What can waiting to buy or sell cost you?

There are many great St. Cloud area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (320) 240-3363 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Is it better to wait until you save a large down payment before buying? If you are selling, should you wait for the value of your home to go up before you put it on the market?

As a general rule, it's better to move soon than to wait. If you are trying to save up for a larger down payment, your monthly payment will only change by about $5 a month for every thousand dollars you save in today's market. If you wait to save up more money and interest rates rise, as they're expected to, your monthly payments could increase by hundreds of dollars.

If you are waiting for your home to go up in value, you may not have much luck either. Let's say you are selling for $150,000 in today's market, and looking to buy another home at $300,000. If both homes appreciate by 1%, your current home's value increases by $1,500, while the new home you plan to buy increases by $3,000. In this case, your new home's value has gone up more than you were able to save by waiting for your current home to appreciate.

As you can see, there aren't any upsides if you wait to buy or sell. If you have any questions about conditions in your specific area, or need assistance taking advantage of these ideal conditions, give us a call. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

How Can an Agent Help You Have a Successful Transaction?

There are many great St. Cloud area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (320) 240-3363 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Recently, a friend here in St. Cloud gave me a call and asked me question that I'm sure many other people have. He said, if he wanted to, he could just put his home on Craigslist where everybody can see it, rather than hiring an agent to do it for him. He said: "What exactly is it you do?" I'm glad he asked.

Buyers who are looking to buy For Sale By Owner (FSBO) are expecting a fantastic deal. They know exactly what the commission is and the money you're saving by selling the home yourself; they want that money in their pocket and then some! If they have a buyer's agent with them, that agent has a fiduciary responsibility to the buyer to ensure their best interests are being represented. In essence, the buyer has someone on their side working to get the best terms and price possible - while you're on your own.

If the buyer is working with an attorney, they can obviously only represent one party in the transaction. Attorneys who work for FSBOs tend to be more aggressive and don't always write a favorable contract with the seller.

As the process advances, a home inspection will occur. Inspectors also feel it is their responsibility to protect the buyer. They will find something wrong with any home, regardless of how new it is, and buyers will use the inspection report to their advantage. It is hard to come up with the appropriate response to some of the inspector's objections and, in many cases, can cost the seller thousands of dollars.

If you are working with a bank, the appraiser may not have the appropriate comparable sales to properly price your home. It is common for appraisers to come in from outside the area, which means they might not have the info they need to justify the price you feel you should get. It's an agent's job to make sure the relevant comparable sales are available to the appraiser, so the price comes in where you expect it to.

Sometimes, the lender has additional requirements that benefit the buyer. Lenders often feel they are an advocate for the buyer and will overstep their boundaries to try to protect them. This can often lead to a renegotiation, which slows the process down and hurts your chances of getting the price you want.

An agent provides protection against all the entities that could potentially work against you! We have tons of experience with buyer's agents, contractors, lenders, inspectors, and all the parties in between. We can make the transaction work in your favor by protecting your interests against those of the buyer. People who try For Sale By Owner often have multiple deals fall through - we make sure that doesn't happen.

In short: an agent saves you time, money, and a whole lot of stress. If you have any questions about the many things we can do for you, don't hesitate to give us a call or shoot us an email. We would love to hear from you!

The Winds of Change Are Blowing in St. Cloud

There are many great St. Cloud area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (320) 240-3363 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

We have some good news for you today. The economy is improving and we are seeing the transfer market pick up. For the last few years, people have been reluctant to take a new job or leave their old one - but that's changing.

A lot of people are making moves they've been waiting to make for the past 3-5 years. This is good news for those of you thinking about selling your home, especially if you're in the upper-end market, because the upper management system is changing in our community. As always, if you have further questions about current market conditions, or are interested in buying or selling a home, please give us a call. We would love to assist you in any way.