Moneymaking Garage Sales

Whether you’ve bought a home, sold a home, or both, the cold, hard reality of moving means that you have to make some hard choices, like Earl and Shirley did when they sold the home they had lived in for 27 years and bought a motor home. The only possible way they could get rid of the mountain of ‘‘stuff ’’ they had accumulated over the years was have a garage sale.
In their case it was several garage sales over three weeks. During the week they would pull stuff out of the nooks and crannies of their house, garage, and storage shed and get it ready for sale on weekends. Luckily, they had a lot of help from some accomplished garage sale veterans. Here’s how they made thousands of dollars and had a lot of fun.
The first step is to decide what you want or have to get rid off. If you’re moving into a motor home or condo, that means just about everything. To help motivate you, remember—the more you sell, the more money you make, and the less you have to pack. The less you have to move, the cheaper it is. You win two ways.

Moving-Related Tax Deductions

Moving for most people is high on the list of painful activities. But, if you can squeeze a tax deduction out in the process, it may help a little. Not everyone can deduct their moving expenses. The IRS rules that guide deductions for moving expenses are complicated, so it’s important to check with a tax professional.
Generally, the IRS will allow deductions if the move is job related and is 50 miles or more away from the old employment.
If your job-related move qualifies, you could write off the moving company’s bill, packing costs, and storing household goods within 30 days of relocation. Also possible are one-way travel expenses to your new house. Travel expenses can add up to thousands of dollars, and if you qualify, you can get a hefty tax break that year.

How to Find and Work with Movers

Moving is one of those ‘‘fun’’ experiences both buyers and sellers are going to have soon after closing. The moving industry has taken a lot of heat lately from the media on a few bad apples taking advantage of consumers. And the truth is that when it comes to choosing a mover, it’s definitely buyer beware.
Because moving companies generally can charge what they want, it pays to shop around for not only the best price, but also for a mover that’ll get you there in one piece.
There are several things you can do to protect yourself and not get taken. Here are seven steps that’ll help make moving easier.

1. Start by asking friends, coworkers, and your realtor for names of movers they’ve had a good experience with. Get a list of at least six companies. Check to see if they’re a member of the American Moving and Storage Association (AMSA), a trade group that arranges arbitration to settle disputes.
2. The next step is to narrow down your list to the best three. To do this, check the Better Business Bureau for complaints and eliminate any who have had more than one or two in the past year. Also ask the moving companies if they have any contracts with corporate relocation departments. Call the references to see if the contract is still active and if there have been any complaints. Finally, call the remaining movers on your list and request a walk-through and a written estimate. Ask if the bid is binding or nonbinding. A binding bid may come in higher, but it discourages a mover from jacking up the price on moving day.
3. Ask lots of questions and make sure you understand how the movers calculate their charges. Typically, a mover charges by weight and distance, although in-state moves are often calculated by the number of man-hours it’ll take to get the job done. Look out for other charges such as packing and buying boxes through the mover, which can run up the bill big time.
4. Review the bids to see if they’re charging extra for packing materials, travel time, or whatever. Don’t be bashful about negotiating these fees down. The moving business is a competitive industry, and companies want your business.
5. Most moving companies include standard insurance coverage as part of their bid. However, the coverage is for only 60 cents a pound. That means that if your 70-pound wide-screen HDTV flat panel you paid $2,100 for gets dropped, you’ll get paid $42 for it. That makes it almost mandatory to get additional coverage through your insurance company or the mover. Full replacement coverage gives the best protection and is also the most expensive. Of course, you’ll want to shop around and compare rates.
6. Many savvy consumers let their movers handle the appliances, large boxes, and furniture, and they transport the smaller valuable things themselves, even to the extent of renting a small trailer.
7. If there’s an insurance claim, you’ll need to show proof that the item exists and you own it. A good way to document this is keep a file of serial numbers and purchase receipts. Then photograph or videotape the items going onto the moving van. A tape or CD with images of everything important taken prior to or just after loading can back up a claim if, for example, your HDTV wide-screen gets broken.

How to Handle Multiple Offers

Too much of a good thing, like several offers on your home at once, can bring on a panic attack. Actually, if you’ve got your home in top selling condition and it’s a good market, the chances are good that you can end up with several offers at the same time. Should you be so lucky, here’s how you handle this situation:

1. Have your realtor inform all parties that there are x number of offers on the property. If you’re selling the home on your own, then you’ll be informing all interested parties that you’ll be looking at all offers at a certain time.
2. If you’re working with an agent, the agent’s office would be a neutral place to meet with the buyers’ agents and go over the offers. When you’re selling your home yourself, then have the buyers drop their offers off to you by the deadline.
3. Go over the offers and pick out the best one. If it’s a keeper, sign it. If not, counter it with a time limit for the buyer’s acceptance. Next, take the second best offer and also counter it. But, write in that offer _2 is a backup offer and will kick in if offer _1 rejects your counter. It also has a time limit if it kicks in. Offer _3 and any other offers are handled in the same way.
4. If the first counter offer accepts, you’ve got the home sold on your terms. If the buyers of the first counter say no, then the second counter offer gets an opportunity to accept or reject and so on down the line. With this approach, all parties are treated fairly, and you end up with the best offer possible with the least amount of brain damage.

Handling Full Price House Offer

Full price offers can sometimes be perilous also. When a full price comes quickly, sellers often wonder if they priced the home too low. If you’ve done your homework and priced it at market, it could be that you’ve gotten lucky. If your home is exactly what a buyer is looking for, a full price offer is not unusual.
In one instance, a seller got a full price offer about 45 minutes after the home went on the multiple listing. Instead of being happy, the seller was upset. He felt the home must be underpriced, the agents were getting a windfall without doing anything, and he wasn’t prepared mentally. He assumed it would take a few weeks after putting the home on the market before anything would happen. The buyer’s agent had to explain that he was working with a family who wanted to be close to parents living on the seller’s street. They happened to be checking the multiple listing when the property came up, and they acted quickly. It took a couple of days of assurances, but the seller finally accepted the offer and the deal closed. Once you decide to put your home on the market, anything can happen. There’s a constant flow of buyers and houses circulating on the market. Someone could have an eye on your neighborhood, waiting for a home to go up for sale because it’s close to family or work. One other pitfall to look out for is full price offers from unqualified buyers. Sellers sometimes get so excited with a full price offer that they don’t look at the total picture. That the buyers are not prequalified or have a house to sell first seems to get lost. If the deal falls through, months of prime selling time go down the drain. In one particular situation, homeowners selling on their own took their home off the market for six months while working with a buyer who was trying to get qualified. When the homeowners were asked why they let the buyer string them along for so long, they replied . . . ‘‘because the buyer came in with a full price offer.’’

Handling Almost, But Not Quite, Low Offers

These types of offers are the hardest to work with. Obviously, the buyers want the home enough to put together an offer. It can be low because that’s all they’re qualified for, or they also have a second or third choice in mind. They may also be trying to get the best deal possible. You’re not always sure what their motivation is. If price or ego is the issue, you can sometimes sweeten the deal by throwing in the refrigerator, extending or shortening the closing, or whatever you think the buyer will go for.
In one particular example, a buyer came in with a $10,000 low offer on a home that was priced at fair market value. The sellers wanted to reject the offer and not counter, but they finally cooled down and sent back a counter adding $9,800 and throwing in the lawnmower, hoses, and garden tools. They had bought a condo and were planning on leaving or giving the tools and equipment away anyway. The buyers accepted the counter. As it turned out, they were pleased to get everything they needed to maintain the yard, but most importantly, they felt they had won in the negotiating. They happily told their friends about all the equipment they had gotten the owner to throw in to make the deal. Many times, ego and emotions drive real estate deals, not concrete, wood, and nails. It’s important to be on the lookout for this.
Many times you’ll get a low offer, not because the home is not priced right but because the buyers have to try. Their egos demand it. The best way to handle this is to structure the counter to let the buyers save face and accept your counter. Give a $500 concession or throw in the refrigerator, a washer, or dryer you don’t want to move. The key is not to get into an ego battle with a buyer, but to focus on the goal of selling the house.

Lowball Offers

The key to handling an offer is to corral the emotions so they don’t get in the way. You’ll feel anger if the offer is lowball. You’ll feel the buyers are idiots. Why can’t they see all the work you’ve put into the house? The decorating and colors you spent so much time deciding on, and the memories you’ve created in this home? These feelings are natural, and all buyers go through them at offer time. Luckily, your agent stays calm and lets you vent your anger before pointing out that many buyers start out with a low offer, that it’s best to contain your emotions and decide on what’s the lowest offer you can live with. Obviously, the buyers liked something about your home or they wouldn’t go to the trouble of writing an offer. Some people start out the buying process by writing a low offer, knowing you’ll counter up to your lowest price. So, that’s what you do. You’ll have about a 50 percent chance they’ll accept your counter or come back with another counter. If you don’t counter, you’ll have zero chances.
If your counter is reasonable for the market and the buyers are serious, they’ll often take it. Sometimes bargain hunters will take a shotgun approach and write a bunch of low offers, hoping to get lucky. If this is the case, you won’t hear back from them. It was a one-shot effort, and you haven’t lost anything.

The Five Biggest Mistakes Homeowners Make Pricing Their Home

1. Don’t price your home on the basis of what you need to get out of it. Going this route usually results in an under priced or overpriced home, and both will cost you pain and money. The house market determines what homes will sell for, and buyers get savvy on values fast after they’ve looked at a few homes.
2. Many sellers feel they can add the cost of upgrades to their price. Unfortunately, many upgrades don’t increase the value of the home but do make it more saleable. Other upgrades typically return from 40–80 percent depending on the market. For instance, a new roof will not add to value but will help sell the home. Adding a second or third bath can increase value in many cases. An experienced realtor can tell you what improvements will give you the best return.
3. Don’t list with the agent who quotes you the highest price. Go with the agent who has the best track record and experience in your area.
4. Depending on the average selling time for your area, if you don’t get an offer in a reasonable period, bite the bullet and lower the price. You’ve made a mistake pricing your home, and the longer your home is for sale, the lower the price you’ll get. Time is not in your favor.
5. If your home needs new carpets, paint, or other upgrades, get it done as soon as possible. Don’t advertise a painting or carpet allowance, or you’ll end up getting a lower offer plus the allowance. Few buyers like to paint or carpet a home before they move in. It’s easier for them to keep looking until they find a home they don’t have to do anything to.

If You’re Selling on Your Own

Even if you’re not working with an agent, you still can call two or three to look at your home and give you an estimate of what they think it’ll sell for as a starting point. You’ll need to be careful here; some agents will quote a high price, hoping to get you to list with them.
You can also hire an appraiser for a few hundred dollars to do a formal appraisal. Finally, you can look at what similar homes in your area are selling for. However, don’t go by the ones that have been on the market for a long time; they are probably overpriced. Note which owners are selling and their price. This will put you in the ballpark of what your home is currently worth.

Look at Recently Sold Houses As Well As the Competition

If you’re working with an agent, she will look up what similar homes have sold for in the past few weeks as well as current homes for sale. Since no two homes are exactly alike, you may have to do some adjusting up or down to arrive at a sales price.
To help zero in on how your home compares with the competition, go through homes for sale in your area that are similar to yours. Also check out a couple of new subdivisions near you that are selling homes in your price range.
Why are you doing that? Because buyers are checking out the new construction and comparing your home to what they’re offering.

How to Determine Asking Price?

One of the biggest mistakes is putting your home on the market before you’ve got the home in top shape to sell. Homes new on the market attract those buyers who are serious, qualified, and looking for a home. If you put your home up before it’s ready, this pool of buyers will look at your home and move on to other homes to buy. You’ve lost the momentum that’s important for a fast sale.
If fact, those other sellers should send you a thank-you card. You’re helping sell their homes by furnishing a comparison that makes them look good.
Real estate agents use this technique all the time by showing the ‘‘dogs’’ first. This makes a good listing all the more appealing and reduces the chance a buyer will want to try a lowball offer. The second reason not to put a ‘‘for sale’’ sign up too early is psychological. Once you’ve put the sign in the lawn, you start disassociating yourself from the house. It’s for sale, and you don’t have anything more to do with it other than move out. The motivation to make those improvements is gone. As a result, they probably won’t get done.