Why Should You List Your Home Early in 2017?

When do you need to list your home in order to take advantage of the 2017 spring real estate market? The sooner, the better!

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Selling a Northeast Metro-Atlanta home?  Home Price Evaluation

Why should you list your home early in 2017? 

Think of it this way: Black Friday has been starting earlier and earlier. Some stores are open on Thanksgiving, and some run Black Friday specials for an entire week. 

The same principle applies to our spring market. That old established deadline of May 1st has been creeping up and up until now; if you want to take advantage of the spring market, you have to get ready to list in January. 

The traditional mindset for the spring market was that you would list your home in the spring because that’s when the most buyers are looking. Now people are listing their homes earlier and earlier because there is still a lot of buyer demand during the first few months of the year as well. If you wait until May 1st, you will miss out on this great foot traffic. 

Let’s quickly revisit that Black Friday shopping concept. The stores that open up earlier do get more of the sales than stores that open later. Again, the same principle applies to the housing market. Many sellers choose to put their homes on the market early because buyer traffic is still strong and they can sell their homes faster and for more money. 

Buyer demand for your house has not significantly decreased throughout the holidays. Fewer homes are coming on the market right now, which means that you have a small window to take advantage of that strong demand before a ton of inventory floods the market. Less competition and high demand means that you can sell your home faster and for a higher price. 

As we mentioned last time, interest rates are going to climb. The earlier you get your home on the market, the earlier you can make your next purchase, and the lower your interest rate will be. The threat of rising interest rates will cause a lot of buyers to make a decision sooner than they usually would. 

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The sooner you list your home, the better your sale will be.

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Ultimately, our advice is to get your home on the market now. There is a lot of demand out there, which is quite an advantage for you. The new mantra for the spring market is, “The sooner you list your home, the better.” 

If you have any questions about selling your home or preparing it for the market, just give us a call. We would be happy to help you!

What’s Happening With Our Market?

We’re here in our brand new space bringing you our 2017 real estate market predictions.

Buying a Northeast Metro-Atlanta home? Get a full home search 

Selling a Northeast Metro-Atlanta home?  Home Price Evaluation

We’re here in our new location ready to share our 2017 market predictions. The three main topics we get asked about are rates, affordability, and availability, so we’ll cover those in detail today.

First, even though we have been predicting higher interest rates in the last few years, rates have stayed pretty low. However, it looks like that trend might be over. There won’t be a huge jump in rates, but there will be an increase over the course of 2017. Rates should stay below 5%, but make sure to watch them as they affect your affordability.

Appreciation is also a hot topic, as people want to know if the value of their homes is going to go up in 2017. In our area over the last few years, we have seen very aggressive appreciation. However, that has begun to slow a bit. Price increases are still great at 4% to 7% year over year, but keep in mind that appreciation won’t be as aggressive as it’s been in the past. Investing in real estate is still one of the best decisions you can make.

Finally, the subject of availability is brought up a lot these days, as we see a trend of low inventory nationwide. Availability is referred to in terms of months worth of inventory in the real estate market. Basically, if no more homes came on the market, availability is the
number of months it would take to sell all the homes currently on the market. Low inventory can generate frustrated buyers as there is less to choose from on the market. However, low inventory is also why we have seen more new construction, which should help offset the lack of resale homes on the market.

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2017 will be a great year to take advantage of our market.

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Whether you’re looking to buy for the first time, downsize, upgrade, or make a real estate investment, 2017 will be a great year to do all of those things.

If you have any questions, please feel free to give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to help!

The Dangers of Overpricing in Northeast Metro-Atlanta

Buying a Northeast Metro-Atlanta home? Get a full home search 

Selling a Northeast Metro-Atlanta home?  Home Price Evaluation

Today, we’re going to talk about the pitfalls of overpricing your property in Northeast metro-Atlanta. We are currently in a seller’s market. If there’s ever a time to price at the high side of reasonable, it’s in a low inventory market like we’re in right now. 

Although we are in a seller’s market, buyers are extremely educated on current market trends. They are spending countless hours online educating themselves about the market, so when they walk through your door, they have a confident handle on what the price of the home should be. 

If you overprice your home, any educated buyer will not even consider it. You’re not going to receive any foot traffic on showings. All the hard work you did getting the home ready for the market will go to waste. You don’t want that.

How do you know if your home is overpriced? The National Association of Realtors says that if your home has been on the market for two weeks with no showings, or you’ve had 10 showings with no offers, your home is overpriced. If you’re getting showings but no offers, you’re actually selling the house down the street. They look at your property, see how expensive it is, and turn to the reasonably priced similar property on the same block. 

Finally, if you price too high, your home will sit on the market. This level of inventory  has a shelf life. Once a home has been on the market for an extended period of time, the buyer starts to wonder, what’s wrong with this property? Why isn’t it selling? Agents will wonder the same thing.

If you have any questions on how to accurately price your home, or any questions about real estate in general, give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to help you!