Made In Walker

Finding a Walker Home That Fits Your Life - A Conversation with Scott Zokoe

• City of Walker MI • Season 1 • Episode 24

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If you’re confused by headlines but serious about finding a home that fits your life, this conversation brings the noise down to human scale. We sit with Scott Zokoe of the Zokoe Team to unpack how Walker’s market evolved from pandemic bidding wars to a steadier, still seller-leaning landscape—and what that actually means for timing, price, and sanity. The goal isn’t hype; it’s clarity you can act on.

We trace the arc from near-zero interest rates to today’s cooler, more rational footing: days-on-market rising from seven to around nineteen, months of supply still under two, and why list strategy matters again. Scott explains how “golden handcuffs” kept owners locked into 3% mortgages, and how a glide toward the mid to low fives could finally free up inventory in 2026. That shift could open doors for move-up buyers, downsizers, and first-time buyers hungry for options, while putting negotiation and prep back at center stage.

Practical advice anchors the conversation. Start with curb appeal and clean interiors to remove buyer friction before features get judged. If you renovate, keep kitchens and baths simple and aligned to the neighborhood for better ROI—save luxury for forever homes. We also explore why renting longer is a smart bridge for newcomers and younger buyers, how local employers fuel demand, and where condos and zero-entry designs give residents low-maintenance, right-sized choices near Standale and beyond. Walker’s growth story is about options: single-family, rentals, and well-built communities that help more people live well here.

We close with an honest rule of thumb: the best time to buy was ten years ago; the next best time is when it works for your family and budget. If you’re weighing your move, subscribe for more grounded market insight, share this with a neighbor who’s curious about Walker, and leave a review with your biggest question—we’ll tackle it next.

If you have comments about this podcast, or ideas for future episodes, please email us at PODCAST@WALKER.CITY

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to Maiden Walker, the podcast that connects you to the people, the stories, and the ideas shaping our community. From local innovators to everyday change makers, we're diving deep into what makes Walker a great place to live, work, and grow. Here's your host, Nicole Idenato.

SPEAKER_02:

We're sitting down today with Scott Zoko of the Zoko Team Five Star Real Estate. They are local experts with deep ties to Walker and the West Michigan community's dynamic real estate market. So whether you're a longtime resident, maybe looking to relocate or a local business, we hope to give you some insight into the real estate market here in your own backyard. Scott, thanks so much for being here.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here. It's it's an interesting time in the real estate market. So I think this is a great time for us to get on and talk about what things are happening. There's been a lot in the media about interest rates and home prices and the economy as a whole. So I think we can kind of give people a quick little snippet of what's happening and maybe help them uh in their decision because not I don't want to be the real estate agent who just says now's the best time to sell or buy. It's always about what's going on in your family and your story. Um so I want to help people kind of guide them to the right decision, not just the decision that, you know, the decision that makes the most sense.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, you're the best person for it. So, you know, growing up in the in the area and now working in the area, what has that been like with her?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So I uh born and raised in this area and just love it. Um, I think you know, our business is built on referrals, and so it's you know, it's pretty important to get to know the community you're in, um, to do business at the businesses that you're working in and see them, you know, you go to the same restaurant, whether it's Walker Roadhouse, uh Double Dip Depot, it doesn't matter. It's kind of like you get to be there over and over and you get to know the people and know the people who own the businesses. Um, I've had the opportunity to be involved with the City of Walker and the DDA and the Walker Chamber. Um, I think it's a really exciting place to be as you know, I grew up here, and so there's been a lot of change. Um, and some people are you know adverse to change, and you know, but I think um it's an exciting thing for the community. It's exciting to see new developments, it's it's exciting to see new libraries, um, whatever those things are. I don't think you ever want to be a stagnant community. And and Walker is really good at saying, hey, we have an opportunity here, let's use it. Um, and and so you know, for me, it's the people, you know, it's like I think that's the easy answer, right? But it's also the right answer because people here love where they're at. They love, they've been, you know, some sometimes we go and list a house, it's been in the family for 60, 70 years. It's like people want to be here, they want to stay here. Um, you know, you see a lot of growth from outside of you know different states coming in. Um, and so obviously we're doing something right. Um, but I think it's when you you see that grandma who's been in the same house for for 80 years, it's like, yeah, she loves it here. Um, she loves her neighbors, the neighbors care about her. Um, and so it's just a really cool sense of community. Um, and I think we see that you know, people want to be here, and we're seeing that again kind of across the country, people are moving here.

SPEAKER_02:

So yeah, and kind of starting with people want to be here, what does the how has the market really kind of changed pretty much, especially in this year, yeah, compared to other communities around West Michigan?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that's a that's a good question. So uh so maybe macro-wise, you know, for the last four years or since you know COVID kind of uh kicked in and interest rates were near zero, all right. So money was essentially free. Um and so everyone in in their mother wanted to buy a house. It was a stressful process. There was 30 offers on every house, um, and you felt like you had to give your right kidney just to be able to buy one. Um, great for sellers, right? There was a great time to sell. Um, and it was a good time to buy because interest rates were low and your payments were lower, so that's awesome. Um, unfortunately, that was uh our artificially elevated. That wasn't a real uh interest rate in borrowing environment. Um, so I think it's given macro wise sellers uh maybe this uh illusion that every house, every time they sell, that's gonna happen. And now we've seen some changes uh in the last year, and interest rates have obviously risen pretty significantly, significantly over uh the last couple of years here. We have seen them come down a little bit. Um, but that has led to um buyers maybe feeling like, hey, wait a minute, I've heard the interest rates are up and that things are sitting a little bit longer. Um, and sellers maybe feeling like, oh, wait a minute, for the last four years, all I've heard about is, hey, I'm gonna get whatever I want, multiple offers, blah, blah, blah. So we're seeing a little bit of a um a learning here in the market that people are like, maybe you can't just price it wherever you want it to price and it's gonna sell because that's not the case anymore. Um, days on market have gone up. You know, we're seeing things take a little bit longer to sell. Now, all that being said, it's still definitely a seller's market. And and I think the problem is we've seen it go from like crazy to a little bit more normal, but even that normal is still very much out of whack with what a normal market is. Um, I think if I look at our month supply for September of 2025, uh we're 1.76 months. So a normal market is six months, so still very much a seller's market. Things are selling in uh 19 days on average, and if you go back to March, they were selling in seven days. So um that's that's the hard part, right? We talk about a normal market and it's like 19 days feels like a lot compared to seven, but it's still pretty darn good if you're sold within three weeks and you know you're getting 99.8% of your purchase price. So um, yeah, I think it's it's an interesting time. It's just more that I think we've had expectations on one end for both parties, and so we're seeing them kind of learn that hey, those things aren't in the case anymore and they are changing. It's not a bad thing, it doesn't mean that you know it's not a good time to buy or sell, it just depends on it. It makes you think a little bit longer about that decision. Um, and make sure you're making the right decision for you and your family. I always tell people the best time to buy a house was 10 years ago. You should have bought all of them, you know. You know, that's the best time. The next best time is when it makes sense for your family. Um, so you know, people say, well, now's a good time because there's less I'm like, wait till it makes sense for your family and financially, you don't want to buy a house and then have the furnace go out and now you can't afford to put the furnace in, then you might as well be renting, right? So I I don't we don't rush people into homeownership until you're ready. Um, because it's not uh, you know, this there's gonna be more than just the mortgage payment. You know, you're gonna have upkeep, you're gonna have maintenance, you're gonna have things to do to a house. If you're not ready for that, just rent. I don't want to be the realtor you screaming to buy. I want you to buy because you want to own a home and you want to change the paint colors and you want to add and you want to make it your own and make it home, not just buy house because that's what your mom dad told you to do.

SPEAKER_02:

So it's very comforting to hear. It's a it's a stressful process for both sides. So that's great to hear that you know you you guys aren't you know pressuring folks into doing that. It is just what is best for your personal family. Yeah. Um looking into 2026, what are you seeing as far as trends?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that's a uh that's a good question. We like I talked about the interest rates, they have gone up, right? We saw them hit almost eight. Um, now they're like low sixes. Um so they have come down off their highs. And we do think that trend will continue into the mid fives to maybe low fives by the end of next year. Um, which, you know, for people who bought at 7% or 8%, you are gonna see people say, like, okay, one, we may need to refinance, right, to get into a lower interest rate. And two, if you get into the fives, those people who have the 3% interest rates, they may be able to stomach three to a five easier than three to a seven or an eight. Um, so we will, I think we'll see that open up some inventory. Um, so sellers is a lot of sellers kind of have these golden handcuffs we talked about. I have it personally too. I have a low interest rate. My family and I love our house, but you know, if interest rates were two percent, we might have moved. Um, but now we're kind of trapped in these low interest rates. Um, and so at 3%, you can kind of stomach the fives, right? It doesn't seem so uh aggressive where three to a seven, three to an eight is like, I'm not touching that. So I think that is what we'll see happen in next year. I'm I'm we're hoping that it brings the right inventory. Um, you know, Walker is a fast growing place. There's lots of new developments going in that Walker is busy uh working on, and so we're seeing a lot of growth in this area. So we still don't have enough homes. You know, just again, we're looking at 1.7 months of supply. We need more houses. Um, and in the city's been great about addressing that. Um, and so we're hoping that with these lower interest rates, home buyers, home sellers feel comfortable about getting off of that low rate and maybe moving into the house that's actually fit for their family, whether it's too big or too small. Um, and they feel comfortable with that move and can afford it and it makes sense for them financially. Um, so we're hoping that levels out the market even more and brings a healthy amount of supply. Um, and also brings those buyers who have been skittish off the high rates, brings them back in. Um, because yeah, it's not fun for a house to sit for a long time. And it's also wasn't fun when there was 30 offers and buyers felt so defeated. So a healthy market is just a little bit more of an even back and forth, and I'm hoping that's what it means for 2026. More affordability, more options, um, and and sellers not having to, you know, we don't want them sitting for a long time either. So pricing and staging, all those things are really important.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, yeah, of course. If you are um, you know, looking to what are some of the best uh you know ways to prep a home to make sure that you're getting the most for it, but uh, you know, also it's good for the next person.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, curb appeal is everything, right? Because that's we drive up and you first thing we see if it's run down and the hedges are overgrown and the grass is long, and it's like, ooh, all right, you can walk into the house, be great, but you're gonna have this kind of pre we judge things quickly. Um, and so I always say, you know, start outside, make it look nice, fresh, clean. It doesn't need to be fancy, but just make sure it's clean and fresh and it looks good so that when you pull into that driveway, you think, oh, this okay, it's a nice house. Now you go inside, you don't want it to obviously smell like dogs or cats or animals, um, smokers, any of those things. You want to kind of eliminate odors whenever you can. Again, that's the first thing we're gonna feel. You know, walk in and like, oop, they got dogs, you know. And I love dogs and and I and I get it, but uh, we want to kind of keep phyto uh not so much for the new buyers, right? Because not everyone loves dogs. And the new buyers, we don't we don't need to know if they love dogs or not. They probably do, a lot of people do love dogs, but not everyone loves the smell of dogs. So I always tell people, you know, get it fresh, get it clean, and then if you're looking to do projects, kitchen and baths. I mean, those are always gonna be your highest return. People spend a lot of time in the kitchen uh and they entertain in the kitchen, and you know, that's just it's a good uh place to, you know, whether that's a full kitchen remodel or just update it with some you know, paint and maybe some backsplash and just kind of refresh it a little bit because that's what you know, that's where people spend a lot of their times in bathrooms, same thing. People love uh an updated bathroom. Um I always tell people don't uh don't remodel it past where your what your neighborhood is, you know. So if you're in a you know a$300,000, you know, kind of starter home neighborhood, don't put in the the fanciest tile unless you want to live there forever, and that's fine. I tell people throw ROI out the window if this is your forever house and this is what you want. Well, life's life's too short. Do what you want. Um, but if you're thinking about when you're gonna go to sell this thing, well, let's let's do it in a smart way. Um, you don't need the fancy stuff. Buyers just want a clean, fresh bathroom. They don't need the fancy tile and you know the the really expensive vanity. Just put a nice vanity in a new tile and make it look nice, but you don't need to you know break the bank to make it uh worth it in terms of ROI.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, that's a great point there. Um now, you know, as far as businesses, uh we have a lot of uh space available, maybe some for like rent or things like that. Yeah, um, what are you seeing as far as uh with that kind of uh demographic?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, uh well, we're seeing people rent longer than ever before, right? It's the average age of last time I heard was up to like 36 or 38, uh is the first-time home buyer. So you're seeing those people rent a lot longer. Um, and I think again, Walker's done a great job addressing that. If you look at Standale, there's a lot more rental options. Um, and again, those that's always met with mixed emotions. Um, and uh but people need to understand that we just talked about that stat. People are renting until they're 36 or 37, 38 years old. Um, so there's the first time home buyers moved up, and which means we need more places for rent. Uh, and if we want to be a city and an area that is full of growth and excitement and and new businesses, and um we need the people here, and so we need rentals, right? It's all they're all connected, and that's not always an easy thing to talk about because people love old Standale or love when you know it was the old drive-in movie theater. I'm like, I do too, you know, I wasn't alive, but you know what I mean. It's like it, I I love the nostalgia too, um, but I also love Walker and I want to share it with other people. And and so if that means we need a few more spots for people to be able to rent, um that that that's that's what we have to do. Yeah, and and so yeah, I think it's great to see those options available. Um, and people can get to know Walker, you know, whether it's Meyer or Bissell or we have some big corporations here um that bring in talent from outside of just our area. Um, so not everyone's familiar with the area. So renting is a great spot to say, okay, we're gonna start here, it's close to work um and it's close to everything, and then we can go find what neighborhood we want to be in, you know, what specific area we want to live in. It just gives people an uh a time to kind of adjust and not be so locked into a house. I I can't imagine moving to a new city for a job and just buying a house. I mean, people do it, and you know, you gotta have a good real estate agent to help with that. They know the area, but it's got to be stressful, you know, because you don't know the commute, you don't know the restaurants. Um, so I tell people come rent for a little bit, just figure it out, go try a bunch of things um and make sure you like it in the specific area that you're looking before you buy. So um, yeah, I think as we talk about businesses and new corporations and in and new growth in the job market, um, rentals is a is a very important part of that because that's that's what people need. It's it's harder to buy a house right away. So hey, we have something to rent. We can learn about you know this new development, whatever the project is. You know, there's some exciting ones and that you know you guys are are working on. Um, and so that's you know, that's what we need. We need more options for those people.

SPEAKER_02:

And you were speaking about development. One of them the um is actually Tom and Woods, so that you guys are the the main listing agents for that. That's just south of Standale on Cummings there. Um, another option again, condos for uh for folks to to look to kind of live near the city, also have some nice greenery and space near them.

SPEAKER_01:

So yeah, absolutely great development. Um the Jag the developers are just world-class builders. Um we've we've worked with other builders um and and these guys are just top of the line. They do things right. Um, they built them the way you'd want your house to be built. Um, and it is exciting to you know, yeah, have these these condos that are built this way and in there, but they're tucked away, right? It's like you drive off Cummings and you pull in and like you kind of forget you're in almost the middle of Standale. Um, so yeah, it's just another example of, you know, that's obviously those are for purchase. Um, but it's just another option of hey, here's some flexible living space, it's not all cookie cutter houses um because not everyone wants to live in a neighborhood. The condo offers a different uh solution for people who don't want a yard to take care of and um zero entry. So as you're aging, it's it's better for them. And there's there's options available for for people, and that's what I think is cool about Walker in this area of growth that we're seeing Grand Rapids. You know, as Grand Rapids grows, we're gonna grow, right? Because people are gonna be pushed out of affordability and they're gonna move into our communities. Um, and so we have a spot for them, whether that's the Vista 45 projects, whether that's Talman Woods, whether that's you know, obviously single family houses. Um, but we have options available for people who want to move into this area, and I think that's really exciting.

SPEAKER_02:

Scott, great information. And where can folks find um for information for you if they are looking for a realtor possible?

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. Yeah, our uh website is zocotiem.com, so that's z-o-k-o-e-team.com. Um Scott Zoko, that's absolutely who I am. Uh, we're part of the Zoko team at Five Star Real Estate. Um, so you can look us up on Instagram, Facebook, uh website, whatever works best.

SPEAKER_02:

Love it. It's a small business, family-owned business. We love seeing you guys here. Thank you for this great insight, Scott.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you. Yeah, we appreciate you.

SPEAKER_02:

And we thank you for tuning in as well.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you for joining us for this episode of the Maiden Walker Podcast. If you have comments or questions about this podcast, or if you have suggestions for future episodes, we'd love to hear from you. Please drop us an email at podcast at walker.city. Maiden Walker is the official podcast of the city of Walker, Michigan. You can find Maiden Walker wherever you get your podcasts.

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Nicole DiDonato

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