Should You Move This Spring

Full Video Transcript Below

[00:00:00] Good afternoon, everybody. Alice Lema here, broker John L. Scott and beautiful Southern Oregon with another edition of the weekly podcast. So glad to have you back this week, we're going to talk about what's on everybody's mind, which is, should I, should I not move this spring? Because everything's so uncertain in the world and, and the interest rates and blah, blah, blah. Everything's just so weird. Should we even move? So I've got four things to consider whether you're buying or. You know, to help you make that decision and it's based on data. What do you think of that? Get some concrete information. Help you make your choices.

[00:00:33] Before we get on with that let's give you a quick second to subscribe to the channel. Thank you so much. Love those subscriptions. Give us a thumbs up. Some comments, send us some questions. Share this with your friends or family. Yeah. Keep us posted how you're doing love, loving hearing back from everybody.

[00:00:50] Okay. So with that in mind, let's go to the question at hand, everybody's sitting around the dinner table going, what should I do? Should I move this spring or not? Here's four things to consider whether you're buying or selling to help make the decision.

[00:01:03] So first let's talk about data and let's talk about what's going on in the market. So we have our foundation. Okay. So the foundation is the buyer. Traffic is still really, really strong.

[00:01:14] It's softer than it was even 90 days ago, but it's still a really, really good time to sell. And I've got this chart here from KCM. One of my favorite websites, talk about it a lot. Keeping current matters. We have side-by-side the national buyer traffic chart and the seller traffic chart. So I want you to see this and it's great to see them side by side.

[00:01:37] The buyer traffic is still really strong. It's still an amazing time to sell, especially if the rates go up more. If we go that cycle with any length of time, you're going to miss the boat as a seller by not putting your house on the market right now. And just a little tangent, if the COVID flares again, which it might then what's that going to do to housing demand?

[00:02:04] I think it's going to increase the demand more because anybody who didn't take the chance to move, cause things settled down, they thought, oh, we're done. It's fine whatever. They're going to go oh, let's move. So we might have even more demand. The point is still the same. You know, the sellers should list their house now because the rates are up, but they're not up as much as they will be.

[00:02:30] And the buyer demand is still high. And if it gets higher, well, it gets higher. But we got to deal with what we have right now and looking at the KCM map for both the buyer traffic and the seller traffic, it just feels like a good time. So go ahead and and we're going to talk about how to get it done and what to look for in the next few points.

[00:02:49] Okay. But that's number one, buyer. Traffic is still real strong. It's still a great time for sellers to put their house on the market.

[00:02:57] Okay. Now let's talk to sellers for quick second, number two, why aren't all sellers getting multiple offers any more. So, this is one of the questions people ask when they're saying, well should I move?

[00:03:08] It's like, well, you know, not everybody's the, market's not as hot as it was. We're not all getting multiple offers. That's okay. We sell houses in all kinds of markets. All right. So, but you just want to be as a seller, a little more flexible in your thinking and what you're offering your buyer. So offer them a home warranty offer to pay some of their closing costs. Offer to pay all their closing costs offer to clean the house before, before they move in.

[00:03:32] You'd be amazed if you put in the listing that you're offering professional clean, how many people will pick you over somebody else just for that. And those cleaners are not very expensive, best money spent ever. But the idea is here, number two, sellers, get your house on the market and be a little more flexible in your thinking.

[00:03:53] Everybody still has lots and lots of equity. It's not like we're giving away the store here, but you just gotta be a little more accommodating because remember the goal is to get it done. The goal is to move. Okay. So that's number two. Due to the changing market conditions. We don't have as many multiple offers situations for sellers anymore, but still a great time to sell you. Just got to be a little more accommodating. Okay. It won't kill you and you'll get it done.

[00:04:16] Number three. Buyers want to say the same thing to you, be accommodating of the sellers, because again, the goal is to get it done. Do really, really good offers, offers to offer, to pay your own closing costs. You offer to have the house clean, so the seller doesn't have to stuff like that.

[00:04:32] And then there's a couple of other things buyers can do that are within their control that I'm not seeing and it has to do with their lenders. I know we love our lenders, but we're in weird times here. And the interest rate acceleration is, is a big deal. Buyers are having to pay three and $400 a month more in their mortgage and the feds aren't done with us yet.

[00:04:53] So find a lender that has the ability to let you what's called, buy the rate down. We used to do this in the seventies and eighties. You give the lender more money and they give you a lower interest rate. I'm oversimplifying, but the older people remember what I'm talking about. It's called buy the rate down.

[00:05:11] Not all lenders, do this. Not all lenders want to do this, but talk to them about it because especially if you're going to keep the house for a long time or forever it could really pencil and it gives you that monthly insurance, you get that, that bigger stretch in your budget if you have a lower monthly payment on your mortgage.

[00:05:33] Okay. So consider that also buyers consider finding a lender that will do lock in the rate, even though you don't have an address. Did you know you can do that, that some lenders are offering the ability to lock in the rate, even though you haven't picked out a house yet. And they call it like a lock shop and go or lock, go and shop or something.

[00:05:57] They all have names for them, but it's that idea. And you might want to look into it. And again, I'm not trying to say dump your lender because we don't do that. We respect all relationships. However, you need to be fully educated and aware of what your choices are in this changing market. And the market is changing so fast.

[00:06:14] We can't hardly keep track of it sometimes. So, but look into that and you can end up doing exactly what you're doing the way you're doing it, but at least you will be doing it knowing what all the other choices are, okay. Get some more information, be data-driven.

[00:06:28] Number four, ask yourself why you're moving and if it's really going to have a positive impact on your life. I bet the answer is yes. Or you would not even be thinking about moving. Whether you're buying or selling, you want your life to be different. So stop and reassess why you're going through all this because not only is that contemplation going to hold you in good stead during the icky times, and we always have them, even the best of transactions.

[00:06:55] It's, it's hard to move. You have to pack. Your back hurts. You're not sleeping, your Internet's down, whatever there's problems, you know, there's stuff that happens. But remembering why you're doing it. 'cause your life is going to be so much better will really help you get through it. And it helps you to just kind of suck it up and get it done.

[00:07:14] Now, if it turns out this move does not have as much of a positive impact on you as you thought or things change, and it's just not getting you what you wanted your life to be. Then please don't do it, but do ask yourself these questions and ask yourself, what is it you're really getting out of this move. And I'll bet you it's more positive than negative because we don't usually have these ideas about moving unless there's something we don't like in our current situation, but it doesn't hurt to go back and ask 'cause sometimes moving right now is not the best thing for you. And you might be disappointed to realize that, but you want to be honest and then you might realize, yes, it's going to be amazing. I just have to get through this and again, suck it up and get it done.

[00:08:02] Okay. So those are my four things to consider whether you're buying and selling and trying to figure out if you should move or not this spring. If you need to talk personally, give me a text, give me a call 541-301-7980 around our weekend. Even though it's a holiday, you can text me. If I'm not with my family, I will text you back.

[00:08:23] If I am with my family, I will call you later. All right. But I will get back to you 541-301-7980 have a beautiful week and we'll talk to you again next week. Bye now.