The Deb Ward Team

Selling Your Home? What To Start Doing 6 Months Out

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You have decided that you are selling your home. Not right away, but several months from now. If you think you don’t have to do anything now, think again! There are quite a few things you should do now to ensure you get the most for your home. So what should you be doing? Read on to find out.

First thing you should do is call a Realtor

Selling Your Home? It’s not too soon and a Realtor will walk through your home and give you a good overview of what you will need to do to get your home in the best shape possible to sell.

A Realtor knows what homes in the area have and are expected to have and will be able to tell you whether you need to update yours or if it’s good to go.

Home inspection

It would also be a good time to get a home inspection to be sure all of the systems in your home as well as the foundation are sound or need fixing. Start on any repairs right away. Both finding a Realtor and the home inspection will provide you with a list of items that need to be done to get your best price, and the time to get them done.

Don’t leave all of that research to your Realtor

Do some legwork on your own and find out the high and low prices for homes in your neighborhood. That way you know what price you are aiming for when you finally list your home.

Next, start to work, room by room, at decluttering your home

You can keep a touch of your personal items here and there, but remove as much as you can and store it. You’ll be surprised at how much you don’t need to live day to day and how much bigger your rooms will look when you are done decluttering your home. It may also uncover other places that need fixing, paint that needs touching up or small holes that need patching.

Here’s a great tip, rent a POD and start packing up your stuff. You’re going to have to move it anyway, so why not start now. That way there are no boxes cluttering up your storage areas. Buyers look at storage in the home, so the bigger it looks, the better.

Should You Do “Taste Specific” Updates On Your Home

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You’re bored with how your home looks, or you know you want to make updates to it. So do you do “taste specific” or go with the current trends? Yes. No. There are ways to make your space your own without making it impossible to sell later.

You can start with things that are easily changed later

These are things like painting the walls, changing the Should You Do "Taste Specific" Updates On Your Homecarpet, updating blinds or curtains, etc. All of these can easily be changed to more traditional or neutral colors later. Let’s say you want to paint your living room a color palette from your favorite sports team, and put a mural of the team on one wall. Yeah, that’s going to be a problem later when you sell, until you cover it with a neutral color later. For now it’s how you want it, later not so much, but how a possible home buyer may want it.

More permanent changes

Doing things like changing the type of flooring can be more permanent, but can also help you be able to personalize now and sell later. Taking out old, dated carpeting is a good thing. Replacing it with hardwoods is even better. You can use throw rugs to personalize, add splashes of bold color, but replace them later with more neutral ones. Be careful about the type of flooring you choose, though. Cheap vinyl that looks like wood is obviously a bad choice.

One DON’T is make changes that are harder or more expensive to change later

These are things like tile floors and walls, countertops. Choosing to make these changes aren’t a no-no. Just be more conservative in your choices of these items. If you want to go granite, go granite, but something more neutral and less stand out.

You can always use furniture, throw rugs, towels, curtains and artwork to make a space specifically to your taste. That way making it more easily less you later is simply accomplished.

Buying A Home? Make Sure You Stop Watching HGTV

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Buying a home? Great but should you get your ideas for what you want in a home from those home improvement TV shows? Shows on HGTV and DIY Network like Property Brothers, Flip or Flop or Fixer Upper are great entertainment and seem like a great way to get ideas about what you want and don’t want, find a style and so on. Yes, but no.

Are these TV shows reasonable?

You want to buy a home but you’re not sure what you want. You decide to flip on the TV and see what the Property Brothers are up to. As Buying A Home? Make Sure You Stop Watching HGTVusual, they are showing homes that need a tweak to make them ready for a buyer. By a tweak, they mean practically tearing down the house and making it the best on the block.

They use the best materials, the latest style and top of the line appliances. Next, you check out Flip or Flop and what over the top, over their head flip they are doing. Chip and Joanna Gaines are a bit more reasonable, but again, tearing it all out and starting over.

Unrealistic expectations

Those shows are great but they tend to give you unrealistic expectations about a lot of things. First, the homes they fix up are in different markets. These markets may be very high ones, like you see on Flip or Flop (Southern California) or Property Brothers.

Fixer Upper is in a lower price market, Texas, which may or may not be in sync with your own. Prices for the same size and kind of home can vary greatly from market to market. What you see on television may not be what you can expect in the area you are looking.

What you need vs what you want

They are also not so great because they go above and beyond what most people really need to live. For instance, a gourmet kitchen is a great luxury, but you really only need a stove, refrigerator and sink to live. Granite and marble counters are fantastic, but laminate is just fine.

These shows can show you great things, but not necessarily what is absolutely necessary, especially if you are a first time buyer. A newlywed couple may want 4 or 5 bedrooms, but 1 or 2 are fine for a first home.

Call a Realtor

So turn off the television and call a Realtor. Let them help you with what is available for your budget in your market and what you really need in that home. If it looks like something from HGTV, great, but don’t set your expectations so high. Be realistic, and call a Realtor.

Luxury Home Real Estate Tips – 5 Things Luxury Buyers Expect

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When you think of a luxury real estate property what kinds of things would you expect to see? When luxury buyers come through your home will they see it a luxury property or will they find it lacking? If you expect to sell as a luxury home, listen up! There are more than a few things that buyers of these properties expect.

High end finishes

Luxury Home Real Estate Tips - 5 Things Luxury Buyers ExpectOf course high end finishes are required. Granite and marble for counters in kitchens and baths. Travertine or marble for floors in foyers baths or baths. High end hardwoods like bamboo, oak or cherry or even mahogany or teak.

Don’t forget things like high end hardware in the kitchen and bath. If you want to even be considered as “luxury” these items aren’t even negotiable. If you don’t have them either forget selling as a luxury property or get them.

Special areas

Now comes the extras being requested more and more. Realtors who specialize in high end luxury properties are hearing requests for special areas in the home or outside of it. These are things like separate laundry rooms, separate mud rooms, huge outside entertaining spaces with outdoor kitchens, spas, pools and outdoor showers. Let’s not forget access to the property when it is convenient for them. Oh and docks and boat lifts in waterfront properties.

But wait, the requests don’t stop at the property!

Luxury buyers expect to be catered to when looking for their new home. They may have different (read weird) instructions about when they will be looking. Just don’t become one of those obnoxious sellers who have specific and, yes, weird instructions.

Things like crazy hours it can be shown or things that can’t be done during a showing, etc.

Also, remember that if your Realtor is a specialist in luxury properties he or she will know to take amazing photos of the home. Don’t second guess them. Drone photos seem to be the newest craze. It may be a good idea, but take your Realtor’s advice about whether it’s a good idea for your home.

Why The Baby Boomers May Be Moving To Florida In Bigger Numbers

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Florida was once a haven for retirees, but after the 2008 recession that haven became something that Why The Baby Boomers May Be Moving To Florida In Bigger Numberswas out of reach for many of them (baby boomers) and the flow of retirees dried up. But the pendulum has started to swing the other way and many baby boomers are moving to Florida to retire again. During the recession of 2008 and for a quite some time since, retirees stayed close to home.

There are a number of reasons this happened

One was the fact that they couldn’t sell their homes. Many people rely on the equity in their homes to be able to retire and move. Without it they can’t.

On top of that, many people were forced into early retirement which caused huge financial stress, and they couldn’t rely on their investments because the stock market had taken a huge hit and took its time coming back as well. The younger end of the baby boomer generation still had kids in school which meant that moving was out of the question because they didn’t want to uproot their children.

Now those baby boomers are starting to move again

Some of the reasons that kept them in place have changed. For one, their homes have recovered a bit and they are back to having equity in them. Mortgage rates have stayed low making it easier for buyers to buy. Now that their kids are graduated and out, moving looks like it’s an option again.

Their bank accounts and stock portfolios have recovered too

While their nest egg isn’t quite back where it was, their savings and investments, coupled with the equity in their homes makes a comfortable retirement in a warmer climate do-able.

Here’s another important reason

The places where they call home have stayed expensive. Some states tried to slow the tax burden on their citizens, but many did not. In fact, some increased taxes to make up shortfalls in state budgets, further burdening retirees. Marry that with the ever rising expense of heating their homes during cold winters and moving somewhere cheaper to live because of lower heating and tax costs looks much better. Not to mention having to deal with the upkeep and snow as an older adult.

And so they move.

Mortgages Are Harder To Get Now: 5 Things To Know Before You Buy

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The days of easy to get mortgages have been over for awhile. That’s a good thing, but it can make buying a home a bit more difficult. There are some things you can do before you buy to get the best rate and mortgage for your new home.

Your credit score

These days your credit score is more important than most everything else in determining if you get a mortgage and what your interest rate will be. Take a few minutes and Mortgages Are Harder To Get Now: 5 Things To Know Before You Buyget your score. You can pull it once a year free from the big three credit rating companies: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. You don’t need to use one of those “free credit score” companies. But do get all three and know your numbers and average.

Don’t assume. A low credit score and credit fraud can stop a mortgage application dead in its tracks. Most mortgagors require a minimum credit score of 680 for conventional mortgages and 620 for FHA mortgages. If there are problems on your report, such as erroneous information fix it now before you apply.

Save, save, save

These days getting a mortgage with no down payment or a very low down payment is nearly impossible. How much depends on many things, but know that you’ll need at least a 3.5% down payment. More is better. You’ll also need money for closing costs and living expenses after the purchase.

Don’t change jobs

Don’t change employment. If you need to change jobs, wait until after you close on the home. Any changes in your employment or income can delay the mortgage process or stop it all together. If you change jobs your lender will need to re-evaluate if you still qualify for the mortgage or not.

Pay down your debt

If you have debt, pay it down and don’t take out new loans. High income to debt ratios can put the kibosh on your mortgage hopes. Lower income to debt ratios can get you a better interest rate on your mortgage. Also don’t go on a buying spree for new things for the house until after you close. New loans will show up when the lender does that last minute credit check. That includes co-signing loans for others.

The Deb Ward Team

Keller Williams Realty
30522 U.S. Highway 19 N, #107
Palm Harbor, FL 34684
Phone: 727-410-0336
Fax: 727-474-9069
Email: info@DeborahWard.com
The Deb Ward Team at Keller Williams Realty specializes in all of Pinellas County, Florida including: Clearwater, Palm Harbor, Dunedin, St. Petersburg, and the Gulf Beaches from Clearwater Beach down to St. Pete Beach serving buyers and sellers with a focus that is rarely found in the real estate world!