Real Estate Wisdom: February 2015

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Let's Sell Your Home this Spring

We have had one of our busiest winters ever in the Atlanta real estate market. With prices rising, many sellers realized that they again had equity in their homes and were ABLE to sell. So those who had waited through the depressed housing years (since 2008) were suddenly in a position to be able to move. Buyers were eager to purchase before home prices rose even more. As a result, we had record home sales. Demand in many areas of Atlanta exceed inventory, so some sellers who didn’t want to turn down a great offer for their home even moved into a rental when they couldn’t find the “right” place to move into. So there’s much pent up demand for homes to purchase this Spring.

If you are thinking of selling your home, there’s no time like the present. The sooner the better, for many sellers wait until the Spring to sell – and as the season proceeds, you’ll have more and more competition. We have a lot of “shadow inventory” poised to hit the market in late Spring and Summer; you’d like to avoid as much of that extra competition as you can.

Even with the buyer demand high, no one wants to overpay for a home so pricing is KEY. We see competing offers for some homes, but those that are priced too high are receiving no offers at all and actually eventually net LESS. The longer a home sits on the market, the less it is worth in the eyes of a buyer. We can work with you to determine the ideal initial list price to bring you the highest return.

To prepare for listing, remember that first impressions are key. A buyer will often decide from the street that they love or dislike a particular home; in fact, they will often tell us to “keep driving” if they don’t like the curb appeal. So trim your trees and bushes and pressure wash your driveway, front walk, house, and deck or patio. Clean and even repaint your front door and make sure the key works easily. Have a nice, fresh welcome mat. Buyers will linger with us at the front door while we open the lockbox for access, and they have extra time to notice these details.

Do your Spring cleaning NOW if you haven’t already. And declutter, declutter, declutter. Go through all your furniture, decorative items, and closets with a ruthless eye. We have stagers and declutterers who help us prepare your home for sale – but start with the initial sweep immediately. The savvy seller will remove half of all items in a closet and have nothing on the floor, for instance. It sounds drastic, but it works. Pack up everything you want to keep and take it to a storage unit or call in a company that will deliver a storage pod and then take it offsite for you.

Repaint to freshen up where needed; if you have any carpeting, get it cleaned. If you know that a home inspector is going to find anything that needs to be fixed – go ahead and fix it now. We have great contractor references if you need them. It makes more sense to do the repairs first – a buyer may end up asking you to spend $300 on a repair you can do now for $100.

CALL US NOW if you are thinking of selling your home. We can help you through the preparations and price your home correctly to sell at top dollar – it’s what we do! And we’d love to hear from you.

Mary Anne Walser is a licensed attorney and full-time REALTOR, serving buyers and sellers in all areas of Metro Atlanta. Her knowledge of residential real estate and her legal expertise allow her to offer great value to her clients. Mary Anne serves on the Committee that drafts and reviews the contracts utilized by all REALTORS in the State of Georgia. In addition, she is a member of the Atlanta Board of Realtors, the Georgia Association of Realtors, the State Bar of Georgia and the Georgia Association of Women Lawyers. Contact Mary Anne at 404-277-3527, or via email: maryannesellshomes@gmail.com.

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

2015 Contract Changes

Changes to the 2015 Georgia Realtor Forms

Did you know that the real estate contracts used by most agents in Georgia change every year? Sometimes there are big changes, sometimes small changes – but every year without fail there are changes. So if you purchased a home five years ago, say, the process now is a bit different than it was then. The biggest change in recent years was the change from an “inspection period” to a “due diligence” period. With an inspection period, the buyer had to find a “material defect” in the property that the seller would not fix in order to get out of the contract. As you might imagine, that resulted in a lot of legal wrangling over what constituted a “material defect”. So the Georgia Association of Realtors forms committee changed the contracts so that the “norm” now is the due diligence period, also called a “free look” provision. During that period (typically anywhere from 7 to 14 calendar days) the buyer can terminate for any reason or no reason at all and get their earnest money back.

This year the changes were not quite as sweeping as that recent change, but there are changes; if you are selling or buying a house this year, you’ll want to know about them. In the basic purchase and sale provision, GAR added a “special circumstances” provision that alerts the buyer that the seller must get third party approval before they are able to convey the property. The categories of prior approval include: (1) approval by a bankruptcy court; (2) approval by a judge in a divorce proceeding; (3) approval by a lender in a short sale proceeding (when the sale of the property will not generate sufficient proceeds to pay all mortgages and liens against the property); and (4) other instances when the seller does not yet have title to the property, such as in an estate situation.

There are consumer brochures Realtors are encouraged to share with clients and which are mentioned in the Brokerage agreements, designed so that consumers are getting pertinent warning information. If you are not provided them, you will want to ask for them: Protect Yourself When Selling a House, Protect Yourself When Buying a House, and Protect Yourself When Buying a Home to be Constructed. There are brochures covering the hazards of lead based paint and of mold, and about purchasing a home in flood plain or a short sale or distressed property. Finally, there are two new brochures: What to Consider When Buying a Home in a Condominium and What to Consider When Buying a Home in a Community with a HOA (homeowners’ association).

Bruce Jenner would be happy to know that in the various agreements that address potential discrimination, “gender identity” has been added to the list. Previously, the “protected category” list consisted of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status, disability, and sexual orientation. What this means is that brokers, agents, and owners of properties are prohibited from discriminating against potential purchasers on the basis of any of these categories – which now include gender identity.

There are numerous other small changes. One particularly interesting tidbit is that there is now “stated consideration” for the due diligence period. In previous years, attorneys argued that the purchase and sale agreement’s due diligence provision did not create an enforceable contract because there was no consideration paid by the buyer for the privilege of holding the property under contract for a period of time with no obligation to buy. The contract now states that the Buyer will pay the seller ten dollars for this “option” period. In practice, the ten dollars NEVER CHANGES HANDS, but the recitation makes the provision enforceable.

You won’t be surprised that I recommend you consult a licensed Realtor (like myself) for a full explanation of the changes and intricacies in the GAR forms. While I am of the opinion our state’s forms and contracts are some of the best and user friendly in the nation, you should always have expert professional advice in your home purchasing and selling decisions.