Before you close on your home, here are a few tips to help make your final-walkthrough count.   Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Want to know what your home is worth in today's market? Check out our Free Online Home Price Estimation Tool.Call me at (616) 942-2449 for a FREE home buying or selling consultationIf you’re a homebuyer, the final-walkthrough is an important part of the process that you need to know how to navigate. What is the final walk-through? The final walk-through is the buyer’s final opportunity to walk through the home and check it out before the official closing. This happens after the offer has been accepted and the inspection is done. Final walk-throughs are always a good idea. Why? If the last time you saw the home was two weeks ago, it might not be in the same condition today as it was then. As sellers move out, they take things off the walls and move furniture around, and certain issues you didn’t see during the inspection might be revealed during this time.  Final walk-throughs are always a good idea. With that in mind, here are three tips to help make your final walk-through count: 1. Don’t wait until the day of the closing to do the walk-through. By that time, if you find an issue you’d like the seller to take care of, it will be too late. Instead, do the walk-through a day or two in advance of the closing so you have time to reflect on whether any issues you find are worth bringing to the seller’s attention. 2. Use your phone to check the outlets during the walk-through. If you asked the seller to repair the outlets, this is an easy and effective way to know if they’re all working. 3. Watch out for any leftover belongings. State in your purchase agreement which items you’d like the seller to remove prior to closing. If you find any of these items during the walk-through, have your agent add an addendum to the contract and ask the seller to remove those items again. Hold off on the closing if you need to. You can also work out a dollar arrangement where the seller will pay for someone to remove the items for you. If you have any questions about this topic or you have any other real estate needs I can take care of, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d be happy to help you.

Today I’ve got two things to bring to your attention: First, an update on our market and then a recap of an interesting article I recently read entitled “Older Homeowners Are Preventing Millennials From Buying Houses.”  Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Want to know what your home is worth in today's market? Check out our Free Online Home Price Estimation Tool.Call me at (616) 942-2449 for a FREE home buying or selling consultationLet’s begin with an update on our year-to-date market conditions for 2019. The average sales price for 2019 has gone up to $233,000; that’s a 16% increase from last year. Our absorption rate—the number of available homes—is the biggest challenge we have in our market right now. Active listings have gone up 10% since last year, which is a good thing to see, given that it’s only February. If that trend continues, homebuyers will have more options in the market this year than they did in 2018. As I said before, our lack of inventory is the biggest challenge we’re facing in our market, and this is what The Washington Post article I recently read addresses—what’s the root cause of our dearth of inventory? Entitled “Older Homeowners Are Preventing Millennials From Buying Houses,” the article tacks some of the blame for this issue on the older generation. According to a study by Freddie Mac, senior homeowners (baby boomers and war babies) are staying in their homes longer. The reason cited for this is something called “the lock-in effect.” These homeowners are in love with their current mortgage interest rates and are loathe to give them up in search of a new home. Perhaps there are some other factors at play here. Maybe senior homeowners are living longer because they’re more healthy and they don’t want to go to an assisted living center. This would allow them to stay in their homes longer.  Senior homeowners are in love with their current mortgage interest rates and are loathe to give them up in search of a new home. Other studies suggest that it’s not just the activities of older homeowners to blame for the housing shortage for millennials. Here are three I’ve come across in my research: 1. Student debt. There is $1.5 trillion in student loan debt in the US right now. 2. High rent. Increasing rents prevent millennials from saving up for a down payment on a home. 3. Millennials are having kids and getting married later. These life events are typical triggers for homebuyers, but since they’re happening later, it’s reflected in the market. To learn more about this issue, you can read the full article here. If you’re thinking of selling your home or would like more information about our current market conditions, you can always reach out to me. I’m here to help.

There are five myths about real estate that home sellers NEED to stop believing.  Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Want to know what your home is worth in today's market? Check out our Free Online Home Price Estimation Tool.Call me at (616) 942-2449 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation If you’re thinking of putting your home up for sale this year, and you’re planning out how you’re going prepare your home for the market, pay attention—these myths can cause home sellers some trouble: 1. You can do it solo. I’ll say this: Yes, you can sell your home on your own. But I’d follow that up with this question: “At what cost?” There’s always a cost when you sell your home by yourself. This year, an agent I know placed an offer on a home that was For Sale By Owner. We figured out that the home in question was priced at least $15,000 to $20,000 under the market price. Of course, the agent put an offer on the home and got it for a great deal. The seller didn’t know what they were losing out on because they didn’t have access to the metrics that we, as agents, do—metrics that allow us to use data to properly price homes. Unless you’re actively involved with the industry, there’s a lot of critical information you’ll miss out on. 2. You know what your home is really worth. It’s really difficult to assess the value of your own home without a professional understanding of the market you’re in. The emotions a seller has for their own home can skew their perceptions of its worth. 3. It’s fine to sell a home as-is. There are things we can do to prepare a home for sale that allows us to make low-cost, high-impact improvements Before putting it on the market, there are low-cost, high-impact improvements we can make to prepare a home. Touching up paint, updating light fixtures, and cleaning up the landscaping are all examples of simple, little things homeowners can do that will boost your home’s value. Selling your home as-is is rarely a good idea. The time and relatively low amount of money you put into making these improvements will turn into a better price at the closing table.  It’s really difficult to assess the value of your own home without a professional understanding of the market you’re in. 4. Spring is the only time to sell. This absolutely isn’t true—it’s just what most people think. With the exception of crazy, weather-related events, you can list your home at any point there are buyers out looking. Keep in mind the law of supply and demand: When there’s less of something in the market, then demand goes up. This same thing applies to real estate. Since most people wait until spring to list, that means that demand is lower than it would be when there are fewer homes on the market. 5. You can rely entirely on home evaluation sites. These sites are simply starting points, but it’s impossible for the algorithms they use to accurately determine your home’s value. They don’t take into account all the upgrades you’ve done (or haven’t done) when they compare your home to those they have in their database. The only way to get a truly accurate estimate of your home’s value is to contact an agent to have them do a comparative market analysis. Hopefully, you found this list of myths valuable! If you’d like to read more about these myths (plus an additional one I didn’t discuss here), visit this article from Realtor.com. If you have any questions or need any assistance selling your home or preparing it for the market, feel free to reach out. We’re here to help.

For today’s episode of “Kevin Yoder TV,” I’ll introduce you to our valued team member and integrator, Jon, and tell you all about what he does for the team.  Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Want to know what your home is worth in today's market? Check out our Free Online Home Price Estimater Tool.Call me at (616) 942-2449 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation Welcome back to “Meet the Team,” our series in which we introduce you to the awesome members of Yoder Real Estate. Today I’m excited to introduce you to one of our wonderful team members, Jon. Jon has been with Yoder Real Estate for over a year and a half. He came to our company as the integrator, which is essentially a C.O.O.; he integrates all the components of the office, including overseeing the operations department and sales management. Jon also makes sure that we’re staying profitable and aligned with our numbers. My role is the visionary of the company and head of marketing, so if we have a concept or initiative that needs to get off of the ground, Jon’s the guy who makes things happen. In four words: Jon gets stuff done. In his spare time, Jon prioritizes sleeping, baking various goodies from scratch, and running (to work off those goodies he bakes). Otherwise, he enjoys spending time with his family and keeping busy with his three sons.  In four words: Jon gets stuff done. Jon is a valued team member to Yoder Real Estate. He provides awesome value and we really couldn’t ask for a better integrator. What does Jon think of our team? He says, “So far, it’s been great, it’s been fun, it’s been collaborative. It’s great to work with Kevin and the rest of the team, and it’s fun to be a part of the winning team. We’re doing better this year than last year, and I look forward to 2019.” Jon enjoys the sales-driven culture of our team’s environment. As a team, we all realize we’re here for one purpose: sales. Without that, you have a business that just clunks along and doesn’t profit or hit its numbers. Not every place has sales figured out. For myself, one word comes to mind when I think of Yoder Real Estate’s environment: family. Jon has truly made himself one of our family here on the team, and we expect him to be around for a long time. If you’d like to know more about Jon or if you have any questions for us about buying, selling, or investing in homes, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’d be happy to help.

Yoder Real Estate is hiring, so if you’re thinking of starting your real estate career, we want to take a moment to tell you what we can offer you. If you’re thinking about starting a career in real estate and you’re wondering how you’d fit as a member of Yoder Real Estate, let me give you an idea by first telling you what our six core values are: Passion: We believe in bringing energy, excitement, and passion to everything we do. Resourcefulness: We always find a way to make it happen. Positive: We believe in always showing up with a positive attitude among your peers, your team, and every client. Learners: We value people who are learning-based. Communicative: We value being communicative with each other and our clients. If there’s an issue, we put it on the table and resolve it. Client-centric: Very simply, we believe in being world-class in everything we do. We put our clients’ needs above the needs of anyone else, including ourselves. The ideal sales candidate for Yoder Real Estate is someone who is, first and foremost, learning-based. If you’re coming from another industry, you likely have your own ideas about how the real estate industry might serve you and how you might serve it back. Being learning-based allows you to start with a clean slate. The ideal sales candidate for Yoder Real Estate is someone who is, first and foremost, learning-based. Being humble and being able to implement new ideas is important because we teach a lot. Our agents come from all types of different industries, and we teach them how to be world-class in this challenging industry. In 30 days, they already know more than an agent who’s worked in the industry for two years. What’s it like to be an agent at Yoder Real Estate? It’s not what you think. What I mean by that is, a lot of folks get into real estate for a particular reason. It’s not easy, but it’s worth it. This is a challenging environment, and we have a team of world-class players who have a vision and want something badly. I show them how to achieve their vision. So, if you’re someone who’s passionate and likes to have meaning behind what you want to do with your life, working with our team extends beyond just selling homes. Real estate is just the vehicle we use to help people. This is a place people come to learn, grow, and expand so they can give back to their team, their clients, and the community at large. If you have any more questions about what it’s like to work at Yoder Real Estate or you’d like to talk more about what we can offer you, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. You can also apply online now at joinyoderrealestate.com. In either case, I look forward to hearing from you.

As one of our team members, Alexia Hipsher is someone you’ll love buying a home with. As one of our team’s star salespeople, Alexia Hipsher is someone you’ll love having by your side as you search for your dream home. Originally from Southern California, Alexia loves her work and thinks real estate is the perfect career for her. She loves interacting with people, which is why she loves the buyer side of the transaction so much. “I don’t work with only one home,” she explains. “I’m working with a family that has the option to see a variety of homes and find the perfect fit for them.” Alexia describes our workplace as a fun environment. We always have a good time, but there’s also a lot of learning happening. If you like having good conversations while finding your dream home, you’ll love working with her. She’s a lot of fun to be around too, but as her client, you’re her priority. Your needs come before her needs.  Alexia loves her work and thinks real estate is the perfect career for her. “I am truly an extension of the buyer to help them in the process, and I love working with people.” If you’d like to get ahold of Alexia, you can reach her by phone at (616) 333-9078 or email her at [email protected]. As always, if you have any questions or real estate needs I can help you with, please feel free to reach out to me. I’d be glad to help you.

Professional home inspector John Wade joins me today to answer some of your home inspection questions. Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Want to know what your home is worth in today's market? Check out our Free Online Home Price Estimater Tool.Call me at (616) 942-2449 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation Today I am joined by John Wade of JW Home Inspections to talk about the importance of home inspections and answer a few commonly asked questions about them. John has been doing home inspections in the Western Michigan area for 16 years, and out of all the home inspectors in our region, he and his company are the ones we trust to refer our buyers to most. According to John, there are three primary inspections most home inspection companies perform—the home inspection itself, a radon test, and a termite inspection. Whether you want all three of these inspections done depends on your situation, what you are willing to spend, and the type of house you are buying. But for almost every buyer John works with, he recommends all three. Radon, for example, is the second-leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S., and you are unable to know whether there are high levels of it in your home unless you test for it. If you are purchasing a home you plan on living in for a long period of time, the home inspection is basically your only crack at inspecting the condition of every aspect of that home. Now onto our home inspection FAQs: 1. Does the buyer need to be present at the inspection? The buyer doesn’t have to be present at the inspection, but John prefers that his buyers are so they have an opportunity to explain what they are doing, what their findings are, and what the overall condition of the home is. In short, being present makes for a better inspection. In fact, the biggest problem a home inspection can face is when the buyer doesn’t show up for it. If you are unable to make it to your scheduled inspection, it helps to meet with your inspector sometime afterward so they can give you a full recap.  The home inspection is basically your only crack at inspecting the condition of every aspect of that home. 2. Is it possible for radon to be present in new homes? Absolutely. Radon can exist in a home whether it is old or new. Older homes actually tend to have lower levels of radon because their basements typically have a greater air flow. New homes, by comparison, are sealed tighter and lend themselves to higher potential levels of radon. 3. Who orders the home inspection? The buyer. To that end, JW Home Inspections likes to list their services and pricing online so that buyers know exactly what they’re getting into before the inspection starts. I want to thank John for joining me today. If you’d like to know more about JW Home Inspections or you have any other home inspection questions, be sure to visit jwhomeinspection.com or give him a call at (616) 889-0043. As always, if you have any other real estate questions for me or are thinking of buying or selling a house, please feel free to call or email me. I would be glad to help you.

 Getting your offer accepted in today’s market is harder than it used to be. Here are a few ways that you can edge out the competition. Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Want to know what your home is worth in today's market? Check out our Free Online Home Price Estimater Tool.Call me at (616) 942-2449 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation I was recently interviewed on the radio by Justin Barclay of Wood Radio 1300 and we talked about the different ways that a buyer can get their offer accepted in this very challenging market. I encourage you to listen to the entire interview, but here are a few of the most important tips from our conversation: 1. Get a pre-approval letter. Looking at properties without one just doesn’t make sense anymore. Consider this: When a seller puts a home on the market, they get it ready by cleaning, staging, and photographing it. Whenever a showing is scheduled, the homeowner spends days getting it ready. Imagine their disappointment to know that a buyer was let in the home that couldn’t simply take the few hours to get a pre-approval. It’s not only a proactive measure for buyers to know the amount you can afford, but it’s also beneficial to the seller by letting them know that the buyer can afford the home and is serious about buying.  Shortening the inspection period lets the seller know that you mean business. 2. Give the seller an occupancy period. This is when you allow the seller extra time in the home after closing. They may need it, considering they might also be purchasing a home themselves. This can go a long way in getting your offer accepted. 3. Reduce your due diligence period. In West Michigan, homebuyers typically get 10 days to have their inspections done during this period. If you shorten this up to five days or fewer, it gives the seller more confidence that the home will close on time. If you have any questions about any of these tips or you need any real estate-related advice, don’t hesitate to reach out and give me a call or send me an email.

Many people believe that because VA loans offer 100% financing to their borrowers, they aren’t as qualified as other buyers. The facts don’t support this assumption, though.  Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home searchCall me at (616) 942-2449 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation The reason I’m joined today by John Seville, loan officer and branch manager of Benchmark Mortgage, is to dispel a common myth surrounding VA loans. From a real estate perspective, and with listing agents especially, there tends to be a stigma surrounding VA loans. If we get four or five offers for one of our listings, for example, and one of those offers has VA financing, we may be less inclined to accept that offer. According to John, that perception is very common in the marketplace, and the most common myth associated with VA loans is because it offers 100% financing to the buyer, that buyer must not be as good of a buyer as other buyers who have more standard financing options like a conventional loan. This simply isn’t the case, though. The average FICO score of a VA borrower is 741, which is about 20 points higher than the average score of a conventional borrower. A VA buyer has—on average—more in their bank account than a conventional buyer. “The myth that 0% down means not as good of a buyer is simply not accurate,” John says. The disconnect here is the belief that someone who has 100% financing must have no money in their bank account. In reality, a VA buyer has—on average—more in their bank account than a conventional buyer. Additionally, VA borrowers still put money down 30% of the time even though they have the option of 100% financing. If you have any more mortgage questions for John, you can call him at (616) 965-2504 or visit his website at www.johnseville.benchmark.us. If you have any other real estate questions or needs I can assist you with, don’t hesitate to call or email me. I’d love to help you.

Our market has seen a lot of ups and downs over the last few years. Here are the numbers you need to know for future reference.  Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home searchCall me at (616) 942-2449 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation I’ve been waiting for some market data to come in lately and it’s finally here. My nerds and I over here crunched some numbers and put together a snapshot of the current market, as well as a forecast on where the market is headed. Let’s begin by showing you how the market has been the last few years. In June 2015, we saw a peak average sale price of $178,000, then a bottoming to $156,496 in January 2016. By June 2016, our average price peaked again at $185,000. In February 2017, it bottomed out again at $163,000. Our latest peak was in June 2017. This was the first time in history that our average sale price rose above $200,000 ($201,0000). The average sale price right now is $183,000. Based on what we’ve seen in the past few years, I’m fairly certain that we are going to see an average sale price between $203,000 and $209,000 this summer. Our market is set for another peak this summer. If you take a look at a graph of the market over the last few years (like the one in the video above), you’ll see that instead of sharp peaks and valleys, we’re seeing more of a fluid parabola with a lot of ups and downs. The good news is that by following recent trends, you can get ahead of the market. If you’re interested in getting involved in this record market, feel free to reach out and give us a call. Your sale price will mostly depend on what other homes in your area are selling for. If you’re curious about what homes are selling for in your market or you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.