Second Chance Buy and Sell Opportunity?

Full Video Transcript Below

[00:00:00] Good morning, Southern Oregon, Alice Lema here, broker John L. Scott, Southern Oregon. Back with another edition of our weekly podcast. We do this every week talking about Southern Oregon housing. We talk about landlord tenant investing first-time buyers, Downsizers, upsizes, rural property, in town. Rehab anything you want, we're going to talk about it.

[00:00:20] So today we're going to talk about, is there a second chance market brewing right under our nose, right this second. And this is because in Oregon we have our another mask mandate. It's almost like a soft shutdown, is kind of how it feels. So we're going to talk about the pros and cons and the opportunities of that for both buyers and stuff.

[00:00:39] So today's title, is there a second chance market brewing? Before we get started on that, just want to give you an opportunity to like this channel, subscribe. It's for educational purposes. We'd love for you to share it with your friends and family. Give us some comments, want to know, you know, if it's something that you're getting, getting good information from.

[00:00:57] Okay. So back to, is this a second chance, brewing right under our nose? So five ways people, whether you're a buyer or seller can, can profit from this somewhat unexpected opportunity. Because if you remember just the last few months, our market, at least in Southern Oregon and many parts of the United States, we were getting more properties on the market.

[00:01:22] We were having more price reductions. The prices that were coming on the market were a little bit lower in some cases, very transitional, very transitional market, a lot of back on market, lot more than we had last year. Yeah and so it was starting to normalize. That's what transitions markets are for, that's the time in between the seller market, changing to the buyer market or vice versa.

[00:01:43] So. Our COVID numbers got high again. So our governor put a mass mandate down a couple of weeks ago, and here we are. And I wondered about this. I wondered if this would happen. We're having a little bit of a retraction from people selling their, their property. They're just kind of doing this, wait and see thing again.

[00:02:01] But it's different this time. It's kind of like I don't mean to use relationship analogies, but it's kind of like if you had a breakup, whether it's business romantic or friendship, you had a break up and then you got back together. You're a little cautious. You're still going to do it, but you're a little cautious. So I just want to give you five things to look for because there are opportunities in these, in these moments, but it's different from the last time.

[00:02:24] So if you're a seller, number one, Yeah, your house on that market. If you were thinking about doing it, do it. Cause you have a little bit of buoyancy that you didn't have even three weeks ago. Okay. And this is kind of a temporary environment, in my opinion, it's going to change again, as soon as our number of COVID numbers go down. So, well that's what I'm hoping anyway. And I'm predicting that this is temporary. So sellers get your house on the market. You're not going to have very much competition.

[00:02:51] You can stand out just like you did before, but with two differences. One is you're not going to have the boost you did. You're going to go in with the prices the way they are now, which is still high. The good news for you is the sellers, they're not going to come down as much as they would have. If we had had, you know, 65 more houses, come on the market in your neighborhood exaggeration, but you get my drift. So number one, sellers, get your house on the market can absolutely stand out and have less competition.

[00:03:16] However, the buyers are exhausted. This has been really hard on them and they were in pullback mode anyway, they were in let's wait and see what happens mode anyway. So now they were kind of resting if you will, or negotiating harder and getting away with it.

[00:03:33] So number two buyers are tired, sellers. Don't overplay your hand. If you do go back on the market, be reasonable with your price, especially if you're not updated, move in ready, everything, perfect. The buyers will be more picky this time, but you will sell your house. You'll get it done and you'll get a good price.

[00:03:50] Okay. So number one, go ahead and get your house on the market. Number two. Just be aware that buyers are exhausted, but they will play ball with you. You just gotta be more reasonable than you were last time. Okay. So number two is don't overplay your hand. If you're a seller now for buyers, you will have some more properties come on the market because there are some people that wanted to put their house on the market and they were doing that wait and see thing. And now they're a little nervous. Because who knows what's coming down the pike, economically world events, blah, blah, blah, fill in the blank. So there's a bunch of nervous people out there that wanted to sell and they will put their house on the market and they are going to want to make a deal quickly.

[00:04:31] So get yourself rested up, you know, strap on those house, hunting boots and get out there and start making those deals. And the thing you can do as a buyer that will help tremendously is give them time to find another house and give them time to move. Okay. Find a way to do that buyers. That is your pocket of profit.

[00:04:52] That is your opportunity right now is to give sellers some leniency because they're in a really uncertain situation. And if they're going on the market right now, they want to make a deal. Okay. You're not going to steal anything. So don't do that. Buyers don't overplay your hand either.

[00:05:06] Okay. That's our number three is buyers get out there, start making your deals. Give sellers time, give them a lot of time to move. Give them a lot of time to find another house, you know, make it easier on them. And if the house is not updated, but passes inspection, don't fret about it. Lots of ways we can fix up your house. So we're going to have to do it two steps.

[00:05:32] Don't worry about that, okay. But number, number three is buyers get out there and start making your deals.

[00:05:37] Number four, the prices are stabilizing, but they're not going to go up a whole bunch. Sorry, sellers. They're not going to go down a whole bunch. Sorry, buyers. I think we're just going to kind of sit tight in this little range that we're in.

[00:05:54] Plus, you know, when the prices went up so high, so fast, it started causing problems with some of the appraisals. So it wouldn't hurt our market, at least here in Southern Oregon to have even 90 days of steadiness to let the appraisers get caught up. Because the appraisal, when you're getting a mortgage, they're looking at what happened in the last few months.

[00:06:17] They're not absolutely real time. So, and they're definitely not in the future. So number four is just both buyers and sellers understand prices are stabilizing. So buyers don't wait, don't wait, just get out there and do it. And I know it can be like an arm wrestling match, but if you hang in there, this can be a really great opportunity to get a great property in Southern Oregon. And get a fabulous interest rate because we don't really know what the feds are going to do with the interest rates. That's the other thing I'm kind of worried about, and I'm kind of telling my friends and family and my clients is, you know, I, I really think this is a great buying opportunity, so let's all get out there and buy.

[00:06:59] And I don't know that a lot, a lot of agents are making that recommendation. I just I just smell opportunity here. Okay. So that's number four is both sides need to understand the prices are probably stabilizing.

[00:07:12] Number five, the rental market. I sound like a broken record, but when we go into shortage mode again, especially when it's halting, what would have been more houses coming on the market, creating more opportunities for landlords to buy.

[00:07:31] Now, if we do end up with people not putting their houses on the market and they were investors, that's going to have a double-edged sword to tenants. So if a tenant has a landlord that is thinking of selling, and if you don't know, you should call your landlord and ask, there is nothing wrong with tenants being proactive.

[00:07:53] We have this kind of unique situation happening again. I advise all my tenants. Get a conversation going with your landlord again and ask them, are they planning any rent increases? If so, how much? If so, when, you know, we're supposed to give 90 day notices now on our tenants. And we can only do it once a year, but it won't hurt to get in their head a little bit and be prepared if they are thinking of selling, then see if you can be one of the first people to get an opportunity to buy that.

[00:08:24] We have an opportunity to write offers on properties that are not on the market. And it's kind of fun to do that. And it's really nice if you can be a tenant and not have to move. You can stay in the same house. So this is my, my big concern. My number five is the shutdown, not the mask mandate the soft, kind of pausing of our housing market. The effect side effect of that mask mandate is that it's going to exasperate the tenant situation, the rental situation. And I do have huge concerns for our tenant population. We need them, you know, rental property provides a great a great service. In communities, everybody needs to have a certain percentage of housing be transitory.

[00:09:10] That's just super important. And we just don't have a lot of that right now. And if you are a tenant, please take very good care of the property. Please do not give your landlord any reason to to have doubts about being a landlord. A lot of the landlords are nervous right now, and it's not just about paying the rent.

[00:09:27] It's about, are you breaking the rules? Are you making noise? You know, complaints by the neighbors. Are you, are you breaking the civil laws and having police show up? Just don't do that right now. You don't want to cause any more angst on the landlord side, but also landlords it wouldn't hurt you to talk to the tenants.

[00:09:47] If you are thinking you need to do a rent increase this year, because you haven't done one in a while, it doesn't hurt to tell them that. You can tell them that you're going to do 3% or 5%, whatever you're planning and you can tell them more than 90 days. You can tell them that you're tired of them having, you know, three old cars parked on the property when they're not supposed to have old cars, you know, dead cars on your property at all, or whatever whatever's going on.

[00:10:15] Let's just have some communication with each other so that we can avoid unexpected and possibly negative side effects. Later. So that's my number five is everybody should be aware. In my opinion, the rental shortage is going to get more extreme, but both sides, landlords and tenants can avoid a lot of problems or avoid some unexpected life changes if you have conversation ahead of time. So on the tenant side, please follow the rules. The rules are there. You agree to them. At some point it's probably in writing, just follow them. And landlords have a conversation. If you are thinking you need to increase because the taxes went up, the, the insurance went up, go ahead and talk to the tenants ahead of time.

[00:10:58] And if they are doing something, they're not supposed to tell them because you know, If tenants have to get notices from landlords, at some point that might get reported to a future mortgage company. Another landlord, you know, having to write notices is not landlords thing. They don't want to do it necessarily.

[00:11:16] And tenants don't, you don't want to get notices cause then they might have to be reported. Okay. So that's my other soap boxes. I think we just need to give more focus to the rental market. And if you are thinking of being a landlord, great, there's a lot of rules. There's a lot of regulation, but it's a great business to be in and we need good landlords and we need to provide housing.

[00:11:38] It's good for our community to have that. Okay. So those are my five ways buyers and sellers can profit in what I believe is a second chance market right now. I don't know that it's going to last you know, very long. But we could have it through the winter at least. And a boy, if you were thinking of selling, here you go.

[00:11:56] This is your, this is your time. And you might find more possibilities with the buyer pool than you had even a few months ago. Similarly to what we had during the initial shutdown. Okay. I'm Alice Lema,broker, John L. Scott here in Southern Oregon. I want to be your agent. I'm a great listing agent. I'm a great buyer's agent.

[00:12:15] I work with all kinds of properties in, in all markets. This is just my bag. And I always have an opinion, whether you are happy about that or not. But I do want to help you. So, and I'm around all weekend except for the actual holiday of Monday, because a lot of us are going to try to go to the lake at least one time this year, hopefully we'll be able to breathe, right? Hopefully the smoke will go away.

[00:12:37] So give me a call, give me a text, (541)301-7980, and have a beautiful Southern Oregon weekend. Bye now.