The following is a transcript from a Facebook live post on 5/6/2022 at 10:30am.

Roni:
Good morning, my friends. It's Friday again, and I proudly am standing here in front of what will be my newest listing. So I'm here on a very quiet and quaint street in downtown Summerville. This is on Tallow. We are golf cart, bike riding, walking leisurely into downtown Summerville distance. And so very few houses come on the market on this street and in this area. And so when I say proudly, they're past clients of mine who are going to be re-listing their home for sale, and I'm excited to be showcasing it today. It is your typical double porch, low country style home. It is got a two car garage out back, cute little courtyard where they've done an amazing job with planting and it's fenced in. So if you're needing a house in the downtown area, if you know of somebody that is interested, have them reach out to me, I'll give the, all the full details and we'll be publicized the house on MLS very soon.

All right. But let's talk about the market, because that's really what y'all want to hear about on this spring day. Gosh, it is spring here in the low country. And historically that means that sales peak. Well, this week is no different. We're still trailing last year's numbers. However, we are only about 20 sales shy from 2021 sales on a week to week basis. So this same time last year, what I'm saying is this same time last year, we're only 20 sales off. So that has not been the case. We have really elevated our sales production. More houses are coming on the market and that's a big part of it. We were sitting at about a thousand listings in our MLS for, gosh, as long as I can remember, I've been reporting that to you. And so now we're up to almost 1400 listings. We've been between 1300 and 1400 this week.

So with that gives more opportunity for buyers to be able to find their home. If it is any concern of yours at all, I would say that's probably the number one objection for people wanting to list their house is where am I going to go? Well, I will tell you the days on the market are lengthening a little bit. Whereas we have been seeing on our average days on the market, 2, 3, 4 days on the market, it is spanning out a little bit further into about a week's time on the market, which is going to work in your favor if you're a buyer. So don't be leery of listing your house for sale. The chances are well, number one, I've never made anybody truly homeless. And so we will find somewhere for you to go. But if you are looking to put a house on the market, maybe you've had a tenant in it for a period of time. Now's a great time to get it listed. I've got actually several listings coming up here in the next couple of weeks from just that. Houses that have been tenant occupied.

If you are looking to make an investment purchase, this is a great time to do it. Interest rates have climbed a little bit, but they're going to project... They are projected to continue to climb. So I like to build wealth in real estate. I like to have rental properties and I'm looking heavy right now on what that next one's going to be because the prices are not going to get any better. And the interest rates are not going to get any better. We have seen... Let's talk about interest rates for a moment because you probably, if you've been watching any kind of network news, you're seeing it. So let's talk about interest rates for just a moment. We started off the year at one, I'm sorry, at 3.1% on average for our 30 year mortgage. And right now we're sitting at 5.25, 30 year mortgage, and that's an average conventional loan.

They are going to differ a little bit, but that's just if you called a lender today and said, what's your 30 year mortgage? That's right around where they're going to quote you. So that's a pretty significant increase from 3.1 to five and a quarter. Now, what does that tell us? It tells us that buying power of a lot of buyers has gone down a little. All right? So if $500,000 house that they qualified for on a 3% rate, their qualifications may look a little bit different or their qualification may stay the same and their payment has increased, but here's a fun fact that is something worth bringing to you. And we're going to post after this live. I'll post it down into the comments, a graphic to hit hard and show you exactly what I'm talking about here. But historically when rates increase, now we're going back to the nineties.

So I'm going back a few years, but we're going back to the nineties and we're going to talk about historically when interest rates increase, what does that have to do with the market? Well, the market, the properties, the equity in people's houses tend to go up and that's an interesting, it really counters what our mindset might look like. If interest rates go up, property values would decrease, right? But that's exactly the opposite from historically what has happened.

And when interest rates go up, it actually gets a lot of buyers off the fence. And we know that rates are going to continue to climb. So we are seeing that a lot of buyers are trying to secure their properties. Whether it's a personal residence, whether it's a second home or an investment property, they're trying to go ahead and secure those at this time. So what does that do? It pushes buyers into the market. They want to get out of rentals. Rental prices have gone up crazy. If you're a rental, which I've been working with several this week, its hard to find a rental right now. In fact, I've got a lady in town who's wanting to rent, can't find a rental. So we're going to look at properties to purchase instead of renting for a year.

So, the rental prices are going up. It's pushing people out of being able to rent. So they're buying now versus six months from now when we know that interest rates are going to continue to go up. So it continues to drive the prices of home values up. And again, I'll share that graphic with you later this afternoon, when I'm back at the computer, with a couple of other ones that are interesting. But if you know of anybody that's looking to buy and sell in this market, send them over my way. Let's talk, let's have the conversation. Let's tap into the lender and just see what we can do. But I'm just here to report to you that the market is still strong. It is starting to soften a little bit, instead of all my listings, I'm getting 15 offers. I may only be faced with three or four. That's okay.

We're okay with that because we are going to get into a little bit normalized market, but the buyers are still there. If you're thinking about selling, now's the opportune time to do it. We're pushing into the summer months when a lot of families move. So let's talk, reach out to me at any time, make sure to follow me on social media at that SC real estate chick and on the web at the same, or by phone (843) 297-1935. If you want more information on this beauty behind me, let me know. I'd be glad to share the details. Have a great weekend.