Savvy Real Estate

New season and a LOT of new faces here 😍

If you’re new or old here, thanks for following along! My name is Sarah (my daughter is Savvy) & I’m a multi passionate solo mom.
▪️ this page is dedicated to sharing all things real estate whether you’re interested in buying, selling, or investing in real estate. I primarily serve the Spokane, WA and Coeur d’Alene areas, but I have agents across the country to help other people.
▪️ I say multi passionate because I’m also a certified holistic nutritionist. I serve a community of women struggling with autoimmune and thyroid issues, but run all of that on a separate page!
▪️even though I lead with business, my biggest obsession in life is my daughter. I’m a late in life mom and I’ve been SOAKING up the blessings with this little one. She’s full of sass, keeps me on my toes, and I don’t remember what life was without her.
▪️I’m a Montana native but spokane is a good home (for now).
▪️I’m fluent in English and sarcasm but lack ANY other language background.
▪️Real estate + Toddler mom life go REALLY well together as we’re always on the go to find new adventures. We find really great places around town, great homes, and love to share our “must go” finds

That is WAY too much about me. Will you say HI in the comments and tell me a fun fact about you?

“A woman with a voice is, by definition, a strong woman. But the search to find that voice can be remarkably difficult.”

Finding my voice to help my next generation 🖤

📷 .sophiegrace

Time to celebrate 🥂

Yesterday my buyer and seller closed on a home, and you may have heard of this before! It’s not very common, but when an agent represents both the buyer and the seller, it’s called dual agency!

While every case is different, the reason this one worked so well for the clients is they truly were so honest, so transparent, and so communicative through the entire process. Party A wanted to sell, Party B wanted to buy, and they gave me the honor of helping them both ensure their needs were met.

These clients hold a really special place in my heart and I learned SO much as an agent through the entire process.

Grateful for those who trust me to lead them through life transitions 🖤

Congratulations to both parties. Cheers to the next steps 🥂

🖤 Go big or go home.

Until a few years ago, I was the ‘nah, I’m good, I’ll stay at home’ kind of person. Honestly, I can’t even pinpoint what it was. Maybe it was turning 40. Maybe it was becoming a new mom. Maybe it was becoming a solo mom, in my 40s, with a newborn. Maybe it was the pandemic and wanting a better quality life in my new found life. But whatever it was, I realized that I wanted to stop being scared. I wanted to stop playing small. I started asking myself “what’s the worst that can happen”?!

Well, the worst thing has happened. It did. It’s called learning through failure and it’s the best GOING BIG thing that ever happened to me.

I was the kid (and even young adult) who feared failure with a passion. Remind me to tell you all about a story from gradeschool where I thought I got an F. Story for another time. Up until about 4 years ago, I still legitimately feared failure. I did. But I had ONE really big failure and do you know what I found out from the failure? Yes, I failed, but it also put me in such a great place to learn and level up. That failure gave me the next leg up and the next and the next.

Every day, I look forward to taking BIG swings and I almost welcome the failure so I can learn to be better. Not only is it the most cathartic thing in the world to see that the world doesn’t end when we try, but it also takes the pressure off to truly enjoy life and business while taking chances.

What’s something you’ve tried and learned through failure recently?

Real estate was such an accident for me. In fact, it’s something that almost broke me time and time again the last 6 years. But my heart, albeit broken, told me I was supposed to be here.

There’s a long backstory that I can tell you sometime over coffee or a cocktail, but I did want to share a few of the highlights.

I spent 2 decades building a career in lending and business strategy. I almost laughed when the idea of becoming a real estate agent was presented to me. No, actually, I did laugh. But I also listened to the whispers.

The whispers that helped my employer at the time sell off a portfolio of loans to realign their balance sheet.

The whispers that helped an investor client acquire 30 doors in one month.

The whispers that allowed me to help 130 agents across the United States create more transactions in their business.

Those whispers that resulted in success also fell into my lap of the hardest lessons I was ever going to learn. My real estate passion forced me to choose between a career I had built vs my business. I chose the business. My real estate passion found me indebted in ways I never imagine possible, but it also allowed me to rectify those losses and build something better. My real estate passion forced me out of my security blanket, but it also gave me a life I never thought possible.

My real estate passion was an accident, but I’m intentionally here on purpose. I plan on listening to those whispers to see what other successes I can bring to others. I hope you listen to your whispers, too.

Who’s ready to celebrate?! 🎉

Today my first time home buyers are celebrating something they never thought possible- closing on their first home. These clients came as a referral to me in August of 2023 after working with another agent for almost a year and I was READY for the challenge to show them that all things are possible.

We came up with a plan for them based on their unique circumstances and kept running into the same issues they had for the year prior. We decided to pause our search for the holiday but RIGHT after Christmas, we decided to get back to finding them a home.

A few days into our new search, we found “the one”. Thanks to excellent communication with the listing agent and cooperation from the local credit union lender, this client is now the happy owner of their very first home that will begin their investment portfolio at the same time.

The thing that stands out about this client is that they were invested in the end goal, but VERY flexible about how we got there. They communicated great with myself and the lender, and we got through some VERY rough bumps at the end. I’m so happy to be able to congratulate my client and my friend on the purchase of their first home! 🖤

Dream big, but start small 💫

I feel like this applies to so many people, in ALL aspects of their lives.

We’ve all been through a LOT the last few years but I feel like 2024 is the year that people take the leap:
▪️maybe they start the business or side hustle they were too scared to think of before
▪️maybe they move on from things that no longer serve them
▪️maybe they put themselves up for the promotion or job they’ve been working so hard for
▪️maybe they decide to buy a home, sell their existing home, or start investing in real estate

No matter WHAT you’re doing this year, I encourage you to dream BIG but even if that means you have to start small! I think of the times that I had to start small. It was really frustrating at the time to not be able to have the BIG thing I wanted. But starting small and putting in the work to take the next step was absolutely priceless:
▪️ my very first home was $90,000. Trust me when I say your first home does not have to be your forever home. Start small!
▪️ my first business (2014) earned $3,489 my first year. That business made 7 figures in 2023. Start small so you can learn the lessons along the way to create something BIG.
▪️my first job out of college was processing home equity payoffs and releasing collateral. I was so annoyed at the time because I thought I deserved better. But it’s helped me learn SO much about the beginning to end process of mortgages and real estate. I had to start small.

Just remember that we all have to start somewhere. It’s those incredible experiences that we most often take for granted are the lessons we learn and value the most. I’m also working on some BIG things this year, but being a realistic beginner while I learn to work the kinks out.

Anyone else grateful for big dream? Make sure to ❤️ this post so I can support you in your dreams too ❤️

I hope everyone is as excited as I am about these.

I know sometimes we see numbers and real estate market updates like this and wonder:
🖤 what do they mean?
🖤 why are they important?
🖤 what do they mean for buyers and sellers?

As of December month end, THIS is what’s happening in the spokane real estate market!
▪️ there are currently 700 homes listed for sale, we’re selling /closing 327 homes per month. That means that we have LOW inventory (only about 2 months worth) of inventory for our active buyers and sellers. This simply means that there is a low supply, and a stable demand. We’re not in bidding wars (although we are seeing multiple offers now), but it’s stable!
▪️our current sale to list price ratio is 98%. This means that sales price (meaning the final price people are paying) is 98% of listing price. This means that agents and clients are appropriately listing homes and they ARE selling. They’re not sitting months and months unless they are improperly priced 🙌🏻

I think a lot of people were waiting for a market “crash”. While I don’t agree that a crash was or will happen, this is what a STABLE real estate market looks like for buyers and sellers. This is good news for everyone. Buyers can still enter the market without an extreme amount (but healthy) competition. Sellers can still list and expect to sell their home with the right listing agent and strategy. I know there can be a look of gloom and doom when you read about real estate but my overall assessment is “stability”. (But ask me what happens when rates drop again 😂)

Drop me any questions or thoughts in the comments 👇🏻

Hey, I’m SarahRuth, a savvy realtor licensed in Washington and Idaho, helping you buy, build, invest and sell in Spokane County, WA and into the coeur d’alene, ID areas. Make sure to like and follow to collect these little tips!

I’m a little nervous to post this. 😬

Yesterday I was a panel on a real estate mastermind. It was hosted by a real estate agent on the east coast who I’ve connected with over wellness (and specifically an autoimmune disease). She knows my story about running an autoimmune wellness business (which I actively do). But she also asked me about how I’ve had success in real estate.

She asked me about my first year in and what that was like. And I was able to share what I did as a corporate career PRIOR to that, as well as how I produced $7m in real estate my first year WHILE working full time and as a brand new mom (who was also a solo mom at 3 months old).

The question I got from this real estate agent and others on the panel was HOW. How did I do that?
❌ I didn’t have a sphere in my community. I’m not from this area and have really lead an introverted antisocial life
❌I wasn’t an expert in real estate

But I do have a killer vision for my business, a business plan that holds me to my mission instead of trying to appeal to everyone, and INCREDIBLY streamlined systems and technology in place to automate what I can for an incredible customer experience. (My background is in lending and data systems, analytics so I replicated the back end data scraping, AI, reporting, and tools so I have information in front of me - so I don’t have to go searching for it).

Here came the hard question and the information I’ve struggled with sharing. I want to teach these things. I don’t want to keep it a secret. I want to help others agents and moms do the same things to be successful. But, I also hesitate to share those things here because I don’t want to confuse my audience.

I don’t know how or what it’s going to look like (yet), but I WILL be sharing how to help with real estate: for buyers, sellers, investors, lenders, and agents.

There’s more coming. When my vision takes flight, I’ll share more here. But for now I’ll focus on sharing value (whatever the random topic of the day that pops up).

Is there anything valuable (for all realtors) that I can share that may help your business? I’m happy to share what resources I have!

Simple.

That’s my focus for 2024. Simple. Still doing some big things for our family, but I refuse to make anything harder than it needs to be. In order to put that plan in place, I had to decide what was coming and what was going!

1️⃣ every year I refine my business and decide what I want to do. This is the year of “doing what I want without caring what others will say”. Everyone has their own opinion. And it’s none of my business.

2️⃣ I want BIG things and that calls for big ideas. This year is all about giving second chances but not making the same mistake twice.

3️⃣ i have a toddler that take from the time she wakes up until she goes to bed. 2024 i unsubscribe to things that don’t make me better and consume less to kee my brain breathe.

4️⃣ 2021-2023 I spent more time doing IVF , being pregnant, or recovering from a miscarriage. 2024, I’ll grow my family, but I release control over having to carry them

I’ve loved reading everyone’s “in and out” and look forward to watching you stay true to what sets your soul on fire 🔥

It’s not what you think 🤔

There’s a huge misconception that real estate agents publish market updates as a brag board but make sure you save this post and keep reading so you can see what they’re truly intended to do! 👇🏻

In market updates, some of the items published are median price, number of days on market, and inventory levels. What do these things tell you?

✅ if you’re a seller, these things tell you how your home needs to be positioned in order to get top dollar. It not only provides valuable insight on recent prices, but also on average what you can expect for a closing timeline if your home is set up appropriately ⚡️

✅ if you’re a buyer, these data points tell you what you can expect to pay for a home, how quickly you need to take action once a home is listed, etc!

While these numbers may just appear to be numbers to the untrained eye, these stats can be so powerful in helping you be educated about what you can expect in a transaction!

Did you know these? Hey, I’m SarahRuth, a savvy realtor licensed in Washington and Idaho, helping you buy, build, invest and sell in Spokane County, WA and into the coeur d’alene, ID areas. Make sure to like and follow to collect these little tips!

For once, just going to keep this short & sweet.

Merry Christmas 🎁
Happy Holidays 🌲

Incredibly grateful to be celebrating another year.

I never knew real estate was going to unlock to many doors for us (no pun intended), but this year has been full of opportunities. Incredibly grateful for the community, the connection, the ability to learn and grow, and to be able to serve the community in new ways going forward.

Thank you all for your support in all this.

This time of year is always so much fun to pause and reflect on where we are (photo 1) vs where we’ve been (photo 2). It’s holiday time, it’s year end, and it’s Savannah’s birthday. Lots of time to reflect on how fast things change, how slowly we accomplish the big things, and how we sometimes miss the moments we hope will never fade from our memories.

So much of my real estate business revolves around this little of mine. When I met her dad, I wasn’t in real estate. I was in lending and thought I would build my career as a 9-5 employee until retirement. Then, I decided to dream bigger. Do more. Go after the life I never thought I could have, by serving my community here in Spokane and also help other real estate agents build their businesses. It’s been a WILD ride. Almost as wild as raising this HILARIOUS little terrorist of mine. But I wouldn’t change it for the world.

I decided to make one change going into this next year. One that will impact all of my clients, my friends, my relationships, and more. And that’s this - SIMPLE. In 2023, I went after big goals. BIG. And I accomplished them, but with some learning curves along the way. In 2024, we still go after those big goals. Even bigger goals. But we take what we learned in 2023 and make it simple in 2024 so we can slow down, enjoy the ride, and never forget the things that made us grow.

What’s a motto or learning lesson you’re taking in 2024?

I’ve made some mistakes in real estate, but I’ve learned so much! Maybe learn from my mistakes too?

If I was going to start over in real estate TODAY, I would get LASER focused on my goal. My goal isn’t to do transaction after transaction. The goal is to diversify what I do WITH real estate, to create an impact for others and my family.

Step 1- I would align with a national brokerage and STRATEGICALLY select my upline sponsor based on what I needed to grow my business. I chose because she’s AMAZING at luxury real estate and I have so much to learn from her and our VERY diverse upline.

Step 2- I would strategically place myself on social media as the expert and work at collaborating with other businesses to support our local community. Ever wonder why I do so much with bridal? 😜 😉

Step 3- Grow your transactions and your “team” to support your growth, but only do the essential IPAs. Everything else gets outsourced.

Step 4- share your gifts! I have 20 years of lending and strategy experience and I share how other agents can glean from my talents so we can all do more + better. Likewise, I learn from the best on my national team! It’s a group of amazing people supporting people and NO competition (or egos).

Step 5- develop a digital product or course that serves your business community. I have 2 products that will be available in the next few weeks. And yes, they include my step by step guide on how I produced an ELITE level of volume my first year as an agent, while being a single parent, AND working full time.

Step 6- invest. Big or small. But start investing

These steps have & will continue to develop my income and wealth in diverse ways as my business grows. This is precisely in alignment for what I want in my real estate business.

Have you taken a step back and looked at what and how you want your real estate business to look? I’d love to hear how you’re set up for success or implementing a new strategy!

This year has been one for the books: personally and professionally.

It’s been such a pleasure to serve our community by helping families buy, sell, invest, and relocate. Our clients were once strangers and they are no longer clients, they’re truly family. We’ve celebrated wins together, we’ve grieved the losses of that home that was just perfect but didn’t win, and everything else in between.

We’ve built friendships with others in the industry so that it truly feels like community supporting community, instead of everyone out there alone.

My daughter (soon to be daughters) have grown up in this business and are now able to enjoy quality time with mom now that I’ve perfected our work life balance.

When I think about what I’m grateful for, I don’t have to think very hard because it’s in our everyday life. Thank you all for being such an important part of our everyday life. I appreciate you more than words will ever be able to describe.

When I was getting into real estate, I thought I had to know everything about everything. In fact, I needed to be an expert or a master at very few things. However, the BIG secret to success (in anything), us who you surround yourself with.

I pride myself with being an expert about the things I NEED to be an expert on in order to serve my clients. For everything else? I find really great friends that are experts in those areas:
•photographers- is a favorite and always my first phone call for listings!
•lenders - is a Spokane EXPERT and is one of the most down to earth humans you’ll ever meet!
•marketing & social media -the ladies of are the best humans and the most talented at what they do!

There are contractors, inspectors, and so many other trusted professionals in this industry that I could list but social media puts a cap on my captions.

Will you do me a favor and also tag some of your favorite professionals in this post so we all have resources and personal recommendations for great partners?!?!

I’m incredible grateful for living in a place where “OCTOBER” exists. I love the colors, I love the cooler weather where we can get outside and explore, and I love all the foods that come along with this time of year. Even though I’m not a Spokane native, this is a great place to call “home” (for now).

What’s something you LOVE about the place you call home?

📷 .sophiegrace

I made a change.

I don't know why I've procrastinated making this announcement. Maybe it was the overwhelm of drinking from a firehose last week with all the changes. Maybe it was the overwhelm of being a newbie again. Maybe it was just the fear of judgement, period.

Regardless of the reason for my procrastination, I'm really excited for a change that I made. I moved my real estate license to align with a network of people where I can serve a greater good. A larger community, where I can be a team player without joining a team ( ) but still pour into others and collaborate at the same time. I now have the ability to create relationships with others to help my relocation clients, to deepen my personal investment portfolio, and continue to serve this great community in Spokane, WA.

I've prayer over this decision for the better part of 9 months (longer than I was pregnant with Savvy) and it was finally time to do it. I moved my license to join a POWERHOUSE of a team and am incredibly grateful for the mentorship from and (who have helped me get here).

Stay tuned, friends, we just skipped to the good part.

I never knew how big of an impact a small little human was going to make on my life. I prayed for this little peanut (also spelled “terrorist”) for most of my life and she became my partner in crime the last 3 years. Savannah. Savvy. Chicken. Life is better with you in it. Thanks for doing life with me.

I love you,
Mom 🥹

Happy Daughter’s Day ♥️

📷 .sophiegrace

So... you're buying your first home. CONGRATULATIONS! This is a big step and sometimes it comes with more things to consider if you've bought a few in your life.

Buying your first home can feel like a big decision and that you want to get it just right. This might be a VERY unpopular opinion but I tell first time home buyers to have the mindset that this most likely will not be their forever home. There are instances where they may be staying in this home long term, but I always aim for a 1-5 year home as a place to start.

When we are looking at homes to purchase for the first time, I educate them on the options they have for that house. They can live in it long term, they can turn it into an investment in a year, or they can sell it down the road. They are never married to their intent today, but I always find it helpful to educate people on OPTIONS so they can make the best informed decisions. Giving people options, along with 'if, then, else' education empowers them in their decision and makes them even more invested (no pun intended) in the process.

My goal with first time home buyers? Take them from a simple consumer to empowered decision maker in the process. It's not about one house or one transaction. It's about setting them up for success with what comes after is what's important to me.

Does that shift your mindset and expectations about buying your first home?

What exactly is a seller credit?! A seller credit is something your agent negotiates in your contract that your seller pays “something” in your transaction! The common ones are:
•closing costs
•reduction in price
•interest rate buy down

Some agents will say that a price reduction isn’t a credit, but it’s the “mechanics” of negotiating an offer. But how do you know which one is best for you?

It depends on what you need in a deal! If you need to reduce the price to qualify for your loan, then ask for a reduced price (or a credit on the price). Need them to cover closing costs? You can ask for that one too! But my favorite? Use the seller credit to buy down your rate for you! Taking money off the top of your sales price is great and can save you ‘some’ money. But buying down your interest rate until rates come down more can stretch your dollars even farther! Make sure to check out slide 4 so you can see the savings on an average spokane home.

Does information like this help you be informed on your options during the home buying process?

This is for my First Time Home Buyers (and to all who want to learn from my mistakes).
If you swipe to the second photo, you’ll see the first home / condo I ever owned. I bought it for $70k and it was the perfect STARTER home. I was single, it was low maintenance, and it was something I would grow out of quickly. I knew that going into the purchase! But why do I share that?

Because your first home doesn’t have to be your forever home. I bought it knowing I wanted something knowing it wouldn’t be forever. But some people go into the home buying process thinking they have to live there forever. You don’t!

I lived in that house for a year, moved in with a boyfriend, and then enjoyed the next decade bouncing around the US. I promised I would share my mistake with this house so here it is. I sold it in 2018 (right before I got into real estate). I sold it because I had a crap tenant, I was running out of trusted resources in that city, I was tired of the headache. So I sold it and have regretted it ever since.

Unfortunately I’m someone who is incredibly annoying when I make a mistake or have regrets. What did I do? I started reaching out to others that owned units in that 6 unit condo complex. How annoying was I? I contacted the owners every month for the last 5 years. So annoying that as of yesterday, I now own all 6 units in that complex. While I don’t have any desire to move back to Montana (right now), I did want the investment in that unique neighborhood to be able to correct my mistake and finally be able to move on.

The morale of the story? Don’t make my mistake and sell when you can keep for the long haul. But also don’t make the mistake of thinking your first home purxhase has to be your forever home. Buy something that converts into a rental and upgrade from there. Don’t worry - your agent and lender will be there to guide you through all of it so you don’t have to make the same mistakes I did!

Today my oldest investor client closes on his 100th door and my newest investor closes on her 2nd. Both off market properties. Both where the sellers were made an offer that just made sense to them.

My background in financing and strategy comes in REALLY handy in investment real estate because it’s simply finding the diamonds in the rough. It’s not about seeing what’s on the market. It’s about creating a solution to fit the needs of everyone.

I’ve been able to tap into some of the best systems and resources to help seek out options and then the fun really happens. When you bring an offer to take a property off someone’s hands and it’s written in a way to make everyone win, then there’s just no way to say no!

(Disclosure- this is not anyone of my doors that we’re closing today. It’s on my mood board for our current home design ) 😍

So, you’re buying a house. Congratulations! Some people often think that the only funds you’ll need will be to sign on the dotted line and close your home. I know that’s what I thought! So, in case you’ve never done this before or it’s been awhile since your last purchase, here are a few things that you’ll need to pay for along the way and some rough estimates on what they cost!
As always, ask your trusted real estate agent and lender as they will be able to give you better cost estimates so there are no surprises along the way!

Getting to {finally} be a mom has been so special for me. It felt like a lifetime to finally have a healthy opportunity to bring her into the world & we are truly living every moment we have together. For all the moms, fur moms, bonus moms, not yet moms, and every other type out there….. we wish you the best day ever to celebrate YOU!

As a realtor, I will not be your lender. But there are some things that I ALWAYS advise my clients to consider. One question I always ask is “What is the best use of your cash”?
•some people need to put 20% down to qualify for the loan (debt to income requirements)
•some people don’t have enough cash to pay-off full debt notes

But I will always ask you to pose certain questions to your lender OR sit down with the client and lender to collaborate. This one was a great example of how everyone came together!

Make sure to read slide 5 because that’s where the magic happens!

I went to a celebration last night (and not just celebrating that I left the house) and ran into someone I hadn’t seen since I got my real estate license. She had a friend with her and he asked me how I got into real estate. My answer is always the same.
“Sheer accident”

To be honest, I never in a million years thought I’d be in real estate. I’m a numbers person. I was the person in finance. The person that told you how to make deals and loans work. The data strategist that told you every single way that something could be done. And every way it would fail. I’m the math nerd. The professional student. The person that thrived for black and white. And, well, real estate is none of that.

The truth is, I fell in love with real estate when I fell in love with my former partner. I got into real estate when we married our talents and found that I really did love real estate. What I thought I knew about real estate was wrong. What I realized I could do with real estate and the people I could serve was exactly what I wanted to do. Yes, I wanted to show people that they could own a home. But I also wanted to show people what ELSE it could do for them. Like investment and wealth strategy, income diversity, hedging and protection, and so much more. Me getting into real estate was a complete accident, but it’s a pretty dang good love story in my eyes ♥️