Hello my friends! This week I was helping a client through a “fun” challenge that came up and at the end of the call he said “I am so glad that you are my friend!” He wasn’t glad that I was his realtor, or even that I was there to help. He was glad that I am his friend. That is the ideal situation for me. You are not a number. You are not a transaction. You are someone who is going through one of the most stressful, largest financial transactions of your life. I want you to know that you have someone there who knows what they are doing and who is thinking about you and what is best for you. On top of that I will always tell you why I think the way that I do, and even if you choose something completely different, I will work to get it for you. My goal is that you are my friend years from now.

The market:

The main thing that I am hearing clients ask about now is interest rates. Rates are going up. I believe that rates will continue to go up. I also believe that rates are still at historically low levels. We are still below 5%, and 5% was an unheard of low just a decade ago. We have all been so happy with our tiny interest rates of the last few years, that now a number as high as 5% can seem big. It absolutely can affect your buying power. That also means that it can affect the buying power of people buying your home as well.

What does that mean to you? As a seller it means that the higher priced your home is, the pool of buyers who can afford it is very slowly getting smaller over time. As a buyer it means that you might be losing buying power the longer that it takes you to buy. (Depending on if your income changes, and how the market affects prices as well.)

An interesting note is that according to GoBankingRates.com it is cheaper to buy instead of rent in 38 states (including Iowa = Average Monthy Rent of $1,089 vs. Average Monthly Mortgage of $895) right now in the United States. That means that if you are currently renting, you might be able to save money by buying, and you would also have a property that appreciates and that you are paying down over time. That means that instead of rent going out of your bank account every month, it is going towards buying you a house.

I love doing what I do. I love looking at the market, and I love building relationships with the people that I get to help. Let me know how I can help you. Call me today. You can reach me at 515.639.0047 or RyanLynch@KW.com. I am good at what I do, and I want to help you.

~Ryan Lynch

I have been working on changing how I communicate with you because I have been focusing solely on sharing market information with you, and I have gotten a lot of feedback about how I do more than that. I get positive feedback about the market information, so that is not going away. I just tell everyone that my goal is to build a long term relationship with every person I help, so I believe the best way to do that is to share more about myself. It might not be a fit for what you want in a realtor, but I give you the opportunity to make a more informed choice by giving you more information. I am continuing to split my communication into two parts: info on me and info on the market.

I believe that a great example of me being most interested in your long term happiness rather than my short term gain is to tell you about the conversation that I had last night. I spent a couple of hours yesterday putting together information for clients of mine that were thinking about selling their house. Then I sat down with the husband last night and ended up talking to him for an hour about why he shouldn’t sell his house. He let me know that they were considering whether to sell the house or turn it into a rental property. After asking some clarifying questions about what their goals were I started to point out the great position that they were in with turning this into a rental property. They have a property that they have a primary mortgage on (low interest rate), is in a good rental location, and is in good shape. He likes the rental properties that he already has and will want to buy more rental property.

For me it made a lot of sense to hold on to a good property that they already own with such favorable terms instead of selling it and going to look for other properties. I don’t know what they will decide, but I know that they are happy that I looked out for their best interest (investing for the future) instead of mine (getting commission from selling their house).

Now onto the market:

The first thing to look at is the market levels. As of this writing (October 10th, 2018) there are currently 3,899 active listings on the Des Moines Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and 2,062 pending listings (houses under contract) on the MLS. That is a huge swing from earlier this year where both were around 3,000 units each.

Now to better understand what that means to you is that you really need to know what is going on in your market segment. I have analyzed addresses where the number of sold listings has been steadily dropping since mid-Summer. I have analyzed addresses where there has been almost no change in sales levels. I have even had a few where the sales levels have been steadily increasing. Right now the market depends solely on what is going on in your area and how you are positioned in said market. Meaning that you need to know who your competition is, what your market is doing, and how to put your house out there to sell instead of for sale. There is a big difference in those two approaches.

I know what I am doing and my greatest motivator is to get you what you want. That means that I am going to tell you as much information as I can so that you can make the most informed decision possible. I love doing what I do. I love looking at the market, and I love building relationships with the people that I get to help. Let me know how I can help you. Call me today. You can reach me at 515.639.0047 or RyanLynch@KW.com. I am good at what I do, and I want to help you.

~Ryan Lynch

I have been thinking a lot about what value I add to my clients as a realtor lately. I understand the market and am able to pass that information on in a way that makes it relevant to you. I promise that I will go back to doing that in my posts as well. What I think I am going to do is split my posts so that it is half about the market, and half about what I am doing with my clients that I believe is above and beyond what the normal realtor does.

I think it is important to know that you are not just a transaction to me. If you become my client, my goal is to make you my client for life. Whether or not you have bought or sold a house from me recently you will get a call from me every quarter to check in and see if there is anything that I can do to add value to you. That question can mean anything. I have some clients who ask me for referrals. I have some clients who talk to me about what is going on in their lives. I have some clients who ask me questions that I never thought I would have been asked.

I have clients who celebrate with me. Just this week a client who I helped buy his home texted me several pictures of the kitchen remodel that I knew he had been working hard on. It is beautiful! I love getting to celebrate with my clients. I think a huge differentiator for me is that I will check in with you long after you have done business with me just as much as I did before you did business with me. You are more than just a sale to me.

Now on to the market:

Things slowed down in August, as they always do. With back to school and the State Fair in play, everyone is focused elsewhere unless they have to buy a home now. What is interesting is that usually once September hits and kids are back in school things have been picking up in years past. So far, 2018 is hitting the pause button longer. A simple indicator of this is our housing stock. As of today (September 19th, 2018) there are currently 3,921 active listings on the Des Moines Mutliple Listing Service (MLS) and 1,921 listings under contract on the MLS. These numbers are significant for a couple of reasons.

1. That is the widest gap we have had since the beginning of the year. For most of 2018 listings under contract have only been trailing listings on the market by three to five hudred units. Many times they have been within 100 units of each other.

2. That is the highest number of active listings that we have seen in months on the Des Moines MLS.

What does this mean to you?

If you are a buyer you have more to choose from and you are less likely to get into multiple offer situations. You can take your time (in most instances) and not be frantic at every moment.

If you are a seller you have to pay attention to your competition even more and make sure that you are positioning yourself in the market to be the home of choice. We are still in Seller’s Market inventories for more areas than not around central Iowa. We are trending more towards a balanced market in the last two months though. If you are thinking about selling, it would be good for you to get on the market sooner, so that you don’t have more competition later.

I love doing what I do. I love looking at the market, and I love building relationships with the people that I get to help. Let me know how I can help you. Call me today. You can reach me at 515.639.0047 or RyanLynch@KW.com. I am good at what I do, and I want to help you.

I would love to hear your feedback on this new format. Anything you like or not? Anything you would add or change?

~Ryan Lynch

Are you thinking about buying a new home before the end of 2018? If you are a first time home buyer, you could be in luck. Wells Fargo is doing a program called NeighborhoodLIFT that could give you $15,000 (or more) to buy your first home. If you are buying in Polk County and a first time home buyer, you could be eligible.

If you are active military, a veteran, eligible surviving spouse, law enforcement, firefighter, emergency medical technician, or a teacher, you could be eligible for even more on top of that.

This is a really cool program that is first come, first serve. I know that you will need to apply for it at the end of September, and then you will have 60 days to find a home if you are eligible. If you think that you fall into these criteria (buying a home in Polk County in 2018, primarily first time home buyers) let me know. I can connect you with the people who can help you move towards this amazing opportunity.

Call me today. You can reach me at 515.639.0047 or RyanLynch@KW.com. I am good at what I do, and I want to help you.

~Ryan Lynch

I have been hearing a lot of questions lately about mortgage interest rates, so I thought information is always the best way to help people. Here are some interesting numbers for you (everything here is Principal and Interest only, Taxes and Insurance would be added in as well):

Average Rate Right Now on a 30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage: 4.6%

Average Monthly Payment on a $250,000 home (P&I Only): $1,281.61

Average Monthly Payment on $250,000 at 4.7%: $1,296.59

Average Monthly Payment on $250,000 at 4.9%: $1,326.82

Average Monthly Payment on $250,000 at 5.1%: $1,357.37

For rates jumping 0.5% in this example means an extra $75.76 per month in payments on the same value of home. That equals $909.12 per year. Over the life of a 30 year loan, that equals $27,273.60.

I want to make sure you understand two very important takeaways from these numbers. Number one, a half of a percent increase can mean a good chunk of change over the life of your loan. Number two, we still have a long ways to go before we are above historically low interest rates. What do I mean by that? I actually started in banking in 2005. At that time people were FREAKING OUT about interest rates going as low as 5%. It was almost impossible to conceive of rates being so low. I simply point this out to say that we are still among the cheapest mortgage rates that have ever been. Getting down into the 3% range is simply something that we are very lucky to have seen. Perspective is key here.

The long and short of this is that I tell everyone I talk to that I want to add value to them. Give me the chance to prove it. If there is something that you need help with, let me see if I can help. I have even had people just start talking to me and I give advice. I love to help!

Call me today. You can reach me at 515.639.0047 or RyanLynch@KW.com. I am good at what I do, and I want to help you.

~Ryan Lynch

I have had a lot of people recently finding out that they could have used me much sooner than they thought. I thought I would point this out to try and make your life easier at some point. You do not need to wait to ask me questions until you are “ready to go”. Here is just a small list of things that you can use me for long before you buy or sell a home:

+ Have me over to give you ideas on what to fix up or update – Have me over one or two years before you are thinking about selling and I can give you ideas that you can spread out over time, so that it doesn’t cost you time and money all at once.

+ Call me for connections – Just a few ideas: mortgage people, contractors, cleaners, insurance people (plus some off the wall ideas: head hunters, health insurance, chiropractors, fitness coaches) – I know a lot of people, and I am happy to help.

+ Call me to value your house – For a home equity loan or line of credit, for taxes, for insurance, just to know, etc.

+ Call me to set up a market search for you – I have had people set up searches years before they actually go to look at houses. This way when they are ready to buy they know more about what is normal in the market and what a diamond in the rough looks like.

+ Call me if you need help with anything. Anything! – I know a lot of people and the people that I know are good people. You are one of them. They want to help. (Update from my email about our friend at Vermeer: He got double digits leads within a week. He got interviews within a week. The best news of all, Vermeer called him and said they had a job for him so he gets his job back and to work for the company that he didn’t want to leave in the first place. YAY!) I love connecting people and helping people. Put me to the test and let me know how I can help you.

The long and short of this is that I tell everyone I talk to that I want to add value to them. Give me the chance to prove it. If there is something that you need help with, let me see if I can help. I have even had people just start talking to me and I give advice. I love to help!

Call me today. You can reach me at 515.639.0047 or RyanLynch@KW.com. I am good at what I do, and I want to help you.

~Ryan Lynch