Author Archives: Joel Zieve

Posted on by June 3, 2014

When’s The Best Time to Sell or Buy a Home in Utah?

This Week I Cover…

      • Number’s Don’t Lie
      • –When to buy to save the most money
      • — When to list to sell to make the most money
      • Should you still wait until Spring to buyer or Sell?
      • New updated home for sale under $130k in Ogden
      • Kaysville home for sale on 1/2 acre with an amazing kitchen
      • Much more…

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Want to know what your house is worth in today's market, find out now! Yes, it's free!
Video Transcript
Hello everyone! This is Ann Zieve with the Northern Utah Home Team and Keller Williams Success Realty here to give you your weekly market update, and this week we’re going to answer the question is it better to wait until spring to buy or sell real estate, and we’ll also look at some new homes on the market. So let’s get started. So this chart shows sales statistics broken down by month for the year 2013, and you can see the months of the year written out here. This gives you the number of homes sold in the State of Utah for each month. This gives you the percentage of original list price that the sold price was, and then we have the median price per square foot of that sale. And what I would like to point out to you is that during the timeframe of April to August is when the most units of homes were being sold in the State of Utah. Do you see that? And if you look over here, interestingly enough, that’s also when the highest percentage of the list price was paid. So you were paying closer to list price during that time, and you’re also paying more per square foot during that time.
So what this would tell me is that if I were a buyer is that waiting until April through August to buy a home is not necessarily when you’re going to get the best deal. You’re more likely to pay closer to list price. Homes are selling faster during that timeframe which tells me it’s a more competitive market, and you’re going to pay more per square foot. So you might want to buy your home before the market gets hot in that April to August timeframe or after. If you’re a seller what this would tell me is that since statistics show that buyers are on the Internet looking at homes about two months before they are actively walking through homes, you want to be getting on the market now because the hot market is coming in April so February is the time to get your house out there, so you’re exposed to all that Internet traffic of people searching for your home. Give us a call and we’ll be happy to go over this more with you, but these statistics hold for Davis and Weber County just like for the State of Utah.
So let’s take a look at some new homes on the market. First up is this very affordable and move-in ready home in Ogden. If you’re looking for something for under $130,000, you want to check this home out. Look how beautifully refinished those floors are. It’s a four-bedroom home with two baths. The basement is finished. It has a two-car carport, a huge deck off the back with a privacy fence backyard and a shed, so you can relax out there and entertain and enjoy time with family and friends. This home is move-in ready and it is out there for you to take a look at today. If you’re looking for a great property in Davis County in a little bit higher price bracket, you might want to check out this five-bedroom, three-bath home that’s over 3,500 square feet on over a half-acre in Kaysville. Look at that kitchen. I just love this kitchen, and it has lots of upper-end finishes. It has a huge master bedroom suite with a jetted tub, so you can just relax away your cares, and you’re just going to have a great time living and entertaining in this great home. Well, that’s it for this week’s market update. If you have any questions or need more information on anything we discussed, or if you need help buying a home, selling a house or investing in real estate, feel free to give us a call, a text, or an email. Until next week, keep living smart.
Posted on by June 3, 2014

What Are The Closing Costs To Sell A Utah Home?

This video gives you an explanation of what the closing costs are when selling your property.  This will help you prepare so you’re not surprised at the closing.  Ever wonder what costs are paid by the seller and which are paid by the seller?  Ann covers that too.  Plus get a peek at some new homes on the market in Roy and Liberty (Ogden Valley).

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Want to know what your house is worth in today's market, find out now! Yes, it's free!
Video Transcript
Hello everyone! This is Ann Zieve with the Northern Utah Home Team and Keller Williams Success Realty here to give you my weekly market update, and today we’re going to talk about closing costs, but first let’s take a look at the market and then we’ll look at some new homes on the market. Here we have the graph of our rolling market statistics, and as we’re entering into February you can see that the number of new listings is starting to increase, and if you look at where they were a year ago, it’s about at the same point. We had the dip a year ago, and we had the same dip this year, so that’s just a seasonal thing, and when you look at new solds, you can see that those are still depressed, and they were depressed a year ago too. So again, another seasonal dip, but we will expect to see both houses selling and houses getting listed increase in the months ahead, and we can see that price is staying pretty much steady.
Well, let’s take a look at what closing costs are all about for all those sellers and buyers who will be entering the market. So one thing to consider when you are buying or selling a home are closing costs. Sellers are usually aware that they will have to pay a realtor’s commission. However, sometimes they don’t take into account other closing costs they might have, and then they are surprised when they don’t make as much money on the sale of their house as they had expected. Buyers are usually wanting to buy the biggest, nicest home they can with their money. However, if they don’t set aside money to cover closing costs, they will also be surprised at closing. So what are typical closing costs? Well basically they are the cost to pay everyone involved in helping you to sell your house or to buy a home. Realtor commissions are the most well-known closing costs. Also, if a buyer is getting a loan, they are pretty aware that there are going to be loan costs such as origination fees, down payments, points, etc.
Did you also know that the title company that will be closing the cost of the loan and the transaction will also have costs such as recording fees, document prep fees, and other fees? And also title insurance is another closing cost that both sellers and buyers will have. The seller will buy a title insurance policy for the buyer to insure that they are passing clear title, and the buyer, if they are getting the loan, will buy a title insurance policy for their lender to insure that the lender is getting a clear title. So in a buyer’s market when there are more sellers than buyers, it’s pretty typical for buyers to ask the seller to pay for their closing costs, and they seller is usually pretty willing to do so. However, in a seller’s market which we had at the end of the last year where there were more buyers than sellers, sellers are less likely to pay for the buyer’s closing costs, and buyers need to plan accordingly if they want to buy a great home. A knowledgeable realtor can help you anticipate these costs so that you can factor them into your buying and selling plans to make sure you’re not surprised at the end. Contact us for more information and to help you in understanding closing costs.
So let’s take a look at some new homes on the market. First I want to show you this incredible home in Roy. It’s over 8,000 square feet on almost a half-acre. It has a four-car garage, four bedrooms, four bathrooms, three kitchens, six family rooms, a formal dining room, a library, and the list goes on and on; an elevator. It has stained-glass windows. It has a huge master bedroom suite with a loft, and this home is just an incredible home to see if you’re looking for something in Roy in the upper price range. And here’s another wonderful new listing. This one is in Eden. It’s horse property with over 3 acres. It has horse pastures, a barn with electricity, and alfalfa fields. It has a beautiful, redone kitchen that opens up into a huge family room area. There’s four bedrooms in this house as well as three baths and two family rooms and just lots of elbow room inside and out if you’re looking for a great horse property in the Eden Valley among all the mountains and close to all the great recreational activities. So that wraps up this week’s market update. If you have any questions or need more information, give us a call, and we’re happy to help you buy a home, sell a house, or invest in real estate. Until next time, keep living smart.