DMAR for August - Real Estate Did Not Surprise; It Delivered

Real estate has not only taken a position of favor because it’s now where we are spending most of our time, but it’s also giving homeowners stability in a shifting market.  What keeps me up at night?  The stock market.  As CNN’s Fear & Greed Index moves further into Greed and Citigroup’s Panic/Euphoria Index points towards extreme Euphoria; both point to lower stock prices within a year.  The recent news of COVID deaths breaking 155,000; COVID cases doubling in July; jobless numbers and continuing claims both breaking trend and increasing; and Yelp’s business tracker showing another 15,742 businesses closed permanently in July alone all point to a long recovery. Real estate, however, continues to show strength with a sneak peek into next month as pending home sales in July another big number of 7,122, 27.47 percent higher than last year. 

Home is a safe place, one which should provide joy, safety, and stability.  As the world around us is in a trying time; real estate continues to be the silver lining for those who can win the bid.  Jobless claims and COVID cases are up and businesses are closed. Demographics and rates continue to push demand, while the uncertainty of jobs and schools weigh heavily on sellers. Builders are rushing to make up what existing homes are not and all of this could change if the stock market turns.  Here’s what I see going on in the market.

Let’s start with the sellers. They aren’t moving. Inventory continues to strain the market with 6,449 active listings at month-end, 31.1% below last July. The uncertainty of the job market, the inability to find a replacement home, and the now the stress of homeschooling have sellers thinking twice. Meanwhile, builder confidence rallied in July to meet the suburban moving demand with smaller homes void of shared spaces. Denver saw New Home Pending Sales up 17.9% in June and 22.9% over last year.

Meanwhile, the buyers are clamoring for homes that are priced right and staged well, with 31% of detached homes selling for over asking and average days on market dropping 7.7% year over year and median dropping 36.4%. And not only is the demand hot for lower-priced homes as first-time homebuyers, downsizers, and investors push the close to list price for homes between $300,000 and $500,000 to 100.6%; homes over a million also gained favor in July. Are people finding well-being today in luxury homes?  55% more million dollar plus homes sold than last year driving the average closed price for single-family detached above $601,863. That’s almost 10 percent higher than July last year when it seemed the McMansion had all but lost favor.  Speaking of McMansions, what were the two highest-priced homes sold in July?  A $7-million-dollar home in Boulder and a $5.985-million-dollar home in Cherry Hills, of course.

Nicole Rueth
The Rueth Team of Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation
750 W Hampden Avenue, Suite 500
Englewood, CO 80110
303-214-6393
www.TheRuethTeam.com

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Getting Out of Your Own Way

Pipe Knoll gives all of you some very logical tips to succeed during these times and any time.  She says, "This is the time to double down on communicating with clients and being the person that's there to care."

And when she started to realize that she was actually becoming her own worst enemy and holding herself back from success. She just started to really build on her showing who she is to people and once she started to really open up and get out of her own way and stop trying to pretend to be a real estate robot she really had her business take off.

She took her own advice after crying to two days at the initial shut down and started calling her clients and connections.  "Hey, how are you? How's your family? is your job Okay? Is the family healthy? How can I help? Is there anything you need ?"  And all of a sudden that started this turned into a business thing that she did not expect. Listen to the rest of this 8-minute episode.

About Piper:

After several years in the insurance industry, she realized that selling homes, rather than insuring them, was much more up her alley and she earned her real estate license in 2005. She has led the charge perfecting their team’s systems and processes over the years, helping our buyers and sellers navigate their real estate transactions extremely well-prepared and with ease! Knowledge is power and she looks for every opportunity to meet with clients and educate them on the Denver market and the home buying and selling process.

Zoom Logic for Beginners and Gems for More Advanced Users

We know we still have some reluctant hold outs, but for the most part, we have all been participating in at least a few Zoom meetings, or in other venues. Ray Eickhoff has a few tips that even experienced Zoomers may not know or have forgotten. This was the Q&A session after an Agent Ignite session hosted by Nicole Rueth.

This Chalk Talk is from April 2020 - the height of COVID-19 and the Zoom Boom. There are tips in there for advanced users that they sometimes overlook. Ray also explains the logic behind some of the tools to help newer users. But what will you do to maximize the value of these free venues? How are you using it to connect? Although we're all more comfortable on Zoom and similar platforms, this is still timely. Zoom continues to evolve, as do the other platforms. Tune in to this Chalk Talk for a refresher and reminder course on Zoom.

Stay Active and Talk to People To Remain Valuable

When Nicole talked to Jenn about rolling with change and continuing to grow her business, the answers are so logical but easy to forget. Get some valuable reminders from Jenn as you do your best to not freak out with the constant changes in this time of masks, no masks, go out, stay home confusion. Relationships are the constant. The need for people and interacting doesn't change.

JEN ROUTON IS THE KIND OF REALTOR® YOU WANT ON YOUR SIDE.

Jen Routon, Realtor® combines her love for real estate with her passion for working with great people to help them find the perfect home. Jen’s real estate career began in the Denver multifamily industry 20 years ago. In 2013, she joined Madison & Company Properties and hasn’t looked back. Jen is consistently in the “Top 10 Agents”. She currently serves on the Denver Metro Association of Realtors Board of Directors, Colorado’s largest Realtor Board.

Succeed During Change With Excellence and Ethics

Today's Agent Talk features a professional who raises the bar for all agents. Excellence and ethics are the core of what drives her to treat each client and listing - no matter what price range the same, with the same care and dedication. Get to know her in this edition of The Double Comma Club.

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Agents - avoid being annoying online - be of value to community.

Susan Finch gives agents practical tips regarding video, online meetings, and how to keep from making a fool of yourself when you meet prospects virtually. From how to stand for a headshot, your HD face, warnings about automatic transcripts, video editing tips that no one talks about.

Susan also covers equipment tips, online meeting tips, and enough suggestions to make your head explode. Grab what you can from here, there are dozens of practical and humorous tips.

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Virtual Home Tours to Give You an Edge Over Your Competitors

Our Chalk Talk experts today are from InkedMichganRealty.com. They covered the benefits of using Matterport virtual home tours and tools, as well as a few other 360 view camera solutions to provide your potential clients added benefits to listing with you, buyers the preview of their next home, as well as added experiences through video and photos. In this episode Ryan, Tony and Chris walk you through how they integrate Matterport into their social media campaigns, marketing campaigns and other outreach. They don't want a listing to sit hoping to be discovered online, they are proactively pushing out every way to safely, effectively preview a property and do a transaction 100% online, with the option of the in-person inspection.

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Be willing to fail and think of your agents as your clients.

Learning how to fail is one of the best lessons learned in an industry as humbling as Real Estate. Life, and your career, is a marathon not a sprint with the goal of collecting memories instead of trophies because as we all know, trophies collect dust. Jeff thinks of his agents as his client. His job is to solve their problems so they can do what they do best - real estate transactions to solve the problems of THEIR clients.

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Denver Metro Market Trends July 2020 - Get Those Sellers Moving!

Get me off this COVID-19 rollercoaster! Cases are resurging closing businesses that just opened while risking the recent good news of job creations and lower unemployment we saw from economic reopenings in May and June. The Fed is poised to act to keep rates low and urged lawmakers to accelerate the fourth stimulus package before programs end July 31st. Locally, Denver's housing market remains strong with growing pending home sales, almost full recovery of closed homes compared to 2019, and appreciating values due to scarce inventory. 

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Lower Interest Rates Have More Benefits Than You Realize

Interest rates are at an all-time low which means a lower monthly payment. But how much? If you are thinking of purchasing a home for $400,000 with 15% down at 4.25%, between taxes, mortgage interest, insurance, and principal, your monthly payment would be around $2,125. BUT that same home purchased at 3.25%, that would lower your payment to about $1,900. What are you going to do with that saved $225/month? If you put that saving BACK into your home, you'd pay off your mortgage 6 years earlier. This would also save you $41,000 in interest. Listen to the rest of this 3-minute tip to get more information.

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