If you’re selling your home and have pets, there are a few things you need to do to prepare for showings.

If you have any questions about selling a home with pets, or if you have any other real estate questions, please don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you!

How can you make sure you get the right size home for you and your family?

First of all, don’t get caught up in an ego contest. Don’t just buy the biggest home. Buy what fits for you and your family’s needs. If you have kids or are looking to grow your family, you’re going to need some extra bedrooms.

Having the biggest house on the block comes with a lot of extra expenses. You have to get a lot of furniture to fill those rooms and if you don’t use the rooms, what’s the point? It just doesn’t make a lot of sense to buy a bigger home if you don’t really need one.

Not only that, taxes are based on home value and home size. If you buy the biggest house on the block, you will have higher taxes and higher home insurance costs. It will also cost you more to heat and cool the home. Buy the home that is economically feasible for you. 

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Buy the home that best suits your needs.

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Bigger homes also demand more of your time, too. If you have a big acreage, you will spend a lot of your weekend mowing the lawn. You will also have to spend a lot of time dusting and cleaning those extra rooms in your house. Time is very valuable. Why spend all that time on home maintenance when you can spend it with your friends and family?

We can help you find the home that best fits your needs. If you have any questions, give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to help you!

“Why isn’t my home selling?"

It’s one of the questions I get most frequently. Say your home has sat on the market for three or four months with no contract - why is that? One of the biggest things is poor home condition. If the house is cluttered or the windows are closed, it’s just not a good environment for a potential buyer to walk into and feel homey.

Likewise, badly-shot photography could be the cause. Photography is a huge part of real estate; some say up to 93% of buyers look at photos online before coming to a home. You need to be sure you work with an agent who has a photographer on staff or hires one. Too many Realtors take pictures with their phone. That’s great for selfies, but not for taking pictures of the biggest transaction of your life.

The third factor might be that you just hired the wrong agent. Maybe you just don’t get along or they aren’t advertising enough, or they took a lower commission just to get your business. A common problem here also is sometimes agents overprice your home just to make you happy - but all these things will end up costing you in the long run.

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Pricing a home competitively will allow you to negotiate the price up.

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Finally, one of the biggest issues that keeps a home from selling is incorrectly pricing the home. I know there are some situations where you have to get a certain amount of money to pay down the mortgage, but in the end, pricing the home competitively will save you a lot of time and grief, and get your home more looks. Offers will allow you to negotiate out correctly.

For more on a great pricing strategy, or more tips to help your home sell, give us a call. We’d love to help you out.

As we all know, right now is a very volatile time in real estate. Things are moving very fast and homes are flying off the market. How do you get your offer accepted in today’s market?

You have to come in with a real meaty offer. The days of shooting 20% to 30% under list price in order to negotiate a deal are almost gone. Here are three tips for making an appealing offer:

If you have any questions, please give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

The holidays are right around the corner, and it’s time once again for the Butler Team’s annual client appreciation event. This year, the event will be on Sunday, December 4th from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Lake Silver Park in Winter Haven.

This year, we’ll have 97 Country out to broadcast live from the event. We also have a ton of great activities planned, including:

This is going to be a great time and a great chance for us to show you how much we appreciate your continued support and business over the years. Make sure to mark your calendar for December 4th, and don’t forget to RSVP. You can RSVP by giving us a call at (863)-412-1070 or you can click this link here. We hope to see/ hear from you soon!

What’s been happening in the Polk County real estate market this fall?

Right now, we’re definitely in a seller’s market. Fall is typically a good time to sell your home because people are looking to move before the end of the year. Nationwide, we’re still seeing a trend of prices increasing due to a lack of available inventory out there.

What these conditions mean for buyers and sellers is that sellers don’t have to take the first offer they see, and buyers need to see their Realtor immediately if they see a house that they like.

If you’re a buyer, when you come to the table with an offer, your offer must be one of your best. The times of negotiating back and forth three for four rounds just aren’t there anymore. We’re seeing many multiple offer scenarios happen, which means there are probably three or four other people making an offer on the same house that you are.

In a volatile market like the one we’re facing, the terms of your contract (i.e., inspection period, financing, etc.) have to stand out.

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If you’re a buyer, come to the table with your best offer.

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I’m proud to say that the Butler Team exceeds our local market in terms of the average days on market. The average days on market for all homes listed in East Polk County is 92 days. From January 1st through August 1st, our listed homes have averaged 67 days on market.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Living in your home while you’re trying to sell can be a tough balancing act. We’ve got some tips to share that will make this situation as stress-free as possible for you.

If your home is listed in this type of market, especially with us, it’s going to sell quick. The first thing you should do is pack up the things from the house that you don’t need. Get rid of the junk and store the rest. 

Next, let’s get the home squeaky-clean for potential buyers. You may not be able to come home during the morning or afternoon to fix small things, so make sure it looks as presentable as possible when you leave in the morning.

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Get the home squeaky-clean for potential buyers.

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It’s also a good idea to maintain privacy and safety when listing your home. Anything with sensitive information should be tucked away in a safe place. Here at the Butler Team, we make sure all of our buyers are screened and pre-qualified before they enter the home. We don’t want just anyone walking in.

Finally, let’s get the kids involved. Moving can be tough, so keep them engaged by involving them in the home search process and having them help keep your current home clean.

If you have any questions for us, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you.

There are a number of costly, easily-avoidable mistakes that homeowners make when selling their home.

The first is not hiring a real estate professional. If you were going to get heart surgery, you'd hire a medical professional in that field. It's the same with selling your home - one of the single biggest transactions of your life. You want someone who has done this numerous times for many years with proven results. Not only will this limit your time on the market, but it will also maximize your profits you make. Professionals do this and negotiate deals every day.

Real estate professionals help you easily get over the humps like paperwork and contracts, professional photography, and things that homeowners wouldn't know about.

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Professionals negotiate deals like this every day.

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Another common mistake is not preparing the house the right way for a sale. Agents can provide the best tips for decluttering the home and small tips for easy and cost-effective home improvements to maximize cash back in your pocket. Additionally, when you get to the time of closing, an agent can help guide you through addendums that you might not even know about, like a lead-based paint addendum, for example.

Things that you think could save you time and money can oftentimes end up costing you a lot of time and money, and even a lawsuit in some cases. Hiring a real estate professional for their expertise is the best way to avoid these headaches when selling.

If you have any further questions about this topic or you're thinking about buying or selling a Polk County home, feel free to contact us soon. We'd love to work with you.

If you're selling your home, you can't underestimate the importance of hiring a real estate company that uses a professional photographer for photos of your home.

The home transaction is one of the biggest transactions of your life, so it's important to seek a professional for all your services, photography especially. While technology has come a long way, you don't want someone out there just taking pictures of your home with a camera phone!

The quality is leaps and bounds better when you use a professional, which is key since 94% of buyers start their home search online. You want to have the best quality photographs so that you can deliver the best possible presentation for your home.

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Professional photographers make your home more presentable.

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Unlike Realtors themselves, pro photographers know how the little nuances in photos can make your home more presentable and appealing to potential buyers. It's the little things most people wouldn't think of, like putting down the toilet seats, and staying out of the frame in pictures of rooms with mirrors. (There are plenty more but I can't give away all the industry secrets!)

If you're interested in learning more about how crucial professional photography is and how it can help you sell your home, please feel free to contact us here at the Butler Team. Give us a call or send us an email, or stop by our Polk County real estate office and ask for John. I look forward to speaking with you.

If you want to add value to your Polk County home to appeal to prospective buyers, there are a few ways you can upgrade quickly and inexpensively.

First, start by reducing clutter. It doesn't cost anything at all! Pick up the toys, boxes for the move, and anything to make the space more open and airy. Next, eliminate dust, buildup, and other funk that accumulates on the windows and crevices.

Also, upgrade kitchen and bathroom hardware to fit the current style of your home. It's an easy, inexpensive way to update a home.You can repaint the exterior and interior to make the rooms pop. Paint oftentimes is the first thing to catch the eye when a buyer walks in!

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Paint oftentimes is the first thing to 

catch the eye when a buyer walks in!

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On the outside, focus on light fixtures, new lights posts, a fresh looking mailbox, new mulch, doorknobs, and plants. Consider updating knobs on the inside of the house. Maybe add some wattage to your lights to make things look brighter and more airy.

These are my quick, easy tips for upgrading a house before you list in the surrounding area. If you have any questions for me, give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you!