Bane’s real estate expertise allows clients to make smart choices

Katie Bane says the best real estate agents aren’t those driven to close deals and make money, but rather those motivated by a desire to help people.

She should know. Bane’s office is wallpapered with awards, from the Rookie of the Year plaque she received in 1994 to more than a dozen citations for finishing among Century 21 Beutler & Associates’ top sellers.

Yet the one Bane is particularly proud of is a wooden plaque showing a photograph of a client’s family posing beside a SOLD sign in their front yard. The inscription reads: “The most excellent Realtor we ever could have asked for. God Bless You.”

Bane handles all types of residential real estate, but she’s known as the go-to expert when it comes to equine property, a status that reflects her passion for backcountry riding and the 4-H community.

Bane discussed her career and the outlook for North Idaho real estate during a recent interview:

S-R: What was your first job?

Bane: I worked at (a Spokane Valley) Taco Bell when I was 16. Later I worked in Alaska in the fishing industry. Lots of waitressing jobs, too. I studied ski-resort management in college and had a number of internships at ski resorts.

S-R: How did you end up in real estate?

Bane: I took a real estate class as an elective in college and found it very interesting. It was easy and practical – it made sense to my brain. So after I graduated from the University of Idaho with a marketing degree I got my license.

S-R: You’ve been successful from the start. What’s your secret?

Bane: I don’t view my job as sales. I help people. I educate them about good investments, poor investments – why you would not want to live next to Walmart. Just educate them about the market so they can make good choices.

S-R: What was your best year?

Bane: I don’t know, to be honest with you. (Bane scans a row of “top seller” plaques on her office wall.) Probably 2007, when I had $12.5 million in production.

S-R: How did you do last year?

Bane: $8.3 million in production.

S-R: Does that reflect the market in general?

Bane: Yes.

S-R: When did you start focusing on equine properties?

Bane: In the early 2000s, because my daughter wanted a horse and we had a place to do that. We subsequently got more horses and became active in 4-H and the Panhandle Back Country Horsemen. Now I get phone calls all the time from Realtors and appraisers with questions about horse properties. They ask about things like feed storage capacity or the number of head allowed per acre either by the county or the development.

S-R: What is a typical horse property?

Bane: There isn’t anything I would call the quintessential North Idaho horse property. It depends on whether it’s a trainer who wants 24 stalls and an indoor arena, or a roper who needs a roping arena and the ability to hold cattle, or a family that’s looking to have a couple of horses and maybe a pig and a steer.

S-R: Are all those options available here?

Bane: Absolutely.

S-R: How elaborate are some of those properties?

Bane: We have a number of boarding facilities that can hold upwards of 60 horses – commercial operations where people earn income.

S-R: Back in 1994, when you first got your license, if someone wanted a house close to town with five acres and a barn, what would they have paid?

Bane: That would have cost roughly $125,000 to $150,000.

S-R: When did the price peak?

Bane: Boy, everything peaked in 2006, and that same piece of property would have been $350,000.

S-R: And now?

Bane: You can get that probably for $225,000 to $250,000.

S-R: Are there as many Realtors in Kootenai County today as there were around the 2006 peak?

Bane: There were roughly 1,100 Realtors at the peak of the market, and now we’re at about 800. So there’s been some attrition, but not nearly as much as you’d expect.

S-R: What’s your outlook for the real estate market?

Bane: I think we are at or near the bottom of the depreciation slide that we have been on the past five years. I’ve done yearly market analyses for a client, keeping him abreast of his horse property’s value. Two years ago, he was at $350,000. Last year, he was at $320,000. We just listed his property at $325,000, and there’s statistical data to back up the fact that he’s at the same value he was 12 months ago. That was a huge relief for me, because everyone wants to buy at the bottom, but they don’t know where the bottom is until they can look back historically and see it in a graph. To be able to see, year over year, that his value has sustained – that’s an indication to me that we’re going to see more of that.

S-R: What will it take for prices to start moving up again?

Bane: Nationally, the real estate market has to improve to the point where people can sell their homes again with equity and come here. Nothing has changed in North Idaho. We haven’t lost any significant employers. We still have all the beauty and recreation. So when people can afford to sell where they’re at and move here, like they did in the early 2000s, I think prices will rise again. But it’s going to be some time before we get there.