What Price Should You Offer on a Home?

If you’re interested in a home, what should you offer for it? Today, I’ve got some key tips.

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 When you see a house you’re interested in as a buyer, what should you offer?

It’s easy to wonder when you see a list price whether you should offer more, offer less, or offer at the asking price. This is where your Realtor comes in. They will help you determine the best course of action.

One of the first things you should consider is the length of time the house has spent on the market. If a property has been on the market for a long time, don’t offer more than they’re asking. In fact, you should probably offer less.

Before coming up with a price, you also need to look at comparable properties. Look at homes that are similar in size, bedroom count, bathroom count, and other important aspects. What are they selling for? The patterns you might notice across these homes could help you formulate your offer.

The right Realtor will help you determine the best course of action.

But you can’t just look at the comparable properties. These properties are ones that sold in the past. You also need to look at what’s currently selling. Consider the level of interest being shown in those homes and in the one you’re interested in. The more people interested in a given home, the higher the price it will sell for.

This is what a good agent will do for you. They’ll consider all of these aspects and will also talk to the listing agent for you.

If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

What’s the Difference Between a Home Warranty and Home Insurance?

What is the difference between a home warranty and home insurance? I’ll explain today.

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Home insurance is very different from a home warranty.

The difference is similar to the difference between car insurance and a car warranty. If you get in an accident driving your car, insurance will cover it. If something is broken in the car, then your warranty will cover it.

The same can be said for home insurance and home warranties.

For example, if there is a fire and your house burns down, or if there is a water leak in your property, home insurance will cover the repairs.

A home warranty will give you peace of mind for the first year of homeownership.

A home warranty covers things like appliances or plumbing in your unit. If those items were to fail, you wouldn’t have to pay out of pocket for repairs.

One of my clients bought a house and a month later the waste line under the garage burst. He called the home warranty company and they came out and got that fixed for him. Without the warranty, he would have had to pay $3,000 out of pocket.

A home warranty is very important for that first year after you purchase your home. They only cost around $500 to $550 tops and they give you peace of mind.

If you have any other questions about home warranties or home insurance, just give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

Why Include a “Love Letter” in Your Offer?

If you want to reinforce your offer as a buyer, write a “love letter” to go along with it to let the seller know who you are and why you’d be a great candidate to buy their house.

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Whenever one of my buyers writes an offer for a house, there’s a “love letter” attached to it. What is a real estate love letter, though? Why should you consider writing one when trying to buy a house?

This kind of letter tells the seller who you are—your background, why you’re interested in the house, etc. Sometimes, I even see pictures attached to these types of letters. This way, the seller gets a better idea of who’s buying their house, whether or not they’ll be able to take good care of it, and other things of that nature.

This letter is all the more important nowadays because buyers and sellers don’t meet as often as they used to. Without a love letter, all a seller sees is a purchase agreement and its terms. Just to be clear, the purchase price and terms are the most important parts of an offer, but you should still write a love letter because it might give you the nod over another prospective buyer in a multiple offer situation.

Without a love letter, all a seller sees is a purchase agreement.

For example, if you and another buyer write two offers for the same property and the prices and terms are the same, the seller might accept yours because they know who you are and know you spent the time to write the letter in the first place. In their eyes, you probably care about the house a little bit more.

These letters don’t need to be five-pages essays. Just write a simple, one-page letter and you’ll be fine.

If you have any questions about this topic or you’re thinking about buying or selling a home in the San Francisco area, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I’d love to help you.

What Happens If an Inspection Reveals Undisclosed Issues?

Home inspections are an important and common part of the home buying process. However, if you get the inspection report back and find issues that weren't disclosed by the seller, things can get complicated.

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An inspection is an important part of the home buying process. So, what do you do when you get the inspection report back with an issue that wasn't disclosed by the seller? It could be an issue with a leaky roof or termites, for example.

Your first step is to talk to your Realtor to find a professional who specializes in a given area who can give you a proper bid on the cost of repair for the damages.

So say you get a bid to repair a roof for $3,000. At that point, your agent would ask the seller's agent for either a $3,000 credit or a price reduction. Typically, I don't want to ask the seller to repair the issue because they usually won't want to do that. Usually, they just want to sell the property and move on. Even if they agree to take on the repair, they probably won't find the best person for the job like I can.

Sellers usually just want to sell the property and move on, not make a bunch of repairs.

If the seller says no to your credit request, you can start negotiating. For one, you could say you won't buy the house if they don't provide the credit. Many times, it won't go that bad; the buyer and seller will often meet somewhere in the middle to find a credit amount that's agreeable to both parties.

Ideally, you'll have a strong Realtor on your side who can negotiate as much as possible for you to get the most money back.

If you have any questions about this topic or you're thinking of buying or selling a home here in San Francisco, give me a call or send me an email. I'd be glad to help.

The Importance of a Buyer Consultation in the Home Search Process

A buyer consultation does many things. It saves you time and makes the search process easier to name a few.

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Why is a buyer consultation such an important step in the home buying process?

The biggest thing a buyer consultation does is save time. When I’m able to sit down with a buyer and ask them about their wants, their needs, their must-haves in a home, and all their different wish lists, I can narrow down the search considerably. Most times, I can narrow things down to a list of the five to 10 properties that match your criteria the most.

In order to know which listings you’ll like the most, I use a number of different methods. I take a look at all the available listings on the MLS, of course, but I can even look for properties that aren’t even on the market. These off-market properties are purchasable, but they aren’t listed for sale.

A lot of times I hear about these homes from other Realtors, clients, and friends in the business. When I know exactly what you’re looking for, I can use that information to try and match you with an off-market property if possible. Off-market homes are great because there usually aren’t many buyers for you to compete with.

I might be able to match you with an off-market property.

Finally, a buyer consultation is a good chance to determine if you’re compatible with your agent. I want to be able to talk to my clients, not just about their transaction, but about their day and their life in general. I like getting to know my clients on a personal level, and that has resulted in a lot of great friendships over the years.

If you have any questions about what a buyer consultation does or you’re interested in buying or selling a home yourself, give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you.

How to Make Your Offer Stand Out in a Seller’s Market

How can you make your offer stand out when competing with other buyers on a home? Here are three things to keep in mind when submitting your offer.

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Navigating a seller’s market as a buyer can be tricky, especially if you find yourself competing against other buyers on the same house in a multiple offer situation. What can you do to make your offer more attractive to the seller? Here are three things to keep in mind when making your offer that will help you land your dream home:

1. Terms. You want to make your offer as clean as possible by having minimal contingencies. In order to do this most effectively, you’ll want to do your due diligence ahead of time before you write the offer. If this is a hot property with a lot of interest from other buyers, make sure that you make your preliminary inspections ahead of time so that you don’t have to include inspection contingencies on your contract. It’s also important to include short terms, meaning that you want to be sure that the close of escrow happens in the shortest possible time frame.
 
2. Include your pre-approval letter and proof of funds in your offer. This way, when the seller looks at your offer, they know that you are capable of getting a loan for the property and have funds available for the down payment. Including these two items in your offer is extremely important in a market like the one we’re in here in San Francisco. If these aren’t included, many times the seller won’t even look at your offer.

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A seller may not even consider your offer without a pre-approval letter.

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3. Have a good agent on your side. With a lot of the hands-off situations going on in the market right now, many times agents will simply email an offer to the seller’s agent and won’t communicate ahead of time. I find myself in this situation all the time, and when it happens, I question whether I should accept the buyer’s offer since I have never met the buyer or their agent. If you’re on the buyer’s side, make sure you let your agent contact the seller’s agent and establish a rapport early on.

Keeping these three things in mind when submitting your offer can only make your offer stronger. If you have any other questions about making your offer stronger or anything else related to real estate, give me a call, send me an email, or leave a comment below. I’d be happy to help you!

What’s the Secret to Finding the Perfect Location in San Francisco?

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In the world of real estate, the mantra “location, location, location” is thrown around a lot -- and for good reason. Regardless of how fantastic your home is, if you live in a dangerous or otherwise undesirable neighborhood, there is going to be a limit on the amount of value you can get out of your home. Bottom line, before buying a home, you want to make sure it’s in an area where home values are on the rise, as opposed to an area where home values are stagnating or declining.

Often, buyers come to us talking about great locations that they simply can’t afford. Our solution to them is to consider moving on the border between two neighborhoods. Doing this, you may be able to enjoy all the benefits of a desirable neighborhood without having to pay the high price of actually living in it.

Most people look at homes during the day. However, once you find a neighborhood and a home that you love, we highly suggest checking out the neighborhood at night. If you’re going to make a huge investment in a home, you want to make sure the neighborhood is as desirable at night as it is during the daytime hours. You don’t want to accidentally purchase a home on a street with a ton of loud bars on it and not be able to do anything about it!

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We highly suggest checking out the neighborhood of interest at night.

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If you have any questions or concerns about this topic, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We would love to help you find the perfect home in a great part of town!

Why Are Home Inspections So Important in San Francisco?

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Today, we’re going to talk about the importance of getting a home inspection.

A lot of times when you look at a house, you don’t know where to look for potential problems. All you can see is the home’s decor. You need an inspector to come in and go through everything that you can’t see. They will examine things like the electrical system, plumbing, and the roof so you know exactly what you are getting into.

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The home inspection helps you know exactly what you’re getting into.

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After the inspection, you will receive a full report of any issues with the home. If there is a problem the sellers didn’t initially disclose, you can sit down and negotiate who will be responsible for the repairs. You may even get a lower purchase price or allowance for repairs.

One thing you should pay attention to as a buyer is the bones of the house. These are things that you cannot change, like the floor plan, the view, and the location. You can redecorate your house every ten years or so to keep up with current trends, but you can’t really change the bones of the house.

If you have any questions about today’s video or real estate in general, give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to help you!