Buying & Selling at the Same Time

If you want to buy and sell a home at the same time, you need a skilled, experienced real estate team behind you.

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If you need to buy and sell a home at the same time, that’s a tricky prospect in our current market.

Several years ago, we agents could coordinate these two transactions much more easily. Now, things have changed. Two or three years ago, inventory in our market started to shrink. Before that time, we had as much as 15,000 available homes on the market. Now, we have a little over 3,000.

In other words, we’re still in a strong seller’s market, which means you need an aggressive, strategic marketing program to get your current home sold quickly. If you work with our team, that shouldn’t be a problem.

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Once a home goes live in this market, it’s a challenge to get to it before anyone else.

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The real question, though, is what you’re going to do with your next home. Are you upsizing or downsizing? In either case, you need the services of an experienced team with the tools that can help you locate the right home, make an offer on it, and get it under contract before any other buyers know about it. Once a home goes live in this market, it’s a challenge to get to it before anyone else.

As far as experience goes, the agent you work with should be a full-time Realtor and be a part of a team that sells roughly 500 homes a year. If you give us a call, we’d be happy to give you a market evaluation and tell you how we can get you to the closing table on both sides of the transaction with the least amount of hassle.

If you have any other questions about our market, feel free to reach out to us as well. We’d love to help you.

What’s Hiding in Your Contract?

Contingencies can be a tricky thing to navigate in an offer, especially if they aren’t revealed up front. There are a few key things you need to watch out for.

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Recently, sale and closing contingencies are becoming very popular again. A lot of people are afraid to buy before they sell, or vice versa. 

Unfortunately, some people may not alert you to a contingency within a contract. Whether you’re a buyer or a seller, be sure to read things over carefully and make sure there’s nothing hidden in the fine print that you weren’t told about. 

One red flag to look out for is an offer with far-off closing dates. People who give themselves a long time to close sometimes do so because they’re hoping they can sell their home during this time, before they buy yours. If they don’t, they can wiggle out of the contract and get their deposit back by having their lender verify that their financing fell through. 

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Read things over carefully and make sure there’s nothing hidden in the fine print.

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Personally, I don’t think this is exactly ethical. I think contingencies should be revealed up front. Since this isn’t always the case, though, be sure to have your agent check over your contract for contingencies. Contingencies absolutely must be in writing. 

The first writer refusal time frame is also important. If you, as a seller, get another offer within this time frame, the first buyer needs to make a decision about whether to put their offer in writing or not. I personally think 24 hours is plenty of time for this. 

Lastly, be aware of when inspections start on a contingency offer. My preference is to have inspections completed right away after acceptance, so that the deal can be solidified sooner rather than later.

If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

How Can Escalation Clauses Help You Beat out the Competition?

Because of the hot competition we’re seeing lately in the market, escalation clauses have become much more common.

Buying a Louisville home? Get a full Home Search 

Selling your Louisville home? Get a free Home Value Report

Recently, we’ve been seeing a lot of escalation clauses in our market. But, what is in an escalation clause?

An escalation clause is a buyer’s best and final offer. People have been making these kinds of offers for years, but recently they have become a lot more important. This is largely thanks to our being in seller’s market where competition is hot. 

Buyers right now don’t want to lose out on the right home, but they also don’t want to have to make excessively high offers. 

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Setting a limit will help ensure that a buyer doesn’t pay a ridiculous amount.

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An escalation clause allows buyers to stipulate that they will pay up to a certain amount limit in order to beat out other offers. As an example, an escalation clause might state that a buyer will pay up to $1,000 over any other offer that is made. 

This cap means that buyers don’t need to be as worried about overpaying. Setting a limit will help ensure that a buyer doesn’t pay a ridiculous amount. 

Buyers must also be careful, though, to compare offers by the net sale price. In your escalation clause, ask to see the best and highest offer. 

If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

What Happened in the Louisville Real Estate Market in 2016?

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Today we will be examining what happened in the Louisville real estate market in February of 2016. Overall, the market was great: sales were up, and inventory was low.

We have a total of 4,400 homes available, which is a big decrease from last year. This is creating a seller’s market, and our absorption rate of 3.23 months is proving this to be true.

The average sales price in February was $172,000 and this was about the same as it was in 2015, but it’s early in the year. The average days on market decreased by nearly two weeks, and it now sits at 93 days. Some of this is due to the major lack of inventory.

Interest rates are still extremely low, and around here they are at 3.74%. This is causing a lot of home buyers to purchase because they know that their affordability is so high right now.

This is also good news for home sellers, because this will bring buyers right to your doorstep. I truly believe that 2016 will be one of the best years on record to sell your home.

Finally, a quote to finish off with: “Mistakes are painful when they happen, but years later a collection of mistakes is what is called experience.” Denis Waitley.

Give me a call or send me an email with any questions you might have! I look forward to serving your local real estate needs.

Why the Web isn't the Best Place to Start Your Home Search

There are many great Louisville area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Value Report so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (502) 458-2722 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Online home search websites, such as Trulia and Zillow, are the starting point for the majority of people who are looking to buy a home. While convenient, these large sites are often full of misinformation. We've put together this short list to let you know about the limitations of online home search tools:

1. They are often out-of-date: Because they don't update as fast as the Multiple Listings Service (MLS), there are often homes listed that are sold, pending, or no longer available. This can be frustrating if you thought you found a home that was priced right and had the amenities you were looking for, only to find it's not even an option. 
2. They sell your information: Sites like Trulia and Zillow make money by selling the information of their users. Your email address and contact information will be sold to a third party when using these sites, something you don't have to worry about when working with a Realtor.
3. Their pricing is typically inaccurate: Big home search websites do their market analysis using the averages and medians of local home sales data. It's an algorithm that doesn't take into account the subtleties of the local market. Working with a Realtor is an advantage because he or she can come to your home and price it out according to the particular market.

Fundamentally, we feel there is nothing wrong with these big websites - they're actually quite helpful in many ways. But at the end of the day, your best option is to hire a professional expert Realtor in your local market. They will direct your search with the MLS to give you the most up-to-date and accurate real estate information, all while giving you the personal service a computer can't. As always, if you're interested in buying or selling property in the Louisville area, give us a call or send us an email. We would love to hear from you!