When I’m not busy trying to get my hair to look like Connie Britton’s from the hit show Nashville (pictured), I am selling houses. Lots of them. I don’t think people quite believe me that it’s the absolute BEST time to sell until I list their house and it sells for full price or higher in the blink of an eye. Really. If you are at all thinking of moving, we should’ve met like 7 seconds ago. At this point you may start to realize I like to watch a lot of TV and TV commercials. Any-who, let’s talk about the market.

Over half of the recent transactions in my Windermere office have involved multiple offers. The agent next to me said he was truly worried because his listing had been on the market 7 days and he hadn’t received any offers. Another agent said she should’ve put an offer deadline on her listing because she ended up with 20 offers. This is not a joke. The inventory is LOW and the interest rates are LOW making it the perfect storm for sellers. If you are a buyer you are probably feeling the frustration of not being able to find anything or being involved in multiple offer situations. Spring will probably provide a little more inventory but if you want your house to sell quick list it NOW while there’s virtually NO competition and LOTS of buyers.

And here is why you need to run (not walk) to the nearest real estate agent (me, or Connie Britton if you mistook me for her because of my hair). The rumors are true that interest rates are on the rise. Here it is in black and white:
Today if you are looking to buy a house for $500,000 the rate is somewhere around 3.875%. If the rates jump up one percent to 4.875%, you now only qualify for $444, 284. If they jump to 5.875%, you qualify for $397,470 (insert dramatic gasp here). At $700,000 your buying power goes down to $556,458 if the interest rates creep up 2 percent. I know some of you will literally kick yourselves if you wait and this becomes a reality. And to add insult to injury, prices are also on the rise.

Ok, I’m expecting my phone, email and Facebook to start blowing up any moment. If I don’t answer, I’m either watching TV or selling houses.

I think Flo Rida said it best when he mentioned inventory was low, low, low, low. And it really is. The shortage is creating all sorts of side effects including higher prices, frustrated buyers and lack of sales. But its ok, I’ve got a plan. And here it is. If you have ever thought of selling, do it. Now. Phew, problem solved and I feel much better.

Now that we have a plan, let’s talk about how to get your house on the market. Step one is to call me and invite me over for dinner. I mean a tour. I can give you a great idea what your house would sell for so you can make a solid financial decision. Chances are your home will sell quicker and for more money than you might think.

Step two, take me to coffee. I mean tell me what you are looking for in a new house so we can make sure there will be something for you to purchase that meets your needs. Step 3, talk with my lender friends and make sure you can afford that house with the chef’s kitchen, huge walk-in closet and 3-car garage. This could really be step 2 or 3 but let’s not get caught up in the details. If you can make money from your sale or at least break even AND you can afford a new house that meets your needs, I’d say you are in good shape.

The next step would be to get your house ready, inside and out. Curb appeal is important because if people don’t like your house when they pull up they might not want to go in. Paint, yard work, and fresh bark go a long way. If you hate doing this yourself, let me know and I’ll put you in touch with someone who would probably do a better job than you anyway.

Now for the inside. Unless your name is Sheila or Sonia or you have really good taste like they do, you may want to consider a stager. A stager can work with your current furniture or bring in their own stuff to spiffy the place up a bit. When buyers walk in and love the way its decorated it’s amazing how much more they will love the house. If your house needs some work, I will be really honest and tell you my opinion of what should be done. Sometimes it’s not as bad as you think or as expensive.

Ok, the hard part is over. That wasn’t so bad was it? Now get going. If not for me, do it for Flo Rida. He needs a new tune.

If you do not know who Flo Rida is and are thoroughly confused, ask anyone ages 5-25. And I feel I should clarify that he really wasn’t referring to inventory when he said low, low, low, low. I mean its possible. But doubtful.

I am a huge fan of top 10 lists. It’s been awhile since there’s been a Cara in the House top 10 list. Here is what I am thankful for this year. I promise its not all real estate related, that would be boring. Enjoy:

10. Family. Let’s get this one on the table now. Its pretty much mandatory that you are thankful for your family and luckily, I really am. There’s not a lot of us but we are a great bunch. Some are definitely better when they’ve had a glass of wine or 2 but I’m sure that’s standard in most families.

9. Low interest rates. Bless those low interest rates’ hearts. They are historically low and causing buyers who wouldn’t normally consider buying to jump head first into the market.

8. Cara in the House. Still the greatest branding idea ever. Thank you to my dear friend Janice for her brilliant suggestion. It’s practically a household name now.

7. Low inventory. There is really about a month’s supply of inventory on the market right now. In other words, homes that go on the market are selling quick. I’ve been lucky that most of my listings don’t last even a week and some get multiple offers and end up selling for more than the asking price. There’s nothing more exciting than getting an offer before your flyers are even back from the printer.

6. Modern Family. Thank you Phil Dunphy for making it cool to be a real estate agent! That show is brilliant. If you haven’t watched it, please go to hulu.com and find an episode. You’ll be thankful you did.

5. Neighborhood carpool. Best. Invention. Ever. When your kids play a lot of sports there is nothing better than only having to transport them to a fraction of their millions and millions of practices. On the flip side, when it’s my turn to drive there is nothing quite like being in a car full of 10 year old boys and listening to them talk. I have learned a lot.

4. Volunteering. Reason number #701 that I love my job is the opportunity it gives me to volunteer in my first grader’s classroom. First graders are truly good for the soul. Their innocence is heartwarming and they can’t wait to tell “Cash’s mom” their whole life story…packed into the 2 minutes I get with each of them per week.

3. 20 year high school reunions. Don’t ever miss out on this opportunity. I know what you are thinking: how can a 24 year old like me already have her 20 year reunion? That’s not important. What’s important is how much fun it is to catch up with people from your youth. Fun and healthy.

2. Referrals. You can’t imagine how nice it is to get a phone call or email that starts out like this “you were referred to me by….” Honestly, best feeling ever. Well aside from saying “I do” and “congratulations, meet your son.” Thank you to the millionth degree for all of you loyal Cara in the House supporters that don’t hesitate to get my name out there. I am thankful from the bottom of my heart.

1. Great clients. All of you. I can hardly believe there hasn’t been a bad one in the bunch. Not one. I miss you all when your house closes. I talk to you 72 times a day and then when its over, I live for the emails and phone calls where you tell me what you’ve been up to or how you decorated the house or that you decided to paint the living room or add on to the deck or put in a sports court. Please don’t stop those emails! And thank you for your kind words. This appeared on my Cara in the House facebook page yesterday and I’ve literally read it a million times.
“Cara, Thanks so much for everything. I couldn’t have gotten through this difficult time without you. You were the BEST realtor I could have ever found. I feel like you were not only my realtor but a genuine friend. THANK YOU.”

Enjoy your Thanksgiving and I hope you have at least 10 things to be thankful for! If you’re so inclined, please post a comment below with something you are thankful for!

I may have just wasted more time thinking of a title than I will spend writing this blog post. That’s ok, as long as it caught your eye and you are now reading this I’ll consider it time well spent. Let’s begin: this market is still hot. Believe it or not, we are going full speed ahead into October and in my little world of real estate there are no signs of slowing down. Here’s how I know.

I have tried to set up 3 showings this week (we are only on Wednesday) only to find out that all 3 homes (yes different homes) already had offers (multiple) and two of the three already had a signed around offer (crazy). That’s the first sign.

A colleague of mine wrote up an offer on a home last Friday that already had multiple offers. They added an escalation clause saying they would beat the next best offer by $5,000 and would go $20,000 above the asking price. Seemed like a solid offer until they found out that was only the 3rd best offer and they lost out. Nuts.

On October 5th there was an article in the Seattle Times that said King County’s median sales price for last month was up 7% from the same month last year. They went on to say the activity would be even more robust if more homes were available. (side note, how great is the word robust?) So sellers, take a hint…if you put your home on the market it will most likely sell because there are just not enough homes to satisfy all the buyers who are dying to borrow money at unbelievably low rates.

It is becoming more and more common for listing agents to put a deadline for offers. On a well priced property in a good area this is a smart idea otherwise they risk having their cell phone batteries die every 2 hours from all the phone calls asking if there is still time to submit an offer. This way buyers know they have a certain time frame in which to see the home and submit an offer. In this scenario, buyers should come prepared with their highest and best offer (H&B for those of us in the know!) The fact that listing agents are doing this is a classic sign that it’s a hot market.

Many homes are selling over the asking price. End of story.

Can this market stay hot and heavy through the fall? I sure as heck hope so.

In my last blog post many moons ago, I mentioned that my next post would be about escalation clauses. So much has happened since then so there’s been a bit of a delay with this post. Ironically, so much of the “so much that has happened” has to do with escalation clauses. Funny. Anyway, a good majority of my last transactions have had multiple offers which have included escalation clauses. Confused yet? And if you could really give a rip about escalation clauses at least skip to the last paragraph.

Ok, in case you’ve been living under a rock you have probably heard that our real estate market has picked up. A lot. We are talking a-home-goes-on-the-market-and-doesn’t-just-get-one-offer-but-sometimes-two-or-three-or four kind of thing. And what happens when you have multiple offers is that those buyers REALLY want that home because well, rates are low and there really isn’t a lot of homes on the market (supply and demand you know) so in order to be the winner-winner-chicken-dinner a buyer will put in an escalation clause. In short, that means they are willing to beat the best offer by a certain amount and are willing to pay above the asking price of the home. It’s really a lot more complex but I’ll save you the details and just tell you that its crazy and nuts and stressful for all involved. I can give you a real life example: a home went on the market for $499,000. In just days there were 4 offers and 3 of the 4 included an escalation clause. After all was said and done the sellers accepted an offer for $555,000.

While the outcome for sellers and the overall market has been great, there are some definite drawbacks to multiple offers and escalation clauses. First of all, multiple offers means there can only be one winner so in that last scenario, I had to call 3 agents with bad news. Secondly, more offers is not always better (I’m pretty sure whoever started the phrase “less is more” was talking about this exact scenario.) If all the offers are pretty similar, it makes it very difficult for the seller to pick just one. And lastly, most of the time the home is selling for more than it was listed for so you have to hope it ends up appraising for that much. Unless of course it’s a cash offer which is another post for another day!

So yes, a crazy market with hopefully no end in sight. It’s predicted that there will still be a shortage of inventory over the next 4 months and rates will remain low….we call that the perfect storm. And by “we” I mean “me” but doesn’t it sound better if a whole bunch of us are saying it?

Last but not least here are a few things I heard in my office meeting this morning. I think it sums up the market pretty good:

1. An agent received 29 offers on a home (no joke because she really doesn’t seem like the funny type)

2. A house that was listed at $1.5 million sold for $1.9 million (do the math, that’s FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS over the list price)

3. An agent had an offer 4 hours after it was listed

4. As we were walking out our broker said we need to focus on getting sellers to put their houses on the market. Are you one of those?