By Paige Tepping
RISMEDIA, July 9, 2008-Today’s market has made the prospect of buying a home a difficult task for most people. Whether you are in the market for a first home, a retirement home or something in between, a home trade may be your best option to get what you are looking for in a timely manner.
Home trading is not a new concept, but one that is often overlooked “as people don’t take the time to understand the process, one that is quite simple,” says Scott Warren, an agent with Villa Sotheby’s International Realty.
Warren, who has been in the industry for over 30 years and completed his first trade in 1979, recently orchestrated a real estate trade that resulted in the highest sales price ever recorded in The Bridges community in California. A $7.75 million custom home was successfully traded for a $2.5 million English Tudor-style home in La Costa in a process that took just 40 days.
A real estate trade is a simple process in which a seller with good equity, good employment and good credit who wishes to “move up” is matched with a seller who has good equity, employment and credit who wishes to “move down.”
“One motivating factor behind a real estate trade is for the financial benefit,” says Warren. “One buyer sees the ability to trade up in a market in order to gain equity and the other buyer who may not want to make the payment on their home-or can’t afford to-has the opportunity to get out of the situation before it is too late.”
The trading process is as simple as “I’ll buy yours and you’ll buy mine.”
“Once the match is made, the procedure turns into two purchase agreements that occur simultaneously,” says Warren.
Home buyers need to understand that trades are not limited to trading a home for a home.
“A successful trade can occur when someone has something of value such as a car, a boat or even diamonds,” says Warren.
One of the most unusual trades that Warren has been involved in was when a client traded a load of gravel for the down payment on a property.
“This goes to show that ‘non-traditional’ trades are just as successful,” concludes Warren. It all depends on how the deal is packaged and what motivates each party.
For more information, visit http://www.villasir.com.
