Buying or Selling a Home? Here’s why you should consider working with a realty agency

In these days, it seems you can do anything online. Getting answers and information is easier than ever and buying real-estate also seems like an easy job. Just hop on to craigslist, look for anything that seems like a dream house, get the price and call up the agents to schedule a visit.

But when buying a house, working with many agents can get you into a loop, it might put you in a new home, but you lack the trusting relationship of a long term client. Teaming with a professional agent and asking him to work on your behalf makes you a preferred client, which means you will receive loyalty, full disclosure, and probably the best price available, which is not so obvious when you work on your own.

Same goes for selling a house. While FSBO (For Sale by Owner) is not necessarily a bad way to go, homeowners typically do not get the same prices as professional agents. Even after factoring in agent's fees, the amount of work it takes to sell a home tends to make an agent a worthwhile investment. An experienced realtor deals only with qualified buyers with serious intentions of making a purchase. You won’t spend your time dealing with buyers who are not pre-screened or pre-qualified and it’s easy for an agent to direct the potential buyer to places in the house that can attract him most and increase the chances of a sale.

So, if you are looking to buy or sell a home in the Five Towns area and you need a reliable real estate agency, you should probably know that since 2007, Five Towns Miller Realty has been involved in more real estate transactions in the area than any other realtor. When you need a Nassau County home choose a realtor you can trust, hop online and visit www.fivetownsrealtor.com today.

Buying or Selling a Home? Don’t forget the Virtual Tour!

Remember when we used to call front desk and make a hotel reservation? Today, when I book a room, I never talk to anybody. I just go online and start searching hotels and prices. A cheap fee is important, but not less important are photos and virtual tours. When I book a hotel, I want to see the place, feel the lobby, and have a virtual swim in the pool. If a hotel has lots of photos and a good price – I’d probably book it right away. And I’m not alone… Turns out that 99% of consumers prefer virtual tours and lots and lots of photos, but not only while booking a hotel.

Did you know that 87% of home buyers search for real estate online? Do you think that one photo of a living room will persuade a buyer to come over? Not likely… Just like in the hotel business, giving a customer a virtual showcase is probably the most obvious requirement in real estate. Virtual tour saves buyers and sellers time, while providing a convenient and secure transaction.


Now you can enjoy the benefits of a virtual tour if you log on to www.fivetownsrealtor.com and have a private, 360 tour, anywhere in the Greater Five Towns of Long Island, including Cedarhurst, Woodmere, North Woodmere, Woodsburgh, Lawrence, Hewlett, Inwood and the eastern end of Far Rockaway.

Selling a house? Avoid stinky surprises and start cleaning like there's no tomorrow!

Selling your house? Getting your home ready for the big show is an important step. When buyers come to see a house, they don’t look at walls and staircases. They look at your home, the way you organized it, how the furniture look in the living room and how does a king-bed fit in the bedroom. You wouldn’t like sell the house to a messy buyer that seems to be disorganized and keep loosing the papers. Buyers wouldn’t jump on a house that’s owned by messy residents as well. They might think that the looks suggests some hidden problems. So what can you do?

"Lawn? What Lawn?!"

For example, repainting the interior and exterior of your home is relatively inexpensive and offers huge results in terms of curb appeal. Inside, it's best to make your home as free of clutter as possible. Cut the loan and clean the gutters. Remove the clutter and clean the rooms. You may even want to rent a storage space for extra furniture and items - even your closets should look spacious. Look for dripping pipes and faucets, cracks and mold. Take out the trash a couple of times a day and avoid stinky surprises. Making your house available to be shown on short notice (within reason) is critical. Buyers often give little lead-time that they're available to see houses and if they can't get into yours, they won't buy it.

A reliable real estate agent might not be able to clean your house for you, but he should be able to handle most of the negotiations, home inspection, contractor appointments, mortgage pre-qualifications, and getting the attorney's on the same page. At Five Towns Miller Realty we’ll make sure to give you all that but leave the final decisions on price and sale to you. That’s why the experienced staff at Five Towns Miller Realty, Inc. has completed more transaction than any brokerage in the Five Towns area. Because we’re fair and we care. Visit us at www.fivetownsrealtor.com today!

Buying a house? Get pre-approved in advance!

The purchase of real estate is one of the most important transactions you will ever make. Of course that Financing is a crucial step in the buying process. One important thing to work on before you even start looking is your mortgage pre-approval. To be pre-approved means doing all the loan paperwork in advance. If you are pre-approved, than you have been fully screened by the lender and approved for a loan.

When you are pre-approved you’ll have more negotiating power. Most sellers will go with candidates that are pre-approved, since there's less risk that the deal will fall through. If a seller has two proposals and yours is pre-approved - you will have better chances to get the deal.

When you are pre-approved, it also means that you know your price range. You won’t get distracted with offers that are beyond your price range, and you won’t waste time on offers that are too low.

Remember that there is a big difference between being pre-approved and being pre-qualified. Many buyers don’t realize that pre-qualification is only a rough estimate of how money you will be able to borrow, when that happy day comes.If you have anymore questions about buying a house, go online to www.fivetownsrealtor.com. The experienced staff at Five Towns Miller Realty, Inc. has completed more transaction than any brokerage in the Five Towns area. So if you’re planning on buying or selling a property, give us a call and we’ll help you find that dream house of yours.

How much is my property worth?

There are a few ways to find out the approximate value of your home. The first way, and you can do this by yourself, is by looking around and comparing your property to other properties that were recently sold in your neighborhood. Just by reading the papers or by following the news, you can get a pretty good understanding of how much your property is worth. By doing this little research, you actually become a real estate agent! Comparative market analysis is an essential part of every agent's job.



A market evaluation will determine the value of homes in the neighborhood based on recent sales, but remember that a value of a home is also partly subjective. Presentation plays a great deal in property evaluation. Even mowing the lawn can eventually lead to a higher value. Any good agent will be able to glean the pertinent information from a market analysis and apply it to a particular property. If you are ready to play the agent part, a useful and accurate CMA tool awaits for you online through Five Towns Miller Realty.

And just so you know, thousands of families have bought or sold their home thanks to the hard work of the realtors at Five Towns Miller Realty. If you’re selling a home, condo, co-op, or just looking to start a new, exciting life in Five Towns, Cedarhurst, Lawrence or Woodmere - then visit us today at www.fivetownsrealtor.com