Roanoke Real Estate Agent Damon Gettier's Podcast

Don’t go into a transaction unprepared. There is a difference between closing costs and the total cost to close, and it could be thousands of dollars. Want to Sell Your Home? Get the Value of Your Central or Southwest Virginia HomeLooking to Buy a Home? Search All Homes on the MLSToday we’re going to discuss some of the unexpected costs you may run into when purchasing a home, specifically regarding closing costs.Closing costs are different from the cost to close. A lot of people think closing costs are everything they’ll need to close on a home. The difference between specific closing costs and the total cost to close could be thousands of dollars. In our area, however, closing costs are strictly defined in the contract, so the difference between specific closing costs and the total cost to close could be thousands of dollars. Your annual homeowners insurance is not a closing cost—it is a cost to close, as are property taxes. Things like that can run up your cost to close very quickly, so when you’re getting a quote for closing costs, make sure it’s not just for closing costs, but how much money you will actually need in total to be able to close on the home.If you need any information about this or other topics, please feel free to contact us.

If a buyer makes a speedy visit to your house, they’re probably not interested in it. Here’s why. Want to Sell Your Home? Get the Value of Your Central or Southwest Virginia HomeLooking to Buy a Home? Search All Homes on the MLSIf a prospective buyer zips in and out of your house, they’re probably not a serious buyer—at least not for your house. There are a variety of reasons why a buyer would make a speedy visit. Maybe when they drove up to your home, they didn’t like the landscaping, the exterior, or just the neighborhood in general. Perhaps when they walked into the house there was a smell or odor they didn’t like. Maybe it just wasn’t the right house for them.A speedy visit means that buyer probably isn’t interested in your house. A serious buyer, on the other hand, will stop and envision themselves in your house. They’ll take the time to imagine where their furniture would go and mentally pick out rooms for their children. It’s very rare that a buyer zips in and out of your house and then comes back to make an offer on it. If they make a speedy visit, you pretty much have your answer whether they’re interested in your house or not. If you have any questions about speedy visits or you’re thinking of buying or selling a house in our Roanoke market, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’d love to work with you.

Are there any loan options for home renovations out there? There are two, but one is better than the other.Want to Sell Your Home? Get the Value of Your Central or Southwest Virginia HomeLooking to Buy a Home? Search All Homes on the MLSThere are two types of loans that you can get to help fund your renovation project: the FHA loan and conventional loan.The conventional loan is the more difficult of the two to get approved for. You need more money down than the other one, and we don’t use that one very often for renovation projects.The FHA 203K loan has two different options, depending on the size of your renovation project. There’s a streamlined loan that is for repairs that are $30,000 or less and a full FHA 203k that is for as much as you need, as long as the house appraises as repaired.On a full FHA loan, you can do whatever you would like to the home, as long as it appraises. When you apply for the loan, you need to have two separate contractors come out to the house and write a bid for the repairs that they see that need to be done. These two bids need to match—not on the dollar amount but on what needs to be done to the home. Those bids are then sent to the lender so they can approach for the requested amount.For the streamlined FHA loan, those repairs can only go up to $30,000 and can’t be on anything structural, so no walls can be knocked out or rooms added. On a full FHA loan, you can do whatever you would like to the home—add or take out walls, add a new master bedroom or bathroom—as long as the house appraises with those items included and it’s under the lending limit, which in our area is $271,000.If you have any questions about renovation loans, feel free to give me a call. I’d be happy to help you.

There are a few things you need to know about open houses, and whether they are truly worth it.Want to Sell Your Home? Get the Value of Your Central or Southwest Virginia HomeLooking to Buy a Home? Search All Homes on the MLSA question my team and I often get is, “What happens when my agent meets a buyer at my open house?”The first thing to know is that nationally, less than 7% of open houses sell. In fact, the purpose of an open house is not typically to sell. The point is to acquire buyers.To tell the truth, open houses don’t work as well now as they used to for one simple reason: the internet. Most people find a large portion of their information about a given home online.With things like the floor plan, 3D images, and videos available, physically visiting the home often doesn’t come until the point where a buyer is fairly serious about making an offer.Don’t put too much stock in the buyers whoshow up to an open house. But where they lack in successful selling power, open houses are still effective in attracting buyers.Along with those buyers, though, an open house can also draw out a lot of nosy neighbors.So if your agent does do an open house, don’t put too much stock in the buyers who show up there.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.

  When someone says they are just beginning their home search, they could mean a number of different things. Here’s a better question to ask a buyer.Want to Sell Your Home? Get the Value of Your Central or Southwest Virginia HomeLooking to Buy a Home? Search All Homes on the MLSWhat does it mean when someone says they are “just starting” their home search? Well, it can mean a lot of things. Your home may actually be the first home they have looked at, or it could be the 50th. There’s a better way to tell if a buyer is serious about buying a home or not.If the buyer you talk to is pre-approved for a mortgage and working with a real estate agent, I would take them very seriously. They could give you your highest offer and if nothing else, they will give you good feedback about your home so you can improve it for the next buyer who comes through.Serious buyers work with an agent. If the buyer you talk to isn’t working with an agent, doesn’t have a pre-approval, and is just beginning their search, I wouldn’t take them as seriously. It’s likely they wouldn’t be able to make a strong offer anyway.If you have any questions for me about selling your home or anything else related to real estate, give me a call or send me an email. We look forward to hearing from you.

  Getting a home inspection offers many benefits if you’re thinking of buying an as-is property and making renovations to it.Want to Sell Your Home? Get the Value of Your Central or Southwest Virginia HomeLooking to Buy a Home? Search All Homes on the MLSIf you’re thinking about buying an as-is property and making some renovations, do you need an inspection?Absolutely. We always suggest getting a home inspection, especially if you plan on doing a renovation. It gives you a starting point of things you need to fix. Otherwise you might ask your contractor to make certain fixes without even knowing about other fixes that could be huge issues if left unresolved.A home inspection gives you a starting point for your renovations. Getting a home inspection also means you can give it to your contractor and include both your ‘have-to’ fixes and your ‘want-to’ fixes’ so when you get a bid, you get a complete bid. If you have any more questions about renovations, home improvements, contractors, or anything else of that nature, feel free to reach out to me. I’d be happy to help.

  Beware of solo buyers. If they don’t have an agent representing them, they probably don’t know what they’re doing.Want to Sell Your Home? Get the Value of Your Central or Southwest Virginia HomeLooking to Buy a Home? Search All Homes on the MLSWhy should you be hesitant to trust a solo buyer? There are a number of different reasons, but let me start with this. A solo buyer could be anyone. You don’t know whether they are qualified, whether they want to buy now or later, or whether they can even afford what they’re looking at. If someone is actually serious about buying a home in this market, they will hire an agent. I can’t ever recall seeing a serious or committed buyer who hasn’t worked with one. It’s like treating yourself instead of letting a doctor do it.Serious buyers hire an agent. Whenever a buyer who isn’t working with an agent comes to your house, don’t take it too seriously. They probably aren’t a serious buyer.If you have any questions for me about real estate or you’re thinking of buying or selling a home, give me a call or send me an email today. I would love to hear from you.

  If you’re thinking about renovating, when should you do it? Here’s what we recommend.Want to Sell Your Home? Get the Value of Your Central or Southwest Virginia HomeLooking to Buy a Home? Search All Homes on the MLSMany people think they need to renovate their house. How do you know if that’s the right choice or when the right time to do it is?My suggestion is that if you are going to renovate, do it when you buy the house. Contrary to what you see on TV or read in magazines, you don’t get your $10,000 you spend on the kitchen back. You might get it back five or 10 years from now as the house appreciates, but renovations won’t bring you an instant dollar-for-dollar return.Renovating early makes your home more sellable. We also recommend renovating when you move in rather than when you move out because you at least get to enjoy your renovations. It also makes the house much more sellable for a Realtor when the time comes. If you have any questions about renovations or homes in general here in the Roanoke market, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I’d be happy to help!

  Today I’m going to tell you the best way to give an empty room a purpose when selling your home.Want to Sell Your Home? Get the Value of Your Central or Southwest Virginia HomeLooking to Buy a Home? Search All Homes on the MLSWhen selling your home, the last thing you want to show is a room that appears to have no use. I have the perfect solution to share with you today. So what can you do with a spare room? Put a bed in it. It’s that simple. Putting a bed in a spare room will make it look occupied and lived in. It doesn’t matter what floor the spare room is on or if it has windows. Put a bed in it. That’s the best way to give an empty room a purpose and you’ll have the use of a guest room in the meantime.Put a bed in it. Questions about staging? Reach out to me. I can answer any questions you may have about preparing to show your home. If you have any other questions, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you.

  Do home inspectors work for the buyer or the seller? The answer really depends on one simple thing.Want to Sell Your Home? Get the Value of Your Central or Southwest Virginia HomeLooking to Buy a Home? Search All Homes on the MLSWho does the home inspector work for, the homebuyer or the seller? The answer is really very simple. The home inspector works for whoever pays them. So, if you negotiate for the seller to pay for the home inspection, then the home inspector will work for the seller and look out for their needs. It all boils down to who writes the check for the home inspector. When you buy a home, I highly recommend that you hire the home inspector, radon inspector, water test company, and termite inspector. After all, once you own the home, you are responsible for any issues.Pay extra attention to the termite inspection. You should pay extra attention to the termite inspection. Remember, not all termite inspectors are created equal. If you buy a house, do you want any termite inspector or the best termite inspector? We recommend Brad Killinger from Killinger Pest Inspections. He is an honest inspector, which is exactly what you want: someone who will honestly tell you about any problems in the home. If you need any recommendations for other home inspections or if you have any real estate questions, just give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

  In order to sell your home faster and for more money, make sure you take care of one simple thing: refreshing the linens.Want to Sell Your Home? Get the Value of Your Central or Southwest Virginia HomeLooking to Buy a Home? Search All Homes on the MLSIf you are thinking of selling your home, I recommend that you refresh your linens. Why? The simple reason is that old linens do not show well. If you have an old, worn bedspread that has a burned spot from an old ironing accident, buyers will think that you can’t take care of your home. In fact, I walked into a house the other day where the drapes matched the wallpaper, which matched the bedspread, which matched the throw rugs. The entire room looked like one big ivy vine because every surface was covered with the same print.You need to have classy, fresh linens in your home. You need to have classy, clean, fresh linens in your home. If you don’t want to get rid of your old, comfortable bedspread, simply put the new one on top of it when you prepare to sell your home. Doing so will position your house to sell faster and for more money. You want people to feel like they could live in your house. They need to be comfortable in your house and every room needs to be fresh and clean. If you have any other questions about staging your home or about real estate in general, give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

  If you need to order a home inspection, it’s important you pick the right home inspector. Here’s how. Want to Sell Your Home? Get the Value of Your Central or Southwest Virginia HomeLooking to Buy a Home? Search All Homes on the MLSA home inspection is an essential part of any home sale, so I want to go over some things you should be aware of when ordering one.Many people are curious as to who chooses the home inspector. The answer is you. I would recommend, before hiring the inspector, that you call them and ask them questions about what they check and what their process is like when inspecting a home.Not all home inspectors are created equal. Do they actually get on the roof? Do they have a septic or sewer camera? Do they do thermal imaging? If there is anything that you are concerned about or want to know if they can do, you need to ask them if they do it. Never just assume they can and will do something for you. Not all home inspectors are created equal. Just make sure you pick the one that works best for you. If you have any questions please feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I’m always happy to help!

  Bedrooms are one of the most important rooms for potential buyers to see. Here’s a tip to stage your bedroom properly. Want to Sell Your Home? Get the Value of Your Central or Southwest Virginia HomeLooking to Buy a Home? Search All Homes on the MLSThe two things people look at first in a home are the kitchen and bedrooms. So how can you make your bedroom look more appealing to potential buyers?If you’re selling, the most important thing to remember about your bedrooms is to have the proper size bed in them. Oftentimes, we go into a house with a regular sized bedroom that has a king bed in it. Frankly, I don’t even know how they got it in there. It may be how you want to live, but you don’t want the buyer to think that the room is too small. That’s what an oversized bed does.In most houses, a queen bed is the largest you should go. In most standard houses, a queen bed is usually as large as you should go. If you can’t walk on either side of the bed comfortably, you probably don’t need a king bed in there. If you have a trunk or bench at the end of your bed for storage, make sure that’s an appropriate size as well.If you have any questions for us about staging bedrooms or anything else related to real estate, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you.

  Not many home buyers seem to truly understand what you get with a home inspection, so today, I wanted to clarify the possible outcomes of such inspections.Want to Sell Your Home? Get the Value of Your Central or Southwest Virginia HomeLooking to Buy a Home? Search All Homes on the MLSWhen it comes to home inspections, one of the most common misconceptions is that they cover only a basic inspection. Home inspections are designed to give you a report card on your house. In the grand scheme of things, it outlines everything a home inspector can find during a three- to four-hour window. They won't find everything, but they will find more than just the basics.An inspector will look at the systems, appliances, and HVAC, to name a few. Their job is to give you a good report card of your house, because not all these items will be covered by the contract, and not all these things will be repaired by the contract. Instead, you'll get a good list of things to work on in the house. Remember, when you buy a house, you buy a used house; it's going to have issues.The inspector's job is to give you a good report card of your house. The good news is that you'll get a really good report up front to know what's wrong with it.If you have any questions about home inspections and what you get from them, or you're ready to buy or sell a home in the Roanoke market, give me a call or send me an email. I'd be happy to help!

  When you are getting ready to sell, staging is an important step. One thing you should do is turn that home gym back into a bedroom.Want to Sell Your Home? Get the Value of Your Central or Southwest Virginia HomeLooking to Buy a Home? Search All Homes on the MLSWhen you sell your home, there are a lot of important things to keep in mind. One of these is keeping your rooms single-use. Let’s say you have an extra bedroom that you put an exercise bike and TV in. That’s perfectly fine to do when living in the home if you have the room. However, you don’t want the buyer to think there’s not enough space for them.So take the exercise bike and TV out of that bedroom. Open it up and make it more inviting. If you have a room that has a desk that you work from home on, get that out of there too. To buyers, it looks like you don’t have enough room in your house.Home inspections are there to investigate any major issues in the house. I really like to stress keeping rooms for their desired intention. A kitchen is a kitchen, a bathroom is a bathroom, and a bedroom is a bedroom. We like to keep things singular in purpose. If you have any questions for us about staging a home or anything else relating to real estate or selling a home, give me a call or send me an email. I would love to hear from you soon!

  As a buyer, there are only certain things you can ask for in a home inspection and only certain issues a home inspection is supposed to investigate.Want to Sell Your Home? Get the Value of Your Central or Southwest Virginia HomeLooking to Buy a Home? Search All Homes on the MLSWhen people ask us about home inspections, they usually want to know two things:What does an inspector look for in a home inspection?What can I ask for in a home inspection?As to what you can ask for in a home inspection, in our contract, a home inspection limits you to asking for material defects. A material defect is defined as “something that would’ve caused a normal buyer not to purchase the home had they known it was there.”.Home inspections are there to investigate any major issues in the house. What an inspector looks for during a home inspection is major issues within the house. They’re not looking for any cosmetic issues such as the paint or the wall coverings. If you’re worried about those types of issues, they should be taken care of in the contract. During a home inspection, the key is to look for issues like a leaky roof, any type of plumbing system or electrical setup that’s not safe and functional, and any overarching structural issues.If you have any more questions about home inspections, feel free to reach out to us by phone or email. We look forward to helping you!

  If you want to get your house sold quickly and for top dollar, you need to invest in it by focusing on the landscaping.Want to Sell Your Home? Get the Value of Your Central or Southwest Virginia HomeLooking to Buy a Home? Search All Homes on the MLSDoes landscaping increase your home’s value? Absolutely. Let’s say someone wants to sell their $6,000 used car. The first thing they’re going to do is get it detailed, right? It’s perfectly conceivable that they’ll spend as much as $300 for that detail. That’s 5% of the car’s overall value.Unfortunately, people who are trying to sell their house don’t carry this same mindset when it comes to landscaping, even though their house might be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. You need to invest in your home to get it sold for top dollar. How do you do that? You do that by giving it instant curb appeal.You need to invest in your home to get it sold for top dollar. Houses generate more offers and sell faster when the curb appeal is there. When looking at a property, not many people get excited about the prospect of needing to spend $4,000 or $5,000 over the course of two or three years just to get the front yard looking right.If you want to sell your house for its maximum value, you need to position it properly. Spend some money on the landscaping to upgrade the curb appeal so it makes the right impression on potential buyers. That way, they’ll be more eager to move forward. You may even get multiple offers.If you have any questions about increasing your home's value or about the Roanoke market, give me a call or send me an email. I'd be happy to help!

  If you're buying a home at any point, you'll have to deal with a home inspection. So who chooses the inspector? What do they look for? How do you know if they're right for you?Want to Sell Your Home? Get the Value of Your Central or Southwest Virginia HomeLooking to Buy a Home? Search All Homes on the MLSThere are some important things you need to know about a home inspection. If you've ever bought or sold a home or you plan on buying a home at any point in the future, you'll deal with an inspector at some point. So who chooses the home inspector? It's simple–you do. I highly suggest that before choosing one, you call them and ask them some questions. You want to ask what they will check, whether they will actually get on your roof and check it, whether they have a septic or sewer camera, whether they do thermal imaging, etc. You need to ask them whether they will look at something you're concerned about; don't just assume they'll do it.Don't just assume they'll inspect everything you're worried about. Not all home inspectors are created equal, just like not all real estate agents are created equal. Since it's your right to pick your home inspector, you need to pick the one that's right for you. If you have any other questions about home inspectors or how to choose the right one for your specific situation, give me a call. I'd be happy to walk you through it. Additionally, if you or anyone you know is thinking about buying or selling a home in the Roanoke area, give me a call or send me an email. I'd love to work with you!

  Millennial home buyers are always a hot topic of discussion in today’s market. To reach them, you will need to utilize the new and changing ways they are communicating online.One of the most common questions I get asked about is how to reach millennial home buyers. They are a growing segment of the market, and will continue to grow until they are the dominant players in real estate. Here are a couple things to remember about this new wave of buyers:First off, realize that print media is dead, which is true for most buyers. Things have moved to the Internet and social media. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter are all ways to connect with buyers instantly.Print media is dead, social media is king. Things that we would have never thought would work in home buying are starting to be used on the regular. Even five years ago, I would have laughed at the idea of selling a home on Facebook, but now it’s a reality. Looking for buyers and sellers on social media sites like Facebook is as common a practice as handing out flyers, maybe even more so today. This is how millennials communicate, and whatever you’re doing should be mobile-friendly and adaptable.If you have any questions about millennial buyers or anything else real-estate related, don't hesitate to reach out and give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you.

 Buying a Central or Southwest Virginia Area home? Perform a full home searchSelling your Central or Southwest Virginia Area home? Get a free Home Price EvaluationSome people just like looking at open houses on the weekend for something fun to do. However, most serious buyers don’t go the open house route. Open houses aren’t used much anymore, and they are sparsely attended. Today, much of the information you need about a home is readily available at your fingertips online. Most open house attendees have already researched the home online and liked what they saw, which is why they are at the open house.“You need someone on your side. ” Neighbors are one demographic of people that do frequently attend open houses. Neighbors may want a friend or family member to buy a house near them, so they decide to do a little legwork and check out the open house.As a buyer, when you attend an open house, bring your buyer’s agent with you. If they aren’t able to be with you, tell the seller and their agent that you are working with one. You see, the listing agent is looking out for the seller’s best interest. You need someone on your side too, which is where a buyer’s agent comes in. I don’t ever recommend buyers working with a listing agent to buy a home. The listing agent never works for the buyer, and they ultimately have the seller's interest at heart. If you visit an open house in the near future, bring your buyer’s agent along with you.If you have any questions for us or are interested in buying a home in the area, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you.

Buying a Central or Southwest Virginia Area home? Perform a full home searchSelling your Central or Southwest Virginia Area home? Get a free Home Price EvaluationHow do we get a seller to conquer clutter? What we did recently is had our photographer and one of our assistants go into a $300,000 house, photograph it as is, declutter it, and then re-photograph it the same day. We did that because I don’t like before/after photos - the lighting is different, the house is different, the camera’s different, even the location is different. Our true before and after photos could amply demonstrate that.  We tell sellers all the time that the first thing people do when they decide to sell a car is detail it. The logic is no different with selling a house. If your house is filled to the brim (and most are), then the next potential buyer is going to be discouraged from buying it. That’s why you need to make the house look spacious. It has to feel warm, inviting, and show people there is plenty of room in there to live in and be happy. If it’s cluttered, you’re never going to get that feeling. “Box up all the things you don’t need and store them elsewhere. ” Therefore, box up everything that you don’t need and ship it out. If it’s spring or summer, get rid of all your winter clothes. If the kids have toys they don’t play with anymore, they go too. If you can’t afford to rent a storage unit or a pod to store it all, that’s fine. Just use your garage or basement. If it has to be the basement, stack your boxes very neatly from floor-to-ceiling so that it takes up the least amount of footprint possible. If you do that, you’re house will appear much more spacious and inviting, and sell faster and for more money. If you have any questions about staging, decluttering, or joining Roanoke’s #1 team, please reach out to us. We’d be happy to talk to you.

Buying a Central or Southwest Virginia Area home? Perform a full home searchSelling your Central or Southwest Virginia Area home? Get a free Home Price EvaluationWhen you sell your home, do you need a professional photographer to photograph your home? In my opinion the answer is absolutely 100% yes. The problem is that the number one camera used by real estate agents today is their iPhone. Those photos do not benefit the customer. We actually have a professional photographer on staff so we can take professional pictures of every home we put on the market. When I got into the business 14 years ago, there was a book with one black and white photo that everyone used to look at homes. Everyone had to visit open houses in order to see what the house looked like. Thanks to the internet, buyers can look through hundreds of pictures of homes, take virtual tours, watch videos, examine floorplans, and look at 3D Matterport videos. We use all of these tools to advertise our clients’ homes.“Buyers can get a feel for the property without ever setting foot in your home. ” We sell houses to people who have never stepped onto the property. They buy the home just based off of photos. That is how we serve our clients. Buyers don’t have to waste time running around and looking at houses that aren’t a good fit, and sellers don’t have to leave their homes so those buyers can see their property. The 3D Matterport video is also a great tool. As you can see here, you can tour the home virtually and see exactly what it looks like in real life. Ultimately, if you’re going to pay someone to sell your home, they need to use professional photographs to market your property. If you have any questions about our marketing strategies, give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to help you!