Random Real Estate Thoughts

My first open house in 13 years

by John Rice

I did my first open house since 2009 recently. None of the people who came to the open house bought it.

Why?

Because open houses do not help a seller get their house sold.

Who comes to an open house?

1) People who are so new in their search for a home that they are not ready to make a decision.

2) Neighbors.

3) People who just like houses and real estate.

Why do realtors seem to love doing them?

Because they get to meet all those people who are not going to buy the house they are standing in but may buy something later.

Why then did I do one?

For my seller. We put her house on the market right before Thanksgiving. That is statistically the absolute worst time to put a house on the market……and Thanksgiving 2022 was pretty much the worst market since 2011. Interest rates had just put all buyers in a state of shock and very few were out actively shopping.

My seller was one of the nicest clients I have ever had. She needed to get this house sold so she could get married, move and start a new life out of state. All that was in the way was selling this house. It was very discouraging to her that it didn’t sell fast. The market did a major shift so quickly last fall. FYI-It is much better now. Buyers are getting used to today’s rates and are not as shocked/mad/afraid to buy a house. Back then all the headlines were how terrible the market would get. Prices would fall. Zillow and Redfin went from predicting things like 14% annual gains to declines of 10% or more in value.

Long story short, she needed a little encouragement and the least I could do was give her part of one Sunday afternoon.

It had been so long since I had done an open house that I didn’t even have any signs. The first step was to buy the bigger open house sign to put in the yard and get it scheduled online. On my way to her house, I placed the brand new directional signs so people could find the place.

Where I hadn’t done one in so long, I had no idea what to expect. My plan was to get my 10,000 steps done for the day by pacing around her house. I had many pleasant surprises that day. The first of which was that the seller had candy in practically every room and had baked fresh cookies. I ate so many of them that I should have walked 1,000,000 steps that day. We had a huge number of people show up. So much so that I didn’t really have time to play solitaire and sudoku on my phone. I also ran into two people I knew that I hadn’t seen in forever. Overall, it was a successful open house in the sense that it gave my seller the encouragement she needed.

Selling a house is very stressful. Most of my job is giving practical advice and taking care of tasks. Sometimes it is about doing something that says “We’re in this together.”

The house sold a few weeks later to a young couple who feel in love with it. The seller was very happy they loved the house as much as she did.

Two deals: BuyerZilla & One of the best sellers ever

by John Rice

I have always said that during a real estate transaction, you either see people at their best or their worst.

It is a stressful thing to do. So many details. Such a big change in the lives of both the buyer and seller. It is something most people do 4-5 times in their life so it isn’t like this is anything anybody will ever get used to doing.

I’ve got two deals right now where I am seeing somebody at their best and at their worst.

I have a listing where the buyer is clearly at their worst. They are making things a little difficult for their own realtor, the seller and me as the listing realtor. The funny thing is that I don’t know why? Due to the slowdown in the market last fall, there were not enough comparable sales for this higher priced home in a small town outside of Lexington. The house appraised for $14k less than the contract price. My seller agreed to lower their price. Then the buyer hit us with a pretty big repair list. We agreed to all but one item which happened to be the easiest one on the whole list. They threw a fit. One of the items was to repair a roof leak around the chimney. This was perfectly acceptable to ask for and the seller committed to getting it done. My seller turned it into his insurance. While the insurance company rejected the claim, they did agree to replace the whole roof at a cost of over $24k. He has to pay out of pocket for the chimney repair however. We asked the buyer to chip in a little bit towards the new roof (which my seller had no obligation to do) and they threatened to walk away from the sale. While they were under no obligation to help, one would have thought that having gotten the house for $14k less than the price they offered AND getting a whole brand new roof worth $24k would have made any buyer feel like they had won the lottery. It appears this buyer somehow feels like it was all owed to them.

The other deal is a property some long time good friends are buying. We were set to close today after waiting for the seller to get a new hvac part installed. It got installed and we all thought things were good. The person who installed this part went back yesterday to check on it and turns out that the gas furnace is now producing too much carbon monoxide. When faced with the choice of not telling us and closing today as planned or disclosing this, they chose to let the us know. Their HVAC person’s solution was to install a new furnace. They seller offered to split the cost with the buyers, who immediately said yes because who wouldn’t want a brand new furnace for half price, right? We decided to postpone the closing until the new furnace is installed and the carbon monoxide level is checked again. Had this seller chose the option of not letting us know, it would have cost my buyers more money and could have cost them even more since they would be sleeping in a house with high carbon monoxide levels. This seller did the right thing. I told the seller’s realtor how much I appreciated their honesty and that I was definitely seeing the sellers at their very best.

I am always inspired when I see a buyer or seller at their best, I just wish it happened every time.

Connection to this house made this new sale extra special

by John Rice

Yesterday started out like most busy days in real estate. I had to drive to Salvisa for a home inspection. I was negotiating home inspection repairs on two listings. Talking about radon, missing tub stoppers and clogged gutters isn’t especially exciting or fun. About the only real satisfaction in working on home inspection lists is knowing you’re working hard to make things as good as possible for your clients.

I also had an offer out with a 7:PM deadline. I wrote the offer for my Buyer’s on Saturday afternoon so it was a long wait to see if they got the house or not. And they did get it. That always feels great. It is especially exciting and fun to be the one to drop that news to your clients.

This sale was a pretty special one.

It was a house I had sold last summer.

This house was where two friends grew up. I have worked with this family several times. It was time for their mother to move out after having lived there since the mid 60s. It was a great house with a great floor plan in a great neighborhood. It was also in great shape. It was just a little dated. We got something like 20 offers on the place when I had it listed. It got bid up about $40k over the list price. Unbeknownst at the time the offer was accepted, the lady who bought it had gone to school with one of the daughters of the owner so they had a little reunion at the closing.

It felt great to have gotten so much over list price for this family. It felt great to see the daughter and buyer catch up after not seeing each other in decades.

Flash forward about six months, I saw the house was coming on the market. It had been totally renovated and an extra full bathroom had been added. I mentioned it to a young couple who had been referred to me. It was pretty much exactly what they were wanting in a house (short of having a garage.) I knew it would be a great house. As soon as it hit the market, we checked it out. Later that day, an offer was made.

When I first saw the house prior to listing it, my friend and her mother were telling me stories about their family’s history in that house. The one that sticks out the most was her mom cooking breakfast on a wood burning stove in the basement during the ice storm of 2003 while the power was out. I always love getting these details…….and I totally love that I got to sell it again, knowing that my Buyers will be making their own history there that one day they will tell me about when it’s time to sell.

My realtor bucket list

by John Rice

Welcome to 2023. I’m not a big New Year’s resolution type of guy, but I got to thinking this morning about things I would like to experience at some point in my career, so here we go!

#1. I would like to have had somebody use me for 10 transactions over my entire career. I’ve had lots of people use me 3-4 times. I’ve only had one couple use me 6 times so I guess they are the most likely to cross this off the list. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE…….hahahaha!

#2. I would like to sell a house designed and built by Richard Isenhour. He was a local architect who built many modern houses in Lexington between the 1950s and 1980s. When I was a teenager, I always enjoyed driving past some of his houses. I didn’t know back then who designed and built them, all I knew was that they were cool. Many are in the Lakeshore Drive and Albany Road area. I do know somebody who currently lives in one of his later homes so I might be able to cross this one off the list.

#3. I would love to show a specific modern house on Warrenwood Wynd in Lexington. I discovered this home when I was a teenager who was just driving around looking at cool houses. It has been my favorite house in Lexington ever since.

#4. I would love to show a mid-century modern house off of Tates Creek Road that was previously owned by Kentucky Fried Chicken owner and former Kentucky Governor John Y Brown. Why? Not only is it a cool example of my favorite architectural style, it played a part in a book I was fascinated by called The Bluegrass Conspiracy. It’s actually a tragic tale of corruption and drug trafficing but it was especially fascinating to me because it happened right here in Lexington and involved my childhood karate instructor as well as the father of a girl I knew in high school.

#5. I would like to show a house in Kenwick that my family lived in when I was in high school. I am sure it might be disappointing to see the changes made, but I can tell from the outside that so much is still the same. My dad built the porch rails so solidly that they will probably support the entire house during an earthquake. He also had the garage built. I would love to see my old bedroom.

#6. When I eventually retire many many many years from now, I hope to have a big party where all my clients come see me one last time.

What have I been doing since the market slowed down?

by John Rice

I was expecting to not be at all busy this fall and winter with the slowdown, but I have been pleasantly surprised by the number of people who have been referred to me lately.

Being a realtor is always interesting.You never know if you’ll be working two months from now. You just hope that the work keeps coming. Fortunately, it has been steady for me for nearly 18 years.

One recent day, I didn’t really have much going on and out of the blue, a past client calls to say a co-worker of his is moving and wants to talk to me about selling his house. So we do a group call and later that afternoon, I’m meeting the seller and we are making plans to list his house. I have really enjoyed working with this seller and his family. They have never sold a house before. They took all of my suggestions on what to do to prepare the house for the market. They seemed like a fun family so I asked if I could put on my Santa Suit and do some pictures with me in the house for the listing. They thought that was awesome. The husband said he was told by his co-worker that I would be fun to work with. We priced it right and it was in a very popular neighborhood, so it sold quickly.

I had the chance to work with a past client whom I have always enjoyed. He was ready to sell a duplex I had sold him several years ago. It didn’t take long to sell and he was happy with the process and results. It was great getting to see him and his wife in person again. We used to randomly cross each others paths when I would see them bicycling in Hamburg or at Good Foods Co-op.

I am getting ready to list another duplex. This one is owned by the mother of an old friend. I’ve mostly been dealing with my friend’s sister since the sister has a POA for the mom. The sister is a lot of fun. Really nice too. And it’s been great to see and chat with my friend.

I’ve got an old family friend whose house I have listed. She renovated the entire place. This has been in the works for most of the year but we just recently put it on the market. It’s been a blast to see her this much.

A couple of weeks ago I get a call from somebody who said they were given my name by somebody they knew. Turns out it was a client that has used me 3 times that lives on the same street. This seller had talked to a few other realtors and picked me. Truth be told, I don’t give that strong of a first impression so I usually don’t “Win” in these types of situations. Usually there is some flashy agent with a bunch of graphs and brochures that gets the listing. The seller is a super cool lady that has been so pleasant to work with. It is always nice to start off with a bit of trust having gotten the endorsement of the person referring them to me.

And just this weekend, I get a text to show one of my listings. It is a young man and his wife who were referred to me from a friend that lives across the street from my old house. He had told me he was referring this couple to me quite a while ago. I assumed they had found another realtor and had already bought a house but they just decided it was time to get serious. It’s pretty cool working with them. The husband was a couple of years ahead of my oldest son in school. The last time I had seen this young man was probably when he was in high school. I love working with first time buyers!

And just now, while I am writing this blog post, a friend who has used me several times texted saying an employee of her’s is wanting to see a listing. I’m not sure yet where that will go, but wow, what an honor to have all these people promoting me among their friends and family.

So to answer the question in the title, I guess I’ve been a little busy with work!