Sell your house faster in a tough market

It's an extreme buyer's market -- and home values could fall another 5% by year-end. Here's how to meet the challenge faster, cheaper and better.

Faster

Underprice the place by 10%. Doing so will be painful, no question. But with cheap foreclosures still flooding real estate markets around the country, listing your home for less than comparable ones in your neighborhood is the best way of unloading it as quickly as possible. By making your home look like a bargain, you'll attract a crowd, says Steve Murray, editor of Real Trends newsletter_ and ideally start a bidding war. Remember: Your listing price is not necessarily your selling price.

Time it takes: A home underpriced by 10% in Somerdale, N.J., for example, might sell in a few days rather than in the typical four months, says Sotheby's International realtor Denise Riordan

How much it costs: This strategy may cost you thousands of dollars -- but you'll slash your carrying costs.

Cheaper

Go it alone. Doing an FSBO (for sale by owner) isn't for the faint of heart. You'll have to figure out the right price, handle all marketing, run open houses, and haggle with buyers. So go this route only if you have confidence in your sales and negotiating skills. For details and tips from homeowners who've done it, go to fsbo.com.

Time it takes: You'll put in dozens of hours, and a sale may take a while.

How much it costs: $299 to post your home on a multiple-listing service (peanuts compared with the 6% realtor commission you'll save).

Better

Adopt a multi pronged strategy. Use an experienced agent but negotiate the commission: Murray says that many agents these days are willing to drop to 5%, from the standard 6%, if you agree to price your home aggressively and get it in move-in condition yourself. (Hire a home stager to help; find one at realestatestagingassociation.com.) And don't rely on the broker to do all the marketing: Pitch in by using social media such as Facebook to publicize your listing.

Time it takes: You'll spend a few days on these tasks but may cut the time your house lingers on the market

How much it costs: Home stagers charge $150 to $400 to give recommendations.

Buy your next home

To find a house fast, go straight to Zillow.com, which lets you tap info on more than 100 million listings in the U.S. To score the best deal, scope out foreclosures (find a broker who specializes in them at realtor.com), which abound in many areas and currently sell for at least 20% to 30% under market value, RealtyTrac reports. Ask a contractor for a free repair-cost estimate before committing.

The perfectionist move? Call an exclusive buyer's agent (find one at naeba.org). This pro will do the legwork to find and show you homes that meet your criteria, plus negotiate the lowest price. It's true that he gets paid by the seller, not by you (he splits the commission with the listing agent). But he has a fiduciary duty to put your interests first. Because his reputation is at stake, he's unlikely to screw it up to get a few hundred bucks extra.

Real Estate Market in India

Housing sales in top tier-II cities are unlikely to be largely impacted by interest rate hikes due to increased demand and buyers' less reliance on bank credits for owning dwelling units, Crisil Research said on Thursday.

"Buyers in tier-II cities depend less on bank credits. Compared to 80-90 per cent in the metros, use of bank finance for buying a dwelling unit in these cities would be around 30 per cent. Hence, the impact of rate hike will be less," Prasad Koparkar, Head, Customised Research, Crisil Research, said.

The Reserve Bank has hiked key policy rates 10 times since March 2010 pushing mortgage rates upwards. The rate hike has impacted housing sales across the metros.

Koparkar said the demand for housing units in 10 Tier-II cities - Bhopal, Bhubneswar, Vadodara, Indore, Jaipur, Surat Lucknow, Nagpur, Coimbatore and Vizag - was on the rise as a result of an overall commercial and economic development.

"Demand for housing units in these states are industry and commercial driven. People who are coming to these cities are opting for apartments rather than standalone buildings.

Also, financial penetration is providing impetus," he said.

Koparkar expects residential housing unit sales worth Rs 18,000 crore in these top 10 tier-II cities of the country in the current fiscal, up from 17,500 crore in 2010-11.

"Markets in these cities are largely dominated by local players. However, national-level players are also making slow but steady inroads," he said, adding that in the next two and a half years, a total of 350 million sq ft of area would be additionally available in these markets.

Buyers in these cities generally prefer 2-3 bhk flats and the current average price is hovering between Rs 2,200 and 2,500 per sq ft. Koparkar said housing rates are likely to remain stable in these cities with a slight moderate bias.