Blog Archives - Lori Dee Doerfler

Common Mistakes First-Time Home Sellers Make

You bought your first Lake Havasu City home a few years ago. But since then, you got married, had a couple of kids, and your lifestyle no longer fits inside of that house. So, you need to sell it and find yourself a new place. However, before you list your property, keep these common mistakes first-time home sellers make in mind to avoid a long, drawn-out sale.

Common Mistakes First-Time Home Sellers Make

Set List Price Too High

First and foremost, make sure you set your list price appropriately. These past couple of years found sellers in the cat-bird seat. Properties were snatched up almost as soon as they hit the market. Many times, buyers paid over the list price just to seal the deal. But the tide has turned recently. Instead of a hot, hot seller’s market, we see it turning towards a more balanced market. So now, more than ever, you need to listen to your REALTOR® when they tell you where the current market says that you need to set your price. Otherwise, you may find yourself sitting on the market for much longer than necessary and need to make a price reduction or two before you find a buyer.

Be Too Rigid About Viewings

Another mistake first-time sellers tend to make is to limit the number of showings you allow as well as the times you make your Havasu home available to view. Put this in your mind right now: selling a home can sometimes be inconvenient. Only allowing buyers a chance to view the house between 10 am and 2 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays really limits your buyer pool. You need to make your property available on the buyer’s timeline as much as possible. Otherwise, it may take much longer to sell than if you had been more flexible.

Do Not Stage Home

If you want top dollar for your Havasu home, you need to make sure it looks like it deserves top dollar. To do so, you need to stage it. If your budget allows, hire a pro. They know how to move furniture around (sometimes from room to room) and eliminate unnecessary elements to make each and every area of your household look big, bright, and ready for someone to move right in. If a professional stager is not in the budget, consider these helpful staging tips to get you started. And do not forget to stage the outside of your house as well.

Only Thinking About the Money

Contrary to popular belief, it is not always about money. Well, it’s primarily about the money. But you should never make money the only factor when considering an offer. You need to also look at the terms, how strong the buyer’s financials are, how much they use for their earnest money deposit, and whether the offer appears too good to be true. (It happens sometimes.) That is where a good REALTOR® comes in handy.

DIY Home Sale

Finally, first-time home sellers sometimes think they can DIY everything…including selling their home. It takes a lot of time to market, show, negotiate, and schedule the various aspects of a home sale. For someone who has neither the time nor experience with selling a home, this can be incredibly overwhelming. Let a professional handle all of these headaches for you.

Lori Dee Doerfler, Helping you negotiate through all the real estate noise

What Homeowners Need to Know About a HELOC

Our hot seller’s market here in Lake Havasu appears to be cooling off a bit. Higher interest rates and a rise in inflation hit buyers’ budgets hard. With home prices still high, some homeowners may decide to stay in their own homes for a little while. Instead of spending money on a new place, their gaze turns towards sprucing up their current space. How can they afford it? By tapping into their equity with a HELOC loan. But, how does that work? Is it a good idea? What are the downsides? Well, I’m glad you asked.

Before you tap into your equity with a HELOC, find out what it is, how it works, and what the downsides to using one are first.

What Homeowners Need to Know About a HELOC

What is It?

HELOC stands for Home Equity Line of Credit. In essence, it almost acts like a credit card. In a regular home equity loan, you receive all the money at once and make set payments over a specific time period. With a HELOC, your lender allows you to borrow up to a specific amount. But instead of receiving it all at once, you can borrow as much as you need as many times as you need up to the limit (like a credit card). For example, if your lender grants you a $50,000 limit on your HELOC, you can use $10,000 to pay for that new deck. Then, a few months later, you might decide to update your master bathroom. So, you use $8000 for that. Meanwhile, you make payments on the balance (with interest).

How Does the Lender Determine Your Limit?

The lender looks at four factors to determine your limit: your credit score, your home’s value, how much you owe on your home, and your current outstanding debts. Usually, the lender goes no more than 85% of your home’s value (including what you still owe). So, if your Havasu home’s worth $500,000 and you owe $350,000 (and have an excellent FICO score), they may allow you to borrow up to $75,000 (including loan fees). That is 85% of your home’s value ($425,000) minus the amount you still owe on your mortgage ($350,000). They never allow you to use your entire equity for a HELOC.

What are the Cons?

Pros: you tap into your equity without selling your Havasu property and use as much as you want when you want. That sounds great. But what are the cons? First, the lender can take your home if you do not pay the loan. Second, the lender may freeze your account due to non-payment or a reduction in equity. Third, the interest rate is determined by the market rate. That varies. And right now, it is on the rise.

A HELOC is not for everyone. But it may be a possibility for you. Talk over your options with your lender to see if this makes the most sense for what you wish to accomplish.

Lori Dee Doerfler, Helping you negotiate through all the real estate noise

Money-Saving Tips for Selling Your Havasu Home

The Lake Havasu real estate market began shifting away from a strict seller’s market over the past few months. More inventory and a lower buyer demand due to higher interest rates and inflation helped cool off the hot seller’s market we experienced over the last couple of years. But sellers should not be worried about a more balanced market. However, since selling a home includes a few necessary expenses, here are some money-saving tips to help ease that burden.

Selling a Havasu home includes some necessary expenses. Use these simple money-saving tips to help ease your financial burden and maximize your profits as much as possible.

Money-Saving Tips for Selling Your Havasu Home

DIY Home Staging

Professional stagers cost money. But if you have it in your budget to afford to hire one, it is well worth the investment. Unfortunately, our budgets seem to be stressed more than normal nowadays. So, you might want to opt for staging your home yourself. That also includes the backyard area. Lake Havasu home buyers want to see how best to utilize the outdoor space as an extension of the indoor living area. You need to set the stage for them.

Get a Pre-Sale Inspection

It is more likely than not than a Havasu home buyer will conduct a home inspection during escrow. To avoid any “surprises”, you might want to obtain a pre-sale inspection before you even list your home on the market. How is spending money on an inspection considered to be one of my “money-saving tips”? Because it gives you a chance to address issues right now. By doing that, you can take your time to shop around for the best prices to fix any problems you can. At the very least, it allows you to gather estimates to use in the negotiating process with a buyer.

Fix the Small(ish) Stuff

Squeaky door and/or gate hinges. Broken/cracked tiles. Dingy carpet. Faded paint. Overgrown weeds. All of this may seem like small potatoes. But buyers look at everything…and I do mean everything. The last of my money-saving tips is to take care of these “little” fixes before you list your Havasu home. Oil the hinges. Fix the tiles. Deep clean the carpet. Add a fresh coat of paint. Get rid of those weeds. You want your property in tip-top shape to attract buyers and make a sale happen as quickly and profitably as possible.

Lori Dee Doerfler, Helping you negotiate through all the real estate noise

List Price Advice: When is It Time for a Reduction?

Interest rates are on the rise. Inventory remains low but is starting to creep up a little bit. Buyers’ dollars do not stretch as far as they used to in today’s market. Even though we still show that Lake Havasu real estate falls in the seller’s favor, we see homes sitting on the market a little longer than before. What holds back a sale more than anything? The list price. But when should a seller consider lowering their price in order to make a sale happen?

As the Lake Havasu real estate market begins to shift, buyers cite list price as one of the biggest obstacles. So, when do you know it's time to lower your price to make a deal happen?

List Price Advice: When is It Time for a Reduction?

It is more important than ever for Lake Havasu home sellers to price their property appropriately to begin with. This means paying attention to current market trends. The days of receiving tens of thousands of dollars above asking due to bidding wars appear to be on the serious decline…if not over completely. Buyers typically cite price as one of the top reasons for not purchasing a house. So, if you listed your property at a high price when you entered the market, when should you consider reducing it to attract buyers’ interest and bring in an offer?

How to Know Your Listing Has Turned Stale

You experience lots of people coming through the doors but see little to no offers. Or any offers you receive fall well below your list price. Listen to feedback. This helps you find out the areas buyers find lacking. By lowering the price, buyers may be more apt to overlook these issues.

When Should You Lower Your Price

Your Havasu property receives the most traffic within the first three weeks of its listing. If you see traffic drop off drastically between the first weekend and second weekend on the market, you might want to talk to your Lake Havasu REALTOR® to determine how much the price factored into this. Sometimes, new paint and/or flooring or even new professional photos may trigger a fresh group of buyers to take a look.

About That Price Drop

Keep these tips in mind before lowering your list price, though. Multiple price drops may throw up a red flag with buyers. A huge price drop right away could do the same thing as well. Even so, you might end up making a couple of reductions before you see an offer. However, keep these markdowns to no more than three in total. If you still do not see any action after three price reductions, it might be time to take your home off the market for a little while. This allows you time to address any issues brought up with buyers before entering the market again as a fresh listing. Talk over your options with your REALTOR® to determine which works best for you.

Lori Dee Doerfler, Helping you negotiate through all the real estate noise

How to Market a Havasu Home With a Pool

When you have a lake within a few miles of your home, why do you need a pool? Some people like the privacy it affords them. Others enjoy not having to fight the crowds to get out on the water. If your Havasu home does not include a pool, though, it may not behoove you to build one. Why? Well, it costs between $30,000 to $50,000 to construct one on your property. Of that cost, you only recoup about 43% of it. But if you already have a pool on the premises, it provides a great selling point to buyers.

Do you own a Havasu home with a swimming pool? Some buyers like this. Others don't. Learn how to successfully market your home to potential buyers.

How to Market a Havasu Home With a Pool

Second/Vacation Home Benefit

For those home buyers seeking a second or vacation home here in Lake Havasu, play up the benefits of having their own swimming pool. A pool presents a great place for families and friends to gather without fighting foot and automobile traffic. Plus, renters (both long-term and short-term) love access to their own private pool. In fact, a large portion of vacationers seek out properties with pools over those without. That gives you a leg up on the competition. Additionally, it also offers a way to increase your living space into the outdoors.

Safety Features

Whether a buyer looks for a pool for their own purposes or as part of an investment property, they want to see safety features added. This includes removing any diving board or slide and adding a fence around the pool and spa with a locking gate. Make sure every drain includes an intact cover. As an additional safety measure, you may also want to install alarms to alert adults whenever a gate or cover has been opened.

Great for Fitness

Finally, a great way to market any Havasu home with a pool is by discussing the fitness benefits. Why pay for a gym membership when you can swim in the safety and convenience of your own backyard? Swimming also provides great cardiovascular workouts as well as muscle-toning exercises with low to no impact on your joints. So, you can work on your health at any age or fitness level, including individuals with physical limitations.

When you decide that you want to put your swimming pool Havasu home on the market, let me know. I understand how to market it to the right buyer. Contact me today.

Lori Dee Doerfler, Helping you negotiate through all the real estate noise