Des Moines House Selling Specialists

Real Estate Consultants in Central Iowa

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.

House Selling

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

Would Your Rather Have Facts or Opinions?

How important is having the facts when you are dealing with one of the largest financial transactions in your life? I have recently had several people reach out to me asking me a variation of the same question:

How accurate is the assessor’s site for the value of my home?

How accurate is the Zestimate on Zillow?

How likely is my home to sell for the same amount as my neighbor’s down the street?

The answer is the same for all of the questions: it is pretty accurate about 20% of the time. Frankly though, that is just because it is lucky. The real estate market is a market. The value of your home changes as the market changes around it. If there are less homes for sale around yours, then your value goes up because it has less competition to deal with. If you have foreclosures, or new construction, or homes that sold way over value (for any number of reasons), all of that can affect your home’s value as well. All of these things are constantly happening and thus the value of your home is constantly shifting.

The assessor’s site, Zillow, and anywhere else that you look is usually a stagnant guess based off of some of the data at the time that the guess was made. If you want to get your home sold for the most amount of money in the least amount of time, get a House Selling Specialist who can analyze all of the data and make sure that you are positioned in the current market for maximum visibility and desirability.

I just so happen to be that House Selling Specialist, and that is only one of the many consultative services that I provide. If you or someone you know is looking to buy a home, sell a home, or invest in real estate, you can reach me at 515.639.0047 or RyanLynch@KW.com

~Ryan Lynch

The Year of Real Estate that Makes No Sense

Well, I don’t know how long it can last, yet the news just keeps getting better for sellers. The National Association of Realtors just came out and said that February was the highest month for Pending Home Sales since July of 2015. That means that more homes that were on the market for sale, were bought in February than in the last six months. That means, that the month that is typically the slowest month of the year outpaced half of the last year.

Nationally, the 30 year fixed mortgage rate is between 3.53% and 3.59% as of close yesterday (March 29th, 2016). There are so many buyers out there right now that want to take advantage of that. And obviously, in February they did.

As of this morning (March 30th, 2016) the inventory on the Des Moines Area Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service is at 2984 homes actively for sale. We have not seen numbers this low since 2006.

I know I am starting to sound like a broken record here. I am hoping that if you hear over and over again how ridiculous of a situation this is, you will understand that if you are thinking about buying or selling a home, you are in a perfect storm.

Historically low interest rates mean you are getting cheap money and you have access to more of it.

Decade low inventory means that you have less and less competition.

Months high Pending Home Sales means that you have even less competition than you did last month.

When you look at trends, March, April, and May historically mean increasing inventory and increasing competition. We are in crazy time here.

Are you interested in selling your house for more money in less time? You can reach me at 515.639.0047 or RyanLynch@KW.com

~Ryan Lynch

Normal Right Now is Anything But

Des Moines Real Estate Market

The real estate market in Des Moines right now is crazy for buyers and sellers. Let me tell you two stories to explain:

    1. Right now I am working with buyers who have had two houses that they have wanted to buy so far. They are anxious to take advantage of interest rates still being near the 52 week low. The first house they placed a full price offer on, and did not get because they were outbid. The second house we went to make an offer on yesterday, and it had gone under contract yesterday. Moral of the story: if you want to take advantage of the incredibly cheap money right now (Sub 4% on 30 year fixed, and sub 3% on 15 year fixed), you need to be willing to move fast and pay for what you want.

    2. I have sellers that I first talked to in January of this year. They wanted to sell their house, and at that time the market was saying we should list at $206,000. They wanted to do a few repairs and I agreed with them. I listed their house two weeks ago and the market said we should list at $215,000. Their house went under contract yesterday. That is an almost $10,000 price increase in less than two months. The biggest difference though was that when I looked at their competition in early March, there was no house within a mile of them priced below $240,000. They had no competition. That is what I am finding everywhere.

So right now is an incredible time to buy, because you are paying interest rates that are barely above inflation. Right now is also an amazing time to sell, because all of these buyers are out there with nothing to look at. You have no competition.

If you or someone you know are looking to buy a home, sell a home, or invest in real estate: CALL ME! You can reach me at 515.639.0047 or RyanLynch@KW.com

~Ryan Lynch

Find Us On:

Office Location:

House Selling Specialists
Keller Williams Greater Des Moines
4001 Westown Parkway
West Des Moines, IA 50266

We Help You Sell Your House and Find Your Dream Home

Our goal is to help you get your current house sold in less time, for more money, and without all the hassles. This will allow you to get into your next home as soon as possible.