My next guest is here to talk about something. And I said this at the very beginning of the show. I realized that a lot of people in this listening audience don't like love real estate and don't follow it like I do so obsessively. But ultimately, our homes are our largest asset for many of us, right they are our wealth building tool. And if you think, Okay, I've got this much equity in my house and nothing can happen,
you're crazy. Because I lived through the housing crisis in two thousand and eight and two thousand and nine in the number one market in the country for foreclosures. I saw houses that sold for nine hundred thousand dollars sell again for three seventy five. So do the math on that in your head, and then you begin to understand why I obsessively follow the real estate market, because this is not just about what homes are selling and how much you're selling for. It's about how much my assets
are worth. And joining me now to talk about that is my realtor and smart guy himself, Ed Prather. And before we got on the air, Ed you and I were chatting about the fact that from a purely spectator, you know perspective that this is what I have. Just as a hobby, I follow the real estate market. This market is fascinating. There are a lot of things happening in this market that almost shouldn't be happening, but are. And it really goes to show that you better have
a plan if you want to sell your home. But if you have a good plan and you have a good strategy and you have an aggressive reealtor, you can sell your home in this market. So let's do a big overview right now of where we are.
Well, absolutely, and you know, Mandy, first and foremost, thank you for having me. It's always a pleasure to be on And you know, you and I were just talking about the fact that some of the properties that hit the market, you know that are are priced well, you know that that look good, are the ones that sit, and then other ones that you wouldn't expect to move quickly move move very quickly. And you know, I think it's more important, you know, first and foremost, we need
to remind ourselves. I mean, homes are selling each and every day, but it is more difficult, and it's more difficult because we've got more inventory than we've had for many many years, and so when you've got you know, instead of in your neighborhood you've got a few for sale, maybe you have a dozen for sales. So you need to be able to differentiate as a seller. You know, when people are walking into the property down the street, how is yours going to compare her?
And you know whether that be finishes.
The lot the curb appeal, you know, because the last thing we want to do is to get to that point where we have to differentiate through price, and that's where you see reduction after reduction and properties sitting for longer than they should.
But you know, overall, what I will say is this.
You know, on the sales side, we are seeing seller sitting more than they have in the past. But historically speaking, you know, it's still I hate to say it because it seems crazy, but it is a seller's market. And I say that based on the three point eight months of inventory that we have. I mean, historically speaking, in four to six months is a balanced market.
So we're still below that, but it's just so.
Different than it has been over the last few years. It's hard not to notice that contrast, and especially when you're trying to sell your home and it's taking longer than you want.
So from my perspective, and I told Ed, I watch my neighborhood. I've been watching my neighborhood for the twelve years that we live there. I want to know what people are selling their homes for. What I am seeing, what I am perceiving to see. If your house in pictures looks like it needs a lot of work, it is not necessarily going to sell unless it is something that can be flipped, right, unless you're going to get those investor dollars. But say it's a great home in
an older neighborhood that is just super dated. Those are the ones that are sitting in my neighborhood. Is that what you're seeing in other places as well.
It's such a good point, Mandy. And in this market specifically, you know in the Denver metro area, what we have seen, and it's very clear and more so than ever now, is that the consumer, the buyer in this market wants a fixed up They want a remodeled property. And you know that's not to say that a property that is priced well or even below market that needs some love isn't going to move. But when we start talking about the investor route. You have to understand that there needs
to be a profit involved there. So, you know, if we're trying to get the very most for our homes, when our sellers, when we're working with our folks, and usually that's over months as we get ready to bring the property to market, because we want to have it prepare, we want it to present.
To the market the right way.
Anything that was sort of hey, should we do this, should we hold off?
Should we touch up paint? Should we not?
Almost always now it's go ahead and do it, because again, we want to differentiate through finishes, you know, through the quality, through the feel you know, because it's it's.
Not just the photos. I mean, Mandy, you've seen this before.
Where you know it looks great in photos, you walk into the house and it's something completely different.
You know.
We need that perception, you know, to match the reality. So we are making sure that we're presenting and coaching our sellers to do those things that maybe.
They wouldn't have had to do in the past.
As far as some of the repairs and upgrades, Yeah, I mean there are.
Some things that people can do and these are such small things. One are the things I always notice ed and this is probably just me, like being a neurotic person. You know what I notice is old light switches, and old light switches make something seen. And by old light switches, I mean the traditional ones with the little you know, little guy that goes up and down instead of the
flat switches. Those right a space for me. And that's like the first thing I'm like, well, this house was built before at least nineteen ninety one or nineteen ninety right, So what are there little things do you say to people like, hey, you know what, that's not going to cost you a lot of money. Maybe change out those light switches or something else that other people notice. Is popcorn still a huge deal?
You know it is.
I don't know that I would say it's a huge deal, but it's something that we notice. And just like you said, you walk into home and there's some things that sort of go oh, this is an older home. And again, if we've got a number of properties nearby that are are listed for a similar price, you know we want to differentiate. And if we can remove popcorn and ceilings that, you know, great, Obviously we want to get that tested before doing so. The switches, of course, you know, take
that one further, Mandy. I mean, if they're the beige switches in outlet covers and outlets, god is easy to switch out to the to the bright white. Also, if you're talking about trim and doorcasing, you know, if we go to the squared off white versus even sort of some of that wood tone. And I always say this, you know, when I'm working with our sellers, I say, hey, the last thing I want to do is be critical, but I want you to understand what the consumer sees.
And you know, the consumer these days again wants a very fresh, new feeling product and it doesn't need to be a brand new house. In fact, you know, sales in this market in Colorado is huge because people like infill. You know, they like the mature neighborhoods, and they like the older properties to that extent as well, but they need to feel newer, they need to feel fresh, and they need to feel well taken care of.
And you know, good bones go a long way.
But in this market, I would say, let's go that extra mile and freshen up, whether that be even you know, going as far as is you know, repainting carpet touch or redoing flooring, whether that be wood floor carpet.
But the biggest thing is we want.
To be sure that what we're advising and suggesting that we're getting a return on because I completely understand it's not convenient being your home to market and it's not cheap to do this stuff. So we want to make sure that we get a return on that effort in time.
And this is one of those things like what it does the neighborhood that you're living in right now or you're you know, you're wanting to sell in. Are their neighborhoods that are moving quickly?
Still?
Are there neighborhoods that almost feel like a sure thing?
Absolutely?
But I would say it's so specific it's hard to say because you've got neighborhoods say like the you know, the Highlands or Cherry Hills where you know it's incredible.
Like in Cherry Hills, you're still.
Saying very expensive homes move very very quickly because it's somewhat of a closed market.
You know, there's not a ton of these houses.
But it's it's very specific to the street and very specific to the house. And so it is we're beyond the time where you can just say, well, you know, this neighborhood, no matter what happens, moves moves very quickly. Like you know, we do some business in for example, apple Wood West, which is a really really nice area, and and a lot of the areas that have a little bit of land, you know, larger lots, older homes, with character. You'll have a lot of desire, have a
lot of demand. But I'll tell you what, you can still mess that up by by marketing, you know, incorrectly, inappropriately, and certainly miss pricing. Because if we want a price above market and it sits, it's like you.
And I were talking about before jumping on here.
You know, the longer it sits, in almost every scenario, the property is going to be worth less. Whether that's fair or not. You and I see it the same way. I mean, why is this house sitting? Something has to be wrong, even if there isn't anything wrong.
Ed, Brather is my gift or my gift. He is my gift, he's my guest. Also, we're talking about the Colorado real estate market, you know, ed, is this another
period in your industry? And I'm not asking you to disparage anyone else in any stretch of the imagination, but is this going to be another period in your industry where we sort of separate the wheat from the chaff a little bit, where we have professionals that this is your career who are going to be around, versus folks who may have gotten their license, who previously may have sold one house a year. Are we going to kind of get rid of that sort of extra in your industry if that makes sense.
It absolutely does, and we already are.
You know, in twenty twenty towards the end as things really heated up with rates going down, and certainly through twenty twenty one and part of twenty two, you saw a huge amount of folks getting their license and you can't blame them, you know. It was almost like you could throw a sign in the yard and you'd get multiple offers at almost any price.
That is not the case now.
So you're seeing a lot of distress in the industry where people are sort of looking around and going, well, you know, what am I supposed to do now? And that's where I would say, also, you're getting you know, I mean, gosh, buyers and sellers are smart, and in times like this, it's less likely that you're going to say, hey, why don't I give my friend of a friend a shot who's not sold the house. It is not the time for that. You know, we need experience behind it.
And again you know properties are selling every day, but it is it is not through happenstance, and we're really intentional on how we bring these.
Properties to markets. So you're absolutely right.
I mean you're you were seeing the number of folks renew their license and that's kind of what we look at and you can kind of see what's happened there.
Decrease is substantially.
And to give you an idea, we have about forty thousand agents across the front range and just over seven thousand agents did one deal or more and a lot of those fols only did one, so you can see a huge security are sitting on the sidelines.
Ed is the guy you want to call if you're ready to sell your home. He could walk you through the process, get you what you need, and I'm relatively certain he can get your household or I wouldn't do commercials for him. So Ed, I appreciate your time this morning or this afternoon. Ed Prather dot com, Edprayther dot com, Ed p R. A. T. H. E. R dot com. I'll talk to you again through my friend.
Hey, I appreciate you, Mandy, take care all right.
Thank you. That is ed Prather