lexington kentucky blog

Why do new listings get so much attention?

by John Rice

I have a listing that got lots of showings the first few days on the market. It is now only getting 1-2 showings a week.

I have a new buyer who I have shown everything that is currently on the market. They haven’t liked any of them enough to pull the trigger. We are now just looking at 1-2 houses a week.

Notice a similarity? Both are not getting a lot of activity. Why? The seller has exhausted all the buyers currently in the market. They are waiting for new buyers to enter the market. The buyer has exhausted everything currently on the market. They are waiting for new listings to hit the market. This is how it has always worked, but all the waiting is because there is still a significant shortage of listings.

When there is a new listing that drops on the market, every buyer in that price range will come out to see it. For buyers, it is tough because they are one of those people coming to see the listing as soon as it hits the market. They need to quickly decide if they want the house or not. There is often not a lot of time to sit on the fence when it is a new listing. For sellers, this is your best chance to get multiple offers. It can be easy for a seller to assume they will always get that much traffic. I have had sellers turn down an offer during this period because they think they can get a better one later. They think they will endlessly get 4-5 showings every day. Then it dries up after about day 3 or 4 on the market.

The market is constantly moving. It’s like the sun. You can’t see it move. You just look up in the sky and realize it isn’t in the same place it was the last time you looked. There are new listings and new buyer entering the market every day. (I do realize the sun doesn’t actually move, the earth does. Think of this analogy more as how we refer to the sun setting or rising.)

I’ll pick choice #2

by John Rice

I’m sort of in the market for a car to replace one I’ve got. Truth be told, I’m always “Sort of” in the market for a car. I am always wanting to get a new one or get rid of one I have.

I test drove a car a few weeks ago in Cincinnati.

It was one of the worst experiences ever. It was extremely clear that the sales person had no interest in anything beyond getting me to do exactly whatever he wanted. Wouldn’t answer any of my questions. Just wanted to get whatever information out of me that would serve his purposes. He would say one thing and contradict himself minutes later. I left feeling more like a victim. (I’ve worked with a few sales people often enough that I have become friends with them. I really wish one of them had the car I am looking for. Two of them are still in the business and one of them is a teacher now. These guys were great to work with and made car shopping fun!)

This experience got me thinking about how I operate compared to the sales person at that dealership in Northern Cincinnati. I work for my clients. I am their advocate. I have a fiduciary duty to look out for their best interests. I should know enough about houses, neighborhoods, construction, market conditions, values of homes and pretty much anything that could help a client of mine make a wise, informed decision for one of the largest purchases they will ever make……even if this means doing so doesn’t serve my own best interest. I don’t want my clients to buy any house. I want them to buy the right house for them.

I showed a house early this morning to some first time buyers. Having lived in Lexington since 1986 and being a realtor since 2005, I was able to give them a lot of information they needed.

I’ve sold several houses in this neighborhood so I was able to tell them what my clients liked and disliked about it. Having listed several there, I was also able to tell them what feedback prospective buyers have given after showings.

There is an elementary school just down the road from this house. I was able to tell them exactly how far the pick up line will be from the house we were in. I have been on this street many times when school is dismissing.

I was able to tell them about a large annual event that a church up the street has and how it would impact the neighborhood one week a year.

The house we saw was one that is being flipped. I always look for signs of hidden issues. This house had cracking in the brick veneer. I didn’t see any signs of damage or repairs on the inside of the house so my hunch is that a home inspector would consider it on the moderate end of normal. While I am no home inspector, I’ve owned about 20 houses and of course, have been on hundreds of home inspections. The last thing I want to happen is for my people to buy a house, then have it fall apart after a home inspection (The sale fall apart, lol, not the house!) It is heartbreaking and expensive for them when that happens. I try to help them out by doing as much of an amateur home inspection as I can.

I wish that sales person I endured would realize that you have two choices when working in commissioned sales:

  1. Be selfish. Get what you want. Take, take, take. Make it all about you. Get your check.
  2. Put others first. Find out what others want. Give, give, give. Make it all about them. Then get your check.

By picking choice #2, you still make the same living, only you go to bed at night with a deep satisfaction from knowing you really helped somebody.

What’s 2024 Going to be Like?

by John Rice

I do these type of posts every year. Not to brag, but I am usually spot on. Why is that? I think it is because I don’t concern myself with short term knee jerk reactions to market fluxuation like the media does. I don’t view “Demand” like most people. I think there is always demand because everybody loves real estate and everybody ultimately wants to own their home. How many people are out there buying at this exact moment can vary, but there is always demand.

I think 2024 will be a better year for buyers and a still great year for sellers. We have all been on a roller coaster the past few years:

2020-We thought we were all going to catch COVID and die, or didn’t think it existed at all. We were too busy fighting over everything early on to bother with buying or selling houses….until later in the year when rates got so low.

2021-We partied like it was 1999. We chatted daily about how much our crypto went up. We got a better house, an airbnb or refinanced what we already had like crazy.

2022-We continued to party like it was 1999 but we knew the ball was about to drop. Just like inflation was eroding our purchasing power, we could no longer afford the cost to maintain our enthusiasm.

2023-Was like “Will there be a recession?”, “Are we IN a recession?” and “These rates are crazy high right now!” It felt like when somebody thinks they saw a shark and everybody jumps out of the water. Was there a shark? Who knows, but nobody wants to be the first one to get back in the water.

2024 is looking like the economy has stabilized, rates are going to drop to a level that is historically average, and all those people who are on the fence will come out….just like the opening scene of Bambi. Affordability will remain an issue. Prices will at least stay stable. We will read later in the year that rent prices are dropping but that data is skewed. All the new giant apartment complexes will be competing for the same tenants. Prices for apartments will go down for sure. The single family rental market will remain strong since there are not enough single family houses for anybody in any market.

Ultimately, I think this will be the most normal market we have seen since Covid.

And I welcome it. Bring on 2024!

I can’t think of a good title but it’s still worth reading

by John Rice

It’s been a good week.

As most of you know, I only work with people who find me in one of 3 ways: I have to know you. You have to have been referred to me by somebody I know. You have to have told me you found this blog. I don’t advertise. I don’t offer my services to anybody else.

That means that my “Job” feels more like I am just getting to see cool people and helping them make good choices.

This past week, I have been working with a buyer and a seller that I know well.

I am listing a really amazing ranch in Versailles for a couple I have known for over 20 years. I think it will sell fast, even this time of the year which is historically slow. It has a great floor plan, great location, a large and flat backyard, a sunroom and great outdoor space.

This couple has recommended me to several people over the years. I will miss them. They knew me before I became The LEXpert. Back then I was just a goofy guy who wore sandals and always had on my favorite yellow shirt.

The buyers I am working with is one of those situations where I have worked with multiple generations of the same family. This one is especially unique because I have worked with the family of both the husband and the wife before they married…..so they are the overlapping part of a Venn Diagram. I have know the husband since he was a little kid. We once went on a vacation with his family back in the same yellow shirt guy days I mentioned above.

The best thing about working with people who find me in one of those three ways is that I already have their trust. That sure makes it much less stressful for my clients.

Reading the tea leaves when your house isn’t selling

by John Rice

House not selling? Wondering how to interpret what is going on? Here are a few of my thoughts on some common situations. The following assumes your house is being presented well online with plenty of good pictures and marketing remarks that describe it with more than trendy generic AI generated verbiage.

The house that gets lots of showings but no offers

Assuming that you don’t have some negative that wasn’t obvious like backing to a highway, apartments, or having an Eiffel Tower looking electrical thing in your yard, this situation simply means that the house doesn’t live up to what buyers expected. The good news with this one is that buyers think the price for what they thought the house would be is okay or else they wouldn’t come at all. The solution here is to either lower the price or improve the house so that it meets the expectations buyers have. Whichever is easiest.

I once had a condo that got tons of showings. I kept encouraging the seller to paint. Once we did, it sold. I recently had another listing that was getting tons of showings. It was a nice place, but just felt like a 15 year old house that needed a fresh vibe. The seller did some painting and replaced the flooring in all the bathrooms. As soon as it was done, it sold. Both of these places looked great online, and just needed to match what buyers thought they were getting. Both were improved for far less than the price reduction we would have needed, so both sellers actually came out better by going that route.

The house that gets no showings

This one is easy, but hard for sellers to accept. The price is too high. If a house is presented well on the MLS, and still nobody comes to see it, all you can do is lower the price. Real estate is all about price, location, and condition. You can’t change the location, but the other two you have some control over.

Also something to think about is this: If you have a $400k house and you’re asking $475k for it, buyers are comparing it to other houses that are really worth the asking price. The buyers who are going to spend what your house is really worth aren’t even going to see it since the list price is over their budget.

The house that gets the same bad feedback over and over

This is the least fun thing that can happen to a seller. I mean, they get kicked out of their house for showing after showing with no offers AND get to hear what people hate about their house.

Several years ago I had this really cool older house that had been mostly remodeled. It had the smallest living room I have ever seen……must have been the smallest anybody had ever seen since that is all I kept hearing after the showings. I’d ask for feedback and the buyer’s realtor would go on and on about how beautiful the place was, how unexpected it was to have walk-in closets in such an old house….then they would say their client wasn’t going to buy it since the living room was so small.

We tried putting in smaller scale furniture, but that didn’t help. After that, all we could do was drop the price. A price reduction opens the house up to a larger pool of buyers as well as enticing them to overlook a shortcoming if they are getting a better deal. We got that one sold too.

If you have a situation that doesn’t fit into these scenarios, give me a shout and I’ll let you know what to do.