Does the Way You’re Presenting Match the Price You Want to Earn?


If you’re listing your home, you must never underestimate the importance of presentation.

Every single seller I know wants to earn top dollar, but very few sellers are willing to do what it takes to put out a product that’s worthy of that goal.

This disconnect is one of the main reasons a property might sit on the market. To avoid this, there’s one simple rule sellers must follow: Presentation is everything.

Your property shouldn’t look “lived in” when a buyer comes by for a showing. Instead, it should look like a model home. Anything less will make it very hard for you to generate the kinds of offers you want or any offers at all.

Every single room should be neat, well staged, and have a clear purpose. If you have a four-bedroom home you’re looking to sell, then you need to present it as just that: a four-bedroom home. That means if one of these bedrooms is currently acting as a storage closet while you’re preparing for your move, then it’s time to clear it out. Don’t show your home at anything less than its full potential.

It doesn’t matter how much (or how little) you’re selling your listing for; you need to showcase your home in its best light.

I recently toured a property that had an amazing loft. It would’ve been a perfect space for a living room or game room, but instead of utilizing it in an appealing way, the seller had filled it with boxes. This is a perfect example how the quality of a listing can be dragged down by a lack of presentation.

It doesn’t matter how much (or how little) you’re selling your listing for; you need to showcase your home in its best light. A low price doesn’t mean you can get away with offering low quality. The person buying your home is likely scraping together everything they’ve got. Therefore, you’ve got to do your part to make the experience worth their time—and their money.

To earn top dollar for your home, whatever that may be, you and your agent will need to develop a “vision” for your property.

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.
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Location: Orange County, CA, USA

Buyers: Don’t Wait for Interest Rates to Go Even Higher


If you’re a homebuyer, there are a few important points you need understand about how rising rates may impact your goals. Here’s what you need to know.


You’ve probably heard by now that interest rates are at a seven-year high, but what does this actually mean for your real estate goals?

Interest rates have been held artificially low to stimulate the housing market for some time now, but this is no longer the case. Buyers have been complaining for six years now about how difficult it is to find a house. What they might not realize is that this lack of supply has largely been a result of the interest rates we were seeing during that time.

Now that rates have begun to steadily creep up, though, it’s no longer a matter of buyers being unable to find a home—instead, buyers are simply choosing not to look. Despite the fact that inventory has risen and overall conditions have leveled out, many buyers are letting a fear of the unknown prevent them from taking advantage of these favorable conditions.

If you’re on the fence about purchasing a property, yourself, now is the time to get in touch with a lender and become educated on your options.

Instead of focusing on list price alone, buyers must start considering where affordability is headed. Interest rates are still historically low, so locking in a rate today is a far better choice than waiting things out and hoping for the best in the future.
 
The last thing my team and I want is for a buyer to miss the opportunity to secure a home at a rate that works for their budget. If you wait too long to buy, you may have a much harder time affording a home at all.

We recently worked with a client who told our team that if they had put off their move any longer, they would’ve been unable to make it happen at all. These buyers went under contract a month ago, and if they would’ve waited until today to do so, their payment would’ve been an extra $181 per month.

So if you’re on the fence about purchasing a property, yourself, now is the time to get in touch with a lender and become educated on your options.

And, as always, 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.
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Location: Orange County, CA, USA

Why Selling During the Holidays Is Such a Great Idea


If you’re thinking of pulling your home off of the market for the holidays, you may want to reconsider. Today, we’ll share three reasons why.


Around this time of year, many home sellers may decide to remove their home from the market until the new year because they’re under the impression that the holidays are a bad time to sell.

However, as a professional Realtor, I can confidently say that this isn’t really the case for our local market right now. Waiting until the new year may traditionally earn you more money, but we’re currently in an appreciating market where the inverse may be true.

Listing during the holidays gives sellers the perfect chance to make their home stand out.

I’ve written in the past on this subject before, when I compiled a list of the top nine reasons to list during the holidays, and I’d like to return to this topic today. If you’d like a copy of my past article on the subject, I’d be happy to send one to you, but for now I’ll be sharing just three main points:

1. Buyers are more motivated during the holidays. It may be true that fewer buyers are on the market during this time of year, but the ones who are out and looking will be much more driven. After all, people choosing to spend their holidays searching for a new home are obviously doing so for a good reason.

2. There’s less competition. Along with there being fewer buyers on the market over the holidays, there are also fewer listings. This gives you the perfect chance to make your home stand out.

3. Inventory dramatically rises after the holidays. All of the sellers who waited until after the holidays to list will be flooding the market at the beginning of the new year. Listing before this happens, therefore, is a surefire way to capture the interest of motivated buyers while competition is low.

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.
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Location: Orange County, CA, USA

Food for Thought for Potential Home Sellers


There are four main factors you must consider before deciding if now’s a good time to sell.


Is now a good time for you to sell? There are four factors to consider when asking that question.

The first is your mindset. This has been one of the most challenging aspects of our market shift. When I say “market shift,” I mean we’ve been in an aggressive seller’s market for the past six years, but we’ve reached the peak of the market and now we’re transitioning into more of a normalized market. With this, sellers are struggling with the idea that their home won’t attract multiple offers and sell for $10,000, $20,000, or $30,000 more than the last sale. They’re also getting frustrated that their homes are taking longer to sell.

All of this is to say that you need to have the appropriate mindset and appropriate expectations when selling, and you need to figure out what the market is like in your area.

The next factor to consider is inventory, which has generally increased. In some areas, it has spiked by as much as 40%. What’s the demand like in your area, though? Do buyers have a lot of choices or fewer choices? Supply and demand is a basic economic principle—the more of something there is, the less it’s worth. If you live in an area where your home is the only property for sale, you might be able to be a bit more aggressive with your sale, especially if you live in a very attractive area. If you live in an area that features several other listings, though, you’ll need to price your home accordingly or you’ll have a tough time selling it.

Who you work with is crucial in getting your home sold for the best price.

The third factor to consider is interest rates. Interest rates matter to sellers just as much as they do to buyers. You can’t sell your home unless you sell it to a buyer, and most of the time, a buyer can’t buy your home unless they get a loan, and what’s associated with that loan is the interest rate. A home’s price is a one-time fee; what really matters is the interest rate. As rates go up, buyers can afford less, and the buyer pool for your home gets smaller and smaller.

Finally, consider pending sales, or how many homes are selling per month. Across the county, pending sales are down 25%. Not only are fewer homes selling, but in many cases, they’re taking longer to sell.

So, is it a good time for you to sell? Maybe it is and maybe it isn’t. Now that you have this information, your next step should be to talk to a local Realtor. I’d be happy to share my expertise with you, give you a free consultation, and come up with a detailed plan of attack if you decide that selling is in your best interest.

Selling a home requires two things: price and exposure. You have to make sure buyers in your area are attracted to the price you set and that the agent you’re working with exposes your home to all the buyers who are out and about. Like I said, the market is shifting, so who you work with is crucial in getting your home sold for the best price.

As always, if you have any other questions about our market, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d be glad to help you.
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Location: Orange County, CA, USA

What Makes Now a Good Time to Buy in Our Market?


Our market is stabilizing, which means it’s a great time to buy.


For the past six years, we went through an aggressive seller’s market, and prices appreciated significantly during that time. Now, though, the market is stabilizing, and that’s good news for buyers.

If you’re thinking of buying a home, there are four points you need to remember when it comes to the state of our current market.

First, inventory is rising. In some areas, it’s increased by as much as 40%, which means you have more options to choose from. As inventory rises, demand falls. You’ll have more time to look at properties, more time to make a decision, and you won’t be competing against as many other buyers either.

Second, interest rates are slowly rising. What’s important to understand when taking out a mortgage loan to buy a home is that the home’s price is a one-time purchase, and what you’re actually buying is the interest rate. If you’d rather wait until next year to buy a home because the market is stabilizing and you think you’ll get a better price then, you may very well be able to do so. However, if rates jump from 5% to 5.5% in that time, you’ll end up spending more money per month for a home you bought for less. This is why it’s so important to talk to a lender during the home buying process so you can better understand how interest rates affect you.
There are more homes available, they’re taking longer to sell, and better deals are out there.

Third, pending sale activity, or how many homes are selling in a monthly basis, is down 20% to 25%. Since inventory is rising, this means homes are taking longer to sell and fewer of them are selling. Again, this drop in demand means you’ll have longer to make a decision and a better chance of getting a good deal.

Lastly, think of your mindset. A lot of buyers out there are suffering from a sort of paralysis because they’re uncertain of what’s happening in the market. The previous five years, though, buyers were complaining about how there was no inventory, and how every time they found a beautiful home, there were 10 other buyers who wanted it too. Well, now they’ve got their wish—there are more homes available, they’re taking longer to sell, and better deals are out there.

In other words, look at this as an opportunity. Is it a good time to buy for everybody? Probably, not, but if you are thinking about buying, get in touch with a lender and a Realtor and analyze your situation, because you can potentially buy a great property at a great price while still securing a low interest rate.

As always, if you have any other questions about our market, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d be glad to help you.
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Location: Orange County, CA, USA
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