Kat Geralis Home Team Wilmington DE Real Estate News Archives

In past blog posts, I have shared Tell-Tale Signs It's Time to Sell Your Wilmington Home as well as 2 Ways to Sell Your Wilmington Home for Top Dollar. But the Groundhog made a very important prediction this past week and if we're truly in for an early spring in Delaware, homeowners will need a boost to list their properties before the season arrives!

We are less than six weeks away from the official beginning of spring and yet, the busy home buying season may be upon us sooner than we think! Many Wilmington area homeowners believe spring is one of the best times to sell, but these next few weeks also have their own set of advantages:

Less Competition
As I mentioned above, many homeowners think spring is the only time to sell a home successfully and as a result, there is a rush of new properties on the market when the new season rolls around. Listing your Greater Wilmington DE home now means you have less competition from the numerous sellers that will list their homes from March through June. What's more, there is a lack of inventory in the real estate market that has homebuyers desiring more to choose from. Placing your home on the market now could put you in the running for a quick sale if your property is what today's motivated buyers are looking for!

New Construction on the Rise
Getting closer to the spring season means more new construction of single-family homes in Delaware is beginning to increase. According to a new study by Harris Poll, 41 percent of buyers would prefer to buy a new home, while just 21 percent would buy an existing home. Listing your home now could mean less competition among new construction properties as well!

Strong Buyer Demand
Buyers no longer hibernate during the winter months and as a home seller, you shouldn't either! Foot traffic shows buyers are still out looking for homes now and in addition, browsing properties online, on mobile apps and in email listing alerts.

Moving Up Will Cost You Later
If you're planning to move to a larger home in the Greater Wilmington area soon, you might like to do so sooner rather than later. Prices are expected to rise by 5.4 percent over the next year and waiting to purchase a new home could end up costing you more in both your down payment and potential mortgage payment. It is also not guaranteed that mortgage rates will remain this low for the remainder of the year— listing your home now is a wise way to get things moving.

The KG Home Team has been voted a 5 Star Real Estate Agent year after year and consistently ranks in the Top 1% of REALTORS in the State of Delaware. Let us be your guide as you consider moving to a new home this year!

We look forward to hearing from you!

Katina Geralis
Wilmington, DE Real Estate Expert
Keller Williams Realty
Wilmington Real Estate
Wilmington Homes for Sale
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We all know schedules can get a bit hectic during the holiday season and before you know it, your guests have arrived at the door! There is no better time than now to get your Wilmington DE area home in order for hosting holiday gatherings this year, no matter how many you plan to have in attendance. The best way to avoid any last minute headaches? Take it one room at a time and the earlier you can begin, the better! 

Consider these following five tasks your go-to list for holiday home prep and enjoy the season without any homeowner hassles!

Clean out the closets
Give your guests more room to hang their coats and store their belongings by purging your closets. In doing so, you can also make space for any gifts you receive or need to store before your holiday events. Start with coat closets and move on to your bedrooms as the former can be the easiest to clean out.

Touch up walls and doors
Throughout the year, your Wilmington home can acquire smudges, spots and paint chips. Now is the time to touch them up, even before you deck the halls with holiday decor! Small sponge blocks can quickly remove smudges from walls, bathroom tile, flooring and even appliances. The last thing you want in your holiday photos are scuffs in the background!

Clean your appliances
During the holidays, the focus shifts from living spaces to the kitchen and dining room. You'll likely be cooking up a storm if you're hosting guests—or at least eating at your table—so spend some time addressing dirty appliances and dusty dining rooms. It is fine to scrub the inside of your oven and stovetop prior to cooking your holiday meal, but do not self-clean until afterward! One of the main causes of oven breakdowns during the holidays is that self-cleaning button.

Clean your chimney
Gathering around the fireplace is a holiday favorite, so make sure yours has been cleaned this year! A local chimney sweep will remove soot and creosote— residue that can cause fires. While you're on this task, also spring for changing your furnace filter if you haven't yet. Experts recommend cleaning your furnace every four to six weeks to ensure optimal energy efficiency.

Winterize your entryway
As you welcome guests into your home, their boots and shoes will need somewhere to gather! If you store shoes in the entryway, add mats for your guests to wipe their feet when they come inside. Mats will also keep your floors cleaner longer as the snow and dirt can collect here rather than on your wood or carpet.

The Kat Geralis Home Team wishes you a happy holiday season and as always, feel free to reach out to us with any questions you have about buying or selling a home in the Greater Wilmington area!

Katina Geralis
Wilmington, DE Real Estate Expert
Keller Williams Realty
Wilmington Real Estate
Wilmington Homes for Sale
Visit My Website
Contact Me
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What many homeowners may not realize is that the late fall and winter can bring more success in selling your home than any other season! In fact, you may find that you sell your Wilmington area home for more money during these seasons. 

But how? What are the secrets to selling your Delaware home for top dollar? Aside from partnering with the right real estate agent, it's all in the details. The KG Home Team is happy to share a few tips for making the most of your home sale this year— and as always feel free to reach out to us with any questions!

Price It Slightly Low
Many homeowners think that the key to leaving room for negotiations is pricing their home over market value. However, what this actually does is lessen the demand for your home. Pricing should be done in order to maximize demand for your Wilmington DE home. This way, you may actually have multiple buyers bidding on your home instead of just one trying to negotiate the price.

Buyers today tend to be well-informed and pricing your home either at or just below market value will have them sensing a deal. They are more likely to bid on a Delaware home that is priced slightly on the lower side, especially given low inventory in many local real estate markets.

Work with a Real Estate Professional
When selling your home, you may get the idea that doing it yourself and forgoing a real estate agent will save you money. However, the exact opposite is true! Homes typically sell for more money when sold by a real estate agent than by sellers trying to avoid paying a commission. 

For instance, the Economists' Outlook Blog reported that the median selling price for all For Sale By Owner (FSBO) homes last year was $210,000. However, those homes sold with the help of a real estate agent had a median selling price of $249,000— just about $40,000 more than those that went the FSBO route!

We are here to help you achieve home sale success, so before you put selling your home on the back burner—waiting until spring or summer to list—remember these expert tips for scoring top dollar! Pricing your home just below market value can drive up demand and it always pays to work with a real estate agent. 

Overwhelmed in looking for an agent in the Greater Wilmington area? Just look what our clients are saying about us!

Katina Geralis
Wilmington, DE Real Estate Expert
Keller Williams Realty
Wilmington Real Estate
Wilmington Homes for Sale
Visit My Website
Contact Me
Find me on Facebook

If you have been holding off on selling your Wilmington Delaware home due to your equity position, you may want to think again. According to the latest 2015 2nd Quarter Equity Report from CoreLogic, 91 percent of all mortgaged properties in the country are now in a positive equity position. 

The negative equity situation that plagued many homeowners over the past years is gone. Rapidly rising home prices are the main reason for this improvement, which also reflects the increase in income and cash flow into households.

And while this is excellent news for the financial wellbeing of Wilmington DE homeowners, many do not realize that their equity stance has changed. For example, a Fannie Mae study found that 23 percent of Americans still believe their home is in a position of negative equity, when in fact, only 9 percent of homes remain in a negative position.

In the same study, only 37 percent of Americans were found to realize their "significant equity" position, even though 69 percent of homes fall into that category.

What does that mean for Wilmington and Newark area homeowners? The findings all point to the fact that nearly half of all homeowners are not aware of their equity situation. And with many holding significant equity, these homeowners could easily move on to a home that better meets their needs, whether that be a larger or smaller home.

These homeowners also have a wealth of opportunities available to them:

• They are able to make a larger down payment with their home equity
• They improve their chances of qualifying for a mortgage
• Ample opportunities for selling their current home and buying different homes

So if you've been dreaming of selling your home in the Greater Wilmington area this year, do not hesitate to contact the Kat Geralis Home Team! Recognized as the #4 Ranked Agent in Delaware by REAL Trends "America's Best Agents" List in The Wall Street Journal, our team can help you sell your current home and find a property that better meets your needs!

We look forward to hearing from you!

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Did you know 2 out of 3 people looking for a real estate professional research them extensively prior to working with them? And one of the first places they look is Facebook! Facebook is a great place to learn more about the real estate market and also check up on the agent you are considering to help buy or sell your home. 

Pay close attention to these things on an agent's Facebook page when researching and you will avoid feelings of choosing the wrong one down the road.

Katina Geralis
Wilmington, DE Real Estate Expert
Keller Williams Realty
Wilmington Real Estate
Wilmington Homes for Sale
Visit My Website
Contact Me
Find me on Facebook

As excited as we are about the warm, summer temperatures that have just arrived, the season also tends to bring its fair share of storms. Certain parts of the country are already experiencing bouts of bad weather and therefore, it's prime time to prepare your home in Wilmington, DE for any that may be coming our way.

Take this weekend to check off the following on your storm prep to-do list. With these tips, you can both secure your home and avoid any surprises that can come from Mother Nature this summer.

• Emergency plan. Draft an "emergency plan" with any notes or procedures your family should follow in case of inclement weather. Designate a room in which everyone should meet during a storm.
   
• Make repairs. Secure all broken or loose fence posts, reattach gutters or shutters. The last thing you want is for strong winds to blow these into your home or cause damage to your vehicles.
   
• Secure landscaping. Broken or loose tree limbs should be hauled away now before the storm season gets underway.
   
• Protect electronics. Install surge protectors for your expensive electronics and appliances as a lightening strike can quickly destroy them. 
   
• Create a storm kit. Gather flashlights, batteries, bottled water, snacks and a weather radio and place in your designated storm room for safe keeping.
   
• Prep for insurance claims. Take digital photos of your home, valuable, vehicles and the like to keep off site for potential insurance claims down the road.
   
• Store vehicles and furniture. Bring outdoor furniture into storage or secure it on your patio. Also, bring all vehicles into your garage to avoid storm damage.

Summer is such a fun season in Wilmington and Newark, Delaware, with sunshine, events at the Riverfront and more time for enjoying recreational activities. Don't let storms get in the way of your enjoying the summer or your new home in New Castle County. 

As always, the KG Home Team is happy to help walk you through the home buying and home selling process this year. From recommending local mortgage experts to providing a list of available homes in Wilmington, do not hesitate to contact us!

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Homebuyer demand is growing increasingly strong this season! Not only is competition increasing as well, but the real estate market is getting a much needed boost. However, the one thing that is lagging behind is housing inventory. If you're planning to sell your home this year, now is the time!

Katina Geralis
Wilmington, DE Real Estate Expert
Keller Williams Realty
Wilmington Real Estate
Wilmington Homes for Sale
Visit My Website
Contact Me
Find me on Facebook

When shopping for a home in Wilmington, Delaware, many buyers cite the "green factor" as part of their criteria for making a purchase. Buyers want to "go green" to save money on energy costs and of course, help their home run more efficiently with less of a footprint. 

One of the ways to do this, as a homeowner, is to install solar panels— these are the reflective panels that sit on your roof and subsequently bring down your energy costs over time. Solar panels are very expensive to purchase—many at a cost upwards of $20,000—or they can also be leased. If you go the leasing route, oftentimes the company will just give you the panels when you're finished.

But not so fast! What you may not know as a Wilmington or Newark DE home seller, is that your solar panels could be doing the exact opposite of attracting buyers this spring and in fact, killing your hopes of a successful home sale.

The typical solar panel lease could be up to 20 years and in fact, many homeowners do not tend to stay in one place that long. Whether it be due to a job transfer, downsizing or upgrading to a larger Delaware home, the probability of selling your home before your solar panel lease is up is quite high.

Instead of simply providing that "green factor" that many Wilmington DE homebuyers are looking for, the leased solar panels will force a buyer to first qualify to take over the lease or buy out the remaining lease before they can purchase your home— pending they even want to buy a property with these installed.  

Going one step further, if the buyer does decide to take over the solar panel lease, that payment is now visible on their credit report. Should the homebuyer decide to do a refinance down the road, that extra bill on their credit report may push them over qualifying ratios to secure a lower rate.

As you contemplate turning your Wilmington, Delaware home into a homebuyer's paradise this spring— complete with energy-efficient appliances and solar panels—first consider the complications that can arise when selling the property. 

The KG Home Team is here to help make your home selling journey both as easy and enjoyable as possible, so do not hesitate to reach out with any questions about what could raise red flags in your home sale this year. We can fill you in on exactly what buyers are looking for and what can ultimately slow down your sale.

We look forward to hearing from you!

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Selling your home successfully goes beyond home features, location and timing— one of the most important factors is pricing. Pricing your Wilmington DE home correctly up front can reduce the amount of time it will sit on the market. 

For instance, did you know that homes that experience a price reduction sit on the market longer and eventually sell for less than similar homes?

Katina Geralis
Wilmington, DE Real Estate Expert
Keller Williams Realty
Wilmington Real Estate
Wilmington Homes for Sale
Visit My Website
Contact Me
Find me on Facebook

As a new homeowner, the last thing you want to feel is unorganized after a major storm, natural disaster or property dilemma. 

Your home in Wilmington or Newark, Delaware is your happy place and taking a few preventive measures will help you keep it that way. This fall, take some time to research your homeowners insurance policy, make necessary repairs, and store valuables in a safe place. 

No matter which area of Wilmington or Newark you live in, these tips can help prepare your home and identify the best ways to disaster-proof the property. 

Do your weather research
If you just purchased a home for the first time or are unfamiliar with Wilmington, DE, it's important to accurately research what your insurance policy covers given the area. You can use resources like the Federal Emergency Management Agency's flood map to determine if your home is in a common flood area and if your insurance should be updated accordingly.

Create a safe home
Just as you would with a curb appeal project, start on the outside of your home.

• Store all outdoor furniture in the garage, basement or storage unit as well as any stray lawn tools or bicycles.
• Take the time to make sure your garage door is sturdy and functioning and if necessary, take on the small project of reinforcing the door. 
• For insurance purposes, take pictures of your home, including cars and boats, beginning on the outside and work your way indoors. Be sure to store these photos in a safety deposit box or away from the home.
• Review your homeowners insurance policy to determine if your Wilmington home is covered for all risks or a specific set of scenarios.
• Replace batteries in smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors.
• Set a meeting place for your family in case of emergency.
• Inspect your home's roof and replace loose tiles as necessary.
• Prepare an emergency kit with water, spare batteries, radio and first-aid and store in your family's dedicated meeting place.

For homeowners, taking precautions to ensure your Wilmington or Newark home's safety can make all the difference. The Kat Geralis Home Team is here to help with your journey, every step of the way, from home search to home sale— including providing tips for homeowner success after the closing!

By deciding to work with The KG Home Team, you'll be working with the #1 Keller Williams agent in Delaware as well as one of America's Best Real Estate Agents chosen by Real Trends in 2013. 

Agents are well educated and experienced with the entire sales process— just take a look at these 5 Reasons to Hire a Real Estate Professional.

Contact us today!

Katina Geralis
Wilmington, DE Real Estate Expert
Keller Williams Realty
Wilmington Real Estate
Wilmington Homes for Sale
Visit My Website
Contact Me
Find me on Facebook
Follow me on Twitter