New Reality

Sorry, I didn’t mean to ditch you but, but, but… I have been busy. Busy enough to not get to see my family at all this weekend. Busy enough to work 15-hour days for the past few weeks, busy enough to have 25 sticky notes glued to my desk and my laptop in hopes that I will remember everything I need to remember. Suddenly I have entered this new phase of life where I turn the out-of-office on to have dinner and a conversation with my kids, where I call a dear friend and tell her I simply cannot make it to her birthday party and where my life resembles a movie scene from Bad Moms when I show up at my daughters Girl Scout event two hours late.

You know, the moment when the time that you promised to be there an hour late is long gone and you frantically call the troop leader to find out where they are. You park somewhere in a field, walk accross two fields to buy a bracelet that will allow you on the hay ride, walk accross the field again, wait in line, take the ride, walk accross the pumpkin field and around the huge corn maze just to roast a marshmallow with your child. Perfect parenting. Not. But it was amazing to see her face when I finally arrived. 

Yes, I vividly remember how someone told me I could forget about my social life for a few years once starting in real estate.

I got a new listing on Tuesday. Meaning I got a listing on Tuesday, announced it at our business meeting with the disclosure that I had yet to see the property, drove to Sultan on Wednesday and went live on NWMLS Friday morning. Such a cute little home too a perfect starter home or wonderful for someone who is looking to downsize and wants to be closer to the mountains. On Saturday morning I got the pictures we were shooting on Friday and started advertising the property. For 72 hours it was mostly about Sultan. Listing input, photos, disclosures, marketing materials, signs. The service is the same regardless of the list price.

The cutest little home. Only one owner and an amazing floorplan. Check it out! 

My other listing, quite the other end of the spectrum from the cute little home in Sultan is about to close and we have been working on the nitty gritty details of negotiation. But getting close to closing equals removing all the staging, scheduling walk-throughs, closing appointments and making sure everything goes smoothly.

So busy it is. Rushing out of the door before the kids leave for school and letting them know I will be there as soon as I can after they get back. Then sitting by my desk working on contracts, marketing, offers, negotiations, inspections. I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would get to experience this, but I did, and even if every bone in my body is aching and I’m tired, I’m also super happy to be able to walk aside my clients. In just one day I have ventured through two counties from the heart of Seattle to the beautiful countryside of Skykomish River Valley.

The market has changed, and we have shifted from a purely sellers’ market to a seller leaning market where we have more inventory and buyers are able to negotiate at least some terms again. Inspections are back, financing contingencies are back, and counter offers are back. I think it’s awesome and way more fun for me, than submitting offers like some crazy lottery tickets in the game of waived contingencies and sky-high escalations. I enjoy more trying to find the middle ground, and a fair and reasonable solution for both parties.

But it is likely that our market will still stay as a seller leaning market. The current projection is that we will have a net gain of 115,000 new jobs this year, and 110,000 new jobs next year. That means a huge need for homes. Construction is still lagging on commercial real estate and we see new office buildings popping up like mushrooms on a fall day.