There is much more to this crazy market than low interest rates. Demographics play an even larger role. The number of people that are currently at prime home buying age is larger than it has ever been in history. The forecasts that I trust the most are calling for rates to average in the mid to high 3’s in 2022. If that is the case we expect another year of significant price growth, likely 8%. Remember that in 2018 rates hit 4.9% and we still gained 7% in NoCo. Once rates do rise into the mid to high 4% range expect the market to cool significantly but big price corrections seem unlikely with so many people needing housing and a supply shortage with no easy remedy.

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The cost of utilities often sinks many tiny home dreams. Also consider that when you spread the fixed costs for land, well, septic, gas and electric over a small number of square feet, your $/square foot can be astronomical. So many folks call us wanting to do these projects but end up going the more traditional route once they run the numbers.

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Home staging isn’t just for million dollar listings. We see so many empty homes get slapped on the market without any prep or furniture. It’s like lighting money on fire. Yes it will sell, but for thousands less than it could have. Commissions are expensive and sellers rarely want to spend extra money on staging. So we finally decided to just do it for them and make it all included.

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Does your mountain home have to be near a ski resort? More and more people don’t think so. The mountain property west of Fort Collins is still less than half price compared to what you pay near a ski town.

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How to sniff out a hidden contingency…. If someone is making a cash offer on your house and they send you an investment portfolio as their proof of funds, are they really going to sell all those stocks to buy your home and generate a huge taxable event? Or are they actually getting the money from the sale of another house that has not yet closed? You gotta find out.

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“We’ll never get this home under contract.” Not true! Keep the faith!

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Don’t sell your home so fast that only a couple people had time to see it and offer on it. Give people time to find it, to evaluate it, and to write an offer. One or two days is not enough. The first offer you get is often not the best offer you’ll receive. When a home sells in one day, the person that may have paid the most, never even had time to setup a showing.

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An incredibly powerful thing to do for your business is to ask your clients what their biggest fears and desires are. And then ask them what they need most from you as you work together. When we first meet with clients who are preparing to sell, they are often overwhelmed with all the things they need to do to get the house ready. They want to know what projects to do and what to ignore. And they want to find trustworthy people to get the jobs done. That’s why we assembled a dream team of service providers: handymen, house cleaners, trash removers, carpet installers, landscapers, painters, plumbers, electricians, dry-wallers and stagers. Often we recommend doing nothing at all. But sometimes there are projects that have a lot of bang for the buck.

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This is how you make your clients want to run for the hills. The market is hard enough on buyers. The last thing they need is to feel like their agent is tired of showing them property and is trying to convince them to just write an offer be done. Look for a high level of competence with multiple offer situations and the ability to source properties off market.

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I’ve been paying close attention to the work of economist @logan_mohtashami who writes for @housingwire. Logan talks a lot about how demographics are an under reported driver of the housing market and why interest rates are falling despite rising inflation and hot economic data. His conclusions are logical and data driven unlike so many of the headlines we see in our feeds. Give him a follow and make more informed housing decisions. Search “grey rock realty podcast” to hear more.

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