Posts in category 'Sellers'

While property sells at any time during the year, the spring/summer selling season is definitely the busiest time in the Roanoke Valley real estate market. But even in our market, which slightly favors sellers at the moment, selling a home can sometimes be a challenge.

Whether your home is already on the market or you're just getting started, these are four things that can cause your home sale to stall.

1. Unrealistic pricing

The top reason a home gets stuck on the market is overpricing. You know, pricing a home is a delicate task. As a listing agent, I want my client to get the very best deal possible, but I don't want to leave money on the table.

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Are you preparing your home for the spring market now that the holidays are over? That's great, but I'd like to suggest that you speed up your timeline. Here are a few reasons why:

1. Don't be fooled: There are buyers in the market.

Buyers are looking for homes because they need to make a move for different reasons — job opportunities, financial necessities, the need for more space — but rarely do they have an unlimited timeline. If they're looking for a home around the holidays or just after the first of the year, they're looking because they need to move. And even if they do have an unlimited timeline, a smart agent will advise them that conditions are right to buy now.

2. The current housing...

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While scrolling through Facebook a couple of days ago, I ran across a funny post. It was a picture of a frazzled salesman — crazy hair and disheveled clothes. I can't remember exactly what the words said, but the idea was that everyone in any kind of sales can identify with the year-end push to close deals.

I guess that's true in real estate, too. As an agent, I compete with myself each year to better my performance, and some years, it seems like a race to the finish.

But at the beginning of a new year, when we're all pledging to make fresh starts in all kinds of areas, I'm not really thinking anymore about the number of closings I had last year. What's on my mind is what each one of those closings represented to the person or family I sat with at the closing table and what I learned that will help m...

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Selling a home for the first time can be every bit as overwhelming and intimidating as buying a home for the first time. There are the financial worries, of course, but there is also a lot of emotion attached to the sale of your first home.

After all, that first home represents a major milestone in your life, and you've made memories there. Now, you're trying to make it attractive to buyers, who might very well come in and criticize the home you love so much.

But first-time home sellers in Roanoke have an excellent opportunity right now. If you've been doing any research about real estate in the Roanoke Valley, you've likely heard that there is a shortage of homes on the market.

What you might not have heard is that there is an even greater shortage of starter-type properties, which are the very homes many first-time sellers...

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I work with a lot of homes that have been rehabbed before going on the market, so I'm always interested in home improvements and the effect they have on a home's value.

The National Association of REALTORS put out a Remodeling Impact Report. The report looks at the typical cost of remodeling projects as estimated by members of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry. It also reports what Realtors are seeing in the market regarding home improvements. 

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