What Can You Expect from 2014?

Over the past year we've seen some great opportunities for both buyers and sellers. Interest rates were great, homes sold fast and there were tons of buyers in the market. The average sales price is up by $10,000!

We don't expect that great market to go away. The market has remained stable. For buyers, now is the time to get pre-approved. Interest rates are still phenomenally low and it's important to take advantage of that now.

Sellers - the inventory is still incredibly low and buyers need your home! Put your home on the market before the spring; beat your competition.

If you have any questions about what you can expect in 2014 or are ready to buy or sell, please give me a call today! Thanks for watching and happy new year!

What Should You Look for in an Agent?

What should you look for when hiring a real estate agent?

Most people want to work with an agent they can trust. Ask your friends and family if they have any referrals. Then look for experience. How long have they been a full time agent? Do they know the area?

I also wanted to address a common misconception. If you see an agent's name on a flyer to a home, you do not have to work with them. You can choose your own agent for no extra cost. Find somebody you are comfortable with.

What do you do to help a client buy or sell?

One of the most important steps when preparing a home for the market is making it available on the MLS. That way agents everywhere and buyers looking online can see the property.

We also do a lot of prospecting, calling neighbors to create a buzz. Word of mouth is a very effective marketing tool that is forgot about.

Even a simple yard sign can get a lot of attention. Buyers like to cruise through neighborhoods they would like to live in and see what is available.

260 Hammil Valley Rd. (Bishop, CA - Eastern Sierra Realty)

Thanks for joining me!

Today we are going to do something a little different. I am so excited to show you this beautiful, new listing. This three parcel property is located at 260 Hammil Valley Rd.

Nestled in the foothills of California's treasured Eastern Sierra, this gorgeous property allows for independent living. Grow your own food off the land and be self-sufficient! Perfect for communal living or a place to retreat.

This unique property offers a charming 3 bedroom, 2 bath ranch house with a spacious covered front porch and basement. The garage has been fully converted into a 2 unit living space with a separate entry for the additional guest quarters upstairs. A newly refurbished bunk room with a bathroom is situated close to the barn and the recently fenced paddock.

There is an 8 stall barn with access to open BLM land, a yurt, and several out buildings. A solar system feeds into the grid. The property offers landscaped paths, fruit trees, a pool and spa. 3 separate parcels... with additional building credits. Mountain Views that go for miles!

If you would like to visit this property or know more about it, please give us a call. Don’t wait too long, this property is one-of-a-kind!

3 Reasons to Sell During the Holidays

Welcome back! The holidays are here and that always brings the question whether now is a good time to sell or not. There’s a big misconception that the winter months aren’t a good time to list your home, but that simply isn’t true.

There are actually three great reasons why you SHOULD list your home.

1. There’s lower inventory - Because so many people believe the misconception that now is the wrong time to sell, it means there is less competition for you.
2. Buyers are more serious - The buyers that are looking during the holidays are have-to-buy buyers. We find most people who are relocating for jobs look during the holidays.
3. Homes look great - Who doesn’t love holiday lights and decorations? The buyer often can become emotional when seeing homes like this.

These are four great reasons why you should list your home now. So give me a call and we can get started marketing!

Thanks for watching!

Bishop CA Real Estate Market Update Fall 2013

Welcome back! The holiday season is upon us and I’ve had a lot of people ask me lately about what’s been happening in the market.

At the end of August we saw a slow in activity because of the increased interest rates. Inventory also began to increase causing a more balanced market.

Now is a great time to buy and sell. As we’ve seen even the slightest increase in interest rates can cause dramatic changes to the market. Take advantage of the great rates.

If you have any questions, please give me a call. Thanks for watching!

How to Prepare Your House for the Market

Welcome back! When you put your home on the market, you want it to appeal to a wide range of buyers. You want it to sell quickly and for a great price. Here are four tips to help get your home ready to list.

1. Curb appeal - The outside of your home is the first impression a buyer has. Mow the lawn, trim the hedges, and plant new flowers.
2. ‘Declutter’ - Since you have to pack anyway, remove clutter and personal items. Don’t store them in the closet, though. Buyers will want to see how spacious the closets are.
3. Repair - Buyers want a home in good condition. If you have a leaky faucet or burnt out light bulb, fix it. Don’t give the buyer any reason to doubt the condition and worth of your home.
4. Ask a professional - It can be hard to look at your own home in the eyes of a buyer. Call us at 760.873.4161 and we can help you review what needs to be done to the property.

Thanks for watching!

How Long Will it Take to Sell My Home?

A lot of sellers ask me how long it will take to sell their home. Well, there are a lot of factors that determine how long. One of the most important of those is price. In today’s market, buyers want a home that is in good condition, with a good location and a reasonable price tag to match. If your home has all three of those components, it will sell quickly.

Right now, the average-days-on-market is 79 days. This is relatively long, though, for a fairly priced property. An accurately priced home should sell within the first three weeks on the market.

If you have any questions about how your home should be priced, please give me a call at 760.873.4161

Thanks for watching!

What can a seller do to get their home ready for sale?

A lot of people ask me how they should prepare their home for the market. I have a few main elements to keep in mind when you are getting ready to list your home. 

Curb Appeal - The first thing a seller should think about is the curb appeal of their home. What’s curb appeal? It’s how your home looks on the outside; it’s the very first impression your home makes on a potential buyer.

Mow your lawn, trim the hedges, put a fresh coat of paint on your front door. These simple things can make a huge difference.

Declutter and Clean - Once inside the home, take down all the knickknacks. Your goal is for the buyer to envision living in the home. Put away the collectibles and religious items. Make your home look spacious. Also, have the kitchen and bathrooms sparkling clean! A buyer responds so much more positively to a clean home.

Right Price - Another important part of selling your home is choosing the right price. You can either price your home to sell or price it to sit. Listen to your real estate agent; look at comparables. There is a fine line between getting the most amount of money for your home and overpricing it.

These are just a few tips on how to get your home ready for the market. If you have any other questions, or are ready to buy or sell your home, please give me a call.

Thanks for watching!

Eastern Sierra Realty – Bishop, CA Market Update August 2013

What’s happening in our current Bishop real estate market?

The Bishop market has a lot going on depending on the price range you are looking at!

We are seeing quite a bit of activity in the $150,000-$250,000 range. There are a lot of investors and a lot of cash offers. Because of this, though, first time homebuyers are having a bit of a difficult time competing.

In the middle market range, homes around $350,000, there is a lack of inventory. We expect homes to sell very quickly when listed because there is such a pent up demand. So, if you are considering selling your home, now is the time!

In the higher price range homes, $450,000 and above, we are seeing a slower market. There is a smaller buyers pool and fewer who can afford the higher priced properties.

Home Show Gift Basket Winner!

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At Eastern Sierra Realty, we love to get back to those who make our business possible. That’s why, at our recent home show, we registered everyone who came out to win a free gift basket. The gift basket was filled with gift-cards from local establishments, including Barbeque Bills, Spellbinder Books, Black Sheep, Sandra Paulis Housekeeping Services, High Country Lumber, McDonald’s, Chevron, Village Café, Subway, Reagan Sporting Goods, Brown Supply and Bishop Nursery. Before we get to a winner, we would like to thank all of the companies involved and everyone who attended our home show and made it a great event.

Now, without further ado, we would like to congratulate Pat Stanley on winning our gift-card basket!

Congratulations Pat!

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Everyone else can keep an eye out for our next drawing and remember, if you or someone you know has any real estate needs, feel free to contact us at (760) 873-4161 or email us at randi@mysierrahomes.com or dawong1@telis.org. Thanks!

How to Gain a Competitive Edge

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Buyers are entering a competitive market with multiple offers being common. To help you win in this market, we want to share some tips on how to land the home of your dreams. By taking these steps, your offer will stand out from the crowd.

Time is of the essence so be aggressive. When a home that you’re interested in hits the market, plan to see it as soon as possible.  Make seeing homes your priority, which may mean you have to take time off from work or go on your lunch hour.  Once you find a home you like, you’ll need to make up your mind quickly. If you hesitate, the property could be gone because others will be making offers.

Once you decide to write an offer, make it the best possible offer that’s at an appropriate price point for the seller. Make it a strong offer! Basically, you’re going to want to put as much down as you can and don’t ask for a lot from the seller, such as requesting the seller to pay for fees. Keep in mind the seller will look at their bottom line, and anything you ask for takes away from their bottom line.

To make your offer even stronger, consider how you will handle contingencies, which have to be removed before the offer moves forward. For example, there may be a contingency based on the inspection or a contingency on getting your loan. The shorter time you have for contingencies the stronger your offer.

We highly recommend being preapproved—not just prequalified—for a loan.  Being preapproved means you have submitted information to the lender, the bank has reviewed it and probably sent it off to the underwriter, which means you can make an offer with a preapproval letter. The seller will then take your offer more seriously.

Find a knowledgeable real estate agent by interviewing them. You want to find an agent who has your best interest at heart. By hiring an expert, you’ll avoid home-buyer mistakes. The agent will guide you through a series of questions so you get what you want from your biggest investment. Based on all the information you provide, a knowledgeable agent will help you land your dream home no matter how competitive the market is for homes.

Your agent will not only help you find the home of your dreams, but connect you to the right people to make the entire buying process as smooth as possible. In addition to a real estate agent to represent you, you’ll also need a home inspector, a lender and a real estate attorney. Thanks to an expert agent, you can rest assured that you’re working with the best in the business. Remember, you wouldn’t climb Mount Everest without a guide, so you don’t buy a house without a rock star real estate agent.

If you are interested in succeeding in this market, contact us today at (760) 873-4161 or randi@mysierrahomes.com or dawong1@tellis.org so we can build a strategy to get you the results you want.  We’d be happy to assist you.

Comparing Year to Year Reveals Positive Changes

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The market nationwide is improving and Bishop is no exception. To be able to tell if the market is improving, we look not just at what happened month to month but year over year. Comparing the first quarter of 2013 with the first quarter last year shows some similarities and differences.  

Both quarters were the same with 26 homes, town-homes and condos sold within 20 miles of Bishop. So how come the market is improving but the sales are the same? In 2012 the sales of distressed properties—short sales or bank-owned—made up 38.5% of the sales, but it dropped in 2013 to 23%, so that was a big improvement. Decreased sales of distressed properties are a great sign the market is turning around. In addition, the days on market—number of days it took to sell a home—was 4.5 months. This year it took about 2.5 months to sell a home, which is a definite improvement. Another good sign is the average price of homes. Last year, the average sales price was $248,000 and the average price this year was $288,000, which is a big increase. While it’s tempting to think it’s due to prices increasing, it’s partly due to fewer distressed property sales.

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Another green shoot in the market is interest rates which are hovering at record-low rates. Buyers certainly have more buying power thanks to the rates.     

If you’d like to know where to be positioned in this market, please call us at (760) 873-4161 or email us at randi@mysierrahomes.com or dawong1@tellis.org so we can build a strategy to get you results.  We’d be happy to assist you. 

Free Services from Your Real Estate Pro

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What do you think of when you think “real estate agent”? You probably imagine a professional that is there to assist you with buying, selling or investing in property. For the most part that is exactly what real estate professionals do. However, in our work within the industry a number of additional services come into play that are often overlooked by most consumers. Here is a list of just a few of the additional services we provide to our clients, colleagues, friends and neighbors.

Home Value Analysis

Regardless of whether you are ready to sell a home, it is a good idea to know where your property falls in terms of fair market value. Property values fluctuate based on market activity and for homeowners that may not have had much exposure to the market for some time, getting a home value analysis done could be eye-opening.

If you are on the fence about buying or selling, a Comparative Market Analysis (or CMA) is a tool used by real estate professionals to gauge what other similar properties in the local marketplace have been selling for in the recent months. This is a carefully considered report that involves researching more than just recently sold homes but also looking at listings that may have expired as well as properties recently under contract.

A CMA will assist in the process of estate planning, property tax appeals, deciding whether to upgrade or downsize a home and determining if an investment is worth it. It’s also just a good idea to remain on top of where your property value is.

Industry Recommendations

Another very valuable service we provide our clients and friends is a complex network of referrals that come from years of working with vendors, suppliers, contractors, and other service providers. Whether looking for a roofer, someone to manage your lawn and garden or a lender – we have a long list of proven successes that stem from quality service providers.

Insight Into Alternatives

Many consumers are faced with situations where they may be limited in their options. When it comes to housing, we pride ourselves in being able to share useful alternatives  to help those that need it. This could be anything from assistance with moving to another state and finding an excellent agent to provide the same level of service as we do, to helping you find a rental home while you work out your long-term plans. Our goal is to help you – and we are in the business of building relationships not just selling homes.

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If you would like to engage us in any of these or other services – we invite you to contact us today. We look forward to helping you!

How to Evaluate an Offer on Your Home

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For most homeowners selling their home the thought of negotiating an incoming offer is a matter of settling in on a price that both sides can agree upon.  But did you know that there is another key aspect of negotiations aside from price that could have even greater impact on the sale?  The terms of your contract hold equal weight and importance as price in the sale of your home and are critical to a successful sale.

Here are five essential things to consider when navigating through the negotiation process after an offer comes in on your home.

Preapproval

After the housing market crashed in 2007 lenders, buyers and sellers have proceeded very cautiously. Lenders are staunchly following stringent requirements, buyers and sellers are savvier than ever before and what seemed like formalities in the process before are now becoming necessities.  Preapprovals are one of the things that did not always need to be done in advance of buyers finding a home. But as you receive your offer on your property, be sure that your buyer has a preapproval from a reputable lender.  The letter should indicate what the buyer can afford and how much the lender is willing to loan them, assuming they meet all requirements at the time of application.

Down Payment

One of the requirements lenders have today is to have an appraisal done on the home to equate its value with the selling price.  Unless the buyer has a significant down payment available, a less than ideal appraisal can stand to affect the sale altogether, even causing the deal to break down.  Check to see how much your buyer is able to put down on the house and add up the down payment with the loan amount to see if they equal your asking price.

Existing Home

Does the buyer have an existing home they need to sell?  This can be a problem for you as a seller if they want to include a contingency in the contract that absolves them from the commitment of buying your home if their home does not sell.  This can wreak havoc on the sale of your property, as it would require you to leave the terms of your sale up to the success of another sale.  It would be best to avoid offers that include existing home contingencies.

Closing Date

When does the buyer want to close on the home?  If the requested closing date extends beyond 90 to 120 days then it might be time to reconsider the offer.  Lenders have timing guidelines that dictate a 45-day policy, within which buyers must apply for a loan before closing.  Anything longer than that would get in the way of the lenders’ policy leaving the seller hanging in limbo during those off weeks.  When a buyer cannot meet the contractual obligation to get a commitment within 45 days, it might be a good idea to forego the offer altogether rather than to risk the sale.

Cash Transaction

Some buyers offer cash rather than opt for financing and though it is an attractive offer at first, you need to make sure that the buyer has the cash.  Asking your Realtor to verify the availability of those funds will become a necessary additional step before you can move on in the offer.  In some cases, buyers opt for alternative financing and when the time comes to verify the funds they are unable to do so.  The risk is too great so unless you can be sure the cash is there, it is a better idea to move on to the next offer.

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Navigating through offers is a tricky process – especially in today’s market. It is no longer just a matter of coming to agreement on a sale price, rather both parties must agree to all aspects of the terms.  For customized guidance on your real estate endeavors, contact us today!