The Home Seller’s Playbook: Top 10 Must-Know Tips for a Smooth Home Sale!

Summary: In this episode, Joe Reitzug and Makayla Mast share their top ten essential tips for anyone considering selling their home. From effective marketing strategies to navigating the complexities of buyer negotiations, this episode covers it all. Discover how proactive advertising, understanding market conditions, and mastering negotiation can make or break your home sale. Whether you're a first-time seller or looking to refine your selling skills, these expert insights will guide you through the process with confidence.

1. Interviewing Brokers: Focus on their marketing strategy, experience, and approach. Ensure they have a proactive marketing plan, clear representation strategy, and strong industry connections. A good broker should align with your personality and offer honest advice.
2. Commissions and Costs: Understand the value of full-service representation versus discount options. Expert Tip: Get a net proceeds sheet from your broker to see all costs associated with selling your home.
3. Paperwork Essentials: Don’t skip the paperwork! Review documents like the listing agreement and state-required disclosures thoroughly. Understand them to ensure a smoother selling process and stay informed about your representation and legal requirements.
4. Preparing Your Home for Sale: Start by decluttering and making minor repairs. Focus on surfaces, fix small defects, and touch up paint. Expert Tip: Consult with your broker to identify essential updates and those that can be skipped to save time and money.
5. Pricing Your Home to Sell: Setting the right price is crucial. Hot Tip: Rely on your broker’s expertise rather than online estimates. Pricing too high can lead to extended market time and lower eventual sale prices. Understand the full valuation report and discuss any discrepancies with your broker.
6. Effective Marketing for Your Home: Smart marketing is key. Hot Tip: Use digital ads and online platforms to reach more buyers. Open houses are less effective in today’s market. Pre-market strategies can build interest and urgency before listing.
7. Understanding Today's Market: Current conditions present unique challenges and opportunities. With higher interest rates, buyer affordability is limited, but less competition makes it a good time to buy. Ensure your home is in the top 5% of your price range for a quicker sale.
8. Navigating Offers: Assess offers thoroughly. Hot Tip: Focus on price, terms, and conditions. Check the offer price, whether the buyer is paying cash or financing, the strength of their loan, and earnest money. 
9. Handling Inspections and Buyer Repair Requests: Inspections can be a major hurdle. Key Insight: Respond promptly to repair requests and ensure your home is available for inspections within 10 business days. Collect multiple repair estimates to avoid excessive costs. 
10. Key Milestones to Ensure a Smooth Sale: Monitor critical milestones. Important Reminder: Keep track of earnest money deposits, inspection deadlines, appraisal results, and underwriting approval. This helps ensure a successful closing.

Feeling like there's a lot to juggle when selling your home? With these Top 10 Must-Know Tips, you have a roadmap for success. Let the LIVPortland team simplify the process and guide you through every step with ease. Contact us today to ensure a smooth, successful transaction.

Thank you for listening to this episode. Stay up to date on the latest trends and insights by subscribing to our podcast and following us on social media.

For more information about buying or selling in the Portland Metro real estate market, please visit www.LivPortland.com or contact us directly.

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Transcript

00:00:08:17 - 00:00:24:19

Joe Reitzug

Welcome to Off the Record talking real estate with Joe and Makayla. If you're interested in the Portland, Oregon real estate market and what the unvarnished inside scoop. You've come to the right place. Thanks for giving us a listen. Okay. Welcome, everyone. Hi, Makayla.

00:00:24:19 - 00:00:26:13

Makayla Mast

How are you? I'm good. How are you?

00:00:26:16 - 00:00:30:18

Joe Reitzug

I'm doing great. We're in the thick of summer, and it's hotter in Haiti here.

00:00:30:18 - 00:00:32:04

Makayla Mast

Hotter than Haiti?

00:00:32:06 - 00:00:34:07

Joe Reitzug

Yeah, but it's all good.

00:00:34:09 - 00:00:44:19

Makayla Mast

We're inside and AC, and I'm excited about this topic, as always, but, ten things you must know before selling your home. I think this is a good one. I think people will like it.

00:00:44:21 - 00:00:55:10

Joe Reitzug

This is a good one. And, for those of you that have seen our shows before, we are switched up. I'm feeling very awkward right now, sitting on the right hand side.

00:00:55:12 - 00:01:04:20

Makayla Mast

So, Yeah, I feel better on this side. Okay. I just don't know me on the way over here. Let's switch it up. Why not? Half way through the year?

00:01:04:22 - 00:01:08:09

Joe Reitzug

Why not? A fresh start, so to speak?

00:01:08:11 - 00:01:09:11

Makayla Mast

Right. Yeah.

00:01:09:12 - 00:01:31:20

Joe Reitzug

Okay. So let's dive into it. We got a lot to cover, and it's that time of the year where a lot of people are thinking, okay, do I sell? Do I not sell? how much do I need to know about this? There's all sorts of information out there, but we thought we'd just dive down to the core and give you ten things that you really need to know if you're thinking about selling your home right now.

00:01:31:22 - 00:01:37:17

Joe Reitzug

And let's start with how to interview brokers to represent you on your sale. What's the first that pops into your mind, Makayla?

00:01:37:17 - 00:01:58:15

Makayla Mast

I would ask them about their marketing. There's so many different ways you can go with marketing, but it is important to go the extra mile. I think a lot of people think you just list the home on the internet, and you wait until someone brings you an offer, but that really isn't the case, especially in today's market. So yeah, ask about their marketing strategy and if they don't have one, I would be concerned.

00:01:58:17 - 00:02:15:08

Joe Reitzug

Yeah, if they don't have a written marketing strategy for your home, that's kind of a red flag. And the other thing to look for is is it proactive or is it reactive? Are they just waiting for buyers to come to you, or are they going out and proactively trying to find good buyers for your home? So that's one thing.

00:02:15:08 - 00:02:37:17

Joe Reitzug

Representation I think representation is huge because you're hiring someone to be the point person for the sale of your home, and they need to represent you to other brokers, to buyers, all those type of things. And that's the big one. So you know, that comfort level with someone, the experience that they have representing people is super important.

00:02:37:19 - 00:02:52:17

Makayla Mast

I agree. And then I think also asking about their experience if they have a resume. Same thing with a written marketing plan. I think you know this person is interviewing to work for you. So they should be letting you know what they've done in their years of experience.

00:02:52:22 - 00:03:08:20

Joe Reitzug

I remember the first time that I said that I asked you if you had a resume and you were like, what? For real estate. What? What are you talking about? And I was like, it's a job interview. Yeah, right. Every time you need to let people know what your past history is and why, you're the best qualified person to to represent them in the sale.

00:03:08:21 - 00:03:09:20

Makayla Mast

Absolutely.

00:03:09:21 - 00:03:31:18

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. So what systems do they have for listing and closing? You really don't want someone representing you that's just going to wing it. You know what I mean? And that that's just not the direction you want to go. You want someone that's organized, that knows all the steps that it takes, and quite frankly, ask them for their plan.

00:03:31:19 - 00:03:50:04

Joe Reitzug

What is their plan for getting the home on the market? What's their plan for marketing the home, and then what's their plan once they get an accepted offer to get these things taken care of, like we have, we've got like a 46 point plan for getting your home on the market. That's before it even ever hits the MLS or anything.

00:03:50:06 - 00:03:53:20

Joe Reitzug

And we just do that because you never want anything falling through the cracks.

00:03:53:20 - 00:03:57:02

Makayla Mast

Right. And that's easy to happen. There are a lot of steps like he said.

00:03:57:06 - 00:03:59:12

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. Same thing with closing too. Right. Right.

00:03:59:14 - 00:04:19:05

Makayla Mast

Whole new checklist that comes up. I think another thing I'm going to go tangent here a little bit. See if there are personality match for you. You know you're going to be working with this person for several months most likely likely working with them every single day. And if you don't like them, if your personalities don't match, that could be a harder experience.

00:04:19:07 - 00:04:39:04

Joe Reitzug

You want someone you can trust, someone you can talk to, someone that you're going to be comfortable having those tough conversations. The other thing is you want someone that's going to be straightforward with you, because it does not help you at all if they're just telling you what you want to hear, make sure that they're going to give you their opinion and be able to speak to that without offending you.

00:04:39:04 - 00:04:44:15

Joe Reitzug

But you need to get their opinion and also what the actual facts are to make the best decisions for you and your family.

00:04:44:16 - 00:05:00:21

Makayla Mast

And then I think the last thing is, who do they know this is a who do they know in the industry? You know. This is something I didn't know when I got into real estate. But what contractors do they know? How closely do they work with these people? Are they willing to get in there and get you a quote quickly?

00:05:00:21 - 00:05:05:01

Makayla Mast

All of these little things working with other people can help the process go smoother.

00:05:05:03 - 00:05:17:05

Joe Reitzug

Yeah, you absolutely need that that depth of knowledge to, to get people that will show up, give you a good bid and also do good work for you. let's talk about commissions fees and how much it will all cost.

00:05:17:07 - 00:05:17:20

Makayla Mast

To.

00:05:18:00 - 00:05:45:04

Joe Reitzug

I wrote down you get what you pay for and it's true. If you want to get discount dentist work dentistry you're going to get what you pay for if you want. If unfortunately you're going through some legal matters and you go a discount lawyer, you're probably going to get what you pay for. Same thing in real estate. If you're not willing to pay someone at the market rate and someone's willing to do it for much less, you have to think about where they're going to cut corners, right?

00:05:45:05 - 00:05:47:21

Makayla Mast

Exactly. And a lot of times that's in marketing.

00:05:47:23 - 00:06:07:15

Joe Reitzug

A lot of times it's in marketing. A lot of times it's just a lot of different things that can cost you and cost you from getting the buyers that you need for your home. The other thing is full representation. A lot of people ask, hey, there's this company where I get to represent myself. They'll put it on the arm class and that's all they'll do, and I can handle the rest of everything.

00:06:07:17 - 00:06:34:07

Joe Reitzug

And if you're comfortable with that, and if you have experience doing it, that may be a good fit for some people. But you should probably remember that representation, full representation, allows you to take a step away and not be dealing directly with the person that's buying your home or the other brokers, and it gives you an arm's length where you can make decisions, have conversations, and be able to separate yourself somewhat from the transaction in a way that is super helpful.

00:06:34:09 - 00:06:53:10

Makayla Mast

Absolutely. There's so many moving pieces and associated costs with selling your home. So the best thing you can do to get a summary of that is ask your broker for what's called a net proceeds sheet, and that'll list your broker's commission in it, along with title and escrow fees taxes that you have to pay. So at closing any other fees that come up.

00:06:53:10 - 00:06:55:04

Makayla Mast

But it's a good way to see it all in one spot.

00:06:55:04 - 00:06:57:22

Joe Reitzug

You want to know what you're getting at the end of the day after yourself.

00:06:57:22 - 00:07:01:02

Makayla Mast

So that is in fact the whole point exactly.

00:07:01:04 - 00:07:24:01

Joe Reitzug

Number three, what to know about all the paperwork. And yes, there is paperwork. Most of you have probably already sold a home out there, but for a lot of you that haven't, buckle your seatbelt. There's a lot of homework. And it's all good that, you know, has to do with representation. It has to do with the listing agreement, the disclosures that the state of Oregon, require led based paint, all sorts of different things.

00:07:24:01 - 00:07:41:01

Joe Reitzug

But I always recommend and we always show up with a hard copy of the paperwork so that people can read it. I hear too often people are brokers sending paperwork to their clients that they've never given to them in hard copy, and it happens once in a while. But for the most part, you should take time to read through those agreements.

00:07:41:01 - 00:07:41:23

Joe Reitzug

Don't you think?

00:07:42:01 - 00:07:49:12

Makayla Mast

So? For someone who doesn't know, for someone who hasn't sold a home before, what is the first piece of paperwork that we're referring to that they have between you and your broker?

00:07:49:15 - 00:08:12:02

Joe Reitzug

Agent agency disclosure. Right. I'm just saying it's an outline of how representation works. The Oregon Real Estate Agency shows who represents who in different situations. It's a great primer for how the whole thing works. Right. And then there's our disclosure statement, which also talks about do you want to allow us to represent other people in the in the purchase of your home, those type of things.

00:08:12:04 - 00:08:29:13

Makayla Mast

Right. And they're not too Jargony I will say, I think there is some jargon in there, but it's well defined at the bottom of the contract in most cases. And if not, you can always ask, but it doesn't read like a lawyer contract. I will say so if you take the time to read through it, you should understand it right?

00:08:29:13 - 00:08:41:00

Joe Reitzug

And it is 99% standard, right? What one broker gives you is, for the most part, going to be what the rest of the brokers that you're interviewing will give you. It's all pretty straight up.

00:08:41:02 - 00:08:42:19

Makayla Mast

And ask questions if you don't know.

00:08:42:21 - 00:08:51:20

Joe Reitzug

Yeah, I was just going to say, I'm amazed at how many times we present the listing documents and people are just like, okay, thanks, ma'am. Like you don't.

00:08:51:23 - 00:09:01:06

Makayla Mast

Or they don't sign it within two minutes. And I'm like, oh, you didn't read that. I thought, we're trying to do anything shady, but you should know what you're signing, right?

00:09:01:06 - 00:09:18:03

Joe Reitzug

And I just feel like, I don't know, I guess, like, yeah, I mean usually, almost always unless I know it's something that I'm already familiar with. I'll read through it. And if there's a lot of lawyer jargon and stuff, you know, I can get around some of that stuff. But like, listing documents are one that I highly recommend.

00:09:18:03 - 00:09:24:07

Joe Reitzug

You take ten minutes, take 15 minutes, grab a cup of coffee and read through that thing and then ask questions. Right.

00:09:24:12 - 00:09:26:13

Makayla Mast

A lot of times your broker will go through it with you too.

00:09:26:18 - 00:09:32:00

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. Number four, insider tips for Preparing Your Home for sale.

00:09:32:02 - 00:09:33:10

Makayla Mast

I love this one.

00:09:33:10 - 00:09:35:10

Joe Reitzug

I knew you would.

00:09:35:12 - 00:09:57:08

Makayla Mast

So before we list a house with anybody we like to do, see, I have a whole sheet of notes here just for this one. We like to do a consultation with you before we list the property and before we even photograph the house. So we always recommend starting with decluttering especially surfaces. So there should be little to nothing on all of your counters and services in the house.

00:09:57:08 - 00:10:08:04

Makayla Mast

With that, take advantage of your storage, your closets, and your garage. People think that they need to be completely organized. That is not true. Feel free to shove and talk. As I like to say.

00:10:08:07 - 00:10:22:20

Joe Reitzug

Yes, absolutely. Fill those closets in the garage. If your house is cluttered and there's stuff everywhere. Yeah, that's not going to make a good impression. But people don't for the most part, care about garages. They'll look in the garage and kind of as long as they can kind of see how.

00:10:22:20 - 00:10:23:12

Makayla Mast

Many others like.

00:10:23:15 - 00:10:30:06

Joe Reitzug

Spaces and how many cars and that type of thing. That is a great staging area and we've all got stuff.

00:10:30:06 - 00:10:47:06

Makayla Mast

We have all that stuff, so we understand, and then the next thing we would recommend is to repair obvious small defects. So there's normal wear and tear with the house. I know in my house right now, there's a doorknob that's a little bit loose. I would fix something like that. A lot of times outlet covers get cracked just as you're walking around the home.

00:10:47:06 - 00:11:02:15

Makayla Mast

Take a look around and see if you would notice that when you're walking through a home to purchase paint touch ups are great at this time. Nothing crazy. We're never going to ask you to completely repaint walls in most cases, but around with a little extra paint that you have and touch it up where it needs it.

00:11:02:18 - 00:11:10:01

Joe Reitzug

I think the consultation is great too, because we will see things that you may walk by 20 times a day and.

00:11:10:01 - 00:11:10:20

Makayla Mast

Just forget.

00:11:10:21 - 00:11:14:05

Joe Reitzug

See or forget or not even think that that might be a thing.

00:11:14:05 - 00:11:14:13

Makayla Mast

Right?

00:11:14:16 - 00:11:33:22

Joe Reitzug

Right. Yeah. I mean, the consultation is huge. The other thing is, most people think that they need to do a ton of things to get their home ready to sell. And invariably when Michael I go and do a home, it's no, you don't need to do that. No, don't spend that money. You won't get that return. And we tell people not to do a lot of things right.

00:11:34:01 - 00:11:34:16

Makayla Mast

Just the.

00:11:34:16 - 00:11:44:10

Joe Reitzug

Consultation. Great for figuring out what I need to do, what I should do, and what is just not going to be helpful or is going to be a waste of money, right? Worst case scenario.

00:11:44:13 - 00:12:02:06

Makayla Mast

Go through and deep clean as much as possible. Especially, you know, bathrooms and kitchens. The things that people are going to be looking at with a microscope. Windows are also one that are that's worth spending your time to clean windows if you can, and then curb appeal. People always ask about curb appeal. So you want to present your house the best.

00:12:02:06 - 00:12:14:03

Makayla Mast

That's the first thing people see. So I get it. I wouldn't do anything more than touching up landscape, mowing the grass, weeding, maybe pressure washing if that's the time of year, you know, in Oregon, and then paint touch ups if necessary.

00:12:14:03 - 00:12:26:06

Joe Reitzug

And it also depends on how far out you are from actually putting your home on the market if you're 12 months out. Yeah, a lot of different projects you can do. If you're two months out, there's just some stuff that's not going to happen, right?

00:12:26:08 - 00:12:27:13

Makayla Mast

Right. Do your best.

00:12:27:15 - 00:12:33:00

Joe Reitzug

Is number five the truth behind pricing your home to sell?

00:12:33:03 - 00:12:33:21

Makayla Mast

Oh geez.

00:12:33:23 - 00:12:34:16

Joe Reitzug

That's a big one.

00:12:34:16 - 00:12:35:17

Makayla Mast

It's a very big one.

00:12:35:17 - 00:12:36:02

Joe Reitzug

That's a big.

00:12:36:02 - 00:12:37:17

Makayla Mast

One. The biggest discussion.

00:12:37:19 - 00:13:03:00

Joe Reitzug

Yeah we're in 2024 right now. And I see a lot of people pricing their homes like it's still 2022. And that's a problem because it's not 2022. It's a completely different market. Much fewer buyers out there. And home buyers are not just buying stuff because they want to get in that neighborhood or that area anymore. It's just they're not overpaying.

00:13:03:02 - 00:13:04:04

Makayla Mast

No, not at all.

00:13:04:07 - 00:13:05:00

Joe Reitzug

Not at all.

00:13:05:00 - 00:13:24:11

Makayla Mast

And in 2022, the Zillow algorithm was pretty close. It was pretty good. It gave you it was a pretty small range at that time where people could guess what they think their homes should be at right now. That's not the case. Zillow is giving this crazy range and people are leaning on the high end, and then it's just not working right now.

00:13:24:13 - 00:13:34:13

Joe Reitzug

I would shy away from putting too much in the Zillow or a lot of the online estimations. It's just they don't know your property like a professional does, right?

00:13:34:13 - 00:13:36:19

Makayla Mast

Or the current local market standards.

00:13:36:20 - 00:13:55:17

Joe Reitzug

Right, or what's actually happening and happening in the marketplace right now. They don't have that depth of knowledge, especially if you don't live in a cookie cutter neighborhood like I do. I live in a cookie cutter neighborhood, and, you know, there's 5 or 6 different plans. You see a plan that sells similar to the one you're looking at.

00:13:55:17 - 00:14:13:18

Joe Reitzug

You can get a pretty good idea, but if you don't live in that type of neighborhood, there's a lot of variance. And especially if you live on a rural or farm area or just have a unique home, that's not like anything else around. It really is tough to get much out of what you find online with, with Zillow and that type of thing.

00:14:13:20 - 00:14:25:05

Makayla Mast

And trust your experts. So you're probably going to be interviewing multiple brokers. They could have a very wide range and pricing. So yeah, find the person that you really trust and then really lean on their advice.

00:14:25:06 - 00:14:45:18

Joe Reitzug

Yes. But I would not suggest hiring a broker just because they say they can get you right. X amount of money, find the right fit, find the right marketing plan, and then look at pricing and whoever you choose, have a conversation and don't be afraid to say I had. I interviewed another broker that said I was, you know, 20,000 over what your recommendation is.

00:14:46:00 - 00:14:53:10

Joe Reitzug

Let's dive into the numbers. And what we do is what the appraisers do. Right. Same information, same process.

00:14:53:11 - 00:14:55:15

Makayla Mast

Wink, wink. You're going to want your home to appraise.

00:14:55:20 - 00:15:16:12

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. And you want it to sell. So the fear is when you overprice it stays on the market too long. And the problem is if you get too aggressive and in our marketplace right now if you try to shoot for overall what the actual value is, your home will sit. I don't care how nice it is or what neighborhood it is.

00:15:16:12 - 00:15:31:06

Joe Reitzug

Yeah, for the most part, yeah, it will sit and as it sits at some point you're going to have to adjust to where the market is. And once you adjust, chances are if it sits any longer, you're going to have to take less than what you're getting.

00:15:31:06 - 00:15:32:13

Makayla Mast

Then yeah.

00:15:32:15 - 00:15:52:15

Joe Reitzug

Instead of pricing accurately and appropriately upfront, when home buyers are very, very intelligent, they do their homework. They know, oh, that's a goodbye, right? They know what a good price is. So you just got to be super careful with that. I've some I've seen so many houses sell recently at numbers.

00:15:52:17 - 00:16:01:10

Makayla Mast

40,000 under what they first saw. So that's like like you probably could have gotten at least 20,000 more. But yeah, you messed around with pricing too high.

00:16:01:12 - 00:16:22:19

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. So that obviously get a full valuation, get the full report, look through the report, talk to your broker about the report and make sure that you feel comfortable with it. Right. Because there's variances. We talk about variances too high. But there can be variances to low as well where you're like oh wait a second. Everything else in this area is sold for 600,000.

00:16:22:19 - 00:16:26:06

Joe Reitzug

And you're asking me to price at 550. What's up with that?

00:16:26:06 - 00:16:33:07

Makayla Mast

Right. And just like you said, with the unique properties, especially rural properties that can get confusing to some brokers.

00:16:33:07 - 00:16:57:17

Joe Reitzug

It's okay to challenge your broker and say, well, how did you come up with that? Well, X, Y and Z are the the closest comparables. Are they really comparables or are they not. And comparable means something similar to what you have. That's kind of how you find prices. What people recently within the last 3 or 4 months ideally have bought a home similar yours at what price is a pretty good indicator of what someone coming up is going to pay?

00:16:57:21 - 00:17:00:03

Makayla Mast

Yeah, absolutely.

00:17:00:03 - 00:17:31:22

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. So number six what marketing works and what doesn't. That's a tough one. It is. Yeah I would say anything proactive. Get some ads out there on Facebook. Get some ads out there. Google pay per click. You want it to be a numbers game where you're getting out to the most number of people possible. I always remember I had a broker that I took a class from, like in my first year in the business, and he told the story about a friend of his who had a really super nice car.

00:17:31:22 - 00:17:53:01

Joe Reitzug

I mean, I think it was a Porsche or something. There was beautiful. And he was talking to his neighbor, my, my guy who was teaching this class, and he said, you know, I, I haven't had any takers for this car. And this guy asked him, what's the price? And he gave him the price. And he was like, that's a great price.

00:17:53:07 - 00:18:05:09

Joe Reitzug

Why haven't you had any any bites on it? And he goes, well, I don't know. Maybe I should get more than the one flier I have on the back of my garage. Oh yeah. I mean, and he was probably being facetious.

00:18:05:09 - 00:18:05:23

Makayla Mast

But sure.

00:18:05:23 - 00:18:30:11

Joe Reitzug

That is a good example of the marketing you put out there. You want to have every single available homebuyer who is in the marketplace and qualified to buy. They need to know about your home. Absolutely right. And if you're getting 100% of those people and no one's buying, no one's interested, no one's looking at it. There's a couple of things that could be wrong right?

00:18:30:12 - 00:18:39:07

Joe Reitzug

But if you're only getting 50% of the potential buyers out there, your chances just decrease. You want more fish in the pond, so to speak, right?

00:18:39:10 - 00:18:39:23

Makayla Mast

Absolutely.

00:18:39:23 - 00:18:54:08

Joe Reitzug

So marketing is critically important with that. And proactive, aggressive marketing I'm going to go ahead and say something a little bit. May might upset some people, but open houses. Yeah I'm sorry but that's not where it's at right now.

00:18:54:11 - 00:18:57:09

Makayla Mast

It's not especially in this current market.

00:18:57:11 - 00:18:59:11

Joe Reitzug

Well, this current market in this current weather.

00:18:59:12 - 00:19:09:23

Makayla Mast

Yeah. No, I don't think so. House hunting when it's 100 degrees outside, I believe me, I've set up for open houses this week. Yeah. And they've been very dead. Yeah. Very dead.

00:19:10:04 - 00:19:32:06

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. We're talking about numbers. And if you get 1 or 2 people through. Yeah. Okay. But the majority of open houses right now are just not getting anyone. And these are quality homes that are priced well. And it's just that kind of marketplace right now. So digital marketing, marketing that's going to get out to the masses is really where it's at.

00:19:32:09 - 00:19:53:23

Makayla Mast

And our favorite little strategy is to actually do pre marketing. So we like to list the home is coming soon if we can if right if we're ready with photos and the listing and everything like that. But we like to send it out, send emails out to brokers in our area, send emails out to qualified buyers weeks before the home even comes on the market.

00:19:53:23 - 00:19:57:18

Makayla Mast

Because that creates more of a frenzy around the home. Lack of.

00:19:57:18 - 00:19:58:14

Joe Reitzug

Urgency. Yeah.

00:19:58:14 - 00:20:06:07

Makayla Mast

Have you heard about this awesome home coming up? It's not on the market yet. I was thinking about looking at it. You want as many people as possible talking about your home.

00:20:06:12 - 00:20:09:16

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Number seven Makayla.

00:20:09:17 - 00:20:10:19

Makayla Mast

Number seven.

00:20:10:19 - 00:20:12:13

Joe Reitzug

What to expect in the current market.

00:20:12:17 - 00:20:36:18

Makayla Mast

Well, I think we've touched on this a little bit. We have the there's it's a good market. You know there's pros and cons to this current market I think what isn't you know uncommon to say is that affordability is still an issue. So there are less buyers in the market right now. And the buyers that are in the market can't afford to pay a ton because of the current interest rates or.

00:20:36:19 - 00:20:59:06

Joe Reitzug

What they could afford at 3.5% versus what they can afford at 7% is drastically different. Right? And that's just kept a lot of people out of it. There's also, I think, a feeling that rates may change in the near future. So I'm going to hold off for now. Right. Or people think that prices are going to come down, which if rates go up, people prices are going up too.

00:20:59:06 - 00:21:02:16

Makayla Mast

Right. You just had a conversation at lunch about that.

00:21:02:21 - 00:21:11:11

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. So it's still a good time to sell and it's actually a good time to buy. There's much less competition if you're if you're buying than there was before.

00:21:11:11 - 00:21:34:14

Makayla Mast

It's a great time to buy, I would say. And people sellers are a little more flexible. And that might not mean price maybe a little bit on price but deferred maintenance. So once you get your offer accepted, they're going to be more willing to negotiate with you on bigger ticket items where if you're competing against seven other people to, you know, win the house, they're not going to negotiate on a new roof.

00:21:34:14 - 00:21:40:22

Makayla Mast

But in the long run, having that taken care of obviously is going to save you a ton of money and is a better deal for you in the long run.

00:21:41:04 - 00:22:06:03

Joe Reitzug

Right. And as far as seller's right now, you want to be in that top 5%. And what I mean by that is if you've got a $500,000 home, if we show you all the homes in your area that are between 475 and 525, right, that 50 grand type of margin there, you want to be the top in the top 5%, because those are the ones that are selling under 30 days.

00:22:06:03 - 00:22:36:19

Joe Reitzug

Those are the ones that are getting their asking price, maybe even over once in a while. Still. But to do that, you've got to have your house prepped. You've got to have your price nailed. You've got to have marketing in place. Both pre marketing and when it hits the market, you just have to have things set and you have to be prepared, because if you're not, then you know you go past 30 days maybe 45 days, even 60 to 75 days on really really good homes.

00:22:36:19 - 00:22:59:21

Joe Reitzug

We have some clients right now who have wonderful homes that are priced well, but they're just sitting there no matter how proactive the marketing is right now. So we put this in here because we want people to know where the current market is at and have realistic expectations, and to know that they they absolutely have to do their homework and be prepared.

00:22:59:21 - 00:23:18:11

Makayla Mast

Right. I think this kind of sounds like a Little Debbie Downer of a section, but I think this is more of a normal market. Right? So the past few years have been such a hot, crazy all over the place market. And this is we're getting to what's called a healthier inventory or a healthier market. Yeah.

00:23:18:12 - 00:23:19:11

Joe Reitzug

Equilibrium.

00:23:19:13 - 00:23:20:17

Makayla Mast

So that's a good thing.

00:23:20:19 - 00:23:38:13

Joe Reitzug

There's still some funky aspects to this market though. The rates and just right where you know, the economy's out and all that, it's a it's a different time than we've seen for a long time. And especially what you would consider a normal market. This still has some kind of odd aspects to it.

00:23:38:18 - 00:23:39:11

Makayla Mast

Agreed.

00:23:39:13 - 00:23:52:18

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. Number eight you get an offer. Wow. Okay. You put your home on the market. You got an offer. Hey, congratulations. That's outstanding. What do you need to know for negotiating with a buyer?

00:23:52:20 - 00:24:15:23

Makayla Mast

Okay, so just like we talked about going over the listing contract, this is your next set of paperwork. So it's really important to go through all of the pieces of the offer. And like we touched on earlier, 99% of these contracts are going to be the same except for the terms that the buyer is offering you. So obviously number one, we look at price right after price.

00:24:15:23 - 00:24:33:18

Makayla Mast

We look at, you know, are they paying with cash. Are they financing this purchase. And if they are financing what type of loan program are they doing and how strong is that loan program? How much money are they putting down? You know, do they seem like a qualified buyer? I mean, that's a lot of the work that we will do on the back end for you.

00:24:33:18 - 00:24:42:16

Makayla Mast

But always good questions to ask. And then how much earnest money are they putting down. You know, how confident are they that they want to follow through with this purchase.

00:24:42:22 - 00:25:06:07

Joe Reitzug

Right. So the three things are price terms and conditions. Right. What's the price they're offering. What are the terms of the offer. And then what are the conditions. Is it subject to the sale of their property. And do they have funds that maybe need to be made liquid that that will be listed in the agreement? Are their funds liquid now or are they trying to get them liquid.

00:25:06:09 - 00:25:32:20

Joe Reitzug

That's a big one right. So price terms and conditions. And also if you're not in that type top 5% and can dictate all three of those things, you may have to have some give and take with one or the other, right? If you get a full price offer, but they want to close in 60 days and it's subject to the close of their home, you got to weigh that with where things are at in the marketplace and and how marketable you think your home is.

00:25:32:20 - 00:25:50:07

Joe Reitzug

If you decide not to go with this buyer or counter them. So those are all conditions. The other thing that not a lot of people talk about, but Michael and I, it's like anything else, it's negotiations become a bit of a card game and you want to know who the other broker is, right? Are they good to work with?

00:25:50:09 - 00:25:53:20

Joe Reitzug

Do they know what they're doing? What are they saying about this buyer?

00:25:53:21 - 00:25:55:10

Makayla Mast

How well did they write the offer?

00:25:55:12 - 00:26:16:09

Joe Reitzug

Well, did they write the offer? And then also, who's this buyer? What's their story. All those pieces of information help to form your data set of how you want to react to this. Right. Because not every offer you going to you're going to get has your price, has your exact terms and has all the conditions that you're looking for.

00:26:16:11 - 00:26:31:00

Joe Reitzug

So as much data as you can get to help you form an opinion of what the best path forward is, whether it be a counter offer or, you know, whatever the case might be is super helpful. So make sure that your agent, your broker, has all those things in mind, right? Should we move on.

00:26:31:00 - 00:26:36:22

Makayla Mast

To nine number nine inspections and how to negotiate a buyer repair request?

00:26:36:22 - 00:26:38:17

Joe Reitzug

Holy smokes. This is a big one.

00:26:38:18 - 00:26:42:00

Makayla Mast

Huge. Might be the biggest actually.

00:26:42:02 - 00:27:01:15

Joe Reitzug

This is where we see most transactions that fail. Meaning you get an offer. You have mutual acceptance, you're sale pending Yahoo, and then you've got ten business days to get, have your buyer come in and do their inspection. They send you a repair addendum saying, hey, we need all these things done. Well, how much is that going to cost?

00:27:01:15 - 00:27:16:04

Joe Reitzug

Oh, we got to go get contractors to get bids and those type of things okay. We get that all back. That negotiation. The buyer goes from oh we found our house. It's wonderful to oh my gosh, there's so much wrong with this place. And there's always stuff that comes up in any sale.

00:27:16:04 - 00:27:38:21

Makayla Mast

Right. But it's how well you can manage those things that they're asking for and how quickly we can get through it. So like Joe said, we usually have ten business days. That's standard contract to negotiate whatever repair items come up, you're going to want that buyer to get in there and have their formal inspection, hopefully within 3 to 5 business days at the very most of mutual acceptance.

00:27:38:21 - 00:27:44:02

Makayla Mast

So being able to make your home available for that inspection is going to be very, very important.

00:27:44:04 - 00:28:09:14

Joe Reitzug

And it's it's always funny, Makayla and I always we do a lot of texting and, you know, we'll get an offer on one of our properties and the inspection contingency time period will be ten days. And let's say we, you know, have mutual acceptance on Monday. So that would be one week, two week to get it done. And you get a text or a call from the buyer's broker saying, yeah, we've scheduled the inspection for next Tuesday.

00:28:09:18 - 00:28:11:01

Joe Reitzug

Oh honey.

00:28:11:03 - 00:28:12:23

Makayla Mast

No, can't do that now.

00:28:12:23 - 00:28:30:15

Joe Reitzug

You can't do that. That's not going to give us any time to get bids or negotiate the repairs. You're by the time you get the report and start going through it and everything, it's just going to be not enough time. And then you need to get an extension and then you move in. So anyways, it's.

00:28:30:18 - 00:28:31:01

Makayla Mast

Yeah.

00:28:31:03 - 00:28:47:02

Joe Reitzug

Yeah, you want to have some urgency and make sure that the broker that's representing you can steward this whole process in a way that's going to be efficient and also make sure the buyers get what they need as far as information. But we move the train along right towards closing.

00:28:47:02 - 00:29:08:18

Makayla Mast

I think it's so important to have a broker that's on their toes during this process, because as soon as we get that repair, the buyer repair. Addendum over. If there is anything of question, right. If the inspector isn't absolutely sure that whatever needs to get fixed, then we want to get a second opinion for you because we don't want you paying for ridiculous repair items if you don't have to.

00:29:08:23 - 00:29:16:12

Joe Reitzug

$17,000 for a mold remaining remediation, we're going to go ahead and get another bid on.

00:29:16:12 - 00:29:17:14

Makayla Mast

Yes.

00:29:17:16 - 00:29:19:19

Joe Reitzug

When it comes back at like 2700.

00:29:19:20 - 00:29:20:05

Makayla Mast

No.

00:29:20:05 - 00:29:35:10

Joe Reitzug

1750 1750. So Mr. and Mrs. Seller, we've got two bids, one at 17,001 at 1750. Our recommendation is we go with the second one.

00:29:35:12 - 00:29:38:16

Makayla Mast

Right. They're doing the exact same thing and they're both licensed button and shirt.

00:29:38:20 - 00:29:45:07

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. So it really makes a difference. So let's talk about number ten.

00:29:45:09 - 00:29:46:16

Makayla Mast

finally to number ten.

00:29:46:17 - 00:29:52:05

Joe Reitzug

Dum dum dum milestones to watch for to make sure your sale does not fail.

00:29:52:07 - 00:29:55:07

Makayla Mast

I love this because one it rhymes.

00:29:55:09 - 00:30:01:00

Joe Reitzug

And to I say it again.

00:30:01:02 - 00:30:16:05

Makayla Mast

you know, we're in close touch with our clients. Sometimes daily. We're texting with our clients, but we don't want you to be stressed out if you don't have to be. So knowing what your timeline looks like and knowing what milestones to look for, we'll just make this process so much easier for you.

00:30:16:07 - 00:30:35:01

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. And so there's the deadline of when a buyer should have their earnest money deposited. We always look for that and we let you know. Yep. Deposited. Good. but there's also that inspection time period. You know, the inspection contingency time period that we talked about those ten business days, we got to stay on top top of that.

00:30:35:03 - 00:30:56:05

Joe Reitzug

And I would find out from the broker that you go with, how do they keep you appraised of what's going on. Right. So like our team every Monday, if both when your home is on the market and when your home is sale pending every Monday, you'll get an email from us that shows exactly where we're at in the process, what's coming up next.

00:30:56:05 - 00:31:12:19

Joe Reitzug

And then Tuesdays are the days usually when we'll have those conversations face to face after you have some time to process and think about it. But after the inspection contingency is completed, everyone thinks, oh good, we got two repairs negotiated. We're done. We're on to closing. Well, not so much.

00:31:12:19 - 00:31:34:01

Makayla Mast

So right now then we're waiting for the appraisal and that's a different ballgame. If the buyer is financing the purchase or if they're paying with cash, a lot of times with cash, they won't even have an appraisal. but if they are financed, we want to make sure that it appraises. And most of the time, if you price your home right, it does appraise just fine.

00:31:34:01 - 00:31:39:10

Makayla Mast

But if not, that's a milestone we want to negotiate on very quickly if we want to keep things moving along.

00:31:39:15 - 00:32:07:09

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. And then after that, when is the buyer's loan package completely put together. And there's something called underwriting approval. Right. So their loan officer is putting all this information together. And then whoever is underwriting this or buying the loan, paying for the loan, they have underwriters that all that information will be sent to. And once they approve that, that's a happy day because that means the buyer has been fully vetted.

00:32:07:11 - 00:32:27:00

Joe Reitzug

All their information is in the property. Is is good to go. Underwriting approval is a huge step, but sometimes, you know, people don't check on that. And all of a sudden a week before closing, all of a sudden you're getting all these text or emails or calls from your broker saying, well, we've got a little snag. We haven't gotten underwriting approval.

00:32:27:00 - 00:32:38:03

Joe Reitzug

Well, we're supposed to close tomorrow right away. Why wasn't that found out earlier? So we stay on top of that. Make sure whoever you hire has that as part of their process.

00:32:38:05 - 00:32:54:10

Makayla Mast

And then oftentimes the borrower will have a reinspection. So if any major work was done, even minor, they'll want an inspector or a contractor to come in and make sure that it was done properly. And then also just to walk through the house and make sure it's in the same condition that it is when they made an offer on the home.

00:32:54:15 - 00:33:20:12

Joe Reitzug

Yeah, right. And finally, the lenders that work with the buyer so that financing a majority of purchases that we work with are financed. So having a good working relationship with that lender and being able to reach out to that, that person and get updates and make sure that things are where they where they should be is critically important because in the end, no financing, no sale.

00:33:20:14 - 00:33:26:13

Joe Reitzug

Right? Yeah, unfortunately. Well, we hope this has been helpful. I found it helpful.

00:33:26:13 - 00:33:28:07

Makayla Mast

I found it helpful. Yeah.

00:33:28:09 - 00:33:31:21

Joe Reitzug

These are our ten right now. We're also going to do buyers. All right.

00:33:31:23 - 00:33:34:11

Makayla Mast

Yeah yeah ten things you should know when buying a home.

00:33:34:11 - 00:33:39:18

Joe Reitzug

Yeah. And these will change. So we'll update these. But thanks so much for watching and listening. We'll see you next time.

00:33:39:18 - 00:33:40:14

Makayla Mast

Yeah. Thank you.

00:33:40:15 - 00:33:41:03

Joe Reitzug

Thank you.