Two very interesting things are happening in the housing market right now. The first is that according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) buyer demand is still higher than normal for this time of year. The second is that housing inventory has declined year over year for the past 35 months!

What does this mean to you?

If you are a seller, we are still not seeing the huge influx of houses for sale that the Spring and Summer typically brings. If you are thinking about selling, getting on the market now, before more competition floods the market is a very good place to be. A lot of buyer demand plus less sellers means that you are in one of the best positions to sell quickly.

If you are a buyer, you need a professional on your team who can get you what you want. Last week I was helping buyers in two different transactions where there were multiple offers and I got both sets of buyers the homes that they wanted. In one instance they got it for less than they were willing to pay by trusting my advice.

Put me on your team. I have a proven track record of helping people sell their homes faster, for more money, and helping buyers get the home that they want. You can reach me at 515.639.0047 or RyanLynch@KW.com. Call me today!

~Ryan Lynch

Here is a very interested pair of statistics for homes sales in the Des Moines Area Association of Realtors (DMAAR) market for the month of April:

Total listings taken: 1,127

Total listings sold: 1,620

44% more houses were put under contract than were actually listed in the month of April! There is a huge demand for more houses to sell. As of the end of April we were only 2 closed sales total behind that time last year, and we had a much worse winter which kept buyers inside. Except it did not!

What does this mean to you?

If you are thinking about selling, talk to me. You are in a position where your house is very likely to be in demand if marketed and positioned correctly. For example, last night I was out with buyers who were interested in a house that had been bought 4 years ago. The sellers were asking for $56,000 more than they had bought it for 4 years ago. When I ran a market analysis this morning, I found that they were actually $1,000 under priced. That is a $14,000 price increase per year.

If you are thinking about buying you need help. I had a listing last week that sold in three days. I had multiple sign calls from unrepresented buyers who were already too late. The house had already sold.

I am very good at what I can do and you can put my skills to service for you. You can reach me at 515.639.0047 or RyanLynch@KW.com. Call me today and put me on your team.

~Ryan Lynch

Recently I wrote about two different markets in the Des Moines Area Association of Realtors market. It can be looked at another way as well. As of April 30th this year, there is a huge difference in your market depending on your price range. Let’s look at the numbers:

As of April 30th here are the inventory counts in several price ranges:

$0 to $100,000 – 207 houses for sale
$100,000 to $200,000 – 492 houses for sale
$200,000 to $300,000 – 914 houses for sale
$300,000 to $400,000 – 824 houses for sale
$400,000 to $500,000 – 351 houses for sale

The numbers jump dramatically from $200,000 to $400,000. This comes back to new construction flooding the market. The large majority of the new construction market that I wrote about is above $200,000. It is crazy to think there are 1.5 times as many houses for sale between $300,000 and $400,000 than houses for sale under $100,000.

So what does this mean to you?

If you are thinking about moving up, I have great news for you. Let’s say you are moving from a $150,000 house to a $300,000 house. Your $150,000 house has huge demand. 586 houses sold in the month of April from $100,000 to $200,000. More houses sold in that range than are currently on the market. Think about that! Then when you look at your new home you have almost twice as much inventory to look at. Life is good, and using me to position yourself correctly will mean you get maximum dollar for your house.

If you are selling in the $250,000 to $400,000 range you are in a tougher spot. You have a lot of competition, and much of your competition is new construction. Positioning yourself correctly from the start will help you out tremendously. There are pockets around the Multiple Listing Service where you could have tons of competition, and there are still spots where there is no competition. Using me to understand the market will help you tremendously.

If you are buying in the ranges of $250,000 and up, you have many pockets where you are in a buyer’s market. Using me as your realtor means you can take advantage of that and get the best deal possible.

If you or someone you know is looking to buy a home, sell a home, or invest in real estate, put me on the team! You can reach me at 515.639.0047 or RyanLynch@KW.com.

~Ryan Lynch

I have had a lot of people asking me to come look at their home to help them get ready to sell. I love adding value, and I think this is one area where having an experienced eye and strong understanding of the market really helps me do that. Here are some thoughts on where investing in your home can add the most value in the order of cost/benefit significance. :

CLEAN!!! – Do a deep clean or hire someone to come and get the nooks and crannies. Buyers will look everywhere. Open everything you can open and clean inside of it. If your home is beautiful and then the buyer opens a door where everything inside has an inch of dust, you will lose them 90% of the time.

Carpet and Paint – Simply making your home pop can add a lot of value to those people that are coming to look at your home. If you think about it, many people are taking 20-30 minutes to decide on making one of the largest investments of their life. The more you can stand out in a good way, the better off you will be. Making your home look clean and fresh will go a long way in doing just that.

Kitchen – First off, if you do a full remodel you are likely to, at a maximum, get 50% of your investment back. If you are going to redo a kitchen completely, do it when you buy so that you get to enjoy it. Unless you bought your property at a deep discount, you are not going to see that money come back to you. There are several things you can do in the kitchen for less cost that will add value. Paint the cabinets, and/or add a tile back splash. These cost effective improvements can do a lot for you.

Bathroom – Same note as the kitchen. You will not get your money back if you do a full remodel. Here are the cost effective moves: Update the fixtures. Re-caulk and re-grout the shower.

Whole House – Replace dated light fixtures. You can get new fixtures for less than $50 a piece. Take advantage of that.

All of these are great ideas. You might have more benefit from some than others depending on the rest of your house. Also, ask other people about colors. I learned early on that some sellers cannot be trusted to pick complementary colors. If that is you, I am happy to help.

Call me and let me help you. You can reach me at 515.639.0047 or RyanLynch@KW.com. I am very good at what I do and I would love to be on your team.

~Ryan Lynch

2018 is very interesting in that it seems that two distinct markets are being created in the Des Moines area Multiple Listing Service (MLS). For the first quarter of 2018 (ending March 31st) these two markets are almost the exact opposite of each other. Here are some facts of what is going on in both markets:

The first thing to look at is inventory. As of March 31st, New Construction is getting to be close to half of the market! There were a total of 3,110 houses for sale on March 31st, and of those 1,341 of them were New Construction properties. That means that 43.1% of the market is New Construction houses. Nearly half of the market of houses for sale were built within the last 18 months. That is insane!

This disparity means that there is a huge difference in the two markets themselves. If you are looking for New Construction, you have a lot to choose from. You are also looking for a bigger, more expensive home. The average sale price of a New Construction property for this first quarter was $303,801.00. The average sale price of a Resale property, on the other hand, was $173,000.00.

Taking those two numbers you can see how the two markets could be so different. Think about how many people could buy a $170,000 property versus a $300,000 property. There are a lot more buyers in the Resale market right now. To that end, the New Construction market currently has 5.7 months of inventory and the Resale market currently has 1.5 months of inventory. (Here is an article where I explain what months of inventory means.) That is a huge difference!

What this means to you:

As a seller, if you are looking to sell your home, and you do not build homes for a living, I want to talk to you yesterday! Home values keep increasing. More and more buyers are coming to the table. The average house nationwide increased in value 7% over the last year. If you position your house well, a multiple offer situation could be coming your way. (42% of all of my listings in 2017 were in multiple offer situations.)

As a buyer, is you are looking for New Construction you have a buffet table awaiting you. Get a good realtor (ME!!!) who can make sure that your butt is covered from a builder. My biggest recommendation is to not use the builder’s realtor as your own realtor. Who’s butt do you think they are going to cover better? The person who gives them one deal, or the person who gives them most of their deals? If you are looking for a Resale property, get a great realtor (ME!!!). You need to be able to move fast, evaluate fast, and make sure that you are protected in this fast moving market.

Call, text, or email me today! You can reach me at 515.639.0047 or RyanLynch@KW.com. I know what I am doing, and it is my job to take away as much stress and worry from this process as I can. I am very good at what I do.

~Ryan Lynch

Yesterday the Federal Reserve raised interest rates. They did three times in 2017 and they are expected to raise rates at least three times in 2018. What does that mean for home prices in the Des Moines area and for buyers and sellers?

The first thing to look at is history. Right now we are around 4% interest rate for a typical 30 year home loan. This is still a historically low interest rate. Rates were as high as 18% in 1981, and they have steadily gone down from there. I worked for a bank in 2005 and I remember the loan officers at that time freaking out that interest rates were going as low as 5%!!! They have only trended downwards over the last 13 years, and 2017 was the first time in a long time that interest rates went up. Looking at that history though, we are still on the side of incredibly cheap money.

For buyers this means that mortgages will get a little more pricey over time. If you are looking to buy in the next year or two, buying sooner could save you a thousand or two or three thousand dollars a year. Over the course of a 30 year loan, that is nothing to sneeze at. It wont kill you to wait, you will just have some extra money in your pocket if you don’t.

For sellers this actually leads to an interesting happening: prices will keep going up. What happens is that the interest rates going up will stop some people from buying a home. Those same people will then not sell their current home. The supply of homes for sale then also slows down. Right now we are at historically low inventory levels. We are still hovering around 3000 houses on the Des Moines area market (3063 as of 3/22/2018). People are still moving slowly to get their homes on the market, and that means prices go up because there are so few homes for people to look at. I will also give the caveat that we are actually selling more houses, it is just that they are selling so fast that the active inventory keeps looking shrunk.

What this means for buyers: get a professional to help you. You need to be able to move fast and evaluate deals faster. You need someone who can help you make faster, better decisions. I would love to be that professional for you.

What this means for sellers: getting your house on the market before the market goes Spring crazy means that you get to take advantage of all of the motivated buyers who are out there right now. Don’t wait until you have more competition. Use me to put yourself in the best position possible.

I am an incredibly good agent who always puts my client’s first. I will tell you the truth. I know what I am talking about. Call me today at 515.639.0047 or you can reach me at RyanLynch@KW.com.

~Ryan Lynch