Athens Real Estate Podcast with Justin Woodall

There are a few improvements you can make that will enhance your home’s saleability without costing very much at all.    Looking to sell a home in Athens, Georgia? Click here for a Home Price  EvaluationLooking to buy a home in Athens, Georgia? Click here to perform a full home search Do you have to make improvements to your home before putting it on the market? No, you don’t have to. Homes will sell in any condition. If you want to sell for top dollar, though, you should consider doing so. There are a few improvements I recommend that will make a big difference, even if they don’t cost a lot. The first is painting the interior and (if it needs it) the exterior of your home. Paint is one of the cheapest ways to make a huge impact on the way your house shows. After a house is painted, it looks clean and smells fresh. Another thing I recommend is improving your curb appeal. Trim your bushes, cut your grass, put out some fresh mulch or pine straw, and make the outside of your home look good. That’s the first impression people get when they see it. If you want your home to sell for top dollar, you should consider making some improvements. Next, declutter and stage your home. If you have stuff on your countertops or too much furniture lying around in one of your rooms, get rid of it. As I always tell people, less is more.  Lastly, clean your home thoroughly. People can tell if a house is clean or not, and they’re far more apt to move into a nice, fresh, clean house. If you’re willing to spend a little money, there are other upgrades you can make, like replacing your countertops, installing new flooring, adding new appliances, etc. Sometimes these upgrades are worth it, but they can escalate how much you’ll spend by quite a bit. If you have any more questions about this or any other real estate topic, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d be glad to help you.

Today we discuss the availability of deals on foreclosure homes and why they’re harder to find than in years past.    Looking to sell a home in Athens, Georgia? Click here for a Home Price  EvaluationLooking to buy a home in Athens, Georgia? Click here to perform a full home search Today I’d like to talk to you about the topic of foreclosures and about whether or not there are still good deals available on foreclosures. If you’d asked about foreclosure deals four or five years ago, I would have said there were tons out there, and half of what sold at the time were foreclosures. However, in today’s market, it’s a little bit of a different story. Foreclosures are becoming harder to find. The ones that are out there, if they’re priced-well, are receiving lots of interest and likely have multiple offers thrown at them. Investors and homebuyers are bidding those prices up. It’s harder to get the deals on foreclosures now than what we saw a few years ago: Is this a good or a bad thing? It’s harder to get the deals on foreclosures now than what we saw a few years ago If you’re looking for a deal, it’s a bad thing because of how hard they are to find. In the grand scheme of the economy and the real estate market, however, it could be seen as a good thing. It shows that the market is improving, prices are rising, and homeowners are no longer underwater like they were a few years ago because the values have increased, which has helped them be able to sell, instead of being forced into foreclosure. We are still working with buyers who are getting great deals on homes, so if you are looking for something, reach out to us. Oftentimes we hear things before they officially hit the market. It may or may not be a foreclosure—it could just be a motivated seller. If you’re in the market for a new home, let us know, and we’ll help you find a good deal.

Today we discuss the availability of deals on foreclosure homes and why they’re harder to find than in years past.

Downsizing may be a natural and smart choice to make, but that doesn’t make it easy.

There are a lot of things to think about.

We just wanted to remind you that if you have a question about real estate, we are happy to answer it. Looking to sell a home in Athens, Georgia? Click here for a Home Price  Evaluation Looking to buy a home in Athens, Georgia? Click here to perform a full home search We’ve been fortunate enough to have a very busy year helping a lot of families buy and sell homes in Athens. Although our free time is somewhat limited these days, we always have enough free time to answer any of your questions. We want to be known as the Athens real estate experts, but we also want to be known as consumer advocates. If you have any questions regarding any part of real estate or real estate transactions, let us know. Whether you have a question about buying, selling, investing, appraisals, inspections, or any other real estate-related topic, we’d love to hear it. We’re always here to answer your questions. You can give us a call, send us an email, or just come visit us. No matter the question, we will do our best to answer it in a thorough and timely manner. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

We just wanted to remind you that if you have a question about real estate, we are happy to answer it.

We continue to be in a seller’s market, which is affecting how appraisals come in for homes under contract. I’ll explain everything in today’s video. Looking to sell a home in Athens, Georgia? Click here for a Home Price  Evaluation Looking to buy a home in Athens, Georgia? Click here to perform a full home search Today I wanted to talk to you about what’s going on with appraisals in the current market. In our last video, we gave you a snapshot of what the market currently looks like from a supply and demand perspective. Currently in our market, we have high demand and a low supply of homes, which is causing home prices to increase. So how is this affecting appraisals for the sellers that we work with? We’ve had more instances this year than in recent memory where we get a home under contract for a certain value, and the appraisal comes in lower than that value. This is a problem. Why are we seeing lower appraisals? Appraisers are looking back over the last three to six months of sales in the area, comparing similar homes to the seller’s, and coming up with their opinion of the value of the home based on those factors, as well as any improvements or updates done to the home. Currently in our market we have a high demand and a low supply of homes. In my opinion, the true market value of a home is what the seller and buyer agree on, but the banks have to protect themselves. Because of this, we’re seeing these low appraisals. I still continue to encourage sellers to list their home at a price that is a little higher than the homes that sold recently in the area, especially in this current market. If you find yourself in that situation where the home appraisal is lower than the purchase price, you have a few options to take care of that problem. You can reduce the price down to the appraised value, the buyer can pay that difference in cash, or you can meet somewhere in the middle. Some buyers aren’t willing to pay the extra money, and the low appraisal can kill your deal. If you get a cash offer for your home, it might be worth it to really consider taking that deal. Most cash buyers don’t spend the extra money on the appraisal, so you don’t have to worry about it. If you have any other questions about this topic or there is anything we can do for you, a friend, or a coworker, give us a call. We’d be happy to help!

We continue to be in a seller’s market, which is affecting how appraisals come in for homes under contract. I’ll explain everything in today’s video.

There are a ton of mistakes that can happen when buying a home for the first time. Here are the three most common.

Are the rumors true? Have we decided to branch out into property management? Well, I’ve got some exciting news to share with you. Looking to sell a home in Athens, Georgia? Click here for a Home Price  Evaluation Looking to buy a home in Athens, Georgia? Click here to perform a full home search You may have been wondering—are the rumors true? Are we doing property management? I’m excited to announce that we have opened up a second brokerage that will focus on strictly managing rental properties for clients. We’ve named our sister company Iron Horse Property Management. I had clients come to me for years asking me to branch out into property management, and I was always hesitant because my main focus was on sales. I wanted to be great at sales and make that the main focus of Woodall Realty Group. Now I feel like the timing is better than it was in the past. The reason for this is our sales team is staffed with four full-time agents in addition to myself, our systems and processes are really dialed in, and we helped over 200 families last year. We expect to help even more families this year, and our business is steady enough that I felt we could finally branch out into property management. A big concern that I've had was that I didn’t have the time during the day to focus on the daily aspects of moving tenants in, handling repairs, moving tenants out, and all the things that come along with property management. My solution was to find and hire a great property manager who has years of experience and, in my opinion, is one of the best in Athens, Jennifer McMahon. You'll get the same great service through Iron Horse Property Management that you get through Woodall Realty Group. Jennifer has worked with two other property managers in Athens over the years and has done a great job. She’s a go-getter, a hard worker, and she will be handling the day-to-day aspects of the property management. She’ll be taking care of all of the things that you as a landlord don’t want to do and help things run more smoothly. So, now we will be able to offer the same great service through Iron Horse Property Management that you get through Woodall Realty Group. If you have rental property that you’re managing yourself, or you’re dissatisfied with your current property management, give me or Jennifer a call. Our goal with Iron Horse Property Management is to give you peace of mind while maximizing the return on your investment. We want to make owning rental property a completely passive investment for you so that you just receive income each month and not have to worry about it. If you or someone you know has questions about Iron Horse Property Management or any other concerns, give us a call. We would love to be here for you.