The Jenn Opens Doors Real Estate Video Blog with Jennifer Welch

How Long Will Your Austin Home Be on the Market?

2016-04-18T09:20:00.001-07:00

Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search
Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Value Report

Right now on the national level, homes spend about 100 days on the market before they sell, although that time can vary based on area and price. In Austin, the average days on market is 56. However, we do see some homes sell after a day on the market, and some homes spend more than 56 days on the market.

There are a couple things you can do to sell your home quickly. First of all, price your home competitively. Also, make sure you and your Realtor get your home in front of as many eyeballs as possible. The more exposure your home has, the faster the offers will roll in.

One way to gain exposure is to spread the word yourself through your own social networks. I don’t just mean using social media online. Talk to your family, your work friends, or people at church. People who know you will know how well you have maintained your home and what kind of neighborhood you live in. They will share their knowledge with other people they know who may want to move into the area. This, combined with the marketing your Realtor does, will position your home to sell quickly.

I may not have a crystal ball to tell you how long it will take to sell your home, but I do know that smart pricing, staging, and having a clean home will appeal to more buyers and help sell your home faster. If you have any questions, give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

We Know How to Price Your Home Right

2016-04-04T08:19:00.001-07:00

Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search
Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Value Report

Today we’re going to discuss what your home is really worth in Austin. We know that the median home sale price in 2016 is about $228,000, but the exact price your home sells for depends on a number of other factors including the size and location.

People tend to inflate their home’s positives and overlook flaws. These are both mistakes. People also like to compare their homes to the most expensive house in the neighborhood. To sell your home for top dollar, you need to grab your favorite Realtor and discuss the comparables.

When you look at the list and sale prices of homes in your neighborhood that are similar in size and amenities, you’ll get a much better idea of what to sell for. With this data, we can price your home strategically to sell quickly. We want to price it on target within the market and based on your home’s upgrades and other factors

If you have any questions about what your Austin home is worth or anything else real estate related, give us a call or send us an email. We would love to hear from you!

How Do Agents Get Paid?

2016-03-21T08:51:00.000-07:00

Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search
Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Value Report

Many people are unfamiliar with how real estate agents get paid and who pays them. Today, we want to demystify how the process works.

Real estate agents are paid a commission on the purchase or sale of a property. Generally speaking, the seller pays those commissions. While commissions can vary, they are typically around 6% of a home sale price. That 6% is usually shared between the seller's agent and the buyer's agent.

If you’re a first-time home buyer who is trying to understand what you need to pay for your Realtor services, know that most of the time your agent will be paid at closing as part of the seller’s fees. There are a few exceptions to this, but most of the time, the buyer doesn’t directly pay the commissions. Those that are selling their homes will have an opportunity to review costs with their Realtor and come to a final sale price that will allow for these commissions' costs and still makes sense for their budget.

The real question is, What are Realtors doing to earn all that money? Keep in mind that unlike lawyers, who are paid by the hour or doctors who are paid by the appointment, real estate agents don’t get paid unless the sale actually closes. For every hour that a real estate agent spends with their client, they typically spend nine or more hours working on that client's behalf. They are doing everything from networking and finding buyers, to previewing properties, filling out paperwork and negotiating on their clients behalf.

Agents have to spend their own money on marketing and are responsible for some steep licensing fees. Additionally, they have to split their income with their brokers, the percentage of which varies from agent to agent and broker to broker.

There’s clearly a lot to consider when thinking about how Realtors get paid, but what’s important is that you find your favorite Realtor and figure out those answers together. If you have any questions about how we can get the job done for you, or if you need real estate assistance of any kind, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We would love to hear from you soon!

How we helped Matt Leclair sell his home by being there every step of the way.

2016-02-19T11:40:00.001-08:00

“Jennifer worked with me through two houses actually. The first one we found out my foreclosure wasn’t off my credit report, so she worked with me through the first one and then stuck with me through the second one as we finally closed on the house. Jennifer was really personable and I have no complaints with the way she does things. I think she does very well as a realtor! She got me a couple different lenders when the current lender was kind of being flakey and she would show up to the design studios to let me know what KB Homes were charging a little bit too much for and what I could do without them. She was really there through the whole process so I think that’s what made her a good realtor to me.”

-Matt LeClair

How we helped Julian Suaris purchase his dream home.

2016-01-27T10:24:00.001-08:00

“She was really quick with all of the correspondences and even when we weren't asking questions she was calling us and making sure that we were okay with the whole situation. We found houses in areas that we hadn't even been looking in. On our first visit we found a home that we loved, and she went straight to work to get us the property.

We also enjoyed that she had a background in contract negotiation, because my wife and I don't have any experience in that field. That was part of the reason that we chose to work with her. When all of the contracts and negotiation came into play, she was very good at explaining what she was doing and why she was doing it.”

-Julian Suaris, Home Buyer

How Does My App Make Home Searching a Breeze?

2016-01-19T15:30:00.001-08:00

Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search
Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Value Report

Today I was out showing some homes to a few clients who were raving about my home search application. I thought now would be a good time to tell you a little more about my app and what it can do for you, even if you're not actively searching for a new home. Here are my three favorite features of the app:

1. If you're searching for a home, this is the only app that is totally accurate. It pulls listings directly from the MLS and it's updated constantly. If a home shows up as for sale, it's available. If a home has gone under contract, it will be pulled off.

2. If you're out in a neighborhood and see a For Sale sign, you can open up the app and use the "Homes near me" button to see all the details of the home you are at, and other homes in the immediate area. You can even favorite a home to come back to later, which is very useful when scheduling showings.

3. If you're in the home of your dreams already but want to keep tabs on the market, you can register for a "Sold home alert" that will send you a monthly email detailing what similar homes in your neighborhood have recently sold for.

If you want to check out the app, it is called Home Scouting you can download it now on the App Store or Google Play. Enter the VIP code "JENN" when registering to receive exclusive access to view every home. If you have any questions about how to use the app, we would be glad to help you get set up. Just give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to speaking with you!

How we helped Tony Miller purchase his home by going above and beyond

2016-01-11T12:53:00.000-08:00

“She was very, very easy to talk to and she displayed a lot of care and personal interest in helping us find the home we were looking for. We almost felt as if we were her only client. Right after we had closed the home, she took a picture in front of it with us and sent it out in a postcard. I'm not sure if that's a standard thing for Realtors to do, but we were very impressed by it.”

-Tony Miller, Home Buyer

How we helped Scott Regier buy a home by going above and beyond

2015-12-15T14:36:00.002-08:00

“She was very patient with us through the whole process. We looked at probably 25 houses and spent several weekends and evenings going through, so patience is definitely something that she was very good at while we went through the whole house buying process. She was very good at giving us advice on areas, schools and what to expect during the buying process so there wasn’t any surprises.”

-Scott Regier, Home Buyer

How we helped Johnna Hold sell her home while she was out of town

2015-11-19T13:03:00.001-08:00

“Jennifer came over, she was so likeable and has a personality that you are drawn to. She had a great presentation, she had clearly done her homework she had everything presented nicely, very professional and we were just sold. So we called the other guy that we were sort of on the fence about and told him we were going to go a different route. We were out of town when we decided to list the house, and Jennifer was over there nonstop for us and made sure everything was taken care of, kept us completely up to date. We didn’t have to worry about anything, just very comfortable with her being in our home. She really did a lot of stuff behind the scenes that we weren’t even aware of to get us the best deal possible and to do the house keeping stuff that would’ve stressed us out as regular homebuyers. After it was over I saw the emails where she went to bat for us and fought for us to get the best deal and ended up saving us a good amount of money.”

-Johnna Hold, Home Seller

How Can You Stage on a Budget?

2015-11-13T09:34:00.001-08:00

Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search
Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Value Report

If you are looking to sell your home, your goal is to get the most money possible in the shortest amount of time. One of the best ways to add value and appeal to your home is through home staging. You have a lot of options for how you want to go about it. You could hire a professional staging company, but that comes with a hefty price tag. Most of the time, a few simple fixes is all it takes to transform a living room.

Today we are going to go through some of our most favorite, inexpensive home staging tips or you. We hope these will help you save both time and money when it comes time to sell your home.

A fresh coat of paint is always a good idea. Neutral, warm colors work best for highlighting the natural light in your home. This will make it easier to punch up the room with some colorful accessories and pull everything together.

A common design problem facing many homeowners is that they have no real entry way, as their front door opens up to the living room. To fix this, you can add a table, some lighting, and a rug to "fake a foyer" and make it feel like the living room and entryway are two different spaces.

A patterned rug, some pillows, or bright curtains add a ton of texture and an eclectic layer to the space, which is essential to a well-designed room.

In some cases, a "make-under" is just what you need. In the case of most fireplaces, taking some accessories and clutter away enhances the look and feel of the room greatly.

You could spend well over a few thousand dollars with a staging company, or you could do these fixes yourself for around $500. That's a small investment considering the value that you add to your home by adding those pieces.

If you have any questions for us about staging your home or anything else real estate related, give us a call or send over a quick email. We are always here to help, and would love to hear from you!

What Should You Know About Home Warranties?

2015-10-20T10:24:00.001-07:00

Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search
Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Value Report

We get questions about home warranties all the time, so we thought today we would bring in an expert to give you all the information you need to have about them. We are happy to be joined today by Stacye Blake, of Landmark Home Warranty, who is going to let us in on everything we need to know.

A home warranty serves different purposes for different kinds of clients. It is there for sellers to protect them during the listing period, as well as for buyers that are buying a home and don't know what had happened to the home before they moved in. Let's answer some common questions about home warranties, to set the record straight:

If I already have home insurance, do I really need a home warranty?

In reality, a home warranty will protect anything within the home, including microwaves, garbage disposals, electrical wiring, and more. However, if there is damage to the outside of your home, whether it be by natural disaster or some other cause, it is not covered by the warranty. With home insurance, you are covered if something happens to your home from the outside, but it does not cover you for things that happen on the inside. These two actually work together to make sure that you are protected in case anything goes wrong at all with your home.

How much does a home warranty cost?

For a one-year policy with Landmark, they start at $325. This covers unlimited AC units, water heaters, electrical, and all the other things that help you maintain your appliances.

Do I need a warranty even if I don't foresee having a claim?

Just because you don't foresee having a claim doesn't mean it's not going to happen. In addition to the standard home warranty, we also offer pest control, re-keying, HVAC tune-ups, and more.

We love working with Landmark because they really do have some of the best customer service in the business. Stacye and her co-workers go to bat for their clients every day, and all of our clients that have had a policy with them have been very happy with the results. If you have any questions for Stacye or would like to see how a home warranty could help you, give them a call at (512)779-5846.

If you have any other questions, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you!

Why Zillow Isn't the Best Place to Turn for Real Estate Help

2015-10-05T12:21:00.001-07:00

Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search
Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Value Report

Today, I want to let you in on a little secret about Zillow!

The truth is that Zillow really isn't much of a reliable real estate site. It is a marketing tool with the explicit goal of gathering the contact information of buyers and sellers. Zillow takes this information and sells it to agents. They gather this information in two ways:

1. Zestimates: Zillow uses a computer-based algorithm to come up with a guess of what your home is worth. If you really want to know what your home's true value is, you need to work with a real estate professional who knows the market and what buyers are looking for.

2. Listings: Many buyers go to Zillow to look at homes before giving us a call to see what they think is their dream home. All too often, we have to tell buyers that the home they found, love, and want to see that the home is expired, under contract, or already sold. This can be stressful to buyers, who have invested time and energy into finding a home they like, only to find out it's unavailable.

The best way to buy or sell is with the help of an agent. We have access to a completely updated MLS, so you won't waste your time looking at homes that are no longer available. Additionally, an agent can help you find the right value for your home so that you don't under- or overprice your home!

For all the real estate assistance you need in the Austin area, please don't hesitate to reach out to us. We would love to help you accomplish your real estate goals!

How to Avoid Common Buyer Mistakes

2015-09-23T08:48:00.001-07:00

Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search
Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Value Report

Today we are going to talk to you about how to avoid the most common home buying mistakes. Buying a home should be a fun, enjoyable experience filled with happy memories. In order to avoid bad memories and mistakes, we have pulled together some tips for you on how to avoid the most common mistakes we find homebuyers making.

Often times, homebuyers rush into looking for a home without being pre-approved first. This just doesn’t make sense, because you don’t know what you qualify to purchase yet. A lender can help you get your credit report pulled to ensure there aren’t any red flags that need to be cleared. They will also help you calculate the added costs and fees of buying a home, and what your real budget is.

Another thing I see buyers do is not understand the market. There is a ton of good information out there, but there is bad information too. Working with a Realtor early on can help you get a better idea of the big picture of home buying. Houses are selling quickly right now, so understanding that the market moves fast is key.

Finally, I see people trying to skip the home inspection to try and save a few extra dollars. This is not a smart idea, because if something goes wrong after the fact, you’re not covered. The home inspection costs around $350-$450 and is a very thorough report about what needs to be addressed in the home.

Buying a home is an emotional decision so we are here to keep you on track, negotiate for you, and keep you informed. If you have any questions for us, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you!

How to Take Advantage of Real Estate in Austin

2015-09-03T09:14:00.001-07:00

Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search
Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Value Report

Today I just wanted to give you a brief real estate market update. It's very important to be an informed consumer whether you're buying or selling, and hopefully this information can help guide your decision-making in this market.

Currently, we're seeing a rather low inventory when we consider how many people are moving to Austin. Just in June, over 3,000 homes were sold. This equates to great improvements in equity for buyers, so although inventory is low and the market is favoring sellers, now is still a good time to buy a home.

Home prices have risen by 8% on average in the Austin area. The average price for a home in Austin is $272,000, and less than 30% of homes are listed below $200,000.

Interest rates are holding steady at 4% for now, but they are creeping up very slowly. No matter what happens with interest rates, your best bet is to get in touch with a great lender and lock in a low rate and a good loan program.

If you're interested in buying or selling a home in Austin, now is a great time to do so. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you're serious about entering this hot market.

I look forward to speaking with you!