Real Talk with Cindy

If you've been thinking about buying a home, you probably have been looking at real estate news and just getting fed by the algorithm, all things real estate. You probably have some questions on what all these changes are as a result of the National Association of REALTORS settlement and everything that's coming to the real estate industry. But, how do they impact you as a buyer? Well, first of all, in many cases, it's not going to affect you. Secondly, you want to make sure that the person you're working with to help you buy a home, and this has always been true, but especially now, is the person that you want to continue to work with. Make sure that you're in a good situation. That you feel good about the person you have hired to help you find a home and help you negotiate and get to closing on that new home you're purchasing. So that means, asking a lot of questions. Ask friends. Get recommendations and referrals from friends, so that you're making a conscious decision and not just calling your best friend's cousin who got their license yesterday. Not that there's anything wrong with the best friend's cousin, but just be mindful that it has always been important and is even more important now. You may have heard that you as the buyer are going to have to be paying the commission for your buyer's agent, and that is true, and it is also not quite true. So in my opinion, the buyer kind of pays for everything, right, because until you the buyer, pull your wallet out, get your mortgage, and actually close, the seller can't pay anybody anything, because the money that they're using to pay everybody is your money anyway. So they're not paying anyone until their home sells. So for all intents and purposes, the buyer's money is what is being distributed. Taking that aside, let's say that you fall in love with the house and the listing agent, the listing company, the seller, they're not offering any commission to be paid to the buyer's agent, and you, maybe a first-time home buyer, are like, wait a minute, I don't have the cash to pay. I don't know how I'm gonna pay. I don't know what to do here. Well, there are a few options and the least of them is going to the listing agent. So I would always recommend having your own representation. Work with a buyer's agent that you know, that you like, and that you trust. You are going to be in a contract agreement with that person. As such, it does say in most cases that you're going to have to pay their commission if there's no commission offered, but it doesn't have to be a big deal. Keep in mind that you can get closing costs paid by the seller to cover those commissions. You can sometimes roll the commission into the price of the home and it can be financed into your mortgage. This all depends on the type of loan you have, but there almost always is a way to solve it without you having to take cash out of your pocket or write an actual check to your agent. So while it does sound like there are lots of changes coming that may affect you negatively, just remember if you're working with a great agent, there is almost no problem that we can't solve when it comes to real estate. If you have more questions about agency or you want to look for a home start looking for homes in the Richmond area, give me a call, send me a message, or shoot me a DM. I'd love to help.

What's with all the hate for HOAs? I see people online all the time talking about how much they hate HOAs. If we take a step back, there are a lot of opportunities for great homes that are in an HOA, and here's why you might want to consider them and just be mindful about what you're reviewing when you go to buy in that HOA. First off, remember that there are some upsides to being in an HOA community. One of those is going to be that your neighbors are probably never going to be able to put their RV up on blocks, park three boats and two dead cars in their driveway and leave them there all the time. The grass is probably not going to be knee-high at your neighbor's house bringing your property value down. There are a lot of upsides. Now, if you're the person who wants the RV up on blocks in your driveway, you probably are the person who really does not want to be in an HOA community. But it does offer you some protections for your property value down the line. So sometimes that is worth considering. But here are a couple of things to ask yourself. First off, what is the fee that that HOA requires? And what does it include? Does it include trash removal? Does it include the water? Lots of condos and townhouses, it includes water, sometimes hot water, trash removal, snow removal, things like that, exterior maintenance, etc. Every community is a little different. So make sure you know what you're paying for every month when you sign up to be in that HOA. Then you're going to get a copy of all of the HOA docs before you close. That should be ordered right when you put your offer in and sometimes it can take a little while to get but once you get it, here in central Virginia at least, you have a three-day right of rescission. So read those documents. Yes, they're long. Yes, they're boring. But you want to look and make sure that you can live with the restrictions, the rules and regulations that they have. You want to make sure you know what you're paying for. You want to make sure that their financials look decent, and if you need to have your CPA or attorney or someone look at those and make sure they look okay, do that if it gives you a greater level of comfort. But you want to make sure that they're not gonna get in financial trouble and hit you with an extra three grand special assessments next year or in two years. So don't just look at what the rules and restrictions are, but look at the financial documents that are going to be included in those. If you find something you can't live with within those three days, you can say I'm out. So please, please, please read those. If you have any other questions about buying a home in an HOA community, why you might want to, or why you might not want to, I'm here to help. Give me a call, send me a message, shoot me a DM, and let's talk about it to see if an HOA community is right for you or if you want to do your own thing.

It's been a minute since I've talked about agency and all of the proposed changes that are coming down the road in real estate. So, here's a little check-in just to give you an idea of where we are. So as of right now, it looks like changes are going to take place on August 17. That's when things are going to start looking different. Although, if you're the consumer, the buyer, or the seller, they're not going to look that different to you. So what does that mean? It means that, as of that date, we are not going to be able to see the compensation that is offered on the listing side to the buyer's agent. I had a conversation with someone the other day, and he asked, what that's going to look like for him when he goes to sell his property. Basically, a lot of things are not going to change. More things will stay the same, then will change as these changes come around. But ultimately, you always have had the right to negotiate commissions. You always will have the right to negotiate commissions. What I will say is that there are always ways to make your home more marketable and more appealing to both the buyers and the agents showing it to get it to the top of the list and often that's going to be the commission, the willingness to work with commission. Just as it would be for buyers to get closing costs or any other incentives to make an offer on your property over another one. So as we see these changes come on and as new things happen, I'll come out and give you an idea of how it's going to impact you and what's changing. All of those things are going to also change as the market continues to change. So if you want a concise assessment of how things are going to look for you as the consumer whether you're on the buying side or the selling side, follow me here or send me a message, get on my email newsletter, and stay up to date on how things are working and how it will affect you in real estate.

If you've been thinking about getting into the real estate market, whether you're thinking of buying or selling, you have probably heard a lot about all of the changes that are coming primarily regarding commissions in the real estate industry. If I talk to five people a day, I get five different opinions on how they perceive those changes to be coming and how they will affect them. So stay tuned here, subscribe to my YouTube channel, sign up for my newsletter, and stay abreast of all of those changes and how they're going to affect you possibly, whether you're buying or selling. As things change, and continue to develop, we're going to get more information and as I have that more information, I'm going to pass it on to you, because I do think agency is one of the most confusing things in this industry. Certainly right now because everybody has a different opinion. There is lots and lots of misinformation out there, unfortunately, so it is super confusing. My goal is to decode a lot of that for you and make it a little easier for you to wrap your brain around whatever side you're on, buying or selling. So if you have any questions about agency and all of what that entails, shoot me a message, send me an email, or give me a call. I'd love to help you unpack all of the information and get to the bottom of how it will affect you.

There are a few reasons why your home might not be selling as quickly as you thought it would or wanted it to. Here are a few of them. Your home isn't easy to show. It doesn't show well. PRICE!! Check out the video above for a deeper explanation of the reasons your home might not be selling. If you have any questions about pricing or getting your home ready to sell, making sure that it moves at the rate that the market is moving, give me a call. I'd love to talk to you walk through and give you some tips on how we can get your home sold for the most amount in the least amount of time with the least hassle for you. Let's talk.

We talk a lot about things that you want to make sure you take away, if you don't want the buyers to have that item, whether it's a chandelier, or a piece of shrubbery, or the tree you planted when your child was born. You want to get those things out of the picture out of the equation before buyers look at it so that they don't get tempted and want those things and it feels like a negative when you remove them. But what we don't talk about as much is what do you leave for the buyers? What are the things that are okay to leave? And what are the things that you really need to move on out of the house. Check out the video above to find out what you should do with the things you don't want to keep before you move out.

If you're selling a home in the state of Virginia, what do you need to disclose? If you have ever sold a home in another state, bought a home in another state, you may be familiar with the copious amounts of paperwork that require you to disclose every little detail about your house, and if you've ever had a problem, if you've never had a problem, or if you don't know. In the state of Virginia, we have a one page document called the residential property disclosure, and it really is just a disclaimer, saying as far as I know, everything's good. But hold on just a second, because if you know of material defects to your home, before you sell it, you do need to disclose those to the buyer. And I know it sounds kind of like a gray area, like what is the material defect anyway, but think about the things that would matter to you if you were buying a home. You don't want to buy a home, only to discover that the basement fills up with water every time it rains. That is something you need to disclose. You don't want to buy a home and find out that every time you turn the lights on in the family room, the electrical panel arcs. Those are major issues. They are material defects that need to be fixed or repaired. So you do need to disclose those or better yet, just fix them before you go on the market. Remember, whether you're buying or selling in the state of Virginia, inspections are the buyers responsibility and I always use this as a as a good example of why this rule works. The little old couple that has lived in the house for 40 years, they may never take a bath. They each take one shower a day they sell the home, they think everything is fine. The family moves in with four kids back to back to back to back baths and the bathtub leaks. Well, the little old couple had no idea because they never used the house in that way. So this is why I like our rules better than the rules in some other states. But being aware of what you're purchasing, being aware of what you're selling goes a long way to making a successful transaction. If you have questions about what's a material defect? What do I need to disclose when I'm selling my house, give me a call. Let's talk and walk you through whether you should fix it, disclose it, repair it, or sell it as is with that disclosure in place. Give me a call send, me an email, shoot me a message and let's talk.

If you're thinking about selling your home and you have things, especially in your yard, you might be thinking, they're not going to care if I take my great grandmother's prized hydrangea that I moved to my house 10 years ago, think again. Anything, and that goes from the chandelier in your dining room to the shrubs that you brought from the old home, anything that you don't want to convey, it is always better for you to get that out of the house before it goes to market. If you get it out before you go to market, you erase any possibility that the buyer is going to want that item that you have decided you want to take with you where you are going. So make sure that before you go, putting a sign in your yard, you've done a thorough walkthrough of yeah, both the yard and the inside of the house to ensure that anything you want to take is removed and not tempting to the buyer. Once upon a time, I had sellers sell a home, didn't tell them this, they dug up all of the shrubs out front because they had just bought them and filled all of the holes with dead leaves. What happens in that instance? Closing can be delayed. It obviously causes some strife between buyer and seller, and was it worth the price of those little tiny boxwoods? I'm not so sure. So, better to be safe than sorry and make sure that you have covered everything you want to go with you and clear it with the buyer if it's something they saw beforehand. So if you want to know what can stay, what should leave, what you need to notify your purchaser of and you're thinking of selling your home this spring and summer, give me a call and we can walk through all of those circumstances to make sure that you not only get a contract but you get it to closing and you close on time.

If you're thinking of buying a home, you're probably talking to different people, doing some research online, hearing different opinions, and maybe stressing out a little bit about, "What if I make the wrong decision?". Yes, this is a huge decision, but getting some clarity around what you want and what you don't want and what your concerns are, and yeah, talking to your agent about those concerns, can go a long way to helping you make sure you make the right decision when you're buying. Yahoo Finance did a little survey of some of the reasons that people have regret about the home that they bought over the past year and I'm going to go down the list and talk a little bit about each one.

As we head into the busiest season for real estate, the spring and summer market, one of the questions I get asked all the time is how long it takes to sell a home from start to finish. And I usually have a question back when someone asks me that, and that is, what are your plans? What are your goals, let's take a look at your house, because it depends. In the video above I talk about a general timeline that you might experience, as well as some things that may change a "standard" timeline.