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Better Judgements eZine
Terria Judge, Realtor
CRS, ABR, GRI, Broker Associate

Better Judgements is a newsletter on home
matters, from Terria Judge, your Garden City,
KS real estate agent!

Contact Terria Judge at 620-271-2129!

Terria Judge
Coldwell Banker, The Real Estate Shoppe, Inc.
John P. Judge, Broker
1135 College Dr. Suite E
Garden City, KS 67846

1-877-275-7497 x 223
620-275-7421 x 223
http://terriajudge.com
http://gardencityksrealestate.com
http://gardencityrentals.com

Terria@TerriaJudge.com

Subscription Management at end of newsletter.

Thanks for your subscription to Better
Judgements, the newsletter from your Garden City
Kansas Realtor, Terria Judge.

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In this Issue
=============

1. Article: 10 Questions You Should Ask Before
Hiring a Realtor
2. Featured & New Listings
3. Article: How To Avoid New Home Surprises
4. Article: Why Do I Need a Real Estate
Appraisal?


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10 Questions You Should Ask Before Hiring a
Realtor
by Ronnie Bredahl

When it comes to selling a home, there is no
doubt that choosing the right real estate agent
is key to your success. Without the right agent

you run the risk of not getting enough, leaving
it on the market for too long, and the entire
selling process becomes more difficult. To get
the most of the sale you need an agent that will
really work for you. Unfortunately not all
agents are equal. In fact, in the real estate
game, you will find such a variation of
individuals that it can become difficult to know
where to start. To help you, we have developed
this guide. Here are ten questions to ask before
you sign anything.

1. How much experience do you have? There is a
reason you want to ask about experience rather
than time in the industry. Some real estate
agents work part time. The knowledge you want
to gain here is how active he/she is in the
market. An agent that has many listings, and a
good history of sales, will more actively work
towards making a sale. If it's their full time
job they don't eat unless they sell houses!

2. Do you have a written marketing plan that you
will use when selling my home? A good real
estate agent will have a plan to market their
listings. This plan should include a good mix
of both traditional advertising methods, and
online methods. It should also include an idea
of how they will let other agents know about
your home.

3. What online methods of marketing do you use?
This question is an important one. In the modern
world over 80% of all home buyers begin their
research online. If an agent isn't familiar with
the internet, and the methods of marketing a
home online, then you run the risk of your house
not getting as much attention. Online marketing
should include a site for their firm, a personal
website (or blog), as well as MLS services and
other sites that get homes noticed in your area.
Another question to ask is: how many referrals
an agent gets from the internet?

The answer to this question will help you gauge
how successful the firm (or the agent) is at
getting noticed online.

4. Can I view your personal website/blog? An
agent that has kept up with the times will have
their own website. More than that they will keep
the site updated regularly and use it as a
marketing tool. Blogging is another popular
choice amongst the tech-savvy agent.

5. How and when can we contact you? Finding a
good real estate agent is one thing, being able
to get in touch with them is another. Asking
this question lets you know how they make
themselves available to you. Do they have an
email address for questions? Can they be
contacted on the weekends? What you are trying
to avoid here is the agent that gets the listing
and then disappears.

6. Do you have a list of references to call?
When you ask for references, you have an easy
way to learn about the agent's relationship with
their past clients. A good real estate agent
will have a list of people he has worked with,
and who were satisfied with his/her work.

7. How long do you expect it will take to sell
my home? This question depends slightly on
market trends in the area, but an active agent
will have an answer. They will be able to tell
you how long similar listings have stayed on the
market.

8. What happens if I am not happy with your
work? This is an important question to ask. If
three months passes and you haven't heard from
the agent, do you have a way out? It isn't
uncommon for people to be stuck in a listing
because they failed to ask this question.

9. Can you suggest ways to prepare my home for
the market? An agent who really knows their
stuff will be able to recommend ways for you to
get the most for your home. Re-arranging
furniture, reducing clutter, or minor
renovations, can all help with both selling and
getting more for your home. An active real
estate agent will know this, and will know what
trends tend sell faster.

10. What percentage of your listings/sales comes
from referrals? If your agent has been in
business for a while, they most likely get lots
of business from the recommendations of others.
The best real estate agents may get the better
portion of their business from referrals.

About the Author
Austin Referral Realty is a team of Austin
Realtors representing home buyers and home
sellers in Austin Texas. Search Austin Homes
listed through the Austin MLS.


FEATURED & NEW LISTINGS
========================
http://terriajudge.com/garden-city-ks-real-estate/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1


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How To Avoid New Home Surprises
by Steve Gillman

It's funny but no fun to buy a new home and then
discover that snakes are regular visitors in the
living room. And you don't want to move into a
house with a leaky roof or a wet basement. Or
discover that you picked the worst neighborhood
in town - after you buy. To avoid surprises like
these when buying a new home, you have to learn
about the town, the neighborhood and the house.

Here are some ways to do that - before you make
that offer.

Your New Town

An online search by city and state (Fresno
California) will usually lead you to an official
city site, or a chamber of commerce website.
These sites can provide a lot of useful
information, but they are "selling" the city.
For the good and the bad, find a local newspaper
online as well. See what's going on in town, and
check the classified advertising section to get
an idea about home prices too.

Detailed statistics on almost every town and
city in the U.S. can be found at city-data.com.
Click on a state, then find the city you want on
the list (it covers towns of 6,000 people or
more). You'll find more statistics than you can
possibly use, ranging from population, average
income, crime statistics, maps, photos and much
more.

Visit weatherbase.com for climate information on
almost every city in the U.S. Click on a state,
choose the city you want, and see how many
inches of rain or snow they get each year, how
hot or cold it gets, etc. You'll also find a
link to the current weather forecast for the
town.

Call somebody from the Chamber of Commerce or a
local real estate agent. Their phone numbers can
be found online at realtor.com or at a Chamber
Of Commerce website. Make a list of questions,
and ask about stores, libraries, jobs, crime and
anything else that is important to you. We asked
many people in many towns, "Do you own a snow
shovel?" before choosing to move to Tucson,
Arizona.

Your New Neighborhood

Once you have a local realtor or city official
on the phone, ask about the various
neighborhoods in town. If they hesitate to label
areas as "good" or "bad,", ask more specific
questions, like where older parts of town are,
and where the most rental units are. If you
listen well and read between the lines you
should learn something about where you might
want to buy a house.

Visit the town before buying a house, of course,
and visit a good local bar. Residents there will
tell you which employers are about to move in or
out of the town, how fast or slow homes are
selling, whether there are criminal gangs, and
more. But verify what they tell you, since
people do sometimes exaggerate a bit. For best
results, choose a bar with customers who are
most like you (income level, interests, etc.),
to get the information most relevant to your
needs.

Drive around town. It will help you get a good
feel for where you might want to live. Stop to
ask questions when you see people out in their
yards, and take notes.

Your New Home

Realtor.com has a lot of information on the
homes they list. You can search for other real
estate listing sites. They won't mention things
like whether a house is in an area with
scorpions or street flooding, but answers to
these questions can also be found on the
internet. Google the name of the town and
"forum," and if there is one, sign up (they're
usually free). Read the posts, and ask about the
specific area you are thinking of moving to.
People usually respond, as they did when we
visited a community forum and discovered that a
good cat will take care of scorpions.

When you have a good idea of the problems which
might be associated with a certain neighborhood,
you know what to ask when you start looking at
houses. Carry a home inspection checklist with
you when you do look at homes, and work your way
through it. Pass on your notes to the
professional inspector once you decide to buy a
house.

When you're sure you like a home, walk around
the area. Find a person or two out in their
yards, and talk to them for a few minutes. Ask
about noisy neighbors, recent crime and other
things that will help you decide if this
neighborhood is the right one for you. Do this
and take the precautions above and your new home
shouldn't have too many unpleasant surprises for
you.

About the Author
Copyright Steve Gillman. To see a photo of the
house we bought for $17,500, get a free ebook on
how to buy Cheap Homes, and a free real estate
investing course, visit: http://www.HousesUnderFiftyThousand.com


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Why Do I Need a Real Estate Appraisal?
by Ronnie Bredahl

When it comes to buying real estate there are a
few added expenses involved. One of those
expenses, that people often question, is the
appraisal. At a cost of about $400 some would
rather save their money, and they wonder why
they are forced to fork out the cash to an
appraiser.

After all, if they are willing to buy the house,
then why do they need to find out what it's
worth? The real estate professionals obviously
think it is valued correctly. The reality is
that, no matter what type of property you are
buying, you need an appraisal. There are a few
simple reasons for this.

First of all, if you are mortgaging the property,
the lender will require it. A financial
institution doesn't want to loan you $200,000
for a house that is worth half of that. For this
reason they do require an appraisal. The
appraisal gives a lender an unbiased professional
opinion as to the property's value.

The next reason you need an appraisal follows
along the same lines as the reason you get an
inspection done. You don't want to buy a home
only to find out 2 months later that it isn't
worth what you paid. A home is the largest
investment most people make in their lifetime.
It is important to take the steps to protect
yourself.

There are also other reasons that you may need
an appraisal with your purchase. It can reduce
your tax burden, in some cases the IRS requires
it, and it also gives you a tool for negotiation.
If the assessed value is lower than the asking
price, you suddenly have a reason for making a
much lower offer. This same idea can help you to
contest high property taxes. There are also
issues that may arise in the case of a lawsuit,
if a proper appraisal wasn't done.

Whenever you take part in a real estate
transaction, you should hire a professional
appraiser who is licensed in your state. The
appraiser will come in, look over the property,
compare it to other properties in the area, and
give you a professional, unbiased, opinion of
what the property is worth.

The simple fact is that if you are thinking
buying a property the small cost of an appraisal
far outweighs the implications of not having one.
It is quite possible that $400 will save you
that cost many times over.

Your real estate agent may have a good idea of
what the home is worth, but they only look at
the cosmetics of the home. They rarely see below
the surface where problems that may really
affect the value are. The appraiser's value is
based on all factors, even the ones that can't
be seen.

About the Author
Austin Referral Realty is a team of Austin
Realtors representing home buyers and home
sellers in Austin Texas. Search Austin Homes
listed through the Austin MLS.


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This newsletter is compiled and published by
Mitone Griffith, http://bigad.org