Be Educated – Be Connected – Be Ready
By Lee Davies
Today’s real estate market is unlike any other that I have experienced in my 32 years as a Real Estate Broker. All of the information is in the public domain and markets can shift in a blink of an eye. With interest rates and prices rising, homes in our area are still receiving multiple offers and seeing bidding wars. Last week in our office, we saw 17 offers, 10 offers, and 6 offers, on three separate properties, all of which were “common homes” – not in the typical areas we see bidding wars.
Playing in this world involves exuberance and sanity to co-exist. Is your bid about winning the home or is it based on logical value? This craziness is commonly what will lead to a bubble, but with Portland becoming an international destination for the foodies, creatives, and outdoorsmen, there appears to be no end in sight. So, here are my thoughts on how one can best be strategic in our ever-changing market:
Be Educated: I would advise everyone to take 5 minutes a month to read up on Portland’s monthly sales, listing inventory, market absorption, average days on the market, appreciation, and interest rates. This can be accomplished in several ways, but we provide this information to you each month in this newsletter.
Be Connected: There are many tools out there to keep you informed. Our favorite way to keep our clients informed is via Real Scout. We can customize this tool to show you only the homes in your target area of interest hit the market all the way through closing. Whether you want to know your own neighborhood trends, or you want to keep an eye on an area you may move to in the future, we can set up an alert system that will notify you hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly. Additionally, I would endorse the idea of having a Realtor you know and trust, no different from your doctor or CPA – who can be your ears on the ground and your ongoing consultant. Great Realtors can provide insight that cannot be obtained by Zillow, Redfin or Real Scout. They know the homes first-hand and in many cases, know the stories behind the negotiations. Statistics and search tools can only take you so far…
Be Ready: Being nimble with the ability to act quickly is tough for all of us. However, nimbleness is truly a necessity if you stumble upon the perfect home to buy, or if you decide you want to sell your home fast without leaving money on the table. When a great home hits the market, you will likely need to act quickly and have your financial plan in place to execute. Ideally, everyone would always have their financials in order, their lender on speed dial, and have an annual evaluation done on their home each year by their Realtor. One never knows what may compel them to sell their home. But keep in mind that the process of selecting a Realtor, determining value, and preparing the home to sell can take several weeks, if not months. Additionally, I always encourage homeowners to keep their homes updated. Most sellers will spend up to two months gathering data and preparing their homes, and once their home is completed and ready to be photographed, they turn and look at me and say, “Dang, I wish we would have done this years ago and had the opportunity to enjoy it. This would have made our life much less stressful and we would have been able to get our home on the market faster!”.
Ultimately, to be educated, connected, and ready, our brokers at ELEETE have the tools and the know-how to keep you up to speed. We are here to serve!
