Why should you consider listing your house now instead of waiting until spring? There are five key reasons:

1. There is low inventory. At the end of 2016, there were only 2,424 properties on the market in Guilford County. Compared to the 2,863 homes that were in the market at the end of 2015, that’s a 15% reduction.

2. Buyers at this time of year have a sense of urgency. If they’re motivated enough look at your house during January, you know that they’re serious. Plus, you won’t have to deal with any looky-loos, as is the case when the weather gets warmer.

3. There will be more movement in the lower price points. If you’ve been saving up for a down payment, you may have earmarked your tax refund to purchase a home.

The winter market has plenty of things going for it.

4. There’s a lot of uncertainty and speculation regarding the incoming administration. Will they require a larger down payment? Nobody knows.

5. There is a potential interest rate hike coming. Remember—a 1% interest rate hike is the same as the price of a house going up 10% from a payment standpoint. If rates go up, the buyer pool will shrink. This will result in less demand for your house.

If you have any questions about this topic or are thinking of buying or selling, feel free to call or email us for a free consultation. We look forward to helping you!

Heather Dodson is with us today to get you up to date on some breaking news in real estate. The $15,000 down payment assistance program has just been rolled out in North Carolina for first-time home buyers and buyers who haven’t purchased a home in three years. Here are some things you should know about the program:

1. There is a max purchase price of $245,000.

2. There are income limits of $59,000 for a household of one to two people and $67,000 for homes of three or more.

3. This program can be used with all loan types for down payment assistance, mortgage insurance, or closing costs.

4. Any lender can help you with this program.

The max purchase price is $245,000.

If you have any questions for us or would like us to set you up to talk to one of our trusted lenders, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

I wanted to wish you a Happy Halloween and invite you to one of our upcoming events. Our annual Pumpkin Party is coming up, and I’d like to personally invite you to attend it.

The party will take place on Saturday, October 22nd, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Centenary United Methodist Church, located at 2300 West Friendly Ave.

See you at our Pumpkin Party this Saturday!

Thanks again to all of our past and present clients. Your referrals are the lifeblood of our business. We hope to see you at the event this Saturday!

In the meantime, if you have any other questions about buying or selling real estate in the Greensboro area, give me a call or send me an email. I’d be happy to help you!

If you plan on selling your home in the fall, there are a few specific things you can do to better prepare it to show during this season.

You want to prepare for things that happen naturally in the fall such as falling leaves. Keep your gutters clean to keep them from taking on water and sagging. It is unsightly and can cause problems to your home, so take care of it before it happens. You also want to be sure you have regular lawn maintenance to keep it clean. 

You can show buyers you've been proactive with maintenance.

Also, focus on landscaping. Having some fall flowers in a pot out front as people walk in is a good way to give the impression that you take care of your home. 

Speaking of maintenance, fall is a great time to have your HVAC checked. During the winter in Greensboro, it gets chilly, so you'll be running your furnace and really making it work. Go ahead and get it looked at – this will show the buyer that you've been proactive and are taking care of your system and your home. You might even want to leave the receipt for the service out on the countertop for buyers to see.

These things are easy to do to prepare your home to show in the fall and will have a large impact. If you have any more questions about selling in the fall or you have any questions about our market, give us a call anytime. We'd love to hear from you!

We’ve seen some great trends taking hold here in the Greensboro market, and we’re excited to talk to you about them. June 2016 continues a trend from the beginning of this year of increased home sales.

The 708 closed sales in Guilford County are 16.3% higher than what we saw in June 2015. This has brought our year to date total to 3,386 closed sales, which is 13.9% higher than 2015. We’re also seeing the trend of inventory decline continue. New listings are down 6.6% from this time last year.

With more houses selling and less coming on the market, our total active listing inventory has dropped. It currently sits at 2,970. That’s 21% lower than last June’s 3,761 listings.

Our inventory has dropped by 21%

Every market has micro markets, however. If you’re curious about selling and want a dedicated analysis of what's happening around you in your micro market, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you.

The Greensboro real estate market in the first quarter of 2016 is off to an unprecedented start. Closed units are up almost 15% from 1,200 last year to nearly 1,400 this year. The number of homes closing this year looks like it will continue into the second quarter with 14% more units going under contract.

We’re also seeing fewer homes come onto the market; with only 2,193 new listings, that figure is down more than 10% compared to 2015.

Right now, the market is swiftly changing from a buyer's market to a seller's market. Sellers are seeing more showings and more multiple offer situations than I have seen in all of my 18 years in real estate! This has also caused the sales-to-list ratio to rise to 93.1%. As a seller, you need to consider getting your house on the market ASAP, because the right houses in the right condition that are priced correctly are in high demand. Your chances of getting top dollar for your house are the best we have seen in years.

This type of demand is why forecasters are predicting a full 1% rise in mortgage interest rates. A 1% rise in interest rates is like a 10% jump in sales price from an affordability standpoint in monthly payments.

As a buyer in the Greensboro real estate market, be prepared for a multiple offer situation. Act fast when you see a house come on the market that meets your criteria; go to see it the minute it comes on the market! You may not have much time to think about it before making an offer.

A solid pre-approval from a lender is a must-have. Be ready to increase due diligence fees and earnest money deposits, and make sure your inspector can go quickly to keep due diligence days as short as possible.

If you have any questions, now is the time to ask! Feel free to reach out with an email or phone call and I’d be happy to work with you.

Today, I’ll discuss why Zillow cannot accurately price your home in the surrounding Greensboro area.

According to the LA Times, Zillow is a good start for finding a home price. However, the value they provide can be as much as 10% to 12% off! That can be incredibly inaccurate.

What does that mean to you as a seller?

What does that mean to you as a seller? If your home is worth $300,000, it can be worth $336,000, but Zillow won’t be able to estimate that. You could be giving your home away for a steal and missing out on a huge profit. You could also be pricing your home so high that it drives buyers to other homes.

I highly recommend working with a professional, instead of an online algorithm. I’d be happy to assist you. If you’re thinking about buying or selling a home, reach out by phone or email at your earliest convenience! As a local real estate expert, I’m happy to answer any questions you might have and provide a free consultation.

Today we will be discussing how to time the spring market in the Triad if you're trying to sell your home. Should you put your home on the market now, or wait until there is more activity? We're going to explain what you should do right now.

I always get asked about when the best time of year to sell a home is, and the truth is that it depends on a few factors. If you're trying to capitalize on the increased activity in the Greensboro area, you need to list soon. If you look at the 2015 numbers, you'll see in last March we had a 30% increase in sold units from the previous month. The thing you might not realize is that those homes that sold in March were on the market by Mid-January.

Right now, we are seeing the same number of showings as we did at this point last year. The only thing that could possibly put a damper on this is bad weather. Freezing rain and snow will put a slowdown on any activity in our area.

However, right now the weather's not too bad. If you're trying to sell for top dollar when that spring market hits, you want to consider putting your home on the market sooner rather than later. There are massive amounts of buyers out there looking and if you don't act soon, you could miss them.

If you have any questions for us, or if you're thinking of buying or selling in Greensboro, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you!

The latest market report for Greensboro is in, and today we’ll be looking at the latest numbers for our real estate market and comparing them with what we saw at this point last year. Let’s get to it.

The third quarter of 2015 saw 1,845 closed units in Greensboro, a 15.74% increase from the third quarter of 2014. More good news for sellers is that the average list-to-sale percentage rose from 91.2% in 2014 to 93.7% today.

The average days on market rose slightly, from 134 to 138 and the average sale price rose 2.53%, from $182,894 to $187,513.

The year-to-date numbers are also encouraging. The number of closed units is up 12.5% from this time last year, and units pending are up 17.3%. The year-to-date list-to-sale average is right around 93.5%.

If you have any questions for us, or if you’re thinking of buying or selling, give us a call or send us an email. We would love to help out in any way possible!

Today we just have a very simple message for you. It's not about real estate, interest rates, or how to sell your home for top dollar.

We just want to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! No matter how you celebrate during the holidays, we wish you well.

Thank you for all of your business and referrals in 2015, and we promise to make 2016 another great year!

If you have any questions for us at any time, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We are always here to serve!