Charlotte Home Experts Podcast

Today we're calling on all home sellers, whether you want to sell your house tomorrow or a year from now. It's never too soon to start the path for a successful home sale. Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale Calling all home sellers! Inventory is extremely low in the Charlotte market. You may be thinking about selling your house next spring. When is the right time to start thinking about what to do? I wanted to offer some tips on where to begin. Start by contacting me to help you sell. You may be weeks, months, or even a year away, but having an in-home consultation now is the key to starting you on a path to a successful sale. We'll take a look at your home and tell you the steps you need get your house prepared to have the best chance to sell in today's market. We'll discuss things like what and where to declutter, how to rearrange certain rooms, and which areas need to be freshened up with new paint. You might also need to do some cleaning or caulking on the outside of the house, or look into wood rot. We will provide an all-encompassing review of what you need; it's the first of our 152-step process for selling your house.An in-home consultation now is the key to starting you on a path to a successful sale.It's wise for sellers to do this ahead of time so that you have a plan laid out. If you're interested in taking the steps to get a plan in place, we'd love the opportunity to help you. There is no obligation—we want to help you have a successful home sale, whether you're ready now or don't want to sell until June. Give us a call or send us an email and let's keep this conversation going. I look forward to hearing from you!

Our first Raving Fan Club event is coming up. We are showing the brand-new Star Wars movie and want you to join us. Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale We wanted to send a quick message today to let you know about our upcoming event for our Raving Fan Club. On January 7th at 11 a.m., we are going to be hosting all of our raving fans at the Cinebarre Movie Theater at The Arboretum Shopping Center, 8008 Providence Rd.We love our raving fans.We will show the brand-new Star Wars film, Star Wars: Rogue One, and we would love to see you there. You should get a postcard in the mail soon, but if you want, you can go ahead and reserve your seat now. Just give us a call at (704) 323-8823. If you have any other questions for us, don’t hesitate to reach out and ask them. We look forward to seeing you at the event, and we hope you have a wonderful holiday season.

Is it better to rent or to own in Charlotte? In some cases, it may be better to rent, but if you're here for the long haul, buying is definitely the smarter option. Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale Should you rent or buy a home? I get this question a lot from first-time home buyers. Deciding between renting a home and buying one can be a bit scary, but there are some things that will make your decision a little bit easier. The first thing to think about is time. Are you planning on staying in the area for a long time? If you're not and you think you'll move in the next two years, renting is probably the right choice for you right now. There are plenty of rental home options and apartment options out there in Charlotte. However, if you're staying in Charlotte for the long haul, you should probably buy a home. The two main reasons are pricing and interest rates. When you're a first-time buyer, there are programs designed to help you, like the mortgage credit certificate program in North Carolina and down payment assistance programs. Once you buy, your interest is tax deductible. It's much better for you economically, as you save a lot of money. Put money and equity in your own pocket, not your landlord's.If you're a first-time home buyer, you're typically going to pay between $200 and $600 less per month for a home than you would to rent it. If you buy that home and you have a roommate, you'll not only save by paying less in mortgage payments than you would in rent, but you would also collect their rent. You can substantially change the amount of money you're putting in your own pocket, not your landlord's. This will allow you to save for things that you want to do in the future, whether that's vacation, retirement funds, or anything in between. Homeowners have a higher percentage of savings and equity in the long term than renters do. If you have any more questions about renting versus buying in Charlotte or you're thinking about buying or selling a home, give me a call or send me an email. I'd be happy to answer any questions you have!

If you’re getting ready to sell your house and you’re wondering which renovations you should make, think small and avoid spending a lot of money. Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale Which renovations should you think about making if you’re going to sell your home? In making this kind of decision, you need to ask yourself two questions: 1) Is the renovation going to be neutral enough for the buyer? 2) What is its economic impact going to be? Every situation is different, so before you start making any alterations, I strongly advise that you consult with an agent to discuss what would work and what wouldn’t for your home. They can also refer you to a home stager to really maximize your showcasing potential.Always consult an agent before making any major alterations.That being said, here are some universal renovation tips to consider before selling your home: Neutralize your paint colors. You want the buyer to be able to see themselves in the home. Avoid any bright reds, bold greens, purples, or oranges. Remember, just because you like a color doesn’t mean the buyer is going to.Avoid fancy lighting fixtures. Even though your aesthetic taste might incline toward these, they aren’t what’s considered neutral and up to date.Make your bathrooms and kitchen look as clean as possible. There are many small and easy things you can do to both of these areas that will make them look more neutral, more up to date, and don’t cost a lot of money. The last thing you want to do is spend a lot of money on a renovation. It may well sell your home faster, but you’re not going to get a dollar-for-dollar return. In today’s market, there are plenty of buyers out there. There is also less competition among sellers because we have the lowest inventory we’ve had in years. If you can get your home updated, neutralized, and staged properly, you can save yourself a lot of money. If you have any more questions about selling your home or making home renovations, please feel free to call or email me. I look forward to hearing from you!

Getting your offer accepted on a house in a hot market depends on acting quickly and pricing your offer aggressively. Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale If you’re a buyer who’s having trouble getting your offers accepted, there are a few things to keep in mind in order to remedy this. Sometimes when buyers are just entering the market, they’re not actually thinking about what’s happening in the market. Right now, we’re in a hot seller’s market. For example, inventory is down—there are currently just over 11,000 single-family homes available. This is a drop of 22% from last year. There aren’t as many sellers out there, but there are still a lot of buyers because interest rates are high. The average days on market is also down to 56 days—a 16% drop from last year. In some of the hotter areas in our market, like Valentine, the Waxhaw area, or anything closer to uptown, things are moving off the market fairly quickly. The average sales-to-list price ratio is at 96.6%. As a buyer, this means you need to think about how quickly you need to get to the property to take a look at it so that you can actually make an offer on it if it’s a good deal. You also need to be mindful of how quickly you need to write your offer once you’ve looked at the property. There will be other offers being made, so what does your number need to look like? The number and how quickly you can get there are the two most important points. Price your offer aggressively.Getting pre-approved for a loan is key, but you must also write an offer that makes sense to the seller. If you’re thinking of buying a house and it’s in a hot market, you can’t go in and offer 80% to 85% of the list price. You definitely have to be well over 90%. In some locations, such as Valentine, we’re seeing people offer over 100%. Trust your agent to direct and guide you on what’s happening in the specific area or neighborhood you’re interested in so that you can get your offer accepted. It’s no fun to look at houses and come away empty-handed. Remember—get there quickly, make a decision in a timely fashion, make sure you’re pre-approved, and price your offer aggressively. If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to helping you in any way we can.  

There are four important things you should check before buying a home in the Charlotte real estate market that buyers commonly forget. Think about the community. Many buyers look in neighborhoods that they don’t know about or haven’t been to before, and it’s important that you feel comfortable. We recommend buyers drive through a potential area several times during the week and at many different times of the day to get a feel for the neighborhood.Schools. Many buyers are concerned about school districts, so in addition to some of the great resources on our website, you can visit specialty websites that rate schools or contact the school to find out more information. Many buyers like to actually go to the school to see the area and meet people like the principal.Cost of utilities. Many sellers will have bills and rates ready for you from the last year to give you an idea about the cost of utilities in a home.Taxes. Sometimes we don’t think about how much taxes will cost us when looking at a home in addition to mortgage payments. What are the taxes for the city and county? Buyers commonly forget these 4 aspects.Thanks for visiting today. If you have more questions about our market or you’re thinking about buying or selling a home, give me a call or send me an email.

Do buyers need representation when they look at homes at a new construction site? Too many buyers make the mistake of thinking the representative they talk to at a new construction site is on their side, when in reality, that person works for the builder and has the builder’s best interests in mind. Like any other home search, with new construction, you want someone with you to look out for your best interests and guide you through the process. When you visit a new home site, you should sign in with the name of your agent in order to ensure that you'll be represented later on. Reps want to protect the builder’s money, not yours.Many people think hiring an agent in this process will cost them, but that’s not true. Builders know they’re going to pay agents to bring clients to them. Agents can often get you a better deal, or get bonuses or incentives worked into a deal. Remember, your real estate agent is on your side. If you have questions about your representation for a new construction home or you’re thinking about buying or selling any kind of home, feel free to reach out to me. I hope to hear from you soon!

Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale If you’re a seller in a hot market, what do you do when it comes to pricing? In Charlotte, there are a number of things to think about, but there are five main points to specifically consider: What are the comparables in your area? To get an idea of what’s happening, you must examine what homes have sold in the last 30 to 60 days. What these homes look like, and the updates and amenities that they have in relation to yours, are the different pieces that we look at as we move through the process of determining what that right value is. What is your competition today? Not only what’s happened in the past, which an appraiser will look at, but who’s out there in the market who will be comparable. Would a buyer like your house versus their house? How do we stack up, numbers-wise as well as amenities-wise, for what you have in your home?Your contingencies. Perhaps you have another house you’re buying. Perhaps you have another one you’re building. Perhaps somewhere down the line you have to be out of state for a month or two. Those are important variables as to where you should price your house. The fair market value of your house. If we price it over that specific number, we end up in a situation where if we’re 3% above the fair market value of where everyone else is at, it will take us 20-30% longer to sell your home than it would’ve had we priced it correctly to start with. While it’s important for us to get the most amount of money for your home, we also don’t want to overprice you. Where do you personally envision yourself? Ask yourself what you want your number to look like, where you want to be, and where you see yourself at the end of the negotiations before we start negotiating back and forth. If you’d like us to come out and share more information on your specific home and do an analysis for you and work through the numbers and share that with you, we’re more than happy to do so. All you have to do is reach out to us at Charlotte Home Experts.

Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale Lender delays can be costly during the closing process. In fact, I recently experienced this with one of my sellers. The property got multiple offers on the first day. We picked a good offer with a reputable lender’s pre-approval attached, and we thought we were good to go. We even got above listing price! Unfortunately, we ended up in a situation where the lender didn’t perform. There are a number of reasons why this can happen. For example, the lender might not have a good pre-qualification process. Some lenders just check the credit score. When looking at offers, it’s important to know that a lender has reviewed all of the buyer’s documents. A number of lenders in our area have a full pre-approval process. These lenders give underwritten pre-approval letters to buyers; that is the best kind of pre-approval letter to have. When a pre-qualification is just based off a credit score, things can get tricky. For example, if the lender just has a conversation with the buyer about their credit score and debts, the buyer might forget to mention certain things. They might not disclose information about alimony, child support, or student debt payments. These issues can derail the entire closing process. As a buyer, pay attention to the lender’s sense of urgency. You want to work with a lender who will be responsible and answer your questions as quickly as possible. A lot of questions will arise during the lending process no matter what your credit score is. Also, you should make sure that you are a good buyer. Be responsive when the lender asks you questions. Don’t go out and accumulate more debt by getting a new credit card or making a major purchase - no boats and no new cars until you close on your home. You also want to make sure that you will be comfortable with your monthly mortgage payment. There are many other components to the closing process, including an appraiser and inspector. You want your agent, lender, and everyone else to work well together so that any potential problems will be solved. Remember, every closing comes with some kind of bump in the road, so work with a solutions-oriented agent and everything will be fine. If you have any questions, give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to help you!

Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale Today, we’re going to talk about the latest news in the Charlotte housing market and what it means for real estate consumers in the surrounding areas. As we enter the spring selling season, Charlotte is at the top when it comes to affordability,  with great homes and buyers. However, we don’t have many sellers. Sellers and buyers can both drive demand in the marketplace. Inventory is way down. Some of our communities have less than one month worth of inventory. Houses are going under the contract very quickly. In fact, in certain areas and price points, your home might be under contract in less than a week! If you’re a seller, you need to know that prices are up 5% across the board. Charlotte is up 5.8% year over year; Union County is up 5.2%; and Fort Mill is up 5.8%. This is great news for sellers who have been waiting for the market to come back. Now all we need is for more sellers to list their properties. Some buyers have been looking for months, and they’ve been through a lot of multiple offer situations.  Interest rates are incredibly low, hovering around 3.75%, and buyers want to take advantage of these great rates. Now is the time to sell. If you’re interested in selling or have any other real estate questions, give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!