Barb Schlinker | Your Real Estate Voice

Why the Fall and Holiday Season is a Great Time to Sell Your Home and Hot New Listings Everyone is saying the market is really strong for home sellers.  Many people think its a bad time of the year to sell a home during the Fall and Christmas Season.  Is that True? First of all it’s the best case scenario for a home seller to be in a position to select from the best of multiple offers It does not...

Selling a home is a project and sometimes it’s a challenge, and sometimes it’s easy. What are some things that make selling your home like hitting the Easy button? The number 1 way to make it the Easy Button is to Hire the Right Team to sell your home Over 5000 agents, less than 1800 sales every month, this creates a lot of agent desperation because not everyone is getting a monthly income. In fac...

We know that people do not live in their home the same way they have their homes on the market.  What are some easy projects home sellers can do if they are planning to sell their homes to get Buyers to Fall in Love with Their Home Buyers spend most of their time viewing the outside and backyard when viewing homes online. Curb appeal is massively important to home buyers Getting this right does no...

Home Inspection Pitfalls When Selling a Home Most buyers will do a home inspection after they buy a home. What are some of the pitfalls a home seller could run into when selling their home? Top Five Home Inspection Pitfalls 33 Physical Problems that come under scrutiny, with the inventory low, most buyers are stating they will not ask for cosmetic issues and focus on major systems, health and safe...

Everyone is saying the market is really strong for home sellers.  So what are some quick tips for home sellers to get their homes ready for sale? #1 = The most common issue we have with helping homes sellers present their homes to market is: ●CLUTTER ●Take Pictures of your home then LOOK at them, it’s pretty shocking, it was for ours ●Go Visit a Model Home and Notice what is NOT there… ○They alway...

●It’s a funny thing but there is no training for showing homes.   ●I was pretty surprised when I received training on this topic in the middle of my career. ● #1 A great agent should manage expectations from the start. ● #2 Thing buyers should consider is what is important to THEM in a home. ●Part of what my team is trained to do is to find out what the buyers are looking for then go find it for t...

What are the factors that sellers consider when deciding who is the best offer to select? First of all it’s the best case scenario for a home seller to be in a position to select from the best of multiple offers It does not happen in every case But in most cases for home priced below $400K and sometimes below $600K I even had a bidding war on a $1,200,000 home If you are buying a home, that presen...

●For many people owning a piece of real estate is one of their largest assets. ●It can be scary for people who think they could be buying at the top of the market. ●We have had a boom town for real estate since 2012. ●But you have to consider the market demographics to make the best decision We have a growing population In most cases people who have purchased a home within the last year or two and...

The latest news is that the real estate market in the Colorado Springs area is really hot.  That’s great if you are a home seller but if you are buying a home in the lower price ranges it can be really competitive. How can a first time home buyer compete to get a home in this hot market? 1.Buyers Need to be Prepared 2. Here is what I am seeing in the market today:  a. Buyers are having to bid way...

Home sellers are planning to put their homes on the market and most home sellers want to sell their home at the HIGHEST PRICE.  How do they accomplish selling at the highest price? Top Three Seller Mistakes ●Setting Your Asking Price appropriately is the most important thing you can do when selling your home. ●IT IS THE FIRST IMPRESSION OF A HOME… #1 Mistake is OVER PRICING ●National Statistics in...

Everyone is saying the market is really strong for home sellers.  So why do the details of selling need to be carefully managed? Market indicators are very strong. Available Inventory down by 51% from 1 Year Ago Total Number of Homes that Went Under Contract UP by 22% Average Days on Market = 19 Days If you are buying a home, that presents the issues of:   Low inventory Competition If Buyers agent...

Who Hires the Barb Schlinker Team to Sell and Buy a House Many of our listeners know, you and your team are the only people I would recommend if they have a real estate need, but I think people often want to know who hires your team to buy and sell homes? We want to help as many families as well can because we are on a mission to raise money for Veterans’ causes like: Fisher House USO Tunnel for T...

For 5 years now, you have been the only agent I would recommend when people have a real estate needs to sell or buy a home. Can you go into detail about the reasons people should call you? WE HAVE BUYERS IN WAITING. We have 23,388 buyers in our database looking for a home in the area. It is likely that the buyer for your home is already in my database – Your home may already be sold! YOUR HOME IS...

Home sellers planning to put their homes on the market often ask how to prepare.  What are some things a home seller should consider when getting their house ready to sell? Top 7 Tips ●There are 27 things you can do to sell your home fast and for top dollar but today we will talk about the top 7 #1 - Curb appeal and exterior. The largest time period a buyer views a home online is on the exterior....

Barb, everyone is saying the market is really strong for home sellers.  So why do the details of selling need to be carefully managed. ❖ Market indicates are very strong. ➢Available Inventory down by 51% from 1 Year Ago ➢Total Number of Homes that Went Under Contract UP by 22% ➢Average Days on Market = 19 Days ❖ However that does not mean sellers can let their guard down about the process. ➢Any li...

Barb, when people have a house to sell before they buy their next home, how can they make that work? 1.   If they need their net proceeds out of their home to buy their next home there are a few options to consider: o   Some people fear the risk of two payments and will not make a move without selling their home first. o   That’s ok, it just creates a little bit more, carefully times work on our p...

Barb it would seem like common sense to me to have great pictures presented about your home for sale but from what I can see online that is not always the case.  How Important are great photos and imagery of homes when you sell? ● Its hugely important ■Buyers ELIMINATE homes based on the online pics ■You may never know how many people are taking your home OFF the ‘must see’ list based on poorly pr...

Barb, home sellers planning to put their homes on the market often ask how to prepare.  What are some things a home seller should consider when choosing an agent to sell their home? 1 . Not all real estate agents are the same ➢Years of experience helps but it may not indicate if they are actively selling in this market ➢Ex you may get an agent who has been licensed for years but only sells a few h...

When a home seller gets an offer on their home, how do they decide whether or not to wait for another offer or take the first one that comes along? Home inventory is down by 51% from a year ago and sales are up 22%! ●If you have priced the home appropriately, it is just as important to hire the right agent that understands how to get you top dollar. ●Just last week, I scheduled 3 showings for my b...

We’ve talked before about the behavior of real estate agents representing buyers and how they can be difficult when selling a home.  How do you keep other real estate agents from making the home sale miserable? 1.  Let’s talk about how a typical real estate sale works: ●Seller lists with their Agent ●Seller pays commission ●Part of commission goes to the buyer’s agent… ○Effectively Opposing Counse...

Sometimes people have to sell a Rental home, what are some of the things they should be prepared for? 1.First, with the recent Covid Pandemic, there were some Federal and State tenants rights in place that protected tenants from eviction for 30 days after failing to pay - in that the landlord had to give 30 day notice to quit or pay rent where as the state law is typically 10 days. ●Those moratori...

Of the many emotional and financial challenges with a divorce, dealing with the real estate part of it can be daunting. What are the things homeowners need to know about the house, the mortgage and taxes when facing a Divorce?   #1 – Get some non-emotional trusted advisors around you ●If a lawyer is involved sometimes the divorce decree dictates what happens to the real estate. ●In most cases its...

Barb, the August real estate market numbers are out and this market is RED Hot, Tell about the trends you are seeing… o   Two Strong Indicators for August: o   Available Inventory down by 51% from 1 Year Ago ● Typically we are seeing over 2000 available homes on the    market at this time ● Currently only 1079 Single Family Homes available in El Paso Teller & Elbert Counties Total Number of Ho...

Barb one of the biggest challenges for home sellers is the classic Real Estate Catch 22 – Having a House to Sell Before They Buy Their Next Home, what are some things a home seller can do to make it easier on themselves? 1.   The Real Estate Dilemma is TWO FOLD: Need their net proceeds from the sale to buy and Fear that if we sell their home too fast they will be rendered in a temporary housing si...

Home sellers planning to put their homes on the market often ask how to prepare.  What are some of the 27 Fast and Easy Fix Ups to Get the Best Price for Your Colorado Springs Area Home? ➢ There are some simple things you can do to get ready. ●Start with Curb Appeal – Buyers DO Judge a Home By it Outside appeal! ●Mulch beds, mail box, grass or rock, paint front door ➢  If you are living in the hom...