Actually, it’s really not fine, lol. Not finding homes for my buyers, people being rightfully scared by rising home prices, interest rates, entering lotteries to hopefully get chosen to have a home built in the next year, & participating in bidding wars like we’re on Ebay is all not fine. This is probably not good for business, but you know me, I’ll tell it like it is. Finding Your Perfect Vegas Home is not easy these days. It’s super competitive to say the least. In addition to prices & interest rates going up, bidding wars being normalized, there ain’t a whole lot to choose from with how low inventory has been. This mess can make searching for your dream home a nightmare. Even though I truly do go to bat for my clients having them write personal letters to sellers to accompany offers, drop everything without missing a beat to show homes across town, create video tours, spend months at a time searching, touring, calling listing agents to see how our offers can compete with the 40 other offers on the table, it doesn’t always result in a win. I have succeeded to find homes as well as beat out other offers as a result of my efforts. However, it’s a battle & I have yet to find many of my dear clients their future homes.
Great for sellers though! Except for the fact that sellers need to then buy a place to call home so….yeah.
Besides being heartbroken for my clients who are unable to fulfill their homeowning dreams, I must confess, as optimistic & positive as I try to be, I’m back in the headspace I was in when COVID hit, where being an agent looked as if it was maybe not the ideal career move. Thoughts like: “what did I get myself into?!” “should I go back to being a designer?” “WTF am I even doing?!” became roadblocks in my mind. I mean, how the hell are you supposed to sell houses when you #1, JUST got your license & started a brand new career & #2, are in a world where you can barely leave the house for fear of dying from a global pandemic?! However, after wallowing for a few weeks, the lockdown allowed me to go within myself, involuntarily then voluntarily shut out the world, & self-reflect. I decided to make the most of my quarantined life, focus on my girls, cooking, & combine my graphic design & website development shkizzles, as well as my inclination to ramble on & on (lol) by blogging, & created findyourperfectvegashome.com. At the time, my plan had been to monetize it since I didn’t know that I would be able to actually pursue this not so socially-distant career of being a real estate agent. I still needed to pay the bills & figure out a way to do it while being a full-time mommy.
Then, fortunately as luck would have it, there was an unpredictable surge of quarantined buyers hitting the market. All while the housing market was more affordable, interest rates were at record lows, with plenty of inventory to go around. It happened, despite masks & 6 feet of distance & between me & my clients, I found my groove! I was truly enjoying this new & now exciting career meeting new people, searching & touring homes, discovering more about the city I have lived in for almost 20 years now, having the opportunity to stumble upon incredible builders such as Jewel Homes, & of course the immensely rewarding feeling of finding my clients homes & being a part of such an important journey in their lives. All while still being able to be there for my girls working mainly from home.
Plus, I was able to sell my own house for more than expected, bought & move my girls into brand new home they could “expand” in. Born was the messaging for my site “Live Your Dream Life”. After years of struggling in my previous career as a freelance graphic/web designer, I felt like had hit the lottery. Business was good, clients were satisfied. The icing on the cake was my dream I had before buying the house I had lived in, which was to eventually either rent out or sell at an appreciated value came true. I felt that I would be able to help other people also have their dreams come to fruition the way I did mine.
However, this surge of buying quickly backfired.
Even though I was happy & busy finding my clients homes, house prices started climbing. Inventory started dwindling. Waiting lists for new builds became lotteries. Several of my hopeful, ambitious buyers were now not qualifying for their dream homes. “Living Your Dream Life” slowly became impossible. Bidding wars, lotteries, waiting lists, multiple offers, & not a whole lot to choose from with low inventory has made Finding Your Perfect Vegas Home turned into: Never Finding Your Perfect Vegas Home. By mid-2021, my buyers were losing hope. Even as persistent & resourceful as I worked so hard to be for them, attempting to find creative solutions such as seller financing, directing them to try out different lenders, & even seeing if sellers would be open to lease to own type situations…the dream of home ownership had & has become more & more challenging as 2021 & 2022 has progressed.
In reading this article, I realize that my tiny little microscopic life in real estate is actually a magnification of the entire housing market. “With housing affordability sitting at a decade low, the home buying frenzy that rocked the real estate market is beginning to fizzle”.
To be honest, it sucks out there. I am heartbroken for my buyers & wish I could give them good news. And, just because I sell homes & have a job in real estate, I really have no idea what will happen in the market from here on out. I do know that as of now, the market is volatile. As much as I want to help my clients & give them a positive outlook, I don’t have the power to lower prices, lower interest rates, & magically create houses that will fit into their budgets.
But, because I also need to worry about my own livelihood, paying my own bills & keeping a roof over my family’s heads, for me the show must go on! Remember how I said, I was in a similar headspace before? Well, here I am again…back to my website & to the blogging world! And quite honestly, super excited! I have a lot of ideas of what I’d like to talk about & I do hope you will visit me here once in a while. It doesn’t mean I’m not here for you as an agent though. Just need to diversify.
I realize I’ve been quite discouraging when it comes to how the market is & the challenges buyers have these days. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible, but it’s good to know the reality of the situation. One great thing I HAVE been noticing is that there is a LOT more new home construction. I have personally always been a fan of new home construction so, I would definitely look into that. Just be aware there is usually quite an extended build time due to the nature of the market. Buying new is a long-term goal unless you find a move-in-ready home which is always possible.
On the other side of the token, it is obviously a seller’s market. If you are thinking of selling, you will probably get top dollar & sell quickly. If you live in Vegas, I would be thrilled at the opportunity to help you as I take it quite seriously as you can see here. But to be honest, unless you’re planning on renting (which has unfortunately has also become quite competitive), you’ll have to weigh out whether you want to risk not having a home to move into right away.
If you decide you do want to go to battle with me finding your next home, I’m here for you. However challenging as it gets, I am persistent & do whatever is in my capability to make it happen. And you never really know what’s going to happen till you try.
