Selling During An Emotional Time

While selling a home can come with its own set of sentimental feelings and mixed emotions, it is particularly challenging for most people when they must sell a home due to unfortunate circumstances beyond their control. Whether it be a divorce, death of a loved one, or any other emotionally difficult situation, there are a few key factors to keep in mind.

1. Give yourself grace. This is a challenging time and it’s okay to spend time gathering your thoughts and putting together the necessary paperwork you may need.

2. Do your research first. It’s important that those who have any interest/ownership (including any known  lienholders) in the home be identified. If there is an estate involved, we advise you to contact an attorney specializing in this area.

3. Please be aware that your real estate professional will need to visit the home in order to ascertain its current condition, any potential maintenance and/or repair issues that need to be addressed prior to selling, and the key features and amenities of the home. Our goal is to provide you with a realistic snapshot of the potential value of the home on the current market and changes that may increase that value.

4. Keep us in the loop. There may be a lot of moving pieces as you are selling your home and dealing with an emotional situation. Remember that we are here to help thus, if there is a change in circumstances or you have a new development, please keep all parties informed.

Although this may be an emotional and challenging time, surrounding yourself with experienced professionals who can take some of the burden and offer empathetic and insightful input can make all the difference.

Mastering the Real Estate Market Cycle: What Homebuyers and Home Sellers Need to Remember

Timing is key however, the real estate market waits for no one. You have may have heard that you should wait until home prices decrease; you may have heard about an impending slower economy; or you may have heard that this is still a good time to sell your home and an even better time to buy. No matter what you may have heard, we’ll let you in on a secret that is known but, not often shared: people buy and sell homes in spite of economic factors, inventory, whether it is a buyer’s or seller’s market or any number of factors.

Homebuyers purchase homes (and home sellers sell their homes) for numerous reasons including a change in circumstances such as relocating due to a job change, divorce, estate sale, and a need to upsize or downsize.

While we as agents can never guarantee what will happen, we can certainly provide one piece of advice: the real estate market is cyclical. While we are seeing a return to the spring sales season, we still have buyers looking (nothing like the frenzy and surge we experienced during the height of the pandemic) and not enough inventory in the most sought after budgets and areas.

Selling and buying in this cycle takes vision, motivation, and consistency. Homes, for the most part, are not flying off the market with tens of offers and going under contract within hours. Seller concessions, such as repairs and credits, have returned in many places however flexibility, thinking outside the box, and targeted marketing makes all the difference when selling. Innovative loan products, careful negotiating, and diligence make all the difference for homebuyers. By listening and heeding the advice of those in the market on a daily basis, it can help make the process easier and more seamless.