Tag: real estate advice

Whiteboard Topics: 4 Tips for Leveraging Backup Offers for Lake Home Buying

Posted on Linda Thach

When buying a lake home, it’s important to put yourself in the best position. This means understanding the market, or working with an agent who does. Lake Homes Realty’s CEO, Glenn Phillips gives four tips for leveraging backup offers for lake home buying.

  1. Patience: Being in a hurry to buy a lake home can damage the chances of a purchase being made. Leveraging backup offers means waiting for an offer to fall through.
  2. Add Contingencies: Ensuring a higher quality offer with contingencies can 
  3. Don’t Ask, Just Submit: Instead of waiting while more offers can be made, submitting your offer can put you in the best position.
  4. No Guarantees: While an offer may seem perfect, nothing is guaranteed.

Selling your lake home doesn’t have to be difficult. Set yourself up for success and work with an agent who knows not only your lake area but the lake house market!  

Whiteboard Topics: 6 Pricing Secrets for Sellers

Posted on Linda Thach

When selling your lake home, it’s important to put yourself in the best position. This means understanding the market, or working with an agent who does. Lake Homes Realty’s CEO, Glenn Phillips gives six pricing secrets for sellers. 

  1. Hot ≠ Stupid: Even though the market is hot, this does not mean buyers will pay crazy, overpriced houses. Start at the right price instead of receiving no offers and having to cut the listing price.  
  2. List $ ≠ Sold $: Comparing your listing price to neighbors’ listing prices will set you up for disappointment. Listing price does not mean the house sold for that price; knowing what homes are selling for is more valuable. 
  3. Local Comps ≠ Lake Market Comps: Buyers could be looking at multiple lakes or even in different states. Working with an agent who understands the entire lake house market will set you up for success.
  4. Pretending ≠ Selling: Include an honest description of the home and make sure you are serious and committed to selling. 
  5. Time = Money: The longer a house is on the market because of a too high listing price, the more money it will cost you. Buyers will believe something may be wrong with the house or are simply unwilling to pay the listing price. 
  6. Start Too High ≠ Best $: Starting too high on your listing price means eventually having to cut that price. This leads buyers into believing you will cut the price further and therefore offer even lower.

Selling your lake home doesn’t have to be difficult. Set yourself up for success and work with an agent who knows not only your lake area but the lake house market!  

Whiteboard Topics: 4 Tips for Lake Home Buyers in this Hot Real Estate Market

Posted on Linda Thach
You can never be over-prepared when buying your future lake home. Lake Homes Realty’s CEO, Glenn Phillips, has four tips for buyers in this hot real estate market that you’ll want to check out before you make your next offer!
  1. Easy to Understand: When making an offer, ensure that it is easy to understand. Making it too complex can confuse the homeowner and their agent.
  2. Ready Cash: Having plenty of cash available can help you stand out against other buyers with loans. Sellers feel more secure with cash offers because of the added security.
  3. Improve Credit Score: Improving your credit score beforehand will help with your buying power. It can help with loan approvals and lowering interest rates.
  4. Follow Seller’s Rules: Be sure to follow the rules of the seller when showing interest in their home. Failure to do so can cause your offer to be overlooked.
Buying a lake home shouldn’t be complicated. Following these four tips can help ease the process, and give you a better home buying experience.

Whiteboard Topics: How Water Levels Impact Your Lake Home’s Value

Posted on Linda Thach

If you’re looking to buy a lake home or currently own one, you already know that the lake has many lifestyle benefits such as an abundance of recreational water activities as well as 24-hour access to the beautiful lake view from your backyard. But did you know that the water level of your lake could affect your lake home’s value? In this video, Lake Homes Realty’s CEO, Glenn S. Phillips gives us four aspects of water levels that could impact your decision to buy a lake home or price your lake home if you’re planning on selling.

1. Flood Zones. If your lake home is in an area prone to floods, this could affect the price of your lake home and the cost of insurance.

2. Deep Water. How deep is the water? If you’re looking to add a dock on your lake property, the water needs to be deep enough to accommodate it. Water levels typically affect the clarity of the lake water itself. Also, lake activities such as fishing could be affected by the level of the water level and certain watercraft are not allowed on shallow water.

3. Seasonal Water. Some lakes have water levels that vary throughout the year. For example, water levels might be lower during the wintertime thus limiting lake activities.

4. Daily Changes. Lakes that are being used for hydroelectrical purposes typically have daily water level changes that could range from 12-18 inches.

If you’re considering buying or selling a lake home, be sure you understand your lake’s water level. If you need assistance with your lake home, our agents at Lake Homes Realty can help provide insight into your lake area and guide you in your home journey.

Whiteboard Topics: 4 Reasons Some Real Estate Agents Want to Sell Your Home in 1 Day

Posted on Linda Thach

It might sound good to have your lake home sold in one day but it might not be in the best interest of you, the home seller. In this video, Lake Homes Realty’s CEO, Glenn S. Phillips provides four REAL reasons why real estate agents want to sell your home in one day.

  1. Less work. If an agent is able to get your home sold in a very short period of time (which is very likely in a hot market), it’ll mean less work for them. Because of this, you may or may not get the optimal price for your home. 
  2. Commission is similar. Since how much an agent gets paid doesn’t differ much between a good sale price and a great one, there isn’t much incentive for them to go the extra mile to get the best return on investment for your lake property.
  3. Self-promotion. Being able to move a property off the market in record time comes with its own “bragging rights.” But in some cases, it’s the hot market or high demand that is the leading factor behind quick sale transactions and not necessarily the effort that the agent is putting in.
  4. Limit competition. In this current real estate market where the demand is high, agents oftentimes have buyers on hand that are ready to buy (sometimes within the hour!). If a quick sale is something you’re interested in, that’s great! But if you’re looking for the most bang for your buck, you might want to consider having other buyers join in. More competition will benefit you as a home seller since you’ll likely have more offers driving up your home selling price.

If you’re interested in selling your lake home or property and need a lake expert who understands lake property and will help you get the most return on your investment, we’re here to help.

Whiteboard Topics: 3 Reasons Why The Highest Offer For Your Lake Home May Not Be The Best Offer

Posted on Linda Thach

There is no doubt that right now is a hot market for real estate, but a high offer does not always mean you get that amount at closing. The highest and best offer are not always the same thing. If you are looking to sell your lake home or property, here are three reasons why the highest offer might not be the best offer for you.

  1. Loan Contingencies. This means that if the buyer does not get approved for a sufficient loan, they can get out of the contract. This can be an issue if they give you a high offer that they are unable to follow through on, leaving you back at square one.
  2. Inspection Contingencies. This can lead to negotiating the price if issues are discovered about the property. While these issues may not be a deal-breaker in your mind as the seller, they could be a way for the buyer to get out of the contract or leverage the price in their favor.
  3. Appraisal Issues. With a high-priced market, the appraisal may not come back as high as the price you have set as the buyer. A bank will only loan out so much money, so the issue of who is going to come up with the difference in price can be a challenge. If a buyer does not have the means to cover part of the appraisal gap, their high price may not be as high as expected.

We hope you find these tips valuable as you venture out on your journey to selling your home. Please feel free to reach out to our lake experts for guidance.

Whiteboard Topics: 6 Danger Zones To Master If Selling Your Lake Home Yourself

Posted on Linda Thach

Are you thinking of selling your lake home yourself? If so, you probably already thought about negotiating pricing and marketing, which are important, but there are other aspects you may not be ready for. Here are six dangers you must know before you do so.

  1. Fair Housing Laws. You may want to get to know the people interested in your home, but if you look like you are filtering by demographics, check these laws to make sure you stay fair and abstract. Build a wall when making your selections because not only are you negotiating the property, but you are also vetting it as the seller.
  2. Evaluating Multiple Offers. In a hot market, if you price your home appropriately, you will get multiple offers quickly. Are you prepared to evaluate those offers in a timely manner and how they all differ?
  3. Inspection Contingencies. If someone makes a great offer, maybe in all cash, but they have a home inspection, it gives them a caveat to get out of the contract. It is important to understand what this contingency is, whether it introduces risk into your contract, and if there are problems, it could open negotiations or kill the deal.
  4. Loan Contingencies. One great thing about lake properties is that over half the deals in our country are cash, but loans are still used as well. A pre-approval letter may not carry as much weight as you think, and if you accept a deal with this contingency, it could fall through.
  5. Escalation Clauses. If the bids come in, that is typically the buyer’s offer unless someone beats it. These competing offers can become complicated because they can escalate to different amounts or triggers. Be prepared for this in a hot market because buyers do not want to miss out.
  6. Property Disclosures. You must disclose the property and the issues involved otherwise you could be sued later. You need to understand what you disclose and what you do not disclose, which can be confusing.

Whether you’re buying or selling your lake home or property, our agents at Lake Homes Realty can help provide insight into today’s lake real estate market and guide you in your home journey.

Whiteboard Topics: 3 Surprising Risks When Selling a Lake Home in 2021

Posted on Linda Thach

There are different aspects to selling your lakefront property than if you were to sell a landlocked property. These are the surprising risks to be aware of when maximizing the return on your value and investment. 

  1. Sell really fast. Selling your home quickly will not get you the best return on your dollars. A lot of lake home buyers are from out of town or out of state, and you may limit the number of buyers that can’t respond quickly enough. 
  2. Rushing through the transaction. This is a legal transaction involving a lot of money and it’s important to read and understand what you’re signing. Avoid any legal issues in the future by taking your time.
  3. Overpricing. The best way to get the best price is to price appropriately and leave room for competition. Overpricing drastically for the current market will cost you time and money, even in a hot market.

We hope you find these tips valuable as you venture out on your journey to selling your home. Please feel free to reach out to our lake experts for guidance.

Whiteboard Topics: 4 Ways to Help Your Real Estate Agent in 2021

Posted on Linda Thach

While real estate agents are here to help you with your lake home, there are some things you can do to make the process easier. Here are four tips to help the real estate transaction go smoothly for you and your agent.

  1. Accept the consequences. Be sure you understand that the lake market is a hot market in 2021. It’s different from other markets and knowing the nuances are important to be successful in the process.
  2. Do your homework. Agents will help you and answer your questions, but you have to know what to ask. Educating yourself and working with an expert agent will keep you out of trouble.
  3. Expert agent. Whether you’re buying or selling, working with a lake expert agent will help you navigate the nuances of each lake. The rules and regulations for each market can be different, so having someone who can guide you through those will help meet your expectations.
  4. Be prepared to buy. Do the prep work to make a thoughtful and competitive offer in a timely manner. You snooze, you lose!

Whether you’re buying or selling your lake home or property, our agents at Lake Homes Realty can help provide insight into today’s lake real estate market and guide you in your home journey.