Five Questions With: Agueda Del Borgo

A resident of Pawtucket and a longtime real estate broker in Rhode Island, Agueda Del Borgo was appointed as 2022 president of the Rhode Island Association of Realtors, an organization with 6,200 members throughout the state. This comes after Del Borgo, who is a principal broker with Places and Spaces Realty LLC, served as 2019 president of the Greater Providence Board of Realtors, which previously honored her as 2015 Realtor of the Year.

PBN: What are your hopes for your tenure as the new president of the Rhode Island Association of Realtors?

DEL BORGO: With the changing market and new laws and regulations always on the horizon, each year brings new challenges, but I think they will be particularly significant in the coming year. I’m proud of the role the Realtor association is taking to address our affordable and workforce housing shortage and hope we can help institute some effective remedies.

I’m also excited about the steps we’re taking to help ensure that everyone has equal access to home ownership in the future, regardless of age, ethnicity, religion, disability or any other attribute that too often fosters discrimination.

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PBN: What’s your outlook on the residential real estate market in Rhode Island for 2022?

DEL BORGO: I think sales will remain strong, though not record-breaking as we’ve seen. The Federal Reserve has said that it will raise interest rates, so that may make the winter market even busier than usual as buyers try to buy with the lowest rates possible.

In 2021, we saw a significant number of sales, particularly in the luxury market, from out-of-state. I think that trend will also continue because though our prices are rising, we still have a lot to offer in Rhode Island at a lower price point than many other coastal areas.

PBN: What kind of impact do you think COVID-19 will have on the housing market this year, if any?

DEL BORGO: The advent of COVID changed what many people wanted in a home. Buyers wanted space, inside and out, and coastal communities became popular destinations, especially if they were affordable. With partial and full remote work remaining a reality for many, those attributes will remain desirable.

PBN: What can Rhode Island real estate agents do to succeed in 2022?

DEL BORGO: Prepare their clients for this market. They should help buyers understand the importance of being preapproved and ready to move quickly. On the listing side, sellers need to understand that though prices have risen, properties still need to meet appraisal thresholds, so the sale price of recent comparable properties is key in deciding how to price their home.

Also, the top offer may not be the best for their situation. A number of issues come into play like inspections, moving dates and whether the buyers have a home to sell before they can make the move. Realtors who educate their buyers and help them evaluate options will ultimately be successful themselves.

PBN: During the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve seen reports of migration to the suburbs. Is that trend occurring in Rhode Island, and will it continue in 2022, slow down or reverse?

DEL BORGO: This summer, the National Association of Realtors released a report listing Providence, Rhode Island, among the top metro areas for net migration in the first half of 2021. I think our housing market’s affordability was, and is, a draw for buyers from areas like Boston, for example, who can find a home an hour away in Rhode Island at a median price point less than $400,000.

Cape Cod would be a similar commute and has similar amenities, but the median price is over $600,000. It’s hard to say whether we will see the same number of buyers from other states that we’ve seen in the past two years, but I do think that Rhode Island’s affordability will continue to make it a suburb of sorts, for those from higher-priced markets.

Marc Larocque is a PBN staff writer. Contact him at Larocque@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter @LaRockPBN.