Looking to buy or sell a house in Northern Virginia? Here are the JUNE 2020 market updates for Fairfax County (NVAR) , Loudoun County (DAAR) , and Prince William County (PWAR)!
YouTube Videos: Myrtle Beach Update, Business Leverage, Market Value vs Tax Assessed Value, Realtor Life VLOG
Hey there! I’m passionate about educating people about real estate. Here’s what I shared on YouTube last week:
YouTube Videos: Cell Phone Screen Protectors, AirBNB Age Limits, and Why Hustle Matters with Contracts
Hey there! I’m passionate about educating people about real estate. Here’s what I shared on YouTube last week:
YouTube Videos: Seller Rent-Back & Simultaneous Settlement
Hey there! I’m passionate about educating people about real estate. Here’s what I shared on YouTube last week:
Home Sellers Webinar
This seminar will share insider tips to help you prepare to sell your home. Learn from industry experts and get tools to help you sell your home in the fastest time possible for the most money possible.
Event is FREE, but you MUST register here to get the Zoom URL for the webinar!
As you considering selling your home, we’re here to set you up for success so the process is easy and profitable. Let’s walk through preparing your house for sale (What’s worth updating? What’s not?), staging your house to look its best, the sale process, accounting and tax considerations of your house sale, and the title and settlement process handling the legal end.
Topics Include:
Preparing to Sell
Painting
Staging
On the Market
Reviewing Offers
Under Contract
Accounting
Title & Settlement: Process Details
Attendees will also have the chance to win door prizes!
Sponsored By:
Adrienne Green, Realtor, Samson Properties
Lavanya Carrithers, CEO, Legacy Title & Escrow, LLC
Leigh Newport, Staged By Design
Lisa Reyes, Fresh Coat Painters of Fairfax
New Listing On the Market in Round Hill!
This well maintained home was listed for sale yesterday.
Learn more about the house here
If you have questions, or would like to tour the property, reach out to me now!
Real Estate in Today’s Coronavirus Climate
The Northern Virginia market started off hot from right after New Years Day. With historically low interest rates, the market in January and February was aptly described as “tight inventory has continued to coincide with higher sales price to original list prices and fewer days on market” (source).
In March, as people started staying home, and schools and businesses closed, the real estate industry immediately started adapting so that we could continue to help people with the essential need of housing while keeping everyone safe.
Buyers: we can do everything remotely other than settlement: most mortgage lenders require wet signatures with in-person notarization (but settlement has been changed to maintain social distancing and limit exposure as much as possible). Most buyers (if not all!) would like to see a home in person prior to submitting an offer, and we can do that, too.
Process Overview:
- Virtual Buying Consultation
- Personalized Online Home Search Portal
- Recommendations for Lenders Who Can Work Virtually
- Video Home Tours, Virtual Open Houses, 3D Home Tours
- In-Person Home Showings with Safety Precautions
- Mobile Deposit of Earnest Money Deposit
- Virtual Home Inspections (home inspector goes to house, communicates results to you)
- Virtual Final Walk-Through
- Settlements with Limited Contact (Options Include Drive-By Closings Where Buyers Never Leave Their Car)
Sellers: we can do many tasks remotely, limiting your need to meet others in-person, and limiting the number of people who access your home.
Process Overview:
- Virtual Listing Consultation
- Professional Photography, 3D Virtual Matterport House Tour so Buyers Can See House Virtually
- Virtual Showings & Open Houses, Allowing Virtual “Visits”
- Limit In-Person Showings to Pre-Qualified Serious Buyers with Safety Precautions
- Virtual Home Inspections (only home inspector & agent in house)
- Virtual Final Walk-Through (only agent in house)
- Settlements with Limited Contact (Options Include Drive-By Closings Where Buyers Never Leave Their Car)
Everyone in real estate is working hard to facilitate the essential task of buying and selling real estate while keeping all involved safe.
Reach out to learn more, or to start the process of buying or selling your home.
Sellers: Coming Soon Status: Getting the Word Out Prior to an Active Listing
Sellers: how do I ensure that we have as much interest possible when your house hits the market? By using the MLS “coming soon” status to get your listing in front of agents and their clients early! Watch the video to learn more.
Appreciate the video? LIKE it and SUBSCRIBE to my channel, thank you!
Interior Design Versus Home Staging
People love their homes, and many customize their homes to their personal tastes with interior design. Perhaps you have sentimental items or family photos on display. Maybe a prized family heirloom is featured in your living room. Is your favorite color highlighted in accessories, or maybe even painted on the walls? Your home has been a haven for you and your family, and that is reflected in the interior design.
When it’s time to sell your house and find a new place to call home, it is important to stage your home to sell, which has some differences compared to interior design. Interior design’s goal is to make your house beautiful and functional for you, while home staging is focused on making your house appeal to everyone else.
While it is work to stage your home to sell, it is well worth it as staged homes sell faster and for more money. Home staging recommendations (even for homes with great interior design) are to depersonalize, minimize, and create space.
Depersonalizing is making your house more neutral and generic so buyers could see themselves living in that space. Family photos, diplomas, and any accessories or furniture that may be sentimental but aren’t on-trend should be removed. Strong colors should also be replaced: bed linens, throw pillows, and wall paint are easy switches to make a home more neutral. Anything related to pets or politics should be packed up: both can alienate a potential buyer.
Minimizing is getting rid of the stuff on the horizontal surfaces of your home. These items may be great interior design elements that add beauty or utility to your day, but remember that your house, not the stuff in it, is the focus when you are selling. You want buyers to look at the house, and not your possessions. Common items that need to be removed are collections or collectibles, magazines, and small kitchen appliances.
Every buyer wants a house that seems spacious, not cramped. Therefore, a goal of home staging is to create the sense of space. That may mean rearranging (or removing) furniture so that a Realtor and buyer(s) can easily flow into and out of rooms without feeling cramped while touring the home. An interior designer may not have to consider if you have dozens of people in the house for an open house, but a stager certainly does!
Creating a sense of space also means getting rid of any extra storage: you want buyers to think the house has ample storage, not that you’ve needed to create more. An interior designer may come up with beautiful ways to have extra storage, but for home staging purposes all of that extra storage needs to be gone. While an interior designer may not focus on your closets, a stager will. Closets should appear spacious, so excess items need to be removed, and the closets need to be organized.
A house with great interior design is a joy to inhabit, but it may not be optimized to sell. Using the staging strategies of depersonalizing, minimizing, and creating space will help even the most beautiful house sell faster for the most amount of money.