Columbia South Carolina Real Estate Podcast with Brent Downing Brent Downing

Pricing your home correctly is essential to getting it sold. Here are some tips to help you get on the right path. Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation This week, I’ve got some great tips for you on how to price your home to sell. Every time I go on a listing appointment or get asked about a home’s worth, there's a process I employ for pricing my listings. Here’s an outline of the discussion, with timestamps so that you can skip ahead to the section(s) that interest you most: 0:50- How to define your target market and buyer pool 2:35- Why looking at comparables with the same features as your home is important 3:30- How your motivation as a home seller can play a role in your final sale price 4:30- The importance of not letting your ego get in the way of your price 5:15- What will happen if you overprice your house? 6:15- Why bringing in a lowball offer is a mistake 7:00- Final thoughts on the kind of professional that will help you price your home correctly I hope this information was helpful to you. If you have any other questions about pricing, selling your home, or anything else related to real estate, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

If you’re wondering what the different approaches are to seamlessly buy and sell a home at the same time, here’s how. Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation A seller situation that I’ve become fairly familiar with is that of the person who wants to sell their current home and move into another all at once. They often come to me with certain concerns and assumptions swirling in their minds, so I’d like to take a few moments to clear some of that up.   First, when you’re presented with a good offer on your home, don’t hesitate to act on it. Now, if you’re in the market for a specialty home, such as a lakehouse or one that possesses qualities not found in many other properties, you need to leap at the opportunity when a home like that hits the market to fend off competition. It’s unwise to assume that you’ll be able to carry a second mortgage while your current home is on the market without first checking with a lender. Aside from that, don’t operate under the assumption that you’ll be able to carry a second mortgage with ease while your current home is for sale. That’s simply not a wise assumption to make. My advice is to check with a lender to determine if you can juggle both simultaneously. Know that going under contract for a new home and selling your current home all in the same day is a pretty rare occurrence. In a few words, timing is critical. It’s important to prepare yourself for one of two things: If you sell your current home before finding your next, you’ll have to seek temporary housing. On the other hand, if you make a purchase while your home remains on the market, you’ll be left with two mortgage payments to make short term. If buying and selling simultaneously is a strategy that interests you, please give me a call. I can point you in the direction of some lenders that can assist you with questions of this nature, give you a market analysis on your home, and discuss what you can expect if you plan to enter the market soon.

Today we’ll be getting to the bottom of an important question: What are HOAs and how do they work? Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation Whether you’ve lived within one or not, you’ve probably got some questions about what HOAs are and how they work. In short, an HOA, or homeowners association, is an organization of homeowners that retains the right to create and enforce regulations, rules, and restrictions on a particular subdivision, condo unit, or planned unit development. These rules will vary between each HOA and may stipulate anything from the required size of homes to where you can park your vehicle. That said, there is a good reason for these rules. HOAs help the properties within them maintain a certain level of care. This, in turn, helps to protect the homes’ market values. You should be well aware of what you’re signing up for before you purchase any given property. Of course, an HOA can’t operate without funding. This is where the matter of HOA dues come in. Those living within an HOA are required to pay a certain monthly fee that will ultimately be applied toward the care and keeping of the neighborhood. If you neglect to pay this fee, however, the HOA is within their legal right to take action. They may even foreclose on your property. The bottom line is that you should be well aware of what you’re signing up for before you purchase any given property. This includes checking to see if it’s within an HOA and, if it is, what rules you’ll be expected to follow and what fees you’ll be expected to pay. In many cases, an HOA is well worth the cost. Even so, only you can determine what is best for you and your family—with the help of a trusted Realtor, of course. 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.

Lake Murray isn’t going anywhere. Here’s what you need to know about the current state of the lake. Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation Whether you've seen it during your lake home search or have simply driven by, you may be curious why Lake Murray's water is down so far. There's a good reason for the decreased water level, which I'll be sharing with you today. Every year during the winter, they usually drain the water down three or four feet from the summertime levels. This year, they decided to go down to eight feet below normal, which is 10 feet below full pool levels and 350 feet above sea level. As you can guess from these numbers or by looking at the lake, the shoreline is much lower than usual. However, don’t panic. Nothing’s wrong and nothing is happening with the dam. This is something that happens every three to five years, and they were actually supposed to do it last year. It helps owners maintain their shoreline, kill off unwanted vegetation, and more. At the end of February, we should have things back to normal. Nothing’s wrong with the dam, so don’t panic. Another thing I wanted to touch on was the Dominion buyout of SCE&G and how it affects the lake. As of now, there are no planned changes and I don’t think there will be any big changes in the future.   If you have any questions for me about Lake Murray, Lake Murray real estate, or any other kind of real estate, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

What’s going on in our real estate market right now? Find out in today’s market update. Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation There’s been a lot of speculation lately about whether our market is undergoing a slowdown. The truth is that while conditions are cooling significantly on the West Coast, the changes to our Columbia market have not been nearly as extreme.   However, despite the slight slowdown we experienced in the fourth quarter, our market is still more active than what was true at this time a year ago. The Columbia market is still doing great. It’s important to understand what’s really going on when you hear about a market slowdown on the news or from other various sources. It doesn’t mean we’re undergoing some massive crash. All it means is that our market has become more balanced. Prices are leveling off, not going down, and the days on market are increasing, but these factors are nothing to panic about. Despite the slight slowdown we experienced in the fourth quarter, our market is still more active than what was true at this time a year ago. The point to take away from these recent changes is that buyers and sellers alike will need to slightly alter the way they approach their real estate goals. Of course, conditions do vary by price point, as well. The slowdown occurring in our luxury market is far more pronounced than what is true in lower price ranges. If you want to learn more about how to make the most of our current market, you can download our most recent buyer and seller guides here.   All in all, it’s still very much possible to secure a great deal on our market. With the end of the year upon us, we hope you know how grateful we are for your continued support. Thank you, and have a happy New Year. If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Our team is so thankful for you this holiday season. We hope your season is as merry and bright as ours. Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation Happy Holidays! In the spirit of the season, our team would like to extend our warmest thanks to all of you for the amazing year we’ve had. Your continued support means so much to us. The success we achieved in 2018 wouldn’t have been possible without you. We look forward to continuing to serve our community and are excited to work with you all in the new year to come. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year!