How to Find Your Real Home Value

If you want to find your home’s true value, you should hire an expert.

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Whether you are looking to sell in the near future or are just curious, you want to figure out the value of your home. Should you use an online tool to find out the real value of your home?

When you use a website to find your home’s value, the website uses an algorithm that is based on homes that are both for sale and have sold in your area. It can also sometimes be loosely based on your tax assessment.

It’s very important when using these home valuation tools to keep an eye out for our expectations. The expectation is more of a guidepost, and sometimes it can be way off. For example, Zillow has admitted that their Zestimate tool can be up to 25% off in either direction.

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Zestimates can be up to 25% off in either direction.

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Many consumers are frustrated by this, which is understandable. That’s why we tell our clients to call us and give us their information. We will look at your home, homes that have actually sold in your neighborhood, homes for sale, how your home looks, and any improvement that you’ve made. From there we will be able to tell what is and isn’t real on the internet. 

So go ahead and use online valuations as a guide, but if you want to know the true value of your home, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to help you!

The Election’s Effect on the Real Estate Market

What does the outcome of the election have to do with real estate? Here are my tips for home buyers and sellers in the market now.

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Well, this chaotic election is finally over, and we know that Donald Trump will be our next president. How does this affect the world of real estate? Here is what I recommend buyers and sellers do moving forward.

For home buyers, I have to say that in the last three years, I have never seen a better time to buy a home than right now in our post-election fall real estate market. All of the uncertainty and angst has created some amazing opportunities for buyers. Though we have a balanced market with 5.2 months of inventory, buyers have lots of opportunities and very little competition. They can get a great home at a great price.

If you’re a seller in today’s market, you have to think ahead. How are you going to get ahead of the spring competition? Just as it’s advantageous for buyers to have somewhat limited inventory left over from spring and summer, sellers can benefit from the lack of competition as well. As a seller, you’re in a great position to sell your home because a home that is marketed and staged properly will be exposed only to serious buyers. Any buyers on the market right now are most likely in need.

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Home buyers can get into a great home at a great price.

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We project that in the spring market, we will start to see some tremendous activity and an influx of listings starting in February. If you’re thinking about selling your home, the best time to sell is when your neighbors aren’t. That time is now.

Whether you’re a buyer or a seller, our market right now gives you a lot of different options. If you have any questions about buying or selling a home in this post-election fall market or in 2017, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I’d be happy to help you!

What You Need to Know About Lock Boxes

Though they carry their share of drawbacks, lock boxes make showing your home easier and more secure.

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Today, I wanted to talk about lock boxes—what they are, why we use them, what types there are, and the pros and cons of each type.

Lock boxes hold the keys that we give to your Realtor once we confirm that they’re a licensed agent. The rubberized lock box then gets mounted on the doorknob of the listed house with the key to the house inside it. 

There are two types of lock boxes you can use: the combination lock box and the electronic lock box. We always offer a choice between the two.

The main benefit of the electronic lock box is that they are very durable. One of the drawbacks, however, is that if you’re the owner of the house and you need to get the key, you can’t access it unless you have the specialized corresponding software on your smartphone or the specialized key the manufacturer gives you. 

Additionally, the only way to get that software or that specialized key to open the box is to be a member of Suburban West Realtors. This means you have to be a licensee or an affiliate member and pay the appropriate fees. Many agents choose not to spend the money to get the key to open the box, which can really inhibit the potential for showings.

Also, not all of the appraisers and home inspectors that we need to get access to the house have the membership required to use them. This can be impractical if you’re trying to sell your house during the busier parts of the year.

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Lock boxes are a secure way to help get your home sold quickly.

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The alternative to the electronic lock box is the combination lock box. These are accessed by a very specific code that we set. We can then give you the code if you need to get the key. We can also give the code to the Realtor/appraiser/inspector once they qualify through our specialized system so they themselves can gain access to the house. The downside of the combination lock box is that there’s a fractional chance (40,000 to 1) that an evil genius can guess the code.

Not using a lock box can create challenges such as mitigating the ease with which you can provide showings for your home. The other options would be to leave your home open and stay there and or have somebody else open it. Ideally, you shouldn’t even be at your showing, so when you don’t use a lock box, you run the chance of mingling with prospective buyers. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it can make some people uncomfortable.

Ultimately, we always recommend that you use a lock box. They’re a secure resource that helps you speed up showings, speed up closings, and get your home sold. It also allows us Realtors to always know who’s coming to your house ahead of time. 

If you have any questions about lock boxes or the real estate market in general, please don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you!

Donate to a Good Cause Here in West Chester

It’s time again for our yearly food drive. This is something that we’re very passionate about, and we’d love it if you could make a donation.

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For those of you who know me, you know that I’m pretty passionate about my yearly food drive.

This is something that we do with all our clients, friends, and everyone else we know. We’re trying to continue our tradition of donating hundreds and hundreds of pounds of food a year to a very good cause right here in West Chester Borough called the West Chester Food Cupboard.

Every year we do this, we ask people to donate whatever they can. Even though we’re in a flourishing area, we still have people that need us. If you want to help out and donate, you have two options to do so:

The first option is having us come to you to pick up whatever you want to donate. All you have to do is call our office at (610) 692-7361 or email us at clientcare@kirksimmon.com and give us the location. The second option is mailing or hand-delivering your donations to our office at RE/MAX Main Line, 1646 West Chester Pike Suite 2, West Chester, PA 19382.

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We’d love it if you could help.

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We’re very passionate about this cause and we’d love it if you could help. If you have any questions about the food drive or the real estate market, please don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you!

You Received a Lowball Offer. Now What?

If you're selling a home, you might receive a lowball offer. There is a right way and a wrong way to handle this kind of offer as a savvy home seller.

What do you do if you're selling a home and you receive a lowball offer?

There are a few things to keep in mind when this happens. The first is that you have an offer, which is better than no offer at all. Then, you want to evaluate the buyer's qualifications. Are they prepared financially to buy your home? We'll take a look at the financials and call a lender if we have to. 

If they are qualified, the next step is to evaluate what price and what terms we're looking at. We're looking for a combination of the two that works best for you. From there, we want to try and determine what that buyer's motivation is for making that low offer. Sometimes people just come into town looking to score a deal or they don't know what's going on in the market.

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A lowball offer is better than no offer at all.

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We want to counter that offer right away; we always counter an offer. Why counter a lowball offer? Remember, it's better than no offer at all, so we start by figuring out where they are and where you are. Inventory is low, and if someone picked your home to make an offer on, it could really be an oasis for them, and they're just starting.

We always counter, though. Sometimes we counter a little off the listing price and sometimes we counter at full price. Then, we want to make sure that if you’re even going to work with this buyer, that we also negotiate the terms. Ultimately, you could lose a buyer if you don't just counter and move forward.

Always make a counter and don't let the buyer go. You can always at least buy some time to find out who you're dealing with in this buyer.

If you have more questions about handling offers or you have questions about Main Line Real Estate in general, you can always give me a call or send me an email. I'd be happy to help you!

Suburban Philadelphia Real Estate Market Update

Our market is currently favoring sellers, but it’s also a great time to be a buyer.

What’s happening in the suburban Philadelphia real estate market?

One of the things that I’ve noticed is that in the time period between August 2015 and August 2016, our inventory dropped slightly from 5.6 months to exactly five months. Since the line of demarcation for inventory is considered six months in terms of the greatest balance between buyers and sellers, we see that at five months of inventory, the market is currently favoring sellers.

There is plenty of inventory out there, though, and the election cycle should open things up for buyers toward the end of the year, so I haven’t seen a better time than right now to be a buyer. Another important thing to keep in mind is that interest rates have dropped from 4% at the beginning of the year to 3.625% now.

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I haven’t seen a better time than right now to be a buyer.

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For the prices that we track, we always track from the list price to the sales price. Compared to last year, people have been paying 1.2% more of the list price. That’s going from about 95% to 96.3%. That tells you two things: more people are buying because they’re paying a little bit more, and inventory is coming down.

If you have any questions about buying, selling, or leasing, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. Just give me a call or shoot me an email and I’d be happy to help you.

Avoid These 4 Mistakes When Listing Main Line Homes

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There are 4 very common mistakes that can really mess up a home sale. I want to share these mistakes to avoid with you and take it one step further with some helpful alternatives.

1. Doing it alone. Nine times out of 10 when listing for sale by owner you’ve exposed your house to a small number of people, and you may have shown the wrong price, the wrong condition, or just the wrong media. Consider hiring a professional as for sale by owner homes typically get 6-7% less.

2. Mispricing. If you overprice your home, consumers may not recognize its value because they’re not looking in the right spaces. If you’re $50,000 too high, they might be looking for that fourth bedroom when you’ve only got three. Agents could discount it just thinking that you’re unreasonable. You could miss all the pent-up demand and end up reducing the price later on.

3. Using terrible or no photos. We’ve all been online and seen this - and the very next thing we do is skip to the next property. Never put your home on the market until your photos are perfect.

4. Not working on the backyard. People make this mistake all the time because barely anybody pays attention to it. They get so focused on curb appeal and inside the home that they forget all the weeds, toys, and junk in the backyard.

Thanks for watching. If you have any questions you can email me or call me and I’d be happy to talk with you.

A Warning to Those Considering a Main Line Home Addition

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I have a word of warning I give to those who are thinking about building an addition.

With major construction projects on your home, you often run into major cost overrun. Lots of times you find yourself spending far more money than you thought you would on that addition.

The second thing to consider with an addition is the question of it adding value. Sometimes simply adding space doesn’t add value to your home. You might not get back every penny returned on that investment. In fact, in most cases, it doesn’t. Smaller and simpler repairs like painting and cleaning often bring back the best return.

The third thing I talk about with clients considering an addition is to consider your neighbors. Say you’re the first person on the block to bump up your garage and add a room above it - you might stand out in the wrong way and it won’t return the value.

Finally, consider if it would be more cost effective to move into a neighborhood with a bigger home rather than making your house the biggest on the block with an addition that’s hard to sell.

Have questions? Give me a call or send me an email and I’d be happy to speak with you.

Five Simple Ways to Upgrade Your Main Line Home

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There’s five really simple ways to upgrade your Main Line home that I’d like to share with you.

1. Declutter: Move things around, take out the stuff you don’t need; donate it, give it to a friend or just throw it out.
2. Replace lighting: You can really update your home quickly by updating the lighting or getting rid of those old builder fixtures or even just replacing the rings in your recessed lighting with fresh ones.
3. Replace appliances: You can not only update to the latest finishes, you can save money on energy usage and maybe even get some rebates from your local electric company.
4. Paint: Repaint with today’s hot colors you find in a magazine - have some fun with it. This can really make you fall in love with your house again.
5. Hire a stager to help you focus on decor: It can be both expensive or inexpensive as most people charge by the hour. You don’t have to send them out shopping for you, but they can make some simple tweaks to stuff you have to help you upgrade your home.

Do you have any questions or topics you’d like to see made into a video? Email or call and I’d be happy to speak with you.

Finding the Right List Price For Your Main Line Home

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Do you know how to determine what your Main Line home is worth? If not, do you know how you can find out?

Start by thinking about your x-factors. What have your neighbors sold for and what improvements have you made to your home? Have you finished your basement or gutted your kitchen? Maybe you have remodeled a bathroom.

You should absolutely use an agent to help you find your home value. They are in and out of the market every day and know it well. They hear what buyers and sellers are saying, and they know the comparables, and they know what it takes to get a home sold in today’s market.

You can hire an appraiser, too. They look backwards at sold data to determine today’s value. An agent looks forward, and an appraiser looks backward.

Also, look at the competition that’s actively for sale in your neighborhood and absorption rate. You’ll also need to consider the condition of your home against the competition and what’s available for sale.

If you have questions for me, don’t hesitate to reply to this email or give me a call. I’d be happy to speak with you.

How Do You Know It’s Time to Move?

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Today we are going to discuss 4 obvious signs that it’s time for you to find a new Main Line home. Here’s what you need to watch out for:

1. Money

Now is the time to take a look at your finances, and see if you can afford a home. If you can make a few budget tweaks in order to afford the home, it will be worth it.

2. Outgrowing space

If the kid’s toys are piling up, things are everywhere, and you just don’t have enough room anymore, it may be time for you to find a bigger space.

3. Expanding family

If your family is expanding, it all comes down to space and money. Look at your budget and if you need another bedroom or more storage, it’s a great time to look at buying a new home.

4. Empty nesting/too much space

Why waste time and money taking care of space you don’t need? Moving into a smaller home in this situation is cheaper, easier, and better.

If you have any questions for us at all, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you!

Are You Doing What It Takes to Get Results When Selling in the Main Line Area?

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If you plan on selling your Main Line home in 2016, there are a few different things you need to do in order to sell it quickly and for top dollar.

1. Price the property correctly. There are a few different ways to do this. You can use an online home evaluation tool, but your safest bet is to work with a real estate professional who knows the market from the ground level.
2. Home staging. Staging is not just about cleaning up; it’s about enhancing what is already there and making your home show its best.
3. Timing. The best timing for you and your family is always the best time to sell, but if you have the luxury to pick the timing, the best time to list in our area is after the Super Bowl all the way through summer.

If you have these three items in mind when you list your home this spring, you should accomplish your selling goals. Of course, having an expert advisor help you through the process is a great way to reduce the stress of selling as well. If you would like our help or if you have any questions for us, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We would love to hear from you!

How Is the Main Line Market Performing?

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Today we’re going to give you a little update on how the market is doing here in the Main Line. A lot of people have been asking us about this lately, so we wanted to let you know what we’ve been seeing.

Right now, we are firmly in a seller’s market. Our current inventory is at about 4.5 months, so every home for sale will take approximately 4.5 months to sell. Anything under 6 months is considered a seller’s market, but we haven’t been this low on inventory in quite some time so it’s creating quite a frenzy. Home sales are down year-over-year by 10%. With low inventory, a lot of it isn’t great as far as condition and price go. That results in less homes being available for buyers to buy.

In this seller’s market, one trend we are seeing that will help buyers out is the turmoil in the Chinese and European economies. When they start to sputter and show weakness, foreign investors invest money into U.S. government bonds. These bonds end up being a base for mortgage rates, and the lower the yields on them are, the lower the rates are. That’s why rates are so low now and buyers can save a ton of money down the road by locking in a rate right now.

There’s something in the market for everyone here in the Main Line. If you have any questions for us, give us a call or send us an email. We’d love to hear from you!

How to Get Your Main Line Home Ready for Sale

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When you begin the selling process, you need to prepare your home to look its finest. It all starts with your curb appeal, so be sure to mow your lawn, plant some flowers, and wash your windows. Repainting your front door and power washing your walkways are also good ideas to make your home look its finest.

Now let's move to the interior of the home. I’m guessing that you’ve accumulated a lot of stuff while you’ve been living at your home. You need to declutter and clear off your counter space, because empty counters make your home feel very large. Remove any collections of photos or other distracting artwork. My professional stager suggests removing at least half of the objects lying around in your home. A quick walkthrough with us can help you in this process, so contacting us can be very helpful.

The entryway to your home is also very critical. This is what the buyer sees when they initially enter your home, so you want to give off the best possible impression. How does it smell? How does it look? Is it inviting?

Hiring a professional stager is a good idea, although some people think it’s not worth the money. However, I’ve seen stagers come in and completely transform homes. Homes that are staged often sell for much more money than homes that are not staged. It doesn’t take much, and the return on this investment can be huge!

If you have any further questions about this, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I know a few good stagers that I would be willing to recommend to you.

I look forward to hearing from you!