lexington ky

Best time to be a buyer?

by John Rice

It is right now.

Why?

Real estate is like traffic.  Do you want to be driving on Nicholasville Road at 2:PM or 5:PM?  Timing makes a huge difference.  This might be a bad example because personally, I don’t want to be on Nicholasville Road at ANY time of the day.

At 2:PM there is still a lot of people on the road, but fewer drivers.  By 5:PM, everybody who is going to be on that road IS on that road.

In the market, spring and summer are when there are the most buyers out snatching up houses.  It starts to slow down some about the time school starts.  Then it slows down more around Thanksgiving.  Then it really slows down around Christmas.  Then in January it starts picking up again.

We are in that sweet spot where buyer activity will be slowing down some and we are also seeing a good amount of new listings too.   Later in the year, buyer activity will slow down more, but there won’t be as many houses.  It will be like driving down Nicholasville Road in the middle of the night…..sure, there is no traffic, but that is because nothing except Wal-Mart and a few gas stations are open.

Also, sellers tend to get a little nervous the later in the year it gets.  The Lexington sales graph is like a gentle rolling hill.  It gently rises to it’s peak in the late spring and early summer and settles down in the fall/winter.  Some of the surrounding counties look like Mt. Everest.  Their market is dead, then they have 3 months of steep sales increases, then decrease back down to nearly nothing in the fall and winter.  Most sellers assume fall and winter are bad times to sell and plan accordingly, but it is a non-issue for Fayette Co sellers.

We still are likely to have more buyers than houses in the sub $250k range, so I am definitely not saying that it is going to change to a buyers market, just that you may actually have a chance of buying a house without competing with 5 other offers.  Over $250k with the exception of the most popular neighborhoods, you have a better chance of not getting in multiple offers this time of the year.

So be encouraged if you are a buyer and go get you a house!

How to pick a winner of a house

by John Rice

Okay…..You are buying a house in Lexington Ky.  You are concerned about resale potential because prices keep going up and up.  You don’t want to lose your shirt if you ever need to sell in a cooler market.  What are you to do?

First off, congratulations for thinking of the exit plan.  Any time you make a big financial decision, it is always good to have an exit plan.  Right now with so few listings, people are most concerned about finding a house and often don’t think about this step.

So, here are some things that will help ensure you will be okay in the future.  Be sure to do them in this order too….by the time you have gone through all of these, you should have a house that will be any buyer’s top pick regardless of the market:

1)  Stick with an established neighborhood.  Brand new neighborhoods are nice, but you never know what they will be like once they go through their first round of resales.

2)  Stick to a good location.  Location can really mean a lot of things in real estate.  Pick something that is convenient to somewhere.  Neighborhoods close to Hamburg, UK, downtown, the interstate, parks, big employers,, etc, all have appeal to a variety of people.

3)  Pick a neighborhood with at least average performing schools.  Sure, a lot of buyers really want excellent schools, but most of them seem to be just fine with decent ones.

Now that we have narrowed down the location, lets take a look at what to look for in the house itself:

4)  Pick a house that fits in with other houses in the neighborhood.  You don’t want that split foyer that looks like a half-timbered English cottage in the middle of traditional homes.

5.  Pick a house that is similar in size to most in the neighborhood.  You don’t want that 5000 square foot McMansion surrounded by 1200 square foot starter homes any more than you want to be the smallest house surrounded by bigger ones.

6.  Stick around the middle of the price range for the neighborhood.  The cheapest house in the neighborhood may be disappointing to a buyer who is expecting more.  The most expensive house in the neighborhood will leave a buyer feeling like the neighborhood is a let down.

7.  Go for a lot that is typical for the neighborhood.  It is okay to have a sloping yard if every other house does too.  Remember….nobody ever complains that a yard or driveway is too flat.

8.  As you look at the house, keep in mind that anything that is a big negative to you will also be a big negative to the next buyer.  Half bath riiiight off the kitchen bug you?  Backyard have no privacy?  These are things we called “Deal Breakers” in a slow market.  They will keep somebody from wanting your house when they have a choice of more than a handful of houses.

9.  If the house made it this far, buy it!

 

What was I thinking in 2011?

by John Rice

Every once in a while, I like to look through old blog post drafts that never got published.  Well, today was one of those days.  I wrote what is below on 12/29/2011.  The day after my anniversary.  Now, I have no specific recollection of either day in 2011, but I have been married long enough to know that it makes your wife feel good when you can reference your anniversary date…..so that was for you babe!

A lot has changed in nearly 6 years.  All of today’s first time buyers would be amazed that they could have picked from 50-100 houses in their price range back then.  Today, they may have 4 listings on their preferred side of Lexington in their price range.  I remember spending many full days where I never left Masterson Station because there were soooo many houses for sale.  Buyer’s would get confused.  They couldn’t remember one house from another.  I would say stuff like “This is the same floor plan as the 2nd, 5th and 9th house we saw earlier, only this plan is reversed and the vinyl floor in the kitchen is blue instead of brown.”

I had to laugh when I read the draft below because now I have people looking for deals and there just really aren’t any these days.  Also, today the challenge is finding ANY house for a buyer whereas back then it was about helping people pick the needle in the haystack.  Selling listings today is like shooting fish in a barrel.  In 2011, getting a call from a potential seller made your palms sweat because you weren’t sure it would sell.

Here is what I was thinking about late December in 2011:

 

When I was a kid, that Kenny Roger’s song was popular.  You know, the one that said “You gotta know when to hold ’em.  Know when to fold ’em.  Know when to walk away.  Know when to run.”  It was about gambling, but it could just as well be about being a realtor.

Each deal is different.  The people are different.  The house prices are different.  To get the best deal for a client, you have to be able to analyze a bunch of different factors and figure out how something is likely to go down, then take action.

Several months ago, I wrote an offer for a bank owned property.  It was rather unique. They countered our offer, but it was still way too far outside of anything remotely realistic.  We politely said no thanks.  My investor client and I both thought that the time of year, the market, and the ability of other investors to borrow money meant that there really wasn’t much of a market for this property other than him.  We also suspected that the bank would soon want it off their books.  We knew when to “Hold ’em” basically.

Not too long ago, the bank came back and agreed to our original terms.  We’re still working out details, but I’m pretty pumped that my buyer is about to practically steal this property.  Think I’ll buy that song on iTunes and listen to it on the way to the closing…….or that Tom Petty one that says “The waiting is the hardest part.”

LEXpert flashback: When I was a volleyball star

by John Rice

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I listed this little cabin in the woods last week.  I normally don’t go this far out of Lexington, but it was for a past client.

Then I got to thinking that this client, who has used me before, came from another past client, who came from another past client, who was referred from my cousin….so THANK YOU Ashton!  This cabin will be the 11th sale from one referral.

I love it when people refer their friends and family to me.  See, I was never good at sports or anything.  I was always the last or second to last person picked in gym class.  It was either me or a guy named Brian who had an equal amount of sports aptitude…..unless the game was volleyball.

Everybody wanted me on their team for volleyball.  Not that I had any talent in spiking the ball, or even hitting it really.  My special talent was serving.  I could serve the ball and every time I did, we scored a point.

I was always scared to death that they would realize my secret.  I would have all these anxious soundtracks playing in my head like Kevin from “Wonder Years.”

“Will they realize my secret?”

“What will happen if they do?”

“I don’t want to be picked last again!”

Since I probably won’t be playing volleyball competitively again, would you like to know my secret?

I’m left handed.

About the only place in school being a Leftie paid off was playing volleyball.  All those right handed people would serve and the ball would go to the same place.  The opposing teams just got use to the ball being served there.  When I served, it would not go diagonally, but straight, and usually to the back row where the players were least prepared.  I am just glad I was with a bunch of middle school kids who were too preoccupied with pimples, staring at Tonya Jones, or perfecting their moon walk…..because nobody ever figured out that my serve went somewhere differently.  Not once did anybody realize this for all 3 years.

It sure was nice to be the top pick every once in a while back then.  It is even nicer to be the top pick for returning clients and for those who have been referred to me.

 

Old house/New house & my latest car

by John Rice

M3 S2

Cars and houses.

Those are my two things.  I can’t talk about too much else.  I don’t keep up with politics, pop culture or sports.  Get me on either of these two items though, and I am hard to shut up.

I recently added another car to my collection…..if you want to call a bunch of cars that aren’t old enough to be classics a collection.  Junk yard or used car lot is probably a more accurate term.

Sure, I’ve got a new car I use for work.  It looks good.  Is fast.  Gets lots of compliments.  But to me, it is sterile and generic.  It isn’t anything special because you can go to the dealership and buy one just like it.  I don’t feel anything but comfortable when driving it.

What gets my blood circulating is older BMWs.  I love the way they handle.  I love the way they look.  To me, the 90s-early 2000 BMWs were the high point for the brand.  An era I want to celebrate.

They don’t build them like they use to.

That is a phrase you often hear about older houses too.  Just like some people are into older cars verses new ones, some people also prefer an older house to a new one.  Old house people think all new houses are build poorly and lack any character.  The people who like new houses don’t want old house problems or floor plans that don’t work as well for today’s lifestyle.

Whether it is cars or houses, it is cool to like whatever you want.

As a realtor, the task at hand is getting in the mindset of your client and figuring out which they want.  When I buy a car, it is about what I want.  When I am trying to make a real estate love connection for a client, it is all about what they want.  Sometimes they don’t know yet and you need to help them figure it out.

After 12 years of doing this, I can pretty much tell if a client is really wanting to build a brand new house.  If you show them perfectly good move in ready houses and they don’t like any of them, they probably want to build even if they don’t realize it yet.   Another obvious sign is if their previous houses were brand new.  You would be amazed at how many people build a brand new house with each move.

The old house people will sometimes look at new houses, but they don’t like that the trees are small, or comment about the lack of character or perceived quality.  They walk in a perfectly good new house and don’t have any reaction at all.  It is just a structure with 4 walls to them.  Take them in an older house and they light up.

What do I like?  Both really.  In my dream world, I have an old house in a cool part of Lexington.  In that same dream world I have a super modern beach house.  The kind that is mostly glass.  In the garages of each place, I have a couple of older BMWs and also a new car because sometimes it is really nice to hop in a new car with really good air conditioning, comfortable seats and an awesome stereo with bluetooth.