Posts by : Alan Donald

Homes on Busy Streets: Plus, or Minus?

Every day when you drive to work you see a beautiful home with a "For Sale" sign on a busy road. Given the size and quality of the home, you think it must be priced well above your price range. After months of thinking about it, you call the sign for information and you find out it is surprisingly affordable, priced much lower than similar homes on quiet streets! You schedule a showing, and you love the home...

Homes located on busy streets may represent great value for the money. Some buyers who are very sensitive to noise, have young children or pets, may automatically rule out homes on busy streets. This means that there are fewer buyers competi...

ADDITIONS AND REMODELING

When lenders toughen their standards and the housing market is challenging for sellers, many homeowners will choose to either add or remodel their existing home, instead of changing it for a new one to satisfy their needs. Many builders have chosen not to build any new "spec" homes and focus on remodeling and additions instead.

Many homeowners are unaware that of the zoning laws, building codes and neighborhood restrictions governing renovations and additions. Most projects will require permits and official inspections to satisfy federal/state/county/city regulations and neighborhood covenants and restrictions.  Failure to comply with due process may result in...

THE VALUE OF A HOME...

When markets shift from one cycle to another (i.e. sellers' market to Buyers' market)  it is difficult to assess the appropriate value of a home. Everyone will have a different opinion about the "market value" of your home. Your neighbor, the bank, the appraiser, you and your agent will all come up with different opinions of value. Keep in mind that it is the market what sets the price (a house is only worth what a willing and able Buyer will pay for it).

So how can a Seller arrive at the ideal list price for their home? And how can they price a home in the "sweet spot" to entice the maximum number of offers and get the highest market price?

Buyers (and appraiser...

BE PREPARED - EXTRA COSTS TO CONSIDER WHEN YOU ARE BUYING A HOME!

Property Taxes - paid in arrears and prorated at closing. Your lender will normally collect an initial amount plus 1/12 of the annual tax estimate monthly to place in an escrow account, and will pay the taxes for you at the end of the year. Don't forget to request the Primary Residence and Homes...

The Importance of Establishing Solid Buying Criteria

In a housing market with abundant supply, buyers sometimes get overwhelmed trying to find the PERFECT home, at the LOWEST price. There may be so many options, that buyers often get confused and avoid making a buying decision for fear of finding a home that is marginally better that the one they chose, right after they have signed the contract!

We ask our buyer clients to sit down with us for a no-obligation BUYER CONSULTATION in a relaxing environment, and openly discuss their NEEDS and their WANTS, to form a basis of their BUYING CRITERIA, ranked by importance. Write down two lists of criteria: The first list are the "MUST-HAVE" (nee...

 Negotiating skills from a seller's perspective:

Traditionally people think of a good negotiator as a person that crushes the competition and gets the last dollar out of the transaction for their clients.  However, negotiating skills and tactics need to be adjusted according to the client's long-term objectives and according to market dynamics.  

For example, in a buyers market where there are lots of listings around and all the listings are competing for very few buyers the objective of a good negotiator should be to get that first market price offer under contract and soon as possible because you know that prices are declining and the likelihood is that the next offer is going t...

Moving Up: Buy First or Sell First?

Many people are looking at real estate prices and thinking it’s a great time to buy a bigger or better home, or to move to their ideal location. And they are right. The problem is – they may need to sell their existing home first to complete their down payment (or avoid paying two mortgages), and this sometimes can be a challenge.

It is important that you sit down with your REALTOR® and explore all the options available to you. Here are some of them:

1. Buy first, sell later. 
Advantages: You can take advantage of current buying opportunities and low interest rates. Disadvantages: You may not qualify for both loans, and if you do, you may have to pay...

SHOPPING FOR A MORTGAGE LOAN

Before you start shopping for a home, it is essential to get pre-approved by a lender. This does not mean that you cannot keep “shopping around” for the best loan while you look at homes. Once you have a signed (or “ratified”) contract, you will need to choose a lender, submit a formal application and many times pay a fee (usually the cost of the appraisal) to the lender.

So, how do you choose the right lender?

It is important to choose a reputable lender, but also one that has the right loan program to fit your particular situation. It is important to carefully compare rates, origination and processing fees, terms, conditions and restrictions before making...

LEGAL JARGON OVERLOAD

When you buy a home, the closing attorney (SC is an attorney state for real estate) will make you sign stacks of papers, affidavits and documents filled with legal jargon. Most of these documents relate to establishing your identity (for legal and tax purposes), transferring the deed, making sure you are not a terrorist and formalizing any loans and mortages.

Depending on personality, some buyers are anxious to get out of there and get their keys (so they sign all the paperwork as fast as they can without even reading it) while others are extremely cautious, detail-oriented and want to read every sentence before signing (and find it very frustrating to have to read...

Tips for Buying Fixer-Uppers

1. Avoid homes that need major spending on basics that are expected by buyers (i.e. "unprofitable repairs"): The home you choose needs to be structurally sound, up-to-code in electrical wiring, have sound major plumbing (no polybutilene pipes), and must not need foundation repairs. Correcting these issues may cost you a fortune and do not add value to the buyer.
2. Prefer homes that need only cosmetic or updating ...

HOW TO GET THE HOME YOU WANT (MAKING "CLEAN" OFFERS)

You are in the market to buy a home and you found a house that's ideal for you - it is in the right location and meets all your "needs" and "wants". The price is the only thing that is keeping you from making an offer, because you feel that it is more than you can afford.

How can you improve your odds of the owners accepting an offer that is much lower than their asking price?

In addition to a market justification for a low offer (your Buyer's Agent can provide the comparable sales) an important strategy you should use is to make your offer as "clean" as possible by not ask for special conditions or contingencies.

• Avoid making dem...

Negotiations from the buyers’ perspective:

Traditionally people think of a good negotiator as a person that crushes the competition and gets the last dollar out of the transaction. However, buying a home is just one of the pieces of the life puzzle and a real estate adviser should focus more on the long-term objectives of the clients.

Negotiating skills depend more on market dynamics and the tactics need to be adjusted to fit these dynamics. For example, for a buyer it is very different to negotiate in a buyers’ market (where there are a lot of listings and not a lot of competition) than in a sellers’ market (where there are very few listings and a lot of competition).

In a b...

The Alan Donald Real Estate Team at Keller Williams Realty in Mount Pleasant, SC   closed another sale in Belle Hall Plantation, their specialty neighborhood. The Alan Donald Real Estate Team is the top real estate sales team in Belle Hall, where they are well known for getting their listings under contract within the first week on the market, while selling them at record prices. 

Mount Pleasant, SC, June 18, 2013. --(PR.com)-- Using their market knowledge, professional experience, established systems, active buyer prospect database and comprehensive marketing plan, The Alan Donald Real Estate Team has once again been able to successfully conclude the sale of 168 Historic Drive, in th...

The Appraisal

After a nerve-wrecking negotiation process, the buyers and sellers finally had a "meeting of the minds" and agreed on price and terms for the sales contract.

Whew! All done? - Not quite!

Here comes another hurdle - most contracts with lender financing contain a "Subject to Appraisal" condition. The lender wants to make sure that the price the buyers are paying for the property is a fair market price (or below), to ensure there is sufficient collateral for their loan. 

The Appraiser looks for three "comparable" houses that have sold in the same area within the last few months, and compares their selling prices to the one that is under contract. He/she then makes adj...

Buyers' Corner: 1+1=3 - Why Buy New Construction?

In the last two years we have been advising our buyer clients who are concerned about "getting a good deal" to give consideration to buying a newly built home. Not only they would be getting a brand new home, with all the warranties and upgrades they select to their liking, buyers could be accessing a great opportunity to get some "free equity" in the short term. Let me explain why:

Generally speaking, new homes should be more expensive than pre-owned homes. Although homes do not depreciate as fast as cars or other consumer goods, certain elements of the home (like the roof and the air conditioning system) have a finite life. If you bu...