Home Seller Information Archives

How to Sell Your Home and Get Multiple Offers

01/26/2021 by billbyrd

So everybody wants to know How to Sell Your Home and Get Multiple Offers? Every home seller has the potential to get multiple offers, however, unless it’s handled properly it doesn’t always happen. It’s important to work with an experienced agent that has a Multiple Offer Strategy!

An agent that has a Multiple Offer Strategy knows how to attract the most qualified, motivated and able buyers. They have the experience to help you navigate the nuances of effectively dealing with multiple offer situations.

How Do I Buy A Home If I Have To Sell Mine First?

Now let’s take a look at our basic outline of our Multiple Offer Strategy!

A Case Study

We recently sold this beautiful home below in 3 days on the market! The first day it was on the market it had 3 showings, which produced 2 offers. The second day on the market, we had eight more showings that produced 2 more offers. On the third day on the market we held and open house. At that open house we had approximately 45 visitors and the day produced 3 more offers. After the open house, the seller and I reviewed the offers and picked the one that he deemed to be the best and most secure contract. Done!

How to sell your home and get multiple offers

A Multiple Offer Strategy

Planning and preparation to get multiple offers!

Have us come out and meet with you early. This is critical.
Ultimately, we’d like to have a few days before your home actually hits the market to help you prepare your home to make a big splash when it hits the market.
Once you decide to work with us…we’ll come out and make numerous staging and preparation suggestions. This is so your home has the best chance to receive the highest and best offers possible. Having sold hundreds of homes in the past 35 years our suggestions are based on years of experience!
We have our pro’s come in and take great photos so we can prepare the virtual tour and visuals, so they are ready on day 1.

Then we get busy!

As we get busy with our Multiple Offer Strategy we follow a detailed checklist so nothing slips through the cracks!

The prep work begins
We edit the photo’s
Then write the property descriptions
We prepare the Virtual Tour
Then Build and create the in-home visuals. This includes The Property Information Sheet and our Home Book
We build the ads for online local and global exposure
Then our team creates your home own Landing Page/Web Site
Your job in the preparation phase is simple.
Keep the home clean and fresh
Execute on the suggestions we give you on preparing your home.
Then our job is to execute our Marketing Plan and Sell the Home!

Hitting the market to get multiple offers!

Position the property in the market for success!
Attract the right buyers that are ready, willing and able to buy now!
Implement our “First Look” open house inviting the neighbors and our data base!
Handling the conversations with skill and expertise while encouraging buyers to make best offers they can.

Handling the negotiations

Making the right moves in a multiple offer strategy can make all the difference in the world as to the actual results you get!

We go the extra mile to get the most, highest and best offers possible
Unlike some other agents we don’t take the path of least resistance! We work it until the end, making sure we have exhausted every opportunity to make our clients the most money possible!
Having handled hundreds of transactions we know how to make sure the contract you select is the most solid and safe moving forward. Sometimes real estate can be like a game of chess and we know the moves and can see “red flags” before they become problems!
Whether it’s two offers or 14, we work it until we get the strongest and best acceptable offer that you choose.

Inspections

Over the years we have learned how to control the expectations of the buyers and their agents in multiple offer situations, so we get the best results for our clients during the inspection process.
Having built, renovated and flipped many homes we know construction and can understand the dynamics of an home inspection better than most agents.
We understand the dynamics and the nuances of the multiple offer situation so well, we can virtually predict how people will respond to the multitude of situations they encounter during the multiple offer sale process.

Closing the Sale

We will walk you through the entire process from start to finish. One step at a time from listing to close.
And…if you need to buy another home, we have a great strategy for that too!

So, if you’re looking to hire the best possible real estate professional to sell your home in this market we need to talk! Don’t make the mistake of hiring someone that doesn’t personally have multiple years of experience handling lots of multiple offer situations. And…make sure they have and can articulate their Multiple Offer Strategy!

The bottom-line we’ve done this many times over the course of many years. If your expectations are high and you want to be comfortable and confident that when you hire us…you’re hiring a team that will deliver on the promises they make.

Give us a call, we’ll be happy to meet with you for a no obligation, no commitment meeting. 843-972-7670

We will be happy to go into more detail about our Multiple Offer Strategy if your interested in, how to sell your home and get multiple offers! Have a great day!

The Author…

Bill Byrd is a Husband, Father, Realtor, Educator, Musician and Athlete. A licensed Realtor since 1986 who loves helping his clients grow their personal wealth through real estate! Having helped hundred’s of families and individuals during his career you can feel comfortable that Bill’s and his Team’s experience and expertise are unparalleled in our market. Plus, Bill’s a great guy and one heck of a guitar player! More About Bill

Contact Us To Learn More About Getting Multiple Offers On Your Home!

Contact Us at 843-972-7670

How To Sell Your Home Faster For More Money

09/07/2020 by billbyrd

Wanting to Sell Your Home Faster and For More Money should be everyone’s goal! In this article we’ll cover 16 great tips, that will help you accomplish this! The key, improve how your home looks when it’s shown to potential buyers. You will improve the quality of your showing appointments, shorten your market time and reach your ultimate goal. Selling your home faster for more money!

Sell Your Home Faster For More Money

First impressions are lasting: The front door greets the prospective buyer. Make sure it is fresh, clean, and scrubbed looking. Repaint if necessary and replace the door hardware if it’s old and worn looking. Replace door mats if needed. Keep lawn trimmed, edged, and remove debris from the yard each day. Make sure that the first impression from the exterior of your home is a great one. It will set the tone for the entire showing.

Decorate for a quick sale: When you want to sell your home faster for more money, a worn home will reduce appeal. Even though many people redecorate homes they buy, show them what it can look like by redecorating? You’ll certainly get a quicker sale at a higher price. You simply, can’t find a better investment than a few cans of paint to brighten up the interior.

Open It Up

Let the sun, shine in: Open draperies and blinds, and let the prospect see how cheerful your home can be. Dark rooms do not appeal.

Fix that faucet: Dripping water may discolor sinks and suggests faulty plumbing.

Repairs can make a difference: Make sure appliances are in good working order. Loose knobs, sticking and squeaking doors and windows, warped cabinet drawers, holes in window screens, and other minor flaws, detract from a homes value. To sell your home faster for more money you’re going to have to have them all fixed. Don’t let minor repairs be a buyer’s objection. Many buyers believe there will be ten problems they haven’t noticed for every, one they do see.

Clean It Up

From top to bottom: Display the full value of your home from your attic to basement. From your utility space and garage, remove all unnecessary items. Make sure storage areas are as neat and clean as they should be. Organize items in cabinets and remove items to enhance spaciousness.

Safety first: Keep stairways clear. Avoid cluttered appearances and possible hazards.

Make closets look bigger: Neat, well-ordered closets show that space is ample. Remove unnecessary clothes and other items to maximize space.

Sell your home faster for more money with a sparkling master bath

Bathrooms help sell homes: Check and repair caulking in bathtubs and showers. Store as many items as possible to keep counters clutter-free. Make this room sparkle!

Arrange bedrooms neatly: Remove excess furniture. Use attractive bed coverings. Minimize personal items, including photographs.

Harmonize the elements: You’ll need to turn the music on, when you want to sell your home faster for more money. The FM radio or a CD playing softly with the TV off, and all lights on, day or night. Drapes and blinds open in the daytime, closed at night as appropriate. If it’s hot, cool it; if it’s cold light a crackling fire.

You can sell pride of ownership faster and for more money: It’s called cleanliness. Cleanliness has more buyers than used dirt. Put a sparkle in your bathrooms and kitchen and you’ll take lots more silver out.

You’ve Got To Leave:

The most important thing when you want to sell your home faster for more money is to leave. Never stay in your house when it’s being shown to house hunters. Avoid being present in your home when it is shown. The potential buyers will feel like an intruder and will hurry through the house.

When your selling your home, let the agent handle it. Remember that agent has worked many hours with these people. The agent knows what they’re looking for, and how to work with them. Let him or her do their job without interference. You may feel that the agent won’t show the important features of your home. Remember, the agent knows people aren’t sold by details until they’ve become emotionally involved with the big picture of your home. The presence of any member of the seller’s will only distract the buyers attention, it actually unnerves many buyers, and often prevents a sale. Don’t put this obstacle in your path. Leave your home when buyers are coming.

Sell Your Home Faster For More Money With Music

Music is mellow: Turn off the blaring radio or television. Soft-playing background music is okay but never load enough to interfere with the agent and buyer being able to freely converse.

Pets underfoot: Keep pets out of the way, preferably out of the house. Many people are acutely uncomfortable around some animals. And never let your pets jump up on visitors. Many pet owners are surprised when they learn that there is a significantly large part of the population that is not pet friendly. Don’t let your pet’s turn your buyers away.

Why put the cart before the horse? If you have items that you want to get rid of, do it before your home goes on the market. Trying to dispose of furniture and furnishings to a potential buyer before he or she has purchased the home is another distraction that will take the buyers focus off of buying your home. When you want to sell your home faster for more money focus on selling your home not your stuff. Remove unwanted items before your home goes on the market and it will probably help your home show better at the same time!

You may also want to check out Selling A Home In Charleston or Staging Your Home For Success and How To Prepare Your Home For A Photo Shoot

The Author…

How Can We Help You?

Contact us at 843-972-7670

Charleston Mid-Year Market Report!

07/05/2020 by billbyrd

July 15, 2020

You can't always get your way when buying a short sale

Here in the Charleston Mid-Year Market Report, Charleston Real Estate Sales continue to be strong. Typically, every spring and summer is a time when we expect sales to be at their highest. However, in light of all of the distractions in the world, the fact that Charleston Real Estate Sales are setting records just about every week, is nothing short of amazing to me!

Having a front row seat to the bursting of the housing bubble back in 2005-2009, I for one, did not expect sales to be at this pace. After the crash of the housing bubble, real estate sales virtually stopped for a few months. Then gradually began to come back but in a much different fashion. Now, during the current pandemic things are very different here in Charleston!

SEARCH ALL HOMES FOR SALE

Fortunately…having realized a long time ago that “flexibility is one’s greatest asset” in real estate, I’ve learned, “don’t question, adapt”! So now we are looking back at a couple of months worth of market data wondering, “where do we go next”! So let’s take a look at the Charleston Mid-Year Market Report for July 2020.

Hindsight Is 2020

Frankly, I have to admit, I’m baffled by this extreme activity and just simply rolling with it! Funny how the experts always come out and sound so smart when they tell you about what’s happened. And, have you ever wondered why so few make predictions, and even fewer will remind you when they were wrong!

Today’s New Challenges

For the Byrd Property Group we’ve simply been working hard everyday, selling our listings and helping our buyer clients find great homes. But, along the way, it hasn’t been without some new challenges.

Couple crunching numbers after looking at the Charleston Mid Year Market Report

Lending rules for self employee people have gotten tougher and more stringent.
Fewer listings have come on the market and buyers have fewer choices.
In some situations buyers have to compete for homes in multiple offer situations.
On the bright side! Interest Rates are at or near all time lows.
Banks have actually been tightening lending restrictions instead of loosening them.
Banks are in a much better shape than as they were before the housing crisis.

The good news in all of this is that the market didn’t just stop and fall off the cliff like it did after the housing collapse. And, I can honestly tell you I was prepared for the worst when Covid-19 first came on the scene. With that in mind, realistically we have to understand that we are a long way from out of the woods! So depending on all of the volatile elements effecting our planet right now, just know that anything can happen from here!

Charleston Mid-Year Market Report – The Numbers

So to begin with, June 2020 sales just eclipsed June 2017 sales by 11 sales. Not a large beat, but a beat none the less. Previously June 2017 were the best June sales numbers on record. Here is a chart showing the number of sales each year for ten years.

Charleston Mid-Year Market Report – Home Buying On A Tear!

Buying activity in the Charleston area has been impressive! Before May 2020, the highest weekly number of sales was 458 in 2018. And in the previous 3-4 years, 400 to 425 sales per week being relatively normal. So, what’s really impressive is that we have exceeded the old high of 458 sales in 2018 in each of the last 10 weeks. Additionally, we’ve surpassed 500 sales per week in the last 5 out of 6 weeks. In the last week of June we had 539 homes go under contract!

Unique to The Pandemic

Being a sign of the times in the Charleston Metro Area, many homes are going under contract site unseen. And due to the low inventory of homes on the market, some home sellers are experiencing multiple offers on their homes.

Foreclosures

As of this writing foreclosures and short sale have surprisingly been also non-existent. As we move forward this may not continue to be the case but we intend to keep and eye on this important market factor.

Low Inventory

In the Charleston Metro MLS since 2015, the inventory of homes on the market has ranged from around 5,500 to 7,000 homes on the market. However, late in 2019, our homes for sale inventory dropped below 5,500 homes on the market. Now our inventory numbers are getting closer to 4,000. Due to the recent local anti-growth policies of some of our local municipalities, the development and construction of new communities and new home construction is not keeping up with the current demand. So if you ever had any inclination of putting your home on the market, now would be the time! Less competition and shorter market times!

The Luxury Market on Fire!

Yes, that’s right! The Luxury Market in Charleston has been on fire in recent weeks. In the Tri-County area each week we normally have about 12 to 15 sales of homes priced at over a million dollars. Over the past 6 weeks we have had 207 homes go under contract that were priced over 1 Million Dollars! That’s almost 35 sales per week! Many people are speculating that these buyers are coming from the Covid-19 hot spots, as more people leave the densely populated cities in the north. All speculation however, as of yet there is no concrete evidence that confirms this.

Click Here To See….Charleston Luxury Homes Currently On The Market!

Surprisingly, what I’ve discovered is that in May of 2019 the Charleston Real Estate Market had approximately 855 homes on the market at over 1 million dollars. And now, that inventory has shrunk to 623 homes on the market!

And what’s even more compelling is that the Months Supply of Homes number for Luxury Homes In Charleston over 1 million dollars has come down to an 8.5 months supply on inventory! That’s the lowest it’s been in 15 years! So if there was ever a time to sell a Luxury Home in Charleston…the time is now! Less competition and shorter market times!

Charleston Mid-Year Market Report – Summary

These are simply unprecedented times. With so much volatility in the world and influences outside of real estate, the only advice I have is to pay attention! Having lived and worked through several different real estate market cycles and events from Desert Storm, 9-11-2001, the Housing Bubble and now the Covid-19 Pandemic we survived and thrived! And we came out on the other side much stronger and wiser. This time will be no different.

So keep your head on a swivel, your mind sharpe, stay safe and smart during these crazy times! And as always, if you or anyone you know needs expert real estate advice or assistance, please do not hesitate to call us! We are here for all our friends, relatives, present clients and new clients. Byrd Property Group

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Contact us at 843-972-7670

The Author…

Byrd Property Group’s Virtual Options

04/27/2020 by billbyrd

Virtual Options Made Easy!

Virtual Options requires teamwork and planning.

Discover your virtual options with us today! Whether you’re buying of selling a home in today’s challenging market we can help. Our experience in handling long distance transactions over the years, makes todays virtual world an easy fit for us! So take a look below at the useful resources we have available to assist both buyers and sellers.

Our Virtual Options

The first step would be a Virtual Consultation. Basically, this is the same consultation we have performed in person, now it’s just done online of over the phone. First we will educate you on the steps and process of either buying or selling a home. For homebuyers we will discuss your needs, wants and desires. And for home sellers, the marketing price and objectives. After that, if you are comfortable to move forward we will design a plan together and start the process!

Second is our teamwork approach to your virtual options! We will provide you with both our mobile/ipad app and web site link so you can look at homes online. Whether you’re searching for a new home or want to see your seller competition, our tools are the most updated you’ll find.

We also show homes via Virtual Tours. We will be more than happy to provide virtual tours of any listing that any buyer would like to see. And we show our listings to prospects virtually too! We can do this live or we’ll record it for future viewing.

SEARCH ALL HOMES FOR SALE

Paperwork to Close

When it comes time to make offers and sign contracts we will do that virtually too! After we do a full review of the paperwork with you online, we help you Digitally Sign the paperwork.

Earnest Money Deposits are not a problem either. Your Earnest Money Deposit can be wired directly from your bank to the closing attorney or we can have it picked up and delivered to the attorney if need be.

You don't have to attend a home inspection with our virtual options

Additionally, you don’t have to be present for the Home Inspection either. Our inspectors produce fully detailed reports with high definition photos and will be more than happy to answer all of your questions over the phone or online.

When everything is all said and done, Closing can be done virtually as well. We can arrange for you to sign the documents however you would feel more comfortable. And…you won’t even have to go to the attorneys office!

And then, after closing…we will Deliver Your Keys to you! Virtual Options made easy!

The Author…

Contact Us To Discover More About Our Virtual Options!

Contact Us at 843-972-7670

What Is A Short Sale? – Discover The Process

04/18/2020 by billbyrd

Recently I’ve had more people ask me the question, what is a short sale, than I have in a long time. What a change from the last few years of a strong market. However I shouldn’t be surprised because every experienced agent knows that the market cycles changes every 10-12 years. So if you look at the last turn of the market, we peaked between 2005-2008, bottomed in 2010-2012 and now it’s 2020. Maybe it’s time to go back down!

So What is a Short Sale?

A short sale takes place when a home seller sells their home, when they owe more than it’s worth. To happen, you first have to have a sales contract and the lender has to agree to allow a shortfall. The obvious first question is always, why would the lender agree to that? And the answer is simply. Lenders are not in the business of owning real estate and don’t want to take back properties. Plus, the foreclosure process depending on what state it’s in can be an expensive and take a long time. So for a successful short sale to take place, several things have to happen.

You Pay No Commission on a Short Sale!

Since you owe more than your home is worth, the bank pays the realtor fees!

Prep-Work

Having handled lots of short sales after the financial crisis, we’ve discover the key steps for short sale success. We handle the process of getting a short sale approved the same way an attorney preps for a case. In a short sale we consider the bank is the judge, and our client is the defendant. Our job is to prove to the bank two things. First, our client truly has a hardship and second, we have sold the home for the highest price possible. If we can accomplish these two things we are on our way to a successful closing.

Short Sale Homework

Don't get caught in a financial mouse trap. A Short Sale may be your solution.

In the beginning, consider the process of getting your short sale approved is like applying for a mortgage in reverse! Basically there is a lot of paperwork to be filled out and plenty of financial documents to submit. Very similar to getting a mortgage. But the difference here is that you’ll want to show the bank that you can no longer afford the mortgage. So what is important to the bank is that you have a legitimate hardship. And you income is now less than what is needed to cover your bills. Typically approved hardships that we’ve seen approved have been: job relocation, loss of job, military transfer, death of a spouse. This doesn’t mean that these are the only types of hardships that can be approved. These are simply the ones that we’ve seen the most.

Getting It Done

So hopefully this post has given you you a basic idea of what’s needed to approach selling a home as a short sale. As always professional guidance is critically important. Since we’ve been handling of short sales for many years, this process is not new to us! Getting our feet wet with short sales after the financial crisis in 2008 we’ve learned a lot along the way. This experience is a benefit to anyone in Charleston considering a short sale.

Obviously there is much more to a short sale. To get started we would meet with you for a brief consultation to discuss your unique situation. Then if we both feel like we are compatible and want to move forward working together, we can start the process.

So if you or anyone you know is considering selling a home as a short sale or buying a short sale, give us a call 843-972-7670 we will be happy to help. Or you can fill out the form below and we will reach back out to you. We are your Charleston Short Sale Experts!