Maryland Real Estate Podcast with Ron Windsor Ron Windsor

We’re grateful for all of our clients and just wanted to wish you a very happy Thanksgiving this year. Looking to buy a home? Search all homes for sale  Selling your home? Get a FREE home value report Today I just want to take the time to say thank you to all of our wonderful clients. We’ve had a great year at The Windsor Group, and it’s all thanks to clients like you. Happy Thanksgiving and safe travels! Enjoy spending time with your friends and family this holiday season—I know we will. Have a great Thanksgiving! If you or your family have any questions about real estate, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I’m always happy to help you!

In order to properly prepare your home for winter, there are just a few simple maintenance precautions you should take. Looking to buy a home? Search all homes for sale  Selling your home? Get a FREE home value report As you might’ve noticed lately, winter is closing in on us fast. For all you homeowners out there, this means that you need to do a few things around your house to maintain its condition throughout the season. One of the most important things you can do is clean out the spouting of your home. If you let leaves and other debris build up, it will create ice jams. This can result in damage to your foundation. Another thing you can do is make sure your furnace is in good condition. This is something you should do before you have to use it to save yourself the inconvenience of it breaking down during a blizzard. You don’t want something breaking down during a blizzard. Finally, disconnect all the hoses from their bibs, otherwise the water in the hose will freeze and burst your pipes. Getting new pipes for your home is never cheap. If you have any questions about preparing your home for winter or anything else real estate-related, don’t hesitate to give me a call or shoot me an email. As always, thanks and have a wonderful day!

When we meet with sellers about listing their home, we like to go over our listing agreement. There are some finer points in our listing agreement that we will share with you today. Looking to buy a home? Search all homes for sale  Selling your home? Get a FREE home value report When we go out on appointments, there are three things we usually do. First, we'll tour the property. The second thing we will do is go over a comparative market analysis. Finally, we will go over our listing agreement contract. When we go over this document, there are some specific areas we like to point out: 1. The length of the contract. Most are usually around six months. We like to market the property for a specific period of time because it could take up to 90 days just to get you under contract. 2. The commission rate. Commissions in this market are totally negotiable. You and your agent will sit down, look at the numbers, and make a decision. Some properties don’t need as much marketing as others, so the commission won’t be as high. Commissions are totally negotiable. 3. Is there a way out? This is a question that inevitably comes up every time. There is definitely a way out. There will be a termination discussion at the table when you discuss the options with your agent. 4. The market privileges. There is a lot of verbiage in the contract to give your agent permission to market your property for a specific length of time at a specific rate up front. Talking about this agreement before listing allows us to market the property, find a buyer, and get your home sold to the best of our ability. If you have any questions for us at all, don’t hesitate to reach out and give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you.

When preparing your home for the market, there are a few home improvements and additions that will turn buyers off from your home. Don’t make these mistakes. Looking to buy a home? Search all homes for sale  Selling your home? Get a FREE home value report When making renovations or improvements to your home, deciding which projects to take on is incredibly important. Many times, sellers make the mistake of renovating their homes to match their specific styles and likings. This doesn’t always translate well when we list their property on the market. Here are my top seven mistakes to look out for: 1.    Too much wallpaper 2.    Lavish lighting fixtures 3.    Textured wall coverings 4.    The wrong flooring 5.    Too much carpet in high-traffic areas 6.    Bold wall colors 7.    Swimming pools/hot tubs While some of these improvements may suit your tastes, it’s important to appeal to a wide variety of buyers by keeping the paint, flooring, and décor of your home relatively neutral.   When painting or renovating, keep all colors neutral. If you have any other questions about which improvements will benefit your home or anything else related to real estate in our area, give me a call or send me an email. I’d be happy to point you in the right direction.

What exactly is a home inspection? I’m not a licensed home inspector in the state of Maryland, but I can tell you that it’s basically a second round of negotiations. This does not open up the position for the buyer to start negotiating a different sale price for the property. What we’re negotiating, instead, is what the buyer wants to have repaired, and what the seller is willing to repair. The items that are not typically negotiated are cosmetic issues like painting. The focus of these negotiations, rather, will usually concentrate on major structural or mechanical issues such as plumbing, electrical, roofing, or siding. Anything that can hinder the energy or the efficiency of the property will be where the buyers make their requests. When I’m representing the buyer, I make sure we keep our repairs to a targeted agreement. By this, I mean outlining their five major concerns about the property and presenting them to the seller. If I’m representing the seller and we happen to be getting a laundry list of small issues that the buyer wants to be repaired, we break those repairs down by price. From there, the next step is determined by what makes the most financial sense. Also, we can’t forget about lender repair requests. Sometimes, in certain loan programs, the lender will require you to make certain repairs in order to get the property financed. A home inspection is not terms to start renegotiating the structure of the deal; it’s merely negotiating the quality of the property and what the buyer is willing to accept. A majority of the time, it’s a contingency in all contracts in order to allow both parties to be notified up front that it will be taking place. A home inspection is basically a second round of negotiations. If you’re thinking about buying or selling a property, please don’t hesitate to set up a free real estate consultation. Thanks again, and have a great day.

Looking to buy a home? Search all homes for sale  Selling your home? Get a FREE home value report The question for today is, what are the current interest rates, and what can we predict from them moving forward into 2017? What are current interest rates, and what can we predict from them moving forward? Right now, interest rates seem to be averaging 3.5% with APR at 4.6%. The average inventory for the state of Maryland is roughly five months. We’re currently in a market where sellers are receiving multiple offers on properties, and this is strictly due to interest rates being low enough to allow the buyer more purchasing power. If the interest rates were to increase, what would that do to the seller’s bottom line? If they creep up to 6% or 7%, we could potentially see the market shift into a buyer’s market. That would mean that there would be more inventory and lower sales prices. If you’re looking to sell a home, it’s a great opportunity to get more offers on your property. If you’re looking to buy a home, rates are historically low as far as paying a 30-year mortgage. You can also take advantage of a 15-year mortgage by paying that down much quicker. In either case, you’ll want to talk to your lender about your options and do your own research on the amortization of the loan to calculate how much money you’d be putting toward the principal each month. I do see 2017 staying somewhat the same, but it would not surprise me to see interest rates tick upward. If you’re thinking of buying or selling a home, please don’t hesitate to contact me for a free real estate consultation. I look forward to hearing from you!