[00:00:05] Speaker A: The Michael Hatfield ReMax team presents real Estate and More.
[00:00:11] Speaker B: Bay Area real estate is different than all of America and why? What's up with home buyers, what's on sellers minds, how is the market and much, much more.
[00:00:22] Speaker A: Now here's your host, Michael Hatfield.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: Welcome to the Real Estate and More show. It's if you've ever wondered about the process of how to list your home, stick around with us today. We've got all kinds of great information and a great overview that you can use with going through the process with your listing agent. Whether you're new to selling or a seasoned pro, everything changes day by day by day in this business. And it's good to know what's current, what isn't, what you need to look out for, where are the pitfalls and how to maximize the money that you you will get from the sale of your home. We're going to talk about seller disclosures. We're going to talk about comparative market analysis and appraiser. We're going to talk about other important items in the process of how to sell your home. Plus we'll touch on market conditions and the benefits of home inspections and how to handle offers if and when they come in, what you do if they don't come in as well. Hi, Nancy. She's here to help guide me through, keep me square to way and how to overview this process. Hi, Nance.
[00:01:34] Speaker C: Hi, Michael. Great to be here.
[00:01:36] Speaker B: Yeah, welcome. So let's get started on seller disclosures. You want to run down a few items on the seller disclosures and talk to us about how they work a little bit. And let's get into that.
[00:01:47] Speaker C: Well, so some of the common seller disclosures that we are involved with when we're helping a seller sell their home is number one would be an agency disclosure closure form that sets up the relationship that we're helping a client. There's a real estate transfer disclosure form, a seller property questionnaire form, and that helps the sellers disclose information to a prospective buyer that would be likely very important to them. Wire fraud, local and California disclosures, market conditions, telling somebody about the potential market conditions information. What else? Broker compensation is one the advisory as.
[00:02:33] Speaker B: Well as the actual agreement now required by state law in California since January 1st. What about HOA? Isn't there disclosures? Are they part of the seller disclosures to a buyer?
[00:02:46] Speaker C: They are. And they're actually very often very voluminous.
[00:02:49] Speaker B: Yes, they sure are.
[00:02:51] Speaker C: Natural hazard, right?
[00:02:53] Speaker B: Okay. Yeah, yeah. So what is the primary document? I mean, actually there are two of them that sellers really need to be careful on. And if we had our prominent attorney on here, he'd say all of them. He says disclose everything. And essentially that is really what you want to do. I know some people, if they go to sell a car, they don't want to tell them about something that's wrong in this business. You definitely want to disclose everything that you possibly can about the property, everything that you know. You need to get out there so that your.
So that your buyer is going to.
[00:03:33] Speaker C: Know and will be well informed making their decision going forward.
[00:03:37] Speaker B: Exactly. So we've got the seller property questionnaire. We have the transfer disclosure statement. That's the heart of these documents. You mentioned a lot more of other seller disclosures. The natural hazard disclosure report, usually in anywhere from 35 to 100 pages of what. What is that report?
[00:03:59] Speaker C: Information that talks about whether there might be a flood zone nearby, whether there's an earthquake zone. Just information that somebody might know as a seller. And it's a report that you purchase. And it discloses all kinds of natural information. Natural conditions. And what would. What else does it.
[00:04:20] Speaker B: Well, one right now that's really the hot button is fire zones and fire hazard zones and supplemental fire hazard zones, because insurance carriers are reluctant to issue policies on homes that are in or near fire zones. The natural hazard disclosure report comes out and identifies is the subject property or the property that's going to be available for sale. The one that you're going to list is. Is that one near a fire zone, in a fire zone, and so forth, because the insurance company will actually take a look and they'll say, okay, well, you're in a fire zone. So therefore, we might have to bring in the California Fair plan to participate with us to issue the policy. So it's important on the natural hazard disclosure report that you listen very carefully and you see what's going on there in the way of fire zones. Also flood zones. Flood zones are very important as well, because it could be that your lender, a buyer's lender at the beginning, would require flood insurance.
[00:05:26] Speaker C: Right. And it might tell you that there's a dam nearby or something like that.
[00:05:31] Speaker B: Yeah, it's called dam inundation, also meaning that if a dam were to fail, would it the floodwaters flood the house? That that's in question. So there's a lot of really great information that comes from natural hazard reports. And I would say, generally speaking, homeowners may or may not know all of that information. So it's really good that you get and provide it to a potential buyer to keep you out of hot water. So what happens if a seller knows something and hides it and doesn't provide it to a buyer? What what can happen?
[00:06:09] Speaker C: Well, number one, that would not be our advice to any seller ever.
We would want them to disclose the information to protect them because the number one reason, as I believe, is that buyers would sue potentially a seller for not disclosing information that they should have. So it really is very important in a real estate transaction that you, you.
[00:06:36] Speaker B: Actually put it down in your seller disclosures to potential buyers what you know. And even if you don't know standard information, you're going to be able to provide that from use of the natural hazard disclosure report during the process. If an agent becomes aware that there is a red flag or of something that needs to be disclosed, it needs to be on the appropriate documents, not just assume that it will be done, but it needs to be in the appropriate documents.
[00:07:06] Speaker C: We're going to take a short break. We'll be right back.
[00:07:09] Speaker B: The REMAX.
[00:07:12] Speaker D: The Real Estate Minute with REMAX expert Michael Hatfield. Bay Area housing markets are always changing. What should we think of that, Michael?
[00:07:20] Speaker A: You know, Mark Twain said, I seldom saw an opportunity until it ceased to to be one. We live in the greatest housing market in the nation. But careful thought should be given each time one buys or sells a home. A good agent can help you grasp a great opportunity.
[00:07:36] Speaker D: Tell us about discount agents, Michael.
[00:07:38] Speaker A: Discount agents can list your home, but without telling my secrets, they're unlikely to do all we do for clients. It's an unnecessary risk to save a few thousand by hiring a junior agent and lose tens of thousands through a poorly done transaction. You don't know what you don't know, it's wise to hire someone who does.
[00:07:56] Speaker D: If you or someone you know is interested in buying or selling a home, call the Michael Hatfield ReMax team at 925-322-7775 or go to michaelhatfieldhomes.com when your real estate needs are beyond the standard and you demand more than the status quo, look no further than the Michael Hatfield REMAX Accord team with offices in Danville and nine more Bay Area locations. Here's Michael Hatfield to tell us more.
[00:08:22] Speaker A: Do you have a housing problem such.
[00:08:24] Speaker B: As you live in a three bedroom.
[00:08:25] Speaker A: Home with three children and need one more bedroom. You want better schools or your kids grown up, moved out and your home is just too large? Our team is a five star agent who serves our clients housing needs as.
[00:08:37] Speaker B: Our number one priority.
[00:08:38] Speaker A: Call us for a free buyer consultation.
[00:08:40] Speaker B: To start working on your housing problem. Now, let us help you to solve.
[00:08:44] Speaker A: Your housing issue, whatever your need.
[00:08:46] Speaker D: Maybe call 925-322-7775 to partner buyer or seller needs with the Michael Hatfield REMAX accord team. That's 9253-2277-7592-5322-7775. Come discover a new level of excellence in real estate with the Michael Hatfield Re Max.
[00:09:12] Speaker B: So let's move on for a second. What about inspections? You know, you see some of the homes that come on the market, they've already had the inspections. Why would that be, Nance?
[00:09:21] Speaker C: They have their home inspection, a pest inspection, and a roof inspection. And the reasons why a seller might want to do that is that they are disclosing more information about the status of their home, the condition of their home. And then a prospective buyer would come to look at possibly offering on that home and they would say, oh, well, it might need a little bit of roof work. Okay, that's going to cost X. And it just gives a buyer the whole picture, or more of the picture for what the expense might be to go forward.
[00:09:54] Speaker B: Exactly. Correct. Exactly. So if you're in a seller's market, you want to provide everything that you know so that your buyer will become a solid buyer, meaning that he has or she has confidence in what information is being provided to he or her. So when they go to offer, maybe they'll offer just a little bit more because they know more of the condition of the home. Also, the contingencies that may or may not be within the contract may not need to be there to the extent that they would if the seller had not done the inspections. Let me explain that for a second. Meaning, I mean, what I mean in that case is that if the, if there's a lot of potential buyers and a seller just wants to sell the property, that seller is not going to want to wait a long period of time for a buyer to do his own inspections.
[00:10:59] Speaker C: Right.
[00:11:00] Speaker B: So I wanted to slow down because I know people say, oh, Michael slowed down, something's wrong, he forgot his words. Well, the reason I'm slowing down is because a buyer wants to know the condition of the property. And if the buyer wants to go buy with a reduced contingency, that is very appealing to sellers. Right?
[00:11:27] Speaker C: It is.
[00:11:27] Speaker B: Right?
[00:11:28] Speaker C: It is. You know, buyers, like, often if they're going to buy, bid on a few homes, perhaps through their buying process or trying to find a home, they might not be inclined to want to spend the money to do inspections on a home that didn't already have them. So that could be a big consideration. So you might be losing possible buyers for your home. It's something to think about.
[00:11:51] Speaker B: And the process will go so much quicker if you have already done the inspections. It's not cheap. People ask me, well, how much is a home, a pest and a roof inspection? And I'm not going to throw out numbers here, but we have professional companies that are tried, proven and tested as being great intermediaries that will provide this information for a reasonable amount. And we can also include that in the net proceeds to our seller. Nancy, what is net proceeds?
[00:12:23] Speaker C: So the net proceeds, it's a document that can be used to help the seller know what at the end of the year, escrow that they'll. They'll be able to have. Right.
[00:12:34] Speaker B: As far as dollars.
[00:12:35] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:12:36] Speaker B: What they'll receive.
[00:12:37] Speaker C: Right, right. And so this, this net proceeds, it discusses closing costs.
So it looks something like this one.
[00:12:47] Speaker B: Of back a little bit. There you go.
[00:12:49] Speaker C: So it has like the estimated closing cost transfer taxes, it has title fees, escrow fees, homeowner fees. There can be homeowner fees there, a sewer, lateral inspection, perhaps these things might be needed, all of the associated costs in a transaction.
[00:13:10] Speaker B: Absolutely. And so that being said, Nancy and I, when we represent clients and we definitely want to get the maximum amount of proceeds from the sale of their property, that becomes our number one objective. So whether or not you're buying or selling, call the Michael Hatfield ReMax team. We have the expertise you need. Give us a call at 925-322-7775 and let us see if we can help you to make the right move, don't you think?
[00:13:43] Speaker C: I think so, yes. Give us a call.
[00:13:46] Speaker B: Absolutely. So what do you got going now? What's next?
[00:13:50] Speaker C: Let's see. We were talking about earlier about timelines, when, when you have a seller you're working with and trying to get a timeline set up. So basically that would be, I want my home on the market, say, June 1st. I don't know.
[00:14:05] Speaker B: Why would you. Why June 1st? What about, what about May 1st?
[00:14:08] Speaker C: May 1st. Right.
[00:14:09] Speaker B: Great time.
[00:14:11] Speaker C: Absolutely. I agree.
[00:14:13] Speaker B: Great time of the year.
[00:14:14] Speaker C: But for instance, so the buyer or the seller would want to say, okay, so I want it on the market that date. And the agent, us, we would work with the client to figure out all the steps that were going to be needed in order to get the home prepared and put on the market. So that's a very important part of working with your agent.
[00:14:34] Speaker B: So you work it backwards to Come up with a timeline. And from the timeline, if the property needs to have new carpets or it needs to have new paint inside, or whether or not it needs new flooring, you've got a timeline. Everybody's working together to get this home properly prepared to go on the market at a time that there should be. Well, it's likely to be the maximum amount of buyers during that time of the year for your property. That's why this timeline is so, so very important.
[00:15:07] Speaker C: You want it to look the most appealing to as many buyers as possible. So that is important timing.
[00:15:13] Speaker B: Now, speaking about our market in the Bay Area, you know what we were talking about this morning with the gentleman that is our dedicated broker at ReMax Accord?
We were talking about how the market has been, well, December starting to look better. January starting to look better. It has been a little bit, even Steven, the last months of 2024, due to the election, due to the higher mortgage interest rates that's perceived by some of our buyers and so forth. But it's looking good for 2025. Now, one of the things that we have looked at has been the number of sellers, the number of buyers that are in the marketplace. It's been a little bit thin at the Last half of 2024 since about May, but now it's looking like there's getting some momentum of potential buyers coming in. Some sellers are saying, okay, well, you know, it might be time that I'm going to consider selling. So that's something that's very attractive at this point.
[00:16:17] Speaker C: It's encouraging is what it is.
[00:16:19] Speaker B: Absolutely. So with that in mind, what is the cma? What is the cma? What is it used for?
[00:16:28] Speaker C: So the comparative market analysis is used to let a seller know where their house lies in the market. So what a possible list price might be the value of it. And it's a very good indicator from recent solds, pendings, active homes within a particular locale. And it's quite informative because then it can help the agent and the seller establish the best list price once it's actually on the market.
[00:16:59] Speaker B: You know, interesting. A lot of people will go to the Internet and they'll look at the Z site, the R site, in one of these sites, and they will look at their house and their value and it's got a number in there. And I'm the first one to tell you that those numbers are questionable. In fact, the Z site, the R site, they don't ever go to your house. They don't know if you've done a million Dollars of improvement on the inside. They don't know if your home is in deferred maintenance status and needs carpets and new kitchens and insides. And they don't know any of this stuff. So the point being is their estimates are simply that estimates. What is a better estimate? The one that you get from your trusted, experienced realtor, your CMA, or your comparative market analysis? Another estimate, which is even better is an appraiser that comes out to your property, looks at through it and spends some real thought on it to come up with a market value of your property. But what really determines the value of your property? You may have a comparative market analysis at X level, you might have an appraiser at Y level. And then somebody may come in if the home is marketed correctly and give you X plus Y. You just don't know what is the definition of a of your market price, what who determines it.
[00:18:21] Speaker C: So that would be a ready, willing and able buyer.
[00:18:25] Speaker B: Able.
[00:18:25] Speaker C: Going to tell you. Right? Able, meaning they can afford to buy the home.
[00:18:29] Speaker B: Right. And that they're willing to buy the home at a specific price. So if they come in and let's say the property's been on the market for a while, and they come in and they say, I'm going to give you X for this property and no one else has given you X, and you say, X is totally suitable price for me under these terms and conditions, you go into contract, you close escrow. When you've closed escrow at a specific number that has determined the absolute best market value of your home. And with that in mind, let's take it to what ReMax has given us as a tool. It's called the pyramid of price. If you overprice, as an example, your home and put it on the market, it will not sell because you're over that price. So this, this guide that we have, it looks like this and you think, oh, my gosh, it is not much, but it is a peril of overpricing that we're trying so hard to avoid. You'll notice on this sheet it shows market value. So let's just say that we think by all of our best estimates that the market value is. Let's just for simplicity, say it's a million dollars. If we list the house for a million dollars, you look over to the side there, you're going to get 60% of the percentage of prospective buyers to come and look at the property. Notice if you price it under what the market value is, you'll get 75% at 10% under price. So it's important that when you price your house, don't just think that, you know, it's worth this and therefore I'm going to get that. You know, be very careful about it because. Because if you overprice it, it's going to sit on the market and ultimately you may come up with a lower price than what your first offer may be.
[00:20:28] Speaker C: Unfortunately, that seems to hold true more times than not. Unfortunately. Right. We're going to take a short break. We'll be right back.
[00:20:37] Speaker D: The real estate minute with Re max expert Michael Hatfield. What does an agent do to get a home sold?
[00:20:42] Speaker A: Typically, an agent will prepare a comparative market analysis so he knows the home's value, then creates a marketing plan tailored just for your home. With these plans, he promotes the home globally and locally in social media, publications, open houses, all for the purpose of getting your home front and center with prospective buyers.
[00:21:01] Speaker D: As an agent, how do you get it sold? Michael?
[00:21:04] Speaker A: We do each and every item in the plan. Negotiate vigorously on the client's behalf on inspection, repairs, staging and improve. Importantly, the deal itself. We do everything we can to get.
[00:21:15] Speaker B: The deal done and closed.
[00:21:17] Speaker D: Call 925-322-7775. Now to schedule an appointment or complimentary home analysis for excellence in real estate, call the Michael Hatfield remax team at 925-322-7775 or go to michaelhatfieldhomes.com now back to our show.
[00:21:37] Speaker B: Right. Well, I want to tell you about ReMax re Ma Thousand Offices in the world. They are the biggest brokerage that there is. There's roughly 147,000 agents in multiple. Multiple countries. Like something like 110 countries, I think it is. And they're the ones that actually come up with that particular pyramid of pricing. And, you know, you think, wow, that's very simple. But it's also very, very important.
[00:22:14] Speaker C: It is. We've seen it play out time and time again.
[00:22:18] Speaker B: Yes, yes. So thinking about selling your home or finding your dream property, call the Michael.
[00:22:26] Speaker C: Hatfield remax team at 925-322-7775. We're here to guide you through every step.
[00:22:35] Speaker B: Okay, so now we've talked about the net proceeds. Who helps us provide net proceeds? Because we don't really know how to prorate. I mean, we know how to prorate a loan amount that's due. We don't know how to prorate the taxes. Who does that in a transaction?
[00:22:56] Speaker C: Nance, our escrow officer, which is valued very much.
[00:23:02] Speaker B: Yes. And we use experienced escrow officers, one that I've used for more than 20 years. She is amazing and her team is amazing. She's. She's very, she's just amazing.
[00:23:13] Speaker C: Talented and very professional.
[00:23:15] Speaker B: Absolutely. We, we really care for. You know, when you go into contract, the, the escrow company will assess how much tax is owed. I mean, when I say tax, I'm talking about supplemental property tax or ad valorem tax. What they'll do is they'll say, okay, well, the taxes have been paid through this part of the year and it's going to close escrow on this date. So therefore, you overpaid seller, you'll get some back in credit on your net proceeds estimate proceeds of sale, which is.
[00:23:47] Speaker C: Really nice and it can be really helpful because if you as a seller are going on to a next property, then you can really, you know, plan and know more what you're going to end up with. And it is very resourceful to have that information.
[00:24:00] Speaker B: Yeah. So we can do that as our net proceeds, we can do that as agents, but if we do it, it's not going to be as accurate of an estimate as what the valued escrow officer will do. What else happens with an escrow? There's also a company that kind of piggybacks onto escrow. Here in California, it's called the title company. The title company and the escrow company working hand in hand to end up at the end of the transaction to where there can be a title policy issued guaranteeing what the seller owed stays with the seller and fresh, new, clean slate is provided for the new buyer and that is insured. If there's any errors that are made under certain conditions, then the title policy will come in and pay it off, wouldn't you say?
[00:24:55] Speaker C: Yes. And it can be extremely important to have one. So sometimes buyers, for instance, have said, oh, I don't need that. You really do need it and you really do want it. It protects you. It's valuable.
[00:25:07] Speaker B: Yeah. So during the process of escrow, that is when the title company is doing all the research, they're completing a plot map of the property, showing to a potential buyer what the dimensions are. Loosely, I would not say that they're doing a survey, but they're showing what generally is done by the county as far as where the actual property lines are going to be at that point in time. That information is provided to a potential buyer and seller at the same time. And it's called a preliminary title. Title.
[00:25:47] Speaker C: I was waiting for you to say that. Yes, the preliminary title.
[00:25:50] Speaker B: I don't want to do all the work over Here let you help me out.
[00:25:53] Speaker C: You know, I kind of like watching you.
[00:25:55] Speaker B: So what is on the preliminary title?
[00:25:57] Speaker C: So it tell, it would tell a prospective buyer or the seller if there were perhaps any liens on the property still. And there, you know, that's not abnormal a lien. What else, Michael? It could tell you if there's a tax bill due.
[00:26:12] Speaker B: So what happens if the seller hadn't paid the last half of the tax bill for the year? It'll pop up and show that it's not paid or it's paid.
[00:26:21] Speaker C: Right.
[00:26:21] Speaker B: And that in turn guides your escrow officer to help do a net estimate for what proceeds that you'll be receiving from the sale. As you know from, from the sale and that's, that's an important thing in order to do so. It is, you know we advocate through for our, our clients throughout the entire transaction. Is it time for a 10 second come call us?
[00:26:46] Speaker C: I think it might be thinking about selling your home or finding your dream property. Call the Michael Hatfield ReMax team at 925-322-7775. We're here to guide you through every step and we would love to.
[00:27:00] Speaker B: So to finish up here, we're out of time. What would be your golden words for our audience today there, Mrs. Nancy?
[00:27:07] Speaker C: Well, I would say if you're about to consider selling your house, interview a great experienced professional agent and let them guide you through the process of getting to the point where you can get your home on the market. And we would love it if you would call us and we could talk. Talk with you.
[00:27:29] Speaker B: Absolutely. Love to. And it costs nothing to call us. Take a look at your home value in the current market.
A lot of people don't really think about the current market. The market changes from month to month, sometimes from week to week, depends on so many external factors as well as the actual condition of your home. And it's very important to get that right right at the very beginning. Develop a really helpful timeline that works and works well. It's just so important. So anyway, Nance, thanks for coming in on the show this morning.
[00:28:03] Speaker C: You're welcome. It's always a pleasure.
[00:28:04] Speaker B: Michael, thanks for tuning in to today's episode of Real Estate and More. We hope that you now have a little bit better, clearer understanding of how to successfully list your home. And we know that you're going to select an experienced realtor to help you with this process because there's just too much to do, too much to know to do it right. So remember having a solid plan in place and being prepared for inspections and understanding local market conditions. Local market conditions are all key to achieving your selling goals. So if you're ready to take that next step and list your home, you.
[00:28:44] Speaker C: Can engage our services by calling 925-322-7775.
[00:28:51] Speaker B: That's great. We would love to help you. Thank you for tuning in. We'll be right back with our next special guest. Stay tuned.
[00:28:58] Speaker A: Please remember to go to our new YouTube handle, my real Talk Show. That's My Real Talk
[email protected] and touch that subscribe button. You can also find past aired shows at our handle, myrealtalkshow on YouTube dot com.
