Sometimes it's the little things

While having a distanced beverage with a friend from work, he remarked that he'd been thinking of selling his house and buying another.  But, that during his COVID isolation, he'd gotten around to lots of little house projects.  Once he painted that small patch on the wall left from the new thermostat, he loved his house again.  Mind you, when thinking of moving, it wasn't because of the patch, though certainly it bothered him.  He couldn't enunciate exactly why he wanted to move.  But once it was fixed/painted, he felt much better about his surroundings. 

Clutter kind of works that way for me.  I don't know it is bothering me until I get rid of it.  Ahh.  Its like a breath of fresh air. Same with yard work.  I'm not much of a gardener these days, but oh, how much better I feel when the yard is tidy.

I think we just get used to the slow dilapidation of things around us.  I don't notice the issue because it got that way slowly.  The plate in by our shower control came un-secured, so it doesn't line up with the control.  This drives me crazy.  But not crazy enough to deal with it.

Often, when clients get their house all spiffed up to sell, they remark on how nice it feels, and that they should have done the work long ago.  And often, during a home inspection , sellers bristle to a repair request with; "its been that way a long time" as if a buyer should be okay just because they (the sellers) have put up with the issue for a long time.  

It is interesting, that we don't necessarily notice the weight we carry with some of these seemingly minor things.  Only realizing, once they are tended to, their effect on us.  Have you tended to a nagging chore around the house?  Is there one that still bugs you?  

I love a good puzzle?

In the early days of "stay home, stay safe" my daughter and I did a fair number of puzzles.   I have always loved puzzles; jigsaw puzzles, crossword puzzles, sudoku and real estate puzzles.  I think that's why I like working in real estate so much as there are lots of real estate puzzles.

Here are a few examples of real estate puzzles.

When you need to sell your house, to buy your next house; Navigating this depends on the tolerances of the client; can they stand the stress of two transactions at once?  Would they be better off selling, renting for a bit and taking time to find their new home?  Does the idea of moving twice drive them mad?  Solving this puzzle is about tolerances and the market.  

When you have a certain amount of resources (time and money) to fix up the house for sale; what projects need to be done from a repair point of view, what projects bring the most return,  what projects will appeal the most to potential buyers?  

We want a rental unit how do we best do that; build an ADU, add an addition to our existing house, keep our existing house as a rental and buy a new home, buy a rental.

Real estate puzzles are made up of many pieces:  the dwelling, neighborhood, condition, size, resources of buyer/seller, household and life pressures (new baby, aging parent, job relocation).  Also in play are market conditions, interest rates, economy, school districts, local property and income taxes, local regulations regarding tenants, energy efficiency zoning and use etc.  

Don and I have been grappling with a real estate puzzle for a few years (puzzles aren't always solved quickly). That puzzle is how to downsize to a dwelling capable of one story living, energy efficient (we're nerds that way), with room for his tools and building materials.  We have a variety of resources, though not unlimited, one of which is Don's ability to build or fix most anything.  

There are plenty more real estate puzzles, some solvable and some not.  I'm always glad to discuss your particular puzzle. We may conclude it's not solvable at the time, may identify some things to work on to help solve it, or might even solve it neatly and quickly. What kind of real estate puzzle have you been working on?

NAR's Race and Home Buying in America report

 

The National Association of Realtors recently released their study on race and home buying.  The study looks at trends over the past ten years.  The majority of year specific data is from 2019, though there is some COVID data also.

Real estate has long been known a major wealth creator for American households. In addition to wealth, research shows: "Owning a home is associated with better educational performance in children, higher participation in civic and volunteering activity, better health care outcomes and lower crime rates in the communities."

We also know full well that BIPOC households have been systematically denied access to homeownership since the concept of homeownership was invented.  This plays out in the disparity of household wealth between Black and white households. 

In 2019, the average net worth of white households was $188,200, as compared to the $24,100 net worth of Black households. At the same time, the white homeownership rate is 70% as compared to 41% for Blacks.  

In Oregon, the white homeownership rate is 65% (lower than much of Amercia) and the Black homeownership rate is 36%.  When looking at affordability in Oregon, 46% of white households can afford to buy the average house.  Only 22% of Black households can afford that same house.

As you might imagine, in Oregon, Black home buyers finance their real estate purchases at higher rates (93%) than what home buyers.  Our current market is flush with cash offers, making homeownership an increased challenge for those financing their purchase. 

But get this, in Idaho, North Dakota and South Dakota, there is NO data showing Black home buyers in 2019. whoa.

Check out the study linked above.   I was surprised, in a good way,  that single Black women bought homes at a higher rate, 31%,  than did single white women, 17% ( I know those numbers can tell a variety of stories, and are affected by a variety of factors). Do you see anything that challenges your assumptions?