can't tell you how many people do not follow my advice on this. This  means if you need to replace your roof, call 3 roofers. If you need your A/C fixed get 3 bids from 3 different A/C companies. Or if you're looking to get a mortgage, get bids from 3 mortgage brokers.

Get 3 bids, because when you do, you're going to get 3 different answers. Plus when they know you have other people involved, they're going to bring their A game.  So I'm saying hire the best by talking to the top 3 and get bids from each of them.  This is the hack of hacks, you will save money and you get the best out of people.

 

3. List on the MLS When Selling

 

Many people will try to use Zillow or Redfin , or list for free on Craigslist. These selling tools will never provide complete exposure to the entire marketplace. Now this advice I'm giving you doesn't actually help me because I buy a lot of properties from people off market. They don't ever put it on the MLS and I'm able to buy it before it ever hits the MLS.

If you're looking to sell your house, don't be a "For Sale by Owner", list on the MLS. If you don't want to pay the commission, then you're being too greedy, and that's the bottom line. Now, if you hire the best, they're going to get the maximum amount, so if you list on the MLS, even if you pay the 6% in commission, you still get more than if you listed yourself. Expert real estate investors do a flat fee listing so we save the 3% that typically goes to the listing agent and we typically pay only a few hundred for that.

 

4. When Selling, Your List Price Can Never Be Too Low

 

Your list price can never be too low, because the lower you list it, the more likely you're going to originate what's called a multiple offer situation and the people will bid the property right back up to what the market value is. I have a wonderful video called, "The Kiss of Death When Selling A House" The kiss of death when selling a house is to list it too high. If you do that you won't get any showings, and you won't get any offers, it will grow stale on the market and it will just sit there and people will start to think there must be something wrong with it, since it's not selling.

 

List Price

 

All of a sudden it becomes the unwanted listing, don't go there, if you're selling your house, go low. I practice what I preach, I list my properties crazy low and I create what's called multiple offer situations almost always. Now they buyers agents don't like that as much because they don't like to have to compete. Remember we talked about getting 3 bids, it's kind of like getting 3 bids on your house and they all bid it up. It works terrifically well, so take my advice here, you can't list it too low. When you're thinking about what your list price is, if you're thinking a certain numbers too low, that might be the perfect amount because then that would be low enough to create a multiple offer situation. Also check out that video again called, "The Kiss Of Death When Selling A House."

 

5. Your First Offer is Your Best Offer

 

Let's say you follow my advice and list your property low and then your first offer comes in, but you decide to wait around and see if a better offer comes alone. I do not suggest doing that because your first offer-er is probably the most qualified, most interested party. For all you know they've been sitting, waiting for  your type of home to come on the market and now yours has and they jump on it real fast. That's almost always your buyer.

 

Big Tip

 

The key is not necessarily that you accept that first offer, but that you realize you have the best type of buyer, now you just need to work with that person. You can counteroffer the terms and price and all that great stuff, you just don't just shut the door on them, just because the offer may be lower than you'd like. Now there are some caveats to this, and that's why you've got to hire the best so you know when there are caveats, but typically, your first offer is usually your best offer.

 

6. Buyers Are Liars

 

And sellers are too!

This means that if you're looking to sell a house and the buyer tells you something, you need to verify it. If a buyer says they can get a loan, verify not only with the proof of funds letter or a pre-approval letter, but also personally call the mortgage broker. You also need to verify when a buyer says they've got the cash,  monthly income, or  good credit.  If you're looking to buy a property and the seller says there is nothing wrong with the house, verify by hiring an inspector. Verify, because buyers are liars and sellers are too. Typically people are buying and selling only a few times in their lifetime, so they're not concerned with building customer relations.

They're going to lie to you if that's what it's going to take to get rid of their home.  Now that doesn't mean that real estate agents, mortgage brokers, or investors are always liars. I'm talking about the individual seller and the individual buyer, because those 2 parties don't do that many transactions so they don't have to worry about their reputation.

 

My Advice

 

When I'm buying a property from a seller, I assume that everything the seller has told me is a complete lie, until I can verify otherwise. I had a transaction the other day where the new buyer did the inspection and  found out there was a bunch of fire damage in the attic. When the buyer asked the seller about it, they replied, " I didn't know you needed to know." of course a buyer needs to know about a FIRE!

 

7.  Buy Right or Not at All

 

Buy right or not at all. I have a great video on whether you should rent or own your own home, and it's a great discussion on what most people don't talk about when it comes to owning real estate. Owning your own home can be very expensive so you've got to be very careful how you buy it, what your intentions are, what your plans are and what your contingencies plans will be if you have to sell. Buying a home is like going to jail; it's a lot easier to get in then to get out.

Talk to any homeowner who purchased a brand new home in a newly built subdivision last year, but recently got a job transfer and need to sell. Ask them how easy it is to get out, because it's usually next to impossible.  The new home builder still has new units that haven't sold yet and will undercut you even though you've owned it for a year, because they don't care about you anymore.  You've got to buy right or not at all. A lot of times it's safer just to rent unless you're going to stay there for 5 years or you're getting a good deal with a lot of instant equity.

 

Don't Make it Emotional

 

I have made a fortune out of buying homes from people that didn't buy right. They didn't have a good contingency plan and they bought with emotion.  Be intelligent here, because it's not always easy to get out of a house once you've gotten into it. If you have a large mortgage payment, but want to hire the best to sell your home, you might not have enough in equity to pay the commissions.

Then you are stuck which can be very stressful and realtors across America don't really care if you're in that trap, because they've already made their commission when they sold you the house, which means the have moved on and you are now stuck with the house. Buy right or not at all and please don't take offense of you're a realtor, because it's the truth, most realtors "push, buy, buy, buy, buy, buy houses", even if its not the best thing for you.

 

8.  Buy Less Than You Can Afford

 

If you've never purchased a home before there is a whole new world of expenses coming at you that you won't even see coming. The roof will leak, the A/C will break, and all of a sudden you're spending all of your Saturdays at  Home Depot, fixing all of the little things that go wrong.  You have no idea how expensive it is to own a home until you've owned one, so buy less than you can afford.  Otherwise it's going to be a miserable experience.

 

Keep Looking Until You Find a Match

 

If you want to buy right you are going to want lots of options. Keep looking for something that fits your finances and what you need in a home. Meanwhile, just keep renting, because you are going to get hit with a lot of expenses you didn't see coming once you're the owner.

 

9.  If You Can't Qualify For a Loan, Get Creative

 

In this day and age there are all sorts of resources available to people that do not qualify for an ordinary loan. I have a video on how to get a bargain on your dream home.There are so many ways to buy houses creatively and it's  not completely complicated. If you have a dream of being a home owner and you can't qualify for a loan, that should not stop you. Buy right, buy less than you can afford, and if you can't get a loan, get creative.

 

10. Maintain Walk Away Power

 

If you are buying a house always be willing to not buy it. If the inspection comes back and there's a problem, if the appraisal comes back lower than what you have it under contract for and the seller won't drop the price, be willing to walk away. If you are selling a property, be willing to say no to a deal if it's just completely the wrong deal. In real estate when you maintain the ability to say no you are maintaining the ability to do the best for you. When you're in a pressure cooker situation you are forced to have limited options.

Example

Some people get transferred for a job and feel this pressure to buy a home as soon as they move to the new market. That is such a bad idea. Sit tight, for 6 months to a year in that new market and really learn the area. Learn where you want to be, learn where the traffic is really piling up, and everything you can about that marketplace and then make a slow steady decision on a home buying.If you pressure cook your situation and you say, "I've got to buy now" or "I've got to sell now." You're not going to give yourself the ultimate and perfect opportunity.