2022 was the kind of real estate year we could be happy with every year. First and foremost, because we continue to attract the kind of clients we love to work with.
The team in 2022:
2022 was the best year ever for our office as a community. Our team of four were taking care of one another and working collectively better than ever. By June 2022, the new normal was exactly what we needed.
Mutual respect is particularly important for an office like ours. We work collaboratively, so we need to feel free to share ideas on how to best serve our clients without feeling competitive about other agents in the office. We need to depend on one another to be all-in for one another. We were working hard, and we were working together.
In the spring, we added a new trainee. She fit right in.
In July, we had a Groundhog’s Day in July party to replace the party we usually have in February. We had a good time and so did the clients who came. We felt that enough people would avoid an indoor party, so we changed the time so we could do it outdoors.
We are doing the same thing in 2023 because infection rates are still high enough to discourage some of our clients from enjoying our annual event in February. Our next year’s Groundhog’s Day card has been designed; it will arrive in our clients’ mailboxes in January or February.
Overall, our agents worked harder from January to June than from June to December. We had about an equal number of closings in both halves of the year.
The market in 2022:
June of 2021-June of 2022
This year was the toughest ever for buyers. There was buyer competition like we have never seen before. I’ve been doing exclusive buyer brokerage since the early 1990s, and I’ve never seen anything like this particular seller’s market. There was a housing shortage. There was still a backlog of buyers who had to, or really wanted to, move after the Covid lockdown. There was fear of rising interest rates (which came to pass!)
We started 2022 tired from the first six months of this terribly seller-favoring market of 2021. The slower winter months were a time to regroup, but we still weren’t ready for the storm that was spring 2022. It is a bit of a miracle that our team was so well tuned to one another that we were able tend to one another and get our clients cared for, no matter what. In 2022, airlines held up one agent three days, another for a week (on their return flights, of course!) Two agents got Covid on the same weekend! We covered one another, and our clients got what they needed from the team.
Bright spots in the terrible market were times when our relationships and reputation helped our clients prevail in competition. We had several instances where our clients had home inspection contingencies and won competitions against people who waived their home inspections. We had buyers with financing who won against cash buyers. Of course, our clients also lost many a competition in bidding wars.
Because of what we do, every offer takes us two hours or more to prepare. Market studies take time, and so does negotiation planning. Our agents were doing three or four offers every weekend (usually due on Monday or Tuesday) with many not succeeding. Then the next week, it started all over again. Wash, rinse, repeat. We didn’t lose faith, and neither did our clients. By June 2022, everyone was ready for a change. And, the change came!
June 2022 to December 2022
Our agents began to feel the wind shift away from the “sellers can sell anything” seller’s market, starting in the middle of May. The market was still seller-favoring, but not as lopsidedly so. By October, seller’s agents who overplayed their hands lost in negotiations with buyers who were more willing to walk away and wait for a better deal. There were still bidding wars; but there were also houses that were going unsold for months. Our clients had more negotiation power, and our agents capitalized on it.
First half, second half of 2022
When looking at the market and how it affected our ability to do what we do best, the first half of the year was hard. The second half was better. Our clients had more leverage, so we could get better outcomes for them. Because competition had gone down, we had fewer unaccepted offers. We had roughly the same number of successful purchases in the first half of 2022 and the second, but our clients and our agents spent less time and effort getting to the closing table once the market softened a little.
It’s not a buyer’s market. However, it is not nearly as lopsided as it was last spring. Even spokesfolk for big listing firms admit that properties are staying on the market longer and buyers have been able to exercise their right to inspection and mortgage contingency. We are hopeful that 2023 will be good to our buyers, and therefore to us.
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