In our August episode of Monday Market Minute with Carrie McCormick of @Properties, Carrie talks about recent trends and what she’s telling her buyers and sellers in a low-interest rate environment (with low inventory). She shares how she uses InfoSparks to see the history of a local markets to educate her clients. Last Carrie discusses the rental market shift and how agents can build this into their business.
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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All right, welcome to keeping it real the largest podcast made by real estate agents and for real estate agents. My name is DJ Paris. I am your guide and host through the show and today on the show is our monthly series The Monday market minute with Carrie McCormick from the Carrie McCormick Real Estate Group with at properties here in Chicago. Now Carrie is a top 1% Actually she’s a top 1% of 1% producer here in Chicago with over 20 years of experience helping buyers, sellers, investors and renters in fact, year to date. I just looked this up yesterday out of 44,000 real estate agents in the Chicagoland area. Carrie is currently ranked number 10 in production. She’s a true superstar and an expert in everything from first time homebuyers, veteran investors and luxury property sales. She also works with a lot of developers and is often chosen to represent their high end developments. So please visit Carrie at her website, which is Carrie McCormick R e.com and Carrie McCormack r e.com. And also follow her on Instagram, which is Carrie at Carey McCormick real estate. Once again, Carrie, welcome to the show. And for our viewers. It was a beautiful backyard and pool.
Carrie McCormick 1:58
Yes, I think I can see in my reflection but the swan floating. I don’t know if you guys can see it too. Yeah, yeah, we can.
D.J. Paris 2:05
That’s I bought one of those swans for my sister’s pool down in Florida. And so so just a quick funny story. So I bought the swan, which is like the real popular one, obviously, you have the same one. Then I also went out and bought a giant lobster, and a giant turtle and all three of those. They’re about the same size, they completely dwarfed her entire pool. And every every six months, I just buy a new one and send it to her. And she’s like enough with the pool toys. But so I love this one.
Carrie McCormick 2:34
Well, I have to get up to get a few more. Well, trust
D.J. Paris 2:37
me, you don’t want more. So much work. You know how long it takes to blow those things up. It takes forever, even with you know, the generated the air thing. Anyway, so So what do we want to talk about today? Yeah,
Carrie McCormick 2:49
so I mean, it’s August in the city. So a lot has happened in the last few months, obviously, in our world. And in particular, in our city, we’ve kind of every week, we’ve got some, you know, news of what’s happening. So it’s just kind of talking about the attitude of our city and what people are feeling. But it’s it’s really the way that people are feeling right now is moving our market. And it’s people who either now have to work from home, you know, for longer than expected, or people, their kids are not going back to school, or just how they’re feeling about our unfortunate crime to happen. They’re making moves in their lives. And again, that’s what’s keeping our market moving here in Chicago. So we are seeing a very healthy market in the city. But I always talk to my sellers and my buyers about Chicago being more of like a sub market meaning each neighborhood is a market of its own, if you will, so you know, town is very different than how the Gold Coast is, is selling and you know, different than Linkin Park and you know, just even then drilling down a little bit more into the single families versus condos versus homes with rooftop decks, you know, you really kind of have to drill down into each market to see how they’re, they’re moving. So, you know, part of being a broker, and a good broker for our clients is having knowledge of of the market and how do we advise our clients, our sellers, on how to position their home properly in today’s market. And one thing that I use a lot and I know my office is a big advocate of it is if anyone uses info sparks, which is a tool in the MLS info Sparks is a fabulous tool because it pulls all the data from the MLS and you can sit down with a seller and just talk about absorption rate and month supply and medium prices and all of that good stuff just to see again, if you’re in the Gold Coast market, you know over a million what is the month supply right now in the Gold Coast and actually I I do have a seller on the Gold Coast who’s over $2 million. And right now the market times about 20 months, you know, setting that expectation right now is, you know, you know, when you put your home on the market, you’re so excited, you’re ready to make that move. But you know, this is where the market is right now. And info Sparks is good, just from a data history standpoint to is you’re looking at historical data of how this market performs. The difference in 2020 right now is we’re in times that we’ve never been in before. So it’s, again, you can look at the history of a neighborhood and in the data, but you also have to have knowledge have a little foresight of where is the market going? And what is the market looking for? And again, how do we position ourselves to be successful?
D.J. Paris 5:47
So what do you have a seller with an amazing property and one of the best neighborhoods, arguably the best neighborhood in Chicago, the Gold Coast, and you say, Hey, by the way, we’re looking at about a 20 month lead time here, that’s got to be I imagine, most sellers don’t want to wait that long. But I guess having that information is that it’s still a difficult conversation or our sellers in that position, you know, more understanding of that with that kind of price point.
Carrie McCormick 6:16
It’s always difficult, you know, no, just to hear that news. But you know, again, you know, having facts in front of you and say like, okay, here are the facts of where the market is. And then again, it’s our job to say, you know, Mister, mister missus seller, you know, what is your expectation? And what are your goals, you know, need to move this in two months do you need to move it in a year, are you fine with two years, so again, kind of backing the conversation up to what their expectations and their goals are. And if they do want to move it quicker, it’s really going to boil down to being at a price point that you know, is going to move it, you know, and then coming up with an aggressive marketing plan to backup that price.
D.J. Paris 6:57
And with more modestly priced homes, I imagine because rates are so low, obviously, in the $2 million range, you’re just excluding the vast majority of buyers who, who can’t afford that type of unit. But in the more modestly priced homes here in Chicago condos, single family homes, etc. We’re seeing tremendous competition, right by buyers, because rates are so incredibly low. So can you talk a little bit about that? How are you prepping the buyers or and the sellers around the multiple offer kind of scenario,
Carrie McCormick 7:26
I mean, even right before this call, I we’re headed into a multiple offer situation. And it’s really, you know, again, when you meet with your buyers, is prep them about where the market conditions are, and have them have that pre approval letter ready, have them you know, start thinking about a seller letter of what you’re gonna say to the seller, adding that personal touch to it. Again, just prepping them through the agreement or the the offer paperwork, so they know, you know, how are we going to position ourselves best to be in a multiple offer situation, I also like to say to my buyers is I mean, think about the price that you’re comfortable with now, not when we get into that multiple offer situation, because that’s when you get start getting emotional, right? Sure, become very competitive, and you want to win. And you know, you don’t want to overpay for a property either. And that’s where I come into play to be kind of like, you know, a little more of a business manager kind of helping them through that. But you know, just, again, guiding them beforehand, before we get into that multiple offer situation. So they’re successful in the outcome,
D.J. Paris 8:31
do you is your general and again, I know every every property is unique and has its own strategy. But generally speaking, where we are right now with rates, and so many buyers with so much more purchasing power than they had before. I know I can afford a lot more than I used to just simply because of rates are is your general thought to price a property right at market value or a little bit under a little bit over? You know, when you know that you’re likely to get a lot of activity? Do you have a general rule of thumb on that? Or is it different every time, it’s a little
Carrie McCormick 9:01
different every time and again, it backs up to what the sellers timeline is and you know what they need to get out of it. It’s always best practice to price the property correctly out the gate. But there’s some sellers that want to push the price a little bit and just see how the market reacts to it. If they do have a property that people are seeking now, you know, with, with the pandemic, everyone’s looking for more space, right? They’re looking for outdoor space. Yeah. So if you have a property that offers that you’ve got great outdoor space, a yard, you’ve got, you know, an office, you’ve got multiple bedrooms, you know, whatever it is, and, again, we’ll use Bucktown as an example, if there’s low inventory. And the seller has the property that the market wants, we might be able to push the price a little bit, but we also have to be careful with appraisals. And again, you don’t want to you don’t want to overpriced the property too. So it’s a little bit of a science to it, the market always speaks and you’ll know within the first two weeks, you know, what if you priced it right. And
D.J. Paris 10:07
I have a quick tip for all the buyers out there because I’m in the process of buying right now and I, my lender was was Joel Guaranteed Rate who comes on the show every month we love Joel he’s he’s great. So he was always my first choice. And I said, you know, just in case for some reason it doesn’t work out and guaranteed rate says too bad. So sad, you don’t get you know, you don’t you don’t get a loan, which I didn’t think was gonna happen. But I thought I better have a contingency plan. So just just I’m curious to get your thoughts on this. But I went, I said, I better get at least two other backups just in case. And I went to two very, very reputable places to get my pre approval. And I think the activity is so incredibly busy right now for lending institutions for refinances and also first time purchases, because of rates being where they are. Both of those, both of the people I worked with completely just fell off and I got lost in the shuffle. Thankfully, I didn’t have to use them because the Guaranteed Rate thing went perfectly. But I was shocked. I was like this is a large lender, loan, or at least to me, it seems large. And I was surprised that they would just both the other reps I worked with at other firms just completely disappeared on me. And so I just want to encourage everyone who’s working with buyers right now, to have a couple of backups just in case your loan officer is too busy. Because I know just how slammed they are. So I don’t know if you’ve experienced that as well with buyers. It’s like you have to really stay on top of the loan officers.
Carrie McCormick 11:30
Well, I I haven’t guaranteed rates. I work with a lot too. And I’ve worked with him for years. Yeah, he always does. 110%. So I feel like I refer him to a client. I’ve never had any negative feedback. So I feel very confident, you know, and it’s like a guaranteed rate thing. You know, they’re all they’re all
D.J. Paris 11:54
awesome. But it is it was amazing to me that I you know, these, I would have to follow up with these other agents going, what else do you need? And I was like, Ha, this shouldn’t be this hard when I’m basically giving you a pretty decent commission. And sure enough, back to two guaranteed rate, which we’re both big fans of. And also I wanted to also lastly talk about renters, right. So I was a renter. Well, I’ve owned stuff in the past. But for recently, the last couple years, it just made more sense to me to rent, and I got a wonderful place that I lived in. And I’m now moving out to to buy a wonderful home. And I waited until I had a certain amount of savings and the rates were at where they are. And anyway, I’m a perfect example of somebody who was on the sidelines. And then through the pandemic, I was like, I need a bigger place. This is not I don’t want to be renting anymore. So I’d be curious if you’ve seen that growth as well, where you have all these renters who are now like, okay, now’s the time.
Carrie McCormick 12:49
Yeah, that’s glad you brought that up. That’s a huge movement in our market as well. The rental prices are coming down because people are vacating the rentals. And just like you, you’ve been on the fence, and this has pushed you over to make the purchase. Right. So interest rate rates, like you said, are very low. Also, we’re seeing think about college students who was a big population of our rental pool, right, so the college students are not coming back to school. So I so we’re getting a surplus of rental inventory, which now we’ve got, you know, the supply and demand effect, you know, so we’ve got a lot of supply, and now the demand is low for them. So prices are coming down on the rentals. And then also I’ve experienced with a lot of the rentals in high rise buildings, you know, more so in like Streeterville, or Gold Coast, is people don’t want to be in high rises right now. And they don’t get use of the amenities, you know, amenities are closing down or taking them by appointment. So the beauty of that. And the convenience of being in a high rise has diminished a little bit so the rental market is taking a hit this year. But again, it’s pushing people to purchases.
D.J. Paris 14:03
Yeah, it’s a great opportunity, I think for all of our listeners who have your sphere of influence or contactless people who are renting is to really run those numbers now now that rates are well at the timing of this our sub 3% In most cases, Jumbos or even right around 3% In some cases, so you have this just amazing opportunity to really run the numbers with someone and say, you know, and to your point, too, I live in a high rise and all of the amenities and I really didn’t take much advantage of them when they were available, but they’re really not available now and of no fault of the building. It’s just for safety sake. And so now it’s like okay, now I do love where I live, but now I can buy something really amazing. And I’m not using a lot of the stuff in the building I’m in anyway, so her perfect opportunity.
Carrie McCormick 14:48
But Chicago, you know, we’re all resilient here and we love our city and we hope that you know, it ends soon a lot of the crime and the looting and soon and you know it’s hard job again to educate our clients and keep people moving in the city.
D.J. Paris 15:04
Yeah, I agree. We’ve we’ve had a, it’s been a rough, rough couple of well, rough couple of months here in Chicago. But this is a city that is just so beautiful and has so much to offer. And there’s so many wonderful things my mom used to say, there’s really only three cities in the country. There’s New York, there’s and I hope to not embarrass her and not insult anyone from any other cities. But she would say the three best cities in the country are New York, Chicago and San Francisco. And I always thought that might be right. I don’t know Matt, might That sounds about right. So we’re super lucky to be in one of those great grand cities that seems to bounce back really quickly, even despite having a lot of unrest right now. But, but anyway, um, anything else you want to mention? Before we wrap up, or, you know, before we say goodbye for another month,
Carrie McCormick 15:50
you’re gonna put me on the spot, there was something and I just slipped my mind of what I wanted to chat about.
D.J. Paris 15:57
Well, as I’m saying that I’m watching the swan literally just move past you. So I’m in a daze as well. But I think we’ve given a lot of value this time. And we’ve talked a lot about sort of how to prep buyers, sellers, renters as well, in this sort of really unusual time. Because, honestly, like, I’m sure you feel probably the same way as you’ve been doing this, gosh, several decades and as a top agent, and you just don’t know how long where we are right now how busy everything is. We don’t know how long that’s going to last. And so now’s this great opportunity for all of our listeners to reach out to everybody you know, and see how they’re doing, see what their plans are. And I didn’t have any plan of purchasing six months ago. I mean, I thought I’d do it in the next year or two. But here I am. And I’m already I’ve already made that commitment. So well, I’ve been in the club before, but it is nice to be back. Especially with that lovely interest deduction I get I’ll get every year from my taxes. So I really love that club. That’s the club I love. But anyway, well, Carrie, once again, we thank you, you’ve been with us since the very beginning. You’re one of our absolute favorite people to have on the show. And I want to encourage everyone listening. Number one, if you are not an agent, but maybe you’re a buyer or a seller or renter or an investor and you’re looking to work with one of the best possible agents in the Chicagoland area. Carrie McCormick is your person. She’s incredible. I’ve worked with her personally. She’s amazing. And I couldn’t. I couldn’t encourage people more to to reach out to you and what is the best way that anyone should be reaching out to you.
Carrie McCormick 17:29
I mean, it’s always I’m old school, just call me three one to 9614612 you can see I have my phone right next to me, it’s always in my hand. I never let it go.
D.J. Paris 17:39
And also please visit Carrie at her website, which is Carrie McCormick. And by the way, it’s an amazing website. It really is. And even if you’re an agent, check out what Carrie built because it’s a really good example of what a wonderful broker agent website should look like. And that’s Carrie McCormack r e.com. And then lastly, you have to check out Karis Instagram account it’s just about the best Instagram account I’ve seen that she does it all herself and it’s another amazing model of what agents can do to promote their brand but also not to be that annoying realtor that’s just constantly like look at this new listing look at Carrie puts out amazing content that people want to read and see and she’s got an incredible following so please find her at Carrie and McCormick real estate that’s at Instagram. So Carrie McCormick real estate. Carrie, thank you so much. i i Maybe I will do the next episode from from a pool because that just looks too inviting. I mean a boring one. I would be more than happy to float on this one. I’m in a boring office room right now. So now I’m super jealous but have a have a wonderful month, week. And I know how busy you are. So we appreciate constantly you coming on our show for like four or five years now. We love, love you so much and appreciate you. And on behalf of the listeners thank you as always and be half of Carrie and myself. We want to thank our listeners and our viewers, for continuing to support our show. We’re now the largest podcast in the country for real estate agents. We couldn’t be more honored to serve you. And we’ll see you next month. So Thanks Gary.
Carrie McCormick 19:04
Stay safe
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