Ask Kathe
An Ongoing Column Offering News, Advice, and Observations: All About The Real Estate Market in Pittsburgh, PA.
What Is Today’s Desired Style?
Is there a preferred style that is more desirable to buyers?Six months ago, I would have told you that buyers overwhelming preferred the gray and white aesthetic. You know the look. White as the base color for “hardscapes” like tile, countertops and cabinetry with...
Prepping To Sell
We are hoping to put our home on the market soon. Any ideas for quick fixes that will help sell it fast? The easiest and least expensive thing to do when getting your home ready to put on the market is to start packing and decluttering your space. You’re going to...
Color Trends 2021
We are planning to update the color palette in our home. What are the “in” colors these days?Gray (and its many shades including greige) have been in-style for so long now that its hard to imagine it ever going out of style. Gray is still quite popular with buyers –...
High-End Must-Haves
What are the most popular “must haves” in higher end homes?The pandemic has certainly shifted the most sought after features on a buyer wish list a bit, and it will be interesting to see how this continues to evolve as we achieve higher percentages of full...
Seller’s Market
We keep reading that now is a seller’s market. Do you agree?YES! We currently have the perfect storm for a seller! We have been experiencing historically low inventory for several months. It has been suggested that as a great portion of our population is fully...
Multiple Offers
Are you still seeing multiple offers on homes these days? Yes, we are, depending on location, condition and price range. Multiple offers are primarily coming in the under $500,000 market. If your home is in a higher price range, that does not mean that you won’t...
What’s My Home Worth?
How exactly do we know what our home is worth?A home’s value is set by the market. Value is always determined by what a buyer is willing to pay for your home. Many factors come into play in setting that value. Market value reflects quantitative factors such as: #...
Housing Shortage
We continue to look at homes on the Howard Hanna website and have noticed there doesn’t seem to be many homes coming on the market. Just wondering if we’ve missed the peak of the spring real estate season? Have you found that there are typically more...
Inspect Your Options
The market is very hot right now and we are having no luck winning a bidding war. Should we waive inspections?It’s certainly true that waiving inspections will make your offer much stronger than a competing offer in which the buyer is inspecting the home....
Pocket Listings
We have noticed that several homes have sold lately before they have hit the MLS. Are these “pocket listings” a good way to sell your home? If a home sells before it hits the MLS, as a “pocket listing” as they are often called, it is highly likely that the...
The Demand for Supply
Why don’t we see new inventory hitting the market – has spring not sprung? The freeze is over and our real estate market should be opening with new introductions as I write. In fact, I have new introductions coming this week! That said, there is a glut of...
To Repair or Not To Repair
Sometimes it seems like everything is breaking around our house and we get behind on repairs. Isn’t there some level of wear and tear buyers of “previously enjoyed” homes are expecting to have to accept?The process of selling and buying a home involves...
STRATEGIC BUYING
Why does it seem like there are no new homes coming on the market! Your perceptions are correct! We have less than one half of the homes we had on the market at this time last year. At the time of this writing, we have only 61 homes actively available...
Move Out and Move In!
We’ve been cooped up in our house for nearly a year now with this pandemic and are feeling like it’s time for a change. Your thoughts?We are in the absolute best sellers market I have seen here in western PA in my 22 years in the business! We have less...
2020 Year In Review
Now that 2020 is coming to a close, do you have any reflections on the year in real estate?2020 is a year we will all be happy to see in the rear view mirror, and that day is coming soon! In March, we were all worried that the pandemic would result in a...
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Associate Broker
HOWARD HANNA
REAL ESTATE SERVICES
401 Broad Street
Sewickley, PA 15143
Cell: 412-779-6060
Office: 412-741-2200 x238
kbarge@howardhanna.com