seller

Today is a big day for me

by John Rice

E I G H T E E N YEARS.

That’s how long I have been a Realtor as of today.

I’ve been a Realtor through the worst market in history, the best market in history and every market in between. Sometimes I miss those early days when everything was new and there was so much to learn….but most of the time I am thankful that those 18 years have provided me so much experience that I am rarely caught off guard by anything.

My most vivid memory after getting my license was joining the Lexington-Bluegrass Association of Realtors, AKA, LBAR. I went to their office on Regency Road, plunked down my membership dues, filled out some paperwork then I rushed back home as fast as I could to log into the “Realtor only” side of the MLS and see what that was all about. The office is still there. Only one person from my early days remains. LBAR is now just called Bluegrass Realtors.

I got my first listing while buying paint for the basement of my home that I was remodeling. The manager was mixing my paint and as people often do, he started talking about real estate. He said he and his family were building a new home and would be needing to sell their old home very soon. As I got in my SUV after loading the paint in the back, I thought “Wait!! I’m a realtor now!!!” So, I went back inside and talked to him. I got the listing. I remember being so amazed that somebody was going to pay me to do what I had been waiting so long to do. The Buyer’s realtor for that listing and I became best friends and still are.

My first Buyer’s Realtor experience was a townhouse that some friends bought as their first home. They knew it was my first sale ever. I will always be thankful to them for that. I remember being so anxious about the closing, as if somebody’s life depended on me getting everything perfect…..which didn’t happen. I had gotten their $500 for earnest money when they signed the contract and given it to the nice older lady at my office (who was probably the age I am now.) I guess I thought the check would just magically appear in my mailbox the day of the closing. Turns out I had needed to request it. Fortunately there was time to get the check at the main office and off I rushed to the closing. I was such a nervous wreck. The closing was at 5:PM on a Friday. Back then the market was pretty crazy and the lady doing the closing had probably done 20 others that day. I walked out of the closing about 5:45. I was so relieved. I had done it! I thanked the clients who would use me several other times in the future and started walking to my car. Wait!! Something was missing. It was MY check. In the closing attorney’s rush to end her day and in MY anxiousness over the closing, both of us had forgotten that I needed a check. I caught her as she was about to back out of her parking spot and got it. I used what was left to buy a leather couch after my broker and Uncle Sam took their share of that check. My oldest son still has that couch today.

On that day in 2005, all I had was a future. Everybody told me I would do great in real estate. I had hoped they would be right. Today I’ve got a past, present AND a future. Looking back, I can see sooooo many people who helped me along the way. These people said encouraging things, trusted me when I had little to no experience, watched my boys on short notice so I could rush out to show a client a house. My parents, The Ponders and The Boyds ALWAYS were happy to let me drop off my kids at their house and usually yelled “Go sell a house!” as I was backing out of their driveway. I’ve got a client who is about to use me for the 7th time. I’ve got many who have used me 3-6 times and regularly send me their friends. Last year was my best year ever…..and you know what? I’m not done yet.

Know what I like about this market?

by John Rice

If you just want the answer but don’t care to know why, it is because this market is LOGICAL.

If you want to know what I mean, here we go:

Other than the past few years, the real estate market has always been logical. The best houses sold for the most money and sold the quickest within their price range. The second choice houses sold for less than the more desirable houses. Location mattered. The lot the house was on mattered.

For a few years there, nothing mattered. Any house was selling for more than it should have and it didn’t matter if one house was in a second choice neighborhood or had a terrible lot. It was tough being a realtor back then. You could look at recently sold comparable homes and determine what a house should be worth, but it always sold for more, sometimes waaaaaay more than that. I would tell my sellers “Here is what your house is really worth but here is what it could sell for…..expect anything to happen!” I would tell my buyers “Here is what the house you are bidding on is worth, but here is how much of a convenience fee you may have to pay just to end your misery of losing in multiple offers.”

Today’s market is about logic again and I am glad. If two identical houses come on the market on the same street and on the same day and one of them backs to the interstate and the other doesn’t, the one with the better lot will sell for more. If a house is overpriced, it won’t sell at all.

Why is this? It is because today’s buyer has choices. Yesterday’s buyer had one shot at the only active listing in their price range. Having a little inventory makes a difference. It is still a good market. It is an even better market if you have one of the better houses in your price range. This has always been true. I remember back in 2009. The market sucked yet I was getting multiple offers the first day on the market for some of my listings. Buyers will always pick the very best house that is available and take a pass on those that aren’t. That’s just the way logic works.

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.