RMP vol.1

Hello RMP Clients & Friends!
This year has been fast & furious so far ~ as I sit here writing my first new eNewsletter I cannot believe we are almost into June. As you can see from the image above, our Spokane market has gotten off to a nicely upward trend kind of start, with January being pretty slow and then each month afterwards gaining a little more traction. In my opinion, we are still rebounding from the absolutely CRAZY 2020/2021 & early 2022, followed by the equally as crazy (in the opposite direction) later 2022/2023- which was somewhat of a correction in terms of pricing and ability to purchase. The rates have been the talk of this town, as well as every town across America. With a range bouncing between upper 6%-upper 7%, affordability is really losing steam for some key categories of would-be buyers aka, the first timers. This is also having quite the impact on our step-up buyers and anyone who purchased during the historically low interest rates.
I cannot tell you how many conversations I have with clients about how they’d love to make a move but feel bound by their current sub 3% rate, also known as their golden handcuffs. I personally understand this feeling as we also purchased during that timeframe and I’ve have told my husband- we are NEVER selling LOL

However, even if you DO have a crazy low interest rate, but need to make a move, I have a few ways to make it feel a little less painful on the other end.

• If you have the ability to keep your current home as a rental and buy without selling, this is the number one way I’ve been seeing clients make the move into whatever the next phase of their life is necessary- whether that is upsizing, downsizing, rightsizing or simply moving to a more desirable neighborhood/location.

• If you bought during the crazy low rate season, chances are that you have also enjoyed a TON of equity gain (without having to do a lot of equity gaining activities such as updating/remodeling/etc.), but if you DID improve your property in any way during that timeframe, then you’ve likely gained even further value. You can use this to offset your next purchase’s high interest rate, because you’ll be able to put a lot down OR you will be able to buy down your rate if you plan on staying long-term and the numbers make sense.

• New construction! True, this is not everyone’s cup of tea, but for people who are looking for the option to purchase without having to come to grips with those 7% rates, new construction could be the answer. Builders are offering insane incentives, including upgrade packages and very low interest rates if buyers go with their preferred lenders. Now, I KNOW you know me, and I will forever stand by using a solid local lender, but I cannot in good conscious not tell buyers to at least check out what these builder’s lenders have to offer. Some rates are as low as 2 percentage points below market rate!

• The last option (that doesn’t actually count as moving) could be to take the leap into remodeling your current home/property so that it fits your needs with functionality. We will hopefully see supply prices dropping a bit this year as there will be less consumers jumping into big renovations, and therefore less demand, resulting in lower prices. Now finding a good contractor who won’t charge you an arm and a leg is a whole other story!

Now if you’re ready to take the plunge into selling, and you’ve never done it before (or maybe you have, but it’s been a while!), let’s set up a phone call or sit down to chat about everything you can expect during the process.
I also just read an article from the Windermere blog about the costs associated with selling too if you’d like me to send that directly to you, just holler!

Last, but certainly not least ~ please make sure you let me know which date works best for movie night (or day)- Friday, May 31st or Sunday, June 2nd
I need to have all my votes in no later than May 27th!

Thank you for being amazing clients, family, friends, referral & business partners. You really are the lifeblood of my business and I appreciate you beyond words.

Until next time ~ Robyn