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Know Your Numbers

Real Estate Numbers

Watching the numbers is critical for understanding your strategy when buying and selling a home. Two numbers that I have been very interested in as of late are active listings and pending listings. Allow me to explain.

Active Listings are listings that are on the market, and anyone still has the chance to purchase.

Pending listings are houses that are on the market, and another party has put it under contract, saying that they have the intent to purchase (or close) on it.

As of this writing there are 3,287 active listings in the Des Moines Multiple Listing Service, and 2,504 pending listings.

A couple of things to note with these numbers: The first is that there are about the same number of active listings as two weeks ago, and about 150 less pending listings as of two weeks ago. This tells me a few things:

Things are moving toward slowing down. Having a pending number that close to active is crazy. Usually a house is only pending for 30-45 days. That means in the past 30-45 days, probably about 80% of those houses sold. Losing 75 houses per week on average means that buyers are out in less force, and (according to history) will only continue to be this time of year.

So if you are a buyer and frustrated with how fast houses are moving, the good news is that the market is trending your direction. If you are a seller, it means that less houses are coming on the market, since the active number is not going up while the pending number is going down.

So what does this really mean to you?

Buyers – The fast market of 2016 is slowing down right now. There is still a higher number of inventory than normal (5,791 versus the norm of 5,000 around this time of year). You will have more time for houses being on the market and you will still have incredibly cheap mortgages. So things are looking good for you.

Sellers – Inventory is trending down, which means that you will have less competition. Great! At the same time, buyers are trending down, which means that you will be competing for a buyer with less of them available to you. My recommendation is to get on the market now, instead of waiting for this trend to continue.

I know that my clients want me to be fully informed. I stay on top of the market, my client’s wants, and what is going on in each micro-market that I work in. If you like having a skilled professional in your corner. You can reach me at 515.639.0047 or via email.

~Ryan Lynch

Timing, Timing, Timing

Timing can mean everything in this business. I have been counseling my clients to not tell anyone about their house going on the market until I tell them to. Right now buyers are doing everything they can to get an edge, because the moment a desirable house hits the market, it is gone.

This affects both sides of the sale.

If you are a seller, and you let some people know that you are going to sell your house before you let everyone know, then those people are most likely going to make you a good offer. And you are most likely going to lose money. Because you are greatly decreasing the competition for your house, and the likelihood of getting multiple offers. When I list my houses now, I have a five point plan that all happens at basically the same time.

It hits the MLS
I tell all of my Keller Williams agents (over 300 of us now)
I put the sign in the yard
I call at least 100 of your neighbors and ask if they want to choose their neighbor
I make sure that everyone knows that we are in charge of the offers
BONUS – Sellers tell everyone they can

To explain point five, most of the time when you have an offer, it has a deadline that says that the offer is only good until a certain time. I make sure that any and all offers my clients receive, are told that we will get back to them on our time and not theirs. This gives me more time to get more offers and make the price go higher and higher. You would be amazed at how well doing these five things consistently and with a professional negotiating for you can dramatically increase the amount of money you walk away with. I know many people out there have been talking about how they are doing this on their own, and I have just felt bad for them, because they are absolutely losing money by doing it that way.

For a buyer, frankly, if you are not working with a professional right now, you are in a losing game. Zillow is wrong most of the time. Not only do the listings that are most desirable get sold before they even hit Zillow (or Trulia, or Realtor.com, etc), most of the time most of these sites have houses listed that are not even for sale. Going with a professional makes sure you are not getting your hopes and dreams crushed on a daily basis, because you fall in love with a house that is not even available. On top of that, I just keep getting told horror stories about working with For Sale By Owners who have no idea what they are doing and waste enormous amounts of people’s money and time.

People incorrectly think that right now there is no inventory. That is not true, we actually have record inventory, it is just all being sold the moment that it hits the market. Normally right now, there is about 5,000 houses for sale. As of this writing, there are 3,259 active houses for sale. There are also 2,635 pending houses (meaning they are under contract and moving towards the closing process). That is closer to 5,900 houses on the market right now. There is a ton of inventory out there. You just need help being able to get to it before it is gone.

Bottom line, right now is a great time to get in the market, if you have a professional helping you. I can sell your house for more money. I can help you find the house that you want at historically low interest rates. Call me, and let me help you get to where you want to be. You can reach me at 515.639.0047 or RyanLynch@KW.com

~Ryan Lynch

Do You Want Your House Sold, or Headaches?

I was recently speaking with a client who relayed that he was finally comfortable with my pricing of his house. I sold his house a year ago.

He now lives in Chicago and he watched an amazing home sit on the market, and sit on the market, and sit on the market when it was a great house. It was overpriced.

I had gotten his house sold in three days at just over list price. Another house down the street that was almost the exact same house took almost 60 days and the sales price ended up being almost identical.

Knowing the market means that I can get your house sold in record time for the most amount of money possible. Plus this affords many other advantages. Who has the stronger negotiating position: the person whose house sold in 3 days, or the person whose house sold in 60? Who has more control of the process? Who has far fewer headaches from showing the house over and over again? Who has to keep cleaning the house over and over again? Who has to find something else to do, because they can’t be home, over and over again?

I know the market. I know how to price houses so that you get the most amount of money possible, and you have the fewest headaches possible. Call me today. You can reach me at 515.639.0047 or RyanLynch@KW.com

~Ryan Lynch

Changes, They are a Comin’

Welcome to June in the Central Iowa real estate market. My most entertaining number to point out is that we are at exactly 3,000 houses for sale (as of the moment of this writing). We have now consistently been flirting with 3,000 units of inventory for a little over a week now. What that means is that buyers have some reasons to celebrate, and sellers that have been considering selling need to do so now before more and more inventory comes on the market.

The crazy number right now is that we have 3,023 houses pending. That means that they are under contract and someone has said that they will buy them. Number one, we just had the all-time high of 3,154 houses pending. And we are not far below that right now. Number two, we have more houses pending than we have houses for-sale. That number should flip very soon if not later this week.

I predict that by the end of this summer we will have two things: higher rates and higher inventories. You would normally think this is a pretty safe bet. 2016 has been anything but standard so far.

So what does all of this mean to you? If you are a buyer, you are still in hyper-responsive mode and expect fast moving inventory and higher prices. That will begin to slow down now. If you are a seller, you are still in a very strong position to take advantage of a market tailor made for you. Both should use a professional to protect themselves and make sure that they are buying or selling based off of the facts and experience, instead of excitement and emotion. I am that professional. You can reach me at 515.639.0047 or RyanLynch@KW.com

~Ryan Lynch

You are Unique

I have put a lot of study into people. My entire job is to work with people, and get people to work together. One of the big things I have studied is personality types. What has been really interesting about that is finding out about me and better understanding everyone that I interact with every day.

One of my main studies has been around a system called the DISC personality types. This has been a huge benefit to my clients because it has greatly increased my ability to work with them and everyone else that is involved in the transaction of getting their house sold. I know of several deals that have been saved because I understood the general personality type of the person that I was talking to.

What is really interesting is that this is simply the beginning. Because the DISC personality types are “D”, “I”, “S”, and “C”. That breaks everyone in the world into only four types of people. Now, think of two people who have similar general attributes. Maybe they both move very quickly, and come to decisions very easily. Maybe they are both loud and quick to get to the point. Maybe they are both impatient, and maybe not the strongest listeners. Can you think of two people who both match that general description?

So now I know when I am talking to this person, I need to stay away from long explanations. I need to get to the point quickly and ask for their input. I need to be fine when they are blunt with me. I need to realize that they are not yelling, that is just how they talk. Now that I know that, I can dig deeper in the way that they want me to dig deeper. I can find out what they really want, so that I can give that to them.

Because let me ask you this: Have you ever had someone say that they want something only to find out later that what they really wanted was something entirely different?

Every person is different. Most people approach every person the way that they would like people to approach them. Even if those four quadrants (DISC) were evenly distributed among the population (which they aren’t), then only 25% of the population would want you to generally approach them the way that you want to be approached. That means that 75% of the population would feel like you are approaching them wrong. Then within that 25% that matches you, there are countless motivations and perceptions that could be driving them.

So why am I telling you all of this? If you hire someone who has not studied all of this, there is an (at best) 25% chance that they are going to treat you the way that you want to be treated. And that is just you. There are so many people that are in a real estate transaction that can cause issues. Let’s make the number simple and say that there are 12 people involved in one transaction. So 25% of those would be 3 people. That means that your realtor is potentially treating 9 of those people differently than they want to be treated, and any of those 9 could throw a wrench into your deal. Making you lose money, time, or both.

I have put in the time to make sure that I am working to understand you and what you want. I have put in the time to make sure I am working with each person I interact with as closely to their wishes as possible. Wouldn’t you want that person on your side? You can reach me at 515-639-0047 or RyanLynch@KW.com

I am here to help.

~Ryan Lynch

The Benefit of Using a Professional

You are hearing several people (full disclosure: myself included) who are talking about how great the market is for sellers right now. I know for a fact that this has pushed several people into seeing what happens if they try to sell their house by themselves. I fear for these people.

The number one reason is that they do not know what they do not know. And that could cost them so much time and money. They do not know what the five types of buyers are and how to deal with each one. They do not know what the three types of real estate markets are. They do not know what is a normal ask in a purchase agreement, and what is not normal. They do not know the retail pricing strategy versus the auction strategy. They do not have a marketing strategy. They do not have a prospecting strategy. They have little to no experience negotiating offers. They do not know what a normal ask is in the inspection period. They don’t even know what the normal inspection period is. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

For example, I will take a buyer and a seller that I dealt with last week that were my clients, and one of each that were unrepresented.

I had a seller that wanted to price at a specific point and I told them to take advantage of the market and price lower than they wanted to. They let me, and let me negotiate for them. The house got into a bidding war, and went for more money than it was listed, and more money than they had wanted to price at.

I also had an unrepresented seller with a house that one of my buyers wanted. In negotiating with them, they told me that they were willing to take less than asking price and then proceeded to tell me what would make them take less and why. I ended up getting my buyers the house at a significant discount.

On the buyer side, I have buyers who have been looking for a long time to find the perfect home for them. I have kept them calm and logical in what they are doing so that they get what they really want. Last week, we finally found a house that they really wanted. They were ready to give anything to get it, and I talked them into a stronger negotiating position. They put the house under contract for less than asking price with every single concession we asked for.

I also had unrepresented buyers reach out to me (they were represented but their realtor was letting them go look at houses and negotiate on their own) that really wanted a property that I had for sale. They ended up losing the property because a represented buyer’s agent made an offer with much stronger contingencies that protected my clients better, even though they both offered about the same dollar figure.

All of this happened within the last seven days. My clients came out way ahead of where they would have been if they had done what they felt they should have done instead of listening to me and my advice. All of these examples are only around one thing: negotiation. My clients are also getting the benefits of my knowledge of everything else that goes into a real estate transaction. (I won’t list them again.)

If you want to sell for more money in less time, or buy better deals, or know anyone else who does: call me. You can reach me at 515.724.3163 or RyanLynch@KW.com

~Ryan Lynch

Know Your Numbers

Timing, Timing, Timing

Do You Want Your House Sold, or Headaches?

Changes, They are a Comin’

You are Unique

The Benefit of Using a Professional

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