Arizona Real Estate Podcast with Jesse Herfel

tapping into their home’s equity. Here’s why.

Do you notice that pile of cash you're sitting on right now?

I'm not joking. 42 million homeowners with mortgages have equity in their home right now.

When added up, tappable home equity recently reached $5.5 trillion. That's about $3 trillion more than when the housing market bottomed out in 2012. "Tappable equity" is defined here as the amount a homeowner could borrow before they hit 80% of debt to value.

Not surprisingly, many homeowners are looking to tap into these hidden reserves. As just one sign of this, mortgage applications are up 4.1% this January over last year. That's mostly been driven by mortgage refinances, as homeowners are looking to take advantage of low (but increasing) rates to take out some of that equity as cash.

Another option to a mortgage refinance is a home equity line of credit (HELOC), a kind of checking account on your home. While HELOCs have been growing in popularity, they've hit a slight snag recently because the new tax bill eliminates the deductions for interest paid on such lines of credit. 

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Many homeowners are tapping into their equity now.

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What are homeowners who tap into their equity actually doing with the extra cash? Most people are spending it on making their homes even more valuable. According to one survey, 80% of borrowers would consider using that cash to renovate their home.

However, other homeowners are using their home equity to cover education expenses, to pay down other debt, or simply for investing, whether in stocks, real estate, or even cryptocurrencies.

So should you tap into your home equity?

I can't say either yes or no. It’s something you’ll have to decide on your own. However, if you have any questions or would like us to take a look at your specific situation to see what your best move is, we would be glad to help. Don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email any time.

I have some exciting news regarding cash offers: I have a buyer looking to purchase properties in the Phoenix area—upwards of 100 to 150 properties.

Cash buyers make it very simple for sellers. When you accept an offer from a cash buyer, you won’t

have to go through the hassle of putting it on the market, having to clean it up for showings, or having to stage it.

Cash buyers make the process simple for sellers.

I can help find a cash buyer and make the close of escrow a lot shorter. You’ll still have your needs as a seller met, and you can still sell it right at market value.

If you’re interested in selling your home and would like to explore the option of a cash buyer, we can set up a time to talk about your situation and the options available to you. Feel free to reach out to me. I’d be glad to help.

We appreciate your support throughout 2017 and hope to see you again next year.

Happy holidays, merry Christmas, and happy Hanukkah to all of our friends, family, and clients. We appreciate your continued support throughout 2017. As we sleigh on through to 2018, we look forward to seeing you next year. As always, if you have any real estate needs, feel free to reach out to us.

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If you want to be successful in getting your home sold, there are a few strategies you can use. Today, I’ve got five key tips and tricks.

1. Do not overprice your home. This is the most critical piece of advice I’ve got. Many sellers think they should price high to begin with, with the intention of lowering the listing if need be. However, this is a big mistake. Buyers today are more educated than ever before. If you hike up the price, buyers aren’t going to be interested because they know what values should look like in our market.

2. Have good curb appeal. A lot of sellers think they need to entirely re-landscape. But what I actually mean by having good curb appeal is to have a fresh and attractive-looking yard. You don’t have to go all out. All it takes is a mowed lawn, trimmed bushes, and possibly planting some flowers for color. A buyer should have a great first impression when they pull up to your home.

3. Fresh paint and carpet. These two home improvement items are the best you can make in terms of getting the most return on your investment. Just remember that paint and carpet should be in clean, neutral colors to attract buyers.

4. Declutter and stage your home. Anything that personalizes the home should be removed. Staging your home for sale is a lot different than living in it.

An experienced Realtor should be able to help you sell for the most money in the least amount of time.

5. Hire an experienced Realtor. The right professional will have the tools and resources to negotiate on your behalf and expose your property as much as possible. An experienced Realtor should be able to help you sell for the most money in the least amount of time.

If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

We’re experiencing very low inventory, which means buyers are greatly outnumbering sellers for the time being. How do sellers benefit in a market like this? Here are three ways:

1. More money. You’ll get more money now than you would have even 30 days ago.

2. Fewer repairs to get the home market-ready. Buyer’s can’t be picky in a market like this. They’ll live with some imperfections in your home if it's priced correctly.

3. Shorter transaction with fewer hassles.

This is a unique window of opportunity for you to get more for the sale of your home. If you’re considering selling your home or you’ve thought about doing so in the near future, give us a call or send us an email today. We can help put a strategy together for you that will ensure the success of your sale. We look forward to hearing from you.

Today, I’ve got five tips that will increase the likelihood of your home selling.

Make sure the house is freshly painted. If the color of your home is fresh and neutral, it will appeal to the mass buyer pool. When you use neutral colors in terms of paint, carpet, and flooring, it makes the home feel bigger, more open, and ultimately more appealing.

Your carpet should be cleaned or replaced, which will make it more attractive to potential buyers. Like paint, carpet is a cost-effective way of improving your home’s appearance.

Both carpet and paint are cost-effective ways of improving the way your home shows.

Curb appeal is very important as well. Take care to make your landscaping look clean and manicured. A strong first impression can impact a buyer’s desire to make an offer on your home.

Have your home professionally cleaned. Having your home professionally cleaned both inside and out, if necessary, will be greatly helpful. Your property should be kept clean for every showing so that it looks its best each and every time.

Hire an agent to represent you. The right agent will position you to the market, market your property on your behalf, and maximize your exposure so that you can get the most money in the shortest amount of time.

I do recommend that you call us and schedule a home-improvement walk-through—we’ll walk through the property and make suggestions about what you should or should not do in order to increase your chances of selling your home.

Give us a call or shoot us an email, and we’d be happy to visit with you. We look forward to talking with you soon.

After 19 years of being in the real estate business and enjoying your continued support here in Gilbert, I’m proud to announce we have an opening on our team we’re looking to fill.

We’re reaching out to you first, so if you or someone you know is interested in a career in real estate or already works in the industry and wants to take their career to the next level, don’t hesitate to send us an email so we can set up an appointment.

We’d be happy to sit down with you and talk about what we have to offer. We are one of the top real estate teams in the nation, and we’ve been nationally ranked for 19 years in a row.

If you have any questions about this opportunity, feel free to reach out to us. We look forward to hearing from you!

Cash offers can be tempting—but you should be careful. There are a few red flags you should be mindful of in real estate.

To put it one way: be careful who you open your door to.

You need to be wary of what kind of services you can truly trust when it comes to your real estate needs.

For example, the other day I got an email asking my team and I if we’d be interested in providing comps for some cash-for-your-house buyers and companies.

These kind of buyers and companies are struggling to come up with accurate comparables.

This raised some concerns for my team and I. We’ve also encountered clients trying to make use of this kind of arrangement, but what ends up happening is that they charge the seller fees.

While these cash offers might seem convenient, they actually earn you significantly less.

In fact, the average in Arizona is 15% to 30% lower than a given property’s actual market value. So while these cash offers might seem convenient, they actually earn you significantly less.

But, if you are wanting or needing this kind of cash offer I can arrange that for you. My team and I offer this same kind of service, but will net you more money.

If you have any other questions or would like more information feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Regardless of where you’re at in your real estate journey, whether you’ve been in the business for 20 years or 20 days, Keller Williams can be a home for you.

Our culture is different. We believe that the more you share, the more you grow. Our culture is based on education and professionalism, and we are committed to excellence and giving opportunities to team members to grow and thrive.

We’re globally recognized for our training program.

Joining Keller Williams means raising your standards and wanting to be around the best with a company that is recognized as a global leader when it comes to training. KW is consistently voted the No. 1 training company across all industries. Every single day, you can engage in some type of education to help you grow your career.

We’re the only privately held, agent-owned global real estate brokerage out there. Since 2009, collective agent commissions have tripled to over $6 billion.

This is not a real estate venture; this is a vision to service our hometown of Gilbert, Arizona. If you want to learn from the top agents in the industry, this is the place for you.

We're excited to be coming to you live from the new Gilbert office after a lot of construction in the last week! We wanted to give you a walkthrough of this great new office with Rich Barker from Keller Williams.

Check out the video above for a total walkthrough of our new digs!

We've got 4,000 sq. feet of expansion space to team up with other agents.

We've got lots of office space, a conference room, a great drop-and-go bullpen, a kitchen area, and plenty of expansion space for new agents or new groups for us to team up with. We're opening for business here soon.

We've only got a few private office spaces left thanks to all the demand.

If you'd like to schedule a private tour or you have any questions about joining us, give me a call or send me a message today. I'd love to hear from you!