It’s Great to Sell in Autumn and Winter!

There are many reasons to sell your home in the autumn and winter. We’ll discuss the main ones today.

Today we’re discussing selling your home in the autumn and winter; what are the things you should consider? There is a common belief that selling a house in the autumn or winter is challenging, almost impossible. We have not found that to be true. Here we are at the beginning of December and we have recently had a flood of homes going under contract for sale.

In the autumn and winter, you usually have less competition. Fewer houses are going active at the same time as yours. You may have an enhanced chance to receive a contract that’s acceptable to you immediately.

Another thing we’ve observed is that buyers who are looking from November to February are generally more motivated. They aren’t looking to kill a Saturday afternoon, they are driven to move forward with a purchase.

Buyers who are looking from November to February are generally more motivated.

We have a considerable number of people wanting to sell their home as quickly as they can for many reasons, but they have great holiday traditions, so selling a home would be disruptive. In that case, we can do our layaway program. What we do is get your house ready to sell, get the paperwork done, and take pictures while the grass is still green — before the decorations go up. Then we’re ready to put your house on the market whenever it works best for you.

In between us getting you ready and your home going on the market, you are known as a “coming soon listing.” So, our agents get the information about your home, and as we have buyers coming through that may be interested in your house, it might be sold before it’s even technically active. We like to sometimes match a buyer with a specific home we know they might love.

If you want to discuss these programs or tips you should keep in mind when getting your house ready to sell in the autumn and winter, give me a call or send me an email. Any advice you need and just want to talk it over, get in touch with us. We’d love to talk to you!

Where the Numbers Say Our Market Is Headed

For your latest Midlands market overview, I’ll compare some key year-over-year statistics.

Where is the Midlands real estate market headed? To answer that question, I’ll compare the key statistics from the first three quarters of 2019 with the numbers from 2018. Most of what we’re seeing is positive, but there are certain nuances you need to be aware of whether you’re buying or selling.

Follow along in the video above to see my full market overview. For your convenience, I’ve added timestamps so you can jump ahead to various sections at your leisure: 

0:50—The number of properties on the market rose 1% from 13,103 to 13,252, and the number of properties sold dropped slightly from 9,595 to 9,558

1:44—What this means

2:09—Why not all inventory is equal

3:18—The average list price rose from $211,470 to $236,902, and the average sold price rose 5.5% from $206,504 to $217,742

4:18—If you market, merchandise, and price your home correctly, you’ll sell for top dollar

5:03—The average days on market dropped from 58 days to 53 days

6:00—How statistics can vary between different types of homes

7:02—Wrapping things up

As always, if you have any more questions about our market or you’re thinking of buying or selling a home, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d love to help you.

An Important Message for Lake Murray Homeowners

If you’re thinking of buying or selling a home along Lake Murray, there are some important rule changes you need to know. 

Whether you’re buying or selling a home along Lake Murray, there’s something important you must know: The rules governing the lake are changing. In fact, they’ve been changing little by little over the years, and today I have a few tidbits to share. First, once Dominion Energy gets their hydro license approved, they’ll be able to sell 50 acres per year. To have a dock approval, though, you must have at least 200 feet of shoreline. If you’re a seller and you don’t have a dock permit, this means it behooves you to get one. As we all know, lots with docks are more valuable than lots without them. Moving forward, make sure you’re aware of the ever-changing rules governing Lake Murray so you can get the most value out of your property. If you have any questions about this topic, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d love to help you.

Getting to Know Elizabeth Larned

My name is Elizabeth Larned with the Lance Woodley Team. Today I’d like to share a little bit about myself.

My name is Elizabeth Larned, executive design consultant and listing partner with the Lance Woodley Team. Today I want to share a little about myself so that you understand my commitment to making your real estate goals a reality.

Prior to joining the Lance Woodley Team, I was an office manager for a local company. My husband and I were talking about making some life changes, starting with us selling our home. We called the No. 1 agent in the Midlands—Lance Woodley—and he helped us sell our home in just eight days!

I had always wanted a career in real estate, and watching firsthand how Lance used his home-selling system to sell our home, I knew I wanted to join the team.

In my first three months on the team, I received dozens of buyer and seller leads and I had three closings. From that point on, I started closing multiple homes each month.

The part that I like most about being on the team is that we are a non-competitive team, so I know that my clients will be taken care of no matter what.

If you have any questions for me or the Lance Woodley team, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’d love to help!

Meet Our Chief Marketing Officer & Associate Broker, Rachel Cooper

Have you met Rachel Cooper? She’s a rising star on our team, and today you can get to know her a little better.
Today we’re happy to spotlight one of our team’s biggest assets: Chief Marketing Officer and Associate Broker, Rachel Cooper. If you’ve never been properly introduced to her, today’s your chance! In our agent introduction, we picked her brain about what her first three months were like with the Lance Woodley Team, what she enjoys most about being on the team, and more. If you have any questions for Rachel or the rest of our team, feel free to reach out. We’d be happy to help.

The difference between 2 of our home seller programs

Here’s the difference between our guaranteed sale program and our buyout program.

What’s the difference between our guaranteed sale program and our buyout program? Each of these
programs benefits different home sellers in different ways. 

Our guaranteed sale program is meant to sell your house quickly and for top dollar. In short, it
guarantees a home sale because it states that if we can’t sell your home within the agreed-upon time
frame, we’ll buy it ourselves for up to 90% of the list price. 

The buyout program is designed for homes that are not in the best condition or can no longer
be cared for and just need to be sold. It’s ideal for things like an estate sale. In a situation like this,
perhaps the heirs of the estate live out of state or the house is an old rental property that’s been
neglected. 

"Each of these programs benefits different home sellers in different ways."

For example, we recently did an estate sale where the house was bought for the children of the
owners to live in while they attended college. Well, as you can imagine, after 15 years, this home
looked like a giant dorm room. After it served its purpose, the owners wanted to get rid of it. 

When utilizing the buyout program, we come out to your property and make you an offer. If it’s an
offer you can agree to, we’ll buy the home as-is and close within two to three weeks. 

If you have any more questions about either of these programs or you’d like to use one for a home
you need to sell, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’d love to help you.

Sell Your Home Quickly & For Top Dollar

How can you make sure your home sells quickly and for top dollar? You can start by hiring The Lance Woodley Team.

when selling your home.

Have you ever thought about why homes that are on the market fail to sell? I can tell you why: The people who list those homes have a lack of knowledge about the market and a bad marketing plan. To avoid this fate, we suggest listing your home with a local expert. The Lance Woodley Team, for example, has three decades’ worth of experience. More importantly, we have a professional home selling system that focuses on marketing, merchandising, and pricing to sell your home quickly and for top dollar. If you or someone you know needs to sell a house, give us a call and we’d love to explain in more detail how it works.

Real Estate Is Local, But How Do You Use That Information?

Real estate is local, and using that knowledge to help you means hiring a local expert

when selling your home.

We all know that real estate is local, but how do you use that information?

If you’re selling your home, you use it by hiring a local expert to help you. Go with the people who
know the marketplace here in the Midlands of South Carolina. They know the area, they know the
process, and they know the people.

When picking out a local expert, there are three criteria you need to remember:

1. They must have been in the industry for a long time.
2. They must have performed many transactions year after year, in both good markets and bad.
3. They must have a successful home-selling system.

To that last point, we at the Lance Woodley Team have a home selling system that’s both proven
and duplicatable. We can apply it to your home the same way we’ve applied it to thousands of others.
It’s backed by market research, and more importantly, it gets results.

So if you’re thinking about selling or you’d just like to know your home’s value, don’t hesitate to reach
out to us. We’d love to help you.

As always, if you have any other real estate questions, feel free to get in touch with us as well.
We look forward to speaking with you.

How Do We Use Merchandising to Sell Our Homes?

Merchandising is one part of a successful home selling strategy. Here’s how our team does it.

Today we want to talk about something that we think is very important when you’re trying to sell
your house: merchandising.

A lot of times, people don’t understand the art of making your house look great. It will take
cleaning, decluttering, depersonalizing, upgrading, updating, and more. Merchandising is one of the
things we do for our clients to help them sell fast and for top dollar.

We can make it even easier for you because we have the contractors necessary. A lot of times,
all that is needed is a little furniture adjustment.

If you’re interested in selling your house quickly and for top dollar, give us a call today. We’ll take
a look at your house, give you our opinion on its value and let you know what you can do in
order to sell it for top dollar.

If you have any questions for me in the meantime, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an
email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Here’s How You Can Sell Your House As Is

We have a way to sell your home as is and without any hassle.

You may have heard of our Guaranteed Sale Program, but did you know we have another program
that allows you to sell your house as is?

Sometimes, for a variety of reasons, people need a home sale done quickly and easily. Perhaps
they’re doing an estate sale. Or maybe they’ve lived in their home for a long time and haven’t made
any updates to it.

Whatever your situation, if you have a home you need to sell quickly, we have an investment group
that will make you a cash offer on your house as it is. If the program works for you, you’d get
paid in cash and go through a quick closing (usually within two to three weeks).

If you’d like to take advantage of this program or you have any other questions about it, don’t
hesitate to give me a call or shoot me an email. I look forward to hearing from you.

How Has Our Market Changed in the Past Year?

How has our real estate market improved in the past year? Here’s what you need to know.

Today we’re going to compare our 2018 numbers to our 2017 numbers to determine
where our real estate market is headed. The results are in, and for the most
part, they’re positive.

In 2017, there were 15,391 active listings in the heart of the Midlands, including

Richland, Lexington, and Kershaw Counties. 11,009 of those listings sold that year, which
comes out to 71.53%

In 2018, only 14,902 properties were listed for sale, but 11,586 of them sold. That means

that 77.75% of these properties sold. The fact that the ratio of listed to closed properties
is going up is very good.

As for the average list price, 2017’s figure was $204,838. The average sold price in 2017

was $200,013. This means that homes sold for an average of 97.64% of list price, which is an
outstanding figure.

In 2018, the average list price was $214,426 and the average sold price was $209,550.

That comes out to a 97.73% list to sold ratio. The ratio remains pretty similar, but the
average sale price is up just over 9%, which is more great news for sellers. The bottom line is
that more houses are selling at higher prices.

Finally, let’s look at our average days on market. In 2017, homes sold in an average of 67 days.

In 2018, that figure dropped to just 57 days.

All of these numbers are going the way we want them to go in a positive direction. However, every area and every neighborhood is different. If you want the specific numbers for your home, don’t hesitate to reach out and give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to assist you.

We Hope You Have a Happy Holiday Season

Buying a Columbia Home? Search All Homes for Sale

Selling a Columbia Home? Check out our FREE Home Value Report 

It’s hard to believe that 2018 is almost over. As the holidays are fast approaching, we want to take a
moment to wish you and your family a warm and safe holiday season. It’s the season of giving, and
we’d like to give you some insight into fun events going on in the area. Check out the list below to see
our recommendations for ways to spend the season:

Gingerbread Jamboree - Now - Monday, December 24, 2018, 10:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Santa Train Ride – December 15th, 10:00, 11:00, 12:00, 2:00, 3:00

Lights Before Christmas at the Riverbank Zoo - Now – Dec 30, 2018, from 5:00-9:00 p.m.

Candlelight Tours & Carriage Rides - Friday, December 14th - 6-9 p.m.

Ugly Sweater Crawl - Saturday, December 15th

Holiday Lights on the River - Now through Saturday, Dec. 31st from 6-10 p.m.

Main Street Ice Skating - Now through Monday, Jan. 21 from 5-9 p.m.

Carol of the King - December 22nd, 2018 at 8:00 p.m.

Christmas in Hopelands - December 15th-23rd, and 26th from 6:00-9:30 p.m.

A Famously Hot New Year - December 31st - 6:30 p.m.

For more holiday events, click here!

If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give us a call or send
us an email. We look forward to hearing from you soon. Happy Holidays!

We’ve Got What Home Sellers Need

To get real results as a home seller, you need to hire a real team with a real home selling system. We have all of that here on the Lance Woodley Team.

If you want to sell your home for top dollar, then you need to hire a professional agent with a real home selling system. When you hire the Lance Woodley Team, that’s exactly what you get. We have a real team with a real system that gets real results.

"We can get your home sold fast and for top dollar."

We can get your home sold fast and for top dollar, so if you’re ready to make the leap, give us a call or send us an email today. To learn more, watch this short video.

How Your Property Taxes Can Cost You Extra?

Pay attention to your property taxes. If you don’t, it could end up costing you thousands of dollars.

Buying a Columbia Home? Search All Homes for Sale

Selling a Columbia Home? Check out our FREE Home Value Report 

It’s that time of year again—you’re about to get your property taxes notice.

Because most people’s property taxes are paid through their mortgage company, they don’t even really pay that much attention to them. You should pay attention to them, though. If you don’t, it could cost you a lot of money. 

Only pay the taxes that you should.

How? Once the county sends your bill to the mortgage company, they don’t evaluate it to make sure it’s correct or not. That’s your responsibility. If your property is owner-occupied, your tax rate should be 4%. This is much lower than it would be if it was an investment property, which is taxed at a 6% rate. 

That margin doesn’t sound like a big deal, but it can add up quickly. If your property tax bill is $2,000 on your owner-occupied property, it would be $5,000 or $6,000 on an investment property. The county—in its infamous wisdom—has decided that any property that is transferred is transferred for investment purposes, even though less than 10% of them are actually transferred for investment purposes.

When you get your tax bill, verify that your property is classified as owner-occupied and you’re being charged the proper tax rate. If it isn’t, make sure you notify the county so they can make the correction. 

If you have any questions about property taxes, please don’t hesitate to give us a call or shoot us an email. We would be happy to help you! 

What We Can Guarantee When Selling Your Home

If you need to sell your house and you don’t want to mess around, call the Lance Woodley Team and we’ll get it done for you.

If you’re selling your house, you need to work with an agent with a plan. That’s why, no matter what
reason you’re selling, you need to call the Lance Woodley Team. We have a professional home selling
system that will sell your house quickly and for top dollar. We have a guaranteed sale program with no
strings attached that guarantees that we’ll sell your house for at least 90% of its real market value. To
hear our full message about why you should call us to help sell your home, watch my latest video.

What You Need to Know About the Changes to Lake Murray

There are changes coming to Lake Murray. How will they affect you?

Lake Murray is one of the best assets we have in the Midlands. It's fun to live on and play in. If you're a seller
or a buyer, though, and you're interested in the lake there are some things you need to know.

Starting with sellers, you should know that starting this October they are going to start pulling the water level in
the lake down until about mid-December. If you're selling your property and a potential buyer sees that there is
no water below your dock, it could be hard to explain that the water will return in just a month or two.

So if you are interested in selling, you should consider speaking with us now before this process starts. By
contacting us early, we can also get great photographs done before the water level is lowered in order to show
potential buyers what the lake normally looks like.

If you're interested in buying a property on the lake, this may be a great opportunity for you. I'm not
saying that you're going to get a place for 50 cents on the dollar, but you could be able to get it for 5% to 10%
less than usual.

If you have any additional questions about buying or selling on Lake Murray, please feel free to reach out to me.
I look forward to helping you soon.

PQ: If you're selling your property and a potential buyer sees that there is no water below your dock, it could be
hard to explain that the water will return in just a month or two.

Q2 2017 vs. Q2 2018: How Has Our Real Estate Market Changed?

How did this year’s second quarter real estate market stack up to what we saw in 2017? Let’s find out today.

Whether you’re a buyer, seller, investor, or homeowner, understanding local market trends will be
critical to your success. That’s why today, we’ll be comparing the second quarter of 2018’s real
estate market to the second quarter from 2017 to determine how our Midlands area market has
changed over that time.

First of all, there were slightly more active listings on our market during this year’s second quarter than
what we saw last year, with there being 4,861 active listings in Q2 of 2017 and 4,998 in Q2 of this year.
Of those listings, 75.23% sold this year, while just 71.6% of those listed last year successfully
closed.

The average list and sale prices have also risen. This year, the average sale price during our second
quarter was $200,250. During the second quarter of 2017, though, the average sale price was
$195,382. This constitutes a year-over-year increase of 9.75%. Of course, this figure only accounts
for the average property values. Not every home in the Midlands rose in value by this amount,
but the statistic does give us a good indication of how our market has developed.

Another area of change we’ve seen in the last year is the rate at which homes are selling. Homes
during this year’s second quarter spent an average of 56 days on the market, while homes during the
second quarter of 2017 spent an average of 65 days on the market.

With all of these factors in mind, it’s clear that our real estate market right now is very solid. Those
who are thinking of buying have a great opportunity to do so. In fact, the faster you make your
home purchase, the better.

So, if you have any other questions, would like more information, or would like our help in making
your move, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

What Makes People Trust Our Team?

What does trust mean to my team and I? Today I’d like to explain.

Buying a Columbia Home? Search All Homes for Sale

Selling a Columbia Home? Check out our FREE Home Value Report

When I talk about trust, I’m not just referring to things like honesty or integrity. It’s my opinion that,
in real estate, honesty and integrity should be prerequisites.

Trust, therefore, means something deeper. It is something our clients place in us when they make the
decision to let us guide them through their real estate needs, whether they are buying, selling, or doing
both.

Clients trust that my team and I operate not only with honesty and integrity, but also with a high
level of knowledge and experience. Clients trust in us and our systems, which, for home sellers,
means a fast and profitable transaction.

If you have any other questions, would like more information, or are thinking of buying or selling any
time soon, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.