Realtor

Did You Know Having a Realtor Help You Buy a Home is Free?

November 17, 2021 By Deborah Ward

You’ve decided to buy a home, but you are worried about the costs. One big one is the cost of the Realtor when you buy. Did you know that having a Realtor helping you buy a home is in most cases free? Here’s how.

Hire an agent to represent you

Did You Know Having a Realtor Help You Buy a Home is Free? If you hire an agent to represent you as a buyer, that agent represents you, not the seller. They are there to be in your corner. Sure, you could look on your own or take your chances relying on the seller’s agent. If you do that there is no one to answer your questions or represent you in the purchase.

Do you know all the ins and outs of a real estate transaction? Do you know what to do if things go sideways? Having an agent on your side is important. Not having to pay them for their time and advice is priceless.

In general, Realtors don’t get paid at all until a property closes

The Realtor gets their paycheck at the settlement table, whether seller’s agent or buyer’s agent. That said at the closing table the seller is responsible for paying those fees. If you have a separate buyer’s agent the fees are split, unless there is an agreement saying otherwise. Remember in a home sale, everything is negotiable. Generally, though, the seller pays.

So what does that mean for you? It means you get the services of a professional, the advice, the legwork and everything else, for no cost to you.

If you are thinking about buying a home give The Deb Ward Team a call today! 727-410-0336 (we love helping homebuyers!)

Selling Your Home? What NOT To Do 6 Months Out

November 17, 2021 By Deborah Ward

Last week we talked about what you should be doing six months out from listing or selling your home. So now let’s look at the reverse…what NOT to do.

Don’t go above and beyond

You know that list that your Realtor gave you about what needs to be fixed and what doesn’t? Don’t go above and beyond. What does that mean? Well, fix and update where they say needs it. Your Realtor understands the return on investment of updates and upgrades to your home.

What they don’t want you to do is to start ripping and tearing everything out like you’re on Property Brothers on HGTV! Most renovations won’t give you much bang for your buck. This is especially true if you are doing renovations to your specific taste. Sure, baths and kitchens usually do give you a decent ROI, but that pink tile and $800+ bidet you’ve been dying to get for your bathroom that you just KNOW buyers will LOVE will most likely kill off any money you should have seen from the renovation.

Don’t DIY the renovations

Another don’t: unless you are truly a professional in the home renovation field, don’t do any renovations yourself. Sure it looks easy on HGTV or DIY Network. It’s not and you could very quickly find yourself in way over your head. Leaving projects unfinished is much worse for your home’s value than not updating in the first place. Not to mention that what you destroy you’re going to have to pay a lot more to fix than if you paid a professional in the first place.

Think plumbing fix that ended up in a flood ruining carpeting and hardwoods. Now you have to fix the plumbing AND the flooring. But even if you don’t have any disasters, the long reaching consequences will have a future buyer shelling out more later to fix your fixes.

Actually, the only DO that I’ll say here that you should do is STOP WATCHING fix-it networks. Your future buyer will thank you!

Why You Should Use A Realtor To Buy Your Next Home

November 17, 2021 By Deborah Ward

If you’ve ever bought or sold a home, you know it can be a very complex, confusing and involved process. From listing to closing, there is a lot of things to know, do and take care of. Do you know them all? A Realtor does. In fact, navigating the buying process is a lot easier with the help of a Realtor.

Do you know how to find listings to go and see?

Searching listings to find homes that fit your needs and wants? Sure, you can use the plethora of real estate web pages, but if you want to be sure to get the listings you need to see, only a Realtor can find them all.

Once you find them how will you make the appointments to actually see them? Do you want to call and deal with the owners yourself? Do you think they will take you seriously?

Negotiating the price

Ok, now you found the home you want, do you know the ins and outs of negotiating the price? Do you have someone around to advise what it is really worth? What about counter-offering if the sellers come back with a counter to your initial offer?

Do you know what kinds of things can be negotiated in lieu of more or less money? Things like seller [pays for X and buyer pays for Y]. A really motivated seller can be persuaded into paying things like closing costs for the buyer. Do you know to even ask?

Good to go

The contract is signed and you’re good to go, right? Wrong. Now there are appraisals, inspections, repairs and all kinds of paperwork to shuffle. A Realtor will know what is needed when, who to call and how to get it done on time.You’re going to make the biggest purchase of your life. Do you really want to do it alone, without an expert to help guide you through it?

Looking for a great Clearwater Realtor? Give The Deb Ward Team a call today! 727-410-0336

3 Home Sale Tips Your Realtor Might Not Tell You

November 17, 2021 By Deborah Ward

If you’ve had a discussion with a Realtor about selling your home, there are three things that he or she didn’t tell you. They probably didn’t tell you right up front because they didn’t want you to list with someone else. The problem is, these three things are important. You SHOULD expect your Realtor to tell them to you no matter what.

Pricing

First, you made it very clear to the Realtor that you MUST get, you NEED to get a specific price for your home. Guess what? It doesn’t matter what you must get or need to get for your home. Your Realtor doesn’t set the price of your home, the market does. You can list it for whatever you want, but unless you list it for a price that the market will support, it won’t sell. Any Realtor who doesn’t realize that fact isn’t much of a Realtor. Any Realtor worth their salt will tell you this first fact up front.

Repairs and updating

Second, you know all those things that need to be fixed or updated that you’ve been putting off? Thinking that you can just pawn them off on the new owners isn’t smart, and it isn’t like the Realtor missed them when you walked through together. He or she was making a list. That list should have been shared with you right away. Why? Because you DO have to fix them all. If not, you have to start with a lower asking price. It’s one or the other. Knowing now instead of waiting until later would be better for you so that you have time to get them done.

Viewing schedule

Third, you realize that when people want to come see your home when listed on their schedule not yours, right? Oh, and you’ll have to be elsewhere when that happens. You were told that, right? No? Well they should have. You don’t get to set the showing schedule and you also need to not be there when people come. How can they feel comfortable looking through your home, cabinets, closets, etc., with you there? They can’t and that feeling of discomfort will transfer to their feelings about your home. End result – no sale.

So, if you weren’t told these facts, now you have been!

If you would like to work with a Clearwater Realtor who will always tell you the truth, give the Irish Realtor a call today! 727-410-0336

Selling Your Home – Think About What Buyers Want

November 17, 2021 By Deborah Ward

It may sound like a silly thing to say, but when you are selling your home you should think about what your buyer wants. That could mean a lot of things, but if you think about how your home looks from the eye of a buyer, you’ll probably do more to sell it.

So what do buyers want in a home?

Of course they are looking for things like school districts or the amenities a neighborhood can offer, but those things aren’t really in your control. You may have bought your home not thinking about kids and schools, or about whether shopping, restaurants or entertainment is close or farther away from your home. The school system may suddenly have got better or worse, or something could have been built close by, but again, it’s beyond your control.

What you can change is your home and yard.

Start outside and look at your home from the perspective of someone buying. Is it inviting or overgrown? Is it tidy or strewn with toys or trash?

Take some time to work on your landscaping. Paint or clean your front porch and/or door, back deck or patio, sidewalks and driveway. First impressions count. Don’t turn buyers off before they even step foot in your home.

Now that all of that is finished, time to fix your inside.

Declutter, clean and touch up or completely paint. Bring your Realtor in to get his or her input on what furniture should go and what should stay. Remove all extra furniture and stage all rooms to make them look inviting, spacious and new. Update where your Realtor says you should, budget allowing. Then keep up the staging and cleanliness.

Make what you can control the best you can and you will attract the right buyer for your home.

Why We Can’t Tell You If It’s a “Good” Neighborhood |Clearwater Realtor Tips

November 17, 2021 By Deborah Ward

You know you’ve wanted to ask it when you last house hunted. That question was on the tip of your tongue with each house you walked through. The question? So is this house in a good neighborhood? If you did ask it, you know that you didn’t get an answer, or at least a straight one. There’s a reason why they didn’t tell you.

The Fair Housing Act

The most important reason is that your Realtor can’t tell you whether it is not. If they do they will be violating
the Fair Housing Act. That law, which was enacted to make sure landlords don’t discriminate based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability or family status, keeps Realtors from making statements that characterize a neighborhood as good or bad. The law actually prohibits any real estate professional from steering you, as a buyer, toward or away from a particular neighborhood if that steering is based on a basis of discrimination.

What will violate the act?

Even an innocuous comment like “this neighborhood is perfect for singles” would violate the Act. How? It would imply to people with children or older/elderly people may not stay interested in a home because they pick up on the implication that it isn’t “for them” because they aren’t a young single and the neighborhood caters to young singles. Even answering questions about crime or schools can be a problem. Someone may interpret an answer about crime statistics or bad schools as racially motivated.

So what do you, as a buyer, do?

You want to live in certain areas with similar people to your lifestyle, or you are worried about schools for your kids, but you can’t ask knowing your Realtor won’t be able to answer you? Well, you can do some of the leg work on your own.

For instance, you want to live in a neighborhood with great schools, largely Christian, conservative neighborhood. So you will need to call the local churches and political groups for their demographic information. Check with the State Board of Education for school statistics.

Then narrow to the neighborhoods that apply and go there to see if it is a good neighborhood. Talk to people who live there. Ask them questions. Go during election season and see whose signs are in which yards. People are usually rather forthcoming about where they live. Just don’t be obnoxious with your questions!

Then ask your Realtor to show you listings in those neighborhoods!