NEVER A PROBLEM 'TIL IT'S A PROBLEM

WELCOME

Hey, y’all. I know I’m always chipper as I welcome everyone each week, but if there were ever a time to be somber, it’s now, as so many people are dealing with the aftermath of the devastating Hurricane Helene. At my house, I had a collapsed ceiling in the guest room, but considering what others are going through, I am grateful for getting off so lightly. So, today we’re going to talk about the aftermath of dealing with a disaster, literally and metaphorically.

THE REALITY OF REAL ESTATE

Mean, Mean Helene

Helene was a Category 4 storm, the likes of which a lot of places had never before seen. I mean, look at Asheville, NC. At something like 300 miles from the coast and 2,100 feet above sea level up there in the Blue Ridge Mountains, everyone would assume this would be the last place to be so badly impacted. I’m sure people there thought that maybe there’d be excessive rainfall from the outer bands, but nothing like the punishment and utter destruction they received.

Moody’s Analytics predicts that this will have been one of the most costly storms on record, with damage estimates ranging from $15 to $26 billion dollars, which is just so staggering, not to mention the lost economic input. Per Moody’s, that’s likely another $5 to $8 billion. Yet those figures pale in comparison when we look at the loss of life. My prayers go out to everyone impacted.

How will this impact insurance and, ultimately, home ownership? Per an article on CBS News:

The average annual premium for a Florida homeowner is $5,500 — about 140% higher than the average U.S. homeowner's insurance premium of $2,285, according to Bankrate. The spike in costs sometimes leads people to forego insurance altogether, with some Florida residents telling CBS Miami that they've been socked with rates reaching $20,000 per year. 

With extreme weather becoming more frequent and destructive due to climate change, homeowners in parts of the U.S. facing mounting risks are likely to see significantly higher insurance costs in the years ahead, according to a June paper from experts at the University of Wisconsin and University of Pennsylvania. 

“Property insurance serves as the front line of defense against climate risk for homeowners and real estate investors," the researchers noted. "By 2053, we estimate that climate-exposed homeowners will be paying $700 higher annual premiums due to increasing wildfire and hurricane risk.”

So batten down the hatches, folks, I suspect we’re in for choppy seas. Let’s get into that in the next section.

STORY TIME WITH GLENNDA

Where’s the Light at the End of the Tunnel?

There’s an expression that goes something like, “All of politics is local.” Well, the same holds true for real estate. For me, I had three deals that were supposed to close on Friday morning and in the aftermath of the storm, the insurance refused to bind them. Without that insurance piece, we literally could not close on any of them.

At first, I’d made the mistake of assuming that the buyers had not been timely about getting in their requests. But then Evelyn in my office said, “Oh, no, it’s that four days ago, the insurance company had already gotten the head’s up about the storm, so they did not fund the policies.” Then, by the time that Thursday got here, the day before closing, we knew that Atlanta was going to take a direct hit, so most all the insurance companies did a stay.

Think about it—let’s say you close on your home at 9:00 am and your new place gets hit by a hurricane at noon. As the buyer, it would be on your insurance to cover it. (Spoiler alert: they would not like to have to do that, so it stands to reason why they do a stay.) A lot of people don’t realize that you can’t get insurance with impending weather like that and there’s no getting around it. The good news is, once we determined the homes were fine, we were able to close in the afternoon.

Insurance rates are rising, not just because of weather events but also because of inflation, labor shortages, and how quickly some of these metro areas are growing. I’m telling y’all, it’s feeling like a lot. My own insurance almost doubled and I haven’t had a claim, not on my car and not on my home. When my basement flooded, I paid that $7,500 clean-up bill myself because I was afraid if I submitted it to my insurance, they’d jack up my rates at best, and cancel my policy at worst.

Here’s where all of this starts to feel a little insidious. Imagine this—you’re a senior and you’ve retired to Florida. Let’s say you bought down there when you retired in your 60s and now you’re in your 80s. You’re on a fixed income. What we’re seeing is so many of the elderly who can no longer afford to live where they’re living because suddenly the insurance, taxes, and HOA fees have skyrocketed. They’re finding themselves in positions where they’re being forced to sell. It’s almost like this is orchestrated re-gentrification because the costs have climbed so high that the regular people who’d been there forever can’t afford it. They’re made to sell, often at a loss, and then Wall Street comes in and scoops these places up. It just doesn’t feel right.

So many of us in this business have been looking for the light at the end of the tunnel, but oh, my stars and stripes, on days like today it feels like that light may well be a freight train.

The market feels strange right now, largely because it’s doing exactly what I predicted it would do. I thought we’d be hopping until September and then things would come to a screeching halt as we creep closer to the election, and that’s what I’m seeing. My solution is what I talked about last week—spending the next 90 days mastering something. Get it down, get it under your belt, get yourself new knowledge and an improved skill because those 90 days are going to pass regardless.

The one thing I can promise you from having sold real estate since Jesus was a baby is that everything is temporary. Whatever feels awful and hard now won’t last. The metaphorical bad weather will change eventually. So take this time to up your skills because when the sun comes out again, I want you ready for it to shine upon you. (And now, I’ll leave y’all with a little laugh because we need it.)

@glenndabaker

A little throwback Thursday to that day the house flooded! I swear i cant make this stuff up! #GlenndaBaker #RealEstate #AtlantaRealEstate... See more

GLENNDA’S GURU

Welcome, Holly Meyer Lucas

Today I would love for y’all to help me welcome my lovely friend, Holly Meyer Lucas! What a superstar Holly is! She is a major player in the Sports and Entertainment real estate space and works with all kinds of high-profile celebrities. She’s a huge player in the south Florida real estate landscape and has more than half a billion dollars in homes sold… pretty impressive for someone who started in 2015 with a $500 budget for Open House signs and business cards. Her team has been ranked #1 in Palm Bach County by RealTrends and the Wall Street Journal. Y’all do not want to miss this one, because this gal is in a league of her own!

Thank you a half billion, Holly!

GLENNDAISM

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A Favorite

How many of us got into this business because we just wanted to look at pretty houses? Sometimes you just want to walk in and have the home take your breath away. Well, this East Cobb house is a place that I listed and it made my heart smile every time I drove up to it. We sold it, and I’ll never forget it.

Remember, with Homes.com, it’s your listing, your lead