Why the Winter Is an Ideal Time to Sell Your Home

Sellers want to know if they should sell their home now or wait until spring. I’m here to let you know why listing now is a much better option. 

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One of the most popular questions we get this time of year is whether sellers should wait until spring to sell or sell their home now. It is actually much better to list your home now than during the spring season, and here are the reasons why. 

There will be way more competition in the spring. It’s true that more houses sell during the spring, but that statistic won’t always work in your favor. For example, we had a client earlier this year wait to sell during the spring and six houses with the same floor plan popped up on the market. This decreased competition for their home drastically. 

The numbers really do indicate that it is better to sell during the wintertime. Over the course of the last three years in the San Fernando Valley, during the winter, there are about 2,400 to 2,700 total homes on the market. Compare that to 3,500 to 3,700 homes on the market during the summer months. That’s a huge difference in the amount of inventory and in turn, a huge difference in competition. 

It’s better to list your home now than during the spring.

Interest rates might also be higher in spring, which means fewer people will be able to afford your home. If the Fed raises interest rates, it is likely that trend will continue well into 2017. 

You will also get more serious buyers in the wintertime. Listing your home in the colder weather means avoiding the “open house crowd,” which consists of people strolling in to eat the free cookies and probably haven’t even gone through the pre-approval process yet. 

Finally, there are lots of job transfers happening at the very end and very beginning of the year. These people need to get into a home fast, and catering to that demographic is a smart move for the seller. 

If you have any further questions about selling your home this holiday season, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. Happy holidays! 

How Do Recent Rate Hikes Impact Buyers & Sellers?

What caused the recent interest rate hike? What impact will rates have on buyers and sellers? I'm joined by a home loan expert to help me break it all down for you.

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In the wake of the election, we've seen a recent interest rate hike. Today I'm joined today by Hovik Sahinian of New American Funding to talk about the underlying causes of why the rate hike happened. 

As Hovik points out, we have been expecting a hike for a while now, and we knew it would happen after the election, regardless of the winner. The market has taken this into account, and we're seeing people move away from the bond market and into the stock market. This naturally causes an increase in rates, and we've seen rates go up about 0.5% since the election.

That 0.5% increase has had an effect on buyers, as Hovik points out; he's seen clients have up to a $50,000 decrease in the mortgage amount that they qualify for. For example, a buyer who qualified for a $500,000 loan before the rate hike would only qualify for about $465,000 after. 

If you're selling, now might be the best time to get a deal done.

Home sellers need to be vigilant as well after the rate hike. As Hovik says, if you're close to where you need to be as a seller right now, you should take any opportunity to close your transaction sooner rather than later because rates will continue to go up. This means your house will be less affordable to more and more buyers.

It is still a great time to buy a house while rates are still near historic lows. Hovik says that if he was a buyer getting pre-approved for a loan in this market, he'd leave himself some cushion in case rates do creep up during a transaction. That way, you won't have to go through the qualification process again.

I'd like to thank Hovik for joining me today. If you have any questions for him about home loans, give him a call at (818) 808-7790.

If you have any questions about real estate in Porter Ranch, as always, give me a call or send me an email. I'd be happy to help you.

What Repairs Should You Make Before Selling Your Home?

Whether you are selling your home this year or next spring, there are a few repairs you should make now in order to maximize your home sale. I’ll go over the top repairs today.

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Whether you want to put your home on the market before the end of the year or you’re waiting for 2017, there are a few repairs that you can make right now to have a successful home sale. 

First of all, fix your flooring. Refinish hardwood floors and replace old carpeting with neutral white or tan carpeting. If there are stains on the carpet, buyers will think the carpet needs to be replaced; unfortunately, buyers tend to overestimate the cost of replacing flooring. It will be less expensive for you to take care of the flooring yourself. You should also replace chipped or cracked tiles. 

You should also paint the ceiling and the walls. Touch up worn spots, get rid of wallpaper and dated wood panelling, and apply a fresh, neutral coat of paint to make your home look brand new. 

When it comes to kitchen improvements, don’t spend thousands of dollars renovating the entire room. Instead, replace old cabinets, add new hardware to your cabinets, and replace leaky faucets or sinks. 

You don’t have to completely renovate your kitchen to maximize your home sale.

The same holds true when it comes to remodeling the bathroom; you don’t have to redo the whole room. Just invest in a new floor, update the fixtures, or install some new lights. 

Finally, don’t forget curb appeal. You may or may not need to replace your roof, but you should definitely patch up any cracks in the cement, resurface your driveway, and repaint fences so that your home is more appealing to buyers. 

Taking care of these things now will pay off when you sell your home later. If you have any other questions about putting your home on the market, give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!