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Hey guys, it’s me Josh with Impact Home Team based here in Timonium, Maryland, just north of Baltimore. And this is my buddy, Chris Stumbroski, we team up on a lot of deals and we wanted to do a video today on a market update in our area and things we’re seeing. And then a little bit of information on what we see could help the other people that we work with. So Chris give us a little bit of an intro about you.

Thanks, Josh. I’m happy to be here. Team leader of the North Star Team of Keller Williams Legacy in Towson and Realtors in MD. We’re based at the Towson area. Been in the business for a little bit over eight years now and we’re seeing some really dynamic changes, especially in the 2021 market this year, for sure.

Absolutely. It’s just been a crazy market. We were just talking about this before we got rolling that, looking back at last year in 2020 with COVID, people were just super scared that the market was going to fall off the face of the planet and then even as far back as December, we just really had no sort of indication here locally that the market was going to go nuts and everyone’s going to be getting 5 and 10% over asking price and things are going to go in two days. Anyway, why don’t we start with the one deal that we were attempting to work on together?

Yeah. It’s a really great example of how much the market has shifted in really just January and February of this year, the past 60 days. You came to me, it was a property in Bel Air, single family home, four bedrooms, two and a half baths, built in 2000s, pretty traditional colonial home in the Bel Air market. You connected with the seller, like you said, it was a PPC lien, right?

Yep.

Came through Google there, said, “Hey, I have a home to sell. It’s just me. My wife has passed. Kids are grown. I need to sell this house. I need to move on with my life.” I think your numbers looking back were… You had looked back and you said, “Offer at 300 cash now. We’ll take it and sell it as is.” Right?

No, hold on. We told them that we thought the market value-

Sorry.

We thought the market value listed with a realtor could easily be 305 to 325. That was just our indication here in the office. But again, we refer out if we’re listing. So we refer to Chris. Our cash offer on this house was… We gave them a range of 230 to 245.

Oh yeah, as well.

Yeah. And so we gave him a cash offer of 230 to 245, thinking that we would be able to sell the house for 355 when all was said and done, after about 35 to 40 in repairs. When we found out that wouldn’t work, we referred it to Chris. The seller enthusiastically wanted our referral to talk to Chris to list his house. So then Chris talked to the gentleman and-

Right. We had a listing appointment with him, took a look at his home virtually of course, due to COVID. But we saw that the home, again, being built around 2000 was about 20 years old. So everything was pretty original, kitchens, bathrooms, mechanical, roof, windows, everything. Nearing 20 years, things are going to start needing some updates and maintenance and replacement. So we took that into account. We gave him our plan of attack, what we’re going to do for him in terms of getting the home ready and what he’s going to have to do to help us as well. And he made it very clear, “I don’t want to do a whole lot at all. I really just want to clean it up, make it as best as it shows as it sits now.” Which we fully respect. And a lot of sellers ask us to do that as well.

So we advised him that, just declutter it, clean it up, make it presentable, just a thorough cleaning. We understand everything’s original as it sits. And we advised him, we could list it on the market when he was ready in the springtime for 350, 360 range all day long, no problem, based on comps that we’ve seen in the past three to six months. And one asterix on that is, we never go back more than six months just because that’s how bank appraisers are going to look at homes. They do not use homes sold more than six months ago in their comps. So we always try to stick with that six months there.

That’s a good tip.

Yep.

While you’re there, what kind of range geography on a map?

So very specific. We take first, obviously the placement of the home and staying within the same neighborhood, not crossing any major boundaries, meaning main roads, like a Bel Air route, Route 1, I-95, something like that. We’re staying within the boundaries of the neighborhood and not crossing any major roads, throwaways, number one. Number two, looking for a similar style of the home two-story to a ranch or that kind of thing. Bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage, of course and then level of updates, whether if it’s original, middle of the road, fully fixed up, brand new. So we’re taking in all of those factors as well. But the big thing is square footage, bedrooms and bathrooms and features, of course.

So for all wholesaler guys and gals out there ask Chris that because he’s very good at what he does. So when you’re going to comp properties yourself, take into account what he just said and how he comps properties and then look and talk to a few appraisers and see how they comp properties for you locally, because there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Do what they’re already doing.

I’ve learned specifically from appraisers. I’ve always was fascinated on how are you coming up with values? I want to learn it as well, so we can give that to our clients and make sure we’re providing them with accurate information. And yeah, the biggest thing is you really have to dive super local and don’t go too far out. A mile or two radius is plenty in most cases, unless you a really specific unique home, you should be able to find at least two to three comps staying within one or two mile radius and within the parameters of your subject property.

A little side note for us when we’re pulling comps, especially in Baltimore city, which is the yellow territory right here, especially in Baltimore city, which has a notorious reputation we’re only going out 0.1 miles. So that’s about a block, a block and a half in each direction. So slight difference there, but okay, let’s go back to the house. So we had offered him 235 to 245 cash. We thought it would sell on the market for as is three… We said 315 to 325. Chris comes in and says he would list it for 350 to 360-

All day long.

What happened? Did you get the listing?

We did not get the listing. Called him about a week later he said, “Hey, really appreciate meeting you guys, but I’m going a different route.”

What happened?

We tried to ask and he wouldn’t really divulge too much information.

What did you just find out?

Me as I do always looking at the market and especially in areas that we sell a lot of properties and represent buyers, I was looking at some new listings coming on the market Bel Air and lo and behold saw a coming soon listing, I’m like, “That looks really familiar.” Double checked the addresses to my records and coming on the market for 425. And we actually had photos up. So I was taking a look at the photos, just see if he did anything because it had been about 45, 60 days since we talked to him.

He did exactly what we told him to do, declutter, make it presentable as it is. Like I said, “Coming soon.” So it got active last weekend, today’s Thursday and last weekend it went active, about a week ago. Checked it today before we started filming and he’s pending, list price of 425 was the asking price. Obviously we don’t know what it will be until it closes but it is pending four days on the market. 20 year old home original. It didn’t do anything.

So that went for like 15 to 20% over what you thought it could get?

Yes.

Wow. That’s a really cool story just because it demonstrates what an incredible, but also kind of… What’s the right word here, unpredictable?

Market that we’re in.

Market we’re in.

I do want to add one thing to that is, this conversation between you, myself and the client at the time was about second week of January. And it’s the second week of March right now. That’s how different the market has changed in 60 days. It’s mind boggling and we’re still navigating it day to day and figuring out how to be ahead of the game and keep our clients abreast of how to win in this market.

Yeah, absolutely. That’s great. Okay. We have a few directions that we can go there, but really quick, let’s talk about when you’re working with clients who are sellers and selling their home in this market right now, what are you advising them to do so they can best capture that massive upside that’s there right now?

The biggest thing that we’re telling sellers to do is get going, do not wait. Get it while the market is strong and the pent up buyers are there. Every spring market, there’s always a pent up need. The weather starts getting warmer. People are getting out of their houses. People are getting excited and typically spring market is pretty aggressive. Really, unlike as I’ve been in the business for eight years, this is by far the most aggressive spring market that we’re seeing with the lowest inventory that I’ve seen in eight years. So we have lots of buyers, not many homes at all, multiple offer situations.

But going back to your question, what we’re telling our sellers is the same thing that we’ve always been telling sellers to do. The home has to be show ready. You got to declutter, you got to depersonalize, less is more, in terms of furnishing, accessories, things like that. Cleaning. Cleaning is one of the easiest ways to prep a home for sale. No one’s going to walk into a dirty home and pay top dollar for someone else’s filth, as we say.

But really same thing we’ve been telling them, staging, cleaning, making sure everything’s in mechanically working outside curb appeal is always big for me. I’m really a strong proponent of curb appeal and that’s something as simple as fresh mulch in the garden leaves cleaned up freshly mowed lawn and we’re getting into that season now. But curb appeal is big when you get out of your car, the home has to sparkle just like it did online. So that’s a big thing for us is everybody’s home search starts online these days. So your home has to show as good in person, if not better than it did online.

For our flipped homes, I was very big on that same principle that it had to show very well, but also like you just said, spend the extra money on the outside for the curb appeal. But then I think there’s one thing as well as when you’re going to hire someone to sell your home or you’re going to sell your home, you have to get professional pictures and not only just professional pictures but you should find a great photographer because drawing off of what you just said for curb appeal and everyone starts online nowadays that online search starts with one picture of your home. So that first picture should be a stunner.

And there’s a lot of people applying effects and that kind of thing to the first featured picture. And I’m cool with that because if it draws your eye and you click the listing then and you start flipping through photos and that turns into a showing, I think that’s a big advantage to some of the homes that sell. They make them look really good online. They take time to write the listings as well. And you can definitely tell that when you look at some listings. Some realtors just aren’t really good with their writing skills and they haven’t presented that home in the best light.

We’re really methodical about how we list our homes. I’ll spend 30 minutes looking for the best photo as the first photo online. One of my longest running vendors is my professional photographer who only shoots real estate photography day in and day out. That’s all he does. He’s proprietary system in terms of editing and how he shoots and I let him handle that. I don’t ask too many questions but we’re very methodical about how we advertise homes online because at the end of the day, our job is to get as many people through the door as possible, capture the buyer within the first seven to 10 days. That’s your window where you’re going to get the most amount of money for any home in really in any condition.

And then we capture the buyer from there, oftentimes in this market, multiple buyers negotiate to find a win-win for both seller and buyer and that’s something we can actually talk about creating a win-win for both parties or no deal, but negotiating the best terms for the seller and doing their due diligence to make sure the buyer is financially sound and is presenting what they have presented. And yeah, so that’s really not too much different in terms of what we’re telling sellers to do. Maybe a little bit less renovations, but we’re still telling them to paint, clean things up, curb appeal, all the basics, just showing the home in its best light possible, but we’ve cut back on, “Hey, this kitchen needs to be updated or this bathroom needs to be updated.” Things like that.

Yeah, definitely.

So less money spend but still effort. Getting the home ready.

Yeah, definitely. Okay. So let’s switch over to buyers then. What are you doing with your buyers? What are you doing to prepare them, to put their best possible offer together during their home search?

Yes. It’s been a challenge with buyers. Put it that way. Only one buyer can win in the negotiations and you’re up against a lot of competition. Oftentimes triple digits in some instances, for sure, in terms of showings, offers 20, 30, 40 offers, we’re seeing on a single property at any given time, especially in the sought after neighborhoods of Baltimore city, Baltimore county, things like that. We are preparing our buyers, again, like we always have, but we’re really focusing on the data because I can tell the buyer all day long, “Hey, this is what you got to do. I’m teaching you how to win. We work for you Mr. Buyer, you don’t work for us. I’m going to give you as much information as I possibly can so that you can win in this market.”

Sometimes people listen to us right out of the gate. Sometimes they don’t and they have to fail forward on their own first and then they’ll be like, “Okay, I might listen to Chris and what he’s telling us to do.” But getting the finances in order is a big thing. It’s not even worth a buyer’s time to go look at a home if you’re not even pre-qualified or have your financing in order, there’s just no sense in this market.

And then you need to move quickly. You need to be aggressive. I know you work nine to five. You might need to get off work in the afternoon one day, like that’s how aggressive this market is. If the home comes up on the Thursday, you can’t wait on a Saturday or Sunday to go see it. If it comes up on a Monday, we got to go Monday night, Tuesday morning, something like that. So urgency is a big thing we’re telling our buyers, like insane amount of urgency. So working with the right agent is big on that. You got to work with an aggressive agent who has the flexibility and can get buyers in when they need to get in.

So financing urgency, quick moving like we said, being aggressive, like crafting an offer that is going to stand out from the others. We’re really coming up with new tips and tricks each week as we go through and have certainly lost a few offers than normally last year they’d win, no problem whatsoever. So paying for portion of the seller transfer taxes is big, which means the seller is going to net more money in their pocket. So offering to pay portion of the seller transfer state and recreation taxes is a good one for sure.

It’s a good tip.

Being aggressive with the sale price is one, but then obviously the caveat with that is you might run into an appraisal issue if you’re utilizing a bank loan. So being prepared to possibly come out of pocket with more cash if the home does not appraise for the sale price, if the seller’s not willing to negotiate on that. So that’s the contingency we’re seeing. High deposits, big deposits like you can’t be coming in with a one, $2,000 deposit on a $400,000 house for example. Upping deposits to two or 3% of the sale price. Typically, the average has always been 1% of sale prices is pretty acceptable, but you got to be competitive and you got to be willing to show that you’re serious buyer.

Another thing that we’re utilizing and urging buyers to do, this doesn’t for everybody but for the folks that does is making a portion of their deposit non-refundable should they have an inspection contingency with the right to terminate, which is a big one in this market. So our buyers are saying, “Hey, we’ll make a portion if not all of our deposit non-refundable should we rescind our contract under the, as is with right to terminate.” That’s a pretty aggressive move. And this was more of a recent thing that we crafted to be competitive in this market. Because last year I wouldn’t advise a buyer to do that last year, but definitely this year you have to be competitive.

We have a few other tips and tricks that will save in our pockets for next time. But yeah, it’s just crafting an offer that’s going to stand out less contingencies, higher deposit and you got to be willing to pay. That’s what’s going to win, you guys.

That’s good stuff right there.

Yeah.

Okay. So why don’t you give them your website in case someone is looking for an agent like you.

Absolutely. You can check us out www.realtorsinmd.com. You can find all about our team, The North Star Team of Keller Williams there. Connect with us we have a lot of good content on there, videos, YouTube’s about us and just general local knowledge.

Very good. One more time. Give it to them one more time.

www.Realtorsinmd.com. Can’t forget that one. Realtors in MD – we are your Top Baltimore Realtors ready to assist with your Real Estate needs.

Why someone would call you versus call me when they’re selling their home. That one thing is something that interests a lot of people and that is marketing. If someone watching us is in Maryland and they’re looking to sell their home and they know they want to work with a realtor, why are they going to call you verus the competition?

https://www.sellyourmdhousenow.com/impact-home-team/

https://www.realtorsinmd.com/