List Now, Beat the Competition, and Get a Better Deal

If it’s time for you to sell your home, why wait? There are some great opportunities on our market for sellers right now.

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If you’ve been thinking of selling in 2018, now may be the best time to get a jump on the competition.

People often refer to the spring market as “the selling season,” and while it is true that there are more buyers in the spring market, there is also more competition.

According to the laws of supply and demand, getting on the market before other sellers do could help you earn a higher price for your property. In other words, it’s a great time to put your home on the market.

If you are thinking of selling and would like a free copy of our report “How to Sell Your Home for 18% More Money,” give me a call and I would be happy to send it out. I would also be happy to drop by and give you a free home evaluation of your property before you list.

It’s a great time to put your home on the market.

There are a few, inexpensive fixes I can recommend that might help add value to your home before you sell. Additionally, there may be some projects or updates you’re considering that might not be worth it. These are the kinds of things I can guide you through when you contact me.

If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Take Advantage of Fall Colors When Listing Your Home

Don’t be fooled by common misconceptions; fall is a better time to sell your home than the spring.

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Many people believe that spring is a better time to put their home on the market. Today, I'm here to tell you why this isn't the case.

The main reason to sell now rather than wait until spring is you’ll have more competition in the spring than you would in the fall.

It’s true that there are typically more buyers out in the spring, but the thing about fall buyers is that they’re more serious and more motivated to buy your house. No one really wants to buy a house during the holidays, so the ones that are looking at houses now are going to be more motivated going into closing. That can also mean a faster sale and a higher price.

Fall buyers are more motivated to buy your house.

The other good thing about listing in the fall is that the grass is still pretty green, and we have beautiful autumn colors, so it’s a great time to take pictures of your home to highlight its positive qualities. If you wait until winter, you’ll find that everything is kind of dreary and brown—not a pretty backdrop for any photography. You’d then have to wait further into spring to list your house, when you could be missing a good portion of the spring market.

If you’re going to take your pictures now and get your house ready for the market, you’re probably going to experience a better selling situation.

If you have any questions about preparing your home for the fall market, feel free to give me a call or shoot me an email. I would be happy to help you!

How the Golden Rule Applies to Real Estate

Even when you are in a position of power as a seller, it is important to always be respectful of the buyer. After all, a buyer in the hand is worth two in the bush.

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We’ve all heard the saying that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. However, this saying is also true when it comes to buyers.

In today’s competitive real estate market, there are more buyers than there are homes. As a result, sellers today tend to believe that they are in a position of power.

While this is true in terms of negotiation, there are still things to be careful of.

For example, you don’t want to scare off any buyers that are interested in a home. In any real estate transaction, a lot of things can go wrong. Whether it is an issue with repairs, interest rates, or the appraisal, there are a lot of variables that go into the process.

You should always avoid being disrespectful to interested buyers. Never assume that another buyer will come along.

Always treat others the way you want to be treated.

While this may be the case, you still want to get your house off the market as soon as possible.

Even if another buyer does come along, they will be deterred from your property if they see that a deal has fallen through in the past.

It is important, therefore, that you do everything you can to work with an interested buyer when one comes along.
 
The golden rule applies in real estate as much as it does in life. Always treat others the way you want to be treated. If you have any questions about working with interested buyers or any other real estate topics, feel free to reach out to me. I'd be happy to help.

6 Easy Steps to Staging Your Home for Top Dollar

Staging your home to sell for top dollar this upcoming spring involves following six easy steps that I want to share with you today. 

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How can you stage your home to sell for top dollar this spring? There are six easy steps that will have you well on your way.

The first step is to make a good first impression. The first impression a home makes comes from the outside, so make sure you pressure-wash the exterior, see that the lawn is well-manicured, and do anything else you need to do to the outside so that buyers aren’t turned off when they step out of their car.

The second step is to keep the home in “show ready” condition. Before you leave the house to go to work, for example, make sure the beds are all made, all dirty clothes are in the hamper, and any dirty dishes are stowed away in the dishwasher. You might not always have time to run home and get things situated before a showing, so this due diligence can save you a lot of time and energy.

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Buyers need to be able to see themselves in your home.

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The third step is to update your kitchen and bathrooms. This can be done rather inexpensively—you don’t need a total renovation from either room. For example, in the kitchen you can replace the hardware on your cabinets and add a fresh coat of paint on the walls.

The fourth step is to remove any and all personal photos and trinkets. Since you’re moving anyway, you might as well pack these items up. Buyers need to be able to walk into the house and picture themselves living inside it, and this can be difficult if there are mementos of your family festooned everywhere. I also recommend removing about one-third of the furniture in your house to make the interior look larger.

The fifth step is to hide all pet items. Not everybody likes pets, so remove any water/food bowls, litter boxes, or pet beds scattered about. It’s especially important that none of these items show up in any of your listing photos.

The sixth and final step is to hire an experienced agent. This means an agent that knows your market, knows how to price a house correctly, and knows how to market it for top dollar.

If you're interested, we can offer you a free staging consultation and offer you some tips on how to prepare your home for the market. If you are interested or have any other questions, please feel free to give us a call or send me an email. We look forward to talking with you!

Why Our Current Market Favors the Quick and the Bold

If you’re planning on waiting until after the holidays to list your home, you may want to rethink that strategy. Putting your home on the market now offers many advantages. 

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Every year during this time, hundreds of homeowners who want to sell their home choose to wait until after the holidays to list it. This year, that might not be the best option. Why?
 
For one thing, we are really low on inventory. There are also a lot of buyers out there still looking for homes, and these buyers are far more serious about buying. There is a large pool of relocation buyers whose companies don’t care whether they have a place to live or not.
 
By listing now, you would also face less competition than if you waited until after the holidays. Additionally, your home would show a lot better now that it’s decorated for the season. Realtors can work around your schedule, so you needn’t fear interrupting any celebrations.

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There are many advantages to listing now instead of waiting.

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The bottom line is you can still list your home now and not move until after January 1st or even February if you desire. Doing this instead of waiting to start the process may save you a lot of time and money.
 
If you’d like to discuss more options about listing your home during the holidays and beating the competition to the market, give me a call today. I look forward to helping you.
 

How Can You Prepare Your Home for the Wilmington Market?

As a Wilmington home seller, there are a few steps you should take to ensure success in the real estate market. I have five tips to help you sell in this market.

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Today I wanted to offer five tips that all home sellers should be aware of when listing their home on the Wilmington market.

1. Clear the clutter. Start with three piles: a donate pile, a toss pile, and a keep pile. There are a lot of great local charities that you can help by donating things you don’t want or need anymore.

2. Start packing. Start packing up meaningful things that have sentimental value, like family photos. You want buyers to come into your home and imagine themselves living there, not look at photos of the previous owner.

3. Research the local market. You can start right here on our website with our market reports. You can also get a good idea of what area homes are selling for and what your home might sell for.

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You can start researching the local market right here on our website.

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4. Make any repairs or improvements. I highly recommend getting a pre-listing home inspection before putting your home on the market. That way, you can have the handyman or contractor of your choice fix any needed repairs. Then, knock out the checklist items like painting and carpeting.

5. Be realistic. Create realistic expectations with your agent for your listing price and how long your home will be on the market. We want to make sure everyone is on the same page before the house is listed.

If you have any questions about these tips or you’re thinking about buying or selling a Wilmington home, give me a call or send me an email soon. I’d be happy to help you.

 

5 Tips to Get Your Home Sold

Selling your home during the fall and winter can be difficult, but there are five easy tips that can make the process much easier.

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If you’re thinking about selling your home as fall ends and winter begins, here are five tips that can make the process a whole lot easier:

1. Price it correctly from the get-go. Some agents will take a listing at any single price they can and try to work the seller down from there. Other sellers prefer to build negotiation into their listing price. I think those are both bad approaches. Pricing your home right from the very beginning will ultimately generate a better offer.

2. Increase your curb appeal. This can be as simple as getting the lawn cut or as extravagant as tilling a whole new plant selection.

3. Use professional photography. Most people will first see your home as they’re browsing online, so professional photographs can make a world of difference in terms of generating interest. Our team pays for our own professional photographer. If your agent doesn’t, I recommend that you float the bill yourself.

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Anytime you can approve a showing, don’t hesitate.

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4. Be prepared to negotiate. Not just on the price and the terms of the offer, but also things like repairs. After the home inspection is done, you need to be willing to work with the buyer to come to a resolution on any repairs that have to be done.

5. Be flexible with showings. Obviously, with Christmas coming up, selling a home at this time of year can be difficult. The more access you give your agent to your home, the more showings you’ll have. More showings will result in a better overall response. Any time that you can approve a showing, don’t hesitate.

If you have any questions about this topic or you want a free price analysis on your house, give me a call or shoot me an email. I look forward to helping you!

4 Reasons Fall Is a Great Time to Sell Your Home

 If you’re wondering whether the fall is a good time to sell your home, I have some good news for you. Here are four reasons why fall is still a great time to sell.
 

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If you’re thinking about listing your home and are worried that the summer selling season is over, I have some good news for you—the fall is actually a great time to list your home. Why is this? Here are my top four reasons:

1. We still have very high demand. We have a lot of buyers out there that are ready, willing, and able to purchase homes; they just haven’t seen the right homes yet.
 
2. There is less competition on the market in our area. We usually see an influx of homes listed on the market during the spring, which means more competition, but that is not the case in fall. There are also a lot of new construction homes that are being built right now, so there will be even more competition once those are finished.

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Low inventory and high demand make fall a great time to sell.

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3. It’s a great time to move up. There may not be a better time than now to move up on your home purchase. Home affordability is extremely high right now and interest rates have remained low. If you’ve been thinking about selling your lower-priced home in order to move up into a higher price range, right now may be the best time to do that.
 
4. Buyers in the fall market are more serious. Anybody that is out in the market right now more than likely needs to move quickly into a new home, potentially before the holidays.

If you have any questions about buying or selling a home during the fall, give me a call or send me an email. I’d be happy to help you!

Which Repairs Are Home Sellers Responsible for?

Is a home seller required to make certain repairs in North Carolina? The short answer is no. However, there is still room for negotiation. Tune in to learn more. 
 

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Is a home seller required to make certain repairs in North Carolina? The short answer is no. When you purchase a home in North Carolina, it says right in the contract that you are buying the home as-is.

That said, there is still a due diligence period that allows buyers to have a home inspection, appraisal, and pest inspection. You can still make a repair request and ask the seller to fix certain items or provide you a credit for repairs at closing.

As the seller, you are not required to make any of those repairs. However, as long as the repair request list is reasonable, the seller may still decide to make some of those repairs. If there are any structural issues with the home, for example, it is actually in the seller’s best interest to make that repair because you will have to disclose that issue to other buyers if the deal falls through.

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Be reasonable with your requests and the seller may make some repairs.

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As a buyer asking for repairs, I recommend that you avoid nickel-and-diming the seller to death. Be reasonable with your request. Pay attention to any safety hazards, major electrical issues, and things like that.

If you have any questions about repairs during a real estate transaction or about real estate in general, give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

Juggling Multiple Offers Isn’t as Hard as You Think

As the market continues to improve and become more and more of a seller’s market, we are seeing a lot more multiple offer situations pop up for home sellers. This is a great situation for them because it allows them to sit back and watch while hungry buyers compete for their home. There are a number of different ways to handle this situation, but here is our advice:

Once you’ve received multiple offers, you should go back and ask all the parties for their highest and best offer. Once you have that highest and best offer, you can either counter one of them, or accept one and move on. The key here is to make sure you’re operating with an ethical real estate agent and everyone who wants to is given a fair opportunity to make a bid.

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This is a great situation for sellers.

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It’s important to remember that just because an offer has the highest price doesn’t mean it’s the best one. You’ve got to consider things like whether they are paying in cash or with financing, as well as what the closing and due diligence dates are.

If you’re thinking about selling your home in Wilmington, we would love to chat with you. Give us a call or send us an email if you have any questions. We look forward to hearing from you.

How Can You Make Your Home More Appealing Online?

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A recent survey revealed over 92% of buyers go to the internet first to find their new home to purchase. Today we’ve got four tips for you on how to get your home ready this spring so it shows better on the internet.

1. Curb appeal.
Improve your curb appeal by trimming any shrubs, putting out fresh mulch, and getting the driveway, house, and any walkways powerwashed.

2. Write an awesome online description.
Highlight your home’s benefits and paint a clear picture for the buyer.
 

3. Meet with a home stager.
The extent of your home’s staging can be as simple as adding some fresh flowers or new towels, or as complex as re-painting and moving new furniture in. It depends on your individual situation.

4. Get professional photos taken.
You want someone to come in and take excellent photos with a wide angle lens.

That's all we have for you today. If you have any questions, give us a call or send us an email. We’d love to hear from you!

How to Stage Your Wilmington Home This Winter

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According to a recent study conducted by the National Association of Realtors, 81% of home buyers found a house more enticing if it’s staged. If you’ll be listing your home for sale this winter, follow these strategies to entice those prospective buyers.

1. Pay attention to the housing exterior. I recommend a pressure wash, cutting the lawn, raking leaves, and anything else to clean up.
2. Tend to your kitchen and bathrooms. Clean up these rooms and nice touches, such as flowers and similar accents. Bring out the colors!
3. Bring in as much natural light as possible. You want rooms to appear bright. Open the windows by pulling up the blinds or opening up the curtains. It’s a good time to remove the screens and store them.
4. Add fresh linens to the beds. Brightened up the room with fresh bedding.
5. Ensure your home is at a comfortable temperature during shows. I recommend setting the temperature between 70 and 72 degrees Fahrenheit. It shouldn’t be too hot or too cold, even when guests have their coats on.

If you’re thinking of buying or selling in the surrounding Wilmington area this year, give me a call or send me an email today! I’d be happy to help.

What Do Current Wilmington Market Conditions Mean for You?

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According to the numbers recently released by the Wilmington Regional Association of Realtors, the Wilmington market saw an increase of 3.9% in 2015. The median sales price was at $204,000 for 2015 as well.

We currently have 3.8 months of inventory, which puts us in a pretty ideal market for sellers. If you are thinking about selling, we recommend getting a market analysis of what's going on in your neighborhood and your price range. This will give you a pretty good idea of how much money you can get for your home.

If you have questions about current market conditions, or if you would like to take advantage of these fantastic conditions, give us a call or shoot us an email at any time. We would love to hear from you!

Selling Your Home in the Winter

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Contrary to popular belief, winter is an opportune time to sell your house. Here's why:

Buyers are ready, willing, and able to buy. Often, winter buyers need to buy before New Year's. They're motivated and serious about pursuing an attractive listing.

There is less competition now compared to the spring. Real estate has always been supply and demand driven. Because of low supply and high demand, you can receive a higher price for your home this season.

Interest rates are historically low. This is an exceptional opportunity to upgrade or move to another neighborhood. You can acquire a loan for less than a 4% mortgage rate. Prices are only going to increase over the next few years, so now is the right time to lock in a great rate on a new home.

If you have any questions, give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

Should You Sell Your Wilmington Home Now?

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Sell now before the spring! Supply currently outpaces demand. Nationally, there is approximately 5.2 months worth of inventory. However, in several areas of the Wilmington market, we notice a lower supply comparatively.

Based on supply and demand, a balanced market has an inventory of about six months. Since certain neighborhoods experience less than 5.2 months and much more demand, many areas of Wilmington are in a seller's market. If you list now, you have less competition to sell.

Additionally, many homeowners wait to list in the spring. Although these homeowners think they won't be able to sell during the winter, demand is still high now. List this season before the market floods in the spring.

If you have any questions, please give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you!

Four Mistakes to Avoid When Selling in Wilmington

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If you're selling in the Wilmington area, here are a few mistakes you want to avoid to ensure the process goes as smooth as possible:

1. You don’t arrange for the showings for the most qualified buyers. The buyers we work with all have buyer’s agents. Therefore, they’re more qualified than the average person off the street that could walk through your home. Rate your showings. Obviously, don’t leave a key out for strangers to walk through your home. You have to either be present during the showings or have someone you trust give guided tours.
 
2. You don’t price your listing correctly. At our office, we analyze the current market conditions and recent sales in the neighborhood to come up with a price range. It’s difficult to do this without real estate experience.
 

3. You use poor quality photos of your home. Whenever you market your home, I highly recommend using a professional photographer. Your first showing will always be online. Ensure your photographs pop on the screen!
 
4. You don’t get a pre-listing home inspection. This allows a seller to get started on repairs before the home goes on the market. You can control repairs! It gives the buyer confidence when purchasing the home. It also allows us to ask for a slightly higher due diligence fee upfront. Buyers are happy to pay a higher due diligence fee if you pre-inspected your home.

If you have questions, please give us a call or email us today! We would love to hear from you!

Four Mistakes That Affect Your Wilmington Home Sale

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Today I'd like to discuss four home selling mistakes that I see a lot of sellers here in Wilmington falling victim to.

The first mistakes I see sellers making is the attempt at selling their own homes. Selling a home is a full-time job that requires skills in marketing, negotiation, and sales. Using a real estate agent can often net you more money, and you don't even have to do the work!

Another mistake I see happening is when people set their home in the wrong price range. Pricing is more of an art than a science, and it's what Realtors are trained to do. We take comparable listings, recent sales, and other market data when we're trying to decide the correct price for a home. A home's price is by far the biggest piece of advertising and marketing.

Using bad photography is another obstacle for sellers. Photography is now more important than ever because people are going online to look at homes. You need your home to stand out from the other hundreds that are viewable on websites, and one way to do this is to take stellar photos of your home that showcase all of its benefits.

The last piece of advice is probably something you haven't been recommended before. I always suggest my sellers get a pre-listing home inspection. This allows you to proactively repair your home, and you can provide this home inspection to your buyer to give them peace of mind. This can allow you to ask for a premium price if your home is in good condition.

If you have any other questions for me as you attempt to sell your Wilmington home, please don't hesitate to contact me!

Should You Rent or Sell Your Wilmington Home?

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Today's topic is one we hear about all the time here in Wilmington: whether you should rent your house or sell it. This is a valid question, the answer to which depends on your particular circumstances.

The first thing you need to figure out is whether you're ready to be a landlord. Being a landlord can be quite challenging: you need to decide if you want to be the one responsible for managing tenants or if you would rather hire someone else to do it for you. You've also got to make various smaller decisions like whether you want to allow pets. Do you want to rent to college students? If you do, are you going to require a cosigner?

As you can see, there are a lot of questions you need to ask yourself before renting your home. That being said, residential rental properties are pretty safe investments.