Some Useful Home Staging Tips

Home staging is a great way to maximize your sale price. Here’s what you should focus on.

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The first impression your home leaves a buyer with is the most important. When we bring a buyer through a home, we have one good shot at showing it in its best possible light. Here are a few home staging tips you can use to capture that light when it comes time to sell.

It’s important to know that buyers really care about kitchens and bathrooms. It’s also important to know that before they even make their way to those rooms, 75% of buyers have already made up their mind about a home by the time they get out of the car. Observe your home as a potential buyer, and pay close attention to its curb appeal. Note how it feels to walk up the driveway to your house to get an idea of what buyers see. Is there fresh paint? Does it smell nice?

We are the No. 1 team in Charleston.

Here’s the good news: Our market is on fire. Inventory is down a whopping 17%, which means buyers have fewer homes to choose from. Because of this, homes can take anywhere from 30 to 90 days to sell. During this period, we want to present your home in its best possible light to the buyers on the market. Because we are the No. 1 team in Charleston, we have the ability to bring our technology, our resources, and our marketing to you to ensure that your home sells in the shortest time period and for the most amount of money.

If you have any questions for us about home staging or anything else related to buying or selling a home, give us a call or send us an email. We are always here to help.

4 Renovation Tips that Will Help You Maximize Your Home’s Value

If you’re looking to make some renovations and improvements to your home, here are four tips you can follow to maximize its value.

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Which improvements and renovations can you do to your home to maximize its value?

First, keep your renovations moderate. When you’re attempting to do a renovation or an upgrade, ask yourself one question: Will the majority of buyers coming through this home appreciate this renovation, or will I have to do it again if I decide to sell this home at a later date? 

Second, pay attention to curb appeal. Your curb appeal creates the first impression of your home. In our office, we abide by something we call the three second rule. This means whenever we bring a buyer to a property, they will determine whether they want to seriously consider purchasing that property or not within the first three seconds of pulling in the driveway. Spend some money on landscaping and other areas out front to make your home more inviting for any prospective buyers.

Spend the majority of your money in kitchens and bathrooms.

Third, have as much hardwood flooring in your home as you can. Buyers love neutral, hardwood floors. If you can’t afford to install hardwood floors, make your current flooring as clean and neat as possible. 

Lastly, spend the majority of your money in kitchens and bathrooms. These are the places in the home where you’ll get your best return on investment. You can typically achieve a two-to-one return on investment, meaning you’ll get $2 in return on the sale of your home for every $1 you spend. 

If you have any questions about how to maximize your home’s value or you’re thinking about buying or selling a house, feel free to reach out to us. We’d love to help you.

Pet Owner? Follow These 4 Rules When Listing

If you’re a pet owner looking to sell your home, there are four rules you need to follow.

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Are you a pet owner looking to sell their home? If so, there are four rules you need to know. 

1. Remove the pets from the home. I know it’s a challenge, but when I bring a buyer into your home I want to show it off in the best light possible. A cat or dog following a buyer around the house might make it difficult for them see all of the features that your home has to offer. 
2. Take a long look at the backyard. Make sure holes are filled in and pet toys are put away. I want a buyer to be able to envision having picnics or their kids playing in the backyard, so making sure it’s manicured is essential. 
Ask a friend or neighbor to come over to see if they notice a smell.
3. Eliminate any pet odors inside the home. I own a dog, so I understand that you might not always pick up on scents. Ask a friend or neighbor to come over to see if they notice a smell. If they do, we can install Glade plug-ins or have the carpets cleaned. 
4. Get rid of any potential pet hair. Our goal is to have multiple showings with multiple buyers, so you need to vacuum before every showing. This makes sure a buyer with allergies doesn’t get a bad impression of your home.

If you have any questions about this topic, or if you have any other real estate questions, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I’m always happy to help.

3 Tips for First-Time Homebuyers

Are you a newlywed or someone buying your first home? Follow these three tips to make life easier on yourself.

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If you're a first-time homebuyer or a newlywed buying a home, these tips will help you:

1. It's all about the budget: Your house is more than just a mortgage payment. Over time, you'll have to pay for maintenance and insurance. That's why we recommend you pay between 25% and 35% of your household disposable income toward that mortgage payment. 
2. Location, location, location: Think about school districts even if you don't have kids. When the time comes to sell in the future, it'll be easier if you're in a positive school district. 
Think about school districts even if you don't have kids.
3. Communicate about the top features of the home: During our free buyer consultation, we'll get a list of features that you and anyone living in the home would like to have. Then, we compare the lists and merge them into one list of must-haves so we can find your dream home.

If you have any other questions about preparing to buy your first home, give us a call or send us an email. We'd be glad to help!

What I Think We'll See in the 2nd Quarter Market

With the first quarter in the books, I wanted to give you some predictions for the second quarter here in the Charleston market. I think it will be an amazing time to get your house on the market.

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With the second quarter underway, I wanted to give you my predictions for the upcoming months here in the Charleston market. 

The first important thing to note is that there was a lot of pent-up demand last year because of the storms we had and because of the election. The first quarter of 2017 was absolutely amazing though with more people putting their home on the market than normal, more sales, and more people moving to Charleston. This is a testament to the market because the first quarter is typically one of the slowest quarters of the year. 

So what does it all mean for the second quarter?

Everybody wants to move during the summer when the kids are out of school and the days are longer.

Remember that even more people get their homes ready to go on the market at this time of year. They want to move during the summertime when the kids aren’t in school and they have more all-around flexibility, along with longer days. The real estate market typically has the highest turnover rate in the second and third quarters.

However, it’s important to remember that all the people planning to move to Charleston are planning their move during this period. That’s why if you’re considering selling your house, now might be the absolute best time. We can help you figure out exactly what you need to do to get your house ready for sale because now might be a perfect time. 

If you’re thinking about selling your house or you have any other questions we can answer, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I’d love to help you out!

What 5 Statistics Define the Charleston Real Estate Market?

How has the Charleston real estate market improved over the last year? Here’s what the numbers tell us.

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I just got a report with all the latest statistics from the Charleston real estate market and I wanted to share some of the most important numbers with you. These five statistics paint a promising picture of our market and show just how far we’ve come since the recession.

1. New listings. Almost 23,000 new homes have come on the market in the last 12 months.

2. Home sales. How many homes were sold during the same time frame? Some of you may be under the impression that every home that comes on the market is selling. However, that’s not what’s happening in reality. Out of those 23,000 listings, only 17,700 sold. That means there are between 5,000 and 6,000 properties that failed to sell. Regardless of what you think about the market, I encourage you to make sure that your Realtor has a strong marketing plan in place to sell your home. That's really the only way to guarantee a sale in this market.

It is taking an average of 11 showings to sell a home.

3. Median sale price. This is intriguing. During the recession, the median sale price was around $180,000. Today, it’s at $240,000. It’s increased by over $50,000 in the past five years, but there are people who still think their home won’t sell. If that’s the impression you're under, I invite you to give us a call. If you tell us how much you owe and how much you’d like to sell for, we would be happy to give you our honest, professional opinion if that is doable.

4. Market time. How long does it take a home to sell on average? Over the past 12 months, the answer is 58 days.

5. Average showings. Finally, let’s look at the average number of showings it takes for a home to get an offer. Right now, homes are getting offers after an average of 11 showings.

If you’re interested in learning more and taking a better look at these statistics, you can view them in their entirety here.

If you have any other questions about Charleston real estate, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We would love to hear from you.

A Unique Opportunity for You

Today I have a unique opportunity that I wanted to share. We're looking to add salespeople to each of our locations to serve the thousands of leads we've generated this month.

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I've been working in real estate here in Charleston for 13 years, so I've seen the highs, the lows, and a lot of other things in between. During that time, I've developed one of Charleston's first real estate teams, which has expanded into multiple locations.

We're looking to add two or three salespeople at each of our four locations.

In the past 30 days, our team generated 3,813 leads of people who are either moving to the area or who live here already and are thinking about moving. About two-thirds of the leads we generated are from outside the area by people looking to move into Charleston. Did you know that 53 people move to Charleston every single day? We can get you in front of those people looking to buy a home here, and that’s a huge opportunity!

Within our team, we share these leads with our agents, and we literally are not able to get to all of them currently.  We need YOU!   We're looking to add two or three great salespeople to each our four locations.

If you're interested, just reply to this email and it will go directly to Jeff , 100% confidential, or visit www.JoinJCRE.com.

What Do Rising Interest Rates Mean for You?

Interest rates have crept up and are on the rise even further. How can you take advantage of this knowledge?

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Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Have you heard? Interest rates are on the rise. What does that mean for your home’s value? That is exactly what I wanted to discuss today.

The entity that sets interest rates, the Federal Reserve, meets on a quarterly basis. In 2016, they increased interest rates in two of their four meetings, including the one in December. They have predicted that this year they will raise rates in three out of the four meetings.

Let’s just say they go up 1% from 4.5% to 5.5%, which is what many experts are predicting. Logic says that is still an amazingly low rate, and based on 20- and 30-year trends, it is. However, here is what that increase means for you specifically if you’re trying to buy a home.

This is the time to buy or sell before they go up.

If you get approved today for up to $300,000 at 4.5%, just a 1% increase will greatly affect your buying power. With a 5.5% rate, you would only be able to afford a $270,000 home and your mortgage payment will end up about the same as it would have been with a $300,000 home at 4.5%.

If you’re trying to get the maximum amount of money possible out of your home sale, now might be a good time to consider putting your home on the market. There are a lot of buyers out there looking right now and the more potential eyeballs looking at your home, the better. On the flip side, if you plan on purchasing a new home in the near future, it is a good idea to take advantage of the money while it’s cheap and before rates go up.

If you have any questions for me or if you are looking to buy or sell a home in Charleston, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I would love to hear from you and discuss your specific situation further.

How Do You Know You’re Picking the Right Mortgage Lender?

Picking the right mortgage lender can be tricky, so here are some of your options to help you choose what’s best for you.

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There are so many options out there in the lending world. You have online banks, brick-and-mortar banks, and non-depository institutions like us. How do you know which one is right for you?

There are different factors to consider, such as rates, fees, and services. Without going from bank to bank to bank, how do you establish that? Let’s examine your options.

With an online bank, you’re a one-time client for them. After your business is completed, they’re not thinking about you ever again, so they don’t have the motivation to service you properly and make the process as easy as possible.

My team can take great care of you.

With brick-and-mortar banks, their end goal is to make you a customer so they can sell you additional products like car loans, IRAs, bank accounts, etc.

With non-depository institutions like us, our goal is to create that continual referral source by providing outstanding customer service, great rates, low fees, and making the mortgage process as easy as possible. 

If you have any questions or are in need of a great lender, please don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to helping you!

How Do You Finance a Tiny Home?

If you want to buy a tiny home, can you finance the purchase? Chris Gonzalez from Tabor Mortgage is here to tell you how.

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A lot of people are downsizing and moving into tiny homes. Chris Gonzalez from Tabor Mortgage is here to answer the question, “Can you finance a tiny home?” 

The answer is yes, but it may not be the traditional mortgage that you’re thinking of.

There are only two ways to finance a tiny house.

First, you should know that there are a few different types of tiny homes out there:

1. A trailer you can move. 
2. A tiny home on land you can own. 
3. A tiny home on land you rent from a development. 

That said, there are only two ways to finance a tiny home. One option is to apply for a personal loan from a local bank. The other is to get an actual RV loan from your local bank.

If you have any other questions about financing a tiny home, you can reach Chris at (843) 840-4821 or Chris@TaborMortgage.com. As always, if you have any real estate questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We would be happy to help you!