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The latest news about the real estate market this holiday season.
Happy holidays! Thank you for putting your trust in our team. I also want to give you a quick update on what’s happening in the market. There are so many doom and gloom headlines. While they might reflect some parts of the country, real estate markets are very local. Even from one city to another nearby, there can be vast differences.
Right now, homes are still selling, however, the supply of available houses is still low. We have half a month of active inventory. Even if you include the listings with accepted offers, we still only have one month’s supply. A balanced market would have about six months of inventory, so this is still a seller’s market. If you’re a buyer right now, you’ll benefit from not much competition. Only serious buyers want to go look at houses when the weather is like this.
This may be a busy time of year, but we are always here to help you and answer any questions you may have. Give us a call or reply to this email; we’d love to help you. In case we don’t hear from you until 2023, have a happy New Year!
Here are six tips that will get your home ready for the winter season.
How do you get your house ready for winter? Leaves are almost all down, and winter’s on its way. While there are probably a few nice days left this year, it won’t be for long. Now is the perfect time to get everything ready for the winter. Here are a few things that I recommend you should do before the snow falls:
1. Take your hoses off your outdoor faucets. Drain them and store them. The older-style faucets or spigots can be shut off from the inside of the house, while the newer ones have a valve that shuts when you turn it. This way, they’ll be less apt to freeze unless it’s extremely cold.
2. Clean the gutters. Once the leaves are all down, get all the sticks and debris out of your gutters so you won’t have issues with water freezing in there and clogging the drain. If you leave it unattended, this could lead to a problem with ice damming and cause damage to your house.
3. Make sure your snow blower works. If you have a snow blower, make sure that it runs correctly.
4. Winterize the lawn mower. Once you’re done with the final mowing of the lawn, it’s time to winterize the lawn mower. Put it in the back of the garage, and move your working shovels up front. You may also want to pick up some ice melt or some sand if you don’t have any.
5. Check your smoke detectors and high-low vents. It’s always a good idea to regularly check your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Replace the batteries if necessary, and make sure that they work properly. Also, don’t forget to routinely check your high-low vents.
6. Set up your holiday decorations. If you have plans to decorate for the holidays, do it now before it becomes too cold to go outside.
For any questions about this topic or anything related, call or email me. I’m always happy to hear from you!
Four ways to make your offer more competitive in multiple-offer situations.
Today’s real estate market is still competitive for buyers. If you fall in love with a home, chances are that other buyers have seen it as well, and you’ll have to compete against them to get your offer accepted. Even though interest rates have increased, there still aren’t enough homes to balance out our market. That means sellers have the upper hand, and buyers are forced to compete against each other. Fortunately, there are a few ways you can make your offer stand out to sellers:
1. Offer above the asking price. You’ll have to offer more than asking price if you want to win in a multiple-offer situation, but that doesn’t mean you’ll have to bring too much more money to the table. An extra $2,000 might be enough to draw the seller’s attention. As long as you don’t offer far more than the asking price, this shouldn’t change your monthly payment that much.
2. Limit your inspection. Many sellers worry about deals falling apart because of issues during the inspection. However, if you waive your inspection entirely, you could be on the hook for costly repairs. Instead, you can limit your risk by reducing the inspection period or agreeing to only ask for major repairs.
3. Cover the appraisal. With home prices rising so quickly, many houses aren’t appraising for their final sales price. Normally, the buyer and seller would negotiate to see who’s responsible for the difference. However, you can make your offer more attractive by agreeing to cover a potential appraisal gap. If you’re already fully underwritten, you can waive your appraisal contingency entirely. If not, then you can offer appraisal gap coverage, which is where you’ll cover any gap up to a certain amount you choose.
4. Be flexible. Sellers might want different things concerning the timing of their sale. You can work with the seller’s agent and either offer an extended closing or a quick closing to coincide with the seller’s needs. Doing so can help your offer stand out to the seller. To sweeten the deal even more, you can also offer a leaseback agreement or post-occupancy period, where you let the seller stay in their house after closing to give them time to move and/or find another house. These agreements usually last for anywhere up to 60 days and can be a great way to offer your seller a flexible closing.
If you’re tired of competing, have hope. Interest rates are rising, and it looks like the competition from buyers is easing up slightly. While we still expect to see a seller’s market for a while, it may get easier to purchase a home in the coming months.
If you’d like to take a look at what’s presently available on the market, you can view our multiple listing service here:
Click here to see all available homes in your area.
If you have any questions about making your offer more competitive or buying homes in general, feel free to call or email us. We would love to help you navigate this market.
What can you do if a home doesn’t appraise in this crazy-hot market?
In the Madison market, inventory is incredibly low. As a result, competition for homes is fierce, and prices continue to rise. When you want to buy a home, the bank or your lender order an appraisal to make sure the house’s true value supports the amount you’re paying for it. This usually isn’t an issue; however, when prices are rising so quickly, homes often don’t reach the agreed-upon price during appraisal. What can you do in this situation to make sure the deal doesn’t fall through?
In our current market, many buyers deal with this situation by skipping the appraisal altogether. They do this by either offering all cash or waiving their appraisal contingency. Unfortunately, this isn’t an option for everyone.
If you can’t waive your appraisal contingency, your real estate agent can help you dispute a low appraisal. The appraised value is supposed to be what the true market value is. If your agent can make a convincing case that the home is worth what you’re paying for it, you can successfully win your dispute.
Often, we’ve found that multiple-offer situations are a good piece of evidence to show an appraiser. Home values are increasing rapidly, so the more recent the data, the better. If you can prove that others were willing to pay a similar or identical price for the property, you could win your dispute.
This is a complicated topic, so if you’d like to talk about it, please call or email us. We are always willing to help!
Here are the top three remodeling projects in terms of return on cost.
When it comes to remodeling your home, which projects stand the best chance of getting your money back when you sell? Sellers often ask about home upgrades, so today I’ll talk about the three that will get you the biggest bang for your buck according to data from Remodeling Magazine. You can look over their Remodeling 2021 Cost vs. Value Report for 2022 here. These are the top three according to the report:
1. Garage door replacement. According to Remodeling Magazine, replacing your garage door has the No.1 return on cost, with a national average of 93.3%. It’s definitely a good way to increase your home’s curb appeal.
2. Installing manufactured stone veneer. Putting stone veneer on the outside of your home will spiff up your curb appeal, too. On average, you’ll recoup 91.4% from the project.
3. Minor kitchen remodel. On a full kitchen remodel, you’ll get about 50% of your money back when you sell. A minor kitchen remodel, however, will bring you a 71.2% return.
If you’re thinking about doing any remodeling, I encourage you to talk to your Realtor and get some estimates on the projects you had in mind. If you’d like my advice or have any questions, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I’d love to help you.
© 2021 Zonda Media, a Delaware Corporation. Complete data from the Remodeling 2021 Cost vs. Value Report can be downloaded free at www.costvsvalue.com.
Here are a few of the many ways to sell your home based on your situation.
It’s no secret that this is a tough market. People looking to buy and sell a home at the same time are in a tricky spot. Sure, you can sell your old house easily, but how can you buy a new one without going homeless?
In a balanced market, it isn’t too difficult to line up your home sale with your purchase, but we are far from a balanced market. There are many ways to accomplish this goal, but I can only share a couple in this short video. Please reach out to me to go through your specific situation.
In a hot seller’s market like ours, you have two main options:
If you have questions about which option is right for you, please give me a call or shoot me an email. I’d love to talk with you about your options and your specific circumstances.
How the supply and demand situation is affecting the Madison market.
Today I’ll update you on the state of the real estate market in the Madison area. Things are moving very quickly in our market, and we have a very low supply of available houses. The south-central Wisconsin MLS has calculated that we have about 0.5 months of supply. A normal market has about six months of supply.
This market really favors sellers. Many of the listings out there have multiple offers coming in, and they often have very few if any contingencies. Many are also cash offers. Traditionally, spring is the best time to list your house because buyers are anxious to get out there once the weather gets nicer. This is going to cause demand to double in the near future. Now is a good time to list your house.
In January, we saw about 11% fewer houses get listed than the previous January. We also saw about 10% fewer sales occur last January than we did in January 2021. This is partly due to there being fewer houses available to purchase. Lastly, interest rates are increasing and are currently almost at 4%. The Federal Reserve is talking about raising the discount rate by 25 to 50 basis points, which will put pressure on mortgage rates and home sales.
If you have any questions, reach out to me at (608) 212-5743. I look forward to hearing from you.
Looking to sell a Dane County home? Get a FREE home value report here
Today’s Madison market update is geared toward what sellers need to know.
Today I’m discussing what happened in our Madison area real estate market in 2021. I’ll also talk about how that affects our current market and what it will mean if you’re considering selling this year. Based on current conditions and what’s likely to come, now may be the best time to sell your house, and today I’ll explain why.
Feel free to watch the full message above, or use these timestamps that will direct you to various points in the video:
0:00 — Introduction to today’s topic
0:58 — Number of homes on the market
2:05 — What prices are doing right now
2:35 — What interest rates are doing right now
3:03 — What to expect from the second-home market
3:58 — What all this means for you
4:34 — Wrapping up today’s topic
If you’re ready to get the selling process rolling or have any questions, give me a call or send an email. I would love to be your real estate resource.
It’s been an amazing year for our team thanks to your continued support.
Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report.
Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale.
Check out the new app now!
I wanted to wish you and your family a very happy New Year. On behalf of me, my family, and my team, we hope 2021 was great and 2022 is even better. If you’re thinking about upsizing, downsizing, investing, or remodeling, we would love to be a resource for you. If you need anything at all, we’re here to serve you.
From our team to your family, we want to wish you a happy holiday season.
Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report.
Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale.
Check out the new app now!
Happy holidays to you!
The holiday season has officially arrived. We hope you enjoy this wonderful time of year and make some fantastic memories.
We wanted to take a moment to thank you for your continued support. We love helping people make their real estate dreams come true, so thank you for working with us and supporting our business.
This may be a busy time of year, but we are always here to help you and answer any questions you may have. Give us a call or reply to this email; we’d love to help you.
In case we don’t hear from you until 2022, have a happy New Year!
