Know what Houses in Your Billings Neighborhood are Worth

By Christopher Seder

When buying or selling a house in Billings MT it is essential to know what similar houses in your area are selling for.   Sometimes what you think your house is worth and what the market says is very different.     There are several ways to determine what a house is worth.

You Can:

• Get an Appraisal
• Have a Realtor run a CMA
• Or You Can Guess

I have run a Market Analysis for the Billings Montana Real Estate Market and have broke it down into specific areas.   We all know that houses on the south side and north side are not similar to houses on the west end.    Billings Montana is a unique real estate market, and Billings has not seen the drastic decrease in home prices like the rest of the united states has seen.

The Billings MT Real Estate Market has seen home prices stay flat for the past 3 or 4 years.   Which is great compared to the rest of the United States.

Each Section is Broken Down with

Bedrooms and Bathrooms, Square Feet, Average Sales price, Dom (days on Market), and some include number of houses sold.

These statistics have been run for houses that have sold in the past 6 months.

For a Larger View of the Maps Click Here

Billings West End, North Side and South Side

North West Billings

Billings Heights

As you can see from the graphics, homes selling just a few blocks from each other can have a $20k plus swing in price.

Always trust the guidance of professionals such as realtors, appraisers and even real estate investors.  They can help you to properly evaluate your Billings MT home value.

The statistics are from the Billings MLS and are for informational purposes.

If you are currently looking to selling your Billings MT home fast.  Big Sky Property Solutions LLC is Billings MT’s premier real estate acquisition company.

Big Sky Property Solutions LLC buys houses, closes quickly and pays all cash.   We buy houses for rentals, and to fix up and resell.   If you have problem Property, we have your solution.

WeBuyHousesBillings.com

Choosing the Right Realtor Can Save Your Thousands.

by Christopher Seder

Do you realize how life changing your choice to sell your home is? You are embarking on an amazing journey that could impact the rest of your life.  So why would you want to pick a random Billings Mt Realtor?  I know you’re like me and want to only work with the best realtor Billings MT has to offer.  Choosing the right realtor can make for a smooth ride. The wrong realtor can leave you with months of stressful days and restless nights.

So the question you are asking right now is how do I choose a good realtor?  The first way to find a good realtor is to ask your friends, neighbors and business associates who they would recommend. Even post a comment on facebook if you have a facebook.  Everyone loves to give their opinion.  When you ask these people for recommendation bug the heck out of them with questions. Ask them why they liked the realtor, what services he provided, and what their experience working with him/her was like.    This is a great way to start forming a list of realtors, but you’re not done quite yet.

The next step is to do a little research on the list of Billings MT Realtors that you have made up.  Take the list and Google them.  Find out who they are, who they work for, what kind of marketing they do, their internet presence, and pretty much stalk them on the internet.  It’s also important to find a realtor who has an online presence.  86% of home buyers start their search online.

Here is a great tip and but can be a challenge.  Find out which realtor’s in Billings Montana is closing the most transactions.  The reason for this is you will know which realtors are the hustlers.  The top five or ten realtors you know have figured out the game and know how to sell a house.  They are making it happen and they are the people you want to be working with.

Ok so you have your list, you have done your research and found out who looks like good realtors and so on.  Now you’re going to want to narrow your list down to about 3 realtors.  It’s up to you how you do this. I just recommend going with who you think looks like the very best.

Once you have your list narrowed down call all three of them and set up an appointment to meet them at your home.  The reason to meet them at your home is so they can take a good look at is and give you their opinion.  Also have them do a CMA (comparative market analysis) on your house.  This is just what similar houses are selling for in your area and will give you a good feel for what your house is worth.

When you interview them really take note of their personality and how you feel about them.  Also have a long list of questions to ask them.  Here are some example questions to ask.

• How do you plan to get my house sold?
• What is your Marketing Plan for My House or Houses you have sold?
• How many years have you been a licensed realtor in this state?
• Are you full Time?
• How to you market online?
• How many transactions did you do last year?
• How many Listing do you have?
• What other services do you provide? Home staging?
• Do you belong to the MLS? (very important)

There are just a few examples to ask them.  After you have interview them do not make a decision right away.  I know a lot of realtors who will want you to sign the listing papers right away but take a few days and evaluate them.  Go through the pros and cons of each.

In the end it all comes down to choosing the one you feel will do the best job.  Always go with your gut feeling.  After you have made your choice trust your decision and you will be fine.

Choosing a pour realtor in Billings Mt can turn an already stressful experience into a high speed car wreck.  But if you have done your home work you will choose the right realtor and he/she will make your life more amazing than it already is.  Start your Home Selling Journey today.

p.s if you would like my billings mt recommendations let me know CLICK HERE

Selling your home in Billings Mt can be a daunting task.  You need to pick the right sales associate, estimate what you think you can sell the house for, fix up the house, show the house, and cash your huge check.   One thing that a lot of home sellers over look is understanding what the market is doing.  You have to know what is selling, how long homes are staying on the market, prices, and what your competition is.

If you are working with a realtor in Billings Montana he has probably helped you set the price to list your home at. Even though this price right on with what people are paying for homes like yours.  You still have to know that the price or value is going to be determined by what a willing and able buyer will pay.  There might be a home that looks exactly like yours down the street but your home might not sell for the same price or sell as fast.  Real Estate can be crazy at times.

This is why determining your asking price can be the biggest factor in getting your home sold.  All real estate agents can give you a market analysis that provides details on recent sales of homes similar to yours, as well as the asking price of homes currently on the market.

There are more factors to deal with, so that you can fully understand the process of selling your home and what really determines what you are going to get for your home.

One factor to look at is the location of your home.  What are the tradeoffs and advantages of your home?  A house on the west end is going to sell for more than a house on the south side of Billings.  Yes that is pretty obvious.  Does your house back up to a busy street or is it in a quiet neighborhood?  This is huge and can drop the value of your home by over $10,000.   Area is huge factor in selling your home.  Also know what is going to detour potential buyers from your home.

Next thing to look at is the features of your home and features of other homes on the market.  I like to call this the sizzle factor.  What features separate your home from others on the market?  Does your home have an amazing view, new kitchen, overhead microwave and just things that people love.

Another one is condition of the house.  If you are going to try and get full market value make sure you home is in amazing condition.  Retail buyers want a house they can move right into and not have to do a darn thing.  If you don’t want to do any work a sell your home, call Big Sky Property Solutions LLC in Billings Montana.   Otherwise fix up the house and get it looking like a new place.

Lastly just understand what the market is doing.  Is it a buyer’s market, a seller’s market?  Study what is going on out there.  Do not watch the news to find this.  They will tell you that no one is buying and that you are better off to bulldoze you home.   Just ask realtors, go to open houses and really just open your eyes.

Network Your Way to the Top

So you want to get started in real estate investing.   What do you need to be successful?  The goal is to be getting in a hundred leads a month which will amount to around 2 to 3 deals.  You want Billboards, Commercials, and mass mailers going to everyone in town.   So what is the problem?

Oh you only have $290 a month available for marketing and a book of stamps.  What do you do when you have a champagne taste on a malt liquor budget?

You must start slow and work your way up to where you want to be.  Where you are right now is BROKE, just admit it.   Let that motivate you to want it more.  Its comfortable to be broke isn’t it, just having enough to pay the Bills, and you’re scared to getting up and change it. All your excuses for not changing are actually you just being scared. If you stay in that comfortable little box you live in, you can never truly grow.

Does this sound like you?  It’s ok to admit it; no one is judging you and who cares if they do.

To get out of this rut you are in you need to become a networking machine.  You need to start networking so consistently and constantly that you literally hand out 56 business cards to imaginary people in your dreams at night.

I know what you are thinking, that does not sound fun.  Well how fun is being Broke? Would you rather get out of your comfort zone and grow or stay Broke.  Your answer will determine whether or not you get off your lazy butt and do something great with your life.  It does not matter if real estate is not what you want to do, this applies to anything.

Believe me success does not come over night.  You have to pay your dues.  In real estate investing your entire community needs to know that you buy houses and close fast.  They need to know that you are the “Go To” person when someone needs their home sold quickly.

So how do you accomplish this feat?

Are you willing to work?  How willing are you to put in 10 to 15 hour days to really get this thing off the ground?  Do you doubt yourself right about now? Or are you one of those rare souls who actually will make something happen in this world?

Get out there and make some friends.  To be successful you have to hand your card out to everyone.  Make sure you have cards for your real estate business made up.  And not cheap ones get some good cards that stand out and let people know what you do.

Believe me when I tell you for some people this can be one of the biggest challenges ever.  I don’t enjoy meeting new people; I would rather just sit at home.  It’s a lot easier to just sit at home and play the play station all day long. But I realized that if I want to become successful, I need to put new habits in place and get out of my comfort zone.

It’s really not as hard as you think.  It will take practice and trial and error, to get it down.  I just ask everyone I meet, even at subway, if they know of anyone’s house I can buy.  Sounds simple doesn’t it.   Make yourself up a few little pitches to people and practice them.  Then go out and do it.  You will chicken out a few times; I have chickened out 50 times in a row.  I will tell you not one person has ever not taken my card.  Some give me a weird look at first but everyone has took my card and said they would let me know if they ever hear of anyone who is looking to sell fast.

Until you have a large bank account for big time marketing, you have to network your way to the top.  I would rather die doing something than live doing nothing.

Three ways to locate sellers with no money

Most people I talk with say they have trouble getting started in real estate investing because they have no money.  Most are working jobs that just pay them enough to pay the Bills and have really no money to market like every real estate investing course tells them.  If this is your situation then you are forced to be creative with your money and marketing.

So what is your budget for the month?  Some months your budget may be $0.  Is there anyone who has this kind of marketing budget?

Before I get into marketing I want to I want to tell you to read the Secrets of the Millionaire Mind.  Read it at least two times, so the truth really sinks in and hits your square in the mouth.  The reason you are broke is not due to whatever you think it is due too.  Stop the stupid excuses now.  You being broke is merely the symptom of your false belief about money and rich people. The book will really hammer the fact home like no one else has ever done before.

How to get leads

Network

Just get out and talk to people.  It’s easy, cheap really works.  This is what I do every day, and everyone is very responsive.  A few people actually told me right on the spot that they know someone who has a house that want to get rid of.  You will want to get business cards made up.  I know I said $0 but this is important.  You can get some on vista print for like $15.

If you don’t like talking to strangers, you are going to have to overcome this.  Believe me when I tell you I hated talking to random people at first and still don’t like it sometimes, but it is just one of those things that has to be done.  Simply force yourself to do it and then you’re feeling with quickly change.  It won’t kill you, I have never heard of anyone dying from asking a stranger if they know of any whose house you can buy.

Flyers

You can print unlimited flyers from the comfort of your home computer for merely the price of paper.  If you have a roommate take their paper and it costs nothing (you may need to get new housing arrangements in the near future).  Its easy to make a nice flier up, Just put what you do, how you can help.  If you live in Billings Montana do not steal mine or I will find you.  I am joking take it and get some leads there is more than enough to go around.

Put the flyers up everywhere you can put them up.  Just have a stack of them in your car and if you go into a restaurant and see a billboard for flyers go back to your car and get one to put up.

Free Online Classified Ads

There are hundreds of free online classified ads sites on the internet.  Are you currently using them?  Why the heck not, they are FREE and it takes 2 minutes to write an ad.  Craig’s list is the biggest and most popular.  I get lots of leads from online classifieds.

Get out there and start marketing.

Learn How to avoid some of the costly mistakes home sellers make in Billings Montana.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIXv6RAKJlQ[/youtube]

Sell Your Billings Home Online

If you are not marketing your Billings home for sale online you are missing out on many potential buyers.  Market research has found that homebuyers are actively seeking out properties through the internet.  Buyers use the internet to find homes in Billings that they are interested in visiting.  If you want to reach as many homebuyers in Billings as possible then you will have to make use of the internet in marketing your house.

Whether you are a real estate investor in Billings or just a homeowner selling your property on your own you should be listing your property everywhere online.  Put your home up and buyers will be calling.

The internet never stops working, it is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.  By putting your home online you can easily reach hundreds of buyers in Billings that you might not have otherwise reached.

You should be taking advantage of all the free classified ad sites out there for you to post your home.  Also use article sites, social networking sites and video sites.   By using all of these internet marketing sites there is no reason for buyers not to be calling you like crazy.

Classified sites

Some of the best classified sites to post your home on are craigslist, backpage, and yahoo homes.  There are tons more that get pretty good page rank when people are searching for homes in Billings.  Just Google the term online classified ads and tons will come up.  Make sure you are re-posting every few days.

Article sites

If you have a property, then write a little article about it and post it.  Article sites get ranked well or write a little article about selling your home with a link at the bottom to a place where they can find your home.  Article sites include ezinarticles, goarticles, articlebase and tons more.

Social Networking

Social networking is becoming a huge marketing place for businesses in Billings Montana.  If you have a property why not start posting like crazy that you have a property for sale and ask people if they know anyone who is looking to buy.   Get on facebook, twitter, and myspace.

Video Sites

If you have a home for sale I recommend making a virtual tour of the whole house and then uploading it to video sites.  This is a great way to show your house without ever having to have a buyer step foot into your home.   Upload to youtube, daily motion, myspace video and many others.

Another good reason to maket online is because buyers can get information instantly.  Everyone wants information now and don’t want to wait.  When a homebuyer has to call up a reator or wait for the newspaper to start looking for property they can get frustrated and move on.  This can cause you to lost potential buyers.

It also saves you time.  When you have detail about your home everywhere, you may find that uninterested buyers or buyers that are not really ready to buy wont respond as often.  This is because they have got all of the information they were seeking from your online marketing.

If you are not marketing your property online already, then you are missing out on an amazing opportunity.  You can easily sell your Billings Home with a minimum of money, time and effort and get the maximum amount of exposure.  Also Consider selling to Big Sky Property Solutions LLC, they will give you a cash offer for your house over the phone.

By Christopher Seder

What not to do When Applying for a Home Loan in Billings Montana

Congratulations you have decided to make a great decision and possibly purchase a home in Billings Montana.  You may have even been pre-approved.  There are a few things that you should make sure and not do when you are applying.  They can help you to make the process run smoother and faster.

Make sure that you are not buying or leasing a car at the time you are applying.  Lenders take in your debt-to-income ratio and a large payment can greatly impact your ratios.  This can even prevent you from being approved for a loan.

Do not move around your assets.  When you move cash from one bank to another, these show up as new deposits and complicate the whole process.  When applying you have to document and disclose all your accounts and explain what each new deposit is.   Lender in Billings Montana and all lenders require a thorough paper trail to document the source of all funds.  Move your money and assets around later.

Do not make any major purchases for the new home.  New purchases could include furniture, appliances, a 60 inch flat screen or whatever you want for your dream home.  These purchases can make it so that you will not be qualified for a home loan.

Make sure you ask the lender what to do about existing debt.  Do not pay off any old debt without consulting them, they may tell you to go ahead and do so.   Paying off old collection debt will often signal to the credit reporting agencies that there is new activity on a negative entry and might affect your credit.  Make sure to always ask professionals what would be best for the situation.

Do not pack up the necessary documents and forms that you may need.  These forms include W-2 forms, divorce decrees, and tax returns.  If you lose them they could take weeks to get a new copy.

Make sure that you are making regular payments on your current mortgage and other debts you have.  Even if you are going to just pay it all off soon, make sure you don’t miss a payment.  If you do it can cause your credit rating to drop.   With the tight lending practices we are currently seeing, you need the best credit score you can get.

Make sure that you have told you mortgage broker about any changes in the sale price or terms of the sale.  They can sometimes affect the loan and you may be required to submit more documents.  We all know how long banks take to file and deal with documents.

These are some of the pretty common things that people do that can affect getting approved for a loan.  Most seem like pretty common sense things but everyone makes mistakes once in a while, so just prepare yourself.  If you are looking for property in Billings Montana Check  Big Sky Property Solutions LLC to see what they currently have available.

Managing Rental Property in Montana

By Christopher Seder

Growing up in a family with several rental properties I have notices that you need to take some steps to protect yourself from renting to poor quality tenants.  Sometimes it is inevitable that you will rent to bad tenants but just make sure to do everything you can to protect yourself.  In some smaller cities in Montana you will have to just deal with what you can get but in Billings Montana you should have no problem finding quality tenants that pay the rent on time and leave your property in good condition.   You just need a system in place that you have developed over time and learning from others.

The first thing you should do is plan to show your rental property at scheduled times during the week.  Save time by only showing them a few times a week.  You can tell potential tenants that you will be at the property at a certain time like 4:00 p.m. until 4:15 p.m. This is a good way to weed out the bad ones, if they show up late they are probably not great tenants.

Make sure that you know what kind of tenant you are looking for.  Have a list of qualifications that you look for in a good tenant, such as job history, income, credit and other qualities that make a good tenant.   This protects you from discriminating and helps you make better decisions.

Use the rental application to separate good tenants from bad ones.  Make sure that they have filled in all the necessary blanks and answered all of the questions.

Next you should be running credit and eviction checks on the tenants.  This just tells you if the tenant is going to be paying you or not, which I think is pretty important.

You should contact the tenant’s last two landlords if he/she has had any.  Lands lords can be the key to finding out if you will have a good tenant.  The land lord before the current is more likely to tell you more than the current one.  The current one might just want to get the tenant out of his/her hair.

Do not just rush into putting a tenant in your property.  Take your time and gather a few applications so that you can make the best decision and find the right tenant.

A great idea that I recently heard was to give your tenants rebates if they pay on time.  Giving your tenants a $20, $50 or even a $100 rebate depending on their monthly rents can give your more potential renters and give them an incentive to pay on time.  This could give you a better pool of renters to choose from.

Another check to do is to check the applicant’s car, and clothing.  If a person looks like a slob they probably are a slob.  And if their car is a total mess then that is what their apartment is going to look like.  You can take a look at the car by going out with them and writing down the make, model and license plate number for the application.

To get rid of bad tenants offer them cash incentives for keys, cleaning or something.  As a last resort to just get the tenants out offer them incentives if they are out by a certain day you will give them x amount of dollars.  Tell them you will have to do an inspection of the property and make sure that it is in its current condition and all the tenants belonging are gone before he/she gets the incentive.  This could be a better solution than eviction.

Taking a few precautions when renting a property can save a land lord several nights of restless sleep and save the wallet.

If you would like to find great deals on rental property we may have some for sale at Big Sky Property Solutions LLC

Many homeowners in Billings have found themselves in a situation where they need to sell their home now.  Many homeowners find themselves going through a tough time sometime in their life.   Whether you are moving for a new job and can’t afford a second mortgage payment or just need quick money to pay off the bills that have piled up.   There are hundreds of reason why a homeowner in Billings needs to sell fast. You could just be like me and have no patience and want to sell today.  Many Billings Homeowners own some type of business and sometimes just need some cash to keep it afloat.

We all know the ways to sell your home in Billings Montana, right?  Through a realtor and for sale by owner are the two most choose.   Have you ever thought of selling your home to an investor?  Yes an investor will have buy your the house at a discount but here is the great thing.  You can actually save money.

Let’s look at how you can save money and get out of your stressful situation fast.   Investors are usually cash buyers.  This means they can close quickly.  Remember finding a buyer through traditional ways means listing your house, waiting for the buyer to get approved for financing, waiting for the bank to agree upon a closing date and so on.  This can take months and months to sell your home.

Let’s look at an example of what I am saying.  Say your mortgage payment is $1,000 per month.  You take six months to sell your house that is $6,000 you just spent waiting for your house to get sold.  If you sold to an investor in Billings who can pay all cash and close in days, you could have put that money in your pocket.

The next benefit of selling to an investor in Billings Montana is you do not have to fix up your house.  That’s what most investors in Billings Montana do, they buy houses to fix up and sell.  Fixing up a house to get it in great condition to sell can cost $20,000 or more sometimes.  Investors in Billings can save you that money, which is another $20,000 in your pocket.  Even if your house does not need that much work, I have never seen a house that does not need some.  It could be paint, carpet, patching holes, updates and so on.  All of these can still add up to a few thousand dollars.

Another way for homeowners in Billings to save money by using an investor in Billings Montana is on closing costs.  Most good investors will pay for all closing costs.  This means that there are no realtor fees, and all fee that go along with closing.  This can save you on average another $3,000 to $5,000.

One last thing, listing with a realtor or FSBO does not guarantee that you home will get sold.  There are several houses that sit on the market for over a year and then homeowners just give up. With an investor you have a guaranteed sale.

So whether you need to sell your Billings Home fast or just want to save money and not have to do all the work to your house that it needs.  An Investor in Billings can be an amazing option. I recommend Big Sky Property Solutions LLC to sell fast.  They have a good track record and will do what they can to put your best interests first.