TRANSCRIPT

Bonnie (00:04):

Hi, Susie.

Susie (00:06):

Hi Bonnie.

Bonnie (00:08):

Are you ready for REal talk where we talk about real estate and life?

Susie (00:12):

I sure am. <Laugh>. Are you ready?

Bonnie (00:16):

I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.

Susie (00:17):

Susie <laugh> I hear you, Bonnie, what is this new variant? I wanna call it, like I don’t. Oh,

Bonnie (00:25):

Ohmycron. That’s what we call it in our house.

Susie (00:28):

Everybody says it’s like a transformer. Next one’s gonna be bumblebee. Yes. Okay. So yeah.

Bonnie (00:37):

So Omicron is kicking well, just to finish talking about, oh, Micron, it’s kicking our butts in our schools, in our families and my holiday plans were canceled.

Susie (00:47):

…Travel Plans. Yes.

Bonnie (00:50):

So we’re kind of flying by the seat of our pants here and quickly adjusting to our, to staying home and trying to make it good for our kids and, you know, trying to stay positive, so hopefully.

Susie (01:01):

And as always, we’re mindful of how all of these things affect the real estate market. Not to take a sharp left turn, but truly that’s. I mean, we always have to think about these things and of course we’re feeling like, wait, weren’t we just here a year, two years ago?

Bonnie (01:21):

I know it feels like whiplash, for sure. Yeah. You know, Broadway’s shutting down and all these things I’ve been listening to on NPR. And it just, it feels like whiplash.

Susie (01:31):

<Laugh>. Yeah. Good news. Bad news is that since we have been here, unlike March of 2020, we have a lot more experience with what we can do to make things move along and be safe and help our clients meet their goals. In spite of all of the uncertainty in the world, it does seem like the uncertainty is driving more people back into the market. It’s a little bit different though, than it did in March of 2020. How do you feel like it looks different Bonnie?

Bonnie (02:05):

Well, I certainly feel less afraid I think because I’m vaccinated and boosted and that certainly gives me a little more confidence, but also just seeing the hospital rates are not going up as sharply as before. And so, you know, of course we’re gonna be careful and of course I don’t wanna get sick, but there’s less fear, which is a good fit, I think in general. Yeah. But I do think it’s gonna propel our spring market and we we’ve been saying now for many weeks, gosh, we’re gonna have a really intense spring market because we’re already seeing that. And I think it’s gonna start early. And I think this will only fuel the continued migration for families outside of, you know, in more urban environments who want more space. Right.

Susie (02:54):

So I think mentioned this last time, but we have seen a busier December than we had in many years. We’ve talked to inspectors who are having a busier December than many years. We’ve talked to appraisers who are super, super busy. So it does certainly seem like we are gearing up for an earlier spring market than we are used to. And definitely earlier than it was last year, because people were still kind of holding their breath and not knowing what was happening. So…

Bonnie (03:26):

We are seeing a lot more local people who wanna buy a move up house. And so they need to sell their current house in order to buy a new house or buy a house before they sell. And so I think there’s gonna be a lot more of that as well. We may see more exclusive matchmaking, which is something we saw early on in the pandemic. Yeah. Mainly because people didn’t want a lot of people traipsing through their homes. We may see that some of that again, and maybe also because of the matchmaking or because of the, the need to do both, it might just be easier for some people to sell off market or as an exclusive. So and that’s something we’re happy to talk to people about, you know, the pros and cons of going on the market versus selling exclusively. So, right. It’ll be

Susie (04:14):

Interesting. And on that note, some of you may have noticed that we have joined Compass recently, which we’re very excited about. A couple of the programs that Compass has that we’ve been talking to a lot of people about a lot of clients who are looking to buy and sell at the same time or in some sort of sequence, two of the programs that we’re really happy to be able to offer are one Concierges, Compass Concierge, and also their bridge loan program. So Bonnie, you wanna talk a little bit about the concierge program?

Bonnie (04:48):

Yeah. It’s really incredible. If you need to work on your, for example, do some painting or bring in a handyman, change out some light fixtures from small things like that to needing to run a bathroom or put in new kitchen counters, you know, bigger projects. If you don’t have the money up front or you just don’t even wanna use the money that you do have, because you’re trying to maybe get a loan for your next house, or you wanna reserve your liquid cash, or you don’t wanna liquify any of your assets or, you know or anything like that. It’s a program where they will give you a loan based on the equity you have in your home. And it’s quite simple, actually feels fairly simple to me. They do a soft pull on your credit. Then they look at the equity that you have, they base it on what we would list your home for, and they give you money, it’s can happen in, you know, in a couple of days and you get a debit card and you can access those funds to do anything involved in prepping your house or anything involved in the sale.

Bonnie (05:53):

If you need to go out of town while your house is prepped and you could pay for your hotel, for example, or you could board your dog. You know, it’s pretty loose what you can spend the funds on, and then you pay it back at closing with the funds, from the proceeds, from the sale of your home.

Susie (06:09):

Or within a year, whichever comes first.

Bonnie (06:12):

Right? So if you’re not selling your home right away, we would advise you to wait otherwise that after 12 months you would have to pay it back, but it’s interest free.

Susie (06:20):

Right? That’s the key.

Bonnie (06:21):

Best part. That’s key. And it’s just like this money shows up in your bank account. You can use it for what you need to use it for. And then you pay it back with the proceeds from your sale, which a lot of people around here do have quite a bit of equity in their homes, especially as the market has gotten so high the last few years. So if you have any questions, we’d be happy to answer your questions. We’ll actually put the link below to just some information that you can read about the program. We’ve been at lots of other, well, a few other brokerages who have similar programs, or they are trying to do the same thing. And it’s just not quite as simple as it presents it and actually executes it. And we’ve seen it firsthand. And it really is an amazing opportunity.

Bonnie (07:09):

I also wanna add, you know, we’re in that season now where people are considering spring market and it can be very overwhelming to think, oh my gosh, I have all this junk in my house and I need to put away my holiday decorations and my house really should be painted. And that sink is dripping and it can feel very overwhelming, but Susie, that’s the sort of thing that we come in and we can help take care of that quickly for you. We’ve got amazing contractors. We have the Compass Concierge for, to cover the finances and, and that’s what we do best. I feel like we come in, we whip your house into selling shape and

Susie (07:45):

Right. You know, and we only do what’s necessary. I mean, it’s not about putting lipstick on a pig. It’s really just about making sure that you reserve your dollars for the things that matter that are gonna get a return for you. And then, you know, we do try to, to manage. We apply our understanding of what the buyers are looking for. So if we know that they’re gonna wanna renovate your kitchen after you do the work anyway, why bother to do the work? We’ll just price your home accordingly. So we would give you advice on what is worth doing, and what’s not doing worth doing the other program that we mentioned briefly is the bridge loan program. And how that works is if you are buying and selling at the same time, but you need to wait to sell your home in order to buy in this market.

Speaker 2 (08:34):

Of course, it’s very hard to get a home to win in a competitive situation with a contingency. So we wanna make it possible for you not to have a contingency. And sometimes that involves a bridge loan, giving you some extra funds for your down payment so that you don’t have to make a contingent offer. We also have many other scenarios that we can offer you some other possibilities to be creative. We have great lenders who can ask you the right questions to be able to make a non contingent offer. So don’t make any assumptions about your situation, depending on, you know, what someone else may have told you or what you think based on online calculators and all that, make sure to talk to us. And we will run through the various ways that you can make this work and it’s as pain FREE away as possible. In a painful situation because moving is extremely difficult and you know, there’s a lot of stress involved.

Bonnie (09:37):

And I’ll add to that. The current interest rate is 3.25%. So you may go online and that’s, that’s kind of the published rate for the day and calculate and think, you know, one thing, but a lot of our clients are getting interest rates far lower than that. Even still you know, a lot depends on your, your credit score and your current situation. So it’s always worth having a 10 minute conversation on the phone and we’re happy to make recommendations for people you should talk to who are only the best of the best. The nicest, all our lenders are just so nice. Aren’t they Susie. They’re just fantastic.

Susie (10:15):

They are and they’re just really great at answering questions. Not making us feel stupid. They just are super patient and, and creative and good at what they do.

Bonnie (10:24):

Definitely. Susie, what’s one thing about you that most people don’t know <laugh>

Susie (10:34):

Oh I had something in mind and now I can’t remember it. <Laugh> I’ll go with, I’ll go withI have run a half marathon. That’s the longest race that I ever participated in. And then, and I haven’t run regularly in a very long time, but that was a huge physical accomplishment for me since I did not grow up an athlete. And I took up running when I was 30 years old. So to run a half marathon, which was the Philly half marathon, which is an awesome one.

Bonnie (11:06):

I heard hat one’s beautiful.

Speaker 2 (11:07):

It’s beautiful. And it’s mostly flat, I think kind of, and yeah, you go through lots of different parts of Philly and it’s really great. The crowds are fantastic. And the weather is really nice cuz it’s in November, I believe October, November. So it’s kinda, it’s my favorite running weather, which is a little chilly.

Bonnie (11:28):

Yeah. Well it’s funny. I have a story. I actually was not an athlete either growing up. I was like a theater kid and after my third child was born, I took up running mostly just to get out of the house <laugh> and I ended up running the Chicago marathon and I’m trying to even remember what season of the year it was in. I don’t know…

Susie (11:53):

That’s a flat that’s one, right? It’s really flat.

Bonnie (11:55):

Kinda, there are, there’s definitely a few Hills mm-hmm <affirmative> and it’s a fun one too, cuz you get to see all the different areas of Chicago. But for some reason there was this fluke storm that came through and it was like 30 degrees the morning of the marathon. And so we, we dressed like we were going skiing. I mean, I’m not kidding you like masks gloves. We even went to the thrift store and got like wool sweaters because we knew like peeling off, but I ran the whole marathon and gloves in the hat. And as you know, I do not like cold weather at all. I like to run in like 90 degree heat. That’s my favorite. So yeah, one marathon. I did it across the finish line and sadly I don’t think my body’s ever gonna let me do that again. <Laugh>

Susie (12:44):

I’ve said many, many nevers that have not like I said, I’d never get a dog and obviously that didn’t happen, but I will never run a marathon so I’m pretty darn sure that is not gonna happen. <Laugh> yeah.

Bonnie (12:58):

Yeah. It was, it was a cool experience for me, but now my body hurts in lots of places. I don’t think <laugh> it’s gonna let me do that.

Susie (13:06):

I have started running again. So I’m hoping that at least I can run another few 5Ks and 10Ks.

Bonnie (13:12):

5Ks are good. Yes that’s yeah.

Susie (13:14):

Yeah, even the 10K is not too bad. Yeah.

Bonnie (13:18):

Anyway well…

Susie (13:21):

Wait, what was your thing that we don’t know?

Bonnie (13:24):

I dunno I ran a 10K marathon.

Susie (13:27):

Right.

Bonnie (13:30):

I’ll save my fun facts for next time. I guess we probably won’t be on here again before Christmas. So if you celebrate,

Susie (13:39):

No, we are. We’re going… Aren’t we gonna do this on Thursday? Thought we said we were gonna maybe…

Bonnie (13:46):

Maybe we will, maybe we won’t.

Susie (13:47):

Hahaha

Bonnie (13:50):

We will see you all again before the end of the year for sure.

Susie (13:53):

That’s right. Okay.