real-estate

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.

How the market works when there is inventory

by John Rice

Now that we are back to having some inventory in our real estate market, I thought it would be a great time for a refresher on how the market works when there are actually houses for sale.

The recent past has shown that any house will sell fast when there are more buyers than sellers. When your choice is between whatever house in your price range hits the market or hoping the next one is better, people usually make an offer on the one for sale that day.

We are back to a normal market where Buyers have choices and this is how they make their decisions.

Simply put, they pick the best house on the market. Usually this is a house that is priced realistically, that is move in ready and is in the most desirable neighborhood within the Buyer’s price range. Then there is their second, third, fourth and so on choice.

Once that #1 pick house sells, then the #2 pick house becomes the top choice. Once the #2 house sells, then the 3rd pick becomes their 2nd choice. Once the…..well, you get how this works I am sure.

Sometimes what happens though is that a brand new listing hits the market and changes the ranking. If you have the #2 house and are excited to be the next house to sell, a house hitting the market that is better than your house means you will stay at #2 on any Buyer’s list. Sometimes winter is a good time to sell a house that has been the #2 or #3 house because we tend to see fewer new listings. Eventually your house rises to become the best choice in its price range.

The goal of you and your realtor is to make your house as competitive as possible so it ranks high on the list of Buyers. Sometimes it is as simple as rearranging furniture, doing a little updating, doing a few repairs that have been noticed during showings, or even a price reduction.

While we are discussing inventory here, I want you to know that in the coming months you will see headlines about the “Average days on Market” rising. Any time you have inventory, this will happen. It doesn’t mean that every house is harder to sell. There are still plenty of houses selling fast and even getting multiple offers. Those are all the #1 choice houses, the ones everybody wants. All the houses that are further down the list will stay on the market longer, waiting for price reductions or some other change to be made which will eventually lead to a sale. In the meanwhile, those houses will dilute the average days on the market statistics.

Waiting for a good deal on a home?

by John Rice

Have you been waiting for the market to crash before you pull the trigger on your new home? If so, I’ve got great news for you. Now is your time to buy.

What? I know what you are thinking…..”John, you are crazy, these prices haven’t changed much at all!?!?”

Well dude, it’s time to stop thinking about prices and to start thinking about value.

The price of something is the number of dollar bills you must pay.

The value has to do with what those dollar bills are worth adjusted to inflation.

Inflation is a dirty word we are reading a lot about and is making us spend more of our dollars because it takes more to buy the same things it did a couple of years ago. If you think of inflation as prices on stuff going up, you’re sort looking at it wrong. That is a consequence of inflation. Inflation is really the devaluation of a dollar, which is why it takes more dollars to buy the same stuff. If we have 7% inflation this year, what that really means is the value of today’s dollar is 93 cents compared to last year so the price of everything will go up accordingly.

Now let’s apply this to houses.

Prices in the bluegrass area are about flat for this year….meaning they haven’t really gone up. Meanwhile inflation has made last year’s dollar worth about 93 cents. So inflation has devalued the dollar causing everything you buy to cost more dollars EXCEPT for real estate. If the price of something didn’t go up during an inflationary time, that really means that adjusted to inflation, the value dropped. So you don’t have to go back and read that again, I’m saying even though the price of a house is about the same as last year, it is really worth less today adjusted to inflation.

So, go out and buy today. Everything is effectively 7% cheaper than it was last year.

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!

Thankful that these embarrassing moments don’t happen more often!

by John Rice

I normally do a lighthearted post around Thanksgiving since I know few are thinking about real estate during the holidays.

This time I thought I might share some of my most embarrassing moments.

There have been the countless times I have been out with clients and not realized until I got home that my zipper was down. It has happened so many times that I can’t recall any one specifically.

Probably the funniest time was when I was having an incredibly busy day showing multiple houses to multiple clients. I had arrived about 5 minutes early to a house. Just as I got there, my client texted saying they were running a little late. I was so excited because I had drank many many many cups of coffee that day. I let myself into the house maybe 2 minutes before the scheduled showing time officially began. While I am in one of the upstairs bathrooms, I hear a voice asking if anybody is in the house. I state that I am the realtor here to show the house. The voice was the seller, who hadn’t left yet, in the bathroom on the other side of the wall from the one I was in. The seller and I never talked face to face. He must not have drank as much coffee as I did that day because when I exited, he was gone.

Then there was the time I had another crazy day of showing houses. This one began really early one morning. It was still dark outside. I kept my sandals in the foyer closet. I stuck my left foot in the closet and pulled it out with a left sandal on. Then I stuck my right foot in the closet and pulled it out with a right sandal on. What I had forgotten is that I had two identical pairs of sandals. The only difference was one was leather and the other was suede. I did not realize until I got out of the car that I was wearing one of each of those sandals.

Speaking of shoes, for a while there I had a really nice pair of sandals that would occasionally, if I stepped a certain way, make a noise like somebody was passing gas. Every time that happened, I would subtly try to get the shoe to do it again so people wouldn’t think I had just passed gas, but of course the shoe never cooperated. I then looked like somebody who had just passed gas and was walking funny. After a few times of this embarrassment, they became my lawn mowing sandals.

More than a few occasions I have been worried about running late and passed my client at a rapid pace on the way to a house. I usually say something like “See how motivated I am to find you the perfect place?”

And I won’t even go into all the times my phone’s autocorrect totally changed what I had typed.

One time, I was showing a vacant rural property that had a giant outbuilding. I was there with a husband and wife. I opened the door to this building and the wife walked in right behind me. All of the sudden, we both felt all these insects literally all over us. I am highly allergic to bees, which is what I assumed they were. I turned around to run out of the building and she was in the doorway so I grabbed her like I was saving her life and then both of us jumped off the top step into the yard with our arms wrapped around each other. Turns out they were just flies. When we went back inside, there were probably a thousand flies swarming around.

I guess if these things are the most embarrassing moments of my nearly 18 year career, it hasn’t been too bad.

I hope everybody has a great Thanksgiving!!