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Today I’m joined by Amy Schafer, our lead buyer specialist, to discuss something that applies to you whether you’re a buyer or seller: website warnings.

When we talk to both buyers and sellers, one of the first questions that we ask is how they find their homes. More than 90% of people nowadays start their search online, with Zillow and Trulia being two of the most popular listing websites. When we list a house, we send that listing’s information to roughly 300 different websites.

While all this exposure can be a great marketing tool for sellers, it can be counterproductive for buyers to search all these different websites in the hope that they’ll find a different listing they haven’t seen before. What happens when listing information is exchanged between so many online sources is similar to the game of telephone you probably played in kindergarten—the actual information gets diluted to the point where whatever ends up on Zillow is wildly inaccurate and highly unreliable.

A key factor you should be wary of when it comes to this is timeliness. In our market, homes can sell very quickly. Many times, we’ve sold a house before its information even reached Zillow. If you’re relying on a site that’s even further down the line than Zillow, you may end up chasing a home that’s already been sold.

Don’t get caught chasing phantom listings.

If you frequent Zillow exclusively, don’t trust their Zestimates—they tend to be inaccurate because they’re determined by a preset algorithm rather than current market activity. You’ll also see a lot of what we call “phantom listings.” For example, they’ll list a home on there as a pre-foreclosure and act like it’s for sale, but in reality, it’s only an indication that a seller has simply missed a payment on that house, and it’s not actually for sale.

Where should you go for your real estate information? Whether you’re a buyer or seller, you should always go to experts like us. We have a brand-new website called www.sarconeteam.com that’s updated daily with a hot sheet of new listings. We also have some mobile apps that are available for you to download.

For buyers, another great source of information is the MLS, which we use during all of our buyer consultations. That way, when we have a property that matches your criteria, we get notified about it right away.

If you have any questions about this or any other real estate-related topic, please feel free to email us or give us a call. We’d be happy to help!

Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search

Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Value Report

2016 is almost over, so it’s time to look back on what’s happened in the real estate market over the past year to get a good idea of what you should expect heading into the last months of the fourth quarter.

At the start of the year, the market was so strong that we couldn’t list homes fast enough. Current sellers have the perception that the market is still that strong, but it’s actually slowed down since then. There are still a few hot areas in our market, but that’s more due to the attractiveness of specific price points. In general, we’re seeing price reductions across the board.

Since perception is what we’re dealing with, it’s worth mentioning that many people assumed that the market must have been crazy year over year during the summer, when in fact the third quarter numbers (July to September) tell a different story. Compared to the third quarter of last year, the difference in the number of homes listed was literally just one house: 4,771 in 2015 vs. 4,772 in 2016. As you can see, after the initial onslaught, things leveled out considerably.

It’s still a great time to buy or sell in our market.

In predicting what will happen for the rest of the fourth quarter, we look at seasonality and year over year numbers. We’ve been talking about an impending downshift for the last 18 months or so, and now with the election over and interest rates beginning to rise, we should see that downshift happening soon.

However, there is still good news. Though they’re beginning to increase, we still have great interest rates. If you’re a buyer, you can still save a lot of money by buying a house now. Not only that, but you’ll have less competition from other buyers.

If you’re a seller, you should see a lot of buyers entering the market very soon because they thought they couldn’t compete in the previous quarter’s market. These buyers are less likely to suffer from buyer’s remorse, and during the inspection period, they’re less likely to get cold feet and flake out. As with buyers, you should also face less competition.

Stay tuned for our full 2016 market recap coming in January. In the meantime, if you have any questions or you’re thinking about buying or selling, please reach out to us so we can help you be on your way!

Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search

Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Value Report

I am happy to be joined today by Amy Schafer, our lead buyer’s agent, to talk a little about our team and how we help those who are interested in a career in real estate get started.

This year has been crazy. It’s been a record year for our team. Since we’ve been growing so fast, we have been getting a lot of questions about how to get into the industry. We’ve got a lot of different roles on our team, and some of them don’t even require a real estate license.

We have a school here at Keller Williams to help you get licensed if real estate is a career you’re considering. We have regular career nights here at KW and also teach a live class for the 60-hour pre-license. We also teach listing practices, buying practices, and developing professional ethics, which are the three classes you need to complete to get your license.

We'll help you get your real estate career started!

The total time for the classes is 96 hours, but we make it fun with Amy as your instructor. Another good contact for you to have if you’re thinking about a career in real estate is the Professional Licensing Bureau, which deals with the Iowa Real Estate Commission. Gaby, our agent services coordinator, is also available to help walk you through the process.

If you have any questions for us or would like to talk about getting a career started in real estate, give us a call or send us an email. We can send you some information so you can determine if it’s the right fit for you. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search

Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Value Report

We have some really fun and exciting things happening right now, and some great events planned for the fall.

First, I'm happy to introduce Michelle Soquet, our new executive assistant and customer care specialist. She's awesome and thrilled to be here.

Additionally, we have lots of great inventory right now that we think you should check out from investment properties at $50,000 to a high-end contemporary home at $650,000.

As for events, we're starting with "Have a Good Night" at Gilroy's on October 12th from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. We're hosting this event with food and live music–hopefully we'll get nice some weather to enjoy the patio!

We're really excited to see you at these events!

On October 20th, we'll have a really fun Trunk or Treat event here at the office to get ready for Halloween. Get the kids dressed up and come get some candy with us!

We're also bringing back the popular event "Gather the Girls" on November 3rd with

Meghan Blum Interiors. You can start your Christmas shopping here; we'll have local vendors and local artists.

Finally, we want you to save the date for our third annual Reindeer Day. Last year, we had 800 people show up, so we'll have VIP tickets for our clients and contacts so you won't have to wait in line.

We're really excited for these events! If you have any questions in the meantime, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to seeing you soon!

It’s clear that our market has shifted a bit lately, but this is something we predicted. Here’s how to navigate our market on both the buying and selling side.

Today I’m joined by David Bell with Gershman Mortgage to talk a little bit about the market in terms of housing inventory and financing.

In regard to housing, the market has definitely slowed down quite a bit since spring. On David’s end, he’s seeing the market change along with the interest rates. The Federal Reserve has hinted toward an increase in interest rates, and that hint itself could cause rates to go up right from the get-go.

We’re seeing some of these changes on the housing market as well. We’ve been predicting these changes for about the last 12 to 18 months, and July of this year was the first month where we saw these numbers shift. Our inventory levels are up and our sales are coming down, so it’s clear that the market is indeed changing.

As far as financing in the market goes, the biggest change that David has seen so far has been some of the modifications to the USDA program. Though the USDA’s upfront fee has been 2.75% up to this point, they’re planning on reducing it to 1%. In addition, their monthly guarantee fee is set to decrease from .5% to .35%, which will reduce monthly payments for homeowners. These changes will make things much easier for homeowners, especially those looking to buy homes in small, rural communities with populations below 20,000.

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Be Johnny-on-the-spot with the loan officers.

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What should you do if you’re thinking of selling your home? One warning I’ll give you is that you will have increased competition on the market. For this reason, we’ll want to make sure that the home shows well and that it’s priced right initially. For those that are considering moving within the next one to two years, the forecast that we’re seeing is that home values are going to decrease. This is why if you’re considering selling, it’s important to get your home listed as soon as possible.

On the buyer side, David advises having all documents ready to hand in to your loan provider in order to streamline the process. Loan officers will generally ask for things like W-2s, paystubs, and tax returns up front to process your initial file, but once your loan goes into underwriting, you’ll be asked for additional documentation. Be ready for all of this because the sooner you get all of these things in, the sooner you’ll be cleared, and the sooner you can close on the home.

If you have any other questions about the mortgage process, give David a call at 515-330-2930 and as always, please give me a call or send me an email with any questions about anything real estate-related. I’d be happy to help you!

Today we are excited to be giving you a market update and talk about some fun things going on in Des Moines right now.

Not only are presidential candidates flooding the city, people who want to live here are flocking to the area as well. We have had some amazing referrals over the last month, from all over the country. People have come to us not only through our large referral network, but through our friends and family that live all over. Those referrals mean a lot to us, and we thank you for trusting us and thinking of us when it comes to Des Moines real estate.

If you're not in Des Moines and reading this, we just want you to know we can help you move no matter where your destination is. We have fantastic agent relationships all over the country with Keller Williams, and we can get you in touch with a great agent no matter where you are.

In Des Moines, we had a huge surge in business in 2016. January is the busiest month I've ever had in real estate. We have a ton of buyers coming in, a lot of businesses coming in, and we are still short on listings. If you are ready to sell, now is the time to make your move. Even if you're just thinking about selling in the future, but don't want to formally list your home, we might just have the perfect buyer for your home. It can never hurt to have the option on the table.

If you have any questions for us, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. We would love to hear from you!

Today I'm excited to answer some questions about remodeling. We are always getting questions from clients about where they should put their money. Today we are going to answer some of those questions. 

There are a few key concepts that I advise people to go by. The first is square footage. Whenever you are adding square footage to your home, you're adding value. 

Another thing that adds a lot of value is an extra bedroom. If you go from being a 3-bedroom home to a 4-bedroom home, your home will be in a higher price bracket. 

Adding another full or half-bathroom is another great idea. Even if you can't add anything, remodeling your bathroom will bring you a pretty good return on investment.

When you do decide to add value to your home through home renovation or remodeling projects, understand that you won't always get a full return on your investment. I found a cool graph in Realtor Mag, that shows how much value certain home repairs bring. If you update your heating and cooling system, you can expect to get around 71% of that cost back. However, with hardwood floor refinishing, you can expect to get 100% of that value back when you decide to sell.

My best advice is this. If you are considering adding value to your home through renovations or remodels, give us a call first. We can help you get started, and put you in touch with some of the best contractors in the area who will be able to take it from there. We are happy to help out, and would love to hear from you. Give us a call or send us an email today!

Most people who are interested in buying wait until the spring to do so. If you're one of those people who plan on buying in the next six months, now is the time to start getting your ducks in a row.

Over the years, we've seen people do absolutely nothing between now and the springtime. When the weather starts to improve, these people are completely unprepared to begin their home search!

Right now, time is your ally. Use this time to figure out your budget, find out how much money you are going to use for the down payment, and know what your credit score is! If your score is pretty low, there are things you can do to improve it between now and the spring. Knowing what hurts your credit and when credit companies record their reports can help you do all the right things to improve your score. In just about 60 days, you can see a drastic change in your credit score.

If you want to keep your credit score in good shape, you need to avoid exceeding 30% of your max limit on your credit card. If you have a credit limit of $1,000, you need to keep your debt at $300 or under. If it's above that, your credit is going to get dinged.

Your credit score is what lenders use to determine your risk. A lot of the credit programs are risk based, so the better the credit score, the better the interest rate, and the better the interest rate, the lower the monthly payment. A great credit score can have a huge impact on your monthly mortgage payments.

If you're planning on buying in the next six months, get all your ducks in a row! Find your 14 tax returns, look at what's in your bank account, and start budgeting. These are the things a lender is going to need to determine your viability for getting a home loan.

Give us a call or shoot us an email if you would like real estate or lending assistance of any kind. We're always here to help you!

Today I'm with one of our best buyer's agents, Karoline Benskin. She's going to be speaking about her journey of becoming a licensed Realtor and what it took to get her where she is today.

Karoline has been licensed for two years now. She had to take a 60-hour course that lasted about a week and a half, and after that she took a test related to the course. After passing the exam, she then had to take an 18-hour course that focused on the ins and outs of being a Realtor.

Something that most people don't realize about being a real estate agent is that you don't have endless amounts of free time. We have to cater to the needs of our clients, and we take this very seriously. The market never stops running, so we never really stop working.

Another thing to remember is that success does not come overnight. Some people expect sales right away, but usually nobody gets a sale until 60 days in. We did, however, have an agent get five deals in his first few days.

Another thing to consider is which brokerage you want to work with. Certain companies offer you varying levels of independence, so you need to do some research and find out where you would fit best. We've both been with Keller Williams, and we love it. Anyone who starts working with KW has to read "The Millionaire Real Estate Agent". It's like the bible around here, and it contains all the systems and models you need to succeed in this business.

What drove me to get into the business was when I lost my job at a marketing firm in 2008. I decided I never wanted anyone else to determine my wealth again, so I became an agent. I also used the skills I acquired at the marketing firm to build my business here.

As always, please don't hesitate to contact us with questions. We look forward to hearing from you!

First of all, start early. Don't leave everything for the last minute and get overwhelmed. Being overwhelmed just makes the entire process more stressful than it needs to be. Start early and do one room at a time. It will be more manageable, and you won't feel overwhelmed by the amount of stuff you have to pack.

While you're packing one room at a time, keep all the rooms together. Don't have a bunch of miscellaneous boxes that aren't labeled. Put your kitchen things in boxes labeled "kitchen," your living room things in boxes labeled "living room," and so on.

While you're packing, however, make sure you leave important documents out. You don't want to have to unpack everything to find your checkbook so you can pay the mover. Leave out things like credit cards, bills, or anything you may need to give your lender at the last minute, such as tax forms.

If you're moving with kids, it's a good idea to take the kids over to the new house while it's still vacant. Have them "pick" their rooms (even though you probably already know where they're going to go), and pick the room color. Doing this helps your kids get excited about the move. When you are moving, pack some snacks and have activities to keep them focused so you can do what you need to do. If you can, have grandma come out for the day and keep the kids busy.

Finally, if you're moving with pets, you need to plan ahead. You may need someone to watch your pets. Leave their food and toys out so they have something to do while you are moving.

Those are our top tips for a stress-free move! If you have any questions, please give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to help you!