Real Estate Buyer
What to Consider When Buyers Choose a Real Estate Agent
Hey, everybody. I’m Donna O’Neal with Coldwell Banker High Country Realty in beautiful Blue Ridge, Georgia. In today’s video, we’re going to talk about a few tips on what buyers may want to consider when they choose their real estate agent.
First, you may want to ask a friend or a family member who has bought or sold in the area. That is the best source to go to, to find out their experiences with an agent that they worked with in the area. Firsthand knowledge, always the best. The other thing is go online, look at a few real estate websites, both national and local, and see what you think about the company.
Also, take a look at the agents. Remember the agents are listed A through Z, so don’t just stop at A, go all the way through and look at the agents. At the same time, you can then go out and look at the agents bios. Go to their personal websites, take a look, see what they’re about, see if they connect with you, see if you have anything in common. There’re just so many things that you can actually find out by looking online and going through all of this information.
Well, now you’re ready to pick an agent. Don’t just pick one, pick two or three, and perhaps do a phone call interview with them or meet them in person, if time permits. There’s a lot of things that you can do beforehand. Remember, you’re going to be spending a lot of time with your agent, so you really do want to get to know them.
They have a wealth of information to give you, so there’s going to be a lot of conversations of the area, what goes on in the area, what you need to kno. Remember, always ask questions. Remember, you’re going to need a dependable partner to help you through this very important process when buying your mountain property.
Thanks for joining me today. If you liked the information in this video, please like, comment, or share. Also, go to my website at realestate-blueridge.com. I’m Donna O’Neal and I look forward to helping you with all your real estate needs in the beautiful North Georgia mountains. See you next time.
Steps to Take Before Buyers Look for Mountain Homes
Hey everybody. I’m Donna O’Neal with Coldwell Banker High Country Realty in Blue Ridge, Georgia, in the beautiful North Georgia mountains. Today, we’re going to talk about what you do before you ever get in the car to head to the mountains, to look for a second home.
Second home buyers ask me all the time, “What’s the first step to the process of buying a second home?” Well, the first step is what price range are you in? And if you’re getting a loan, you need to pre-qualify for the loan. You can do a quick pre-qualification online. You can call your lender, if you already have one, or you can give me a call or an email, and I’ll be glad to provide you a list of lenders.
The second thing you need to do is know what’s out there. Know what you’re looking for. Are you looking for a cabin home? Are you looking for more traditional cabin home? Do you want to be on the river? The lake? Do you want a beautiful mountain view? Go online and look around and see what you really think you want in a second home property.
The third thing you need to do is choose a realtor and that’s very important because you are purchasing a very big ticket item. You’re purchasing a second home, therefore you need somebody that you can relate to and someone who knows what you are looking for.
If you want more information on tips of looking for a second home, please visit my other videos. Thanks for joining me and if you liked my video today, please remember to like, comment, and share and visit my website at realestate-blueridge.com. I’m Donna O’Neal and I look forward to helping you with all of your real estate needs in the North Georgia mountains. See you next time.
Brokerage Relationships 101
Hey everybody. I’m Donna O’Neal with Coldwell Banker High Country Realty in beautiful Blue Ridge, Georgia. In today’s video, we’re going to talk about brokerage relationships. At this point, you’ve decided which real estate agents you want to work with. In Georgia, there are two types of brokerage relationships you can form with your agent.
The first type is a broker-client relationship. This is when a real estate broker represents a client in a legal capacity as their agent when buying or selling a property. In Georgia, this type relationship can be formed only with a written agreement. To form a buyer-client relationship, there’s a written agreement known as a buyer brokerage agreement. This agreement explains client confidentiality, the duties of the broker and the client, and how the broker will be paid.
The second type records relationship is known as a broker-customer relationship. In a broker-customer relationship, there is no legal capacity or written agreement. However, the real estate agent can still work with the buyer. They can assist in helping the buyer locate a property, assist in writing the contract at the buyer’s direction, assist the buyer in locating a closing attorney, home inspectors, lenders, all sorts of things like that, and these duties we call ministerial acts.
Thanks for joining me today. If you like the information in my video, please remember to like, comment, and share, and also go to my website at realestate-blueridge.com. I’m Donna O’Neal, and I look forward to helping you with all your real estate needs in the beautiful North Georgia mountains. See you next time.
Tips for Buyers Narrowing Down Mountain Home Preferences
Hey, everybody, I’m Donna O’Neal with Coldwell Banker High Country Realty in beautiful Blue Ridge Georgia. In today’s video, we’re going to talk about a few things that will help the buyer and the agent complete the mountain home property list for the buyer and make their first trip up to the mountains.
So at this point, you’ve determined the price range that you’re going to be in, you’ve got your pre-approval letter from your lender, you’ve looked online, you’ve got 100 images in your head, along with a few properties that you’ve already picked out. So you need to go ahead and email those properties to your agent, and also some additional information.
You need to make sure that the agent knows the particular style and exterior features that you like. Do you want a cabbage style, a cottage style, traditional style, log, log-sided, traditional frames, or just a low-maintenance siding? And do you want to one or two-story?
The second thing you need to let the agent know is the minimum number of bedrooms. Do you want a basement? Do you want couple of bedrooms, an unfinished basement so that you can extend in the future? Also, you need to let them know whether you want a water, mountain view, or a different type setting, or you can actually just send them a few of each and look at them and decide which setting that you want.
There are quite a few second homes on the market in this area. Narrowing down your list helps your agent provide you with the best property fit and brings you closer to the mountain home that’s right for you.
Thanks for joining me today. If you like the information in my video, please remember to like, comment, and share and also visit my website at realestate-blueridge.com. I’m Donna O’Neal and I look forward to helping you with all your real estate needs in the beautiful North Georgia mountains. See you next time.
Real Estate Seller
Tips to help Sellers prepare their Mountain Homes for Listing
Hey, everybody. I’m Donna O’Neal with Coldwell Banker High Country Realty in Blue Ridge, Georgia. In today’s video, we’re going to talk about a few things sellers need to know about preparing their mountain property to list.
A good starting point for the sellers is to take a quick trip to their mountain property and assess their individual cabin condition. Most will want to do a good cleanup on the inside as well as the outside of the cabin, especially those who don’t get a chance to come up and visit their mountain property very often. First impressions are the same no matter where you’re selling your home.
Start with decluttering the closets, the basement, garages and porches. Remove valuable items that you’re not selling with the cabin. Cut the grass, blow the leaves, stain or paint the cabin and decks if they’re not in good condition. Do some type of staging on the inside of your cabin. Fix the potholes in your driveway. Plant a few flowers and bushes. Look at your cabin from the buyers’ eyes. Give them something to make them say, “Wow, this is a mountain property I want.”
I want to expand a little on two of the items I just mentioned, staining or painting a mountain property and staging your mountain property. Depending on how long you’ve owned your mountain property or the condition it was in when you purchased it, you need to make sure that the stain or paint is current and in good condition. All buyers’ eyes will be on the cabin as they head down the driveway for the first time, so make sure you meet with a couple of professional painters as far in advance of listing your property as you can to see if you need to paint or stain your property before listing it. It may take 30 days or more before they can get to you, so be sure to plan ahead.
Staging your mountain property is crucial to the buyer’s first impression upon first opening the cabin door. Have you ever heard anyone say the house has to feel right before I buy it? Well, that’s determined in the first few minutes from the time the buyers walk inside your mountain home.
Selling your mountain property furnished is the most effective way to sell it. If you are not selling your mountain property furnished, it is a good idea to try to leave the furniture in until you’re under contract. If you do have to move the furniture out before or during the listing period, there are other avenues to explore for staging. Whatever your situation, never forget good first impressions will almost always sell your mountain property quicker.
For a list of vendors in the area that can assist you with any of the items that I have mentioned in today’s video, please feel free to email me or visit my website.
Thanks for joining me. If you like the information in my video today, please like, comment, or share, and also remember to visit my website at realestate-blueridge.com. I’m Donna O’Neal and I’m looking forward to helping you at all your real estate needs in the beautiful North Georgia mountains. See you next time.
3 Tips for Sellers on choosing a RE Agent
Hey, everybody. I’m Donna O’Neal with Coldwell Banker High Country Realty in Blue Ridge, Georgia. In today’s video we’re going to talk about three important tips on what sellers may want to consider when choosing the real estate agent to list their mountain property.
It’s always a good idea for the seller to first ask someone that they know who has sold their mountain property in the area. They have firsthand knowledge and experience and can give you a good bit of insight with the whole selling process from the signing of their listing agreement all the way to the closing table. Still, sellers need to look at a few real estate company websites in the area, a few individual agent websites in the area and get a feel for who the companies and the agents are and what they have to offer. A full-service real estate company is what you’re looking for. Making sure that you’re offered full advertising, full multiple listing services at no charge, and look for additional services that set them apart from other real estate companies.
And last, sellers need to pick two or three agents they located online or that were referred to them and invite the agent to their mountain property for an interview, asking the agents to each provide their marketing and listing plans. There’s nothing better than a face-to-face meeting at the property being listed to see the agent in action and to get a feel for which agent is more suited to sell your mountain property. Whether you are a primary home seller or an absent home seller, you need a very dependable partner to help you through this process. If at all possible, take the time to meet your agent before choosing your agent. It is time well spent.
Thanks for joining me today. If you like the information in my video, please like, comment or share. And also, remember to visit my website at realestate-blueridge.com. I’m Donna O’Neal, and I’m looking forward to helping you with all your real estate needs in the North Georgia Mountains. See you next time.
Winterizing your Mountain Home
Hey, everybody. In today’s video, we’re going to talk about winterizing your second home.
Many second homeowners was bought in the mountains to experience the beauty of the four seasons. And what’s the most beautiful season of all? Fall, the changing of the leaves. However, some second homeowners start getting cold feet and feeling the cold in the air and they are ready to head South. But before they do, they need to consider a few tips on winterizing their cabins. The first is leave your heat on. Leave the heat on 50, 55 so that the cabin is a little bit warm and so that there’s air flow in the cabin and you never know what the temperature is going to be. The temperature could fall to 30, the temperature could fall to 2 degrees.
The second is to consider turning your water off. There’s usually a valve inside the cabin, and you should turn the water off there, and if you actually have a well, you also can go to the electrical panel and turn your well pump off of there. Some of our cabin owners like to also turn off their water heaters. Their water heaters use a lot of electricity, so they turn the water heater off for that reason. However, if you’re really not sure, I really advise that you talk with a licensed plumber or a well company to make sure that what you’re doing is exactly what you need to do for your particular cabin.
If you want to see other tips on maintaining your cabin, please check out my other videos. Thanks for joining me, and remember, if you liked this video today, please like, comment, and share and also visit my website at realestate-blueridge.com. I’m Donna O’Neal and I look forward to helping you with all your real estate needs in the North Georgia mountains. See you next time.
