2017 Green Valley News INSIDERS

 We never want to think about it, but there comes a time when your home becomes too much. It’s time to downsize, whether you are moving back closer to family or going to a smaller place. The question is, “What will I do with all my stuff?”

Hiring a professional estate sales company can make this tough chore a lot easier. Here are a few tips:

1. Pick a good Realtor who will help coordinate the estate sale with the sale of your home.
2. Decide what you want to keep and remove those items. Remember once it’s gone, it’s gone.
3. Invite your family to take what they would like. It’s best to keep your family keepsakes in the family, where they will be treasured by your loved ones.
4. Interview several estate sale companies. Their fees are often around 30% of the sales. These companies keep up on the current prices. Remove anything that’s not for sale, because they will sell everything. If you’re selling for a deceased family member, be sure to check every item for money and valuables that may be hidden in books, clothes and furniture.
5. Donate the rest to a local thrift shop that will pick it all up. Be sure to get a receipt so you can claim a tax deduction for the donations.

For information and help with selling your current home and/or buying your next one, contact Scott Chancellor, Realty Executives at 520-360-6973, scott@MrGreenValley.com www.MrGreenValley.com.

 YES!

Many people go to the doctor for annual checkups and keep their cars maintained but forget about their biggest investments – their homes!

“The adage, ‘Pay a little now or pay a lot later’ applies to your home,” said Scott Chancellor, our real estate Insider. “Proper maintenance now can save you a lot in the long run.”

Whether you’re trying to sell or not, it’s worthwhile to have a fall and spring checkup of areas such as:

• Heating and Cooling System. Changing the filter is not enough. Hire a professional to ensure it’s working safely and efficiently. If you need a new system, you may find your best deal in the fall when heating/cooling companies aren’t as busy.
• Roof. The blazing sun and high heat of summer can be tough on your roof. Did you know that roofers will give you a free inspection? Roofers also aren’t as busy in the fall and may give you a great deal on any work you need.
• Kitchen and Safety. Clean your range hood filter and the refrigerator’s compressor coils. Inspect fire extinguishers to make sure they’re in good condition. Test smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and replace their batteries.
• Termites. Check wood areas for termites several times a year and call a professional if you see signs of infestation (i.e. rotting wood or mud tunnels).

For information and help selling your current home and/or buying your next one, contact Scott Chancellor of Realty Executives at 520-360-6973, scott@MrGreenValley.com, or visit www.MrGreenValley.com.

 When selling your home, there are low-cost steps you can take to make sure it looks inviting and gives off a great vibe once prospective buyers enter. This is called “staging.”

“Staging your home can sometimes be the difference between a great offer and no offer at all,” said Insider Scott Chancellor of Realty Executives.

Make it look big

Sometimes less is more. To make your home look as big as possible, rearrange your furniture and remove extra pieces. Add color with new throw pillows in the living room, flowers in the entry and fresh fruit in the kitchen.

Use the “Rule of 3” in the kitchen and bathroom: only three things on each counter top and no more. Put the blender and toaster away. Unless you’re baking cookies for the open house, put the mixer away.

Set the mood

1. Make your home light and bright. Open all window coverings and turn on the lights. Nobody likes a dark home.
2. Turn on the air. If it’s 104 outside, make the buyers want to stay and not rush off.
3. Take down family photos. Put other artwork in its place or patch/paint the holes. Buyers want to picture themselves in the home and not your family. Remember that you are selling, not buying.

For information and help with selling your current home and/or buying your next one, contact Scott Chancellor, Realty Executives at 520-360-6973 or scott@MrGreenValley.com

 You only get one chance make a great first impression, but second and third impressions can be just as important to receiving a good offer. Getting a buyer inside your home is the first step, but keeping them in the house as long as possible is the most important thing you can do. Here are a few tips:

First impressions are the ones you see, but second impressions are the ones you smell. Make you home smell clean and fresh by removing all cigarette and pet odors, washing dirty dishes, taking out the trash and adding room air fresheners to eliminate lingering odors. Nothing will run off a buyer faster than bad odors, and they will never return.

Don’t confuse buyers; use rooms as they were intended. If you’ve turned your dining room into a billiards room, change it back. Guest bedrooms need to be guest bedrooms. Nobody wants to see a former garage as a custom living/TV room.

Asking a buyer to take off their shoes to enter is a huge mistake. I’ve seen many buyers turn and walk away from these homes just after entering the front door. Nobody wants to walk on your dirty floors in their bare feet or clean socks. If you must, have shoe covers at the front door.

For information and help with selling your current home and/or buying your next one, contact Scott Chancellor, Realty Executives at 520-360-6973, www.MrGreenValley.com.

 The first question Realtors are always asked is, “How much is my home worth?” This is a tougher question than ever to answer. The housing market in Green Valley is continually changing. There are fewer homes for sale and our prices are trending upwards.

Though everybody likes to look on websites like Zillow, their “zestimate” values are often quite inaccurate. These large, impersonal websites don’t really know your home and our housing market.

Many factors determine a home’s value

There are many variables in finding the true value of your home, including:

• Size of house and individual rooms
• Interior features such as fireplaces and kitchen details
• Garage size
• Location
• Lot size
• Views
• Property condition and more

Websites lack the personal touch

No website will ever know all the specific details of your home because they don’t personally walk through it, see how it looks from the street, and the pros and cons of the neighborhood. The best way to find the value of your home is to find a good local Realtor who can put together a Competitive Market Analysis (CMA). This will give you a detailed look at your home compared with the other homes that are similar to yours and are currently for sale as well as those that have recently sold. Most agents will do this for no charge.

For information and help with selling your current home and/or buying your next one, contact Scott Chancellor, Realty Executives Tucson Elite GV at 520-360-6973. www.MrGreenValley.com.

With less than 300 homes for sale in Green Valley, finding that perfect home has become more difficult.  In some cases, homes are selling within just days on the market.  

“Finding and buying a house can become more difficult if you’re looking for a home in certain neighborhoods, views, three-car garages, or other specifics that not every home has,” said Scott Chancellor of Realty Executives, our real estate Insider. He offers these tips for finding/buying your new home:

1) Get MLS alerts. Find a web site that will give you instant alerts straight from the Green Valley Multiple Listing Service. Avoid those large websites listing homes for sale, as their information can be old. Like reading yesterday’s newspaper, the home could already be sold before you even knew it was for sale.  

2) Be ready to move fast. Get an agent that will be able to show new properties to you quickly and make quick offers on your behalf.

3) Make a strong offer. If the home is new on the market and has everything you are looking for, don’t be afraid to make a full price offer. It’s probably perfect for someone else, too.

Remember, the home you see today and plan to think about tonight is the same home that someone else saw yesterday and will buy today.

For information and help with selling your current home and/or buying your next one, contact Scott Chancellor, Realty Executives at 520-360-6973, www.MrGreenValley.com. 

 If you’re considering selling your home or buying a home, like most people, you’ve probably checked out Zillow to see what they say the home is worth.

According to our real estate Insider, Scott Chancellor of Realty Executives, don’t get too caught up in Zillow’s “zestimates.”

“Zillow might be a good starting point to look at homes and find open houses, but it’s not a great tool for finding the appraised values of homes,” Chancellor said. “Some values could be over 20% off of the home’s real value. So a $200,000 home could be listed anywhere between $160,000 and $240,000.”

Green Valley is a diverse, one-of-a-kind community where you can find both upscale and modest homes in the same neighborhood, making it a big challenge to get proper home values. For an example, you can have a home that is over $300,000 across the street from a $150,000 home, with a $40,000 condo down the street.

So, go ahead and look on Zillow, and enjoy the user-friendly site and its great photos and information. But if you are looking to buy or sell, your best bet is always to find a local realtor who knows the area and will give you accurate information on local home values.

For information and help with selling your current home and/or buying your next one, contact Scott Chancellor, Realty Executives at 520-360-6973.

Now that the snowbirds are packing their bags and are heading back to cooler climates, what’s next?

If you’ve decided to sell your home in the upcoming summer months, you’ll need to find a great local Realtor. Nobody knows the Green Valley market better than the local Realtors with experience in the area.

How to find a great local Realtor

Ask people whose opinions you trust for recommendations of local Realtors they have had a good experience with

Interview several agents and choose the one you feel most comfortable with

Questions to ask Realtors

How long have you been selling in Green Valley? What is your experience in my neighborhood?

How are you going to market my home? Advertising? Open houses? How are we going to handle showings? How will we handle offers?

Will you be in town during the summer? Are you a Snowbird?

An agent who will be in town during the summer will do a better job placing signs, showing your home personally, holding open houses, presenting offers and counter-offers, attending inspections, and more. Although much of real estate can be done over the internet, there is still no replacement for that personal attention.

For information and help with selling your current home and/or buying your next one, contact Scott Chancellor of Realty Executives at 520-360-6973.

You’ve probably heard about the benefits of installing solar power in your home, both in saving money and helping the environment. But does it really pay off for your wallet?

The answer is…maybe.

“If you’re planning on living in your home for many more years, solar power might be a great option,” said Scott Chancellor, our real estate Insider from Realty Executives. “But if you plan to sell your home in the near future, you might want to think again.”

Pros and cons of selling a solar powered home

Selling a home with solar power can be very tricky. Some buyers are turned off by it. And, though the systems can cost $20,000+, they don’t add much to the home’s assessed value. Sellers might even have to pay off the lease, potentially costing $15,000+. If the unit is leased, the new buyers will have to qualify to lease it, too. Are the panels removed when the lease is up? What about roof damage?

Questions to ask yourself

To help you decide whether to “go solar” or not, ask yourself:

• Are you planning to sell your home in the near future?
• If you buy the system, how long will it take to pay it off and see savings? This could take 10+ years.
• If you lease the system, what if you sell your home?
• How does the power company meter the system? Are rates guaranteed?

Whatever you decide, you’ll be glad you took the time to consider all sides of the issue.

For information and help with selling your current home and/or buying your next one, contact Scott Chancellor, Realty Executives at 520-360-6973.

Some indications says we are heading towards a Seller’s Market here in Green Valley.

“With the inventory of homes down, the local new home builders over the past few years have not produced much new inventory,” said our real estate Insider, Scott Chancellor. “On some homes, multiple offers have driven the sales price over the listing price. But in most cases this is still not the case.”

Homes that are in great condition, and that are priced right, are moving fast and sell close to their asking price. Buyers are not looking for a project. They want move-in ready homes.

Things that buyers can do once they find that special home:

1. Be ready to buy; have your financing in place.
2. When you find that home, act quickly. Make the offer. If you don’t, somebody else will.
3. Start with your best offer. It has the best chance of being accepted.
4. Make a large earnest money deposit.

There is good news for the buyers: The prices are still low and have not shot up yet. Just remember, the house you look at today and think about tonight is the same house that somebody looked at yesterday and will buy today, Chancellor said.

The first thing you should do to help find that perfect home is get a great Realtor who knows the market. For information and help with selling your current home and/or buying your next one, contact Scott Chancellor, Realty Executives Tucson Elite GV at 520-360-6973.

People who prefer to rent their Green Valley home say they like not having to take care of maintenance themselves. Roof leaking? Oven not heating up? Just call the landlord.

“People like not having to pay taxes or association fees. And some like the flexibility of knowing they can always move somewhere else and have no responsibilities once they move out,” said Scott Chancellor, our local real estate expert.

But according to Chancellor, there are good reasons to buy your home, too:

• It’s a great investment. The tax advantages and the currently low interest rates make your home a sort of savings account.
• Come and go as you please. Arrive when you want to and stay as long as you like, even at the last minute. You don’t have a lease telling you when to leave.
• No surprises. When you open the door you won’t be hit with that “Oh no” feeling. It’s your place, painted in colors you chose and appointed by you, with your own furniture and amenities.
• No tedious packing, hauling and unpacking. Your home has everything you need because you put it all in place.
• Your pets are always welcome. And if you’re not one to bring along a Fluffy or Rex, you won’t have to wonder if the last renters brought theirs.
• You’re the boss. The landlord isn’t going to leave you a list of do’s and don’ts because you’re the landlord!

And as for those taxes and association fees? You can be sure they’re figured into your rent anyway. For help on buying a home in Green Valley, contact Scott Chancellor at 520-360-6973.

With the change of season, the snowbirds are back! It’s time to buy that new home. We checked in with our area real estate expert, Scott Chancellor, Associate Broker at Realty Executives Tucson Elite Green Valley, to highlight the important steps to a successful home- buying experience.

Choosing the right realtor. This might be the most important thing you can do in finding that perfect home. Choose an agent that you feel comfortable with and always use a local agent, one that knows the area. A great way to check out an agent is to go to one of their open houses and see them in action.

Get Pre-Approved. Knowing what you can afford is an important first step in your home search. Getting pre-approved for a loan allows you to filter your home search to those you can afford and it positions you to make an offer when you find the home you love.

“In this market, I’ve seen good people lose out on a home because competing buyers were pre- approved and ready to make a viable offer,” Chancellor said. “A pre-approval letter is vital to getting your home.”

Location, Location, Location. Look at homes in different neighborhoods. Once you have narrowed it down to a specific area, try to look at as many homes for sale in that area that meet your needs. Once you find the home, visit it at different times of day and talk to the neighbors. The neighbors will be a wealth of knowledge for both the home and neighborhood.

Home inspection. Once you are under contract be sure to get a home inspection done. There are many professional home inspectors that will do a great job. Your agent should be able to suggest a few good ones.

“If you choose a knowledgeable agent in your search area, this should be a very smooth and easy process,” Chancellor said. “Finding your home should be a fun journey that ends with a home you love and can afford.”