Security, Security, Security!
In today's climate of prolific cyber theft - business email compromise, email account compromise and wire fraud - security is paramount! Americans lost $150 million to real estate scams in 2018 alone, according to the FBI. As much as we enjoy the convenience of digital communication, I advise all of my buyers and sellers to never provide personal details like social security or driver's license numbers via email, be extremely diligent with this part of the transaction. When wire transferring funds, never respond to an email instructing to change protocol. Any and all wire transfer instructions should be made and confirmed with a phone call. Obviously, a security breach is the most serious of scenarios, as it has the potential to completely derail a transaction. Congress the FBI and the Federal Reserve are working on cybercrime but we all must be vigilant. Using online portals is the secure, quick alternative to email and is now considered a best practice in our industry. Some but not all closing attorneys in Georgia use portals so ALWAYS verify BEFORE sending your hard earned money for a real estate transaction. Springtime is when many buyers and sellers will have the most success. Many people move this time of year. It is the end of the school year, the climate is better for moving, homes look prettier in Spring when trees, shrubs, flowers and grass are all green and bloooming. According to Forbes Magazine May is the best month to sell your home bringing a 5.9% higher premium on average.
If you are thinking of putting your house on the market please give me a call and we can evaluate your options. Hiring a real estate agent is not only the easiest way to sell your home, it's the smartest!4/1/2019 It’s natural to focus on maximizing profit when it’s time to list your home for sale, and selling your home yourself may seem like the easiest tactic. But in reality, the dollars you save on commissions are often a wash when you consider the higher sales price an experienced agent — with pricing expertise, negotiating skills, and market access — can bring to the table. Statistically, a home on the market listed “For Sale By Owner” (FSBO) takes longer to sell (and eventually sells for less) than its real estate pro–represented counterparts. Here are five reasons to reserve the DIY approach for small home repairs and to think about hiring a real estate agent to sell your home. 1. Pricing — The fastest and most affordable way to sell your house is to price it correctly. Price too high, and you risk your home’s becoming a stale listing. Price too low, and you lose money. Experienced agents know the nuances of your local market and how to price based on those specifics. By hiring an agent, you’ll ensure you won’t make any emotional home seller mistakes when pricing your home. 2. Negotiating — Selling your home is a major business transaction. The sale process has three significant negotiations: the initial offer, the counteroffer, and the postoffer period, which includes inspections and requests for concessions. Bottom line: You need a skilled and objective negotiator on your side during these discussions. 3. Exposure — You want your home to get the maximum exposure to the greatest number of potential buyers. Your agent will prepare all the marketing materials, coordinate the Internet marketing, host open houses, and network regularly with other agents who may have interested buyers. 4. Buyer perception — The vast majority of potential buyers are going to be represented by an agent of their own. FSBO deals can often deter those agents, who prefer to work with another real estate professional or who worry about not receiving their own half of the commission. And if, as the seller, you do plan to pony up a buyer’s agent commission, you’re really saving only 3%, not 6%, on the sale. 5. Smooth sale process — A professional real estate agent has the experience to work through the sale process efficiently, stepping in when there are financing problems, dealing directly with buyers’ objections and complaints, keeping everything on track, and facilitating the contracts and escrow to a successful, smooth close. 1: Select your lender and get pre-approved for a loan in the amount of the price you want to borrow to purchase your new home. 2: Do your research. With all the information at your finger tips on the internet you can search schools, crime statistics, communities, activities in the area, golf courses, tennis courts, fitness centers, green space, shopping, restaurants, airports, railroad tracks, transmission lines and waterways...the list goes on. It is best to be well informed. 3: Call your REALTOR, tell her/him what your top 5 must haves and then the 5 "would like to haves." share your price range and what area(s) of town interest you. 4: Send the REALTOR a copy of your pre-approval letter so that when you are ready to make an offer this can be submitted with it. Almost all offers now want proof the buyer can afford the purchase. 5: Get your REALTOR to take you to see properties. Take good notes on each listing. After you've seen several you will begin to forget what you liked and disliked about each listing. Write down the pros and cons of each home that is on your top 2 to 3 list. You will need this information in case your offer is not accepted and you have to go to your second or third choice. 6: If you don't have a REALTOR and need one please call me. I'd love to help you. Selling a home is just one of those experiences you've got to go through to truly understand—it's a lot more involved, emotional, and exasperating than you might think.As a real estate agent in Savannah, GA for the past year, I’ve worked with lots of home sellers. And I’ve seen my clients go through these emotional roller coasters time and again. In an effort to prepare folks for this process-or at least help you laugh and nod if you're already in the thick of things—check out these moments that will strike a chord with any seller who's been there, done that, and lived to tell the tale. 1. Wow, there are a ton of real estate agents to choose from. Finding a listing agent you can trust can be tricky, just based on the sheer number of real estate agents that are out there vying for your business. To find agents in your area, use online tools such as realtor.com®'s Find a Realtor search, which will give you useful info such as the number of years of job experience, number of homes sold, and the price of homes typically dealt with. 2. Excuse me, you want me to clean/paint/remove what? It can be hard to swallow negative criticism of your house from your agent, but this is an inherent part of selling a home. Indeed, you might think that each complaint—no matter how small—is a blow to your design aesthetic or a knock on how well you’ve maintained the property. But the reality is this info can help you sell your home.For example, if your agent says that your house is too cluttered or that the carpets need to be cleaned, those are things that you can address. You wanted to sell this place, right? 3. Do I really have to leave when the buyer gets here? Last-minute showing requests are a natural part of the home-selling experience. You could get a phone call from your agent saying that you have just five minutes before a potential buyer arrives. Regrettably, some sellers make the mistake of sticking around the house for showings, but that’s a huge mistake.“Buyers already have apprehension about touring a stranger’s property,” says Peter Boscas, owner of Red Cedar Real Estate in Washington, DC. “That anxiety is ratcheted up when the sellers are home during the tour.”If you want to give your home maximum exposure, you have to be prepared to step out at a moment’s notice. This also entails keeping your home relatively clean, since you may not have time to tidy up before a buyer shows up. 4. Why didn't that buyer show up? Sadly, no-shows are yet another common experience people have when selling their home. From my experience with home buyers, I can say that no-shows (or last-minute cancellations) aren’t personal. When I work with home buyers, I usually show them multiple properties in a day; hence, there’s a good chance we just fall behind and don’t make it to our last one or two showings—or we see a property that the buyer loves, so we cancel the remainder of that day’s showings. The important thing to remember as a home seller: Don’t take no-shows personally. When buying a house, most buyers are given a certain amount of time to complete a home inspection. Most people complete some type of inspection when purchasing a home, but is a home inspection always necessary? Buyers should be allowed to check out everything in a home including the major systems, utilities and minor cosmetic issues. The buyers are usually responsible for ordering and paying for the home inspection and it gives them a chance to ensure the house is in satisfactory condition before they buy the home. I would recommend a home inspection about 95% of the time. When you write a contract to buy a home or your real estate agent writes a contract for you, you usually include earnest money. A typical amount for earnest money is one percent of the purchase price, but it can vary depending on your location and the seller. The earnest money is a good faith deposit showing the buyer is serious about buying the home. However, that does not mean the earnest money is non-refundable if the buyer backs out. Most contracts are written so that the buyer can cancel the contract before their due diligence expires. If the buyers cancel their contract because of the inspection and they notify the seller before their inspection contingency expires, they will receive their earnest money back most of the time. |
Donna AbbottRealtor with Seaport Real Estate Group Archives |