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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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! 

Can You Sell a Home During Fall or Winter?

Thinking about selling your home? Contrary to popular belief, fall and winter are actually great times to get top dollar for your home.

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I feel pretty strongly that the fall and winter seasons are actually great times to sell your home. 

A lot of people worry that fewer homes sell in the fall and winter than in the spring and summer. While this may be true, the difference is due to the fact that not as many sellers have their homes on the market. If you look at Birmingham historically, it is a minuscule difference.

I was talking with some folks looking to get into the real estate business and I explained to them that homes in Birmingham sell at almost as high a rate in the slowest month as they do during the fastest month. It's only a difference of 50 to 60 houses, which may seem like a lot, but in terms of the 10,000 to 12,000 houses that sell in the Birmingham market each year, it's not that much of a difference.

You'll have less competition and higher demand.

If you sell in the fall or winter, you will have less competition and higher demand from buyers who are looking at homes. There are also a lot of people who are relocating–companies relocate around the first of the year to get people in for the next year.

Also, remember that interest rates are at an all-time low right now. There is no guarantee that they will stay low going into spring, so that buyer that may qualify for your house today may not qualify in a couple months. The demand for your home in the fall and winter will be a lot higher, which will allow you to collect more money for the sale of your house.

If you've been thinking about selling your home, I hope you found this information helpful. If you have any questions for us, don't hesitate to give us a call or send an email. We look forward to talking with you soon.

How to Live in Your Home While You Sell

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I’m excited to give you four great tips today about how to sell your home for top dollar while still living in it. It’s a dilemma many home sellers face, and these four tips will make things a little easier:

1. Start packing. Go ahead and get started. The move is coming eventually, and you might as well be prepared in advance.

2. Get the home squeaky clean. We all love living in our homes, but it can get hard sometimes to keep things squeaky clean. While you’re showing your home, it needs to be squeaky clean to show well and make a good first impression on buyers.

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These four tips will make things a little easier.

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3. Maintain your privacy and safety. It amazes me that people will leave cash, jewelry, and other valuables out when they know that people are going to be walking through the home. Make sure anything that’s valuable or dangerous is put away, locked up, and unavailable for people to see.

4. Clear your schedule. If you are trying to sell your home, you’ve got to make it available for people to see. You also need to be willing to be flexible, on a moment’s notice, to let people check it out.

If you have any questions for us, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you.

4 Tips for Adding Value to Your Birmingham Home

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Before you list your home, there are four simple things you can do to add value to your property. First, improve your curb appeal. This is what buyers see when they first look at your home. Pay attention to landscaping. Are there any fresh flowers? Do you need to add rocks to flower beds? Does your front door need to be painted or replaced? Whatever you have to do, make sure the outside of your house looks great in order to capture the buyer’s attention. Next, declutter your home. As homeowners, we collect a ton of stuff over the years. You should get rid of all that extra stuff. Get it out of the house. Throw it away or put it in storage. Once your house is decluttered, it will feel larger.

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Neutral colors appeal to more buyers than bright, bold colors.

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You should also paint the interior of your home. Use light, neutral colors for the walls. Don’t go crazy with bold colors; some people may like them but a lot of people don’t. Going neutral with paint is your best chance at reaching the vast majority of people. Finally, update your faucets and fixtures. They do have a life cycle. One day, silver faucets and fixtures are popular, and before you know it, people are switching those out for bronze fixtures. Updating the fixtures can make you feel like you updated the whole bathroom. If you have any questions about adding value to your property or real estate in general, give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

When Is the Best Time to Sell?

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Today I am excited to share with you a piece of wisdom I’ve learned throughout my years in real estate. People think you need to wait until spring to sell, but that is a myth in real estate. So is the myth that the only time you can get top dollar is in the spring. Here’s where that comes from.

It’s true that there are a lot of home buyers out in the market in the spring, looking to purchase homes and move in by the end of summer. However, after extensive market research, we have found that buyers are always buying homes. If you look at the market totals over a 12-month cumulative period, there is minimal decrease in activity month-over-month. It’s usually less than 1% in most months, which turns into maybe 50-70 buyers tops. 

In reality, we have had some of our best months during the holidays, because a lot of people are ready to buy at that time. If buyers are out looking at homes during the cold, dark winter months, they are serious and ready to make an offer if the right property comes along. 

If you are ready to sell, now is the time to list your home on the market and get top dollar. If you have any questions for us, or want to know more about how you can sell your home for top dollar, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you!

Why Should Your Home Be Accessible to Buyers?

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If you are selling your home, one of the most important qualities you can have as a seller is flexibility. Today we’ll talk about why it’s so important to make your home accessible for showings while it’s on the market. 

It’s so important to make your home available for showings on a moment’s notice. You have put it on the market at this point, and we are doing everything in our power to get as many buyers as possible through the door, but the number one problem we run into is sellers not making the home available for buyers when they can see it. 

I know from experience how stressful it is to sell a home, but to sell effectively in today’s market, you’ve got to be willing to accommodate last-minute showings. It’s a huge risk to turn away even one buyer because they could be the one buyer you are looking for. Not making the home available for showings also frustrates home buyers and their agents. 

Besides pricing your home effectively from the get-go, the best piece of advice I can give you about selling your home is to not turn down any showings. You are just looking for that one perfect buyer, and they could come along at any time. 

If you have any questions for me or my team, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

Can You Avoid These Common Real Estate Mistakes?

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 With the busy spring real estate season in full swing, there is no better time to discuss common home buying mistakes you should be aware of! Here are a few of the mistakes unwitting home buyers make:

1. Relying on information found online: A lot of times, the information you find on the Internet is outdated or flat out inaccurate. If you want reliable real estate information, your best resource is a real estate professional.
2. Failing to get pre-approved: If you submit an offer on a home that has garnered offers from other buyers, your offer will likely be rejected if it doesn't have a pre-approval letter from a lender along with it. If you have a pre-approval from a reputable lender, you offer is almost as good as a cash offer.
3. Not knowing the market shifts frequently: Market conditions are constantly changing and are location dependent. About 24 months ago, it was a strong buyer's market; prospective buyers could make various requests that the seller would likely fulfill. Now, there are a ton of buyers out there looking for a home! To get good information so you make informed decisions, you need to speak with a real estate professional!
4. Getting Picky: If you get picky about paying a few extra dollars on a home, you're giving up the lifestyle that you and your family deserve. Keep in mind that in a few years you'll probably not mind paying the extra money for the home because you and your family deserve it.

Avoiding these mistakes is crucial if you want the buying process to go smoothly. Give us a call or shoot us an email if you need real estate assistance of any kind. We would love to give you a hand!

What Real Estate Agents Do to Keep Protected

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Recently there have been some unsettling things in the news that involve the safety of real estate agents, so I just wanted to take a moment to explain how we take precautions to safeguard ourselves in this line of work. What we do is inherently dangerous, but we can take steps to avoid bad situations.

One of the things we avoid doing is meeting a prospective client at a house before we've met them. We always insist that you come speak with us at our office before we take you to a listing. We just ask that you consider how you'd feel if your wife, daughter or son were being asked to meet a stranger in a vacant house. It's just not a safe situation at all. 

This is why we like to screen our potential buyers, so we can ensure that they're serious about buying and do not have any other intentions. Other than safety concerns, we think the experience you have with us is always much better when you come in and meet us, because that gives us the opportunity to cater to all of your individual needs. Almost all of the problems that arise in a real estate transaction will come from a lack of communication, and this can be avoided with a consultation at the beginning of a home search.

If you ever need any help buying or selling homes in Birmingham, please don't hesitate to contact me. I'm always willing to help you!

What Are the Benefits of Using an Agent?

There are many great Birmingham area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Value Report so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at 205-536-9194 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

We know what you're thinking: "You're an agent, OF COURSE you think it's a great idea to hire one." However, it's not that simple - there are a number of reasons working with an agent is in your best interests.

• Safety: We ensure that you only work with qualified buyers. You don't want to invite a stranger to your home who has not proved they're serious about purchasing your home.

• Every buyer wants a deal: Buyers and their agents are going to do everything in their power to beat you down and get the best deal possible. Having a listing agent on your side makes all the difference.

• Your best interests are represented: If the buyer is working with an agent and you're not, they will have the upper hand in negotiations. An agent will help you negotiate and will keep your wants and needs in mind.

• Experience: An agent will ensure that all the "i's" are dotted and "t's" are crossed. They will oversee all the details of the transactions and work to complete the sale successfully so you can move on to your next venture.

These are just a few of the reasons working with agent is beneficial. If you're still not sold, give us a call or shoot us an email - we would be happy to show you everything we can do for you!

Do You Want to Sell Your Home Quickly?

There are many great Birmingham area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Value Report so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (205) 281-6641 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Hello,  I hope you are enjoying the weather and having a great summer. Like the temperature outside, the Birmingham housing market is heating up.

We're here to let you know that selling your home quickly and at top dollar can be done painlessly.

We've got the numbers to prove it:

• 4 of 7 of our new listings have recently received offers within their first 30 days.
• One home that just went under contract in less than 7 days was on the market for 6 months prior with another company.

It's really quite simple: homes are going under contract quickly in the Birmingham area when they're priced right.

It's important to know that you don't price homes, we don't price homes, but our market prices homes.

Because the market can be a difficult thing to judge, we want to help you come up with a pricing strategy that will get you top value for your home.

Not only that, we will help you market your home by making it more attractive to potential buyers. We do this by hiring professional photographers and bringing in stagers to make your home look irresistible.

You shouldn't have to stress about selling your home.

Come in for a no hassle consultation and let us help you!