Is The Cliffs Real Estate The Best Long Term Investment?

Should You For Sale By Owner In The Cliffs?

 

A FSBO or For Sale By Owner are properties that are on the market that are being sold by the current occupant. The main goal behind trying to sell your property yourself is to save the dreaded 3% commission that will be given to the listing agent on the The Cliffs home. If you are a FSBO, then you are already allowing the other 3% to be paid to the buying agent that will be bringing in the buyer and negotiating with you over the price and the contract.

What many people do not understand is that there is much more to selling a home than just putting a for sale sign in the yard and getting a buyer. You have to market the property, advertise it online, negotiate with the buyers, write up the transactions and contracts, work through the closing, transfer over the title through a title company, potential change your mortgage and many other items to say the least.

What you get for  The Cliffs listing agent is someone to take care of all of this for you. The contract portion of the closing is worth the 3% by itself, but advertising online, promoting your home, doing an open house is all a standard part of the real estate process that many home owners tend to overlook when they decide to FSBO.

From that infographic above, did you notice that 92% of buyers search online now to find a The Cliffs home? At Keller Williams, we have an item called the ListHub that allows us to send out our listings to over 800+ websites including Realtor.com, KW.com, Trulia.com, Zillow.com and even more. Could you imagine having to add your own listing over to these websites one at a time? The amount of time alone to advertise your The Cliffs Real Estate would take weeks to say the least when you account for your other job that you work all day long.

43% even stated that they find the home that they buy from looking online which is a large jump from where it was just a few years back, let alone at the turn of the millenium. The biggest number to look at though is that on average a FSBO netted $184,000 whereas a home sold by an agent netted $225,000. Even after the 6% is taken out, you would still be looking at $211,500 for your The Cliffs home in comparison to $178,480 you would get from selling on your own (3% was taken out for the buying agent).

After looking at these numbers, it is easy to see that an agent is the smart way to go. Regardless of saving you time and effort when marketing your home, selling it, hosting an open house and doing all of the contracts, the amount you could save is quite drastic. The bottom line is that using a The Cliffs real estate expert is a no brainer from these statistics.

The market giant Freddie Mac stated in a recent blog post that the “housing is stronger today than at any point since the Great Recession began and hit bottom in 2009.” Of course, what is a quote with out proven statistics to back it up?

• The Cliffs Home sales are up a whopping 13% since their 2009 low point
• New Home Construction is up 50% since they hit rock bottom
• Housing prices nation wide have risen a cumulative 16%

FreddieMac did then go on to state that they believe 2014 will improve, not as much as we saw in 2013, but it will improve dramatically.

• The Cliffs Home sales should improve by 3%
• 20% increase in new home construction, helping out tighter inventory
• The Cliffs Home values will improve as well

From the vice president and chief economist of FreddieMac, Frank Nothaft, went on to specify “Tight inventory may pose a significant challenge for home buyers in many markets across the country, which may result in higher home prices and sales being lower than expected. This is good news for those markets that have room to run on the house price appreciation front, but it’s also going to increase the affordability pinch in many markets, especially along the country’s east and west coasts. Two indicators that are supporting local housing activity are rising consumer confidence and declining unemployment rates.” When looking at all of the statistics and seeing what the chief economist are saying, this looks like the perfect storm for the housing market to continue on upward. The Cliffs Real Estate is getting hotter as the summer starts to heat up and now is the time to look to list or find that dream home you have had your eye on.

Weekend Tips To Increase Your Travelers Rest Home Value

Are you looking to increase your personal Travelers Rest real estate wealth and home value before you sell? Over the past few weeks, we have been looking at ways to do just that by showing you helpful tips that will take your real estate to the next level before it hits the market. It may be a sellers market out there right now, but as the summer months heat up, so will the amount of sellers looking to move. Statistically, May, June, July, August and September see the hottest times for sellers to place their property out on the market and if you are looking at taking advantage of this fast paced Travelers Rest real estate market, then this tip may be just for you.

Tackle The Small Issues At Once

One of the biggest issues with preparing the home for listing is taking care of the minor items. Instead of spreading out the issues over a long period of time, tackling them all at once will allow you to fix everything for the next showing. Even minor items like a leaking faucet or a cabinet that sticks while opening and closing can be an issue for the next home owner. Like all of our other tips, we want to make sure this is as new as possible. In the long and short run, we want the buyers to see the potential in our Travelers Rest Real Estate and not the problems that plague the home. Much like our tip from the last week, we want the buyers to envision themselves enjoying all that your home has to offer and fixing the smaller items will help immensely.

Replacing cracked tiles, dusting those hard to reach areas, changing out the burnt bulbs can all add to the home buying process. Make a “Not-So-Fun” list that will take approximately 48 hours and get to fixing all off the broken drawers, moldy caulking and cracked tiles. Presentation is key and as the market heats up during the summer months, competition will become more fierce. The better our home looks inside and out, the more likely we will be receiving multiple offers on the property. The end goal is always to get our Travelers Rest home sold, but the extra cherry on top is to get it sold relatively quickly and for over the asking price. This tip will help you get a leg up on the competition as your property comes on to the market.

Greenville Real Estate Market Snapshot of Homebuyers

The above information highlights just how fast this market is changing for the better. Greenville real estate is rapidly moving upward as first time buyers and second time home buyers are looking at moving. As prices continue to rise and mortgage rates continue to stay at near record lows, the time is right for buyers to hit the market and start their home buying process.

Let’s take a look at the numbers though to see just what we are experiencing in the Greenville real estate market. The average age for the primary real estate buyer was 38 and the average age for the second home buyer was 47. Just a 9 year difference separates those looking to switch their primary homes to those looking to purchase a secondary home like a vacation property. As the median age states 47, this is relatively low compared to what we have seen in the past for Greenville home buyers who would like a second property to enjoy. The normal American family is now looking to take advantage of the relatively lower prices and mortgage rates by purchasing a vacation home.

As we can tell from the mortgage percentages for second home buyers, 66% shows that only 2/3rds of the group are actually utilizing mortgages compared to being a cash buyer. Cash buyers are still populating the market as prices have risen, but are still just a little bit below the height of the Greenville real estate prices in 2007. With lower prices and the ability to receive a “deal” on their home, it is no wonder why many buyers are now looking to deal with cash only. But, those that are looking to deal with mortgages, 77% and 66%, are finding that the rates are around the 4.40%. These are still well below the averages that we have seen in the past being well over 8% and in to the double digits. While the rates remain low, many first time buyers are seeing the potential investment opportunity on owning a Greenville property in comparison to renting.

It is no shock that the south had the highest amount of second homes as the prices tend to be low while the weather remains warmer year round. With an astounding 41%, it is easy to conclude that many home owners are looking for that vacation property to spend time at during the summer and winter months, as well as for a quick trip to escape reality. The take away that we can state from this graph though is that the real estate market is coming back. With Greenville real estate set to continue to thrive during the summer months of 2014, we are very ecstatic to see how these statistics change for the better very soon.

When looking to increase the value of your Greenville real estate, it is a no brainer to know that design sells. Many home sellers are looking at staging their property to create the illusion that the potential buyer is right at home. This goes with out saying for additional rooms as well. Creating an extra room will add to the ability of the potential home owners to want to move in to your property. A little extra breathing room is something that many Greenville home buyers are looking to pay a very nice premium for. Even by staging the garage in to an area of enjoyment can mean the difference between offers coming in above the asking price or not.

Organizing tools, sporting equipment and other normal garage items are a necessity to demonstrate the cleanliness and exceptional care of your home. With the addition of adequate lighting and cleaner floors, you once again want the home owner to imagine spending their own time working on crafts and wood projects. Just by staging the garage alone can show the people walking through your Greenville home for sale just how immaculate and pristine the home truly is. For concrete floors, look to add a potential sealant. Many home buyers will actually see these as extra rooms that they wish to finish.

Outside of the garage, you can also look to the backyard by creating a sitting area. Make the garden look elegant and tasteful, something they will want to show off to family and friends. By creating a sitting area with pavers, outdoor seating and large potted plants, you are paving their imagination again to see themselves sitting here relaxing on a hot summers day or growing it even further as the new home owners.

Staging the “other” rooms are great ways to demonstrate just how big your home could be. Of course, the more time you put in to the cleanliness and decor of the property, the higher the value can travel. Put that extra time in to your Greenville real estate and see just what happens as the offers start to come in!