Tag: real estate tips

Whiteboard Topics: Have Lake Home Buyers Given Up?

Posted on Chris Melton

Recently, the question “Have lake home buyers given up?” has been asked frequently. Many agents say buyers don’t have an interest in the current market. Agents also comment that buyers don’t ask to see properties as much as they have previously. Glenn Phillips, CEO of Lake Homes Realty, discusses some explanations.

  1. Insight from LakeHomes.com: On the Lake Homes website, the company sees customer traffic and what they do, even if they aren’t reaching out to agents. Based on web traffic, Lake Homes Realty sees that buyers haven’t given up. Millions of people visit the website and view properties, but they don’t always reach out.
  2. “I’m not hearing from as many buyers.”: This is a common issue across all of real estate in the current market, not just lake homes. Lake Homes Realty agents, other brokerages, and even primary residential real estate companies have seen fewer leads recently.
  3. Inventory Problem: While inventory exists in the current market, some twists could catch those who don’t study the market off guard.
    • “Phantom Inventory”: This happens when sellers list their home way above market price, attempting to get previous peak prices still. Listers in this situation may not have to sell but would consider it if they got an offer at that high price. These “lottery ticket” seekers somewhat inflate the market.
    • Appropriately Priced, Sell Fast: Today’s buyers are prudent and don’t want to overpay for lake homes. Because of this, appropriately priced homes sell fast, so they disappear from the market quickly.
    • Buyers Not Gone: Watching & Waiting: Buyers visit websites looking for homes and pounce on homes that interest them at an appropriate price. As speculative sellers lower their prices and inventory increases, engagement from buyers will increase.

The real estate market ebbs and flows. During periods of slow business, you may think buyers aren’t interested in homes anymore. Once you look at the data, however, you see that buyers are there, but they’re waiting. Visit lakehomes.com to connect with agents who understand inventory in your market.

Whiteboard Topics: The Wrong Questions When Picking a Lake Real Estate Agent to Sell

Posted on Chris Melton

Selecting a real estate agent often seems like an easy decision. You may choose a friend or just the first agent you come across. Other times, the number of real estate agents to choose from intimidates you. However, before deciding on an agent, consider your goals and what you want from selling your house. Motivated sellers want to sell their homes for the highest current market price in a reasonable time. Glenn Phillips, CEO of Lake Homes Realty, discusses the wrong and right questions to ask when choosing a real estate agent.

  1. Wrong Questions
    • Which agents have the most listings? While there are great agents who have numerous listings, it isn’t always an indicator of success. Effective agents sell their homes and don’t let their listings sit on the market forever. Instead, ask about how many houses they sell.
    • Which agent do I personally like? You aren’t selling your house to make a new friend. Working with someone who you work well with is important; however, just because they’re your friend or family doesn’t automatically make them the best option. Don’t look to make selling your home personal. It’s a business transaction, and that’s how it should be treated.
    • Do they have an office nearby? Several lake home buyers come from out of town or even states away. When they come to town, they want to visit the house, not an office.
  2. Better Questions
    • Are all agents the same? No, not all agents are the same, but it can be hard to tell the difference. Look for someone who is experienced; they should be able to explain the process and have a plan. Seasoned agents are successful at selling lake homes and can get you the best price.
    • Which agents are focused on lake real estate? When selling lake homes, exclude any agent not focused on lake real estate. Assume the buyer and their agent don’t understand the nuances of lake property. Having agents who don’t understand lake property leads to confusion and unexpected turns.
    • Which agents can prove they have a pipeline of out-of-town buyers? The right agent can produce a list of where their buyers are coming from. Putting your home on multiple different websites doesn’t always produce results. Good agents instead target buyers who are already interested in your lake.

Selling your lake home is a complicated process, so agents are there to help you. However, choosing the right one isn’t always the easiest job. Friends and family often make a strong case but aren’t always the best option. Visit lakehomes.com where agents who understand lake real estate can help you navigate the process.

Whiteboard Topics: Why Lake Homes Realty Does Not Buy Homes

Posted on Chris Melton

Some companies like to guarantee you an offer for your home, such as an offer to buy your home if it doesn’t sell. Other companies offer to buy your home directly from you for fast cash-only transactions. Glenn Phillips, CEO of Lake Homes Realty, explains why Lake Homes Realty does not adopt these practices.

  1. Guaranteed Offer is NOT the Same as Full-Price Offer: Guaranteed offers are generally lower than regular offers. They can be a good option if your only concern is selling your house quickly and you aren’t concerned with getting the full price. However, if you’re looking to get a good price for your house, guaranteed offers may not be for you.
  2. Time: For typical residential property, transactions happen in a quick time frame. However, transactions for lake homes can take several years to finalize. Because of the sometimes unpredictable time frame for lake real estate, it’s difficult to determine a specified time frame for guaranteed offers.
  3. Discretionary Buyers are Different: Lake home buyers are patient and can wait years before buying a house. With discretionary property, like lake homes, the buyers don’t have to buy the home. This nature of discretionary property doesn’t work well with the guaranteed offer strategy.

If your only concern is selling your lake home quickly, even if it means less money, then guaranteed offers can be the solution you need. However, the nature of lake real estate and lake home buyers is why Lake Homes Realty doesn’t adopt them. Visit lakehomes.com to find agents to help you navigate the lake real estate market.

Whiteboard Topics: Selling? 5 Things Lake Home Buyers Don’t Care About

Posted on Chris Melton

If you’ve decided to sell your lake home, it’s important to understand what buyers do and don’t care about. Thinking like a buyer can help you sell your home quicker. Glenn Phillips, CEO of Lake Homes Realty, discusses five things buyers don’t care about, but many sellers think they do.

  1. What Seller Paid: While the pricing history can be important, buyers don’t care what you paid for the house. Buyers are concerned with the current market, not about how much you need to get from your house.
  2. Listed Price of Nearby Homes for Sale: The listing price of nearby houses doesn’t reflect their value. Many of those houses may be overpriced, especially if they’ve been on the market for a while. Buyers are more concerned with what the house is worth than the listing prices of nearby homes.
  3. Seller’s Personal Effort: Patios, decks, and other features of the house can add value for some buyers. Oftentimes, sellers have emotional attachments to these features; however, buyers don’t always feel the same way. Buyers may want to remove those add-ons and see them only as an additional cost.
  4. Outlier Sales at High Prices: Just because a nearby house sold for an irregularly high price doesn’t mean yours will too. Buyers understand the trend in prices of the pool of houses in the market, and most won’t pay that irregular price. Outliers generally aren’t repeatable, and buyers will buy at market price.
  5. Taking Low Offers Personally: Buyers don’t make offers to offend you. Additionally, a low offer is still better than no offer. Not responding to low offers can cut off potentially interested buyers by leaving negotiation off the table.

As a seller or someone who’s thinking of selling your lake home, it’s important to think like the buyer. Considering what the buyer is looking for can help you sell your home quicker and maximize your potential profit. Visit lakehomes.com, where you can find agents who will help you navigate the home-selling process and who understand buyer’s wants and needs.

Whiteboard Topics: What is a Buyer’s Agency Agreement?

Posted on Chris Melton

Buyer’s agency agreements can often be a daunting term for many people. However, once you understand what it is, it can be beneficial for you. You don’t want to sign a document that you don’t understand. A buyer’s agency agreement states that an agent will represent their client when engaging with other parties. Glenn Phillips, CEO of Lake Homes Realty, explains what you should know about them and how they can help you when buying a lake home.

  1. More Than Opening Doors: Buyer’s agents can help you do more than just open doors. They do analyses of the markets that meet your criteria, filtering out houses that don’t meet your goals. Buyer’s agents also help with comparing the market value of your home beyond the listing price.
  2. Fiduciary Duty: Signing a buyer’s agency agreement ensures that the agent has a financial obligation to help you. Without this agreement, they may not work on your behalf, and in some states, they may work on the other party’s behalf.
  3. Transparency of Commission: Buyer’s agency agreements help outline how the agent you work with will be paid. Discussions about commission, rates, or what the seller is contributing can be linked to the agreement. This ensures no confusion or surprises about how money flows at the closing table.
  4. Scope is Adjustable: This is something that not many people know about buyer’s agency agreements. With these agreements, you can adjust how long you work with the agent, whether it’s a few weeks or several months
  5. Do Your Homework: Signing a buyer’s agency agreement helps drive you to do your homework about the agent. The agent might have made a great first impression, but buying a lake home is nuanced, and you need an expert agent who understands that. Doing your homework about your agent before signing the agreement helps you know who you’re signing an agreement with.

Lake real estate is a different game than typical real estate, and having a buyer’s agent alleviates some of the pressures of the process. Buyer’s agency agreements can help you understand who you’re working with as well as establish financial responsibility for the agent. Visit lakehomes.com where you can get in contact with agents who will help you understand buyer’s agency agreements further.

Whiteboard Topics: What Will 2024 Bring for Lake Home Prices?

Posted on Chris Melton

With the new year, many people are wondering how the prices for lake homes will change in 2024. The short answer is that they’ll stay about the same in most markets, only slightly increasing in some markets. Glenn Philips, CEO of Lake Homes Realty, explains how years of data on the lake home market back this up.

  1. Limited (but improving) Inventory: 2022 brought historic lows in the lake home market. Even though the inventory has been growing since, it is still low when compared to nothing. Buyers still outnumber sellers, but the buying frenzy has passed. Additionally, informed buyers won’t bite on the trend of “phantom inventory,” or sellers who think they can still sell at peak prices.
  2. Mortgage Rates (Not Really): Mortgage rates don’t play a big factor in lake real estate. Over half of the buyers in this market pay with cash. Even if they don’t pay with cash, they can afford the splurge of the extra interest rate.
  3. Interested KNOWLEDEABLE Buyers: Buyers today are more informed than at any other time in history. This means that they won’t be tricked into paying unreasonable prices. Buyers who are interested and willing to wait until the right price shows up will move quickly to purchase it. This causes a backlog to form, with buyers waiting for sellers to bring down their prices to reasonable levels.
  4. Global Unrest: Global unrest tends to increase interest in discretionary property. People want lake homes to escape the problems of the world. It happened during the COVID-19 pandemic, as people rushed to buy lake homes to escape and distance themselves.

As 2024 rolls in, expect to see steady prices in most markets for lake homes. There won’t be many major shakeups, such as a big explosion or crash. There might be slight increases in some markets, but prices will stay consistent across the board. Be sure to visit us at lakehomes.com, where you can find agents that are experts in lake property.

Lake Homes Realty Adds Kim Hoog to Tenkiller Lake Area in Oklahoma

Posted on Chris Melton

A new lake real estate report from the country’s largest lake-focused brokerage show listing prices in Oklahoma are up over summer 2022. “The new Lake Real Estate Market Report from Lake Homes Realty shows Oklahoma’s total market at $786 million, up from $592 million in the summer of 2022,” said Kim Hoog, a new agent with Lake Homes Realty, who focuses on Tenkiller Lake in Oklahoma.  Lake Homes Realty operates in 34 states across the country.

“The new quarterly lake real estate report from Lakehomes.com shows Tenkiller Lake to be the ninth largest market in the state of Oklahoma,” said Hoog. “The specialized website just showcases properties that are lakefront, have a lake view or lake access so we can help clients from across the country search for dream lake properties.” As of July 3, 2023, Tenkiller Lake has 118 lake area properties listed, ranging from a $5,000 lot to a $659,000 lake home.

The average home price for listings around Tenkiller Lake is $285,128, according to the Lake Market Real Estate Report. The average lot price is $76,959 for the 76 lake area lots currently listed.

“Boating is extremely popular on Tenkiller Lake, as are its related activities, waterskiing, tubing, and wakeboarding,” said Hoog.  “With almost 13,000 acres of pristine water, it ventures into the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. Tenkiller Lake appeals to lake home searchers from across the country. Among the hundreds of people searching the lake homes and lots in Oklahoma in May 2023, the top Metro area looking on LakeHomes.com was Dallas, Texas, followed by Wichita, Kansas, and Chicago,” said Hoog.  “ The national reach offered by LakeHomes.com works really well with my local expertise along Tenkiller Lake and the surrounding area,” said Hoog.  One in 37 American adults look at LakeHomes.com each year.

“We believe our agents’ intimate knowledge about their lake real estate markets, nuances of the lakes themselves, and their involvement in local lake life is paramount to our continued growth,” said Glenn S. Phillips, CEO and Chief Economic Analyst for  Lake Homes “Kim offers outstanding customer service in the Tenkiller Lake areas and is truly a specialist in that area,” he said.

About Kim Hoog

Kim Hoog is currently living her dream by selling properties on the lake where she spent her childhood. A resident of Gore, Oklahoma, for nearly three decades, she proudly calls it her home. Kim is deeply engaged in the community, having raised her children there, and her strong ties and experiences make her a true expert on Tenkiller Lake.

Having previously worked as a contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy, Kim has transitioned her dedication to real estate. With thirty years of living near the lake, she possesses an intimate knowledge of the area. Kim wholeheartedly believes that Tenkiller Lake is one of Oklahoma’s most pristine gems, and she eagerly anticipates every opportunity to showcase its beauty.

“My number one passion is helping others, which is initially what attracted me the most to real estate,” Kim says. “I enjoy the relationships I get to cultivate with my clients. I love meeting new people and helping them along their journey to finding a new home.”

Whiteboard Topics: Selling a Lake Home Requires Broader Marketing

Posted on Chris Melton

If you’re thinking of selling your lake home, you’ll have to broaden your marketing. Glenn Phillips, CEO of Lake Homes Realty, gives reasons to market to a broader audience.

  1. Out-of-State Buyers: Agents who have had the most success selling lake homes are the ones who market to out-of-state buyers. When choosing an agent, consider if they will be able to tell you how many buyers in other states are shopping your lake. With more realistic buyers, you have better opportunities for more return on investment when you sell.
  2. Specific Lake Might Not Matter: While some buyers may be committed to one lake, there are many who look at several lakes in multiple states when buying a lake home. This should affect where you are marketing and how you are pricing houses. You should price competitively for multiple markets, not just your own.
  3. Local Marketing = Limited Marketing: Most buyers come from the web, so you should have a broad market reach. Putting out signs and listing in a local MLS are beneficial to a point, but limit your pool of buyers.
  4. Web Portals Are Crowded: Big web portals that list many types of property are crowded with people looking for all types of houses, not just lake houses. This causes buyers who want to specifically look for lake homes to sift through the other types of property. Listing on a niche website that specializes in lake property puts you ahead of the listings on big web portals.

Agents and sellers must think broadly when selling lake property. Utilizing these strategies, sellers can maximize their return on investment with their lake home. Connect with an agent at lakehomes.com if you’re looking to sell your lake home to a broad market.

Whiteboard Topics: Why Lake Home Real Estate is a Long Game

Posted on Chris Melton

Buying and selling a lake property is nothing like buying a primary residence when it comes to its schedule. People often experience urgency with a primary residence due to events such as moving to a new town for a job. Lake Homes Realty CEO, Glenn Phillips, explains why lake real estate is a long game.

  1. Discretionary = Patience: Similar to a high-end restaurant, a lake home is a discretionary property. Buyers aren’t paying for shelter alone, but also a premium for the lifestyle and access to the water. With discretionary property, buyers can be more selective in what they purchase.
  2. Mortgage Rates are NOT a Driver: Unlike other residential property, mortgage rates do not push people in and out of the lake real estate market. Many buyers complete transactions with cash, and buyers can often pay extra for their property. 
  3. Dream Homes are Different than Urban/Suburbs: Buyers can afford to wait until their dream home is available on the lake they want. They can also buy property on that lake and build their dream home themselves. Additionally, buyers often wait to see what the market does over time, especially in times of compressed inventory.
  4. New Lake Buyers have a Learning Curve: New lake home buyers often enter the market with minimal knowledge of lake real estate, and need time to learn. Many of them don’t realize that the price of a house increases when it is on lake property. These new buyers need time to understand and adjust their mindset while in the lake homes market.

Don’t be surprised if the buying and selling process is taking a while. Successful lake home agents realize that the lake real estate market is a long game and work to compress it. Connect with an expert lake agent who understands the importance of playing the long game at lakehomes.com.