I'm Happy Just to Dance with You

Bob, the secretary treasurer of the Clinton County Board of Realtors, sometimes needs Robin, the assistant to our broker, to help him with his secretarial tasks. Gee, I guess that's one secretarty helping another. Is that like one hand washing the other? Anyway, Robin must have had too much coffee that afternoon and decided to dance it off. We are a strange lot.

This week, despite the cold, the wind, the snow, the rain, we have actually had 8 homes get accepted contracts. The place is starting to feel like a real estate office again. But as you can see, we still have time for fun and games.

My one and only listing just suffered a whole house inspection in preparation for the closing next month. I say "suffered" because the inspector goes over the house with a fine tooth comb, pokes at sore spots with a stick and crawls around on the floor, and under it, with a magnifying glass. Quite a humiliating experience for the poor house. "And he invariably comes up with something, which is his job. Now we have to deal with these issues which could ultimately cost the sellers more money. Whole house inspections are always the "touchiest" part of a sales contract but we must push forward knowing that this too shall pass.

So in the meantime, let us dance.

All I've Got to Do

I hate to go on and on about the slump in the housing market, but I will anyway. The economic news has stated that housing starts were at an unprecedented low last year. So what does that mean? It means that builders aren't building because buyers aren't buying. "Housing starts" is not the only way you can tell that the market is down but it is one of those "economic indicators" that economists must use because they can't call all of the real estate companies in the country and say, "Hey! How's business!"

Housing starts is like the unemployment rate, the cost of living, the stock market, the rate of inflation, the gross national product, the national debt, ad nauseum. The bean counters have to count something so they make little charts then count the little dots. I'm not saying that these indicators are not useful, they are. But they can be a bit misleading because they are averages for the country. Every region, state and community are different. Look at Detroit. Car manufacturing has been slipping for decades and the place is drying up and blowing away.

One of Wilmington's economic indicators that I have noticed is a new little subdivision that used to be the hottest thing since sliced bread, canned beer and indoor plumbing. Three years ago, those houses were going up almost overnight and selling just as quickly. They were priced for the upper middle class family and for the upwardly mobile. I drive through that area now and it looks like a ghost town. There is an unfinished street, empty lots full of tall weeds, piles of construction debris, new construction that has never sold and empty homes whose first inhabitants have moved on only to abandon the house to the vagaries of the real estate market.

Gee, I sound like some armageddonist. But if you are going to sell real estate these days, you have to get real (no pun intended) then don't take anything for granted. When things are slow, you don't just sit back and prop your feet up. You must work even harder.

For the first time in my real estate career, I have invested in marketing books. I have always eschewed the inspirational writers and speakers because they sounded so slick and evangelical to me. So one of the books I purchased has true funny stories of sales people's blunders then an analysis of what went wrong. The other book has business letter templates for marketing, prospecting and follow-ups. And...I have actually been using them, not just trying to learn by osmosis.

So far, no good. But if you keep doing what you've always done but expect different results, you are clinically insane. You may be right, I may be crazy. But it just might be a lunatic someone is looking for. And when that time comes, I can proudly stand up and say, "I'm a lunatic! Let me sell your house!"

I think I have internalized the sales blunders. Ooops!

Cry Baby Cry

http://www.housingmarketfacts.com/

Still on the fence about buying a home? Do you even have a fence? Chances are, if you are a renter, you not only don't have a fence but you don't have a yard.

This website gives some factoids about the benefits of owning a home. One is that, chances are, a home will be your biggest investment and asset. And, for this reason, it is an endeavor not to be taken lightly. Be prepared, if you purchase a home, that you nurture it, love it and make it your own.

That got a bit mushy, but when something becomes personal to you, you are more likely to fight for it.

The above website will address the wherefores and how-to's. Part of my job is to help you find a home, not just a house.

I think I'm gonna cry......

Yellow Submarine

Keeping motivated in a slow market is difficult to say the least. Any realtor knows that the housing market is a bit like the stock market. It has its ups and downs but for the most part it is a good investment.

One of my big bug-a-boos when it comes to news about the stock market is when it takes a plummet, you hear that so-in-so lost a million dollars last week. Well, so-in-so did not lose anything. You can only lose something if you actually are in possesion of it. Stock, unlike houses, is a paper commodity. On paper, your stock is worth a lot but unless you sell high all you have is a piece of paper.

Houses, on the other hand are real. I guess that's why they call it real estate. A house is the biggest investment that the majority of Americans make. (Don't let the pundits tell you that the majority of Americans own stock. Poppy cock! Whatever stock they own is probably tied up in a 401K in which they may or may not ever get fully vested. Fully vested means that after a period of time, the money that their employer has "matched" actually becomes theirs. In the mean time it belongs to their employer.)

With that said, your home is your biggest investment. So when the housing market drops it hurts. It hurts you, it hurts the bank, it hurts inspectors, it hurts any company that has anything to do with real estate and that is a lot. Therefore, keeping your home is very important as I have written about in a previous posting.

I am not a big listing realtor. It used to bother me but these days it is a blessing. It is hard to explain to your client why their home is not selling. Even if you go through the blah blah of the housing market it doesn't do them any good; their house still hasn't sold.

I have 1 1/2 listings right now. One is all mine; the "half" is a co-listing - the home is listed by both myself and another realtor in the office. (Co-listing is a strange critter. Why co-list when it means you have to split your commission with someone else? It works both ways. The seller gets 2 for the price of one which hopefully means better service and communication. The agents benefit because one may be able to actually get more listings but the other may have more time to service them. In my case of the "half" listing, I had made the initial contact, did the comparative market analysis, made the presentation, and discussed with the homeowner all the things that needed to be done to make the home look its best. Then the owner called a co-worker to list the home. My good co-worker was gracious enough to include me; for that I am very grateful.)

In short (okay, when I start writing, keeping it short is a struggle), motivation is key. Many aspects hang on many factors. Helping your clients through a difficult market is part of the job but the other part of the job is helping to keep the other agents in your office motivated, too. When I first got started in real estate I would get really discouraged; it is hard to make your presence known. But I had people behind me saying, "Hang in there! You can do it!" And I did.

So right now, I am helping to put together a motivational program. Nothing so cheesy as those dips you see on TV. This will be fun as it is built around a luau theme. (Okay, cheesy is a relative concept). Why help your potential rivals? Because when the tide rises, all the boats rise with it. And when the tide falls, all the boats fall, too. We all live in a........