Welcome to Farmer & Company Real Estate’s newly designed website and blog. We hope that you find our new website easy to navigate when searching for properties and also full of valuable information, whether you’re a buyer or a seller.

In honor of our very first blog post – I wanted to give you the 5 most common misconceptions about Real Estate.

1. You don’t need a real estate broker to help you buy a home with so much information available on the internet.
Granted – you can search for property and get all the details online through real estate websites, however…buying property is generally an infrequent event in your life, but we deal with buying and selling property every day. You need someone along side of you in your journey that knows the market, knows the process, understands the contracts, disclosures & inspections and can help you interpret the data involved. Buying real estate can also be very emotional and you need someone who can help diffuse the emotions involved and negotiate the best terms for you.

2. You need 20% down.
While having a down payment will shave years off your mortgage, its possible to buy a home with $0 down. There are many financing options available to buyers and we will help you find a financial institution to work with if you don’t already have one.

3. My home’s value is whatever the appraiser says it is.
The market value of a home is determined by what a buyer is willing to pay.  Factors such as views, finishes, fixtures or neighborhood specifications can affect your home’s appraisal. So does comparable sales of other homes in your area.

4. Spring is the best time to sell a home.
Traditionally, many buyers begin looking for a home in the spring to give their family time  to get settled before the start of the new school year in the fall. This trend has made people think spring is the best time to list a home for sale. But not all buyers today are families with kids. Buyers are newlyweds, downsizers, baby boomers and people who simply don’t care about the school calendar. The best time to sell your home is when inventory is low, and we are just getting into that season now. So don’t wait to list your home until Spring. Instead give us a call today to get your home on the market now before those who are waiting until Spring to list.

5. You need to have open houses to sell homes.
Do you watch HGTV? Many of the shows end with the sellers hosting an open house and then miraculously an offer comes in (sometimes even above list price!). Well, unfortunately, we’re not in a metro area in California and traditionally open houses in Southern Illinois are not well attended. Now, you go across the river to Western Kentucky – and open houses are often times more successful. Does that mean we won’t have an open house if you want one? Absolutely not – the more you make your home available to potential buyers, the better your chances of selling it. But don’t be discouraged when there aren’t hoards of potential buyers lining up at your door. Traditionally, private showings (set up ahead of time with the buyer’s agent and potential buyer) are more successful in our area than open houses. When your house is listed, we ask that you keep a flexible schedule so it can be shown at a moment’s notice.

I hope that I’ve been able to provide a little insight for you about buying and selling property.  If you have any questions or are now ready to either list your property or start shopping for property, I invite you to give us a call today. With brokers licensed in both Illinois and Kentucky, we are ready to help you buy or sell property in Southern Illinois or Western Kentucky.  (618) 524-3000.

Stewart Weisenberger,
Broker/Owner
Farmer & Company Real Estate