Long Beach, CA Real Estate Podcast with Melinda Elmer

If you’re thinking about making some expensive updates to your home before selling, you should consider my advice. Here’s how you can actually maximize your ROI on a home sale.Looking to sell a home in Southern California?  Click here for a free Home Price Evaluation Looking to buy a home in Southern California? Click here to perform a full Home SearchRecently, I’ve had a number of properties that were in some serious need of repairs. These homeowners all asked me what they needed to do to get their homes sold for top dollar.In most cases, when a seller hasn’t been able to maintain or update their property, they can benefit more from making it look clean, neat, and fresh as opposed to making expensive updates or repairs.“Kitchen and bathroom remodels are only going to get you 60% to 80% of your money back.” Something as simple as a fresh coat of paint or new carpet can make a huge difference. Decluttering, depersonalizing, and simplifying what’s in the home to open up the space and make it look as nice as possible will help without spending significant money to do repairs. Many studies have shown that kitchen and bathroom remodels are only going to get you 60% to 80% of your ROI, and that’s a lot of work to put into a property.I recently sold a property with a bad roof that needed to be completely replaced because it was a rental for 30 years. We were able to get 30 offers for this home without completing any additional work.There are other homes that we’ve been selling that are in fine condition, but they’re a little dated. Instead of spending money on repairs that you won’t see a return on, cleaning and decluttering is how you maximize the sale price in most cases.Other people will tell you that you need to do a lot of staging, and in some cases it's appropriate to do some. However, for a majority of homes, you can use what’s already in there for staging.If you have any questions for me in the meantime, don’t hesitate to reach out via phone or email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

I’m sharing all the details about our upcoming “How to Retire Rich in Real Estate” workshop!Looking to sell a home in Southern California?  Click here for a free Home Price Evaluation Looking to buy a home in Southern California? Click here to perform a full Home SearchI’m inviting you to an upcoming “How to Retire Rich in Real Estate” workshop. On Saturday, March 14, at 10 a.m. we’re hosting this workshop with my broker Neil Schwartz, who has been in the business for over 40 years. He’ll share some of the wonderful investment tips and strategies he implements with his agents and clients. This workshop will help you learn how to retire rich in real estate.The event is at my office: 5150 E Pacific Coast Hwy Ste 770 Long Beach, CA 90804. When you arrive, you can park either on the surface lot or on the street, then head up to the seventh floor. We’ll have light drinks and other refreshments. We look forward to seeing you there! “Come learn how to invest and retire rich in real estate!”Please feel free to forward or share this with friends who may be interested in investing in real estate. You don’t want to miss this! Click here to RSVP!If you have any questions about this event or real estate in general, please call or email me. I would love to speak with you.

If you’re like me, you probably didn’t realize that you have to clean your solar panels now and then. Here’s why it’s important to do so, though.Looking to sell a home in Southern California?  Click here for a free Home Price Evaluation Looking to buy a home in Southern California? Click here to perform a full Home SearchToday I’m sharing the importance of cleaning and maintaining your solar panels. I thought that when I got my solar panels, all I had to do was install them, then go about my daily life without a worry!“The cleaning process doesn’t have to be too complex, and the result is worth it!”However, I recently found that if you clean your solar panels regularly, you can get up to 12% to 15% more output from them. Obviously, rain does help wash them off, but if there’s a lot of bird droppings, mushy leaves, dust, grime, or even ash, your panels will require a deeper clean than what Mother Nature can provide. The cleaning process doesn’t have to be too complex. A garden hose and a soft brush usually suffice, but if your panels are at a difficult-to-reach angle, you can play it safe and call a professional solar panel cleaning company to do the job for you. Sure, it’s one more thing added to your to-do list, but that considerable increase in energy efficiency is well worth the effort. If you have questions about this or any other real estate topic, feel free to contact me by phone or email. I’m always happy to hear from you.

Here’s by how much loan limits have been increased and what this means for homebuyers.Looking to sell a home in Southern California?  Click here for a free Home Price Evaluation Looking to buy a home in Southern California? Click here to perform a full Home SearchNew loan limits are affecting homebuyers. As you may have heard, loan limits have been increased. To clarify, any loan obtained below its limit is a regular conforming loan; any loan obtained above its limit is a jumbo loan. Increased loan limits mean more buying power for buyers. Here are the exact limits for different types of housing:Single-family homes: $765,0002-unit homes: $980,0003-unit homes: $1,184,0004-unit homes: $1,472,000“As you may have heard, loan limits have been increased.”You can get a better interest rate and a lower cost for all loans under these amounts for these properties. Conforming loans can be sold on the market, which makes them more desirable than jumbo loans. Jumbo loans can’t be sold, which makes them more expensive. FHA reverse mortgages and HELOCs have been increased as well, which opens up more possibilities to draw money from a home. The VA has completely removed the limit for their loan, so VA buyers can buy with 100% financing with no limit. Previously, VA buyers could only use 100% financing up to a certain amount. If they purchased above that amount, they had to pay the down payment. I know this is a bit of a tricky subject, so if you have any questions about it, don’t hesitate to call or email me. I’d be happy to help.

Though we’re in a softening market, you can still get your home sold quickly, and here are five tips that will help you do it. Looking to sell a home in Southern California?  Click here for a free Home Price Evaluation Looking to buy a home in Southern California? Click here to perform a full Home SearchThough we’re in a softening market, here are five tips you can still use to help get your home sold quickly: 1. Price it competitively. This will open the market up instead of narrowing it. You’ll receive more viewers coming through your home, and the more people coming through your home, the better the chances someone will fall in love with it and write an offer. You might even generate several offers! 2. Make pricing adjustments fairly quickly (if your home is already on the market but you’re not getting any offers). Don’t let your home languish on the market, because as each month passes, prices will drop even further. If one of your neighbors needs to sell their home quickly and they have to drop their price, for instance, you won’t have any control over that. Don’t just drop the price by $5,000, either. If you’re not getting any showings or offers, you’re generally between 3% to 5% overpriced.The more available your home is for showings, the higher the number of buyers who can see it in person.3. Declutter and depersonalize it. If you haven’t already, take some time to put away the extra items lying around your house. That kind of stuff can distract buyers and make your home seem smaller. You want buyers to be able to visualize themselves living in your home, and decluttering and depersonalizing will do the trick. 4. Make sure it’s available for showings. The more available your home is for showings, the higher the number of buyers who can see it in person. If you can’t show it at certain times, make sure to let your agent know so they can plan accordingly. 5. Offer incentives. You could include closing cost credits or offer furniture or appliances you won’t be taking to your next home, for example. If you live in an HOA neighborhood, you could also offer to pay your homeowners association dues for the first year. Don’t be afraid to get creative. If you have any more questions about how to sell your home in our current market or you have any other real estate needs I can take care of, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d love to help you.

Solar panels can be a great addition to your home, but there are a couple of things to keep in mind if you’re considering purchasing them. Looking to sell a home in Southern California?  Click here for a free Home Price Evaluation Looking to buy a home in Southern California? Click here to perform a full Home SearchFor today’s video, I’ve invited Jeanette Coffey of Sunrun to join me to discuss the benefits of installing solar panels on your home and what your purchasing options for them are. First, from a real estate perspective, you need to keep in mind that solar panels only add value to your home if you own the solar panels. Many solar companies, for example, will try to convince you to use HERO or PACE loan programs to buy solar energy, and these loans come with hidden costs. While they don’t require any money up front, they do end up getting added to your tax bill. Also, interest rates are extremely high for these loans, so when the time comes to sell your property, you’ll have paid a lot more than what you expected. One of the main benefits of using solar panels is they provide you with clean, affordable, long-lasting energy. Again, as long as you own the solar panels, that makes them a great investment option if you’re looking to add value to your home. That’s why if you’re considering buying a home that has solar panels, you need to know whether you would own the panels after purchasing or you’d only be leasing them.If your electric bill is $80 to $100 per month on average, you should consider buying solar panels.As we’ve already stated, you can either purchase or lease your solar panels. If you use financing to purchase, instead of paying a monthly utility bill, you’d make a monthly loan payment. That way, every time you make a payment, you’re investing in your home instead of paying a utility company. In this case, you’d pay zero money down and own the solar panels. You can also lease your solar panels with zero-down financing. In this case, you pay the solar company for the power and the energy output is customized and controlled so you know exactly what you’ll pay on a monthly basis. According to Jeanette, the best time to buy solar energy is as soon as possible. Whether you’re better off purchasing or leasing that energy depends on your situation, but if your electric bill is $80 to $100 per month on average, you should consider buying solar panels. If you have any more questions for Jeanette about solar panels or you’re interested in purchasing them for your home, you can call her at (562) 221-1802 or visit her Facebook page “Solar Jeanette.” As always, if you have any real estate questions for me, feel free to call or email me. I’d love to help you.

As we close out 2018, we’re shifting into a more normal market, which is good news for buyers. Looking to sell a home in Southern California?  Click here for a free Home Price Evaluation Looking to buy a home in Southern California? Click here to perform a full Home SearchAs we near the end of 2018, what’s the status of our Southern California market? The reality is that we’re at the end of an eight-year, upward-trending cycle. What happens at the end of every cycle like this is a bit of a market decline, and we’re beginning to see the start of this. The seasonality of the market is also causing things to slow down a bit. By no means do we think we’re headed for another crash like what we saw in 2008, though, so there’s no need to worry about that. Market conditions are completely different from the ones that preceded the 2008 crash. Here are some of the latest stats from our entire MLS that illustrate the change taking place: Our average original list-to-sale price ratio is 97%.Our average sale price peaked back in May at $771,000, but now it’s dropped 5% to $733,000. At the end of 2017, there were 46,631 homes on the market, and last month there were 63,596. During December 2017, there were 14,215 pending sales, but last month there were only 12,686 pending sales—a 28% drop. There were 19,058 closed sales during December 2017, but only 17,253 last month, which is an 11% decrease. Our average days on market has increased year over year from 23 days to 43 days.Our year-over-year average list-to-sale price ratio has stayed roughly the same: 99%.If your home isn’t priced correctly, it won’t attract many showings or offers.The real takeaway from these stats is that if your home isn’t priced correctly, it won’t attract many showings or offers. In general, they also indicate that we’re moving into a more normal market. Inventory is growing, which means buyers have more choices, and whenever this happens, prices naturally either flatten or decline. In a situation like this, sellers will price their homes competitively or offer incentives in order to get their homes sold. New builders are also more apt to offer competitive rates and more incentives. Normal homes are also more likely to stay on the market longer under these circumstances, which is why it’s all the more important to price your home correctly and work with a great real estate agent. In a normal market, there’s less profit appreciation. We’ve been very lucky in the Southern California region in that we’ve seen double-digit appreciation over the past decade, but that’s slowed down to a rate of 3% to 5%. Interest rates have risen over the past year, and that’s something that’s affected both buyers and sellers. Lastly, it’s important to note that although we’re shifting into a more normal market, we’re still not quite a buyer’s market yet. If you have any more questions about our market or you’re thinking of buying or selling a home soon, feel free to call or email me. I’d be happy to help you.