Issuu

ISSUE 103

NEWSLETTER

MAY 2020

@home

WITH COLDWELL BANKER TOMLINSON

What “Lockdown” Really Means at Coldwell Banker Tomlinson

s parents, children and siblings, we real estate brokers, or “agents,” each have our own duties and responsibilities that have intensified since the emergence of the current pandemic and Governor Inslee’s “Stay Home - Stay Safe” declaration of March 23rd. As part of the real estate industry, however, we have a type of connection to our clients, and to the public in general, that is not widely understood. The very term “agent” provides the key, as it derives from the Latin root meaning “to act, or to do.” Our job is to act for others and do things for others in accordance with their needs and wishes. Our goal is to act just as our clients would act if they had the knowledge and experience in the field of real estate that we do.

to take shape, educational resources of every kind began to pour forth from agencies, companies and professional associations in the real estate industry. All Coldwell Banker Tomlinson brokers are members of three key associations: The National Association of Realtors (NAR), based in Chicago Illinois, the Washington

"The four walls of our home offices were removed, and our perspective was broadened to encompass the whole country.”

The fact that the public’s activities are restricted only increases the demand we feel to make up for some of the energy and flexibility lost to them during this lock-down. So, while we may be spending more time inside, we continue to devote as much time as possible to meeting the present and future needs of the public in three types of activity: Education, Networking and direct Client Service. education As soon as the government’s response to COVID-19 began

Association of Realtors (WAR), in Olympia, and the Spokane Association of Realtors. They invited us all to valuable online meetings with health experts, government officials and leading lights in the real estate industry, all eager to provide us with the most complete knowledge possible of the current crisis and how best to respond to it, both for ourselves and our clients. The four walls of our home offices were removed, and our perspective was broadened to encompass the whole country. The headquarters of Coldwell Banker in Madison, New Jersey seems to have moved into the house next door, ...continued on next page

“what a ‘lockdown’ really means at coldwell banker tomlinson,” continued... so open and generous has been their communication with us. Ryan Gorman, CEO, and Liz Gehringer, COO, have chatted with us as openly and perhaps more frequently than neighbors over our back fence, sharing their decades of experience and nationwide perspective. The vaults of Coldwell Banker University have been opened to us, with hundreds of classes and tutorials offered for free or at greatly reduced cost, and elite serminars which used to require traveling to remote locations and several nights’ lodging, now accessible by merely switching on our monitors. Eric Johnson, Director of Education for Coldwell Banker Tomlinson, shifted into high gear and has been churning out hours of seminars and tutorials available online, most of which are designed to help us meet the unprecedented demands of the present crisis by providing seamless, reliable service to the hundreds of people whose need to move in, out and around the Spokane area have not been eliminated by the virus.

meetings or classes that are being held now bring groups of brokers together more often and for longer periods than has ever been thought possible. In this way, news of price changes, new listings and future construction plans spread like wildfire, which is a benefit to both buyers and sellers. client service This brings us to the primary activity that has been keeping us busy during the first stage of the pandemic period: serving clients in their pursuit of their real estate goals. It cannot be overemphasized that the real estate industry has not ground to a halt; far from it. Buyers and Sellers rely more than ever on their agents during a time when normal movement is

"It cannot be overemphasized that the real estate industry has not ground to a halt; far from it. Buyers and Sellers rely more than ever on their agents during a time when normal movement is restricted."

Eric has not only skillfully mobilized the resources of Zoom and Facebook to bring this teaching to us; he has taught us to do the same as a way of making up for the difficulty in face-to-face meetings. We have learned, for example, that we can use Zoom to review a contract line-byline without having to find a clean table at Starbucks! networking You may not have thought about how much your agent’s network enhances the value he or she has brought to your transactions, but it is, in fact, considerable. Remarks overheard in the hallway, spur-of-the-moment questions put to a colleague, information gathered from an office meeting: these datapoints stick in the mind and can illuminate the path forward in a negotiation that has hit a snag. The myriad virtual

restricted. Facetime home tours, 3D photography, virtual (live-streamed) open houses have taken the place of physical visits, and customers are loving it! Instead of inconvenient appointments, long car-rides with impatient kids in the back seat, clients are able to have their listings shown or to view property on their own schedule, in the comfort of their own homes or with the ease of starting an app on their phones. Along with the changes we have made to accommodate our new circumstances, our partners in related services, such as mortgage lending, home inspection, property appraisal and title insurance have been busy innovating ingenious workarounds to make sure that our clients’ need for secure housing and reliable investments are fulfilled as usual.

Ingredients

Directions

4 skinless, boneless chicken

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place the chicken breast halves on a baking sheet; bake 20 to 30 minutes, until no longer pink and juices run clear. Remove from heat, and set aside. Step 2: Increase the oven temperature to 400 degrees F Step 3: Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stirring constantly, mix in the garlic, lemon juice, cream of mushroom soup, Italian seasoning, half-and-half, and Parmesan cheese. Step 4: Arrange the spinach over the bottom of a 9x9 inch baking dish. Cover the spinach with the mushrooms. Pour half the mixture from the saucepan over the mushrooms. Arrange chicken breasts in the dish, and cover with the remaining sauce mixture. Sprinkle with bacon bits, and top with mozzarella cheese. Step 5: Bake 20 to 25 minutes in the 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) oven, until bubbly and lightly browned.

breast halves ¼ cup butter 3 teaspoons minced garlic 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning ½ cup half-and-half ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese 2 (13.5 ounce) cans spinach, drained 4 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced

HOME RECIPES

2/3 cup bacon bits 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Chicken Florentine Casserole Feeling cooped-up during the Covid 19 shutdown, but reluctant to make yet another run to Rosauer’s? Here’s a terrific dish that can be put together from ingredients your probably have in your pantry, and that will give everyone at your house the feeling that they are dining out at Luigi’s.

Covid Duties: Oft-forgotten Property Maintenance Concrete and Masonry Chimney Caps – These tend to deteriorate quicker than regular concrete due to the exposure they receive. Caulk any cracks/joints in the cap and the joint at the vertical brick or stone masonry. Seal the concrete top with a quality concrete sealer.

y now, we have heard plenty about the common items that can easily be done to maintain our properties during the ‘shutdown: painting, caulking, and the like. But some of the more obscure things don’t get mentioned by the mainstream media because they are ‘boring’. Some of these items are ‘nuisance’ items that often get overlooked, but may develop into real headaches if allowed to go too long without attention, so give Netflix a rest, and deal with these issues instead; you’ll thank yourself!

Skylights – Check the interior of the skylight tunnel for moisture intrusion or damage. Clean inside and out of the skylight glass – you would be surprised by how dirty these can get. Inspect the skylight flashing on the roof for excessive debris build-up on the ‘uphill’ side. Windows – Clean the window glass and screens. Pull the screens and wipe down with a damp cloth then rinse. The screens collect plenty of dust and diminish the view quality through the window glass.

Cabinet and Door Hardware – Grab a screwdriver and take a few minutes to tighten/adjust hinges, doorknobs, cabinet pulls and strike plates.

Handrails – Are your handrail brackets loose? Grab that screwdriver again and tighten things up.

BBQ/Grill – Take an hour or so to clean the grill irons, burners and other accessories that get neglected.

Fences – Fix or replace loose or rotted fence boards. Adjust gate hardware if necessary. Article by Dale Smith, Realtor®

Coldwell Banker Tomlinson 4102 S Regal St, Suite 201 Spokane, WA 99223

@HOME WITH

ISSUE 103 | MAY 2020 ©2020 Coldwell Banker Tomlinson. All rights reserved. Each office is independently owned and operated. If you currently have an Agent assisting you with the purchase or sale of property, this is not a solicitation for business. April 2020

SPOKANE REAL ESTATE MARKET STATISTICS – Market update ACTIVE LISTINGS BY PRICE RANGE April 2020

$300-$349 11% $350-$399 15%

$250-$299 10%

SPOKANE, WA Information pulled on 5/1/2020

PRICE RANGE

$0-$99,999

$100,000-$149,999

$150,000-$199,999

$200,000-$249,999

$250,000-$299,999

$300,000-$349,999

$350,000-$399,999

116

$400,000-$449,999

$450,000-$499,999

$200-$249 7%

$100-$149 2%

$600,000+

144

TOTAL

793

April 2020 $450-$499 9%

$0-$99 3%

$500,000-$599,999

$400-$449 11%

$150-$199 3%

$600,000+ 18%

© Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. All Rights Reserved. Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act. Each Office Is Independently Owned And Operated. Coldwell Banker and the Coldwell Banker Logo are registered service marks owned by Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed and should be independently verified.

SOLD LISTINGS BY PRICE RANGE

$500-$599 11%

The information in this report is compiled from a report given by the Spokane Association of REALTORS® and to the best of our knowledge is accurate and current.

Report last modified on Friday, May 8, 2020

SPOKANE real estate monthly report | 6

April 2020

$200-$249 16%

SPOKANE, WA Information pulled on 5/1/2020

PRICE RANGE

$0-$99,999

$100,000-$149,999

$150,000-$199,999

$200,000-$249,999

$250,000-$299,999

105

$300,000-$349,999

$350,000-$399,999

$400,000-$449,999

$450,000-$499,999

$500,000-$599,999

$600,000+

TOTAL

575

$250-$299 18%

$150-$199 14%

$100-$149 4%

$0-$99 3%

$600,000+ 4%

$300-$349 17%

$500-$599 5%

$450-$499 4%

$400-$449 5%

$350-$399 10%

In the past, we have looked at statistics showing changes in the number of listings or in the average selling price for the Spokane real estate market as a whole. This month, thanks to the hard work of our creative marketing department, you can look more deeply into those numbers, and see how they break down according to price range. As our charts show, there are dramatic differences. What does it say, for example, for a market when listings under $250,000 account for 37% of the sales in a month, but only 15% of total listings? Or when the number of listings o v e r $ 6 0 0 , 0 0 0 re p re s e n t 18% of what is available, but only 4% of what sells in a month? Comparing the size of the “$600,000+” wedges

in the upper and lower charts conveys visually what your Tomlinson broker experiences every day: that demand is highest exactly where supply is lowest. T h i s re s u l t s i n b e s i e g e d Sellers and frantic Buyers in the most affordable price ranges. Such conditions call for careful preparation and skilled negotiating on behalf of both parties: skills which your Tomlinson agent has been busy acquiring and polishing, even during this period of increased restrictions. If you wish to know how these graphs apply to your needs specifically, your Tomlinson agent stands ready and able to guide you.

The information in this report is compiled from a report given by the Spokane Association of The information in this report is compiled from a report given by the Spokane Association to the best of our knowledge is accurate and current. REALTORS® and toof the REALTOR®’s best of our knowledgeand is accurate and current.

SPOKANE real estate monthly report | 9

Report last modified on Friday, May 8, 2020

CONTACT ME WITH ANY QUESTIONS OR FOR DETAILED MARKET INFORMATION.