The Dream Came True for Our Rapid City Homebuyer - An Emond Team Client Story

Dreams do come true.

On December 1, 2011, Jessica posted on her Facebook status:

“Someday I aspire to own a home on the Boulevard.”

Someone should have warned her about putting things out there…  😊

In the fall of 2014, we listed a historical home on 11^th street.  The owners had bought it as a complete fixer-upper.  They had worked to make it a cute space while retaining as many of the historical pieces as possible.

The open houses on this property were phenomenal!  But…the comments were the same.  People loved the idea of an old home, but they really didn’t want to live in one.

The following Spring was the beginning of Jessica’s dream.  She called me to view the home.  As she walked through the living room, the floors creaked.  Her eyes lit up. 

I knew she was a buyer that would appreciate all this home had to offer.  She loved the history.  She loved the original woodworking, the staircase, the front porch.  She loved the potential of what she could do to make it her own.

AND….it was in her price range.

She quickly had her parents check it out (it turns out I knew her dad…), and excitedly put in an offer.

The sellers accepted and we were off to the races.

This picture of her on the front porch, arms raised in victory – is one of my favorites.

She was ecstatic.

She was realizing her dream of homeownership from 4 years earlier.

And we were along for the ride.

Another reason we do what we do  Helping others experience the dream of owning their own home.

In this case, her FIRST home.

You deserve a place to call home and an awesome real estate transaction to boot.  Call us.  We are here to help.

Your Family.  Your Home.

https://rapidcityhomes.net/emond-team/

Rapid City Real Estate Market in 2018 | Tristan and his WHITEBOARD LIVE!

2018 Rapid City Real Estate Market

Tristan and his WHITEBOARD - LIVE!

Rapid City Real Estate Market in 2018.

Hi everybody - happy 2019 and welcome back to Tristan and his WHITEBOARD LIVE!

So... of course we need to check out the 2018 Rapid City residential real estate numbers. See what happened last year.

So, you can see up here I've got a bunch of numbers. We're gonna go over a few things - we'll look at how things went.

We see the last year we were up 6 and 1/2 percent on our average sold price from 2017. What was really interesting to me was that in 2012 - since 2012 we're up 21%.  So steady growth - consistently - in our market as far as sold price is concerned.

I like to look at the price points that are selling the most to kind of give you an idea of where all the action is going at.  We can see in 2016 in the $150.000 to $200,000 price range, we had about 513 sell.  And in the $200,000 to 250,000 range...365.  So quite a difference.

However, this year are 2018, the $200,000 to $250,000 is taking the lead.  Of course, that does make sense as the prices go up, we're seeing more sold in this area as more of those homes become mainstream.

Used to be, you could buy quite a bit of home for $150,000.  Now, you know, you almost need $200,000 to get into something that's really nice, right?

Of course, the above would also reflect days on market.  The more action we have, the lower days of market.  In 2016 we had 47 days on the market and we're down about 10 days here in 2018.
A very strong market if things continue to click.

This red number down here is the number I want to drive some attention to.

That is how many homes are on the market as of January 1.  That's low.  That's not that many homes on the market at all…compared to where we usually are. We're usually in the 500 range about this time.

I see a lot of buyer pent-up demand.  We could be seeing an early spring season this year - you never know, but I think I can say we might have some of that coming here.

We'll see what happens!

Glad you're around for this 2019!   Hope to see you next time on Tristan and his WHITEBOARD! Have a great day!

- Tristan

Should You List Your Home Winter? | Tristan and his WHITEBOARD LIVE!

Should You List Your Home in Winter? 

Tristan and his WHITEBOARD - LIVE!

 
Should you list your home in the winter?  Or keep it active through the Holiday Season?

Hi everybody!  This is Tristan Emond with Mindful Living Realty.

Welcome back to Tristan and his WHITEBOARD - LIVE!

Today we're going to talk about something that's pretty important as we're getting close to the holiday season and winter. And that question is: should you keep your home on the market or should you list your property through the holidays and the winter time?  And the answer actually is - it depends!  (of course, right?)

Less Competition

My first point for the reason that you should keep your home on the market or still list your property is there is less competition.  You've got people that are like "You know, I'm just gonna wait till spring to list my home because it's the busy season...  blah blah blah.”

But there people that are coming into town and they need to buy home in December. So, if yours is only one of the “X” number that are available, you have a better chance of getting yours sold…because you didn't take it off the market and wait until spring to sell.

That might give you the best reason right there for keeping your home on the market.

If your home isn't on the market, you're not going to be able to sell the thing right?

Now, I don't want to be the one to say this is definitely going to happen for you.  Some Decemebers are great.  We've had great Januarys where we sold a lot of homes. But there have also been Januarys and Decembers where home sales are really, really slow.

Now typically, it does tend to slow down and the market will pick back up again in Spring. But if you list in the Spring with everybody else, then your competition is a lot higher, so you may not sell your home at that time either.

If your property is one that's been sitting on the market for awhile and you might just need that extra amount of time frame to get that buyer to come along at the right time.

Holiday Cheer

The other point to consider is Holiday Cheer.

If it's a very festive year - people are busy partying and having a good time going to people's houses and doing that kind of thing, real estate has a tendency to slow.  People are out doing other things that they enjoy more. However, if it's kind of one of those bah humbug sort of years, people are out buying, people are out selling, things happen in business a little more in those type of years.  Now of course that's kind of hard to judge, but it is a good point to realize how that happens.

Time Frame

And the third point of course is your time frame.  How soon do you need to sell? Where you at in your life as far as getting the property sold.

If it's something like "Well, you know, I can still next year, no big deal." Then you might consider not wanting to move during the winter and list in the Spring.  Certainly, up to you and how that works for you.

But if you need to sell and you really looking forward to get that property gone, you probably should keep it listed on the market because, as I said before, you can't sell if it isn't listed.

So those are my three points for selling during the winter for you to think about and for you determine what you might want to do.

If you have any questions please get a hold of us. We can look at the numbers and give you some ideas on how things work for where you are at in your neighborhood and how things have been selling.

Thanks again for watching Tristan and his WHITEBOARD. We will talk to you next time!

Sometimes You Gotta Win Clients Over | An Emond Team Client Story

Sometimes we have to win clients over.

Bad past experiences with another realtor can really suck.

In 2013, Brian and Mahala’s kids were gone.  It was time to downsize from their family home to a West Boulevard charmer.

A mutual friend hooked us up and we got the call to help out.

We had our work cut out for us.

When Brian and Mahala originally bought their home, Brian never felt like his agent had their back.  He silently questioned his loyalty and whether or not their best interests were really at the forefront.

Which led to a general distrust of realtors.

Understandable…

Since Mahala’s job at the time allowed minimal contact during the day, Brian became the guy to deal with “them thar” realtors.

Sarah and I were managing both transactions at once – making sure the buyer bought their house and arranging for the purchase of their new one.

It was a BUNCH of emails, texts, and phone calls.

And fortunately, with consistent communications and updates, we changed his mind about real estate agents.

“They made me believe again”

“The process was seamless from A thru Z. It could not have been more trouble-free. Tristan and Sarah held my hand through the entire process (figuratively). Tristan worked closely with our banker, inspector, and title company. He left nothing undone and kept a close eye on the details of the two transactions (even to the extent of gently nudging me on occasion)”

Since then, we have leased commercial spaces for his family.  We even helped Mahala into a wonderful space for her business when she decided to venture out on her own.

But it doesn’t stop there.

We regularly meet for lunch.  We talk about our kids, our businesses, Brian’s soccer and my football.

Because this real estate stuff is more than buying and selling.

It’s a relationship.  It’s a family.  Doing it right.

If you are ready to start your real estate journey with the Emond Team and become part of our family…let’s meet up.  We ain’t scary.  😊

Send us a message or hit up our website:

https://rapidcityhomes.net/emond-team/

We'd love to work with you!

- Tristan

Sewer Line Issues and Your Rapid City Home Sale | Tristan and his WHITEBOARD - LIVE!

Tristan and his WHITEBOARD - LIVE!

Rapid City Home Sewer Line Issues and the Home Sale

Sewer line issues and the home sale.

Hi everybody, this is Tristan Emond with Mindful Living Realty.

Welcome back to Tristan and his WHITEBOARD - LIVE!

Yes, I've got drawings on my board already and no - my kids did not draw them...I did.  Yes, I am an artist. I've even got the sun shining on the house!

Today, we're going to talk about sewer lines.  And this is a very important thing to talk about when it comes to the buying and selling transaction because...we will talk about now!

The sewer line, as we know, runs from the house all the way to the street.  As a homeowner in Rapid City, you are responsible for everything from here to where it connects into the city line.

Now, normally that's not a problem.  You've probably never even thought about it.  It's always worked, so not a not a big deal.

The issue comes into play where you have an older home - especially in the 40s to the 60s in the southeast part town.  Those homes were built with a pipe called Orangeburg. And that pipe was basically a hard cardboard.

What happens is over to the course of time, with all the moisture and the tree roots and everything, those pipes start to collapse. I've seen some that gone down to this. I've seen some of them nothing.

As a buyer, you're going to want to spend the money to get a scope of all the line to make sure that that is clear of any problems.  So you're not dealing with the sewer backup.  If we need to replace this line, it's a good $5,000 bill.  We want to make sure that that is covered for you as a buyer.

And as a seller you’ll want to consider the fact that hey – yeah, you have never replaced your sewer line, and you've never done anything with it...you may want to think about that's something that a buyer coming to buy your home might be concerned with.

Now obviously on the newer homes that have the PVC pipe lines already installed, not generally too worried about those. Those usually hold up pretty well.

But the older homes...as a buyer's agent I'm going to be running a sewer line scope just to make sure that those are in place and it's not going to be huge bill for the buyer.

I've had a few deals where those deals have broken apart because of that scenario.

Now there might be a couple - there's a couple of easy ways to kind of get a general idea of has it been replaced yet or not.  If you look on the street a lot of times, you'll see a cut out from the concrete.  Also, on the yard, you'll see a - somewhere in the front yard - you'll see a clean-out there. 

If you see these two things, you probably have a good idea that it has been replaced at some point.

Not that I will still wouldn't want to run the sewer scope, but that might be a good indication that it's been replaced at some point.

So, there we go - the sewer line.

I got through it without even making any crappy puns!

Have a great day everybody!  We'll talk to you next time.

Do You Need 20% Down to Buy a Home?

Do you Need 20% Down to Buy a Home?

Tristan and his WHITEBOARD - LIVE!

Hi everybody, this is Tristan Emond with Mindful Living Realty.

Welcome back to Tristan and his WHITEBOARD - LIVE.

Here again with Angelia Dale with Gateway Mortgage.

Today we're going to talk about something that's kind of prevalent in the mortgage industry, especially.

It's the thought form that you have to have 20 percent down to buy a home.  And hey - who has that kind of money anymore? I mean, if you do, you know, you can bring my way...

Anyway, so this question is: "Do you really need 20 percent down to buy a home in today's market?"

You don't!  So, there are...we have our conventional loans which you can do 5% down.

You can do the government loans which require zero to three and a half percent down.

There's a lot of different options.  Which, you really want to talk to the loan officers.  "Okay what program best fits?"

If you don't have the assets, we have South Dakota Housing for first-time homebuyers which can help with a down payment.

Or if you have 20% down, you won't have mortgage insurance on a conventional loan.

There's a whole bunch of variety of options.

But you DO NOT have to have 20% down to buy a house.

All right! So basic storyline here is, don't be afraid to contact your mortgage broker and say "Hey this is what I've heard.  What can I do?  what can I afford?"  And go from there.

Yeah! There are many options.

Sounds good, thank you!  Talk to your mortgage broker and we'll see you next time on Tristan and his WHITEBOARD!

:)


- Tristan


Angelia Dale legal info:
Angelia Dale, Loan Originator, NMLS #175544
Gateway Mortgage Group
Rapid City, SD
605-490-2246
angelia.dale@gatewayloan.com

Gateway Mortgage Group is a registered service mark of Gateway Mortgage Group, LLC NMLS 7233. All loans subject to program guidelines and final underwriting approval. Contact local branch for details. 1301 W Omaha St #118, Rapid City, SD 57701. South Dakota Mortgage Lender License #ML.05071.

Four Minutes to Beat the Competition and Win the Home - an Emond Team Client Story

Four Minutes to Beat the Competition

An Emond Team Client Story

FOUR Minutes.  It only took 4 minutes for Claton and Renee to beat out the competition and get their home.

Wait, wait.  Let’s back up….

Claton and Renee were ready to buy a home.  Kid was on the way, their space was too small…it was time.

They had some unique needs in a Westside home that, quite honestly, I was skeptical we could find in their budget.

But then we walked into what would be their new home.  (spoiler alert)

It was springtime.  In Rapid City.  And the market was hot.  I called the listing agent to let him know an offer was coming.  He had just received one that day.

BAM.  Bidding war.

Claton and Renee were not discouraged.  They presented a strong offer that included a “we’ll pay ‘x’ more than those guys” clause.

The next morning, I got a call.

“Both offers were pretty similar,” the listing agent said.  “Here’s what we are gonna do.  At 1:30, I’m going to send both parties a counter.  The buyer that gets it back to me first wins.”

Game. On.

I immediately called Claton and Renee and told them the situation.  (the “sitch” if you are Kim Possible fans…)  Then we practiced.  I sent them a document to digitally sign through our e-sign system so they knew what to expect.

The next few hours we waited.  I. love. waiting.

1:30 – email came in.

Save to file, upload to system, send to Claton and Renee.

Text to both:  GO! GO! GO!

Claton signed….

Renee signed….

I got it back…

Download the file…come on, computer – faster!

Upload to email….SEND!

FOUR MINUTES.

S  O  L  D

The other agent hadn’t even been able to contact his people yet.

Thanks to Claton and Renee’s attention to detail and the ability to quickly sign digitally, they got their perfect westside home to start their family.

I walked around the rest of the day with my hands in the air.

YES!

Are you are ready to begin your real estate journey with the Emond Team?  You deserve a fantastic real estate transaction.  Schedule a time with us!

https://rapidcityhomes.net/emond-team/