arhome realty blog - Real Estate Advice

Why the Right Listing Company Matters

Posted by arhome realty on July 31st, 2020

Did you know? According to the most recent National Association of REALTORS® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers study, Realtor®-listed homes have sold on average for 40% more money than For Sale By Owner homes.

How you go about selling your property can really impact how much money ends up in your pocket when all is said and done. Things like marketing price, time on the market, and staging can have a tremendous effect on how much you sell your property for.

For example: if you were to market your home at a too high price, you will likely not see a lot of activity because surrounding homes at similar price points will have better features and options. This will cause market time to run on the clock, and precious sale time to slip away. In the…

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5 Ways to Make Your Home Stand Out

Posted by arhome realty on June 30th, 2020

In other words: How to get a higher price for your home. It's true - if your home stands out (in a good way), it attracts more buyers, gets more traffic, and that typically results in more interest, more offers and a higher end sale. It's important to make sure your home is truly ready for a home sale, to make the most of its market debut and get more buyers to fall in love with it. And while we generally don't recommend any major projects (exceptions abide - ask an arhome agent for the most profitable approach), the good news is there's a lot that you can control when it comes to making your home above-average. 

1. Maximize Curb Appeal

Curb appeal is one of those obvious checklist items that somehow gets overlooked in the end. Of course, it's…

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Mortgage Rates Drop Below 3%

Posted by arhome realty on May 22nd, 2020

The average rates on 30-year fixed-rate loans hit record lows this week. Mortgage News Daily reports that the average rate for a 30-year fixed rate loan is just barely above 3%; for FHA loans, its dropped all the way to 2.75%.

That’s lower than we’ve seen in many, many years.

Why are rates dropping so low?

Of course, we know the COVID-19 pandemic is involved. But according to Fed chairman Jerome Powell, this has hit the economy in ways that are worse than any typical recession. Powell stated recently: ”The scope and speed of this downturn are without modern precedent and are significantly worse than any recession since World War II.” That’s powerful.

With predictions that our economy may not recover until the end of next year, the…

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Chicago Spring Market Update

Posted by arhome realty on May 6th, 2020

Ever since COVID-19 news hit the world, the real estate market met a significant crossroads: many people were questioning if it was a good time to sell, for safety, and what would happen to our still-strong prices. Data now backs up that we did, in fact, see a halt in the market. Especially towards the end of March, there was a drastic drop in newly listed properties - less than half of the amount listed that week last year (keep in mind, before the pandemic hit, 2020 numbers were exceeding 2019 numbers). So yes, the response was strong.

There is still good news in all of this: first off, our data shows that as of May 4, 2020, median sales prices are still higher than 2019, and haven't seen any huge shifts aside from a small dip 2 weeks ago (see…

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Real Estate & Reasons to Stay Positive

Posted by arhome realty on March 30th, 2020

As the world is feeling the COVID-19 impact, it seems no industry is immune. Real Estate, above anything, is getting hit with the "worry" impact more than a physical industry disruption. Buyers nervous about job security are nervous about future mortgage payments. Sellers are nervous to let viewers inside their homes. Investors are nervous about future property values. Nervous, nervous, nervous.

But for those in search of the silver lining during these trying times, here's some good news: despite the Illinois mandatory shut down, the real estate industry is keeping up at a steady pace so far — and we have facts to prove it. For all those who need some industry encouragement, we've put together a list of positive local real estate news for our…

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