You thought you were buying a house. But then you weren’t. Instead you’ve been…waiting. And waiting. Mortgage interest rates jumped up in the 2nd half of last year. Exhausted by a market that was super-competitive, home prices that had vaulted upwards and interest rates that were shrinking your buying power, you were among a chunk of buyers who decided to step out of the market. I get it. It was no […]
We’re metaphor-ing here today folks. See all those lightbulbs, and one standing out shining brightly?? In today’s super competitive real estate market, when sellers are looking at 7, 16, 21 offers (on the first day), you want to be the shiny bulb in that pack of offers. You want to be the one that sellers can’t help noticing and loving. It’s not easy, and quite honestly it’s getting harder each […]
So here I am, starting to have Covid anniversary thoughts. I bet you are, too. ANNIVERSARY?? A whole year? Yes, it seems so. And I’m having Covid Real Estate anniversary thoughts as well. Here’s what came to mind today. Just about a year ago, in mid-February, something strange happened. At that point Covid was still a very abstract idea to us here, something on very-distant shores. I have two friends, […]
Yesterday. I loved yesterday. The morning started with a closing…as my clients, a recently-married young couple, closed on the purchase of their first home. There are few things sweeter than buyers receiving their first set of keys! Closings involving First Time Buyers bubble like champagne. A few hours later I met with another couple, clients who had purchased their first home 5 years ago. Walking in their front door, I […]
Do you know where these people are going? I’m willing to guess. I think they just heard about a house coming available in the neighborhood in which they want to live, and they are heading that way. Are they crazy for running? No, they’ve just come to understand that house hunting right now is kind of like being ready to do a hundred yard dash…at any moment on any day. The […]
First I picked my playground. No, I’m not kidding. It is an accurate description of how we ended up where we live. This playground was heaven to my kids: 3 separate play areas, a sweet little creek, paths to walk in the woods, and picnic shelters where they liked to sit down for lunch or a snack. We drove to this place nearly every day, until eventually we narrowed our […]
Do you see the house down the street with the For Sale sign in front of it? Yeah, neither do I. I wish I did. But it is not there. In many of the neighborhoods and communities in which my buyer clients would like to purchase homes, there are very few homes on the market. Very. Few. Homes. Sometimes none. An example….A few weeks ago a colleague thought I was […]
Can you tell what is going on in this photo? It’s “Bobbing for Donuts.” (You know, like bobbing for apples, turned upside down, with no chance of drowning.) This game was one of the many events that took place at a recent neighborhood Block Party…to the delight of all. To the best of my knowledge, no families actually moved to this neighborhood because their wish list stipulated “4 bedrooms, 2.5 […]
HGTV has had a big impact on buyer expectations as they search for a home (can you say: stainless steel/granite, stainless steel/granite, stainless steel/granite??). But it hadn’t occurred to me until recently that HGTV real estate shows had also impacted buyers’ beliefs about how many houses they should see before making an offer. On TV, buyers seem to see 3 houses and then select one. Recently a young client, after […]
Quite a few Mother’s Days ago, when our 4 children were all very small (and had many needs), my sweet husband asked how I would like to celebrate the day. And I answered him, with the raw honesty born of extreme sleep deprivation: I wanted him to peel the kids’ 40 fingers off of my ankles, and I wanted to step into our walk-in closet, and close the door behind […]
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