Why You Need a Real Human (Not Just AI) When Selling a Home

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You need a local expert when it’s time to sell your home. If you try ChatGPT or another AI tool you will get a quick “overview.” But at the end of the day, artificial intelligence is just scraping the internet to patch together answers.

All real estate is local. Home values can change street by street and neighborhood by neighborhood. Pricing a home is one of the most difficult parts of helping our clients.

Because Vermont is so small, and there aren’t that many houses, we run into a lack of “comparable sales.”

Here’s an example, if you have a one-level ranch and you want us to run a report showing the value of your house compared to other sales then we will most likely have to adjust our final report if there have not been any other recent sales for that style house. Best practice is to compare house styles that are similar as they attract different buyers.

Spend some time on the internet and then give us a call for our expert opinion to help you reach your selling goals. If you’re interested in talking with us about your house in relation to others that we have seen and sold, reach out – you’ll get in touch with a real person, not a bot 😉

Who Pays the Buyer’s Agent Fee?

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Everyone wants to know how Buyer’s Agents get paid. Here’s the truth.

The buyer is the only party to the transaction that brings a check to the closing table. So, simply, the buyer pays the fee. In most cases, the buyer’s agent fee is “baked” into the sale of the house. It’s the whole enchilada.

How Buyer Representation Works: When you hire a Realtor to represent you in the purchase of a home you sign a contract with the Realtor’s agency that outlines the terms, conditions, and most importantly the fee that is due to the Buyer’s Agent. This contract is between you and your Buyer’s Agent. The seller does not pay the Buyer’s Agent fee, it is paid through the transaction as a line item on the seller’s settlement statement.

Here are the two ways to pay your Buyer’s Agent:

In most cases the purchaser may request that the seller cover the Buyer’s Agent fee in the transaction. This means that when you see a “sale price” for a house it does not reflect the “net proceeds” to the seller.

Less commonly, the purchaser may want to pay the Buyer’s Agent fee directly to the buyer’s agency as part of their closing costs. This means that the “sale price” for the house does not have the Buyer’s Agent fee baked into the transaction.

If you are thinking about buying and still have questions – please feel free to reach out, we are always happy to help!

What Stays With the House?

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All buyers want to know “what stays with the house?” In other words, what personal items convey with the sale, or, what the seller is going to “leave” at the property. In most cases your buyer’s agent will point out the items that “stay” and the items that may “go” as the seller’s pack up. Here’s what you need to know:

Read your Purchase and Sale Contract. This is the definitive source for contractual obligations between the buyer and the seller. In the Vermont Association of Realtor’s Purchase and Sale Agreement, for example, “curtain rods” stay but not curtains.

Appliances are personal property. This means that the refrigerator, range, washer/dryer, etc. may or may not convey with the sale. Be sure to have an addendum to the contract to list appliances if they are to “stay” with the house. Be aware that personal property is typically in “as is” condition. If the microwave has a loose handle, for example, it is not the seller’s obligation to fix it.

What about furniture? In the last few years buyers began to express interest in purchasing furniture and art from the sellers. This is becoming more and more common and sellers and buyers are working out this transaction on their own. We refer to it as “outside of closing” meaning that it is a private sale that is not part of the Purchase and Sale Contract. If you’re a seller, have your Realtor check with the buyer’s agent before you post on Facebook Marketplace, you may be able to sell directly to the buyer.

Have more questions about the buying or selling process? Feel free to get in touch, we’d love to help you out!

What is Clutter Anyway?

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Getting rid of clutter is simply “tidying up.” Try it now — go into your kitchen and put away anything that doesn’t belong on the countertops or kitchen island. Usually this involves spotting an abandoned drinking glass and popping it into the dishwasher. Spoiler alert – don’t be surprised if the person whose glass you just “tidied” is looking for it an hour later. “What happened to my glass?” Let it be known that you are “tidying up.”

Here are our 3 simple tips to avoid clutter and start “tidying up” your space:

Designate a “drop spot” by your entry door for keys, wallet, purse, and glasses. The drop spot does not need to be a conspicuous entry way table, it can be a hook for your keys and purse and narrow surface for glasses and a wallet, like a side table or floating shelf.

Sort and take care of mail, delivery boxes, and groceries as soon as they are delivered. Have a box cutter available to break down your boxes and recycle them. Throw away/recycle junk mail. Put away all groceries right away.

Scan your living space right before you retire for the evening. Go through your rooms and put away anything that doesn’t belong. This may involve hanging up your clothes rather than draping them on your Peloton. Or, you may need to gather all of your snacks from the living room and return them to the snack closet or snack drawer.

If you need more tips, or want us to help you declutter your living spaces, get in touch!

Pick a Date It’s Time to Move

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When it’s time to sell your house, your priority should be picking an ideal closing time frame, and ultimately a moving date. You need to decide when you need to be at your next destination, whether it’s a rental, a new home, or an interim stop on the way to your final destination. Most of the time sellers have a vague idea of when they need to be out of their home. Your time frame will compress as the vague idea turns into a firm date. Once your house hits the public market you need to be prepared to pack and move.

To alleviate the stress of timing, packing, and moving here are three helpful tips:

Contact a Moving Company. Let them know you are selling your house and moving. Ask about a storage unit or a pod for short-term use while you are packing your house. Ideally you should secure a spot where you can start moving your belongings “out” of the house prior to photos. Packing and moving items that you don’t use every day out of the house and into a storage unit or pod jump starts the process. Be ruthless. Let’s face it, you aren’t going to be baking muffins or making a cheesecake in that spring form pan, pack ‘em up!

Pick a Date for the Moving Truck. Even before your house is under contract communicate with the movers. Throw out hypothetical dates to check on their availability. If a buyer makes an offer on your house the offer will have a closing date – this is the date that the buyers will buy your house. You need to be moved “out” prior to this date. For example, if the closing date is December 19th, you and your belongings need to be “out” of the house ideally by December 17th, so you have a day to clean prior to the buyer’s walk through.

Find a Place to Stay. Let’s be real, moving is chaos. You won’t have items that you usually use in your daily routine during the move-out. Once the movers have moved all the items that are going on the truck you will still have your personal items, pets, and maybe even special plants in tow. To alleviate this stress, we suggest moving to another place prior to “moving truck day.” Gather your clothes, toothbrushes, etc. and camp at a friend’s house or a hotel for a few nights while preparing for the movers. It will be a respite from the endless boxes and keep you organized.

These are just a few tips based on our “real life” experiences with sellers. If you have been thinking about selling, we are happy to meet with you to start the process and set you up for a successful move. Contact us to get started!

Do I Need a Coffee Bar?

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Do you need a coffee bar? The short answer is “yes!” One of the coolest things about being a Realtor is that we see how people are setting up their homes. Recently we have been tracking a trend to include a dedicated space in kitchens or adjacent eat-in spaces for coffee bars. Since 74% of people looking to remodel their kitchens have coffee bars on their “wish list” we’re digging deeper into the coffee bar obsession.

Classic movies of the 1950s often featured cocktail stations or bar carts. Check out the bar cart in The Seven Year Itch (1955) with Marilyn Monroe and a homemade martini. Flash forward to today where everyone is looking to recreate their favorite drive-through coffee brew whether it is a Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte or a Dunkin Cereal and Milk Latte. The home coffee craze, whether iced or hot, has lead to the coffee station trend.

Coffee not your thing? How about a smoothie bar, hot chocolate bar, or energy drink bar? So many possibilities to explore once you delve into this trend. Whether it’s a dedicated section of your kitchen countertop or a separate built-in area, all of our buyer clients appreciate the option to skip the drive-through and concoct a brew at home.

Whatever you choose for your beverages we highly recommend setting aside an area dedicated to your favorite drinks. If you’re looking for design ideas for your current kitchen or searching for a dedicated coffee bar in your next place, get in touch. We’d love to help make your at-home beverage dreams a reality.

The Right Home May Not Be Your ‘Forever’ Home

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Your “right home” may not be your “forever home.” Sometimes your life circumstances and current lifestyle lead you to a property that doesn’t fit your needs “forever,” but it fits your needs right now. Interestingly, 81% of buyers who think they bought their “forever home” end up moving in 5 years.

Over the last few years some buyers focus on finding the best home that fits their criteria of a “Forever” home. The search is frustrating, long, tiring and sometimes elusive. Buyers focus on future needs rather than their immediate circumstances. Of course, it’s natural to look for a house that you absolutely love, the house of your dreams, the house that you can grow into. In reality, though, the search that “checks all the boxes” rarely ends with the ideal house. Why does the search for a “forever” home turn into endless showings and frustration?

After working with buyers for many years, we ask more questions than other real estate agents. Instead of asking for a list of “must have” features in a home we ask these lifestyle questions:

  • What do you do for recreation?
  • Do you need to be on a school bus-line or close to school?
  • Where do you work? Do you need to live close to your company or do you work from home?
  • Do you want the option of public transportation?
  • How close do you want to be to the airport, the interstate, grocery shopping, restaurants and health care providers?

The “forever home” may have the “wish list” items but it may not fit the lifestyle questions. If you’re frustrated with your home search, or just thinking about starting, reach out – we’d love to help you find the best home to suit your needs, now and for the future.

The Truth: Real Estate and AI

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) creeps into our real estate world daily. Even writing this blog AI is offering assistance, which is ironic and disturbing. From listing descriptions to seller and buyer appointments, we have run into AI and we’re not impressed. Here’s what we’re noticing:

1. Descriptions in listings are starting to sound the same.

It’s easy to figure out which agents are taking “short cuts” with AI. Check out listing descriptions that describe a house as “nestled” when it is smack dab on top of a hill. This week at least 3 descriptions boasted “nestled” houses. AI is unaware that air conditioning window units are portable and need to be taken in/out seasonally. AI crafted this for a listing description, “Window units provide cooling which allows you to choose your climate control.” Ummm, yeah, basically the house does not have central cooling or mini-split units.

2. Market information does not need an AI interpretation if you are a professional Realtor.

We don’t rely on AI’s interpretation of market sales. Sure, it is a good overview but any Realtor should be able to use data to let clients know what is happening in their particular situation. After sampling AI offerings to analyze seller and buyer trends we are unimpressed. All basic information needs to be interpreted on an individual basis for each property. AI may boast a “seller’s market” with few days on the market, but, how accurate is that in the broad view of the real estate landscape for your city, town, or neighborhood. All real estate is local.

3. Each house is unique.

Zillow, Realtor.com, etc. have never been in your house. Do you have significant acreage? Do you have common land for recreation? Is there access to shopping, schools, etc.? Dirt road? Paved road? Class 4 road?

Do not rely on AI to find you a house. It’s best to rely on expert opinions from real estate professionals rather than information harvested by AI algorithms. And, don’t believe it when they say the house is “nestled.”

Summer Buyer’s Market?

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Yes, there is a Summer Buyer’s Market! If you’re thinking about buying or “have” to buy, now is the time to jump into the Vermont real estate market. Sellers who have their homes for sale are eager to sell before the fall. If you’ve been discouraged over the past few years, now is the time to get back out there to find your new home. More houses for sale, fewer buyers competing.

Here are the top 3 reasons to buy in the summer:

Everyone is on vacation. The pool of buyers goes up and down in the summer months depending on vacations. You are competing with fewer buyers.

Back-to-School season is here. Believe it or not, people are preparing for back-to-school which means college trips, school supplies and new clothes and shoes. Even people who aren’t going back to school get excited about office supplies. This phenomenon distracts many potential buyers from the real estate market.

One last trip! If people aren’t taking a scheduled vacation, then they are planning that “one last trip” before the summer is over. Concerts, horse shows, or just a quick jaunt to the ocean. The “last trip” of the summer means that those buyers are still vacationing rather than house-hunting.

We have a 100% success rate for helping our buyer clients find their next home. Reach out if you are ready to take the first step in purchasing.

Let’s Take it Outdoors: What is ‘Curb Appeal’ Anyway?

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Curb appeal is the feeling that people get when they drive past your house. Is the landscaping maintained or overgrown? Is the front door faded or vibrant? Is the driveway smooth or full of potholes? The exterior presentation of your property sets the tone for the buyer experience when you are selling your home.

It’s important to have “drive-by” curb appeal when your house is on the market, which is common knowledge. However, many sellers are surprised when we show them that the concept of curb appeal applies to the whole exterior presentation of the property.

Recently I met with a seller who wanted to get her house ready for sale. I drove by the property, and it looked neat, tidy, and well-maintained from the “curb” view. A closer look at the exterior, however, revealed many exterior flaws that would be fatal if I was a buyer.

Here are the three things that need repair prior to getting your house on the market:

1. Rot on garage door trim. This is very common. If the wood can’t be salvaged, then the trim needs to be replaced.

2. Sinking front steps and walkway. This, too, is very common. Over time, concrete front steps sink into the ground and the paved walkways can shift.

3. Garage door damage. It’s not surprising that some people have backed into their garage door when it’s still closed leaving a dent. Also, it’s common to have a broken window (hockey puck or baseball).

In these examples, the curb appeal of the house extends all the way to the front door for buyers. Driving up to the house and then walking to the front door sets the tone for the interior of the house. If the first impression is that the exterior of the house has been neglected, then the interior of the house will be scrutinized for any signs of deferred maintenance as well.

If you’ve been thinking about selling and want to get your house on the market, contact us to get started and we will ensure your exterior is in tip top shape to attract buyers from the first drive-by.