When we closed our last two deals of the year on Thursday, we hit 100 closed transactions. Our total closed volume for 2021 was 185 million and our average sales price was 1.85M. Our highest priced sales were houses in Hancock Park and our lowest priced sales were condos and a cabin in Big Bear for 500k that’s a cash cow right now! We love what we do and representing every property was a total treat!
When we’re in our meeting rhythm and doing meetings right, every Thursday we gather for a retro meeting where we start with our wins for the week, and then we move on to what we could have done better, and we end with what we’re going to learn and do differently the following week. I love that my team has a strong growth mindset, feedback is objective and taken as an opportunity, and as a group we love working to high standards. What I most look forward to in 2022 is working with a new coach who will push us to learn and to grow more as humans, professionals, and members of a collaborative team. My most favorite thing in life is to learn and grow!
I have an insatiable wanderlust and Bora Bora has been on my list of places to visit for the longest time! I finally visited this week and it was even more amazing in life than it is in pictures or online! It’s fascinating to see humans in different parts of the world. The 12,000 people who live in Bora Bora all know each other and most of them are related. There’s no crime because they all know each other and there’s nowhere to go with whatever is stolen. Most of the residents come from families who lived on the island for over 10 generations. Their whole mainland is 20 miles in circumference and they have a market, a hardware store, and a pharmacy. For all other needs, they’re a two hour boat ride away from a neighboring island with more infrastructure. There’s no doctor or hospital on their island; there’s a special dock at the airport for boats arriving with a passenger who needs emergency evacuation and they’re taken by helicopter. Because it’s tropical, the trees feel straight out of a Dr. Seuss book, and they’re overloaded with coconuts, pineapples, mangoes, and papayas. The reason people visit Bora Bora is for the almost indescribably magnificent striped blue water that’s crystal clear; from a boat you can see into the water as if looking through glass; it’s teaming with stingrays, sharks, and a myriad of colorful fish swimming through magical coral gardens. It’s fascinating to go underwater to study the fish and to observe the inner workings of the marine ecosystems; the coolest observation was seeing up close cleaner fish swim in a giant graceful manta ray’s gills and skin it of parasites as the manta ray glided elegantly through the warm crystal clear water.
I was recently perusing our past client list in preparation for sending out New Years cards and remembering the people and their deals made for such incredibly warm and fuzzy feelings and memories. The deal we just closed at 516 N Vista on Thursday was a wonderful experience. The experience of working on the sale at 160 N Vista that will close tomorrow was as amazing as any travels too. Going away to paradise is a change in scenery. Coming back to the work we have the extreme honor to do feels no less wondrous and exciting.
On Friday I did a buyer consult and a seller consult, one after the next, The buyers are Ivy League educated doctors who currently rent a duplex. Their hesitation in buying is knowing each time they consider a property what it was worth last year and the year before. They’re scared to overpay. They wish they had bought a house 5 years ago. I explained to them that since the history of real estate in our area is that it consistently goes up in value, it only makes sense to jump in and be owners vs renters while property continues to appreciate. It makes most sense for buyers to start by understanding the options and choices in loans and financing and then to dive in and understand the options and choices in types of properties to purchase. Last step is understanding values and what makes for the smartest possible purchase that’s most likely to appreciate in the future. Standing on the sidelines is the number one regret I’ve seen in my 15 years of being in this business.
Like all sellers, the sellers I met want to sell their property for the highest dollar amount in the shortest amount of time but they want the buyers to have vision and to see the potential in their property without the sellers doing any prep before sale. It doesn’t work that way. If sellers want buyers to have vision then sellers don’t sell their property for the highest dollar amount in the shortest time. If sellers want top dollar, they need to deliver the vision to the buyers by preparing their property so that the buyers don’t need any imagination at all.
Because we eat only Kosher food, before we went to Bora Bora I planned, shopped, cooked, packaged, and froze our meals for the time we were there. I organized, labeled, and printed instructions, and then, with preparation and work in advance of the trip, while I was there, the experience worked well. Similarly, buyers are best off planning, figuring out finances and loans, studying the market and understanding options and choices, and then with advance preparation, strategically buying the house of their dreams. Sellers are also best off planning preparations, timelines, moving schedules, and lots of logistics in order to strategically capitalize to the max the opportunities available to them in selling their properties. I love the quote, “A dream does not become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work.” I love properly guided and spent sweat, determination and hard work. And I love when dreams come true. Our biggest dream is to make our clients’ biggest dreams come true.
Wishing everyone an awesome 2022!!!
Xoxoxo,
Sheri
