An Update on Tax Changes in Real Estate

 For a certain segment of the market, selling a home is going to get a little more expensive. Here’s why.

Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report. 

Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale.

In the state of Washington, the real estate excise tax is currently made up of a 1.28% rate from the state and a .5% local tax to total 1.78%. That’s all about to change come January 1, 2020.

If you’re considering selling, especially if you have some higher-end real estate or commercial property, it’s going to affect you. It won’t have a huge impact on the typical seller below that, however.

The 1.78% excise tax is due at the time of sale and is separate from a capital gains tax.  On January 1, the total excise tax on homes in the $0 to $500,000 range will be 1.6%. From $500,000 to $1.5 million, that tax will remain the same at 1.78%. For homes valued in the $1.5 million to $3 million range, you will see a significant jump to 3.25%. For homes $3 million and above, the number is 3.5%. It’s based on the sale price of the home and is doubling for some property owners.

If you have any questions about this upcoming change or anything else related to real estate, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

How to Handle Multiple Offers as a Seller

Are you overwhelmed by the offers you’re getting on your home? These five tips can help.

Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report. 

Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale.

Receiving multiple offers on your home can be an exciting—yet daunting—experience. If you aren’t sure how to choose the right offer, these five tips will help:

1. Be organized. It can be hard to keep track of every aspect of every offer you receive without any sort of system for comparing them side by side, so putting each offer into a spreadsheet or something similar is always a good idea. This way, you’ll never struggle to remember which offer is which.


2. Set a deadline. Make it clear to potential buyers that you will only accept offers up until a certain date. This will not only instill a sense of urgency, thereby making your listing more attractive, but it will also help you to keep moving forward with the home selling process.

“

Always make sure a buyer is truly qualified to purchase your home before going under contract.

”

3. Get to know potential buyers and their agents. You don’t need to know everything about every buyer by any means, but it’s good to at least understand their motivations. When you know what’s driving people to make an offer on your home in the first place, this will put you in a much stronger position when it comes time to negotiate price, terms, and conditions. Certain information about potential buyers may also sway your decision to accept (or reject) their offer.


4. Make sure the buyer is qualified and that their lender is competent. If a buyer is planning to use financing to purchase your home, as most buyers will, then you need to verify that they’re truly qualified to close.


5. Accept a backup offer. While following the steps we’ve already covered can help you to choose a buyer who’s unlikely to back out, unforeseen circumstances can arise. Therefore, it’s always a good idea to accept a backup offer. This way, you’ve got a “plan b” to fall back on.

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.

Join Us for Our VIP Lake Day on July 3

On Wednesday, July 3, we want you and your family to join us for a day of fun at Mason Lake. Here are all the details.

Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report. 

Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale.

The Hauer Home Team wants to show our gratitude for your support by inviting you to our upcoming VIP event. It’s going to be a full, fun day out at Mason Lake on Wednesday, July 3. We’ll have boating, a live band, a barbecue, and much, much more. We’ll end the night with a fantastic firework show around 10:30 p.m. We hope you and your family can join us. All you need to do is click here to RSVP to make sure we get enough food and drinks for all. To learn more, watch this short video.

The Latest Trends in Pierce County Real Estate

As we head toward the halfway point of the year, it’s time to take a look at some recent market trends and what they mean for buyers and sellers. Here’s what you need to know.

Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report. 

Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale.

We’re nearly halfway through the year already. Can you believe it? Today I thought it would be a good time to give you a quick update on some trends that I’ve been seeing in the Pierce County real estate market so far in 2019.

For your convenience, I’ve provided timestamps below that will direct you to various points in the video. Feel free to watch the full message or use these timestamps to browse specific topics at your leisure:

0:30- A look at the current absorption-based pricing index (aka supply and demand)
1:05- How pricing trends have changed in just the last six months in Pierce County?
3:45- Why it was a good thing for our market to see a decrease in home appreciation
4:10- What’s currently available to buyers in Pierce County?
4:45- The two types of markets for home sellers right now
5:30- A final look at our absorption rate and what that means in this market

If you have any questions for me or would like to see the statistics for your specific neighborhood, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Which Improvements Bring the Best Return on Investment?

If you’re interested in adding value to your home before you sell, today’s message is for you.

Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report. 

Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale.

Not all improvements will bring as high a return as you might hope as you prepare to sell your home. When getting your property ready for the market, you need to be strategic in the upgrades and repairs you choose to invest in.

There are a few specific areas that will bring a high return on investment (or ROI).

To begin, make sure to spruce up your curb appeal. First impressions matter, which is why your home’s exterior is so critical to your success as a seller. However, don’t forget that less is more. Simple touches can go a long way in terms of adding value. The most important thing is that your yard is neat, tidy, and leads buyers to expect an equally inviting interior when they set foot indoors.

“

Less is more.

”

Also, make sure the color of your home’s exterior doesn’t hurt its overall value. Certain colors, like yellow, can decrease what buyers will pay for your home by thousands of dollars. Conversely, having a front door that’s painted the right shade can add thousands to your value. Researching and implementing current design trends can make a world of difference.

Moving on to your home’s interior, bathroom renovations bring some of the highest ROI of any project. Modest bathroom renovations will bring an average of $1.71 for every $1 spent. Making more extravagant renovations, though, is typically a poor choice. Over-improving your bathroom will generally cause you to lose money instead of gaining it. All in all, the key to upgrading your home before you sell is to strike a balance between “enough” and “too much.” Again, less is more.

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.