Welcome to the May edition of Monday Market Minute with Carrie McCormick!
In this episode Carrie speaks about how inventory is up in the hottest neighborhoods of Chicago in this spring market over last year and why that is so exciting. I provide a marketing tip on how brokers can avoid ethics violations on Facebook posts (article referenced in episode here).
Carrie can be reached at carrie@atproperties.com or by phone at 312.961.4612.
Transcript
D.J. Paris 0:15
Hello, and welcome to another episode of Keeping it real, the only podcast made by Chicago real estate brokers for Chicago real estate brokers. My name is DJ Paris. I am your host the show. And this is another episode of Monday market minute with Carrie McCormick of app properties. Welcome, Carrie.
Carrie McCormick 0:31
Hello, hello. Thanks for having me. As always,
D.J. Paris 0:34
thank you. And for new listeners who aren’t familiar with Carrie, you should be because she is one of the top top top producers in all of Chicagoland. Carrie and I were just talking, and she goes, Hey, we were joking around about about her production. And I figured out she is not only in the top 1/10 of 1% of all realtors, and there are 42,000 realtors in the Chicagoland area, she is actually higher at the highest producing, or sorry, she is in the top 99.95% of all producers. So we’re so grateful she’s insanely busy, and doesn’t even have time to do this. But she’s willing to do it once a month. And what she does is give her take on the market and then answer questions. And we’re so thrilled to have you. So thank you, Carrie,
Carrie McCormick 1:16
no, thank you. And it’s it’s, you know, interesting hearing the numbers because I mean, of course I keep track of, of my business, but I really, you know, focus on my clients and their experience in in the transaction. And, you know, the numbers are just a result of the hard work. It’s not, you know, my purpose is not to have these numbers. And of course, you know, have the rankings. But you know, my purpose is really just for my clients to have a great transaction and an a great experience. And then when you know the numbers come in, it’s just it’s, it’s great to hear that, that I’m up there.
D.J. Paris 1:50
Well, and Kerri works almost exclusively by referral, which also is demonstrative of how she treats her clients. So we’re so excited. She’s on the show. So let’s get into it, tell us what’s going on in the market.
Carrie McCormick 2:02
So April is, you know, we’re in May now, but I always look back, obviously on the previous month, and April tends to be one of the most exciting months in Chicago real estate market. And I’ve got a really exciting market update for you guys too. And because all the numbers are in, and we definitely did didn’t disappoint the market in April. So last month. For those who listen to the show, we talked about the supply of homes here in Chicago. And we all talk about low inventory, but the market has been rebounding after a few years with this tight inventory. And it continues to be a theme this month as well. So May is starting to see the same inventory issues as we did last month. And it seems like Chicago sellers have gotten a little bit smarter. And they realize that this is going to be the time to sell. Because the inventory is tight. Prices are going up and sellers again, if they were thinking about it are on the fence, they’re definitely starting to put their homes on the market. And last month, we saw about 17% more listings hit the market than the prior April month in 20. I gotta think of the year 28 2017 and 2016. So we definitely we saw more come on the market this April than we did two years ago. And so I looked at which neighborhoods are also starting this trend. And it looks like the near north neighborhoods like River North Streeterville and Gold Coast, followed by Wicker Park and Bucktown are leading the number of listings coming into the market. So anyone that’s listening who is a seller in those neighborhoods, I would encourage you to put your home on the market now because prices are starting to tick up. And first of all, this is just awesome news for Chicago. So we’re all about more choices in Chicago for homebuyers, especially during the spring. So we’d love to see more inventory come on the market in different neighborhoods too. But you know, when there’s too many new homes that hit the market, and there are not enough buyers out there that want to buy, we can negatively impact the strength of the market. But that doesn’t seem to be the case here. So we are having a great spring market and again, buyers sellers get out in the market and do your thing. So regarding pricing, we also just kind of as you expect prices are going to continue to go up right, we were starting to see the medium home prices grow at a slower rate for a quick second. But with April’s numbers on the books, it looks like we’re back up to a 3% increase in median home price over the prior year. Now that’s a lot of information that I just just gave to you guys, but it’s really the markets really doing well and we’re starting to see some increases here.
D.J. Paris 4:54
And are we on pace to have a spring market as strong as last year’s?
Carrie McCormick 4:58
Well I’m not ruling it out. just yet, so you know, we’re doing well. So I’d say let’s check back into next month’s podcast and we’ll see if may 2018 can tie or beat last month or last May’s media numbers.
D.J. Paris 5:13
Awesome. Well, thank you, Carrie, we’re gonna keep this one short and sweet here and at the on these episodes, I also give a marketing tip. And in this time, I’m going to give you a really, really important marketing tip that’s a lot different from what I’ve talked about in the past. And because this just came out on Friday, Thursday, or Friday from IAR, the Illinois Association of Realtors, which finally has now starting to tell brokers what they can and cannot do on social media when advertising homes. So about a year, a year ago, I called IAR. Because we have a lot of brokers at our firm and I said, What are the rules? Because online, the way that the act is written, it doesn’t specify what you can and can’t do on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc. And they said, Well, it just follow the rules. And I talked to the attorneys. And I said, Well, I don’t Please can you give me specific they go, just follow the rules. It was very frustrating. So they are now finally they wrote an article. So I’m going to read to you something that is very, very important. So out of the, all of the ethics violations, for Illinois, for all the brokers for last year, half of them were social media violations. So I’m gonna give you all the listeners an idea of something that is a violation, and this was written by one of their top attorneys. So this is a Facebook post that is in violation of the advertising act. So persons, the brokers advertising a home, there’s a picture of the home and this is the description, Golf Course View address of the home. Beautiful custom lead design home with wonderful views, blah, blah, blah. At the end of it, it says for sale, 515,000, contact Becky realtor, a call or text and then Becky’s phone number, that is a violation. And the reason for that is Becky in this instance, did not and I’ll put a link to this article, by the way, in the podcast notes, Becky did not mention what firm she works at. So you cannot just say hey, I’ve got a new listing, check it out or call me, you have to say I have a new listing, check it out and call me and I work for x. You have to manage mentioned the firm you work at in every single Facebook post if you’re advertising a listing, and that is new, they have never said that before. And out of all the ethics violations. Half of them were social media violations for last year, and that is only going to increase. And most brokers do not know about this. Our own brokers didn’t know about this until just a couple days ago. So I carry I don’t even know if if Most brokers in the industry know
Carrie McCormick 7:45
about it. I don’t think so. And I didn’t know either. I just you know, always think of best practices. And I do include my brokerage. But I also include the equal housing opportunity logo, as well on all my advertising on social media. And one thing, just to add to that, that I’ve noticed is you know, when you post something, whether it’s on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, wherever it goes, there’s different sizes and formats of ads. And what’s happened, like if I format an ad for Facebook, and then it converts over to Instagram, the size isn’t the same. So because the size is not the same, sometimes information gets cut off, right, put your brokerage or your phone number or something at the bottom. And then again, when it posts on to Facebook or Instagram, that section gets cut off. So even though it’s on there for you, the general public doesn’t see it because of the size formatting. So that’s one thing I’ve learned is to make sure that all the ads are resized to fit, which media platform it’s going on. So every all the information can be seen.
D.J. Paris 8:51
Awesome tip. So make sure that your photos are resized correctly and nothing is getting cut off. Like those those disclosures. Make sure if you’re writing a post and you’re advertising a home that you have the firm that you work for in that post. Alright, that’ll do it. And by the way, at Carey is here to answer your questions. So send us your questions you can visit us at keeping it real pod.com send us any questions you have for Kerry. Also, you can find us on Facebook keeping it real pod and obviously iTunes, Google Play Anywhere. Podcasts are served. And we will see everybody next month. So oh Carrie, I’m sorry. If any one is out there who is interested in working with Carrie, maybe a buyer or seller and investor or renter? What’s the best way that they should reach out to
Carrie McCormick 9:35
you you could always call me I pick up my phone. I want to say 24/7 But that’s not true. I do sleep a little bit, but I’m always available. You can call me at 312-961-4612 or you can email me Kerry at@properties.com. And again, I always encourage my fellow brokers to call me with any questions. I do a lot of social media I get a lot of questions. pins regarding, you know, just social media questions or tips and tricks because I really love doing that. And I’d love to, you know, help other brokers as well. So feel free to give me a call.
D.J. Paris 10:12
And you should also check out Carrie on Instagram. She has the no question the very best Instagram account that I’ve ever seen for a realtor. What is your Instagram,
Carrie McCormick 10:22
Carrie McCormack real estate?
D.J. Paris 10:25
Awesome. And you were just on television as well, I was or you just filmed
Carrie McCormick 10:29
a new episode of House Hunters. It’s not going to air until this summer. So that’s exciting. Actually, we’re having a party too. So if anyone wants to come to my house hunters party, I should have mentioned this earlier. The producer of House Hunters is flying in. And she’s going to do a q&a just about the show and you get to meet some of my first time homebuyers and it’s going to be a fun little event. It’s invitation only. So if you’d like to meet the producer of the HGTV show House Hunters, please call me 312961461 To love to have you at the event.
D.J. Paris 11:08
All right. Well, we will see everybody next month and thanks Carrie. We appreciate it.
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