North Shore's Real Estate Podcast with Mike Quail

Being a move-up buyer comes with its own set of home buying challenges. Here’s how you can avoid them.   Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation Today I want to share five mistakes to avoid when you’re moving up into a larger home. Moving into a significantly bigger home is so much more complicated than moving into an apartment or your first home. A lot of move-up buyers are moving into their forever homes, so here are five things you should avoid:1. Looking at the property with rose-colored glasses. Maybe you’ll drive by a huge home without knowing what the price is. Get real on what prices are today and make sure you know you can afford a home before you fall in love with it.2. Not getting pre-approved. This will ensure you can afford what you’re looking at. A lot of homebuyers end up disappointed because they realize down the line they can’t afford their dream home.3. Not selling your home first. You want to make sure that your current home is at least under contract with a buyer when you purchase your new home. If it’s not, you’ll have to offer more money on your new home to compete with sellers who are already under contract. You also may have to lower the price on your current home to ensure that it sells quickly. A better way to do it is by getting your home on the market, getting it sold, having a delayed closing or rent-back, and then purchasing your new home. There are a lot of different things you can do.“It takes a lot of work to coordinate your closings, but it’s very advantageous to your move. ”4. Failing to make necessary improvements to get top dollar. If you’ve ignored something for years, get it fixed. The new buyers will notice that.5. Not coordinating the closings together. It takes a lot of work to do this, but it’s certainly possible and advantageous to your move.There you have it. Avoid these five mistakes and you’ll have a smooth process moving up into your new home. If you have any questions for me in the meantime or you’re thinking about moving up to a new home anytime soon, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you.

If you are selling your home yourself as for sale by owner (FSBO), I want to help. I can provide you with a marketing tool kit, or I can list your home myself.   Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation For sale by owner (FSBO) – To many people it sounds horrible, but to others it sounds like a really smart idea because of all the available technology. They think the process will go smoothly, which it can sometimes. But, it's as easy to go to Las Vegas and win $10,000 while gambling, as it is easy to sell your home by yourself. Some FSBO home sellers sell for more money, save on commissions, have no legal issues, and have deals which work. However, I have found that 75% of FSBOs end up hiring an agent. There are many reasons for this.Even though you can go online and get loads of information, selling your house is still an intense process. It is much better to hire a professional. The biggest reason you want to work with a professional is because you can get more money, even after you pay the agent's fees.If you are interested in selling by yourself, offer the buyers’ agents a 2.5% to 3% commission to get good buyers to look at your home. This will bring in people who are more likely to spend the most money. People working without a buyer's agent are looking to take advantage of sellers who are selling on their own.“When professional agents list homes, we track the premium buyers who are spending the most money. ”In fact, I took a class where they encouraged us to go after FSBOs to see if we could get a large discount. We found that most FSBO homes are sold for 10% less, which is actually more money lost than it would have been had they hired an agent for a 5% commission. And, the owner would not have had to do all the work. When professional agents list homes, we track the premium buyers who are spending the most money. By offering a 2.5% to 3% commission, you are spending very little to get a lot more.We have found that FSBO sellers sell for a lot more with our help. If you reach out to us, we’ll provide you a copy of our marketing tool kit so that you can try to be one of the 25% who is successful at selling your home on your own.If you’d like our help with selling your home on your own or you have any other questions or real estate needs, give me a call or send me an email. My team and I would be happy to help.Commissions are variable with all agents and the above is just an example.

I’ve checked over the numbers from May, and I want to share five interesting statistics about the market in this latest update.   Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation Today I have a market update to share with you that includes five super cool statistics about the state of our market.1. We have 5.4% fewer single-family homes listed, comparing the end of May 2018 to May 2017.2. The number of units sold is down from 1,962 units to 1,910, which constitutes a 2.65% drop. This decrease is caused by the lack of inventory, not by the lack of demand—as you might have seen by now, buyers in the market are hammering listings with multiple bids.3. The median days-to-offer is 14 days. This means that it’s taking roughly two weeks for listings to receive offers.4. The median sales price is $440,000. This is a $35,000 increase from last year, or 8.63%, which is great news for sellers. What’s more, based on market trends, I don’t see this changing for at least two or three years.“It’s taking roughly two weeks for listings to receive offers. ”5. The median sales-to-list price ratio is 98.83%. To explain, if a home was put on the market for $100, on average, it would sell for about $98. However, if you hire the Quail Group to sell your home, we’d sell it for $101.If you have any questions about the market with respect to how it will affect buyers and sellers, feel free to reach out to us. I, or anyone else on my team, would be happy to help you out.

If you are unable to put at least 20% down when you buy a new home, your bank may require you to also purchase private mortgage insurance.   Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation Today I want to talk about private mortgage insurance, more commonly known as PMI. Is PMI horrible? Is it good? The truth is that it oftentimes lies somewhere in the middle. PMI is basically an extra fee for those homebuyers who do not put at least 20% down on a mortgage. PMI is something nobody really wants to pay. However, it allows people to buy, for example, a $400,000 home without putting down $80,000. If you put less than 20% down, you will have to pay a fee every month for private mortgage insurance to ensure your bank’s peace of mind. They only want to be in a position where they have lent out 80% of the loan. If they have lent out 95% of the loan, they have a greater risk.  They don’t want to risk losing money if you lose your job or there is some other reason that you are unable to pay your bills, forcing you to sell the home. If they do not get all of their money back from the sale of the house, then the private mortgage company pays the difference. Generally, it is a good thing. It helps you get into the market and helps you build equity. If you can afford the extra money per month for the policy, which is on a scale, it is worth it.“Banks do not want to risk losing money, so they require private mortgage insurance when homebuyers are unable to put at least 20% down. ”Most buyers, especially first-time homebuyers, put down less than 20% and have PMI. There are some special programs which waive PMI, so give us a call and we can put you in touch with some of our preferred lenders and they can give you some extra information.Once you own your property or you have equity of at least 20%, you can actually get rid of your PMI. It does not have to be there forever. Some loans you have to refinance to get out of them, however, other programs allow you to get a new appraisal once you reach the 20% value of the home and remove it easily.If you have any additional questions about this or are interested in buying or selling, please feel free to contact me. I look forward to speaking with you soon.

Here’s the truth behind four common real estate myths most people believe.   Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation  There are a lot of real estate myths floating around out there that you shouldn’t believe. Here are four major myths and the truth behind them. 1. Real estate agents are paid a salary and keep all the commission from each deal.  I wish this were true, but it’s not. For 99% of us agents, our salary is commission-based. We don’t get all of the commission from a real estate transaction, either. It actually gets split four ways—the listing agent splits it with the buyer’s agent, and each of those agents split their remaining half with their brokerages.  2. A home either “passes” or “fails” a home inspection.  The home inspector’s job is to see what’s wrong with the house and then report any issues back to the buyer—not give it a “pass” or “fail” grade. After they do this, the buyer can either negotiate for certain repairs to be made, negotiate a lower price for the home, or walk away from the deal.  3. Zillow says, therefore it is.Zillow is a fantastic website for consumers and I like it very much, but their Zestimates, or the algorithm they use for home valuations, are flawed and can be off by as much as 30%. If you’d like a far more accurate valuation of your home, just call me and I’d be happy to take a look at it.  4. All agents are the same.  They’re not. For the most part, agents spend their own money marketing homes—the brokerages pay for very little. This means it’s up to them as far as how much demand they can create for your home and whether they can help you sell it for a high price. The market is great, and almost anyone can sell a house right now, but you might be leaving money on the table by not working with a high-powered agent such as myself who has a high-powered marketing program. “Contrary to popular belief, not all agents are the same. ”If you’d like to read the original Inman article that inspired this topic and read about more real estate myths consumers commonly believe, click here.  As always, if you have any questions or real estate needs, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d love to help you.

Our team is growing, and we’re looking for talented, outgoing, high-achieving people to join us.Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search  Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price EvaluationToday, I’m presenting you with a Keller Williams high achievement certificate award with the name covered up.Why? We’re looking for the next person to fill in that blank. Our team is growing, and we’re looking to add more awesome salespeople to help more of our clients. “We’re looking for talented people to join our team. ”Our mission is to care for clients and grow people. Our values include:P²: Productivity x pleasure to be around.Grit: It’s a hard business, and a lot of deals fall apart. You have to have perseverance and passion. Growth: We want to grow all of our people in all areas. No one succeeds alone: We work together as a team.Whole-life success: We’ll help you in all different areas of your life, not just business. We want talented people who are looking to have unlimited potential income and are willing to care for buyers and sellers and help them with the biggest transactions of their lives. It’s not always an easy field to be in, but it’s incredibly rewarding. If you have any questions about this position, you think you fit this description, or you know anyone else who does, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you!

Today’s market is crazy! If you’re a buyer or a seller, here’s what you need to know.Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search  Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price EvaluationWhat is going on in today’s market? It’s crazy. Inventory is super low, and I’d like to offer you some perspective.I recently gave an interview on a Boston.com real estate program where I talked about the North Shore and Essex County in general. Ten years ago in 2008, we had 3,000 homes for sale. Today, we have 700 homes for sale—that’s 2,300 fewer homes available.If you’re a seller, there’s never been a better time to sell. There are so many buyers but not enough homes to sell to them all, so each seller’s property is a hot item that should sell fairly quickly and for a good price.Buyers might think it’s a good idea to wait until prices go down, but I don’t see that happening. We won’t have a collapse like the last dip in the market, since that was underpinned by weak mortgages and people who got no-documentation loans. These days, everyone has been getting loans that are properly documented with every i dotted and every t crossed.“You might as well enter the market now and ride it up with the prices. ”In the Greater Boston area, people are moving in to take advantage of the jobs and colleges we have, but there isn’t enough housing to suit them all. We also can’t build anymore homes, so we’re stuck with what we have. Rents are going up and home sales are going up, so if you’re a buyer, the prices will be even higher. You might as well enter the market now and ride up with the prices. That way, when you sell in five or 10 years, you’ll have gained all that equity. If you lower your expectations a little bit and get in the ownership game now, your next purchase can more in line with what you desire.If you have any more questions about our current market or you're thinking of buying or selling a home, don't hesitate to call me or shoot me an email. I'd be happy to help.

How are rising interest rates impacting people in our current market?Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search  Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price EvaluationAs you may already know, we’ve recently seen a rise in interest rates. Last year, interest rates were around 3.4%. Now, they are up to 4.4%. This rise has a direct impact on buyers and sellers in today’s market. The amount sellers can ask for a property and the amount of buying power people have during their home search are two primary examples of this. Let’s imagine a home with a purchase price of $400,000. A 1% rise in interest rates would cause buyers to lose around 10% of their buying power. “Rising interest rates have a direct impact on buyers and sellers in today’s market. ”Decreased buying power affects sellers, too. If sellers hope to entice today’s buyers, they must set lower prices than in the past. I don’t have a crystal ball, but I can see that it’s becoming more expensive for buyers in today’s market. In other words, now is the time to lock in rates while they’re still relatively low. If you’re a seller, now is also a great time to list, since waiting could make it harder to command top dollar. If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email.

If you’re thinking of selling your home, now is the time. We’re offering a $1,000 credit to all sellers who sign a listing agreement with us by April 15.Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search  Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price EvaluationI have an exciting announcement for you today. There is a new tax credit that’s only available with The Quail Group—not the city, not the state, and not the federal government. We are offering our sellers $1,000 off any of your expenses that come from commissions, seller attorney fees, or recording fees. We are giving you $1,000 when you close with us. To qualify for this $1,000 credit, you just have to sign a listing agreement with us by April 15. You just have to hire us; if you want to wait to put your home on the market until later in the year, that’s fine. Just make sure you hire us by April 15. This is just our way to help the economy a little bit. The other thing is there aren’t a lot of homes on the market. There are a lot of buyers out there, so if you’re looking to sell your home, you can get some money off some of your fees through us and get your home on the market. “Hire us by April 15 to get your $1,000 seller’s credit. ”There are a lot of bidding wars going on right now, with some houses getting as many as 10 offers and selling for $10,000, $20,000, $30,000, or even $40,000 over asking price. So, not only can you sell your home for a lot of money right now, you’ll also get $1,000 off when you work with us. We just want to help get things going as the spring market starts. If you are interested in selling your home, give us a call and help us end this inventory shortage. We would be happy to help you!

Rents right now are on the rise. It’s time to get out of the rental trap and take steps toward long-term wealth.Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search  Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price EvaluationRight now, rents are on the rise. People here on the North Shore are seeing just how hard it has been lately. That said, I don’t want you to get caught up in the rental trap. Rents are up 2.7% nationally and over a quarter of renters are spending half their income on rent. Renters also aren’t earning any equity for the money they’re paying toward their housing situation, and renting lacks the tax benefits of homeownership. These days, it is actually cheaper to buy than to rent. This is partially due to the fact that homeowners have the benefit of mortgage interest deductions on their taxes.Still, many people find themselves uncertain of how to transition from renting into homeownership. A recent survey found that while 80% of millennials plan to purchase a home, 72% had no concept of when they would do so.“You can never gain long-term wealth if you’re caught in the rental trap. ”A large portion of people who would like to own a home feel they lack the funds to do so, due to the false belief that you must save 20% for a down payment. In actuality, there are options for buyers to get into a home for just 3% or 3.5% down. For veterans, there are even financing options that require no money down at all.The bottom line is that you can never gain long-term wealth if you’re caught in the rental trap. While buying a home isn’t always the right option, it isn’t an out-of-reach alternative to renting. If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

I’ve got five important tips to share with you today if you’re a new homeowner. Take care of these things right away when you move in.Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search  Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price EvaluationI’ve got five important tips to offer you today if you’re going to be moving into a new house anytime soon:1. Lock it up. Once you’ve moved in and unpacked, the first thing you should make sure you do is change those locks.2. Remove and change the toilet seats. You deserve a fresh, new throne in your new home. They’re cheap and will give you peace of mind.“Changing your air filter is essential. ”3. Change your air filters. This is essential. It’s only a few dollars, but it will greatly increase the air quality in your home and (possibly) lower your bills.4. Paint your front door. The new neighbors will love it and it will help your home look nice and new. It will make a nice impact.5. Change the scent of your home. When you go into someone else’s home, there’s always that unfamiliar scent. Your home probably has that kind of scent right when you move in, so bring in some candles to get a nice, new scent in the home.These are the five things that I recommend that you do when you move in. They are all easy and cheap, but they are also important. If you have any questions for me in the meantime, don’t hesitate to reach out and give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Today, I’d like to let you in on a sliver of the market many other buyers don’t have access to.Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search  Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price EvaluationToday, I’d like to talk about something that’s been a hot topic here in my office: shadow inventory.Have you ever heard of the shadow inventory? If you haven’t, let me explain. We define shadow inventory as the properties not listed on public websites. In fact, these homes aren’t even actively for sale, per se. “My team and I are always searching for deals outside of the MLS. ”However, with some work on our end, we are able to make some of these properties available for you. Expired listings, canceled listings, temporarily withdrawn listings, and coming-soon listings all fall under the category of shadow inventory.My team and I are always searching for deals outside of the MLS. So, if you’d like access to these properties, we would be happy to help. These homes constitute a fraction of the market that many other buyers aren’t aware of. This means less competition for you.If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Are you thinking about buying a home in 2018? I have seven tips that will help streamline that process to your benefit.Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search  Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price EvaluationIf you’re thinking about buying a home in 2018, here are the top seven things you should do:Check your credit score. Your credit score is like gold when applying for a mortgage.Don’t open any new lines of credit. You don’t want anything to affect your debt-to-income ratio, which could lower your buying power.Suggest financial gifts from your family. Instead of traditional presents, suggest that your family gift you funds for your housing purchase. Save that money towards a down payment, closing costs, and home inspectionKeep tabs on interest rates. Rates are really good right now, so make sure they don’t climb too high when it comes time to purchase because that could lower your buying power.Find a good real estate agent to help you out. Anyone on our team would be happy to help you out. We’ll talk you through what you’re looking to do, educate you on the market, and tell you about the shadowy inventory that’s available.Get a mortgage lender who you can trust. We know some of the best in the business who will do a fantastic job and save you money.Get yourself pre-approved. Without being pre-approved, looking for homes would be like going to dinner without a wallet.“Without a pre-approval, looking for homes would be like going to dinner without a wallet. ”If you have any questions about buying or selling real estate, feel free to give us a call. We’d love to help you out.

Are we in a real estate bubble and is it about to burst? While prices may come down soon, it won’t be anything like last time.Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search  Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price EvaluationIs the real estate bubble about to burst? The market has been going up and up and up for the last couple of years. As we all know, what goes up must come down.We haven’t gone down yet, so does that mean there is still room for home prices to increase? I’ll share my thoughts on these questions today. First of all, there were a number of fundamental factors that caused the market to crash so hard the last time. One of the biggest factors was that there was no documentation for loans. You could tell a lender, “Hey, I make $200,000 a year.” Even though you’re only making $20,000, they would believe you. That doesn’t happen anymore. Now, you have to prove that you will be able to pay your mortgage in order to get the property. In the past, there was a whole subsection of loans built on sand. Once the market started to go down, those people couldn’t afford their homes anymore and the market just crashed. Again, we don’t have that issue anymore. There might still be room for prices to increase. I believe that we are heading for the crown of the market. Check out the video above to see what I’m talking about. Basically, as prices go up, we will hit a peak, and prices will begin a downward curve. If we draw a line, it looks like a crown. Prices will start to go down, but there won’t be a dramatic cliff-drop like we saw last time. If you are thinking of selling, you can lock in those gains now. If you are buying to flip a home, you don’t want to get caught at the peak right before prices go down. If that happens, you could buy something at $400,000 and end up selling at $390,000, which costs you $10,000. That said, now is still a good time to buy if you plan on living in the home for the next five to seven years or beyond. Even if there is a little price dip in the next two years, it doesn’t really matter because you’re not planning on selling. Plus, by buying now, you will lock in a 30-year fixed cost at a low interest rate. “Now is still a good time to buy if you plan on living in the home for the next five to seven years. ”If you are thinking of selling your home, I recommend that you get going on that in the next zero to 12 months before home prices start to go down. You can lock in good gains before prices start to go down. I believe that the market has reached its peak and that we will see a soft landing here. Again, since loans were only given out to qualified buyers, we won’t have a whole subsection of homeowners suddenly unable to pay their mortgage. I am starting to see buyers resist those listing prices a little this fall. There are still some bidding wars, but if a house isn’t priced correctly and has a little funkiness, it isn’t selling. There is super low inventory, so we might have a little bit of a run-up left before the market peaks. When it goes down, I think it will only go down a little bit. If you are trying to decide when to enter the market, obviously the best time to do so is when it makes the most sense for you to buy or sell. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I would be happy to help you!

What makes this winter a great time to list your home? There are seven key reasons.Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search  Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price EvaluationHere are the top seven reasons why you should consider listing your home now instead of waiting until spring: 1. There’s less inventory. This means your home will get more attention. 2. Job relocations. There are many corporations that do first quarter job relocations, and those employees only have a weekend or so to fly into town and look at homes. They need to make an offer on one of them soon—how great would it be if that was your home and you didn’t need to wait until spring when there is a lot more inventory?3. The real estate agent community is locked in right now. A lot of agents aren’t as busy this time of year. They’re only working with a few buyers, which means they’re all the more focused on getting those buyers the right property. “How great would it be if your home got sold now and you didn’t have to wait until spring? ”4. Easier landscaping. You don’t need to worry about making everything look perfect in your yard. All you have to do is shovel. Also, it’s not necessarily a great time to put your home on the market in early spring in this regard because all the snow is melted and everything is muddy. 5. You have fewer people coming through your house. You may think fewer people coming through your house is a good thing, but that also means having to deal with fewer strangers.6. Buyers are more serious. You won’t get any looky-loos or tire-kickers in the wintertime. Winter buyers are motivated and they will pay you top dollar.7. You can get a faster sale. Again, this is due less inventory being available. Additionally, a recent study by Trulia showed that homes are selling for more in the winter. If you have any other questions about the benefits of listing your home now, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I’d be happy to help you.