The Multifaceted Nature of Negotiating Purchase Price

Today I’ll discuss negotiating the purchase price on a home and share a story that reveals the importance of enlisting the help of a skilled agent in doing so.

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This past year, I had the privilege of simultaneously representing two buyers whose situations were somewhat dissimilar but mirrored each other in this way: Both buyers enjoyed favorable end results that they were thrilled to reap the benefits of.

While one buyer was looking to purchase a home, the other was in the market for commercial property. We found properties the buyers were interested in, respectively, and negotiated the purchase price for each. Here’s the difference—the commercial buyer successfully negotiated the asking price down by roughly $64,000.

Now, juxtapose that with the homebuyer, who paid $117,000 above listing price after negotiations, but in doing so, won a fiercely competitive bidding war against 11 other buyers. Not only that, the buyer had an additional $100,000 they were willing to offer if it had been necessary.

All in all, this made for very fulfilling buyer experiences for both parties.

There are a lot of particulars to bear in mind as negotiations on a home take shape.

The moral of this story regarding two unique sets of buyer circumstances and experiences is that there are a lot of particulars to bear in mind as negotiations on a home take shape—factors that include market value, appraised value, and assessed value.

In addition, there are certain questions that arise out of negotiations, such as: Is the property worth more to the seller than it is to the buyer or vice versa? And who’s actually setting the price—the seller or the seller’s agent?

As all these elements present themselves throughout your real estate transaction, you’ll want to have an experienced, skilled professional by your side to discern the true market value on the property you’re looking to purchase and to help you set a ceiling on the price you should pay for the property.

If you need help negotiating a great price in today’s market or with any other real estate-related questions, we’d love to provide our expertise. Please give us a call at 978-256-3306 or visit us online at www.HomesAreUs.com.

How OLD CAR Elevates Customers to Clients

Here is how OLD CAR protects clients throughout a real estate relationship.

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Today I’ll be discussing OLD CAR, but I’m not referring to a vehicle that’s seen too many miles. I’m talking about an acronym that describes, in a real estate relationship, the distinction between the customer level and the client level.

When a customer decides to engage with the services of a real estate agent, they’re elevating their status to that of a client. A client-agent relationship is mutually exclusive; each person is committed to working together.

These are the aspects of agent representation that protect clients throughout a real estate relationship.

This is where OLD CAR comes in, as a client enjoys the benefits of:

• Obedience
• Loyalty
• Disclosure
• Confidentiality
• Accountability
• Reasonable care

These are the aspects of agent representation that protect clients throughout a real estate relationship. However, during a situation where the agent is representing both the buyer and the seller, OLD is removed and the agent focuses on confidentiality, accountability, and reasonable care.

If you have any other questions or would like some more information, feel free to reach out to me. I look forward to hearing from you.

What Do Realtors Do to Remain Up to Date with Current Standards?

Continued education is an essential aspect of any agent’s real estate career, and today I’ll be discussing what the pursuit of self-betterment looks like for me, personally.

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In order to make sure real estate professionals stay up to par, there are certain mandates in place for their continued education.

Personally, I’m licensed in three states (Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New York). This means I must follow licensing requirements for each of them. In New Hampshire and Massachusetts, Realtors must acquire 15 credits every two years to maintain their license.

In New Hampshire, for example, this entails taking a three-credit core course while earning 12 additional credits through others. Also, many of the supplementary courses in New Hampshire can also be applied in Massachusetts. Realtors licensed in multiple states should be aware of such things, as this will help them secure their credits as efficiently as possible.

New York brokers, meanwhile, can remain licensed via reciprocity. In other words, so long as their license in another state remains active, they can continue to practice in New York, as well.

Realtors must also take an ethics course every four years. This enables you to keep up with ethical standards set on a local, regional, and national level.

All of these efforts are geared toward my desire to become the best agent I can be.

The continued pursuit of self-betterment is essential for agents. That’s why, in addition to the required educational courses all Realtors must take, I have also been involved in coaching and training with the Mike Ferry Training Organization for the past 26 years.

I am always working to improve myself as a real estate professional, and the daily, weekly, and semi-annual opportunities and events that working with Mike Ferry provides are an integral part of this goal.

On top of all of these things, I am also involved in a mastermind group—something every agent should do. I speak to a dozen agents from across the country every two weeks about informational real estate resources so that we can learn and grow from each other’s input and experience.

All of these efforts, as well as reading various publications on success and business, are geared toward my desire to become the best agent I can be.

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 Can World-Class Service Make Your Transaction Better?

Whether you’re a buyer or a seller, world-class real estate service can assist you in six specific ways during your transaction.

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Whether you’re a buyer or a seller, world-class real estate service can assist you in six important ways as you proceed with a transaction:

1. You can get all your calls answered by a live professional. This means you won’t have to go into a phone tree or leave messages and wait hours, days, or even weeks for a response.

2. You get responses from email and text communication on a minute-by-minute basis.

3. Any problems get solved quickly—oftentimes before they even occur. World-class agents have the foresight to know what problems will arise in a transaction and be able to resolve them before they become more serious problems.

4. You get expert advice. More specifically, you’ll receive expert pricing advice for sellers and expert pre-approval support for buyers. This can help you avoid such pitfalls as overpricing a property or not being properly prepared to buy a property.

We strive on a day-to-day basis to help our clients have a better life.

5. Any inspection and appraisal issues can get resolved. If any such issues arise, they’ll be professionally addressed and solved in an ethical manner. This will make your life easier during the transaction.

6. You get help with coordinating difficult merging situations. When two, three, or four families are trying to convey their properties, for instance, we can maximize the synchronicity of everyone’s closing and conveyance in a sequence that minimizes stress and optimizes everyone’s end result.

Overall, we strive on a day-to-day basis to help our clients have a better life as a result of our dedication to serving their real estate needs at the very highest level of customer service.

If you have any questions, thoughts, or concerns, don’t hesitate to reach out to us by phone or email. We’d love to speak to you, and we look forward to helping you.

How Is a Home’s Price Determined?

What all goes into the process of determining how much a home is worth? Today I’ll talk you through four elements that affect a home’s pricing.

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What are some of the elements involved in determining the price of a property? Knowing these details can make all the difference if you’re trying to sell your home:

1. What are the comparable sales? Comparable sales are homes that have sold in your area that have similar characteristics to your home in terms of the size, the amount of land the property affords, and the types of amenities, benefits, and other features. All these factors can help determine what price buyers will purchase your home for.

2. How many homes in your market recently expired? The reason homes tend to expire from the market is that they were too expensive or they didn’t offer the features and benefits necessary to justify the price they were listed for. Expired listings can actually lend some degree of information about how you as a seller can avoid overpricing your home.

All these factors can help determine what price buyers will purchase your home for.

3. What is the competition like? If your home is similar to many other homes on the market, then there will likely be a lot of competition among buyers for it. This will impact the value of your property, possibly restricting the potential upside you can get from the sale.

4. What are the unique aspects of your property? Is it a waterfront home? Does it have a unique setting on a hilltop with a magnificent view? Does it have special electronic features?

If you look at these various elements and incorporate them into the big picture, it enables a professional real estate agent to provide you with an accurate read on what the value of your home is. From there, you can have a conversation with your agent about whether or not to price your home above, below, or at market value in order to maximize interest among buyers.

If you have any questions, thoughts, or concerns about pricing your home for the market, please reach out to us. We’d be glad to help you out.

Selling on Your Own vs. Selling With an Agent

Selling your home with a professional agent means they can use all their skills to sell your home quicker and for more money than you could by selling it on your own.

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The primary distinction between FSBOs and professional real estate agents is that agents have a series of skills and talents they can apply to a home sale to enable that home to sell for substantially more money.

Specifically, there are seven skills a professional agent uses to help a home sale reach its full potential:

1. Pricing the property. This requires a high level of awareness of all the ever-shifting economic factors that make up the real estate industry.

2. Mobilizing other real estate agents to sell the property. An agent can broaden the scope of a sale by mobilizing agents within their company, agents beyond their company, and agents from outside of the area to help sell it.

3. Qualifying buyers. This isn’t as easy as just looking at a pre-qualification sheet that was produced online. Oftentimes, these pre-qualifications aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on.

Negotiating contracts is a skill that makes all the difference in the world when someone’s been practicing it for 10, 20, or 30 years.

4. Negotiating contracts. This is a skill that makes all the difference in the world when someone’s been practicing it for 10, 20, or 30 years.

5. Navigating home inspections. Home inspections can create a wide variety of scenarios within a home sale, and being able to negotiate the issues in each scenario is critically important.

6. Preparing for an appraisal and enabling the appraiser to optimize the property’s value. This skill requires being able to gather comparable sales and embellish the sale at the maximum opportunity to provide value.

7. Showing multiple homes. FSBOs won’t be able to show multiple homes in order to maximize the interest in their own property.

If you have any other questions or concerns about the differences between selling as FSBO and selling with a professional agent, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I’d be happy to help you.

2 Reasons to Hire a Local Real Estate Professional as a Buyer

Many homebuyers are unaware of the benefits of hiring a real estate professional to represent them. Here are a few of them.

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Today I want to share two ways buyers can benefit from hiring a highly-skilled, talented, and experienced local real estate professional through a buyer’s agency contract.

1. Most agents at open houses are listing agents that represent the seller. Those agents have a fiduciary obligation to the seller to get them the highest and best price. They are not obligated to represent the buyer’s best interests one bit.

A seller’s agent isn’t obligated to look out for buyers at all.

2. A buyer’s agent can take the time to educate the buyer. When you’re looking for a home, there are variables that are constantly changing, including prices, interest rates, and overall market conditions. A buyer’s agent can work with you for a period of one to three months to help you become educated as to what the correct values are and what the pitfalls may be when buying a home.

If you have any questions about buyer agency contracts or want to learn more about the real estate market in general, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

What You Need to Know About the Fungus Among Us

There is fungus among us and today I am going to help you know what to do about it.

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Today I want to talk about a very common topic—the law, mold, and the fungus among us. How does mold actually factor into a real estate transaction?

Mold is a fungus that is found everywhere, both indoors and outdoors. It appears as a woolly growth on damp surfaces and decaying organic material. There are some types, such as Aspergillus and Stachybotrys, that are known to produce potent toxins under certain circumstances, but overall, most kinds of mold you'll findare harmless.

Toxic mold has unquestionably become the “disclosure du jour” in real estate, and it's an issue that plagues agents for several reasons.

First, modern building practices provide a conducive environment in which mold can grow and thrive. Public awareness also plays a big role—since many more people now know about toxic mold, mold-related lawsuits have increased, with several ending in multi-million dollar judgments.

Mold has unquestionably become the “disclosure du jour” in real estate today.

A court in Texas, for example, awarded a family $32 million from their insurance company because of an alleged mold exposure. The verdict included payments for property damage, mental anguish, punitive damages, and legal fees. With large settlements like that, you can be assured that mold lawsuits are here to stay.

There are three key points about mold liability that agents should understand. First, you should know that as a real estate professional, you do not need to become a mold expert. Though they're both large and high-profile, these large settlements do not change what you are responsible for disclosing. There are some basic strategies you can use to educate yourself on how to address this ever-growing issue.

If you have any questions about mold or need help seeking a mold professional, please let us know how we can help you. We look forward to your calls soon.

What Are Your Options After You Find a Buyer But Not a New Home?

Are you selling your home and have found a buyer but still do not have a place to live? Today I have five options for you.

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What do you do when your home is for sale and goes under contract but you still have not found a new place for yourself? Here are a few options that you can consider: 

1. Renegotiate the sale. You can talk with your home’s buyer and see if you can implement a delayed conveyance. You may face challenges with this in the form of rate locks, restrictions, and other constraints due to the buyer.

2. Close with a leaseback. You may be able to close with a leaseback option that enables you to buy more time to find a new home. It also enables your buyer to exercise their rate lock and get a lower rate. They can close and then you as a seller can lease the property back. In some cases, you can do it for up to 30 days or even more. Of course, this depends on the lender restrictions, but it does give you a lot more time to find a new property.

You can do a leaseback to allow for you to have more time to find a new home.

3. Move into a temporary rental. You can move your belongings into a storage unit and move into a temporary rental property.

4. Release from the sale. You could try and search for a new buyer that will give you more time to find a place to move to.

5. Rent a vacation home. Some people choose to complete their sale and conveyance and rent a vacation home for a few months until they find a new home.

If you have any additional questions or are interested in buying or selling, please feel free to contact me. I look forward to speaking with you soon.

The Importance of Pricing Your Home Fairly

Pricing your home properly is critical in today’s market. Here are four reasons why.

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How important is pricing your property in today’s market?

Here in the Northeast, we are in an upward-driving seller’s market, and pricing one’s home properly is critical. Why though?

1. Today’s buyers are highly educated. With information being more available online than ever before, there are resources that buyers use that will make it difficult to pull the wool over their eyes.

2. People are able to comparatively shop more effectively. All real estate information regarding other property sales is available online as well, so they have greater and keener senses regarding the actual value of the property.

With information being more available online than ever before, there are resources that buyers use that will make it difficult to pull the wool over their eyes.

3. The market reacts fairly to a properly priced property. When a property is overpriced, the market has a tendency to reject the property.

4. Everyone who buys real estate wants a bargain.

If you have any questions regarding how to price a property, please feel free to reach out to us. I look forward to speaking with you soon.

How Will Rising Interest Rates Affect You as a Buyer or Seller

 
Whether you are buying or selling, an increase in interest rates may affect you. I am here to explain.

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Today we are going to discuss what happens when rising interest rates affect buyers and sellers. What are the dynamic forces that interplay with the rising interest rate?

Buyers who have been sitting on the fence and looking for a great deal will have a tendency to become more motivated when they see rates rise. This is because when the rates rise by even 1%, it will affect a buyer’s qualification by 7% to 8% of the purchase price. Buyers become more motivated to find a home that is a match and make a move before the rates increase even higher.

Meanwhile, sellers will realize that in a rate-increasing environment, that buyers are going to qualify for less money. When considering offers on the table, sellers will know that there is the possibility that the longer they wait the fewer buyers will actually qualify for that sale.

Rising interest rates will affect buyers and sellers.

Buyers who are waiting for rates to decrease may be disappointed because the rates may actually level off or continue to increase. This can sometimes cause buyers to disqualify, particularly in markets that are very hot seller’s markets with multiple buyers bidding on properties.

Finally, sellers will oftentimes realize that their own affordability in the market for a new home will be restricted. Once the sale is consummated, sellers have to find a new home and the rising interest rates will affect their affordability as well.

If you have any questions about this or about buying or selling, please feel free to contact me by phone or email. I look forward to speaking with you about your real estate needs soon.

Should You Get the Police Department Involved with Your Real Estate Transaction?

Getting the local police involved with a real estate issue is sometimes necessary. Today I have a list of some of the common circumstances when you should call for backup.

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Today I want to talk to you about how police departments can help facilitate complicated real estate transactions when something illegal may be happening.

Today I am going to go through some circumstances when it may be helpful to utilize the support of a police department.

It is wise to take advantage of the resources that you have with your local police or Sheriff's Department and have them facilitate when something illegal is happening.

• A resident tenant is poaching on a property after a multi-family home has been sold and the tenant refuses to vacate even though the sale has been completed.

• A trailing spouse who is in a contentious divorce refuses to move out of the home even though the home has been sold or is nearing the completion of the sale.

• A court order to vacate has been ignored.

• A seller remains illegally in the home because a spouse has sold the home and the person wanted to stay.

• Legal access to a home by a buyer, appraiser, or inspector is being denied by the current owner inappropriately.

For any of those circumstances, it is wise to take advantage of the resources that you have with your local police or Sheriff's Department. They can work as a mediator or interpleader to help negotiate with the offending party. Or, sometimes, they are able to look up the identity and the name of that party by using their resources.

If you have any questions regarding who might be able to facilitate a challenging transaction involving real estate or have any other real estate related inquiries, please feel free to reach out to me by phone or online. I would be happy to assist in any way that I can.

What’s the Difference Between a Realtor and a Real Estate Agent?

I have a few interesting statistics about Realtor demographics that I want to share with you today.

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Today, I want to share some interesting statistics that relate to Realtor demographics. 

First of all, a Realtor is a licensed real estate professional who actually joins the National Association of Realtors and takes an oath of ethics with regard to the practice of their real estate dealings with the general public.

Statistically, 65% of Realtors are licensed sales agents, 22% have a broker's license, and another 15% have a broker associate license.

The typical Realtor is a 53-year-old white female who attended college and is a homeowner. In fact, 63% of all Realtors are female, and the median age of Realtors happens to be 53 as well. 

The median experience of Realtors is 10 years in the business and four years for the average agent in a given firm. 

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Most agents worked 40 hours in 2016 with a median gross income of $42,500.

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Most agents worked 40 hours in 2016 with a median gross income of $42,500, which was an increase from $39,250 in 2015. 

When it comes to formal education, 31% of Realtors have some college, 31% have bachelor's degrees, and 13% hold a graduate degree or higher. Just 12% have an associates degree, 6% have some high school, and 7% are high school graduates. 

When it comes to Realtor affiliation with firms, 86% are independent contractors, 5% are employees, and 9% are “other.” 

That about sums it up for the Realtor statistics we wanted to share with you today. If you have any questions about the benefits of working with a Realtor versus working with a licensed professional who happens to not be a Realtor, just give us a call or check out www.HomesAreUs.com. We would be happy to help you!

Should You List Your Home as For Sale By Owner?

How do For Sale By Owner properties do in the current market? The National Association of Realtors recently released some interesting stats on FSBOs I want to share with you today.

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I want to share some statistics from the National Association of Realtors regarding people who sell their properties as For Sale By Owner, without the aid of a real estate professional. 

First, FSBOs accounted for 8% of all home sales in 2016. The typical For Sale By Owner home sold for an average of $190,000 compared to $249,000 for agent-assisted properties. You can see that there is a 23% differential there in terms of the average price for private sales versus agent-assisted sales. 

When it comes to marketing homes, 35% of FSBO sellers use yard signs; 24% use friends, family, or neighbors; 11% use online classified advertisements; 15% use open houses; 8% use FSBO websites; 13% use social networking sites; 26% use the MLS; and 5% advertise through print newspapers. If we look at print, 4% use direct mail flyers and postcards. Only 2% use video. 

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FSBOs only accounted for 8% of all home sales in 2016.

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That said, only 28% of FSBO sellers actually actively marketed their properties. 

Marketing is not the only challenge when selling on your own. What are the most difficult tasks for FSBO sellers? 

1. Getting the right price. 
2. Understanding and doing the paperwork that needs to be done.
3. Selling within the planned time frame (of which only 13% were able to achieve). 
4. Repairing and fixing up the home for sale (90% of FSBO sellers listed that as a challenge). 
5. Having enough time to devote to all aspects of the home sale. 

Only 3% of FSBO respondents indicated that they were able to be available full-time in order to facilitate a purchase. 

As you can see, listing your property as For Sale By Owner does come with a unique set of challenges. If you have any questions about selling your home or working with a real estate professional, just give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to help you!

Explaining the Role of Appraisals in the Real Estate Process

People have a lot of questions about appraisals and what role they play in the real estate process. Today, I will be answering a couple of common inquiries.

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People often ask me, “Should we have an appraisal conducted prior to the sale?”

The answer isn’t as simple as “yes” or “no.” If your home is particularly unique and you therefore have absolutely no idea what your home’s market value is, it may be a good idea to have an appraisal conducted before your sale. 

However, one of the challenges with a unique property is that appraisers may not have the on-the-ground information an agent would when it comes to the specifics of your home.

You may order an appraisal of your own early on in your sale, but remember that the buyer will also have an appraisal ordered later on in the process. When two appraisals are conducted on the same property, it isn’t uncommon for the figures to have a disparity between them. 

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When two appraisals are conducted on the same property, it isn’t uncommon for the figures to have a disparity between them.

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Another question people often ask is, “What happens if the appraisal comes in higher than the sale price after you put your property into contract?” Well, the good news is that this means your sale can go through without any interference. On the other hand, if the appraisal comes in low and the buyer is relying on bank financing, the saleability of your property could be adversely impacted. 

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.

Home Values Are Up in Middlesex County

How are market values doing in Middlesex County? Most of the towns in our area have either resumed or exceeded their pre-recession values.

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Since the recession in 2006 and 2007, 90% of the towns in Middlesex County have resumed the market values they had at the time of the recession.

According to recent statistics, most towns are just about recovered, with the exception of Lowell and Kingsborough. In Lowell, property values were at $254,900 before the recession; they are now at $250,000, which is good news. Lowell is still one of those cities where you can get the very best value in terms of pricing.

In Kingsborough, the average value in 2006 was $350,000. Today, that value is at $339,000, which is about $11,000 below the pre-recession values.

Lowell is one of those cities that offers the very best value in terms of pricing.

Other areas have either resumed or exceeded their pre-recession values. For example, values in Chelmsford are currently at $361,500. In 2005, the average was $325,000, which is about $36,500 less.

One of the problems with rising property values is that more people are staying in their homes for a longer period of time because the market has become more expensive. It’s more difficult for people to afford homes as values increase.

If you have any other questions about our current market or about buying or selling a home, just give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

5 Questions for Homeowners to Ask Themselves

Are you selling this year? If so, here are some questions you need to answer.

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Today I’m really excited to talk to you about the prospect of what’s going to take place in 2018 and if selling a home is in your plans, you need to listen up. Here are five questions that home sellers should ask themselves as they look forward to the prospect of selling their home in 2018:

1. What is your market value? Market value is distinctly different from appraised value, which is distinctly different from sales value or other values that might show up online. These values are estimated based on information that can be distorted by not having the filter of a real estate professional who is an expert in the nuances of the market.

2. How can you spend your money in order to make money? Spending money on improving the property and selling in an efficient manner can give you a 2x or 3x return. You definitely don’t want a negative return.

3. How do you get the inspection out of the way? We can definitely help you with this too. There are a lot of options out there.

You don’t want to move twice.

4. How can you avoid moving twice? You don’t want to be in this kind of situation either. Having just one move to pay for is ideal.

5. How can you minimize the stress? There is a lot of it involved in making the transaction, but it’s definitely something we can help with.

If you have any questions, thoughts, concerns about this topic or about your situation, don’t hesitate to reach out and give me a call or send me an email. I would love to hear from you.

What Will Real Estate Look Like in 2018?

2018 is here and it’s time to take a look at some market predictions.

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2018 is upon us, and I’m here to tell you that these next 12 months are expected to hold some exciting activity for the real estate market.

These next 12 months are expected to hold some exciting activity for our market.

Before I tell you what we can expect to see from the market, I’d like to personally thank the 150 families who allowed my team and I to serve them over the past two years.

But, let’s get back to our market predictions.

In 2018 there are expected to be about 1.2 million new housing starts across the country. We’re also set to see approximately 6.3 residential sales over the next 12 months.

Interest rates are hovering at the low level of 4%. This is causing a lot of robust activity in our market, already.

In other words, if you have any real estate plans for 2018, I encourage you to make your move and let us help.

If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you soon.