It's that time of year where we start thinking about others...
By Christian Harris | November 1st, 2018
November is the month many people start transitioning into the Holiday season. We get increasingly busy planning family get togethers, our gift list has started and our general consumption is slowly increasing. Though this is a busy and joyous time for many, this is also the time where some are in need of basic necessities that many of us take for granted. I saw this first hand at the first real estate brokerage I was with, where not only do many agents get sucked into the numbers game and sales culture, but envy and competition are actually emphasized and encouraged. Sales numbers and agent earnings are the primary focal point. Of course around the holiday's a few agents may rally around Toys for Tots or some other quality non-profit but it feels like a pretty token, once-a-year gesture when the rest of the time is inward focused on me, me, me and how much more money can I make then the other agents in my office or how I rank in my market....
When I starting my own brokerage, I made a promise to myself and the community to keep giving back & community involvement central in our day-to-day activities of helping clients. This value has brought us community partnerships, volunteer opportunities and a deeper knowledge of issues and topics that happen right in our community that many are not fully aware of.
My agents and I hold a Quarterly Sea-Town Volunteer day that bring us the opportunity of gaining knowledge of our community and the issue impacting it, as well as an opportunity to make a difference. Our most recent volunteer day was with West Side Baby, who we have cultivated a partnership with and have collaborated together for previous volunteer events. WestSide Baby is a nonprofit organization that collects previously owned items for children and babies and distributes them free of charge to King County families in need. Their main mission is to keep children “Safe, Warm and Dry”. All of our volunteers from agents, friends and family came together and sorted out and organized children’s clothing while becoming more aware on how many families in the King County area are struggling to meet their basic needs.
Our new insight from our volunteer day last month ties into this month’s cause of National Homeless Youth Awareness Month. When families are faced with the hardship of providing basic needs, it increases the chance of youth homelessness, which is a prevalent issue in Washington state and nation wide. Homelessness is a multifaceted topic and has increased significantly over the years in the Seattle area. Our monthly mixer coming up will be centered around this topic and we will be having the founder of Recovery Cafe, Killian Noe, speak at our event and educate us on homelessness and how we can make an impact on the Seattle community.
If you are interested in joining us for any of our quarterly volunteer days or our Monthly Sea-Town Mixers, reply back to this email and we can include you on the invites.
MARKET UPDATE
Additionally, while we are passionate about partnering with and helping the community… we are also passionate about helping our clients have an amazing experience with their real estate needs (we are an Indie Real Estate Brokerage after all & wouldn't be able to fund our giving without business sales). I bring this up because many of you have likely sensed or heard that the RE market has slowed down or is shifting in the Seattle market. The median house sale price has dropped by $90,000 in the last 5 months. It went from $830k in May to $740k in October. This doesn’t mean that the housing market is collapsing or even that it’s shifting because home values are still up 4% since this time last year (as oppose to 14%, which is closer to what they have been year-over-year, for the last few years).
All this to say is that if you or someone you know wanted to buy a house but got burnt out on the process or was tired of getting out bid from multiple offers on the same property, NOW is a great time to take a look at what is available, since there are the most homes on the market now, then there has been over the last 5 years… meaning buyer’s have more options and leverage then they have over these last 5 years.
REPLY TO THIS EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THIS OR WHAT YOUR OPTIONS ARE AS A POTENTIAL HOME BUYER.
Thanks for sharing in this journey with us and feel free to provide some feedback about these monthly updates or things you would like to see us cover in future installments...
Until next time, be well and be excellent to each other!