Music City Dwellings

Oh Baby

 

I need everyone to suspend their notions of what a real estate blog should be for a moment and just sit back.  I am going to speak today about circumstance.  This is not a direct commentary on homes or the sales process.  This is a blog about forward thought.  When my wife and I had our first child last year, it was the most amazing experience of my (our) life.  Aside from the flood of emotion, it brought to light the tremendous necessity of frugality, efficiency and resourcefulness.  We live in a small 2-bedroom house in the Germantown neighborhood of Nashville.  Small old homes pay homage to a bygone era in Nashville, and we are proud to make it our home.  When we bought our house, we did so knowing that someday we would be starting a family in there.  We didn’t think, nor had the capacity to think, about the consequence of our purchase decision or what impact it might have on our family.  A full year later, we realize now the effects of our purchase.  They are almost entirely good.  I won’t go so far as to say that we live an austere life, but both of us are from large cities where space comes at a premium and thusly we are accustomed to a concentrated use of space and resources.  Space though sticks in my mind.  It has become clearer for me to understand why so many people enjoy sub-urban living.  Large yards, ample bonus rooms and large garages make life not necessarily easier, but perhaps slightly more simple.  I am a huge advocate for urban living.  I tend to think in terms of “why not?” live in the city rather than “why?”.  Now with a child that idea is turned on its head…or is it?  Can being a parent and living in small, efficient spaces co-exist?  I think so.  I think budgeting your resources is a great exercise in both living and parenting.  I don’t want anyone to think I am directing their parenting decisions, I certainly am not.  To each their own applies in this realm perhaps more than any other.  However, as a real estate professional, I think part of my job is to help focus a very challenging decision process.  So many city dwellers wish that their lives didn’t have to change simply because of an expanding family, and I hope that this personal perspective gives them hope.  I think a lot about legacy, my own and others.  I don’t know if that is a healthy pursuit or not, but it does help me to think about consequence and action.  Clearly my legacy is now my child, so choosing the environment in which they grow up is more important to me than ever.  It’s a wrench in the gears, but it’s an important one.

Step right up and pick your realtor!

 

Everyone (myself included) has opined the importance of selecting that perfect realtor.  That magical person that makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside when we make a huge purchase or sale decision.  Yet, miraculously, none of us has even scratched the surface really on how to make that important decision.  How to decide who we are going let represent us in what may be the most important financial decision we will ever make.  So, it is with great fanfare, tardiness and pleasure that I give to you my rules for picking that perfect Realtor.

1)   Lets start with the name.  Realtor.  Not everyone is one.  Only real estate agents who have passed all their licensing exams and agree to be ethically and legally regulated by a body of their peers can claim to be a Realtor.  Realtors all have one great thing in common: they are required to maintain a level of knowledge and expertise in their field through mandated yearly and bi-yearly continuing education.  Agents who do not adhere to this strict code may not bear the name Realtor. 

2)   Picking a real estate agent is a lot like dating.  Making sure that special someone has something in common with you is important.  Imagine going on a date with someone that you had nothing in common with.  You sit through an awkwardly silent dinner, kiss them goodnight and think to yourself…”self, I am going to see that person again, and again, and again.  In fact, that person was so boring, I think I am going to give them my power of attorney.“  You wouldn’t do that right?  If you answer yes, then there is no need to read any further.  Your Realtor should be someone that you click with.  Someone that were you not involved in a business transaction you would consider hanging out with.  It should be someone that you feel comfortable calling at odd hours.

3)   Knowledge is power.  Your Realtor should be knowledgeable of the things that are important to you.  Areas of town, schools, restaurants, entertainment.  It’s perfectly ok to quiz an agent a bit to make sure they understand the place you like or have.  After all, who is going to be showing who around right?

4)   Looks don’t matter, or do they?  Your realtor should be a professional.  Don’t get me wrong here, I am not saying that Realtors should be in a suit and tie at all times, but they should be well kept.  Your Realtor should make you feel like they are on top of things from the moment you set eyes on them.  Confidence is huge in this business, and the Realtor who lacks it will not serve you well during a tough negotiation.  The way your Realtor dresses or presents themself can have a direct impact on the deal you ultimately secure in buying or selling your home.

5)   Timing is everything.  This category has a few components, but they all share one common theme: time.

a)    Your realtor should be punctual.  This business uses a term that requires punctuality and that term is “time is of the essence.”  If your realtor can’t be bothered to be on time then you should be concerned about their ability to live by that contractually mandated term.

b)   Phone calls, text messages and emails can wait.  Lets go back to that idea of dating again.  If your new date spent the entirety of your dinner on the phone, texting or emailing you probably wouldn’t choose to go on a second date right?  Same thing here.  You should be the most important person to your Realtor any time they are in front of you.  It’s ok for them to excuse themselves to answer a call, as long as the purpose of answering is to call that person back at a future time.  You should command your Realtors basically undivided attention.

c)    Your time is valuable.  Your Realtor should always remember that your time is valuable.  They should give you a good idea of how much of your time they need and they should stick to that.  If they need more time from you, it should come in the form of a request.  I am not saying that you need to have the formalized relationship of a work place but it should be close. 

 

6)   Lastly, don’t forget what this relationship means for you.  The place where you lay your head likely rests on this decision.  If it isn’t working out, don’t hesitate to make a change.  Just like dating, you can break up with your Realtor anytime you like.  You should have a good reason to do so, but you are well within your rights.  Things don’t always work out, offers are not always going to be accepted and that is not the fault of your Realtor.  But if they don’t have an alternative, if they don’t remain positive and move forward, then they don’t have your best interest in mind.

 

Picking that special someone is not easy.  Use the advise of your friends, neighbors, colleagues and family.  There are hundreds and thousands of Realtors out there, and many are very well qualified, but only one is right for you.

 

 

Green Valleys, Green Mountains…why not Green Hills?

 

With the search for that perfect home growing ever more cumbersome and the inventory getting slimmer and slimmer, wouldn’t it be nice to find a neighborhood that still had something cool to offer?  Houses and Condos are flying off the market all over the city, but not in one place: Green Hills.  No, it doesn’t have cooties.  It doesn’t smell bad, and no, it didn’t call you a name.  It’s just a spectacularly forgotten neighborhood, ready for your attention.  Okay, that might be an overstatement.  Green Hills is actually pretty vibrant, and as far as housing is concerned, it has maintained a steady level of supply for the past several years.  That being said, length of time on the market continues to be a big challenge in Green Hills.

 

So why would a place that can use the word “consistency” consistently (you liked that one didn’t you?) be a place that is ripe for growth and a good deal?  I will tell you why.  Green Hills, once the slightly smaller, ever so slightly less expensive cousin of Belle Meade made its name on being the neighborhood that almost was {Belle Meade}.  It made itself out to be an expensive, lofty place that catered to a very specific crowd.  That was a great strategy five years ago, heck it was a great strategy three years ago, but it’s not such a great strategy anymore.  People that bought into that hype, who craved that lifestyle, over spent and lost.  Here is the glimmer.  (Whisper this one) Now YOU can take advantage of that lost dream.  With the hype comes some distinct and tangible advantages.  Green Hills is actually exactly what the modern home-buyer needs.  It is a self contained, well-organized town.  You have more than adequate shopping (The Mall at Green Hills is right in the middle of it), more than adequate grocery choices (Whole Foods, Harris Teeter and some smaller choices are also in the middle), more than adequate entertainment (The Bluebird Café, a Nashville institution, and F. Scotts) and more than adequate services (Hotels, Auto Repair, Convenience and Specialty stores).  If you were going to put the perfect community on paper, it would likely resemble what Green Hills has become.  Here is the best part though: With all that bleakness (see above) came a shining beacon for modern Urban or slightly suburban living - (whisper this one also, we don’t want everyone to know) lower prices.  Yes, I said it.  Where as once you couldn’t touch Green Hills for less than $350,000 now you can do it for less…much less in fact.  You can find fixer uppers for $200k or less, nice ranchers for $250k or less and even some big family homes for under $400k.  That was unheard of 3-4 years ago.  

 

In times of economic stress, there is a distinct opportunity for the middle class to make a move.  For young families, professionals and empty nesters to make that next step up the property ladder.  Will it be you?  Green Hills might just be the perfect place to call home, but don’t take my word for it, come check it out for yourself. 

Every day we turn on the TV and see that the Stock Market is flying high or drowning.  The roller coaster that is our financial market has become laughably predictable in its volatility.  That volatility makes people take a long hard look at their positions and maybe that is the silver lining in all of this.  Before our financial collapse, people wandered fast and headstrong into financial commitments without real care for consequence or viability.  Today we are all forced to make informed choices about our finances.  This applies especially to large impactful purchases like cars or houses.  One of the first things MCD Real Estate Group does when sitting down with a home buyer is to help them determine their comfort zone.  This number is often times considerably different than the number that the bank has given them.  Your comfort zone is the amount of money you can comfortably spend every month on a mortgage payment without jeopardizing your quality of life or your financial foothold.  Making sure that a home payment falls in that zone has lasting ramifications.  If you lose your job, if you change jobs, if something happens that reduces the amount of money you take in on a monthly basis, the last thing you need to be worried about is keeping a roof over your head.  With markets creating near permanent uncertainty, keeping a strong hold on your individual market is paramount.  Remember this one fact.  People that stay the course, make small but informed changes and plan for the long term often come out winners in the end.  That old Tortoise and Hare fable applies nicely.  Your home purchase, your finances and the way you operate should reflect that philosophy. 

So like most Realtors, closings have become sort of mundane for me.  Don't get me wrong, nothing is more exciting about the home buying process than watching someone take ownership of a home.  The process though doesn't change much, and as a result I find myself lip-syncing along to the words of the closing attorney and making mental notes of how close on time each closing is to the last.
Until recently, this was what I had to look forward to: the smiles of the homeowners, the thank-you's (which I love) and the grateful handshakes.  Then something amazing happened.  I was preparing for a closing that had to take place over the phone (the buyers were out of state and had just had a baby), and I was concerned that getting through the paperwork without being able to be face to face would be a challenge and pretty frightening.  As I was dialing the phone, I realized that the phone was not working properly.  What was I going to do?  My clients were counting on me to shepherd them through this, and they wouldn't even be able to hear my voice?  PANIC!!!!!  I was completely panicked.  I decided that I would call them from my computer using SKYPE.  Nothing special about it, just a VOIP call, but when I dialed them, my clients said, "Wait, we are on SKYPE.  Why don't we do a video chat?"  Light bulb, lets do it!  Over the next hour, I conducted what I am certain was the first ever video closing in my office, and maybe Nashville.  When all was said and done I was brimming with pride.  I felt like I was on the leading edge of technology, like I was championing an underused resource.  I felt like I had served my clients under less than perfect circumstances and had done so with great success.  
Thats what it really comes down to doesn't it?  Serving our clients needs regardless of circumstance.  It made it easy for me to draw a correlation from my past customer service work to my present.  It made me want to be better at everything I do.  An efficient utilization of resources should be the goal of any business, and as is the case with most business success, this success happened because of an accident.  
When we work with clients, we should strive to make ourselves available to them in every way possible.  We should make communication with us easier, not harder.  We should strive to be innovative and efficient.  We need to make excellent (not just "good") use of time.  If clients expect less than these things, we are failing to raise the bar.  If clients expect more of us, we are failing to raise the bar.  Only when we have exceeded our clients' expectations have we raised the bar.  Do better.  It should be our motto, and from this point forward, it is mine.

Maybe, but not what I meant.  Gas prices are on the rise and its eating into all of our pockets.  So what does this have to do with buying a house you say?  It adds a new layer of concern in the home buying process.  Gas prices are rising, and there does not appear to be an end in sight.  We all create a list of questions to ask when buying a house and now there is a new one to add to the list...How far is this from my daily life?

Proximity has always been a concern, but it has never held more importance than it does now.  Your ability to get from A to B is being directly impacted and as a result we should all take a moment to consider whether that white picket fence in the burbs is really what we are after.  The answer may be yes, and that is perfectly ok.  For most of us though, our quality of life is not a negotiable item.  As a result its time to start thinking longer and harder about urban living.  Urban living offers so many great advantage outside of its proximity to life.  Urban living puts you in the heart of a city.  It gives you more of an identity and provides your senses with satiation.  There is a reason New Yorkers are consistently some of the happiest people in the world...its that life is less complicated.  

When I lived in California, it always boggled me why anyone would live in the Golden State and not be able to either see or hear the water.  The most common answer was, its too expensive.  My retort was simple.  Why did you move here?  If you had to pay more to live exactly where you wanted to be and as a result might have to sacrifice a car or something else, would you do it?  I would.  Life is too short.

This applies to homes as well.  Sacrifice SHOULD be in your vocabulary unless you are among the top 1% in this country.  The real question is, what sacrifice are you willing to make?  Does that sacrifice really make your life harder?  My guess is that if you think long and hard about it you will find that the sacrifice you make to live happily, will reduce stress, add life to your years and years to your life.  Happy hunting.

Its a tough world out there and nothing seems to make sense anymore.  We look at our competition, we study values and absorption rates and in the end we all cross our fingers and pray as hard as we can that we are right.  

Its not all doom and gloom though.  If you are a buyer, there is no time like the present.  I was talking with a lender the other day and he said it is likely that interest rates will remain low (sub 5%) through the end of the year, but no promises.  What does that mean for all of us?  It means we can participate in the least expensive lending that the better part of a century has had to offer.  Who wouldn't want to take advantage of that?  It won't stay that way for long though.  The Fed intends to continue to sell off its stash of Mortgage backed securities through the end of this year and next year.  In so doing, they will be flooding the markets with bad debt and in order to hedge their bets the banks will need to run up the rates at which they lend money.  Moral of that story is BUY NOW!

If your selling things are a bit less rosy.  Prices remain stagnant and concessions are becoming so normalized that appraisers rarely take them into account in the appraisal process.  Here is the silver lining though.  You have never had a better opportunity to make up lost money almost immediately than you do now.  The scary part about selling at a loss or not getting your equity back out of a home is the money thing.  Think of things this way though.  If you sell now (at even or a loss) you are in a prime position to buy low.  When you buy low you generate almost instant equity, as homes sold in the down market often are the first to see real appreciation in a bull market.  Just saying.

Most important thing to remember right now is to keep a positive attitude.  Nothing comes easy in this brave new world, but things do arrive in their own good time and when they do life is sweater because of it.