What Happens During the Inspection Contingency?

What is the home inspection contingency, and why is it so important? I’ll go over four key points for you today.

 Thinking of selling? Get a free home valuation

 Thinking of buying a home? Search all homes for sale on the MLS

The inspection contingency period is by far the most important contingency when buying a home. There are four key points that you need to know about in order to understand this process a little better.

1. What is the time frame allowed for the standard contingency period? Usually, the contingency period lasts 17 days. In our current market, the inspection contingency period has dropped to 14, 12, or even 10 days depending on the property and how much activity is on it. Shortening the inspection contingency period helps the transaction move along at a faster pace.

2. What is inspected? There will be a general home inspection, pest inspection, and roof inspection. If you are buying an older home, you may want to get a sewer line or chimney inspection so that you understand the condition of all parts of the property. In addition to reviewing the physical condition of the property, you will also have the opportunity to review all seller disclosures during this time. Since they have lived in the house, they know a few more details than the inspection will review. For example, they’ll be able to tell you if there was a flood or fire in one of the rooms.

“

Pay attention to major issues or safety concerns.

”

3. What happens if I discover something? In other words, what happens if something comes up on the home inspection report? Once this happens, you can submit a request for repairs asking the seller to correct the issue before close of escrow. Pay attention to any major repairs or safety concerns. Don’t ask for small, cosmetic issues to be handled. If you noticed that the living room needs a fresh coat of paint or that you want to replace the countertops, take care of that on your own. The seller can agree to take care of all, some, or none of the repairs. From that point, it is up to you to decide how to proceed.

4. Don’t submit a laundry list of repairs to the seller. Again, highlight items that are important, like major roof repairs or safety concerns. Don’t ask the sellers to do something that you could easily take care of on your own, like replacing a light switch. If you do, you risk offending or irritating the seller, which could make negotiations more difficult down the line. Include bigger repairs so that the seller will take your requests seriously into consideration.

If you have any other questions about inspection contingencies or the home buying process, just give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

3 Key Tips to Selling Your Home in the Fall

Keep your house looking neat and seasonal to make an impression on a potential buyer.

 Thinking of selling? Get a free home valuation

 Thinking of buying a home? Search all homes for sale on the MLS

Today, let’s talk about three key tips to selling your home in the fall.

1. Keep up the curb appeal. With the fall comes tricky weather and falling leaves, so just make sure that you keep everything in tip-top shape. Curb appeal is important because if someone doesn’t like the exterior of a house, they may not want to look at the interior. Keep your lawn clean, pick up leaves, and clear your walkways. Something else I like to do for every listing is to get a brand-new doormat. A clean, new one brings freshness to your porch, where an old one might not.

2. Lighting is key in the fall. The fall has shorter days and more shadows, so be sure to open the blinds and shutters to keep light coming in. You might also add some new light bulbs, making sure that all of them work, as well as bring light to the darker areas of your home. This could help a lot during showings by displaying any improvements you’ve made to the house.

“

Curb appeal is important because if someone doesn’t like the exterior of a house, they may not want to look at the interior.

”

3. The fall decor. Add touches like pumpkins or wreaths to freshen up that fall taste. Just make sure that you don’t go too far with it. Don’t leave your porch looking like a farmers market. Show just enough to look seasonal, but not so much that it detracts from the house itself.

If you have questions or would like information about anything else, please feel free to reach out anytime. I’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have.

How Can You Find a Home in Today's Market?

If you’ve been in the market for a house, it’s important to know where to look. Today, I’ve got three strategies that we use to help our clients find their next home.

 Thinking of selling? Get a free home valuation

 Thinking of buying a home? Search all homes for sale on the MLS

In this low-inventory market, how can you find a home? Today, I’ve got three strategies that will help you achieve just that. These strategies are ones we use personally to help our clients. In fact, this year we’ve helped three different buyers find homes that hadn’t even hit the market.

Before I talk about those strategies, though, it’s important to note another component that will be key to your success: having a refined search in place. During your home search, you should narrow the homes you’re looking at by deciding what neighborhoods you’re interested in and what criteria is important to you in a property. 

“

Finding the right home is all about knowing where to look.

”

Once you’ve got a more narrow idea of what you’re looking for, we can implement the following three strategies.

1. Utilize agent relationships. We have access to different portals, groups, and agents who are promoting “coming soon” listings or pocket listings. On our team, we utilize our relationships with various agents in order to dig up listings that not everyone knows about. 
2. Engage in outbound prospecting. This is something we do a lot of. If you know where you’re interested in living, we have systems and tools that allow us to extract information from that specific neighborhood. Whether it is by calling or going door to door, we know the most effective ways to gather leads on inventory for our clients.
3. Search our database of expired or withdrawn listings. We have data going back about five years from listings that have expired or been withdrawn from the market. Using this data, we can call those sellers and inquire about their properties. By finding out whether they are still considering selling, we are able to find homes for our clients that not everyone on the market has already seen.

When you are looking to buy a house, having access to all of the inventory available will make a world of difference. Finding the right home is all about knowing where to look.

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 to Buy and Sell Simultaneously

There are a few different ways you can buy and sell at the same time. Here are the strategies that work best in our current market.

 Thinking of selling? Get a free home valuation

 Thinking of buying a home? Search all homes for sale on the MLS

This is a really hot topic in our market because of our low inventory. With so few options to choose from, sellers know that their home will sell quickly, but they don’t know how quickly they will be able to buy. Nobody wants to end up without a place to live. There are two strategies that we have found to be the best options for tackling this problem.

The first is writing a contingency into your sale contract that you need to find your new property before the deal is finalized. This means that the buyer will agree to the purchase terms, but still give you a specific amount of time to find a home in, usually around three weeks. If you still haven’t found a new home after that time, you can try to have the seller give you more time. They could also choose to terminate the agreement at that point.

The advantage that sellers have in this market is that buyers have been more flexible. We have been able to negotiate that contingency up front to ensure our buyers are never left without options.

“

It’s not impossible to juggle buying and selling.

”

Another thing we can do is negotiate a rent-back. This is where we’ll close on the home sale, then the buyer will allow you to rent the home back from them until you find a new home. It frees you from having to deal with temporary living or storage. It’s an option that has become more and more popular in this strong seller’s market.

If you or someone you know is in a similar situation and needs the guidance of a professional, give us a call or send us an email. Hope to hear from you soon!

Tips for Winning a Multiple Offer Situation as a Buyer

If you find yourself in a multiple offer situation as a buyer, there are a few ways you can ensure that your offer comes out on top.

 Thinking of selling? Get a free home valuation

 Thinking of buying a home? Search all homes for sale on the MLS

If you’re on the hunt for a home in this market, it can be tough. There isn’t a lot of inventory available and there is a lot of competition from other buyers in many price points. How can you make sure your offer percolates to the top in a multiple offer situation?

The first thing you can do—which is something our team specializes in—is work with your agent to reach out to the seller’s agent and ask them what’s so important to their client about selling their house. The reason for this is you want to match your offer to the motivation of the seller. Sometimes they want to sell the house as fast as possible; sometimes they need a 60-day rent-back agreement after it sells. If you don’t have that communication to understand what’s important to the seller, you won’t be able to position your offer accordingly. 

The first thing you want is for your agent to reach out to the buyers' agents and ask for their clients' highest and best offers. You want to let them know that it might be their final chance to put their best foot forward.

“

Match your offer to the motivations of the seller.

”

Next, incorporate a letter to the seller and send it to them. This means writing a personal, heartfelt letter further expressing your interest and why you see yourself living there. We’ve been able to get many clients’ offers accepted that were priced below the competition based on these kinds of letters. 

On our team, another thing we like to do is focus on agent relationships. We have a strong reputation for working hard for our clients. We negotiate on your behalf and make sure we’re doing everything that we agreed to do up front. This way other agents in our market know we perform our tasks and duties and do our job and it makes them more comfortable accepting your offer and moving forward with us. 

Finally, ask yourself—what is the most you’re willing to pay? If your offer doesn’t get accepted, you don’t want to be kicking yourself the next day knowing that you would’ve been willing to offer more. At the same time, you want to make an offer that won’t make you feel like you overpaid if it did get accepted. Everyone has their sweet spot, so that’s up to you to determine. A lot of times, you only get one shot though. 

If you have any questions about how to win a multiple offer situation as a buyer in our market, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I would be happy to help.

How to Pick the Best Offer for Your Home

If you sell your house and price it right in our market, there's a good chance you'll receive more than one offer. Here's how to decide which one to pick.

 Thinking of selling? Get a free home valuation

 Thinking of buying a home? Search all homes for sale on the MLS

If your home is for sale and it's priced right, you can expect multiple offers. The key to handling multiple offers is knowing how to engage with those buyers.

The first thing you want is for your agent to reach out to the buyers' agents and ask for their clients' highest and best offers. You want to let them know that it might be their final chance to put their best foot forward.

“

Cash is king, but it's not always your best option.

”

Then, you want to carefully consider the terms offered by the buyer. Inventory is tight in our market, and most people who sell their house have to turn around and buy another. A buyer offering the term where you don't have to move out of your house immediately after closing or allowing you to sell your house contingent on finding a new home would be very important factors to consider. We want to look at all the terms, not just the highest price. 

The next big thing to consider is the buyer's earnest money deposit, or how much they're going to put into escrow. This money goes toward the down payment, but it's also at risk if something goes wrong with the transaction and the buyer doesn't perform according to the agreement. A $10,000 earnest money deposit is much more powerful than a $100 earnest money deposit. 

Finally, you'll want to consider how well the buyer has their finances in order. Cash is always king as a buyer, but a cash buyer can back out of a deal just as easily as a financed buyer can. Similarly, just because a buyer is using FHA or VA financing doesn't mean they're not capable of submitting the best offer in terms of price and terms.

If you have any other questions about how to handle multiple offers when selling your home, give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you!

How Does a Comparative Market Analysis Help Home Sellers?

A comparative market analysis plays an important part in a home sale because it gives agents an idea of how to position your home on the market.

 Thinking of selling? Get a free home valuation

 Thinking of buying a home? Search all homes for sale on the MLS

What role does a comparative market analysis play in a home sale?

A comparative market analysis (CMA) is important to determine the value of your home before placing it on the market. The way we agents determine a CMA is by comparing your home with the value of other homes in the neighborhood that have either sold, are pending, or are still on the market. 

Of those three categories—active listings, pending listings, and sold listings—sold listings are the most important because they give us a true picture of what homes are selling for. We use pending and active listings to determine other factors. The goal is to pull at least three to five homes that are similar to yours in size, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and any type of amenities and make adjustments based on that criteria to determine where to price your home. 

“

A CMA gives agents a good idea how to position your home in the market.

”

Ultimately, the buyer is the one who will determine the value of your home, and you can price your home according to your specific situation. If you’re not in a rush for it to sell, you can price it on the higher side. If you need to sell your house contingent on finding a replacement property, then you may price it more aggressively to generate multiple offers. 

Pending data tells us where the market is currently at. If a home has been on the market for only five days and is in escrow already, we can assume that it sold pretty close to asking price. Depending on how many properties are active on the market, that will tell us the inventory level and if there is a lot of competition that could affect your pricing. 

If you have any questions or have any other real estate needs, feel free to reach out to me. I look forward to hearing from you soon! 

2nd Quarter Sacramento Real Estate Update

The market is still hot in Sacramento as we head into the second quarter. Home sellers can benefit from the low inventory and high demand while buyers can benefit from extremely low interest rates.

 Thinking of selling? Get a free home valuation

 Thinking of buying a home? Search all homes for sale on the MLS

Today let's take a look at what's going on in the market as we head into the second quarter.

The market is still extremely hot in terms of low inventory and high demand for homes from buyers. Without much to choose from, we're seeing multiple offer situations in certain price ranges and certain areas depending on desirability. In fact, we sold two of our recent listings above full list price before they even hit the market!

That said, it's still a great time to buy or sell a home with interest rates still low. Yes, the Fed did increase the interest rate by 0.25% recently, but rates are still extremely low from a historical perspective. Money is still cheap for a home loan.

“

Even with low inventory, the low interest rates make now a great time to buy a house.

”

If you want to sell your house, you can definitely take advantage of this seller's market and the low interest rates to move into your new house. This will be advantageous by saving you lots of money in the long term whether you're upsizing or downsizing.

Even with the market favoring sellers this strongly, you might be thinking that you don't want to sell your house because you'll have to compete to buy your next home. However, we have specific marketing strategies we use to help our clients get into homes in multiple offer situations that other agents and teams can't offer you.

If you have any questions about the Sacramento market or how we can help you take advantage of it whether you're buying or selling a house, give me a call or send me an email. I'd be more than happy to help!

What Do We Need to Watch in the Sacramento Spring Market?

As we head into the spring market, there are a few key points you should keep an eye on if you plan to buy or sell a home in the near future.

 Thinking of selling? Get a free home valuation

 Thinking of buying a home? Search all homes for sale on the MLS

What can you expect as we head into the spring market? There are a few things in particular that we want to pay attention to.

The first is inventory. As we head into the spring market, we'll see many sellers come out of hibernation after holding off on selling through the winter and the holidays. You can expect to see more homes come on the market, but inventory is still at an all-time low.

The absorption rate tells us what kind of market we're in. We calculate it by figuring out how long it would take to sell existing active inventory if no new houses came on the market. Looking at absorption rates from the past couple months—especially December—we see that we're at just one month. A regular market would be four to six months of inventory.

“

It's still a great market for both buyers and sellers.

”

Based on the 1.1 month absorption rate from December, we can see that we're in a seller's market. Anything below four months of inventory is considered a seller's market.

The second point to keep an eye on is that even though it's a seller's market due to low inventory, it's still a good market for buyers thanks to such low interest rates. Rates have crept up a little bit recently, so we'll want to watch whether rates continue to rise.

Rising rates can affect a buyer's purchasing power; a buyer who could qualify for a $400,000 home would only qualify for a $370,000 house if interest rates went up 1%. This could also put some downward pressure on home prices, but I'm not saying that will happen quickly. Historically speaking, though, interest rates are still really good and buyers will want to take advantage of it.

These are the key things you should look out for in the spring market this year. If you have any other questions about the Sacramento market or you're thinking of buying or selling a home, give me a call or send me an email soon. I'd love to hear from you!

5 Questions That Will Help You Find the Perfect Agent

Asking the right questions is the best way to find the right agent when selling your home. Today, I've put together the five most important questions you should ask to find the right agent.

 Thinking of selling? Get a free home valuation

 Thinking of buying a home? Search all homes for sale on the MLS

When you sell your home, you want to find the best agent possible to help you get a great deal.

There are five questions you should ask to make sure you find the best agent to help you sell your home:

1. How long have you been selling homes? You obviously wouldn't want to go to a doctor who is fresh out of medical school to take care of a serious operation. The same is true in real estate—you don't want to work with someone fresh out of real estate school to handle your $500,000 home.
2. How many homes did you sell last year? A lot of agents like to use the data from their brokerage, which doesn't truly represent the numbers that they personally put up from last year. Be sure to ask them for data specifically about the transactions they were responsible for. A newer agent who sells 30 to 40 homes a year will have more experience than a veteran agent who only sells one or two homes a year because the newer agent is more in tune with the current market, thanks to the fact that they're negotiating more transactions at the moment.



“

Make sure they have a plan to keep you informed before, during, and after the transaction.

”



3. How are you going to market my home? This is important because it's the specific reason why you're hiring a particular agent—to get the most exposure in the market. Make sure they come with a step-by-step strategic marketing plan to get your house the exposure that you need to sell your home for top dollar in the least amount of time with the least amount of hassle.
4. Will you represent me exclusively? In California, an agent is allowed to represent a seller, a buyer, or both. Make sure you understand the concept of dual agency, and if your agent is doing this, that you understand the nuances and details involved in the transaction.
5. How will you keep me informed? Communication is so important. You want to make sure they have a plan to keep you informed before, during, and after the close of the transaction.

These five questions will really help you find the best agent to sell your home.

If you have any questions we can help you with, or you're looking to buy or sell a home in the Sacramento market, give me a call or send me an email. I'd be happy to help.