Will We See You at Our Upcoming Home Buying Workshop?

Buying a home can be an intimidating prospect. We understand this, and that’s exactly why we’d like to invite you to our upcoming homebuyer workshop.

Looking to buy a Greenville home? Click here to search all local homes on the MLS.

Looking to sell your Greenville home? Click here to use our home evaluation tool.

During my most recent appearance on “Your Carolina,” I spoke with hosts Jack Roper and Megan Heidlerg about my team’s upcoming homebuyer workshop.

This amazing event will take place in our office (03 Woods Lake Road, Suite 100, Greenville, SC 29607)  at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 30. We at Hamilton & Co. know that many of you may be interested in buying a new home, but aren’t sure where to begin. That’s exactly why we’re hosting this workshop.

At this event, future homebuyers will have the chance to learn about the real estate process from local professionals (including agents, an attorney, and a lender) in a low-pressure, stress-free environment.

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This homebuyer event will teach you everything you need to know about taking advantage of our current market.

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Armed with the knowledge we’ll be offering at this event, local buyers are sure to find incredible success in our current market. Not only is spring an incredible time to begin a home search, but interest rates have recently dropped, as well, making right now an amazing time to move.

This homebuyer event will teach you everything you need to know about taking advantage of our current market. Best of all, we’re offering breakfast to all those who attend.

Space is limited at this incredible, free event, so register now. You can save your spot by clicking here.

As always, if you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

What Do Buyers Regret About Their Home Purchases?

Half of all homebuyers regret something about their purchase. Here’s why.

Looking to buy a Greenville home? Click here to search all local homes on the MLS.

Looking to sell your Greenville home? Click here to use our home evaluation tool.

On my latest appearance on “Your Carolina With Jack and Megan,” I talked about a recent study that showed half of all homebuyers had regrets about the property they purchased. Two-thirds of those regrets had to do with the size of the property being too small. It was easily the biggest regret of the surveyed buyers.

To avoid having this kind of regret when it comes time for you to buy a home, we recommend planning ahead. A pre-qualification is an important step because it lets you know exactly what you can afford. The location you are looking at could play a role too. You will be able to get a bigger home if you aren’t looking in a prime location.Some areas simply have better prices than others. It’s a tough balancing act, but all buyers should have a game plan.

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The biggest regret of renters was not buying!

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This survey also surveyed renters. Can you guess what their biggest regret was? It was not buying a home! A lot of renters are mistakenly under the impression that they can’t qualify for a mortgage. The truth is that most of them can.

If you’re going to buy a house at any point in the near future, you want to plan to be in the home for at least five years to make the investment worth it. If you won’t be there for long enough, it might make sense to rent for a short time. However, with interest rates rising in the near future, now represents a great opportunity to affordably purchase a home.

If you or anyone you know is thinking about buying a home in or around Greenville, give us a call or send us an email. We would love to hear from you.

How to Craft a Strong Offer When Purchasing a Home

If you’re looking to buy a home in our market, you’ll need to get creative with your approach. I’ll go over how to do that today.

Looking to buy a Greenville home? Click here to search all local homes on the MLS.

Looking to sell your Greenville home? Click here to use our home evaluation tool.

We are in a white-hot seller’s market right now, which is great news for anyone selling their house. Multiple offers mean a higher sale price and a very successful time on the market. However, buyers are having a tough time snagging their dream homes. If you’re a buyer, how can you finally get your offer accepted and move into a new home?

First and foremost, don’t get emotionally attached to a home. Also, make sure you are pre-approved, not just pre-qualified for a loan. Cash offers are always best, but if you need financing, get pre-approved before you submit an offer.

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Your first offer needs to be your best offer.

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Don’t load up your offer with contingencies either. If you need to sell your house before you purchase a new one, sell it before submitting an offer on a new home. You’ll also want to tailor your offer to the seller’s needs. Find out what closing date works best for them or if they need any flexibility to really make your offer stand out.

If you have a good agent, have them add an escalation clause to your offer. That means you would offer, for example, $500 more than any other offer up to a certain point.

Finally, make sure your best offer is submitted first. Don’t play games!

If you have any other questions about buying a home in our seller’s market or if you have any other questions, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I’m always happy to help.

The Importance of Conformity When It Comes to Resale Value

For the next part of my appearance on “Your Carolina With Jack and Megan,” I’m explaining the importance of conformity when it comes to investing in a home.

Looking to buy a Greenville home? Click here to search all local homes on the MLS.

Looking to sell your Greenville home? Click here to use our home evaluation tool.

Today I’m happy to show you the second part of my guest appearance on “Your Carolina With Jack and Megan.”

This time we answered a different question from one of their viewers: Is it bad to invest in a home with a steep driveway or power lines?

The key to answering this question is a word called conformity. It’s not bad as long as the home conforms to the area—whether that’s the city or the neighborhood—and is typical of all the other homes. If the house is located up in the cliffs where all homes have steep driveways, for example, you shouldn’t have a problem. If you’re in a flat area and your house is the only one with a steep driveway, however, that could be an issue.

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Think like a buyer and make sure your home is typical of all the other homes.

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You need to look at it from a buyer’s perspective. All things being equal, if there’s something about your home that could be perceived as bad, you want to be careful about that. You want to think about practical things as well as resale value, like the impact snow would have on a steep driveway or where the driveway connects to the house.

If you have any questions for us or are thinking about buying or selling a home, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you.

Use Existing Equity to Buy a New Home

In my last video, I asked you all to submit your questions about real estate to me, and I’ve gotten a lot of terrific responses.

Today I’d like to answer a question from Amanda in Greenville, who asks, “What is the best way for someone that owns a house to buy a new home if they want to use their existing home’s equity as the down payment (as opposed to cash)?” In other words, how do you avoid living on the street while your new house sells? Is there a way to find your dream home and then sell your existing home?

In answer to your question, the first thing we need to determine is how much equity you have in your home, and secondly we need to determine your risk tolerance—are you willing to be in the position of owning two homes if need be?

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A short-term rental may be a worthwhile solution in the meantime.

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The first way to tackle this would be to first go down to your local bank and take out a home equity line of credit, which is used very much like a checking account. Remember, though, you are borrowing so you’ll have to pay interest on this line of credit. Then, use that credit line as a down payment on your next home, put your existing home on the market, and use that timeframe to market your home and move into your new one.

In this market, depending on the price point, there’s a good chance that you will sell your existing home quickly. We’re in a low-inventory market, so if you’ve found that dream home, you’ll want to make a non-contingent offer and use that home equity to put a down payment on it. Just be sure that you qualify for both the existing loan and the loan for the new home.

In order to ensure that this goes smoothly, you’ll want to bring in a great mortgage person to help you through the process.

The other, less risky way to approach this situation is to get your home on the market, sell it, get it under contract, and then begin looking for your new dream home. Again, in the environment we’re in now, it’s possible that you may not find that perfect home in this short time frame, so you may want to have a backup plan to rent a home for a while until you find the one you’d like to buy. Moving twice may not be the most fun thing to do, but a short-term rental may be a worthwhile solution to keep you from jumping the gun on a home purchase.

Thanks for this great question, Amanda! For participating in this process, we’ll be sending you a $25 gift card. In the meantime, if you have any other questions related to the buying and selling process, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I’d be happy to help you.

Pitfalls to Avoid When Buying New Construction in Greenville

Looking to buy? Click here to perform a full home search
 Thinking of selling? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation 
Call us at (864) 527-7685 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation

Today we are going to talk a little about newly built homes, and what you need to know if you’re thinking about buying one of these homes. New construction is very popular, and for good reason. You can get the exact home you want, while not having to deal with typical problems that concern home buyers. However, there are some things you need to know before signing that contract. 

When you walk into a new home, understand that the person in the model home works for that builder, and their job is to get the most money possible out of you for the home. That’s why you need to have an agent on your side as well. You want to make sure you’re protected, especially in case something happens.

We have several buyer’s agents that specialize in new construction and know all the ins and outs of the process. Even though the county does inspections, we will make sure the home is built to the specifications that it needs to be. 

If you have any questions for us, or know someone who is buying a new home and needs an advocate on their side, give us a call or send us an email. We would  be glad to help out!

Should You Wait for Winter to Buy a Home?

Looking to buy? Click here to perform a full home search
 Thinking of selling? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation 
Call us at (864) 527-7685 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation

Today, I'd like to address one of the questions from our clients. A lot of people have been asking, "Should I wait until winter to buy a home?" Many people think buying in the winter will save them money, but my answer may surprise you.

Of course, real estate is supply and demand. When supply is higher and demand is lower, then prices will come down. When supply is lower and demand is higher, prices will rise. Right now, we're seeing low supply and high demand.

With our current market, I don't believe that home prices are going to come down during the fall. I don't see any point in waiting until winter in order to save more money. Prices may stabilize in the fall, but it doesn't look like they are going to drop. In fact, if you wait, you may do yourself a disservice, especially if interest rates rise. Higher rates means less buying power.

If you have any questions, give me a call or send me an email. We look forward to hearing from you!

How We Helped Rose Find Her Income Property

"We found the house we wanted. We actually bought two houses with Hamilton and Company. The first one was a residential home, and the second an income property. We found the income property at the last minute and Nathan managed to show it to us within a few hours. He made sure that we saw what we wanted to see!"

-Rose Danning, Home Buyer

Why Won't Low-ball Offers Work in Greenville?

Looking to buy? Click here to perform a full home search
 Thinking of selling? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation 
Call us at (864) 527-7685 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation

Hey everyone, we are coming to you today from a very hot market here in Greenville. We are almost to the summer selling season, but this has already been one of the hottest markets I've seen in my 13 years in the business. I've seen the market go up and go down, but this is pretty hot. There are still buyers out there, however, who want to make low-ball offers. Today I want to give you some tips on why that might not be such a good idea. 

First off, you are risking your opportunity to get the home you want. When a good home comes on the market in Greenville, there are usually multiple showings within the first 24 hours, and a lot of times we're seeing multiple offers as well. If there are multiple offers on a home, they aren't even going to consider a low-ball offer for one second. 

Here in Greenville, homes are selling for an average of 96% of their list price. This means that any offer under 5% of list price probably won't get accepted. The average days on market is dipping as well, and is down around 80 days right now. 

There's a really good chance your offer will not even be considered if you make a low-ball offer. This could sabotage your opportunity to get a home and lock in a low interest rate. A few thousand dollars over the 30-year period you're paying for the loan doesn't amount for that much. Putting together a strong offer is not always about price. A lot of times it has more to do with the right terms and conditions.

If you have any questions for us, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to speaking with you soon!

What 3 Traits Do Successful People Share?

Looking to buy? Click here to perform a full home search
 Thinking of selling? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation 
Call us at (864) 527-7685 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation

For those of you like myself that are fans of the ABC show "Shark Tank," you are going to love today's topic. I recently had the opportunity to spend some time with Kevin O'Leary, aka Mr. Wonderful. He gave a talk to some Realtors like myself and talked about the three common traits he found among people who were successful on the show. I would like to share those with you today because they have an interesting connection to real estate. Here are the 3 traits of Shark Tank successes:

1. They are able to articulate the value of their proposition in 90 seconds or less. 
2. They were able to convince others and investors that they were the right team to carry out the plan.
3. They know their numbers backwards and forwards, and also have a tight grasp on their business model.

These 3 keys have an interesting correlation to real estate. When you are thinking about putting your home on the market, it's a good idea for you to interview a few different Realtors. You want them to be able to state their value proposition right away and you want to know their numbers. We tell you all the answers to these questions up front, and we think that is what separates us as the best. We can actually show you, with physical proof, how we can sell your home faster and for more money. 

If you have any questions for us, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you!

Why You May Not Want to Hire Your Neighborhood Expert

Looking to buy or sell a home in Greenville, South Carolina? Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home,click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call us at (864) 527-7685 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.
It may be a little counter-intuitive to decide on who you want to hire to sell your home in this market. It's tempting to hire a family member, friend, or neighbor who is in real estate for many reasons. However, in our experience, that's not the best idea. 

You need maximum exposure for your listing and while it may be fun to work with a friend or neighbor, when it comes to getting your home sold, you want someone who is going to expose your property to the broadest audience possible. That's where we at Hamilton & Co. come in. 

We are able to accomplish all of this through our marketing channels on TV, radio, and the internet. Right now, we have over 16,000 unique visitors looking for properties on our site. We can instantly put your listing in front of all of them and expose it to our large pool of active buyers. 

It may not always be in your best interest to hire the local neighborhood expert.You want to hire someone who is going to give you broad, global exposure for your property and that's why you need to hire Hamilton & Co. real estate services. If you have any questions for us, don't hesitate to ask!

Introducing: My Greenville Home App Keeps Homeowners Informed and Connected

Looking to buy or sell a home in Greenville, South Carolina? Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call us at (864) 527-7685 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.
We at Hamilton & Co. are always working to offer the most cutting-edge technology to make the real estate experience as smooth and stress-free as possible. Today, we're proud to introduce our latest innovation: the My Greenville Home app!

When you open the app, you'll see a home page with the our contact information and an option to refer us with just one click. You will find an option to get updates, which we highly recommend. Simply put in your ZIP code and we'll keep you updated on what's going on in the real estate market in your area. 
In addition to having access to updated and accurate market information in the palm of your hand, you'll have access to Dan's List of vendors we've handpicked for you! 
These are people and businesses who we've personally worked with and trust to take great care of our clients and friends. Whether you've just bought a new home or have been living in your current home for years, this list will help you get a hold of any vendor you might need - from maintenance services to attorneys. The best part is these vendors have been screened and are now available at the push of a button!
If you want your business included on Dan's List, don't hesitate to give us call or shoot us an email. We would love to have a talk with you. 
The app is currently available in the iTunes store and will soon be available for Android as well. What are you waiting for? Check out this great app and let us know what you think!

Working With Our Preferred Vendors Guarantees a Smoother Real Estate Transaction

Looking to buy or sell a home in Greenville, South Carolina? Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call us at (864) 527-7685 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.
Meet Our Preferred Vendors for Greenville and Upstate South Carolina 

We wanted to take a moment to introduce you to our recommended vendors and specialists. On average, it can take up to 60 different specialists to close a home sale transaction (agents, brokers, appraisers, contractors, landscapers, etc). 

We've simplified this process for you by offering a direct referral to professionals in the different industries we work with. For example, if you need a mortgage, we can refer you to lenders that we know personally and have given great service to our clients in the past. 

We have a list of vendors we feel comfortable recommending to you based on our experience. However, if you're looking for a vendor in an industry you don't see on the list, just ask and we can be sure to find the appropriate professional for you.

You can take a look at our preferred vendor list here. 

As always, if you're looking to buy or sell a home in Greenville or Upstate South Carolina, don't hesitate to contact us via phone or email. We'd love to help!

Are You Getting the Most Accurate and Updated Information From Zillow and Trulia?

Looking to buy or sell a home in Greenville, South Carolina? Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call us at (864) 527-7685 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.   Should You Trust Zillow and Trulia?

A lot of my real estate clients in Greenville use online real estate websites like Zillow and Trulia, and while these websites are great places to begin your home search, they are not the answer.

As you will see, they are often wildly inaccurate with home values, and their listings are not updated very often. These websites do not have access to the multiple listing service, so they use algorithms that can be as close as 10% and off by as much as 50%.

We often find that a client wants to view a home that they found on Zillow, and unfortunately, we have to tell them that it is no longer available for purchase.

If you really want to know what your property is worth, the best thing that you can do is to get an appraisal. As agents we can give you a close estimate, but you should really refer to a professional appraiser.

Also, if you want an updated list of homes, please be sure to talk to your local real estate agent. They have access to the MLS and can give you accurate and updated information on which properties are available for purchase.

There is nothing wrong with using Zillow or Trulia, but you should not rely on those websites for accurate information. It's a good starting point, but if you're serious about buying in Greenville or Upstate South Carolina, then come and talk to us.
 
You can contact us via phone or email and we would be more than happy to help you find your dream home.