The Hauck Realty Team Real Estate Podcast

Tips for Holiday Decorating on a Budget

bhauck@kw.com (Brian Hauck) — Wed, 2 Dec 2015 15:17:00 -0800

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The holidays are approaching. Today, we thought we'd do something a little different and share this festive video on holiday decorating tips from HGTV. Designer Angelo Surmelis shares several great ideas to spread holiday cheer throughout the home. Here are some of our favorites.

Pay attention to the mantle. If you don't have some already, buy some kind of garland to drape over the mantle. Next, use leftover ornaments and candles to add light and texture. When choosing ornaments and candles, ensure they are in the same color-palette. This helps make your mantle a great focal point!
Use smaller Christmas trees. Every house has their main Christmas tree. In addition, you can also purchase smaller, inexpensive, eco-friendly trees to place throughout the home. Decorate these trees with strips of fabric from a T-shirt in holiday colors to save money for the main tree.
Use what you have. Be resourceful. Adding a plate charge and place mat to your everyday dining set adds some jazz to your table. Fresh-cut flowers and candles will help finish the look. You don't need grand, expensive candles -- a little candlelight goes a long way!

As you can see, it doesn't take much to make your home feel more festive. If you have any questions, give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to help you!

How Can You Stage on a Budget?

bhauck@kw.com (Brian Hauck) — Thu, 5 Nov 2015 13:09:00 -0800

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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!

Why Aren’t Millennials Buying Homes More Frequently?

bhauck@kw.com (Brian Hauck) — Thu, 8 Oct 2015 13:07:00 -0700

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One thing we know for certain about the real estate market is that it is never going to stay the same for long. Today we want to talk about an interesting trend we’ve noticed in real estate: millennials are waiting longer to purchase their first homes than their parents did.

The typical first-time buyer now rents for an average of 6 years before buying a home, which is up from 2.6 years in the early 1970’s,according to Zillow.

We came across a great video on the topic from CNBC. To save you some time, I will give you my three biggest takeaways from the video.

1. Down payments are a huge factor
Renters in today’s market are struggling to save for down payments and qualify for mortgages. Most first-time buyers still depend on personal savings for at least some of their down payments, but rising rental prices have complicated the task of socking away money for a down payment.

2. Rising rental rates are complicating things as well
Rental rates are causing 46% of renters aged 25-354, to spend more than 30 percent of their incomes on rent, up from 40 percent a decade earlier.

3. Job security is important to millennial buyers
The Money Source, a mortgage lender, examined applications from 5,404 millennial buyers and found that these buyers averaged nearly 4.5 years in their field of work and had held their current job for slightly more than three years. Those figures point to how critical career stability is to a younger generation.

Thanks for joining me today. Talk to you soon!

How Should You Handle Multiple Offers as a Buyer?

bhauck@kw.com (Brian Hauck) — Tue, 1 Sep 2015 10:43:00 -0700

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For the last few years, the Charleston real estate market has seen a tremendous amount of activity. Multiple offers on homes have become common, so today we are going to talk about how you should deal with them, from a buyer’s perspective.

Most well-priced homes in Charleston are getting multiple offers within the first few days of hitting the market. If you are looking to purchase a home and are told it is receiving multiple offers, you are now entering into a bidding war. The best thing you can do as a buyer is make your offer the most attractive, and there are several ways to do this.

One way to do so is to get approved by your lender, through the underwriting process. This will set you apart from other buyers, and make your offer as good as cash. Another thing you can do is write a very clean offer, keeping contingencies to a minimum. The less you ask for, the more attractive the offer is to the seller.

Another thing that will help is keeping your time frame as short as possible. In Charleston, you can usually close on a home in 30 days. The faster you are able to make the sale, the less time there is to screw things up.

Finally, make it personal by letting the seller know why you like the house and why you and your family would be a good choice to purchase the home.

If you follow these simple steps, your offer will look a lot more attractive to your sellers. Hang in there and hire an experienced agent. If you have any questions at all, feel free to give us a call. We would love to speak with you!

What You Should Know When Buying New Construction in Charleston

bhauck@kw.com (Brian Hauck) — Thu, 13 Aug 2015 14:04:00 -0700

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We're anticipating a lot more new construction to take place here in Charleston. With this being said, we'd like to give you some tips on buying new construction. Nearly 60% of homes listed for sale in the area are actually new construction properties.

Currently, Mount Pleasant has a lot of new construction for sale, but neighborhoods like Carolina Park and Oyster Point are hotbeds for newly built properties. Summerville is also seeing a lot of growth with neighborhoods like Nexton and the Ponds that are currently being developed.

I expect a lot more new construction to take place in this area in the future.

However, if you'd like to avoid buying a new home that probably requires HOA fees, you could buy an older home, tear it down, and build a new one. Some good places to do this would be the Old Village in Mount Pleasant, The Isle of Palms, West Ashley, and downtown Charleston.

If you would like to get in touch with a great builder, please don't hesitate to contact me. You're going to need representation if you would like to purchase new construction.

I have a background in construction and I will be looking out for your best interests. When you work with a builder, they're only trying to sell the home. They're not trying to get you a good deal.

I know a lot of builders and have solid relationships with them, so working with me when buying new construction will make the process much smoother and quicker.

Please don't hesitate to contact me if you'd like to buy or sell in Charleston!

Why Is the Charleston Market so Strong?

bhauck@kw.com (Brian Hauck) — Wed, 29 Jul 2015 09:15:00 -0700

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There have been quite a few changes in the Charleston real estate market over the last few years. We have transitioned from a strong buyer's market to a strong seller's market, but there are still some pockets that haven't bounced back yet.

The key in our market is finding an agent who knows the areas of town, and knows how to price those homes properly. When you properly price a home in our market, you are going to get multiple offers within the first few weeks. If you overprice your home, it's going to sit there until it expires.

Inventory is a major factor in determining price on our market. Some areas have as little as 2 or 3 months, while some have 10, 20 or even 30 months of inventory. What does this mean for buyers and sellers?

Well, for sellers, the market has appreciated by about 25% over the last few years so I would say congratulations to you because it looks like you can make some money if you sell your home right now.

For buyers, you have a lot of buying power with these low interest rates, which are making mortgage payments cheaper than rental payments in some cases.

If you have any questions for us, or want to get the most out of your home in the least amount of time, give me a call or send me an email. I would love to help you out!