I watched a cute video on social media the other day.  It was a person running down the road, obviously going for a leisurely run.  The interest rate was posted in the corner of the screen.  It said 7%, the runner was happy, and was jogging at a nice pace and enjoying the run. Well, then the rate number in the upper corner went down to 6.5%.  Another runner joined the first person and the pace picked up a little bit. Then 6%, another two runners joined the first runner, and they all picked up the pace, the road they are on is starting to get more crowded. The number obviously kept going down... and you know and can predict what happened to the road the initial runner was racing down. Now the CROWDED road is packed, the first runner is looking frazzled, sweaty, and exhausted. EVERYONE is sprinting.  My clients felt that.  I felt that.

The frazzled, exhausting and crowded race days of residential real estate are behind us - at least for a while...Wow! I am so excited for Buyers in our Walla Walla Valley market right now.  My buyers have been getting their offers accepted with no competitors!  Do we remember the last 2 - 3 years where so often there were two or three, if not 11, other offers when a buyer submitted a strong offer on a home they loved?  I do.  I kept track one year of how many offers I wrote that weren't accepted.  I will NOT share that number - I am trying to forget those days!! I HATED making those phone calls to tell my client that they didn't get ANOTHER offer accepted - another dashed dream - they were beat out by a better type of lending, a bigger earnest money amount, a bigger down payment, or by cash, or by a huge offer way over asking.  And my client's had put their best foot forward.

That was not my favorite experience in real estate. But... Now things are different.  I have had 5 offers accepted this month for my buyers - and only 1 of them competed!  The buyers asked for very reasonable terms, and the sellers agreed! It has been refreshing!  I have to laugh as I still check with the listing agent to see if there are any other offers.  But, only 1 of the 5 had a competing offer. Did I really say that?  Almost every offer in the past few years was a competing offer.  Don't get me wrong. There were positives from the experience. We definitely learned strategies from those years that we can use now - to keep our offers strong and get them accepted.  But, things are more balanced - more favorable for all parties.  We find this very refreshing! It's called WIN WIN.  That's the way I much prefer things.

The crazy days of residential real estate are hopefully behind us - at least for a while...

So, which do we prefer....

Scenario A:  Lower interest rate, but accepted offers go way over asking, MANY competitors in other buyers, and the average home price just keeps going up?

Scenario B:  Higher interest rate, but prices are stable, offers are being accepted at or below the asking price, and the average home price is NOT going up at the rate that it was?

Take advantage of what's happening. If you dropped out of the race because of the constant battle, come back!  It's so much better. If a person wants their dream home - NOW IS THE TIME - the disappointment doesn't have to be there anymore! WIN WIN!!

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