Happy New Year! 🎉 If buying or selling a home is on your 2025 goals list, you’re probably wondering: What’s happening in the Richmond real estate market? 🤔 Good news—Zillow and Realtor.com have named Richmond one of the fastest-growing and most competitive markets this year! But don’t panic! While competition is still strong, the market isn’t as extreme as during the pandemic. Home inspections are making a comeback, sellers are more open to negotiations, and multiple-offer situations are more manageable. In this video, I break down what’s really happening in the Richmond housing market—beyond the headlines—so you can make the right move with confidence! Whether you're buying, selling, or just planning, I’ve got you covered. 📲 Thinking about buying or selling? Let’s chat! Call, text, or email me, and let’s grab coffee to see if now is the right time for you.

If you are looking to buy a home, you are probably going to see quite a few homes. What a lot of people don't know is what to pay attention to in each house to give you a clue(s) about the condition of the home before putting an offer in. Here are 10 things I think you should pay attention to when touring every home. The Ceilings The Roof The Heating and Cooling System(s) HVAC Return(s) The Floors The Gutters (or Water Dispersal System) Trees Around the House The Electrical Cracks Around Windows and Doors Weird Smells Have questions? Ready to talk real estate? Send me a message via Instagram at CindyBennettRealEstate or via my website!

Let's talk about my top 10 questions to ask a potential buyer's agent when choosing someone to represent you when buying a home. Ask any general questions you might have about the buying process. How many houses will you or should you be looking at? Are they familiar / what do they know about the area where you are looking to buy? What is their communication style? How are they at negotiating? What is their experience negotiating? Do they have an area or distance they won't show houses in? Are they familiar/up to date on all the forms and legalities of real estate? What will you have to pay for their services and what do you get for that commission? Are they a full-time agent? Are you a solo agent or do you have a team? Have questions? Ready to talk real estate? Send me a message via Instagram at CindyBennettRealEstate or via my website.

One of the questions people ask when they're buying a home, is, when can I get a warranty? How much do warranties cost? Should I get a warranty when I'm buying a house? So interestingly enough, I feel like home warranties were much more prevalent on listings, homes that you were going to buy earlier in my career, 15 or 20 years ago. Interestingly, also, there are more warranty companies now than there were then. But should you get one? And when can you buy it? Do you have to do it when you're writing the offer on your house? So let's break that down a little bit. There are all types of different home warranty companies and they are not all the same. For the most part, a warranty is going to cost you between $500 and $1,000 or they're going to cost the seller that. There is a space on our contract here in central Virginia that says, I would like to buy a warranty, the seller is going to pay or the buyer is going to pay. So it gives you that opportunity when you're writing the purchase contract. But should you, or should you get the seller to pay? If you can get the seller to pay for it, why not? It's not even coming out of your pocket. If it covers any little thing, it makes a difference. Things that most home warranties will cover are things like your garbage disposal, HVAC system, your major electrical systems, some parts of plumbing, usually the water heater, and any sort of major systems in your house. Things that it won't cover are usually the things that happen all the time. The little water leaks. Your toilet overflowed and it rains down into your kitchen. Won't cover that. That is homeowners insurance or just out of your good old trusty pocket. I would always just investigate the warranty that you want to use and know that it's probably not going to cover every instance. Remember, you can buy it when you put the offer on the house, or the seller can buy it before. So sometimes you might see a listing that already has a home warranty attached, but also you can usually purchase the warranty within 30 days of closing for the same price that you would have gotten it for at closing. Now, you can buy them at almost any time. You could be living in the house for five years, and then just call up the warranty company on your old-timey phone and order one, and they're happy to do it. It's just going to be a matter of what it covers on the house and how much it costs you on a monthly or yearly basis. Whether or not it's worth it is really up to you. If you have any other questions about buying a home in the Richmond area, I'd love to talk to you. My name is Cindy Bennett. I am a Realtor with Maison Real Estate Boutique. I've been full-time in this industry for 21 years, and I would love to help you make your home dreams come true.

"Is it the right time to buy a house?" As your friendly neighborhood real estate professional, I'm going to tell you, as with so many things, the answer is, it depends. What does it depend on? It depends on, obviously, your financial situation. Do you want to buy a house? Do you need to buy a house? Have you expanded/grown your family, or are you now an empty nester and you've just got too much house? Maybe you want to finally get that country house and have a huge garden and some chickens. Whatever it is, a lot of that 'is it a great time' question is answered with your actual feelings and idea of where you want your life to be. If we're looking only at the market, one of my opinions that I hold pretty strongly is that I think we have so much information out there now that's easily accessible, that sometimes we get all up in our head about the finances of buying and looking at our primary residence really as an investment, more so than it perhaps should be. Ultimately, you want to live somewhere that you're happy, that you feel safe, and that you can live the life that you want to live. Whether that's having a big garden or having no yard to mow. Think about the reasons that you might want to buy. Think about your finances. Talk to a local lender, who understands the prices and the market in your area, and contact a reputable, experienced realtor (me hopefully!) who can help you figure out and determine if it is a good time for you because what may be a great time for one person is often not a great time for someone else. I'm never going to make anyone buy a house if I even could, but if it's not a good time for you, I'm always going to tell you it's not. So if you're in the Richmond and surrounding area, I'd love to talk to you about whether it's a good time for you to buy. If you're looking in another market and you don't know a great real estate professional, I know lots and lots all across the country, so just reach out to me. I'd love to chat and see if it's a great time for you to buy.

The recent NAR settlement over commission has brought about some changes to the real estate industry. This has caused a lot of confusion over buyer's agency. Let's talk about the changes you may notice here in Central Virginia and nationwide. Have questions? Ready to talk real estate? Send me a message via Instagram at CindyBennettRealEstate or via my website www.cindybennett.net.

What do you mean I have to sign something just to see a house? I just want to see a house. If you're thinking of buying a house and you've been wanting to look at homes, or you have friends or family who are, this is probably something you've said or heard or have a little confusion about. I'm here to break it all down for you. This is a time of shifting and adapting in our industry, so a few things have changed. They're going to be taking effect this summer. So first things first, yes, you are going to have to sign a buyer brokerage agreement. No, it does not have to be for the rest of your life. You can sign a shorter-term agreement, but before you sign anything, make sure that you're working with an agent who is going to sit down and go through the document with you. Go through how they work and what they do. I never show a house without going through a whole buyer's consultation. Now, even if you've bought multiple homes over the years, you probably have not bought multiple homes this year. The forms, market, and even area are probably different. The home itself might be different. So having that buyer consultation is really going to help streamline the whole process for you and make it easier to understand. So yes, you will have to sign that, but please don't sign it without doing that buyer's consultation with the agent that you have chosen to represent you. And yeah, you can interview more than one. So if you have questions about signing the agreement, just know it is now the law. Nobody's trying to get one over on you, but make sure that you understand what you're signing and be kind. We are all trying to navigate this too. So if you call an agent and say, "Hey, I want to see 123, Main Street", and they say, "Hey, I need to sit down and talk to you first", understand that it's probably awkward for them too. We're all trying to figure it out, but as an industry and certainly, as individuals, our goal is to get you into the home that you love, whether it is your first house, your step-down house, your move-up house, or investment property. If you're working with an agent that has good integrity, they want you to understand what you're signing, so make sure they're taking the time to explain it. If you have any questions about it, reach out to me. Send me a message or give me a call, and let's talk through it. I'd love to help you find your next home.

So one of the old adages about choosing a contractor is you can get fast, cheap, or good. You can usually get two of the three, but you can rarely get all three. Lots of people ask me all the time if I have somebody who can do xyz. If you are in the Richmond metro area, you can always reach out to me and I'm happy to put you in touch with a great person to do those things. But remember the same person who might be great for one might not be so great for the others. So if you want to get an idea of what questions to ask, get my free guide on how to hire a contractor. In the meantime, here are the top three things that I think you should know. Ask about their license. Make sure their license is active and that they don't have any claims against them with the Better Business Bureau or anywhere online. Check their Google reviews, or ask them for references, and call a past client and ask them what their experience was like. Don't necessarily go with the cheapest contractor, because sometimes they're cheap for a reason and often it's going to be because they're slow or there is a reason they can go in cheaper because they are using inferior materials. So make sure that you are getting a lot of clarity on the actual work that needs to be done. Have a good grasp of your scope when you get started. Before you even hire somebody make sure they're clear with what you need, and that you are also clear with what you need and what they're going to do. Because if you hire somebody to renovate your bathroom, and they're thinking all they're doing is tile and you're thinking they're going to also do all the trim work and finish it and do drywall and plumbing, there's going to be a lot of bad miscommunication and disappointment along the way. So those are a few things to think about if you're hiring a contractor in this busy like "home improvement" season, but if you need a contractor in the metro area, anywhere in Richmond or surroundings, I'm happy to help. Give me a call, let me know, and if you want to know what things you can do to your home to add value and make it more sellable, I'm always happy to come out, and give you some ideas on that as well.

So you're thinking of selling your home, but you don't quite understand how all of this commission conversation, agency conversation that's been in the news is going to affect you when you go to sell your home. Do you still pay a buyer's agent? Do you not pay a buyer's agent? What's the difference? Why should you do one and not the other? What's the benefit? What's the downside, and what the heck does all of it mean? I want to break down some of these conversations that you might be seeing in the news. There is a lot of misinformation out there and I want to make it a little easier for you to understand exactly how it's going to affect you. So if you are getting ready to sell your home, and you are trying to find an agent to help you list your home, get it sold, and get it to closing, you should do all of the same things that you would have ever done, right? You want to make sure that you're comfortable and that you're confident with the person that you're hiring and despite the fact that it is a seller's market, you want to make sure that, that agent is going to not only market your property but make sure it's not one of the 20% of deals that falls apart before it gets to closing. You want to get it to the finish line, right? So you want to make sure that you understand what your agent is going to do and how they're going to do it. Keep in mind that now, as has always been the case, you can negotiate the commission for the listing agent when you hire them. That doesn't mean that every agent is going to work for the price that you want, but you should make sure that whatever price you are paying, you are comfortable that you are getting a great value for that price. And great value does not always mean the cheapest. Great value can often mean I'm paying a little bit more, but I'm getting so much more. It is totally worth it. I saw an agent the other day say working with her was like ordering a 10-piece nugget and getting 11 and that's always my goal, to provide a level of service that goes beyond what you expect. But keep in mind that commission is always negotiable. You can choose whether or not you want to pay a buyer's agent, but if you call me to list your home, I'm going to explain the reasons why you probably do want to pay a buyer's agent. It's just gonna give you that many more buyers. Lots of buyers do not have the cash on hand to pay their agent and you don't want to dismiss them out of hand before they even get in the door of your house. If you have questions about listing your home, you have questions about what it's going to take to get it ready, or you have questions about the commission and how all that is going to break down and how those changes will affect you. Reach out to me give me a call send me an email, shoot me a DM, and let's talk about it and see what's right for you.

Where are all the basements anyway? This is a question I get so often from folks, especially those coming from areas further north than we are here in central Virginia. Well, most of the time my answer is they're not here. You left them where you came from. The reason we don't see basements in a lot of newer homes now, even though a lot of the older homes here in the area do still have basements because that's how everybody built houses back then. So if you see homes from the 20s, 30s, 40s, obviously older than that as well, but up until about the 60s, you would pretty commonly see basements. Here in central Virginia, our soil is so dense and holds on to water so well, that it doesn't drain as quickly. If you have a basement in our area, it is probably wet and if it's not wet, somebody has spent a lot of time, money, and energy getting it to be dry. So while you will still see some newer homes built with basements, usually they're going to be walkout basements. The vast majority of basement homes here in the central Virginia area are going to be older and sometimes that's not what people want. If you have to have a basement, think about why you need to have it. Often, the storage or whatever can be solved with either a finished third floor, a garage, or something like that. We can usually make it work but if you're looking for you know a wide variety of homes with basements, you're probably not going to find them here in Southern Virginia. But if you're looking for a home and want to look at all of your options and see everything that's out there, give me a call, send me a message, shoot me a DM, and I'd love to get started helping you find a great place to live and store all your stuff here in central Virginia.