Anchorage Alaska Real Estate Video Blog with Dar Walden

Free Home Seller’s Seminar

There are many great Anchorage area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (907) 865-6404 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Free Home Seller’s Seminar

Are you a homeowner and have considered selling your home within the next year? Are you a little lost on where and how to start the process? We are here to help!

November 15, 2014, from 11:00am- 2:00pm we are introducing a Free Home Seller’s Seminar to educate and guide you through all of the processes involved in a sales transaction.

We’ve invited leading industry professionals to talk with you about what they do and how your role as a home seller involves them. Speaking at the Home Seller’s Seminar will be a Lender, Stager, Home Inspector, Appraiser, and representatives from a title company and a home warranty company. We are excited for each of them to share their wealth of industry knowledge with you. Time has been scheduled for questions and answers!

Again, the Home Seller’s Seminar will be held on November 15, 2014 from 11:00am – 2:00pm. Free lunch is provided to all registered attendants of the seminar!

To sign up, simply visit www.AlaskaTopAgent.com and select the Seller Seminar tab. You are also welcome to contact us direct to register at 907-240-2804.

This seminar is limited to 30 seats! Act fast before they run out!

We hope to see you November 15!

Happy to be in Business With a Shark

Today we wanted to share with you a great commercial we shot with the one and only Barbara Corcoran. Barbara is a huge name in the real estate industry, but has also become a reality TV star on the ABC hit show "Shark Tank". Barbara recently went around the country and picked out her choices for local experts in different market. We are very honored to be her selection for the Anchorage market and look forward to this partnership being mutually beneficial.

If you haven't watched it yet, click the video above to watch our commercial. We hope you enjoy it!

Pros and Cons of Zillow and Trulia

There are many great Anchorage area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (907) 865-6404 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Pros and Cons of Zillow and Trulia

Today we are discussing the advantages and disadvantages of using websites like Zillow and Trulia in the home buying and selling process. Let's start with the advantages:

Easy to use
Ability to get access on both mobile and desktop devices
24/7 Availability

The disadvantages are a bit more numerous. Not to say that these sites don't work well, there are just some things that neither they, nor any other web-based program, can do. One big disadvantage is that they use tax records as comps. Since Alaska is a non-disclosure state, the tax assessed values can be anywhere from 70-110% off. So when you get your estimate from them, it will likely be pretty inaccurate.

Another disadvantage to Zillow and Trulia is that they are not live links. If you're a buyer and looking for a property, by the time you get it to your agent, it may already be sold. They also do a good job of getting high quality images of homes, but nothing compares with doing an actual walkthrough of a home with a Realtor.

While Zillow and Trulia are great sites, it's still in your best interest to have a Realtor involved. Realtors have knowledge of local markets, school districts, resale value, and many other areas that these sites don't offer. Realtors are also expert negotiators, and can get you more money for your home than you could without them. Although a website is a good place to start, we can do so much more.

If you have any questions about Zillow, Trulia, or real estate in general, don't hesitate to call us or send us an email. We'd be glad to help answer any questions you may have.

Anchorage Market Snapshot

Anchorage Market Snapshot

Despite having 10% less available inventory than this time last year, we have a pretty stable market here in Anchorage. Active pending home sales are also down because of this decrease in inventory. Here are some other trends we've seen this year:

Average home sales price is around $365,000, a 4.2% increase since last year.
The average seller is getting 97% of the original listing price.
Homes are sitting on the market for average of 81 days.
Interest rates are still great. A 30-year fixed-rate is still around 4.2% and FHA and VA rates are at 3.7%.

Now is a great time to buy or sell a home in our area. We're not sure how long interest rates are going to remain this low - take advantage of them now to save down the road. For sellers, we're seeing homes sell quickly and for top value if they are priced correctly and in good condition. If you have any questions about conditions in your particular area, we would love to help you out. Give us a call or shoot us an email for the best real estate resources available.

Anchorage Real Estate Market Update for Summer 2014

Anchorage Real Estate Market Update for Summer 2014

We are halfway through the year so now is a great time to give you a real estate market update about what's been going on in Anchorage.

The Anchorage market is a little different right now than what we have seen historically. Usually when we have low inventory, that typically signals we are in a sellers market, but that is not necessarily what we are seeing right now.
We currently have over 700 homes on the market available to purchase, which comes out to about 3.75 months of inventory on hand.
What does this mean to you? Well in our heavy seasons we have had anywhere from 12-15 months of inventory, so we are definitely at a much lower inventory than we are used to.
The average sale price of a home in Anchorage is $355,000 and the average days on the market for a home is about 67 days.
Properties on the market that are priced correctly are selling quickly, but overpriced homes are staying stagnant on the market. Properly priced homes are also getting multiple offers.

Overall, this is a good market, but not quite as booming as it should be. Sellers are benefiting from low inventory and an increase in sale prices while buyers, although with limited options, interest rates are as good as they have been in a long time and now is a great time to lock in a rate. If you have any questions about the market or are looking to buy or sell real estate in Anchorage, please give us a call or send us an e-mail. We would love to help out!

Follow These Tips to Bring Out Your Home’s Beauty!

Follow These Tips to Bring Out Your Home’s Beauty!

When preparing your home for sale, follow these tips:

Work on your curb appeal. This could be trimming your yard, planting flowers, sweeping your doorstep and even wiping down your doors. Your first impression needs to be warm, welcoming and awesome!
De-cluttering your home. Take down any personal pictures and remove anything that you will not be using from now until the time you sell the house. Pack it up and put it out in the garage! If you decide to list with the Dar Walden Team, I will walk through the house and help you with this.
Kitchen. De-cluttering is especially important when it comes to the kitchen – completely clean off your countertops and only keep things that you use every day. The countertops need to look large and inviting! This also goes for the refrigerator and cabinet tops. The kitchen and master bedroom are the two biggest influences on a potential buyer.
Master bedroom. When de-cluttering your master bedroom, be sure to remove items from your night stands, leave only the essentials and buy a presentable bed ensemble. May your bed look fluffy and inviting!
Bathroom. Make sure your bathroom is clean – especially your mirrors! If you use the energy efficient light bulbs, swap them out for tradition light bulbs. Since the energy efficient bulbs take time to warm up, this could harm your bathroom’s appeal. Lighting is very important – especially here in Alaska!
Touch up your walls. If there any dents or chips in your walls, be sure to touch them up. Be sure to clean your baseboards and if anything needs to be re-caulked, don’t hesitate to do so.
Clean your carpets.

If you have additional questions or need clarification, please reach out to me by phone or email.

Thanks and have a great day!

It Pays to Hire an Active Real Estate Agent

There are many great Anchorage area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (907) 865-6404 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Today I'm going to be talking about the differences between a passive agent and an active agent.

The Passive Agent

Will use the three P's

Puts the property in the MLS.
Puts a sign in your yard.
Prays that your property sells.

Pricing: They will take into consideration the seller's opinion on the value and increase the price when listing the property.
Experience: This agent will likely be a lower production agent. The less homes one has sold, the less practical experience they will have.
Marketing: They will wait for buyers to come, and maybe do a few open houses and pass out some flyers. They will not be reaching out and grabbing prospective buyers.
Communication: By nature, this client will avoid communication, especially the difficult conversations like why your home is not selling or why the pricing is not correct.

The Active Agent

An active agent will go above and beyond these actions and utilize an aggressive marketing strategy to ensure that your home is sold at a premium price.

They will market your home on various websites and also pass out e-flyers to the 1,400 realtors in the Anchorage/ Eagle River area.
They will put your home on the Keller Williams site for national coverage, and they will pre-market your home to the top agents in town before it ever goes on the market.

Pricing: Will perform a comprehensive market analysis to find an attractive price.

A range in value will then be determined from which the seller can choose because the motivation of the seller is always what the agent has to keep in mind.

Perhaps you're downsizing and don't need a very high selling price, or you want to move away from Alaska and want your home priced to sell quickly. An active agent will listen to your needs and price accordingly.

Experience: Active agents will likely be selling hundreds of homes per year and have an enormous knowledge of local neighborhoods and locales.

They will be proactive (rather than reactive) in solving problems because of their knowledge of the industry.

Marketing: Active agents will attack buyers aggressively to get a home sold. They will utilize hundreds of websites on the internet to prospect for buyers, because 93% of all buyers now find their homes on the internet. A good agent should have your home up on at least 300-400 websites. This type of agent will utilize any avenue possible to funnel buyers towards your property.
Communication: Feedback will be honest and upfront. They will want to communicate and educate you about the home selling process in order to sell your home quickly. Not only will they talk to you, but they will hound other agents to figure out what prospective buyers thought about your property.

In conclusion, a passive agent will be able to sell your home, but not as quickly or efficiently as an active agent. An active agent will sell your home quicker and for a much better price. If you're paying the same commission for both, it would be silly not to utilize the services of an active agent.
If you need a competent, experienced, and reliable agent then contact me and I would be glad to help with all your real estate needs in the Anchorage / Eagle River area. Give me a call at (907) 240-2804 or email me at Dar@DarWalden.com

Choosing an Agent: 10 Questions You Must Ask!

What Questions Should You Ask Your Realtor

Today I wanted to go over the ten questions you should ask your realtor before you hire them. I have elaborated on the four most important and listed the other six questions below:

1.    How many years of experience do you have in real estate? This isn’t saying that young agents won’t do a fine job; however they truly don’t have the wisdom base and knowledge of things that happen on a daily basis.

2.    Do you specialize in listing properties or selling properties? If the agent is listing based, the most likely won’t be your best choice. There are many different responsibilities between a buyer’s agent and a listing agent!

3.    How many homes have you sold in the last year and how many were sold in my subdivision? The more familiar the agent is with your area, the better it will serve you!

4.    How will I be kept informed? Many things happen in the course of a transaction but if there is good communication between you and the agent, that is half the half the battle! Good communication will save you from frustration further down the road.

5.    What’s your plan, besides flyers, signs and the MLS to get my home sold?

6.    Are you a solo agent or a team?

7.    How much is it going to cost me to sell my home?

8.    What are my responsibilities while showing and during the transaction? Am I responsible for repairs?

9.    Who is my point of contact throughout the process? Do I have someone I can call anytime?

10.    What is your marketing budget?

If you have any other questions about finding the right agent, give me a call at (907) 240-2804 or send me an email at dar@darwalden.com. Thanks and have a great day!

Get a Leg-up on Your Competition: Become Pre-approved

There are many great Anchorage area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (907) 865-6404 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Today I wanted to talk about the importance of buyers becoming pre-approved to purchase a home. The reason why it’s so important to be a pre-approved buyer is because it actually gives the agent you are working with the guidelines on how to help you hunt for a home. Being pre-approved is the first step of the house hunting process. This allows you to have your credit in line because if for some reason it isn’t, your lender will be able to give you advice on how to get things corrected. Often it’s just taking a little bit of time to shuffle around paperwork and get it straightened up.

If you are preapproved and you have presented all your documentation to the lender, they will give you a value and some loan options. Once you’ve received the value from your lender, you will give the information to your agent so they know what to work with. The key points are that you do not want to go over the value my much; $10,000 over would be maximum because there are properties that do price reductions and you can’t get a heads up to watch them. If you’re agent is looking to go higher than that, you need to have a conversation and ask why that is.

The next piece will be the type of loan you qualify for. If you’re a veteran and have veterans’ preferences, you can obtain a V.A. loan. You could also qualify for an F.H.A. loan; these are important factors and a good lender will help you pick the best loan. Don’t be afraid to ask questions! You need to know what the expectation of that loan is.

Another reason for why you should be pre-approved is when you are ready to make an offer, you’re ready to go at that point. You don’t have to find a house, then run to the bank to get pre-approved and lose the house to another buyer. Also, when an offer has been presented, the seller wants to see that you’ve been pre-approved.

Sellers won’t take your word for it; you need to show proof that you’ve taken in the necessary documents to qualify for purchasing their home. Most sellers require you to be pre-approved before they even take you into their homes. Once you’ve come to an agreement on a contract, a pre-approval letter does not mean that the loan has been fully approved.

Once you are under contract, you have been very cognizant of what you spend; you must refrain from spending $20,000 on furniture or a new car. You don’t want to do anything to change your credit because that could disqualify you from a loan. Loans have debt-to-income ratios that are required and if you change your debt ratio, it may disqualify you from that property.

If you’re looking start the purchasing process, give me a call at (907) 240-2804 or email me at dar@darwalden.com. Thanks and have a great day!

What Did You See in 2013?

Welcome back to my video blog! Today I wanted to do a short video on what we saw in 2013 and also what you can expect to see in 2014. My year for the Dar Walden Team was a great year! Consumer confidence seemed to be up and properties were selling as soon as they hit the market with multiple offers. This is the first time we’ve seen multiple offers in 6-7 years.

In the first half of 2013, the market started in February and went strong through June and then began to slow down. In all my years in the business, 2013 was a very different year. The market was a bit of a stop and start process going from being very hot, to cooling down for a month and then picking back up again. The Dar Walden Team ended the year with about 140 homes sold; the average realtor across the country sells about six.

After a busy year, we’re hoping 2014 proves to be a better year! With both interest rates and inventory being low, now is the time to think about getting your home on the market! With the inventory remaining low, it is keeping the demand price up. We hope 2014 will be as prosperous as 2013 was!

If you’re looking to buy or sell home in 2014, please visit our website at www.alaskatopagent.com, give us a call at (907) 240-2804 or email me at dar@darwalden.com. Thanks and have a great day!

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Why Hire the Dar Walden Team?

Dar is the 'go to' person for real estate consulting in Alaska. Dar keeps ahead of real estate trends through continuous professional training and networking with top producers. She continues to raise the bar of expectations by using an effective consultative approach that offers her clients the best prospective in the real estate industry today.

Dar's exuberant personality, work ethic, attention to detail, drive for perfection, consistent contact, negotiating power, and overall service leave you smiling and completely satisfied at closing!

Dar Walden
Keller Williams Realty
Anchorage, AK
Phone: (907) 865-6404
Mobile: (907) 240-2804
Dar@DarWalden.Com

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