Closing Day!

Closing Day for Ray & Leah! 

Stacie has been our realtor for the past three years, patiently showing us dozens of homes since we moved to the Durham area.  We finally found a home we love, and thank Stacie for her support through the whole process.  She was always quick to return our calls, lend advice when asked, and helped us navigate the home buying process in a friendly and professional way.  She will also go beyond the call of duty to find a solution when surprises may come up during the process.  Buying a home can be stressful but having an experienced and professional realtor like Stacie makes it a lot easier!  

- Leah and Ray Williams

My First Time Home Purchasing Experience by Jessica Faison Part 2

Part 2: I’ve reduced my debt, now what?

Well I’m finally back to share part 2 of the journey of first time home ownership with you.  I know you are really excited to see me back on Stacie’s blog.  I would be too if I were you.  I know I’m pretty entertaining and that I was missed by all.  It’s OK.  You don’t have to tell me.

So where did we leave off?  Oh yeah, I shared with you step one of this process…taking a hard look at your finances, reducing debt, budget planning, and then waiting until it’s the right time.  Well fast forward a couple of years and here you are.  You’ve stuck to your budget religiously.  You’ve reduced your debt, maybe even paid off a couple of credit cards completely along the way, and have increased your credit score 15 to 20 points, maybe even more.  You’ve got a huge feeling of accomplishment and wish someone could pat you on the back to give you that “good job” validation you think you need.  If you are like me it will be at this time you scratch your head in wonderment.  I thought to myself, well now what?  I didn’t know where to turn or what to do.

So let me tell you what you do now.  Ready?

It’s at this point that you just have to get out there and find your dream home.  It’s a grueling journey for some but its well worth the time.  What worked for me was starting my journey by spending countless hours looking at listings on line comparing houses in our desired area to our needs and our visions of what we wanted for our immediate future.  I also spent my weekends watching HGTV.  I think I’ve seen every episode of Property Virgins, and My First Home that was ever produced.

This process was kind of tedious but it taught me a lot.  Yes, reality TV can teach you something.  It taught me what questions to ask, what to look for in a new home, understanding what I wanted, and how the negotiation process works.   I also learned a lot about online listings and how key words in a listing can tell you a great deal.  “Quaint or Cozy” means small!  “Homey or Comfortable” means outdated!  Move in ready really usually does mean move in ready.  I was able to quickly weed out which houses I wanted to go look at just by the keywords and photos in the listings on line.

I also advise you at this point that the good houses go quick and you will need to stay on top of new listings and updates to existing listings or you will truly miss out on something great.  This is the part of the journey where you need to be on your game if you are serious about buying a house.  There are many online listing websites that you can subscribe to that will send you email notifications of new listings that match your search criteria.  This is probably one of the best things I did during my home search process.  Had I have met my awesome realtor before this I could have had her do all the work for me.  Your realtor can send you daily or weekly updates on new or updated listings that meet your search criteria as well by the way.

Whether you do this on your own or with the assistance of your realtor, at the end of the day you get the same result; a specific home, or quite a few specific homes that you want to move on to the next step with.  The face-to-face step.  The most exciting step and the make it or break it step.  But I shall warn you, have no expectations going in or you could be let down.

Stay tuned for part 3: Home Shopping Realities

Happy First Time Buyer!

Please meet Lisa, she was referred to us by a past client. We recently had the pleasure of helping her purchase her First Home! 


Who do you know that needs help Buying or Selling? We LOVE Referrals!

Another Happy Seller!

Tom is taking his sign rider for a memory. 

So you need a realtor. I have some thoughts on how to find one, and
better yet, I have two Realtors, Stacie Dye and Kay Stephenson of Go
Realty, that I recommend highly. (Stacie and Kay work as a team; I
worked most closely with Stacie, so much of what I say is about her
specifically, but all the dealings I had with Kay echo those I had
with Stacie.)

Interview at least two candidates so you have some basis on which to
compare. Prepare for the interviews and ask your key questions, and
pay close attention to both the answers and the way in which your
questions are addressed. This person is going to assist you through a
stressful period. Is (s)he going to add to or alleviate your stress?
Are your questions being heard, and are they being answered? Don't
forget who's working for whom. Your realtor will have suggestions and
recommendations, but ultimately it's your house, your sale/purchase.
Beware the realtor who talks and does not listen.

The two Realtors I chose work as a team. They are Stacie Dye and Kay
Stephenson. Stacie was recommended by a colleague at work, who engaged
her services as a buying agent. I engaged Stacie and Kay as selling
agents, and was very impressed with both of them from start through
finish. A bit of background; I bought and sold two houses in New
Mexico, totaling three transactions, in 1979, 1989, and 1999. One of
my biggest regrets in leaving NM was the loss of my realtor, who I
thought was a once in a lifetime find. Probably the first thing I said
to Stacie and Kay was that they had an impossible act to follow, and
specifically that my last house sold on the day it was listed. I
challenged them to top that. They promised that they would do their
best.

The interview was thorough and illuminating. A lot has changed since
1999, notably including the ways in which housing is marketed (notably
due to the Internet), and the expectations of buyers with regard to
the staging of a house, regardless of whether it's a buyer's or
seller's market. At the initial interview Stacie and Kay outlined
generally the state of the market at that time and place, and provided
a cogent assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of my house. They
then worked up a detailed and specific analysis with a suggested
selling price, and then patiently addressed my questions and concerns,
as well as making specific suggestions on what else needed to be done
prior to putting the house on the market. Of course they provided
clear context in terms of comparables on the market.

I believe every sale involves compromises. I had prepared the house as
best I could in the time available but chose ultimately to enter the
market at a point in time rather than holding back until I was able to
complete improvements. Stacie and Kay were entirely accommodating in
that decision, while another candidate I interviewed was not.
Interestingly, the asking price that Stacie and Kay suggested was
about 6% higher than that recommended by the other candidate, without
"demanding" I complete additional improvements to prepare for going on
the market. Conclusion: Stacie and Kay did not low ball the price in
order to achieve a quick sale, nor require endless improvements in
order to further ease their job of achieving a quick sale. Instead
they took the house as it was, and worked to make the most of it.

And work they did. They do their own staging, and spent eight full
hours between the two of them getting the house into unbelievable
shape. I came home from work, expecting them to be gone, but both were
there for an additional hour and a half. They also made cogent
recommendations on improvements I might consider, and for those I
opted to do, they had competent professionals available to do the work
in a very timely fashion. They also have as part of their service a
professional photographer who truly impressed me with his work. He
arrived on time, left on time, and produced an amazing ensemble of
photos that formed the backbone of the individualized website for the
house sale.

Stacie emailed me at 2:30 on a Saturday afternoon to say "we're live."
I had just enough time to look at the website and send the link to
friends and family before I got a call from Centralized Showing
Services asking me if I would allow a showing at 4 that afternoon. I
did; the showing resulted in an offer; Stacie called me with the
details that evening; we ended up having four conversations before
coming to a verbal agreement to sell; and somehow they managed to top
my same day sale of 1999. Even with the house being flagged as under
contract the marketing campaign evidently was effective, as I observed
individuals driving by the house until the day I moved, and the weekly
statistics that Stacie sent on web traffic showed ongoing interest.

The negotiations for the sale were stressful, as was the "due
diligence" period when the house was inspected and issues were
discovered. Whenever I had concerns, whenever I was stressed out and
needed assurances that all was well, Stacie unflaggingly took/returned
my calls, answered my emails, and represented my interests with the
utmost integrity, listening to my concerns, commenting on my analysis,
offering advice, and ultimately going along with my direction on how
to proceed in the negotiations. In the end the sale closed
successfully. My only regret is that neither Stacie nor Kay is willing
to relocate to Canada, so I'm once again in a position of having to
find a realtor if ever I need those services.



Tom Field