The Real Market

Entering into a Dual Agency Agreement to buy or sell a home- It is not as bad as you think!

When it comes to Real Estate Laws in Myrtle Beach. SC there definitely are plenty.  Unfortunately, people do not always understand these laws.  One area that seems to cause a lot of confusion is Agency. To see the state brochure on Agency Disclosure, click here. I actually wrote a brief post about Buyer Agency a few months back. If you are completely lost as to what buyer agency is, I would suggest starting here, Buyers: Get Representation!  This article goes through the differences between representing yourself in purchasing property and having a Real Estate Agent represent you.

So now you have decided that you need someone to represent you to purchase your Myrtle Beach Home and then the Real Estate Agent mentions something about Dual & Designated Agency that sends you back into a dither.  Breath Deeply, it is not as bad as you think! Here is what both of these types of agency mean.

South Carolina Designated Agency

First, let me explain South Carolina Designated Agency.  When a home is listed for sale, the Broker-in-Charge (BIC) is the actual person who holds the listing not the agent.  Designated agency only comes into play when an agent representing the buyer and the agent representing the seller have the same BIC.  When this takes place, both parties agree to sign an agreement that states that the BIC has designated the Buyer's Agent to work for the buyer and the Seller's Agent for the Seller.  Both agents are not allowed to share secrets about their clients and are supposed to represent their side only in the transaction.

This is not really a big difference than if the buyer's agent worked for a different company than the seller's agent.  Because of Confidentiality, agents don't share the private information of their clients with colleagues in the office.  To me, this is more of a formality & legal paperwork step.

South Carolina Dual Agency

South Carolina Dual Agency seems to be the concept that both agents & clients seem to get confused about.  Dual meaning two, is when one agent has already entered into an agency contract with either a buyer or seller and is then entering into an agency agreement with the other party. 

For example: I have a buyer client that has been looking for a specific need in a home.  I have worked with this buyer for 5 months but have not found the property yet.  But, when I list your property for sale, I notice your property has the 3 car garage with bonus room for under $500,000 in exact area of Myrtle Beach, SC that this buyer has been searching for.  I bring my buyer to see the home after I have it listed for sale and they fall in love immediately and want to write an offer.

In the example above, the buyer client and seller client are both being represented by me.  If both parties agree to enter into a dual agency agreement, we would sign another form allowing one agent to represent the buyer and seller in that transaction.  When someone enters into a dual agency contract, the Real Estate Agent is required to work unbiased to either side and cannot share confidential information about one client to another.  In other words they basically become a messenger passing back & forth the information.

Many agents fear dual agency because they feel it is very difficult to represent multiple sides in a transaction equally.  In my experience over the past 7 years we have been in dual agency on many occasions.  In fact, many of our sellers ask us to list their Myrtle Beach Property for sale because they want us to bring a buyer to sell the home quickly.  One thing we try to do is remain unbiased and give the best information possible whenever I am with a client in dual agency. 

Normally dual agency is not that big of a deal.  There are a few circumstances where it could be a little tricky and you may be hesitant to enter into dual agency.  Here are a few of those situations:

• Agent is related to one of the clients.
• Agent is a close friend of a client.
• Agent is the client.

In those situations it is sometimes difficult to remain unbiased when the agent has a close relationship with one of the clients.  However, I have in the past been in a dual agency agreement to sell one of my personal properties where I was also representing the buyer as a client of mine.  We did all the paperwork by the book, stayed unbiased and the transaction went smooth and effortlessly.

If for some reason you are uncomfortable being in a dual agency situation, that does not mean you cannot purchase or sell the property.  Simply ask your real estate agent to refer you to someone else who will represent you well. 

I hope this explains agency a little more clearly. In closing I would like to say that the real estate laws of every state are different.  If you live outside South Carolina and want to know what the laws are for your state, contact me and I can find local real estate agent to answer your questions.

Which is More Important? Great Views Or Safety Issues?

This was a post a wrote I few months ago, but the this is an issue that is faced here in Myrtle Beach daily.

One of the American dreams is to own that wonderful home with the great water views.  In our area of the country there are several ways people are able to accomplish this great feat.  Due to the high amounts of rain we may receive at a time, developments are required to have retention ponds built for water runoff.  This protects the homes and neighborhood roads from being flooded.  It also provides wonderful water views for home buyers and normally will command a premium lot price. In some neighborhoods a home on the water as compared to one not on the water can be a difference of $20,000+.

While you are able to achieve a great view and set some wonderful ambience, there is a safety issue you should always think of. 

This past week, in the Myrtle Beach area, a two year old that was visiting his grand parents almost drowned.  At last update, he was still in the hospital in critical condition.  Apparently, while visiting them, the toddler snuck out of the house and was walking around the side of the home when he lost his balance and rolled down the bank into the water. 

Drowning remains the second leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among children ages 14 and under and is the leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among children ages 1 to 4, according to Drowning Prevention Foundation numbers. 

So, before buying a home because of the great views it has, think about the safety issues that go along with it.  If you do live on the water, you may want to consider installing a fence to give you an added level of security against someone accidentally falling into the water.

Moving Day Countdown~ Things to do one month before moving.

Moving can be a very crazy time in a person's life.  Most people only move a few times during a lifetime, so they are not always aware of all the things they need to do when moving from one place to another. To help lower the amount of stress, here is a brief checklist of items to do one month before closing on your property:

• Clean out closets, attic, basement, etc... Take this time to start going through things and discarding things you don't want anymore or have no need for. 
• Consider having a garage sale.  What to do with all that unwanted stuff?  Have a garage sale and sell the things you dont need anymore.  Even better, you will put a little money in your pocket!
• Donate unwanted items.  Some things maye not sell at a yard sale.  Those items that are of any worth you can donate to the local goodwill, library, or thrift shops.  You can get a receipt for tax purposes.
• Register children for school.  If you are moving to another school district, take this time to get children registered for their new school.  As moving day approaches, you won't have time available and may forget this.
• Start opening new bank accounts.  If you are moving to an area where your bank does not service, you will need to find a new bank.  Most banks now have the option to apply online and can be done from your current residence.
• Contact your veterinarian.  Check with your vet for travel preparation for your pets.
• Notify post office.  Contact the post office along with any other publications of your change of address and the date it will become effective.
• Contact lawn service, security company, & other regular services.  Let these services know in advance of your vacating date so that they can discontinue service at that time and not charge you extra.
• Use your frozen foods.  It is very difficult to travel with frozen foods.  There is not really any safe way of traveling with them.  Also, even once you arrive at your new home, if you are bringing the refrigerator with, it will take up to 24 hours until it is cold enough to freeze items.

Even though these seem like no brainer items, they are things that sometimes get forgotten because of all the other stresses that go along with moving day.

Protecting Yourself While Your Home is For Sale

Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in America.  When selling a property it is imperative that your your home is as safe as possible to protect you from becoming a victim. There are professional thieves that contact agents to view homes. They obviously are not wanting to see these homes to purchase, but to see what type of items they can pick up.

They may have visited during an open house, or seen a picture on line of the home and think this home may be a good target. As an agent, it is our duty to try and keep everyone together when showing a home, but if there is an entire family along, it is impossible to keep an eye on everyone. The really good pros have partners that visit with, or even bring along children.

So, below are a few tips to help keep your house safe.

1. Put away all jewelry. If there is jewelry laying around on a dresser or nightstand, it is a very big & easy target for someone to pick up. Either put the precious gems in a locked safe, or if you do not have one, place the gems in either a drawer or in a box. A safe place to place is in a shoe box in the closet. Or, put in a flat envelope that you can hide in between stacked sweaters on a shelf. There are plenty of ways to hide them. The key is to make sure they are out of site.

2. Hide the credit cards & bills. With the identity theft on the constant rise, it is crucial that any type of credit cards or mail that you have is secured. Place any mail or cards in either a filing cabinet that can be locked, or in a desk that can be locked. Crooks can be sneaky and will try to find a way to get alone in a house.

3. Remove the Personal Pictures. It is a good idea to put away any personal pictures. One of our clients that is a single woman was very uncomfortable having her house listed for sale because of safety. One of our suggestions to her was to put away all the pictures that were just of her and only leave out the ones of her with her one cousin. Nobody knew if it was a husband, or relative. This gave her peace of mind.

4. Put away your money! You would think this one would be a no brainer, but I cant even begin to count the number of times I have gone to show homes that have had money sitting around on the kitchen table, or on a dresser, or nightstand. Sometimes there have been rather large amounts of money there too! Like your jewelry, put this in a locked safe, or some other secure place.

5. Hide anything with your name, address, phone number, social security number, etc... Just the other day I walked through a home that had prescription bags on the refrigerator with the persons name, telephone number, social security, and address! Something like that would be a major jackpot for a thief. Some other things that you may not think of would be the kids softball schedule, or your nursery schedule for church. These all have information that someone could use to steal from you.

As I finish, I leave you with this funny video. I think gets the point across as to what could happen to you!

What to Upgrade When Building a New Home

New home communities across the Myrtle Beach area have continued to become more customizable with their homes over the past few years.  Many of Myrtle Beach's top builders even now have "design centers" where you can visit and make your custom selections while sifting through all types of different samples. Now you can customize almost any aspect of your new home.  It is important though that when making these choices that you do not let things get out of hand.

When building a new home, it is so important that you have a budget in mind before hand.  As you enter the design center to select options & upgrades, that budget sometimes goes out the window.  I refer to the visit to the design center as "a kid in the candy shop" mentality.  Everything looks wonderful and you want one of each.  However, you can easily double the base price of your home with upgrades and also destroy your budget.  Recently, while working with a buyer, she had over $150,000 in upgrades & additions onto the home.  She was easily making her new home the "king of the hill" in the neighborhood. 

Below are the top 5 things I would suggest upgrading when building a new home in Myrtle Beach.  This list comes from dealing with hundreds of buyers locally and listening to their wants & desires when purchasing a new home.

• Upgrade the range hood to a microwave.  When buying a home, most people want a microwave in their home.  Normally this is only around $300.00 for a basic upgrade.  If not, you will need to purchase one for the counter in which you spend money, and lose counter space!  Or, if you decide to do it later, you have a useless range hood that will inevitably end up collecting dust in the garage, or for sale at a neighborhood yard sale.

• Upgrade the range from coil top to smooth top.  The cleaning of the coil tops are difficult and make a mess.  You have to buy new drip pans almost annually because the old ones have become so discolored and dirty.  With a smooth top range, you can buy Ceramabryte or another smooth top range cleaner and keep your range top looking like new all the time.

• Upgrade your carpet padding & actual carpet.  I always suggest paying the little bit extra for the highest grade padding available.  Also, I recommend upgrading your carpet at least one level.  The reason for upgrading the padding is that by doing so it will help extend the life of your carpet.  Also, it will make it easier on your feet while walking around your home.  The reason for upgrading the actual carpet is to increase its life as well.  Also, normally the higher grade carpet have less amounts of carpet fibers being released.  When I purchased my most recent home, I was not given the option of upgrading the carpet and every time I vacuum my home, I fill my Dyson vacuum with carpet fibers at least twice!

• Upgrade the paint on whole house.  If you do not like plain white walls and want continuity in your paint in your home, then pay for the whole house paint upgrade up front.  Normally the cost of upgrade is only a few hundred dollars instead of paying a painter afterwards a few thousand dollars to have it done.  Most builders will only allow you to pick one color for the whole home, so if you wish to have a lot of customization in your paint colors in every room, then this may not be a good option for you.

• Upgrade the front exterior of your home.  Curb appeal is one of the most important things about a home.  Most builders allow you to customize the curb appeal of your home by choosing a brick or stucco front.  This is something that will make your home stand out from the other same models of your home in a community.

Be on the lookout for future updates where I will discuss options to avoid.  These will be the upgrades that either cost more than they are worth, or will never bring back the return that you invest for them.

How to Make Your Home an Exceptional Buy

Selling a home in today's market can be difficult, inventory of homes is high, so I thought I would share a few tips on how to make your house go from being just another listing to an "Exceptional Buy."  You know what I mean, a home that everyone is interested in because it is the "deal of a lifetime!"  Hopefully these tips will help sell a home quicker and for closer to list price.

1.  Price home correctly.  Price is definitely king in selling property at this time.  With the inventory of homes at an all time high, you need to be priced correctly in order to sell a home quickly. For example, if you have a 2 bedroom condominium for sale in a building where there are 25 other units just like yours, why would someone pay $50,000 more for yours? 

2.  Make the outside of your home special.  First impressions are so imperative.  If you saw two properties listed for sale for the same price, one had beautiful landscaping, fresh paint, and a pressure washed outside, while the other had visible wood rot, and three foot tall weeds, which home would you want to see?

3.  Make your home like new.   Since there is a large inventory of homes available, buyers are not as interested in fixer upper homes.  They want a home that looks like new and is in move-in condition.  Carpet & paint allowances are no longer as effective as they once were.  Instead, having all the work done ahead of time is becoming more profitable.  If you offer an allowance, the buyers will want the allowance plus take the amount to replace/repair the property off their asking price. 

4. Everyday when you leave your home, leave it as though today is the day my house sells!  You never know when a buyer may show up that wants to see your home.  If they are only in town for that day, it is so crucial that buyers are able to see your home in its best state.  Here are a few pointers for the inside:

• Make sure all the beds are made.
• Fold and put away all laundry.
• Place all dirty dishes into the dishwasher.
• Clean up the children's toys.
• Wipe down the mirrors in the bathrooms after brushing teeth.
• Clean the toothpaste out of the sink.

5.  Never turn down a showing!!!  Just because you don't get a chance to do one of the things above, or you are busy with something else, don't turn down a showing.  If you didn't make the bed that morning, IT IS OK!  The buyer can look past that when purchasing the house.  It is always better to allow the buyer to see a house that is not totally perfect than to turn away a showing.  if nobody sees the house, nobody will buy the house.

6.  List with an agent that can sell your house.  With the slowing of the real estate market, the agent you choose to sell your home is even more vital.  You want an agent that is familiar with the area, that aggressively markets, and has a strong Internet presence.  Some of the newer stats show that more that 82% of buyers now search the Internet before even contacting an agent!

7.  Be willing to pay more to the REALTOR.  As crazy as this sounds, it actually works.  If there are incentives for agents, they will be more willing to show your property to prospective buyers.  If there are 10 units all the same listed at the same price, which one unit do you feel the buyers agent will try to show first?

8.  Offer to pay towards buyers closing costs.  With the tightening of money around The United States, any type of assistance a buyer can receive will make the property listing look more appealing to them. 

By implementing these eight tips, you can transform your home from just another home on the market, to that one house in the neighborhood that is that "Exceptional Buy!"

Questions to Ask When Listing Your Home For Sale

It is no great secret that the real estate market has changed dramatically from a few years ago and that selling a home can take much longer.  So when you are interviewing an agent to sell your property, there are several questions that are very important to ask to make sure you choose the proper real estate agent.  Of course, the #1 question everyone has on there mind is: What is your Commission to sell my home?

While this is an important to save as much money as possible when selling your home,  it can sometimes have the opposite effect if the agent has to cut back their marketing and advertising because they cut their commission.   So, here are a few questions to ask when interviewing an agent to make sure you are getting your money's worth:

1. How many listings do you currently have?  You want an agent that has other listings at this time.  Normally that is a good sign that they are receiving buyer leads.  It also means that they are staying active and up to date on the market conditions.  If an agent only has your home listed, the percentage of sales leads they receive will be less.  Less leads means less opportunities for the agent to share information about your home with those who call in. 

2.  What will you do to market my property?  This is a key question.  When you ask this question, don't just listen to the things they say, ask them for proof.  One of the things we do for our listings is make a full color feature sheet that is placed in every listing.  We do this because when a person views 10-12 homes in a day, they sometimes forget what all they have seen, so if they have something like the  flier to the left to take home with them, they will remember your home more.  You also will want to know what type of print publications are will your property be in, and how often will it be found in those publications.

3.  What websites will my home be listed on?  In today's market over 70% of buyers search on the web before even contacting an agent.  If your ultimate goal is to sell your property sold in a timely manner, it needs to be exposed to as many places as possible. While placing the listing in the MLS is important, you need to find an agent that is a part of a real estate company that aggressively markets your home as well as the agent.  Exposure is the key.

4.  Are you participating in Real Estate 2.0?  The way real estate is being done now includes agents having blogs where buyers can find more information about the current market, a certain area, and also what recent trends are showing.  This also helps an agent to build up ranking on the major search engines like Google. 

5.  Do you do virtual tours? With increasing numbers of Internet buyers, they want to see more than just an outside picture, they want to be able to view an entire home with one click.  They want a full tour of the inside, outside, and amenities a home has to offer. Agents that offer virtual tours give your home a much higher chance of being sold.

Asking these 5 simple questions can help you to find an agent that will try to sell your property in the quickest time possible. In order for an agent to do all of the things listed above, it does cost time and money.  But, if the end result is getting your home sold in a market where there are 15 other properties like yours listed for sale already, paying a higher commission rate to sell your home faster than your neighbors can actually save you money.  Think of it this way...if you pay an extra 1% commission on a home listed at $175,000 to allow the agent to do the necessary marketing, the cost is an additional $1,750. 

But, if your home sells in 2 months instead of 10 months, you have saved 8 months of mortgage payments, utility bills, association dues, maintenance, and upkeep.  Plus, think of how selling your home now can affect your future!

In closing, remember that your agent is there to try and sell your home as quick as possible for the highest amount.  The quicker they can sell your home, and the more it sells for means less money spent by the agent and more in their pocket.