MAKE YOUR HOME OFFER THE MOST APPEALING

BY ANNA & MICHELLE

Sales in March 2023 were down 2.4% month over month and still down 22.0% year over year, according to the NAR Housing Snapshot. The median sales price dipped 0.9% to $375,700 and there are 2.6 months’ supply of homes on the market compared to two months a year ago.

“Inventory levels are still at historic lows and, consequently, multiple offers are returning on 28% of properties.” According to Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of REALTORS ®.

It is still important to have a strategy for potentially competing with other buyers on the house you want to buy. The plan should include several available provisions and options so that at the time of drafting the sales offer, you can consider exactly what to include based on the situation.

Unless a person is paying cash, you need to be pre-approved by a trusted mortgage professional long before you start looking at homes. Include the written pre-approval letter along with the offer. W hen you are making an offer on a home, have the mortgage professional available to reassure the listing agent by phone who will convey assurance to the seller.

If you’re concerned about multiple offers, make your best offer first because you may not get to counter and simply lose out to another buyer. Starting with a low offer and gradually coming up doesn’t work in highly competitive situations. In some cases, a low-ball offer could cast a pall on any consideration of your purchase contract altogether.

The listing agent will calculate the expenses on the different offers for the seller to show them what their net proceeds will be on each contract. Some types of financing have more costs incurred to the seller. Asking the seller to make repairs or other financial concessions could lower their net even though your offer may be higher.

Sun Valley Opera’s presentation of Met Opera’s Live Simulcast Operas found a new home at the Magic Lantern

The long awaited return of MET HD Live from the Metropolitan Opera Simulcast Operas will be shown at the Magic Lantern Theater in Ketchum. There are two operas left in the 22/23 season. On May 20th Sun Valley Opera will present Don Giovanni and on June 3rd Die Zauberflote. More information can be found at www. sunvalleyopera.com.

Tony Award–winning director of Broadway’s A View from the Bridge and West Side Story, Ivo van Hove makes a major Met debut with a new take on Mozart’s tragicomedy, Don Giovanni, re-setting the familiar tale of deceit and damnation in an abstract architectural landscape and shining a light into the dark corners of the story and its characters. Maestro Nathalie Stutzmann makes her Met debut conducting a star-studded cast led by baritone Peter Mattei as a magnetic Don Giovanni, alongside the Leporello of bass-baritone Adam Plachetka. Sopranos Federica Lombardi, Ana María Martínez, and Ying Fang make a superlative trio as Giovanni’s conquests—Donna Anna, Donna Elvira, and Zerlina—and tenor Ben Bliss is Don Ottavio.

Doors open at 10:30am the production begins at 10:55am. The Concession stand will be open

The Magic Lantern is located at 100 East 2nd Street in Ketchum and tickets can be purchased at the door. Magic Lantern is a cash only business. Mlcinemas.com

From a buyer’s standpoint, contingencies provide options for things that may be uncertain, like qualifying for a mortgage, discovery of major impediments to the condition of the home, and other things. To the seller, they are obstacles that may invalidate the contract causing the home to go back on the market. If the contingencies are necessary, try to make them as palatable to the seller as possible.

Instead of waiving your rights to make inspections, consider a very short inspection period to minimize the time the property is in limbo. Instead of asking for repairs, provide a simple “accept or reject” once the inspections have been made.

Try to accommodate the seller’s desired closing and possession dates. Sometimes an earlier date may be more desirable for a seller, and other times it might be a later date based on the home they’ll be moving into. Your agent can do some research and find a flexible alternative that may appeal to the seller.

Increase your earnest money deposit more than the minimum. It is a pecuniary indication that you are serious. Your agent can tell you what the amount should be and alternatives, like increasing the earnest money after certain contingencies have been met.

Escalation clauses state that you are willing to increase your offer by a certain amount up to a specified maximum, subject to another bona fide offer being received before yours is accepted. Your agent will be able to further explain how these might work in your situation as well as share their experience with them in other similar negotiations.

You as a buyer and your offer to purchase need to be seen as the solution to the seller’s situation in price, terms, and reliability to close. Working with an experienced agent with seasoned negotiation skills is key to your success in buying a home in a competitive environment.

News In Brief

Idaho Organizations Team Up to Present Special Class on Cooking with Lamb – from Butchering to Plate

Four Idaho organizations are teaming up to present a special culinary class on Cooking with L amb – from Butchering to Plate, on Wednesday, May 31, from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Sun Valley Culinary Institute in Ketchum. The partners are FARE Idaho, the Sun Valley Culinary Institute, the Trailing of the Sheep Festival and the University of Idaho.

The class will feature Professor Phil Bass with the University of Idaho Meat Sciences Department leading a session on lamb butchery and Sun Valley Culinary Institute's culinary director, Andy Floyd, leading a session utilizing Idaho lamb and locally sourced products. Chef Floyd will demonstrate the preparation of Roasted Rack of Lamb with a Roasted Garlic Syrah Demi-Glace Sauce with Ratatouille for the class and two additional lamb dishes will also be prepared in advance for tasting.

Attendees will enjoy a late lunch at the conclusion of the class.\

“We are excited to be working cooperatively with FARE Idaho, Sun Valley Culinary Institute, and the University of Idaho to present this special culinary class focused on how to butcher and prepare lamb produced by an Idaho rancher. It is a great opportunity for us to partner together to present a unique event for the community,” shared Laura Musbach Drake, executive director of the Trailing of the Sheep Festival.

The cost to participate in the class is $50 with limited spaces available. To reserve a spot, go to https://fare.wildapricot.org/event-5242234.

Joint Statement: Blaine County School District & Blaine County Education Association

“We are pleased to announce that the Blaine County Education Association and the BCSD Board of Trustees have jointly ratified a new master agreement for the 2023-24 school year. This agreement is the result of a two-and-a-half-day process that employed a consensus framework expertly facilitated by Diane Groves. The model emphasizes careful listening, thoughtful discussion, and the pursuit of the best possible outcome for the district, our staff, our students, and the community at large.

We considered several critical issues facing BCSD and its staff, including financial constraints, the recently completed classification and compensation study from the 2021-22 school year, and workplace improvements. We worked carefully on a solution to the longstanding practice of the district paying 6.6 percent of the employee’s contribution to the Idaho Public Employee Retirement System (PERSI). This is not sustainable and has been in place since 1985. The solution includes employees now paying 100 percent of their contribution to PERSI. To accomplish this, the district’s expenditure was added as income to the employees. This change represents a neutral impact to the district and a significant gain for employees upon retirement.

The constant negotiation process by which issues related to the Master Agreement can be discussed and explored throughout the year, rather than compressed into a few days of discussion near the end of the school year, was highly successful during the 2022-23 school year and will continue into next year.

The 2023-24 school year, like any year, will bring with it a host of challenges, some of which are predictable and others yet unknown. We are better prepared today to face those challenges because of our work together as one district on behalf of each child entrusted to our care.”

T-Bone Crash Near Smiley Creek

On Friday, May 12, 2023, at approximately 10:26 a.m., Blaine County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a two-vehicle t-bone style crash with injuries on State Highway 75 near Smiley Creek Lodge in northern Blaine County.

Crash scene investigation determined that a 42-yearold Dietrich man was driving a 2015 white Ford commercial van northbound on Hwy 75 with a juvenile passenger. The van was attempting to pass the slower vehicle, when the truck initiated a left-hand turn onto Smiley Creek Rd. The van struck the Ranger on the driver’s side in the southbound lane of the intersection. Both vehicles came to rest in the southbound barrow pit.

The driver of the Ranger was flown by air ambulance to St. Alphonsus Medical Center in Boise. The driver of the van and juvenile passenger were wearing seatbelts and had only minor injuries. Both vehicles sustained substantial damages and were towed from the scene.

Writers Wanted