3 Things You Can Do to Prepare for Your 2018 Home Search

What can you do now to prepare for your 2018 home search? I have three steps to help you be a strong buyer in the new year.

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As we head into the new year, people are talking about resolutions and their future plans. Some of you may be planning on buying your first home or selling your current home to move into a new one. 

As we look forward to your 2018 real estate goals, there are a few things you can do now in order to get your home search off to a great start. 

1. Get connected with a local lender. They will help you find out what your credit score is and what your buying power will be. They’ll also help you better position yourself in the market and start the pre-approval process. Being pre-approved makes you a strong buyer. 

2. Sit down with a real estate consultant who’s going to take the time to identify your needs and match you with the right mortgage consultant. They will make sure that you don’t miss out on any opportunities in the market. It’s a great time to purchase a home. It’s a little busy because of the holidays, but sellers who are on the market now are highly motivated to sell. They are taking advantage of the low inventory to make their house jump out to you, and there are a lot of ways to approach that.

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Don’t do anything that would negatively impact your ability to purchase a home.

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3. Make sure that you don’t do anything to negatively affect your purchasing power, especially during the holidays. Don’t take out new credit lines or new credit cards. Be careful how much you spend on frivolous things, and try not to overspend on gifts. Don’t do anything that would affect your ability to purchase a home. 

These three steps will put you in a strong position to purchase a home. If you have any other questions about buying a home in 2018, just give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

Giving Thanks in Light of the Holiday Season

Now that Thanksgiving is over, I thought it would be a good time to talk about what we’re thankful for.

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If you’re anything like me, this past Thanksgiving was an amazing time to slow down and do something we hopefully try to do every day, which is think about the things we’re thankful for. 

One of the things I’m thankful for is you, for taking the time to watch our videos. Whether you’re a past client, future client, referral partner, or otherwise, you’re what allows our team to serve our clients at a high level.

We’re thankful for you and the opportunity to be a small part of your life. We hope you had an amazing Thanksgiving, and we hope you have a very merry Christmas.

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We’re thankful for you and the opportunity to be a small part of your life.

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If you have any questions for us or there’s anything we can do to help you, don’t hesitate to give us a call. We’d be happy to speak with you.

How to Get Top Dollar in Today’s Seller’s Market

If you want top dollar in today’s seller’s market, price your home according to market conditions.

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Buying a Birmingham home? Search all homes for sale

Today I’m excited to share with you some advice about how sellers can price their homes properly in a seller’s market.

One of the things we’re seeing in the marketplace today is that it is absolutely a seller’s market. 

However, I want to illustrate why I believe that it’s a seller’s market that is kind of being held up on stilts. What I mean by that is that we’re not in a market where you can just throw any price on a house and expect it to sell. 

We’re in a market where you’ve got to price your house according to the market conditions. By doing this, you’re increasing the demand for the house. Buyers will want your house because the market is currently low on inventory of houses that are priced correctly, in good condition, and move-in ready. Meeting these criteria will increase the net money in your pocket.

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We’re in a market where you’ve got to price your house according to the market conditions.

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Something we’ve observed in the marketplace is a number of homes that are being priced a little too aggressively. Both Realtors and sellers are thinking the market is a little stronger than it truly is.

What we want for all of our clients is for you to be able to get top dollar for your house in as little time as possible, and for you to put as much money in your pocket as you can. To do that, you need to work with a real estate professional who will sit down, analyze the numbers with you, come to an agreement on what price the market is positioning your home for, and list your home accordingly.

If you have any questions, just reach out to us and let us know what we can do to help you with your situation. If you have a topic that you’d like us to cover, send it to us, and we would love to address it for you.

The Best Way to Win in a Competitive Market

How can you beat out other buyers in a competitive market? Today, I’ve got some key tips that can help.

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How can you beat out other buyers in a competitive market?

Today, I’d like to give you some information on how you can get the edge. What my team and I have found is that many buyers rely on websites like Zillow and Trulia to find their homes.

What I want to tell you now is to avoid making this mistake. Looking on third-party websites is not a good strategy. If you’ve ever found a property online, you may have had the unfortunate experience of calling your agent only to discover that the home has already gone under contract. 

My team and I have a different approach. We ask all of our buyers to come in so that we can really dig into what you’re looking for and set you up with a service that we pay for. This service will give you instant access to home listings before most other buyers even become aware of them.  

One of the agents on our team recently helped a buyer get under contract before the property they were interested in even hit Zillow. We are able to do this because we have a team of agents who are always looking for properties. 

Ultimately, this is the secret to beating out the competition. To win in a competitive market, you have to get to properties before anyone else. You’ll also need to be backed by a team of agents who can help you in the process.

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To win in a competitive market, you have to get to properties first before anyone else.

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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.

4 Urgent Reasons to Put Your Home on the Market in 2017

There are four reasons why now is the perfect time to jump off the fence and put your home on the market.

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If you’ve been thinking about selling your home, now is the time to get off of the fence. There are four reasons why: 

1. Mortgage interest rates are rising. Interest rates have been historically low, so we all knew that this was coming. The Fed raised their rates by a quarter of a point, which will affect the mortgage rates. In fact, the Fed is expected to raise rates several more times this year, which will affect the number of buyers who can afford to purchase your home. 

2. Inventory is extremely low. Inventory is shrinking, which means you will have less competition and your home will be more valuable. 

Thanks to low inventory, your home is worth more money in our current market.

3. Home prices are rising. Buyer demand is incredibly high right now. That combined with low inventory and rising interest rates means that home prices are going up. 

4. Consumer confidence is on the rise. Thanks to an improving job market and economy, buyers are more confident about purchasing homes. 

So, if you are ready to jump off the fence, now is the time. If you have any other questions about our current market or the home selling process, give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

How to Sell Faster and for More Money

We want to help you sell your home faster and for more money in 2017. Here’s how we can help ensure a successful home sale.

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Buying a Birmingham home? Search all homes for sale

2017 is going to be a great year for real estate, and if you’re thinking about selling, we want to help you sell your home as quickly as possible. 

There are a couple key factors in making sure your home gets sold quickly and for top dollar. 

The first is pricing. When we price a home, we look at the market data and figure out the range, low, median, and high. We then price the home on the lower end of that spectrum to make sure we don’t end up chasing the market or scare off any potential buyers. This pricing strategy combined with our marketing will likely increase demand and result in a bidding war which will drive up the price. 

The second factor that will influence a successful home sale is maintenance. You want to make sure you have all those repairs or upgrades done before you list. Get new paint on the walls, make sure your yard looks great, and complete any other projects that will get your home in tip-top shape. 

A staged home sells 88% faster and for 20% more than a non-staged home.

Finally, make sure your home is decluttered and have it staged. One of the biggest complaints we hear from buyers is how much clutter is present during a home showing. So, it’s very important that you have decluttering taken care of. As far as staging goes, a staged home sells 88% faster and for 20% more than a non-staged home on average, so it’s something you definitely want to consider doing. 

If you have any further questions about this topic, or if you have any other real estate-related questions, please don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help! 

Why Consider Buying Early in 2017?

Buying a home should be on your list of New Year’s resolutions. Here’s why.

Selling your Birmingham home? Get a free home value report

Buying a Birmingham home? Search all homes for sale

If you haven’t already, you should make buying a home one of your New Year’s resolutions based on what we are seeing in the Birmingham market.

2017 is shaping up to be a great year in real estate. If your goal is to buy a home, you should start the process as soon as possible. We don’t want you to postpone your goals for a few reasons, such as:

• Consumer confidence is at an all-time high.
• Unemployment is as low as it has been since August 2007. 
• Most major markets have completely recovered from the mortgage and economic crisis.

It’s a perfect storm for buyers.

Based on this information alone, it’s a great time to buy this year. However, there are two key factors that will make you want to move sooner rather than later:

1. Mortgage interest rates. The Federal Reserve recently upped their base interest rate, and all signs point to even more increases in 2017. When rates go up, it impacts your buying power significantly. We can get you in touch with some great mortgage lenders if you need a recommendation.

2. Inventory. Our supply of homes is getting lower than ever. We are sinking to record lows in desirable markets.

Even with those potential problems, we still think 2017 is a great time to make your resolution of buying a home a reality. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you.