Posts with tag 'Roanoke Valley real estate market'
- 2023 | 4 Posts
- 2022 | 30 Posts
- 2020 | 3 Posts
- 2019 | 13 Posts
- 2018 | 10 Posts
- 2017 | 9 Posts
- 2016 | 16 Posts
RSS Feed
30
Should I buy a home now or wait until the first of the year?
With fall settling in all around the Roanoke Valley and winter just on the horizon, many potential buyers are asking themselves whether they should buy now or wait until the new year. After all, the next couple of months are a busy time for everyone. Adding a home purchase on top of it all might be more than you want to take on.
Even so, there are good reasons to stay in the market and buy a house before the end of the year. So before you hang up your house-hunting hat, consider these advantages to buying now.
Mortgage rates are still low
After a surge in mortgage rates in late 2016/early 2017, rates on 30-year fixed mortgages largely trended downward until September. Now, they've started to inch upward again, as this graphic from lender FreddieMac shows....
31
11 questions to ask a prospective listing agent
Last month, I wrote about what you should do if you're not seeing eye to eye with your Realtor. The truth is that the easiest way to avoid this scenario is to find the right Realtor in the first place. But with so many agents out there, how in the world do you choose one to sell your home?
My advice is to do your homework, and that involves interviewing the agent during the listing appointment. Some of the questions below have no right or wrong answer but will help direct the conversation and give you a better feel for interacting with the Realtor. Get the answers to these, and you'll be well on your way to a great experience selling your home.
1. Are you a full-time Realtor and h...
28
6 reasons to list your home during the holidays
You hear Realtors around the Roanoke region talk so much about the busy spring and summer selling seasons, you might think listing your home during the holidays is a bad idea. But if your house is ready to go on the market now, there are several reasons to go ahead and list.
1. Buyers are serious about finding a home.
Typically you'll have fewer buyers in the market, but the ones who are out there are planning to buy now. Often, they have tax- or job-related reasons for wanting to complete the transaction before the end of the year or just after Jan. 1.
Also, it doesn't take much motivation to go out on a gorgeous spring day and look at homes. But this time of year, when it starts getting dark early and the weather gets cold and sometimes messy, buyers who are out there looking are seriously motivated.
21
When is it time to reduce the listing price on my home?
Pricing a home to sell is far from an exact science. Figuring out the sweet spot that will get a seller a good price in the shortest amount of time possible takes experience and market expertise.
But even with lots of experience in the local market, every agent has a property from time to time that doesn't drum up much interest early in the game. When that happens, it's time to re-evaluate the listing, including its price. After all, price is one of the biggest -- if not THE biggest -- factor on a buyer's mind.
So let's say a listing has been on the market for 30 days. For the sake of argument, let's assume the property is in good shape -- moderately updated, good floor plan, well-located, no significant maintenance issues, no over-personalization that's turning people off. The market is relatively balanced, with strong inventory and qualified buyers.
12
Closing costs: Who pays what?
I'm not a big fan of surprises on closing day. Usually, when someone at the closing table is surprised, it's not about something good.
Whether you're a buyer or a seller, knowing what you're on the hook for when we get to your closing helps keep surprises to a minimum. Federal regulations require lenders to issue a Closing Disclosure three business days before you're scheduled to close. The document spells out in detail what each party has to pay at closing. If you see things that don't make sense or that you didn't expect, the three days gives us time to get it resolved.
The specific terms of an individual real estate transaction vary based on our negotiations with the other party, but in general you can expect to see these items in your disclosure: