Are You Waiting Until Spring to List Your Home?

While spring is a very active time to list your home, you’ll also deal with more competition from other sellers if you wait until then.

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Are you going to wait until the springtime to list your home?

If you’ve been following my video blog, you’ve seen all my latest market updates. I’ve talked about both selling during the holidays and selling during the springtime.

Spring is a very active time to sell. From now until then, home prices will probably rise a little bit, so you’ve got that on your side. One thing a lot of people don’t consider, though, is that listing inventory will dramatically rise in February and March. There are a few reasons why. One of which is a lot of people are convinced that springtime is the absolute best time to sell. No matter what anybody tells them, they’ll put their home on the market in February, March, or April.

Many sellers—contrary to my belief—think it’s a bad time to list their home because nobody is really looking for homes. In reality, a lot of homes sell during this time for amazing prices. When the new year comes, we see a huge influx of homes pop up on the market. If there’s a significant rise in inventory, the demand for your specific home will be lower. When buyers have more choices, they have more leverage.

So, while springtime is a very active time to sell a home, you’ll have a lot more competition and your home may be overshadowed by all the other homes on the market in your area. The reason I bring this up is because you’re either considering selling your home or you’ve tried to sell in the past and were unsuccessful.

If you know me, you know that I call a lot of homeowners who were unsuccessful selling their home in the past. Many of them say they’re not interested in selling their home until February, March, or April because they’ve heard that’s the best time to list.

I tell them the same thing I’m telling you today—if you’re looking to sell your home for top dollar, it’s usually best to sell when inventory is low and demand is high.

Focus on what your needs are first.

Keep in mind, though, everyone’s situation is unique, and it’s impossible to time the market perfectly. That’s why you want to focus on what your needs are first. If you can’t sell until March or April, then you can’t sell until March or April. If you have some flexibility, though, you might want to consider my advice. It could help you come away with an extra $10,000, $15,000, or even $50,000.

If you have any questions or you’re considering putting your home back on the market in the very near future or next spring and you’re wondering what it’s worth, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. Until then, happy selling!

Why It’s Important to Meet With an Agent Sooner Rather Than Later

Whether you’re buying or selling a home, meet with an agent sooner rather than later so you understand what you’re getting into.

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Why is it important that we meet sooner rather than later? The answer is different for buyers and sellers.

My team and I meet with clients on a daily basis, and we oftentimes learn that if we would’ve been able to meet with them sooner, the process would’ve been more efficient, the plan would’ve been more rock-solid, and we would’ve been able to help them achieve their goals more efficiently.

This isn’t to say that we don’t do those things when we meet with clients, but when you don’t have a lot of time to put a plan together and execute that plan, you have to compress a lot of things into a small window, and that can get stressful.

For example, I met with a buyer about four months ago who told me they weren’t interested in buying a home until December or January and that they’d rather meet then. I told them it was better to meet sooner than later and suggested we meet in October and put a plan together so that when they were ready to go, I’d be ready to go too. The buyer was adamant on meeting in December, though.

When we met in December, we were both on the same page, but because they were looking to buy a property, their first step had to be to get a pre-approval. When they pulled their credit, they discovered they had three small liens on their credit report that were very old. We now have to spend two or three months cleaning up that buyer’s credit so they can get a high enough credit score to qualify for a loan with a great interest rate. Their goal was to be in a new home by January, but now they’ll have to wait until March, April, or May.

I experience the same situation with sellers—I’ll speak to them in September or October and they’ll tell me they don’t want to sell until January. A lot of them assume that when they want to sell their home, all they have to do is meet with a Realtor, put a sign in front of the house, put a lockbox on it, and list it online.

What they don’t realize is every home sells for a different price depending on the agent selling it and what you do to prepare that property for the market—whether that’s staging, painting, decluttering, taking professional photos, etc. There’s so much that goes into the backend of preparing a home for sale that sometimes the process can take three, four, five, or even six weeks.

I went into one of these sellers’ homes last week and noticed there was a lot of furniture in there. I knew if I were to show that home as it was, I would’ve sold it for $10,000 or $15,000 less than what the market value was. If we spent some time decluttering the property, repainting it, making some minor repairs, staging it, and getting professional photos done, that would all take two, three, or four weeks. The seller, therefore, is no longer in a position to sell in January—they’ll have to sell in early-to-mid February

Reach out to a Realtor sooner rather than later so you understand what you’re getting into.

Whether you’re thinking about buying or selling—whether that’s in one month or one year—you’re better off meeting with an agent soon to understand what your options are. If your home is ready to sell or your credit is flawless, that’s great, but that’s doesn’t happen all the time. A lot of people don’t know what it takes to buy or sell a home, so reach out to a Realtor sooner rather than later so you can understand what you’re getting into.

If you have any questions about the importance of meeting with an agent sooner rather than later or you need help buying or selling a home, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. Until them happy selling!

How to Avoid Micromanaging Your Realtor

If you micromanage your own Realtor, odds are it will affect your bottom line. This is why you interview multiple agents—so you can hire one you trust. 

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Are you getting in the way of your Realtor?

What I mean is, do you trust the person you hired? If you trust somebody you hired—and you should trust the Realtor you hire—you’ll stand back and let them do the work, right? At the end of the day, if you’re going to do all the work, you should’ve just listed your home on your own. But because you know you’ll get a better price by listing with a Realtor or you know you don’t have the time to do all the work, you’ll hire a professional to get the job done.

In my experience, when my clients stand back and let me do what I know I should do, they always win. When I work with clients to try and micromanage me and stand over my shoulder, I tend to do not as well as I would like to, and ultimately that affects them.

A lot of our business (about 68%) comes by way of past client referrals, so many people we work with already know somebody who’s worked with us. There’s already a certain level of trust built in there because their mom, son, coworker, etc., referred us.

We also get many clients via the internet, and when we meet these people for the first time, we’re absolute strangers. How can you trust someone you’ve never even met?

If you get referred to a Realtor and you’re considering working with them, make sure you interview them. A lot of people just meet one Realtor and say, “Hey, you seem like a nice person—let’s do this” without having any expectations or strategies set in place. When clients feel like their expectations aren’t being met, they tend to micromanage the process.

Interview multiple agents before hiring one.

The reason it’s valuable to interview different agents is so you can understand what different agents can do for you. Every agent is different—they each have a different personality, experience level, track record, and network. Meeting with multiple agents and understanding what your options are will help you find someone you can trust.

Let’s say you had a handyman come into your house and you told them to do 10 or 15 different things and you’re standing over their shoulder saying, “What about this? What about that?” In my experience, you always get what you expect. If you expect the handyman to miss something, they’ll probably miss something. If you’re over their shoulder micromanaging them, it will probably distract them and make them more likely to miss something.

It’s the same relationship dynamic with your Realtor; it’s a very high-trust position. I work with a lot of different clients—some of them let me do my thing, and others tend to micromanage because they haven’t let themselves be vulnerable to my advice.

If I work with someone who says, “Robert, we hired you for a reason. You go and do what you have to do to get us what we need,” those clients will win. The clients who micromanage me and tend to get in my way will affect their own bottom line.

If you have any questions about interviewing Realtors so you can hire someone you trust or you’d like my help in buying or selling a home, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. Until then, happy selling!

Strategies for Moving Forward in December

For buyers and sellers, the strategy for moving forward in December needs to make sense in your particular situation.

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Before we start on today’s topic, I want to emphasize something that I talk about with my own clients: It’s very hard to time the market perfectly. The best strategy is to do what works for you in your specific situation. If you need to sell your home by early next year, then that’s what you need to do, instead of trying to perfectly time that decision with the market.

For those who have some flexibility or want to know what’s going on, I want to shed some light on the market.

It’s still a very strong seller’s market, the inventory of homes is still very low, and homes are still selling pretty quickly. In fact, I put a home on the market in November, and within six days, we got 12 offers, and the home sold for $25,000 above asking price. The interesting fact is that it sold for $21,000 higher than the most recent sale in that neighborhood. Some of that may have been timing, our marketing strategy, our pricing strategy, and other factors that we put a lot time and effort into, but the bottom line is that the activity we saw was unusual, and that’s a theme we’re seeing.

For sellers, it’s important to know that inventory is usually very low during the holidays, so if you’re listing your home, you’ll have a lot less competition. The buyers during this time are also more motivated, so you may see buyers submitting higher offers on your particular property.

However, you don’t want to list your home too close to the holidays, when many people, regardless of motivation, are going to be exiting the market. Listing your home anytime after the weekend of December 9 or 10 is probably the latest you want to go unless you have a serious need to sell. It’s also important to know that if you’re planning on listing your home in the new year, generally inventory will rise starting in mid-February, so you’ve still got some time to take advantage of that low inventory market.

I sometimes get a little bit of pushback from sellers who want to list in mid to late January so they can enjoy their holidays. The reason why I’d rather meet with someone sooner than later is that sometimes it takes time to prepare a home for sale. The best-case scenario is one or two weeks, and the worst is four, five, or six weeks, depending on what needs to be done. If you’re thinking of selling during that time period, it's a good idea to meet with a Realtor earlier so you have time to prepare your home for maximum sale price. In my experience, we actually spend more time preparing the home than the home is on the market.

There’s no one-size-fits-all strategy.

For buyers, again, your plan needs to make sense for your situation. Figure out why it is you're moving and what makes the most sense to achieve that end. There’s no one-size-fits-all strategy.

I can say this: inventory will grow in the new year. However, prices will probably rise by then as well. It’s kind of a give-and-take situation—you’ll have more options as a buyer, but prices and interest rates may go up.

If you or anyone you know is looking to buy or sell a property in the Orange County area or if you’re just looking to pick our brains about what makes the most sense moving forward, always feel free to reach out to me or my team. Also, if you have any video ideas you’d like to see me talk about in the future, please send them my way.

Until then, happy selling!

If Your Listing Expires, Should You Use the Same Agent to Relist?

If your listing expires, do you need a new agent to relist it?

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Do you need a new agent?

If you worked with an agent in the past who was unable to sell your listing within a given amount of time, the agency relationship you had expires and the home is taken off the market.

There are a lot of options sellers have when it comes to relisting. However, relisting with the same agent won’t be effective if they plan to do things exactly the same as they did the first time.

I appreciate that people are loyal to their agents, but if your agent was unable to sell your home the first time, what are they going to do differently if you choose to list with them again?

If an agent failed to sell your home once, what would they change if you give them a second chance?

I appreciate that people are loyal to their agents, but if your agent was unable to sell your home the first time, what are they going to do differently if you choose to list with them again?

It’s entirely possible that you might need to work with a totally new agent. If you spend some time interviewing different agents, you’ll have the opportunity to learn more about all of the many ways they could market and sell your home.

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.

 

What's the Goal of a Home Inspection?

What kind of home inspection should you get? What happens if you discover a problem?

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If you’re getting ready to buy a property, you’re probably wondering what you can do to make sure the home is as good as it seems. A home is a costly investment, so the last thing anyone wants is to spend a lot of money only to encounter some unpleasant surprises.

This is what makes home inspections so valuable. Today, I want to break the subject of home inspections down into two parts.

First, what kind of home inspections should you get? Usually, we recommend that our clients start with a general home inspection. We can certainly recommend a company to our clients, though some clients may already have an inspector in mind. Either way, a general home inspection will provide a basic overview of a home’s condition.

If the home inspector doesn’t find any significant issues, many people will feel comfortable proceeding without further inspections. But if the inspector does find something wrong, they may recommend that you contact a specialized professional, such as a plumber or roofer, to take a more in-depth look at the problem.

At that point, the next step may be to have a specialty inspection performed. But remember, each inspection you have will be an additional cost. Ideally, you should strike a balance between feeling comfortable with the home and not spending too much money on frivolous or unnecessary inspections.

Every situation and every home is different. Therefore, there is no one answer as to which inspections will be necessary.

You should strike a balance between feeling comfortable with the home and not spending too much money.

The second area I’d like to focus on in regards to home inspections is what to do if you discover a problem.

Homes in California are sold as-is. What you see is what you get. This is why home inspections are so valuable. Something we want to help our clients understand, though, is that older homes won’t come in perfect condition. We aren’t going to ask the seller to clean the carpets, repaint, or change out a mirror that’s losing silvering.

When a home inspection is performed, cosmetic issues and upgrades aren’t the focus. If a home was up to code at the time it was built, the seller doesn’t need to make updates that would make it current. If you buy an older home, you should expect to pay some of your own money making these upgrades.

Home inspections are meant to detect issues that are more serious, such as those that cause safety concerns. If you work with our team, we can help you review the inspection. We’ll then negotiate on your behalf to try to see what we can get the seller to fix or give you a credit for. However, the seller can say no to any request, even those that are safety issues.

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.

 

Which Pricing Strategy Is Right for Your Listing?

Today, I’d like to share three different pricing strategies you can use when preparing to list your home for sale.

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Today, I’d like to share three different pricing strategies you can use when preparing to list your home for sale.

It’s important to know that there’s no one-size-fits-all solution in real estate. So, when we meet with our clients, we always offer them these three strategies. I could go into a lot more detail on each of these strategies, but I’ll keep it short and sweet for now.

The first strategy is pricing your home high and leaving room to negotiate. This is the strategy we see most often. While this strategy will sometimes work in a hot seller’s market, it can be ineffective if you price it too high. The higher you price a home, the less activity you’ll get. Why? Because every single buyer out there wants a great deal.

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution in real estate.

The second strategy is to price your home within market value. If you’re working with a Realtor, they’ll bring you the data from your neighborhood and give you a range of nearby properties. Pricing your home within that range will show buyers that you’re motivated to sell. This will increase the number of people who see your home, and this increases your chance of multiple offers.

The third strategy is one of my favorites, which is the auction strategy. For this strategy, we price your home slightly below market value. When you list your home even just a little beneath what homes in your neighborhood are going for, you’re announcing to buyers that you are ready and willing to offer them a great deal.

The intention of this deal is to draw in multiple offers, which will then generate a higher price. Using this strategy, you’ll often end up selling above fair market value because of the competition you created within your listing.

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.

 

What Should Buyers and Sellers Do as We Approach the Holiday Market?

Whether you should buy or sell now or wait until the new year in our market depends on what makes sense in your specific situation.

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What can a buyer or seller expect from our market as we approach the holiday season?

We’ve had a lot of clients asking us lately whether they should buy or sell now or wait until the new year. I want to share a few pros and cons from each scenario and tell you what I would advise one of my clients to do.

If you’re a seller thinking you want to sell now, there are a couple things to keep in mind.

First, a lot of the buyers who aren’t motivated to buy during the holiday season will exit the market. That said, the buyers who stick around and continue to look for homes have many reasons for sticking around, and they want to buy before the end of the year. These buyers that stick around are motivated. Although you may deal with fewer buyers looking at your property, the ones who are looking will be submitting stronger offers.

Second, just like a lot of unmotivated buyers are leaving the market, a lot of unmotivated sellers are leaving the market too. This means you’ll have a lot less competition, which will increase the demand for your property and the odds you can sell for a great price.

If you’re a seller thinking you want to wait until the new year to sell, we can only speculate as to whether prices will be higher in the new year, but the way things are going in our market, prices are still going up, so you might get a higher price by waiting. However, everybody else who decided to wait until the new year to sell their home will be listing at the same time you do, which means you’ll face a lot more competition and the demand for your home will be lowered.

As you can see, there really is no “right” or “wrong.” It all boils down to what makes the most sense for you. Now, let’s shift the focus to buyers.

There really is no “right” or “wrong” time to buy or sell.

If you’re thinking of buying now, you’ll have less competition due to the exodus of unmotivated buyers. However, you will also have fewer options to choose from as far as homes go because of the exodus of unmotivated sellers. The homes that will still be on the market, though, will have motivated sellers behind them, so you may be able to sneak in and get one of those properties for a better price.

If you’re thinking of buying in the new year, you’ll face more competition from buyers re-entering the market, which might lead to multiple offer situations. However, you’ll also have more homes to choose from because more sellers will be entering the market as well. If the market continues to go up, prices may be higher.

Whether you’re a buyer or seller and you want to act now or wait until the new year, it’s important to know that it’s almost impossible to time the market perfectly. The best advice I can give to you or any of my clients is this: You need to figure out what makes sense for you. Look at your situation and understand why you’re selling or why you’re buying and put together a strategy with your agent.

If you have any more questions about whether now is the time for you to buy or sell a home or you have any other questions about our Orange County market, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d be glad to help you. Until then, happy selling!

Is It Time for a Dramatic Change?

Sometimes, a home simply doesn’t sell. If you want to put a property that previously expired back on the market, you’re going to need to make a dramatic change.

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Today, I want to address anyone out there who has tried listing in the past but was unsuccessful in doing so. In the industry, we call these expired listings.

When a seller hires an agent for a certain amount of time and their property doesn’t sell for whatever reason, the home is taken off the multiple listing service and the agreement between the agent and seller is cancelled.

Now, these kinds of listings are something I follow closely in our market. Sometimes I see listings that have previously expired go back on the market with the same photos, the same staging, the same price, and maybe even the same agent.

Usually, the same strategy will reap the same results.

Usually, the same strategy will reap the same results. If you tried a strategy for your listing once, it probably isn’t going to work again. You might get lucky, but chances are that it just won’t work out.

So, if you’ve had an expired listing and you want to put the property back on the market, it may be time for a dramatic change.

There are two things you can do to change your outcome. If you don’t want to change anything about the property, you’re going to need to dramatically change the price.

If you don’t want to change the price, then you’re going to need to change the property. Maybe this means hiring a staging company, repainting, or even decluttering. All of these things can help make a visible change for buyers.

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.

Why Should You Work With an Agent?

Do you really want a Realtor? You may not think so at first, but today I’ve got a few key points that might change your mind.

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Do you even want a Realtor?

The reality is that if you’re looking to buy a property, you have two options: you can try to take care of everything on your own and interact with the listing agent without representation, or you can do some research and choose a buyer’s agent who’s right for you.

Either way, you’re going to be working with a Realtor. Why not work with one whose job is to represent you? 99% of homes that sell are sold through Realtors, and there’s a reason for that.

Although, what I’ve learned throughout my years of experience is that if buyers could work without agents, they probably would. Most consumers don’t really want to deal with it. Some may not think that there’s such a thing as a good Realtor.

Today, I want to change your mind and let you know that there are so many good Realtors out there. Buying a home is a big decision with a lot of emotional and financial commitments involved. Trying to undergo the process alone simply isn’t the best route to take. After all, the job of an agent is to make things easier for you.

When choosing a Realtor, remember that you should always work with someone who can help navigate you through the process. The right Realtor will have a great relationship with lenders, as well.

If you’re looking to buy a home, why not work with someone who has your best interests in mind instead of defaulting to the listing agent? A buyer’s agent will help you put together a strategy and walk you through the whole transaction. Every step should be made simple and clear with the help of a quality professional.

The alternative is spending a lot of time and effort calling around to different agents, not making any decisions, and ultimately making things a lot more complicated. If you do that, you’ll have 20 different agents all calling and asking if you’re ready to work with them. Why put yourself through the trouble?

If you’re just calling different agents throughout the process without committing to a single Realtor, you don’t have the benefit of working with someone who knows and understands you and your needs. Bouncing from agent to agent means never having the opinion of someone who has seen every step of your transaction.

Also, when you work with the listing agent you need to realize that they were hired by the seller to get the most money for the property possible. That being the case, they aren’t looking out for your needs.

Buying a home is a team effort.

A lot has changed in the market and it’s always important to have an advocate on your side who you know and trust. Buying a home is a team effort. Without a Realtor the process will be overwhelming and inefficient.

Before choosing a Realtor, meet with a few professionals to determine who would be the best for you.

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.