Summary
In this episode, Joe and Makayla dive deep into the pressing question that's on many minds: Is now the right time to buy or sell a home? Our hosts provide insights into the current real estate market dynamics, interest rates, inventory, and affordability, offering advice to both buyers and sellers.
Highlights
1. Unveiling the Big Question (00:01:48 - 00:02:30)
Joe acknowledges the crucial question: Is it the opportune moment to buy or sell a house? Makayla emphasizes the importance of gathering knowledge and crunching the numbers before making decisions. They both stress that it ultimately comes down to personal choice.
2. Buyer's Delight (00:02:30 - 00:05:20)
Makayla reveals the exciting news for potential buyers: the current market offers a refreshing shift in their favor. More inventory is available, negotiations are possible, and sellers are motivated to assist buyers. Joe adds that it's crucial for buyers to assess their financial comfort zones regarding monthly payments.
3. Riding the Interest Rate Wave (00:05:20 - 00:10:04)
Joe delves into the impact of interest rates and housing prices on affordability. Makayla paints a vivid picture of historical interest rates and home prices, underlining the current affordability gap. They discuss the affordability index and how it affects purchasing power.
4. Condo Chronicles and Beyond (00:10:04 - 00:13:42)
Makayla points out an exciting option: condos and townhomes, offering a more affordable entry into the market with potential for equity growth. They stress the importance of seeking advice from trusted real estate brokers and lenders to evaluate individual financial situations.
5. Looking Forward (00:13:42 - 00:15:54)
Joe and Makayla urge potential buyers to gather information, revealing the current advantages in the market. They discuss the possibility of future interest rate decreases, leaving the audience with the tantalizing idea of refinancing for a lower rate and reduced monthly payments.
Joe and Makayla turn their attention to potential sellers, unraveling the pressing question: Is this the right time to sell? Here's a glimpse into their insightful discussion:
6. Is It Time to Sell? (00:16:20 - 00:22:11)
The duo delves into the decision to sell, considering various factors that influence this significant step. They discuss current market conditions and how inventory levels impact the selling process. Additionally, they shed light on price fluctuations in different areas within the Portland Metro, helping potential sellers gauge their options.
7. Market Dynamics and Selling Strategies (00:22:11 - 00:29:06)
In this segment, Joe and Makayla explore the dynamic world of market dynamics and effective selling strategies. Here's a glimpse into this engaging discussion:
8. Navigating Market Dynamics (00:22:11 - 00:29:06)
The hosts highlight the impact of interest rates on different price segments and stress the importance of realistic pricing aligned with the current market dynamics. They emphasize the need for proactive marketing strategies and appealing property presentations to capture the attention of potential buyers, guiding sellers towards a successful sale.
-
Yeah. So we haven't done this in a while, so we were thinking of what topics to do and we both kind of settled on a question that a lot of people have our asking us right now, which is โI don't know if it's really the right time for us to be buying or is this really the best time for us to be selling our homeโ and so we decided that this is a pressing question and we're not going to try to convince you one way or another, because it's a personal choice, isn't it?
00:01:48:13 - 00:02:07:08
Yeah, exactly. I think you just have to educate yourself, take in as much information as you can about it, and take the time to run the numbers for yourself. And it does. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. But that doesn't mean it won't work in a couple of years. But it also doesn't mean that you shouldn't just throw in the towel because the media is being so crazy about it either.
00:02:07:13 - 00:02:21:10
Exactly. And I think anyone that tells you, yeah, absolutely, now's the best time to buy without asking you any questions about your own personal situation, you got to question whether they have their best interest or your best interest at heart, don't you think?
00:02:21:11 - 00:02:30:15
Yeah, I agree. That's why I'm so excited to talk about this. I just want to be honest about the stats that we're seeing and the market trends that we're seeing and people can take it or leave it.
00:02:30:17 - 00:02:52:01
Yeah, do with it what you will. But the thing about it is, and one of the reasons we started this whole podcast was just education and having the conversation in a way that people can understand and feel good about and hopefully that helps them make the best decisions for their situation, right? So let's start with the buyer, the buyer side of things.
00:02:52:01 - 00:03:03:20
So, I'm Mr. and Mrs. Home Buyer, potential home buyer and I come to you, , and I say, So is it a good time to buy for me right now? What are you telling them?
00:03:04:00 - 00:03:23:23
Well, obviously their first question along with that is what our interest rates currently at. So, we'll have that conversation. But I always point them towards a mortgage broker. If they don't have someone that they trust or already talk to, then I'll connect them with somebody that we work with. But like you just touched on, it's a personal financial decision.
00:03:23:23 - 00:03:41:22
It's going to be on a case by case basis. So, I'll always start there. But I'm actually excited for buyers right now. Within the last couple of weeks, I can confidently say that I don't think it's a terrible time to buy. There's a lot of inventory out there right now, which is refreshing because we have not seen that for a couple of years.
00:03:42:01 - 00:04:09:08
It feels like the first time and I don't know how many years where the playing field is maybe slightly in favor of the buyer. In a lot of situations. There's still a lot of situations where it's even or the seller has the upper hand. But right now, it's as good a time for buyers that are qualified, ready and know what they want and are ready to jump in if it's the right time for you.
00:04:09:14 - 00:04:12:00
This is as good as it's gotten in a long time.
00:04:12:00 - 00:04:31:12
Yeah, I agree. And I think a lot of people will roll their eyes about that for a number of different reasons and we'll touch on it. But interest rates are high and home prices are high, which means that your monthly payments are looking really high right now. And that's scary. And I get that. But like I said, I think it's important to think about what you want your monthly payment to be and then work from there, because that's how we operate.
00:04:31:12 - 00:04:53:18
We're not operating on a basis of, Oh, you can afford a $750,000 house, Let's start there. No, tell us what you want your monthly payment to be and more. What can you feel numbers about? Yeah, exactly. But also, I think home prices are leveling a little bit. They're dropping in some areas like we've seen not all areas, but there's room for sellers to work with you.
00:04:53:18 - 00:05:15:08
We're seeing more listings are not sellers are offering a to buy down your interest rates or even locking in the interest rate for you before they put their home on the market. So, they're offering additional funds for closing costs. So they're being creative because they have a motivation to sell. And like I said, I think in more listings than not, we're seeing that happen now.
00:05:15:10 - 00:05:20:18
So that gives you a creative advantage to get in a good home and a lower monthly payment.
00:05:20:20 - 00:05:44:21
Right. And not that you can always count on this, but with that many sellers offering that type of assistance, a lot of people don't have to have as much in savings. Right. To be able to pay for their closing because there's all these costs that are associated with buying a home and you have to have certain amount of reserves, you have to have a certain amount to get that the loan actually closed and funded.
00:05:45:00 - 00:06:08:13
But with the majority of sellers offering or being open to paying closing cost right now, that means you can come to the table with a lot less money. Now that being said, the affordability side of things is where we continue to have a bit of an issue, don't you think? So affordability, there's an affordability index. Right now we're at about an 80, which is not great.
00:06:08:13 - 00:06:31:05
It was at 120. And just to explain to you guys, so affordability is the median income. So the median income in Portland Metro is about 115 right now. And for a regular debt to income level of qualifying for a loan, meaning how much you owe versus how much you're making, they tend to be lenders like to see that in a certain ratio.
00:06:31:05 - 00:07:03:00
And when home prices keep going up, but income and salaries are only trailing and continue to lose ground on that, you find this gap and it's that affordability of at 4% interest rate. I could afford 700,000 and at seven and a half percent interest. Now I'm down to maybe 500 or 550 something like that. So that's the affordability of, hey, with the higher interest rates, what I could buy before my buying power is limited and that continues to kind of be an issue.
00:07:03:00 - 00:07:20:06
But not having to come to the closing table with those funds I think can help people out, certainly with what they're trying to do after they get into the home or just keeping that little nest egg to make sure that you're comfortable after you buy the home and you're not worried about being house poor, so to speak.
00:07:20:08 - 00:07:21:18
Yeah. Great. Good advice.
00:07:21:20 - 00:07:43:03
So rates are at seven and a half right now. You know, they may go up more. There's the Fed's meeting in November, I believe it is. And the word on the street is they may raise it another quarter point, try to get the inflation levels down to the 2.0 that they're looking for. So there's some work still to be done.
00:07:43:05 - 00:07:52:09
But what else can you say about where we're at as far as elephant in the room? 7.5%. That's rough. But what's the rest of the data telling us right now?
00:07:52:12 - 00:08:12:12
Yeah, it's a hard conversation. And what I keep hearing from professionals in our industry is that, you know, the interest rate, you know, is high compared to last year. But what everyone's saying is historically, it's still not that high. You know, it's a solid average. But when we consider how high home prices are, it's that's why it's not affordable.
00:08:12:12 - 00:08:33:21
So I was just poking around with the Freddie Mac chart that shows what interest rates have been since 1975. And I was just curious to look at this info. With the last time we saw interest rates at 7% was only for a very short amount of time in 2002 and in 2002. The average home price I wrote is.
00:08:33:23 - 00:08:38:02
176,000. Yeah. Thanks. Yeah. Crazy, huh?
00:08:38:04 - 00:08:41:04
And even compare, you can.
00:08:41:06 - 00:08:59:09
That's why it's such a not a a great thing to hear when you're a potential home buyer and someone says, oh, the interest rates. But they were way higher 20 years ago, so you should be happy with seven and a half. Well, okay, but what was the home price that I was buying back there?
00:08:59:11 - 00:09:01:01
Yeah, it was a $120k home?
00:09:01:01 - 00:09:29:20
Yeah. So that's the discomfort that comes from all of that. And, you know, that's what we're trying to do is, is let people know, hey, get as much information as you can, because you need to get to a point where you feel comfortable with that payment. So if you can afford $500,000 purchase price and it's a payment is in your comfort zone and you're talking to your trusted lender and they say, yep, you're all ready to go for those people, it's just a matter of choice.
00:09:29:20 - 00:09:54:21
Do you want to make that move right now or not? And if you're in that position, then moving forward makes all the sense in the world because there are more homes on the market now. Now, conversely, if you were at $500,000 and, you know, a 4% interest rate and now it's up to 7.5 or more and you're in looking at your monthly mortgage, that's going to be a whole different story.
00:09:54:21 - 00:10:04:11
So that's why we say it's a very personal question when someone says, should I buy? Is now the right time to buy? It really depends on your situation, your comfort zone, don't you think?
00:10:04:12 - 00:10:26:17
Yeah, I think the silver lining like we talked about is that sellers do have a motivation to sell because things are not moving as quickly as they were in previous months, which is the language that we use when we talk to sellers. So buyers are kind of at an advantage and there is some wiggle room there. So even if you know your lender will get creative with you, I can almost promise that.
00:10:26:17 - 00:10:45:23
And they they'll give you some strategies and they'll say, Hey, you can afford up to, let's say 550 if you can get the seller to buy down the interest rate by a whole point, it might be harder to find a home with that scenario, but it doesn't mean that it's not out there. And I pulled up stats just based on what we're seeing today.
00:10:45:23 - 00:11:08:23
I highlighted everything in Portland itself and there were 376 active listings for single family homes, between 400,000 and 600,000. That's great. And I'd be willing to bet that I don't know, maybe half of those 376 listings would be willing to offer some sort of assistance or buy down or do something just to make a deal come together.
00:11:08:23 - 00:11:28:15
We're going to talk about this in the second half of this podcast about is this now? Is it a good time to sell right now? But there are certain areas in town that the median price is going down significantly more than others and some are still going up. All of that is great information for you to know. But that motivation, that seller's motivation, is definitely there right now.
00:11:28:15 - 00:11:50:16
And knowing that you can walk into this and really have more leverage than you have in many years is is got to be something that I think more people should know about. Because right now, the narrative in the media is doom and gloom. And for a lot of people who really want to or really need to get into a home or get into a new home, you know, that's not the whole story, is it?
00:11:50:18 - 00:11:51:14
Yeah.
00:11:51:16 - 00:12:18:09
Totally agree. I pulled the information for the West Side as well to share it with you just because I was shocked. So I did the West Side Metro from like Northwest Portland area all the way to Forest Grove and that pulled up 294 active single family homes between $400-600k. That's great. And then for the east side, I did from Lake Oswego to Gresham, which is a pretty wide range, but 311 active single family homes in that same category.
00:12:18:09 - 00:12:21:00
So there's opportunity out there.
00:12:21:03 - 00:12:33:07
There are, especially in the condo, if you're someone that a condo would be a good fit for your lifestyle. Condo, townhome, that type of thing. Boy, is right now an amazing time to buy, don't you think?
00:12:33:07 - 00:12:45:01
Yeah. Did you see that graph? It was a graph of condo sales between $200,000 and $375,000 and the median sale prices comparing this year to last year and were down this year?
00:12:45:06 - 00:12:52:19
Yeah, for sure. Which that's something that fits your lifestyle and you want to get into boy is now a great time for that.
00:12:52:21 - 00:13:18:03
Yeah and remember you don't have to be in that condo forever so if you think a condo might suit you for a couple of years and you're looking to invest your money in real estate, that's such an excellent option because just getting into something, maybe when it's even at the lowest point, which we think it might be, and then allowing it to gain equity for the next few years is a really great thing to do because in 3 to 5 years you might be ready to buy a bigger house and look at that.
00:13:18:03 - 00:13:20:01
You have all this equity to work with.
00:13:20:03 - 00:13:42:17
So I think the bottom line with what we're saying is if you want to buy a home, if you need to buy a home, if you're in the market at all, it's worth a conversation with your trusted real estate broker and also the relationship that you have with your lender. And if you don't have a broker, if you don't have a lender, obviously and I here at the LivPortland team are more than happy to chat with you.
00:13:42:18 - 00:14:11:13
No obligation, but it's worth your time to investigate what your personal situation looks like, to see if you can get approved and get approved at an amount that you're comfortable with. And then what does that look like as far as a price range? So doing all that is not going to cost you anything. It's not going to hurt your credit score, it's not going to obligate you to anything, but just getting that information and spending that time for a couple of phone calls to really get that figured out is a big thing.
00:14:11:13 - 00:14:33:15
And I wish more people knew that they were currently in a position to be able to do this and do it in a way that makes sense to them financially, because I think too many people are stuck just going with what they hear in the news or from mom and dad or grandma and grandpa, aunts and uncles or friends or whoever that say, Oh no, now is not the time you want to be buying.
00:14:33:15 - 00:14:59:00
And for some people, yeah, now's not going to be the right time for you. But there's a bunch more people out there that can do that. Yeah. And right now is probably your best time as far as leverage and as far as price points that you're going to see for a while. Because the minute they stop doing interest rate hikes, things are going to level out and then all of a sudden prices are going to start going back up again.
00:14:59:02 - 00:15:18:10
There's no way they can contain the housing industry. It is going to bounce back. We just have a supply and demand situation that dictates that. So now might be the lull in time for you to jump in there and get something at a price that you can be comfortable with. And the other side of it is there's a really good chance rates are going to go down.
00:15:18:10 - 00:15:28:10
So you're not you're not married to that rate. You can refinance and get down to a lower rate that lowers your payment and be in an even better situation.
00:15:28:12 - 00:15:49:11
Yeah, that's what I was just going to say. That's good info. I think the jargon that we use with other realtors or, you know, mortgage brokers is you're married to the house price forever, but you're not married to the interest rate forever. So even if you get in at a high rate, you can refinance in a couple of years whenever it does come down and the lower your monthly payment.
00:15:49:11 - 00:15:54:16
And I think that's hard for people to understand or imagine. But its something good to know.
00:15:54:18 - 00:16:20:12
Absolutely. Okay. So now we want to talk about is this a good time to sell? We get a lot of questions about this, just like from the buyer's side. And, you know, we were just joking a little bit before we came on air here that with buyers, it really depends on you and what your situation is, your financial situation, you're where you're at in your life, all of those type of things with selling your home.
00:16:20:14 - 00:16:40:05
It's the home, right? Yeah. And it's really one of those things where you really need to take stock of where your home sits in the current market. And that's what we're going to talk about right here and try to give some insight into what people's thought pattern are, what they should be thinking, if they're thinking about selling right now.
00:16:40:05 - 00:17:06:15
Because honestly, for 50, 60% of you, yeah, right now is a great time to buy because we're still at very, very low inventory Supply and demand dictates that homes because they're so few that prices are still going to get driven up for the most part. But for 40, 50% of you, it might be worth it to take six months and work on your home, do what you got to do and get it ready for that spring market, don't you think?
00:17:06:18 - 00:17:07:06
Couldn't agree more.
00:17:07:06 - 00:17:29:17
So let's talk about the numbers real quick. So inventory is still historically low and we've talked a bit about this on the show before, but six months of inventory is really the the benchmark for a even playing field right. So anything less than six months of inventory is a seller's market. Six months or more is a buyer's market, Right.
00:17:29:20 - 00:17:49:23
Supply and demand. And when we talk about inventory, sorry, we talk about if no more homes were added to the current market, how long would it take at the rate homes are being sold to sell out of our current inventory? Right. And 2.2 months. So imagine no one puts their home on the market right now in 2.2 months from now.
00:17:49:23 - 00:17:52:14
So before Christmas there would be no more homes.
00:17:52:16 - 00:17:57:06
So crazy, crazy when you think about it that way. Yeah. I also think that's a weird stat.
00:17:57:07 - 00:18:20:01
But I do too. Who thought of that? We've always done that though, in my 28 years. I've always it's always been there. So. And who decided six months was the even killl? I guess it kind of makes sense. But anyways, we're just giving you the inside scoop. So curating the back to back back story on a lot of this stuff, you're probably sitting there saying not so far back.
00:18:20:03 - 00:18:46:23
So yeah, I'm good. So sales price overall in Portland Metro is down 2% year over year, so that's actually a pretty big number. And considering how fast we were skyrocketing the last two or three years, that's that's amazing. But if we take a closer look at some of the areas and here's the thing, all you buy are still on the on the podcast North Portland is down 6%.
00:18:47:01 - 00:18:48:07
That's huge.
00:18:48:07 - 00:18:57:00
It is. And we've seen that trend happen slowly and slowly over the past year. But it's still kind of shocking to me that that area is getting hit so hard.
00:18:57:05 - 00:19:22:12
And when and when you hear that hard, 6% number, that means there are some neighborhoods that are dropping at 8 to 10%. Right. Which if you're buying, that's amazing. If you're selling, that's a little bit scary. Right? Some of that is also an indicator of maybe some of those areas were overpriced. Right. And now they're coming back down to a more reasonable amount.
00:19:22:12 - 00:19:43:13
Buyers are much more choosy than they were before. Right. So they're passing on those because they're not worried. There was this rush to get into something because you didn't want it to be gone. Fear of missing out. Right. And there were some buyers afterwards who kind of thought maybe they didn't make the right choice on that because they rushed into it.
00:19:43:15 - 00:20:03:20
And that's understandable. That's not happening now. And I think that's that's indicated by that. So North Portland, 6% down, Southeast Portland, 5% down in Southwest Portland, 4% down. Those were the largest in Portland. Metro year over year so far. Right. And those numbers are for August 2023.
00:20:04:01 - 00:20:04:17
Interesting.
00:20:04:20 - 00:20:34:01
Yeah, but maybe even more surprising than that, , was were the areas that are increasing still. So Lake Oswego is up 3% from last year. Their average sale prices a million like 20 right now. So they're over the million dollar for average sale price, which is incredible. Northwest Washington County, which is Bethan, Helvetia, Rock Creek Cedar Mill, I think is in there.
00:20:34:06 - 00:21:03:20
They're up 2%. And then Hillsboro is also up 2%. So I think some of that's a function of business and jobs. Some of that's a function of those areas are in a little bit higher demand. And with more of those homes available, they're getting sold. Right. So before maybe some people were looking in some of those areas and they couldn't get in, so they moved to, you know, moved their sights on different areas and that's where they could get in.
00:21:03:22 - 00:21:09:06
Now, that's not the case anymore. They if they want to live in Rock Creek, there's stuff available in Rock Creek.
00:21:09:07 - 00:21:10:01
That's a good thought.
00:21:10:04 - 00:21:34:07
Yeah, You know what I mean? Yeah. So I you know, I don't know. With sale prices, it is supply and demand. It is the marketplace. And I would hesitate for anyone to make judgments on. Well, I'm going to wait to buy until prices start going down drastically or I'm going to wait to sell until prices go up dramatically.
00:21:34:11 - 00:21:38:09
You could be waiting a long time with all of that. Right. And certain areas.
00:21:38:11 - 00:21:48:10
And the difference isn't going to be $70 - $80,000, you think? I think we're talking about a difference. I mean, those are big numbers in.
00:21:48:10 - 00:21:55:10
Lake Oswego at $1,000,020 is the average sale price. It could be, but it's going in the wrong direction right now. You're a buyer, right?
00:21:55:12 - 00:21:56:06
Seller Yeah.
00:21:56:09 - 00:22:11:08
Yeah, yeah. For sellers, which is our focus right now, it really depends on your home and the neighborhood and the area. Those statistic I think are helpful, but not something that I would hang my hat on, you think?
00:22:11:08 - 00:22:33:18
No, not at all. We were just talking about this beforehand, but it just seems like when I'm out showing homes or, you know, the listings that we have on the market, it seems like the really solid homes have no deferred maintenance. Have some updates. It seems like those are still going really fast. And the homes that, you know, might need a little love or have some quirkiness to them or just if they have any.
00:22:33:18 - 00:22:39:07
Flaws at all, they are not getting scooped up quickly, that's for.
00:22:39:07 - 00:22:50:04
Sure. And that's a really hard conversation for us to have with some of these sellers. But I think it's the only conversation we should be having if they're thinking about whether they should sell right now or not.
00:22:50:04 - 00:23:17:06
And so a lot of the we'll share some sales numbers with you and a lot of it is obviously rate driven because all of those folks like, for instance, sales in Portland Metro between $500,000 and $1,000,000 a year over year, meaning sales last year at this time versus sales this year at this time are down 22%. And a lot of that has to do with rate because people that are buying in that price point, majority of them have financing.
00:23:17:07 - 00:23:28:15
Right. If you look at above $1,000,000, a million plus is only down 16%, which is crazy. $2 million and above is actually doing better.
00:23:28:17 - 00:23:32:03
Yeah I love that or hate that. I think it's fascinating.
00:23:32:08 - 00:23:59:06
It is fascinating. And there's a whole another podcast around that. The general dynamics of wealth and the different levers. Buying a home, selling a home at $500,000 versus $1.5. It's an interesting dynamic for sure. And at Sotheby's, we're lucky that we get to represent some absolutely incredible properties. We represent everyone because we're a relationship company. At LivPortland group works with all of our past clients.
00:23:59:06 - 00:24:20:16
Anyone that sends us a client, we treat them all the same with love and care and no matter what price point. So we get to see everything, which is kind of cool. But that number above a million only being down 16% there. And everyone's like, Wow, they're all paying cash. Well, not really. There are a ton of cash sales in that segment, but not as many as you might think.
00:24:20:16 - 00:24:31:13
It's just that the financing is a lot easier when you got 50% down, right. And you're going to get the best rate for the most part when you're putting like 50% or 60% down.
00:24:31:13 - 00:24:46:12
So I don't know if you think I'm right on this, but would you also say that people who are shopping in that 2 million plus price range might be selling a home in the 1 million plus price range and they just have so much equity in their houses that they just have more to work with?
00:24:46:17 - 00:25:16:22
For sure. Okay. Yeah, absolutely. We see that all the time. All the time. So we're still seeing some fast sales and multiple offers. It just really depends. And like we said at the top, that top 3 to 5% in the market, like for say where I'm at here in Hillsboro, if you took the all the homes between $600,000 and $800,000 and took the top 3 to 5%, maybe even the top 5 to 10%, they are selling in a week and under because people are looking and they see everything that's going on.
00:25:17:00 - 00:25:42:18
And when they see the exact one that they want, boy, they are jumping on it. Yeah. And sometimes multiple offers over asking the whole thing. So that's still going on. It's just not as much. But the question becomes, what do I need to do to to be one of those homes? If I'm looking to sell my home, what do I need to do to maximize my ability to get that quick sale, maybe get multiple offers, but certainly get my asking price.
00:25:42:20 - 00:26:02:03
Now more than ever, that broker opinion on your home is just so important. And I think that's hard for people to hear. And I even kind of feels weird to say, but just having an honest conversation about your home's value and doing a walk through and letting your broker really, you know, analyze everything is really key right now.
00:26:02:05 - 00:26:24:05
Yeah. And there are some hard conversations being had about pricing because in the past two years or so, if we were pricing a home at $550k, you know, if our recommendation was $550k and someone said, Wow, we really think it's worth $575k, even though we've been doing this for a living for how long we would go with it, right?
00:26:24:05 - 00:26:24:23
Yeah, of course.
00:26:25:01 - 00:26:47:11
Of course. Yeah. We'll do the best we can and a lot of times it actually happen. You're like, Wow, I didn't think it would sell for that, but look what happen. That's not happening anymore. If the market says $550k, it can be the most spectacular home in the world. And if you're at above asking it might sit right and you might end up having a reduced price which actually loses you money.
00:26:47:17 - 00:27:01:06
So that razor's edge of pricing is back where you do not want to be over the top of the hill. Right? So if you look at pricing as a mountaintop, you want to be at the peak. You don't want to be on the other side where it's dark. You want to be in the sunlight.
00:27:01:06 - 00:27:03:04
It's a really good analogy.
00:27:03:04 - 00:27:03:23
Thanks. I just made that up.
00:27:04:02 - 00:27:05:07
I'm very impressed.
00:27:05:09 - 00:27:31:09
Yeah, well, every blue moon, I get one, so. Yeah, but I mean, it is critically important right now to price correctly. The other thing is getting your realtors getting their opinion on your home and what you need to do to get it ready. And I would say if it's you know, you're looking at selling the first of the year 60 days in advance right now, do you think?
00:27:31:09 - 00:28:07:23
Yeah, because some of the things that they may ask you to do are going to take some time. And if you're working, you've got stuff going on in your life. When do you get that done? But the homes that are really selling for top dollar and selling quickly, they take care of any deferred maintenance. The curb appeal is spotless and they have everything dialed in and that includes more so now than I think ever you want to have is stylish and open and kind of that magazine type feel for your home so that when the pictures hit, people are like, Yep, I got to get into that house and see what's going on.
00:28:08:01 - 00:28:24:08
Yeah, it's so important to get as many eyes on the property as possible now more than ever. And if, like you said, if it doesn't have that some updates or you know, that extra stylish piece that people are looking for, it just gets overlooked because people just simply can't afford it right now.
00:28:24:12 - 00:28:45:11
Yeah, that's for sure. And the other thing is proactive marketing. Once you have your home dialed in and you're ready to go and you've hired a broker, you got to make sure that they're going to be aggressive with their marketing because to get top price in this marketplace right now, you have to have every set of eyeballs on your home.
00:28:45:13 - 00:29:06:02
The more people you can attract and the higher the chance that you're going to get the price that you're looking for. And if you don't have that aggressive approach and it's just kind of sitting on MLS and that's really it, you're going to be limited and you may miss out on that set of buyers or multiple buyers that would agree with your pricing and would agree where you're at sitting in the marketplace.
Ready to make a move in the real estate market?
Whether you're buying or selling, connect with our experienced team at LivPortland to discuss your unique situation and make an informed decision for your future.
