Category: Newsletter Featurettes

Home Insights Home Selling Tips Newsletter Featurettes

Key Insights For Selling This Fall

Post author By RHRNews
Post date August 29, 2018

Although fall can be a challenging time of year to move if you’re a buyer or seller with school-aged children, fall buyers are typically highly-motivated — meaning that sellers could get a faster path to the closing table. Our gorgeous local fall scenery makes it easy to show off the natural beauty of a neighborhood and the homes within it!

Here are some of the pros and cons you’ll want to consider as you make your decision.

Pros of selling a home in the fall

Less competition

Inventory in our local market is always higher in the spring and summer, and the number of homes for sale usually dips in the early fall. If you decide to list your home this autumn, it may stand out amidst the condensed inventory available.

Motivated buyers

Many families are hoping to accomplish their move by the holidays, or before the second half of the school year begins — so buyers looking in the fall tend to be highly motivated. You could benefit from buyers who are ready to move quickly.

Autumn staging is a breeze

While you’ll have to stay on top of raking and bagging your leaves, staging your home in the fall is relatively easy. The natural beauty of the changing leaves will do half the work for you, and staging tips from your Rector Hayden Agent will get you the rest of the way there.

Cons of selling a home in the fall

Time is precious

For many, fall is the busiest time of year. It’s important to remember that the upkeep of your home’s interior and exterior will be critical to selling your home this season. Consider cutting back on other less significant plans and commitments so you’ll be up to the task.

Uprooting can be hard

If you’re a parent of a school-aged child, it can be difficult to move across districts in the middle of the school year. However, studies have shown that kids actually adapt very quickly when the transition is accomplished during the middle of the school year. Immediately having new friends and new experiences can be a good thing!

Ready to sell?

Whether you’re ready to list your home or want the insights of a local market expert, we can help. Contact your Rector Hayden Agent today!

Tags staging

Home Insights Home Selling Tips Newsletter Featurettes

Tips to Pass Your Home Inspection

Post author By RHRNews
Post date August 29, 2018

The vast majority of Central Kentucky home-buyers will want to have a thorough home inspection performed as soon as their offer is accepted by the seller. Here are five tips on how to ensure that when selling, you pass your home inspection with the fewest issues possible.

1. Unfettered Access

First tip to pass your home inspection, provide unfettered access to your electric panels, heating and cooling systems and your attic. The inspector will need to assess all of these areas, so it’s best to let them get in easily. Remember also to clean the space below your sinks so the inspector can easily assess your pipes.

2. Appliance Check

Second, be sure to empty all your appliances to facilitate the inspection (except your refrigerator, of course). That means your washer, dryer, dishwasher and stove should all be fully empty and ready to test.

3. Documentation

Next – if possible — provide full documentation of your appliances, systems and any work you’ve had done on them. For example, “if you’ve had an engineer inspect a crack in your foundation and there’s nothing wrong with your structure, display that report so the home inspector doesn’t have to be concerned about the crack,” says a local inspection company.

You can even attempt to provide the manuals for appliances by using online resources like GE’s Appliance Manual online center: http://www.geappliances.com/ge/service-and-support/literature.htm

4. Light The Way

One incredibly simple tip – replace ALL light bulbs so the inspector won’t have to worry about whether a burnt out bulb is really an issue with your wiring.

5. Get Outta There

Last, get out of there! Think of the inspection as another home showing – you need to be out of sight and out of mind so the inspector can speak freely with the buyers and their agent. And if at all possible, take your pets with you or arrange for them to be visiting a friend or relative during the inspection time.

These tips are a great starting point to helping pass your home inspection. Remember, your real estate agent is your best resource throughout the entire listing process. They are there to guide you through each part of the transaction and answer any questions that you have. Rector Hayden REALTORS® are trained to handle the different situations that occur in our market and are dedicated to the success of your sale.

Maybe you’d also find this article helpful? How Sellers Can Pass Their Appraisal

Tags inspection

Local Events

#LexHaveFun – AUGUST EVENTS

Post author By RHRNews
Post date August 1, 2018

Events in Central Kentucky in August 2017

Local events we LOVE this month

Last chance, summer fun – with SO much to enjoy, see and do!

CLICK HERE for some of the events and activities we love during the month of August, happening in Lexington and all around Central Kentucky!

Home Insights Home Selling Tips Newsletter Featurettes Uncategorized

The Benefits of Selling with a Home Warranty

Post author By RHRNews
Post date July 3, 2018

Even though our current housing market remains very strong, the period from list-to-close can be many weeks.

How can sellers protect their valuable equity in the home during that time? With a home warranty!

A warranty placed during the listing period can eliminate many out-of-pocket expenses sellers often experience from unexpected breakdowns and repairs to mechanical systems and appliances.

Seller coverage is free to the seller for up to six months when they commit to purchase coverage for the buyer at closing. If the property never closes, the seller owes nothing, even if claims were paid.

Seller benefits:

Coverage while your home is on the market. Mechanical system failures are covered during the listing period for up to six months. This means if something goes wrong, you can continue to concentrate your efforts on selling your home instead of worrying about repairs.

A powerful marketing tool. Research shows that 8 out of 10 buyers prefer to buy a warranted home. It’s added incentive that gives you the edge and sets your home apart from the competition.

Help prevent post-sale disputes. If an unexpected failure occurs in the home after the sale, the buyer will turn to the warranty company — not you — to solve the problem.

Avoid the worry and inconvenience of dealing with unexpected home repairs!
With a home warranty provided by Rector Hayden Realtors, you get reliable protection backed by great service. Want more information about our Home Warranty partner, HMS? See more on our website at: www.rhr.com/homewarrantyprogram

Tags benefits, HMS, home warranty

Local Events

#LexHaveFun – JULY EVENTS

Post author By RHRNews
Post date July 2, 2018

Local events we LOVE this month

Here comes summer — with SO much to enjoy, see and do!

CLICK HERE for some of the events and activities we love during the month of July, happening in Lexington and all around Central Kentucky!

Home Insights Home Owning Tips Newsletter Featurettes

How to Protect Yourself Against Online Security Breaches

Post author By RHRNews
Post date June 1, 2018

Cyber-criminals — people who commit theft using the internet, email and other technology — will look anywhere for money to be stolen. And that includes real estate transactions. But if you’re careful, you can avoid falling prey to these schemes.

Across the country, the real estate industry has seen a significant increase in the efforts of cyber-criminals to steal money out of real estate transactions. These scams are ever-changing, but here are the general elements of the most common fraud attempts we have seen recently:

1) A fraudster will send a malicious email that seeks to trick the recipient into providing personal information (often a username and password) or clicking on a link or an attachment that contains a virus, infecting the recipient’s computer.

2) The goal of the email is to gain access to computer systems of someone involved in a real estate transaction (like a buyer, seller, real estate agent, or closer). Once the access is given, criminals can log in to learn details of that upcoming transaction.

3) With those details, the criminal can create an email that appears to be from a legitimate source. Typically, this email asks the buyer or a closer to wire funds into an illegitimate bank account.

How to protect yourself against cyber-crime

That may sound a bit scary, but there are precautions you can take to protect your money. These rules can be applied to every technological aspect of your daily life, not just if you are involved in a real estate transaction:

Never send money to anyone who requests it by email without first personally contacting someone you know (like the title closer or your real estate agent) to confirm the request is legitimate.

When confirming the request, don’t rely on the phone number that was provided in the email; the criminals often put their own phone number in the email. Use a phone number that you know or look up the number on the internet.

Use care in dealing with emails. If you receive an email from someone you don’t know with a link or attachment, don’t click on it without verifying that it’s legitimate. And never provide important private information like your username, passwords, bank accounts, pin numbers or other items that might allow criminals to take advantage of you.

article curated by Keith Rector

Tags assets, fraud, online, protection, security

Our local housing market – and how to compete

Here are some of the pros and cons you’ll want to consider as you make your decision.

Pros of selling a home in the fall

Less competition

Motivated buyers

Autumn staging is a breeze

Cons of selling a home in the fall

Time is precious

Uprooting can be hard

Ready to sell?

1. Unfettered Access

2. Appliance Check

3. Documentation

4. Light The Way

5. Get Outta There

Maybe you’d also find this article helpful? How Sellers Can Pass Their Appraisal

Local events we LOVE this month

Last chance, summer fun – with SO much to enjoy, see and do!

CLICK HERE for some of the events and activities we love during the month of August, happening in Lexington and all around Central Kentucky!

Our local housing market – and how to compete

Seller benefits:

Local events we LOVE this month

Here comes summer — with SO much to enjoy, see and do!

CLICK HERE for some of the events and activities we love during the month of July, happening in Lexington and all around Central Kentucky!

How to protect yourself against cyber-crime