Quick Real Estate Buying Tips
The real estate market remains really active because there's very little inventory and a lot of buyers looking to purchase properties. It makes real estate agents like Erin Myers a little bit muddy at times, but hopefully, it’s gonna slow down a little bit and even out this year with the interest rates ticking up a bit. In this presentation, Erin will answer the following questions:
- What pricing strategy to use to keep the price of your home high?
- When is the real estate market slowing down?
- What to look for when choosing a real estate agent?
Realtor in New Jersey
One thing that's important is that when you're dealing with real estate, you really do want to find somebody that is full-time in what they do, completely committed to their industry, and always learning and following the trends of the market when you're in a market that is so busy. Erin works closely with people like Andrea, making sure that they can get deals done as soon as possible because it can go into multiple offer situations when you're representing buyers and it could be tricky.
You don't want somebody by your side that doesn't know how to prepare and professionally send an offer. You want to talk to your buyers, make sure that they know what they're offering. They're not just waving things to waive things, to get the house, because then it's going to stumble and it's not going to be able to close.
It’s important to have a real estate agent that:
- Takes their time with the buyer and makes sure that they know exactly what the terms are that they're agreeing to when they put in an offer
- Makes sure that the offers are submitted and in a way that follows what the listing agent is asking for
- Communicates with the listing agent and puts that buyer in the best position possible to get that house
Pricing Strategy
It can be a little bit tricky from the sales perspective because people want to list their houses as high as they possibly can. But if the pricing is a little bit lower, it drives more volume to the house and drives the price of the house up more.
See Also: How to Get Your Offer Accepted in a Highly-Competitive Housing Market
It’s like pricing something at $399,000 when it really is probably a $450,000 house, you get everybody shopping up to $400,000 and then they stretch their budget a little bit more and before they know it, they fall in love and they're stretching and it drives up the market a bit.
Many use that strategy a lot right now when things are underpriced. That's the main thing when you're driving around on Sunday and Saturday and you see open houses and people standing outside freezing. It's usually a house that looks great inside and is priced below its market value and everybody wants to try and grab at it. It's definitely tricky and strategic.
If you want to have somebody on your side that is going to be able to lead you through the process, keep Erin Myers in mind. If you or anyone is interested in the market she would love to help out.
Q&A with Erin
Andrea: What do you suggest for people who want to sell their homes? But they're not sure where they're going to go next?
Lease Back
Erin: A lot of people that are selling now, they're doing a lease back. So they'll sell and it's contingent on them finding a new home or they'll lease back for 30 or 60 days to allow them a little bit of extra time to find something. Some people consider renting, but the rental market is very hot as well. The prices just keep going up with the rental market, and we're seeing multiple applications even on single-family rentals and apartment units.
Mirella: For somebody who's looking to buy a home, are there any suggestions that you give them that they should start thinking about now? Because a lot of the common mistakes are that people wait until they're ready to buy a house. And then they realized that there was a lot of stuff that they should have done beforehand.
How to get a better offer
Erin: Save more money. You always need more than you think. And the more you can put down the better your offer will be. We used to have a thing called a “seller concession” where you can roll some of your closing costs into your mortgage, but those are a thing of the past and I've had a buyer try it in this market and it's not a good position to be in. So make sure that you save as much as you can, it'll always help your offer to have more of a down payment or not have to worry about closing costs and things like that.
Drew: If someone comes to you and they haven't got the money or have secured some loan or have enough collateral. Do you have trusted advisors?
Erin: There are ways for people that don't have all that ticket to get into this real estate market.
There is a seller concession in houses that just hit the market this week that are updated, that have the line out the door, that's not the house for you. Most likely, you want something that's been on the market. And it's sad to say, but I'm thinking I'm going to say two weeks or more, that's been on the market where the sellers want to get it done already. “I thought my house was going to sell faster. And it hasn't.” So they're willing to concede on a few things or willing to take maybe a little bit of a lower offer to keep more cash in their pocket from that perspective.
Dennis: Have you seen the rental properties be as crazy as the regular houses or do it really depend?
Erin: Yes, multiple applications. I do leasing management for two apartment buildings as well as a third later this year, and we get calls every day, every week asking, ”Do you have availability? And we are just full, full, full, I've never seen the properties as full and as consistently as I've seen this past year. I work with renters as well and again, there are multiple applications even on rental units.
Dennis: On the purchase and the sale of rental properties, is there as much of a demand there or is that not as high?
Erin:: I worked with some investors and doing like two to four family multi-family homes. They tend to look at towns that have train systems.They love Madison and even Dover is a very popular area, Dover and like that Western. I've got somebody that likes to pick up, not just multi-families, but single-family homes as rentals because those rents are actually pretty high now. So it's definitely increased from what I've seen in previous years.
Home Loan Interest Rates
Heather: As interest rates potentially rise and consistently keep rising, do you see some of the buyers dropping out of the market?
Erin: Not yet. At least I think. I mean, there's still, even in the low fours, they're still “historically low” you know? So I think that it's not scaring people off too much. I think that what people are sweating over is that they want their rate locked as soon as possible. And they want to find a house as soon as possible before that low four turns into a mid to high four, later in the year is my guess. There is more of an “I want to find something quickly”.
Andrea: I don't think the buyers are going to drop out. I think that there's just going to be what Erin is saying with more urgency. But even later in the year, I don't think the buyers are going to drop out or move because they want the space. They're not necessarily hogging whatever inventory there is because of the rates. The rates are just a perk, you know, and they're thinking “we've wanted more space for a while now. They need it. Especially after experiencing being locked down in the pandemic, they need room. Everybody wants their room, they want their space. They want to be able to walk outside, and not worry about being too close to their neighbor. And then with the rates being so low, that's why everyone's like, you know, if we're going to do it, we're going to do it now.
Chris: Is there a website that you can go to where you can plug-in like a dollar amount, and it gives you comparisons? Like, let's say it was San Diego versus Miami versus North Carolina. How does somebody go about that?
Erin: You know what, there should be. I love the idea of that website by the way, but I don't know of one like that where you can say, you know, let's say my budget is $300,000. Like where does, how far does that get me in New Jersey? Versus like you said, San Diego, Miami, Ohio, like, who knows, you know, wherever it might be.
ABOUT ERIN MYERS
As a professional Realtor, Erin's goal is to make the buying, selling, or renting process as easy as possible for her clients. "The Erin Edge", as she promises all her clients, consists of a unique blend of skills, knowledge, and commitment that makes her your ideal real estate agent. She loves working with builders, flippers, and investors
Get to know Erin Myers more!
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