5 More Tips for When Your Home Isn’t Selling

Welcome back to the second part of our series discussing what to do if your home just won’t sell.

Want to sell your Kansas City Home? Get a home value report here 

Want to buy a Kansas City home? Search all homes for sale here

If you missed our first installment, you can check it out here.

In continuation of my video last time, here are a few more tips if you’ve found it hard to get your home sold:

5. Offer your home on a lease option. There are a couple ways to do this: If you own your home outright, you can do an owner finance where, if you don’t have a mortgage on it, you can record that note at the county courthouse. This allows you to be the bank, so to speak, for the people buying your home. If your mortgage company allows it and your insurance company has been notified that your home is non-owner occupied, this can be a good option for those who aren’t able to sell

6. Ask your employer about relocation. There are a lot of corporate employer packages where relocation is an option. These can help with the expenses of selling your home.

7. Lower the price of your home. This will help make your home more competitive. For this to work, we need to do an analysis on the environment of your home’s price point and be sure that the condition, location, and marketing package you’ve chosen are competitive. This way, your home will be a clear pick for the buyers in your market.

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Our guaranteed sales plan for clients says that if we haven’t sold your home in 90 days, we will step in and buy your house from you so that you can go on to buy the next one without contingencies.

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8. Consider a real estate auction. My team does what’s called accelerated marketing, and there are four kinds of auctions that fit different strategies. The great thing about conventional marketing is that you can gauge the market and take your time to draw buyers in—there’s a lot of negotiation in a balanced market. With an auction, you set the terms up front, meaning you get to tell the buyer exactly what day the home is going to close, what terms are attached, and what inspection rights and financing rights the buyer has. The buyer who purchases your home will have to live with whatever terms you’ve set, and then they’ll pay commission. This option isn’t appropriate for every situation, but it is a conversation worth having.

9. Consider our guaranteed sale plan. We guarantee to clients that if we haven’t sold your home in 90 days, we will step in and buy your house from you so that you can go on to buy the next one without contingencies.

If you have any additional questions about what you can do to sell your home in a difficult market, feel free to reach out to me. I’d be glad to speak with you.

What to Do When Your Home Won’t Sell: Part 1

Are you having trouble trying to sell your home? If so, you may want to try one of these four alternatives.

Want to sell your Kansas City Home? Get a home value report here 

Want to buy a Kansas City home? Search all homes for sale here

Listing your home can be a stressful experience in and of itself, but this is especially true if you’re having a difficult time attracting buyers. To help address this common problem, our team is launching a two-part series on what to do when your home won’t sell. And today marks the first episode.

We’ll be covering the first four solutions in this installment, so let’s dive right in:

1. List again in the future. Sometimes the reason your home won’t sell is simply that the timing’s wrong. Sellers must consider current market conditions, as well as their own personal circumstances, before putting their home on the market. If you’ve been struggling to sell, sometimes the best solution is to try again at a more opportune time.


2. Refinance your mortgage instead of selling. If your motivation to sell is largely financial, then perhaps a home sale is not the right solution at all. This isn’t to say that a sale is entirely out of the question, but you should consider other options if this is your reason for listing. Speaking with a lender is a great first step. They will be able to inform you of your options based on your individual situation. 

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If you’ve been struggling to sell, sometimes the best solution is to try again at a more opportune time.

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3. Turn your home into a rental. This isn’t always the best solution for those who lack experience in acting as a landlord, but it can be a decent alternative to selling for those ready to accept this (often hefty) responsibility. There are renters out there who will take great care of your home, but you must be prepared for less favorable outcomes before you decide to rent out your property. You should also check with your mortgage company to ensure that this option is within your legal right.


4. Pursue a short sale. This option isn’t as common right now as it was in years past, but it is still available for those who need it. Still, like the other options we’ve listed, sellers must think carefully about their situation before pursuing a short sale. Having an attorney by your side when you do so may also be a smart move.

If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Thinking of Subdividing? Here Are the Factors You Need to Consider First

If you’re thinking of subdividing or developing a piece of property, there are several factors you need to consider to determine whether or not that will be economically feasible.

Want to sell your Kansas City Home? Get a home value report here 

Want to buy a Kansas City home? Search all homes for sale here

If you’re thinking about subdividing a piece of property or developing it and then selling it, you first need to determine whether taking this step is economically feasible.

Some parcels of land can be used for high-density development, but a lot of them can’t. This means you need to consider factors like how close your land is in proximity to the nearest city limits, whether your water lines and utilities are available and strong enough to service the number of rooftops you plan on building, how the land slopes in relation to the nearest sewer, etc.

Another factor to consider if your property is somewhat larger (50 acres or so) is whether the road accessing the property can handle the type of traffic that comes from being near the city limits. By and large, you can fit two and a half to three homes per acre on a developable property. By “developable”, I mean that the roads, sidewalks, and infrastructure can allow the fire and police departments to service the community properly.
 

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When a developer invests in a property, the most affordable part is the land, itself.

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It’s important for you to remember that when a developer invests in a property, the most affordable part is the land, itself. The expensive part is building the infrastructure and adding all the off-site improvements (i.e., water lines, sewer lines, gas lines, sidewalks).

On a 50-acre property, you can build anywhere from 100 to 150 homes. If you add that much traffic—say, two cars per household—to a county road that doesn’t have curbs, gutters, and proper stormwater planning, that can create a plethora of problems. Adding stoplights and turning lanes can cost up to $250,000, so that alone can make a property economically unfeasible for development.

Every property is different, and there are many other things to consider before you decide to subdivide and/or develop yours, but these are just a few factors to educate yourself about before moving forward.

If you have any other questions about this topic or you’re curious about what’s going on in our market, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d be glad to help you.

How to Buy and Sell at the Same Time

If you’d like to buy a house but you also need to sell your current house, you need to design a smart buying and selling strategy. Here’s how you can do that.

Want to sell your Kansas City Home? Get a home value report here 

Want to buy a Kansas City home? Search all homes for sale here

If you need to sell your current home to buy another home you’re interested in, there are several strategies you can use.

To design a smart home buying and selling strategy, you should first look at your overall goals and what your financial situation is. What kind of equity will you be rolling into the new home? What kind of mortgage payments are you looking for?

You should also consider implementing contingencies. In this type of situation, we oftentimes work with clients who buy a home that’s contingent on the closing of their current home. You can also use bridge and swing loans that will give you more time between buying one home and selling the other and help you avoid the crunch of a simultaneous closing.
 

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You have a much better chance at influencing all of these moving parts if you put together a great team behind you.

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Whether you’re buying or selling, there are about 75 people who are either directly or indirectly involved in the transaction, and you have a much better chance at influencing all of these moving parts if you put together a great team behind you. With everything that’s happening, coordinating both transactions can seem like threading a needle. This is why, when we work with homeowners in this situation, we sit down with them, go over every possible strategy, review their financial situation, and look at the market itself. Whether we’re in a buyer’s market or a seller’s market will affect your strategy.

As long as you take the time to put together a plan with your real estate agent and put together a great team behind you, you can make buying and selling at the same time a stress-free situation.

If you have any questions about this topic or you have a topic you’d like us to discuss in a future video, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’d love to speak to you.

The Hidden Magic of Kansas City

Though Missouri is a flyover state to many, Kansas City is a place with a rich history and something for everyone.

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Want to buy a Kansas City home? Search all homes for sale here

What’s so great about Kansas City? Why should people want to move here?

If you have family members or friends who are thinking about moving to Kansas City or transferring here to work and live, you might want to forward them this email. I want to show them the flavor and neat parts of this historic city that we have come to love.

Having been born and raised in the area, I know that there are so many things that are great about Kansas City, even though Missouri is often considered a “flyover” state, and Kansas City itself is often thought of as a “cow town.”

In recent years, Kansas City has come to be a very cosmopolitan community, and there are a lot of amazing aspects to the city that many don’t consider.

In recent years, Kansas City has become a very cosmopolitan community. There are many aspects of the city that people do not consider such as the great schools, many places to worship, and the great shopping districts like Country Club Plaza and Crown Center.

In addition to all the great venues available, we also are a huge sports town. We have the Kansas City Chiefs, one of the best NFL franchises in the world. We also are home to the Royals, who of course won the World Series in 2015. For soccer fans, Sporting Kansas City is a professional soccer club based here in town.

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There is always something to do in Kansas City, no matter who you are or what you enjoy.

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The Power and Light District downtown is a popular nightlife destination for people from all over. National acts are constantly filling up the Sprint Center with fans of all different forms of entertainment.

Kansas City is home to three casinos: Harrahs, Argosy, and Ameristar.

Kansas City, along with all of its great attractions, is also a city with a rich history. In the late 1800s, Kansas City was the end of the western frontier, serving as the place where everybody stopped before they continued their journey west. This history has inspired many artists, and you are encouraged to check out the art in the Freight House District if you want to take a step back in time.

There is always something to do in Kansas City, no matter who you are or what you enjoy.

If you have any questions or topics you’d like me to address in the future, please feel free to reach out to me. I’d love to hear from you.

How to Handle Multiple Offers

Want to buy a Kansas City Home?  Click here to perform a full home search  Want to sell a Kansas City home?  Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation   You may also call us at 1-800-686-5088 for a FREE home buying or selling  consultation to answer any of your real estate questions. 

Right now, we're seeing a lot of multiple offers, which is great news for sellers. When we market a brand new listing, we build a lot of anticipation. Buyers will sit on the listing and wait for it to hit the market. If we price the home at a sweet spot, then that home will get multiple offers, sometimes in less than a week.

Some buyers may think that the only way to win in a multiple offer situation is to offer more money. However, nowadays contracts are 40 to 50 pages long, so there are plenty of opportunities for negotiation. For example:

• The closing date - Being flexible on the closing date is appealing to sellers who may be looking for a home themselves.
• The earnest deposit - Increasing the earnest deposit shows that you are serious about your offer, which is good news to sellers who need to close.
• Inspection dates - Being flexible with inspection dates - or even foregoing certain inspections - will also make your offer more appealing to sellers looking to close on the property.

These are just a few options, but as you can see, there are other things you can negotiate besides purchase price. However, in this market, buyers absolutely need to be pre-approved. If you're working with someone who allows you to shop without a pre-approval, then you have been set up to fail.

Other things to consider when looking for a home are your expectations for your new home, what your time frame is for purchasing, and how much your payments should be. Once you've determined those three things, you can get serious about finding a home.

If you have any questions about today's video, give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you!

Are We in a Buyer's Or Seller's Market in K.C.?

Want to buy a Kansas City Home?  Click here to perform a full home search  Want to sell a Kansas City home?  Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation   You may also call us at 1-800-686-5088 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions. 

A lot of people have been asking us lately if we are in a buyer's market or a seller's market. This is a two-fold question, because real estate is hyper-local, and the type of market you are in really depends on the price point and the area. 

For most markets around K.C., we are in a seller's market right now. It doesn't hold true at every price point, but for the first time in many years we are seeing sellers benefit greatly in our market. Some areas have just 1 or 2 months of inventory and in those areas, you can get a lot more home right now than you could in the past. 

I don't really see this seller's market changing over the next few months. Inventory is so low, we are going to continue to see strong price gains in the near future, probably 3-5% a year!

Mortgage rates are still historically low, significantly lower than they have been throughout history. You don't want to miss this opportunity to lock in a long-term rate at such a low price. Your window of opportunity is closing, so I recommend you make haste and get ready to take advantage of these conditions!

If you have any questions for us you'd like to submit, let us know. We would love to talk about it on our next video! Have a great day!