Three Essential Tips for Sellers

Are you looking to apply for a mortgage? Get an application here

Today I am joined by a special guest, Angela Hamann from Carrington Real Estate Services. Angie will help answer a question that I get all the time: What are the three essential tips when selling your home?

The three most important things are pricing your home right, staging it, and making a good first impression with professional photography.

Pricing your home is extremely important. Angie recommends pricing your home a hair below market value. You will get a stampede of buyers and multiple offers. Another option would be range pricing, where you have the buyer's wish low price and the seller's hopeful high price. That way, you can negotiate the price to somewhere in between.

Staging your home is crucial. You're going to move, so you may as well start packing. Start depersonalizing your home. Put everything away, and reduce items in your closets and cabinets by 50%.

The second step in home staging is to walk through your home with a Realtor and a handyman. Have them give you a list of things that will help get your home sold. There could be quite a few things you don't know about that would be simple, cost effective ways of fixing your home, including getting higher wattage light bulbs to make your home as bright and cheery as possible.

When it comes to first impressions, photography is key. 95% of buyers are starting their home search online. If you don't have great photos or a video, they will just move on to the next one. You want to have professional photos of your home online in order to entice buyers. If you have any other questions about today's topic, you can contact Angie at 619-813-6602 or email Angela@SanDiegoHomesForSale.com. As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to give me a call or send me an email. We would love to hear from you.

Why Buyers Are on the Fence

Are you looking to apply for a mortgage? Get an application here

Today, real estate extraordinaire Jeremy Katz joins us discuss buyers who are on the fence. Why are they waiting? Are they missing out on a wonderful opportunity to buy in Southern California? We'll tackle these questions and more.

Most buyers begin the home search online, and a lot of times they only see active properties listed on various websites. They don't get to see pending homes or homes that are sold. As a buyer, which properties would you rather see, desirable homes that are selling or homes that have sat on the market for an extended period of time? If you're a buyer on the fence, the only homes you're seeing are the ones that no one picked!

When you get with the right lending partner and the right Realtor, we can get you on the cutting edge of the market. This means you'll be introduced to properties as soon as they get on the marker or, sometimes, we'll show you homes not yet listed and For Sale By Owner properties. 

The Southern California market is pretty balanced right now, depending on the area you live in. Regardless of conditions in your neighborhood, it never hurts to have an aggressive agent who can tell what is and what isn't happening in a given market to give you the best shot of accomplishing your buying goals. Buyers who work with our team are getting about a 4% discount off asking, while the average MLS buyer is only getting a discount of 2%. These outcomes for our clients are the result of an active approach to the market.

If you have questions about getting pre-approved and finding great homes in our strong market, give me a call or shoot me a quick email. You can reach Jeremy for all your real estate-specific needs at (619) 497-1834 orJKatz@SDHouseHunting.com. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

Is Zillow Wrong More Often Than Right?

Are you looking to apply for a mortgage? Get an application here

Today, we want to elaborate on an unfortunate fact: Zillow is wrong more often than they're right. 

When you're thinking about buying a house in San Diego or anywhere in Southern California, you're likely to start the process online. Many people use Zillow's Zestimate feature to determine whether a home is priced correctly, but it's not the most reliable tool. 

In San Diego, Zestimates are wrong 55% of the time! When looking closely at Zillow's numbers, we found Zestimates are only within 5% of a home's true value 42.8% of the time! Additionally, Zestimates in San Diego are off by 20% in value nearly 20% of the time. Would you consider that to be a good estimate?

If you have certain selling goals you want to accomplish, or if you're trying to determine how much you should offer on a home, you are likely using the wrong numbers if you're basing your decisions on a Zillow Zestimate. The best way to accomplish your buying, selling, or investing goals is to work with a real estate professional who knows the market inside and out.

If you have questions about this topic, or if you would like us to put you in contact with an agent you can trust, give us a call or shoot us an email. We would love to give you a hand! 

What 5 Things Should You Look for in a Home?

Are you looking to apply for a mortgage? Get an application here

Searching for a new home can be a stressful endeavor, but it doesn't have to be. Today, we're going to talk about the 5 things to look for when viewing a home, so you don't make any costly mistakes when buying this summer.

• Location: Is the house next to a busy street? Is it next to a freeway? What are the schools like? Is traffic congested near your home?
• Size: Are the rooms going to fit all of your furniture? Are they big enough, or are they too big? Make sure there is enough room for all your amenities!
• Windows: These tend to get expensive, so you want to determine whether the windows will need to be upgraded. 
• Situation of house: Is your home close to your neighbors? Is the home west facing or east facing? Does the home get much natural light? 
• Roof: Like the windows, if the roof needs to be repaired, it will be awfully expensive. Make sure it is in good shape!

If you have any questions about the home buying process, don't hesitate to reach out to us. We would love to share some tips and tricks to help ease your buying experience!