#5 Reason to Sell During The Holidays...with only 5 Days till Christmas

We are past the halfway point counting down to Christmas and the 12 reasons why selling during the holidays could be the best gift you give yourself. If you are planning to sell this spring, waiting could cost you thousands of dollars. The weather is great, and the buyers are buying homes.

Would you believe that 782 homes have gone under contract or sold since we started the 12 days of Christmas countdown and only 467 homes came on the market. The demand for homes is double what is coming on the market!! Let us show you have a proven marketing plan that has helped The Korn Team clients sell over 250 homes during the Holiday months.

#5 Reason to Sell During the Holiday Months (November-March)



Houses show better when decorated for the Holidays.

If you want to take advantage the Holiday market before we get through all 12 reasons, watch the recap of all 12 reasons now




Happy Holidays from The Korn Team

We sincerely appreciate everyone that has entrusted us with their biggest asset (their Equity).

Brad & Sonya Korn and The Korn Team

www.kornteam.com

brad@kornteam.com

(816) 224-KORN (5676)

Do you want to find out how much equity you may have in your property over the next few months? Get a no cost, no obligation Broker's Price Opinion from The Korn Team at http://wesellkansascity.kwrealty.com/sell/

12 Days of Christmas....OOPS... I mean 12 Reasons to Sell during the Holidays! REASON #12

We've been covering that twelve days of Christmas or have we been covering the twelve reasons to sell your house during the holidays?

There are many reasons why you should sell your home now vs waiting till spring. Check out the following video clips. Remember, these tips are to help you, the home owner get the most equity possible when you do sell.

If you were on the market previously, and didn't have success selling your property, you now have 12 reasons to make it happen now...during the Holidays. Did you know over 2,000 properties sell each month in the Kansas City market between November and March? In those fall months, over 10,000 people will sell their property.

The Korn Team has over has bee selling homes for over 24 years, and we have also tracked some amazing results.... We get our seller clients an average of 98.8% of their asking price between the months of November and March AND we sell over 98% of those properties in under 60 days.

Here is just one reason why you may want to reconsider selling now, vs waiting till Spring


As we count down the 12 days to Christmas... I mean the 12 reasons to sell now,
Reason #12:

By selling now, you may have an opportunity to be a non-contingent buyer during the Spring when there are traditionally more houses on the market which could ultimately drive prices down. This could mean you sell high and buy low.

Like the 12 Days of Christmas, we want to share with you 12 reasons why you will want to get your house on the market now...during the holidays, and NOT wait till Spring. The Korn Team has sold 250 homes over the past 17 years during the holiday and fall months. That is an average of 15 LISTINGS Sold during the fall months from November to March. If you are planning to sell this Spring, right now is the best time to get the most equity and put more money in your pocket or down on your next home.

If you want to take advantage the Holiday market before we get through all 12 reasons, watch the recap of all 12 reasons now



Happy Holidays from The Korn Team

We sincerely appreciate everyone that has entrusted us with their biggest asset (their Equity).

Brad & Sonya Korn and The Korn Team

www.kornteam.com

brad@kornteam.com

(816) 224-KORN (5676)

Do you want to find out how much equity you may have in your property over the next few months? Get a no cost, no obligation Broker's Price Opinion from The Korn Team at http://wesellkansascity.kwrealty.com/sell/

an interview with Brad Korn of The Korn Team, Keller Williams Real Estate:
You were featured in an episode of "My House is Worth What?" On HGTV. What were the major factors you considered when deciding on the value of the home?

To determine the true market value we look at 3 different reports from the MLS. Where we are different from most Realtors, is we don’t find 3 comparable homes that are for sale, and 3 that sold. When you use that appraiser type method you are picking the 3 homes YOU feel is most like. Appraisers have a contract price in front of them when they do an appraisal. They are hired to help the bank determine if they should loan this amount to the buyer. When an appraiser finds 3 comparable homes, that average the sale price, they are letting the bank know that 3 other homes did average around this price. Where we get in trouble is if everyone is always using the 3 highest sales. Anyone can justify a price…but what are the true buying patterns of the buyers in the market place. The appraiser method isn't wrong, it just does not take into consideration ALL the supply and ALL the demand. To prove the point, if you use 10 different appraisers and give them 10 slightly different sale prices on a property, it would be rare to see all 10 use the same three comparables. They are using their opinion. The best opinion to determine the price of a property is a true buyer (not being sold by an overly aggressive sales person) that looked at 10 similar properties and see what they say the fair value is compared to all the homes they saw.

Here is another thought about why prices are different. Some agents (and even appraisers) might include a foreclosure in the neighborhood into their evaluation. Here is where that might not be a valid comp. If a homeowner is not in a distressed situation think of this scenario: If a neighborhood had 10 regular, non-distressed closed sales and 2 foreclosures sold, do you think the values are dropping in that neighborhood? It appears that a more significant number of regular sales are happening than foreclosures. If you are getting the value of your property from someone that uses the lowest price and the highest price and calculates an average price…that average is skewed and is actually lower than the true average. Can you see how IF the subject property is a regular sale and there are significantly more regular sales..why wouldn't you only use the average of the regular sales (if there were only 1 or 2 foreclosures)? The typical buyers out there in the market place right now, do not see values dropping in that neighborhood because of a couple foreclosures. The sale prices show the actual buying consumers are still paying regular price. The flip side is, if there are 10 foreclosures and 2 regular, non-distressed sales, then what buyer in the marketplace is going to want to buy in a depressed neighborhood when they are comparing that neighborhood to 10 other neighborhoods that may have more “regular” sales.

It is truly all about Supply & Demand! Remember that class in high school everyone hated…ECON 101? Guess what, that is what real estate is. If there are 10 homes on the market and a homeowner wants (or needs to be) priced at the #10 spot on that list that would make them the MOST expensive home on the market. In a FLAT or Depreciating market, that overpriced listing will make #1-#5 look like a really great deal! That is when I would advise a homeowner to not sink any more money into the property. It is already  going to sell for less than they want, so why lose more money? Each property and each day brings a new set of circumstances therefore you truly want someone knowledgeable in this aspect of valuing property to help you determine what the market will bear.

The best value for spending money on a home is adding square footage or adding a bedroom. Believe it, or not, adding a bathroom is truly not going to add more to your sale price (UNLESS you are going from one bath to get 2 baths in your property). Think about it…do you really think a buyer will pay $5,000 more for a home that has 2 ½ baths vs 3 baths? When they compare the two…they may make the offer on the home with 3 baths, but they will offer the price they would have paid for the 2 ½ bath home.

See more about our HGTV episode at www.kornteam.com

Low Interest Rates and Strong Housing Inventory Provide Opportunity and Promise for Summer Home Buyers

Mortgage rates recently dropped to all time lows with conventional 30 year fixed rates approaching the 4.99% range in April of this year. It must be working because mortgage applications rose 1.1%. The Credit Unions are jumping into the mortgage game as well. They have been able to get customers with slightly higher credit ratios into a loan. There are typically low costs to join credit unions and many times that local connection is a nice touch.

So, not only is it possible to get a loan right now, with summer here there is a lot favoring buyers right now. We have all heard the saying, more homes sell between Memorial Day and Labor Day. The reality to that statement is that the most amount of homes to chose from are available during those times. With increased competition, that can help a buyer find more homes that meet most of your needs and wants. We typically advise buyers in this market that instead of getting 5-6 of the things you want in a home (during a fast selling market with low inventory) you can get 8-9 of the things you want when there is a lot of homes for sale. There is just more to choose from.

It is important if you truly want to take advantage of this market that you do several things. First, identify your preferred area. We can help you put together a checklist of what areas to look for and how to ensure you know about properties as they become available. Second, (and probably most important) is to get your finances in order. If you truly want to take advantage of a great deal this summer we can show you how this one step can be the difference between buying your dream home AND getting a great deal OR losing out on that home. Losing the right property to another buyer can be avoided if you are pre-approved.

Just those two points validate that using an experienced agent to negotiate the best price and guide buyers through the inspection and to closing is so important when someone is dealing with one of the biggest purchases in their lifetime...a home. Plus, buying a home should be fun and exciting. This is not the transaction where you want to give that up by using an agent that only sells 4-10 homes a year. When you find an agent or team that sells 100 homes a year, there are going to have 10 times the experience and most likely have systems in place to make the home buying process and enjoyable as possible.

You can hear more about this topic by visiting our Korn Team Podcast at http://goo.gl/t9fas and if you would like to start you home buying experience visit http://www.kornteam.com/ where you can search our list of over 20,000 homes currently for sale in the greater Kansas City area. You can call us directly at 816-224-KORN (5676)