Welcome to my 1st Newsletter!

Brief intro to who I am. If we’ve not met, I’m Sam (Samantha) Ray. Hi! Nice to meet you! I’ve been helping people buy/sell real estate in the Owensboro area for 10 years already this year. Wow time flies! I’m married to the most perfect man for me, Steve. If you don’t know him, you’re missing out! We don’t have any children, but we have A LOT of animals. We share a gigantic love for humans, rescue animals, possums (yes possums haha!) nature & most importantly, Jesus.

If you follow me on social media, you already know my love for writing. If I’ve helped you buy or sell a home, you’re likely nodding your head right now remembering the “books” of a text I’d send to you. Haha! I can’t help it…I guess I really do enjoy writing.

Launching a VALUABLE newsletter (but not the same ol’ BORING real estate info) has been on my heart for awhile. We get enough spam/junk flooding our inboxes. I do NOT want to be among those. There’s so much I get to help educate my clients on…and I think it’ll be fun to share those tips with you too!

So I decided to go for it…to combine my desire for educating, my love for writing & my passion for real estate…and wrap them into a semi-monthly newsletter packed with tidbits, stories, advice, community highlights & MORE! And that’s how “What’s Happenin’ Owensboro” came to fruition. Every 1st & 3rd Monday, a new newsletter will drop in your email. (If you don’t enjoy them, just unsubscribe!)

You can expect upcoming events, community highlights, the hottest new listings, stories & photos from home inspections, stories about my clients winning and HOW they won, stories about things I’ve recently learned (I’m always learning!), advice on all things real estate, a heads-up when a change is coming up that may impact your home values & so much more!

My hope is that you either learn a little something (or at least giggle a little from my stories) with each publication. Every single one will have a poll at the end so you can give me your feedback. I never want to fill your inbox with emails that are not valuable to you. You have my promise.

Thank you for being here! Now let’s get to it!

❤️ Sam Ray

(There’s so much in this newsletter. Keep reading!)

Can you Time the Market’s Interest Rates?

I get asked a lot about them so I thought I'd do some research and show you what I found was true about 2024.

✔️ Everyone thought (and so many were shouting) that the rates would fall quite a bit by the end of this year. They were wrong. This proves that NO ONE can accurately predict what the rates will do.

✔️ Those who wanted to buy a home at the beginning of the year and decided to wait a few months "til the rates dropped" likely bought with a higher interest rate if they purchased in the middle of the year.

✔️ But look at those September rates. If that beginning of the year buyer waited a bit longer, they would've gotten a great (for 2024) rate. But...

✔️ If those buyers waited TOO long, those rates went back up to where they are now, which are higher than they were on Jan 1st.

MORAL OF THE STORY...

You absolutely cannot "time" the market. If you find a home that better suits you or your family and it feels like the right move to make right now, do it.

If you were bursting at the seams on January 1st and thought you'd wait til later this year to buy due to the hopeful drop in interest rates, you may be kicking yourself right now.

But it has to be RIGHT for you. If you're sitting on a 3% interest rate from 2021 and there's no good reason to make a move right now, don't. Sit tight.

I do not foresee us getting anywhere near 3% again in the foreseeable future, if ever in our lifetime. But we all know, the rates will fluctuate along the way.

I know many are hoping that the new administration will bring the cost of homeownership down. We'll see!

❓ Do you think the rates will come down in 2025? If yes, what do you think they'll get down to?

I think it's realistic that we'll see rates in the high 5's by the end of 2025, but I'm NO economist (and the economists have been very wrong about 2024 anyway) and I really cannot predict what they'll do.

Just thought this may be helpful for you to see 2024 rates at-a-glance. 🤜🤛

Huge Shout-Out To My Friends Janice & Anna

Janice Smith and Anna Way are dear to me and they do so much to make our community better. Thank you to both of you for all that you did and continue to do…with Christmas Wish and more. You both inspire me more than you know.

I know you’ve heard about Christmas Wish, but just in case you don’t know the details about what they actually do…let me give you just a tiny glimpse. This nonprofit organization’s mission to to make sure they EVERY child in the tri-state gets a visit from Santa. And boy do they!! (Fun Fact: They started shopping the DAY AFTER Christmas for next year already. It’s literally an all-year-long event for them.) It takes A LOT of people and businesses to make it a success each year.

While there are many people behind the scenes to make it happen (if YOU have volunteered to help them, THANK YOU too!), I’ve chosen to make two of my friends blush by giving them the shout-out they deserve.

Thank you Janice & Anna (and their families who support them in every way) for being among the ones who make this incredible outreach such a great success! I love your HUGE hearts!

You Need THIS If You Bought/Sold in 2024!

Check Out This Home For Sale!

The Old Mill neighborhood (by Franey’s off Hwy 54) is a unique neighborhood. The homes have a lot more space between them than many most neighborhoods in this price point AND because of its location, this one is in the county tax district which means it’s the cheapest tax district in Daviess County. Priced at $189,900. Know anyone looking for a great home with large bedrooms and plenty of parking?! Here it is! :)

@samanthajoray

Realtors…are you seeing your sellers’ homes sitting on the market longer right now? I’ve definitely felt an uptick in buyer and seller act... See more

Many of you send me holiday cards and I absolutely LOVE that! If you have our address as a PO Box, please update your records. Our new office is located at 1413 Triplett Street, Owensboro, KY 42303. This is also where we will be receiving all mail. You have no idea how much I LOVE reading your cards. Thank you for sending them! I want to be sure I don’t miss out on any future cards you send. ❤️ 

Book Recommendation

I’ve always loved to read books, but I’ve not made much time in the last couple years to leisurely read. I’ve had this book for awhile and I just picked it up for the first time to read it about a week ago. It’s so good. I’m not halfway through it yet and I didn’t want to put it down to go to sleep the other night. THAT is when you know it’s a good book!

David Goggins had a nightmare of a childhood (it’s wild how similar parts of our childhood stories are!) and he overcame somehow and ended up becoming the only man in history to complete elite training as a Navy SEAL, Army Ranger & Air Force Tactical Air Controller. I’ve not gotten that far though. I’m deep in his nightmare-of-a-childhood right now and I’m so interested in hearing how he persevered.

If you want to get your copy, you can get it on Amazon HERE.

If you have any book recommendations, I’d love to hear them! (Just reply to this email with your recommendations!) I’m not much into fictional books, but I fall in love with real life stories of how people have overcome. I think it’s because of my upbringing and knowing that, had I not encountered the people I did and was mentored by some of the best people who truly cared about me, I truly have no idea where I’d be today.

The Effort Put Into Marketing a Home MATTERS

Every home is different. And the marketing should also be different depending on the home, the features, what kind of buyer will likely be THE buyer for the property, etc.

A few years ago, we were in a market where, if a real estate agent took photos with their phone and put it in the MLS, it would sell and would likely receive multiple offers depending on the property.

That’s not the market we are in right now. (Even if it was, your home deserves more than cell phone photos.)

I take the responsibility very seriously…of getting the most money (and best terms) for the homeowners who put their trust in me to get their home sold. It’s a BIG deal. So yes…I think it’s important for the real estate agent to financially invest in the marketing to get the best exposure for every seller of mine.

For this one, we…

• Hired a professional photographer to take photos including aerial shots

• Hired a professional videographer to shoot an agent-guided tour

• Shot an amateur vertical video (I shot it with a gimbal) where I added voiceover to be posted on social media to give the viewer a sense of the layout of the home…it was kinda like they were on a private tour with me in the house

• I also shot a completely ridiculous, silly TikTok-style video with music to get more attention on the house (see that video below)

• We designed and had a 4-page beautiful property brochure printed for homebuyers to take with them after they toured so they wouldn’t forget just how special this home is (see a snapshot of that brochure below)

@samanthajoray

Just hit the market! This one is such a beauty! #3101OakridgeCourt #owensboro #realbroker #owensborokentucky #obky #owensbororealestate #r... See more

A peek inside the 4-page property brochure…

Here’s an in-depth video of me talking and showing you exactly what we did to get this one sold.

@samanthajoray

You have many GREAT choices of real estate agents to choose from in Owensboro, KY. 🫶🏼 I have found that most of my seller-clients are surp... See more

Your home is worth the energy, effort & money to market efficiently. Afterall, our job as real estate agents is to get YOU the most money!

The next time you are selling a home, be sure to ask your REALTOR what kind of marketing they will be doing. Don’t take their word for it. Ask them to show you their marketing of recently sold homes where they represented the sellers. (If you don’t already follow them on social media, find them and see what they’re doing.) If you don’t feel absolutely confident, then meet with another real estate agent until you DO feel confident in their ability AND energy to get you the most money with the best terms.

Your investment is much too large to gamble. Savvy online marketing is especially important if you want to snag out-of-town buyers relocating to our area.

We Had a Blast at Our Client Christmas Party!

Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who came out! Santa and the Grinch were not as behaved as our precious clients and their children! (If you were there, you know the friendly chase down that ensued! Haha!)

I really enjoyed seeing all of you. The cotton candy machine was a HIT! And everyone seemed to enjoy the family photos with the professional photographer!

I’m already making plans for next year. The party will look a little different and I can’t decide if I want it to be full of chaotic fun or a more laid-back time together. Chaotic fun is way more entertaining, BUT I don’t get as much time to talk to all of you individually like I’d love to. I’m so torn!

I’d love your input. If you were to come to next year’s Christmas Party, which would you prefer? Let me know below!

Just in case you don’t have your “Save the Date” magnet for 2025, mark your calendars for Tuesday, December 9th for next year’s Christmas Party if you’re a client!

If you’re not a client of ours, but want to be invited to our client events, you can either…

1. Buy/Sell with us this year if you’re looking to make a move or…

2. Become a raving fan of ours and recommend us to your friends/family/coworkers when they’re ready to buy/sell. Once we notice that you’re a cheerleader of ours, you’ll be included in all of the client fun too!

Final Thoughts

Oh this was so fun for me! I thoroughly enjoyed writing and putting this together. In fact, I already have several topics already for the next publication. Don’t be surprised if I change this to a weekly publication at some point because I just have so much I want to share with you! ❤️ 

Thank you for being here. I hope you stick around and if we’ve not yet met, I hope we get to someday soon! Cheers to 2025!

Sam

“What’s Happenin’ Owensboro” is brought to you by Sam Ray’s real estate team Vega Group proudly brokered by Real Broker.

We would be honored to be your chosen real estate expert when you are ready to make a move. ❤️ 

We know that it can be fun to tour homes even if you’re not ready to make a move.

So we’ve put together a list of the upcoming Open Houses just in case you’d like to tour them.

** This is a “live” link which means it’ll update as Open Houses are added or removed. Be sure to check back closer to the weekend!

Survey Time!