Chester County Real Estate Video Blog with Matt Fetick

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Exactly How Important Is Your Credit Score?

There is a wide selection of top-quality homes to choose from throughout Chester County and Northern Delaware. If you're interested in looking at all the current homes that are listed, GO HERE to perform a Full Home Search, or if you're considering putting your home on the market, CLICK HERE to obtain a Free Home Value Report. For any other questions you have regarding Chester County Real Estate or the value of your home, please feel free to call me at (610) 427-4420.

Unfortunately, your credit score now plays a major role in your real estate transaction. Your score can even affect your insurance premiums for homeowner's insurance.

I don't want to scare you off, but I also don't want you to think that your credit score needs to be sparkling in order to qualify for a loan. You don't have to be in the high 700's, in fact, you can qualify if you have a score in the mid-600's.

You need to keep in mind that as your credit score drops, your interest rate will go up, as well as other fees you may have to pay. This is why your credit score impacts the cost of your mortgage.

The good news is that it's not too difficult to repair your credit. I can refer you to people who can help you repair your credit and boost your affordability.

Please don't hesitate to contact me!

Monday, October 19, 2015

How Do We Know it’s a Good Time to Buy?

I am often asked by clients if it’s a good time to buy a home. The thing is, there are two important facts about home selling that you need to understand first:

1. You can’t time the market

2. There is never a bad time to buy the right home at the right price

When you try to time the market, it never works. We don’t know we’ve hit the bottom of the market in terms of pricing until prices start to go up, then we’ve missed it. The same goes for the peak of the market. We don’t know prices are going to come down, we can only react to it when they do. Timing the market is not the way you want to go about buying a home.

What we really want to do is guide you into that sweet spot. The spot where, if you need to sell in the future, your home will appreciate and have that equity. In the early 2000’s, we saw home prices go up at a rate that was simply not sustainable, and the market eventually crashed. If you look at historical home values, a good, healthy rate of appreciation is right around 2-4%.

Is it a good time to buy a home right now? Absolutely, as long as you don’t overpay. How do you avoid overpaying? You’ve got to work with a great agent. Our buyer team is great at helping you analyze the decision from a financial standpoint. We want you to fall in love with your home, but we also want to take some of that emotion out of the buying process so you can make a good financial decision with one of the biggest investments you will make in your life.

Our goal is to help you get the right home at the right price. If you only get one of those things, you aren’t going to be satisfied. If you’d like to work through the process to so you can buy the right home at the right price, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you!

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

What Are 5 Different Ways to Style A Room?

Today I wanted to take a break from talking about the real estate market and the latest numbers to give you some valuable home design advice. Whether you are trying to stage your home for sale, or just want a different feel than the same old room you’ve always had, we’ve got you covered.

In the video above, from HGTV’s YouTube channel, Brian Patrick Flynn, a very talented interior designer, goes through five different ways to style a room. The furniture never changes, just the accessories around them, and that’s the beauty of interior design. Today we will go through the 5 different ways Brian styles this room, and detail how each of them offers a different feel from the next.

1. Traditional
For a traditional look, add fresh flowers and soft coral accents. Accessorize the room with understated accents, like a stone bust, and keep the color palette soft.

2. Masculine
To create a more masculine look, utilize bold prints, and different shades of blue. Use only a few large accessories to make a bold statement.

3. Feminine
Adding bright pink, cozy, soft fabrics and curvy accents is the best way to add that feminine touch to your room.

4. Neutral
For a neutral look, adding colors like ivory, beige, and taupe and accessorizing them with patterns in varying sizes and textures will keep this neutral look interesting.

5. Coastal
Creating a coastal look in your room requires using organic accessories, as well as hints of blue. Instead of the wicker furniture that beach homes are known for, substitute with a wicker lamp to keep the feel of a beach house within the comfort of your living room.

There you have it, five great, unique ways to style any room in your home. If you have any questions for us, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. We would love to hear from you!

Thursday, April 16, 2015

How Are You Preventing Your Home From Selling?

Chester County Real Estate Agent Matt Fetick talks about the importance of pricing your home correctly within the right range in order to sell your home at the desired price in the quickest amount of time.

When people put their home for sale on the market, their goal is to get the most money possible in the shortest amount of time. However, this often doesn't happen. There are many different reasons homes don't sell, but most often it has to do with the price of the home.

Most sellers make the mistake of thinking they need a lot of room to negotiate with the buyer, but in reality they don't. If a home buyer comes to your home and the list price doesn't match up with what other similar homes are at, they will walk away and either forget about the home or check for price reductions. During that time, your home is just sitting there, stagnant on the market, while other homes get bought up at market value.

You don't want this to happen, so when you are going to put your home on the market, listing it somewhere within 3-4% of your expected final sale price usually leaves a lot of room for negotiation. Under-pricing your home may not be a bad strategy either, although it's risky. Often buyers will bid each other up and the market will correct the under-pricing.

Aside from pricing, the other thing that really impacts your home's value is its condition. This is the one thing you can really make a difference with. Over time, your home has become your personal living space, unique to your family. Future home buyers want to see themselves living in your home, and you do too. If they can't do that because your home isn't properly staged, your home will likely linger on the market much longer than it needs to.

If you have any other questions about things that will delay the sale of your home, please give us a call or send us an email. We would love to discuss with you how to position your property for the most money in the shortest amount of time.

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

How Do You Get the Best First Impression?

Chester County Real Estate Agent Matt Fetick stresses the importance of professional staging in making a positive first impression with potential home buyers, emphasizing how his real estate team excels at professionally staging homes in order to leave the best possible impression for buyers who are viewing the property for the first time.

Today I want to talk to you about first impressions. You only get one chance at a first impression, that goes for homes as well. We want to talk to you about what we do to make sure our seller's homes have the best possible first impression with buyers.

Whenever we put a home on the market, we rely heavily on a professional, certified home stager to help present your home in its best light. For potential home buyers to want to pull the trigger on a purchase, they need to be able to see their family living and thriving in the home. Staging is all about helping the buyer picture themselves, and their family, living in your home. When you create this feeling, you end up getting the best offers.

When you list with us, we will send one of our stagers out to your home to let you know what you can improve in your home to have the best possible return. The best thing we can do is provide you with these resources so you don't have to do any guess work on your home sale.

85% of home buyers say the first time they saw the home they purchased was online. The online showing is the 1st showing in today's world and for your home to succeed in this showing, 3 things need to happen:

1. Staging has to be done well.
2. Outside curb appeal must also be done well.
3. You HAVE to use a professional photographer.

If you are thinking about putting your home on the market, please give us a call first. We would love to offer you a free consultation with one of our professional stagers to let you know what you need to do to get your home ready to sell for the most money possible. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

Thursday, February 26, 2015

What Are Mortgage Rates Doing This Year in Chester County?

Chester County Real Estate Agent Matt Fetick is joined by his preferred lender Mark Succarotte of New Penn Financial to discuss interest rates in 2015 and whether or not they'll remain low.

Hey everyone, welcome back, and welcome to 2015. Today we are happy to be joined by our preferred lender, Mark Succarotte with New Penn Financial. He is going to talk today about the state of the mortgage industry, and how trends we are seeing right now are going to affect mortgages going forward in 2015.

No one ever knows for sure what interest rates are going to do, but so far this year we are off to a great start. January opened the year with tremendous volume due to low rates, the easing of credit qualifying standards, and the fact that the FHA just reduced their mortgage insurance premium by half. People who are buying now with this lower premium are saving hundreds per month on their payments.

So, what does this mean for 2015 rates? With our current healthy real estate market and economy, consumer confidence is up, and rates will probably follow. The HOA is expecting a 26% increase in new loan starts in the next year. We are adding approximately $225,000 new jobs per month and the Mortgage Brokers Association is expecting a 15% increase in the number of new home loans.

With all this great news, many analysts are predicting rates to go up, but not until the end of the year.

If you have been thinking at all about buying, now is a great time. Make sure to give us or Mark a call if you have any questions or concerns, we would be glad to be of help.

Monday, January 26, 2015

Three Important Developments To Be Aware Of

Chester County Real Estate Agent Matt Fetick discusses a vast array of different issues ranging from foreclosures to debt forgiveness and market updates.

Learn more about the extension of the Mortgage Debt Forgiveness Relief Act

Check out my latest market update for real estate in Chester County

Foreclosure Notices Appear in Chester County
I'd like to take this time to elaborate on some recent events in the Chester County real estate market that may impact your clients in the near future.

Some different organizations around the country have been alerting us to the fact that many lenders over the last year have been sending deed in lieu of foreclosure packages directly to homeowners that have not been including a satisfaction of the deficient balance.

If you have clients that are considering a deed in lieu of foreclosure, I have two things you should know:

1. Carefully read the documents: Make sure it specifically states that the deficient balance will be forgiven and that they will not pursue their right to collect that deficient balance.
2. Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure is treated as a foreclosure by credit bureaus: When your clients apply for a loan in the future they'll have the same waiting and seasoning period as they would if they had a foreclosure in the past. This is why a short sale may work, but this is not always the case.

Mortgage Debt Forgiveness Relief Act
At the end of 2014, Congress extended the Mortgage Debt Forgiveness Relief Act. If you have clients that completed a deed in lieu of foreclosure, a short sale, or a foreclosure and received a 1099 for the deficient balance, then this may not be a taxable event if it was their primary residence and they settled the issue in 2014.

The good news is that we're hearing whispers from Congress that this act will also be extended into 2015. So, if you have any clients that would be impacted by this development, we urge you to inform them as soon as possible. If you have any further questions about this, please don't hesitate to contact me, I have much more information on this subject.

Quick Real Estate Market Update for Chester County
It's been a tumultuous year in real estate for the Philadelphia area, and with 2014 now on the back burner, I'd like to give you a brief recap of what happened with our local market.

Inventory Accumulation: At the end of 2014, Philadelphia had 5.7 months of inventory, indicating a balanced market. Year to year, there are more homes on the market now than in 2014.
There were 5-8% more homes under contract in 2014 in Chester County than there were in 2013.
The number of sold units was down in 2014. This could be a result of the weather from last January-March, but the third and fourth quarters of the year picked up the steam nicely and should help us in 2015.
On average, the sales price increased by 3.8% in Chester County, which is helping to stabilize the market and allow sellers to get out of their homes while the market appreciates.

It's hard to say what will happen in 2015, but a lot of it will depend on our inventory in the next 60 days. We've seen lots of activity and aggressive offers throughout the holidays, which indicates a very strong first quarter for 2015. Prices should continue to increase, days on market will decrease, and this will create a healthy and balanced market for the Philadelphia area.

As always, thank you for your referrals. We greatly appreciate doing business with you. If there is ever anything we can do to help you, or if you have any questions about any of the topics covered, be sure to contact us by phone or email.

Friday, January 23, 2015

The Future of Chester County Real Estate

Chester County Real Estate Agent Matt Fetick talks about past market trends from 2014 and how they'll affect market conditions for the upcoming year of 2015.

It's been a tumultuous year in real estate for the Philadelphia area, and with 2014 now on the back burner, I'd like to give you a recap of what happened with our local market and what you can expect to happen this year.

Inventory Accumulation: This helps us to gauge whether we're in a seller's market or a buyer's market. Zero to three months of inventory is a seller's market, four to six months of inventory is a neutral market, and anything beyond seven months indicates a buyer's market. At the end of 2014, Philadelphia had 5.7 months of inventory, indicating a balanced market for right now. This also tells us that there are more homes on the market now than in 2014.
There were 5-8% more homes under contract in 2014 in Chester County than there were in 2013.
The number of sold units was down in 2014. This could be a result of the weather from last January-March, but the third and fourth quarters of the year picked up the steam nicely.
On average, the sales price increased by 3.8% in Chester County, which is helping to stabilize the market and allow sellers to get out of their homes while the market appreciates.

It's hard to say what will happen in 2015, but a lot of it will depend on our inventory in the next 60 days. We've seen lots of activity and aggressive offers throughout the holidays, which indicates a very strong first quarter for 2015. Prices should continue to increase, days on market will decrease, and this will create a healthy and balanced market for the Philadelphia area.

If you have any questions about how the market is changing in Chester County and how it could affect your purchase or sale, please don't hesitate to call or email us. We're the number one team in Delaware and Chester Counties, so you can expect the best from us.

Friday, January 16, 2015

How Do You Make Sure Your Offer Stands Out?

Chester County Real Estate Agent Matt Fetick provides four tips that will help to reinforce your offer and make it more appealing for the seller.

If you have been keeping track of what's going on in the real estate market, you have noticed that in certain price points in certain school districts, it's gotten very competitive to buy a home. The price points with low inventory are the most competitive, and lately home buyers have been asking us, "What should I do to help my offer stand out?"

What you don't want to do is keep bidding up the price, that's not what it's all about. We have 4 great tips for you to improve the likelihood of the seller accepting your offer. Here they are:

1. Shore up the contract terms
You want to make sure the terms of your contract are solid, and you reduce as much risk as possible for the seller.

2. Increase your deposit money
Make sure the seller feels confident that you have enough funds at risk that you won't back out of the contract.

3. Expedite the inspection process
A lot of buyers think it may take 2 or 3 weeks to get inspections done. In our experience, you can get most of your inspections done within 5-7 days. That's very attractive to sellers, because if you choose to terminate a contract for whatever reason, they haven't lost more than a week on the market.

4. Make sure you are pre-qualified
Your pre-qualification should be for at least the sales price of the home, but probably higher. Getting a pre-approval for $10,000-$15,000 over the offer price is a good way to show the seller you are financially capable of purchasing a home; what you can afford and what you are willing to pay are two different things, however.

All of these things work together to make your offer look attractive to buyers. In today's competitive market, if you want to make sure you win without overpaying, give us a call or send us an email so we can show you how we can sell your property faster and for more money. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

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About Matt

Matt Fetick, Founder and CEO of the Matt Fetick Team, is known for his wealth of knowledge in the real estate field, creative solutions, and relentless commitment to helping his clients achieve their goals. Since beginning his real estate career in 2006, he quickly became one of the Region’s top producing agents. Clients have come to count on Matt and his Team to provide expert advice and quality service. By 2012, Matt became the number 1 agent in both total number of homes sold and total sales volume for Chester and Delaware Counties.

Matt has expanded his team north to Montgomery County, south to the entire state of Delaware and Maryland, and across the Atlantic to London, England. The entire global team shares the same mission, vision, and values as Matt. No matter where you have real estate needs, you can expect the same knowledge and commitment to five star real estate that Matt has committed himself to in his primary locations.

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Matt Fetick Team
Keller Williams Realty
421B McFarlan Road
Kennett Square, PA 19348
Team: 484-734-0607
Broker: 610-444-7171
ClientCare@FetickTeam.com