HomeGain Media Center

Choose a Realtor Carefully

Ask the right questions when choosing a Realtor, advises Louis Cammarosano, general manager of listing service HomeGain.

Just listing a home on the MLS is not enough, Cammarosano said. And find out if a candidate has ready access to homebuyers, as well as whether they are full-time or part-time professionals.

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List Your Home as Early in the Year as Possible

Most homes sell before September, largely because many buyers want to move into new homes before the school year starts, Cammarosano said.

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Provide Floor Plans and a Schedule of Expenses

Providing buyers with floor plans and a schedule of monthly expenses makes it easier for a buyer to determine if a property is right for him, Cammarosano of HomeGain said. Offering such information upfront also suggests to a buyer that the seller aims to be transparent -- which could enhance seller-buyer rapport.

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Make Yourself Scarce

The more you show your home, the more possible buyers you are likely to reach. And since "having the seller around often makes the buyer uncomfortable," according to Cammarosano, "If possible for all showings, the seller should plan on not being at home while the Realtor shows the home."

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How to Find the Right Contractor for Home Renovations

Home renovations always look easier sketched out on an architect's paper, but the execution rarely stays on schedule with unexpected issues like shipment delays, weather and structural problems detouring the original plan and possibly sending the project over budget.

You want a decent contract that protects your rights and that the contractor will do what they say, says Louis Cammarosano, general manager of HomeGain.

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Romney Bests Obama With Homeowners, Realtors

If the nation's realtors and homeowners have their way, President Obama will be a one term president.

According to a recent survey by real estate website HomeGain that asked which presidential nominee respondents would vote for if the election were held today, real estate professionals favored Mitt Romney over Barack Obama by a margin of 57 percent to 31 percent.

When it comes to the president, "he'll get credit or blame for how [the housing market] is going," says Louis Cammarosano, general manager at HomeGain. "Right now, the president is getting blamed for the bad real estate market." Read more...
10 home staging tips from a TV designer

Worried about trying to sell your home in this buyer's market? Adopting some simple staging tips from the pros can help your home sell faster.

"If the place is a mess and people look at it, and many people have been turned off by it, it's viewed by the market as damaged goods," Cammarosano said. Generally, the longer a home stays on the market, the lower the price it will fetch, he added. In the kitchen, clear small appliances off countertops, Cammarosano added. Straighten up and organize the food items in your cupboards and tidy up closets. Read more...
Set the Stage for a Faster Home Sale

In a recent HomeGain survey of 500 real-estate agents, cleaning and de-cluttering, lightening and brightening rooms, and staging were among the top five low-cost, do-it-yourself home improvements suggested for people getting their homes ready to sell.

Professionals often say staging goes beyond just basic de-cluttering and painting, focusing on the arrangement and mood of rooms, says Louis Cammarosano, general manager of HomeGain, a provider of online programs connecting real-estate agents with home buyers and sellers. Read more...
5 DIY Projects to Increase Sales Value by More Than $10,000

HomeGain's General Manager Louis Cammarosano states: "In a buyer's market sellers need to dress their homes for success" REALTOR Magazine's Styled Staged & Sold covers Five DIY Projects to Increase your home's value by more than $10,000 as reported in HomeGain's 2012 Home Improvement Survey Read more...
How foreclosures affect buyers and sellers

Foreclosures and short sales have widened the gap between sellers' and buyers' perceptions of prices. Sellers "think their home is worth more than it really is" and buyers "think the prices are too high," says Louis Cammarosano, General Manager at HomeGain.

One cause of that gap is realty brokers' tendency to scrub foreclosures and short sales from comparable sales data used to set sellers' asking prices. Cammarosano says it's "disingenuous". "(Just because) you happen to be paying your mortgage, that doesn't mean the buyer has to step into your shoes and pay your inflated price," he says. Read more...
This Week in Real Estate

"Real-estate professionals have grown more optimistic regarding the direction of home prices, especially in the states that have been hardest hit in the past few years, like Arizona, Nevada and Florida and also in states that have done comparatively well, like Massachusetts and Virginia," said Louis Cammarosano, general manager of HomeGain, in a news release.

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Home Value Survey Sees Sharp Rise in Realtor Optimism

A survey conducted by home valuation website HomeGain found that the number of real estate professionals who expect home values to increase has more than doubled over just one quarter. "The trend has been stay the same or decrease. And here it flipped for the first time," HomeGain General Manager Louis Cammarosano told AOL Real Estate.

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How foreclosures affect buyers and sellers

Foreclosures and short sales have widened the gap between sellers' and buyers' perceptions of prices. Sellers "think their home is worth more than it really is" and buyers "think the prices are too high," says Louis Cammarosano, general manager at HomeGain, a real estate information website in Emeryville, Calif.

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My home is worth more than that!

Despite falling home values, home sellers continue to believe their home is worth more than the market indicates. Home buyers believe homes are still overpriced.

"Home buyers and sellers continue to remain apart as to home valuations with the vast majority of homeowners thinking their homes are worth more than their agents and the market are telling them," said Louis Cammarosano, General Manager of HomeGain. Read more...
Getting Your House Sold in 2011

Louis Cammarosano says by putting your house on the market in early January, you might be able to catch some of those early birds who start browsing in the winter so that they can find a new home before school starts in the fall.

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100 Best Money Moves You Can Make

Create a website for your house. Louis Cammarosano, General Manager of HomeGain advises: "Put the URL out front so that passersby can look it up instantly on their smartphones; Post it on FaceBook too."

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Zillow, Trulia and More: Sizing Up Housing Sites

"It's almost like alchemy, trying to get there," says Louis Cammarosano, the general manager of HomeGain.com, of finding the formula that predicts property values accurately. "There are too many things you just can't know and the only way to know them is talk to a real estate agent."

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Ten Ways To Get More Money From Your Home

Louis Cammarosano, general manager of HomeGain, a real estate marketing company in Emeryville, Calif., stresses the importance of subtle yet crucial marketing tactics such as staging, or dressing up your home. "It's the same thing when you go for a job interview," he says. "You're looking at a person--how they dress, how they speak. You're not looking at their credentials initially."

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Can You Get Out of a Home Purchase Contract?

Louis Cammarosano discusses some contingencies that allow a buyer to get out of a home sale contract: "You can enumerate (in the contract) specific outs as to why you will not go forward with the purchase," Cammarosano says.

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Resolutions for home sellers 2011

Louis Cammarosano notes that "You might even consider interviewing a few real-estate agents to get more than one take on how the home should be priced." The longer something sits on the market, the more price reductions you might have to make and the more potential buyers will assume that there's something wrong with the home. So more often than not, it's best not to try testing the waters with a higher price".

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The disconnect between buyers, sellers

Louis Cammarosano discusses the disconnect between buyers and sellers according to the results of the HomeGain quarterly home prices survey.

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Sellers need to get realistic about what their homes are worth

Louis Cammarosano notes that the HomeGain quarterly survey is telling homeowners that "their homes are worth considerably less" than they think.

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How to get more money from your home

Louis Cammarosano discusses HomeGain's 2010 Home Sale Maximizer Guide, which identifies key repairs to increase your home's selling price.

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Want to sell your home fast? Put it on stage.

"You have to get your home ready for sale when you're in a buyer's market," says Louis Cammarosano. "And if the house looks better, it will sell faster."

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Seller's remorse? How to back out of a home sale contract

Louis Cammarosano notes that sellers can't get out of signed contracts easily: "The buyer might bring a lawsuit for specific performance, in which a court would order the seller to complete the sale. The buyer can say, 'All the conditions are met. I have the check here. I have the financing. I'm going to give you this check, and you are going to hand over title to the house."

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If it was up to local Realtors, Obama would lose in a landslide

"It's the lack of any meaningful recovery in the housing market, in spite of expensive Obama signature programs," that has disillusioned so many Realtors, notes Louis Cammarosano, a HomeGain spokesman. "Generally, it's the realization that hope and change don't pay the bills."

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01.20.13 - Killeen Daily Herald - "Gaining an edge"
01.17.13 - AOL Real Estate - "13 Ways to Sell Your Home in 2013"
01.15.13 - United Press International - "Clients are worth more than customers"
01.11.13 - Chicago Daily Herald - "A deadline nears for former owners seeking foreclosure refunds"
01.02.13 - Examiner.com - "Home Staging After a Natural Disaster"

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HomeGain Media Center

Choose a Realtor Carefully

List Your Home as Early in the Year as Possible

Provide Floor Plans and a Schedule of Expenses

Make Yourself Scarce

How to Find the Right Contractor for Home Renovations

Romney Bests Obama With Homeowners, Realtors

10 home staging tips from a TV designer

Set the Stage for a Faster Home Sale

5 DIY Projects to Increase Sales Value by More Than $10,000

How foreclosures affect buyers and sellers

This Week in Real Estate

Home Value Survey Sees Sharp Rise in Realtor Optimism

How foreclosures affect buyers and sellers

My home is worth more than that!

Getting Your House Sold in 2011

100 Best Money Moves You Can Make

Zillow, Trulia and More: Sizing Up Housing Sites

Ten Ways To Get More Money From Your Home

Can You Get Out of a Home Purchase Contract?

Resolutions for home sellers 2011

The disconnect between buyers, sellers

Sellers need to get realistic about what their homes are worth

How to get more money from your home

Want to sell your home fast? Put it on stage.

Seller's remorse? How to back out of a home sale contract

If it was up to local Realtors, Obama would lose in a landslide

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