I have 10 critical pieces of information for you to know to determine if now is the right time to sell.
Where are you going?
Do you know where you’re going next? Are you downsizing, are you upsizing, are you moving out of the area, are you going to rent for a while, are you going to go on a big long vacation, or are you going to get a motor home?
You have to come up with the plan, know what the plan is and maybe even have a plan B or C just in case. You want to make sure you know where you’re going next because with a hot market like this, chances are your home is going to sell very quickly.
Be ready for a flood of activity!
Once your home is ready to go on the market you are going to see a lot of folks coming through your home. We are seeing anywhere between 40 to 60 showings in a weekend. Be ready to be out of sight, out of mind for the people who are coming through so they can feel comfortable touring and imagining themselves living in your home.
Be prepared for the amount of influx that you’re going to experience!
Is the house ready?
You want your home to be nice and clean! Not only should your home look appealing, you should also consider checking the title. Making sure your title is clean so there aren’t any little things that are going to creep up in the middle of escrow that are going to slow down the close of escrow or potentially give your buyer pause. Once you have an accepted offer you don’t want anything to slow it down. This can also include tax liens and code violations which are all things that your professional realtor can help you with.
Tax exposure
Mr. Taxman is coming for you so here’s what you need to know.
Section 121 of the tax code in California indicates that if you are a single person you can take $250,00 tax free with no capital gains as profit from your home sale if you have lived in it as your primary residence for at least two years. If you are a married couple you can take $500,000 this also includes people who are holding titles jointly.
Check with your financial advisor to make sure of these things in advance because you want to make sure that you’ve accounted for your basis. That means that whatever you’ve been paying on the house is taken away before you do your math to discover what exactly your profit on the home is. Once you have that number you can determine whether or not you’ve got tax exposure! Keep in mind that proposition 19 here in California as well as some other tax codes can help Californians move their tax base and help mitigate tax exposure.
Proposition 19
Watch this 👉🏽 https://bit.ly/35lAKfU video that I produced with a wonderful tax attorney who talks at length about proposition 19 so that you can understand whether or not you qualify and how to leverage this new tax law.
Inventory
Inventory is very low and that bodes well for you because the buyers out there really don’t have a lot to choose from which means you’re probably going to end up with multiple offers on your home. We’re seeing this in most cases so be prepared for a lot of activity. Right now the stage is set for sellers to really maximize their profit potential because inventory is so incredibly low.
Interest Rates
Interest rates are at an all-time low. Basically it’s almost like free money and people are doing the math, they’ve figured out that they can have a mortgage payment that is equivalent to or maybe even less than they were paying for rent. Covid has had a big part in this market. We’re experiencing people working from home. People want to use a home office and maybe they don’t have a room where they’re living now. Maybe they are currently a homeowner but their home just doesn’t accommodate a home office situation so they’re looking to upgrade to something a little bigger.
Houses Are Selling Over The Asking Price
Not all houses are going to go over asking but believe it or not we are seeing homes getting bought sight unseen. People are literally putting in offers over asking price for homes they have not even stepped foot in. We know that the market always shifts and adjusts so right now if you want to maximize your sales price you take advantage of the fact that most homes are going over asking.
Time Is Of The Essence
The current frenzy in the market is unprecedented and the one thing we know for sure is that pricing trends never last forever. If you intend to sell at the top of the market, you won’t find anyone with a magic crystal ball (not even me- though I’ve asked for it for YEARS!) to tell you when the absolute pinnacle of the market is, but we are beginning to see buyer fatigue right now and some buyers are leaving the market to wait for more favorable conditions if they have lost multiple offers on homes.
Hire a great realtor!
Yes I know I say this all the time.
Before I was a realtor I was a real estate investor and I always trusted my realtors to help me when I was buying/selling homes. A good realtor knows what’s going on in the market, they know how to leverage what you’ve got. They know how to market what you have and they know how to safeguard you against pitfalls. Plus they have insurance in case anything goes sideways, you are protected!
If you have any questions about putting your house on the market feel free to reach out!
Since 2004, I have been a Realtor® in Southern California.
Thank you for watching and sharing my videos and blogs! I love to help educate people.
I am blessed to live just 2 miles from the shore here in Long Beach. Favorite thing? Anything involving the arts; music, visual, filmmaking, you name it! If you want to talk to me about SoCal real estate feel free to email, text or call me. I hope we get to meet one day soon 🥰
Kelly Corsino REALTOR ® DRE# 01704102
(714) 227-0712
Kelly@housesbykelly.com
Keller Williams Coastal Properties
6621 E. Pacific Coast Hwy 150 Long Beach CA 90803
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