Dani Fox Real Estate Team

Selling in a Seller’s Market Sounds Great… Until I Become the Buyer in a Seller’s Market

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You’ve heard it over and over… you get it! You know it’s a Seller’s Market. You are well aware that inventory is low and the market NEEDS listings. Right? You own your home, you know it is the right time to sell – but you are worried. Because it seems that all you ever hear is how quickly houses are selling and it sounds like the competition for new listings is fierce. Guess what? We (the Real Estate industry) are not doing a good job selling the idea of selling your home right now. 

Does this sound like you? 

“If I sell my house, and it’s a Seller’s Market – great. Buuuut, in the next breath I am actually a Buyer in said Seller’s Market – soooo then what? Will I be able to find another home? Will I even be able to afford the home I want (if I can find it?) What if I don’t find something before escrow closes? Where will we go? Forget it… we will stay put.”

Those are all very fair, great questions. Let us help ease some of those concerns and start instilling a bit of confidence into our would-be sellers. Here is what you need to keep in mind:

You are likely moving from one price range to another

More often than not, when people own a home and are looking to sell, it’s into a bigger home or a home in a different area that wasn’t an option to you when you first bought your home. Typically, it is the next price range up from what was a starter home. 

Right now, here in the Valley, starter homes are selling like hotcakes! Truly – they are oftentimes only on the market for a matter of days. Why is that? Because mortgage rates are so low that many first time buyers see home ownership as a reality. These are the people coming in and snatching up newly listed homes. 

If you are looking to sell your starter home and move into your forever home, you aren’t competing for the same homes as many of today’s buyers. Additionally, if you are looking to move from what you thought was your forever home and into a luxury home – this is the perfect time! Luxury listings are not as competitive and low mortgage rates may make this a more viable option for you. 

It really is a Seller’s Market, so you can negotiate not only the financial side of the contact, but also the timeline

While the process of being a buyer and a seller does add more moving parts and may make a stressful situation, feel a bit more stressful — it isn’t impossible. With the leverage you will have in the negotiation of the home you are selling, you can make sure you don’t leave yourself out in the cold. You can build in contingencies and/or you can say that you want a longer escrow. There are many ways to get creative with counter offers to make sure you set yourself up for success when you move into the buyers seat.

You can create a solid back-up plan

If things get a little dicey or the timing doesn’t match up perfectly, you should have a back-up plan. While getting ready to list your home, start saving money – ideally, you will have two times your monthly mortgage payment on hand in case you have to carry both homes for a while.

That extra money can also go towards an AirBnB you can stay in temporarily – or you can negotiate a rent back from the people buying your first home. If you can stay with family, that will save you some money and you can put money towards a storage unit until your next home is ready. 

Still feel overwhelmed by the what ifs? We got you!

It would be beyond overwhelming and stressful if you were going into this blind and alone, but guess what? You’re not! Hopefully you are working alongside an experienced Real Estate Pro… and if you are reading this on our blog – then we certainly hope it is with one of our experienced agents!

We have worked with many sellers that are also a buyer. We have had to get creative and learn how to make this market work for our clients. We are confident that we can successfully get you from one home to another even in today’s market. 

Right now is the best time to sell your home. Period. You are hearing about it all the time because it has never been more true. Even if you do move from the Seller role into the Buyer role – now is still the right time, because with these low interest rates – you will get more home for less money. 

While it is clear that this market is a “no-brainer” for Sellers – it’s also great time to jump on the investment and ownership opportunities as a buyer with the rates as they are. Soooo… if you are even the tiniest bit considering selling, reach out to us,  and we will set you up with an agent to talk things out and make you feel at ease before you officially enter into the process. 

Dreaming Big with Bob Goff

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If you follow us on Instagram, you may have seen that we had a very special Brokerage Meeting last week with the one and only Bob Goff. While the original plan was for the brokerage to head down to his amazing retreat center in San Diego – COVID had different plans. Instead, we had this best selling author and encourager speak to us (via Zoom) and deliver a strong and powerful message!

If you aren’t familiar with Bob Goff, you are missing out! He’s  an amazing person who has done so much with his time on Earth. He began his career as a lawyer, then quit to begin writing and speaking full time. He has written some of our favorite books Love Does, Everybody Always, and most recently, Dream Big. Bob is someone Dani has always been motivated and inspired by. She knew after learning about his retreat center she had to connect her team with the opportunity to learn from him. 

Dani believes strongly, and says regularly, that “we are blessed so that we can bless others.”  Giving back is something she does in our communities and also with our agents. To have a successful brokerage, you need successful agents. At Dani Blain Real Estate there is a huge emphasis on growing and supporting our agents to help them be successful in their businesses. It is a cyclical effect in motion every day at DBRE… we support our agents’ success and in turn  agents support their clients’ success. Happy clients share their experience with their circle who hopefully come back to DBRE to manage their next real estate project… and so the cycle goes. A ‘better-together’ kind of relationship.

In the spirit of blessing others, Dani knew that blessing her agents and team with the gift of Bob Goff was exactly what she wanted to do to kick off 2021. Bob’s message of dreaming big was the perfect way to shape our goals and motivations for the year ahead. Bob’s message was somewhat simple but also profound:

“What do you want? Why do you want it? What are you going to do about it?”

Bob inspired us to stop and ask ourselves these questions. Once we know what we want, and why we want it – it is time for us to figure out what we are going to do about it. He shared that progress looks like putting yourself adjacent to the next best step, especially if the step you really want or need isn’t attainable quite yet. Keep moving in the direction of what you want, one action at a time, keeping yourself adjacent to things and people that can help make your dream a reality. We love this actionable way to work towards our goals! 

We also really loved a little secret he let us in on. Did you know that he cuts the left pocket out of all of his pants? Listen to what a cool idea this is… he believes you should always be careful about what you put in your pockets. Only keep things in there you really need (keys, wallet, etc… as the actual/tangible things in our pockets, i.e. metaphor for life.) And then each day, imagine that right pocket filled with some of the stuff you may be holding on to – some of the hurts and setbacks, the things that didn’t go your way… and move them on over to the  left pocket. A physical act of letting them go. Because the bottom line is, you’re never going to be a newer creation or the current,  most recent and best version of you, if you’re hanging on to all of that stuff you don’t need anymore. Boom! Isn’t that such a great exercise? We hope you will give it a try with us. 

Lastly, we will leave you with the message Bob left us with… he said “be a norm breaker – you don’t have to be what everyone else tells you you are.” Isn’t that so motivating and a bit of a relief? What are you going to do that is going to break the norm and break out of what people have told you you are? We encourage you to dream big and remember us if you need help getting that dream accomplished.