Seller Secrets For This Spring's Real Estate Market

Everyone knows it's been a very long winter,
buyers are itching to get out and start house hunting!

Spring is officially here, and the Real Estate Market is picking up! 

Here are 5 market insights that will give sellers a head start!

1.  Right now is a Great Time to Sell!  Mortgage rates are still at historic lows, so buyers ARE poised  to buy and ready to hit the streets.

2.  Did you know that 60% of home sales happen between May and August? Putting your home on the market at the beginning of the selling season will help your chances of snagging a winning offer before buyers turn their attention back to school starting in September.

3.   "The Price is Right!"  Pricing is a critical component to getting your house sold. With this fluctuating market, you need to look at comps of similar homes in your area, and recency matters: make sure you’re looking back no more than 60 days. The sale price of homes that sold recently paints a much better picture of what to expect than the price of homes that sold six months ago (or of homes that have yet to sell).

4.   Get a Jump Start on the Competition!  Right now we’re on the cusp of prime selling and buying season, and if you list soon, you’ll have less competition than you would if you put your house on the market in May or June, when more homes will flood the market. Since it’s still early, your home can have its ‘moment in the spotlight’ more than it will when inventory increases.

5.  We're in the midst of the Mobile Era!  A significant percentage of buyers use smart phones to start their home search online. And that percentage is expected to rise this year as more buyers take advantage of easy access to the wealth of information online. Get in on this trend by making sure your home pops on those computer screens. Great homes with mediocre quality photos will be quickly discarded and ultimately get less showings. Sellers should insist that their agent take the time to beef up their online listing so the quality of the home jumps off the screen and gets buyers’ attention!

**By the Way:  There is a KW app that can be downloaded unto your mobile phone or tablet! This  allows buyers easier access to properties that they would like to view and puts your seller properties at the buyers finger tips!!

Spring is Here, it's the perfect time to list your Home!

Three Great Reasons to List your Home!

Many sellers are still hesitant about putting their house up for sale. Sellers still have many questions such as, where are prices headed,  where are interest rates headed? These are all valid questions. However, there are several reasons to sell your home sooner rather than later. Here are three of those reasons.

1. Demand is about to skyrocket

Most people realize that the housing market is hottest from April through June. The most serious buyers are well aware of this and, for that reason, come out in early spring in order to beat the heavy competition. We also have a pent-up demand as many buyers pushed off their home search this winter because of extreme weather. Sellers in markets where seasonal weather is never an issue must realize that buyers relocating to their region will increase dramatically this spring as these purchasers finally decide to escape the freezing temperatures of the winters in the north.
These buyers are ready, willing and able to buy…and are in the market right now!

2. There Is Less Competition - For Now

Housing supply always grows from the spring through the early summer. Also, there has been a growing desire for many homeowners to move as they were unable to sell over the last few years because of a negative equity situation. Homeowners have seen a return to positive equity as prices increased over the last eighteen months. Many of these homes will be coming to the market in the near future.
The choices buyers have will continue to increase over the next few months. Don’t wait until all the other potential sellers in your market put their homes up for sale!

3. There Will Never Be a Better Time to Move-Up

If you are moving up to a larger, more expensive home, consider doing it now. Prices are projected to appreciate by approximately 4% this year and 8% by the end of 2015. If you are moving to a higher priced home, it will wind-up costing you more in raw dollars (both in down payment and mortgage payment) if you wait. You can also lock-in your 30 year housing expense with an interest rate at about 4.5% right now. Freddie Mac projects rates to be 5.1% by this time next year and 5.7% by the fourth quarter of 2015.
Moving up to a new home will be less expensive this spring than later this year or next year!


*Homes Are NOT lasting on the market for very long!  These are the perfect market conditions for sellers!

Massachusetts single-family home sales hit a 10-year high for February!!

The Massachusetts Association of Realtors reported that pending sales of single-family homes has hit a 10-year high for the month of February.

The number of single-family homes put under agreement increased to 3,587 last month, a 20.4 percent increase compared to the year-earlier period when 2,980 homes went under agreement. February marked the 12th-straight month of year-over-year increases and the most homes put under agreement in February since 2004, when there were 3,612 homes placed under contract. On a month-to-month basis, single-family homes put under agreement rose 13.8 percent compared to the 3,151 homes put under agreement in January.

With the market picking up fiercely, so do the bidding wars!! 

There are ways to get the property that you have your heart set on when it comes down to a bidding war.

It’s Hard to Beat Cash
All-cash offers were 28 percent more likely than financed offers to win a bidding war, sometimes even when the offer is below asking price!  A cash offer tells the homeowner that they don’t have to deal with mortgage companies or financing that may possibly fall-through!

Waving Contingency’s

In 2013, offers with a waived financing or inspection contingency were 15 percent more likely than contingent offers to win a bidding war. Standard in most offer contracts, these contingencies protect you from losing your earnest money in the event that you back out of the deal because your lender can’t approve your loan in time or if you decide you no longer want the home after the inspection. Waiving the financing contingency guarantees to the seller that you’ll come through with the money if your lender doesn’t. Like the pre-inspection strategy, a waived inspection contingency makes your offer more attractive by letting the seller know you’re not going to back out or try to negotiate for home repairs.

*However, waiving contingencies presents more risk than many buyers care to take on, so it’s important to talk with your agent about whether this strategy makes sense for you.

Pour Your Heart Out
Tugging at the seller’s heart strings by sending them a personalized letter explaining how much you love their home and how well you’ll care for it actually helps seal the deal. Compared to offers that did not include a cover letter, offers with personal notes were 9 percent more likely to win a bidding war. “Love letters work because they get the seller to relate to you on a personal level, so they see you as more than just a dollar amount,”

Which Strategy Should You Use?

Cash, if you have it!  You should always go into a bidding war with a clear idea of how much the home is worth to you, and how far you’re willing to go to win it. Don’t do anything you’ll later regret, which for many buyers includes waiving your right to negotiate the price or back out after the inspection.

The bidding war strategy ranking was determined by comparing the percentage of offers that used a given strategy successfully (won the bidding war and closed) with the percentage of offers that did not use the strategy and still won the bidding war. While all five strategies improved buyers’ chances of success, some did so to a greater extent than others, and some tactics packed a bigger punch in one city than another.

You have to Decide, How Much do You really Want the House??