Realtors: We ARE The App

Many would consider this the heyday of real estate, but necessarily for real estate professionals.

As consumers, there are tons of real estate sites out there with the singular goal of connecting you to whatever facet of real estate you need to find.  Things you may not even have considered to be part of real estate — like finding a place to rent, or a moving company — are all easily accessible via the internet, and many have customized search engines and can send notifications right to your phone.  It truly is real estate in real time.

Credit: http://www.mom-psych.com

There are many benefits to being able to leverage technology.  For example, if you’re looking for a home, you can tell Trulia or Zillow to show you any property in any price range in any location, and ask it to send any properties with these criteria to your email.  (Trulia is owned by Zillow, by the way.)  You can look to rent.com (owned by eBay) to find rentals exactly the same way, and finding a place to rent on Craigslist is becoming a more and more popular option.  But as a Realtor, I hold myself to a higher standard, and I want to help you to have an accurate picture of what to expect.

First, it’s important to know who you are dealing with.  I have customers all of the time who ask me to help them find a place to rent, and they will often supplement their search by surfing Craigslist ads (which are commonly not listed on the MLS, since it costs money).  The challenge is finding out if the person who owns the property you want to rent is a legitimate landlord, or if you will end up giving your rent deposit and social security number to a total thief who has extra copies of the house keys.  That’s a pretty risky move if you have no way to verify who they are.

Second, it’s important to recognize that Zillow and Trulia, as helpful as they can be, are generally outdated.  Often, I have clients who shoot me great properties they’ve found on Zillow, only to find out they’ve been under contract for a week or two already.  Also, Zillow provides a property estimate called a “Zestimate,” and they are very hit-or-miss when it comes to accuracy because the algorithms they use often do not take everything necessary into account to produce a proper valuation.

Luckily for you, that’s a large part of why Realtors are still so valuable — we have the resources to augment the tools you have at your fingertips.  We have access to a tool that is better than Zillow — we call it the Multiple Listing Service.  In fact, do you know where all of those bright, shiny pictures that pop up on a Zillow property came from?  Yep, Zillow took them straight from our MLS.  If you’re looking at my listing on Zillow, I took those photos myself.  Also, we can set our MLS up to deliver the best new listings with all of your criteria — it goes straight to your email, the day the listing hits the market.

How about after you’ve bought a home, or you’ve owned one for a long time and want to see what it’s worth on the market today?  Setting your house at the right price is a critical determinant of whether your home sells or sits.  That’s a fair bit of knowledge to want, and Realtors are the only professionals with access to programs like RPR, which can help us show you all of the on-target data you’ll need to make the right decision for you.   You can do it.  I can help.

If you can use my help renting, buying, or selling a home, don’t hesitate to contact me at jeff.grana@gmail.com, or check us out at www.thehardmanteam.com.  Have a great week!

Newbie Homebuyer? Have No Fear.

When you are a first-time homebuyer, it’s easy to get worried about things.  You’ll be thinking things like, “It’s a LOT of money.  What if the house has termites and we don’t know it?  What if the roof has holes in it?  What if the seller is hiding something major from me, and I get screwed later, after the sale?  What if MY Realtor is like those other horror stories I’ve heard?  WHAT IF?”

We Have You Covered.

Well, that’s what I’m here for.  I’m here to tell you that I’m not like the Realtors you’ve heard horror stories about.  My team and I have a combined 31 years in the business.  The Hardman Team Realty’s ethos is never about chasing the dollar, but rather providing an uncommonly high level of service so that everyone in a transaction wins.  Heck, if you allow me to help you buy or sell your home, I’ll give you a 20% rebate (that is, 20% of my own commission at closing) if you are a Federal employee.  I’m not greedy, and I have your best interest at heart at all times.  I am not shy in negotiations, and have some pretty great successes under my belt.

Also, there are more than a few precautions we take to make sure that you won’t be “duped” into a home you aren’t expecting when you buy it.  I have no fewer than three trusted home inspectors, all of whom carry various certifications in construction, carpentry, electrical and plumbing.  These guys know what they’re looking at, and can tell you what to expect and what to steer clear of.  We have an inspection to determine termite damage before you close on the house, so you will have the opportunity to discuss any findings with the seller.  Also, my lenders are amazing, constantly finding ways to save you money while coming up with creative solutions to difficult problems.  And my Title companies have constantly proven to fix headaches before you even know they were headaches.

So let me put your worries at ease.  My mom raised an honest, ambitious man of high morals, and I can’t bear the thought of you being any less thrilled with your house than I am with mine.  Once you (or I) find a place that fits your needs, I have you covered.  

Contact me at Jeff.Grana@gmail.com, or on my cell at 630.306.3537, whenever you are ready.  Talk to you soon!

Commence Experting.

So.  Back in January, I mentioned that my wife and I finally found a home we liked.  We bought it, moved in, and began to paint and unpack.  Please forgive me for not having blogged since then — having new projects for every spare moment we have has overwhelmed me the past few months!

Credit: http://www.cyberwarzone.com

We care very much about our community now that we have a place we can call our home, and I am working diligently to become an absolute expert on the market in Falls Church, VA and her surrounding areas.  In the future, you will see posts specific to Falls Church, and specific to the Northern Virginia area.  So, my friends, here is a starter taste of what the market is doing out here:

Falls Church, VA is a unique little market.  In March, it carried just about seven weeks of inventory (remember, inventory is the length of time it would take to sell all existing homes on the market, if no new homes were listed).  This is about a week longer than the 5-year average for March, and right about equal to last March’s, if memory serves.  The average amount of time it took to sell a home was about 40 days, with a median sales price of $476,000 (19.3% lower than last year, and 13% lower than last month).  I’m not sure yet why home values dropped, but I am working to figure out why.  There were 21 homes sold in our zip code in March 2015, which is nearly 62% more than last year.

The good news for buyers is that a slight dip in home values (combined with easing conventional and FHA loan down payment requirements) can allow first-timers to get into an area that is highly sought after in the region without paying as high a premium for it as in years’ past.  (Heck, it worked for us.)  I’ll be watching our market very closely in the future to keep you posted!

Now this is just my opinion, but if you are getting ready to buy or sell your home, you need to ask your Realtor (only Realtors can use the trademarked Realtor logo, by the way) what area he or she covers.  If they tell you they will cover anywhere, or an overly broad area in your market, turn the other way.  If they have never sold homes in the area you are looking to buy, they will be nearly as blind as you about the specifics (like local laws and ordinances, being up to date on ongoing news and events, crime rates, and population trends).  All of these things will affect the purchase price of your home, as well as your home’s value once you live there.  Didn’t know they were planning on putting a nuclear power plant behind your house two years after you bought it?  In many states, it is your responsibility to have all pertinent knowledge at the time of the purchase, not your Realtor’s.  But wouldn’t it be nice to have a Realtor who does?

Thanks for your time, and we will talk again soon!