Looking Beyond Virginia Real Estate

Although real estate is local, we can help you find a top agent anywhere in the United States. We also have some wonderful, reputable lenders who can help you get financing nationwide.

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If you know anyone in need of great real estate service anywhere in the country, we can help. We have great real estate contacts all over the country.

As a matter of fact, we make it a specific mission to travel on business several times a year to network with top agents in the U.S. No matter where you are, there is a very good chance that we personally know someone who serves that area with the same top-level service that we do here in Virginia.

Just recently, a friend of mine who lives in another state had to move. She didn’t call me ahead of time before she started her housing search in a major metropolitan U.S. area. I checked in with her over the summer to say hello, and she confessed that she was having a miserable real estate experience.

Before you make a move, reach out to us to find a top agent!

Not only that, she was experiencing loan problems that never should have happened. Please make sure you contact us for recommendations before making a move. Some of our lenders service other areas of the country as well, and can help you with loans anywhere. We can put you in touch with very trusted resources to ensure that you have a smooth ride on the lending side as well.

I just wanted to let you know that we can help you connect the dots for terrific real estate service anywhere in the United States. If you have any questions or need to contact an out-of-state agent, give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to help you!

What Exceptional Tools Do We Have for Sellers?

Does your agent have the right tools to keep you in the loop during a real estate transaction? We do, and we’re excited to share one of our brand-new tools today. 

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Does your agent have cool tools to keep you in touch with your home sale every step of the way? We wanted to give you a little information today about one of the tools we have in our toolbox right now.

We are implementing a program that will provide sellers with a weekly report letting them know exactly what we have done to get their home sold.

"We keep our sellers in the loop at every stage."

Once we go under contract, we keep our sellers in the loop every stage of the way from contract negotiations to settlement details. We don't want to leave anything to chance and we want our clients to be informed every step of the way.

If you have any questions for us, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. After 29 years in the business, we have a lot of experience that we are excited to share with you. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

What a Marketing Specialist Can Do to Sell Your Home

When you’re deciding to hire a real estate agent, you should ask that agent whether they have a full-time marketing specialist devoted only to that agent’s clients. Why is this important?

Want to sell your Loudoun County Home?

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Want to buy a Loudoun County Home?

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When you hire an agent to sell your home, you should be sure that the agent has a full-time marketing specialist devoted only to that agent’s clients.

What are some of the benefits that an exclusive, full-time marketing specialist can provide? As an example, I’d like to talk about our marketing specialist, Mike Hauptman.

"It’s important that your home has maximum online exposure."

Mike has been our marketing specialist for the past two and a half years, and he is a marketing and internet guru. He manages our Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest and blog accounts for our listings, and is fantastic at taking the information and the professional photography for all of our sellers and using it to provide top-notch marketing all over the world.

As a matter of fact, our team has actually sold four homes online over the last 18 months, without buyers having even seen them in-person!

Mike is also a Zillow virtuoso. This is important to us because Zillow has really become the national MLS, and Mike has managed our account beautifully. He even provides integrated marketing, like ‘coming soon’ teasers for homes that haven’t been listed yet.

Perhaps most importantly, Mike has also been great at placing sellers at the top of national search sites, ensuring premiere placement everywhere exclusively for our clients.

If you have any questions about what else a great marketing specialist can do get your home maximum exposure, or you have any other real estate-related questions, give me a call or send me an email. I’d be happy to help you!

Why Communication Is Key When Selecting an Agent

Welcome back to our series about what you should look for when choosing a great real estate agent. Click here to view the first part of our series.

Want to sell your Loudoun County Home?
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Today I wanted to talk about two tools that real estate teams can use to communicate with their clients. Be sure that the agent you hire has exceptional communication skills to keep you in the loop!

One tool we use for that kind of communication is a showing service. This service helps the seller approve showings and know what days and times an agent might be showing your home. There's also an online journal for feedback on your home compared to others in the market.

"Communication is key, so your agent should offer a service for it."

You should also look for a team that uses an interfacing system that allows you to see what that team is doing at all times when it comes to necessary activities for generating a smooth transaction for you. In our case, my Listing manager, my Transaction manager, and I use an online service to give you a sense of what we do on a daily and weekly basis. You should work with a team that constantly gives you the chance to know what's going on with your transaction!

Since it's such a big transaction, the importance of great communication with your agent and their team can't be understated. If you have questions about finding the right agent for you, give us a call or send us an email. We'd love to help you out.

Why Are Renters Losing Ground in the Market?

Today we are going to discuss why renters are continuing to lose ground in today’s real estate market. There are some interesting trends at play here that you should be aware of.

Rental properties are not going down on a monthly basis, they are only going up in price. Instead of papering the pockets of your landlord with rental money each month while helping them develop their equity. It may be time for you to start thinking about developing some equity of your own, and saving on your income taxes through a mortgage interest rate tax deduction.

"There are some interesting trends at play."

The second point I have for you is that you will either spend more and get less as time goes by, or if you choose to be a homeowner, you can take advantage of that equity and an appreciating market, which is a huge financial benefit over time.

After 28 years in the business, we are always open and willing to chat about your specific situation. If you have any questions for me, give us a call or send us an email. We would love to hear from you!

How to Choose the Best Agent for Your Needs

What factors should you look for when choosing a real estate agent to sell your home? There are many important factors to consider, so this will be part one in a series. 

First of all, you need to look at who is on the real estate team. What background do the team members have? This is one of the most important financial decisions of your life, so you want to work with experienced agents. I am a listing agent, which means I only work with home sellers. When you work with a listing agent, there is no division of loyalty because they are there solely to protect your interests and focus on you. We also have a new listing coordinator that handles all the details in our real estate team.

"What background do the team members have?"

A good real estate team like ours will also have a full-time marketing specialist. The marketing specialist should be able to market your home online with stellar search engine capacity and attract lots of attention to your home. You should also look for a team with a transaction manager, who will take care of you from the time you go under contract to the time of closing. Every real estate transaction involves a ton of paperwork, and the transaction manager is there to make sure everything runs smoothly. 

Of course, these are just a few factors you should consider when hiring a real estate agent. We'll be back with more tips for hiring the right agent for you. If you have any questions in the meantime, give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

Technology and Teams Are Changing Real Estate

There are many great Loudoun County area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market.

We just got back from a fantastic real estate conference. We learned all the latest things happening in the real estate world in regards to new technology and how the team structure is changing the business.

This trip brought up an important point. If your Realtor doesn't’ spend the time to get educated and trained in these new areas of the business on a regular basis, you are missing out. It’s essential for growth, especially in a market that’s changing as fast as this one is.

"Education is essential for growth in real estate."

In the last few years, the tools and new education in real estate have helped to drive an amazingly better client experience. You want your Realtor to be getting fresh ideas and continuing their education. That way they can pack those tools in their toolkit and use them to your advantage when you’re buying or selling.

If you have any questions for us at all, we would be glad to answer them. We have the tools, experience, and structure to make your next home transaction a breeze. We can’t wait to hear from you, make it a great day!

A Chance to Grow with the Wicker Homes Group

Wicker Homes Group Virginia Real Estate Job Openings. The two open positions are for a buyer agent and a listing coordinator. Are you interested in a career in real estate, or do either of these specific positions sound interesting to you? Watch this short video to learn more about these opportunities.

Today I have some exciting news to share with you - the Wicker Homes Group is looking to expand!

We have two positions open on our team, and we wanted to reach out to you first.

"We have two positions open on our team."

We’re looking to add another buyer agent to our team; someone who can work with our clients who are looking to buy a home, and take great care of them.

We’re also looking for a listing coordinator. This person would work closely with me and with the systems we have in place to help me take great care of our clients who are looking to sell their home. This would include from the start of the transaction all the way through to settling and closing the transaction.

If you or anyone you know might be interested in these positions, please contact our operations manager Tad Wicker! His email is TadWicker@WickerHomes, or you can call Tad on his cell phone at 571-338-3883. You can also visit this website for the job details.

We hope to hear from you soon!

There are many great Loudoun County area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market.

A Special Announcement From Our Team

There are many great Loudoun County area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market.

After 19 years of working under RE/MAX International, the Wicker Homes Group has moved over to Keller Williams! We realized there was a bigger opportunity at Keller Williams after researching the company extensively. Here’s what they offer us that no one else could:

1. They know teams. They, literally, wrote a book on it 20 years ago. They are the leader in real estate teams. This is crucial for our team’s growth.

2. They’re number one in real estate training. Compared to other companies in different industries internationally, they are a prominent leader in employee training. In fact, they earned this title in 2015. For the past five years, they’ve been in the top five.

3. They know how to recruit effectively. We want to make sure every position on our team is filled with someone who is passionate and talented enough to serve our clients.

We made this move because we ultimately want to serve our clients to the best of our ability. This means having the best tools and resources out there! We’ve been thrilled with our transition so far.

If you’re thinking about buying or selling your Virginia home, give us a call or send us an email. We’d be happy to answer your questions about this topic or more!

How Much Longer Are You Going to Wait to Refinance?

There are many great Loudoun County area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market.

Today we’re going to be talking all about refinancing, and whether or not you should consider it as a Loudoun County homeowner.

If you haven’t taken advantage of a refinance in recent years, now is the time to do so. Interest rates are still at near historic lows. Even though the Fed raised short-term rates at the end of 2015, they haven’t trickled down to the long-term rates yet.

If a refinance has been on your to-do list, now is the time to pull the trigger. After 28 years in real estate, we know that every home and every situation is unique. If you have any questions for us at all about your specific situation, we would be glad to answer them. Just give us a call or send us an email, and we will talk to you soon!

What's Happening with the Northern Virginia Real Estate Market?

There are many great Loudoun County area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market.

How's the market doing? We're in early 2016 right now, and I've got three things for you to think about if you've been on the fence about buying or selling a home.

For starters, inventory is incredibly low. If you've got a house to sell, now is the time to giddy up! There are buyers out there who don't have a lot of choices. If you're thinking of selling, now is your chance to be a big fish in a little pond.

Next, interest rates are still low. The Fed did raise short term interest rates by .25% at the end of 2015, but so far that has not affected long term mortgage rates. If you're looking to sell your property and buy another, you have a golden opportunity to lock in a low interest rate.

Finally, buyers are still buying right now! They are taking advantage of those low interest rates, and they don't have a lot of choices. Our spring market has gotten into gear much earlier than we imagined it would this year.

So if you're thinking of buying or selling a home, get rolling. The market doesn't get any better than this!

If you have any questions, give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to help you!

What Does the Fed's Decision to Raise Rates Mean for the Virginia Marketplace?

There are many great Loudoun County area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market.

The Fed has a lot of meetings planned in the upcoming months, and everyone wants to know one thing: when are rates going to rise? It's not a matter of if, but when.

We're already starting to see changes in the Virginia marketplace. Many sellers are listing their homes to get ahead of the curve, and buyers out there are trying to find that perfect home in order to take advantage of these historically low interest rates!

So, if you're thinking about buying a home or refinancing your current one, we highly recommend trying to take advantage of our current historically low interest rates while they're still here.

Give us a call or shoot us an email if you would like our help taking advantage of this historic opportunity. We would love to help you!