It’s Friday | This week’s “bite-sized” sweep

Fridays with Laura – providing you with a weekly sweep in bite-sized pieces of recap – from this week + prep for the next. Here to help, always the ultimate goal. Give me feedback along the way – this content is geared for you – Sand Point + Wedgwood + Northgate + Eastlake + Madison Park + Ballard – our six! Let’s take a quick sweep…

What have I noticed? | Whew, what a market. I know, you feel it – your clients feel it and there is much to say about “fatigue.” I am hopeful we will each find a moment these next few days to find fun + engagement  outside of the focus of real estate. This is beyond fast paced, stressful and naturally we tend to carry with us our “work” in both mindset + focus + action. These are the times to which we need to acknowledge such + then schedule time just for you. A gentle reminder – I call it injury prevention. Suggestion: schedule in your calendar one half day for you (only) every month – reoccurring calendar item is the key. If such injury prevention is in your calendar + planned out = it will happen. Seems simple enough, I also acknowledge it is not. I challenge you – go for it! Ok, stepping off soap-box…

This week, the “science” | Our 2016 Q1 Matthew Gardner report is hot off the press. Very straightforward supply and demand factors are pushing prices higher – no surprise to you. While this certainly favors sellers, Matthew believes that there are some buyers who are starting to suffer from “buyers’ fatigue”- again, no surprise to us. Rampant growth in inventory would sort this out but it is unlikely to occur this year. How are we handling “buyer” fatigue? This should be a top of mind conversation in all of our resource rooms and office meetings. Talk about it.

This speedometer reflects the state of the region’s housing market using housing inventory, price gains, sales velocities, interest rates, and larger economics factors. For the first quarter of 2016, Matthew has moved the needle slightly more in favor of sellers. Oh my!

Inventory constraints persist and this is now starting to affect sales activity, with growth in pending as well as closed sales starting to trend down. However, price growth remains well above average and interest rates are still close to historic lows.

Having our Chief Economist break-down the analysis of the Western Washington real estate market is worth shouting out to your clients – it matters who says it! Interested? Options…

• Email | You each received an email yesterday from Windermere Services (entitled, Western Washington Gardner Report Q1 2016) – you may simply forward this report on to your people. The email provided step-by-step instructions in making this happen.
• Social Media | Posted on Seattle Spaces & Places yesterday – easy “social” share
• A print-friendly version of this report is also available at WORC > Stats & Economics > Gardner Report. If you have questions, please contact Windermere’s Marketing Helpdesk at justask@windermere.com or (888) 333-8923.
• Want even more help? We have it. Email your Tune Up team (Karen + Tiana + Maddy) – tuneup@windermere.com

This week, a tech tip | Did you know that when you are searching the WORC site, or frankly any search engine if you will, by adding quotations around your search (example, “bridge loan”) you will be provided an exact match? Certainly helps! I guess this functionality in the tech world has been common knowledge for some time – not sure how I missed that! Wanted you to know.

***FYI, a note regarding our WORC site – you have the ability to influence our product! You have influenced the product. How? Use the WORC Feedback tile on the homepage – we are listening and are constantly making changes + building out a revised roadmap + improving your WORC experience.

Kudos! | A quick shout out to Sol Villarreal (broker, Eastlake) for both the inspiration to create Fridays with Laura and feedback along the way. High 5, Sol!

That’s a wrap for this week, keep injury prevention top of mind – I know I am! Here to help.

Laura Smith, General Manager | Windermere Real Estate Co + Northwest, Inc.