 Thinking of painting before placing your home on the market? Clients often ask me my opinion on paint colors. It is typically grey or beige that they are deciding between. My response is always WHITE. Forget choosing a wall color for a home that you are leaving. Buyers are looking for bright, light-filled homes. White paint freshens everything up, and reflects all of the natural light in the house. Any artwork you choose always works against a white wall. Think about art galleries, they nearly all paint their walls white so that the light bounces through their space, and the artwork pops. Furnishings and accent pieces are the same, everything works with white. Stop thinking it's boring, and just give into practical and vibrant WHITE. - Amie
0 Comments
 Many Real Estate experts are saying that 2020 may be your best bet to "cash out" of your home if you are considering selling. The market has picked up with buyers because interest rates have remained low (many lenders offering 3.75% for a 30 year fixed loan), inventory has increased and for the most part, bidding wars have ended. This is all encouraging news for buyers. When it comes to the selling side, sellers may be expected to do a bit more to get their homes ready to sell, and may also be asked for repairs to be made through the inspection process. Buyers just have more homes to choose from, and are taking time to preview multiple properties prior to submitting offers. Inventory is still moving, and experts are saying that 2020 could be the best year for seller profits. The market is expected to be increasingly healthy in 2020, prices should continue to increase through the year, but at a much slower pace than we have seen over the past few years. This is all good news for sellers and buyers. The housing market was long overdo for a "correction". We needed to find more of a balance between buyers and sellers, and we are finally seeing that.
Bottom Line: Buyers should take advantage of these incredibly low interest rates and sellers should take advantage of getting the most out of their homes. Call me directly if you need any guidance on how to prepare your home for listing, or maybe you need to know what your home is worth (I have not seen an accurate "zestimate" yet), or you may be a buyer with questions on where to start the process. I'll be available. - Amie  Finding a home in the Denver market lately is proving to be very difficult. The competition is especially tight for buyers shopping in a price range under 550K. Lucky for our clients, we have several strategies that we employee to get our buyers offers at the top of the offer pile, and help you to secure the home of your choice. Here are a few tips to consider on your part, so that we are able to work together to submit winning bids on your behalf.
First: In this market be prepared to be a little flexible. We are not suggesting you buy just any home, we are suggesting that if you have a list of ten items that are very important in the home, be willing to shave maybe two of those items off the list. This is so important. In this market it really is nearly impossible to find the perfect home, but with our assistance, you can find a great home that checks nearly every item off your list. 2nd: Be prepared to bring a higher offer amount but not too high. Unless you are offering cash, a bank will not lend more than a home is worth. This is determined by appraisers (hired by the bank) who come in after a property is under contract and determine the actual worth. This is usually based on the neighborhood averages of recently sold homes and then adding or subtracting to that base amount if the home is more improved or is in need of catching up to the rest of the neighborhood in terms of finishes. We will do very thorough neighborhood research on our end to ensure that we are submitting a strong offer on your behalf, while not over valuing the home. 3rd: Be ready to move quickly with an offer when we do find the right house. It really is best to speak with your lender prior to searching for homes. Having your loan approval, and lender letter confirming approval when your offer is submitted will give you an advantage that is much needed in this market. 4th: Try appealing to sellers with a letter to introduce yourself or your family. Many times when sellers are faced with reviewing multiple offers, you can stand out by putting the time in to write a personal letter to the sellers. There is no guarantee that the sellers will ever read your letter, but they often do, and this can put you ahead. Lastly, and most important: Hire the right realtor! In this highly competitive market, you absolutely can’t hire a realtor who is selling real estate as a part time job, or someone who is not experienced. This is not a market where your realtor should have the luxury of working part time, or when it is convenient for them. We don't understand when we reach out to a realtor and hear a voice message that says they don't work Sundays, or they don't work after 7PM, etc… Sorry, but with the low inventory and desperate buyers, that’s not an option. We are available to you when you need us, when the perfect house pops up on the search, and you want to see it right now. We understand the urgency of being ready to go in this market. These tips are a great start in navigating through this highly competitive market. Please let us know when you need us! 720-495-5705 AM  Perfection can be a four letter word, especially when referring to people. Many clients do tend to 'oversearch' and try to find the one - that perfect house. Houses are designed and built by people, so they will all have issues whether glaring or hidden, that you will have to deal with. This dealing does not mean you will have to 'live with' these flaws however. Frank Lloyd Wright said "if you don't like your environment, change it" and he is right. I truly believe any house can be turned into what you need it to be to live comfortably and happily. Need more bedrooms? Carve one out in the basement or build over the garage! Take your garage and make it into extra living space and build another garage in your yard! Don't like the compartmentalized feel of your house with all of the tiny rooms? Ask an engineer to size a beam to open everything up! In no time you will have the house of your dreams and all of the pains of remodeling will be behind you and forgotten.
If financing such endeavors is the concern, which is understandable, almost everything is online on Youtube or This Old House. It's free vocational school right on your phone! I have done projects that I really knew nothing about but went ahead fearlessly thanks to these resources. This way your labor costs are much smaller, which can be 30-50% of the budget, when hiring contractors. When searching for your next house, it is important to make a shortlist of the most essential items you need- maybe its 3, 5 or even 10 items of must haves, but some compromise will always be needed to actually buy your house. All to often clients find "the one" on their first day of house hunting but second guess themselves and let it slip away. You must go with your gut. Some compromise is in order from the start so opportunities are not lost while touring the entire housing inventory only to compare everything to the one that got away. Speaking of housing inventory, Denver is in short supply. For several years now we have had little to look at and in turn, not much bargaining power when purchasing houses. Sellers have an upper hand in saying no to just about all inspection items, if allowing an inspection at all. Give D Town Listings your short list of must haves and we will use our magic goggles to help you see that a house can be reimagined if need be to fit you and your family's needs. When you are our client you become a friend. And we want our friends to be happy with their homes especially since it is one of the largest purchases of your life. TM We are working overtime to serve our clients to the fullest in 2018! With a growing staff you can expect to find your next home or sell the one you have, all free of aggravation! Please contact us whether you are looking to buy a new home, sell a home, or looking for investment properties. Perhaps you are looking to move to Denver or want a timeshare to relax in on your mountain vacations? We can help make these transactions as painless as possible. We also have qualified Lenders, Inspectors, Contractors, Title Companies, and Movers to recommend to give you peace of mind when investing in perhaps the largest purchase of your life up until now.
We know Denver and the front range well due to being natives. The metro area continues to change and grow in very exciting ways. We are not a simple cow town anymore, but rather a large hub of commerce and tourism. D Town is the place to enjoy life to the fullest. TM |
Archives
February 2020
Categories |
RSS Feed