Utah Home Selling Production Has Just One Star

Successful Home Selling Veterans Agree on Basics...

Utah home selling is not so different from home selling in any other desirable community: the nearly universal underpinnings haven’t changed through the years. So when a homeowner watches a “Just Sold!” sign go up on a neighborhood home he or she just knows isn’t nearly as good a buy as his or her own property, “why them/why not me?” is the normal response.

The answer can be quite simple. If you want your own Salt Lake City and beyond home selling campaign to proceed as smoothly as possible, veteran sellers offer some reliable advice:

·            Remove yourself from the equation. Specifically, remove the family photos off the walls and store them in an out-of-the-way place. That evocative stairwell lined with pictures of the kids and family vacations might be a trip down memory lane for you, but it’s a roadblock for potential buyers. The goal in home selling is to effectively showcase the property — don’t make the star of your production share the stage!

·            Store extra clothes. Sort through the clothes you and your family aren’t going to wear this season and remove them from the closets. Overstuffed, cluttered closets give prospective buyers the impression that there isn’t enough storage space, whereas a sparsely hung closet just feels luxurious. If needed, purchase wardrobe boxes to store in the garage. 

·            Use the professional talent that’s already on deck — ask your agent for a truly forthright opinion on how your home stacks up against the other current listings your immediate area. Since you’re on the same team, you’ll get the best of both worlds: real, up-to-the-moment comparisons with competing homes in your immediate neighborhood, and suggestions for how to further improve your property’s profile among them.

Preparing to sell a home can seem daunting at first, but once you begin in earnest, with the help of your real estate professional and a few proven guidelines, the process can be fully in motion quickly and easily.

 

The most important thing to remember is that the better you display your property, the more money it is likely to sell for. It all starts when you make that one important call!

Salt Lake City FSBO Home Buyers Look to Agents for Safety

Reasons to Team With a Buyer’s Agent for
FSBO Buys

According to the National Association of Realtors, last year there was a 14% decline in the number of For Sale By Owner (FSBO) properties. Despite that decline, FSBO properties are still available in Salt Lake City – and in an inventory-challenged market, you might find one of them is a pretty tempting buying opportunity. 

But here is where caution is warranted — and where you may be amply rewarded by seeking a buyer’s agent to represent you. There’s more than one reason why:

FSBO owners may, er, hide things

It can be tempting for FSBO sellers to cover up problems that would have been picked up if a seller's agent had been involved. By using an experienced buyer's agent, you stand a much better chance of identifying those common problems. A qualified inspector (your agent will recommend a good one) can help you spot the more well-hidden ones.

FSBO properties usually cost more!

Statistics bear it out: it’s estimated that FSBO properties can cost 10 to 20% more than those listed via real estate agents. Owners in Salt Lake City just tend to overestimate their property's worth and selling potential. And without the counsel and guidance of a real estate professional, sellers usually establish a stronger emotional attachment to their first listing price. The presence of your buyer’s agent (with a notebook full of comps) is sure to power up your negotiating stance!

Legal issues

One of the main reasons to team with an agent is the plethora of legal issues that are interwoven with residential real estate sale transactions. By using an agent, you stand to identify any contractual mishaps before they are executed — and well before costly repercussions materialize. Since many owners who take the FSBO route in Sat Lake City are usually short when it comes to real estate transactional expertise, there may be required disclosures and important paperwork that they have missed. You don’t want to find that out too late.  

If you wind up seriously eyeing a Salt Lake City FSBO home this summer, save future headaches by including your buyer’s agent commission in your offer. 

More questions? I’m available for consults this week! or call our 24-7 hotline to receive a free FSBO packet:  800.516.3416 X 1020

Mortgage Rates Up: Mortgage Applications Down!

National Mortgage Rates Up — But Purchases Still Climbing!

For Utah homeowners and soon-to-be homeowners, it looks like the end for deeply depressed mortgage rates. Nationally, rising rates have temporarily created a downdraft in home loan applications.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, mortgage applications fell 4% in the first week of July after plummeting 11.7% the week before. ‘The Market Composite Index’ is the measure of mortgage loan application volume — and it decreased 4.0% from a week earlier (on a seasonally adjusted basis).  Altogether, national mortgage applications so far this July are about a third below their level of a year ago.

The drop in applications comes as no surprise to those of us who keep a steady watch on mortgage rate trends. But there is one accompanying fact that wouldn’t have been as predictable. As USA Today notes, “Despite the rise in rates…the four-year average for home purchases continues to climb since it turned upward in November 2011.”

So what do these apparently contradictory stats mean for Utah residents preparing to sell or buy a house? 

Whichever part of the equation you fall into, it’s certainly time to get moving!  If you’re considering selling, you will want to put your home on the market to take advantage of the still historically low mortgage rates in Salt Lake City and Beyond. It’s often the case that rising mortgage rates spur a last-minute home-buying rush. If you’re planning on buying in  Utah,  rising mortgage rates are a pretty good indication that it’s time to put the pedal to the metal. 

Either way, if you’re thinking of buying or selling in Salt Lake City and Beyond this summer, I’m standing by to lend a hand. Give me a call to discuss the full picture — including the latest price movement in area neighborhoods. 

Cool ways to beat the heat

• Set your thermostat to 78◦ F and program it 

  a few degrees higher when no one is home.

 

 

• Use portable or ceiling fans to stay cool.

  They can make a room feel five degrees cooler.

 

• Keep blinds and drapes closed during the day

• Replace air filters monthly to reduce 

  consumption by 5-15%

 

• Well-placed shade trees can reduce your cooling  needs up to 30%. Plant them on the SE/SW sides of 

your home and to shade AC units.

• Shift your electricity use away from peak hours in the summer (2 pm to 8 pm on weekdays).

Additional tips:
Bill Help May Only Be a Phone Call Away

If you are having trouble paying your bills, you may be eligible for assistance through the Lend A Hand program administered by The Salvation Army. Please call them at 1-801-969-0526 for details – assistance will be dependent on the availability of funding.

You may also qualify to reduce your monthly bills through the Home Energy Lifeline Program (HELP) bill discount. Call 211 for a referral to an agency that can assist you.

If you don’t qualify for assistance but still need help paying your electric bill, please call us toll free at 1-888-221-7070. Our customer service representatives will work with you to make payment arrangements and share no- or low-cost energy-saving tips.

Tell the Senate: Tax Reform Should Do No Harm

Congress is considering a tax reform plan that would eliminate all deductions, credits, and exemptions from the federal tax code  including things like the deductions for mortgage interest and property taxes.  Please join me in telling the Senate to stop the elimination of real estate tax provisions.  

Tax Reform is underway on Capitol Hill. The Senate has adopted a “Blank Slate” approach that initially eliminates every provision in the tax code, including those that encourage real estate ownership and investment.

Senators must submit their tax reform priorities to Senate leaders by July 26th.  REALTORS® need to make their voices heard now so real estate provisions are on the top of the Senators' lists.

When approaching tax reform, Congress should be careful not to inflict adverse consequences on either the economy or the unique legacy that homeownership and real estate investment have contributed to making our country prosperous.
 

What's At Stake:
On June 27th the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Max Baucus (D-MT) and Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-UT) announced their plan for tax reform legislation in the United States Senate. 
There are a wide range of provisions in the tax code that affect residential,

investment, and commercial real estate.  NAR will be taking the lead in ensuring that each of those tax provisions is defended.  In the coming days we will work with our friends in the United States Senate, as well our allies in other real estate associations to identify champions for each provision.  Additionally, we will be on offense working to improve certain provisions or make some temporary provisions permanent.

What is the "Blank Slate"?

A “blank slate” means that as a starting point, all tax expenditures (including tax deductions such as the mortgage interest deduction, tax exemptions such as the capital gains exemption on the sale of a primary residence, and tax credits such as energy efficiency tax credits) will be removed from the tax code.  

Senators will have to request tax expenditures be added to the reform legislation.  Using the “blank slate” approach allows the Senate Finance Committee to highlight the just how much tax rates could be reduced by eliminating all the tax expenditures.  Adding any tax expenditures back into the code would ratchet the rates up.

The current tax system contains many provisions that encourage real estate ownership and investment. Each provision deserves careful consideration in any tax reform effort. The first rule in tax reform should be "Do No Harm."

At the very least, we need to urge our Senators to maintain, and in some cases improve, the following provision in any rewrite of the tax code: 

• The mortgage interest deduction should be preserved in its current form and the limits indexed for inflation. 
• The exclusion of capital gains on the sale of a principal residence should be preserved and the limits indexed for inflation. 
• The deduction for property taxes paid should be preserved. 
• The temporary exclusion of income from discharge of mortgage debt (mortgage cancellation) should be made permanent. 
• The depreciation periods of commercial and residential buildings should be shortened to reflect the true useful lives of these assets. The temporary provision allowing faster write-off for leasehold improvements should be made permanent. 
• Provisions that allow for the deferral of gain on the like-kind exchange of real property should be maintained. 

Our nation's real estate markets are finally on the road to recovery. One of the surest ways to halt this recovery is to create uncertainty about whether the current tax treatment will be eliminated or impaired for real estate owners and investors.

Congress must be mindful of the broad impact that the overnight elimination of long-standing and widely utilized tax provisions may have on our nation's economy. 

Take further action by visiting www.taxreform.gov and tell Congressional leaders why eliminating real estate tax provisions could stop our real estate recovery. 

Please join me in telling the Senate to stop the elimination of real estate tax provisions.