myrtle beach | Myrtle Beach Homes | Carolina Forest Homes

Mar 28 2018

Winning In Multiple Offer Situations

Our spring real estate market in Myrtle Beach is here! That means that more and more buyers are heading to the area to look for a home to purchase. The snow has melted enough up northeast to allow the buyers to escape and head to Myrtle Beach to start the process of finding their new home in the area. With the increase in number of buyers, this also means an increase in number of offers being made on property in Myrtle Beach.

In more and more cases, these means that we are having multiple offer situations for our buyers. When I meet with a buyer for the first time I explain to them how our market is very strong at the moment and that if they see something while here in Myrtle Beach that there is a high possibility for the property they see to be in a multiple offer situation.

Today I am going to share with you some tips on how you can win in a multiple offer situation. As a Myrtle Beach real estate agent now for over 17 years, I’ve had a lot of experience dealing with these situations and have put together 5 tips that I think can help differentiate your offer from the rest when submitting and hopefully help you win in a bidding war.

The Price

Ok, so when it comes to multiple offers, the number one thing that the sellers are going to look at in most situations is the price. They are going to see who is giving the most amount of money for their property so that they can put the most amount of money in their pocket.

It is important that you put your best foot forward when doing this but not overpay for the property, especially if you are looking at doing financing. Many times, the selling agent will notify all parties with an offer on the property that the seller has called for a highest and best offer. When this happens, the seller is giving all potential buyers the ability to make one last change to their offer if they really want to win the residence. When this happens, sometimes a buyer pulls out, sometimes a buyer stays with their original offer, and sometimes a buyer will increase their amount, remove stipulations from their offer, or make other major changes to get their offer selected over the other ones.

The Closing Date

The second thing that you want to pay attention to in a multiple offer situation to give you the best opportunity to win is the date of closing. As I share a few weeks back, the closing date is a major component in an offer to buy and sell real estate.

If the seller of that property needs to move out and find a property to move to, they may want a longer time in order to find the property they need. If they own it and it is vacant and they want to get it sold quickly to reduce their expenses. Sellers who own vacant homes in Myrtle Beach have large expenses going out each month for utilities, taxes, and HOA dues. The quicker they can close and reduce their expenses, is normally better for a seller.

What I like to do from time to time is to find out that information ahead of time from the selling agent so that when I’m putting together my offer and presenting it we are setting a date that’s going to work best for both parties. I’ve even asked the selling agent before to find out from the seller what date would work best for them in situations where my buyer is flexible with closing on any date.

The Contingencies

The third thing that you want to pay attention to in a multiple offer situation is the contingencies that you add to your offer. Are you writing this offer contingent upon selling another home? Is it contingent upon a home inspection? Is it something where you are trying to get the seller to give you closing costs? Or you are trying to have them fix a bunch of things in the house?

If those things are happening, they are all contingencies that make more work for the seller. The less of those you have in your offer, the better likelihood you are to be picked over some of the other offers they receive. If the sellers have three offers on their Myrtle Beach home and two have contingencies for things to be repaired and inspections to be done while the other offer is willing to purchase the property AS IS, the AS IS offer will be much more appealing to the seller since it involves less work on the home, less questions whether the buyers will actually purchase. If all other parts of the contract are similar, 9 out of 10 times the seller will take this offer over the others.

The Qualifications To Buy

The fourth thing that you want to pay attention to is your money side of things. If you are paying cash for this property, get you a proof of funds letter ahead of time from your bank and submit it with your offer. If you are doing financing, you can still buy the property and win it when you are doing financing if you have a pre-approval ahead of time. I’ll share with you guys at the end how I recently won a multiple offer situation where we had financing over a cash offer.

It is extremely important to include this documentation when submitting your offer to the selling agent. This is the proof showing that you are actually qualified to make the purchase and have actually started the process which makes your offer MUCH more appealing over someone else who the seller does not even know if they can get the money to make the purchase.

The Earnest Money

So the fifth tip I want to talk about today is earnest money. Earnest money is the down money you are putting down with your offer to show that you have interest in this property. While someone else might put only $500 or $1,000 down, if you were to put maybe $2,000, $3,000, $5,000 down you are going to make your offer look more appealing over your competition.

Now you do run a risk of losing that money if you were to walk away from the deal, but if everything goes as planned, and you end up closing on the property, it’s going to help set you apart from someone else. The sellers will look at a deal with more money down as a major appeal over one with less. Just know if for some reason the deal goes south, you do run a risk of losing this money.

How I Win Multiple Offers

So I hope you found a lot of value in these five tips today. And as I mentioned a few minutes ago I wanted to share with you a story recently where I had a multiple offer situation and my buyers were able to win. We were in a multiple offer situation, the agent told us there were other offers on the table make sure you bring your highest and best offer in.

So I spoke with my buyers and we did what these 5 tips said. We got a pre-approval ahead of time, we got a strong earnest money that was higher than what normally people would give, we allowed the sellers to pick the date we are going to close, and we wrote it with basically no contingencies in our offer.

Our offer was picked over other ones and the agent shared with me that the items I suggested to my buyers to make as appealing as possible were the reasons we got our offer picked. Were we probably the highest number one? Maybe not. But, having those four other items in place for us was able to help us win over the others. I know for a fact, one of those other offers even was a cash offer. But our financing one was taken over it because these four other factors made is look like a better option to the sellers. We will actually be closing on this property here in the next few weeks.

Take these five tips to heart, put them into practice and you will be able to win in a multiple offer situation. If you are looking to buy a home in Myrtle Beach and want someone to help you to get the home in a bidding war, feel free to contact me here or call me directly at 843-222-9402. I’d love the opportunity to work with you in buying your next home in Myrtle Beach.

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Feb 06 2018

5 Mistakes To Avoid When Selling A House

In today’s 2 minute Tuesday we are going to discuss 5 mistakes to avoid when selling a home in Myrtle Beach. As a Myrtle Beach REALTOR® for 17 years now, I have seen these 5 mistakes made by sellers on multiple occasions when trying to sell their home. While agents try to always honor the requests of their clients when selling, there are sometimes certain requests that can cause major problems in the sale process and even prevent your home from actually getting sold.

24 Hour Showing Notice Required

Ok, so the first thing I wanted to talk about is the 24 hour showing notice. So many times I run into consumers who say “Listen, we need plenty of time to get our home perfect, so we want a 24 hour notice minimum requirement for any showings on our house.” Now while in theory this sounds great to you as a seller, what you are doing is you are missing out on a ton of potential buyers because you have to think, here in Myrtle Beach they are on vacation for a limited amount of time they may have 2 or 3 days to look at homes and if they are required to do a 24 hour notice to see your property they may not see it.

If I am working as the buyers agent and they are only in town for a three day period, we cannot wait 24 hours always to view your home. In our market, that type of time period simply will not work. Whenever we have these types of restrictions on viewing the home, almost always the buyer simply says “just skip that one.” Now, I understand that there are sometimes circumstances beyond your control that you have to have that extra time. You may have an elderly person living in the home that you need that extra time to prepare and transport, you might be running your business from your house and need that time to make arrangements with work, or maybe you have a pet that you need to remove from the property. These are the exceptions, but should not be the rule.

The main reason people want that 24 hours to prepare their home for a showing is that they want to give the home a quick cleaning, they want to make sure everything is spotless and looks as best as possible for the potential buyer entering their home. I get that, but while you are forcing people to wait for you to clean, you are actually losing potential buyers. So while you think that the longer period to get your home perfect is a good idea, it could really cause you to miss out on a lot of good possible showings.

No Sign In The Yard

The second mistake I see sellers make when they are selling their house is they say “Jeremy I don’t want a yard sign in the front yard. I don’t want my neighbors to find out that I’m selling my house, I don’t want people who come up to my door pestering me because they see a sign there. Once again I know that sometimes there might be circumstances like moving away and having to leave a job that might be compromised if they find out your home is on the market, so you cannot place the sign out there. But, when you skip the sign, you give up one of the most powerful marketing tools possible to sell your home.

In Myrtle Beach, people are constantly out driving around looking for yard signs to find property for sale. When I have a property that I can place a yard sign in front of, I can normally expect a minimum of 5-7 calls from potential buyers interested in that home. Also, with our company we’re using a service called Voicepad that allows people to call or text a number and find out all the details on your home. With this service, it should keep the number of visitors to the door wanting to know details on your home. When you take that sign out of the front yard and don’t allow it to be there, you are missing a huge opportunity.

Leaving The House Show Ready

The third thing that I’m seeing happen regularly is people saying no I don’t want a showing today because the home is not clean. My suggestion to you as a REALTOR® is to try and keep your home in show ready condition or as close to it as you can whenever you place your home on the market. However, as a father of a 9, 7, & 3 year old, I know how difficult it is to keep your house spotless at all times when living in the home with children.

If you have somebody who calls you and says they we want to show your home today at 3 o’clock and it’s 10 in the morning and you have already left for work but you didn’t make the bed, it’s OK, still let them go through and see the home. They are not buying the house based on whether or not the bed is made. I have however experienced a seller missing the sale of their home because they didn’t clean up the dirty clothing on the floor before leaving in the morning. The buyers called last minute and wanted to see the home for a second time to make their final decision before boarding an airplane to head back home.

There was no time for the seller to get back home and clean things up and when they left for work in the morning they were running late, so they didn’t load the dishes into the dishwasher and their clothing from the night before were just left on the floor. The buyers feedback to me was that they changed their mind about buying the home because they had to step over the panties of the seller and they were concerned that they didn’t take the best care of the home because of this. If the sellers had simply cleaned up the dirty clothes and loaded the dishwasher, we would have sold that home that day.

The Crayon Box Effect

Number four is a huge problem I see too many times made by people trying to sell a home in Myrtle Beach. When you purchase a home you want to customize it, you want to make it your own personality inside. That may mean that you make one of bedrooms pink, another one blue, your living room might be green, your dining room might be red. I know every home I’ve ever owned we have customized the rooms to our preference and gave the house our own personal touch inside. While these are your own personal preferences of things you like, unfortunately others can have a hard time visualizing themself in the home when it painted with a bunch of custom colors.

When every room in the house is painted a different color, I call it the Crayon Box Effect. It feels like a box of crayons vomited in your home onto the walls of your property. There is no continuity throughout the house. While it’s OK to have color in your house when you live there, when you are getting ready to sell your home, you need to make sure your home is neutralized and in the best condition inside possible. That means if you have different colors everywhere, you have wallpaper hanging, take all that stuff down, neutralize back to colors that are not going to be offensive. This will help your home to sell faster, and for more money too! If you want to see more on this topic, I wrote about it here a few months back here in Tips to selling your Myrtle Beach home-Staging.

Front Yard First Impressions

And the final thing that I think needs to be done when you are selling a house in Myrtle Beach is that you need to make sure your front yard is in pristine condition. You have to think, the first thing people see when they pull up to your house is the front yard. If they pull up and they see weeds that are up to their knees, they see grass growing between the sidewalks, they immedtiately think that it’s not in good condition. Their minds begin to wander to what else might be wrong in the house, or that your home hasn’t been well kept. A messy front yard sets off warning signs to them and they are already forming an opinion about your house before ever walking in the door.

Think of it this way, when you go to a restaurant and this is what we used to say when I was in the restaurant industry, “People eat with their eyes first” make the plate look beautiful. The nice thing your front yard is that most of the time it is a very minimal cost item to make look good. Some fresh mulch, pulled weeds, $30 of flowers and a lawnmower and you are in business. Do the same thing with your front yard that restaurants do with a plate of food and you are going to be in much better shape.

Bonus Tip

Here’s a bonus tip when selling your home. When you list your home on the market, allow your agent to install a lockbox on the property. It will increase the number of showings on your home immensely. With the new types of technology, the lockboxes are now more secure than ever. They track every single time it is opened and shares that information with your listing agent. They also prohibit people from opening the lockboxes at night or early in the morning. You have very little to worry about when it comes to someone opening the lockbox and entering your home without someone knowing it.

But, if you require the agent to pick up a key from another location, most of the times they will just move on to another option. Whenever I take a listing that has a tenant in place and the rental management company will not allow us to install a lockbox, those listings take much longer to sell because agents do not want to have to drive to another location to get they key and then have to return it again after showing. Allow the agent to install a lockbox on your property get much better results.

Ok so there you have it, 5 mistakes to avoid when selling a home in Myrtle Beach. If you would like to learn more about selling a home, feel free to call me at 843-222-9402 or simply click here to contact me.

Jan 30 2018

8 Places To Watch A Sporting Event In Myrtle Beach

With the Super Bowl right around the corner, I figured this was a perfect time to answer where are the best places in Myrtle Beach to watch the Super Bowl. So, I went to Facebook and asked the question to my friends. After several responses, I have listed below the top places to catch a sporting event in Myrtle Beach.

The first place recommended to me by my peers was The Grumpy Monk in Carolina Forest. This place has a great atmosphere we can go catch the game hang with friends and eat some delicious food. I’ve been told that their hot wings are rather tasty.

The second place to go check out the Super Bowl in Myrtle Beach is Wild Wing Café in barefoot Landing. This is one of my personal favorites to go to. My wife and I enjoy going to Wild Wing Café on Tuesdays to enjoy their Two Fer Tuesday wing special. Definitely try the Boss flavor wings. They are done with a dry rub that has just enough heat. They are my personal favorites!

Next is Carolina Ale House. This is a fairly new restaurant that just opened up near Broadway at the Beach. They have a ton of TVs, pool tables and other fun things to do as well. When I go here, I always get one of their yummy burgers.

Another great option is Dagwood’s Deli. They are known for some of the best sandwiches on the beach. I personally like the French dip. Here you can enjoy the game on one of their extra large TVs.

If you have children and want to watch the game, then Dave and Buster’s at Broadway at the Beach might be the right choice for you. Your children can be entertained by all of the games in the arcade while you can relax and enjoy watching the Super Bowl on one of their many televisions. Another option is Sam Snead’s over in Carolina Forest. Once again, a great atmosphere with amazing food.

The final place to check out the big game here in Myrtle Beach would be Buffalo Wild Wings. They have multiple locations up and down the beach, delicious food, and a great atmosphere for a sporting event.

There you have it, the best places in Myrtle Beach to Watch a sporting event. If there is a different place that you prefer watching a sporting event in Myrtle Beach, feel free to leave it in the comments below.

Photo by Sandro Schuh on Unsplash

Photo by Carl Raw on Unsplash

Jan 26 2018

Bald Eagles In Myrtle Beach

It seems every year around this time we have an influx of extra birds in our area. Our home sits on a pond, and it is not uncommon to view anywhere from 10-100 birds either on it, or circling above it in the air on any given day. Normally you will find ducks, some seagulls, a few egrets, and herron, but in our neighborhood you normally will also find a pair of swans circling on the water.

This year however we have found something else very dramatic around the pond on more than one occasion. That is a pair of beautiful, majestic Bald Eagles. We have watched them soar above the pond and then swoop down to catch a fish to eat. To get a better view, they have been found on various days perched on the roof of a neighbors house spying out their next meal on the water. Here’s a video my wife caught yesterday of these beautiful birds flying around one of the other ponds in our neighborhood:

I’ve lived in Cameron Village now for over 3 years and this is the first time I can remember seeing Bald Eagles here. Here’s a few other photos that were taken by our neighbor Patty Sprague:

I hope that you enjoyed these amazing images as much as I have. I must admit, while these photos are beautiful, nothing beats seeing it in person here in Myrtle Beach! If you would like to purchase a place in the Myrtle Beach area, feel free to reach out & contact me.

Jan 23 2018

Most Romantic Restaurants in Myrtle Beach

Valentine’s Day is just a few weeks away, so I figured that for this week’s Two Minute Tuesday I would share with you the most romantic restaurants in Myrtle Beach. While I consider myself to be pretty good in this category, I wanted to get the opinions of others as well, so I asked on Facebook my friend where they thought were the most romantic restaurants in Myrtle Beach. The video below covers the 5 most popular places, but make sure to read the entire list of recommendations after.

5 Most Romantic Restaurants In Myrtle Beach

5. Thoroughbreds Chophouse and Seafood Grille. I’ve been to this restaurant several times myself, in fact, I’ve gone to weddings receptions there. It’s a great romantic place where they have very quaint settings, amazing food, and awesome steaks. They are just reopening from doing renovations, and take reservations, so I’d call quickly to get your reservation. Also, try the Angels on Horseback- Jumbo sea scallops, wrapped in Applewood smoked bacon and served with butternut squash puree, sweet potato sticks, and our Kentucky bourbon sauce, a personal favorite!

4. Frank’s Restaurant & Outback down in Pawleys Island. I’ve never been there, but from everyone who responded to the question, they said Frank’s is an amazing place that you should go check out, so definitely go give that one a test, and I will soon as well. The 20 oz bone in ribeye is calling my name.

3. New York Prime Steakhouse. I’ve heard this is a great amazing romantic place to go take your date and have some amazing food. I’m going to definitely try the extra thick bacon when I go, and from what I’ve been told, this is the place to go to find the absolute best steaks on the beach.

2. The Library. The library used to be located in downtown Myrtle Beach right near where the Pavilion was. However they just recently moved about 55 avenues north up in Myrtle Beach into a brand new location. I had a lot of people who responded saying the new location is amazing it’s quaint, and a very romantic place to take your date. Plus, you can never go wrong here with their She Crab soup.

1. The Melting Pot. Where else can you go and have a romantic date in a private booth with your special someone where you can share together, sit side by side and create your own magical meal. from the cheese dip fondue to start to the main entree, to the chocolate dessert fondues, it is probably the most romantic place on the beach. One word of caution, be careful your server doesn’t go overboard on garlic in the cheese fondue. My wife & I have a funny story about this we can share with you, feel free to ask us about it.

Honorable Mentions

Here’s a few other restaurants that were listed on my post that you may want to give a try as well if the top 5 are all booked up with reservations, or you want something not quite as popular. I’ve eaten at many of these restaurants and can honestly say, the food will be just as good.

So there you have it, the most romantic restaurants in Myrtle Beach and the surrounding Grand Strand. Make sure to get your reservations in place now, and leave a comment below letting me know which place you are planning to go to with your date!