Forbes: Buy Now or Pay More Later?

Forbes, in their online edition last week, spoke to the importance of buying a home now rather than waiting. The article, Should You Buy a Home Now or Pay More Later?, explains:

“With mortgage rates creeping up toward 5% as 2013 draws to a close, potential home buyers have some decisions to make — and soon. The danger for potential home buyers is not that mortgage rates are nearing 5.00%; the real threat is that rates could go higher, to 5.50% or even 6.00% in 2014.”

The article spells out the financials consequences a buyer would face by waiting. ($67,746 on a $300,000 mortgage).

They gone on to identify four things a buyer should take into consideration before delaying a decision to purchase.

1.    Rates will likely rise — and soon with 5% interest rates right around the corner.

2.    The Federal Reserve will stop “tapering” causing rates to return to historically normal levels (6-7%).

3.    Home values are rising

4.    The autumn buying season is underrated “as you can take advantage of year-end tax breaks and the fall weather makes it an ideal time to move”.

The financial advice Forbes gave to their readers was rather simple. Buy now or pay more later!!dvice Forbes gave to their readers was rather simple. Buy now or pay more later!!

WE LOVE TREES and Here's another reason why . . .

Years ago, Gary and I selected a symbol that represented our company. You know, something that relates to our core values in a single piece of art or graphic. A TREE it had to be. Strength, endurance, long-lasting, established roots, etc. That is where "Planting Lifetime Relationships Rooted in Real Estate Results" originated. So here are some interesting facts about trees:

Trees Improve Energy Efficiency
Mature trees add "curb appeal" to a property and can make a home more energy efficient. Planted at the edges of a building, a tree's broad canopy of leaves softens the hard lines of architecture and offers shade. Trees absorb light reflected from the roof and decrease the air temperature surrounding your home through evaporation of moisture.

The positioning of trees and shrubs around your home has a significant effect on how much you'll be paying to heat and cool your house each month. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, even one strategically placed tree can reduce your heating and cooling bill up to 25 percent. In general, deciduous trees planted on the south and west sides of the house keep the home cool during the summer and allow low-angle sun into the home during the winter. If you live on a windy hill or coastal bluff, planting evergreen trees or shrubs on the north and west sides of your structure will help protect your home from winter gusts and storms.

Consult your landscape designer for advice about your particular property.
Read this online and get more information: Trees Improve Energy Efficiency

HAVE A GREAT DAY AND IT IS FALL -- WONDERFUL TIME TO PLANT A TREE!!!

Thinking about what to do if you want to sell your home sometime soon???

According to Trulia.com, there is still time to sell. Typically, many buyers want to move and get situated before the actual end of the year and holidays are here, but that shouldn’t give you pause. Yes, the spring is considered a prime time to sell; however, there is still time to sell your home whether you live in a cold or warm climate.

Overall, there are some important factors that may help you get your home sold: 1) remember that the number of buyers may be reduced as we head closer to the holidays; 2)there are always serious buyers looking during the holiday season, especially if they're out looking at homes in dreary weather or nearing the holidays.

Knowing this, be sure to make the most of every showing; don't get lazy with the upkeep of your home despite the fact that you are juggling selling a home, working, or taking care of the kids. Getting your home sold in the fourth quarter must be a priority (with the goal being to sell sooner, rather than later, in the quarter).

Next, look at the rates of sales activity in your market to determine how long to keep your home listed through the holidays. Some areas may not be hot, but that doesn't mean there's little chance of selling. Some people may even have to purchase before the end of the year to meet their tax guidelines.

Also, staging your home well is also vital. The fourth-quarter sale requires a good strategy like using an expert stager where you can decorate for the holidays, but don’t overdo it so as to turn prospective buyers off when they see your home. With a reduced number of buyers seeing your home, make the most of each showing by having a well-staged and clutter-free house to show off. In any market, proper staging strategies provide a competitive advantage.

Lastly, the fourth quarter can see more buyers because interest remain historically low. The impending threat of a rise  in mortgage rates could have more buyers willing to lock into an exceptional rate, despite that it means making a move during the holidays.

A more serious pool of buyers coupled with stronger interest rates and less competition makes the end of the year a great time to sell. Please contact us if you have any questions about your specific situation. Check out what homes are on the market. Please call our hotline 330-2777 for instant help. If you want to speak directly to Gary about selling your home call 405-216-9600!

12 Questions to Ask an Agent/Broker BEFORE You List...

1 How is your real estate business capitalized?

Marketing is expensive – training is expensive – running a business is expensive. You don’t want to hire an agent/broker/real estate company that is undercapitalized.

2 How many names are in your contact management system and how often are they contacted?

Yes, real estate data is important. Company files, personal files, and the MLS are full of important, useable, data. But what about people? You know, those who buy and sell real estate. Top agents compile a running database of those interested in buying or selling real estate.

3 What percentage of your business is listing… sales?

While most work with both, many agent/brokers today specialize in listing or selling.

4 What is your percentage of list to sell price?

Some associates, simply wanting to have a sign in someone’s yard, will take any listing at any price thus resulting in a low list to sell price. You’re looking for the professional who doesn’t have time to play games.

5 What is your & the area’s average days on the market?

While market conditions often dictate how long homes will sit on the market, you want to know that the agent you choose knows their stats.

6 What is your percentage of listings taken to sold and closed?

7 What percentage of your listings do you sell yourself?

It is great, as a listing agent, to sell your own listing. However, this happens less than you would expect – on average about 10% of the time. If someone promises much more, I would question it.

8 What percentage of your listings expire and why?

The number one reason listings expire is they are overpriced (discussed in #4 above). There are many other reasons: seller makes it difficult to show, unruly animals, unkempt property in poor condition and poor marketing.

9 What is the current market ‘absorption rate’ for my property?

For a full explanation of ‘absorption rate’ click here.

10 What’s your ‘compelling point of difference’ and how will that convince me to do business with you and your company?

In my book, Dog Eat Dog & Vice Versa, 9 Secrets to Put The Bite Into Your Marketing, I have a complete Chapter titled Dare to be Unique and You Don’t Have to Compete. As in most jobs, everyone just follows the leader – “Me Too”. You’re looking for the stand out.

11 When will I see a strategic marketing plan for selling my property?

Simply put, the steps the associate and company will do to get your home sold.

12 What is the highest price we can expect and what will we need to do to our property to achieve it?

The goal is to get your home sold for the highest price, in the shortest amount of time, with the least inconvenience to you. The professional will be able to demonstrate how they arrived at the price point and what you’ll have to do to bring your property to the top of the market.

KCM Blog

Do You Have To Plan Ahead???

All of life is a series of projects. A project is a complex task. It is often called a multitask job. This type of job requires the coordination of efforts of several people, each of whom is responsible for a part of the job, with every part of the job being necessary for successful completion. Your ability to handle these multitask jobs is a critical skill for success. All achievements of consequence are complex, and they involve the cooperation of many people.

The Key Management Skill

A study by Stanford University of the qualities that companies look for in promoting people into the position of chief executive officer concluded that the ability to put together a team to accomplish a task was the single most important identifiable quality of an executive who was destined for the fast track in his/her career. Your ability to put together teams to do multitask jobs, ability to complete complex projects, and visible qualities of leadership will determine the course of your career as much as any other factor. It will enable you to multiply yourself times the talents and efforts of others, and accomplish vastly more than you could do on your own.

A Learnable Skill

Project management is a learnable skill, like riding a bicycle. It can be divided into a series of steps, each of which you can master, one at a time. In managing any project, you begin by defining the ideal desired result of the project. What exactly are you trying to accomplish? What will the project look like if it is a complete success?  Start by defining a successful completion of the project, the ideal desired result.

Start at the Beginning

Once you are clear about your desired result, you then start from the beginning. Determine what you are going to have to do to get from where you are to the completion of this project, on schedule and on budget. Determine a specific deadline or target to aim at. Make sure that it is realistic and achievable.

Assemble the Team

Bring together all the people whose contributions will be necessary for the success of this project. Sometimes you need to assemble a team before you can even decide upon the ideal result and the schedule. Remember that people are everything. Take ample time to think carefully about the people who are going to be the team members.

Share the Ownership

Instill ownership of the project in the team members by sharing the job with them. There is a direct relationship between how much a person feels a sense of ownership for the job and how committed he is to making the project a success. One of the key jobs of management and leadership is to instill this feeling of ownership in each member of the team, so that each person feels personally responsible for the accomplishment of the overall project. You accomplish this by discussing every detail of the project with the people who are expected to carry it out.

Develop a Shared Vision

A shared vision is an ideal future picture of success that everyone buys into. How do you develop a shared vision? You sit down and work with the team to answer the question, “What are we trying to accomplish?” You encourage everyone to contribute, visualize, and to imagine the ideal outcome or desired result of the project. Once this vision is clear and shared by everyone, you move on to the development of “shared plans” to achieve the vision.

Set Schedules and Deadlines

Once you have a shared vision and shared plans, and everyone knows exactly what is to be done and what the ideal results will look like, the next step is for you to set a deadline for project completion based on the consensus of your team.

Create a List

Create a to-do list and write down every task, function, and activity that must be completed, right down to the smallest job. Make it easier for yourself-get the project finished on time and break the project down into individual jobs and tasks as much as you can.

Organize the Project

Organize the different parts of the project in two ways: sequential tasks and parallel tasks. You organize by sequence when you determine which jobs must be done before other jobs can be done, with each task in order. Sequential organization is necessary where a particular task requires that another task be completed before it can be started. In almost every case, before you do anything, you have to do something else first. Organize the tasks sequentially with a logical process of activities from beginning through to the end of the project.

The second way to organize the tasks is through parallel activities. Parallel activities exist when more than one task can be done at the same time. Two or more people can be working on two or three different tasks independently of each other.