Did you sell your home in one day? You may have left big money on the table
Tuesday, February 1st, 2022
Ryan Jenkins
Don’t sell your home so fast that only a couple people had time to see it and offer on it. Give people time to find it, to evaluate it, and to write an offer. One or two days is not enough. The first offer you get is often not the best offer you’ll receive. When a home sells in one day, the person that may have paid the most, never even had time to setup a showing.
An incredibly powerful thing to do for your business is to ask your clients what their biggest fears and desires are. And then ask them what they need most from you as you work together. When we first meet with clients who are preparing to sell, they are often overwhelmed with all the things they need to do to get the house ready. They want to know what projects to do and what to ignore. And they want to find trustworthy people to get the jobs done. That’s why we assembled a dream team of service providers: handymen, house cleaners, trash removers, carpet installers, landscapers, painters, plumbers, electricians, dry-wallers and stagers. Often we recommend doing nothing at all. But sometimes there are projects that have a lot of bang for the buck.
This is how you make your clients want to run for the hills. The market is hard enough on buyers. The last thing they need is to feel like their agent is tired of showing them property and is trying to convince them to just write an offer be done. Look for a high level of competence with multiple offer situations and the ability to source properties off market.
Why demographics are so important and why interest rates aren't rising
Tuesday, February 1st, 2022
Ryan Jenkins
I’ve been paying close attention to the work of economist @logan_mohtashami who writes for @housingwire. Logan talks a lot about how demographics are an under reported driver of the housing market and why interest rates are falling despite rising inflation and hot economic data. His conclusions are logical and data driven unlike so many of the headlines we see in our feeds. Give him a follow and make more informed housing decisions. Search “grey rock realty podcast” to hear more.
How do you avoid capital gains on the sale of an investment property?
Tuesday, February 1st, 2022
Ryan Jenkins
Pulling cash out of an investment property instead of selling is a great way to access a lump sum of cash without being taxed on it. The average home owner in America has $200,000 in equity in their home and can easily pull out $100k and often get a lower rate in the process.
Taking mortgage forbearance during the pandemic did not affect your credit score at all. Taking it in 2008 trashed your credit, people just did it to avoid foreclosure. Even if 25% of people that are in forbearance now list there home this year it would only have a mild effect on inventory levels.
Moving for a job transfer? You don't have to wait 2 years to sell
Tuesday, February 1st, 2022
Ryan Jenkins
I’m no CPA but I have read IRS pub 523 and cringe when I see folks going to great lengths to wait two years to sell due to a job related move. Many people can claim an exclusion large enough to completely avoid capital gains even when selling well before the two year mark. Any CPAs want to call me out please do :)
Mortgage interest rates will cool the market but their effect can be counter acted by the supply and demand issues we’re currently experiencing. In 2018 rates went to 4.9% which is almost 2% higher than they are right now but the NoCo market continued to climb and posted at 7% gain for that year.
So often we get hung up on past sales when we are pricing property and of course that is an important thing to consider. But when buyers are shopping for property they are aren’t paying attention to past sales. The only thing on their mind is this, “What is available to buy right now?” Before we decide on a final list price for our listings we pretend to be the buyer for that type of home and we go tour other similar properties and see how they compare to ours. And it’s important to physically look at these homes instead of just flipping through pics because that’s what your buyers will be doing. This strategy often provides excellent insights into what the market is doing right now. Not what it was doing 6 months or a year ago. And in this low inventory market after going through this exercise we often find ourselves saying “wow there is nothing like this property available right now.”
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