Ron vs. the AI Chat Bots

Why Now Is the Best Time to Sell Your Home in Seattle (And How to Do It)

With all the talk about CHAT GPT and the big tech companies like Microsoft and Google investing north of $15 BILLION dollars in this new technology (that’s billions with a B), I thought I would do a little face off with our new computer overlords. I logged on to Google’s AI and asked it to write a post about the challenges a home owner would have selling right now in the Pacific Northwest.

I have to say, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

So instead of pretending like I wrote something I did not, I’ll tell you what the bot wrote and then respond with my real world expertise.

CHATBOT STARTS OUT

“Why Now Is the Best Time to Sell Your Home in Seattle (And How to Do It)“

Are you thinking of selling your home in Seattle? If so, you might be wondering if it’s a good time to do so, given the current state of the housing market.

The truth is, there’s never been a better time to sell your home in Seattle. According to the latest data from Norada Real Estate Investments, the median home price in Seattle rose 7.5% year over year, hitting $860,000 in July 2021. And the demand for homes is still high, as more people are moving to the city for its booming economy, vibrant culture, and natural beauty.

RON’S RESPONSE

This data is obviously a bit stale. But it is correct that July 2021 would have been the best time in most of our lifetimes to sell a home in the Pacific Northwest. Especially if you’d owned it for longer than 10 years.

What about now in the Spring of 2023? The metric used to see if it’s a buyer’s market or seller’s market is called Months of Inventory. A balanced market is 4-6 months of inventory. February 2023 in the NWMLS was 1.7 months. So it is still technically a Seller’s market even though price has dropped a few percentage points on average.

CHATBOT WEIGHS IN

I think it a great time to be a seller in and around Seattle. 
But selling your home in Seattle is not without its challenges. You might face some obstacles such as low inventory, price cuts, pandemic uncertainty, and fierce competition. These challenges can make it hard to sell your home fast and for top dollar.

RON’S RESPONSE

This is actually pretty solid advice from the bot if you’re a BUYER. We just discussed the low inventory – that’s actually a plus for sellers – not an obstacle. But we have seen price soften. 

The biggest issue impacting sellers right now has been the incredibly fast rise of interest rates over the last year. Every point of interest rate increase will decrease how much a buyer can afford by 10%. So going from 3% to almost 7% has dramatically decreased the buying power across the board. 

Having said that, mortgage applications have gone up 300% from February to March with our lender Mitch.loans. That indicates to me that buyers are finally accepting that this will be the new normal for the time being.

CHATBOT WEIGHS IN

That’s why we’ve created this blog post to help you overcome these challenges and sell your home successfully in Seattle. In this post, you’ll learn:

• How to price your home right and avoid price cuts
• How to prepare your home for sale during the pandemic
• How to stand out from the competition and attract more buyers

Ready to get started? Let’s dive in!

How to Price Your Home Right and Avoid Price Cuts

A challenge for home sellers in Seattle is pricing their homes correctly. You want to get the most money for your home, but you also don’t want to scare away potential buyers with an unrealistic price.

If you price your home too high, you might end up having to lower it later on, which can hurt your credibility and attractiveness as a seller. According to Redfin, about 47% of Seattle home sellers dropped their asking price in July 2021. And homes that had price cuts took longer to sell than those that didn’t.

So how can you price your home right and avoid price cuts?

Here are some tips:

• Do your research: Before listing your home, do some market research and find out how much similar homes in your area are selling for. You can use online tools such as Zillow or Trulia to get an estimate of your home’s value based on recent sales data.

RON’S RESPONSE

To the bot’s credit, this is not terrible advice. 

Managing emotions around price is crucial to be able to sell your home efficiently. When Don and I do a Sit Down, people always want to talk price. Knowing your algorithm numbers are important, but unless Zillow and Redfin have been inside your property, they are not very accurate most of the time. It can give you a range of prices that are LOOKING BACKWARD IN TIME. Becoming attached to a backward facing number can be painful in my opinion. It’s very important to know what is happing now in your neighborhood.

This is where Artificial Intelligence begins to lose its might. An algorithm can’t walk the property. An algorithm doesn’t have a team of contractors and trades people ready to tackle deferred maintenance. An algorithm doesn’t have a photographer, a stager, and you get my point.

I’m going to spare you the rest of the AI generated article. It had some good points, some outdated points, and some points that missed the mark.

It’s going to be interesting to see how this technology impacts the real estate business, but for now, if you want to sell your house in the real world, you will still need real life humans to do the work.

I’m hoping that if that’s you, Don and I can be your human team mates.

Now really is a great time to be a seller in the Pacific Northwest. Let’s do a Sit Down and talk about your goals soon.

Beep boop bop beep beep. 

Ron the human intelligence signing off.