Families tend to move into bigger homes as they grow, but, once children grow up and move out, parents are left with a large, expensive home without enough people to fill it. For many, this signals the perfect time to downsize into a smaller home with less maintenance and less financial liability.
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You can use the equity that you’ve built to buy a new home.
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If you no longer need your larger home, think about all the costs you can cut by downsizing. You can use the equity that you’ve built to buy a new home and invest in your retirement fund.
If you or someone you know is in a situation where they could benefit from moving into a smaller home with less maintenance, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email today. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report.
As we know, the real estate market crashed in 2007 and 2008 and bottomed out around 2011. Since then, our Lane County market has appreciated by almost 10% per year, but lately, that rate has slowed to 5%
What does this mean? It means we’re reaching the peak of the market. We’re in year seven of our current market cycle, and we’ve never exceeded a seven-year run of appreciation, so that’s as good of an indicator as any that we’re in for a shift.
Another indicator is interest rates. At the end of 2018, rates hovered around 5% range, and they were expected to be close to the 5.25% mark at this time, but that hasn’t happened. In fact, they’ve decreased, and as of the filming of this video, they’re expected to be at 4% or lower. Why the decrease? The economy is expected to slow down, which means now is the time to sell your home at the very top of the market.
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The economy is expected to slow down, which means now is the time to sell your home at the very top of the market.
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Many sellers are noticing that home values are higher, and they’re taking advantage of that. As the law of supply and demand dictates, the more inventory increases, the more demand diminishes. At the moment, listings average about two to three offers before selling. Last year, the average was about seven.
If you’re a buyer, the drop in interest rates makes now the perfect time to buy—especially if you’re currently renting. If you buy now, your monthly mortgage payment would be lower than your rent.
If you have any other questions about our Lane County market or you’re thinking of buying or selling a home soon, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d love to help you.
So you’ve received multiple offers on your listing. Congratulations! Today I’ve got five tips for ensuring that the selling process goes off without a hitch:
1. Stay organized. Design a spreadsheet that includes all offers along with a table of all criteria that’s relevant to your decision. This way, you can go down the line and compare each offer against these criteria. Having an organized process of elimination will help inform your decision.
2. Create a sense of urgency. Part of this is having your Realtor set and announce a specific review date for any and all offers that come in. By doing that, interested buyers and their representation will know how long they have to place their offer, and they’ll understand that indecision could mean a missed opportunity.
3. Obtain information on every buyer who makes an offer. Your Realtor should make it their mission to learn as much as they can about the types of buyers you’re dealing with. Are any of them all-cash buyers? Contingent buyers? These are things that will likely have a major bearing on your sale.
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Having an organized process of elimination will help inform your decision.
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4. Inquire about all offers with a loan officer. If the loan officer sees an offer in a favorable light ahead of time, the chances of it going through go up exponentially, so make sure your Realtor brings your offers to a mortgage professional before you make a decision.
5. Don’t cut ties with buyers who aren’t your first choice. Once you’ve accepted an offer, ask the second- and third-place buyers whether they wish to place a back-up offer. The incentive for doing that is they can lock out any additional offers in the event that the deal you’ve accepted fails to come to fruition. Should that happen, their backup offer would be moved to the first position.
If you don’t already have a spreadsheet, as mentioned in point No. 1, we’d be happy to provide you with the one we’ve developed for free! Just contact me and I’ll send a copy for you and your Realtor to use.
And if you have any other questions about how to best handle your multiple-offer situation or about real estate in general, please email me at GaryRaze@Remax.net or call me at 541-554-5825. I’d be happy to help!
