What’s a Good Number of Days on Market?

If you’re listing your home, it should be sold in under 30 days. Anything longer than that will rouse suspicion in the eyes of buyers.

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What is considered a good number of days on market?

One thing I can tell you is that listed homes aren’t like fine wines—they don’t get better with age. There’s an old adage among us real estate agents I’d like to share with you: the first offer you get is almost always the highest.

In our market right now, your home should be sold in under 30 days. If it stays listed any longer than that, people will start to wonder what’s wrong with it. The key to avoiding this is to set it up right. Most of the listings our team takes on sell within the first two weeks because we take all the necessary steps to get the best price in the least amount of time.

"Unlike fine wines, listed homes don’t age well."

If you’re trying to sell a home and it’s been listed for longer than 30 days, we’d love the opportunity to show you some strategies to breathe some life back into it. If you’re thinking about selling a home in the near future, we’d also love to show you what we do to list a home correctly the first time around.

If you have any questions about what’s going on in the market, give us a call or email us and let us know how we can serve you. We look forward to hearing from you!

Your House Has Multiple Offers. Now What?

If you find yourself with multiple offers on the home you're selling, how do you choose the best one for you? It's not always just about the highest dollar amount.

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I wanted to give some quick advice to home sellers who have received multiple offers on their home.

Say you put your home on the market, you did all the marketing correctly, and you find yourself with three offers. Is the highest offer always the best?

In a really hot market in some areas or Phoenix, some offers may even be over list price. The problem is that an offer over list price may not appraise, which could cause issues in the future.

The key is to take the highest offer that will appraise.

What else should you consider besides price? Well, there are always different terms and concessions in an offer. Is the buyer asking you to pay for a home warranty, closing costs, or HOA disclosure fees?

"You want the highest offer that will appraise."

You also want to look at the strength of the offer.

Is it a financed offer or a cash offer? Sometimes cash is better, but sometimes cash buyers want a discount. If the offer is financed, how much money is the buyer putting down? With an FHA loan, they could put down as little as 3.5% or they could put down as much as 20%.

Finally, you want to look at earnest money from the buyer. How much skin in the game did the buyer put out there to show their good faith in the contract?

When choosing an offer, you want to the pick the offer that is the strongest and has the best chance of closing. It's not always the highest price that gets you to that point.

If you have any questions about selecting an offer or you have questions about the Phoenix real estate market, give me a call or send me an email. I'm always here to help!

HVAC Maintenance & Repair Tips for Homeowners

With summer nearly over, I’m sure you (like me) have been reminded just how much we use our air conditioning. Soon, in the winter, you’ll be reminded of how often you use the furnace, too.

It’s one of the major systems in your home, and a surprise issue with one of these systems can be a nightmare if handled improperly. That’s why I wanted to share a video from Angie’s List that I recently saw about proper maintenance of your heating and cooling systems.

If either unit is having issues, did you know you can actually hire technicians who are specially trained to work on certain brands? For example, if you have a Trane system, you can find a tech who is trained specifically to work on Trane products.

Secondly, always remember to get a second opinion when someone recommends that you replace a system because oftentimes a repair will do. You want to be certain of this when it comes to a part of your home that should last 20 years, especially considering the cost of a replacement. 

Unfortunately, as the video points out, there are a lot of people out there who deal with these systems and prey on customers who don’t know any better. If you’re hiring a company, you should investigate them by checking out their web reviews or social media pages. 

Also, be proactive with service on these systems. If you wait until the system is broken down to get it checked out, you are now at the repair company's mercy. 

As always, if you have any real estate questions about the Phoenix area, just give me a call or send me an email. I’d be happy to answer them for you!