There are tax benefits to selling you Mobile, Alabama real estate. Most people are aware of the tax benefits of home ownership and the ability to write off the mortgage interest paid when it comes to filing an annual tax return. In addition the tax laws regarding capital gains that are received when selling a home are in a home seller’s interests. If a home owner’s profit is $250,000 or less he does not have to pay a capital gains tax. Likewise if a couple owns a home together they can earn up to $500,000 tax-free profit off the sale of their home. This is one tax benefit that makes investing in a primary residence very appealing indeed.

There are a few rules to follow in the capital gains scenario of selling a Mobile, Al home. The first rule is that the home has to be a principal residence. Another catch is that you must have lived in the home for two out of the past five years. Unlike the past however, when you had to buy another home within a specified period of time, you do not have to buy a new, more expensive home with your profit.

The tax benefits of owning and selling real estate are what make owning a home more attractive than renting. Anyone who has steady income, money saved for a down payment, and good credit is in a great position to take advantage of high affordability levels when it comes to buying Mobile Metro area real estate. The investment can be a good one come tax time.

Click here to learn more about real estate and capital gains from BankRate.com.

Sourced from: Kinetic Content Library

Showing properties 1 - 15 of 34. See more Cottage Hill S community real estate.
(all data current as of 5/21/2012)

1. $442,575 : 5755 Rue Conti, Mobile
   
   5 beds, 5 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 3,956 sq ft

   Lot size: 8,280 sqft

   Year built: 2011

   Days on market: 2
2. $255,000 : 2920 East Blue Ridge Dr, Mobile
   
   4 beds, 3 full baths

   Home size: 2,824 sq ft

   Days on market: 4

   Walk Score®: 14
3. $225,000 : 1208 Skywood Dr, Mobile
   
   4 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 2,569 sq ft

   Days on market: 5

   Walk Score®: 45
4. $250,000 : 1275 South Spring Valley Dr, Mobile
   
   4 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 3,035 sq ft

   Lot size: 1.26 ac

   Year built: 1975

   Days on market: 12

   Walk Score®: 55
5. $299,900 : 2713 West Charlestowne Dr, Mobile
   
   4 beds, 3 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 3,200 sq ft

   Lot size: 7,575 sqft

   Year built: 1994

   Days on market: 23

   Walk Score®: 31
6. $430,489 : 7000 South Charleston Oaks Dr, Mobile
   
   4 beds, 4 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 4,198 sq ft

   Lot size: 37,410 sqft

   Year built: 1997

   Days on market: 23

   Walk Score®: 15
7. $206,000 : 6301 Hillcrest Oaks Dr, Mobile
   
   4 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 2,388 sq ft

   Year built: 1989

   Days on market: 23

   Walk Score®: 11
8. $205,000 : 4158 North Lake Cir, Mobile
   
   3 beds, 2 full baths

   Home size: 2,453 sq ft

   Lot size: 6,405 sqft

   Year built: 1966

   Parking spots: 2

   Days on market: 28

   Walk Score®: 28
9. $255,000 : 3118 East James Madison Dr, Mobile
   
   4 beds, 3 full baths

   Home size: 2,870 sq ft

   Lot size: 17,490 sqft

   Year built: 1991

   Days on market: 34

   Walk Score®: 18
10. $325,000 : 2858 Post Oak Cir, Mobile
    
    4 beds, 4 full baths

    Home size: 3,279 sq ft

    Lot size: 22,000 sqft

    Year built: 1992

    Days on market: 48

    Walk Score®: 9
11. $299,900 : 2451 Ashbury Pl, Mobile
    
    3 beds, 2 full baths

    Home size: 2,093 sq ft

    Lot size: 18,479 sqft

    Year built: 1992

    Days on market: 49

    Walk Score®: 45
12. $674,900 : 7051 Charleston Oaks Blvd, Mobile
    
    4 beds, 3 full, 2 part baths

    Home size: 5,100 sq ft

    Lot size: 17,160 sqft

    Year built: 1994

    Days on market: 60

    Walk Score®: 17
13. $345,000 : 4176 Heron Lakes Dr, Mobile
    
    3 beds, 2 full baths

    Home size: 2,070 sq ft

    Lot size: 8,400 sqft

    Year built: 2004

    Days on market: 75

    Walk Score®: 43
14. $429,900 : 4008 Sedgewick Ct, Mobile
    
    5 beds, 4 full, 1 part baths

    Home size: 3,800 sq ft

    Lot size: 13,694 sqft

    Year built: 1987

    Parking spots: 2

    Days on market: 77

    Walk Score®: 43
15. $329,379 : 4005 Sedgewick Ct, Mobile
    
    4 beds, 2 full, 2 part baths

    Home size: 4,000 sq ft

    Lot size: 1,775 sqft

    Year built: 1986

    Parking spots: 2

    Days on market: 86

    Walk Score®: 32

Listing information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Read full disclaimer.

Selling a home, or trying to sell a home in Daphne, Fairhope, Mobile or Spanish Fort, Al, while still living in it as a family is not without its challenges. One of the primary responsibilities of a home seller is to keep a home presentable, which means clean, neat and organized so that at any given minute a potential buyer can come in and view your home at its best. Talk about stress.

Anyone with children has experienced toys taking over his home at some point. Even small babies, unable to move, somehow amass a trove of toys, books, play mats and more, quickly taking up valuable living room space. When trying to sell your home, dealing with these toys is of the essence.

The best plan of attack when dealing with a family’s vast amount of “stuff” is to pack away unneeded items. With a commitment to move, go ahead and start packing. These items can be stored and appreciated that much more when unpacked in a new home. While this is clearly a much easier task for adults, its is a great way for the entire family to be involved.

As for toys that cannot be abandoned for any length of time, storage baskets could turn out to be a home seller’s best friend. If a showing has just been announced simply throw all toys in baskets which can be neatly parked along a bedroom wall, in a closet, or in the garage. An easy alternative is the best way to avoid stress when showing your home.

Call Barbara for assistance in selling your Daphne, Fairhope, Mobile or Spanish Fort, Alabama real estate.

Click here to learn more about how clean homes show better.

Sourced from: Kinetic Content Library

Showing properties 1 - 15 of 184. See more Daphne/Montrose/Spfort community real estate.
(all data current as of 5/21/2012)

1. $224,900 : 6 Lackawanna Ct, Spanish Fort
   
   4 beds, 2 full baths

   Home size: 2,375 sq ft

   Lot size: 29,871 sqft

   Year built: 1997

   Days on market: 4

   Walk Score®: 2
2. $329,800 : 7201 Butterfly Cir, Spanish Fort
   
   4 beds, 3 full baths

   Home size: 2,900 sq ft

   Lot size: 20,000 sqft

   Year built: 2012

   Days on market: 5
3. $353,500 : 9507 Kasey Ct, Daphne
   
   4 beds, 3 full baths

   Home size: 3,281 sq ft

   Lot size: 8,712 sqft

   Year built: 2012

   Days on market: 9
4. $549,000 : 430 Village Dr, Daphne
   
   4 beds, 3 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 3,815 sq ft

   Lot size: 16,286 sqft

   Year built: 1976

   Parking spots: 2

   Days on market: 9

   Walk Score®: 12
5. $219,900 : 9580 Marchand Ave, Daphne
   
   4 beds, 3 full baths

   Home size: 2,316 sq ft

   Lot size: 14,560 sqft

   Year built: 2006

   Days on market: 10

   Walk Score®: 14
6. $449,900 : 11166 Redfern Rd, Daphne
   
   5 beds, 3 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 3,522 sq ft

   Lot size: 37,674 sqft

   Year built: 2011

   Days on market: 10

   Walk Score®: 2
7. $359,900 : 8510 Pine Run, Daphne
   
   4 beds, 3 full baths

   Home size: 2,723 sq ft

   Lot size: 21,850 sqft

   Year built: 2000

   Days on market: 11

   Walk Score®: 8
8. $365,000 : 11886 Halcyon Loop, Daphne
   
   4 beds, 3 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 3,200 sq ft

   Lot size: 27,965 sqft

   Year built: 2011

   Days on market: 12

   Walk Score®: 0
9. $309,900 : 11782 Jericho Dr, Daphne
   
   3 beds, 3 full, 1 part baths

   Days on market: 13
10. $359,900 : 9221 Cedar Ct, Spanish Fort
    
    4 beds, 4 full baths

    Home size: 2,800 sq ft

    Lot size: 12,720 sqft

    Year built: 1999

    Days on market: 13

    Walk Score®: 29
11. $379,900 : MLS # 238955 in Daphne
    
    4 beds, 3 full baths

    Home size: 3,010 sq ft

    Lot size: 20,900 sqft

    Year built: 2000

    Days on market: 16

    Walk Score®: 9
12. $499,900 : 9550 Timbercreek Blvd, Spanish Fort
    
    5 beds, 4 full, 1 part baths

    Home size: 4,300 sq ft

    Lot size: 25,800 sqft

    Year built: 2000

    Days on market: 16

    Walk Score®: 48
13. $609,000 : 31279 Blakeley Way, Spanish Fort
    
    4 beds, 3 full, 1 part baths

    Home size: 4,500 sq ft

    Lot size: 3.10 ac

    Year built: 2007

    Days on market: 18

    Walk Score®: 15
14. $307,000 : 8900 North Lamhatty Ln, Daphne
    
    5 beds, 3 full, 1 part baths

    Home size: 3,165 sq ft

    Lot size: 20,900 sqft

    Year built: 1998

    Days on market: 19

    Walk Score®: 17
15. $299,750 : 9113 Magnolia Ct, Spanish Fort
    
    4 beds, 3 full baths

    Home size: 2,548 sq ft

    Lot size: 29,865 sqft

    Year built: 1994

    Days on market: 19

    Walk Score®: 22

Listing information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Read full disclaimer.

Paying attention to how your home will appear to others will help you sell your home

If you are trying to sell a home in today’s market there are a few things to keep in mind that will help your home stand apart from the pack.  Prioritize and analyze what will fit in your budget and take the steps necessary to make your home show well and appeal to prospective buyers.

• Fresh & Clean: Inspect your home inside and out. Does it need a coat of paint? A fresh coat of paint will always be recouped in the sale of a home and is well woth the cost.  Does it look clean and tight?  Pack up the mess, the more clutter free a home the better it will show.  Likewise an empty house shows better.

• Curb appeal: Pay attention to your home as if you were a potential buyer.  Is it inviting?  Clean?  Shore up your landscaping, make sure that your lawn is green and well-kept, that your flower beds are weeded and mulched, and that the exterior of your house is clean and respectable.

• Inspection: There will be a home inspection completed by the buyer be prudent and do one yourself.  Attend to items that could possibly hold up the sales process.

• Best areas of a home to update and remodel? The Master Bathroom and the Kitchen.  Don’t spend the money to gut and redo your entire home but remodeling the master bath and kitchen areas of your home will make your home more appealing and grab a buyer’s eye.

• Evaluate: Are the remodel/updates going to net you more than you are putting into them?  It is very important in the ned to pay attention to your local market and make the improvements that will help you not hurt you.  If you are not going to get the money back that you are intending to put into your home don’t do the changes.  Do the low-cost improvements and make do by making your home clean in its appearance.

Check out YahooRealEstate.com for more information and ways to sell your home.

In today’s market, sellers who have kept up with all of their home’s maintenance needs are finding themselves in a much more enviable position than a homeowner who has neglected theirs. The reason for this is the market change from a “seller’s market” of just a couple years ago to the current ”buyer’s market”. Buyers are no longer saying yes to the “as is” agreement when purchasing a home. It used to be that before listing their home, sellers would put most of their time and energy into things like pretty new paint, updated light fixtures, fresh new flooring and hip hardware. Unfortunately, for a seller in today’s market you still must manage these minor updates, as well as keep home maintenance up-to-date to sell quickly. For example, it is helpful for a seller to have their roof maintenance performed or any termite damage corrected before putting the home on the market. Buyers are looking more closely at the costs of these things before buying. If there is another home down the street with good home maintenance and not such great curb appeal, in today’s climate a buyer may choose the former – as it will be less cash out of pocket and less headaches for them down the line.

For more information about home maintenance tips see Home Tips.

There really is some very good tried and true advice for a seller when they are staging their home for prospective buyers. The following are things that sellers have done mistakenly assuming that it will help them to sell their home, but all it did was cause them to miss their chance to make a great first impression. Never do the following to your home for a showing:

• Leave your pet in the house, assuming that prospective buyers are probably pet owners as well, and will enjoy meeting your beloved furry friend.
• Let shrubs get so big that it blocks out light and has the look of an abandoned house.
• Assume that a buyer will not mind having a list of unfinished jobs to do around the house, if they purchase the home, that is.
• Throw all of your personal items that are laying about into your closets to make the house look clutter-free. One of the first things a prospective buyer does when they step foot into an entryway is to open that closet door, to see how much space it has…
• Assume that a prospective buyer is interested in all of the details of your extremely long kitchen renovation – with a photo album detailing each step.
• Forget to put away your personal papers, such as bills or bank statements.
• Use sickeningly sweet scented candles. Most buyers consider it an alarm bell for deeper odor issues.

For more information on Home Staging Tips view this website.

Sometimes sellers lose sight of what is most important to a buyer. Making that good first impression is so important since you usually only get one chance during that first showing. Remember to focus on the following and you should have an offer in no time:

• Spruce up that entryway, or change it to appear more welcoming as a buyer enters through the front door, with an attractive bench or chair and a vase of fresh flowers.
• Houses can lose their appeal to a buyer if there are dirty dishes piled in the sink, piles of laundry or dust. It is hard work to keep your house sparkling at all times for a surprise showing, but very necessary.
• Kitchens sell a house. If yours looks old, a buyer might ask for up to $10,000 off of the asking price. Specifics to focus on are change the countertops, install new hardware and change to a neutral paint color. Even replacing just one appliance with a stainless steel version makes a difference!
• Never forget to remove any personal items such as family photos and collections. It makes it harder for a buyer to envision themselves in the space if all they see are dozens and dozens of hummels.
•  Light is good! Even if you prefer a darkened space, remember that a prospective buyer looks for as much light as possible. Remove drapes if you have to to let in light, or trim back large bushes or trees that are preventing light from entering a space.
• Empty those closets so that at least half of it is visible. Many sellers find that they have to put things into temporary storage elsewhere, but this effort pays off as a buyer needs to believe that they have a myriad of places to put all of their “stuff”.
• In this economy try your best to be brave and list your home at 15% to 20% off of its value. This strategy has a track record of creating many buyers with bids, that often end up over the ask price.

For more information about how to properly price your home for sale go to “How Sellers Can Maximize Profit”.

If you have fallen into the category of a second-home owner who is having financial difficulty and trouble selling it, there are things that you can do to try and save money.

• Wait for rates to come down again and re-finance the loan.
• Hold off on any planned home improvements.
• Rent the property. You may rent your property for up to fourteen days before having to report the income to the I.R.S. This is a wonderful option if your property is near a popular annual event that brings in many out-of-towners needing places to stay for the event.
• Donate the home to charity. You can donate a week for a charity auction and then possibly deduct the fair market rental value from your income taxes. A home can be donated as a Life Estate, which gives the homeowner the right to live there until death and provides a large tax deduction.
• If you are ambitious you could hire a tax attorney and appeal your property taxes. Many property taxes were assessed on values at the peak of the market, and are now valued much lower.
• Write up a written agreement or family limited partnership to share the financial burden of the second home with a “partner”. This could be a family member, or not.

To earn more about possible tax advantages of second-home ownership go to Family Education.

The first impression really does count with potential home buyers. If your home is lacking basic curb appeal or is not sparkling inside, you could lose a potential buyer’s interest immediately – and never get it back! Here are some tips to avoid losing a potential buyer:

• Flowers, flowers, flowers. Nothing welcomes a potential buyer more to a home than colorful flowers.
• Keep walkways clear, trimmed and weeded.
• Patios must be power-washed.
• Windows should be sparkling.
• Dust everywhere. Even the baseboards.
• Since potential buyers look everywhere, make sure underneath your sinks and closets are clean, clutter-free and odor-free.
• Remove all personal items such as framed photos, awards and collectibles. Buyers need to be able to imagine the space as theirs.
• Paint any room that is a bright color, a neutral color.
• Remove any worn or outdated furniture.
• Repair any chipped or smudged paint, broken fixtures or squeaky doors.
• Toss worn carpets.
• Consider replacing dated hardware.

For more information about home staging go to Home Staging Information.

Frustrated homesellers have begun looking into more and more creative ways to sell their homes. Long gone are the days of simply baking a pie during a showing for the enticing aroma or setting out beautiful bouquets of fresh flowers to interest a buyer. Here’s what some are actually doing to sell their homes more quickly:

• Throwing an Open House Party. The offerings at these shindigs are wine, catered food, live music and prizes.
• Consulting a Feng Shui home stager. Their homes are being rearranged to make potential buyers feel more welcome by following the ancient chinese philosophy to improve the home’s “chi”, or energy.
• Helping buyers with the financing. Many are offering lease-to-own deals, financing it themselves, paying the closing costs, or paying a point to lower the interest rate for the buyer.
• Burying statues. People are swearing by the fact that shortly after burying a statue of the patron saint of family and household in their yards, they sold their homes.
• Throwing in BIG extras to seal the deal. Gone are the days of generously offering a big-screen TV. Sellers are now offering cars, vacations, home upgrades, furniture stipends and even a year’s mortgage.

For more interesting ways to consider selling your home faster go to the Fun Times Guide.

Putting your house on the market is always a challenge in that you must look for ways to make it the most appealing it can be to potential buyers. Beyond the tried and true rules of emptying closets and keeping all rooms tidy and clean, here are some things you may not have thought of that can have major impact during a showing or open house.

• If you have a small room in your home that you would like to appear more spacious, paint it the same color as the room it is attached to. This will convey a more seamless, spacious feel. Another trick to convey spaciousness is to keep all window treatments in small rooms the same shade as the walls.
• Paint your sun room an attractive shade of green. It really does help to bring the outside in!
• If you have a narrow room, add wall shelving. This gives the space depth, without crowding out occupants.
• If you are upgrading to sell, choose Eco-friendly materials. Buyers are showing more interest in homes with these materials. For example, consider cost-efficient and “green” cork flooring instead of hardwoods.
• Consider breaking up a finished basement into “zones”. For example, furnish one area for reading, another area for a bar, one for games, one for a workspace with a desk and another for lounging in front of the television.
• If your kitchen is outdated and you do not want to renovate, replacing old appliances is highly suggested. Studies show that sellers recoup every penny spent on new appliances!