Montgomery County PA Real Estate Video Blog with Diane Cardano

Three Expert Tips to Sell Your Tri County Home this Winter

Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search

Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation

Call me at (215) 576-8666 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation

Instead of reporting on the latest market trends and statistics in the Tri County area, today I'll be going over three important things you need to know if you're entering the real estate market this winter.

Topic number one is Family wealth. This chart will simply blow you away. It shows the current trend in the difference of family wealth between a family that owns a home versus a family that is a renter. It is DRAMATIC and the difference is growing even more dramatically.

Just five years ago, the difference in family wealth between a homeowner and a renter was $182,000. In the last five years, that number has skyrocketed to $220,000. On average, the net worth of a renter is $5,000, much lower than a homeowner.

Buyer traffic is topic number two. If we take a look at this map, there are more and more people that want to own a bigger home. With just a few exceptions nearly every state in the country is blue, showing Strong buyer traffic. THEN, all of a sudden, something strange shows up in our tracking. Foot traffic is down for the first time.

So why, if demand is so strong—why are we showing less houses? When we look at the Seller Traffic index; we can see that the activity is way down. The orange color designates weak demand for sellers. In other words, sellers are not putting properties up for sale. If we look at the 2015 inventory levels compared to the same time last year, we see six of the first nine months, are below where we were in 2014. The last three months we are way lower.

Now, Finally let's discuss Mortgages rates &FICO scores! It’s likely you’ve heard the rule of thumb that you shouldn’t buy a home unless you can put 20 percent down. There is a common misconception you shouldn’t buy a home unless you can put 20 percent down. A growing number of borrowers are putting down between 5 and 10 percent of the purchase price. Some qualified borrowers are even putting down as little as 3 percent.

Many sellers think that they need an 800 FICO score. But that’s just not true either - a score just above 700 is fine. However, we were able to secure loans for people with scores as low as 580!

Conditions are perfect for you to do really well selling your home in the next 3 to 6 months. However, it won’t just happen by accident. You need an expert marketer, marketing your home, using a well-constructed, personalized, home selling strategy.

That’s why I am offering a FREE Room-by-Room Review by going to www.FreeRoomByRoom.com. There are things you need to do within 6 months of putting your home on the market. If you are prepared, you will be able to sell your home and keep up to 10% of your equity in your pocket.

So go to www.FreeRoomByRoom.com today and get your room by room review scheduled.

AND Don’t forget, If you want to Sell Your Home Fast in 26 Days!! Come to our next Home Selling Shark Seminar, Saturday, January 23rd at the Hilton Garden Hotel in Fort Washington.

Just go to www.homesharkseminar.com to register for your seat today!

My team and I hope you have a Joyous Holiday season!

Three Secrets to Sell Your Tri-County Home

Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search
Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation
Call me at (215) 576-8666 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation

It’s Thanksgiving! Happy holidays to my friends and clients. At a seminar last month, I shared three secrets to selling your home in 26 days. Today, I’ll review them with you!

1. Start earlier than you think. It’s easy to get busy. That’s why you need to be proactive about your decision to sell. There are some many things you need to do to prepare to sell your home, even before you list. Therefore, start now!

2. Crush the competition. The average days on the market right now is approximately 120 days. It’s important to make your home stand out. Your listing competes with a full market. When your home enters the market, it should shine over the rest.

3. Buyers line up outside your door. It’s all about preparation. Start thinking years in advance! It’s entirely possible to have buyers in advance even before you list. One of our clients has a home they are planning to sell in the spring and they already have two buyers waiting to make bids. Your home shouldn’t have to be on the market for more than a month, ultimately.

If you have any questions about these secrets or more, give ma call or email today. And remember everyone: have a happy Thanksgiving!

What Does the Market Look Like this November?

Hello raving fans, we are back again with your November edition of the “Hot Off the Press” real estate market report. There’s so much we want to cover about the market today, let’s just get right to it. Here’s what you need to know about:

Fannie Mae has just released their home purchase settlement index, and from that we can see that consumer sentiments regarding the housing industry have decreased rather dramatically.
Home sales still have a huge impact on our economy. Each time a home is sold, money is added to the state’s economy, and with the movers, landscapers, and other contractors you may need during a move, that’s only more money going into our economy.
With the economy moving forward, more and more people are looking to buy a home. This is demonstrated by the amount of foot traffic we’ve seen, which is above where it was the last few years. We predict a strong winter this year, leading to an unbelievable 2016.
Household formations are skyrocketing. Adults are moving out of their parent’s house and people are getting married and having kids. This is triggering them to buy homes, which is allowing home sellers to move up into better homes.
Mortgage affordability is up, and more and more people are qualifying to buy a home.
More people are considering selling their homes this year, but haven’t put them on the market yet. 23% of homeowners are considering listing their home, while 55% of those homeowners say they would be in the market if they had the right information. That’s 10% of buyers just waiting for someone to give them the right info. We are here to do that, and to help you feel confident when buying or selling.

Don’t keep me a secret! If someone you know is looking to get accurate real estate information or wants to sell their home in 26 days, give them my contact information or invite them to my next home shark selling seminar, January 23 at the Hilton Garden Inn at Fort Washington. Visit www.homesharkseminar.com for details. Have a Happy Thanksgiving! We will talk to you soon!

Price Your Home to Sell & Keep Money in Your Pocket

Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search
Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation
Call me at (215) 576-8666 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation

In today's new world of Real Estate, you cannot just put a sign on the lawn, put an ad in the paper, and expect it to sell. A lot more thought and marketing is now needed to sell a home. In order to price a home, you need to determine the demand for your home. However, before determining the demand for your home, you need to come up with a marketing plan and determine how you are going to present your home to the public the day you start showing the property.

The first advice we give our clients is to meet with a marketing expert that has a real estate license and go room-to-room. In each room, figure out what repairs or updates you could do to make the home more marketable. At the same time, have your home pre-inspected to find problems before your buyers do! Get estimates from the list from the room-to-room and the Pre-Inspection report. Sit down with your expert marketer with the list and the estimates and determine which updates and repairs will get you the most bang for your buck! I call this creating your staging for presentation to the public.

Then, and only then, can you price your home. You cannot price a home if you do not know what it will look like the day it comes on the market. Then it is time to test the price online with fabulous marketing.

When your home goes on the market and you find the home is priced a little high, act fast to make an adjustment. We reposition our homes by re-listing them as a brand new listing, and we change the pictures and list in another price point. This will get your listing out to another group of buyers who never knew that your home was ever on the market.

In order to keep money in your pocket, test your price, market it online before it goes live on the market, and then watch the results. Are buyers calling in? Are Realtors calling in to find out more information? We call this the 'Coming Soon' process and we test every marketing effort to make sure our clients' homes are priced to attract as many buyers as possible. Then, the first day your home goes on the market, we get feedback. This feedback tells you what to do next and how to respond to the marketplace.

If you would like a free room-to-room review, just go to www.FreeRoomByRoom.com to get your free consultation on what you need to do to your home before it goes on the market. We suggest you do this at least 6 months before you are going on the market. Or you can just sign up for our next Home Seller Seminar on Saturday, January 23rd at 9:30 a.m. Go to www.HomeSharkSeminar.com to learn more!

Two Great Resources for Selling Your Home

When you overhear your family, friends, or coworkers talk about buying or selling real estate, stop keeping me a secret and simply tell them “I’ve got the perfect person for you.”

In fact, why not share with them some of the incredible free resources I have on my site? I just posted the Cardano Fall Seasonal Reports online for both buyers and sellers. You can find them right here, at www.freeseasonalreports.com and feel free to share the link with anyone you know who is considering making a move in Pennsylvania.

If you or someone you know wants to sell their home fast, like within 26 days, consider signing up for our next Home Selling Sharks Seminar on October 20. It will be held at the Hilton Garden Inn in Fort Washington. Just head on over to www.homesellingsharks.com to register.

If you have any questions for me, feel free to call or send an email. I look forward to hearing from you!

House Too Small for Growing Family? Move on up Now & Save Thousands

Today, we're here with the October edition of the market report. We have some incredible insights to share with you this month.

First off, existing home prices are up year-over-year in every single region of the U.S. Whenever we have a strong housing market, the doomsayers always jump in and start talking about another housing bubble.

We have been seeing too many of those headlines lately. However, the only states whose current price levels are above the peak in 2006 are the states whose prices stayed level compared to the rest of the country. We are not worried about another housing bubble looming ahead, so ignore those doomsayers.

Now, let's talk about home equity and the move-up buyer. There is a whole segment of homeowners right now who don't realize that they have enough equity to move up. Interest rates are at historic lows and prices are reasonable, but these homeowners just don't realize that they are able to buy the house of their dreams.

The Fannie Mae report shows that 23% of Americans believe they have negative equity in their home, when in reality, only 9% of homeowners have negative equity. Some people think they have to bring cash to the table, and they don't!

In addition, only 37% of Americans believe they have more than 20% equity in their home, when actually, 69% of homeowners have over 20% equity! That means 32% of those homeowners are just sitting on enough equity to move into the home of their dreams without even realizing it!

Also, people who are waiting to put 20% down either don't know that there are lower down payment loans available, or they want to avoid PMI payments. Let's say you're buying a $200,000 house. If you put 5% down, you will end up paying $232.75 more per month than if you put 20% down. However, as home rates continue to appreciate, waiting to save that 20% down payment could actually cost you more.

Waiting a year to have that 20% down payment may not be the best option for you. In addition, interest rates will go up, making homes more expensive. Now is the time to upgrade and move into your dream home!

If you have any questions, give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

8 Secret Strategies to Avoid Equity Draining Home Selling Sharks!

The most important part of the home selling process is the marketing of your home to prospective home buyers. The problem is, it can be awfully difficult to do so in the current market. Luckily, there are 8 steps you can take to squash home selling sharks and control the equity drain when selling your home!

When selling there are a lot of sharks out there, or things that can adversely affect the process that will eat away at your equity. The key is figuring out how to fight these things that you have no control over. Each bite a shark takes is thousands of dollars, so it's crucial for you to find a way to keep money in your pocket!

To find out how to fight these sharks, head over to www.8secretstrategies.com and watch the short videos I've put together. They will help you keep money in your pocket where it belongs! Don't wait until the last minute - whether you're selling now or in three years, it's crucial for you to learn how to avoid these sharks that will drain your equity!

If you have any questions or if you need real estate assistance of any kind, don't hesitate to give me a call or shoot me a quick email! I would love to hear from you!

Are We Approaching Another Housing Bubble?

Today, I'm here with your Tri-County market report. You may have heard the media saying that home sales are down, but that's not the case!

If you look at the existing home sales report, we can see that since January 2015, we've been on an upward climb and more and more homes are selling every month. Across the country, sales are up about 10% year-over-year in every region. I think we'll finish out with an extremely strong summer.

As we move forward, we're going to see stronger sales in every price point, except under $100,000. That's because we don't have as many short sales or foreclosures.

Were pending sales down last month? Yes. However, the preceding month, we had the highest number of pending sales that we've seen in years. Last month was still the third highest number of pending sales that we've seen in awhile.

Now, let's look at foot traffic. How many people are still out there looking at homes? This year, we've destroyed 2014's numbers. There is a lot of demand out there, and prices are rising.

This causes some people to worry about a housing bubble, but a housing bubble is not happening. Our historically low mortgages have caused confusion as well. Still, it is a much more thorough process to get a mortgage today than it was in 2007, ensuring that people who aren't eligible for mortgages won't qualify.

If you have any questions, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you!

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