Bidding Wars – How To Win

As some high-demand markets and areas are red hot with limited inventory, we are seeing bidding wars with multiple offers on a house or property which can result in a bidding war.
Here are a few tips to win a bidding war and if you’re the seller how to pick a winner. Don’t forget to get feedback from your real estate agent as they may have important knowledge about the seller. And don’t get too frenzied where you bid yourself to a point where its going to break your budget!

Up the Ante
Of course if there are multiple bids on the property, increasing your offer is going to help. In addition you can make a larger down payment on the mortgage to make financing easier, especially if the purchase price goes above the appraised value. And the old saying cash is king is applicable here as well. Paying in cash shows you’re serious and it also can make for a faster closing.

Preapproval
You’ll want to do this anyway but definitely make sure you are preapproved as it shows you are a viable buyer. Please contact us for a pre-approval letter whether you are in a bidding war or not!

Escalate
You can also add an escalation clause where if someone matches your offer you will raise your offer above it!

Write a Letter
This may sound hokey but we have seen a lot of cases where sellers want their house to go a buyer that is going to care for and appreciate the house. Tell them why the house is special to you and you might not even be the highest bidder and still have the winning offer!

Picking a winner
If you’re lucky enough to be on the selling end of a bidding war here are some tips to pick a winner. Again cash is king. Cash offers give you a lot more certainty that there won’t be surprises during the closing. And if its not a cash offer review the buyers offer, make sure they are preapproved before starting. Also review special offers and escalation offers like an offer to waive some contingencies or beat matching offers.

How To Make Your Work From Home and Virtual School House Work

Many people are finding their house has turned into a virtual office and a virtual school. Making sure your kids are properly learning through zoom and at the same time making sure you are working productively can be a juggling act! 🤹‍♀‍
Here’s a few tips to help keep the balls in the air!
Make Clear Schedules
Your kids need to know your schedule and if there are important meetings not to interrupt and you need to make sure you know your kids schedule including online class schedules. A great way to do this is with google calendars you can make one for each parent and child and share them with each other.
If the kids are younger you can make it old-fashioned and do it on a whiteboard for them to clearly see.

Make School and Work Places
You can have designated areas for work and school, maybe a desk or table that is the work table during the day. If you’re tight on space consider having in home cubicles (ok that doesn’t sound fun) but you can get an inexpensive divider screen or even just some posterboard!

Block Off Time To Work
Ideally you can set up chunks of focus time that are roughly the same time for you and your kids to have focused work and studying. You can try 45 minute or one hour blocks of focused time to get things done.

Become An Early Bird
Try getting up early, a couple of hours before your kids. This will help you get things done and be organized and have more time to help them during the day. That means turn off the tv AND especially the phone a little earlier at night (we recommend this anyways 🙂

Get Some Fresh Air
If possible schedule a daily walk with your kids. You both will need a break from being inside and in front of a screen all day, plus some fresh air and vitamin D are always good!

30 Year Mortgage Rate Near Record Low

The federally chartered Freddie Mac is reporting that interest rates are holding near record lows below 3 percent!
They reported an average rate on 30 year fixed mortgages of 2.93 percent with 0.8 percent average in closing costs.
What does this mean for you?
Well if you are considering buying – you have basically never seen better rates.
And there’s a good chance you can refinance into a lower a rate with lower monthly payments.
Contact us today and we can review your situation and calculate how much you may be able to save!

Bathroom Remodeling – Should you do it?

Should you remodel your bathroom?
If you are planning on selling a home and want to know if remodeling is a good idea, generally the answer is actually no. Statistically, you will get about 70% of the price spent back in terms of purchase price. Now a remodel can help you sell faster and if you’re bathroom is very old or in bad shape, needing of repairs then it can be a good idea!

If you are moving into a new house and want to remodel your bathroom that’s a completely different story of course, but either way here are some guidelines to start with….

Budget
Set a budget first (this actually might be a good rule of thumb in most cases 🙂
Bathroom remodeling can go from low to high cost faster than you can find parking at home depot.

Type and Layout
Decide if you’re going with a traditional standard bathroom, half or wet. Then figure out the layout. We generally recommend keeping the existing layout if you want to keep costs down! If you have to replumb things costs can go up quickly. Things to keep in mind do you want a bathtub – stand alone or built in with the shower – if you’re splurging or space is at a premium a wet bathroom can be fun (but not cheap).

Lighting and Outlets
You want to make sure lighting is flattering and well placed – a light right over your countertop can cause reflections. Also make sure there’s enough light for activities like applying make-up.
And don’t forget the outlets! Imagine finishing up and then realizing you don’t have a place to plug in the hair dryer or electric toothbrush 🙁

Plan and Communicate
If you’re not DIYing this and hiring a contractor then we cannot stress communication enough. You want this planned out, written out with dates, scope and materials to be used. You might think you went over it and the contractor understood everything and then on installation day you’re not on the same page – don’t assume – that and set a budget will get you far 🙂

What about a mini-upgrade?
Sometimes just upgrading a few fixtures like lights and faucets can actually make a big difference so especially if you’re selling consider a mini upgrade instead of remodel!

Welcome to our Blog!

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