Robertson Residential Group

The most common contingencies for a buyer are a home inspection, appraisal, and financing contingencies. In a hyper competitive seller's market, when there are a lot of bidding wars, buyers tend to waive a lot of these types of contingencies. Another buyer contingency that is less common, but still sometimes happens, is a home sale contingency.

One way to think about this is that if your home isn't being shown, it's not really on the market. Sellers who only make their homes available for a couple hours per day often make less money on their sales than sellers who make their homes available for as many hours per day as possible. This is simply because the more hours a home is available, the more showings it will get, which results in more interested buyers and higher sales prices. It's also important to briefly step out of your home when a buyer tours your property with their agent, if at all possible. The reason is that a buyer needs their space to take their time at a property and to talk honestly with their agent about their experience in your home. When a seller is there at the property the whole time, a buyer doesn't feel comfortable talking about the property candidly, and this usually results in a negative showing experience and much less time spent at the property.

Competitive pricing is when you price a property right around where other recent comparable properties have been selling, as opposed to pricing a property higher than recent sales in order to give yourself "room" to come down on the price. Competitive pricing attracts more buyers, which increases the chance of your property selling in a bidding war. Competitive pricing works very well in Northern Virginia as a strategy, mainly because the inventory of homes for sale is usually so low in this area and demand is so high. A competitive list price often generates more buyer showings and bidding wars, which creates a situation where buyers are competing against each other instead of negotiating with a seller. This maximizes the sales price of and other favorable terms in the contract for the seller.

As a general rule, staged homes almost always sell for higher than homes that are not staged. The reason is that buyers have a tough time imagining how various rooms in a house will look after they furnish it. Home staging helps to inspire a buyer's imagination, and as a result, buyers respond positively, which usually results in a higher sales price. If a home is already furnished, home stagers can do partial staging, or can help a homeowner arrange their furniture and decor in the most attractive manner. The only time I wouldn't advise a seller client to consider home staging is if they have a fixer-upper home that is in bad shape.

The bulk of a seller's closing costs are the real estate commissions. However, there are some other closing costs that usually come out to less than 0.5% of the total sales price of the property.

It's very common to see down payments of anywhere from 3% to 20% or higher. There are many great loan products that allow for a variety of types of down payments. There are also some great zero down loan options available.

A buyer's closing costs and lender pre-paids in Northern Virginia usually come out to around 2.75% to 3.25% of the total sales price of the property. Keep in mind that many of these are fixed costs, so the higher the price of the property, the lower the total percentage in closing costs, and vice versa.

Home inspection costs vary depending on the size of the property. One bedroom condos are often as low as around $350 or $375, average size homes are often around $425 to $475, and larger homes could be as high as $750 or more. If you get a Radon inspection, you should expect to pay $100 to $150 extra for that.

It's very important to get a pre-approval letter from a lender before making an offer on a property. In Northern Virginia, most sellers or listing agents will not take a financed offer seriously unless the buyer has a mortgage pre-approval letter.

You can think of condo ownership as "walls in" ownership. You own and maintain everything in the interior of the unit. Sometimes, there are a few exterior maintenance exceptions, depending on the community. For example, with most condo communities, decks, balconies, and patios are the responsibility of the condo management, but there are certain communities where a condo owner is responsible for maintaining a deck. With home ownership, you own and maintain the entire property, including the interior and exterior, roof, etc.