Blog Archives - Page 9 of 21 - Des Moines House Selling Specialists

Borrowing Brains to Buy (and Sell) Houses

I had something happen yesterday that just reminded me of the importance of working with people that know what they are doing. I had a client that wanted to buy a house and was dealing with multiple roadblocks.

At first I didn’t push and let them handle it, because that is what they seemed to want. After they started to get frustrated I just started asking more and more questions. It turns out that they were just dealing with an inexperienced person, and with some information I fixed their problem within an hour, and now they have the house they want under contract.

The reason I point this out is that I have a lot of experience that the average realtor does not. Helping so many people, helping investors, and being an investor myself have taught me a lot of things. The number one thing, is that if there is a will, there is a way. I have had many clients come to me saying that a lender/contractor/whoever told them something wasn’t possible, that I could show them how to do that day.

Borrow my brains, I love to share!!!

I love doing what I do. I love looking at the market, and I love building relationships with the people that I get to help. Let me know how I can help you. Call me today. You can reach me at 515.639.0047 or RyanLynch@KW.com. I am good at what I do, and I want to help you.

~Ryan Lynch

Lock it In

I have had this conversation with several of my clients recently, so I thought that this would be a good thing to share with everyone. The question is usually something to the effect of: I really like this property, could I get it inspected before I make an offer?

The simple answer is yes. You can pay an inspector to come to the property and write you a report. You have to ok it with the sellers. As long as they are ok with an up to two hour showing, it will work.

The better answer is that you should put the property under contract before you do that. The reason that most people want to do the inspection is because they like the house and they want to make sure that there is nothing that they can’t see that would stop them from buying the house. That is already built in to any contract that I would write for you. Once you put a property under contract you have (typically) two weeks to do as many inspections as you want and then ask the sellers to remedy any issues that come up, or change the purchase price, or countless other options of negotiation.

The reason that I say to put it under contract is because then you have a legal document saying that you have the right to purchase that property, and that you are above all others in that right. If you simply do an inspection before you have a property under contract, then the property can be put under contract by anyone. So while you are getting your report, you could be losing the house. And you just paid for a report that no longer matters to you.

If you have the property under contract, and the inspection comes up with something that you don’t want to deal with, and that the seller wont do, you get out of the contract. And then the few hundred dollars that you spent on that inspection saved you from thousands, or tens of thousands of dollars of repair. Money very well spent.

My simple advice is that if you like a property, make the offer. That way if you continue to want it, you already have it. If you find something that makes you not want it, and the seller wont fix it, then you can cancel the contract.

~Ryan Lynch

Long Term Thinking

It matters to me that you are happy. I am in this for the long haul and I think that makes me do things that most realtors would not do.

For example, yesterday I was out with clients looking at houses. We were at a house where they started talking about all of the things that they would need to do in order to like the house. They would want to remodel the kitchen and all of the bathrooms. They would want to move walls. They would want to cut down trees. Finally, I looked at them and asked “Why are you even considering this house if you want to change most everything about it?”

For me, getting the sale does not matter. It matters that I help you get what you want. Frankly, in many instances it is helping you figure out what you want.

I am not going to push you to buy now. I am going to be there to answer questions for you and point out things you might not notice. After you buy, I am going to check in periodically to see if there is anything I can do to help. Six months, six years, or twenty-six years later I am still going to be checking in when you are ready to move to the next house. How is that for long term thinking?

Market Report:

I have been saying that we are at the top of the market for a while. I have also been saying I don’t know how long we will be there. No one does. Here are three pieces of information that make me think we are seeing a true shift in the market:

September saw the most open houses being held for 2019 so far. In 2019 there have only been four weekends with more than 1,000 open houses being held. Two of those were in September.
We have stayed above 4,000 active units of inventory on the MLS for almost two months now.
Every month since June, 2019 has seen more price reductions than the previous month.

All three of these data points are saying that there is a shift in buyer’s patterns.

To give a more full picture, we are still near record breaking levels of sales for 2019. The levels of pending transactions (houses under contract) has stayed steady as well. This combined with the previous information tells me that more and more people are putting their houses on the market (more sellers). Even with ridiculously low mortgage rates, buyers are not keeping up with sellers.

That means that if you are a buyer you are feeling good. You have cheap money and lots to choose from. If you are a seller, you need to be aware of what is going on around you and hit the ground running.

~Ryan Lynch

You Would Actually do that?

I have been very lucky with the people that I get to work with. I find it funny that I have had clients tell me that they are upset that I dressed up to show them houses, and I have never had a client say the opposite. It is wonderful to have clients that see me as a friend and trust me.

One question that I get a surprising amount is “You would actually do that?” You see I always ask everyone if there is anything that I can do to help or add value to their world. Most of the time people just assume I am talking about real estate related things, but I have had people ask for help in many different areas.

I had one client that neglected to do some repairs they had agreed to until the night before closing. They were sitting on their roof in the dark trying to fix something and I offered to come over and help. “You would do that?”

I have had clients looking for new jobs and need connections. I have connections, and I love to help. “You would do that?

I have offered to help clients in so many ways and been asked that question so many times. For me I see it all as helping. I love to help. It doesn’t matter if I am currently helping you buy or sell a home. It doesn’t really matter if I ever help you buy or sell a home. How can I help?

For the market part of this post I am going to give you three numbers:

New Listings in August 2019: 1,233

Pending Transactions in August 2019: 1,196 (houses that went under contract)

Price Reductions in August 2019: 1,784

What do these three numbers mean? Here are a few of my takeaways:

More and more people are getting on the market. Our inventory has stayed above 4,000 units since my last post. We had more listings than sales.
Buyers are being more cautious. Those 1,784 reduced prices are more than a third of the entire house market. Keep in mind they also are ready to go. Interest rates are still ridiculously low!
I still say we are at the top of the market, and I still say I have no idea how long we will be here.

Interest rates are low, inventory is getting higher (it is still historically low), and there is still so much happening. We are on track to sell 14,000 units again this year which is a lot of houses. If you are thinking about buying or selling, get help. I can help you position yourself well in the market whether you are buying or selling. Get expertise on your side when you are making one of the largest financial decisions of your life.

~Ryan Lynch

It’s Over 4000!!!

Just pretend I have Photoshop capabilities and that reads 4000…

Well the Des Moines area real estate market broke 4000 active, available homes! 4049 as of this writing in fact. If you look through this blog you will see that we have been in the 3000’s for quite some time. We have even had points where we had over 3000 pending sales at one time over the past few years. Hitting over 4000 active houses has been a long time coming.

What does this mean to you?

If you are a buyer you have got to be happy right now. The largest inventory we have seen in a while with the lowest interest rates. (I just saw 2.75% for a 15 year mortgage and 3.5% for a 30 year mortgage!!!) That means more to choose from and cheaper money for you.

If you are a seller it means you have more competition. It means that you need to price according to that competition in order to compete. It means having someone that can read the market would be invaluable to you.

The good news is that I am here, excited to help you sell your home, or buy a home, or both! I am always very happy to help!

~Ryan Lynch

Thank You!!!

I started a tradition a couple of years back of giving as much gratitude as I could on my birthday. Today being my birthday I just wanted to say thank you all so much for letting me into your world and letting me help you. You are all so amazing and I love getting to spend my time serving you.

Thank you so much!!!

~Ryan Lynch

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Borrowing Brains to Buy (and Sell) Houses

Lock it In

Long Term Thinking

You Would Actually do that?

It’s Over 4000!!!

Thank You!!!

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