Going through a divorce and selling a home at the same time can be overwhelming, so it’s easy to make mistakes. Here are 6 of the most common mistakes I see.

Mistake 1: Failing to preserve the capital gains tax break. When you sell a house, you won’t be taxed on the first $250,000 of gain. Talk with an experienced real estate agent to make sure you can claim this as it will save you a ton of money. 

Mistake 2: Allowing emotions to cloud financial decisions. Selling a house is an emotional process for most people. And when you throw the emotions of a divorce into the mix, it can get ugly. It’s so important to stay collected and logical. Otherwise, you could end up making mistakes that will cost you!

Mistake 3: Making the divorce obvious to potential buyers. Buyers can be superstitious, and people might be scared to buy a home where a divorce took place, especially if they’re newlyweds!

Mistake 4: Not sharing relevant portions of the divorce decree with your agent. Your agent needs to know the whole story to accurately guide you through the selling process, so share what’s necessary with them. 

Mistake 5: Hiring a real estate agent who hasn’t worked with divorced clients. Working with an agent who has served divorcing clients will make your life much easier because they’ll have the experience you need to avoid these mistakes.

Mistake 6: Letting maintenance around the house slide. A divorce is mentally, emotionally, and physically draining, which makes it easy to let maintenance go. Don’t let this happen to you and stay on top of maintenance. 

At the end of the day, remember that selling a house is a business transaction, so you need to stay focused. A great real estate agent will provide the experience, knowledge and help you need to stay sane throughout the process. 

If you’re buying a house, you probably know that many different things can impact the value of a home. And the value of the house ultimately impacts how much you buy it for—and sell it for down the road. 

And one thing that can impact the value of a home is the school district the property is located in. Even if you don’t have kids, you should pay attention to the school district. Because whether you end up using the schools or not, they can impact your home’s value! 

A good school district with highly rated schools nearby is a major draw for many buyers, which can add to your home’s resale value. That can translate to more cash in your pocket when you sell your home in the future. In fact, one study found that homes in high-rated school districts sold for $50 more per square foot compared to similar homes in lower-rated school districts. That’s a huge increase in value! 

So when you’re looking at properties, don’t forget to take a look at the surrounding schools while you’re shopping. Your real estate agent will be able to give you some facts on the neighbourhood, but websites like Niche.com or SchoolDigger.com and your state’s Department of Education can help you see how the schools in the area perform. 

That being said, the school district isn’t the end-all-be-all when it comes to choosing a house. You should focus more on how the property itself will fit into your lifestyle and whether it meets your needs. 

But school districts are something to consider as they do impact resale values. And if you’re trying to decide between two similar properties, the school districts might be a deciding factor. If you’re looking for a house that fits your needs and retains its resale value, I’ll help you find the perfect house for your goals. 

1. Improving too much. A house doesn’t need to be perfect to sell. Buyers like to see nice, move-in ready homes, but they’re often not looking for much beyond the basics: a nice kitchen, pretty bathrooms, and good flooring and paint. Improving beyond that could mean spending money on upgrades buyers don’t really care about, which could decrease your ROI.

2. DIYing and failing. Doing a few DIYs around the house is a great, fast way to increase your home’s value. But DIYs tend to turn into bigger projects, especially if you make a mistake. Sometimes it actually ends up being cheaper to hire the professional from the start. Make sure you’re realistic about your skills before you start a project and consider whether or not it would be better to hire the work out to a professional. 

3. Custom renovations. Since you’re doing these upgrades with selling in mind, it doesn’t make sense to do custom work on a house you’re not going to be in long-term. Instead, just take the stock options when you’re renovating your kitchen or bathrooms. 

4. High-end upgrades with no added value. Buyers love luxury, but they’re not going to pay $10,000 over asking just because you have a Sub-Zero stove. Keep this in mind when choosing what to upgrade in your house. Most of th tie, low mid-range choices will get you the best bang for your buck while high-end will actually cost you more than you make back. 

Doing the right upgrades can seriously boost the value of your property and help you make more off the sale—but the wrong upgrades can cost you. Work with your real estate agent to determine just which upgrades are needed to get you the best ROI when selling your home. 

Want some help deciding what to update in your house? Just reply to this email and I’ll give you suggestions on what buyers are looking for right now. Then you can make the right renovations and increase the value of your home!

Smart move: Upgrading your home before you sell. Bad move: Making the wrong upgrades to your home. 

If you want top dollar for your home, making repairs and upgrades to your home is smart. But making the wrong home upgrades is a fast way to lose money and even decrease the value of your home. 

To help you avoid that, here are 4 home upgrade mistakes to NOT make!

If you want to buy a home soon, for the first time or the tenth time, you’ll need to take a look at your credit score. Your credit score is one of the factors a lender will look at when determining 1) if you qualify for a mortgage and 2) your interest rate on that mortgage. 

Higher credit scores will help you secure a lower interest rate on your mortgage, which can save you tens of thousands of dollars over the lifetime of your loan. So you’ll want to get your credit score as high as possible before you talk to a lender. But how exactly can you boost your credit score? Try these four strategies. 

1. Keep balances low and pay on time. This might seem really basic, but it’s so important! A big part of your credit score is based on how well you repay your debts, so make sure to always pay your credit cards and other loans on time. Also focus on getting your balances under 30%—the lower they are, the better!

2. Increase your credit limits. Even if you know you won’t spend as much as your credit limit, every time you have an opportunity to increase it, do! Your credit score LOVES this. If you already have a good or very good credit score, this is a great way to boost it. 

3. Don’t request new lines of credit. The average age of your credit accounts also plays a role in calculating your credit score. The younger your accounts, the worse your credit score. 

That means that every time you open a new line of credit, you decrease the average age of your accounts. Applying for new lines of credit will also drop your credit score a few points for a couple months because of the hard pull on your credit report, so you’ll definitely want to avoid it before getting pre-approved.

4. Check your credit reports for inaccuracy. Sometimes mistakes happen and inaccuracies can get filed on your credit report. It’s your responsibility to check for these and get them corrected. You can get a free credit report from your bank or from apps like CreditKarma. It’s a good idea to just check them out and stay on top of it so you can catch any errors fast. 

With these strategies, you’ll have an amazing credit score and get a great rate on your mortgage. But if you have any questions about getting a mortgage or need some pointers, just reply to this email!

One of the most nerve-wracking things about selling a home is pricing it. Pricing makes such a big difference in how your property is perceived by buyers—and ultimately, it determines how much money you can get out of your home. 

That means you want to get it right so you don’t lose out on any money. But going too high can scare away the perfect buyers. So what are you supposed to do? 

Well, first things first: work with an expert to price your home. Your real estate agent will complete a market comparison and analyze your home against your local market and house comps to find the perfect listing price. 

But sometimes sellers aren’t so sure about the price their agents come up with. I occasionally get questions about whether or not it’s a good idea to plan some room into the listing price because of negotiations. 

Here’s why you shouldn’t leave some space for negotiating when establishing the sales price.

1. Buyers use price filters. Almost every buyer out there does the bulk of their home shopping online. And because there are so many properties on the market, buyers will use filters to find a home that meets their needs. If you price your home too high, the perfect buyers could never see it, which means that they’ll never make an offer on it. 

2. Pricing too high can prevent a bidding war. A bidding war is when multiple buyers make offers on the same property and then start one-upping each other’s offers to win the house. A bidding war is a great thing for the seller, and they’re happening all the time due to the competitive market we’re in. 

But pricing your home too high can make it so a bidding war won’t happen. Instead of having multiple buyers fighting over your home, you might just get an offer or two that come in under your listing price. In this market especially, your home can do so much better than that!

This is why pricing your home properly is so critical to get top dollar. Too low and you’ll miss out on money. Too high and you’ll miss out on the perfect buyers. Working with a real estate agent and understanding their pricing strategy is one way to make sure you price your home correctly. 

Home inspections are one of the most important parts of the closing process, and they can cause both buyers and sellers stress. I often hear first-time buyers worry about whether the home of their dreams is going to pass inspection or not. 

Here’s some good news: homes can’t really pass or fail a home inspection. The inspector doesn’t give the property a score or thumbs up or thumbs down. And home inspections are actually way more useful than a score anyway! 

When you get a home inspection done, you’ll get a detailed report on the property and its condition. The inspector will look at all of the systems and components of the house and report on their condition/quality. But that doesn’t translate into a score or a pass or fail. 

Sometimes, however, the inspector will find big problems with the house. There might be termite damage or black mold or leaky plumbing (the options are endless!). This could be considered a “fail.” Most lenders won’t fund the mortgage of a property with big problems that make it unsafe to live in. So if you want to buy the house with a mortgage, you’ll need to get the problems fixed. 

If this happens to you, don’t stress! You, as the buyer, can usually work with the seller to figure out a solution. You can request that the seller make the repairs before moving forward or you can ask for a discount on the purchase price of the property—this is commonly referred to as repair credits, but it ultimately just knocks down the overall price. 

When getting a home inspection, the worst case scenario is that it uncovers some big problems and then the seller won’t work with you to fix the issue. If this happens, the lender won’t fund the mortgage and then the sale will fall through. 

This is why home inspection contingencies are so common and so important. When you waive the home inspection contingency, you’re stuck with whatever condition the home is in and that can complicate things with your lender. Worst case scenarios like that are few and far between. Generally, sellers will want to work with you and make the sale happen. 

Instead of stressing about passing or failing the home inspection, spend that energy on working with your realtor to make great offers and building good relationships with the sellers. 

If you have any questions about home inspections or buying in this market, just reply to this email! Harpreet@BorderCityRealEstate.com

If you’re thinking about selling your home, pay attention to this! These are the biggest mistakes that I see home sellers make ALL the time. Don’t be like them. Learn from their mistakes and avoid doing these 5 things. 

Mistake 1: Setting too high of a sales price. Most buyers filter homes by price. Pricing your home too high can make it so the best buyers for your property never even see your listing! Your agent will help you set the sales prices, so listen to their reasons for the price. Since they know exactly what’s going on in your local market at the moment, it’s best to listen to their expertise–that’s why you hired them, after all!

Mistake 2: Not leaving enough time to prep your home for sale. If you want to get the most money possible out of your home, this is super important. Doing repairs, making a few upgrades, and decluttering before putting your home on the market can boost your ROI big time. Don’t sell your home in a rush–start a plan to get it ready for sale several months in advance. Your agent will also be able to advise you on the best repairs and upgrades to do!

Mistake 3: Not disclosing all issues. Your seller’s disclosure should list all of the issues. Not disclosing is just asking for a bad time (and potentially, a lawsuit). Chances are that whatever you’re trying to hide will come out during the inspection anyway, so it’s best to be upfront and honest with your buyers. 

Mistake 4: Getting emotional about the sales process. Selling your home can bring up some big emotions. It’s your home after all and you’re bound to be pretty attached to it. But it’s best to think about selling your home as what it is: a sale. Using strategy and logic in times of emotional overwhelm will help you make the best decisions for your financial future. Having a support system is key here as well, and your agent will help guide you through the more challenging times. 

Mistake 5: Not accommodating potential buyers. When possible, making accommodations for your prospects is a good idea and will help you get your home sold faster. Remember that buyers are people too and extend the same courtesy you’d expect if you were in their shoes. It will make the whole process much more enjoyable and easy for everyone involved!

It’s easy to make mistakes as a seller–and those mistakes could cost you a lot of money. Working with an experienced real estate agent is your best bet at avoiding mistakes like these and getting the most money out of your home when you go to sell. I’m currently accepting new seller clients, so if you’d like my help navigating the home selling process, Let’s Connect!

New builds are looking better than ever, especially in a market like ours. But there are a few things you need to watch out for when buying a new build. Here’s what you need to know before you sign on the dotted line. 

– Have pros on your team. Make sure you have a buyer’s agent! When you start walking through model homes, a “buyer representative” will be there to help you out. But they’re there to help the builder–not you. Having your own agent will ensure you get a good deal and don’t get taken advantage of.

– Know the quality of the builder’s past projects. Builders vastly differ in the quality of their builds. Some builders use the best materials and their homes will stand the test of time. But other builders can cut corners and make for major headaches down the road. Unfortunately, “you get what you pay for” applies here. If something feels too good to be true, it probably is. Do your due diligence and research any builder you’re interested in. Pay attention to those reviews too!

– Understand the inspections and warranties. As much as we wish otherwise, fresh builds can still have problems. And a brand new home doesn’t mean a perfect home–so make sure you get that inspection done. Try to find an inspector with experience in new builds because they may be able to spot problems unique to new builds. 

You’ll also want to look closely at the warranties that your new home comes with. Generally there are 2 warranty types: a minimum home warranty that covers workmanship defects that impact the home’s livability, and additional warranty that may cover defects in your home’s mechanical systems or building envelope. 

Have your agent look over the warranties with you and get any questions you have answered. 

– Understand the deposits and contracts. When you go to sign a contract and make a deposit, make sure you really understand exactly what’s going on. Know if you can get your deposit refunded and under which circumstances you could get a refund. Your contract should spell everything out, especially about what happens with delays. If the builder agrees to anything that isn’t in the contract, make sure to get that in writing. Your agent will help you understand the contract, so definitely ask if you have any questions. 

Buying a new build can be a great choice for many buyers, especially in a low-inventory market. Just remember to do your research, have experts on your side, and understand all of the fine print. If you’re looking into a new build, Let’s Chat, I can hook you up.