If You Fail to Plan, You Plan to Fail

Selling your home without a plan is a good way to set yourself up for a disaster. Avoid this by setting a goal and taking the steps to reach it.

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Most sellers underestimate how long it’ll take to sell their home and how quickly they can transition into a new home.

I had a client who wanted to list their home in spring in order to move into a new home that’ll be completed in the middle of the year. As these things take time to happen, I suggested we get together now to reverse engineer the process and figure out what needs to be done. In our meeting, we talked about home preparation, pre-marketing and marketing, the negotiation period, closing, and the transition into their new home.

The last thing you want to do is be rushing around to get your home listed.

One thing we took into consideration is that there are several wildcards—the days in escrow can vary greatly, and price range and market conditions can also make a huge difference in a home sale. One homeowner could think the entire process will take 30 to 45 days, but it could actually take 75 to 100 days to finally sell. Another may think their home is ready to go, but we may take a look and decide it’s best if a designer comes to spruce things up.

Whether you’re planning on selling tomorrow or in two years, I want to meet with you now to determine the best course of action for you to take. By finding out your goals, we can work backward to figure out ways to accomplish them. The last thing you want to do is be rushing around to get your home listed—the process is stressful enough as it is already! So let’s sit down and implement the strategy that works best for you.

If you’d like to set up a consultation, have any questions, or need more information, reach out to me. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Why Is Right Now the Best Time to Sell?

 
There has never been a better time to sell your home in the last decade. Here’s why.

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If you’re a home seller or a homeowner who is curious about selling, there is no better time to sell than now. Here’s why.

Our current market is that we are currently in is one of the strongest seller's markets I’ve ever experienced. The inventory is still very low, interest rates are still low, and there are way more buyers than there are homes for sale. This all may change in the next six months to a year, but homes are selling for a premium right now.

With the right marketing and pricing strategies, we might be able to sell your home for more than its market value.

The best advice I can give a homeowner who is thinking about selling their home is to interview a few different agents before you pull the trigger, so you can get a few different perspectives. Every agent is a little bit different, and each has a different way of handling the transaction.

What a home is currently worth in the market right now is not necessarily what we could sell it for. With the right marketing and pricing strategies, you can squeeze out even more money than you think. A lot of homes that we’ve been listing have been selling for above market value because of our strategy.

If you’re thinking about selling your home or know someone who is, don't hesitate to reach out and give me a call or send me an email with any questions. I would love to hear from you soon and I’d be happy to answer them.

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!

A True Story About How Buyers Influence Price

Market trends, statistics, and data are all important, but the truth is that homes are actually worth whatever a buyer is willing to pay.

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If you’re a seller, I’d like you to know and understand that a home is worth whatever a buyer is willing to pay for it. Yes the market statistics, data, and trends are important, but at the end of the day, the buyer’s willingness to pay is key.

To help illustrate this point, I’ve got a short story to share with you.

Recently I was looking at a condo in the Irvine area with a client. This property was priced at $630,000. As soon as my client saw this property, they absolutely fell in love with it.

As it happens, their daughter actually lived in the same neighborhood. Since they were older and had retired, being near family was as important to them as how much they loved the property.

To my clients, the money wasn’t as important as the home itself.

To them, money wasn’t as important as both of these factors. When we ran the numbers, we learned that homes in this neighborhood were selling between $620,000 and $630,000. Even so, the client told me they wanted to offer $640,000.

I knew this number was higher than what would likely be justified by an appraiser, but they didn’t really care. They had the additional funds to cover the difference and didn’t want to take any chances.

The property actually did see a number of other offers, but the sellers didn’t disclose how much they were for. For all we know, our offer might have been the highest. Because of the level of interest in the property, my clients wanted to do everything they possibly could to make sure they won out against the other buyers.

When the sellers sent back their counteroffer, my clients revised their original offer and said they would be willing to pay $642,000. Thankfully, they did get the property.

But as I expected, the property did appraise for slightly less. Still, my clients didn’t have an issue paying the difference. To my clients, the money wasn’t as important as the home itself.

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.

How Discount Agents Cost More in the Long Run

It might be tempting to save a little money up front, but a discount broker will cost you big in the long run.

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The process of undergoing a real estate transaction can be expensive, which makes it tempting to find ways to cut costs. However, you should really think twice before you hire a discount broker.

People find me through a number of ways. I get calls all the time from commission shoppers who tell me they found me on YouTube, heard about me through a friend, or saw one of my flyers. After this, they always ask me, “What do you charge?”

The truth is that I simply don’t have a blanket answer for this. Every situation is different, and that means that the price is too. I do have a commission strategy I charge for most of my clients, but this doesn’t factor in my marketing strategy or the amount of money I’ll be investing into a property.

So when I get these calls, I tend to tell people that I charge between 4% to 7%. I also tell them that the only way I can give them a definite price is for them to come by so we can work together on making a strategy for their specific circumstances.

But the industry is very saturated. Not every agent out there has the same experience I do. Newer agents can become desperate to get a listing. In this case, it isn’t uncommon that you might find an agent willing to charge you 1%.

But is the lower cost really worth the lower level of service? Sellers should remember to focus not just on what they’re paying the agent, but what that agent will be able to help them walk away from the sale with. A seller’s focus should be on their net profit.

My team and I are often able to help sellers net them a higher overall profit despite the fact that we charge a higher price than discount brokers.

Consider the following story. I once got a call from a prospective client who lived in the very same area that I own two homes in. He told me he was thinking of selling his home, but was in a big rush and wanted a good deal. Not only did he want a great commission, he wanted to sell within the next week or two.

Now, I happened to be out of town at the time, but I told him I’d be more than happy to meet the next day and see what we could work out. Understanding that he was in a bit of a bind, I asked him to be sure not to sign a contract with another agent since I have such an intimate connection to the area his home was in.

But when I called the next morning to confirm our appointment, he had done just that. He told me he had listed with another agent who was only charging 1% to list his house. “I need to walk away with the most amount of money,” he said, “so I hired him.”

After that, I watched the listing from start to close. Unfortunately, it was a disaster. The home was listed three days after the contract was signed, which meant the agent did nothing to prepare the home, did no pre-marketing, and didn’t collaborate with professional photographers or any other vendors.

In short, the agent made very little effort in the sale. When it eventually went under contract 45 days later, it sold for $670,000—$30,000 less than the goal I would have set for that property. This is a goal I’m confident I could have helped him meet, since I know the area and my own marketing strategy well enough to know it would have resulted in a closed sale at $700,000.

What you walk away with is much, much more important than what you’ll pay your agent.

So even though he saved a little money on the commission, he got totally burned on the home sale. What you walk away with is much, much more important than what you’ll pay your agent.

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.

You Get What You Pay for With Discount Brokers

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It’s important to understand that not every agent is created equal. Each one is unique, so it’s important that when you are considering putting your home on the market, you interview two or three different agents to really get a feel for what they are going to do to get the word out about your home. You want to know how they are going to market your home to the most people possible so you can sell for top dollar.

This is important because as the market gets healthier and begins to thrive, we experience something called “commission compression.” This is when sellers expect Realtors to sell homes for less because the market is strong and healthy. However, here’s what happens when you pay your agent less commission.

They aren’t able to fully go through their marketing strategy because they have less money to budget for it. Orange County real estate is global, so when we talk about marketing we aren’t talking about putting a sign up in the yard and a listing on the MLS. You need someone who knows how to expose this home to the highest possible number of potential buyers. The best way to do that is with an agent who knows what they are doing when it comes to marketing. Great marketing is essential, but expensive, so agents need that commission in order to be able to do their job to the best of their ability.

The average agent who will cut their commission is looking for ways to save you money. The best agents, the ones who get the job done, are looking to make you money. To help you make money, they need you to invest a little bit of money into them, so they can put that to work for you and help get your home sold quickly and for top dollar.

If you have any questions for us, or any ideas for future videos, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We would love to help out!