The dynamics of the real estate market can be hard to understand. Like all markets, real estate is unpredictable and changes in market conditions can have profound impacts on the financial situations of millions of people. This article will take a closer look at cycles in the real estate market and what they mean for your buying and selling decisions.

Whether you are looking for luxury homes in Greensboro or are at the stage to seek out a starter home, working with Smith Marketing is your best bet. As Allen Tate Greensboro Realtors, the team at Smith Marketing is fully qualified to serve you.

Four Distinct Categories

By the definition of the word “cycle”, we can already understand a little bit about this topic. Something that is cyclical moves through various repeating steps or stages, and the pattern of that movement tends to happen over and over again. While real estate doesn’t operate as an entirely authentic cycle, in that it isn’t perfectly repeatable, there are four cycle stages that are generally identified by economists that study markets that can be identified and monitored.

• During this phase, measures of vacancy are declining and little new construction is taking place
• This part of the cycle will see vacancy still declining but new construction taking place, as well
• Here, vacancy is going up, and yet construction isn’t slowing down
• Those new construction projects arrive on the market and vacancy goes up even further

While it can be helpful to monitor market conditions to see what phase is currently taking place, it can be hard – or nearly impossible – to figure out how long one phase is going to last before another takes hold.

Countless Variables

Much of the difficulty in terms of evaluating the cycle of the real estate market comes down to how many variables influence the behavior of the market. For example, interest rates have a strong impact here, with higher rates typically keeping people away from shopping for a new house. Also, the health of the economy as a whole plays an important role, since people having well-paying jobs are more likely to be able to purchase houses and other forms of real estate – meaning prices will probably rise over time.

Finding Your Place

Monitoring the cycles of the real estate market is only helpful if you are able to use this information to your advantage in some way. Different parts of the cycle present different opportunities for those who are positioned to jump into the market at just the right time. As an example, when the market is in a recession, buyers might be able to secure a great deal on a rental property to hold for the long term. Then, the cycles come back around and rents go up in the area, that property could become far more valuable than would have been indicated by the purchase price (since it was purchased in a recession when the market was down).

Thinking about making some real estate investment purchase, or just trying to decide when the time is right to buy your own home? Smith Marketing is ready to help, so get in touch today to learn more.

When getting ready to sell a home, you naturally want that property to appraise for the highest possible value. This is a big opportunity to improve your ROI on your investment, especially if you have owned the property for years and have built up some equity along the way. Looking at other houses for sale will give you a starting point for how yours might be valued, by a proper appraisal is the most accurate approach.

Smith Marketing carefully tracks homes for sale in the Greensboro, Summerfield, Oakridge and surrounding Triad areas, and their expert team is standing by to help you track down a great offer to close this deal. Reach out today to learn more. 

Market Conditions

This is the best place for this discussion to start. Simply put, the prevailing market conditions in your area are going to have a huge impact on how much your property is worth. The exact same property with no changes at all could be worth $200K in one market and $250K in another, for example. The appraisal will pay close attention to present market conditions and comparable properties that have sold recently in the area.

Size and Layout

Square footage is always going to play a big role in how much your home is worth, as well. Properties within a given area will generally sell within the same price-per-square-foot range as each other, with minor changes to that price point based on various other factors. For example, if a 1,000-square-foot home is valued at $200,000 in your area, a 1500-square-foot home may be valued at around $300,000, as that would maintain the same $200/square-foot price (or whatever the going rate happens to be).

In addition to raw square footage, the value will be impacted by how that space is divided. How many bedrooms are included in the design? Families that need four bedrooms may automatically rule out all three-bedroom layouts, meaning there will be less competition in the three-bedroom market. If all else is the same, a house with more bedrooms will usually sell for more than one with fewer bedrooms.

Age and Condition

Unlike most other things that are sold, age is not necessarily a bad thing when it comes to a house. In fact, many buyers like the styling and charm of older homes, so the market for these types of properties can be quite strong. However, that charm will quickly fade away if the house is not in good condition and needs quite a bit of renovation work. So, the age and condition of the structure will be considered together to determine how much it is likely to be worth.

Location, Location, Location

The location will inevitably play a huge role in the homes’ value. Location not only relates to the big picture of what city and county the property is in, but also in the more narrow sense of how it is positioned within a neighborhood. For instance, a house that occupies lakefront property is going to be worth more than a house across the street that doesn’t have lake access.

Need help navigating the complicated real estate market? Turn to Smith Marketing today to get the professional guidance you desire.

Selling your home is an exciting and intimidating process. There is a good chance that this sale will represent the largest amount of money you ever receive at one time in your life – so you want to be sure to get it right. Working with a licensed Realtor is one of the best ways to make that happen, and this article will highlight exactly what the best Realtors in Greensboro  have to bring to the table.

Putting Allen Tate Realtors on your side will make this a more enjoyable, and less stressful, process, so get in touch with the team today to learn more about how they can help you secure great offers for your property or help you find the next home for your family.

Determine a Value

One of the most important things to do when putting a property up for sale is to nail the listing price on the first try. It can be tricky on your own without the help of a Realtor to figure out how much to ask for your home. If you price it too low, you might wind up leaving money on the table – but overestimating the home’s value could leave you wanting for offers.

Teaming with a Realtor will make it easy to figure out how much you should ask for when the listing goes live. An active Realtor understands market conditions and will be able to use comparable sales in the recent past to establish a fair starting point for your home. That doesn’t mean you will sell the home for exactly that price, after all, but being on the mark will make strong, competitive bidding more likely.

Putting Your Best Foot Forward

You want to make sure your house is ready for “showtime” when the listing goes up and people start to check it out. Your Realtor can help you make minor changes that might improve curb appeal and other factors while helping you avoid wasted spending on things that just don’t matter much in the end. Taking that little bit of extra time and effort can go a long way in the battle for the highest possible offer.

Getting the Word Out

Even with an accurate price and nice staging, your home isn’t going to sell unless people know how to find it. A Realtor with strong connections to the local market can promote the property to other Realtors so they can tell their clients to come see it in person before it sells. You might even work with a Realtor that has a strong online presence established and can use some digital marketing techniques to make sure the house is seen by as many interested parties as possible.

Closing the Deal

Accepting an offer and finalizing the sale of your home is a stressful time. There is a lot of money on the line and the paperwork needs to be finished up correctly to get it all done. Using a Realtor like those at Smith Marketing will put your mind at ease knowing that the little details will be handled properly and the transaction will be a success.

Realtor vs Real Estate Agent

According to the National Association of Realtors website, “REALTOR® is a federally registered collective membership mark which identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® and subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics.” 

It seems that everyone is always trying to predict the next real estate market crash. Of course, the market has experienced crash events previously, so everyone from agents to homeowners has a vested interest in determining when the next one is coming around. Is it about to happen? Can this type of event even be predicted? The article below will explore this important topic.

If you are shopping for Greensboro real estate, reach out to Smith Marketing right away for assistance. Smith Marketing has extensive experience helping people buying and selling homes in Greensboro, and that proven track record can come to your aid for an upcoming transaction. 

The Simple Answer – Nobody Knows

No one knows accurately when, or even if, the real estate market is going to crash. If someone is telling you that the market will crash by a certain time, feel free to ignore them. It’s simply very difficult to predict such a complex market with precision. Sure, people can make guesses, and some of those guesses might wind up coming true, but that doesn’t mean that the predictor truly knew it was going to happen.

Think of it this way – if someone knew, for certain, that a real estate crash was imminent, that person would be able to become immensely wealthy by making the right investments in advance of that crash. The reason people don’t regularly become rich off of these events is because they are extremely hard to predict.

Change Your Thinking

It doesn’t really do any good to think about the possibility of a crash, as you simply won’t be able to know if it is going to happen. So, does that mean you should stay out of the real estate market entirely? Of course not. Rather than worrying so much about market conditions across the board, spend more time thinking about your personal situation and what move makes the most sense for you.

In other words, do you have the necessary down payment and income level to afford a suitable home in this market? Do you plan to stay in the same place for many years to come? If you’d like to set down roots, and your financial situation is appropriate for buying a house based on current pricing, considering home ownership is certainly worth your time.

A Long Game

Over the generations, owning a home has proven to be a reliable investment over the long term. That doesn’t mean there aren’t going to be bumps along the way. It’s entirely possible that the value of your home will go down at some point, and it will likely rise more often than it goes down. While there is never a guarantee of a positive return from any kind of investment, those who own a house for 10 or 20 years (or more) are typically quite pleased with the financial results of that decision.

Making a sound decision on a potential real estate purchase or sale comes down to thinking through your options and working with the right team. Contact Smith Marketing today to get started on this journey with an experienced real estate partner by your side.

For much of 2020 and 2021, the mortgage interest rates were at all-time lows. However, with inflation and many other economic factors, interest rates started to go back up to what is more typical of rates.

With the interest rates higher than they have been in the last few years, some buyers are nervous about getting into the real estate market because they think they will spend too much money in the process. However, now is still a great time to buy a home, even with higher interest rates. Some of the reasons that right now is a great time to purchase a new home, despite higher interest rates, include:

• Buying a home is still a great investment: It is still a good decision to purchase a home, especially if you plan to be in the home for a long time. You can also deduct your interest during tax time, making it more affordable and lowering your tax bill.
• Rates are still historically low: Yes, the rates may be higher than what buyers were paying a year ago, but they are still historically lower than what some buyers have paid over time. For example, in the 1980s, mortgage rates got to 16% at one point!
• Hard to know what the rates will do in the future: Some buyers are waiting, hoping that the rates will go back down in the future. But it is hard to know if that will happen anytime soon. It is possible the rates will continue to go up and it may take many many years for them to come back down.
• You can always refinance: If the rates do take a nosedive in the future and you find that you qualify for a lower rate, it is possible to refinance your mortgage. Having a good deal of equity in your home can make the refinancing a bit easier as well.

While you may be looking back at the interest rates that we saw in 2020 and 2021 and wish that you had jumped in the market at that time, now is still a great time for you to purchase a home. There is plenty of inventory, purchasing a home is a great investment, and interest rates are much lower than we have seen in many years. When you are ready to get into the market, working with the best real estate agent team in North Carolina, Smith Marketing,can help you get a great deal and find the ideal home for you and your loved ones.

There are a lot of great homes available in the Greensboro real estate market and now is a great time for you to get into the market and see what is available as a buyer. Even though interest rates have moved up, there is still a good amount of inventory and Smith Marketing of Allen Tate will help you find the best deal on your next home. Trust the best real estate team in North Carolina to help you through every step of the home buying process.

For those who don’t work in the industry, real estate terminology can be a bit overwhelming. There are many different terms used in the home buying and selling process, and it’s sometimes difficult to keep up with the jargon your agent or others involved in the transaction may use. To help you get over that hurdle, this article is going to explain some of the terminology that might come up on your journey toward selling or buying a property.

Smith Marketing is a leading real estate team in North Carolina. Whether you are looking for Greensboro real estate specifically, or homes for sale throughout the rest of the Triad, Smith Marketing is ready to serve you.

APR – Annual Percentage Rate

When taking out a mortgage to purchase a home, the APR or annual percentage rate – is one of the most important numbers to know. This is the rate of interest that you will pay on your loan per year.

Appraisal

Before you close a purchase, there will be an appraisal to determine the fair value of the property. An appraisal takes into account the location and condition of the property, along with the current marketing conditions.

Closing

This is when the deal comes to completion and the transfer of ownership officially occurs. There are a few steps to go through during closing before everything is signed and the money is transferred.  When the “closing” is completed the home with change hands from the buyer to the seller.

Contingency

In some cases, a contingency clause will be added to a real estate deal. The most common contingency is one where a deal to buy a house is contingent on the sale of another house that the would-be buyer currently owns.

Down payment

When you take out a mortgage to buy a house, it will be necessary to put down at least some percentage of the purchase price as a down payment. While 20% is often stated as the standard down payment amount, it’s typically possible to secure a loan with a lower down payment.

Equity

Building equity is one of the primary motivations for buying a house. To determine if you have equity in your current home, and to see how much equity might be there, subtract how much you own on the home from the total current market value. As an example, if you owe $200,000 on your loan, and your property is valued at $300,000, you have $100,000 of equity.

Home inspection

When trying to buy a house, a home inspection is one of the most important parts of the process. After you have an offer accepted, a home inspection should be ordered to evaluate the condition of the home and determine if any costly repairs need to be completed.

Mortgage

The word mortgage is used to describe a loan that is issued to a homebuyer to complete the purchase of a property. There are plenty of different mortgage options on the market today, but a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage tends to be the most popular.

Pending

This is the status of a property that is under contract and moving toward closing – but hasn’t closed yet. If the deal falls through for any reason before it closes, the home may be placed back on the market.

Real estate agent

An industry professional licensed and qualified to assist buyers and sellers with real estate transactions. Working with an agent provides access to expertise and years of experience.

Title

This is what is held by the owner of a property, and it serves as proof of legal ownership of that property. The title is only transferred during a real estate deal once the transaction closes and money changes hands.

The housing market is constantly in flux. There is an ongoing ebb and flow between buying and selling conditions, and it can be tough to keep in the know with market conditions and rates. If you have been thinking about buying a new home or selling your existing one, but aren’t sure if market conditions are right, this article should help you sort through the noise and make a sound decision.

Getting professional help with such a big financial investment is always a wise move. As an Allen Tate team, Smith Marketing can help you explore the houses for sale in Greensboro to see if anything on the market is a good fit for you and your family and as a top real estate team in North Carolina, have the experience to help you market your home and get the most for it. 

Prices Remain Strong

Even if you don’t follow the real estate market closely, you likely know that home prices have been relatively high – and rising – throughout much of the country. This is a trend that continues to hold true, and the Greensboro area is no exception. As an example, in September 2022, the median sale price of a home in Greensboro was $263,500, which is nearly a 17% year-over-year increase. If you zoom out to look at the state of North Carolina as a whole, the picture is very similar – the median price was $346,700, representing a roughly 10% increase as compared to September 2021.

So, what does that mean for you as a potential homebuyer? While strong prices might not seem appealing, it’s important to consider what that means for the equity of a home you currently own. If you are going to be selling and then buying, your sale price will be higher than it would have been in recent years, meaning you’ll have more cash available for a down payment on your next property.

Competition May Be Softening

In addition to high prices, one of the prevailing trends in real estate recently has been the hyper-competitive nature of the market. It’s been tough to get an offer accepted, as many properties were receiving multiple offers shortly after going onto the market – and often those offers would be for more than the list price.

Looking at the data from September 2022, however, there is some indication that things are getting a little easier. Within that month, the median days on market of the homes that were sold was 24, which was one additional day as compared to 2021. That slightly longer time on the market indicates that the competition is not quite as heavy as it was, although good properties are still likely to receive plenty of attention.

The Right Help is Critical

Yes, it’s a good time to buy a home – but not without a quality real estate agent on your side. Having good help to guide you through the process, point you toward the right properties, and enable you to act quickly when you find something you like is going to make everything much easier. Reach out to Smith Marketing right away to learn how North Carolina’s top Real Estate team can help you buy or sell your home.

When you are getting ready to buy or sell a home – or both – you are likely going to reach out to a real estate professional for help. A qualified professional can help you understand the market, uncover opportunities, and wind up making a deal that is in your best interest. You might refer to these people casually as real estate agents or Realtors – but is there a difference? Yes, and this article will highlight the difference below.

If you would like to work with a qualified Realtor to find homes for sale in and around the Greensboro area, feel free to reach out to Smith Marketing today for assistance.

An Official Designation

To make sense of this potentially confusing topic, it will help to first look at what it means to be a real estate agent. As a real estate agent, an individual is properly licensed to assist with the process of transacting real estate in a given location. There are requirements that vary by state to obtain a valid license, including things like completing educational courses, passing an exam, and more.

So, if you are considering hiring someone to help you buy or sell real estate, looking for a real estate agent can be considered a starting point. Beyond confirming that an individual is licensed, you may also want to look into other factors like their experience serving past clients, transactions they have completed in your area, any specialties they have, and more. Finding a good partner in this process is the best thing you can do, so plenty of research is necessary.

The Title of Realtor

When someone is designated officially as a Realtor, that title indicates their membership in an organization called the National Association of Realtors. As such, Realtor is not a word that is a suitable stand-in for “real estate agent”, as they don’t mean exactly the same thing. The National Association of Realtors has registered the term Realtor as a collective membership mark, establishing their ownership of that term for professional purposes.

Before an individual can become a Realtor, it is necessary to first become a licensed real estate agent. With that bar cleared, and some additional basic qualifications met, it is then possible to pay a fee and join a real estate association that is part of the NAR. Maintaining that membership moving forward means following the standards that are established by the association.

It should also be noted that not all Realtors work in the capacity of a real estate agent. While that is certainly a common path, some who hold this title will be property managers, real estate brokers, etc. When you are looking around for someone to represent you in the market, finding a Realtor is a great sign that you are in good hands.

The Smith Marketing Difference

Choosing a Realtor in the Greensboro area is easy now that you have come across Smith Marketing. With ample experience and intimate knowledge of the local market, you’ll have everything you need to make smart buying and selling decisions.

There is plenty of stress that comes along with buying or selling a home. As one of the largest financial transactions most people will make in their lives, it’s important to get it right. To benefit from the experience and training of a professional, most people hire a real estate agent early in the process. But what all do real estate agents do, anyway? Are they worth the money or should you go through this purchase or sale on your own? It is absolutely a good idea to hire a real estate agent, and this article will explain why.

With so many homes for sale in the MLS listings at any one time, it can be hard to sort through the noise to find the good opportunities. Smith Marketing is the right team to put on your side to navigate this stressful – but exciting – process.

Performing a List of Functions

The role of a real estate agent is going to change from day to day, so agents always have to be prepared for the challenges that might arise when working with a client. Some of the common duties that agents will perform include:

• Home showing appointments with buyers to see properties
• Hosting open houses for sellers to show off a house to potential buyers and answer questions
• Finding listings that align with a buyer’s objectives
• Working through the paperwork required to take a transaction toward closing
• Interacting with a variety of other professionals involved in the process, such as the lending agent, inspector, and more
• Performing market analysis to offer insight into the fair market value of a property

This list is far from complete, of course, but it gives you an idea of just how much a real estate agent can do when brought in to facilitate a deal. Many of those duties listed above will be completed in the same day, especially on weekends when showings and open houses are common. When you think about the sheer number of tasks a real estate agent handles for you as the client, the fee that they charge starts to look like a bargain.

Providing Important Advice

It’s a good starting point to look at the practical side of what real estate agents do, as was highlighted above. But those fundamentals don’t really tell the whole story, because there is another side to what real estate agents offer that is a little harder to quantify. The other side is the advice and direction that they offer to clients who are trying to buy or sell a home. This is a stressful, anxious experience, and it’s often the real estate agent that serves as a level-headed, professional guide to make it through the process successfully.

The advice of a real estate agent could come in handy when trying to decide if you should accept an offer or wait for a better one to come along. Or it could help you determine how much to offer on a house that you are interested in purchasing. To put the advice of an experienced real estate team on your side for an upcoming transaction, reach out to Smith Marketing right away. 

For much of 2020 and 2021, the mortgage interest rates were at all-time lows.  However, with inflation and many other economic factors, interest rates started to go back up to what is more typical of rates.

With the interest rates higher than they have been in the last few years, some buyers are nervous about getting into the real estate market because they think they will spend too much money in the process. However, now is still a great time to buy a home, even with higher interest rates. Some of the reasons that right now is a great time to purchase a new home, despite higher interest rates, include:

• Buying a home is still a great investment: It is still a good decision to purchase a home, especially if you plan to be in the home for a long time. You can also deduct your interest during tax time, making it more affordable and lowering your tax bill.

• Rates are still historically low: Yes, the rates may be higher than what buyers were paying a year ago, but they are still historically lower than what some buyers have paid over time. For example, in the 1980s, mortgage rates got to 16% at one point!

• Hard to know what the rates will do in the future: Some buyers are waiting, hoping that the rates will go back down in the future. But it is hard to know if that will happen anytime soon. It is possible the rates will continue to go up and it may take many many years for them to come back down.

• You can always refinance: If the rates do take a nosedive in the future and you find that you qualify for a lower rate, it is possible to refinance your mortgage. Having a good deal of equity in your home can make the refinancing a bit easier as well.

While you may be looking back at the interest rates that we saw in 2020 and 2021 and wish that you had jumped in the market at that time, now is still a great time for you to purchase a home. There is plenty of inventory, purchasing a home is a great investment, and interest rates are much lower than we have seen in many years. When you are ready to get into the market, working with the best real estate agent team in North Carolina, Smith Marketing,can help you get a great deal and find the ideal home for you and your loved ones. 

There are a lot of great homes available in the Greensboro real estate market and now is a great time for you to get into the market and see what is available as a buyer. Even though interest rates have moved up, there is still a good amount of inventory and Smith Marketing of Allen Tate will help you find the best deal on your next home. Trust the best real estate team in North Carolina to help you through every step of the home buying process.