Saturday, June 8, 2024

Worried About Home Maintenance Costs? Consider This

If one of the main reasons you’re hesitant to buy a home is because you’re worried about the upkeep, here’s some information you may find interesting on both new home construction and existing homes (a home that’s been lived in by a previous owner).

Newly Built Homes Need Less Upfront Maintenance

If you can afford it, you may find a newly built home could help ease your worries about maintenance costs. Think about it, if everything in the house is brand new, it won’t have the wear and tear you may see in an existing home – and that means it’s less likely to need repairs. As LendingTree says:

“Since the systems, appliances, roof and foundation are new, you’re less likely to pay for major or minor repairs within the first few years of homeownership. That can make a big difference for first-time homebuyers who are adjusting to owning rather than renting.”

Plus, many builders also have warranties on their homes that would cover some of the more major expenses that could pop up. As First American explains:

“The new systems in your home, like plumbing, electrical, and HVAC, are typically covered for one to two years by your builder’s warranty. When something happens to these systems, you contact the builder or their warranty company.”

Existing Homes Can Still Have Great Perks

But it’s worth mentioning, that it’s not just newly built homes that can have warranties. It’s an option for existing homes too.

Your agent may be able to help you negotiate with the seller to add one as a concession on your contract. But you should know that not all sellers will be willing to do that. If they won’t, you could purchase one yourself, if you’d like to. An article from Forbes explains:

“During a real estate transaction, a home warranty policy can be purchased by the buyer or the seller.”

And there are benefits for both parties when it comes to a home warranty. According to MarketWatch:

“A buyer’s home warranty benefits both buyers and sellers, as it helps the seller close the deal while providing the future homeowner with peace of mind that they’ll be covered if a system or appliance breaks down . . . Sometimes, a seller will pay for the first year of the home buyer’s warranty to sweeten the deal, but it depends on the real estate market.”

If you’re interested in a home warranty for peace of mind, lean on your agent. They’ll negotiate on your behalf to see if a seller would be willing to cover one for you. Just remember, the likelihood of a seller throwing one in depends on conditions in your local market.

So, Should I Buy New or Existing?

While the need for less upfront maintenance is a great perk for new construction, there are some things a newly built home can’t provide that an existing home can.

For example, existing homes have a lot of character and charm that’s difficult to reproduce. The quirks that come with an older home may make it feel more homey. And, existing homes usually have more developed landscaping and a well-established sense of community. So, it can feel more inviting than something that’s a blank slate, like new construction often is. Not to mention, if you go with new construction, you may have to wait for the home to finish being built based on where it is in the process. It all depends on what’s most important to you.

Bottom Line

Whether you choose a newly built or an existing home, you may be able to ease some of your concerns over maintenance with a home warranty. To weigh your options and go over what’s the top priority for you, talk to the professionals.

PATTI LEE PROPERTIES
Results that Move You!

Friday, June 7, 2024

Planning Ahead Can Ease the Stress of Selling a Loved One’s Home When They Pass

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When you lose a loved one, there are so many things you find yourself dealing with, beyond just the sadness of your loss. It’s almost impossible to prepare for everything that has to be thought about and addressed.

Handling the estate of someone who has passed is often more involved and complex than many people expect. “Estate” is a broad term that involves many different things, but one of the largest elements of one’s estate is often the real estate they owned, which, for most people, is their home.

A recent article from realtor.com illustrated just how challenging it can be to deal with the home of a loved one who has passed. When a man in Massachusetts lost his mom, he planned on fixing the home up on his own before selling it. But it proved to be more work than he anticipated or could handle. Here’s a few of the issues he had to contend with:

Water issues in the basement, which caused extensive mold problems.
A kitchen that he began renovating, but couldn’t finish.
An overgrown yard which triggered the neighbors to contact the town, resulting in potential fines if he didn’t remedy the situation within a matter of days.
Once he decided to just sell the house “as-is” he ran into probate issues, and had to file additional paperwork, delaying the sale of the property.
Trying to figure out who the solar panel company was that his mother had a contract with took time, and it also entailed dealing with them to release future owners of any obligation to them.

All of that effort cost him time and money, and could have been avoided, at least to some degree. While it’s probably an extreme example, it’s a good reminder that planning ahead can save you a lot of time, stress, and money when the time comes.

Tips for Preparing to Sell Your Loved One’s Home When They Pass

Every family, house, and situation is different, but here are a few things to consider doing that’ll make the process of selling your loved one’s home as smooth as possible when the time comes.

Have the tough conversations while you can. Death is not a topic most people enjoy discussing, which is why many families find themselves unprepared when the time comes. It’s helpful if you can initiate conversations about their house directly with them, and any other relatives that will be impacted upon their passing, such as siblings or cousins.
Too many families are torn apart fighting over the estate of a loved one. While you might think this only happens in families who already have tension, it happens to even the closest of families. When the time comes, everybody in a family may have different perspectives and motivations about what to do with the house, such as:
- Some may want to settle the estate as quickly as possible because they simply don’t want to deal with it any longer than necessary, even if it means losing some money.
- Some may want nothing to do with the process until it comes down to decision-making moments, and then they decide to add their two cents, which ends up angering everyone else who had to do the work to get to that point.
- Some may want to ask a ridiculously high price for the house and be willing to wait months, or even years for it to sell, because they either don’t really need the money quickly or want as much as possible.
- A family member may feel entitled to money when they’re really not, and could try to hold up the process legally or otherwise.
Those are just to illustrate a few examples of how family members who are not on the same page can make the sale of property more difficult and stressful after the passing of a loved one.
So, while it probably isn’t something anyone wants to do, having conversations about how things will be handled ahead of time can make for a more peaceful and successful process when the time comes.
Here are some professionals you should consider consulting. To ensure that the legal and financial aspects are in order upon their death, enlist the help of knowledgeable advisors ahead of time, such as:
- An accountant
- An attorney
- An estate planner / financial advisor
If there is a professional in any one of these fields who has already been dealing with the affairs of your loved one, ask your relative to introduce you to them and loop you into any relevant information or conversations with them.
Establish how much the house is worth. While you might need an actual appraisal done on the house when the time comes, getting a baseline for how much the house is worth in the current market is helpful. Ask a real estate agent to do a comparative market analysis, and update it occasionally as time passes.
Also ask the agent for input on any work they suggest needs to be done to the house to optimize the market value, and make the sale of it more smooth when the time comes. This will allow you to make better decisions on what work to do, and not do, and get it done over time.
Don’t wait to start prepping the house for sale. No matter what age or stage of life a person is in, it takes time to properly prep a house for sale. But oftentimes, when a person has lived in a home for many years, they’ve accumulated a lot of belongings, and haven’t updated or maintained the home in some time. Rather than wait until they pass, try helping them declutter their house, clean it up, and get any maintenance done bit by bit over time.

It’s always difficult to lose someone you love, but if you prepare ahead of time, it will hopefully make the process of handling the sale of their home much easier on you and the rest of your family.

The Takeaway:
Losing a loved one is tough, and handling their estate can be overwhelming, especially when it involves selling their home. To make the process smoother, have difficult conversations about the house with family members early on to avoid conflicts later.
Consult professionals like accountants, attorneys, estate planners, and real estate agents to ensure legal and financial aspects are in order. Start prepping the house in advance by decluttering and maintaining it over time, so when the time comes, the process is smoother and less stressful for everyone involved

PATTI LEE PROPERTIES
Results that Move You!

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Thursday, June 6, 2024

QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE ABOUT SELLING YOUR HOUSE

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There’s no denying mortgage rates are having a big impact on today’s housing market. And that may leave you with some questions about whether it still makes sense to sell your house and make a move.

Here are three of the top questions you may be asking – and the data that helps answer them.

1. Should I Wait To Sell?

If you’re thinking about waiting to sell until after mortgage rates come down, here’s what you need to know. So are a ton of other people.

And while mortgage rates are still forecasted to come down later this year, if you wait for that to happen, you may be dealing with a lot more competition as other buyers and sellers jump back in too. As Bright MLS says:

“Even a modest drop in rates will bring both more buyers and more sellers into the market.”

That means if you wait it out, you’ll have to deal with things like prices rising faster and more multiple-offer scenarios when you buy your next home.

2. Are Buyers Still Out There?

But that doesn’t mean no one is moving right now. While some people are holding off, there are still plenty of buyers active today. And here’s the data to prove it.

The ShowingTime Showing Index is a measure of how frequently buyers are touring homes. The graph below uses that index to show buyer activity for March (the latest data available) over the past seven years:

You can see demand has dipped some since the ‘unicorn’ years (shown in pink). That’s in response to a lot of market factors, like higher mortgage rates, rising prices, and limited inventory. But, to really understand today’s demand, you have to compare where we are now with the last normal years in the market (2018-2019) – not the abnormal ‘unicorn’ years.

When you focus on just the blue bars, you can get an idea of how 2024 stacks up. And that gives you a whole new perspective.

Nationally, demand is still high compared to the last normal years in the housing market (2018-2019). And that means there’s still a market for your house to sell.

3. Can I Afford To Buy My Next Home?

And if you’re worried about how you’ll afford your next move with today’s rates and prices, consider this: you probably have more equity in your current home than you realize.

Homeowners have gained record amounts of equity over the past few years. And that equity can make a big difference when you buy your next home. You may even have enough to be an all-cash buyer and avoid taking out a mortgage altogether. As Jessica Lautz, Deputy Chief Economist at the National Association of Realtors (NAR), says:

“ . . . those who have earned housing equity through home price appreciation are the current winners in today’s housing market. One-third of recent home buyers did not finance their home purchase last month—the highest share in a decade. For these buyers, interest rates may be less influential in their purchase decisions.”

Bottom Line

If you’ve had these three questions on your mind and they’ve been holding you back from selling, hopefully, it helps to have this information now. A recent survey from Realtor.com found more than 85% of potential sellers have been considering selling for over a year. That means there are a number of sellers like you who are on the fence.

But that same survey also talked to sellers who recently decided to take the plunge and list. And 79% of those recent sellers wish they’d sold sooner.

If you want to talk more about any of these questions or need more information, contact a real estate agent.