Axa Real Estate to Buy Up to A$500 Million of Australian

Axa Real Estate Investment Managers, a unit of Europe’s second-largest insurer, will seek to buy as much as A$500 million ($483 million) of Australian office buildings over the next two years to capture higher yield.
Axa Real Estate, which manages 48 billion euros ($66 billion), plans to join hands with as many as three investors, with equity of as much as A$300 million, said Frank Khoo, global head of Asia. The group will buy about four “A-grade” office buildings in Sydney and Melbourne and fund the remaining amount with debt, he said.
Australia’s “attractive yield levels” relative to other Asian markets and its properties with long-term leases are drawing investors, with the country and China accounting for more than half of cross-border property acquisitions in the second quarter, CBRE Group Inc. said in a report. Axa Real Estate last month partnered with local asset manager Eureka Funds Management to buy the New South Wales state headquarters of Australia Post in Sydney for A$168 million, on behalf of an “ultra high net worth” client based in Singapore, Khoo said.
“Investors are looking for a stable, long-term income stream, and in Asia there are only two real markets that can provide you with breadth and depth; that’s Japan and Australia,” Khoo said in an interview in Singapore yesterday. “For a developed economy, Australia is still growing strongly.”
A-grade buildings in Sydney and Melbourne are larger than 10,000 square meters (107,639 square feet), with each floor having areas larger than 700 square meters, according to industry group Property Council of Australia.

Australia, Japan

Axa Real Estate is targeting a total return of more than 9 percent for its Australian investments, including currency hedges, Khoo said. It also plans to establish a presence in the country by acquiring a local asset manager, he said, declining to provide further details.
The company, which now manages about $350 million in Japan and $150 million in Australia, will continue to buy properties in the two countries both with its own capital and with funds from overseas investors, Khoo said.
In Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s efforts to stoke the economy and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will boost tenant demand, he said. Axa Real Estate, which bought two central Tokyo office towers for 10 billion yen ($102 million) this year, plans to double its investments by the end of 2013, Hidetoshi Ono, the head of Axa’s Japan Core Fund, said in July.

Korea Plans

“There’s not much supply, so demand will increase,” Khoo said yesterday. “In the short-to-medium-term, we expect rents to pick up and vacancies to fall.”
Axa Real Estate has lent $120 million from Axa Life Japan on local commercial properties, and has another $250 million to deploy in the next two years, Khoo said. In the future, it plans to raise capital from other investors to provide real estate loans in Japan, he said.
Axa Real Estate is also seeking to raise as much as $600 million over the next two to three years in South Korea to invest in properties in Europe and Asia, Khoo said. The expansion will follow the purchase of Ropemaker Place in London in March for 472 million pounds ($763 million) on behalf of Axa France, Hanwha Life Insurance Co. and China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange, Khoo said. SAFE manages China’s $3.66 trillion of foreign currency reserves.

How Germany could show UK real estate the way

It is a timely thought. As the UK government concludes its deliberations about whether or not Royal Bank of Scotland should be broken up into a good and bad bank, some of the UK’s top commercial property experts will on Tuesday publish a report on how real estate finance should be regulated in future.
Timely, because one of the big bad bits of RBS that could do with going into that putative bad bank is its vast commercial property book. At the last count, RBS had £59bn of exposure to commercial property, 39 per cent of which was non-performing, with a similar proportion already in the group’s “internal bad bank”, coyly dubbed its non-core division.
If any bank is an illustration of the dangers of misguided commercial property lending, it is RBS. It was excessive risk-taking in this area, as much as the bank’s infamous acquisition of ABN Amro, that triggered its failure five years ago.
As A Vision for Real Estate Finance in the UK – from the Real Estate Finance Group – highlights, poor commercial real estate can invariably “cause or prolong” a financial crisis. The recent crisis has been no exception. The natural consequence of the 45 per cent collapse in UK commercial property prices between mid-2007 and early 2009 has been a pro-cyclical evaporation of financing capacity.
Not only have banks been “significantly hindered” in their ability to lend, the report says; the damage has been compounded by “over-regulation”.
It is hardly surprising that an industry panel, comprising bankers, real estate developers and other property experts should publish a report that criticises the regulatory response to a crisis.
But the tome – now sitting on the desk of Andy Haldane, the Bank of England’s director of financial stability – is clearly being taken seriously by regulators.
There are plenty of sensible recommendations in the REFG report. There should be mandatory qualifications for property lenders. There should be a diversity of credit supply as in the US; insurers, for example, could be encouraged to compete with banks. And a central database should be created of all £250bn of the UK’s commercial real estate exposures to restore trust in the industry and help reignite the European commercial mortgage-backed securities market.
One of the group’s ideas – on regulatory capital requirements – is particularly trenchant, and goes to the heart of the industry’s broken supply-demand dynamic: how much capital must banks hold against their lending.
As in other areas of their response to the financial crisis, UK regulators have gone their own way in determining banks’ capital requirements in commercial real estate – and have ended up being tougher.
This year the Prudential Regulation Authority introduced so-called “slotting” rules that forced banks to stop using their own clever, often over-optimistic, models to judge the risk of a commercial property asset, and instead put each loan into one of four “slots” with standardised capital risk weightings.
The problem, property experts argue, is that such a simplistic approach constrains credit supply at a vital juncture, in turn compounding property price falls across the UK. “Over-regulation is likely to persist precisely during the period when it is least required,” says the REFG.
So far, so self-servingly predictable. But here’s where the group’s argument breaks with the expected. “A return to lighter touch regulation [is likely to] coincide with the return of over-exuberance to the market,” the report adds. Its answer – that regulators should judge the capital requirement of a real estate loan relative to the “long-term sustainable” value of the underlying property rather than its potentially volatile point-in-time value – smacks of fudging. Asset price manipulation with the aim of prettifying bank balance sheets is unhealthy. But the group, which believes market values must also be transparent alongside smoothed “sustainable” valuations, insists the approach would be a benign way to smooth peaks and troughs in bank capital requirements and thus in credit supply.
The idea takes its cue from Germany – not from the country’s regulatory capital system, but from the valuation method used to underpin resilient Pfandbrief mortgage securities market.
The REFG panel admits that ideas suitable for one country’s real estate market may not be transferable elsewhere. But policy makers in Spain and Ireland, as well as those in some of the frothier parts of Asia, would do well to weigh the group’s ideas nonetheless. Pre-empting problems is easier than setting up all those bad banks and non-core units.

Ten things you need to know about our real-estate market

Many foreign apartment owners choose not to rent out their properties, a phenomenon that has created so-called ‘ghost buildings’ that are empty for most of the year.

The Israeli real-estate market has been a hot commodity for investors. Since May 2007, home prices have risen an astonishing 82.6 percent, with overall monthly drops registered in only 11 of the months since then. Because of the difficulties imposed on local home buyers, the Bank of Israel and the Finance Ministry have changed mortgage and buying policies, which have altered the landscape for investors. Bank Hapoalim’s real-estate sector manager Carla Tzabargal offers The Jerusalem Post 10 tips that every foreign investor should know about the Israeli real-estate market.

1) Demand for apartments is spreading to the periphery. Although wealthy foreign residents have invested in iconic, symbolic places such as near the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City or the coast in Tel Aviv, growing general interest is pushing demand toward the periphery.

In particular, investors looking to get homes near the sea are moving from high-priced Tel Aviv to other coastal towns, such as Netanya and Ashdod, where the prices are relatively lower.

Expect continuing increase in demand there.

2) The construction index affects the price. Most housing contracts are tied to the Central Bureau of Statistic’s Index of Inputs in Residential Construction, a “price index of the materials, products and services used for constructing residential buildings.”

Everything from the cost of wages to the price of cement can influence the index. For foreign residents who are converting currencies to invest, the index can doubly affect their expected investment cost because it is denominated in shekels.

The price range for beachside apartments ranges from NIS 18,000 to NIS 35,000 per square meter, although Tel Aviv’s luxury apartments reach as high as NIS 50,000 per sq. m.

3) Get legal advice. Buying real estate involves a legal contract.

Because laws in Israel are not necessarily the same as the buyer’s home country, get yourself a lawyer to represent your interests.

Whether you’re buying a new or second- hand home, the seller will likely have a lawyer, so it’s better to have someone with your interests at the table as well.

4) Specialized “vacation apartments” offer the best of both worlds. Israel has several buildings that offer special “vacation apartments” in hotels that operate similarly to a time-share agreement. The buyer has access to the apartment for part of the year – say, three to six months – while the hotel manages and rents out the room for the remainder of the year.

The advantage for buyers is extra income to pay for the apartment or, at least, the management fees in the portion of the year they are abroad. The hotel also typically takes care of maintenance, meaning it’s important to evaluate the quality of the management before making a purchase.

The downside, of course, is less flexibility. Vacation apartments are not a good choice for those who are considering living in Israel more than a limited period of the year, or eventually immigrating.

5) Demand in the real estate market is riding high.

Supply has not kept up with demand in the Israeli realestate market in recent years.

Low interest rates pushed up demand for investors, private buyers, young couples and people looking to move to better homes. In the last quarter, specifically, young couples have pushed up buying, meaning they may not believe the prices will come down anytime soon.

6) There are no institutional bodies in the rental market. In Israel, there are no institutional bodies offering rental apartments, nor are there all-rent buildings.

Renters rent apartments from private owners, many of whom own just one apartment aside from their home, so finding buildings with amenities and tenant services is rare. Rental contracts are typically signed between the apartment owner and renters for one-year terms, sometimes with an option to renew. Rental prices are generally tied to the consumer price index, and rent is paid monthly.

7) Foreign owners seeking to rent out apartments need a local representative.
Foreign apartment owners who want to rent their apartment out need to get a local Israeli representative to serve as an address for tenants to deal with issues such as maintenance and repairs. As a result, many foreign apartment owners choose not to rent out their properties, a phenomenon that has created so-called “ghost buildings” that are empty for most of the year.

8) The system for paying new-apartment contractors is different. Unlike other countries, in Israel the contractor is paid during the period of construction, typically no less than 15% at the signing of the contract and the remainder gradually, as construction progresses, so that most of the costs have been paid by the time the key is handed over. However, for every amount paid to the contractor, the payer receives a bank guarantee (except for the first 7%, which is only covered in special cases). The guarantee insures the investment, but it cannot be exercised for speculative purposes.

An alternative option is taking out an insurance policy for the funds paid.

9) Israeli mortgages are available to foreigners.

Most Israeli banks offer mortgages to foreign residents.

Call the specific department at your bank to get more information on terms, which may be different than for Israeli residents.

10) Where is the market headed? The last point is one that everyone loves to ask: Where is the real-estate market going? Will prices stabilize? Will they drop? The answer is: Nobody knows for sure. As elsewhere in the world, one cannot guess how, where and when the prices will go.

One thing is certain: The issues is closely linked to supply.

Most of the land is owned by the state, which has not released a great amount onto the market relative to growing demand. The current government has promised to increase the supply.

 

How Foreclosures Work

You made smart decisions on the path to realizing your dream of homeownership. You prioritized your spending and saved enough money for a small down payment. Your mortgage broker was creative, accommodating and worked out a loan that fit your budget. You signed the closing papers, got the keys, moved in and settled into what you hoped would be a long stay in your home. Then the unthinkable happened. You got laid off from your job. Or maybe you or a family member had an accident that strained your finances. If you're in the National Guard, you may have gotten called into active duty, forcing you to close your business temporarily. Or perhaps your variable rate loan increased your monthly payments and your home didn't appreciate enough to refinance. All of these scenarios play out every day in real life, and the sad result can be foreclosure.
If you suddenly find that you can't afford to pay your monthly loan payment, your lender has the legal right to repossess your home and resell it to recoup the cost of the loan. Foreclosure is a legal course of action in which nobody really comes out on top. It's a stressful and unfortunate situation for the homeowner and lender alike. Many people remain in denial about their finances, making the situation worse. As unfortunate as the foreclosure process may be, there are things you can do to save your home if you're faced with it.
As the real estate bubble in the United States has begun to burst, the foreclosure rate has soared. The housing boom saw unparalleled growth from 2001 to 2005. Adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) and subprime loans made buying a house possible for many people who never thought they had the money or credit to do so. ARMs have low initial rates that typically go much higher after the first year or two. Subprime loans allow people with poor credit to secure financing at high rates. Mortgage brokers used both of these methods to get loans secured, and many of the borrowers soon found out they couldn't afford their monthly payments.
Here are some startling foreclosure statistics in the United States, according to CNN Money:

• Nearly 1.3 million homes were foreclosed on in 2006.
• Colorado had the highest rate of foreclosure -- one out of every 376 houses.
• The total number of filings is up 43 percent from 2005.
• Real estate experts predict even more foreclosures in 2007.

Additionally, a recent poll shows that more than six in 10 homeowners wish they better understood the terms of their loan, and 60 percent of borrowers in mortgage trouble aren't aware of services that can help them avoid foreclosure [source: FDIC].

The Foreclosure Process

The foreclosure process differs by state, but we can take a look at the general steps that are taken. If you're faced with foreclosure, it's important that you research your state's laws and practices.
Foreclosure proceedings can begin after a single missed payment, but it isn't very likely. Most banks and lenders have a grace period for late payments, usually with a fee added on. It typically takes being a full 30 days late for the alarm bells to go off. After the second missed payment, you'll be getting some phone calls. Many lenders will only accept both late payments to bring the loan current. They also may refuse any partial payments.
Once you fall three months behind, things get serious. This is typically when most lenders will begin the foreclosure process in one of two ways: judicial sale, which requires that the process go through the court system, or power of sale, which can be carried out entirely ­by the mortgage holder.
All states allow judicial sale, while only 29 allow power of sale. If your state allows power of sale, the loan papers will usually have a clause that says this method will be used. Power of sale is typically faster than the judicial route. Let's look at both methods.
Judicial sale:

• The mortgage lender will file suit with the court system.
• You'll receive a letter from the court demanding payment.
• Typically, you'll have 30 days to respond with payment to avoid foreclosure.
• At the end of the payment period, a judgment will be entered and the lender can request sale of the property by auction.
• The auction is carried out by the sheriff's office, usually several months after the judgment.
• Once the property is sold, you're served with an eviction notice by the sheriff's office, and you must vacate your former home immediately.

Power of sale:

• The mortgage lender will serve you with papers demanding payment.
• After an established waiting period, a deed of trust is drawn up that temporarily conveys the property to a trustee.
• The trustee will sell the house at public auction for the lender.
• Many times, these foreclosures are subject to judicial review to make sure everything was carried out legally.
• There is usually a requirement for the lender to post a public notice of sale for the auction.

Both types of foreclosure require that any other involved parties be notified of the proceedings. For instance, if the homeowner took out another loan against the house with a third party, that lender must be contacted and its loan amount must be paid from the auction's proceeds. If the third-party lender isn't paid, it can apply the mortgage to the new property owner. Many times, the lender will actually buy the property back and attempt to sell it through the real estate market at a later date.
There can also be deficiency judgments made against the borrower if the sale of the property doesn't satisfy the amount of the loan. The entire difference between the two can be required, although some states only require that difference between the fair value of the property and the loan amount be paid.
There's one more type of foreclosure that's almost completely obsolete, called strict foreclosure. In these cases, once judgment is made on the lawsuit, the property is automatically assumed by the mortgage holder. Only Connecticut and Vermont still allow this practice [source: Realty Trac].

Effects of Foreclosure

The most obvious effect of foreclosure is that you now find yourself without a home. Many people rely on family at this point to get them through the coming months. Some people are able to afford to move into an apartment while they get their finances back on track. Sadly, some people that suffer foreclosure find themselves homeless. Most states have homeless prevention programs that assist people who are down on their luck and in need of a boost. If you've been foreclosed on and have no housing options, check with your state and local department of human services to see if they can assist you.
Your credit rating is another way foreclosure can affect you. While being foreclosed on does have a negative impact on your credit rating, it doesn't damage it beyond repair. Credit ratings are based on your credit history, so the foreclosure will be factored in along with everything else. If you had a good rating before you fell behind on your loan, you might be surprised at how high your credit score is after you foreclose.
The most important thing to do after foreclosure is to try and repair your credit. Make sure all your other accounts are current and paid up. You may try and secure a smaller loan -- making payments on this loan will help you repair your credit. You may even be able to secure another home mortgage at a less-than-prime rate with a large down payment.
If you've been foreclosed on, you may have trouble finding or keeping employment. Some employers require a good credit rating to get hired, and foreclosure can even be grounds for termination. Stress and depression are also common effects of foreclosure. A lack of self-esteem and self-worth are typically associated with people that have lost their homes.
The trickle down effect of foreclosure can also have a serious impact on your community. One foreclosure can ring up as much as $34,000 in local government agency bills. Trash removal, unpaid utilities, sheriff and police costs, inspections and potentially even demolition of the property all contribute to that cost. Property values also decrease near foreclosed properties. In some housing markets, up to $220,000 in reduced property value can be expected [source: Apgar, Duda, Gorey].
You can learn more about foreclosure and the housing market by looking into the links on the next page.

Foreclosure and Crime

Crime is another common effect of foreclosure. Slavic Village, Ohio, is the leading community for foreclosures in the United States. As of November 2007, more than 800 houses sat vacant in this Cleveland suburb. These homes are usually looted within 72 hours of becoming vacant. Aluminum siding, gutters, doors, windows, molding, appliances and basically anything else of value is stripped from the home and sold for profit. These homes are typically wrecked in the process as well, with looters using sledgehammers to break through walls to remove valuable copper wiring. With windows and doors removed, houses are open to the elements. Many abandoned houses become dumping grounds for people that don't want to pay for trash removal. The community of Slavic Village is fighting back with organized crime-watches and persistent pleas to the local police force [source: CNN Money].

 

 

Foreclosure can trigger capital gains and canceled debt income

Foreclosures are treated as the sale of property for federal tax purposes. Homeowners going through a foreclosure will need to calculate their gain or loss for tax purposes, as well as consider any income tax that might be due on the forgiveness or cancellation of debt. These are two separate issues: gain on the sale of the property and imputed income from any debt forgiveness.

In usual circumstances, the sale of real property goes through escrow, and the seller receives statements showing how much the home was sold for. With foreclosures, however, there is no escrow. The lending bank simply takes possession of the house. A foreclosure is still considered a sale, or in more technical terms, a "disposition" of property. When property is disposed of, the owner calculates any gain or loss on the transaction for tax reporting purposes.
Now the basic formula for capital gains is to subtract the basis or cost of the property from the selling price. The difference is how much profit a person made, or how much money was lost on the transaction. In a foreclosure situation, the selling price used for tax purposes isn't immediately clear because there's no escrow statements and no mutually agreed upon selling price. However, there is still a "selling price" for tax purposes: it will be either the fair market value of the property or the outstanding loan balance immediately prior to the foreclosure. Both of these figures will be reported to you by the bank using Form 1099-A. Which figure you will use depends on what state you live in and what type of loan you had.

Recourse or Non-Recourse Loans

The selling price (for tax purposes) of the property is determined by whether the loan or loans securing the property are recourse loans or non-recourse loans. According to About.com's banking and loans expert Justin Pritchard, mortgages used to acquire a house tend to be non-recourse loans, while refinanced loans and home equity loans tend to be recourse loans. Be aware that how home loans are classified depends on state lending laws. For more information, see Recourse Loans and Non-Recourse Loans. Accordingly, you will first need to determine what type of loan you had on your property. From there, you can determine the selling price. You may need to analyze your loan documents to extract the information you need for your income tax reporting.

Determining the Selling Price

A recourse loan is a loan where the borrower is personally liable for the debt, and the lender can pursue repayment even after the property has been repossessed. For recourse loans, the figure used as the selling price is the lower of the following two amounts:

• the outstanding loan balance immediately before the foreclosure minus any debt for which the borrower remains personally liable after the foreclosure; or
• the fair market value of the property being foreclosed.

Also note, with recourse loans, the borrower may have canceled debt income arising from the foreclosure. A non-recourse loan, by contrast, is a loan where the borrower is not personally liable for repayment of the loan; in other words, once the lender repossess the property used to secure the loan, the loan is satisfied and the lender cannot pursue the borrower for further repayment. For non-recourse loans, the figure used as the selling price is the outstanding loan balance immediately before the foreclosure. You are considered as selling the house to the lender for full consideration of the outstanding debt.
Note that with non-recourse loans, the borrower will not have any canceled debt income, because the lender is prohibited by law from pursuing the borrower for repayment.

Reporting Capital Gain or Loss

If the foreclosed property was your primary residence, you report the foreclosure sale on your Schedule D, and you may qualify to exclude up to $250,000 of gain from income tax. If the foreclosed property was a personal use property, but not your primary residence, such as a second home or vacation home, then you'll report the foreclosure sale on your Schedule D.
If the foreclosed property was mixed use (was your primary residence at one time, and was a secondary residence at another time), then you'll need to utilize the modified rules for calculating your gain or loss.
If the foreclosed property was a rental property, then you'll report the sale on Form 4797.

Canceled Debt Issues

Foreclosures can trigger taxable income besides capital gains. If the lender forgives or cancels the mortgage debt on a recourse loan, that may need to be included as income unless an exception applies. For recourse loans, the amount of debt canceled by the lender is potentially taxable income. There are a number of exceptions that exclude canceled debts from tax treatment. The most important of these is the exclusion for debt secured by your main home. Under the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act, canceled debts of up to $2 million can be excluded as long as the debt was used to buy or build your principal residence. The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act extends this debt relief through 2012.
For non-recourse loans, there is no cancellation of debt income to be reported. That's because the lender cannot pursue the borrower for repayment of the debt, even if the fair market value of the property is less than what was owed.

Tax Reporting Documents Form 1099-A and Form 1099-C

Form 1099-A is issued by the bank after real estate has been foreclosed, and reports the the date of the foreclosure, the fair market value of the property, and the outstanding loan balance immediately prior to the foreclosure. You will need this information when reporting any capital gain income related to the foreclosure. Form 1099-C is issued by the bank after the bank has canceled or forgiven any debt on a recourse loan. The form will indicate how much debt was canceled. If a lender both forecloses on a home and cancels the unpaid debt in the same year, you may receive only a single Form 1099-C that reports both the foreclosure and the cancellation of debt (instead of receiving both a 1099-A and a 1099-C).

13 Tips for Selling Your Home

We’ve all heard about how “bad” the real estate market is. But what’s bad for sellers can be good for buyers, and these days, savvy buyers are out in spades trying to take advantage of the buyer’s market. Here are 13 thing you can do to help sell your house.

1. Audit your agent’s online marketing. 92% of homebuyers start their house hunt online, and they will never even get in the car to come see your home if the online listings aren’t compelling. In real estate, compelling means pictures! A study by Trulia.com shows that listings with more than 6 pictures are twice as likely to be viewed by buyers as listings that had fewer than 6 pictures.

2. Post a video love letter about your home on YouTube. Get a $125 FlipCam and walk through your home AND your neighborhood, telling prospective buyers about the best bits – what your family loved about the house, your favorite bakery or coffee shop that you frequented on Saturday mornings, etc. Buyers like to know that a home was well-loved, and it helps them visualize living a great life there, too.
Plus: 13 Moving Tips to Keep in Mind\

3. Let your neighbors choose their neighbors. If you belong to neighborhood online message boards or email lists, send a link to your home’s online listing to your neighbors. Also, invite your neighbors to your open house – turn it into a block party. That creates opportunities for your neighbors to sell the neighborhood to prospective buyers and for your neighbors to invite house hunters they know who have always wanted to live in the area.

4. Facebook your home’s listing. Facebook is the great connector of people these days. If you have 200 friends and they each have 200 friends, imagine the power of that network in getting the word out about your house!

5. Leave some good stuff behind. We’ve all heard about closing cost credits, but those are almost so common now that buyers expect them – they don’t really distinguish your house from any of the other homes on the market anymore. What can distinguish your home is leaving behind some of your personal property, ideally items that are above and beyond what the average homebuyer in your home’s price range would be able to afford. That may be stainless steel kitchen appliances or a plasma screen TV, or it might be a golf cart if your home is on a golf course.

6. Beat the competition with condition. In many markets, much of the competition is low-priced foreclosures and short sales. As an individual homeowner, the way you can compete is on condition. Consider having a termite inspection in advance of listing your home, and get as many of the repairs done as you can – it’s a major selling point to be able to advertise a very low or non-existent pest repair bill. Also, make sure that the little nicks and scratches, doorknobs that don’t work, and wonky handles are all repaired before you start showing your home.

Plus: 5 Easy Improvements to Hook a Buyer For Your Home

7. Stage the exterior of your home too. Stage the exterior with fresh paint, immaculate landscaping and even outdoor furniture to set up a Sunday brunch on the deck vignette. Buyers often fantasize about enjoying their backyards by entertaining and spending time outside.

8. Access is essential. Homes that don’t get shown don’t get sold. And many foreclosures and short sale listings are vacant, so they can be shown anytime. Don’t make it difficult for agents to get their clients into your home – if they have to make appointments way in advance, or can only show it during a very restrictive time frame, they will likely just cross your place off the list and go show the places that are easy to get into.

9. Get real about pricing. Today’s buyers are very educated about the comparable sales in the area, which heavily influence the fair market value of your home. And they also know that they’re in the driver’s seat. To make your home competitive, have your broker or agent get you the sales prices of the three most similar homes that have sold in your area in the last month or so, then try to go 10-15% below that when you set your home’s list price. The homes that look like a great deal are the ones that get the most visits from buyers and, on occasion even receive multiple offers. (Bidding wars do still exist!)

10. Get clued into your competition. Work with your broker or agent to get educated about the price, type of sale and condition of the other homes your home is up against. Attend some open houses in your area and do a real estate reality check: know that buyers that see your home will see those homes, too – make sure the real-time comparison will come out in your home’s favor by ensuring the condition of your home is up to par.

11. De-personalize. Do this – pretend you’re moving out. Take all the things that make your home “your” personal sanctuary (e.g., family photos, religious décor and kitschy memorabilia), pack them up and put them in storage. Buyers want to visualize your house being their house – and it’s difficult for them to do that with all your personal items marking the territory as yours.

12. De-clutter. Keep the faux-moving in motion. Pack up all your tchotchkes, anything that is sitting on top of a countertop, table or other flat surfaces. Anything that you haven’t used in at least a year? That goes, too. Give away what you can, throw away as much as possible of what remains, and then pack the rest to get it ready to move.

13. Listen to your agent. If you find an experienced real estate agent to list your home, who has a successful track record of selling homes in your area, listen to their recommendations! Find an agent you trust and follow their advice as often as you can.

Most Important 10 Best-Kept Secrets for Selling Your Home

Selling Secret #10: Pricing it right

Find out what your home is worth, then shave 15 to 20 percent off the price. You’ll be stampeded by buyers with multiple bids — even in the worst markets — and they’ll bid up the price over what it’s worth. It takes real courage and most sellers just don’t want to risk it, but it’s the single best strategy to sell a home in today’s market.

Selling Secret #9: Half-empty closets

Storage is something every buyer is looking for and can never have enough of. Take half the stuff out of your closets then neatly organize what’s left in there. Buyers will snoop, so be sure to keep all your closets and cabinets clean and tidy.

Selling Secret #8: Light it up

Maximize the light in your home. After location, good light is the one thing that every buyer cites that they want in a home. Take down the drapes, clean the windows, change the lampshades, increase the wattage of your light bulbs and cut the bushes outside to let in sunshine. Do what you have to do make your house bright and cheery – it will make it more sellable.

Selling Secret #7: Play the agent field

A secret sale killer is hiring the wrong broker. Make sure you have a broker who is totally informed. They must constantly monitor the multiple listing service (MLS), know what properties are going on the market and know the comps in your neighborhood. Find a broker who embraces technology – a tech-savvy one has many tools to get your house sold.

Selling Secret #6: Conceal the critters

You might think a cuddly dog would warm the hearts of potential buyers, but you’d be wrong. Not everybody is a dog- or cat-lover. Buyers don’t want to walk in your home and see a bowl full of dog food, smell the kitty litter box or have tufts of pet hair stuck to their clothes. It will give buyers the impression that your house is not clean. If you’re planning an open house, send the critters to a pet hotel for the day.

Selling Secret #5: Don’t over-upgrade

Quick fixes before selling always pay off. Mammoth makeovers, not so much. You probably won’t get your money back if you do a huge improvement project before you put your house on the market. Instead, do updates that will pay off and get you top dollar. Get a new fresh coat of paint on the walls. Clean the curtains or go buy some inexpensive new ones. Replace door handles, cabinet hardware, make sure closet doors are on track, fix leaky faucets and clean the grout.

Selling Secret #4: Take the home out of your house

One of the most important things to do when selling your house is to de-personalize it. The more personal stuff in your house, the less potential buyers can imagine themselves living there. Get rid of a third of your stuff – put it in storage. This includes family photos, memorabilia collections and personal keepsakes. Consider hiring a home stager to maximize the full potential of your home. Staging simply means arranging your furniture to best showcase the floor plan and maximize the use of space.

Selling Secret #3: The kitchen comes first

You’re not actually selling your house, you’re selling your kitchen – that’s how important it is. The benefits of remodeling your kitchen are endless, and the best part of it is that you’ll probably get 85% of your money back. It may be a few thousand dollars to replace countertops where a buyer may knock $10,000 off the asking price if your kitchen looks dated. The fastest, most inexpensive kitchen updates include painting and new cabinet hardware. Use a neutral-color paint so you can present buyers with a blank canvas where they can start envisioning their own style. If you have a little money to spend, buy one fancy stainless steel appliance. Why one? Because when people see one high-end appliance they think all the rest are expensive too and it updates the kitchen.

Selling Secret #2: Always be ready to show

Your house needs to be "show-ready" at all times – you never know when your buyer is going to walk through the door. You have to be available whenever they want to come see the place and it has to be in tip-top shape. Don’t leave dishes in the sink, keep the dishwasher cleaned out, the bathrooms sparkling and make sure there are no dust bunnies in the corners. It’s a little inconvenient, but it will get your house sold.

Selling Secret #1: The first impression is the only impression

No matter how good the interior of your home looks, buyers have already judged your home before they walk through the door. You never have a second chance to make a first impression. It’s important to make people feel warm, welcome and safe as they approach the house. Spruce up your home’s exterior with inexpensive shrubs and brightly colored flowers. You can typically get a 100-percent return on the money you put into your home’s curb appeal. Entryways are also important. You use it as a utility space for your coat and keys. But, when you’re selling, make it welcoming by putting in a small bench, a vase of fresh-cut flowers or even some cookies.