Charlottesville Real Estate

Is your home worth the asking price?

Is your home worth your asking price? The best way to answer that question is to separate what’s relevant to home buyers from what’s not relevant.

Starting with the bare basics, home buyers choose homes based on:

Price – their lenders tell them what they can afford
Location – they know where they want to live and why
Condition – they want homes that are well-maintained and move-in ready
They look at the available inventory – your home and its competition.  The greater the inventory, the more room they have to negotiate terms.

They narrow their choices to a short list, based on what they perceive to be the best value.

They buy according to what’s most important to them – price, neighborhood, and/or condition. For example, a buyer who wants a certain neighborhood may choose a home in less than perfect condition, but only if the price is right.

What you should consider before you price your home

Your market

When home sales volumes increase, prices go up, and inventories of homes for sale fall below about six months on hand, (meaning it would take six months or less to sell all the homes for sale on the market to zero on hand) the market is said to be a “seller’s market,” because the market’s conditions favor sellers. 

When sales volumes decrease, prices decline, and inventories of homes rise above about six months on hand, conditions favor the buyer, making it a “buyer’s market.”

To sell your home in the current market, you have to consider the market’s conditions.
You may adjust your price and terms accordingly.

Your competition

Your competition is not only other similar homes in your area, but what buyers can get if they buy brand-new.  Your buyer is comparing size, number of bedrooms and baths, amenities, updates, views, landscaping, and décor. You can’t put a price on many features, but some qualities, such as fine workmanship, room flow, and convenient storage are simply worth more money to buyers. 

Your urgency

If you’re relocating or have another reason to be in a hurry, you don’t have time to test the market. You have to price your home to get immediate and serious offers to buy.

What’s not relevant to home buyers

Your emotions

If you’re sentimental about your home, remember your buyer hasn’t formed the same attachments. Your buyer may appreciate your home, but will still compare it to other available homes in terms of price, location, and condition before weighing emotion. 

What you paid for the house

Many area home prices have receded as much as five to ten years. Sellers who paid high prices for their homes, purchased too recently to build equity, or took out second liens or equity loans may find that what they paid is not what the home is worth in today’s market. Buyers are only concerned with what they can afford.

What you paid for improvements beyond ordinary maintenance

Your swimming pool may be beautiful and add some value to your home, but some buyers may not want the upkeep or the insurance liability, so they’ll tend to offer less for the home than a buyer who really wants a pool.

What buyers expect is for homes to be properly maintained. Even if a home is in the most desirable of neighborhoods, it will never sell for as much as similar homes if it is in poor condition or lacking updates comparable to newer homes in the area.

Tags: Albemarle Homes, Charlottesville Homes, Charlottesville Homes for sale, Charlottesville Real Estate, My Charlottesville Home

Easy DIY: Installing a Dimmer Switch

Learn how to enhance your living space by adding a dimmer switch in any room. This allows you to control the amount of light on any fixture, it can also be a great way to save energy!

Tags: Easy DIY for your home, My Charlottesville Home, updating my charlottesville home

New Year–New Look!

With the new year here many Charlottesville homeowners are looking for a change in their homes.  Painting a room can have a huge visual impact and update the look of any room for a small cost.  Enjoy this short video clip that illustrates how a living room was transformed with paint.

Tags: Charlottesville Homes, My Charlottesville Home, painting your charlottesville home

Title Insurance is Essential to Protecting your Investment

Written by:  Harvey Jacobs  Courtesy of  Wahsington Post.com

The turmoil in the residential real estate industry and the recent meltdown in the foreclosure process should have every prospective home buyer reexamining the often overlooked concept of title insurance. In addition to being of critical importance these days, title insurance is one of the largest components of closing costs in a home purchase or refinance. Having a basic understanding of title insurance and knowing the right questions to ask can reduce a borrower’s risk and save hundreds or even thousands of dollars in closing costs.

Fundamentally, title insurance is intended to protect the insured from risks associated with defects in the ownership of the property. These defects can result in total losses such as in the case of a defective foreclosure, forgery or impersonation, where no title is legally conveyed. Other defects can be partial in nature, such as where a neighbor’s garage or fence encroaches on the insured person’s property. In those cases, title insurance might pay for the removal or relocation of the encroachments.

Two basic levels of title insurance are available from most companies. The standard policy covers risks prior to the settlement date. The enhanced policy covers risks existing before and after settlement. The enhanced policy also covers a broader range of risks. Although they cost more, the enhanced polices are well worth the investment.

Have a question about our changing Charlottesville Real Estate market?  Contact me today and I am happy to help!

Tags: Charlottesville Real Estate, My Charlottesville Home, protecting your home, Title Insurance

5 Reasons You Should Sell Your House TODAY!

Selling your house in todays market can be extremely difficult. It is for that reason that every seller should take advantage of each and every opportunity that appears. Each fall, such an opportunity presents itself.
This fall, that opportunity may be just too good to pass up.

Below are five reasons you should consider when pricing your house to sell in the next 90 days. Meet with your real estate agent and mortgage professional today and see whether it is the right move for you and your family.

1. Entering this time of year, the buyers are more serious.
We all realize that buyers are not quick to pull the trigger on the purchase of a home today. There is no sense of urgency with the supply of eligible properties at all time highs. However, at this time of year, the ‘lookers’ are at the stores doing their holiday shopping. The home buyers left in the market are serious and are more apt to make a purchasing decision. Less showings – but to more motivated purchasers.

2. If you are moving up, you can save thousands.
The Chicago Tribune stated in an article last week that sellers who want to ‘trade up’ should act now:

It could be a bigger house, different neighborhood or a better school district, but it comes with a higher price tag. Do the math; this might be the right time.

A home that was once worth $300,000 may now be worth $240,000 in a market where prices have fallen 20 percent. Wow, you think, the seller is taking a bath. But that seller may also be a prospective buyer who wants a house that once was valued at $400,000. With an equivalent market drop and a realistic listing price, that house may now sell for $320,000. So, in effect, the person is losing $60,000 on the sale of one home but coming out ahead $20,000 on the purchase of another.

Keep in mind the spread may be even greater. There’s a smaller pool of potential buyers for more expensive homes, so sellers may be more willing to cut their price to get a deal done.

3. Interest rates just fell again – to 4.19%.
Professor Karl E. Case, the founder of the Case Shiller Pricing Index in an article in the New York Times last month actually did the math for us:

Four years ago, the monthly payment on a $300,000 house with 20 percent down and a mortgage rate of about 6.6 percent was $1,533. Today that $300,000 house would sell for $213,000 and a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage with 20 percent down would carry a rate of about 4.2 percent and a monthly payment of $833 … housing has perhaps never been a better bargain.

4. You beat the rush of inventory that is coming next year.
Every year there is an increase of inventory which comes to market from January through April as homeowners put their houses up for sale in preparation for the spring market. As an example, here is the number of listings available for sale in each of those months in 2010.

January – 3,277,000
February – 3,531,000
March – 3,626,000
April – 4,029,000
You won’t have to worry about this increasing competition if you sell now.

5. You have less ‘discounted’ inventory with which to compete.
This year, sellers of non-distressed properties have been given an early holiday present. With banks declaring a suspension on the sale of many distressed properties (foreclosures), there has been a large supply of discounted properties removed from competition. No one knows how long this self imposed moratorium will last. However, while it does, every homeowner has a better chance of selling their property.

Bottom Line
If you are looking to sell in the near future, there may not be a more opportune time than this fall. Serious buyers, great move-up deals and less competition from foreclosures creates the perfect selling situation. Don’t miss it!

Courtesy of the KCM Blog
via 5 Reasons You Should Sell Your House TODAY!.

Tags: Charlottesville Homes, Charlottesville Real Estate, My Charlottesville Home, sell your Charlottesville home