In 2016 my average days on market for the entire year was 40 days. For the Des Moines Area Associate of Realtors, the average days on market was 102. That means that if you listed with me you sold 60.8% faster than if you listed with the average Realtor.

That is actually better than I did in 2015. In 2015 I sold in 35 days on average, and the Des Moines Area Association of Realtors sold in 85 days. That means that I was selling 59% faster.

Since I became a Realtor I have put close to $40,000 into training, coaching, and education to make sure that I am doing the best for my clients. I help my sellers sell faster and for more money. I help my buyers make sure they get what they want and are not paying more than they need to.

Would you like a Realtor who invests in making sure they are giving you the best information possible? I am that Realtor. You can reach me at 515.639.0047 or RyanLynch@KW.com. I am always happy to help.

~Ryan Lynch

2016 was one heck of a year for real estate in the Des Moines Area Association of Realtors. The latest number that I have seen is that 13,951 deals closed. There is a good chance that there are at least 50 more working their way through and we broke 14,000 deals. That is a huge number for our area. 2017 started with less than 3,000 houses for sale (2,977 to be exact as of January 1st). In our local market, only two months were not a Seller’s Market. Meaning there was less inventory than there was demand for that inventory. And both of those months were a balanced market.

The National Association of Realtors just put out a report on sales percentage change in several price ranges. In $100,000 to $250,000, there was 20.7% more sales in 2016 than in 2015. $250,000 to $500,000 went up 35.4% over 2015. $500,000 to $750,000 sold 31.9% more units than 2015. $750,000 to $1,000,000 sold 43.2$ more than 2015. And over $1,000,000 sold 33.9% more than 2015. Then only range that went down was $0-$100,000 which went down 2.4%. And that is primarily because that price range is shrinking with average house prices going up.

So what does this mean if you are thinking about buying or selling a home? If you are thinking about selling, it means that prices are continuing to rise at a record pace, and right now you have less competition than at any point in the year historically. So get your house on the market with a professional who can take full advantage of that fact. If you are a buyer, interest rates are still historically low, and you still have a lot of competition, so hire a professional who can get you in fast and help you get the home that you want.

I am that professional. You can reach me at 515.639.0047 or RyanLynch@KW.com. Reach out today!

~Ryan Lynch

I have had a lot of people ask me about the accuracy of their Zestimate. (The Zestimate is what Zillow is guessing your home would sell for.) So I thought the best place to go to answer that question would be directly from the horse’s mouth. Zillow has a four star rating for how good its Zestimates are. Here is how those ratings break down:

4 Stars – Best Zestimate
3 Stars – Good Zestimate
2 Stars – Fair Zestimate
1 Star – Tax Assessor’s Value, or unable to compute Zestimate accuracy

So how does Zillow hold up around here? If you go here, you can download a chart that gives you a rating for every county that Zillow covers. Here is your cheat sheet for central Iowa:

Polk County – 1 star
Jasper County – 1 star
Dallas County – 3 star
Warren County – 2 star
Madison County – 1 star
Story County – 1 star
Marshall County – 1 star

For the majority of central Iowa, Zillow is either just copying the assessor’s value, or is unable to compute Zestimate accuracy. The very best that it can do is one Good and one Fair.

Now, when you put that into real numbers, you can see what that means to you. The economist John Wake started to run numbers based on Zillow’s information. (All of this data is of July of 2016.) Zillow reported the average sale of a home in the United States is $229,737. It also self reported that its median error is 6.1% different from the price. So that means that the median ERROR IS $14,000. Now, you also need to take into consideration that that means that half of the time the error is MORE THAN $14,000.

So what that means to you is that if you are using Zillow to guess your homes value, you are most likely over-pricing or under-pricing your home. If you over-price your home, then you get few to no showings, and no offers. If you under-price your home and have no idea what you are doing, then you are most likely leaving quite a bit of money on the table. All of this is to say that there are always shortcuts. If you want a professional realtor to take into consideration more than just going and looking at the assessor’s site, I have good news for you. When I look at a home’s value I am looking at past sales, current competition, absorption rates, condition, neighborhood, the micro market, the macro market, interest rates, and even more. Plus, that is just the first step in what hiring a professional can do for you. Think about negotiations, repairs, experience, understanding of the bumps that can come along, and understanding of your individual market. Think about this being one of the largest financial transactions in most people’s lives. I know that I would want a professional helping me. Let me be the professional realtor for you. You can contact me or call me directly at 515-639-0047.

~Ryan Lynch

Many people think that now is a bad time to sell. Number one, the number disprove that. As of December 7th, 2016 there are currently 3,253 houses for sale on the Des Moines Multiple Listing Service. There are 1,610 houses under contract to be sold. That means that almost exactly one third of the market is under contract right now. To put that in perspective, the under contract period typically lasts 30-45 days. That means that one-third of the market has sold in the last two months. Buyers are out there in force!

The second thing to think about is how beautiful, festive, and homey most houses feel right now. Having Christmas decorations, Hanukkah decorations, or any decorations up gives people the feels. Walking into a house that is beautifully made up, and has a feeling of joy and happiness helps sell houses. People buy based off of emotion, and justify with logic. There is quite a bit of emotion in the holiday season. Right now, you are selling something that feels like a home.

The third thing to think about is my very first sentence for this post: Many people think that now is a bad time to sell. Late October (the 26th to be exact) there were 5,501 houses for sale and under contract on the market. Today (December 7th) there are 4,863. That is a 12% drop in inventory in less than 45 days. Right now, on average you have 12% less competition than you did October 26th and inventory has been dropping since July.

All of these things combined mean that selling your house right now is an amazing decision. The bonus here is that if you then turn around and buy, interest rates are still below 4%!!!

If you, or someone you know is looking to buy a home, sell a home, or invest in real estate, I am your guy! You can contact me or give me a call directly at 515.639.0047.

~Ryan Lynch