At Home with Team Gabriel

Ways you could lose your earnest money and how to protect yourself.

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Can you lose your earnest money when you’re buying a home? In short, yes. The seller has a right to keep that money under certain circumstances. If the buyer decides to cancel the sale without a valid reason or doesn’t stick to the timelines, the seller could get some of the earnest money.

This is why you need to be careful when you’re writing an offer today. There’s so little inventory that you might waive contingencies to win the bid. However, if you waive those contingencies, you could lose your loopholes to get out of the contract. 

You want to make sure you keep your inspection period. One way to do that is with an as-is rider. This allows you to have an inspection, but you won’t ask for anything unless there is a major defect. Then you can decide whether you want to move forward or not without losing your earnest money.

"Your contingencies are meant to protect you throughout the process."

If there’s a mortgage involved, there will always be an appraisal contingency. With this contingency, if the property doesn’t appraise for the asking price, you have the right to renegotiate the sales price with the seller. If you can’t come to an agreement, you can get your earnest money back.

If something prevents you from getting your mortgage, you could also get your earnest money back. You might have lost your job, caught COVID, or had some other hardship. If one of those causes you to lose your mortgage, you can get your earnest money back.

So there are a few things that protect buyers and keep them from losing their earnest money. If everything goes fine and you meet all your deadlines, you will close on the house, and that earnest money will be applied to your closing costs. However, if you don’t have a valid reason to pull out of a contract, you could lose that money. That’s why you want those contingencies in your offer—to protect you throughout the process. 

If you have any further questions, feel free to call or email us. We would love to help.

Some Highlights:

In the majority of the country, this weekend marks the start of Daylight Savings Time as we set our clocks forward an hour on Sunday at 2:00 AM EST.

Whether you plan on buying or selling this spring, these tips could help you ‘spring ahead’ of your competition!

Spring brings two things: more buyers & more sellers! Get prepared now to stand out in the crowd!

Some Highlights

Even in today’s sellers’ market, there are still ways for buyers to win big.

Build a team of trusted professionals and make strategic plays as you budget and pick your desired neighborhoods. Then, be ready for the competition by getting a pre-approval letter and leaning on your expert advisors to draft a winning offer.

In a sellers’ market, you can still be the champion if you have the right team and strategy. Let’s connect today to make your game-winning play.

Here are agent Sharon’s experiences and why she joined our team.

Want to sell your home? Get a home value report
Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale

Sharon, an agent on our team, told us about her real estate experience and why she came to work for us:

“The reason I got into real estate was that I had two children and wanted a more flexible schedule. I wanted to be home for my newborn and when my son got off the school bus every day. However, the principal challenge when I began real estate was that I thought I would make my own schedule, but it turned out I was working morning, noon, night, and weekends, and trying to juggle family life.

"I love working with people and helping them find the ideal home."

Real estate started getting exciting when I met people and helped them through every step of the process of one of the largest investments of their lives. My motivation is wanting to help people, and I’m sticking with it now. Unfortunately, back in 2007 when the market crashed, I had to make the decision to go back to my previous job, healthcare management. However, once the market began to recover, I was ready to get back into real estate. I loved working with people and helping them find the ideal home for their families. 

Later, my family relocated to Connecticut, and I knew I wanted to continue working in real estate. Being new to the area, I knew that was going to be a challenge, so I wanted to join a team. When I came to meet Team Gabriel I saw they were easy to work with, down to earth, and it seemed like the perfect team for me. The training was great, it wasn’t hard to adjust to this new environment, they made it easy, and I’m very happy to be a part of their team. 

Starting a career in real estate is a challenge, but as long as you have structure and routine, and you follow those, you’ll be successful.”

If you have any questions about our team or want to see if we’re the right fit for you, call or email us. We would love to speak with you.

Kayla Zimmerman’s story of how she joined Team Gabriel as a new agent.

Want to sell your home? Get a home value report
Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale

Today Kayla Zimmerman is sharing her experience of joining Team Gabriel and working with us:

“I always knew I wanted to be a Realtor; I just didn’t know where to start. When I found Team Gabriel, I applied to be an assistant, but when Lori and Joe interviewed me, they decided I would make a good Realtor. I joined the team in August 2020 during the pandemic. They were very supportive, and I was excited to jump right into being a real estate agent because that was my ultimate goal."

"I love the daily support we get."

"They walked me through all the steps of how to get my license and got me settled into the job of a Realtor. I got my license for Connecticut and Massachusetts, and I love my job. Team Gabriel was very helpful with everything I needed, and I love the daily support we get; they’re always there to answer questions or help with any challenges we face. They help us reach our goals, cheer us on, and congratulate us when we succeed. "

"So far this year, I’ve sold 15 houses, which wouldn’t have been possible on any other team. I wouldn’t be where I am today without Team Gabriel. If you’re considering becoming a Realtor, I 100% recommend working with them.”

If you have any questions or would like to hear more about joining our team, call or email us. We would love to speak with you.

Almost every industry is currently struggling with supply chain disruptions. This also applies to the current U.S. housing market, where buyer demand far exceeds housing supply.

Purchaser demand is very strong right now. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) just released their latest Existing Home Sales Report which reveals that sales surged in January. Existing home sales rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.5 million – an increase of 6.7% from the prior month, with sales up in all regions. However, there’s one big challenge.

Inventory Is at an All-Time Low

Because purchaser demand is so high, the market is running out of available homes for sale. The above-mentioned report states that the current months’ supply of inventory of homes for sale has fallen to 1.6 months. This prompts Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist at NAR, to say:

“The inventory of homes on the market remains woefully depleted, and in fact is currently at an all-time low.”

Earlier this month, realtor.com released their inventory data for January. It helps confirm this point. Here’s a graph comparing inventory levels for January over the last six years:

As the graph shows, new listings coming on the market have decreased over the last four years (shown in blue in the graph). The graph also reveals that carry-over inventory has plummeted in recent years. This is because listings are now sold so quickly, they don’t stay on the market long enough to carry over month-to-month (shown in green in the graph). In other words, homes are not staying on the market for months as they had prior to the pandemic. In the report mentioned above, NAR reveals that:

“Seventy-nine percent of homes sold in January 2022 were on the market for less than a month.”

Odeta Kushi, Deputy Chief Economist at First American, explains it like this:

“A higher velocity of sales (lower [Days on Market]) helps to explain a housing market characterized by both higher sales & lower inventory. Many resale transactions are happening so quickly that they ‘flow’ in & then out of the ‘stock’ between the fixed monthly measurement of inventory.”

What Does This Mean for Sellers?

Anyone thinking of putting their home on the market shouldn’t wait. A seller will always negotiate the best deal when demand is high and supply is limited. That’s exactly the situation in the real estate market today.

Later this year, inventory (and by extension, your competition) will increase as many homeowners are waiting to put their homes on the market in the spring and early summer.

In addition, Len Kiefer, Deputy Chief Economist at Freddie Mac, says:

“Housing starts start off 2022 strong, just edging out 2021 for most in January since 2006.”

As these newly built homes are completed, they will also become competition for your house. This gives you a tremendous opportunity right now. Don’t wait for that increase in competition in your area. If you want to sell in 2022 and are ready to start the process, today is the day to list your house.

In Conclusion 

If you’re ready to sell, let’s connect to get your house on the market while today’s inventory situation is in your favor.