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5 Things You Can Do if Your House Won’t Sell

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No one likes to sit on the market any longer than they have to but if your property is just not getting the attention you would like, there are some things to do that could change the effects. Of course, it really does depend on the market. If you’ve priced it correctly in the market can support it, there may be other issues involved. Here are five things to do if you cannot sell your property.5 Things You Can Do if Your House Won't Sell

#1. Make sure your home offers what buyers want.

Does your home draw buyers in from the curb appeal? Have you taken professional photographs? Have you staged the home, de-cluttered, and cleaned? Does the home need a facelift? Does the curb appeal make buyers want to see the inside? Is the home vacant? If so, it may be time to get a professional stager.

#2. Ask about a guaranteed purchase program.

If you are moving based on job relocation, your employer may help with a guaranteed purchase program. This means that the program will buy your home if you can’t sell within a certain amount of time This is an unusual program but it’s definitely worth looking into.

Read More: Will a pre-inspection help sell my house faster?

#3. Sell to a real estate investment firm.

There are a lot of investors that will buy your home as-is with cash. However, they will usually give you much less than it’s really worth but it could save you a lot of time and headaches.

#4. Consider renting it out.

Instead of selling, your property could generate cash flow while you wait for the market to turn around. Talk to your real estate agent because this may or may not be a good idea for you depending on the current market. If you could get a short-term lease for six months, the market may be better by then.

More: 10 Ways to Make a Small House Seem Larger

#5. Consider new real estate agents.

Agents typically specialize in a lot of different types of properties but maybe you have an amateur agent, someone that is too new to understand the market and how to price your home. It may be time to fire your agent and look for another.

At Sunset Beach and Beyond, we have specialized in buyers for decades and recently partnered with a well-established and experienced listing and selling agency. Whether you are buying or selling we have the agents for you. Every home is different so pricing it correctly from the beginning and gauging the market is really the key to getting your home sold fast.

Find out what your home is worth today!

Buyers and Sellers Should Also Be Excited for Superbowl Weekend

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Whether you are a Patriots fan or a Rams fan, Super Bowl is happening this Sunday, February 3 and it is unofficially the start of the home buying season. Although with the weather around the country, spring seems like light years away, actually, it’s right around the corner and many feel that the Super Bowl Sunday is the major kickoff to the spring home-buying season. Many homebuyers that have been delaying looking at homes or jumping on the ball of the lender situation will now be in full swing come Monday morning.Buyers and Sellers Should Also Be Excited for Superbowl Weekend

So what does this mean for buyers and sellers right now?

As a seller, if your home is already listed on the market don’t be surprised by an influx of showings or interest starting next week. We are seeing some of the more milder temperatures around the country, not like some of our northern states hit with this polar vortex. Because of that, more buyers are willing to venture out and see homes, start conversations with their lender, and get in touch with a buyers agent in their area. But, this also means that buyers will have more competition.

Related: Bargain Hunting is Perfect in the Winter

Because there will be more buyers on the market you’ll see some competition, but I don’t think it will be a competition like we saw last year at this time. The market, while still balanced in a lot of places, is not as hot as it was just a year or two ago. Homes are sitting on the market a little bit longer, which means that buyers have a bit of an advantage. Although we’re not quite into a buyers market, depending on the neighborhood or community, you may have a little bit more time to decide whether the home is right for you. However, newer listings will have more competition than older ones. But, this might be a great time to consider offering a lower price for homes that have been on the market for longer than three months.

What does this mean for sellers?

If you’ve been holding off listing your property, now might be a perfect time. Again, will have more buyers on the market, and you’ll probably get more activity over the next couple of weeks than you would have the previous two weeks. Home prices are steadily rising, so you might be able to get more for your house now than a couple of years ago, but the demand won’t be as strong.

Find out what your home is worth

Benefits of Using a Real Estate Team to Buy & Sell Simultaneously

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Benefits of Using a Real Estate Team to Buy & Sell Simultaneously

Our team has been buyer focused for decades. We love homebuyers and there’s nothing more joyful then the look on homebuyers faces when we hand over the keys and they can walk to the door of their very first home or even their dream home after years of saving. Recently we have partnered with listing agents, George and Elisabeth Smith, who also have years of experience listing North Carolina real estate. While we love helping buyers, they have the same passion for homeowners and sellers. We figured this is an amazing team because when people need to buy and sell simultaneously, the thought of having different agents for both sides of the transaction just adds to the stress of the process.

One-Stop Shop

This is why if you are buying and selling a home in the Sunset Beach area or anywhere up and down the Intracoastal waterway of North Carolina and parts of South Carolina, we would love to be your one-stop shop for real estate needs.

Experience on both sides

Because we worked with buyers for years we’ve not only built up good experience under our belt, but a good and healthy mix of resources and referrals. You need someone dedicated and reliable when it comes to real estate appraisers, home inspectors, survey specialists, lenders, escrow, and title companies. Because we’ve done this for years we have collected a group of individuals that specialize in the real estate transaction. We are not amateur agents or brokers; because we’ve done this for years, we have experience and we have experience with others involved in the transaction.

Don’t just trust anyone

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen amateur agents out there tried to give referrals to businesses they’ve never worked with. If you’ve never worked with a lender or a home inspector, how can you know they are going to be a good fit for your client? And, we don’t just have one reference or referral; we have several because everybody works differently with different people. We have lenders and inspectors that work with real estate investors and others that work with first time home buyers. A well seasoned real estate investor knows what they’re looking for and they don’t need all of the handholding and detailed reports that a first-time homebuyer needs and should want.

But, back to the simultaneous buying and selling. When you’re selling a home and buying another in the same area or within close proximity to each other, having the same teamwork on the transaction will keep things on point, on time, and help you close simultaneously. This is no easy feat. Selling and buying simultaneously takes a lot of communication, exact timelines and time frames, and excellent time management between all the parties involved. There are so many people when it comes to a real estate transaction that if you don’t have people all on the same page, mistakes are going to happen. I’m not saying that every deal you do with us will be perfect because every transaction is different and every home and buyer is unique, but, having everyone communicate together and having everyone familiar with each parties attitude, work ethic, and communication preferences really help to pull the entire deal together.

If you need to buy and sell anywhere along the Intercoastal waterway of North Carolina even stretching down into Little River and Myrtle Beach South Carolina, give us a call. Our team handles all types of real estate, golf properties, homes on the Intracoastal Waterway and can help close your deal in a timely manner with as a minimal stress on you as possible.

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Things You Should Know if You Want to Flip a House

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Things You Should Know if You Want to Flip a House

Buying an investment property in order to flip and resell is not for the faint of heart but it’s also not something to be too scared of. As long as you do your research on your homework and have a real estate agent that understands your needs, buying and flipping is a great way to expand your real estate portfolio and make some extra money. Here are some things to know if you’re planning on flipping a house.

#1. Understand closing costs and capital gains tax.

Unless you’re selling the home yourself, you need to take into account closing costs with real estate commissions and capital gains tax. If you make a profit on the flip, which is the whole idea, and have on the house for a year or less, you will be taxed on short-term capital gains. These are taxed at your ordinary income tax rate so it’s important to factor that into the sale.

#2. Additional cost for borrowing money.

If you are planning on taking out a loan to buy the investment property, you need to make sure you understand what it costs to borrow money. Not only will you have costs for improving the house, but you will need to be paying a mortgage and property taxes on it until it sells.

#3. The money is made when you buy, not sell the house.

I know that might not make sense, but you don’t want to overpay for a house. This also means in your mortgage payment as well. Lenders will want a higher deposit than for the residential markets. You might need to put at least 25% down and ask the lender if they’re willing to give you a short term mortgage to buy and flip the house based on the value of the asset. You may need to shop around for a loan that will give you the best rate of return now and when you plan on selling. A typical bank may not be the most lucrative or economical place to get a loan for a rehab property.

#4. Don’t just buy a foreclosure or short sale.

Most foreclosures or short sales are sold by the bank and they may be price below market value because they’ve been neglected. Rehabbing could be extremely expensive so don’t just limit your property search to foreclosures. You might find a great deal that just needs a little bit of cosmetic repair.

#5. Never neglect the inspection.

You might even consider an inspection before making an offer. There’s no point to make an offer if you know that the home will need thousands of dollars in the structural repair or corrections to plumbing or electricity, some of the most expensive repairs out there.

#6. Don’t over improve.

You want to buy the cheapest house in the best neighborhood, not the other way around. You want to rapidly increase the value of the house so don’t over improve the property past the maximum sales in that neighborhood.

#7. Market timing.

Timing the market is critical to understanding and getting the best deal. Of course, you want to buy a home at the lowest price possible and sell it for a higher amount, but make sure that the timing is right and a good real estate agent that understands the market and individual neighborhoods can help you make a more informed decision.

If you’re planning on rehabbing your property give us a call. We’d love to send you a list of properties that might work for your situation and your budget throughout Brunswick County and Sunset Beach.

Should I Close Before the End of the Year?

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The end of the year is just a couple of weeks away and you might be wondering if you should closure loan before the of the year late? Are there any benefits to closing before December 31? If you’re escrow or title company has given you the option of closing before the end of the year there may be reasons for it. Here are some benefits to closing before the end of the year.

Should I Close Before the End of the Year?

Tax benefits.

This is probably the biggest one in the reason most will advise you to close quickly. If you’re buying a new home this will entitle you to tax deductions on your 2017 taxes. You could claim points or origination fees on closing cost deductions on a new loan. This only applies for the year you close the loan. If you wait until next year before closing, you will have to wait an entire year before you can deduct those fees. Mortgage deductions can also allow you to deduct any mortgage interest, which works well for new homeowners since early mortgage payments tend to be mostly interest anyway. Property taxes can also be deductible too.

Interest rates. Closing escrow on a new home purchase before the end of the year is a great way to lock in low rates for the life of your home loan.

Nonfinancial benefits.

If you close before the end of the year you may be able to get into your new home before the holidays really hit. Even though we are very close to Christmas, and you may not be completely unpacked, you won’t have to worry about that after Christmas. Everything will be done and you will be in your new home.

Winter is still coming. It’s only going to get colder here in North Carolina so getting into your homes soon means that you’ll avoid moving in the dead of winter.

Increased motivation. Everybody wants to get things done and tied up before the end of the year so this is good motivation for everyone else to be on their game and get things done.

Of course, we don’t want to add any more stress to the already stressful holiday season but, if you can close by the end of the year it might be a great benefit not only financially but emotionally. 

Browse our website for more tips and tricks to buying and remember to call us for all Sunset Beach homes for sale.

Read More: Buying advice from real people

How to schedule the closing in your favor

How to know you’re getting a good deal

Is it a Bad Thing if Your Home Sells Too Fast?

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It seems like real estate agents can’t win; if the home doesn’t sell, the agent mispriced it or did something wrong, if the house sells too fast it wasn’t priced high enough. But, should we really freak out or second-guess ourselves if the house sells quickly?Is it a Bad Thing if Your Home Sells Too Fast?

It all depends on what type of market we’re talking about. In a seller’s market, homes can sit on the market anywhere from 24 hours to 24 days or more depending on how the home is priced and if it is staged appropriately. If the home sells quickly, a lot of homeowners think the underpriced the house and assume they could’ve gotten more for the sale, but that’s not always the case. If the home is priced correctly, once it hits the market, buyers should be attracted to it naturally.

Many buyers have been waiting for the right house to hit the market and if your house meets their search criteria and price, boom! You have yourself a sale.

There’s also the other tactic of underpricing a house to get more interest. This could result in multiple offers and it selling for a list price. This is a risky move, however, and it depends on the market and how much demand there really is for homes in the area.

What homeowners need to realize is that they need to be prepared to move fast as well. Buyers are aggressive and if they’ve been looking for a long time, they’re more likely to jump on a house when it hits the market. This is not the time for a seller to freeze up. Any delay could cause a buyer to go elsewhere. It’s not advantageous to stress over pricing a house too low. A great real estate agent should know the market and price it correctly from the beginning. Just because you got a fast sale doesn’t mean the house was underpriced. Even if it was $5000 higher, you may not have gotten that sale.

If the home as well presented and priced correctly, you’re sure to get quick buyer interest. It’s too stressful to be on the edge of whether you’re going to get a sale or not. It’s better to get that contract negotiated and tied up as quickly as possible so everyone can move on to the next step.

If your home sells quickly don’t stress; count your blessings. The agent knew exactly what to do to get buyers in the door and an offer on the table quickly.

Give us a call today if you have questions about buying or selling throughout Sunset Beach and surrounding areas.

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