Today, we’re wrapping up the residential market report for Howard County for June 2016. Here are the key year-to-date points that you need to know: inventory is down 9%, contracts are up 11.5%, and the number of settlements are up 17.8%.

To summarize, demand is up, and inventory is down. This means that we’re moving towards a seller’s market. Over time, this should have an upward pressure on price. Buyers, if you’re sitting on the fence, you need to get out there and start looking while rates are low and act before prices rise.

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High demand and low inventory is moving us toward a seller’s market.

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If you’re looking to buy or sell, give us a call or send us an email. We’d be more than happy to help.

Everywhere I go in Howard County, people ask me about Zillow’s Zestimates. The Zestimate is their home valuation tool. Zillow has done a great job of driving people to their website and offering this estimation of value, but I’ve seen Zestimates off by as much as 20% online.

Sometimes it’s accurate and it usually gives a good benchmark, but the reason it’s so often inaccurate is because it doesn’t take into account many factors that buyers do when determining the true value of your home. For starters, it can’t factor in location. The Zestimate can’t tell the difference between a corner lot on a busy street and a cul de sac tucked back into a neighborhood with its back to the woods.

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Zillow can’t account for home improvements.

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Zillow also can’t account for home improvements. Zillow doesn’t factor in if your house has a new kitchen, a finished basement, updated windows, a new HVAC system, or a number of other improvements. Zillow can’t walk into your house and look at the overall condition either.

Finally, another factor that’s big in this area that Zillow can’t account for with its Zestimates is school districts. At the end of the day, the online estimate is cool and a neat tool, but it can be off. You can avoid this by having a real estate professional put a valuation on your home.

If you’d like a free home market analysis or have any real estate questions, please give us a call or send an email. We look forward to hearing from you.

How can you win a bidding war? There are a few strategies to keep in mind in these situations.

Include a strong price. The highest offers always end up at the top of the pile. To ensure your price is aggressive, you can include an escalation clause in your offer. You can also agree to pay the difference between the appraised value and sales price with cash. Ideally, you should bid higher than the listing price.

Submit a clear offer. Avoid contingencies. Limit the inspections you decide to do.

Have financing in order. When you submit, everything should be filled out on a financial information sheet. Submit a pre-approval letter with your offer. Avoid home sale contingencies. A home settlement contingency is better, but not ideal.

Add personal appeal. Find out as much about the seller as you can. Consider writing a handwritten letter about why you love their home so much, perhaps with a family photo attached.

Find out what the seller is looking for. What’s their best situation? Do they want to rent back? Those terms are incredibly important to seller’s wants and needs.

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Find out as much about the seller as you can.

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You need to find a Realtor with a flawless reputation that you can trust. If you’re thinking about buying or selling in the surrounding area, give me a call or send me an email! I’d be happy to answer any questions you might have.

We expect the spring real estate market in Howard County to be absolutely booming this year. If you have been thinking about listing, stop thinking and call us!

Low interest rates will cause a lot of buyers to begin searching for homes. Everyone knows that these rates cannot go much lower, so now is the time to buy a home. You have the opportunity to save thousands of dollars in interest over the lifetime of your loan.

Inventory will be on the rise, so if you wait too long, the competition around you will begin to get pretty tough. That’s why you need to list now while inventory is still low and demand is high.

We can come out to your home and take a look to see what you need to do in order to maximize your sale price. We’re also offering a 4.75% commission rate and a home improvement credit or a spring clean up credit. Nobody else is offering this!

Last but not least, I want to thank all of our team members for their hard work and commitment to excellence. We recently received the Pinnacle Award for Mega teams from Keller Williams to recognize our hard work in selling 331 homes in 2015. We couldn’t have done this without our team and all of our wonderful customers. Thank you!

We look forward to hearing from you this spring!

We have an exclusive listing that we want YOU to know about. Why are we being so secretive about this? Because this home is amazing! It would be gone in seconds if we let everyone know about it. 

This home is located at 15031 Bushy Park Rd. in Woodbine, MD 21797. The property hit the market in February and won't last long. Contact us today for an exclusive viewing before the competition starts. 

The house has a 3-car garage, four bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, a remodeled kitchen, a covered outdoor kitchen and living space, and it’s valued just under $795,000. It’s less than five miles away from Cattail Creek and is also situated around some fantastic school districts. 

I recommend you contact us quickly if you’re searching for a good home in an even better location. This home won’t stay on the market for long!

We look forward to hearing from you!

The great blizzard of 2016 is finally behind us, and the snow is starting to melt. Believe it or not, spring is just 6 weeks away!

If you’ve been on the fence about selling in the past, now is the time to consider getting your home on the market. As an incentive, we are offering commissions as low as 4.75%, with an easy-out clause. You can cancel your listing at anytime if you’re not happy with us. We are that confident you will be happy with our service. If you find a buyer on your own, we will walk away from the transaction and you won’t have to pay us a dime. 

Spring is right around the corner, let’s talk about getting your home ready for the market. If you have any questions at all, don’t hesitate to send a quick email or give us a call. We look forward to hearing from you!

Happy Holidays and thanks for tuning in! Our Howard County market stats are hot off the press.

Inventory remains stable, but is trending downward while demand remains high. The number of settlements is up 18% year-to-date since 2014. This is a tremendous sign moving into 2016.

If you're thinking of listing your home in 2016, we have some really awesome promotions that we think you'll be very excited about.

Thanks for a great 2015, and let's get a nice head start on 2016. Happy Holidays!

The last time you tuned in, we mentioned the Sweet Dreams Pajama Charity Drive. This initiative gives students in the Head Start program comfy, warm pajamas for Christmas.

At the Pat Hiban Group, we’ve been so busy wrapping gifts! We’ve reached our goal, which is excellent news. We collected 52 sets of pajamas!

We’d like to take a moment to thank our clients and everyone else who donated. The kids will be thrilled when we deliver them. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

The holiday season is upon us! Today, we want to share the latest Howard County market statistics, so you know what to expect from the market in the coming months!

Demand in Howard County is up 20% and settlements are up 19% year to date in comparison to 2014. A total of 445 more homes have sold in 2015 than last year, which is fantastic news for our market.

The average sales price in our area is $476,096 year to date. This is up 1% over last year; although that's a modest increase, it's a great sign for our marketplace.

If you have any questions about where our market is heading, or if there is anything I can help you with, please don't hesitate to give us a call. We're here to be your number one real estate resource and would love to help you accomplish your buying and selling needs.

This holiday season, we wanted to do something to give back to the community. We're starting the Sweet Dreams Holiday Campaign! We will work with Head Start to give new pajamas to children in need.

We're asking our clients, friends, and family to consider donating a pair of new warm pajamas for children between the ages of three and five. The Head Start program serves local families, low-income families, and children with physical or developmental disabilities. This is a great opportunity to make a difference within Howard County.

There are a couple of ways you can donate. You can buy a pair of pajamas in that size range and bring them to our office, located at 8840 Columbia 100 Parkway, Suite 110. We're open Monday through Friday from 9 to 5. You can also order the pajamas online and ship them to our office address.

We need your donations by December 15th. That's our deadline. We need time to wrap and deliver the pajamas for the children before the holiday.

If you want to know what child you are helping specifically, give us a call at 410-964-2400. We can give you the name, age, and gender of the child you are helping. If you are feeling especially generous, you can shop for more than one child. We appreciate all the help and support we receive.

If you have any questions, give us a call or send us an email. There are so many drives going on to help our community. We want to do our part to help some nice children's dreams come true. From our family to yours, have a happy, healthy holiday season!