Inspira Group Orange County Real Estate Blog

If you are thinking about buying a home and selling your current home, you may be asking yourself, “Which one should I do first?” It’s like that age-old dilemma, which came first; the chicken or the egg? If you sell your current home first, it could take some time to find your replacement home – a situation that can leave you displaced until you find the right one.

As a professional real estate agent and mortgage broker, I get asked the question “Which area is better?” all the time. The answer really depends on each family’s own goals and priorities, and determining which area is best for your family is definitely a personal choice.

The best way to demonstrate this is to take a closer look at four real families that we’ve worked with in the past. I helped each one buy, sell, and finance their homes, and each of these families chose different areas based on their personal goals and priorities. Below are the four homes that these families chose in February 2014 that are all within a similar price range, but are located in different areas.

Yesterday I was showing homes in Ladera Ranch to a nice family looking to purchase their first home. We arrived at an Open House where the Realtor greeted us and started telling us about the home. Before I could even get my bearings, I was being told about this feature and that feature and how this home was great. My mind shut off quickly as I just wanted to be with the home and inquire what my clients that they thought of this home.

We walked upstairs and I was happy to finally be able to look around and understand the dynamics of the home and see if it was a possibility for my clients. We stopped in the master bedroom and I asked them what they thought? “Oh no!” The agent walks in and tells us the homeowner just replaced the bathroom floor with tile and how the community has good parking and is freeway close and where he lives in relationship to the home and how this community is perfect.

Sellers often ask: “How much can I sell my home for?”

The answer depends on a few factors. The goal is to always get the highest price, yet there are many variables that determine the asking price and ultimately the final sale price of a home.

There is an art to pricing a home to sell. Every home has a “range of value.” Typically, it makes most sense to price a home at the high end of the range.

Setting an offer price that is not too high and not too low will put the Seller in the most favorable position. Ultimately, the “market” will determine the market price which is defined by willing Seller and willing Buyer.

The price of a home is affected by two main factors: the features of the property and current market conditions.