When it is time to sell your current home and move into a new house, there are a lot of factors you need to consider. The most stressful part might be trying to buy your new house before selling your current house. The timing can be so important. People often ask me, “Can I make a contingent offer my a new house?”. This video explains how placing a contingent offer can work.

When you buy a house, the contract gives you time to have a home inspection completed. I’m often asked if it is necessary to have an inspection or if it is okay to waive the home inspection? In the video below, I explain my thoughts on having a home inspected when you buy a house in Colorado.

While you do have the option to waive a home inspection, and we saw many people doing that when the market was red hot, I always suggest that the home buyers that I work with get a home inspection. I think it’s crazy to spend $400,000 or more to buy a house and not have a full inspection report. 

If you are a First Time Home Buyer, you will want to save some money and be sure to have great credit but don’t sit out of the home ownership lifestyle just because you don’t have 20% of the purchase price in the bank. We can help you get into a house and you can take advantage of all of the advantages of owning your own home. 

Reach out to me now to get started. Or subscribe to my YouTube Channel for more information on buying a house.

In short, when it comes to buying or selling a home, having an experienced real estate agent is a must. Doing your research and taking the time to find the right agent can make all the difference in getting the best deal and having a successful home purchase or sale. Skip the ads on popular real estate websites and agents that are door knocking your neighborhood or cold calling. These are all tasks that brand new agents are told to try. 

In my opinion, reviews are the only way to know if a Realtor has been doing transactions. If there are multiple real estate reviews that all mention transactions that is a good sign but then look for how happy the people are about the result. If they have multiple reviews that mention home purchases and home sales and the people highly recommend them than it’s worth a phone call. If you see multiple negative reviews run away as there is clearly a problem. And check for reviews on Google, not just on the Realtor’s Website where they can control which reviews you see. 

When you decide it is the right time to sell your home, you need to do everything you can to ensure you sell your home for the most money. Obviously there are things your agent can help with like properly pricing your home for sale, but there are also some really simple tips the homeowner can make to boost your final sales price. The following video covers one tip that can help you sell your home for more money.

When potential home buyers are looking at homes, they always open all of the doors. They open the closets, look in the garage, open the pantry, and look in the backyard. If there is a door, you can bet that the buyer is going to open it. That means they are going to look at and touch every single door knob. By taking the time to wipe down every door and every door knob, you are sending a signal to the buyer that the house is very clean and well taken care of. While this seems silly, it can make a big difference in the amount of money your home sells for.

Thanks for reading this article and watching the video. My name is Andy Hawbaker and I am on a mission to help as many people in Northern Colorado sell their homes for the most money and the least amount of hassle. If you need to sell a house in Loveland, Fort Collins, Greeley, Longmont or surrounding areas; I can help. 

When you decide to sell your house, one of the most important decisions is how much money to ask for it. Setting the asking price for your home can have a big impact on how many people come look at it and that will have a major impact on how much money you will make on the sale of the house.

Suprisingly, many people, including inexperienced real estate agents, make one simple home pricing mistake that can cost home sellers a lot of money. I explain the mistake and how you can ensure that you get the most money for your house in the below video.

As you can see, deciding to price your home “on the bridge”, meaning pricing your home on the round numbers will get you more showings. Over 90% of all home searches start online so when people go to Zillow to start looking for homes, they have to pick a number that is in $10,000 increments. 

Someone who is preapproved for a mortgage loan will search for homes in the range that they can afford. If they are preapproved for up to $550,000, they will go online and search for homes priced $500,000 to $550,000. But if you priced your home at $499,900, they won’t see it. 

If you price your home on the bridge, at $600,000, someone searching $550,000 to $600,000 will see it and so will a buyer searching $600,000 to $650,000. 

There is no advantage to pricing your home at $599,000. Pricing on the 99 is how discount stores sell dish soap. It isn’t how you sell a house. The asking price is really a marketing price. After you capture the buyers attention, they will make an offer. The original asking price is just a starting point. The final home purchase price could end up higher or lower than the asking price. It just depends on all of the factors. 

As 2023 starts to kick off, we are seeing that the Northern Colorado Real Estate Market, which has been crazy hot since the beggining of 2021, finally saw some normal seasonality this winter and is poised for more change. In the below video, I discuss the most recent Real Estate Market data and review what this means for Northern Colorado Home Buyers and Home Sellers. Let’s review what the data tells us what is really going on with NOCO Real Estate.

Ignore the national headlines and focus on the local real estate data. The Market data discussed in the above video is from actual sales data in January 2023. By looking at this data, we can see that some of the tends we are seeing actually match normal real estate market seasonality and we are seeing that even in January 2023, we are seeing early signs of a market ready to get hot.

If you are thinking of selling a house in Northern Colorado, I’ve got some really great news. As housing inventory remains very low, and demand to live in Northern Colorado remains high, home prices are going to remain strong. Therefore those selling homes in 2023 are going to get a good price for their homes.

If you are a home buyer, interest rates are dropping. They’ve actually come down a lot since the peak we saw in November/December 2022. With that, housing affordability improves as your monthly mortgage rate will be lower. While that is great news, it also means even more people will get back into the market which will lead to higher home prices and the possibility of multiple offers from the increased demand.

If you want to talk to me about your personal situation and what this Northern Colorado Real Estate Market really means to you, reach out to me through this website or call/text me at 970-203-5066.

*Andy Hawbaker is a Licensed Realtor with Coldwell Banker in Windsor, CO. 

Have you thought to yourself, “I’m going to just wait for the housing market to crash and then I’ll buy a house”. I know a lot of people talk about decreased home prices and an up coming opportunity to get some really good deals. If you are still holding out hope for a market crash, I have some really bad news for you. Looking at very basic supply and demand, it’s extremely unlikely that there would be a crash and more likely than anything is that the mortgage interest rates will continue to inch down which is going to drive demand and prices higher again.

Some people are thinking that since interest rates climbed so quickly in 2022 and winter seasonality hit about the same time, prices have dropped. In Northern Colorado we have seen a slight softening of prices. Right now you can pick up a new property for less than mid 2022 but interest rates have already begun coming back down. The problem with the logic is that when the rates do come down, demand with skyrocket and prices will increase.

HOW WILL A RECESSION AFFECT THE REAL ESTATE MARKET (VIDEO)

As I’ve been saying in other blog posts and videos, there is still an incredible amount of demand to buy homes in Northern Colorado. People want to live here. People are moving from the midwest, Texas, California and other parts of the US. Northern Colorado is a desireable place to live and that will never change. 

The milenials are now at the prime age to buy a home. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the prime age for first time home buyers in 32. More people turned 32 in the USA last year than ever before. The number will be beat again this year. (Click here for all the reasons the Real Estate Market Won’t Crash.)

Bottom line, rates are inching down, demand is high and supply is still at an all-time low. I’m concerned that we could be back in the wild bidding wars of 2021 and early 2022. With all of that in mind, I believe early 2023 is going to be the best time to buy a house. 

This isn’t a sales pitch, it is just me caling what I see. Do you have a different point of view? Contact me to discuss or leave a comment on my YouTube video.

Severance is a great place to live in Northern Colorado but what is it really like living in Severance, Colorado. There are both pros and cons about living in Severance, Colorado. Let’s look at what it is really like. 

As discussed in the above video, Severance is an ideal place to live because of the lower cost of living. You can buy a house in Severance for a lot less money as compared to Fort Collins, Windsor or Loveland. You’ll find a lot more house for your money in Severance compared to the neighboring communities.

With lower home prices, really good schools, the bike path and a few small businesses to support, Severance has a lot to offer.

VIDEO: Severance Colorado Neighborhoods

Severance Colorado does not have much to offer when it comes to grocery stores, shops and restaurants. Severance in mostly a bedroom community. It is a short commute to Fort Collins, Loveland, Windsor or Greeley so it isn’t bad to hit those stores on your way home. 

Are you thinking about moving to Severance, CO? Reach out to me with your questions. I’d love to help you out. I am a Severance Colorado Realtor.