St. George Utah Real Estate Video Blog with Jeremy Larkin

The TRUTH About Selling Your Home During The Holidays

Friends and clients,

First off HAPPY HOLIDAYS and THANK YOU for working with, referring to, or following the Larkin Group! We appreciate it more than you might know.

Second, may I separate fact from fiction today on the topic of holiday home sales?

People often think that the real estate market freezes up during the Holiday season, and every time they ask a Realtor they get a standard Realtor answer: “Of course you should list, buy, invest, etc during the Holidays. You should do it all the time!.”☺ Easy for us to say, right?

Let’s eliminate “opinion” and just look at the facts shall we?

In today’s video, I actually show you FACTUAL PROOF of 2 things:

Sometimes the Holidays are actually the best time to sell a home if you’re looking for a quick and profitable sale. Homes are selling in December and they always do. Many.
A little known fact that most folks don’t consider is what January competition looks like, and how that will affect your ability to sell a home at that time.

Check out that video right here:

Apart from the actual facts I shared in the video above, I came across a great article with 11 reasons to list your home during the holidays. It's written for real estate agents but it applies to any home seller and I think these four are the most important for you.

1. Buyers looking for homes during the holidays are serious about purchasing. They’ve often been transferred for a job, or are in a situation where they need to buy a home quickly. This means a quick, profitable sale for you!

2. Supply usually falls during the Holidays, so if you’re selling your home then you’ll face much less competition.With fewer homes on the market, you’ll have the upper hand in negotiations with a buyer.

3. Buyers are more emotional during the holidays, and you can use this to your advantage when you place a price on your home.

4. Your home will look more inviting during the Holidays, and it will show better. What’s more inviting to a buyer than walking into a warm home with a fire lit and cookies baking in the oven? They’ll instantly feel at home!

These are only a few of the reasons why you should consider selling your home this Holiday season, or at least why you might not want to “blow off” the idea entirely. If you’d like to see al 11 reasons, read this article.

If you have further questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d love to hear from you!

Looking to buy a home this holiday season? Click here!

Looking to sell your home this holiday season? Click here!

Until next time, a very Happy Holiday season to you and your family!

Your St. George Real Estate Partners,

Jeremy Larkin & The Larkin Group
(435) 215-4533
larkingroup@gostgeorge.com

How Boomerang Buyers are boosting the St. George Real Estate Market

Want to see which St. George area homes are currently for sale? Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You can always call us at (435) 215-4533 for a FREE home buying or selling con

Today, we're going to talk about “Boomerang Buyers” and how they affect the real estate market both locally and nationally. A “Boomerang Buyer?..What is THAT?” Great question.

A boomerang buyer is someone who lost their home in a foreclosure or short sale in the housing crash, and who needed time to improve their credit in order to purchase another home. Now that their credit is back in shape, it's really affecting the market.

Starting in 2006, over 7 million homeowners went through short sales or foreclosures. In 2015, 350,000 homes were sold to return buyers. A.K.A. “Boomerang Buyers.”

According to the National Association of Realtors, up to 1 million consumers have restored their credit, and 2.2 million consumers are expected to restore their credit in the next five years. That means that there will be up to 2.2 million buyers coming back into the market over the next five years.

In spite of going through a foreclosure, nearly all of these consumers say they want to buy a home again. They see the value of owning a home vs. renting. After all, if you're going to pay a mortgage, it might as well be your own!

The “boomerang effect” has sustained the St. George real estate market through the heat of summer – a time when we almost always see a fairly strong dip in St. George real estate sales.

During summer (June-August) 2014, 919 residential sales too place in Washington County versus 1136 during the same time period in 2015…an extra 217 home sales! That’s $54 million in total value, a serious figure. And we believe that boomerang home buyers had a strong part in that increase

If you have questions about this video, or about your home value, please give me a call or send me an email. I'd be happy to help you!

I have my Washington County Property Tax Notice…Now what?

You've probably received your Washington County Property Tax notice in the mail by now. It’s one of those things that gets tossed aside into the “I’ll deal with that later” pile, right? I get it.

But since you’re inevitably going to wonder if they’ve overcharged you for property taxes at some point, I’m going to address it with you now! Here are the 3 key points you’ll want to consider:

1. Is the assessment accurate? You have to keep in mind that the value you see on your assessment is not the value of your home. This number is not what someone would pay you for your home if it were on the market. I would actually go so far as to say that 90% of assessments are probably a bit low. Meaning that your home is actually worth MORE than they’ve assessed you for....SHHH…I won’t tell the County if you don’t!

2. What should you do if it's inaccurate? If you think your assessed value is too high, get on a home evaluation site (Dixiehomevalue.com) and compare their value to what you received. If the difference is too great, you can contest it. Reach out to us and we can produce a price analysis that you can take to the assessor's office when you appeal. If you need to appeal, go to the Washington County website:(http://www.washco.utah.gov/assessor/boe.php).

3. What is the benefit to you financially? If you appeal and the county assessor accepts your appeal, for every $1,000 that they have over-assessed you, you will get $12 back in the form of a credit. So, a $10,000 over-assessment will get you $120 in credit.

Most of you don't need to worry about these things, but if you have any questions about your property tax notice, please don't hesitate to contact us. We would love to resolve any issues you may be having.

Until that time, or our NEXT video – onward and upward!