Who Are Today’s Buyers?

I just found an interesting article from The Real Estate Book’s website that I thought was worth of posting. Its been interesting for me to see the shift in buyers and how our business is evolving after being in the real estate industry for almost 24 years now.

Fortunately I hired a terrific young millennial to handle all my internet, website, and social media marketing and branding to ensure we stay on top of these technology changes and are able to readily and professionally service the new generations.

If you are thinking of buying or selling a home in Roanoke, Virginia and our surrounding areas, our team would love to support. We work with a lot of home buyers and sellers here in the area and offer a fully staffed team with over 40 years combined experience. Give us a call or an email today at 540-725-7727 or thecrouchteam@gmail.com if we an be of support. Please visit our website at http://www.thecrouchteam.com to discover more about our team and to see the homes we currently have for sale.

Despite what many think the fall season has traditionally been a very busy time for buying and selling, we’re excited to see how the 4th quarter of this year ends up for the Roanoke, Virginia housing market.

Here is the article about today’s home buyers:

By Courtney Soinski

millennial2Did you know that millennials have outnumbered baby boomers? Specifically, they make up 87 million of our population versus 76 million baby boomers, according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.

“Millennials” are those born after 1982 and more and more of them are entertaining the idea of home ownership. “Ultimately, the large millennial generation will make their presence felt in the owner-occupied market,” says Daniel McCue, research manager of the Joint Center for Housing Studies, “just as they already have in the rental market . . ”

While demand is currently strong among millennials in the rental market, rent prices are going up. As incomes increase through either economic or job growth, they may be ready to buy. Additionally, the number of households in their 30s should increase by 2.7 million over the coming decade, which should also boost demand for new housing.

There is evidence that millennials are already beginning to consider buying versus renting, according to the 2014 NAR Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends study. This report states that “87 percent of buyers aged 33 and younger consider their home purchase a good financial investment compared to 74 percent of buyers 68 and older.”

For now, tight credit, still elevated unemployment, and mounting student loan debt among young Americans are moderating growth and keeping a good number of millennials and other first-time homebuyers out of the home ownership market, the study concluded. It’s also important to consider how potential GSE reform will affect the cost and availability of mortgage credit for the next generation of homebuyers.

Working with this large group of buyers beginning to enter the market may also be a different experience for real estate professionals. This group embraces technology, particularly mobile and social media, and brings a new set of housing preferences and expectations to the table. For real estate professionals, this means beginning to understand how to effectively target and engage this up and coming group of home buyers.

Source: National Association of Realtors, Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University

Housing Market In Roanoke, Virginia

Yesterday marked the last day of the month and the last month of the 3rd quarter.  I wanted to share our housing market statistics here in Roanoke, Virginia.  Things have remained consistent and we are hopeful for a decent window of opportunity with buyers who will be looking to buy in hopes to settle before the end of the year for tax purposes and to be moved before the holiday season and winter months set in.

If our team can be of support to you with buying or selling a home here in Roanoke, Virginia please give us a call at 540-725-7727, email us at thecrouchteam@gmail.com or visit our website at http://www.thecrouchteam.com to discover more about our team and to see the homes we currently have for sale.

For 01/01/2014 To 9/30/2014

Property Type	Area	Current Active	New	Pend	Sold	Sold Volume	Average Sales Price	DOM	CDOM	% Of List	Coop Sales	Coop Volume	Expr	Withdrawn
Residential	0110 – City of Roanoke – Downtown	7	11	1	6	1,988,500	331,417	214	231	89.5	3	968,500	5	2
Residential	0120 – City of Roanoke – South	82	168	15	82	25,082,302	305,882	147	189	95.5	71	22,670,352	42	6
Residential	0130 – City of Roanoke – SW	193	472	46	253	45,074,309	178,159	101	140	96.2	221	40,622,667	101	18
Residential	0140 – City of Roanoke – NW	145	323	41	143	10,552,374	73,793	126	170	92.9	119	8,291,074	109	8
Residential	0150 – City of Roanoke – NE	192	450	39	215	23,287,768	108,315	115	183	96.0	194	21,035,468	112	7
Residential	0160 – City of Roanoke – SE	51	96	5	48	2,774,501	57,802	117	179	94.3	44	2,572,726	29	1
Residential	0170 – City of Roanoke – Garden City	31	70	5	37	3,487,679	94,262	107	136	95.7	32	3,126,979	17	1
Residential	0210 – Roanoke County – North	192	469	52	274	51,762,268	188,913	111	164	97.1	227	41,762,238	98	4
Residential	0220 – Roanoke County – East	68	163	16	92	16,699,221	181,513	98	156	97.5	86	15,802,021	40	3
Residential	0221 – Roanoke County – Town of Vinton	53	114	15	55	7,092,179	128,949	117	163	96.2	49	6,465,679	27	0
Residential	0230 – Roanoke County – South	312	722	82	372	90,868,764	244,271	113	159	96.7	324	78,187,162	178	10
Residential	0240 – Roanoke County – West	124	240	22	102	22,499,135	220,580	126	209	97.3	90	20,462,812	65	7
Residential	0300 – City of Salem	219	451	34	186	30,531,954	164,150	108	186	95.9	163	27,309,704	135	6
Residential	0400 – Franklin County	713	995	102	398	106,245,613	266,949	205	308	94.3	335	90,816,200	336	34
Residential	0600 – Bedford County	542	775	87	300	69,153,136	230,510	195	273	94.0	247	58,765,485	228	12
Residential	0601 – Town of Bedford	29	62	10	27	3,459,800	128,141	179	221	93.9	19	2,351,800	23	3
Residential	0700 – Botetourt County	311	568	56	255	57,725,899	226,376	145	200	96.3	218	49,482,859	157	9
Residential	0800 – Craig County	27	39	5	21	3,233,050	153,955	202	235	93.3	13	2,244,950	12	1
Residential	0900 – City of Radford	0	6	1	1	47,000	47,000	105	113	95.9	1	47,000	1	0
Residential	1000 – Montgomery County	33	76	4	24	3,835,300	159,804	89	110	96.2	22	3,627,400	20	0
Residential	1100 – Floyd County	72	90	6	30	4,638,732	154,624	193	235	92.5	19	2,910,732	38	1
Residential	1200 – Patrick County	11	17	0	1	522,000	522,000	153	166	94.9	0		7	2
Residential	1300 – City of Martinsville	13	15	1	2	144,500	72,250	123	123	97.7	1	122,000	5	0
Residential	1400 – Henry County	27	62	5	19	1,659,352	87,334	131	138	92.3	14	1,346,452	29	4
Residential	1500 – City of Danville	3	13	1	4	177,499	44,375	87	87	89.2	4	177,499	5	0
Residential	1600 – Pittsylvania County	46	68	2	27	3,476,614	128,763	196	248	92.5	17	1,840,114	29	3
Residential	1700 – Halifax County	3	3	0	0			123	123		0		1	0
Residential	1900 – City of Lynchburg	6	19	3	12	1,734,500	144,542	187	199	95.9	6	801,900	9	1
Residential	2000 – Campbell County	12	29	2	10	1,932,884	193,288	148	149	93.0	6	888,699	10	0
Residential	2100 – Appomattox County	4	6	1	1	27,299	27,299	107	107	78.0	1	27,299	1	0
Residential	2200 – Amherst County	5	6	0	2	265,700	132,850	137	137	92.8	0		5	0
Residential	2300 – City of Buena Vista	1	1	0	0			64	64		0		0	0
Residential	2500 – Rockbridge County	8	16	2	4	977,000	244,250	184	198	100.0	4	977,000	14	0
Residential	2600 – City of Covington	0	2	1	1	87,000	87,000	151	151	97.8	0		2	0
Residential	2700 – Alleghany County	10	27	1	14	2,190,046	156,432	116	143	89.6	9	1,260,146	16	0
Residential	2800 – Giles County	3	4	0	1	24,900	24,900	49	49	100.0	0		0	0
Residential	3000 – Pulaski County	6	12	1	4	264,065	66,016	116	126	97.3	3	181,565	1	0
Residential	3100 – Wythe County	2	2	0	0			158	158		0		0	0
Residential	3300 – Carroll County	2	3	0	4	398,500	99,625	375	375	85.5	3	355,000	2	0
Residential	9900 – All Other Counties/Cities	5	11	1	4	260,887	65,222	112	120	92.9	4	260,887	10	0
Subtotal		3563	6677	665	3033	594,319,229	195,951	146	209	95.5	2,571	507,899,368	1919	143

 

Check Your Curb Appeal

If you’re thinking about selling a home or are currently trying to sell your home here’s a great article I just received from The Real Estate Book on sprucing up your curb appeal to compel buyers to choose yours as one the put on their list to actually come inside of.

If you have questions about buying or selling a home here in Roanoke, Virginia and our surrounding areas, please feel free to give our team a call at 540-725-7727, email me at thecrouchteam@gmail.com, or visit our website at http://www.thecrouchteam.com to discover more about our team, see the homes we currently have for sale, and to see what our past customers and clients had to say about their experience with our team.

Whether you’re a homeowner or Realtor® selling a home, it makes no difference – everyone wants a house that looks great from the curb. Curb appeal comes together when all the elements of a home’s facade are in good shape and working together. Driveways that are cracked or pitted with potholes, dingy front doors and shabby, scuffed mailboxes can all significantly detract from a home’s overall curb appeal.

Here is a handful of projects – many of them quick fixes – that can greatly enhance a home’s appearance for a quick sell.

Repair or resurface your driveway

For many homes, the driveway is one of the largest visual elements of the home’s overall curb appeal, ranking right up there with siding, the roof and the lawn. Concrete can crack and crumble, and asphalt develops potholes. Both can be repaired quickly and easily.

For any driveway repair, make sure the area to be repaired has been cleaned of debris and loose materials. Cleaning with a hose or pressuring washing can improve the entire surface.

Concrete driveways can develop different types of cracks: very small and shallow resembling a dry river bed; cracks between 1/8 and 1/4 inch wide; and cracks wider and deeper than 1/4 inch. Your choice of repair method will depend on how you want the finished product to look and how much time you have to make the repair.

Spruce up your mailbox

It sits at the end of your driveway and often plays a key role in helping guests find your house. Little things can mean a lot when it comes to creating curb appeal. While a mailbox that looks good might not get much attention, one that’s ugly or shabby is sure to draw the kind of attention you don’t want.

If you’re in a community that restricts the type of mailbox you can have, simply give your rusted, stained mailbox and the post it sits on a fresh coat of paint in its original color. If your community has no standards for mailboxes, you can swap out an ordinary looking box with something that compliments your exterior design. Does your home have a brick facade? Consider a mailbox set in or on a brick pillar. If your house features fieldstone accents, consider carrying that over to the mailbox with a small, stone-trimmed planting bed at its base.

Give your front door some TLC

The door is the point where your exterior design meets your interior décor. It’s also an element that significantly impacts how visitors view your home. Give yours a fresh coat of paint or stain, and don’t forget the trim around the door.

Next, consider lighting. Is the area around the door well lit? Good lighting is key for safety at night and to enhance the appeal of the area. Consider sconces beside the door or an attractive overhead fixture if your door has an awning, porch or overhang. Ground lights can accent the effect, either illuminating the pathway that leads to the door or lighting up the door itself.

Finally, take a look at the door hardware. Is the handle or knob looking rusted and shabby? Replacing worn or dated door hardware is an easy, cost-effective way to improve the overall look of your entryway.

Reprinted with permission from RISMedia. ©2014. All rights reserved.

How’s The Housing Market In Roanoke Virginia?

It’s about 5:15 on Monday evening and I know most, if not all of my sellers are wondering this as they patiently wait for just the right buyer to discover their home over all the other thousands that are for sale right now  as we continue to sit on over a nine month’s supply of inventory across our greater area with an average days on market of 207 for a home to sell.  So, to answer the question of how the housing market in Roanoke is, its bit better than it was in February of this year when we were sitting on over a 13 month’s supply of inventory.

Traditionally the next few weeks are a bit slow as the school year gets back in swing and the vacation season come to an end.  Generally it will pick up after Labor Day with buyers hoping to buy and settle in their new homes before the holiday season and before the winter months set it.  Fall has actually been one of my busiest times and a great time to buy and sell.  Interest rates are still hanging low and with lots of homes to choose from buyers will undoubtedly be out and about looking.

For sellers, being priced right and in great condition are both key to whether a buyer will choose yours over all the others they have to consider.  I encourage sellers to adjust the price every 30/45 days if it’s not selling or you aren’t having significant interest.  One of the worst things you can do is sit on the market month after month at a price that isn’t causing the home to sell and allow your home to become that home that’s been on the market forever.  It would be better to take it off the market and try again in the future if you can’t adjust the price.

In the end buyers are looking for price, condition, and location as three of the most important factors in their decision-making process.

How do you know if you’re priced right as a seller?  Have your agent do an updated market analysis for you to ensure that you remain competitively priced.  Just because a certain price made sense when you first listed the home doesn’t mean it’s the right price weeks or months down the road.  It’s all about supply and demand like any other product.  The more there is to choose from the less the value.  And if other homes have come on the market and/or sold since you first put your home on the market then you have to seriously consider if your price is still competitive.

If you are a buyer and need to know if you’re getting a fair price on a home or the best deal possible your agent should do the exact same thing, prepare a market analysis on the home you’re considering buying to see how it’s priced in comparison to others that are for sale and recently sold.  This is how the appraiser for the bank will go about determining how much the bank is willing to lend on the property it’s just a more detailed reporting system than what’s generated through the multiple listing service is most cases.

The average sales price year to date here in Roanoke, Virginia is $194,595 and the average list to sales price ratio is 95.4% meaning that on average homes are selling for 95.4% of what they’re listed for.  If I can answer any questions for you about our local housing market, please call me at 540-725-7727 or email me at thecrouchteam@gmail.com.

For more information on our team, to see the homes we currently have for sale, and to discover what our past customers and clients had to say about their experience with our team, please visit our website at http://www.thecrouchteam.com.  We would love to help you with all your housing needs.

Thank you for reading.

 

 

 

What Home Improvements Actually Add Value To A Home

So this is a question that often comes up when I’m talking with customers and clients about helping them sell their home.  When I ask what they’ve done to the home that they feel would either impact the value or be important for a buyer to know I get all kinds of responses including some of these:

New roof, new windows, new siding, new heating & cooling, updated electrical, updated plumbing, remodeled kitchen, remodeled bath, finished the basement, new flooring, fresh paint, new lighting fixtures, new faucets, added a garage, landscaping, pool, hot tub, ponds, and the list can go on.

A couple of thoughts and questions to ask yourself when considering making home improvements:

1.  Are you doing this for your own enjoyment or are you doing this to add value for selling the home down the road?

2.  Is this something all homes need?

3.  Is this something that is necessary in order to continue living in the home?

4.  Is this something you would be willing to pay extra for if you were a buyer in the market to buy a home?

5.  Is this something that would cause you to choose this home over another you may be considering if you were a buyer?

Some things add value and some things are just necessary as a part of home ownership.  For instance, all homes need roofs that don’t leak, electrical and plumbing that is safe and free and clear of leaks, all homes need gutters that don’t leak, and heating and cooling that works and isn’t at the end of its useful life.  These types of things aren’t necessarily going to give you more money when it comes time to sell however will help a buyer choose yours over another home that hasn’t been maintained and updated.

Other improvements like remodeling kitchens and baths or fresh paint and new floors can add some value.  Buyers love new kitchens and new baths, they also like fresh paint and new flooring which offers that move in ready feel with nothing that needs to be done so that can also cause a buyer to choose your home over the competition.  Anytime you add heated square footage you add value.  I say heated because if it’s not heated then an appraiser can’t count it toward your total finished square footage.

Another thing that seems to often come up is folks finishing a basement and making additional bedrooms.  In order to market it as a bedroom and have it appraise as a bedroom it has to have a window that someone can actually crawl out of and a usable closet.  If it doesn’t then your listing agent won’t be able to count it as a bedroom.

If you do choose to remodel your kitchen, baths, paint, and flooring be careful with the colors and styles you choose as we are all individual people and have different tastes and likes.  If you are doing it for your own personal enjoyment with no plans on selling then have it with the colors and designs of your choice.  If you are doing it and selling the home is even remotely on your radar within the next few years use caution when making style and color choices, neutral is always a safe bet.

Unfortunately pools and hot tubs don’t add much value as the next homeowner may not want either much less the added maintenance and expense.  Landscaping is great and certainly improves the curb appeal enticing buyers to hopefully choose your home over the other thousands to come inside and see.  Curb appeal is critical in selling as most buyers are shopping online first and then riding by to see the outside and location before ever deciding which homes they want to walk into.  The cleaner, brighter, more appealing your curb appeal the better chance of getting showings.

There are fewer showings in today’s market than ever before due to the internet and buyers having access to so much more information than they have ever had before.  GPS and Google Maps gives them the exact location and like I said in most cases as a seller you’re going through a two-step elimination process before the buyers ever come through your front door.  Speaking of internet, how your home shows in photos and online is critical.  You will want to do some of the things things before putting your home out there for the world to see:

1.  Remove all valuable belongings or put them in a safe

2.  Declutter everything and every room.  The cleaner, more organized, and more spacious the home looks, the better

3.  Create a light and bright feel by making sure all light bulbs are replaced and that all rooms have a light buyers can turn on when viewing your home

4.  If something needs to be painted or replaced to have the home show better than do it

5.  Power wash the outside, decks, and walkways so they’re crisp and clean

6.  Remulch if necessary

7.  Plant some bright flowers at the entrance so they can be seen from the road

8.  Organize your cabinets and closets, the buyers will want to see if there’s enough storage space.. the more spacious and organized you make things the better off

9.  Keep your yard nicely maintained

10. If you have tons of stuff on walls and counter tops.. clean it up.

Walking around your house and through the house with a notepad and imagining yourself as the buyer touring your home is always a good idea.  See things that a buyer would notice and make sure you’ve got it in selling condition.  Across the Roanoke area we are sitting on over a 10 month’s supply of inventory so there is not a scarcity of homes for buyers to choose from.  If yours isn’t priced competitively and in good condition, they have plenty of others to choose from and will simply move on to the next one on their list.

Over the last year buyers have become more knowledgeable than ever before and are putting together their own lists of homes to see along with all the information about the home, what you paid for it, what you’ve done to it, what your neighbors homes have sold for, what the tax assessed value is, what the person before you paid, and the demographics of your area.   Sellers have to think like a buyer now a days if they want to sell vs sit on the market.

If you are thinking about buying or selling a home in the Roanoke, Virginia area our team would love to help you.  We work with a lot of folks in the area and have been able to sell 57 homes already this year.  Together we have over 40 years combined experience and a goal to create customers for life.  We realize this can only be done by taking excellent care of all our customers and clients.  Please visit our website to discover more about our team, see the homes we currently have for sale, and to learn what others had to say about their experience with our team.

 

 

Don’t Forget These Costs When Buying A Home

Just came across this post below about the expenses involved with buying a home and thought it was worthy of sharing for those of you who are thinking about buying a home in the near future.

Speaking of which, if you are considering buying or selling a home in Roanoke, Virginia and surrounding areas our team would love the opportunity to interview with you and apply for the job of helping you.

We work with a lot of folks here in the area and together offer over 40 years combined experience and have participated in closing thousands of real estate transactions over the years. We are committed to providing excellent service with proven results and realize this can only be done by taking terrific of our customers and clients the first time around!

To discover more about our team and to see how we can be of support to you, please visit our website at http://www.thecrouchteam.com, call me at 540-725-7727 or email me at christycrouch@aol.com.

Here is the post I wanted to share with you:

Don’t Forget These Costs When Buying a Home
By: Anne Miller

Dont Forget These Costs When Buying a Home photoYou’ve crunched the mortgage rates, estimated your tax payments, and taken a realistic look at how much house you can afford. You’ve stuck within your range when scouring the realtor.com® listings, being careful not to bust your budget.

But there are more expenses involved in home buying than just the property costs. And those additional payments, if you don’t factor them in, can be high enough to derail your conscientious planning.

Home-Buying Expenses: Add Them Up

Here are the line items you should keep in mind.

Buying Costs

You’ve got your mortgage pre-approved, but that’s not all you will need to fork over to get the keys to your new place. Services that need paying:

Your buyer’s agent fee
An appraisal to confirm a reasonable market price for the property
Inspections of structural, mechanical, pest or other potential issues
A real estate attorney to review all contracts (depending on the state)
Property taxes vary widely, up to 4.2% of a home’s value in some states, according to a CNN map published in 2013. Depending on when you buy, you may owe the previous owners for property taxes they have already paid. You may also need to pay fees to a local association, such as a homeowners association.

Moving Costs

Moving into a home can involve major expenses for packing, storing and transporting your possessions and yourself. If you are moving across the country, the costs could be significant. Even moving across town can cost more than you planned for truck rental, movers and equipment.

Utilities

Setting up your telephone, electricity, gas and water—did you budget for these expenses? They could cost more at your new place, especially if you’re moving to a larger home or from a rental.

New Stuff

You may need to purchase appliances or furniture for your new home. Some items, like your old particle board bookshelves, may not be worth the cost of moving. Again, if you are sizing up, you face the potentially fun, but possibly financially draining, challenge of filling the new place.

Maintenance and Renovations

Trees fall on roofs. Gutters need cleaning. Driveways need repair…. A standard rule of thumb is to budget at least 1% of your home’s purchase price each year for home maintenance costs.

Maintenance can include things such as painting, replacing roof shingles, fixing or upgrading plumbing and wiring. The amount you will need to pay for maintenance can depend on the age of the home, the previous owners’ upkeep and the climate.

Homeowner’s Insurance

You won’t be able to obtain a mortgage without homeowner’s insurance covering both the property and its contents. However, the standard insurance may not cover natural disasters such as floods, tornadoes and earthquakes. Depending on where you live, you may want to consider taking out additional insurance to cover such risks.

Private Mortgage Insurance and Title Insurance

If the down payment on your home was less than 20% of the purchase price, you will have to pay for Private Mortgage Insurance. PMI protects your lender in case you default. It’s standard, and fees vary. The rules are complicated, but usually once you have paid down the mortgage so you owe less than 78% of the purchase price, you can drop the PMI payments.

Title insurance offers protection for you (and your lender) if you later discover that someone else could lay claim to the title, and therefore ownership, of the house.

Even if you are lucky enough to avoid paying for PMI, you find a low-cost attorney you can trust, and you have a modern, energy-efficient house, these expenses can still add up to thousands of dollars. That prospect should not scare you away from homeownership, but it always helps to be prepared.

Updated from an earlier version by Ben Apple.

What’s The Difference Between A Listing Agent & A Buyer’s Agent

This is a question I think more and more consumers are facing as the real estate business continues to evolve.  There is so much more information available online than we ever imagined having access to a couple of decades ago.  Having been in the business personally now for almost 24 years I can say that it’s an entirely different business today than it was when I first started.  That’s with anything in life though and as I always tell the agents I coach and train; the only constant is change!

While having instant access to so much information is great in many aspects, it can also get a bit overwhelming and even confusing at times.  I just had a first time buyer reach out to me on Zillow.com as a result of seeing our references and reviews from past customers and clients and wanted to interview with us to be their buyers agent.  As we were emailing back and forth and I was giving information and answering questions she said exactly that, wow this is all a bit overwhelming which prompted me to write this post.

So here is a quick overview of what a listing agent does:

1.  Market and advertise the home

2.  Generally they provide a professional sign and a lockbox for other agents to be able to access and show the home

3.  Generally they place the home in a multiple listing service that other local agents have access to so that they can see all the homes that are currently for sale.

4.  They should give the seller tips and advice on things that can be done help the home show best and explain the entire home selling process to them

5.  They should go over comparable properties and values and help the seller choose a list price

6.  They should explain all disclosures that will need to be signed and what this means

7.  They should coordinate showings with other agents and hopefully follow-up to get feedback from the showings that takes place and then communicate that with their seller

8.  If feasible they will help the seller negotiate acceptable price and terms when an offer comes in.  There are agency issues to be considered and this is something I can talk further about if you have questions please give me a call at 540-725-7727 or an email at christycrouch@aol.com and I’ll explain the different types of Agency and the impact it can have.

9.  They should help facilitate the closing process and keep the seller informed along the way as things occur which could include but not be limited to scheduling inspections, walk through, repair work if applicable, appraisal walk through, closing time, coordinating funds, transfer of utilities, etc.

10.They should have the seller sign a listing agreement specifying the above tasks being done generally for a specified time period.

While many sellers think the listing agent they hire may be the one showing the home and ultimately selling it, this is generally not the case.  In fact, other agents and companies will likely show the home way more often than the listing agent simply due to the numbers factor.  In the Roanoke, Virginia area we have just over 1,000 active Realtors so obviously 1,000 Realtors will have access to more buyers than just the listing agent.  If the listing agent has a buyer then it behooves them to show it and sell it if at all possible as they’ll get paid more money that way in more cases.  And it costs an agent time and money to carry a listing so it’s really an investment on their part and the sooner they are able to turnover their inventory the better off for both them and the seller.

This is just a brief overview of what a listing agent does as each individual agent and company have their own marketing plan with different things they do to gain maximum exposure for a home and to provide service to their clients.

Here is  quick overview of what a buyer’s agent does:

1.  They should explain the entire home buying process to the buyer so the buyer goes into it with eyes wide open knowing exactly what to expect

2.  They should encourage the buyer to get pre approved for a loan up front so the buyer knows exactly what price range to be looking under in order to keep their payments where they’re comfortable.  Many times a buyer qualifies for more than they really want to spend so having the lender work the figures backwards to ensure payments stay where they want is ideal.

3.  They should have a conversation with the buyer to determine what type of home and what locations are of interest and then research the entire market to ensure the buyer has access to all homes that are available and then keep the buyer posted as anything new comes on the market based on what they’re looking for and show them any homes that are of interest.

4.  If feasible they will assist the buyer in making an offer once the buyer finds the right home. Again there are agency issues here to be considered as well.

5.  They will help the buyer schedule their formal loan application, home inspections, closing time, walk through, utilities, and coordinating funds for closing.

Many buyers are shopping online nowadays and then driving by the outsides of homes before they ever schedule a time to see the inside.  Truly it’s become almost like a two step elimination process where they’ve already seen everything about the home online and driven by in most cases before they ever walk through the front door.  This saves the buyer, seller, and Realtor time but more importantly it brings better quality showings for both the buyer and the seller.  It’s a bit frustrating for sellers because they’re not seeing the same level of activity and showings as what they did years ago before buyers had access to so much information online.  I do think it’s much more productive for both buyers and sellers nowadays.  Buyers don’t have to be drug into house after house that doesn’t meet their needs just because the Realtor thinks it’s the home for them as now they get to choose which homes they look at, and sellers don’t have to deal with buyer after buyer traipsing through their home just for the sake of looking at it.  It’s much better quality time spent for all parties involved.

In fact, over the last year we’ve sold two homes to buyers from out of the area who never saw the property in person.  It’s amazing where technology has brought us.  I just closed on a home today with some first time buyers who only actually walked into 5 or 6 homes but shopped through literally hundreds online and driving by as our market still holds over an 11 month’s supply of inventory for buyers to choose from.  They were able to view hundreds of homes from the comfort of their own home in privacy and then choose the ones that best suited them for us to go see.

I hope this helps to give an overview of what the difference between a listing agent and a buyers agent is.  If I can answer further questions for you or you are thinking of buying or selling a home in Roanoke, Virginia and surrounding areas, I would love the opportunity for our team to interview with you and apply for the job of helping you.  Together we have over 40 years combined experience and have participated in closing thousands of transactions during the course of our career.  For you this means we’ve come across almost every possible scenario that can arise allowing us to hopefully provide you with a headache free experience when buying or selling a home.

We’ve been blessed to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from RE/MAX, inducted into The RE/MAX Hall Of Fame, recognized in the top 10 for the Central Atlantic Region, recognized in the top 100 by The Roanoker Magazine, and are in the top 2.3% of our market for production.  We offer a fully staffed team to ensure no detail is overlooked and that all your needs are taken care of.  We’ve been blessed to help 50 families buy and sell already this year and will be sure to take excellent care of you should you given the opportunity.  To put one of the highest recognized teams to work for you today simply call The Crouch Team 540-725-7727 or email us at christycrouch@aol.com or you may learn more about us on our website at http://www.thecrouchteam.com.  Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Trulia, Zillow,  http://www.zillow.com/profile/thecrouchteam YouTube, Realtor.com, RE/MAX.com, and The Real Estate Book.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great News For First Time Buyers.. An Award for Roanoke Being One Of The Most Livable Cities, And A Successful Blue Ridge Marathon

So I just read the below quick posts from The Roanoke Valley Association of Realtors and instantly wanted to share the good news!  Wow what a great opportunity for first time buyers to have a new way to save for their down payment.  And what an honor to know that we live in one of the most livable cities.  People truly come from all over the world to see the mountain views we enjoy every day here in Roanoke, Virginia!

I was truly excited to read how well our Blue Ridge Marathon did this year as well both with attracting runners from all over the world and for having such a positive economic impact for Roanoke at the same time.  From having personally ran and completed it 🙂 it 2013 I can say first hand, its one of the toughest courses you can run.  It was also breathtakingly beautiful and a huge success for me to have been able to complete my first marathon ever right here in my own home town with some very dear friends.  We crossed the finish line together within only seconds of each other and stayed together throughout the course.

I love being able to help home buyers and sellers find just the right home here in the Roanoke Valley.  If you are thinking of buying or selling here in our area, our team would love the opportunity to interview with you and apply for the job of helping you.  Our goal is to create customers for life and we realize this can only be accomplished by taking excellent care of you every step of the way.  To discover more about our team and to see the homes we currently have for sale please visit our website at http://www.thecrouchteam.com.

Here are the three articles I wanted to share:

New Law Addresses First-time Homebuyers On July 1, 2014, a new law takes effect that makes it easier for Virginians to save for their first homes. Thanks to theVirignia Association of REALTORS’ 2014 signature legislation, Virginians will now be able to invest up to $50,000 in financial institutions like credit unions and banks or directly in mutual funds, brokerage accounts, or almost any other financial vehicle and declare them first-timehomebuyer savings plans.The gains or earnings on the investment are free of state taxes, and the funds can be used for down payments and closing costs on first home purchases in the Commonwealth. Whether it’s a grandparent opening an account for a newborn or a recent college grad looking to the future, first-time homebuyer savings plans will reinforce the idea that setting a little something aside today will make it easier to buy a home tomorrow. Click here for more information.

Roanoke Named One of America’s Most Livable Cities The City of Roanoke received the Outstanding Achievement Award from the U.S. Conference of Mayors, marking it as one of the country’s most livable cities.The winners were chosen from a pool of more than 200 applicants by an independent panel of judges, and recognizes mayoral leadership in developing and implementing programs that improve the quality of life in America’s cities.In Roanoke’s case, it was the City’s Parks and Art program that earned it the award. The program brings various performance and visual arts to neighborhood parks throughout the City.Four other cities in Roanoke’s size category received the award. Blue Ridge Marathon Brings Largest Economic Impact to Date More racersfromout of town brought more money into the Roanoke Region’s economy during the fifth annualFootLevelers Blue Ridge Marathon, half marathon and Anthem Star 10K. “America’s Toughest Road Marathon” hosted 1,594 runners who generated over $521,000 in economic impact according to a new report released by the Roanoke Regional Partnership. Over the past five years, the race has contributed more than $2 million to the local economy.The economic impact is larger this year as a result of increased participation by runners from outside the Roanoke Region. The race drew runners from 38 states plus the District of Columbia — and six countries: Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy and Switzerland.The race course started in downtown Roanoke and climbed to the top of Mill Mountain and Roanoke Mountain along sections of the Blue Ridge Parkway for a total elevation change of 7,430 feet.

Home For The Holiday?

Here’s a fun read from RE/MAX International that I wanted to share for the 4th! If you are thinking of buying or selling a home in Roanoke, Virginia or surrounding areas our team would love the opportunity to interview with you and apply for the job of helping you.

We’ve helped 45 families buy and sell so far this year and with over 40 years combined experience I feel we have the expertise and experience you deserve when making one of biggest purchases and / or sales of your life.

To discover more about our team, see the homes we have for sale, and to see what our past customers and clients had to say, please visit our website at http://www.thecrouchteam.com or call us at 540-725-7727.

Home: As American as Apple Pie
Mon, June 30, 2014
Happy Birthday, America!

In the spirit of celebrating the Fourth of July, we turned to famous Americans for their thoughts about home, homeownership and the feeling of sanctuary that comes with having your own place.

Private property was the original source of freedom.
Walter Lippmann

Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.
Robert Frost

Decorate your home. It gives the illusion that your life is more interesting than it really is.
Charles M. Schulz

The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.
Maya Angelou

I’d rather be on my farm than be emperor of the world.
George Washington

A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body.
Benjamin Franklin

There is nothing more important than a good, safe, secure home.
Rosalynn Carter

Where thou art, that is home.
Emily Dickinson

A man’s home may seem to be his castle on the outside; inside, it is more often his nursery.
Clare Boothe Luce

I told my mother-in-law that my house was her house, and she said, “Get the [bleep] off my property.”
Joan Rivers

A Quiet Place

So I just came to the library in between appointments and while I’ve been to the library before, I’ve never come here to work.  What an amazing place to sit quietly and be able to think and create!  I will definitely be doing this more often.

So while I was leading a coaching call today with a Realtor from Texas and a Realtor from New York, we were sharing about how things are going in our different housing markets.  As I was coaching them I did a little research and discovered that we currently have over a TEN month’s supply of housing inventory here in the Roanoke, Virginia market.

I have done research on our local housing market statistics up to the end of April on many different numbers but hadn’t recently checked our actual month’s supply of inventory.  I was shocked to see it was that high and concerned at the same time.  I just posted last week about there being sunny days ahead predicted for the housing industry according to an email I received from our Board of Realtors.  While I was excited to read that email and share it with you I have to admit it’s been a bit on the flat side based on what I thought this year’s housing market was supposed to look like.

Initially I thought it was all the winter weather we had and that it was going to “burst” open at some point.  I haven’t seen that happen quite yet.  Of course, everything is subject to opinion and the housing market is no exception.  You can research how the housing market is doing and is looking for the future and get ten different answers.  Just like you do when you research to try to diagnose your own health issues unfortunately.

Here is what I know to be true year to date in our housing market here in Roanoke, Virginia:

There are currently 3,590 homes for sale across the areas that our Board of Realtors covers.  There are 753 pending sales, 1,330 have closed so far this year, the average sales price is $183,952, the average list to ales price ratio is 95.10% meaning homes are selling for an average of 95.10% of their list price, and the average cumulative days on market is 208.

My hope and expectation is that our local housing market will remain steady and consistent as we move further into this year.  We may have some slow weeks with the end of the school year, graduations, and start of the vacation season upon us.  The good news is, despite all that people will still be buying and selling!  Sure, Spring  is a great time to sell while the grass is green and flowers are in bloom and the weather is nice but buyers buy all year long.  I’ve even sold a house on Christmas Eve before!  It’s all about everyone’s individual plans, goals, needs, and lives changing as they always do.

If your home is on the market or you are thinking of selling your home, don’ t lose hope.  There is a buyer for every home, just like you when you bought your home!  Over the last 24 years I’ve come to realize that in the end there are three things that sell a home and that’s price, condition, and location, you can obviously control the first two so, do!  Think through the eyes of a buyer.. what price do you really feel your home should be at to sell vs sit?  What things from the outside in need to be taken care of, fixed, spruced up, or addressed in order to be in what we now call “staged” condition.  If you have questions, need help or ideas please call me at 540-725-7727 or email me at christycrouch@aol.com.

Buyers, I’m telling you now is a GREAT time to buy.  As I mentioned above you have tons of homes to choose from, interest rates are still favorably low, and there are more and more loan programs coming available every day.

As I sit here in this quiet library I just heard a phone ring loudly literally as I’m typing this and the ring tone was, Our God Is An Awesome God.  Before I started typing this I got a text from a girlfriend sharing that she had prayed this morning for God to help her be more bold in her faith and witnessing and she shared a story about the woman who was doing her nails and that the conversation ended up with her inviting her to church.

I just took a deep breath as I sit here and I truly realize that yes, Our God Is An Awesome God, and he is in control of all of it.  The housing market, whether a house will sell, whether a loan gets approved for a buyer, if the appraisal goes through, if the other agent does their job, if my team members do a great job, if the inspections go through, if our buyers find their perfect dream home and if and if and if could go on and on.

I just want to use this time and this platform to be completely vulnerable and transparent and to thank God for all that he has done for me, my friends, family, customers, clients, and my business.  I believe he has a hand in my life in a way that he has never had before and I am excited about that, open to it and praying that he does good things for each and every one of you who is reading this.

“He who helps those who help themselves “.  As I continue to work hard and evolve as a business owner, mother, daughter, sister, granddaughter, friend and coach, I pray that God will work his will in my life and those around me.  That he will give me the knowledge, strength, energy, persistence, and vitality it takes to continue strongly, successfully, healthily, and happily.

And no I am not going to be Blogging solely about religion and God for those of you who  may be slightly offended by the experience and information I’ve just shared with you but I will boldly allow God in my business and for him to have his will with it.

If you are thinking of buying or selling a home in the Roanoke, Virginia and surrounding areas I would love for our team to interview with you and apply for the job of helping you.  We have been blessed enough to sell over 34 homes so far this year and have a team with 50+ years experience to ensure your taken great care of.  Visit our website for more information and to see the awesome homes we have for sale at http://www.thecrouchteam.com