In our April episode of Monday Market Minute, Carrie McCormick from @Properties discusses what’s it like to be a buyer in this market. Carrie goes on to describe that there isn’t a huge difference any longer between the demand for properties in urban versus suburban areas. Carrie also gives tips for agents who are working with buyers on how to educate their clients on what to expect from this market. Last, DJ provides his quick marketing tips of the week.
If you’d prefer to watch this interview, click here to view on YouTube!
Carrie can be reached at carrie@atproperties.com or by phone at 312.961.4612.
Please follow Carrie on Instagram by clicking here.
Transcript
D.J. Paris 0:00
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Welcome to keeping it real, the largest podcast made for real estate agents and by real estate agents. My name is DJ Parris. I’m your guide and host through the show today on the show we have our monthly series called The Monday market minute with Carrie McCormick from at properties she is the head of the Carrie McCormick Real Estate Group. She is a top 1% performer in the Chicagoland area with over 20 years of experience helping buyers sellers and investors. In fact, in the past 12 months out of 44,000 real estate agents in the Chicagoland area. Carrie is usually in the top 15 not 15% the top 15 individuals so she is in the top 1/10 of 1%. She’s a true superstar and an expert in everything from first time homebuyers, veteran investors, and luxury properties. She also works with a lot of developers and is often chosen to represent their high end developments, please visit Carrie at her website, which is Carrie McCormick R e.com and Carrie McCormack r e.com. And please follow her on Instagram, which is Carrie McCormick real estate. So at Carey McCormick real estate Carrie, welcome once again to the show.
Carrie McCormick 1:55
Thank you as always love that introduction and appreciate everything that you do for our industry. So thanks.
D.J. Paris 2:01
Well, thanks, you are part of the thanks because you provide a lot of value to our listeners and audience as well. We were Carrie and I were talking before the show started. And she was saying How’s business because, you know, we have gosh, I think 730 Realtors at our firm care firm Carrie works out I think they have 3000. So we both are larger firms. And she was saying how’s it going like, oh my gosh, it’s so crazy. We’ve never been busier. And Kerry specifically was has never been busier. And so we were talking about buyers and how buyers have it sort of it’s like the best time and also a really difficult time. Because there’s so much competition with interest rates being so low people can just afford things that they couldn’t afford before.
Carrie McCormick 2:40
Yeah, it’s really kind of a little bit of a battleground out there. And that’s really what I wanted to talk about today is, you know, being a seller in this market right now is easy. But buyers on the other hand, you know, that’s a totally different story right now. So that’s what I want to talk about. So let’s talk about the buyers. So everyone that’s listening, the housing demand is going to continue to surge due to several factors here. One thing that people don’t think about is the millennials, they have aged into the prime home buying years, and now they are the fastest growing segment in the real estate market. These young consumers are mostly buying their first homes at this point. And here’s a really fun fact. So I read this on Bloomberg, not only are millennials buying homes, but their starter homes. So think about like your starter home. They are now multimillion dollar homes. They’re not starting out with like a $300,000 home. Their first home out of the gate is a multi million dollar home rather than, you know their traditional first property. And Millennials are expected to continue to drive this market through 2021. And with all the homebuyers, not just millenniums, but all the homebuyers active supply is lacking. As we know the current pace of home growth seems unlikely to change in the near term. So being a home buyer in this market, you’re obviously facing a ton of competition. And you have to act very quickly. So the main reason behind such an extreme pace of home sales and appreciation is really just the basics of economics, the seesaw effect of supply and demand. So we’ve got a ton of demand and no supply. And this is not just in Chicago, this is really across the country, and the country needs more homes to meet this demand. The pandemic of course, you know, coupled with with this whole supply and demand issue, it’s really also hindered the home builders so think about, you know the cost of building a home and the cost of construction. That is soared and we don’t have enough land to build on so the home builders are also a little strapped of trying to keep up with this competition. Jen. So we’re kind of in this, you know, like I said, the seesaw effect of supply and demand. Mortgage rates, as everyone knows both inventory of homes and mortgage rates are at their historic lows. The month’s supply of existing home sales has fallen to 1.9 months. It’s the lowest lowest level since 1999.
D.J. Paris 5:22
Wow. It’s interesting to like, I know, you mentioned, developers, that’s something I kind of wasn’t thinking about. But I know lumber prices are so high right now that almost almost two times as much of what they know, or like 40% Higher, and developers are going to have to pass that over to consumers. I guess the good news is, with money being a lot cheaper to borrow, it’s it’s but still there’s increased competition. So everyone’s paying a premium right now.
Carrie McCormick 5:50
Yep. Absolutely.
D.J. Paris 5:54
And now, do you think there’s going to be a slow down anytime soon?
Carrie McCormick 5:59
So my answer is two fold. Yes. And no, would be like that answer. So I don’t think that there’s going to be a slowdown in the market. But if there is, it’s only because we don’t have enough inventory, to keep up the pace. So think about like the North Shore, for example. There’s, you know, I don’t know, 22 homes on the market right now, once those homes gets get sold, there’s not enough inventory for buyers to purchase. So by default, they you know, the pace is going to go slower. So we may see numbers trickled down a little bit. But it’s not because of demand. It’s truly because of supply.
D.J. Paris 6:43
Yeah, that’s, that’s, you know, that’s interesting. And we’re seeing I know, also a lot of flight, at least here in Chicago, and probably probably across the country, in the more urban areas, you know, people moving from urban to suburban, is that a myth? Is that actually happening? I know that that’s what we hear about happening. But it’s a bit as up in your experience,
Carrie McCormick 7:06
to some degree, but you know, honestly, the city is doing really well. And we’re seeing a lot of movement there too. So with obviously the rise of remote work, or remote work, that people are able to work from anywhere, right. So we’ve seen that big now suburban, boom. And one thing that, you know, people just keep talking about, like you said is, you know, everyone moving out of the city to the suburban areas, and again, there is some truth to it. But there’s also some truth to people wanting to stay in the city and just have a bigger home or have a yard. And actually Zillow, because I do a lot of research and a lot of reading, as you probably can tell, but Zillow did publish some market data. And then it showed that there’s not a huge difference between the suburban growth and the city growth. They’re both kind of growing at the same pace. And they’re seeing record sales in both urban and suburban markets. You know, in the city, there are some segments, I would say the city is broken up to Chicago is broken up into different market, it’s a market within a market, if you will, you know, some neighborhoods are outperforming others, some type of product is outperforming others, some price points are outperforming others. So if you look at as a whole, it may not seem like it’s moving that quickly. But if you take let’s just say, single families in Roscoe village, you know, they’re skyrocketing. If you take condo buildings in Streeterville, well, maybe they’re flatlining. But you know, each neighborhood is performing at a different pace. But all in all, both suburban and urban markets are doing very well.
D.J. Paris 8:47
Yeah, it’s interesting. I just saw a statistic today from I believe Chicago agent magazine, I just want to credit them. And I think it I think it was them. And it was something to the effect of the median home price in Chicago now is just under 300,000, where it was traditionally around 275,000 or so. And it’s risen significantly in the last year because of I’m guessing, decreased inventory, increase of buyers flooding the market. Obviously, the pandemic, maybe getting a lot of people who are now working more from home thinking we need to expand or get a bigger place. But boy, everything is just and just increased competition from buyers. It is everything’s going up and up and up. So great time if you are looking to sell but definitely challenging for buyers at this point. What what are some of the tips you have for agents who are working with buyers, that you know, just how to maybe even prep the buyer in advance to here’s what’s going on.
Carrie McCormick 9:48
You will definitely have your financing in line. You know, that’s a total given. Unfortunately, and fortunately, there’s a lot of cash in the market right now. So it’s hard to beat a cat offer, what some buyers have to do or strategically have to think about is waiving their appraisal contingency. I know no one likes to do that. Attorneys and both lenders, you know, kind of frown upon that, but it’s also up to the buyer of you know, how, how they feel about it. So it’s really your financing has to be in line, you have to put together a very strong, compelling, clean offer to the sellers. And you know, it’s a lot of talking up front, you know, when you see the house, what’s important to the seller, so make sure you find out what’s important to that seller, and you give them exactly what you are, what exactly what they want. Yeah,
D.J. Paris 10:45
and I would imagine to, is just making sure that buyers know that there’s a speed to lead kind of situation here where it’s or speed to close, I guess, or speed to offer, where once it goes on the market, that clock is ticking, and it’s ticking very fast. And I would imagine, you’re probably telling your buyers, you know, if you like this place, we need to put an offer on pretty quickly,
Carrie McCormick 11:09
right? Absolutely, you have to see it that day, you have to make an offer quickly. So it’s, it’s a race to the finish line. And that’s why it’s important for any buyers that are listening, is you have to work with an experienced agent, I you know, recommend someone who’s got a very good network around them and a good support team, so you can get across that finish line.
D.J. Paris 11:33
And it is called a cooperative commission when the realtor is of course working together. And, and that’s where it’s really important to have have good relationships with other with other brokers, because right now when when your offer comes in, if they recognize the name, and they’ve done transactions with you in the past, they probably you know, have certain feeling about you know, working with you and whether they you know, it was smooth in the past also, you know, the LEND if they’re working with a lender, seeing what lending institution it is, oh, hey, that’s a really well reputable company, they’re going to be able to get this pushed through versus, you know, so it’s probably tougher if you’re a newer agent right now, because you might not have a lot of those relationships in play. But it’s a really good time to start developing those relationships. So that you know, you’re
Carrie McCormick 12:17
right, it’s about the offer package, I tell people, it’s who your broker is, who your lender is, who your inspector, if you’re doing an inspector who your attorney is, I mean, a seller’s gonna look at that as a complete team that’s buying the home, not just the buyer. So it’s a full package that we have to give. One thing that I don’t understand is why brokers argue with each other. Like when if I’m a seller, and there’s a buyer’s broker, that’s going to be I don’t know, troublesome, I guess at the beginning of you know, getting their offer in and how they want to present it and start causing problems at the beginning. It’s just not a great way to approach an offer.
D.J. Paris 13:04
Yeah, it is called cooperative. So it’s a good thing to remember, for all the agents out there that everyone’s a little stressed right now, agents are stressed, sellers are stressed because they’re getting so many seller agents are stressed, because getting so many offers, they’re having to figure that out and deal with all of the buyer brokers who of course, are going worth what’s going on with my offer. So everyone, if we could all just could breathe a little bit and treat each other with compassion and kindness is probably going to go a long way to once once things settle down, people won’t have lingering bad feelings about working, you know, with you in the past and, and I know that you you’ve even told me, you know, Hey, you said you’d be shocked at how some agents even talk to you. Who and you are very well respected and liked in this in this industry. But it’s tough right now. I mean, agents are dealing with a lot of abuse from other agents sometimes.
Carrie McCormick 13:54
Yeah, and you’re right, I mean, I understand it’s a stressful time for everybody and tensions are high and we’re all a type personalities, I totally get it and you know, there’s some times we just got to take a step back, take a deep breath and we’re all in this together and just treat everyone respectfully and be nice.
D.J. Paris 14:14
And for my quick Marketing Tip of the Week, this is such a simple idea but it is just a gentle reminder for everyone out there who is who has clients who are leasing this is a good time to have the conversation. And And again, we understand that that prices are you know, things are expensive right now but still may be a great time for somebody who’s renting to make that transition into homeownership because of rates being where they’re at and you know, just a great time to have that conversation. You might be able to actually save them money on their you know, their monthly rent. Yeah, by getting them you know, to convert over to homeownership. So, anyone you know, this is the time where they’re probably going to start thinking about it because it’s so in the news, eat rates are still talked about all Time The public is seeing that. And if you’re not having that conversation with renters, you know, you know, they’re going to have that conversation with somebody. So might as well be you. So simple tip, but just a good reminder. It’s kind of like telling somebody, oh, I want to work out, we’ll do some push ups. It’s like, well, I already know I’m supposed to do that. But it’s good reminder. So do your push ups, talk to the people that aren’t yet homeowners, and talk to them and ask them what their plans are. Say, Hey, do you plan on buying in the next year or two, because we could start looking at that now. And let’s, let’s run some numbers and show it to you. Because they’re either going to do it through you, or another realtor, or they’re gonna go directly to a lender. And that’s fine, too. But it should really start from you, you should be the hub of everything, real estate. So reach out to your to your renters, and let them know that just to have that conversation. If you’re not busy right now, it’s a great opportunity to get busy. But other than that, I think that’s a good place to wrap up for this episode. Carrie once again, given us tremendous insight into the Chicagoland market, but also just what her experience is as a top producer. And hopefully this is this has been helpful to our agents Carrie has been coming on for years and providing great insight. She’s very well liked by our listeners and followers. So thank you, Carrie, once again, for taking time out of your busy day. This I imagine this year might even be another record year for you. I suspect it probably will be. So I know you’re super busy.
Carrie McCormick 16:22
Yes, I am. Well, we appreciate
D.J. Paris 16:25
you taking time to do that. And for everyone who is listening or watching please check out Kerry’s website, you can go to Carrie McCormick, r e.com. But more importantly, follow her on Instagram. She is amazing on Instagram and a great example of what a realtor can do. She does it all herself as well. So that’s Carrie McCormack real estate. So that’s on Instagram. And just you can just find her by searching for Carrie McCormick as well on Facebook and all the different social platforms. And Carrie, you might also if any of our audience has a question for you. Should they email you just
Carrie McCormick 17:01
call me I always pick up my phone. So call me at 312-961-4612 or you can email me at Kerry. It’s ca RR ie at@properties.com. But I’d love to help anyone out just chat with anyone. I’m always here for you.
D.J. Paris 17:21
Awesome. Well, thank you so much. Once again, on behalf of our audience, we want to thank Carrie for spending time today. We had to reschedule this like three times because this is how busy Carrie is. So we’re so grateful we finally got her and trust me we get it. We know how hard it is as busy as agents are. So thank you. Thank you. And also on behalf of carried myself we thank the audience we think our listeners and viewers for continuing to support our show and we just asked you to do one thing, tell a friend think of one other agent that could benefit from hearing great these episodes with people like the great Carrie McCormack and send them a link to our episode to our show. You can do that. Send them right to our website, keeping it real pod.com Or just have them pull up a podcast app search for keeping it real. They’ll will pop right up have them hit the subscribe button, and then they’ll get all of our episodes. So thanks Carrie once again. We will see you next week. Next week. Next week next month. See you next month.
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