5 Tips To Sell Your Home for Top Dollar

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I have five tips I wanted to share with you, on how to sell your home fast and for top dollar in the Capital District.

1. Landscaping. It’s important to really look hard at this; many times I see overgrown bushes that need to be trimmed or even dead bushes that need to be removed, for example. Give your home some color with flowers, planted either on the lawn or in hanging baskets. Grass should obviously stay mowed.

2. Curb appeal. Keep walkways clear, house numbers painted, house paint looking fresh, and your mailbox looking new. Buyers can get that first impression and know whether they’re going to like a home or not within a few seconds. 

3. Lighting. Open up the curtains for natural light and paint dark rooms a light, neutral color. Make sure all rooms - bathrooms especially - have all their bulbs and are the same kind.

4. Cleanliness. Keep everything dust-free, especially this time of year with pollen left over. Also make sure your windows are clean, including the front and back door, especially if you have pets. Some people take the time to do power washing but leave the outside of the windows dirty. Don’t overlook it. Make sure carpets are clean and stain-free, and if the stains can’t be removed, you may want to replace it. Otherwise, you can seek out a professional carpet cleaner to really make them shine. Keeping mirrors clean should also go without saying.

5. Decluttering. You should declutter your closets by 50% so that they don’t look overstuffed. Make sure boxes are stowed away and nicely organized in the garage or basement, not in a closet or within the home. You also want to clear your kitchen table and countertops. Remove or box up all the countertop things like knife butcher blocks, toaster ovens, and microwaves to leave it bare and open to make them look usable as workspace. Too much clutter won’t allow them to look beyond it. The same goes with bathrooms; remove knickknacks and supplies.

Hopefully, you find these tips useful. If you or anyone you know could use them, please pass these tips along! If you have questions for me, give me a call on my cell phone or visit my website.

The Capital District Market at a Glance

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I wanted to give a quick update on some of the housing stats for the first half of 2016 here in the Capital District. It's was a very busy first quarter of 2016, and the second followed just as strongly.

Coming into the middle of June, we show that the number of homes available for sale actually decreased by nearly 16%, shrinking inventory and creating more demand. Pending sales rose more than 16%, which is good because more homes are selling. As a result, closed sales are up 17.5% from this time last year.

You’d think the average sales price all over the Capital District would increase, but it actually fell by 2.2% over last year. Then again, there are certain pockets like Saratoga County, which is up about $10,000, in average sales price. Likewise, months supply of inventory is another number we like to watch, and it’s down 28.2% - that’s a huge number. We’re down about 6.4 months of inventory throughout the entire capital district. Again, this varies by area.

Percentage of original list price to sale price ratio is about 93.6%, which is something we’ll probably see start to increase as more and more multiple offers come in. If you find yourself in one of these multiple offer situations, don’t throw out a lowball offer. Do your research and find out what homes in the area are selling for so you can act quick. I recently had a buyer who just came onto the market and only saw two properties, but the second was exactly what they wanted. Someone told them they had to go out and see seven or eight homes before they actually put an offer on a home, and they ended up losing the home because an offer came in and was accepted in the meantime.

Finally, remember that mortgage interest rates are still very low. There are some rumors that these interest rates could rise in the third or fourth quarter, so you might want to take advantage now.

Thanks for tuning in today. If you have any questions for me, please feel free to give me a call or send me an email.

How to Navigate a Multiple Offer Situation in the Capital District

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Today, I want to talk about best practices for handling a multiple offer situations.

The market conditions right now are great for sellers. There’s a shortage of inventory and more buyers in the market, which creates more demand for your property. There are more buyers than there are homes, which means more multiple offer situations. 

Here’s an example. This past week, we had a listing on the market for four days. We aggressively marketed the property to bring in a ton of buyers, which resulted in three offers. The seller was very happy. Two of the offers were above listing price. The other was just under. 

We wanted to make sure everyone had a fair chance. As a seller, you should look at all the offers and let the agents know they have until 5pm the next day to give you their best and final offer. We didn’t want to go back and forth for weeks and wind up turning those buyers away!

We did exactly that and every offer came back over asking price. We also examined the conditions, terms, and the financing. My seller picked the one that best suited their needs. 

Unfortunately, the next morning I received a phone call from one of the buyers who didn’t get the home. They upped their offer by $5,000. My seller decided to stick with the offer they had already selected, so naturally, this buyer was disappointed. 

In a multiple offer situation, you should always have the seller reach out to buyer agents and get the best and final offer. If you want to keep the other two as back up, that’s fine. The fact of the matter is there’s one house and three buyers, so someone’s going to be upset that they didn’t get the home. 

As a buyer, if you find the perfect home, I highly advise that you put your best and final offer forward. If you want to stand out, some buyers will put together a love letter describing why they love the home. Believe it or not, that’s helped many of my buyers secure the home of their dreams. 

You should definitely work with a professional real estate agent to help you negotiate multiple offers as a buyer or seller. If you have any questions, give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!