As long as you and the listing agent agree on the given amount of time, your listing agreement can be however long you want it to be.
How long does a listing agreement last?
Most expensive home to sell this week in LA
Original List Price: $22,500,000
Sold Price: $13,000,000
Breaking News! As of today, you can now rent this home for $42,000 a month.
20% of homes sold were purchased with cash
It's hard to cancel escrow as the home seller
As a home seller, your options are very limited to cancel escrow with the buyer of your home.
You can't just wake up one day during escrow and decide you no longer want to sell your property.
You signed a contract to sell your property to the buyer, and you have to abide by that contract.
Sellers are able to cancel escrow if the buyer doesn't perform.
For example, if the buyer inspection contingency is over and they still have not removed that contingency in writing, you can then send the buyer a notice to perform.
That means the buyer has 3 days to remove the contingency or back out of the deal.
If 3 days pass and they still don't remove the contingency, then you can send the buyer an escrow cancelation form.
You have to wait on the buyer to not perform to be able to cancel escrow, you can't cancel because you changed your mind about selling.
Tonight, I need you to be my spy
At tonight's New Year’s Eve party, while you are with your friends and family, I need you to do a little spying for me.
Someone at the party is going to bring up the topic of real estate.
They are going to say that they are thinking about selling their home in 2020.
I know you will be drinking a lot... but try to remember the person who said that.
Then, text me and say "Daniel, I have a friend looking to sell". I'll take it from there. 😉
My goal for 2020 is to help as many people as possible sell their property.
To do that, I really need your help investigating and letting me know which of your friends and family members are thinking about selling.
Thank you for all your help in 2019 and thank you in advance for all your upcoming help in the new year!
Happy New Year!!!
Why should you avoid big purchases while in escrow
You want to keep your finances exactly how they are at the time your lender pre-approves you for a home loan.
Don't do anything financially out of the norm for you.
Don't buy a new car.
Don't go on any lavish trips.
Don't buy a #Rolex.
Keep paying your bills, keep making your car payments, keep buying food at the market.
Don't buy any big items while in escrow
While you are in escrow to buy a home, you are going to be tempted to start buying things for your new property.
Don't do it!
Right before you are scheduled to close escrow, your lender is going to rerun your credit, look at how much debt you have, and look at your overall financial situation.
Buying big-ticket items like a new washer and dryer or stove and putting that purchase on a credit card could stop you from getting a loan.
You want to be careful with that because your lender will take into account your "debt to income ratio".
If your debt amount starts climbing up, that’s a red flag to the lender and they may deny your loan.
All big-ticket items need to be purchased AFTER you close escrow.
Once the deal is done it doesn't matter how much debt you rack up... it will not affect your home loan.
Episode 32 of The #AskDanielLosAngeles Show
On this episode, I answer the following four real estate questions:
1) When applying for a mortgage, I've heard that applying for other types of credit before the mortgage is finalized can hurt your credit. Is this true?
2) We are already in escrow to sell my home, but I'm now having second thoughts on selling. How can I back out of the deal?
3) I recently went to get pre-approved for a home loan. The lender said he can't get me a loan because my credit score is too low. How can I raise my score?
4) My agent is having a hard time selling my home. I just don't think he is the right person for the job. What is the process to fire him?
We have almost 20,000 followers on Instagram... join us! @DanielLosAngeles
For sale home inventory has gone down 11.2%
The shortage of homes that are for sale in Los Angeles is accelerating.
Inventories in November dropped 11.2% annually.
This comes at a time when low-interest rates are increasing buyer demand.
The housing shortage is felt most at the entry-level of the market.
Traditionally, housing inventory goes down in the 4th quarter of the year... but 11.2% is a big drop.
Inventory should pick up slightly in the first quarter of 2020.
Do I need to hire a professional cleaning company before moving out?
Was your home professionally cleaned just hours before you officially accepted a buyers offer on your home?
If so, make sure to get your home professionally cleaned right before you deliver your sold home to that new buyer.
Was your home in need of a deep clean at the time the buyer’s offer was accepted? Good!
No need to get a professional cleaning company to come out and clean the home.
The point here is to deliver the home to the buyer in substantially the same condition that it was in when you accepted the buyer’s offer to purchase your home.
Keep your home in the same condition throughout escrow
When selling your home, the purchase contract says that throughout the escrow process, the home has to be "maintained in substantially the same condition as on the date of acceptance.”
That means whatever condition the home was in at the time the buyer’s offer was accepted, good or bad, is how the home should stay throughout escrow and is how the property should be delivered to the buyer.
There is no need to go above and beyond when it comes to cleaning the home before moving out.
Although getting the home professionally cleaned before vacating is a nice gesture to the buyer, simply keeping it in the same condition that it was in when the home went into escrow is good enough
Which month is better to put a home up for sale: Jan. or Feb.
This home buyer pattern happens every single year.
Buyers stop their home search in December and pick it back up again in January.
To get top dollar for your home, take advantage of this rough data and choose to list your home for sale in January instead of February.
More buyers on the market lead to more competition.
If your home is priced right, that will lead to multiple offers for your property.
It's smarter to sell your home in January vs. February
Every year in December, a lot of my buyers that have been looking for a home take a break from the property search.
They are busy with the holidays and parties and family.
But come January 1st, their new year's resolutions of owning a home kicks in and their search gets ramped up again.
As a home seller, you should understand this pattern and take advantage of it.
You can do that by putting your home on the market in January and getting that initial wave of buyers to come check out your home.
If you wait until February to put your home on the market, you miss the buyer rush and your home could stay on the market longer.
If you are going to list your home, be smart about it, and list your home for sale in January.
That means you need to start to prepare for that today!
A laundry room was voted the most popular specialty room
A laundry room is the most popular specialty room (anything other than a bedroom, bathroom or kitchen) among all buyers according to the new report "What Home Buyers Really Want (2019 Edition).”
Millennial homebuyers in particular love a separate laundry room with 86% of them reporting that it is desirable (36%) or essential/must have (50%) room.
Who is responsible for paying the "supplemental tax" bill?
You already put down a huge down payment when buying a house... you are tapped out.
But then, SURPRISE… here comes a supplemental tax bill in the mail!
It's terrible, but it's part of the home buying process and you have to pay it.
I know the pain... I had to pay that bill myself when I bought my home.
Keep in mind everyone pays a different tax amount, so make sure to ask your real estate agent (or me, wink wink) what the tax amount will be for the home you are interested in buying.
That way there are no surprises, and you can budget for that bill and your down payment.
