The Perfect House, but It’s Not for Sale? Web Site Has Option
Do you admit to having a secret dream home? A place that you’d give almost anything to own, if it ever came on the market and you had an exclusive chance to bid on it?
Well, there may be a discreet new way for you to make that dream house your very own.
A Web site known as HomeRoute (https://www.HomeRoute.com) has just introduced a feature that allows anyone with a serious infatuation with a specific house, located anywhere in the United States, to find out whether it might be available for sale--even though its owners haven’t listed it or decided to sell.
Using the “Dream Track” option on HomeRoute, you can make indirect contact with the current owners of the house you love. Here’s how it works:
After you register with Home-Route and enter the address of the house, you’ll be contacted by one of the Web site’s 5,000-plus participating local real estate agents. If you’re financially qualified to consider making a bid on the property, the agent will approach the current owners and let them know that there’s a ready and willing buyer for their property, if they’d consider selling.
Two Incentives for Selling
Only if the owners say they might be willing to sell--at a price still to be negotiated--does the agent reveal your identity.
But why would the current owners be interested? Two reasons, says HomeRoute President and Chief Executive Steven Nickerson.
“A lot of owners are open to an eventual sale,” he said in an interview, “but they can’t stand the idea of showing their home to hordes of people or all the hassles of formally listing the house for sale.”
A second key motivation: HomeRoute offers sellers a deal they generally can’t find in the regular marketplace--deeply discounted brokerage fees. Sales commissions average 2 1/2% to 4% compared to the 6% to 7% they’d otherwise have to pay.
“Not only do [the owners] get a single pre-qualified buyer” at an acceptable price, said Nickerson, “they also get charged a much lower commission” because the agent’s marketing costs are lower and there’s no other Realtor demanding a split.
Looking for cash discounts on just about any home-related service you can imagine? Try a visit to https://www.HomeSpace.com for everything from mortgage money to maid service, security systems, home inspections, pest control and lawn care.
Most of the participating suppliers are part of national chains (such as ChemLawn, Merry Maids, Terminix, House Master). The individual discounts range from $20 to $25 off maid and lawn services to what the site claims are 40% to 60% off moving services and as much as 70% off insurance premiums. Discounts of up to 1% of a home purchase price are available for visitors who use affiliated realty agents from Coldwell Banker, Century 21, Prudential Real Estate,ReMax, ERA and others.
Compare Quality of Life in Cities
Want to check out the relative environmental quality of your community or one to which you’re considering moving? Then log on to Scorecard (https://www.scorecard.org), a site run by the Environmental Defense Fund.
Type in the ZIP Code you’re interested in, and you can learn all sorts of things about local air quality, water quality, radon, solid waste and even the names and addresses of the area’s biggest polluters.
One limitation: The site taps into an extensive list of federal and state environmental databases, some of which contain statistics that back date a few years.
If you want to compare educational quality, cost-of-living, crime rates and other local quality-of-life indices nationwide, HomeFair (https://www.HomeFair.com) can be a useful resource. Say, for instance, you’re thinking of retiring from Bethesda, Md., to Flagstaff, Ariz. HomeFair can tell you that the relative cost-of-living differential between the two allows you to cut your household income when you move to Flagstaff. To maintain the same style of living you’re accustomed to in Maryland on an income of $80,000, you’ll need about $16,000 less in Flagstaff.
Concerned about crime? Say you’re thinking of moving from Berkeley to Boca Raton, Fla. HomeFair’s “Relocation Crime Laboratory” statistical database, compiled from local and federal law enforcement records, reveals that Boca’s crime rate index rating is just one-third that of Berkeley’s.
You Can Buy or Sell Online
Some other helpful sites, in capsule review:
* If you want to buy or sell real estate via an online auction, check out Homebid (https://www.homebid.com).
* For owner-to-consumer vacation condo and home rentals--minus broker fees--try Vacation-Direct (https://www.vacationdirect.com).
* For answers to practical questions on using--and getting rid of--private mortgage insurance coverage, visit the insurers’ own site for consumers--https://www.privatemi.com.
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Distributed by the Washington Post Writers Group.
