The 3% Rule: How to potentially make 3% more profit on the sale of your home (Part 2)

After decades in real estate and selling hundreds of homes, I truly believe that the average homeowner can do certain things to positively influence their sale. I call it the “3% Rule,” and it means that the average homeowner can potentially make up to about 3% more on their home sale. 

Of course, this isn’t an exact science. But even a 1% increase in a $300,000 home sale would equal an additional $3,000 in a home seller’s pocket. And 3% would equal a whopping $9,000! 

In part one of this blog, I covered my first seven points of my 3% Rule and today I'll delve into the remaining eight.

So how can you potentially make up to 3% more on the sale of your home?

8. Have professional photos taken

If an image is worth a thousand words, the images home shoppers first see of your home could possibly make you tens of thousands of dollars. For that reason, we suggest using a professional photographer for your listing photos, who will employ perfect lighting, and lenses with pinpoint clarity. With most buyers thumbing through hundreds of listings on the internet, the first impression those photos will make can result in more looks, interest, and ultimately, a better opportunity to sell your home for top dollar. 

9. Price your home right the first time

You may think that the easiest way to net more money on your home sale – or even 3% more – is to price your home higher. But overpricing your home compared to the competition will only ensure that you get fewer online views, fewer walk-throughs, fewer offers, and, probably, not sell it for that higher price at all.

Instead, think of selling your home as a balancing act between getting the highest possible price and also selling it as quickly and efficiently as possible. In fact, research shows that the longer a home is listed without selling, the less it will ultimately get. And you’ll probably have to pay your mortgage payment if it doesn’t sell quickly, or even two or three payments (or more!)

So we’ll sit down together and look at a comprehensive market analysis, revealing the hard data about what similar homes in the same area are selling for, as well as what other competition is on the market. 

10. Give the dog (or pet) a vacation away from home

Surveys show that if you really want to sell your home for top dollar, it's best to relocate pets off of the property during the listing and showing process. Not everyone is a dog/cat/or pet person, and some people have allergies or serious reservations about animals. Even if you put them in a side room, the fact that they are there and the buyer can't openly explore the home will leave them with a less than a positive feeling.  

11. Maximize light 

One of the easiest ways to make a house look larger, nicer, and more inviting is to brighten it up, especially with natural light. So remove those heavy, dreary shades and curtains for lighter translucent materials, change outdated or inadequate fixtures, and consider new bulbs with soft white light. Research shows that just by doing these things you'll get a 300% Return On Investment when selling – which is a super simple way to try and reach that goal of a +3% sale price.

12. Take an honest look at your competition

Before we ever put a sign in your front yard and list your home for sale, together, we’ll look closely at the other homes that are active, pending and sold in your neighborhood. Not only will this give us an idea of where to price your home accurately, but we'll also understand what other options buyers are seeing when they go house hunting.  

Ultimately, we’ll present you with a detailed market analysis with every home that is currently for sale within your greater geographic area and with similar dimensions and features (for instance, homes with 3 or more bedrooms in Folsom). Armed with this knowledge, we’ll be able to strategically price and position your listing against the competition.

13. Start a bidding war with an attractive price

One of the best ways to get the MOST net proceeds for your home is to price it extremely aggressively from the start. This may feel counterintuitive, but by pricing it favorably, you'll create a huge buzz of agents and buyers who rush to see your home as soon as it hits the market. They'll feel the sense of urgency and quickly submit full price and higher offers, and most often even engage in a bidding war that drives your price up.

14. Make it easy to show – and show well!

How easy will it be for other real estate agents to show their eager buyers your home? You’ll be doing yourself a great service if you make it easy and accessible to show for other agents (and their buyers!)

It’s also wise to prepare ahead of your listing by starting to pack, organize all of your possessions, and move furniture and boxes to a storage unit ahead of time. That way, the home will be less cluttered, look bigger, and buyers will be able to envision living there as they walk through.

15. Don’t ever hold back when it comes to disclosures

If you really want to see your home sale go smoothly – including netting the highest possible profit - make sure to honestly and accurately fill out your disclosures. Not being forthright about any material defects, problems, and issues with the property – or even the neighborhood – will throw a monkey wrench in the transaction, jeopardizing the sale, costing you more money, and possibly even landing you in court. 

The good news is that we can usually solve many of these concerns before the home is even listed by ordering the appropriate reports and making necessary repairs, which will give the buyer a green light to offer a great price.

How else can you sell your home for more? Use the Alfano Group Real Estate Agency!

Too often, homeowners choose a Realtor just because they know the person socially or they bump into them at an open house, but smart sellers enlist the help of the best real estate professional possible.

The Alfano Real Estate Group would love the chance to compete for your business and earn your trust. When you’re ready to sell your home, so feel free to contact us any time with questions. 

We asked our past clients to rate our service. We never expected THIS!

At the Alfano Group Real Estate Agency, our greatest passion (ok, obsession!) is to help our clients with their real estate needs. We take pride in our focus on always putting the client first and always aim to be the most knowledgable, professional and hardest working agents in the business.

But talk is cheap without results, so we decided to find out what our past clients think about us. So The Alfano Group used an independent firm to conduct a detailed poll of our past clients. They asked people who've bought or sold a house with us six questions about our service, how they felt about the transaction, and if they'd use us again or refer us to others. 

When the survey results came in we never expected THESE answers:

1. I will use The Alfano Group when I buy or sell my next home:

5 out of 5 stars

2. I would recommend The Alfano Group to family or friends to buy or sell their home:

5 out of 5 stars

3. My agent empowered me with the best information, resources, and technology:

4.9 out of 5 stars

4. My agent helped me make a great investment or maximized profit on my sale:

5 out of 5 stars

5. My Alfano Group real estate agent always served my best interests:

5 out of 5 stars

6. My real estate agent was knowledgeable, helpful and professional.

4.85 out of 5 stars

While we were pleasantly surprised, we wanted to make sure that these answers portray a fair representation of our reviews. So we also checked our Yelp.com listing, and found that we also have a 5-star rating there based on 14 reviews, including:

“Tony is top-notch when it comes to professionalism, responsiveness, and true interest in his clients and colleagues needs."

“We felt very comfortable and with his guidance and expertise, were able to find the perfect home at a good value while selling our previous home for top dollar in less than a week!”

“Anthony is a fantastic realtor who is very detail oriented and knows the Lincoln/Rocklin/Roseville markets; and all of Northern CA well.”

We also checked in on our Facebook page, were we have 20 reviews.

What did our past clients rate us?

4.9 out of 5 stars!

In fact, 19 out of the 20 total reviews gave us 5-stars, with only one review for less than 5 stars! Some of the reviews include:

"My wife and I recently purchased and sold a house using the Alfano Group. Our experience was very smooth throughout the entire process. Tony was patient, straightforward, always available, and extremely knowledgeable of the real estate industry. We felt very comfortable and with his guidance and expertise, were able to find the perfect home at a good value while selling our previous home for top dollar in less than a week!"

"Tony has helped me buy and sell 4 properties - He is a true professional that knows the real estate business!!!"

"I love the Alfano Group!"

Rest assured, even with our near-perfect customer satisfaction ratings and sterling reviews, we'll never stop striving to be better, bringing you the latest tools, resources, education and technology to make sure you have a perfect transaction - and make a lot of money - when you buy or sell with us.

Would you like to give us some feedback, too?

If you've bought or sold a home with the help of The Alfano Group, we'd love for you to take this quick survey: http://ow.ly/qrtd301ALOR

And please leave an honest review on our Facebook and Yelp business pages.

Of course if there if you ever have a question, concern, or something extra we can do to help, feel free to contact us!

Thanks so much for trusting us with your business - and your reviews!

A Time to Sell; Why it’s a perfect time to list your home in the Sacramento region

Have you thought about selling your home but you’re not sure if it’s the right time? Well right now we’re in the midst of the perfect storm of economic and market factors in Sacramento that make this one of the absolute best times to sell. 

From red-hot demand to a severe shortage of inventory, and rapid price appreciation over the last couple years, homes that are listed now are usually selling quickly, for top dollar, and with multiple offers. 

So if you’re on the fence about whether to sell now, or have considered moving up to a bigger, nicer house, here are three things you’ll want to consider:

Demand is way up

There is no doubt that Sacramento has a shortage of affordable and middle-of-the-market housing, and that shortage is manifested with a fervent demand by homebuyers. Interest rates are still favorable, job and income numbers are strong, and the region is still growing steadily – all reasons why people are looking to buy homes.

With new construction lagging far behind what you might find in comparable metropolitan cities around the country and low housing inventory (we’ll cover this next), there are only so many options or houses for sale to choose from.

Further fueling demand is the fact that rents are rising in the region. More renters than ever are paying at least 30% of their income towards housing expenses, and in 2015, we saw the first year that home ownership was only half as expensive as renting, as renters paid an average of 29.9% of their monthly income toward rent compared to an average of 15.3% for homeowners.

Older Millenials – 80 million strong - are starting to enter the housing market en masse, and Sacramento is no exception. Millennials now make up about a third of the home buying market and roughly about 30 percent of the population in the region.

Add it all up and 2016 will be even more expensive for Sacramento renters, creating a surge of demand for home buying and further stimulating the housing market. Good evidence of this is the fact that it took 12 less days for homes to sell this February compared to last February.

Housing inventory is really low

Sacramento is in the midst of one of the most profound housing shortages we’ve seen. We’ve seen a short supply of homes for sale before, but the market was padded by hundreds (and even thousands!) of short sales, foreclosures, and other distressed properties for sale that constituted almost the entire low end of the market. But now, with the banks working through most of their distressed housing inventory. In fact, in January 2016, conventional sales were up 11.6% compared to only one year earlier (meaning that distressed property sales were a smaller share of the housing inventory.)

But at the same time, overall inventory numbers have shrunk. The inventory in January 2016 was a jaw-dropping 27% less than in January of 2015, which was incredibly low to start with. Inventory further declined in February 2016!

While we might expect a seasonal uptick in homes listed for sale in the spring and summer months, as we can predict every year, the number of homes for sale are still astoundingly low in the Sacramento area.

Home values have increased

Demand is high, supply is low, and that can only lead to one thing: rising home prices. But the good news is that this housing recovery isn’t driven just by an imbalance of supply and demand, but a strong housing recovery fueled by an economic strength in a growing region, including downtown redevelopment and organic job growth.

In fact, the median home price in Sacramento rose by 11.2% over the past year and there’s not a lot of evidence that will stop any time soon. The median price of homes as of February 2016 is up 6.7% compared to the same month a year earlier, and the average price per square foot is also up 6% year-over-year. Sacramento was named one of the 10 hottest real estate markets in the country to watch in 2016, and the confidence seems justified, as the median home price in the Sacramento region went up by 2.5% just between January and February!

What about Placer and El Dorado Counties?

These general trends seem to extend into Placer Country, El Dorado County, and most of the greater Sacramento area. In fact, housing inventory is 17% lower than it was last year at the same time. The median price of homes in Placer went up by 2.5% over the last month, as well, and year-to-year values are up 11% from February 2015.