Brooke Churas has been working in the Rhode Island real estate world since 2012, now as director of marketing at Mott & Chace Sotheby’s International Realty. She has a focus on marketing luxury homes, keeping a pulse on market conditions throughout the state. Prior to joining Mott & Chace in 2017, Churas was a marketing and technology strategist for Lila Delman Real Estate.
PBN: In such a competitive, low-inventory real estate market, with many different websites presenting listings in various ways, how important is it to get a listing to stand out nowadays? What suggestions do you have?
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CHURAS: We believe that you only have one opportunity to make a great first impression. That begins with professional photography, at every price point. For our top-tier listings, we use photographers who take a more artful approach and can create spectacular sunrise or sunset shoots. We typically see a lot more views on listings that have a twilight photo as the lead image.
Videos and 3D tours can also help get eyes on a listing – a lot of real estate sites will prioritize listings that have those extras. We don’t just get our listings on the market; we get them the attention they deserve.
PBN: You create a market report for Mott & Chace. As we’re heading into summer, is the market heating up or cooling down right now?
CHURAS: We are absolutely still picking up after what was a very slow start to the year, statewide. The biggest challenge we have to overcome is the lack of inventory, which is at historically low levels and has been declining with every passing year.
As a firm, we are always discussing creative ways to help a seller who is interested in listing but struggles with the question of where to go and how long it will be before they can find something suitable.
Currently, home values remain elevated due to the lack of available inventory. We are expecting this to continue at least through the end of the year.
PBN: How does demand right now compare to last year, and what do you make of that?
CHURAS: The last few years have been an absolute feeding frenzy. The interest rate hikes have cooled demand somewhat, but smart buyers have kept their eyes on the goal of getting into the market with the intention of refinancing down the road. Many well-priced homes that come on the market now are seeing multiple-offer situations and bidding wars.
Home values keep increasing – the median sales price of single-family home in Rhode Island in May of this year was $427,500, which is up $10,000 from May of the prior year. Buyers can get frustrated easily after losing out in such a competitive market, but we urge them to keep trying.
PBN: Do you think there could be a housing crash on the horizon within the next couple of years?
CHURAS: No, and here’s why: the increases in home appreciation and equity that have skyrocketed over the past few years are due to a lack of available inventory and a significant amount of buyer demand. New construction cannot keep pace with the demand, and increased costs due to supply chain issues and inflation have put a damper on new builds. It will be a few years at least before we see the new construction sector of the market rebound.
There are markets across the country that are seeing home values decline. However, in the Northeast, we are not predicting depreciation of home values, but we are expecting a slowing of the crazy price appreciation that has happened over the past five or so years. The demand is still very real and that’s the difference between now and 2008.
PBN: Mott & Chace is in its 10th year of business here in Rhode Island. What can you tell us about the state of the company and what’s next for Mott & Chace?
CHURAS: This year is a significant milestone for us, and we are thrilled to celebrate by giving back to the communities who have supported us along this journey. Ray Mott and Judy Chace are incredibly philanthropically minded and have made that a key tenet of this company. To mark the occasion, we’re sharing “10 Things We Love,” a list of some of the best reasons to live in our area – and each item will be paired with a donation to a local nonprofit. We are donating $10,000 in total to celebrate our 10 years in business. Each item will be announced every other Tuesday throughout the summer, so check our socials for those.
We are incredibly proud of our success in this industry and are already planning where the next 10 years will take us. Growth is going to be a large part of that – growth into both new markets and in existing markets and investing in our agents. I’m so humbled and honored to work with some of the best agents in the business.
Marc Larocque is a PBN contributing writer. Contact him at Larocque@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter @LaRockObama.
