Welcome to the January edition of Monday Market Minute with Carrie McCormick from At Properties!
In our first Monday Market Minute of 2020, Carrie discusses the real estate market both nationwide and locally in Chicago. She also talks about the importance of making a home look as close to perfect as possible before listing it – buyers are demanding it in the Instagram and HGTV era! I provide a tip about how to send mailers in a way that adds HUGE value.
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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Hello, and welcome to another episode of Keeping it real the largest podcast in the country made for real estate agents and by real estate agents. My name is DJ Paris, I am your host and guide through the show and today we have another one of our Monday market minute which is our regular feature a regular episode we do every single month with a Chicago legend Carrie McCormick from App properties. If you are not familiar with Carrie, she is one of the top top top producers in Chicago the top 1/10 of 1% Out of over 46,000 brokers in the city. She has been a top producer for over 20 years. And by the way should all check out her new website which is Carrie McCormack r e.com. And also follow her on Instagram. She has the very best Instagram account I’ve ever seen for a realtor, which is Carrie McCormick real estate. So go to Instagram, look for Carrie McCormick real estate. We’ll also link to it in the show notes. But once again, welcome Carrie, thanks for being on the show.
Carrie McCormick 1:53
What an intro. Thank you so much for having me. As always, this is one of my favorite things to do.
D.J. Paris 1:59
Well, we’re super excited to have you and the fans and the listeners love it. And you just bring so much great content, you’ve actually are our oldest guests, you’ve been on the show for several years. Like oldest, no, not oldest in that way you are since the beginning. You stuck you were with us when we had no listeners. And now you have 1000s and 1000s of people who listen to every episode. So we’re super grateful that you’re with us, and the fans. Love you. So we’re glad to have you.
Carrie McCormick 2:24
Awesome. Well, thank you very much. And I appreciate that. And I always like to start by saying, you know, it’s about giving back in our community as well. You know, and so if there’s any listeners out there, whether you’re a broker or not a broker, if there’s any questions that you have, you know, always, always here and available to answer any questions that people have or just bounce some ideas off of. So always feel free to reach out to me directly as well.
D.J. Paris 2:48
Yeah, it’s amazing how, how approachable Carrie is, you know, for how busy she is. Her numbers are beyond incredible. She ever worked seven days a week, and yet still finds the time to help give back on this show and a lot of other ways as well. So this is really, really honored to have you. Well, thank you. You’re welcome. What do you want to talk about today?
Carrie McCormick 3:11
Yeah, just a few things. So just a little bit of forecasting into 2020. Since we’re, of course, you know, kicking off the year. And I wish I had a little bit better news. And I read a lot of different articles. And of course, I’m engrained in the real estate market, but it just seems like it’s going to be a little bit more of the same as last year. So it’s going to be a little bit boring. But the forecast shows that we’re going to have slight dips on in the market. And but it’s there’s such small dips, that it’s essentially just gonna be a flat market. So we’re not going to see much different here in Chicago. So it’s kind of like we’re just going to be steady here. In a lot of that. Last year, as everyone knows, there was a few things that attributed to our market. And the number one thing that people talk about is, of course, is the taxes, you know, here in Chicago, so that’s been a big a big issue. And then, you know, some talks of the pensions, you know, so and just our local politics and our local issues that we have here. So, you know, between taxes, pensions, local issues, people just were, you know, extremely hesitant about making purchases and or selling. So it just it became a little bit of, you know, tough talks last year. And I do predict that we’re going to see a lot of that the same this year. The good news about this year is, you know, predictions are hard. But you know, as far as in articles that I read in people that I talked to, you know, there might be a few other or a few more interest rate drops, which they’re so low right now, but it would be good to see a little bit further dip in the interest rates. I think that’ll get some of our buyers off the fence, right? Yes. So once we see them come off the fence. We’ll Pick up some, you know, some more activity in in the marketplace. There’s also been talks about uncertainty of the US economy as a whole. And believe me, this is not my forte, but I’ve got a ton of clients in the financial arena. And, you know, they’re pretty excited about the market as a whole, you know, they don’t really see they think that 2020s can be a great year for for the US economy. So I hope that that is correct. So I think, you know, in our stock markets, and just more of the big picture, the economy is going to do well, I think just you know, Illinois has got to deal with their, their local problems here. But, you know, there’s some areas like, I always think of Chicago is a market within a market, right, so like the West Loop versus, let’s say, Linkin Park, or Lakeview or Bucktown, they all are very different, you know, the housing stock is very different. The absorption rate in each of these markets are very different. So when you look at Chicago, even as a whole, you’ve got to take a look at all the different we’ll call them sub markets within Chicago, like, for example, the West Loop, right, that’s one of our hottest neighborhoods right now. And we’re seeing bidding wars in in the West Loop. But then you go over to I’m not gonna pick on Linkin Park, but you know, you’ve got some, you know, two $3 million homes and Linkin Park, that their market times are hitting 200 days, you know, so it’s, they’re all just, it’s all very different. So when you’re working with buyers and sellers, you’ve really got to concentrate and dig down into each market.
D.J. Paris 6:36
Yeah, I think that’s right. And remember that, you know, real estate is hyperlocal. So you need to know those trends you need to know more than your clients about those particular neighborhoods. Now, do you know of any cities outside of Chicago that I’ve seen been seeing decent growth?
Carrie McCormick 6:52
Oh, a lot. So, you know, when my sellers are selling, they’re doing one of three things. They’re either one moving completely out of Illinois, which is sad. They’re either renting or they’re staying in, you know, local, you know, whether downsizing or upsizing. So there is a big push out of Illinois and the places that are seeing the biggest growth to answer your question is Arizona, so Tucson, Arizona saw a 10% growth? And this one will shock you? Boise, Idaho? Wow. 11% increase in 2019?
D.J. Paris 7:33
What is it? What’s in Boise, Idaho?
Carrie McCormick 7:37
I have no idea. I haven’t really looked into it. But my guess is, you know, when people are moving out of Illinois, it’s, you know, jobs. So wherever some of the tech industries are, which, you know, I’m seeing a lot of Nashville, Austin, not so much California. I mean, they’ve got a lot of, you know, great tech industry out there. But I think the cost of living out there is a lot. Sure. You know, Arizona, as I mentioned, Oregon, Portland is a big one. You know, but I don’t know with Boise, Idaho, they saw 11% growth. So I’m kind of curious of what’s going on in Boise, Idaho.
D.J. Paris 8:10
Wow, that yeah, that’s, that’s amazing. It is, it is interesting that, you know, Illinois has seen I think negative growth over the last several years, and our taxes are high. And a lot of people move down like Florida, where their taxes are much different. So, yeah, it’s one of those things that I think Realtors need to need to be abreast of and be able to answer those questions when their clients.
Carrie McCormick 8:31
So you know, I feel as a realtor, I’m, you know, from Chicago, I’ve lived here my entire life will probably never leave Chicago, this is my home. And, you know, I feel a little bit of a responsibility of what do we do and just educating our buyers and sellers and, you know, having them stay here. So one big trend that’s been happening to help our clients and to help our sellers is understanding our market and what the buyers want. So right now, buyers don’t have time, everyone is so busy. buyers don’t have time to come into a house and renovate, right? They want to walk into a house that is at least 95% done meetings. They just don’t have time to do it. And they don’t have the vision to do it. And I blame that on my Instagram account. I blame it on I blame it on, you know, HDTV, you know, we’re showing all these beautiful, great things and people that they get that in their mind, which is great. And so when they walk in the house, they’re saying well, you know, this isn’t what I want. So now what sellers have to do is sellers have to do the work, right. So if they have a house that has you know, older finishes, you know, it’s just it’s not going to fly in this market. So either a they’ve got a price it lower or the seller has to do the work. And just as buyers don’t have time sellers don’t have the time so what I’ve seen my Roll has turned into is very much a concierge service like I’ve got an army of professionals that can come in and, and do these jobs. And I’ll just, you know, a few of them that I use just to share with everyone. One is a company called renovation sells. The owner, his name is Mike, I’ve met with him one on one amazing guy. And you look at some of the work that they’ve done. You know, he’ll come into a house, he’ll give a quote, and he just he sends his guys in, and gals in just to do the work. So it’s done. So renovation sells, there’s a company called Kirby Oh, that does the same thing. I met with the owner, Tom of FIX IT people another fabulous company, where they you know, especially with like punch list or inspection items, you know, they’ll come in and take care of everything. But my point of all of that is, is sellers don’t have the resources, or they don’t have the time or both. So our job is to help coordinate all of that, because if we can get all of, if we can get the home market ready. And we can get the price up, it’s just going to help overall help our statistics here in Chicago market times will end up going down prices will kind of bump up a little bit. So you know, we’ve got a responsibility as well of helping kind of boost our market, as well.
D.J. Paris 11:26
Yeah, it’s so important that homes are ready to show and it used to be I think, many, many years ago, the prevailing thought was keep it pretty empty. So people can visualize their own stuff inside of various rooms. And I think that’s gone away, as you said, with all of the, you know, television, programming, HGTV, Instagram, where everyone’s showing their food and how perfect everything looks, it really does I walk, I walk into places that I expect them to look perfect to. And that’s what’s so great as a realtor is there are these these companies that will come in and make adjustments and fixes their staging companies. And they can they can do that for your client. And this, this statistics, I don’t have any in front of me, but I know, doing that, you know, sells homes faster. And for more money.
Carrie McCormick 12:10
It does, it does. So you know, again, a part of our job is to, you know, to be more of a concierge service and get all of this done for our sellers. So that would be my recommendation is get your army of people behind you. And you know, when you’re talking with your buyers and sellers, again, even with a buyer, if you tell the buyer, you know, we can buy this house at a great price. I’ve got the people that can come in and do this for you, Mr. Mrs. Buyer, you know, let’s put an offer in and get the work done. And then you kind of have to help facilitate that.
D.J. Paris 12:41
Yeah, I couldn’t agree more. And that’s that’s something that I mean, it’s, it’s, you know, there are some brokers that still don’t even use professional photography, and they’re in their listings, which, which is insane. So, you know, you need to go one step way beyond that, which is, you know, you need to have an honest conversation with the sellers and say, look, I can sell this home for, you know, more than what you know, of home that wasn’t staged or wasn’t fixed up, you know, could be. So let’s, let’s get that rolling. And I think sellers really tend to appreciate that sort of level of honesty, although those conversations can be difficult.
Carrie McCormick 13:14
Absolutely. But you know, you do it once or twice, and you’re golden.
D.J. Paris 13:19
Yeah. And it also really separates you from all the other real estate professionals out there that just want to get the listing will do anything, the seller says and is so desperate for business that they aren’t willing to have the find the courage to have those conversations, and then the home sits on the market for for you know, a lot longer of time. And then that realtor is blamed anyway. So you might as well do it right from the beginning and have that conversation. And that’ll really separate you and probably win you more business ultimately. Great. So I have so this is my marketing minute, for this month. And I was just talking to Carrie about this offline. So we had a I got a mailer. I’ve been getting a mailers from a former guest on the show Michael Rosen lives, I want to credit him because I think this is a really, really cool idea. And I imagine it takes a bit of work, but I appreciate the work that he’s put in. So he happens to be the realtor who sold the most homes in my building. The reason I know that is I get a mailer from him a flyer once a month that says that any you know, which is a very awesome thing for him to have accomplished. But here’s what he does on top of that, that is incredibly useful. So for everyone out there who’s doing mailers, flyers, I thought this was such a good idea because we get mailers and flyers all the time from tons and tons of Realtors, but but mostly they’re just one offs. Maybe I get one a quarter, maybe one a year, and I often just forget. And I you know I tossed it away but with Michael we get them every single month and here’s what he does, which is really cool. He lists on the front of the of the flyer all of the homes that have currently sold or that recently sold in I think the past three months and he lists the type of weather It’s one bedroom, two bedroom, and then the the price and the square footage. And then he also says, Here are the ones that are currently on the market. And that’s all on the front page. And he his face. I’m not even sure his face is on the front page or his name. And then when you turn it over, it’s got his name. So I thought, wow, that is so cool. Because everyone who lives in a building, in my case, it’s, it’s a, I guess it’s I don’t know, if it’s technically a high rise, we’re at 2020, some floors, but it’s there’s a lot of there’s over 200 unit owners in our building, every one of them is always curious what homes are on the market. And we always forget that the average person isn’t really paying attention to that unless they’re in the market to buy or sell a property. They’re probably not going on Zillow, and looking up to see what’s available in the building. So this is a great way within five seconds, I looked at this paper and I went, Oh, I know exactly what’s going on sales wise, and I’m in the business. And I don’t know what’s going on in my own building. And I thought that is really, really smart. And then I turned it over. And then there’s Michael and and the other thing I want to mention that he did for anyone out there thinking, Well, gosh, that sounds expensive. And I’m sure it is expensive. But it was co branded with a lender. So for those of you who are going well, I don’t really want to spend that kind of money. Well, I don’t know what the situation is with Michael and his lender. But I assume that the lender helped cover some of those costs, because the lender also wants some advertising. So on the back it says Joe’s Michael and then whoever the lender is that he used with it. So I just thought, Wow, what a smart idea instead of just a flyer saying, Hey, I’m a realtor, I’d love to work with you. This was actually I thought a real item of value, as like the people from Brian Buffini would say, I thought boy, that is so smart. So I just wanted to give a shout out to our former guests for for doing something that from a marketing perspective. I thought boy, that is smart.
Carrie McCormick 16:43
That is great. I love it.
D.J. Paris 16:46
Well, I think that wraps up our Monday market minute. Once again, we had the great Carrie McCormick on the show, I want everybody to do two things, I want you to go visit her website because talking to Carrie about this on offline just a few minutes before we started. And I love it because it’s simple. It’s clean, it tells the story of what who Kerry is what she’s all about. And it’s just I think the perfect example of what what I build websites. So the idea of her website is just so so smart. So go visit Carrie McCormick, r e.com. This will also be a link in the show notes. But more importantly, check out her Instagram that is a living breathing thing she posts. She creates posts almost every single day. They always are amazing. They’re not only informative, they’re funny, sometimes they look good. And they’re exactly what a broker should really be modeling. If they want to build an Instagram following and she’s got over 6000 followers, she gets tons of engagement on her posts, which is which is really the goal of Instagram is so that people can react to things. So please check out her Instagram, which is Carrie McCormack real estate. And then Carrie, if we have any buyers, sellers, investors who are interested in work with you, or maybe other brokers that would love to talk about maybe even joining your team, what’s the best way that someone should reach out to you?
Carrie McCormick 18:07
So I always say just call me 312-961-4612 Call text email Kerry at@properties.com. And everyone who knows me I respond very quickly. And we’d love to hear from everybody.
D.J. Paris 18:24
Yeah, I want I really encourage our listeners to to reach out in particular. Specifically, if there’s anybody who’s looking for a realtor, Carrie is literally one of the very most successful realtors in Chicago she would she earned, which is a very impressive thing. So everyone should be checking out Carrie go to her website, go visit her on Instagram and follow her there as well. So carry on behalf of the listeners, I want to thank you for being with the show for several years now. I was saying in the very beginning, and I used a poor choice of words, but you are the guest that has been with us the longest and that’s really no surprise because of your reputation of being somebody who gives back in the industry. She’s constantly speaking, giving her time to help other realtors and of course her clients as well. So thank you so much. And on behalf of Carrie and myself I want to thank the listeners for you know, being supportive and paying attention to our show and also sharing it with a friend if you know any other realtor that could benefit from listening to people like Carrie, definitely pass the information pass the podcast over because the more you pass over, the more episodes we can do and the more people we can help. So thank you to everyone and Carrie we will see you next month.
Carrie McCormick 19:38
All right, bye bye
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