Welcome to the December edition of Monday Market Minute with Carrie McCormick from At Properties!
In our final Monday Market Minute of 2019, Carrie talks about how the real estate market has performed both nationwide and locally in Chicago. She also mentions how important staging a home prior to listing is in this era of Instagram. Carrie makes some predictions for 2020 and I provide a tip about how to demonstrate care to your clients in the new year.
Carrie can be reached at carrie@atproperties.com or by phone at 312.961.4612.
Transcript
D.J. Paris 0:00
This episode of Keeping it real is brought to you by Quicken Loans real estate professionals. When you work with Quicken Loans, you have an agent relationship manager available to you and your team. These dedicated experts are part of the agent relations team. They serve as your single point of coordination, so you can count on them to keep you in the loop throughout your client’s entire home buying process, call 888-980-2891 or go to real estate dot Quicken loans.com. Today, call for cost information and conditions equal housing lender licensed in all 50 states NMLS consumer access.org Number 3030. And now onto the show.
Hello, and welcome to another episode of Keeping it real the largest podcast in the country made by real estate agents for real estate agents. My name is DJ Paris, I am your host and guide through the show. And today as we do every month we have our Monday market minute with guest host and superstar producer in Chicago, Carrie McCormack of add properties. Carrie is one of the top real estate brokers here in Chicago out of 46,000. She’s routinely in the literally the top 20 At any given moment. That’s how big of a producer she is. And she’s been in the business for over 20 years. And we are so excited to have her on the show. And once again, welcome Carrie,
Carrie McCormick 1:36
thank you so much, you always give me such a nice introduction. So I appreciate that. But I’m really happy to be on the show. And I will say that, you know, after we we do the show, and throughout the month, I do get calls from some of the listeners in emails with questions. So I want to just start off the bat by telling everyone I appreciate that. And I think, you know, part of our job as realtors in the community is you know, giving back as well. So feel free to call me email me whatever it is, you know, with your questions. I love to hear from everybody and love to help anybody out.
D.J. Paris 2:10
And what’s the best way that one of our listeners can reach out to you if they do have a question?
Carrie McCormick 2:14
Yeah, I’m always accessible. That’s my motto, I’m 100% accessible. And it’s true. I mean, people call me all time. But really, it’s call me 312-961-4612. Or you can always email me, I look at both my email and my text messages all the time. So Kerry, CA RR ie at@properties.com.
D.J. Paris 2:37
Wonderful. Well, what are we going to talk about today?
Carrie McCormick 2:40
So I thought, since we’re at the end of 2019, to summarize, kind of the economy as a whole, because the economy, you know, it drives our real estate market, and just you know, how people are feeling. So I just wanted to touch on a few points. To summarize, you know, 2019, which is just our economy. First of all, our overall, it’s still looking very real robust, we’ve had a great economy, the word recession, which I hate that word, but you know, everyone talks about it, and no one can predict it. But really, you know, I’ve got a lot of wealth managers, and, you know, people in the financial markets that I talked to, and I would say 95% of them. Again, no one can predict, and I’m not predicting either, but they say a recession is not likely, there will be an adjustment in the market. And even if, you know, there’s a big adjustment in the market, that our real estate market should not be affected dramatically. That’s what I’m hearing. Strong grab job growth, of course, low unemployment. So when you have a good job market, of course, your consumer confidence, you know, is up and when consumer confidence is up, people like to spend money. We’ve got increasing wages, low inflation, low mortgage rates, so all of that stuff is good. And again, this, this type of environment leads to people to spend money. Just talking about the low mortgage rates and interest rates, houses have become very affordable for people. As a lot of Chicagoans know, our rent, prices have risen dramatically. And when that is starts to happen, which it did this year, people will turn and look to buying a home because again, they can potentially purchase a home for the same amount of money as they’re paying in rent, sometimes even less. So we’re seeing a little bit of shift from renters becoming homebuyers because of that environment. And then lastly, in some areas in Chicago, we’ve got very low inventory and just kind of the general demand, economics of supply and demand. When inventory is low home prices will rise. So we are seeing that in some areas of show cargo as well.
D.J. Paris 5:01
Yeah. What about our market here in Chicago? You know, what do you see is challenges predictions, you know, for the upcoming year?
Carrie McCormick 5:10
Well, it’s hard to predict. But I can just talk about from my experience, and what I saw over 2019. And what I predict for 2020. And keep in mind, this is just my, you know, my thoughts on it. And, first of all, there’s just not enough product for first time homebuyers. I see a big gap in the market where there’s this very high end luxury market. And then there’s the middle road product. But we’ve got a lot of first time homebuyers coming in, and there’s just not a ton of inventory for them. So I see that as a challenge here in Chicago moving into 2020. Also, this is the biggest challenge that I see is that there’s not enough what I call a quote unquote, moving ready, inventory. And what that means is, the buyers today have become extremely picky, and they want what they want. And they want the white cabinets, the dark floors, the gray walls, you know, the move in ready, just move in and do nothing. We’ve got a lot of inventory that’s on the market, that’s, you know, 1015 year plus homes, and they haven’t been updated granite, they’re great properties, right? The bones of the house are great, but they’ve got maple cabinets and Ooba, Tuba countertops and maple floors. And buyers just don’t want that anymore. So we’ve seen this big shift, all different brokerages have come up with their own program of renovations. Right. So now we’re becoming consultants to help renovate a home and bringing in a third party, to paint the cabinets to redo the floors to paint the walls, all of that stuff. So you know, what buyers are demanding and what they want, sellers are going to have to make a shift and give the buyer what they want. Also, buyers don’t have visions, I’ve walked into a property that’s had, you know, red painted bathroom or green bedroom, and a buyer just cannot visualize this house. So you know, we’ve got different techniques that we use, whether it’s different digital software, or like I just mentioned, we’ve got a company that comes in and paints for them. So renovations have become a big deal in 2019. And I see that that’s going to happen in 2020 as well. It’s just a challenge for us as brokers is to again become a consultant for the sellers on how to get their market ready. Just a prediction on pricing. Home prices in Chicago, in 2019 in Chicago is made up of all different neighborhoods, as we know, and I call it a market within a market, it depends on which neighborhood you are in depends on what type of housing that you have. But just to give a blanket statement, you know, prices kind of flatlined in 2019. And I’m not saying that’s for all neighborhoods, but just as a whole. And I think in 2020, we’re going to see a lot of the same. And not that it’s a bad thing that it flatlines. But it just means we’re not gonna see any big highs, we’re not gonna see any big lows. So I think just, you know, remaining steady is not a bad thing. Luxury markets here still, you know, seem to be a little bit of a challenge. And I think the pricing of the luxury homes, and when I say that I’m thinking 2 million plus, they’re gonna have to shift a little bit, especially if it’s not new construction, they’re gonna have to shift to the market. And last but not least, I hate even saying these words, but I am seeing a lot of people unfortunately leave Illinois as a whole, not just Chicago, but just Illinois, you know, our political climate here has has Danford a lot of people’s viewpoint on Chicago, and they’re choosing other markets to make as their permanent home because of taxes, because of the politics because of the pensions that are coming up. So there’s a lot in our political marketplace that that is driving people out of our cities. So I think we as Realtors as a community need to, you know, advocate for people staying here and buying more properties here.
D.J. Paris 9:16
Yeah, I think I think the solution to that is for all of us listening is to get involved in whatever way you can with your community and advocate for the things you believe in that you think would be helpful to the community at large. And, you know, it’s not to sit passively by and let other people make those decisions. Right.
Carrie McCormick 9:33
Right. And I’ve there’s different tax software out there to or different tax attorneys that you can connect with to because if there’s a property that I’m working with right now that their tax bill is $48,000 and it’s been a it’s been part of the reason why this house isn’t selling, you know, because no one wants to take on this tax bill in this particular price point. So, you know, we’ve been Working with a tax attorney to reduce the taxes and you know, we’ve had to do a little marketing around that. And, and it’s become a, you know, part of how do we sell this house. So again, as our jobs as realtors, we have to be more advisors in all different areas. Again, we can’t, I’m not a tax professional, I’m not an attorney, I am not a contractor, you know, but I definitely have my resources that I have to use as kind of consultants to come in to get a house sold. So you’ve got to be a little more creative in our job.
D.J. Paris 10:33
Well, yeah, and those are the things that will stop somebody from placing an offer, obviously, the taxes are a huge thing. And that’s where you know, the conversation with the seller needs to happen, but probably pre listing or right when it’s listed. So here’s what’s going to happen the moment somebody sees that $48,000 Bill, which I’m sure you had that conversation, but for all realtors out there. Don’t be afraid to have that conversation, have somebody on your team, that’s a good tax attorney that you could say I’ve got somebody that you need to talk to. And we really need to, and oh, by the way, you have a red bathroom. And here’s what’s going to happen the moment somebody sees that, yes, of course, they can change the color. But we live in an Instagram world where everything looks perfect. And people are constantly seeing perfection, perfection, perfection, they aren’t using their own imaginations as much to fill in the gaps. We need to make this look perfect. And here’s what we have to do. And I think oftentimes realtors are afraid to have those conversations. But the reality of it is it’s the truth. And you need to always share the truth with your sellers. Right?
Carrie McCormick 11:29
Absolutely. And I don’t know, if I mentioned to I was at the luxury Connect. Conference in California, I think there’s now about two months ago, you’re right with this Instagram world that we live in. And you know, I’m a big advocate, and I love Instagram as well. I tried to pepper in some Instagram, I tried to pepper in real photos, and you know, befores and afters and all of that good stuff, but it is our, our consumers are just they go and they see these beautiful homes. And when they walk into some properties here, they’re just they feel like, I can’t live here, you know, because they’ve, they’re living on their phones and seeing all this other stuff. So it’s, it’s very interesting. And I think we need to embrace this. And again, you know, help educate our sellers, and what the buyers want. And if the sellers are not willing to do that, then it has to be priced accordingly. And it has to be priced where a buyer will come in and see the value of what’s there and want to take on the work themselves. So it’s, it’s interesting, but I see a lot of that happening. And 2020, I think it’s going to be a good year, I don’t think we’re going to have anything super negative here, I think we all are just gonna have to work a little bit harder, I think we’re all going to have to also work as one big Chicago real estate team and help each other out to help make the market move.
D.J. Paris 12:50
Yeah, remember, all every broker listing it is called a cooperative commission, supposed to be cooperative. So everyone should always keep that in mind. So you guys can get deals closed. Well, thanks, Carrie, that that was awesome. And I am going to spend just a minute. And I’m going to keep my marketing minute very brief and short. So I have as we’re getting into the end of the year and thinking about our business plans for next year, I have just one idea. And it’s very simple. But it’s something I think every broker should consider for their sphere of influence their previous clients, anyone in their contact database is think about instead of thinking of what are my marketing campaigns for next year, which of course you’re going to do think of this and this may be the most important mark, important marketing campaign of all is, how am I going to show each one of the people in my database that I care in 2020 about them. So instead of just how many mailers am I going to send out how many postcards how many, you know, email newsletters, which of course is all fine. Think of just one way how you know that you’re going to know one thing about each one of your contacts, that is important to them, and you’re going to somehow show them that you care about that for them into 2020. And make a list to have every person in your database and say what’s most important to this person and you might not know right? You might not know what’s really important well get on social media, start looking at their profiles, look on Instagram, you know, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, see what they’re up to find out what they care about, you probably already know, maybe it’s their kids, maybe it’s their career, maybe it’s vacations, maybe it’s food, whatever their hobbies are find. Or maybe it’s a cause that they’re involved in something that’s important to them, write it down, put it in your CRM, and make sure that you think about okay, what can I do in this next year to show them that I I noticed what they care about, because I will promise you that everybody wants a real estate professional that cares about them. And if you can show them that, you know, boy that’ll that’ll always win the game. So as you think about that over the next few weeks as we wrap up the end of the year, just think about each one of your players people and how can you show them that you care because that will get you the Business. And it’s also fun to do that too. Right? So
Carrie McCormick 15:04
that’s awesome. That’s a great tip. Yeah, thank
D.J. Paris 15:06
you. Well, with that being said, we’re gonna we’re gonna wrap up this year in the Monday market minute. And Carrie is, of course, going to be on board, hopefully next year until, I mean, she is so busy and oh my god, I only want to ask her how many listings she currently has, because it’s so nasty. Don’t ask that many. It’s not many.
Carrie McCormick 15:25
There’s a lot. But that’s a lot. There’s it. This has been a great year. And I appreciate all the time that you spend with me to on this show. And I appreciate everyone that listens to this. And I’m looking forward to 2020. And hopefully, I’ll get to work with some of the listeners one on one.
D.J. Paris 15:41
Well, I know if I was a listener and I was looking to buy or sell a home, I would want to choose you. So if somebody’s out there listening or maybe some a broker who’s interested in looking at your team, maybe as an option to join, what’s the best way a buyer or a seller or an investor or even another realtor might reach out to you? Let’s say that again?
Carrie McCormick 15:58
Absolutely. So just call me 312-961-4612 Or email me, Kerry at@properties.com. Or you can also go to my Instagram account. I’ll do one last plug for it. Yes, it’s, it’s awesome. So it’s Carrie McCormick real estate. Feel free to check it out comments, give me any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you.
D.J. Paris 16:20
And Carrie is probably on her way to another showing so we’re gonna let her go so she can go do her job. But from the bottom of all of our hearts, all the listeners we thank you for being part of the show. And on behalf of Carrie and myself to the listeners we thank you guys for supporting us to support Carrie reached out to her and we’ll see you next year Carrie
Carrie McCormick 16:39
sounds great and happy new year. Happy New Year.
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