A New Home Seller Resource

Wow! Today’s market is crazy. Homes are going under contract within days of being listed and are generally being sold for more than what fair market price was a mere month ago. It is a Seller’s Market for sure.

Values continue to rise

I want to talk about a few things.

• Why do people hesitate to sell?
• You’ve Got an Offer – How to be sure the Buyer is going to be able to buy?
• What is your home worth right now?
• What are things to consider when selling a home?

Some people are hesitant to sell because they have nowhere to go. As a Realtor, I can make several recommendations to help you with that. Let’s say we are out looking at new homes for you because you have decided to downsize a bit and pull your equity out of your current home while it is so high right now. While you are looking, someone makes an excellent offer on your home – one you don’t want to pass up. What to do? Well, we can write in a contingency to the contract that says the closing date will be determined by the purchase of your yet-to-find home. So, when you go do find a home and close on it, we also close on the sale of your home. It takes coordination, but that is one thing your Realtor is there for. Let’s say you just aren’t finding what you want – but you don’t want to pass up the excellent offer you have received. We could ask for a later closing date or you could consider temporarily storing your household goods and renting a small home or apartment until the right forever home comes available. If you decided to buy a new construction home, this is definitely a consideration because they are taking four to six months from start to finish on the new homes.

Another option would be to close on time, bank the money, and then rent your current home until you find something to buy. There are some buyers out there who would gladly accept this option, especially if they planned to buy your home as a rental investment property anyway. It gives them an instant reliable tenant and saves you money on storage fees. There are other options to consider as well and I would be happy to discuss them with you.

We are living in a time of historically low mortgage interest rates. As a Seller, when you receive an offer, I would recommend you require the buyer to get a second opinion on their loan. There are loan companies out there that are giving pre-approval letters out without verifying the financial ability of the buyer to actually buy. Prosperity Home Mortgage is a Berkshire Hathaway affiliated company that has instituted reliable pre-qualification procedures that almost guarantee the buyer will be able to close. Most lenders do a quick credit check, ask for income and liability information and print out a pre-approval letter. Then they being the process of gathering supporting information. Even then, they don’t run the file past an underwriter until a contract has been signed and the appraisal conducted. So, at the nth hour, the buyer could be turned down. With Prosperity’s Home Buyer Advantage Program, they underwrite the person (now, doesn’t that make more sense?) and then you just have the appraisal to deal with, but the buyer’s ability to borrow is guaranteed at that point. And with the Second Opinion Guarantee program, Prosperity can normally beat the rates of other companies, thereby saving the buyer money in the long run, so there is no downside them getting a second opinion.

How Much Can You Expect to Sell Your Home For? Using some powerful algorithms. our automated system can give you a pretty good estimate of your current value. However, it can result in a wide range of values because it doesn’t take into account any upgrades you may have made to your home. It only knows who has sold a home similar to yours, near yours, within the last few months. But it gives you a starting point to work from. Then you can call either myself 404-903-7653 or Greta 908-303-0136 to get a personalized market valuation.

What Is Your Home Worth?

Thank you reading my Blog. Since you hung in here with me for this long, please accept a digital copy of my new book, Secrets Every Home Seller Should Know. See you next time.

Thinking About Buying A Home?

WoW! Where should you begin? You’ve heard that interest rates are extremely low and now is a great time to buy. There are a lot of things that go into buying a home, but would you expect less when you are about to make a multi-thousand dollar purchase?

Some people think you just need to go find a home on Zillow, call about it and then buy it. Really? If only it was that simple. I am a REALTOR® and I actually do get calls sometimes on home I have listed for sale, from people who have decided to buy and saw my sign, so they thought they would just call and if they like it, make an offer to buy it. You laugh? it has happened and more often then I would have thought possible. BUT, having said that, much of my focus and interest is in helping first time homebuyers navigate the whole complicated home buying process. There actually is quite a bit that goes into it.

First – find an agent. Not just any agent and certainly not the one off the sign sitting in front of the home you drove by and got excited about. Did I mention I am available? And even if you don’t live in what I claim as my territory, I can still help you find a reputable REALTOR® anywhere else in Georgia or the USA for that matter. I normally work in Henry County and Clayton County, since I live in Henry, but I also work Butts, Spalding, Fayette, Coweta, Rockdale, Newton, and Dekalb Counties regularly. All are within about a 30-50 minute drive from my house. I am not opposed to working in other counties in and around Atlanta, but I will. I have a network of other agents I would trust with your business though, on a referral basis if I thought they could be more responsive to you because of the distance from my home where you are looking.

Well, I have been working with a publisher to provide buyers with some insights into the home buying process and just published a new digital book last week. I want to make it available to anyone thinking about buying anytime soon. It is geared towards first time home buyers, but I know veteran home buyers will find some of it of interest. After all, unless you are an active investor, it has probably been years since you last bought a home. Add to that the fact that the laws and regulations governing home purchases changes annually, and if you don’t have an agent who is willing to take the time to keep their real estate training up-to-date, you could find yourself making a costly mistake.

If you want a copy of my digital book, How to Navigate the Home Buying Process just click on the title. It is free after all.

Why use a closing attorney?

Today we interviewed a great closing attorney, Brad Legare, with Weissman Law. We based our questions off of the those we have gotten from our clients and from inquiries on facebook, instagram and the like. If you didn’t find the answer to YOUR questions in this video link, drop either myself or Greta a line and tell us what burning question you have so we can get it answered for you. The thing is, if you have a question on your mind, it is likely there are others who also wonder the same thing but are afraid to ask! So help them out.

Watch our video interview of closing attorney Brad Legare.

https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fscarrollbhhsga%2Fvideos%2F2352777318073000%2F&show_text=1&width=560

 

Time to Winterize Your Home

Do this before winter.

Organize and Save Your Food for the Future and your Health

I was looking at a number of postings about getting organized for a move. I have posted on this topic in the past. It is funny to me how different ideas piggy back or morph into other topics, similar but different. This a an organizing topic that is one of those. This is organizing for a healthier lifestyle, enjoying a new hobby, getting back to your roots, storing for the move or however you want to look at it type topic. Anyway, I found this video fascinating and have already ordered her first of three books. I also now subscribe to her blog. One of these days when I retire, I hope to have a little farm, a little garden and a cellar full of canned goods. Perhaps if I learn to can now, it will come easier later.  Who knows, I may turn my canning efforts into home-made closing gifts for my clients as a special thank you for selecting me to represent them.

Creativity Part Three

Here is the third and final video in the Salvaging Creativity series I have been sharing each Saturday. I hope it inspires you do to more in your community to promote beauty and community pride.

 

Creativity Part Two

Carrying on from last week’s post, here is the second of three installments of the Salvaging Creativity videos. By the way, if you aren’t on the mailing list for my magazine which is published every other month and you would like to see one, email your name and mailing address to me at susan.carroll@bhhsgeorgiaproperties.com and I will happily add you to my list of recipients.

 

Creativity Part One

I decided to digress from my normal Blog discussing a moving topic and talk about creativity a bit. It always amazes me when I take buyer-clients into completely empty houses and they stand and decorate it in their minds. Of course this is what every Realtor wants. We want you see your belongings in the house; see you turn the empty space into your Home. If we don’t see that happening, it means the house is just a house and we will have to go on to see the next one. It takes a certain amount of creativity to fill an empty house in your mind. I struggle with it sometimes. As a result, I find I admire truly creative people, so when I saw this video, it inspired me to do better at “seeing” beautiful things around me where before they would go unnoticed. I hope you enjoy it as I did.

 

Be eco- and budget-friendly. Make your own cleaning supplies.

  Whether you’re looking for greener ways to clean your home or you just want to save money at the store, there are simple household cleaning products you can make on your own. Use the recipes, tips and precautions below to help you get started.  Read more….

Landscape for Security

    In 2014, just over 1.7 million individuals fell victim to burglary according to the FBI. Sometimes deadbolts and alarm systems just aren’t enough to deter thieves. But there are outdoor security measures you can take to prevent property loss at the hands of a burglar. Here are 10 ways you can help protect your home with a well-planned landscape design:  Read more….