Tag Archives: selling

Everywhere I Look: Condos!

No need to post a picture of condo developments; you know what they look like, right? They. Are. Everywhere. Throw a rock and you’ll hit one (well, don’t throw a rock). Well, so what?

“What” is that the number of resale detached homes is lower than it used to be, as builders swerve into the multiple housing structure lane. Look around you; these structures are going up all over the place, as the push to get people to walk everywhere plays out. Personally, I’m not seeing it for me; I have to have my AC in the summer heat and well, heat in winter. These grand, sweeping ideas work well for builders, who rake in the money; but in the real world, it’s not ever the best idea. My opinion, of course. And who’s gonna carry the GROCERIES? To be somewhat fair, more people can be squeezed into a square mile this way, which is usually the goal. And let’s put a pin in inadequate infrastructure to accommodate all the new cars, water usage, sewer usage…you get the idea.

Believe it or not, there’s still a housing shortage, particularly in detached, single family resale homes. Therefore, prices of those homes are not going down. Not going up like rockets either. What IS happening is that because condos and townhomes are ‘more affordable’, resale detached homes sit on the market a bit longer, up maybe 20 days more than a year ago. And, almost half of homes sold have sold below list price, which is unusual in our brains. In OUR brains, no buyer can ever offer LESS than list price, oh no. In OUR brains, our buyers had to offer more than list price. Not now, though. Not necessarily. Now, buyers are able to offer less…that is until we listing agents realize that the price structure has changed. I will say that I have encountered two multiple offer situations already, though. Both in detached, resale homes, by the way. I predict that will become more and more common. Some people don’t want to live in a stack, and they WILL pay above list price to make it so.

Now, buyers are STILL not really getting closing costs automatically paid all or in part by sellers. But it FEELS like there’s a bit more balance in real estate transactions, notwithstanding the new compensation law. In my business, I find things to be pretty much the same. I’m happy to say that NC has always done right by clients with respect to compensation. No hidden gotchas, no sleight of hand. Not in MY world and not in my companies.

Back to condos (and townhomes). They SEEM to be less expensive, until you factor in the high HOA dues these developments carry. It might seem like a way to get first time buyers into their own home, but often, that is not reality. The payment APPEARS to work, until you add in hundreds of dollars a month for HOA dues. This market is still a very tough challenge for first time buyers who are often trying to set up the rest of their lives at the same time. The home is just one piece of the picture. Now, I find many, many more disappointed first time buyer clients who just cannot make it work. And these are smart, hard working people. Look, if you are a first time buyer, just call me and let’s talk about it. The more you know up front, the better off you will be, and the less disappointed if you don’t know the whole story by the time you start looking.

Lenders try to keep a tool chest of ‘first time buyer’ products, but even with that, those HOA dues keep buyers renting. I don’t like that at all, and I wonder where this will all end up. I envision many empty buildings at some point in the future. Or buildings that were once condos becoming apartments… rentals, in other words.

Word on the street is that some of the Grand Poobah builders are going to lessen or eliminate incentives for buyers. I am not seeing that yet, but what I am seeing is big realtor bonuses offered by these same builders. What good does it do a buyer if their agent gets a big bonus? None. I think that should be illegal. The whole home buying process is about the BUYER, not their agent.

Some builders were offering low interest rates for a while, as they worked out of a pool of cheap money they borrowed during extremely low rates. But I have a feeling those funds might be running low? Not sure. But I’m not getting the low interest rate emails I got last year; I know that. No, I’m getting ‘realtor bonus’ emails now.

Some news outlets are reporting efforts by builders to change the laws to allow them to put higher density developments in. There’s a bill. With a number. Seriously. In other words, if you think the next door neighbor’s house is too close just wait. It will get worse. Builders are a huge, rich lobby. If you want a detached home with a yard, better not wait. I’m serious about that. If there is a push to get everyone to just rent, well the direction we seem to be heading might be working. Buy your yard now, is what I’m encouraging you to do.

Bottom line is this: Buying and selling homes has not gotten easier. For us agents, it is still critical that we keep our eyes open, particularly when dealing with ‘flip’ products. Just because everything inside is new, doesn’t mean the pipes are in good shape, floor joists and roof rafters are stable, you get the idea. Make sure you have a good real estate agent! We, who are good ones, are worth our weight in gold.

Make sure your agent is on top of the statistics and the news, too. That way your negotiation position is stronger. Knowledge is power. If I can help you, I’m here, not going anywhere. I’m Brenda, with Premier Advantage Realty. I’m online and I’m at 919-210-6113.

Boost Your Existing Home Desirability to Buyers

The years 2023 and 2024 were challenging years for existing home sellers. That’s in general; there were some warmer markets. But overall builders captured the market with huge and I mean HUGE incentive dollars for buyers. The problem existing home SELLERS have is that their homes are not new, and they should not be priced alongside new or newer homes. And yet some are.

The problem I see is that often, sellers spend tens of thousands of dollars on their homes getting them ready to sell, and promptly add that dollar amount to their dream price. That NEVER works, folks. What sellers spend is actually required to bring their home back to life to be worthy of the market; it’s not icing. They replace worn out flooring, leaky roof, repair wet crawl space, put in a new water heater, update appliances…all of the things buyers EXPECT to see when they are shopping homes on the market. Today’s buyers do not want to do DIY. They want older but they want it to BE new. See the conundrum?

There’s that dirty word no seller ever hears: Market. The internet makes my job much harder in a way, because it fools people into checking the square footage box, the acreage box, the age box and POOF! There’s your home value. Not. Not not not! Please hear me when I say this: There are a thousand other things to consider when deriving a price for your home and NONE of the online home sites consider any of them. So they tell you a dream price and you buy it, hook, line and sinker.

Remember the ‘nose blind’ commercials? It’s real. But there’s ’emotion blind’ too. Buyers don’t care that your parents built this home; they don’t care that this used to be your room as a child! They have never seen this house, and they don’t see it through your emotion lenses. The automated valuation models don’t know that your back yard view is of a propane dealer or that you have termites eating your floor joists. The AVMs don’t know that there is a plan to put an interstate alongside your property line! AVMs don’t know that your kitchen appliances are forty years old, or that the bathrooms are that age too. They look at age, square footage, zip code and then they grab others with those criteria and give you an average. Most of the time, they are wrong. Read that last sentence again, please.

I’m going to say this and hope you will listen. Real estate agents see thousands of homes each year. We see the best of the best and the worst of the worst. We know how to value your home. By the way, your market is not the same as the one 20 miles away from you. Real estate is LOCAL. Know that when we come to meet you and your home, our goal is to find out your STRATEGY for selling your home. In other words, how motivated are you and why. That’s critical. And then we talk to you about the repairs you’ve had to do, the ones you plan to do, the age of the systems, what you love and what you hate about the home. Then we investigate the building materials (like Masonite or polybutylene) and whether or not you are in a flood plane. We check for easements and private streets and road maintenance agreements. And we check the HOA and covenants. ALL OF THAT makes a difference folks. All of it. AVMs do not consider them, by the way.

But the bottom line is that unless you have made your old house new in all of the ways, you cannot price it alongside new construction. Even if, may I say, the quality of construction may be better. So please, consult a real estate agent (me) and let’s just talk about it. Oh, and then please listen. I will tell you the truth. And then I will help you actually sell your home.

I’m Brenda, a real estate broker with Premier Advantage Realty. Call me.