Chris Hallows

There’s always that scene in the movies when the main character wonders if things couldn’t get any worse as it then begins to rain, affirming that yes, it can get worse. Some may wonder if that’s a similar situation to our housing market with tough rates, competitive inventory and just as we thought it couldn’t get worse, we have an election year upon us. Yes, newsfeeds are bombarding us with controversies and even my text messages have been firing up, which feels like a complete violation. … [Read more...] about Is the Housing Market Impacted by Election Cycles?

Historically speaking, 2012 was likely it – the best year to buy a home in maybe the last 50 years. It was the rare time of stars aligning where post-crash demand was still low, the foreclosure inventory market was still working through so supply was high and you had the effects of a final round of Quantitative Easing from the Federal Reserve leading to sub-4% interest rates. Truly an uncommon, “stars aligned” type moment, given the uncommon and painful conditions preceding it. In most … [Read more...] about Making Real Estate Lemonade from Lemons

April marked 24 months of greater-than-5% mortgage interest rates. While not an anomaly in the larger historic context of American mortgage rates, it has been a learning curve for home buyers that haven’t seen these levels for about a decade. We started this year full of optimism for lower rates given the Federal Reserve’s optimism late December 2023 with talk of lowering inflation and potentially multiple Federal Reserve (FED) rate cuts throughout 2024. That optimism has been waning. February … [Read more...] about The Medicine the Housing Market Doesn’t Want, But Truly Needs

You’re Sarah, mother of three and a realtor. You love what you do. You love people and you love helping people into the “American Dream.” Sure, you think it’s corny every time you say that out loud, but you have seen lives change through home ownership and you work really hard at what you do. It’s Saturday, kids are out of school, the game is on, and you just sat down to enjoy your homemade salsa you just whipped up and RING (I know phones don’t ring anymore but go with it). It’s the Joneses. … [Read more...] about National Association of Realtors Settlement: Business as Usual or Forever Changed?

Albert Einstein once said, “Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it … he who doesn’t … pays it.” Stability, comfort, privacy, security, community and personal expression are some of the top non-financial reasons for home ownership. While these are certainly all very compelling and vary in priority from each homeowner, the “eighth wonder of the world,” as Einstein called it, has massive impact to all homeowners as home appreciation is compounding … [Read more...] about Considering the Eighth Wonder of the World and Housing

The emotions of home buying vs. the logic of home buying is an interesting philosophical quandary. While I would argue that most folks purchase based on lifestyle more than pure logic alone, the current market whipsaws have impacted buyers’ and sellers’ perspectives on both these fronts. The emotional strain of “I won’t pay over market value” froze many buyers during what we like to refer to as the Real Estate Unicorn years of 2020 through mid-2022, only for many of those buyers to feel regret … [Read more...] about Real Estate Projection: The Later You Buy, the More You Will Fight

Expert economists have struggled all year to call how the Federal Reserve Board will manage the inflation crisis and subsequently, how markets will then react. This has led the current rate predictions to be very conservative and very diverse among economists, with two camps emerging. There is a smaller camp predicting a rise in interest rates, but most experts are predicting a lowering. I find myself in the lowering camp and this was strongly supported by the Dec. 13 Federal Reserve meeting … [Read more...] about Three Predictions for the 2024 Home Buying Market

There are not enough homes available to meet the demand of the population needing housing. Our very own City of Flagstaff has identified this and considered it an emergency. Their 10-year plan, announced in 2022, includes the goal to create or preserve 7,976 housing units by 2031. With our land-locked economy, that large of a unit creation will likely take a fair amount of creativity. Luckily, national policymakers are working ahead of us in this round. Multi-family and multi-generational … [Read more...] about Industry Shifts Providing More Support for Multi-Family and Multi-Generational Housing

Confirmation bias and click bait can be a dangerous combination. The disingenuous reporting of economic and housing data has been extremely common this last year, especially on mainstream media. Comparing limited data points and comparing only to the “Unicorn Years” of 2020-2022 are often the culprit of these click bait headlines. I use the term “Unicorn Years” to not confuse the housing phenomena with other issues and real pain caused by the global pandemic. Indeed, what happened to housing … [Read more...] about Exploring the Click Bait, Unicorn Years of Housing