Palm Beach County, FL Real Estate Video Blog with The Treu Group

Showing posts with label Home Seller Tips. Show all posts

Selling Your Home During Major Life Changes

If you are facing a stressful life event while dealing with a real estate transaction, there are a few common mistakes that you need to avoid.

A major life change can definitely impact your real estate transaction. When people face trying times, they tend to make mistakes during their real estate transaction. We’re only human after all. Today, I’ll go over a few common mistakes for you to avoid.

First of all, if you suddenly lose your job but can afford to keep your home, don’t put it on the market right away. See if you can get a new job in the same area before you sell. If you can’t make your mortgage payments without your job, call us right away.

Another stressful life event that can impact your transaction is a divorce. You need to deal with what makes sense. Should you offer a buyout? Should you agree to sell the home? Which option is the best one for you?

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Which option works
best for you?

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When people get divorced, they are dealing with a loss of the future. They are thinking about all of the dreams that they planned as a couple and watching them disappear. People try to hold onto that future and make emotional decisions, such as paying too much to retain the home. Sometimes, it makes sense to sell the home and get a new start.

The third major life event that can be challenging is when you lose a loved one. The biggest mistake I see is that people either sell too quickly or hold on too long. I believe that there is a natural period where you need to have your time to grieve. Don’t do anything now.

My team and I are here to help you so that you can make the right decisions for your situation. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. We are here to help you come up with the right plan, so if you find yourself in a stressful situation, give us a call. We would be happy to help you!

Staged For Success: Importance of Home Staging and Tips to Sell Your Home for the Most Money

Over 95% of realtors believe that staging directly impacts your chances of getting your home sold for the most money. Accompany us while Lisa Treu shares her professional tips to increase your home’s appeal and positively influence the value of the property through staging. This Treu Real Estate 911 podcast brings you the best professional advice while coaching you about the latest trends in the Real Estate market.

Tips for Adding Value to Your Palm Beach County Home

Buying a home? Click here to perform full home search
Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation
Call me at (561) 352-3056 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation

Today, I’ll show you a few strategies to update your home and maximize the resale value. If you’re thinking about selling your property, there are a few things you can do to get top dollar.

First, look at your kitchens and baths. Kitchens are what sell homes, and baths are what keep buyers in that home. Now, that doesn’t mean you have to start from scratch on the kitchen. Instead, find a great new granite or quartz countertop that will help you achieve that luxury feel. You can also do simple things like updating your lighting and your faucets.

What else do you need to do? Many people need to simplify and reduce clutter. Having a light, open home will definitely help you get top dollar.

Plus, you always want your flooring to be in great condition, so consider updating or replacing that used carpet.

I have a few other tips for you, so give me a call or send me an email if you have any questions. I look forward to hearing from you!

How Can You Add Value to Your Palm Beach County Home?

Prospective buyers appreciate special features including hand-scraped wood floors, upgraded lighting, and custom draperies. Often, you can add these features to living rooms, studies, and bedrooms. It really gives a home a luxurious feel.

Additionally, kitchens help buyers fall in love with properties on the spot! Appealing kitchens make it easy for a property to appeal to a buyer. Here, you can update the cabinets; add granite countertops and/or island; and upgrade appliances. Consider popular trends with neutral finishes everyone will love. You only have one chance to win over buyers!

Whatever you love about your home, highlight it. For instance, it’s common for homes to have extravagant pools and amazing views, especially those located by golf courses. Choose one thing to make your home shine and stick out.

If you’re thinking of putting your home on the market soon, contact us today! We can also help answer any questions about the buying process. We look forward to hearing from you.

What You Need to Know About Property Taxes

Today, we're going to talk about property taxes. The good news is property values are up. The challenge is that when property values go up, so do your property taxes.

If you have a homesteaded property, you definitely have good news. Thanks to Save the Home protection, many people saw almost no increase in taxes on their homesteaded property, even though the property's value went up.

If you own a second home, commercial property, or investment property, you probably saw your taxes increase by as much as 13%. Property values are only going to continue to rise, so make sure your budget allows for property tax increases in 2016.

Now, if you purchased a homesteaded property in 2014, you were probably surprised with a big jump in your property taxes. You do get that homestead protection, but you lost all of the savings that the previous owners collected over time.

If you're thinking of buying, you need a real estate agent who can help you maneuver all of those situations. We're here to help you maximize the property's value and make the right decisions. If you own an investment property or second home and aren't sure what to do from here, we can help you as well.

If you have any questions at all about property taxes, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. We would be happy to help you!

Understanding Your Property Taxes with Gary Nikolits

How Can You Win in Palm Beach Real Estate?

Right now, we have 4.5 months of inventory, putting us in a strong seller’s market. If you’re thinking of selling, this is the perfect time. If you price it right, have the right condition and perfect marketing, you are going to win. You might even get multiple offers.

In the market of homes listed $400,000 and below, the average days on the market is 33 days or less.

As for the $400,000 - $600,000 price range, those homes are selling in an average of 52 days and homes listed from $600,000 - $1 million are selling in an average of 95 days.

What does this mean for buyers in a seller’s market? It means you need an agent on your side who can educate you about the buying process, be on your side during negotiations, and make sure you get a fair deal on a home.

Here’s one interesting thing we saw. In July, there was a 16% increase in foreclosures. After 10 months of previous decline, this is an interesting development. We’ll keep an eye on the situation to see if it’s just an anomaly, or something that could develop into a trend.

If you have any questions for us, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to working with you.

Click here to view all of the stats we mention in this view: https://goo.gl/Gw9nhW

What's Going on with the Latest Market Statistics?

Buying a home? Click here to perform full home search
Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation
Call me at (561) 352-3056 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation

Today we wanted to take a moment to address some of your concerns regarding the Palm Beach County real estate market. When the latest statistics came out, many people called me, worried about the numbers. So I wanted to take a moment to walk you through them.

The biggest concern was over the median sales price, where we saw a decrease of 8.8% year over year. If you just hear the figure out loud and don't understand why it dropped, you may think our market is shifting to a buyer's market.
However, if you look at the numbers more in depth, you will find that 1/3 of closings last month were distressed properties, foreclosures, and short sales. Distressed homes always impact our median sales price in a negative way. When you take these properties out of the equation, our market is much more calm.

Now we did have some good news as well. The median number of days on market is down by 10%, meaning that homes are selling faster. The other important piece of news has to do with our supply of inventory. Right now, we are down 3.2% in inventory from last year, but there were 33% more closings this year than there were a year ago. Pending sales were also up 29.8%.

The real estate market in Palm Beach County is still looking good. If you have any questions, or want to know how your neighborhood is doing, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you soon!
Click here to see February 2015 Market Stats!

Is December or January a Better Time to List Your Home?

There are many great Palm Beach County homes for sale. Click here to perform full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (561) 352-3056 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

I want to let you in on a little secret. We get asked all the time whether December or January is a better time to list your home for sale. Most people would guess that January would be a better time, due to the rush of the holiday season being over and the new year beginning, but most people would be wrong. We would like to show you an insider secret that most real estate agents don't know and that is: December is the perfect time to sell.

Over the past 4 years, more homes have closed in the month of December than January. Why? For a few reasons. One being that we have a lot of people that want to benefit from property tax breaks by buying before the end of the year. We also have a lot of cash buyers visiting the area.

Another thing to consider is real estate is all about supply and demand. Did you know that last January, inventory rose 68% from the previous December? In December, we have nearly the same amount of buyers, but far less choices for them, which drives the prices of good homes up.

If you want to sell your home for top dollar, you need to get in touch with us soon. We might be able to have you close by the end of the year or right after the new year. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to give us a call or send us a quick email.

What Are the Benefits of a Home Warranty?

There are many benefits to having a home warranty. When appliances break down, as they tend to do once you've lived in your home a while, the expenses can pile up. By the end of the day, you may need to make thousands of dollars in repairs. A home warranty can help. It will cover the expense of the natural wear and tear your appliances and other items are subjected to. For structural damage, an insurance plan will help to take care of weather-related damages.

Whether you're a homeowner who's lived in their home for 30 years or you're looking to sell, a home warranty is invaluable. Many sellers don't realize how beneficial they can be - a home warranty will give buyers peace of mind and will help your home sell faster and for more money. Since no one can predict the future and know what surprises might come along down the road, a home warranty is always a safe bet!

If you have questions about your options regarding home warranties, or want us to discuss a specific topic in a future video, please give us a call. We look forward to helping you soon!

Palm Beach Real Estate Market Snapshot

Many people have asked us lately: "What's going on with our real estate market in Palm Beach County?" Today we have some good news.

We are still in a seller's market - with 5.7 months of inventory, we're close to having a neutral market of 6 months worth of inventory. We've also been seeing many cash transactions lately; in fact, 41.7% of recent transactions have involved a cash closing.

What does all of this mean? These trends are good for a recovering market, as there aren't concerns about appraisals on these deals. Also, it means the market has become stable, as the cash transactions will not be at any risk of future default.

This last month, we had the lowest number of new properties coming on the market since February. If you're looking to sell a Palm Beach home, now is the ideal time. There is less competition, a great chance to get a higher price for your home, and an opportunity to get your home sold quickly.

Give us a call or shoot us an email soon if you want to take advantage of these conditions. We would love to help you get the most out of our great Palm beach real estate market!

"Do I Need the Luck o' the Irish to Sell My Home?"

Today's blog comes to you from Northern Ireland, at the beautiful Giant's Causeway. Fun fact: we usually think of the "luck of the Irish" as a phrase that originated in Ireland. However, it's an American phrase that came from the 19th century gold rushes, because many who found gold were of Irish descent.

Lucky for you, if you're thinking of selling, you don't need the "luck of the Irish" to maximize your home's value. You need the right price, the right condition, and state-of-the-art marketing.

We would love to show you how we can help you get to the closing table with top dollar. Give us a call or shoot us an email for all the real estate help you need. We'd be lucky to have you!

Fannie Mae is Making Some Big Changes - What Do They Mean for You?

Next month Fannie Mae is making some changes that we feel you should know about. Traditionally, if you make a short sale or a deed in lieu, you have to wait 2 years before you are eligible to qualify for a loan. Next month that waiting period will be stretched to 4 years. If you made a short sale or deed in lieu 2 or more years ago and want to buy a home, now is the time to start searching. You don't want to miss out on the chance to make a move and have to wait another 2 years before applying for a loan, so you need to act now.

In other news, the professional investors from one of the largest hedge funds in Palm Beach County, after buying 1,152 homes over the last two years. have stopped buying. The effect this will have on our market remains to be seen.

If you have any questions about Palm Beach real estate or would like to chat about market conditions in your area, give me a call. I would love to hear from you.

Clearing Up 3 Common Real Estate Myths

Busting Myths About Palm Beach County Real Estate

In order to help you make more informed decisions and get the most equity out of your Palm Beach County home sale we're going to blow the cover off a few different real estate myths that you might still believe in.

Pricing High: Starting your Palm Beach County home at a high price is not a good strategy. Pricing high tends to push away potential buyers and limit your pool. However, when you price more affordably and attractively, buyers will begin to fight over your property because they see great value in it. This will help raise your sale price because you will get multiple offers, which puts you in the position to make your buyers compete. When buyers compete, you get the highest market value for your home, which helps you maximize your equity from the sale.
Hiring a Local Expert: The truth is that an agent who understands where the buyer is and how to attract them will be your best option. At the Treu Group we will market your home effectively to attract the highest number of Palm Beach County buyers as possible.
Having Agents at a Showing: The truth is that accessibility is key. Even if the listing agent is available to show, the question is: will showing agents select your home first? The Treu Group knows how to protect you and offers great representation to all clients.

Hopefully this information will help you get the most equity when selling your Palm Beach County home. This is often the key to successfully moving on to your next property.

As always, please contact the Treu Group with any comments or questions you might have about the real estate market here in Palm Beach County. We're always willing to help you.

The Palm Beach County Market is Sizzling!

There are many great Palm Beach & Martin County area homes for sale. Click here to perform full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (561) 352-3056 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

I am asked time and time again about the current state of the real estate market – so here you go!

Palm Beach County is still in a seller’s market with 5.8 months of inventory; prices remain high, we are still seeing multiple offer scenarios and 50% of last month’s deals were paid with cash.

Prices are up 15.7% year over year. If you’re thinking about selling, it may be time to list your home. The market remains busy with hedge funds, buyers, international buyers and the Northeast’s anticipation for our warm Florida weather.

What is your next step? Give us a call – we will go over these stats together! This will ensure that your home will sell for top dollar.

Thanks and have a great day!

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