Don’t Start Your Richmond Home Search Without a Pre-Approval

Today we’re going to discuss why it’s so important to start the home search process with a pre-approval letter in hand.

  1. You want to know how much home you can afford. When my wife and I bought our first home, we made this mistake. We did not have a pre-approval letter and looked at a house above what we can afford. Once you see a house in a higher price point, it is difficult to backtrack and look at the less expensive homes you can actually afford.
  1. You will have the advantage in a multiple offer situation. You don’t want to compete with other buyers without a pre-approval letter. It will make it impossible to compete with multiple offers. Because inventory levels are so low, when a house comes on the market that you want, you have to be ready. You need that pre-approval letter in hand.  
  1. Do not make significant purchases before or after the pre-approval process. That purchase could void the pre-approval letter by throwing off debt-to-income ratios. The purchase will also put you into a lower price bracket, or make you unable to buy a home at all.

Those are a few of the reasons why it’s important to start the process by talking to a lender. If you have any questions or know anyone looking to buy or sell a home, give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to help you!

How to Properly Stage Your Richmond Home

If you're thinking about selling your home, I want you to know that staging your home actually can get you more money. In fact, research has proven that professionally staged homes can sell for 8% to 12% more money than unstaged properties.

On a $200,000 home, that could be an extra $24,000!

In my early years in real estate,
 I began to realize the power of home staging, and so I've gone around and found the best home stagers in Richmond. I've kept a few of them on retainer, and whenever my clients sell their homes I make sure that they've been staged by my professionals. It really does make a huge difference when your home is staged professionally.

We can offer you professional staging advice
, and after you've made all of the suggested changes we can bring in a photographer to capture your home at its finest. This can significantly increase the number of people that will want to see your home.

Unfortunately, a lot of people will skip this step in the selling process, but it's critical
 if you want to squeeze every last penny out of your home.

If you have any last questions, please don't hesitate to contact me. I look forward to hearing from you!

Should You Trust Zillow as a Seller in Richmond?


Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation

As a real estate professional, I'm continually bombarded by the question, "Why does Zillow price my home differently?" 

If we go on Zillow's website, this is how they explain it:
The Zestimate is created by an automatic software process designed by statisticians, and there is no ability for humans to manually alter the Zestimate for a specific property.

To make that more clear, let's say a home is estimated to be worth $500,000. If the Zestimate is off by 10%, that's a difference of $50,000! If the home is underpriced, you're missing out on tens of thousands of dollars. If your home is overpriced by 10%, it will sit on the market for awhile, and you might have to drop the price, causing buyers to wonder what's wrong with the home.

It's been estimated that Zillow's home estimates are only right 7% of the time.
That means that they are wrong 93% of the time! That is a terrible success rate.

Remember, Zillow can't take features or upgrades on your property and compare them to other recently closed homes in your area, even though doing so gives you a more updated value on your property. Zillow doesn't walk through your home or your neighborhood, and that's where my team can come in and place an accurate value on your home. As markets shift, Zillow's numbers become even less reliable.

Ultimately, if you want the most accurate price for your home, make an appointment with a real estate professional. We will go over your home and the local market data in order to give you the most accurate home value.

If you have any questions, or if you're interested in a home valuation, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you!