We’re wrapping up the celebration of Kayla’s 25th birthday! (yesterday)
She was born on the day of the 1991 All-Star Game. I got to hold her in my arms and watch baseball on TV from Day One! The game was in Toronto, and Benito Santiago and Tony Gwynn both started for the National League!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Major_League_Baseball_All-Star_Game
We had some random thoughts:
- How many people have lived in their current residence longer than any other house in their life? I’ll say most. The novelty of moving has worn off, and appreciating what you have is the new orange. Shall we say an equal impact on supply and demand – and drying up both?
- Every house on the market for more than 7 days is probably a fixer – sellers should do improvements in advance. Buyers are schooled by HGTV, and want perfection. If you have a superior home in a terrific location, you’ll get offers right away as long as your price is within reason.
- The Joys of Homeownership. Whether the home is owner-occupied or a rental, let’s expect to spend $1,000 per month, on average, for repairs and improvements. You can cruise for a few years, but eventually you can expect to replace the furnace, air conditioning, water-heater, dishwasher, and refrigerator every ten years. Carpet, paint, and landscaping every five years. Sure, if you or your tenants don’t mind living in squalor, it’s not a problem. But if you want to sell for top dollar, you need top-dollar improvements.
- You can judge the listing agent’s experience by the MLS comments. The market isn’t hot enough that you can bluff me into thinking that your listing is so great that you’ll have multiple offers by tomorrow. Just make it easy to show, would you?
- We are overdue for a media onslaught. Any disruption in the positive housing trends are sure to be exploited by national media types. Don’t listen to anybody who doesn’t have on-the-ground examples to back them up.
- The ‘Sold before Processing’ listings are of great convenience. There is fantastic efficiency for a listing agent to quickly shuffle a deal into escrow and move on to the next sale, and avoid having to deal with those messy bidding wars.
- It seems like Zillow is enthusiastically supporting their big-spending realtors. Zillow needs to go next-level and just openly promote their favorite agents. There will be more lines in the sand to be drawn.
- The unstable current events should make you conscious of your home’s security. Do you feel secure at home? Make your home defensible, or consider moving!
- Revolution is going to come, so we should take charge. Take the gun issue. Both sides should submit their solution, and a compromise hammered out. Something has to change.
- If unrest continues, it is probably good for real estate. More people will buy a house to hunker down – to “cocoon”, and drive demand.
Wondering what to do? Either you can settle at today’s prices, or take your chances during the next spring selling season with the new president!
