The Little Realtor

The news right now around real estate is ripe with "The 6% Commission is Dead" or how buying and selling real estate is about to become a whole lot cheaper.  Sounds tantalizing, right? Because often news is sensationalism and this one is no different.  Did something actually change?  Yes, a little.  NAR (the National Association of Realtors - the trade organization that makes a real estate agent a 'Realtor' by a separate code of ethics and educational criteria) settled a case that brought about a few, minor changes.  1. It eliminated any requirement that listing brokers or sellers must make offers of compensation to buyers brokers.  2. It prohibits sellers and their agents from making offers of compensation on the MLS and disclosing any compensation and requires the elimination of all compensation fields on the MLS.  3. It requires MLS members working with buyers to enter into written agreements with those buyers.  So what changed?  Not much....

 Its the beginning of the year, and nothing is more popular than predicting what comes next. Whether its fashion, home decor, paint colors, or real estate, we love thinking about whats to come.  Of course, predictions are only that: an educated guess at what is to come. No one could have predicted Covid, and few guessed at its ensuing impact on health and the economy, and similarly few predicted we would see the intense rate hikes that may only come once or twice in century. So with an ever-changing, quick moving and unpredictable market, lets put a few predictions together for the Philadelphia real estate market, regardless...  Rates will continue to Rise.... Momentarily  The rate hikes aren't over yet. We know that. And since the Fed gives the market little time to catch up, we definitely will see more over the first quarter. That will impact the Spring market to some effect.  However, we expect those to rate hikes to be less intense going forward. Since that ...

Be forewarned, in this article there are quite a few opinions and a couple of rants!  I get postcards/mailers all the time from other real estate agents. (I'm sure you do too!)  In theory, I love this because it gives me a chance to see what other agents are sending! But sometimes I get mailers that just make me upset about how agents advertise themselves. (To be fair, I also get some great mailers from other agents that I think are spot on).  My number one gripe with how other agents advertise themselves is my selling homeowners fear. Fear of using any other agent but that agent. Fear of the process. Fear of missing out.  There's enough stress in this process than to be sold fear from the get-go.  The most common examples of this are mailers claiming "I am the only agent that....!". "We are THE group who can sell your home like no one else..."  The idea is THEY are the agent who holds all the keys and no other agents can do it, and certainly not you, Dea...

 Its the #1 question I get. "Hey Meg! How are you? How's the market right now?!"  Its how most people engage with me.  And that makes sense!  If you heard about something major happening to teeth in the news, you'd probably bring it up to your dentist. If you knew there was a building boom, you'd probably bring it up in conversation with your contractor next time you saw them.  People hear about real estate OFTEN. Its a massive part of our economy and its often part of the news, especially when we are in a high or a low (which we are!). But one of the reasons people ask that question is they also have a stake in the game. Either they are looking for a house, or know someone who is and is struggling to find something, or they own a home and are excited/relieved about the sellers' market conditions.  So knowing WHY someone is asking this is key.  But what I recently realized is my usual response wasn't providing much value.  I would say something to...

One of the last things I wanted to share about why I am excited to be at Compass now is how much easier it is for my clients to interact with me.  CMAs (Comparative Market Analysis) for sellers are easier to prepare and send, I am more able to constantly stay in touch with clients via my marketing but also with personalized-neighborhood insights, and clients have an interactive search and insight tool called Collections.  Collections is a pretty word for how Compass allows clients and agents to collaborate with on and off market homes. Normally I would start a search for someone and any new homes would get emailed to them. This works the same way, though you'll also get off-market Compass listings also known as "quiet listings", but it also works as a work space for us to collaborate, share notes quickly on the same platform, quickly remove listings we aren't interested in, etc. Its a streamlined, heavily visual, search tool for buyers.  But I wanted to highlight som...

I'll be the first to admit, I am surprised I am writing this post as part of my introduction to my new brokerage, Compass.  Previously, my business has been an island.  Yes, I had support from my brokerage.  Yes, I learned from my local board and ongoing training.  Yes, I connected with other agents, especially learning during transactions.  But ultimately, thats where things stopped. There was no workplace culture outside of my one-on-one relationships with my clients.  And that was completely fine. I was 100% happy with that.  But then I started at Compass and it became clear VERY quickly that there was a culture at Compass, both nationally and locally. One that valued integrity, high levels of professionalism, creativity and progress, and collaboration.  And a month in, I'm surprised that my island-loving-self is very into it.  --- Here are  Compass's Principals :  For a quick run down of what these mean, you can visit Robert Ref...

 If you are one of the many homeowners who have been thinking of taking advantage of the soaring home prices and insane buyer demand, then you might be wondering what that looks like for you.  While thoughts might immediately jump to taking care of that landscaping project you've been putting off and whether or not you should put a fresh coat of paint on the front door, its important to also take a look at the financial considerations of selling.  Home Value - Of course, one of the main things you should look into is whether or not you can get as much as you think. Just because 6 months ago the house 3 doors down got $650,000 doesn't mean you can get the same, or higher. If you are counting on the $650,000+ to sell, then you absolutely need to make checking your home's fair market value a top priority. Your trusted real estate agent can take care of creating a Comparative Market Analysis to get you the info you need.  Cost - Selling a home isn't cheap. Those high s...

I'm really excited to post today about one of the aspects I am most excited about working at Compass: Concierge.  Concierge is a Compass-exclusive program where sellers can do improvements to their property before listing in order to make their home look its best and recoup the greatest amount of money.  I have been an advocate of doing small cosmetic projects to properties since starting in this business. Buyers have a hard time visualizing a property's potential. Staging can do a lot but sometimes small home improvements can make a drastic visual change to a property. Often, I recommend painting projects, small cosmetic improvements in bathrooms (like resurfacing dated tile and installing new light fixtures). Generally, a bathroom doesn't need a $20k overall to suggest a higher price tag. Same goes for kitchens. Paint, new fixtures, and some updated tile work goes a LONG way. Even the above picture, which was all new cabinets, counters, appliance and backsplash shows the ...

 If you are just starting to think about buying or selling this year, its worth taking a moment to get familiar with the covid-era market. Its a bit crazy out there....  Zillow has recently noted that the greater Philadelphia area is seeing a 10% increase and will continue to do so this Spring and potentially into the next year.  On the Buy-Side  If you are a prospective buyer, be ready for a difficult market. Inventory was short before the pandemic. Often, on desirable properties, we would see 5-15 offers on a home. Multiple offer scenarios were certainly a common scenario. But then came covid, market falls and thus, record-low interest rates. At first, with the real estate market closed for business, we only began to see interest drive up. People were still unsure about going out into the world and sellers were weary of putting their homes on the market. But as time went on, and interest rates remained low, the market heated up.  When 2021 began, things got p...

One of the hardest parts of my job as a real estate agent is helping people decide for themselves.  While there are some people who ask professionals to spell out everything so they can make their own, informed decisions, most people hire out professionals to make a call for them based on expertise. Your accountant might fill out your tax forms for you, your doctor recommends medicines, your mechanic suggests car maintenance, etc. We don't have to do what they say, but we often do, leaning on their expertise.  A real estate agent is asked to do much the same but ultimately we have a fiduciary duty to our clients to educate our clients and allow them to make their own, informed decisions. Often, this is frustrating to clients who just want us to tell them what to do.  Here are the most common scenarios where a client wants their agent to do something they legally can't, or at least shouldn't, do:  Alec Douglas on Unsplash 1) A client wants to know more about a neighb...

 Its been 5 months since my last post. Thats an awful feeling. While I haven't been away from real estate by any means, I've taken the last few months to scale back on non-client-focused matters as I had my daughter, Ellie, in November of 2020.  As of this week, I'm happy to be back full time to my business, both client-focused and working on increasing my outreach to those who may need my services.  Its already a crazy market this Spring. One of the most lop-sided and limiting I've seen (more on that soon!). But its a pleasure to work in this industry, helping people get to their financial and emotional dreams, and I'm happy to be back!  --- Know of someone looking to buy or sell this year?  Email me at meg.augustin@foxroach.com or call/text at 215-350-0464

If you've ever sold a house, or are currently thinking about it, you might have stressed about the prospect of doing so. Even in the best of circumstances, its a hard process. It involves letting go of what is likely an emotional place, you have to prep your home for someone else to look at and judge, you have to pack and move, and while many people are fortunate enough to sell their homes so they can move into a nicer or larger place, selling is often accompanied by major life changes (financial change, divorce, death of a family member, moving across country, making space for a new baby, etc). So, needless to say, its already a lot to take on. Being a buyer is equally stressful. How do you compete against other buyers in a seller's market? How do you navigate the world of mortgages and pre-approvals? How much does it even cost to buy a home? What should I be worried about during an inspection? There's a lot to take in when searching for a home and spending a significant...

Selling a home for ANYONE is a difficult, complicated, time-consuming and often very emotional process. Adding kids, especially young or school-aged kids, can add an even more stress-producing factor (for you AND them!). After years of seeing people do it right, and do it wrong, here are a few tips to getting through the process with the fewest tears and yelling! Photo by HiveBoxx on Unsplash Stage Appropriately  You have kids, but not everyone does. Knowing your target audience is EVERYTHING with home staging, with or without adding kids in. For the average home buyer, they either have kids or are thinking of having kids in the future. Unless you have a condo or are catering to older audiences, its not a bad thing to show off the fact you have kids. Continuing to have a play room or toy storage in the family room can be a positive thing - it shows that there is room for those things that people may be planning for. (But don't repurpose rooms. If you turned your dinin...