Northeast Florida Real Estate Tips for Buyers and Sellers by Chris Snow Chris Snow

If you are going to sell your home in 2018, there are three home updates that will get you the best return on investment and help sell your home for top dollar. Buying a home? Click here to search Northeast FL homes. Selling a home? Click here to use our FREE home evaluation tool. Call us at (904)-250-0805 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation. What home upgrades will buyers pay top dollar for in 2018? I’ve been speaking with sellers on a regular basis about the buyer trends we’ve seen over the last six months and what those buyer trends will look like in 2018 when it comes to upgrades on a resale home. Of course, some sellers have no additional funds that they can put into upgrading the home before it goes on the market. If that’s the case, then I recommend that you declutter and stage the home as best as possible. That can be done for just a couple hundred dollars. If you do have money that you’ve allotted for upgrades before you put your house on the market, these are the areas that buyers are responding favorably to: 1. Interior paint. Buyers respond very favorably to recently painted houses. The colors that seem to resonate the most with buyers right now are grays, blues, and whites that give the home a coastal look and feel. You can use granite remnants to save money when upgrading your kitchen and bathrooms. 2. Updated kitchens and bathrooms. Most of these updates center around cabinetry and countertops. If you have the budget, change out your cabinets for white or white shaker cabinets. Granite countertops are very important to homebuyers. If you go to a local granite place and look for remnants, you can save a lot of money. Not all of the granite in your house has to match; it’s fine if the kitchen and bathrooms have different granite. You can create a nice look and save quite a bit of money by using the available remnants. 3. Update your flooring. If you have it in your budget, change out the flooring. Based on buyer feedback, I recommend installing hardwood floors everywhere that you can. You can also use laminate tile or new vinyls that look like hardwood to save money. It’s also important that you have one flooring surface throughout an entire living area. For example, if you are walking around barefoot downstairs, how many different flooring surfaces will you cross? If there is only one flooring surface before you open a door, buyers will respond positively to that. It’s important to spend your money wisely. Make sure that your home is staged properly and decluttered first. Then, if you have the budget, go ahead and paint, make kitchen and bathroom upgrades, or update your flooring. Those three updates will get you a higher return than any other updates you could make. If you have any other questions about preparing your home for the market, just give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

Are you limiting your home search to only homes that are active on the MLS? There are other ways to find homes. Buying a home? Click here to search Northeast FL homes. Selling a home? Click here to use our FREE home evaluation tool. Call us at (904)-250-0805 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation. Are you limiting your home search to only those active on the MLS? When we’re working with buyers and we do our initial consultation with them, one of the first things we ask them is, “Are you only interested in homes that are active on the MLS?” Most of the time, they’re not quite sure what we’re asking that question for. Today, I wanted to share with you the fact that about 20% of all home sales involve homes that have never hit the market. They bypass real estate agents, going straight from buyer to seller and from seller to buyer. We want to show buyers how we can give them access to those homes that aren’t necessarily listed on the MLS. The question you have to ask yourself if you’re in the market to purchase a home is, “Am I only receiving active updates of properties that are active on the market right now?” The only way to know the answer is to contact the agent who has been sending you the listings and ask whether or not you’re being given access to off-market properties. 20% of all home sales involve homes that have never actually hit the market. Here’s a quick story on how we were able to give someone access to a home that wasn’t active on the market. The buyer had been looking for months in a certain neighborhood, and nothing that they liked was popping up. They were waiting to see which homesellers were going to put their homes on the active market. But we didn’t want to wait any longer—since they knew that that was the neighborhood that they wanted to be in, we started knocking on doors of about five or six houses that they’d be interested in purchasing, even though those homes weren’t on the market. We asked the current owner if they would be interested in selling their home to one of our buyers. This is a common service we perform for our buyers to make sure that they’re not limiting their search to just what’s active on the MLS. If you’ve been looking for homes and are finding it hard to locate the right property, you may want to step back and assess whether or not you’re doing it the right way. Do you have someone helping you create some opportunities where inventory doesn’t exist? We’d love to answer any questions for you and show you how our team helps people finding properties that aren't active on the market. Feel free to contact us via phone or email any time.

In Florida, the holidays can be a great time to sell. Here are three reasons why. Buying a home? Click here to search Northeast FL homes. Selling a home? Click here to use our FREE home evaluation tool. Call us at (904)-250-0805 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation. Today’s topic is why fall and winter are great times to buy in Florida. There are three reasons you should consider doing so if you’re a homebuyer: 1. There are fewer buyers in the marketplace. Only serious buyers are out during the holidays and are willing to make a move during the holiday and school seasons. The reason why fewer buyers is a good thing is that it means less competition and less opportunity for multiple offer situations. 2. Sellers who still have their houses on the market during this time are serious about selling. Traditionally, the sellers that aren’t pushed or motivated to sell will take their homes off the market during the holidays and early parts of the year and look to put their house back on the market during the springtime. That opens up a great opportunity from a buyer’s perspective to know which sellers are serious about selling and which ones would merely like to sell. Only serious buyers are out during the holidays and are willing to make a move during the holiday and school seasons. 3. Sellers are more motivated, which means they’re also more flexible in price. This won’t be the case every time, but a majority of the time you’ll find that those sellers want to get out of their home by a certain deadline, and they can’t waste any days not being on the market. These reasons are why being in the marketplace as a buyer during the fall and winter months is a great time to pick up houses for a little bit better price, compared to waiting until the springtime.If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. We’d be more than happy to answer those for you. If you found this helpful, you’re encouraged to pass it along so that we can also help your friends and family.

Today I want to give you a quick look at some market statistics for the counties of Duval, Clay, and St. Johns. Right now, all of these markets are very strong. Buying a home? Click here to search Northeast FL homes. Selling a home? Click here to use our FREE home evaluation tool. Call us at (904)-250-0805 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation. Today, I’d like to take a moment to share the market trends for Duval County, Clay County, and St. Johns County. First, let’s talk about St. Johns County. St. Johns is actually one of the fastest-growing counties in the country, and the data I’d like to share with you definitely supports that. The average list price in St. Johns is up from last year, when it was $556,000. This year, the average list price is $559,000. This isn’t a huge change, but is definitely worth knowing. The average sales price is also up. This year, it’s sitting at $375,100 compared to last year’s average sale price of $372,900. However, the average days on market is down. In 2016 that number was 97 days. This year, the average is 92 days on market. Ultimately, the overall strength of the market largely comes down to how many months of inventory there are. This is calculated by how long it would take the market to deplete if no new homes were to come on the market. Anything less than six months is a seller’s market while anything more than six months is a buyer’s market. Currently, the absorption rate in St. Johns County is down to 4.68% from last year’s absorption rate of 5.14%. All three of these counties have very strong markets with less than six months of inventory. Next, I want to move on to Duval County. Duval County also has a strong market, and has had a lot of activity this year. The average list price this year is at $339,077. This is up from $306,000 in 2016. There has also been an increase in the average sales price. This year, the average sales price is at $226,200. Last year, the average was $208,700. This is nearly a 9% increase. Duval County’s days on market have decreased. In 2016, homes spent an average of 72 days on market. Today, the average is 66 days. In terms of inventory, Duval County currently has three months of supply. Last year, we were at almost four months of supply. The last area I want to go over today is Clay County. This county has also seen a lot of activity over the last 12 months. The average list price is up in Clay County from $260,000 in 2016 to $291,000 this year. The average sales price has gone up as well, actually rising by 11%. The average this year is $226,889. This time last year, the average was $204,000. Like the other two counties we discussed, Clay County’s average days on market has also decreased. In 2016 properties spent an average of 82 days. Now, the average days on market is down to 68 days. But, what about inventory? Last year in Clay County, there were just over four months of inventory. Today, there are just 2.79 months of inventory. This signals a very strong market. With all three of these counties having very strong markets with less than six months of inventory, we are able to see a good overview of what’s going on. However, the numbers I’ve talked about today are on a larger scale than what might be applicable to your area. If you have specific questions about your neighborhood or area, feel free to get in touch and let me pull a more specific report for your situation.

Today, I’ve got four key questions that can help you determine whether you’ve found the right agent. Buying a home? Click here to search Northeast FL homes. Selling a home? Click here to use our FREE home evaluation tool. Call us at (904)-250-0805 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation. Before you can find the right home, you have to choose the right buyer’s agent. Getting professional help before moving forward with any real estate decision is absolutely essential. Today, I’ve got four questions that can help you determine whether an agent is right for you. The right agent should hold themselves accountable at every step. Is the agent full or part-time? A full-time agent will always be the best choice. Full-time agents are constantly looking at the market, and are in a position to react as quickly as the market moves. Part-time agents simply can’t achieve this kind of commitment. What type of technology is the agent using? Technology helps to make everything simpler. Technology makes the process of finding the right home, going under contract, and exchanging documents so much easier. An agent with access to the best technology possible is going to be greatly helpful. How successful has the agent been in the past? Getting an idea of how an agent has performed previously will be a good indicator of the future. Ask an agent about the number of negotiations they’ve been successful in, for example. How do they hold themselves accountable? It’s important to determine whether an agent will be there for you at every point of the process. You want to make sure that an agent will not only be accountable to their commitment while showing you houses, but will also help you throughout closing, as well. One of the things my team has done for our buyers is to hold ourselves accountable at every step. If a buyer is unhappy within the 24 months after closing, we will come back and sell the home for free. If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Once you’ve found a home you like, how do you go about the process of making an offer? Today, I’ve got a few key tips Buying a home? Click here to search Northeast FL homes. Selling a home? Click here to use our FREE home evaluation tool. Call us at (904)-250-0805 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation. So, you’ve found the right home. Once you’ve looked around and found a property you like, how do you go about making an offer? This is an extremely common question. This is why people look to experts like myself for the answer. There are a few different things we need to think about. First, how long has the home been on the market? This can make a lot of difference. Sellers will tend to be less flexible with a listing that is brand new. However, if a listing has been sitting on the market for a while, you might have more power behind your negotiations. Next, you should find out when the last price reduction was. Knowing this can give you an idea of the seller’s motivation. If the price has just been reduced, a seller may be less likely to reduce it again so quickly. Having and understanding key information will help you craft a good offer. The third question to ask yourself is, how much recent activity has the competition had? How many recent or pending sales are currently in the neighborhood? By understanding the position of the competition, you’ll be better able to assess how to approach the property you’re looking at. Taking into account these three points, you will then be able to move forward with crafting an offer. At this point, you should have the information you’ll need to make a reasonable offer that will be attractive to the seller. Having and understanding key information will help you craft a good offer. Ultimately, though, the offer is up to you. We give our clients all the data and guidance they want or need, but we will always allow you to make the offer you deem fit. We’d be more than happy to discuss our strategies and how we can help you make the best offer possible. If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.