Real Estate News

Because buying or selling a home is such a big decision in our lives, the need for clear, trustworthy information and guidance is crucial. And while no one can give you perfect advice, when you align yourself with an expert, you’ll get the best advice for your situation.

An Expert Will Give You the Best Advice Possible

Let’s say you need an attorney, so you seek out an expert in the type of law required for your case. When you go to their office, they won’t immediately tell you how the case is going to end or how the judge or jury will rule. What a good attorney can do, though, is discuss the most effective strategies you can take. They may recommend one or two approaches they believe will work well for your case.

Then, they’ll leave you to make the decision on which option you want to pursue. Once you decide, they can help you put a plan together based on the facts at hand. They’ll use their expert knowledge to work toward the resolution you want and make whatever modifications in the strategy necessary to try and achieve that outcome.

Similarly, the job of a trusted real estate professional is to give you the best advice for your situation. Just like you can’t find a lawyer to give you perfect advice, you won’t find a real estate professional who can either. They can’t because it’s impossible to know exactly what’s going to happen throughout your transaction. They also can’t predict exactly what will happen with conditions in today’s housing market.

But an expert real estate advisor is knowledgeable about market trends and the ins and outs of the homebuying and selling process. With that knowledge, they can anticipate what could happen based on your situation and help you put together a solid plan. And they’ll guide you through the process, helping you make decisions along the way.

That’s the very definition of getting the best – not perfect – advice. And that’s the power of working with an expert real estate advisor.

Your Edge

If you want trustworthy advice when buying or selling a home, contact a local real estate professional.

Filed under: Real Estate News by Olga Gilmore

If you’re planning to buy a home this season, you’re probably thinking about what you’ll need to do to get your offer accepted. In previous years, it was common for buyers to try and determine how much less than the asking price they could offer to still get the home. The buyer and seller would then negotiate and typically agree on a revised price that was somewhere between the buyer’s bid and the home’s initial asking price.

In today’s real estate market, buyers shouldn’t shop for a home with the same expectations.

Things Are Different Today

Today’s housing market is anything but normal. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the average home that’s sold today:

• Receives 4.8 offers
• Sells in just 17 days

Homes selling quickly and receiving multiple offers shows how competitive the housing market is for buyers right now. This is because there are more buyers on the market than homes for sale. When the number of homes available can’t keep up with demand, homes often sell for more than the asking price.

How Does This Impact You When It’s Time To Submit an Offer?

Market conditions should help guide your decisions throughout the process. Today, the asking price of a home is often the floor of the negotiation rather than the ceiling. Knowing this is important when it’s time to submit an offer, but you should also use that information as you’re searching for homes too. After all, you don’t want to fall in love with a home that ultimately sells for a price higher than what you’ve budgeted for.

The Mortgage Reports has advice if you’re looking to purchase a home in a competitive market. The article encourages you to be realistic with your housing search, saying:

“The best thing to do is set your budget and expectations ahead of time so you know how much you can afford to offer — and when to walk away. This will make negotiations a lot easier.”

Of course, when you’ve found your dream home, you’ll want to do everything you can to submit your best offer up front and win a potential bidding war. Knowing the current market is key to crafting a winning offer. That’s where working with an expert real estate advisor becomes critical.

A real estate professional will draw from their experience and expert-level knowledge of today’s housing market throughout the process. They’ll also balance conditions in your area to make sure your offer stands out above the rest.

Your Edge…

Understanding how to approach the asking price of a home and what’s happening in today’s real estate market are critical for buyers. Partner with a real estate advisor to create a winning plan for you.

Filed under: Home Tips, Real Estate News by Olga Gilmore

Today’s low inventory can be challenging for homebuyers, especially if you’re looking to purchase your first home. But if you’re one of many people who work remotely, you may have a great opportunity to use the flexibility you have at work to achieve your homebuying goals this year.

In a recent report, Arch Capital Services explains how the ongoing trend of remote work can open up more options for homebuyers:

“. . . This will enable those who are able to work from home on a part-time or hybrid basis to move slightly farther away from job centers. . . . For workers who secure full-time remote jobs, their place of residence will be determined by affordability and personal preferences.”

Basically, working from home is great news if you’re a first-time buyer trying to find a home that meets your needs and budget. Here’s a deeper look at how it could benefit you.

Extra Flexibility in Your Career Means Extra Flexibility in Your Home Search

If your job is 100% remote, you don’t have to be tied to a specific location or office. So, if you’ve been having a hard time finding what you want in your local area, it may be time to expand your search.

One option you could consider is moving to a place where you’ve always wanted to live, like the mountains, beach, or closer to loved ones. When you broaden your search radius to include those locations, it’ll give you additional homes to consider.

It could also allow you to search for a more affordable location where you have more options in your price range. This can help you achieve two goals – saving money and finding additional features that meet your needs. To truly highlight this benefit, a recent First American article discusses the great ways remote work can really help you with your homebuying goals. Ksenia Potapov, Economist at First American, says:

“For potential first-time home buyers, leveraging their house-buying power in more affordable markets can also help them buy more attractive homes – more square footage and rooms, more options for different home styles and neighborhood amenities – increasing the opportunity to find a home that suits their preferences.”

That means you can use your work flexibility to search for homes with the amenities you need at a lower price point.

Your Edge

Remote work doesn’t just give you expanded flexibility for your career. If you’re no longer tied to a location because of your office, you have a great opportunity to expand your housing search. Connect with a local real estate advisor to explore how this can open up your options.

Filed under: Real Estate News by Olga Gilmore

Are you thinking about selling your house? If so, you may want to make it a priority to start the process soon. According to realtor.com, the sweet spot for sellers is just around the corner. In a recent study, experts analyzed housing market trends by looking at data from the past several years (excluding 2020, since it was an atypical year). When applied to the current market, experts determined the ideal week to list a house this year. The research says:

“Home sellers on the fence waiting for that perfect moment to sell should start preparations, because the best time to list a home in 2022 is approaching quickly. The week of April 10-16 is expected to have the ideal balance of housing market conditions that favor home sellers, more so than any other week in the year.”

If you’ve been putting your move on the back burner waiting for the ideal time to sell, you should know your golden window of opportunity is coming up. If you’re able to get your house ready quickly, here’s what you can expect from that week.

You Should See More Buyer Activity

The article expects higher buyer demand based on what’s happened in previous years. This could result in increased competition among buyers and ultimately a bidding war over your house. And since mortgage rates recently ticked up over 4%, chances are good that analysis is right. When rates rise, experts say buyers often hurry to make their purchase before rates climb higher. As Nadia Evangelou, Senior Economist and Director of Forecasting at the National Association of Realtors (NAR), says:

“. . . Buyers are rushing to lock in lower rates as the outlook is for even higher mortgage rates in the following months.”

Your House Is Expected To Sell Quickly

Additionally, the realtor.com analysis shows houses sell even faster during this week of the year, likely due to the heightened buyer demand. If you work with a trusted real estate professional to price your house right, it should sell quickly. And when homes are already selling in just 18 days according to NAR, that could set you up for a big win.

Your House Will Be in the Spotlight

Since the beginning of the year, the number of homes available for sale has been at or near record lows. According to the realtor.com study, the typical trend for this week of the year is that there will be even fewer sellers on the market. If you list when inventory is low, your house will be the center of attention for eager buyers craving options.

If you’re ready to move fast, you may want to shoot for April 10^th-16^th as your target goal. Just remember, even if you’re not ready to list within the next couple of weeks, rest assured this is still a hot sellers’ market. If you list later in April, you’ll still be in the driver’s seat.

Your Edge…

Ready to get the ball rolling? Contact a real estate professional today to kickstart the process. In the meantime, make a checklist of things you need to tackle to get your house ready. Your agent can help you prioritize your to-do list and get you on the road to selling your house.

Filed under: Real Estate News by Olga Gilmore

With straightforward silhouettes, textural fabrics and endless opportunities to evolve, contemporary rooms distill the design world’s most comfortable and popular trends into a livable look that constantly changes while remaining eternally chic.

What Is Contemporary Style?

Contemporary interiors are style chameleons: with streamlined silhouettes, neutral foundation pieces and careful attention to editing, they’re able to adapt on the fly to incorporate emerging trends in the design world through accessories. Modern style (a movement that dates back to the 1930s) zeroes in on a monochromatic palette and the near-total absence of decoration; contemporary style (which emerged nearly half a century later), on the other hand, uses simplicity as an opportunity for play. Contemporary spaces can embrace what feels right right now — and that versatility and spontaneity is where the fun comes in. Here’s how to pull it all together.

Contemporary Style Is Uncluttered

Spaces like this sumptuous guest suite exemplify the sort of minimalism that would delight Marie Kondo devotees: Though it feels unquestionably rich, thanks to jewel-toned bolster pillows, an oversized upholstered headboard that runs the full length of a wall and a pair of textural sheepskin throws, accessories are limited to a few elemental pieces. Natural light (and a mounted television) are the walls’ only adornments, and the bank of dressers and the floating vanity in the bathroom feature no hardware. Rooms like this one — designed to cultivate calm and serenity — are ideal spots to deploy contemporary style.

Contemporary Spaces Use Track Lighting

In this sleek urban condominium, ultra-functional lighting is anything but an afterthought: selected to evoke the feel of a studio (and to complement the arching floor lamp in the corner of the room), this unobtrusive, focused illumination makes the most of the space’s high ceiling to offer uninterrupted views of the city. Contemporary lighting design highlights statement pieces like the room’s aqueous, oversized abstract painting and the pair of organic sculptures on the gleaming occasional table beside the sofa.

Contemporary Rooms Have Organic Accents

As in modern interiors, there’s high contrast between broad expanses of marble tile and warm grey cabinetry in this contemporary kitchen. Organic touches like the casual arrangement of flowering branches in a vase on the island, a quirky pedestal bowl of “fruit” and a wood chopping block all soften those lines.

Contemporary Style Favors Open Floor Plans

Kitchen and dining rooms, entertaining areas and lounging spaces flow together seamlessly in contemporary homes. In most cases, those open floors will be uncarpeted and show off the bare, clean wood, tile or vinyl; area rugs can add color and help to define “rooms” with subtle visual cues. In this breezy contemporary living space, a pale rug beneath the dining table differentiates it from the fireside conversation spot (and the geometric rug) in the center of the room.

Contemporary Spaces Lack Drapes

Just as floor coverings are typically limited to area rugs, contemporary window treatments are minimal — that is, if they’re present at all. In this dramatic contemporary living room, unadorned windows allow dramatic shadows to cut across the pair of silver-framed black-and-white photographs on the wall. Similarly, the ample, pale hairpin-leg coffee table and stylishly mismatched sectional gain “patterns” from the window hardware. The large, spiky succulent by the window is a characteristic contemporary accent, as are the candlesticks on the table; though ornate pieces aren’t typically congruent with contemporary style’s simplicity, their bold color creates a playful focal point in the otherwise neutral room.

Contemporary Textiles Are Textural

This blend of contemporary and Mediterranean influences demonstrates how nimbly contemporary interiors can pickpocket the best elements of other styles. Contemporary spaces feature dramatic, oversized plants like the handsome olive tree displayed here, touchable textiles like the deep-sea velvets on this generous sectional, plush area rugs like the Berber piece centering the room here and large-scale geometric features like the mirror, firewood caddy and window.

HGTV | By: Lauren Oster

Filed under: Home Fun, Real Estate News by Olga Gilmore