Donna Littlefield, Associate Real Estate Broker in Western New York

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Tips for Selling Your Home Faster

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In the Buffalo-Niagara market, homes are selling quickly. One house in Audubon, a residential community in Amherst, got three offers above asking price on its first day on the market! If you’re a seller and you have what people are looking for right now, you’re going to sell your place quickly.

What are some ways to help sell your property quickly?

Experienced Real Estate Agent

First, you should consider hiring an experienced real estate agent like me. An experienced real estate agent can activate his or her network of connections to help enlarge the amount of people your property is exposed to in a short amount of time.

Finding the Right Price Point

Next, don’t price your place too high. You have to pay attention to what similar, comparable places have sold for in your neighborhood. Oftentimes people price their place too high because they don’t really want to sell it. They say they do, but they’re sentimental and price it high so it won’t get any offers. Only sell a place when you’re sure you really do want to sell it. Then, price it in a range that makes sense for the market. If other similar homes in the area are going for $150,000 then price yours near that, rather than at, say, $250,000.

Augment the Curb Appeal

Thirdly, enhance the look of your place so people will want to buy it! This means sprucing up its “curb appeal” with a fresh coat of paint, cleaned up yard, flowers in planters, a brand new front door, etc. You want to create a great first impression– you want to “WOW” ‘em. Then, inside, clear out clutter, repaint walls so they’re more neutral than before, and perhaps replace worn carpeting or make some other home improvements that’ll impress buyers. Consider having your real estate agent help you “stage” the house, which makes it look like it’s move-in ready– giving buyers a feel for what goes where and how it might look if they lived there.

Market it Properly

Finally, make sure you house is listed online and has outstanding photos that really show off its assets. If a picture is worth a thousand words, the photos posted online of your house can either help it sell quickly or… discourage people from even wanting to attend an open house.

For help selling a home quickly in Western New York, contact realtor Donna Littlefield at 716-578-1788.

Questions to Ask a Real Estate Agent

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So you’re thinking about working with a real estate agent, but you’ve never done so before, or it has been a really long time since you last dealt with the whole buying and selling process… what are some things to ask a potential real estate agent?

Questions to Ask

First, it’s good to do some online research and “interview” potential agents you might like to work with… asking them key questions like, “How long have you been working in real estate?” It’s nice to work with someone seasoned, with several years under their belt, compared to newbies.

Next, you might want to ask, “What’s your average number of clients?” You can then figure out if he or she will have time to devote to your needs, or if you’d end up feeling like just another number on a long list. If you’d be the agent’s only client, that might be a red flag because you’d think, “What is it about them that I’m the only one they’re working with– shouldn’t they have at least a handful of clients right now?” If they’re good, then yes– they should have a couple clients at any given time.

Also, you’ll want to ask, “What area(s) do you generally cover?” For example, Donna Littlefield generally covers Wheatfield, Pendleton, Amherst, Clarence, North Tonawanda, and Tonawanda, New York. Donna is your ideal agent covering both Erie County and Niagara County. If you’re looking for a place in Western New York, she can help you find the perfect property for your needs.

Another thing to find out is, “Are you part of a team or do you work solo?” You’ll want to know whether or not you’d be working with just one agent or if there are others “on the team” who you’d be interacting with, for whatever reason.

Do you have a unique situation– the kind that’s a bit “out there?” If so, you’ll want to ask your potential agent if he or she can handle that… and if they’re honest, they’ll tell you a simple yes or no.

Finally, it’s a good idea to ask, “What kind of communication can I expect from you?” Are they the kind of agent who does everything by email? Do they call you on the phone? Do they love in-person meetings? Basically, you want to know what you’re “getting into” before choosing to work with a particular agent whom you’ll be spending a lot of time and energy dealing with, in order to buy or sell real estate.

How to Optimize Your Home Before Selling It

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If you were having the Queen of England visit your house, you’d tidy up a bit, right? You might even go “all out” to make your place look its very best. Think of that notion when you think of selling your home. Before you put your house on the market, you should “stage” it so it looks enticing to any and all people who will see it.

Staging means decorating and organizing a house in such a way that it looks impressive to buyers such that it sells quickly for the highest possible price. Basically, it involves highlighting a home’s assets and minimizing its weaknesses.

Remember, people are looking for a place that helps fulfill some of their hopes, wants and dreams. Your job is to help them see and believe that your house will do that. Homebuyers would like to see how great a house looks rather than one that hasn’t been tended to, shows no signs of care or concern, and is “falling apart.” Just like people get cosmetic enhancements, so should homes, especially before they’re offered for sale.

What are some key components of staging a house for sale?

Tips for Optimizing the Home You’re Selling

First, it should be clean. Your guests should say, “It’s so clean in here I could eat off the floor.”

Next, it should be decluttered. Even if you have to rent storage space down the road, do whatever it takes to get rid of small and big stuff taking up space. You want the place to look “open” and “inviting,” instead of “cluttered” and “messy.”

Thirdly, depersonalize the place. Stage it so a buyer can imagine themselves living there, rather than having to look at all of your mementos, pictures, and other stuff that says, “I live here and you don’t!”

Also, and try to make sure there is a favorable aroma in the air. Put simply, the house should smell good and not like your pet. It’s no wonder that realtors have been known to have bread or cookies baking in the oven when showing a house—good smells put people in better moods.

As for wallpaper and/or paint, do what you can to make the place neutral enough that a person walking into it says, “I can work with this.” Even though you liked a bright pink room, the majority of people won’t. In addition, that wallpaper that has been up since the Nixon administration? That’s not going to impress buyers.

Finally, define each room’s purpose so a potential buyer can walk into it and know exactly what it’s for, such as laundry, exercise or office work.

Need help with staging ideas and/or buying/selling your home? Contact Donna Littlefield today at 716-578-1788.

Why Spring and Summer Are the Best Times to Move

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Are you thinking of moving? If so, now could be the ideal time. Spring and summer are often considered the best times to move.

For starters, the weather is nice. When it’s sunny and warm outside, people are in the mood to look at houses. It’s much easier to sell a house during July in the Buffalo area compared to mid-January when it gets dark out at 4:30 p.m. and there’s snow and ice covering the roads, driveways and yards. Meanwhile, actually moving stuff from one place to another is a lot easier when you don’t have to wear boots, a hat and a heavy coat. In the spring and summer months, the weather makes moving boxes in and out of homes a lot easier than in the winter.

Next, May and June are prime time for garage sales in Western New York. That means you can sell a lot of your stuff before you move out, and there are plenty of eager shoppers who’d be happy to check out your bargains. It’s easier to sell off stuff you don’t really need or want anymore from the comfort of your current garage/yard than to have to pack it up and haul it away in a car or truck.

If you have kids, it’s best to make your move when they’re not in school. Therefore, it makes sense to move in July or August when school is not in session. Most families with kids like to move in the summer months in order to give the kids some time to adjust to their new neighborhood. Furthermore, they get a couple weeks at the new place before they have to start at their new school. In Western New York, most schools start “back to school” in early September, so families like to get settled before that.

As for adults with jobs to worry about, summer months tend to be a little more relaxed and flexible for many workers. Indeed, many workers take their vacations in July, for sure. Therefore, it might be easier to take days off to move to a new place without disrupting your employer’s operations too much during the laid-back summer months.

If you’re thinking of buying or selling a home in Western New York, Donna Littlefield can help you make that a reality this spring or summer. Please call 716-578-1788 to connect with her today.

The Differences Between a Real Estate Agent and Real Estate Broker

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There is somewhat of a hierarchical pecking order in real estate. Therefore, a real estate agent is typically under their boss, the real estate broker. A broker, by the way, can also be a real estate agent. He or she can do what agents do, though oftentimes a broker gets busy supervising a whole bunch of agents and becomes consumed with that role. If a broker has several agents working for him or her, those agents give their broker part of their earnings.

If you were to think of real estate like high school, then the broker is the senior and the agent is a freshman, sophomore or junior. Some seniors are agents, too, of course.

Brokers have to be in the industry a while before they take that role on. It’s usually an earned position, after many years of getting and retaining clients, knowing neighborhoods like “the back of their hands,” and spending time researching real estate industry trends, especially as they apply to the market(s) in proximity to their office(s). Specifically, a broker is a person who has taken education beyond the agent level as required by state laws and has passed a broker’s license exam. Brokers may work alone or hire agents to work for them.

The Benefits of Working With a Broker

Why work with a broker or agent, in general? They bring marketing exposure skills to the table, as well as negotiating skills and their connections/relationships to the overall mix. Say, for example, you wanted to sell your house and you put a for sale sign on the lawn outside. Not as many people would see this sign as would see that your house is for sale if it made it into “the online system,” aka the “MLS,” which is a real estate staple used for listing homes for sale. Therefore, by working with an agent and/or broker, you’re effectively expanding your reach. Furthermore, they’re there to guide you along the process of real estate transactions, which can get complicated, especially with rules and paperwork.

In Buffalo’s northern suburbs, you should choose Donna Littlefield to work with when you want to buy or sell a house. She’s a licensed real estate broker specializing in the wonderful communities of Wheatfield, Amherst and Pendleton. As a broker, she has more knowledge and expertise than a newbie agent– so you’d want to work with someone like that– experienced and knowledgeable.

What is a First Time Homebuyer Loan?

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When you decide to buy your first home, you’re known as a “first time homebuyer.” Because many first timers are at a point in their lives where money can be tight, they often seek out first time homebuyer loans (aka mortgages) in order to pay toward their purchase and make it a reality.

First Time Homebuyer Loans

First time homebuyer loans are usually designed to help people become first time homeowners in certain geographic areas. Generally, they’re meant for “qualified” buyers who can conceivably make payments over time to “pay them off.” There are several costs associated with buying a home, such that a loan helps cover things like the “down payment” and “closing costs.”

If you’re in the position of buying your first home, you’ll want to look online for good loan programs. You can check out the HUD website or try typing “buying a home in Amherst, New York” to see what comes up. Keep in mind there are a variety of loan options out there, and you might want to add certain terms to your search if they’re germane: veteran, teacher, disabled, etc.

Typically, first time homebuyer loans are meant for people who have never owned a home, though in some cases they might be offered to those who haven’t owned a home in a long time. You might have to meet certain financial restrictions– certain loans won’t go to people who have high incomes or substantial assets. In addition, these loans are meant for less expensive homes, with the idea that first time homebuyer loans help people most in need.

Regarding the home you buy, you’ll have to live there as your primary residence. Your home also has to meet physical requirements, such that it’s in good condition and safe for occupancy.

If you’re not a first time homebuyer, but you’d still like financial assistance, consider seeking out a conventional loan or FHA loan. If you’re credit isn’t that great or you’re recovering from financial hardship, a FHA loan is a good choice, allowing you to buy a house with as little as 3.5% down.

If you need helping finding your first home in Western New York, contact Donna Littlefield today.