Take A Tip Tuesday- More About “Open House” In Ascension Parish.

May 2, 2017

This Weeks, Take A Tip Tuesday.

I take a deep closer look at the depths of an open house (add sarcasm) and how some inconsiderate customers can rifle through your home. Although this is uncommon it can happen. I took a more satire type approach to giving this information only to be humorous but get the point across. Last week’s “Take A Tip Tuesday” (Link is here To Last Weeks Blog Post About Open House) was the more realistic view of what could possibly happen. Just as a disclaimer I ripped off this idea from every more experienced and gifted YouTuber. I am not staking claim to being original to this idea.

I hope you enjoyed it, Please remember to subscribe if you liked this video and would like me to do more like this.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH0LUzFvtwb5B8EfVCF5uwg

Your Real Estate Whisperer
Kristina Smallhorn
eXp Realty LLC
225-246-1812
Kristina Smallhorn is a licensed REALTOR® with the state of Louisiana

Made An Offer On An Ascension Parish Home and Got Countered?

April 27, 2017

Made An Offer On An Ascension Parish Home and Got Countered?

In this current market, you would be hard pressed as a buyer to not get countered if you’re trying to get a bargain on a home. It is a seller’s market, and sellers are less willing to negotiate the listing price downward. It’s possible but unlikely. I just want you as a buyer to be prepared for a counter offer.

Why Was Your Offer Countered?

When you make an offer on a home in Ascension Parish one of four things can happen. The buyer can either accept, reject, counter or simply let the offer expire. (Most offers come with an expiration date). So if the seller counters, there could be a lot of reasons.

Did you offer way under asking price?
Was the closing date too soon or too distant?
Did you ask for too many items like pool equipment, refrigerator, washer, dryer or expensive window coverings that the homeowner treasured
The sellers didn’t want to pay for a home warranty.
You made the inspection period too far into the future.
You asked too much for closing costs.

These are just some of the many reasons your offer could have been countered, so what do you do now?

What To Do When Your Offer Is Countered.

Make sure to review your counter carefully with you Ascension Parish Realtor®. This is when having a REALTOR® at your side is most advantageous to put you, the buyer, in the best position.

Review all your comparables with you, REALTOR®. You don’t want to overpay. Evaluate if you really need those closing costs. Make sure your interests are being protected but you’re still going to win the house. If you see that there are issues with the home you may want to accept the seller’s countered price, and then have them reduce the price after you’ve had the home inspection. It’s important to consult with your Ascension Parish Realtor to make sure that this counter offer “if it’s because of price” will appraise. Have your Realtor® reach out to the seller’s agent to get a better feel for what the seller’s position is. Are they selling because of financial hardship? Or, did the sellers get transferred? These could be great things to know if you’d like to counter the counter offer.

If all else fails, and the counter offers go flying back and forth, you may need to walk away. You have heard the expression, “plenty of fish in the sea?” Well, in the housing market new listings arise all the time and others go back on the market. Don’t get yourself too wrapped up in a home where the sellers and or listing agent are unwilling to be flexible to get the deal done.

“Because YOU Matter”

Your Real Estate Whisperer

Kristina Smallhorn

Take a Tip Tuesday, Tips for Ascension Parish “Open House” Sellers

April 25, 2017

Take a Tip Tuesday

Tips for Ascension Parish “Open House” Sellers

It’s an exciting time when you put your home on the market. The news of your first upcoming open house may make you a little nervous. You’ll have images of people swarming in your home to preview it. The truth of the matter is, that in Ascension Parish Sunday open house is popular, but rarely do you get an offer from them. And the swarms of eager buyers putting in offers over asking price are only on TV shows. Even in this HOT market, an open house is just an introduction, almost like an opening act to a play. Buyers come through and at a later date, they come back with their agent to get a better feel for the home, if they liked it at the open house.

How To Get Buyers To Like Your Ascension Parish Home Best?

Like I said, this is the opening act, so you want to make the best first impression. I know you’ve heard to de-clutter. But what does “de-clutter” really mean? In the real estate world, it means to remove and store away any personal items like family photos, or shoes lying around. Hide your dog/cat bed and toys, remove any shoes by the door, hanging towels that aren’t decorative and make sure all your laundry is folded and put away. Prior to the open house would be a perfect time to tidy up those closets, and that garage you have been ignoring for years should be swept out and organized.

Prepare For Your Safety

For the most part, the buyer’s coming through your home are there to just look at your home to possibly purchase it. On occasion, you’ll get people who are there for a completely different reason. I’ve heard stories of people taking valuables, prescription drugs and even worse, firearms have been stolen from a home. A REALTOR® does follow buyers through a home but these types who are there to steal know how to manipulate their way into getting what they want. Usually, there is only one agent in a home during an open house and they cannot be in all rooms at all times. Your best plan or action is to hide, remove or store any and all valuable items.

Prepare Your Head

Like I mentioned before, you can get caught up with the idea of an open house, but you really shouldn’t stress over it. Take the four hours that possible buyers are walking through your home to go out to the park, or go watch a movie. You don’t really want to dwell on what’s going on in your home. When it’s time to head back to the house, check with your agent to see how the open house went to ease any anxiety you may have and get feedback. Your agent should have some good info to give you from the people who walked through. This is extremely helpful when you have a future showing so you can address any problems.

Good luck with your open house!

If you’d like some more information about selling your home, please feel free to reach out to me. I look forward to being a service to you and your housing needs.

“Because YOU Matter”

Your Real Estate Whisperer

Kristina Smallhorn

Why Your Ascension Parish Home Didn’t Appraise.

April 20, 2017

We all believe our home is the best and is worth every penny of the asking price. You’ve done all the right things to upgrade, in your opinion. Your home looks the best in the neighborhood and you want to get all you believe your home is worth. Nothing is more gut-wrenching than to find out that your Ascension Parish home may not be worth what you originally thought. Below, I’ve listed several reasons why your home didn’t appraise.

All Those Amazing Upgrades!

You know that you’ve done everything to upgrade your home to the highest end. Extra thick granite, high-end appliances, and an energy efficient water heater have cost you a pretty penny. All these upgrades have attracted buyers, but appraisers may see them differently. You may have over upgraded your home. If there have been several homes in your neighborhood that have sold, and they didn’t have those type of upgrades, the appraiser will not give you the same kind of value that you paid for them, making your home appraise for less than you thought.

Where’d He Get those Comparables?

If a home in hasn’t sold in your neighborhood in some time, the appraiser may have had to pull comparable sales from outside your neighborhood. This could possibly hurt your appraised value. Also, the appraiser could have been “comparable challenged,” meaning they didn’t use a comparable that best suited your home’s value.

Changing Property Values.

We, in Ascension Parish, have seen home’s values fluctuate dramatically since the Great Flood of 2016. Some homes have gone up thousands of dollars while in other areas they have dropped thousands of dollars. With this sudden shift, appraisers have had to really do their homework to get the value right. Be sure you have consulted with an Ascension Parish REALTOR® prior to listing so you know your home’s proper value due to the shift in the market.

It is unfortunate when you and your Ascension Parish Realtor® have worked together to have the home priced where they believe the home should be priced, only to find out during the appraisal process that the home appraised for less. There are many great appraisers but sometimes an appraiser’s inexperience or knowledge for an area can affect your home’s appraised value. You as a seller have options! Please make sure you discuss these options with your Ascension Parish Realtor®.

I tell you all this “Because YOU Matter”

Your Real Estate Whisperer

Kristina Smallhorn

eXp Realty LLC.

Why I Left Villar & Company Real Estate.

April 10, 2017

Let me start off by saying, there wasn’t a single dramatic event that had me storm out the doors and drop the mic, kind of moment. In June of last year, I finally dragged myself out of bed after being in a 6-month long depression. I have no idea what caused it! I just know I was completely in the depths of it. It had gripped my life and the only people who knew were my immediate family. One Monday in June I said, “enough” to myself! “Get out of the bed!” It was then I decided to live again and not let this take hold of me any longer. The first thing I did was to tell every person I knew what had happened, and why nobody had seen me for months. I figured that if I disappeared for a while again people would know to check on me. It’s a hard thing to admit to people that you are like this and some people may have not even understood why but I had to ask for the help. This was step one for me.

Step 2

My next step for myself, since I checked out for so long, was to basically kick start my career again. I hadn’t quit doing real estate but I wasn’t really doing anything to help myself either. So I began to really look at how I had represented myself online. Everyone is online and I knew that if anyone was looking for me how did I look like to them as a buyer or seller?

I took a look at my website that hadn’t been updated in years and decided to trash it and start from scratch. I could have created any kind of website, as there are tons of sites for realtors to choose from, but this time I wanted it to represent who I am. I wanted to control all the content that was put on it. Many months later I now have a website that I am proud of! As far as the content, I blog several times a week and write every article myself; this is all from me. ( The wheels of change are rolling quickly and I have been thinking constantly about how a client would like to find a home and what it that would interest them when scrolling on a real estate website. Did I get it right? Only time will tell but currently, I am really enjoying putting out content and I love using my own voice as the narrative.)

The Website Goes Live, Now What Did I Do? Step #3

I have not stopped studied about social media. I have always had a love for Facebook and I had heard of people making quite a business using it to kick start their business and careers. So this is where I started. I started posting and at first nothing; then I’d get a few likes from family but I didn’t quit. I just kept posting and studying. Then I added a video that changed my whole way of thinking. I posted a video on Facebook live of a flooded and gutted home. I did it mostly for people outside the area who had never seen one before, but that simple video got 2,900 views and several comments. Then I got on Facebook live again and asked a simple question. Why do You Love Ascension Parish? That 30-second video got 2000 views but only took me a few seconds to make. I was nervous as hell, and scared, but I jumped out of my comfort zone and did it. Facebook and social media in general, when it comes to marketing, is a simple formula of, how do I get your attention, and when I thought about that I knew video was for me. I knew it would fully represent my intentions as a local realtor in my area. I had so much to learn about my new found addiction for social media attention and how I could show the people of Ascension Parish that I had a lot to offer them as a Realtor here but I needed to give back.

YouTube Step #4

I had a Youtube Channel that I hadn’t used in a way that my new way of thinking was approaching my career. So I pitched it, just like my website and started from scratch. I started it one week prior to the Great Flood of 2016. My first few videos were me and my husband driving around showing how high the water was coming up. I wasn’t showing people in distress or anything gross like that. I mostly did those because it seemed anyone outside of the state of Louisiana had no idea we were flooding. At the time, no national media was even broadcasting it. Those first few videos got thousands of views. This made me nervous only because I didn’t want people to believe I was trying to use people’s despair to cash in on the attention. So I pulled back after a couple of days and began to rethink how I would approach my channel. This was a process for me. Studying and learning how I wanted to make this my own channel and still make it about my community that had given so much to me and my family. Months had gone by and I was always thinking about my next idea for Facebook live when it hit me. Why don’t I make a show specifically about Ascension Parish Businesses. I knew in order to really showcase a local business this couldn’t be a Facebook live thing, it had to be a real show.

Ascension Parish Coffee Talk! Step #5

A Wednesday afternoon I grabbed my iPhone and started recording. The first show I did by myself was about Ascension Parish Schools. I mean that’s why most people find us when they are coming in from out of state. This first show, If I’m being honest with you, is terrible but I knew I was going to post it anyway. I need it to remind me of the idea I had and how it all started. My original idea of doing the show from my living room alone was dumped and I began to reach out to local businesses. I knew after I wrote a blog post about moving to Ascension Parish from out of state that people not from here had no idea how awesome Ascension Parish really is. That was my most popular blog post I had ever written so far. That is when I did my first interview! I guess my enthusiasm for the idea sold my first local business to interview and I was overjoyed when she allowed me to do it. I knew what I would want to see if I was watching so I went that way and it worked. I LOVED the way it turned out, and I knew that other people would love it too. This was a way to give back to the community I loved and help clients get to know how great Ascension Parish is. I have done five shows and seem to be a great way for me and viewers to see all these great new stores that are popping up.

This has been an exciting journey for me and I have needed help to take my career in the direction that I see for myself. This is when I had to take a step back and self-examine every aspect of what I am doing currently. This is when I decided to go with a different company for real estate. Not because they aren’t supportive of me; they completely are. It’s because they really can’t walk me in the direction I want to run my business for myself. This is a completely different way of doing real estate and I believe I have found a company that will work with me to help me achieve my current goals. I am fortunate enough that Villar and Company Family are understanding of my current goals and said I could come back if it didn’t work out for me. I love them all like a real family, They were there for me and my family in some our darkest days and I know I wouldn’t be the person I am today without them. I feel truly blessed by each and every person that I have worked with there.

Step #6

The hardest step. Friday, April 6th I turned my paperwork into My broker Donna Villar and signed with eXp Realty. This is a new concept in real estate but I believe this is the one that will work best with how I currently am approaching my career. It is different than most brokerages in the fact I won’t have a brick and mortar building to turn in paperwork. The concept is new, innovative and super exciting for me. eXp Realty offers so much education and technology training, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. I’m very energized by the possibilities of what I can bring to my clients moving forward and can’t wait to see what the future has in store. I’m more than ready for whatever lies ahead. All I know for sure is I am ready and excited for step #7, “Because YOU Matter”.

Kristina Smallhorn

Your Real Estate Whisperer

eXp Realty LLC

“Because You Matter”

Ascension Parish’s, Consign and Design!

April 7, 2017

Ascension Parish Coffee Talk Episode #5
Consign and Design! Watch it on YouTube, Consign & Design

This week’s show is about local business in Ascension Parish, Consign and Design, Located in Prairieville Louisiana off of Airline highway. (In the same Plaza as the Sunset smoothie and Little Ceasars Pizza)

The store is a super brightly lit space filled with pieces new and old. The owner Amy Trahan was kind enough to invite me to interview her about her unique concept for a consignment shop.

She features many other design items like chalk paint for refinishing old pieces of furniture. This type of chalk paint you can even use on fabric and it doesn’t need wax. Save yourself a step and try it out.

Looking for unique scented candles, Consign and Design has several different fragrances that match up with luxury laundry soaps.

The furnishings in the store change quickly since it is a consignment shop so make sure to stop in often, you don’t want to miss out and on your new favorite piece that may come in.

Looking for something completely different? She has custom builders that will take your idea and build you a piece straight from your imagination, not sure what you want? Ask Amy Trahan her design advice and work together to make your masterpiece.

All in all, this is a super cool store here in Ascension Parish, Just another business making Ascension Parish a wonderful place to live.

If you’d like more information on Cosign and Design, visit their website @ www.atconsignanddesign.com or follow them on Instagram @ atcosignanddesign.

On a side note, the piece that was featured in the video (the tree that was custom made) is no longer available, After my husband saw this video he fell in love with it and I bought it for him for his birthday. But don’t worry she will be getting similar pieces in soon.

If you’d like a home near Cosign and Design, visit my website yourrealestatewhisperer.com

Kristina Smallhorn (Your Real Estate Whisperer)
Cell 225-246-1812
Office 225-744-2610
Fax 225-744-2910
[email protected]
yourrealestatewhisperer.com

Villar & Company Real Estate,37283 Swamp Rd.,Suite 102 Prairieville LA, 70769
Kristina Smallhorn is a licensed REALTOR with the state of Louisiana, USA.

Why Photos Are SO Important When Listing Your Ascension Parish Home.

March 20, 2017

Not too long ago, we as real estate agents would tell our sellers that curb appeal was the most important thing when putting your Ascension Parish home on the market. When the sign went up, we wanted the people who drove by to be sufficiently enticed to want to see inside. Now, photos are the new curb appeal! If you have photos taken with a cell phone camera that are blurry and too small for the MLS, they immediately turn off potential buyers.

Photos are the single most effective way to feature your Ascension Parish home in the best light to buyers, but you will need to work with your Ascension Parish listing agent to prepare your home for the photo shoot so you can capitalize on its features.

(As nice as picture two may be, with a clear sky, Picture one takes away all the shadows and show the home in the correct way for listing your home in Ascension Parish)

NEVER List Your Home Without Professional Photographs.

I don’t care how good the market is right now; I don’t care what your home’s value is; there is no excuse for poor, sloppy photographs of your Ascension Parish home or piece of land. In today’s world of text messaging, email and social media, your Ascension Parish home or Land can be shared very quickly, and the photographs make your home appeal to buyers. Bad photos will not be shared except between people telling each other how bad the pictures look!

I know the market is extremely HOT right now but in order to sell your home quickly and for the best price, your Ascension Parish Realtor® MUST take professional photographs!

Prepare Your Home Prior to The Shoot.

The simplest way to make your photographs turn out their best is to declutter by removing all extra items from the countertops in bathrooms and kitchens, and making sure to put away your coffee pot and toiletries. These items in photographs can make your spaces appear to be smaller than they actually are. As a rule of thumb, if you don’t really need it, pack it away. A clean field of vision for your photographer makes for better pictures, which will stimulate your future buyer’s imagination of making it their next home.

The Number Of Photos Counts.

Statistics have proven that the more photos you have, the more likely your Ascension Parish home will sell faster. Don’t think a good picture of the front and back of your home is enough. You should have an ample number of pictures starting at the front of your home, then going into the foyer and through the entire home, ending in the backyard making buyers get a good feel of how the home flows. I believe a minimum of 8 photos should be used for a home and a minimum of 4 photos for a piece of land. As a side note, the MLS allows for many more than 8 photos, so please take as many pictures as necessary to capture all the features of your home.

There is no excuse for not hiring a professional photographer for your Ascension Parish home, and the cost to have them done should not be paid by you, the seller. This should be a part of selling your home and paid for by the agent or broker. If your Ascension Parish realtor refuses to hire a professional photographer, then I personally would find that unacceptable. It is not a rule or a law but just something that is not difficult to have done, and the expense should never be a factor. This is YOUR home and you want it sold fast, and for the MOST money.

If you would like to see some homes with professional photographs that I have listed in the past, please feel free to call me at 225-246-1812.

“Because YOU Matter”

Sincerely,

Kristina Smallhorn (Your Real Estate Whisperer)

Cell 225-246-1812

Office 225-744-2610

Fax 225-744-2910

[email protected]

yourrealestatewhisperer.com

Villar & Company Real Estate,37283 Swamp Rd.,Suite 102 Prairieville LA, 70769

Kristina Smallhorn is a licensed REALTOR with the state of Louisiana, USA.

Has The Housing Market Changed In Ascension Parish Since The Great Flood?

March 10, 2017

The very short answer is yes and no! From a volume of sales, we are only speaking of the difference of 12 homes if we look at the same time period of January 1, to March 4th. In 2016, 258 residential homes sold. This year from January 1st, 2017 to March 4th, 2017, 246 homes sold. The difference is so small enough it would not indicate any change in the market. Our market can’t be determined by numbers alone. The market is still being driven by all the intangibles offered by Ascension Parish; schools, location, and lifestyle.

So what’s the activity currently? The market is great, but it seems to be leaning towards a seller’s market because inventory is very low and demand is higher due to the lack of homes available due to the Great Flood of 2016.

(the picture above is not an actual housing number graph)

The energy is high but very optimistic. Most of the others I’ve spoken to about our market say that they don’t feel like housing prices will spike up like they did after Hurricane Katrina. Most lenders, investors, appraisers feel that kind of spike won’t happen. The majority od people affected are wanting to stay in their current home instead of getting out of town to find a new place to live. While this makes a potentially stronger market for sellers, it doesn’t mean they are getting $10,000 over asking price cash like had happened before. Buyers are much savvier, and they would rather wait for the correct price home to come along. While multiple offers are happening, I haven’t seen or heard of any buyer willing to pay thousands of dollars cash for a home that isn’t worth it. This is good news because it makes for a more healthy market.

We have been blessed here in Ascension Parish that our market, even in the housing crash, never fell out completely with loads of foreclosed homes. We have a lot to offer here other than a nice neighborhood, as we are sandwiched between two major cities making it convenient for people working in either; our home prices are not outrageous and we, of course, have amazing schools.

*** To see Ascension Parish top rated schools visit this link https://youtu.be/-OsYQG4v9ME ***

This is an exciting time in our housing market. If you are thinking of selling and are trying to time the market to make the most money this might be the best time to get your house on the market. With summer right around the corner and school about to let out, I predict that this will be the busiest our Ascension Housing market has seen in many years, but again, I don’t think you are going to be getting a HUGE increase in price from last year, but your home will sell faster at the price that is fair for your neighborhood. If you’d like to discuss with me about the value of your home today please feel free to comment below or you can fill out the contact form and I’ll reach out to you within a few hours

( Link to contact me https://yourrealestatewhisperer.com/personally-contact-me/).

“Because YOU Matter”

Your Real Estate Whisperer

Kristina Smallhorn

What Happens During An Ascension Parish Home Closing?

March 6, 2017

When waiting for your home to close, it can be a crazy time. The list of things “to-do” is lengthy. Packing, deciding what items to sell, changing your utilities, switching children’s schools, finding local shopping and last but not least, where the heck is the post office? These activities can often make you lose focus on the details of your closing.

Luckily, you have hired an Ascension Parish local realtor to handle the hiring of a closing attorney to help with the Ascension Parish title process; review the closing documents and calculate the amount of money you may have to bring to closing. Your loan officer will also be there to explain what some of those closing costs will add up to. A few days before closing (as many as 5 days) your Ascension Parish Realtor® will do a final walk-through of your new home to go over the items on the repair list to make sure they have been completed and the home is in the same if not better condition as at the time of the initial sales contract. (to read more about what buyer need to know click here ( https://yourrealestatewhisperer.com/2017/02/20/what-prairieville-home-buyers-need-to-know-before-closing-day/ )

So What Does A Closing Look Like in Ascension Parish?

The closing is defined as a performance of all agreements made by you, the lender and the seller, a means to an end of the purchase of a home. If you are buying your home with all cash, you will not have lender requirements, but if you are financing your home with a loan, the financial arrangements will close at the same time.

A closing involves the simultaneous exchange of document and monies required to complete the transaction. You, as a buyer, pay the purchase price of the home to the seller and in exchange, the seller gives you the title and transferred documents to the home; simple as that.

(Both buyer and seller pay their respective fees and costs to the various parties who contributed funds, services, or documents to the closing.)

****A side note: Closings can take as little as a few minutes if buying cash, or take over an hour or more for financed homes, so don’t make firm plans and allow plenty of time for your closing.****

So Where Do You Go For Your Closing Of Your Ascension Parish Home?

Your closing of your home doesn’t have to be in the Parish you are buying in, although it definitely makes it more convenient, but sometimes it could be a few Parish’s away! You can request a preferred title company from your lender unless the seller is paying closing costs, then the sellers make that choice. This can be part of your negotiations if you are adamant on a particular closing attorney.

Not all closings are the same, that’s a given. Some closings do not require a closing attorney for signatures and may only require a notary. The difference between the two is that notaries can only provide legal advice or services on very specific types of matters. Another difference between attorneys and notaries is that attorneys generally must obtain two university degrees in order to be certified to practice law; an undergraduate degree plus a law degree.

If you’d like to know more about the closing of a home in Ascension Parish, I will be doing a YouTube Video with a Title Attorney from Commerce Title on my weekly show, “Ascension Parish Coffee Time.” ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH0LUzFvtwb5B8EfVCF5uwg )

If you have any questions you would like for me to ask for the attorney, please post them in the comments below and I will put them in the video. I look forward to your questions!

“Because YOU Matter”

Your Real Estate Whisperer

Kristina Smallhorn

What’s The Difference Between “Contingent” and “Pending” in Ascension Parish?

March 3, 2017

You see the sign in the neighbor’s yard “For Sale,” and you know what that means, but when you look on the internet and you see homes you like only to learn that they are either “Pending” or “Contingent.” What does that mean, and can you still make an offer on the home?

Contingent

A couple years ago I had a buyer who was annoyed with me because I was sending her listings that were marked “Contingent”. She thought this meant that she couldn’t have the house so why would I be sending them to her.

This is not the case! A contingent home is one that has an accepted offer but has special conditions that allow other buyers to make an offer as well. For example, a home on 123 Love Bird Lane is for sale; the Brown Family are buyers that put in an offer that is accepted by the sellers but they need to sell their current home first before they can purchase the home on 123 Love Bird Lane. The sellers Realtor® now mark in the MLS that the home is now contingent. The Smith Family sees the same home on the internet that’s now marked contingent, takes a look at it and puts an offer on the home that the sellers do not want to turn down. At this time the Brown Family is informed by their Realtor® that they can either remove their “contingency” and hope their current home closes without issues, or they can walk away from the home on 123 Love Bird Lane and find another one.

This can be devastating for Brown family, it’s a risk to remove a contingency as they could be left with two mortgage payments if their current home doesn’t sell. Some buyers are willing and able to take the risk; others not so much.

Pending

I generally don’t send listing’s that are marked “pending.” When you see “pending” above a listing, that means the home has an accepted offer and is in the inspection and financing part of the process of the transaction. The seller cannot consider other offers since there are no special “contingencies.”

In Ascension Parish we’ve seen many homes recently go pending quickly. With the recent flood, many buyers have cash in hand and are ready to move into a new home. Just know if you see a home marked “contingent,” don’t be afraid that the home of your dreams is gone! You can always ask your Ascension Parish Realtor® if the sellers are still willing to show and/or consider another offer. Remember, “it ain’t over, ’til it’s over!!”

“Because YOU Matter”

Your Real Estate Whisperer

Kristina Smallhorn