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Finding the Right Agent to Sell Your Home
Selling your home is a collaborative effort between you and your real estate agent. As you prepare to sell your home, it’s important to find an agent who not only can answer your questions throughout the selling process, but who also cares about the happiness and goals of you and your household, as well.
Before You Begin Your Agent Search
Once you’ve made the decision to sell, there are some things to consider before selecting an agent to work with.
Communicate your reason for selling
- Behind every homeowner who decides to sell their home there’s a story, and every story is unique. In the early stages of working together, your agent will be processing a lot of information about your timeline and financial goals. Having these details ironed out and ready to communicate will help them understand your motives and guide the process effectively.
Think about selling strategy
- Part of a real estate agent’s expertise is knowing the optimal selling strategy to pursue, but no one knows your home better than you. Putting time and effort into thinking about things like how your home will be marketed and how showings will be conducted will help inform your agent’s strategic advice.
Finding the Right Agent for You
You and your agent will be communicating throughout the process of selling your home. You’ll be relying on them for updates and information each step of the way. Though your goal in working together is ultimately the sale of your home, your agent’s ability to connect with you on a human level through the emotional ups and downs of the selling process is just as important as their professional attributes. Accordingly, you’ll want to consider what qualities you’re looking for in an agent.
To set yourself up for identifying good candidates, talk to people you trust who know your personality and goals. Get referrals from your family, friends, colleagues, and neighbors. If they recommend someone, follow up with that agent to see if they are a good fit for you.
Searching for an Agent
To give yourself the best pool of potential agents, conduct your search both online and in-person. Exploring an agent’s social media profiles and reading reviews online can be useful in assessing whether they’re someone you want to work with. If in-person showings and open houses are occurring in your market, consider dropping by to get a chance to interact with the agent first-hand. After you have narrowed your agent search, ask for client references to get more insights into what it’s like to work with them.
Agent Certifications
Some agents choose to earn additional certifications or designations that showcase their commitment to additional training, coursework, and learning to help them specialize and advance their capabilities. Depending on your specific needs, certain designations may appeal to you as you go about finding the right agent to sell your home. The National Association of REALTORS® offers the largest number of professional designations. Explore them here: NAR Designations and Certifications
For help finding the right agent for you, we’re happy to connect you with an agent here.
Questions to Ask During Your Virtual Home Tour
Thanks to COVID-19, the new reality is that many open houses and home tours are being conducted virtually. For prospective home buyers, this new territory brings an added element to prepare for in the home buying process. Some of the questions that should be asked in a virtual home tour parallel those of in-person tours, but others are unique to today’s virtual world.
Could you zoom in?
- Sometimes it can be difficult to get a true glimpse at what you want to see in a room. Asking the agent to zoom in on specific features is commonplace in virtual home tours, and they understand this is part of the viewer experience. Don’t hesitate to ask multiple times. Getting a better look at everything you want to see will help you feel like you’ve gotten the most out of your virtual tour.
How many square feet are in this room?
- Virtual tours can slightly distort space, making it tough to gauge the size. The room-to-room square footage is information the agent is sure to have handy. Since you can’t be there in person, it will help you piece together the virtual visuals with the sense of physical space that we’re all accustomed to feeling in the places we live.
What color is that?
- In the smartphone era, and computer era at large, we have come to understand that digital representations of color are not always true to the eye. Ask the agent to confirm specific colors so you can plan accordingly. Have a color swatch on hand or look the colors up online as you go through the tour.
When were the appliances last updated?
- The importance of this question rings true in past, present, and future. Knowing the state of the home’s appliances, and the likelihood and timing of when they will need replacement, is vital information for both assessing the move-in readiness of the home and understanding what costs might lie ahead.
Has the seller provided an inspection?
- This is another example of a critical question, whether your home tour is virtual or physical. If the seller has already done an inspection, ask the agent to lead you to any areas of concern based on the inspector’s findings. If there is anything that has not yet been addressed by the seller, have your agent ask what their plan is for making the necessary repairs/updates.
When is the offer review date?
- Understanding the seller’s timeline for reviewing and accepting offers will help guide your decision-making process and allow you to strategize based on the timeline.
Whether your home tour is physical or virtual, getting the information you need to make an informed decision remains paramount. Although there is no substitute for physically being in the home you are looking to buy, keeping these questions in mind will position you well as you progress through the home buying journey.
Finding Your New Home in Four Steps
Whether you’re a first-time homebuyer or you currently own and are looking for a new home, the ideas below will help you better navigate that all-important first step: Finding a property that is both appealing and affordable.
The search for a new home always starts out with a lot of excitement. But if you haven’t prepared, frustration can soon set in, especially in a competitive real estate market. The biggest mistake is jumping into a search unfocused, just hoping to “see what’s available.” Instead, we recommend you first take some time to work through the four steps below.
Step 1: Talk to your agent
Even if you’re just thinking about buying or selling a house, start by consulting your real estate agent. An agent can give you an up-to-the-minute summary of the current real estate market, as well as mortgage industry trends. They can also put you in touch with all the best resources and educate you about the next steps, plus much more. If you are interested in finding an experienced agent in your area, we can connect you here.
Step 2: Decide how much home you can afford
It may sound like a drag to start your home search with a boring financial review, but when all is said and done, you’ll be glad you did. With so many people competing to buy what is available, it’s far more efficient to focus your search on the properties you can afford. A meeting or two with a reputable mortgage agent should tell you everything you need to know.
Step 3: Envision your future
Typically, it takes at least five years for a home purchase to start paying off financially—which means—the better your new home suits you, the longer you’ll most likely remain living there.
Thinking of your near future, what life events do you anticipate in the next five or six years? If you’re planning to add to the family or change careers, or even rent out a portion of your home to others, share this information with your real estate agent. They will be able to help you evaluate your current and future needs to help find the best home that you can grow into.
Step 4: Visualize your ideal home
When it comes to this step, be realistic. It’s easy to get carried away dreaming about all the home features you want. Try listing everything on a piece of paper, then choose the five “must-haves,” and the five “really-wants.”
For more tips, as well as advice geared specifically to your situation, connect with an experienced Windermere Real Estate agent by clicking here.
Finding Your New Home in Four Steps
Whether you’re a first-time homebuyer or you currently own and are looking for a new home, the ideas below will help you better navigate that all-important first step: Finding a property that is both appealing and affordable.
The search for a new home always starts out with a lot of excitement. But if you haven’t prepared, frustration can soon set in, especially in a competitive real estate market. The biggest mistake is jumping into a search unfocused, just hoping to “see what’s available.” Instead, we recommend you first take some time to work through the four steps below.
Step 1: Talk to your agent
Even if you’re just thinking about buying or selling a house, start by consulting your real estate agent. An agent can give you an up-to-the-minute summary of the current real estate market, as well as mortgage industry trends. They can also put you in touch with all the best resources and educate you about the next steps, plus much more. If you are interested in finding an experienced agent in your area, we can connect you here.
Step 2: Decide how much home you can afford
It may sound like a drag to start your home search with a boring financial review, but when all is said and done, you’ll be glad you did. With so many people competing to buy what is available, it’s far more efficient to focus your search on the properties you can afford. A meeting or two with a reputable mortgage agent should tell you everything you need to know.
Step 3: Envision your future
Typically, it takes at least five years for a home purchase to start paying off financially—which means—the better your new home suits you, the longer you’ll most likely remain living there.
Thinking of your near future, what life events do you anticipate in the next five or six years? If you’re planning to add to the family or change careers, or even rent out a portion of your home to others, share this information with your real estate agent. They will be able to help you evaluate your current and future needs to help find the best home that you can grow into.
Step 4: Visualize your ideal home
When it comes to this step, be realistic. It’s easy to get carried away dreaming about all the home features you want. Try listing everything on a piece of paper, then choose the five “must-haves,” and the five “really-wants.”
For more tips, as well as advice geared specifically to your situation, connect with an experienced Windermere Real Estate agent by clicking here.
The Mountain Market
With fall right around the corner many of us will be trekking up to Estes Park to see the Aspen leaves turning.
As you drive through Estes you may wonder “how’s the mountain market?”
Here are some fun facts about real estate in Estes Park.
- The average price today is $394,046 – not that different than Fort Collins.
- Average prices have gone up $60,000 in the last three years.
- Their market has about 300 sales per year- roughly a tenth of the amount in Fort Collins.
- If you were looking for a home in Estes between $300,000 and $500,000, you would have 15 to choose from.
Now you know about the Mountain Market!
Door Opens for Buyers
After a very active (to say the least) spring and summer, the door has now opened for buyers in our market.
Buyers who were frustrated during the first half of the year with low inventory and bidding wars now realize a better environment. It’s time to step off the sidelines and take a fresh look at what the market has to offer.
The first piece of good news is that rates have dropped to near all-time lows. Rates today are 0.6% lower than they were on January 1st. What this means on a $400,000 home with a conventional loan is a monthly savings of $110!
The second piece of good news is that inventory levels are coming up. There are more homes on the market to pick from and lower demand because of seasonal slowing. Months of inventory in Larimer County markets have bounced up 20% to 33%.
Seasonal Slowdown
August marks the end of the busy real estate selling season and the beginning of the traditional seasonal slowdown in our market.
The four months of April, May, June and July tend to produce 45% of the year's total sales. This is based on looking back at 5 years of data.
If 2016 holds true to form, the next five months from now until the end of the year will be progressively slower.
No surprise that December tends to be the slowest month with a third of the number of sales compared to a typical July.
Here's what we will be watching closely over the next few months – is this year's seasonal slowdown "normal", or, because the market has been so hot this year, is it breaking traditional trends.
We will be sure to keep you informed!
People are refinancing like crazy!
Are you on the fence about buying a new home? Rates are at an all-time low and just dropped to 3.41%! Time is running out though, history shows that rates will have to increase to keep the economy going strong.
Check out the link to read more. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/people-refinancing-mortgages-crazy-000000183.html
Mis-Match
Our market is under-supplied. Plain and simple. There is a 1 to 2-month supply of homes across Northern Colorado. A balanced market would have 6 months.
So, home builders to the rescue right? Not so fast. Home builders, for various reasons, have a very hard time matching the market.
75% of sales in Northern Colorado are below $400,000. Only 16% of new home inventory in Northern Colorado is below $400,000. That is a mismatch.
Builders are faced with high land costs, high materials cost, high labor costs, high permitting costs and high water costs. It’s pretty much impossible, in most parts of our market, to deliver a new home under $400,000.
So, condominiums to the rescue right? Not so fast. Because of onerous construction defect laws, developers do not want to build multi-family, for sale product. It’s too risky. They’d rather build apartments.
Our market is under-supplied. Plain and simple.
This is really good news if you are a seller who wants to move up. This is especially good news if you are a seller of a condominium.
Contact us to find out what our under-supplied market has done to the value of your home. We’ll put together an Equity Snapshot which will show you, in detail, what your home is worth in today’s market. It’s valuable information to have whether you are thinking of selling or not. Just call 970-460-3033 or e-mail us at fortcollins@windermere.com.
Versus Boulder
When it comes to real estate, many say that Fort Collins is the “next Boulder.”
Let’s look at the 2016 numbers* and do a little side-by-side of Fort Collins versus Boulder.
The Fort Collins average price is less than half of Boulder’s ($355,000 versus $890,000)
Fort Collins has 4 times as many transactions (1,108 versus 251)
Fort Collins has 4 times as many homes for sale (715 versus 175)
Homes in Boulder sell 25% faster (62 days versus 82 days)
*These numbers come from IRES and are through May 2016.
