North Shore's Real Estate Podcast with Mike Quail

 

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

 

Today I want to share five mistakes to avoid when you’re moving up into a larger home. Moving into a significantly bigger home is so much more complicated than moving into an apartment or your first home. A lot of move-up buyers are moving into their forever homes, so here are five things you should avoid:

1. Looking at the property with rose-colored glasses. Maybe you’ll drive by a huge home without knowing what the price is. Get real on what prices are today and make sure you know you can afford a home before you fall in love with it.

2. Not getting pre-approved. This will ensure you can afford what you’re looking at. A lot of homebuyers end up disappointed because they realize down the line they can’t afford their dream home.

3. Not selling your home first. You want to make sure that your current home is at least under contract with a buyer when you purchase your new home. If it’s not, you’ll have to offer more money on your new home to compete with sellers who are already under contract. You also may have to lower the price on your current home to ensure that it sells quickly. A better way to do it is by getting your home on the market, getting it sold, having a delayed closing or rent-back, and then purchasing your new home. There are a lot of different things you can do.

“

”

4. Failing to make necessary improvements to get top dollar. If you’ve ignored something for years, get it fixed. The new buyers will notice that.

5. Not coordinating the closings together. It takes a lot of work to do this, but it’s certainly possible and advantageous to your move.

There you have it. Avoid these five mistakes and you’ll have a smooth process moving up into your new home. If you have any questions for me in the meantime or you’re thinking about moving up to a new home anytime soon, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you.

 

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

 

For sale by owner (FSBO) – To many people it sounds horrible, but to others it sounds like a really smart idea because of all the available technology. They think the process will go smoothly, which it can sometimes. But, it's as easy to go to Las Vegas and win $10,000 while gambling, as it is easy to sell your home by yourself. 

Some FSBO home sellers sell for more money, save on commissions, have no legal issues, and have deals which work. However, I have found that 75% of FSBOs end up hiring an agent. There are many reasons for this.

Even though you can go online and get loads of information, selling your house is still an intense process. It is much better to hire a professional. The biggest reason you want to work with a professional is because you can get more money, even after you pay the agent's fees.

If you are interested in selling by yourself, offer the buyers’ agents a 2.5% to 3% commission to get good buyers to look at your home. This will bring in people who are more likely to spend the most money. People working without a buyer's agent are looking to take advantage of sellers who are selling on their own.

“

”

In fact, I took a class where they encouraged us to go after FSBOs to see if we could get a large discount. We found that most FSBO homes are sold for 10% less, which is actually more money lost than it would have been had they hired an agent for a 5% commission. And, the owner would not have had to do all the work. When professional agents list homes, we track the premium buyers who are spending the most money. By offering a 2.5% to 3% commission, you are spending very little to get a lot more.

We have found that FSBO sellers sell for a lot more with our help. If you reach out to us, we’ll provide you a copy of our marketing tool kit so that you can try to be one of the 25% who is successful at selling your home on your own.

If you’d like our help with selling your home on your own or you have any other questions or real estate needs, give me a call or send me an email. My team and I would be happy to help.

If you are selling your home yourself as for sale by owner (FSBO), I want to help. I can provide you with a marketing tool kit, or I can list your home myself.   Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation For sale by owner (FSBO) – To many people it sounds horrible, but to others it sounds like a really smart idea because of all the available technology. They think the process will go smoothly, which it can sometimes. But, it's as easy to go to Las Vegas and win $10,000 while gambling, as it is easy to sell your home by yourself. Some FSBO home sellers sell for more money, save on commissions, have no legal issues, and have deals which work. However, I have found that 75% of FSBOs end up hiring an agent. There are many reasons for this. Even though you can go online and get loads of information, selling your house is still an intense process. It is much better to hire a professional. The biggest reason you want to work with a professional is because you can get more money, even after you pay the agent's fees. If you are interested in selling by yourself, offer the buyers’ agents a 2.5% to 3% commission to get good buyers to look at your home. This will bring in people who are more likely to spend the most money. People working without a buyer's agent are looking to take advantage of sellers who are selling on their own.“ When professional agents list homes, we track the premium buyers who are spending the most money. ”In fact, I took a class where they encouraged us to go after FSBOs to see if we could get a large discount. We found that most FSBO homes are sold for 10% less, which is actually more money lost than it would have been had they hired an agent for a 5% commission. And, the owner would not have had to do all the work. When professional agents list homes, we track the premium buyers who are spending the most money. By offering a 2.5% to 3% commission, you are spending very little to get a lot more. We have found that FSBO sellers sell for a lot more with our help. If you reach out to us, we’ll provide you a copy of our marketing tool kit so that you can try to be one of the 25% who is successful at selling your home on your own. If you’d like our help with selling your home on your own or you have any other questions or real estate needs, give me a call or send me an email. My team and I would be happy to help.

 

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

 

Today I have a market update to share with you that includes five super cool statistics about the state of our market.

1. We have 5.4% fewer single-family homes listed, comparing the end of May 2018 to May 2017.

2. The number of units sold is down from 1,962 units to 1,910, which constitutes a 2.65% drop. This decrease is caused by the lack of inventory, not by the lack of demand—as you might have seen by now, buyers in the market are hammering listings with multiple bids.

3. The median days-to-offer is 14 days. This means that it’s taking roughly two weeks for listings to receive offers.

4. The median sales price is $440,000. This is a $35,000 increase from last year, or 8.63%, which is great news for sellers. What’s more, based on market trends, I don’t see this changing for at least two or three years.

“

”

5. The median sales-to-list price ratio is 98.83%. To explain, if a home was put on the market for $100, on average, it would sell for about $98. However, if you hire the Quail Group to sell your home, we’d sell it for $101.

If you have any questions about the market with respect to how it will affect buyers and sellers, feel free to reach out to us. I, or anyone else on my team, would be happy to help you out.

 

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

 

Today I want to talk about private mortgage insurance, more commonly known as PMI. Is PMI horrible? Is it good? The truth is that it oftentimes lies somewhere in the middle.

 

PMI is basically an extra fee for those homebuyers who do not put at least 20% down on a mortgage. PMI is something nobody really wants to pay. However, it allows people to buy, for example, a $400,000 home without putting down $80,000.

 

If you put less than 20% down, you will have to pay a fee every month for private mortgage insurance to ensure your bank’s peace of mind. They only want to be in a position where they have lent out 80% of the loan. If they have lent out 95% of the loan, they have a greater risk.  They don’t want to risk losing money if you lose your job or there is some other reason that you are unable to pay your bills, forcing you to sell the home. If they do not get all of their money back from the sale of the house, then the private mortgage company pays the difference.

 

Generally, it is a good thing. It helps you get into the market and helps you build equity. If you can afford the extra money per month for the policy, which is on a scale, it is worth it.

“

”

Most buyers, especially first-time homebuyers, put down less than 20% and have PMI. There are some special programs which waive PMI, so give us a call and we can put you in touch with some of our preferred lenders and they can give you some extra information.

Once you own your property or you have equity of at least 20%, you can actually get rid of your PMI. It does not have to be there forever. Some loans you have to refinance to get out of them, however, other programs allow you to get a new appraisal once you reach the 20% value of the home and remove it easily.

If you have any additional questions about this or are interested in buying or selling, please feel free to contact me. I look forward to speaking with you soon.

 

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

 

 There are a lot of real estate myths floating around out there that you shouldn’t believe. Here are four major myths and the truth behind them. 

I wish this were true, but it’s not. For 99% of us agents, our salary is commission-based. We don’t get all of the commission from a real estate transaction, either. It actually gets split four ways—the listing agent splits it with the buyer’s agent, and each of those agents split their remaining half with their brokerages.

 

2. A home either “passes” or “fails” a home inspection. 

The home inspector’s job is to see what’s wrong with the house and then report any issues back to the buyer—not give it a “pass” or “fail” grade. After they do this, the buyer can either negotiate for certain repairs to be made, negotiate a lower price for the home, or walk away from the deal. 

Zillow is a fantastic website for consumers and I like it very much, but their Zestimates, or the algorithm they use for home valuations, are flawed and can be off by as much as 30%. If you’d like a far more accurate valuation of your home, just call me and I’d be happy to take a look at it. 

They’re not. For the most part, agents spend their own money marketing homes—the brokerages pay for very little. This means it’s up to them as far as how much demand they can create for your home and whether they can help you sell it for a high price. The market is great, and almost anyone can sell a house right now, but you might be leaving money on the table by not working with a high-powered agent such as myself who has a high-powered marketing program.

“

”

If you’d like to read the original Inman article that inspired this topic and read about more real estate myths consumers commonly believe, click here. 

As always, if you have any questions or real estate needs, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d love to help you.

Here’s the truth behind four common real estate myths most people believe.   Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation  There are a lot of real estate myths floating around out there that you shouldn’t believe. Here are four major myths and the truth behind them.  1. Real estate agents are paid a salary and keep all the commission from each deal.  I wish this were true, but it’s not. For 99% of us agents, our salary is commission-based. We don’t get all of the commission from a real estate transaction, either. It actually gets split four ways—the listing agent splits it with the buyer’s agent, and each of those agents split their remaining half with their brokerages.   2. A home either “passes” or “fails” a home inspection.  The home inspector’s job is to see what’s wrong with the house and then report any issues back to the buyer—not give it a “pass” or “fail” grade. After they do this, the buyer can either negotiate for certain repairs to be made, negotiate a lower price for the home, or walk away from the deal.  3. Zillow says, therefore it is. Zillow is a fantastic website for consumers and I like it very much, but their Zestimates, or the algorithm they use for home valuations, are flawed and can be off by as much as 30%. If you’d like a far more accurate valuation of your home, just call me and I’d be happy to take a look at it.  4. All agents are the same.  They’re not. For the most part, agents spend their own money marketing homes—the brokerages pay for very little. This means it’s up to them as far as how much demand they can create for your home and whether they can help you sell it for a high price. The market is great, and almost anyone can sell a house right now, but you might be leaving money on the table by not working with a high-powered agent such as myself who has a high-powered marketing program. “Contrary to popular belief, not all agents are the same. ” If you’d like to read the original Inman article that inspired this topic and read about more real estate myths consumers commonly believe, click here.  As always, if you have any questions or real estate needs, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d love to help you.

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

Today, I’m presenting you with a Keller Williams high achievement certificate award with the name covered up.

Why? We’re looking for the next person to fill in that blank. Our team is growing, and we’re looking to add more awesome salespeople to help more of our clients. 

“

We’re looking for talented people to join our team.

”

Our mission is to care for clients and grow people. Our values include:

We want talented people who are looking to have unlimited potential income and are willing to care for buyers and sellers and help them with the biggest transactions of their lives. It’s not always an easy field to be in, but it’s incredibly rewarding. 

If you have any questions about this position, you think you fit this description, or you know anyone else who does, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you!

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

What is going on in today’s market? It’s crazy. Inventory is super low, and I’d like to offer you some perspective.

I recently gave an interview on a Boston.com real estate program where I talked about the North Shore and Essex County in general. Ten years ago in 2008, we had 3,000 homes for sale. Today, we have 700 homes for sale—that’s 2,300 fewer homes available.

If you’re a seller, there’s never been a better time to sell. There are so many buyers but not enough homes to sell to them all, so each seller’s property is a hot item that should sell fairly quickly and for a good price.

Buyers might think it’s a good idea to wait until prices go down, but I don’t see that happening. We won’t have a collapse like the last dip in the market, since that was underpinned by weak mortgages and people who got no-documentation loans. These days, everyone has been getting loans that are properly documented with every i dotted and every t crossed.

“

You might as well enter the market now and ride it up with the prices.

”

In the Greater Boston area, people are moving in to take advantage of the jobs and colleges we have, but there isn’t enough housing to suit them all. We also can’t build anymore homes, so we’re stuck with what we have. 

Rents are going up and home sales are going up, so if you’re a buyer, the prices will be even higher. You might as well enter the market now and ride up with the prices. That way, when you sell in five or 10 years, you’ll have gained all that equity. If you lower your expectations a little bit and get in the ownership game now, your next purchase can more in line with what you desire.

If you have any more questions about our current market or you're thinking of buying or selling a home, don't hesitate to call me or shoot me an email. I'd be happy to help.

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

As you may already know, we’ve recently seen a rise in interest rates. Last year, interest rates were around 3.4%. Now, they are up to 4.4%. 

This rise has a direct impact on buyers and sellers in today’s market. The amount sellers can ask for a property and the amount of buying power people have during their home search are two primary examples of this. 

Let’s imagine a home with a purchase price of $400,000. A 1% rise in interest rates would cause buyers to lose around 10% of their buying power. 

“

Rising interest rates have a direct impact on buyers and sellers in today’s market.

”

Decreased buying power affects sellers, too. If sellers hope to entice today’s buyers, they must set lower prices than in the past. 

I don’t have a crystal ball, but I can see that it’s becoming more expensive for buyers in today’s market. 

In other words, now is the time to lock in rates while they’re still relatively low. If you’re a seller, now is also a great time to list, since waiting could make it harder to command top dollar. 

If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email.