Kenmore Undressed

What’s a Buyer to Do? Hire the right professional for the job!

One of my favorite films is the 1994 thriller “The Professional” starring a brilliant Natalie Portman and tragic-hero hitman Jean Reno. After the brutal murder of her family, the 12-year-old Mathilda (Portman) is rescued by Leon (Reno) who teaches the young girl how to be a “cleaner” or professional hit-man.

 

I mention this film because, for the zillionth time, the Seattle Times printed another grim article of real estate woe this Friday (June 6th) entitled “What’s a Buyer to Do?” To summarize: Sales are stagnant and inventories are growing. Also, seemingly qualified buyers are unable to obtain loans (even with good paying jobs and FICO scores above 700). Well, I’m going to suggest that the media should be suggesting the following remedy to the problem: HIRE THE RIGHT PROFESSIONALS TO HELP YOU PURCHASE OR SELL YOUR NEXT HOUSE! Even a 12-year-old knows this!

Anyone who wants to purchase a home must do two things before the hunt begins: 1) Find a legitimate lender who will spend the time to educate you about all of the various loans available in your current financial situation and, 2) Hire yourself a Realtor to help find the right house. Don’t hire your cousin, or brother-in-law who happen to be agents. Hire an agent who is hyper-aware of the area in which you’re shopping. This means the agent knows the inventory, previews homes in the given area and knows the statistics. Let me give you an example from my own town, Kenmore, WA. If you’re a buyer we’re going to sit down and discuss your financial capability to purchase a home. If you’re selling we’re going to sit down and talk about the realities of selling in a buyer’s market. Next, I’m going to show you statistics like this:

This market summary shows all the new activity in Kenmore from 6/1-6/8. It’s interesting to note that 15 new listings hit the MLS last week. The real story is that there are some truly good deals if one knows the market well. Let me show you what I see:

Of the 15 new listings, 9 have been previously listed at prices from 7% to 12% higher than the current list price. I’ve highlighted them above. Most of these 9 homes were listed almost a year ago and have expired a number of times. In my opinion they are still overpriced given the current market. Also, I have a sense that the sellers are far more likely to offer concessions (price, closing costs, upgrades, repairs, etc.) in order to get the homes sold than they were a year ago.

So do what Mathilda did and hire the right “professional” for the right job and quit listening to all the gloom and doom in the media. After all, most of the talking heads don’t know much more about real estate than your uncle Eddy……….who lives in West Virginia.