On The House With John Armstrong
On The House With John Armstrong
(upbeat music) ♪ On the house with John Armstrong ♪ - Good morning, below no, you're listening to "On the House with John Armstrong." On City's 92.9, the news and talk of "Bolomie to Normal." If you've been under a rock, and this is the first time you're listening to the show, this is the show where Leah Bland and I get together every week and we talk about real estate, don't we? - Yes, we do, good morning. - See, I didn't have a gun to your head. We do talk about it. - I wanna be here. - You're here on your own free will. Okay, you don't need help. - Nope, I'm good. Thank you guys. - 'Cause if you need help, we have somebody today. We have a big helper from remax rising, from the JT home selling team, Jeff Todd, welcome to the show. - Thank you. I'm happy to be here. Good morning, everybody. Beautiful Saturday morning. - It is a beautiful Saturday morning, JT, and we've got a lot to talk about what's going on in the real estate business. We've had a big change in the last month, and we had a lot of big changes, and people were wondering how that was gonna affect the market. Now we've got about a month's worth of data behind us, and I can tell you, no big deal. Buyers are still looking at houses, even though they have to sign an agreement to get in the houses. Nobody's gotten hurt, everything's going great. People are sleeping at night, we're good, and the market just keeps on chugging. Interest rates are the story we wanna talk about though right now. - Yes, we do. They're coming down, folks. They are coming down. We as anticipated are seeing the interest rates go down. Now, I've said this for a bottom-up now. If interest rates go below 5.8, that this is gonna bring sellers out, because the sellers who have 4%, they weren't selling their home at 7% and going to a new rate. There's a magic number in there, and I believe that magic number is somewhere around that 5.8, and right now, folks, we are right at that rate. It all depends on what your credit is, but I've heard people as low, I'm gonna have lenders texted me after the show here, but I've heard as low as 5.625 with perfect credit. The number's coming down, and we're in the fives. A lot of people are qualifying for the fives. Now, if you qualify for the sixes, maybe you got a little ding on your credit, or maybe your loan amount, or maybe the loan program you're going with, but perfect situation, perfect waters. 5.625, we're hearing it, it's here. This is not an error, this is something that's happening, and it's going to affect our inventory. Now, most people think it's gonna be a negative effect, 'cause more buyers are gonna come out, but I believe it's the other way. I think we're gonna have more sellers coming out. It's gonna be a very active fall, if these rates hold, and we're going to see a second spring in Bloomington Normal, if that happens. - This fall, no doubt about it. I actually think, by the end of the year, we're gonna be in the fives always. - Across the board. - Across the board. It's not gonna be-- - I'm writing that down. - Because you're-- - Okay, write it down, I'm making a prediction. We're gonna be in the fives. - Okay, well, I love your prediction, and I have quit making predictions, because I have been wrong every single time. It feels like I'm always wrong when I make a prediction, looking in that crystal ball, and it's usually, I kind of have a gloom and doom, like, I'm always anticipating the worst and hoping for the best, and in this case, it's all coming to fruition, seeing the fives. - And everything I'm hearing in the news, as far as the fact goes, they just dropped it two days ago. - Right. - 5.5, right? - Yeah. - Half a point. - Well, not interest rates, but that affects the interest rates, right? - Yeah, the mortgage interest rates. - And there's gonna be another quarter they're predicting in November and December, so. But the way mortgage interest rates work, though, it's not always, you know, if they do a quarter percent drop, it doesn't mean the mortgage rates are dropping a quarter. - Correct. - Then this is sometimes that the markets have already anticipated what the drop's gonna be. What happened this week was the markets had anticipated a quarter percent drop, and when we actually had a half percent drop, then we saw the mortgage rates come down, so. And I think the mortgage rates probably came down more than a quarter percent than we were expecting, because based on the anticipated news that it's gonna come down another quarter a little later. So a lot of great things in real estate, our market keeps chugging along in the Bloomington normal, currently for existing homes. Now, to put some perspective on this, there's over 30,000 homes existing in Bloomington normal, over 30,000 homes. And the last data we saw was people move about every 10 years. So if you think about that, we should see somewhere around 3,000 homes selling every year. Currently, right now, in existing homes, we have 109 on the market in Bloomington normal. We have another 50 new construction, so we have a total of 159 options for people who wanna jump in the game. Now, how does that fare through history? And really, this is a new age of real estate. This is the low inventory age. Prior to COVID, we typically would have about 700 homes on the market in Bloomington normal. So to have 159 and say, wow, I'm excited 'cause we actually have some choices and inventory is going up, it's in perspective. Because when you're going through history, yeah, this is crazy, 159 is crazy low. But when we've been as low as 38. - Right, that's funny to me, John, because as you know, I've been in it almost four years now, real estate. And you've seen this low inventory. - When I got into the real estate, you're talking to 38, it's the 40 total homes. So to me, 109, this is insane inventory we got. It seems like, but I know it's not. - And you know what, of those 109, we're gonna be talking about some of those right now. - All right, so we have 506 East Street in anchor. It's listed for $429,900 by April Buckmore. And you can return at 309-660-7506. - See how bad I did there. I just, I said, we're gonna be talking about some of those homes in Bloomington Normal. I hand you one in anchor. But, you know, I just missed, looking at the map, I just missed why about 30. - Suburbs of Bloomington Normal. - Okay, so this is something that you don't get in Bloomington Normal. This house is on 5.61 acres. It's a beautiful walkout ranch. Four bedrooms, two and a half baths. They have an above ground pool, large play set. Tons of major updates, including, since 2017, including the roof, HVAC, all the windows were replaced, drinking water system, just a lot of great things with the huge yard for 429. - All right, up next, we have 2205 Brace Bridge Road in Bloomington. It's listed for $350,000 by Jeff Todd or JT. - Yeah, we don't want to give them, yeah. Just some guy. - And his phone number is 309-531-0548. And he's also doing an open house tomorrow. 10 to, or 1030 to 12. - That's today. - That is today. - He's doing it today. He's leaving the shower. - We originally had it Sunday. We've removed it Saturday. - Perfect. - So what we just did? - Yeah. This is a beautiful whole mountain, Heartland Hills, just out, it's in Bloomington, but it's out in the country a little bit. Four bedroom, three and a half bath, story and a half. The interior is immaculate. It's a beautiful home, great sunsets, no backyard neighbors. Get out and see this, get the kids ready, have breakfast, get them ready for soccer or football and go see the open house. 1030 to noon. - Look at you planning the day. - All right, up next, we have 36 Chatsford Court in Bloomington. It's listed for $290,000 by Melissa Sorenson. And you can return it 309-261-4081. She's also doing an open house today, 10 to 1130. - I love these houses over here in the Rolling Brook Park area. This is a ranch home, so many updates. As you enter, you're greeted by a spacious foyer with slate tile, large hall closet, new LVP flooring throughout the main level. Family room has a gas lock fireplace, or I'm sorry, a gas fireplace and wood beams, creating an inviting space, large living room and dining room perfect for entertainment. Innersome windows throughout the home, spacious kitchen. Again, this is very close to the Rolling Brook Park area. So get out there and see this one today. - All right, up next, we have 21 Ashling Court in Bloomington. It's listed for $279,900 by Daniel Carcasson. You can reach him at 309-310-5949. - Okay, well, we have here's a four bedroom, three bath duplex on a cul-de-sac. That means quiet. This home comes with a first floor primary bedroom, 16-foot ceilings and the living room, nice fireplace, new carpet on stairs and upstairs. Get out and see this one as soon as you can. - You're listening to On The House with John Armstrong. On the city, he's 92.9, the news and talk. Blow me to normal. Leah, I wanna make a bet with you. - Oh gosh, okay. - I wanna bet that JT and I are gonna agree on man cave ideas and we might even, and we might even agree on, we like outdoor man caves. - Okay. - We might even agree on that, but let's talk about some man caves. - Okay, yes. So we have some features for your ultimate man cave. So this is for inside, but a home theater set up, I think would be kind of cool. Like having a projector. - JT, I think I'm in for that. - I like to watch movies, I like to watch my shows. JT's a big documentary guy. - A documentary guy, comedies. And right now I'm in the middle of watching the sopranos, actually, only because I just watched the documentary two episode series of The Wise Guys and how they made the sopranos. - Okay, so Amanda and I have started the sopranos from the beginning, we're on season one, episode four, so. - Did you watch the documentary? Do I gotta do that first? - That's the only reason I went back to watching sopranos again was because I watched this documentary. I watched it years ago. - Anyway, back to real estate. - All right, let's do that. - Well, you can watch that show in your home theater. I was thinking like a recliner. - See how we got there, we're talking home theaters when we started talking about recliners, okay. - Even like those recliners that have like the built in. - Love those. - USB cords, you can charge your phone, nice lighting. - I think a recliner in a home theater is just about the most comfortable place. That's just chilling and watching a movie in your own dark space. - I think that's just the ultimate. - Perfect, love it. I also think next, having like a game zone, kind of like for games. - And here's where we're at. - Yeah, well, and I was thinking 'cause you guys like to golf. I think it'd be cool to have like a putting green spot, like in your basement. - Yes, you are running my mind. - But it's fun, like you're just drinking, hanging out in your basement. Let's do some putting, let's practice, yeah. - We probably wouldn't need to drink to do that. We, JT and I probably would be spending more time down there. - That would be our kitchen, how people spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Ours would be on the putting green. - It's about the only thing I work on in my golf game. - It's the putting, chipping. - Some of the best mancays I've seen have the putting green, and then they maybe have a hitting area of some sort, maybe even the indoor course, the indoor. - The simulator. - Oh yeah, I have that. - Right course is all over the country. - Or on here, I was thinking like the simulators. - Oh, the simulators are cool. - You can put that on your projector and you're right, and then it will, yeah, there you go. - Yeah, that would be, I mean, yeah, you can hit the ball, you can hit the ball into the screen. Oh wow, okay, I'm with you on that. - Ideas, yes. - But then I gotta move the, I gotta move those couches, those comfy chairs out of the way to be able to hit. - Yeah, true, we'll just put them on wheels. - You got the right size basement. You've got two sizes, John. - Okay, okay. - I also think having like a custom like pool table or just, even you could have like poker table. That could be really cool. - Yeah, I think JT and I are gonna agree the poker table would be nice. - Yeah, both actually. - I grew up with a pool table. - I grew up with a pool table. - I used to play the game. - Yeah, I'm not any good, JT. - You'd have to teach me how again though. - Yeah, you're trying to be custom for money. - Especially if you want a gamble. - You're trying to hustle me from money, I know that one. Yeah, I'm gonna pass on that. - Also like Pacman, those like kind of older machines and you're, I'm thinking basement, but-- - Girl, you're going back to my life. - I think you'll be so fun. - Yeah, like TV and Jears, Pacman and pinball. - Yeah, that would be awesome. - You and I, we'll do the gambling on Miss Pacman. - You got it. - I'm in. - Okay, all right. - Also, I think kind of having like a beverage station. So this can be a bar at your bar or even coffee bar, a beer frame. - You have me at bar. - John, what would I want? - You would probably want a soda machine. - A fountain Pepsi machine. - Yeah, a soda machine. - Oh, now it's a good idea. - A fountain Pepsi. - He's not a drinker. - No, I'd put a Dr. Pepper in too, 'cause both my sons like Dr. Pepper. So when they come to visit, I'd like to accommodate them. - That was a good idea actually. I didn't have that on here. - It is, having the fountain soda, having the popcorn machine off the bar. I love that. - Oh yeah. - Yeah, that's, but yeah, the wet bar seems to be like a feature that every guy wants to have and there's a lot of people who've had 'em and that's been an integral part of their house and there's a lot of people who, that's the place to fold clothes and you never use it. So, yeah, I love the bar and I think it's all in the setup of how the basement is if you're gonna use it. - I agree. Having like the mini fridge, you could even do like a, what are they called, like not a keg, but like draft beer. - Kegorator. - Yeah, the kegorator. - Yeah, you could do that too on your table. Those look cool. - Okay, now that we're talking kegorator, we're gonna take a break and I'm gonna go have a little drink and we're gonna come back and see if the show can stay on the wheels. We'll be right back. ♪ I'm the house with John Armstrong ♪ - Welcome back. You're listening to On The House with John Armstrong. On city's 92.9, the news and talk of Bloomington Normal. Dropped in, hanging out with Lee and I, Jeff Todd JT from the JT home team at Reamax Rising. Welcome to the show again, JT. - Hi, Joy. - I love being here. - I love having you. - I'm honored to have me here. - I am honored to have you here. - Yeah, so do do do do. - And just be able to just talk real estate. And some of the things as a real estate market changes and when I'm talking about changes, I'm going back 25 years. And 25 years ago, realtors were using the MLS books and there was no online, there was one picture and now there's been so much advancement, realtors are putting 50, 70 pictures out online and as the business has transformed over the last 25 years, different metrics of measuring the business and different statistics have emerged. And one of those things that we do at Reamax Rising on a weekly basis is we look at how much people are negotiating in each price point. And as we get a little bit further in the year, and the market again has taken another shift in the last week where we're seeing a lot more activity 'cause the interest rates did take a dip. So this may be a, this may change as we get later into the year, but what we've noticed is every category, and let me tell you normal, the list to sales price ratio is going down. Now, still we're averaging about 100%. People are averaging asking price. But three months ago, four months ago, we were looking at 105%, some price points 106%, many price points 104%. So what that means when you're talking about an average sales price in the high 200s is, you might get about a $10,000 difference if you jump in the game right now, based on what you would pay if we had multiple offers on the houses. And why is that, you know, why number one, the weather changes, but still, the weather this weekend and the weather this past week is no different than what we had in the summer. So this is, it's kind of a summer climate. So people can't use the excuse that I don't want to move in the wintertime. And with interest rates being what they are, I believe we're in for, we're in for another spring here as we head into the second half. And so as we head late into the second half of the year. So those of you who are thinking, okay, we packed it in for the year in real estate. We've given up on it. We're going to come back in March. You might want to think again, 'cause this might be the market where you can jump in and get that low interest rate, have a little bit of inventory. And as a seller, you might really want to consider it because you're going to have a whole lot more competition if these rates keep dropping. - Yeah, that's the biggest factor, I believe on these ratios of price to list price. As interest rates keep going down, the price you pay for that home's going to go up 'cause there's more competition. - Yeah, I would pay. - It's the overall supply and demand, right? I would rather pay $10,000 more for a house and get a half a percent less interest rate. - Absolutely. - My payment's going to be less. It's all about the payment. - Correct. - But of course, when you make money on your real estate, it's all about how you purchase it. So if you want to get kind of a perfect world right now, you're in the window to get kind of the perfect scenario, get that low interest rate, have some choices to look at. And we've got quite a few new houses to hit the market. We're going to talk about a few of them right now. All right, so we have 1714 Bryan Street in normal. It's listed for $210,000 by Shannon Smith. And you can return it 309-310-9993. And then she is doing an open house today at 1030 to 12. - Okay, this is a split level four bedroom, two bath. It has a lot of modern updates, spacious layout. The main level has three bedrooms, a full bath. The kitchen is equipped with a new refrigerator and stove in 2021. The living room and dining room space open to the deck, making it ideal for entertaining. Brand new carpet added throughout much of the main level. The newly renovated lower level includes a fourth bedroom and additional full bath. The two additional flex bases are great for additional family room. This is for $210,000 guys. I'm going to tell you the split level homes and the low 200s are getting gobbled up very quick. If you have one and you're thinking about selling, go to remexirizing.com and find a realtor because this type of house doesn't last long. - All right, up next we have 1310 Clover Lane in normal. It's listed for $230,000 by Aubrey Graves. You can return 815-641-3830. - Okay, what we have here is a nice open concept, three bedroom, two and a half bath home located on a spacious corner of the lot. - Was that war tripping you up? - Yeah, that was-- - B-A-T-H. - My bath was tripping me up, John. I was reading ahead, actually. - Okay. - Spacious corner lot, another nice home corner lot in a great neighborhood in normal. The large kitchen, back deck and two-card detached garage all added to the charm, well-kept home, all three bedrooms, including the master bed and bath, can be found on the main level, nice. - All right. Up next we have 1507 West Market Street in Bloomington. It's listed for $89,900 by Allison Smith. You can return at 309-826-8614. - All right, investor or first time home buyer, this is your opportunity. It's a two bedroom with a walkup attic, oversized one-card deep. You got a garage at under $100,000, this is great. The water heater is less than a year old. The roof is 12 to 15 years old. Some ceiling fans and fixtures have been replaced. While at 89,000, this is gonna be a great rental. This is gonna be maybe even a flip opportunity or a great first time home buyer home. - All right, up next we have 505 East Summit Street in Normal. It's listed for $214,900 by Jen Johnson. You can return at 309-472-9687. - This is not too far from you, JT, is it? - Where's this located, John? - I think it's on Summit Street, aren't you close to me? - Yeah, fairly close to Summit. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is a four charming four bedroom home with so many updates having been completed. This is actually cool, folks. It's a four bedroom, one and a half bath, but new appliances in 2022. Updates include AC 2022 furnace, 2008. Hot H20 roof, 2016. Those are all big ticket items, and when you're looking for a home that's a little older, not a newer home. That's huge because you don't have to worry about replacing them. - All right, doesn't get in your pocket. - Those are big ticket items. - Right. You're listening to On The House with John Armstrong on the city's 92.9, the news and talk. Let me tell you normal. Okay, I love this topic, we're talking mancaves. Now, where we left off in the first part of the show is mentally I was golfing in my basement. - Yes, for sure. I think next, going to the garage, kind of having like a tool station. - Okay. - If you're kind of like. - Okay, so here's where I'm gonna tell you, JT and I are gonna agree, we're not big tool guys. We can probably get all our tools in the corner and it's gonna take up about 18 inches. - John, what's funny about that? For some reason, about 15 years ago, my wife thought I was a tool guy. I have a shed full of tools, and every once in a while, you some of them? - I was just taught, had breakfast with my, what would that be, my wife's brother? So my brother-in-law is morning. (laughing) - I see how difficult that was to put together. - He's visiting from Florida and he's very, very handy. And I told him, hey dude, you wanna come back sometime, stay for a month. I'm a handy, but you're the man that can help me fix this. - That's right, I got the tools too. - I got all the tools, you don't have to bring it in. - Well, if you guys were thinking of having a workshop, you can kind of have like a heavy-duty workbench. - I've seen a lot of the built-in things that are- - Yes. - And the guys who are tool guys and garage guys, it's one of the things that they fall in love with at the house. - Yeah, actually, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. - No, you're good. - But the whole my just sold last month, I believe it was, a good friend of mine, can I use his name? Elston Mitchell. - Yes. - In his basement, Elston's- - He's a handy guy. - A team tinker with golf. - Yes. - He reshaps clubs, regrips on- - Oh, wow. - Yeah, he has a whole setup. - So he has a whole station, he bought a new home, and that was one of the first things we had to make sure he had the right space for that. - Right. Oh yeah, having the space, I mean, if it's already there and it's already laid out and you can use your garage, or even we'll go into the basement for your man, Kate. - Yeah, I've worked too. - Yeah, I've seen a lot of just shops in the basement, and they're real good selling points for the people who appreciate that. - And there's a lot more modern designs that you can do, and just to say organize. So like a good lighting system, or even like Bluetooth technology, which would be kind of cool. - Yeah, oh, I love the technology. And then if we're going technology in the man cave. - Oh gosh. - Yeah, you're getting me excited now. - Next, I have kind of lighting. So I was thinking, just setting the mood for the man cave, not that I don't think you guys really can. - Yeah, I think we're always- - What? - Wait, we're always in the same mood. We want to drink and we're hungry. - Yes, exactly. - Yes. - But I was thinking like cool LED lights, so you could change the color. So based on, say the bears are playing, you want like orange and blue, you know? - Yeah, turn on the bright red for the cardinal ball game, right? - Yeah, for sure. - Hello, cardinal fan. (laughing) - But also, I think having that dimming system, and I'm thinking like basement or garage, being able to dim the lights based on like, are we partying, are we playing golf? - It does set the mood, yeah. - So that could be nice. - And sometimes we can party while we play golf. - Exactly. - I like that. - Exactly. - What do we do, have a strobe light? - Strobe lights, yeah. Next, I think being able to soundproof these areas. - Yes. - Could be very useful for like, the rest of the family. - Especially now, my vision of the man cave is the simulator with the putting. - It's worth in the basement, yeah. - When you're having balls banging against the screen, it's probably some, having the soundproofing, so the rest of the house, so people can watch TV upstairs. Otherwise, you're gonna be creating a big annoyance. - Yeah, even for the theater, watching a movie. I feel like you can hear that upstairs, so. - Yeah, you're gonna hear it right through it. - Let's sound for a fit. - Yeah, and that's the floor, that's the walls, that's the ceilings, that's everything. - There's even like soundproofing curtains. So I don't know if you have like a curtain for like, your windows or even just to make a space difference. - Oh yeah, it's amazing, curtains can have our value, they can have sound deafening, don't forget curtains if you're thinking about, if you have a challenge. - And I think next to just the right furniture, so we're thinking cozy, we're just chilling, I'm thinking like even in the garage, have you ever had a couch in your garage? - No, but I have a friend who, that's the first thing he does. - We do, too. - Every time he moves, he turns his garage into the second family room. - It's the best, and just putting a TV in there and having a couch and you can put your feet up, like. - Oh yeah, it's nice. - There is something to that, using a space that's not used, I mean, at my house, we use, we watch more TV outside than we do anywhere, whether permitting. And there's just something too, sitting outside, we're having the TV out, I mean, it's just, it's different. - That's funny, we're getting ready to install one, you know my backyard, it's kind of peaceful, quiet, beautiful trees, and my wife's out there all the time and I can't stand it 'cause I can't watch my documentaries. - Yep, but, we're putting a TV in there. - Yeah, there you go. - It's a game changer. - Yeah, you're gonna love it. - Even just like, I think like an L-shape could be cool on your outside, like deck. They have like heated chairs for like outside. - Really? - Ooh, I mean, that one. - If it gets a little colder, like-- - JT's always cold. - Yeah. - I was concerned about my shorts in the studio this morning. - Oh my God. - He doesn't have any meat on those bones. - But even having like the Wi-Fi phone chargers, wireless phone chargers, the Bluetooth speakers. - Yeah, okay. - Can really upgrade your space. - I need to make sure. - Now what I would say to that, okay. The Wi-Fi and all that. I believe when we're socializing, we should put those phones down. - Okay. - We don't need that. - Well, I know for sure. - But if you want some music, you gotta have the Wi-Fi, you gotta have the-- - It's true. - My phone can be my pocket. - Turn it on and leave it. - Yeah, we gotta have that vibe. - If you're gonna hang with JT, I want you to be with JT. - Phones off. - You need to be present if you're with JT. He's pretty demanding and he's very high maintenance. - Also, if we're talking about like outside backyard, adding those lights too. Those little like fairy lights. - Yes. - Just good lighting is just always nice. - You have nice lighting in your backyard, JT. You have very nice lighting. - Yeah, you can thank my wife, absolutely. - She knows. - We have nice lighting in our backyard. - I just install it. She designs it. - Yeah, we kind of have the same situation. I had no clue what I was doing. She's like, okay, staple this here, staple this here, staple this in. Next thing I know, it looks great. - Yeah. - Yeah, but having that man cave lighting, that's probably where my man cave is in our house. - You know what else you need on the outside one? - What? - The pizza oven. - Ooh. - I'll go with the pizza oven. - Yeah. - That's a great idea. - Yeah, we've got just a little portable one, but it's awesome. - So the last break, we're going to take a break. So the last break I went and I told everybody I was going to drink. Now I'm going to go get a piece of pizza. - Nice to meet you. - We're going to come back here. Keep it right here. We'll be right back. (upbeat music) ♪ On the house with John Armstrong ♪ - Welcome back here listening to On the House with John Armstrong on the city. He's 92.9, the news and talk of Bloomington Normal JT from the JT home team or Jeff Todd as he's also known by some has joined Leah and I in studio and we're talking what's going on in central Illinois real estate because that's what's on everybody's mind. I might be exaggerating just a little bit, but some people probably have it on their mind. Now there's some people who are just sitting in their home and saying, I'm not making a move. I just want to listen to see what's going on with my property value. Now I'm going to tell you that there's different times of the year where your property's worth more. And it really is based on how many houses you're competing with and how much demand there is. That's what's going to determine your value of your house. Now if you have your house on the market in a time where there's 10 buyers and you're the only competition and you have no competition, you're the only house, then that's a really good time for you to be on the market. Now if there's 15 buyers and there's 10 houses, that's not a great time to be on the market because not all 15 of those buyers are going to pull the trigger. So you've got to look at your ratios and understanding the stats, how they work for you, especially as we change into a fall market. Now right now what I'm anticipating over the next six weeks is it's going to be a really good time to be a seller and blow me to normal. Typically you don't think that in the fall. Why do I think that is because we're going to have more buyers coming out because of interest rates have taken a drop. We're going to see a lot of buyers who said, I'm packing it in for the year, but oh wait, I can get a percent less. I'd buy a $200,000 house and my payment goes down $2,000 a year because I got 1% less interest rate. I'd buy a $400,000 house and I'm paying $4,000 less a year in interest. Yeah, that's going to get people back in the game. So having inventory for those people who want to come back in the game, I think that inventory is going to be created by the people who have been sitting on the sidelines saying, hey, I've outgrown this house, but I really love my 4% interest rate. Well, now you're not giving up as much. If you're going to something in the high fives, it's not as damaging as it would be if you were going to seven or seven and a half or even eight. You know, the last two years, we've seen the biggest swings in interest rate at any point in history, my history that dates to 1996. I wasn't born in 1996, but my real estate history of since 1996, these are the two biggest years of swing 'cause we saw in both years, we saw interest rates in the eights and we saw interest rates in the fives. Last year, we saw interest rates in the fours. So having that big swing, if you're looking at timing it, so you're at the bottom, you're at the bottom. I mean, if rates do go down from where they're at right now, they're not going down that much. And if they do, you can refinance when they do, but right now is the time you want to lock in. And we've got a couple of houses that we want to get sold this weekend. Well, actually, we just got one house and we've got a couple of lots that we want to talk about. - All right, so we have 109.02 Jane Lane in Covelle. It's listed for $145,000 by Kenley Kaser shot. You can reach him at 309.532.1017. He's also doing an open house today, one to 230. - Jane Lane, I like that. - Jane Lane out in Covelle. Nice little community just out in just west of Bloomington. Three bedroom, one bath. It's a rare find. Folks seldom does a house come up for sale in this peaceful community of Covelle. And that's true. I've been shopping out there myself for a while. Get out and see Kenley. He's a great guy. Open house, one to 230 today. - All right, up next we have a couple of lots in a Fox trot trail in Bloomington. And they are listed for $70,000 by Dan Canary. You can reach him at 309.8262473. - I think that spells bird at his last four 'cause he's canary. You see it? - Oh, okay. - Canary, you see what he did there? - I always hear you say that and I'm like, wait. - Yeah, man, canary, that's right. Okay, so we got two buildable duplex lots here that have hit the market. So really a total of four lots or four duplexes could be built. It's in the Fox Hollow subdivision on the South end of Bloomington Normal. There's zero lot line lots. It's a great opportunity for an investor that wants to come in and throw a couple of spec properties up. They'd have to be the zero lot lines, but it's a great opportunity for you to get four. I mean, really, if you're thinking about building a duplex, $35,000 a lot is very, very cheap. So great opportunity for you. You're listening to On The House with John Armstrong on Cities 92.9, the news and talk of Bloomington Normal. Like I said, we are in an inventory short market and when we have inventory short markets, our buyers have needs and they can't always find them on the MLS. So we go to the extremes of doing a radio show that so we can get our clients wants and needs out there and play matchmaker with some of our listeners. - Yep, all right. So Shannon Smith is looking for something in Leroy up to $200,000 with three beds, two baths and a two car garage is a plus. She's also looking for something in unit five schools. It's gonna be a four bed, two bath, two car garage and a nice sized yard. She's also looking for something with some character up to $300,000. She's also looking for something in Founders Grove up to $225,000 and it can just be a two bed in one bath if nicely updated. She's also looking for something in Hedgewood subdivision priced up to $425,000. It can eat a few improvements and the buyer's gonna pay cash. Lastly, she's looking for a three bed, two bath home with an attached garage in Bloomington Normal up to $300,000. If you have this, you can reach Shannon at 309-310-9933. - Shannon's working with a lot of buyers. I like that. - I was gonna say, heck folks, if you're thinking about selling. - Call Shannon. - Call Shannon or give me a call. I'll be happy to help you out too. - You'll be happy to call Shannon for it. Anyway, I also have some buyers looking for a three bedroom, minimum one and a half bath, two car garage would be a plus, nice beautiful backyard, and they wanna be in the Founders Grove area. - Okay. - It can be just outside of Founders Grove. - I love that charm. - Between that Washington street and towards Lakeside. - They wanna be around older charming homes. - Old charming homes, that's correct. And they're an awesome couple. - So give me a call. - What's your number? - 309-531-0548, JT. - Let's talk mancays, JT. - Mancays. - What do you wanna talk about, Johnny? - I'm thinking more of the garage, again, we're moving. This is for the auto lovers, 'cause if you love cars, I think having kind of like, this is a little crazy, but a two post car lift, if you work on cars, I feel like that'd be kinda cool. I don't know. - At 18, I have a buddy who built a spec home and he had a big garage and the new buyers of it were putting a lift in, it was a six car garage. - Oh, wow. - But then with the lift, you could probably get 10 cars in there, the guy loves-- - Yeah, I think something like this, like you're saying, that has to be a detached garage. - Yeah. - It's not the garage, it's to mark your cars. - This is someone, yeah. - A buddy did an attached, but yeah. Seriously detached. - Just a lot of storage too, I think, and that could be cool, like a tire storage of like racks. Also, epoxy floors. - Oh yeah. - Could be a plus, it's really fun to have in there. - Yeah, I love the finished look of an epoxy floor. - It's so nice. - When people ask me, "Should we paint our garage?" Personally, you're asking the wrong guy, 'cause I'm gonna say yes. I love the look of a finished garage. I just feel like, especially the person who wants to spend a lot of time out there, they can really-- - Yeah, if you're gonna live out there and spend a lot of your time out there, I agree, 100% of most people parked the car and go in, right? - Yeah. - But I love the epoxy floor. - I do too, we have, at our house, we have the rubberized flooring that has the drainage through it, and I just love that. I love being able to just go out there, and every once in a while, I'll run my blower, and that's how I clean it. And it's just a nice finished look. It was one of the things that attracted me to the house when we bought it. - I also think for garages, having that smart garage opener that's just on your phone, super nice, just in general, being able to open your garage from your phone, we have that, I love it, it's so easy. - So, I have that, but I also have it, of course I drive a Rivian, so I have it right there on my screen, I just touch on my display, - Oh, that's cool. - Where my radio's at, I just, I touch it and my garage door just goes up. The technology is fantastic, this is not a plug for the Rivian cars, but the technology is fantastic. - But they do have that technology, so you might want to look at a Rivian. - You see our GTC, we're going to get, we're going to throw a sponsor of this show, you know it. - Next, I think climate control, and this is also for your garage, just having that temperature control, even like a fan in your garage. - So, what we have is we have the gas heater, now we don't run it a lot, but if I'm going to be spending any time out there in the summer, we're opening the doors and letting the air come through, but in the winter time, we have the gas, and it's nice just to have that set on like 40 degrees, and when you come in, at least so the snow will melt, I hate even talking about snow, when it's such a real much. - That is so scary. - But it's just nice to have that, 'cause you don't want to have the chunks falling off, and especially with the drainage that we have floor system we have, having that heat, it all runs right out. - That's a great deal. - Yeah, that's really nice. In the winter months, when the snow comes. - But even in fall time, like I can imagine watching football in the garage, having that heater on would just be nice sitting on your couch in your garage. - Yeah, I think this is fun. - I'll be out in the back. And I don't know if we have a way to heat our back patio. - A fireplace? - Okay, we can do that. - Yeah, that'd be nice too. - Yeah, I don't know how good it is to have a fireplace on a deck, but we'll, I don't know if it's fun. - I mean, you can get one of those gas ones like we have in ours, John. - Yeah. - Do you have a friend? - Yeah, a patio heater. - A patio, okay. - Oh yeah, those are nice, like the big ones. - Like the big ones. - The patio heater, I love that. - Okay, there we go. I kind of want to move more into like the technology, smart gadgets. - Me too. - For your home. So just like the TV, Amazon Fire TV. - Oh yeah. - Like that's so nice. - Oh yeah, we have all that stuff and the voice room talk remote, so I can just get on a set, put on Netflix and I don't have to push the buttons. I love it. Well, you, we ran out of time, can you believe that? - I can't. - It flew by. - JT time flies when you're having fun. We're having fun, JT, how can people get hold of you? - You can get a hold of me either Jeff at the JThometeam.com, or three oh nine, five, three, one, zero, five, four, eight. - Thanks for tuning in and remember, rematch rising has more knowledgeable agents.
John talks with JT this week on the housing market for Bloomington.