San Francisco Real Estate Podcast with Durwin Cheung Durwin Cheung

If you’re interested in a home, what should you offer for it? Today, I’ve got some key tips. Buying a San Francisco Home? Search All Homes For Sale Selling Your San Francisco Home? Get a Free Home Value Report  When you see a house you’re interested in as a buyer, what should you offer? It’s easy to wonder when you see a list price whether you should offer more, offer less, or offer at the asking price. This is where your Realtor comes in. They will help you determine the best course of action. One of the first things you should consider is the length of time the house has spent on the market. If a property has been on the market for a long time, don’t offer more than they’re asking. In fact, you should probably offer less. Before coming up with a price, you also need to look at comparable properties. Look at homes that are similar in size, bedroom count, bathroom count, and other important aspects. What are they selling for? The patterns you might notice across these homes could help you formulate your offer. The right Realtor will help you determine the best course of action. But you can’t just look at the comparable properties. These properties are ones that sold in the past. You also need to look at what’s currently selling. Consider the level of interest being shown in those homes and in the one you’re interested in. The more people interested in a given home, the higher the price it will sell for. This is what a good agent will do for you. They’ll consider all of these aspects and will also talk to the listing agent for you. If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Year over year, prices increased in our third quarter much in the same way we’ve seen over the past decade. Buying a San Francisco Home? Search All Homes For Sale Selling Your San Francisco Home? Get a Free Home Value Report How do the numbers from our third quarter market stack up against the numbers we saw from the third quarter of 2016? Let’s take a look at the latest data. The median sales price for single-family homes rose 6.8% from $1.3 million to $1.4 million. For condos and lofts, the median sales price rose 11.4% from $1.1 million to $1.2 million. These increases are typical of the pattern we’ve been seeing in our market over the past 10 years or so, which is a healthy indication. The average days on market for single-family homes dropped 18.1% from 36.3 days to 29.8 days. For condos and lofts, the average dropped 0.4% from 54.6 days to 54.4 days. The price per square foot for single-family homes rose 6.1% from $857 to $909. The price for condos and lofts rose 2.2% from $1,038 to $1,061. The median sales price for single-family homes and condos and lofts rose once again. The number of sold listings for single-family homes rose 2.3% from 571 units to 584 units. For condos and lofts, the number dropped 15.5% from 663 units to 550 units. Single-family homes typically sell faster than condos here in San Francisco because there is only so much land to go around, and you can’t just build them on top of each other the way you can with condos. The list-to-sale price ratio for single-family homes rose 4.5% from 111.4% to 116.4%. The ratio for condos and lofts rose 1.3% from 104.2% to 105.6%. Lastly, the supply of inventory for single-family homes dropped 35.1% from 2.8 months to 1.8 months. For condos and lofts, the supply dropped 26% from 3.4 months to 2.5 months. This low level of inventory explains why prices are staying strong. If you have any more questions about our San Francisco market or you’re thinking of buying or selling a home soon, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d be glad to help you.

What is the difference between a home warranty and home insurance? I’ll explain today. Buying a San Francisco Home? Search All Homes For Sale Selling Your San Francisco Home? Get a Free Home Value Report Home insurance is very different from a home warranty. The difference is similar to the difference between car insurance and a car warranty. If you get in an accident driving your car, insurance will cover it. If something is broken in the car, then your warranty will cover it. The same can be said for home insurance and home warranties. For example, if there is a fire and your house burns down, or if there is a water leak in your property, home insurance will cover the repairs. A home warranty will give you peace of mind for the first year of homeownership. A home warranty covers things like appliances or plumbing in your unit. If those items were to fail, you wouldn’t have to pay out of pocket for repairs. One of my clients bought a house and a month later the waste line under the garage burst. He called the home warranty company and they came out and got that fixed for him. Without the warranty, he would have had to pay $3,000 out of pocket. A home warranty is very important for that first year after you purchase your home. They only cost around $500 to $550 tops and they give you peace of mind. If you have any other questions about home warranties or home insurance, just give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

If you want to reinforce your offer as a buyer, write a “love letter” to go along with it to let the seller know who you are and why you’d be a great candidate to buy their house. Buying a San Francisco Home? Search All Homes For Sale Selling Your San Francisco Home? Get a Free Home Value Report Whenever one of my buyers writes an offer for a house, there’s a “love letter” attached to it. What is a real estate love letter, though? Why should you consider writing one when trying to buy a house? This kind of letter tells the seller who you are—your background, why you’re interested in the house, etc. Sometimes, I even see pictures attached to these types of letters. This way, the seller gets a better idea of who’s buying their house, whether or not they’ll be able to take good care of it, and other things of that nature. This letter is all the more important nowadays because buyers and sellers don’t meet as often as they used to. Without a love letter, all a seller sees is a purchase agreement and its terms. Just to be clear, the purchase price and terms are the most important parts of an offer, but you should still write a love letter because it might give you the nod over another prospective buyer in a multiple offer situation. Without a love letter, all a seller sees is a purchase agreement. For example, if you and another buyer write two offers for the same property and the prices and terms are the same, the seller might accept yours because they know who you are and know you spent the time to write the letter in the first place. In their eyes, you probably care about the house a little bit more. These letters don’t need to be five-pages essays. Just write a simple, one-page letter and you’ll be fine. If you have any questions about this topic or you’re thinking about buying or selling a home in the San Francisco area, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I’d love to help you.

Do you think you’re cut out for a career in real estate? Whether you’ve got experience or not, my team and I are looking for passionate individuals who want to join us and do great things. Buying a San Francisco Home? Search All Homes For Sale Selling Your San Francisco Home? Get a Free Home Value Report Have you ever wondered if you have what it takes to become a real estate agent? The first thing you need to do is ask some honest questions about yourself. Consider if you’re a hard worker, if you are persistent, or if you have any sales skills. Even though having previous experience in sales isn’t absolutely necessary, it will definitely give you a boost in a real estate career. What’s actually more important is having service skills. Personally, I think real estate is much more of a service business than a sales one. You’ve really got to know how to talk to people, how to negotiate, and how to keep pushing forward to make great deals. These things are very important. Real estate is much more of a service business than a sales one. Also, remember that real estate transactions are usually some of the biggest and most significant transactions people will make in their lives. Representing people in this position means you’ll need a lot of integrity. Right now, my team and I are seeking out passionate individuals to fill a role in our group. We’re considering people both with and without experience, so we’d love to hear from you. If you’re interested in working together and doing great things, if you have any other questions, or if you would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

What makes a successful real estate agent? Today I’ll lay out the most important qualities a successful agent should have. Buying a San Francisco Home? Search All Homes For Sale Selling Your San Francisco Home? Get a Free Home Value Report This is a common question that I’m asked. We’re not talking about getting a license and becoming a real estate agent, but about what it takes for you to become a successful Realtor. The prevailing myth is that you take your clients out to show them a few properties and boom— you sell them a house and you’re done. That scenario makes up only 10% of what an agent does. To even get to that point, you need to first get clients. How are you going to find these clients? You need to display some qualities that will attract these clients. The first is that you need to show people that you actually care for their welfare as your client, and that you aren’t just looking for a quick commission check. This means that you’re there to protect them from any issues along the way. You need to show clients that you care about them, not just a commission check. If you’re representing a buyer, you want to make sure that the house you’re showing them is the one that they’re looking for. You also need to be ready to negotiate on their behalf if something is wrong with the home or it needs repairs. If you’re representing a seller, you’re there to help them sell their home for top dollar. You need to be sure that you can demonstrate that you have the marketing skills to find them the right buyer who will pay the right price for their home. It’s not easy to be a successful real estate agent, but it’s achievable with hard work, integrity, and demonstrating that you care for your clients and will represent them to the best of your ability. If you have any questions about this topic or you’re looking to buy or sell a home, please give me a call. I would be happy to help!