luxury nj homes Archives - Luxury Homes/Top Towns

How “Days on Market” May Affect Your Home Sale

May 27, 2022 by Scott Gleason

Most homebuyers look at the size of a property, its location, and the price right away. But, some buyers (as well as their REALTORS®) also look at how long the property has been on the market. Why? Newer listings get the most traffic. When it sits on the market for a while, buyers begin wondering what is wrong with it. Also, they believe the seller might be more willing to entertain a lower offer. Find out how the days on market can affect your home sale and what you can do to change it.

Besides the price, location, and size, many buyers look to a property's days on market. Why does that matter and how can you breathe new life into a stale listing?

How “Days on Market” May Affect Your Home Sale

What are “Days on Market”?

“Days on market” (or DOM) are the number of days from when a property gets listed to when it enters a “pending” status. The average DOM varies from city to city. According to Redfin, Madison homes saw an average of 26 DOM in April 2022 while Short Hills homes spent 12 days on the market before changing over to pending. Lower DOM brings in the most interest. As the DOM grows longer, interest wanes. So, what do you do to bring back buyers’ interest?

Breathing Life Into a Stale Listing

Review Feedback – Whenever your home is shown (either through an open house or a private viewing), your agent should ask for feedback from the potential buyer and/or their representative. From this feedback, you can find out what overall impression your home gives. In turn, this provides a base from which you can build your property back up for future potential buyers.

Take it Off the Market Temporarily – Many areas allow you to withdraw your property from the market and resubmit it after a specific period of time as a new listing (typically about 30 days). In essence, this “resets” your DOM. Use your downtime to make necessary updates/repairs to freshen it up. Sometimes, this may be something as simple as a new coat of paint or trimming the landscape. Other times, you might need to replace all the flooring or renovate an area or two of the home.

Lower Your Price – A majority of the time, simply lowering the price (even slightly) triggers a reassessment of the property by buyers. It also opens your home up to a new tier of buyers that may have considered your property out of their price range before. However, consider this. If you take your home off the market and make some updates, you might be able to list it at your original asking price. Talk to your REALTOR® to determine which areas to invest your money in to bring about the best result.

Scott Gleason, CRS at Coldwell Banker Realty – East, NJ Luxury Homes

What to Focus On When Considering a Home Offer

April 14, 2022 by Scott Gleason

You listed your Westfield area home for sale and received multiple offers for it. Congratulations! Many sellers dream of being in your position. Now, the hard part. You must decide which home offer to accept. (An embarrassment of riches, right?) Sometimes, however, the highest price is not the best offer. Consider these other important factors before making a final decision.

Sometimes, the highest price is not the best choice. Here is what sellers need to focus on when considering which home offer to accept.

What to Focus On When Considering a Home Offer

Contingencies

Most of the time, buyers include contingencies with their offer. These are conditions that must be satisfied before closing in order to complete the sale. Common ones include an appraisal, home inspection, loan approval, and sale of the buyer’s current home. If a contingency is not met by closing, the buyer can walk away with their Earnest Money Deposit in hand. Therefore, fewer contingencies usually make for a smoother transaction.

Timeline

You have heard the phrase “time is money”, right? Well, an offer fitting your time constraints is money, too. Perhaps you need a shorter escrow period because you need to move quickly. Or maybe you want a little more time than 30 days to get everything packed up and ready to move. Whatever your timeframe may be, an offer that fits in those parameters may well be worth a slightly lower offer price to you.

Earnest Money Deposit

Buyers must deposit money into an escrow account to hold as “good faith”. When the sale completes, this money then goes towards the buyer’s down payment. This is their Earnest Money Deposit. If they break the sales contract and walk away from the deal completely, the earnest money goes to the seller. While 1% to 2% of the sale price tends to be the norm, a higher EMD shows how serious the buyer is about the sale. The buyer is less likely to walk away when they risk losing this more money.

Financing

Finally, let’s talk financing. All-cash offers sound great. They tend to take less time to close and minimize contingencies more often than buyers who must finance their purchase. Unfortunately, a buyer with an all-cash home offer also tends to hold the negotiating power. Therefore, their offer may come in below your asking price.

On the other hand, a buyer whose offer includes financing provides a higher risk. Anything could happen to make the loan fall through during escrow. In fact, according to Rocket Mortgage, approximately 5% of pending sales fall through escrow. A home offer that includes a pre-approval letter makes a stronger claim than one without a pre-approval letter. Even so, a “pre-approval” is not a “final approval”. If your buyer does not receive final approval for their loan, then you are right back where you started…on the market and in search of a new buyer.

Before making a final decision about a home offer, weigh its pros and cons. Ask your REALTOR® for their advice. Their experience can help you make a more informed choice that works best for your individual situation.

Scott Gleason, CRS at Coldwell Banker Realty – East, NJ Luxury Homes

How to Hurt Your Home Sale

March 4, 2022 by Scott Gleason

We live in a seller’s market here in the Westfield area. Even so, you still need to prep your home to show off its best features. Most buyers look for a “move-in ready” home rather than a fixer-upper. In fact, sellers benefit from a pre-list inspection. So, you might want to consider hiring an inspector to come to your home before you put it on the market. But even if you decide not to do that, keep these home sale “don’ts” in mind to capture the attention of as many potential buyers as possible. Plus, you’ll get your home sold in a shorter time frame for more money.

Be careful when preparing your Westfield area home to sell. Otherwise, you might do more harm than good. Find out what can hurt your home sale with this "do not do" list.

How to Hurt Your Home Sale

Take Your Own Photos

No matter how great of a camera your cell phone provides, leave the photo-taking to the professionals. Most real estate agents work with a professional photographer. They may even include this with their services. A professional photographer knows the right angles and lighting to use to showcase a property properly. Unprofessional photos stand out like a sore thumb against the pros. Since the majority of home buyers start their search online, you need your photos to entice them to come to see the property in person.

Ignore the Kitchen

They say the kitchen is the heart of the home. It also helps sell your house. So, if you want to hurt your home sale, ignore it. However, if you want an offer, invest in updating your outdated kitchen. No money in the budget for a major overhaul? At least stage it by clearing off the countertops, cleaning it from top to bottom, and getting rid of any “artwork” on the fridge.

Forget to Stage Your Bathrooms

Yes. Buyers want to see bathrooms as well as the bedrooms, kitchen, and other living spaces in your photos. But do not forget to stage them first. Again, get rid of everything on the countertop. Clean the mirror, floor, window, and shower until they gleam. Add fluffy towels and rugs for a spa-like feel. And, for goodness sakes, close those seat covers.

Neglect Your Outdoor Space

Whether it is your curb appeal or your backyard, always make sure that your outdoor space looks just as good as your indoor space. Touch up or repaint as necessary. Mow the yard. Trim the bushes. Weed the garden. Store away toys and tools. Keep trash bins out of sight. If the outside looks rundown and unkempt, it makes buyers wonder what other things the seller has not taken care of inside. The last thing you want to do is sow a seed of doube in a potential buyer’s mind. That will definitely hurt your home sale.

Scott Gleason, CRS at Coldwell Banker Realty – East, NJ Luxury Homes

Westfield Homeowners: Home Equity Debt vs Acquisition Debt

March 16, 2018 by Scott Gleason

As the deadline to file taxes looms near, Westfield homeowners look for ways to alleviate some of their tax burdens. Westfield home values have steadily risen over the last few years. Many Westfield homeowners took out a home equity loan for various projects and expenses. Did you? If so, you might be able to write off the interest paid on that loan. However, you’ll need to know the difference between home equity debt and acquisition debt first. The IRS treats these loans very differently.

Home Equity Debt vs Acquisition Debt

Home Equity Debt

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When home values go up, Westfield homeowners utilize their newfound equity for a wide variety of reasons. One of your kids started college. Another one’s getting married. You want to take a once-in-a-lifetime vacation. You’re interested in starting a new business. All of these require money to finance. When you use money from your home equity loan or home equity line of credit (HELOC) for any of these, the interest you pay is not tax deductible. This is also true when you refinance. Let’s say your mortgage loan balance is $500,000. You decide to refinance your loan for $575,000 and use the extra $75,000 for one of the situations described above. The interest paid on that $75,000 cannot be deducted from your taxes.

Acquisition Debt

On the other hand, interest paid on acquisition debt can be tax deductible. Need to renovate your kitchen to bring it into the 21st century? Want to build a swimming pool in the backyard? Interested in adding a mother-in-law suite to your home? Use your home’s equity to increase your home’s value. That’s acquisition debt. Anytime you use your equity to improve your Westfield home, you can write off some if not all of the interest. In 2017, interest paid on up to $1.1 million in combined mortgage debt was deductible. The new tax law for 2018 lowers that limit to $750,000. That includes both your initial mortgage and your equity loan.

I am not a tax expert. You’ll need to discuss your options with your CPA, accountant, or tax attorney before filing. They should be able to guide you in the right direction.

Scott Gleason, CRS at Coldwell Banker Realty – East, NJ Luxury Homes