Blog

Are you thinking of selling your home in this shifting market? Well, the window where you could just throw a sign in the yard has probably closed and there are definitely five things at least that you need to do before you get your home on the market to maximize the value Number one, this is gonna sound really obvious but clean, clean, clean. Clean like your mother-in-law's coming like the queen is coming for dinner. Clean the windows, the baseboards, all of the surfaces, even the furniture that yeah, they're not buying, but just clean everything. Number two, paint or at least clean up the scuffs touch up the paint where you can see the wire around the corners, all those little spots that show that yeah, you've lived in the house and you've loved the house. But if your living room is hot pink, maybe you want to tone that down so they can visualize themselves there too. Number three, focus on that curb appeal. The first impression can't be redone. So your front door should be freshly painted. Make sure that the hardware is gleaming, and put fresh mulch, weed your lawn, cut the lawn, get all the cobwebs off the lights, and make sure that when people walk up, it feels like a new house, it feels welcoming and for heaven's sakes spend the $13 to get a brand new doormat. Number four prep for your photos. Make sure that even though the house looks great to you with your naked eye, the cameras gonna see the same thing that you think you see. So that means take your iPhone, go through, take some snapshots and see what your naked eye might not have seen. If the flip-flops had been left under the sofa. Your purse is still on the counter or that dog toy is laying in the middle of the living room floor because it's always there. So who notices it? Get those things out. And a good rule of thumb is if it's smaller than a softball, take it off the surfaces of your desks, dressers, and bookshelves, it just clutters the eye you want people to see that house. And finally number five, a great way to get a head start on the marketing of your home is to make a list of all the things that you love about it. If you love that there is a playground two blocks away, or that the sunsets from your deck are the best thing ever. Put that down on a list and let potential buyers see those things. But also make a little list of the things that you've done since you've lived in the home if you just put in a new water heater that might not jump out to the potential buyer but if you pointed it out to me it'll make a difference. If you want more tips on getting your home ready for market, give me a call, or shoot me a message. I'd love to come and help give you a customized walkthrough on ways to maximize your value.

I'm here with your mid-year shifting market review. So, the first thing I wanted to mention is inventory, we are still in an inventory shortage. So, while you might hear a lot of national news information, talk about a crash or an adjustment, or all these words that make it sound like things have really dropped, we are not quite there. To give you an idea of where we should be with a balanced market, a balanced market has six months of inventory. That means it'll take six months to sell all the homes on the market without any new homes coming on the market. We are currently at point nine of a month, so not even a month. So we are still a good bit away from a balanced market. And that has been the case for the last couple of years. So, taking a look at the inventory from last July to this mid-summer. Our inventory of both new listings and active listings on the market has dropped by a few 100. So not tremendously, but it's not going in the direction that I think the national news wants to let you know, what we are seeing are a few different things. The biggest one is where we were in a market a few months ago where we were seeing a lot of homes going for sale with 20 offers 25 offers we're seeing more that are going with four offers or five offers. So if you are thinking of buying it is a little easier to get in and get in the game. At this point, it's easier to get an inspection, it's easier to not have to waive the appraisal. You don't have to give away your firstborn child, you can actually get a house get it inspected, you might even get repairs done by the seller. Another metric we measure things by are the days on market the days on market last summer were 12 they did drop down earlier this spring and summer to 11. This is an average so that means it includes the worst house you've ever seen in your life that stayed on the market for three months. And the ones that go you know in a day or two hours. So keeping it in perspective, the average is still 12 days on the market which is historically speaking still very low. With the days on market being lower you still if you're buying want to move quickly if you see something that you really like. And keep in mind that again, going back to the average our average sales price to list price right now is still 104%. That means on average, homes are getting 4% More than they are listed for our market is still pretty much booming, but there is opportunity there whether you are buying or selling. And if you have questions about either one of those things, and specific to your personal real estate goals. I would love to talk to, you just reach out.

I've got some good news if you've been thinking of buying a home, and the last couple of years have proven to be just too stressful. The market that has been so consistently crazy for the past couple of years is finally starting to calm a bit, making the buying process just that much less stressful. While we are still in a seller's market here in the Richmond area, the wild times of no inspections, no appraisals, and multiple offers driving prices way over asking seem to be waning, and at least a bit of negotiating power is coming back to buyers. Here are a few of the things we haven't seen in a while that are a sight for sore eyes if you're buying: Negotiation and Contingencies are back!  According to a recent survey done by the National Association of Realtors®,  Homes that sold at- or above-asking price peaked at 82% in Feb. and March of 2022 when mortgage rates were below 4% and dropped to 69% for homes that sold within the last month when rates hovered near 6%. By contrast, the share of sellers who sold below-asking jumped from 18% in Feb. and March 2022 to 31% for those sold within the last month. Additionally, 92% of all recent sellers accepted some buyer-friendly terms. Those included: 41% Accepted some contingencies in the contract (appraisal, home inspection, home sale, financing, etc.) 32% Dropped the price because the home didn't meet appraisal 32% Paid for some or all of the buyer's closing costs 30% Had to be flexible on the ideal timeline for closing 29% Paid for repairs to the home after the appraisal 28% Were not able to rent the home back after close despite asking to How about an inspection? An inspection is always a great idea. Remember, Virginia is "buyer beware," meaning unless there is a material defect, sellers don't have any disclosures they are required to provide. (And trust me, not everyone understands what "material defect" means.) Over the last couple of years, we've seen fewer and fewer inspections requested as buyers with stiff competition try to make their offers more appealing to the sellers. Of sellers who sold in the last month, 95% reported that the buyer requested a home inspection, up from 82% of those who sold 6-12 months ago. More than twice as many buyers of homes that sold in the last month asked for repairs as a result of the home inspection (67%) compared to homes that sold 6-12 months ago (31%). The number of surveyed sellers who refused to pay for any repairs during that time dropped from 8% to zero. Keep in mind, we are still in a low inventory market, and most homes are still selling quickly. However, in our area at least, we are seeing fewer double digit multiple offer situations, and more where there are just a few. Every neighborhood is different, and every home is as well. Those homes that are totally "done" are still selling pretty competitively, but there are opportunities in this market for buyers.  If you're selling, checking all those boxes for things buyers love is starting to make more of a difference than it has, and knowing the market conditions and how to price accordingly is important again. Homes are still selling, and selling well, so don't despair that you've missed your window. You haven't! Whether you're buying or selling, I'd love to talk to you about your individual real estate goals and how to help attain them. Give me a call!  

I'm kicking off my Tiny Mic Tuesday series by interviewing my fantastic assistant, Allie Wilckens! Every Tuesday (well, most Tuesdays- let's be honest) I'll be interviewing someone with great information, a great business, or that I think you should know! If you've worked with me over the last year, you've probably met, spoken with, or at least emailed, Allie! She takes care of all the back end paperwork, lots of the marketing, transaction management, and so much more. Take a minute to watch this and get to know Allie. She's a recent Virginia Tech grad (2021), is a very involved dog mom, and loves Taylor Swift, New Girl, reading, and playing with her sweet pup Kai.  

Have you ever heard of an annual equity review? Well, I have an offer for you that you may want to take advantage of. The market is shifting and the news is all over the place, it seems like every day, we're getting some sort of new information about where the market is going and where your home values are going. But whether or not you're getting ready to sell your house, or you are just curious about where the equity is and how much you have in your home, you might want to have what we call an annual equity review. That means I will come to your house, we'll schedule an appointment, it generally only takes about 30 minutes, but it's going to give you a really customized look at the homes that have sold really recently, not in the past two years, but in the past six weeks, give you an idea of how your home stacks up to those homes that have sold and give you a projection of where we anticipate the market going over the next year or so another thing that is really nice about the annual equity review is it not only gives you an idea of where you are right now but if you're thinking of doing renovations, adding on making some changes to your home, even if you're not thinking of selling right away, we can give you an idea of what the ROI on those things are going to be so that you know that with an eye to the future, you're going to put your dollars where they're going to be best used. If you want to know the value of your home in the shifting market or what the value might be if you make changes that you've been planning, give me a call send me a message or click the button on the website and let's get set up to have your custom annual equity Review.

As we close out yet another "unprecedented" summer, it's a great time to check in on the market and give you a few numbers, but also a breakdown of my assessment on things. Here in the Richmond area, we have definitely seen things cool a bit, but it's by no means ground to a screeching halt. A few things to note, number wise. (These are numbers for the Richmond Metro area, so the city and surrounding counties) The average home price has finally dipped a bit month to month, dropping from $429,015 in July to $420,926 in August. If you look at this graph, you'll see how prices have trended generally over the last year, and it's been pretty steadily increasing all along, until now. (July was a bit lower than June as well.) Days on Market has actually gone up in August over July as well, with the average home now staying on the market 15 days instead of 11. Yep, these are not huge differences month over month, and they are still stronger numbers than last year at this same time. We are very much still in a market with low inventory, and we still have a bit of a backlog of buyers that are still looking for homes. So what does this all mean if you are one of those buyers still looking in this market? Good news! We are seeing more negotiation for buyers, with people able to actually "make an offer" in some cases, as well as have full home inspection and appraisal clauses in their contracts. This is something we haven't seen in some time, and as someone who works with a LOT of buyers, I have to say it's a welcome change! But what if you're selling? Have you missed your window? Absolutely not. As I mentioned before, we still have fairly low inventory, and that means there are still more buyers than sellers, and pretty high demand. Did you miss the window of multiple offers with no contingencies and way over asking? Maybe. We are still seeing plenty of multiple offers, but that's a bit unpredictable, even in the "hottest" of areas. If you need to sell, though (or just want to sell), it is still a good time, just in a more normal sense of good, rather than totally crazy like it was 6 months ago. Do you have questions about the market as we head into fall? I'd love to help you get your questions answered, and make sure you have all the information to make any move you need or want to make. Call me!

Hot Buttered Cider Mix 1 cup butter, softened 1 cup packed brown sugar 1/2 cup honey 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves for each serving: 3/4 cup hot apple cider or juice 1 ounce apple brandy, optional Beat butter and brown sugar until blended; beat in honey and spices until blended. Transfer to an airtight container. Store in refrigerator up to 2 weeks. To prepare hot cider: Place 1-1/2 teaspoons buttered cider mix in a mug. Stir in hot cider and, if desired, brandy.

Okay, so let's talk about rent backs. What is a rent back? That's something that we're hearing all over the place in the market the last year. So, lots of sellers want to stay in their home after they close because maybe they haven't found a home or maybe they have found a home, but they can't move into it right away. So, when you hear the term rent back bandied about basically what that means is the seller would like to retain possession after closing for a fixed period of time. But how does that work? I mean, it sounds like a great idea, but how does that impact you with the buyer of that home? So when we do a rent back, we use what is called a possession by seller agreement and basically, it's just like a lease, you basically become a landlord for whatever it is that you and the seller of the home you're buying have determined you want to do. There are all sorts of ways to structure this. But yes, you do own the home after closing. Yes, you do want to make sure your homeowners insurance covers it. Every little detail of that process needs to be in writing and you need to understand that you basically have a tenant. So, if the washing machine breaks, it's on you, not them in most cases. So, there's lots to go into that. But remember, if you want to do something like that, that is outside of the details of the actual sales contract, we need to have all of that in writing to avoid any confusion and make sure everyone is covered. So remember, anytime we do anything in a real estate contract, listing or selling, we want to have everything in writing. If you have questions about any of those details, or you have an unusual situation, reach out to me I'd love to answer any of your questions.