Supply follows demand. So true, now and forevermore and since time began. A British comedian named Peter Serafinowicz captures an all too real situation in this video – the pushy real estate agent…creating demand. Watch: I find this funny, but I’ve always been a madcap zany from the Benny Hill and Monty Python school of sledgehammering, rhetorical comedy…call me if I’m losing you. I can’t say that I’ve found the recent months, after declining recent real estate sales months, since June 2007 to be very funny, but sometimes, humor gets me through. More importantly, the following statements from Steve Palm, our FMLS numbers guru, get me through and I expect that some of you will like what he has to say in his May 21, 2009 letter. Encouraging unless you are a condo, loft or townhome buyer, or seller: “…The average closed sale price for single family attached in April was $144,164. This is a decline of 21.5% from the same year ago period and the … [Read more...]
So, What if My Buyer’s Agent is an Idiot?
So, are some of you out there wondering if the Realtor that you recently hired knows what they are doing? Have you fired your Realtor? Did you do everything that you needed to do to fire that agent? I just encountered this situation – someone called me and stated that they want to work with me because their Realtor did not “know Intown Atlanta.” This is the third time that this has happened this year, so I’m starting to feel like a specialist! Here’s what I just wrote in an email to a potential new client: In order to help you move things along and to help you be as forthright as is needed with the termination of your previous Buyer Brokerage Agreement, I want to copy and paste an important part of the agreement that you sign when you "hire a real estate agent in Georgia." Unless you agree to some other form of paying an agent, it is customary that the "Buyer's agent" is paid from seller funds at closing and that the seller and/or "listing broker" advertise the … [Read more...]
A Mosquito Can Pull a Plow
"If I say that a mosquito can pull a plow, don't ask how, hitch him up!" Cassius Clay May all of us be this inspired and this remarkable. In spite of incredible odds against us in 2009, I hope that you wake up in the morning inspired to make a difference and to be positive. If you don't, then watch this video every night before you go to bed for the next few weeks, OK? … [Read more...]
Listing Advice For My BFF
View Larger Map I have a "BFF" in Valdosta, GA and he and his family want to move to Atlanta for a number of reasons. They are a Seller with decent equity - they are questioning whether they should wait until next year to make their move, maybe starting in February 2010 - he's coming up to start a business, and they both have family synergies in Atlanta, so there is a lot of upside to leaving Valdosta, including a better wealth building opportunity in Atlanta and a better work/life balance. Here's what I recommended to them today - maybe you are in a similar situation, Mr. or Mrs. Intown Atlanta Seller. I hope that this helps someone... Just price it under everything else and move. Real estate values are not going to rise at any time “soon.” Three years or more before we see consistent, annual 2-3% rises in some markets. Some markets...make that some submarkets. Many submarkets will continue to decline or remain flat for more than a decade, dragging all American real … [Read more...]
Atlanta’s Relentless, Gravitational Pull of Foreclosures …
1Q 2009 sales were down by -20% compared to 1Q 2008, which was down by -29% compared to 1Q 2007 Market slowing has been relentless and significant during the last three years, hasn't it? Segmenting sales by price range shows that sales decreased in all price ranges except the lowest range (<$200K), which increased slightly. Is that something to celebrate? I think so! Stability is the first step toward long term success. Stability must happen in the lower price ranges in order to halt the gravitational pull downward that starts with houses that just a few years ago would have sold for $50,000 - $100,000 yet are now selling for $5000 - $25,000. That's deep... We all know that sales of foreclosed properties were strongest in the lower price ranges. Check this chart out - I'll show you in tomorrow's post that foreclosures represent 37% of the entire market, and more than 50% of all sales under $200,000. You think that we have a gravitational pull downward or what? Those of … [Read more...]
The 5 Stages of Seller Grief
My Keller Williams Realty team Leader, Steve Kout, sent me the "5 Stages of Seller Grief" last week and here they are, with a slight twist on the psychiatric graph above... Denial –My house is different. Anger –My agent does not know what they are talking about. Bargaining –Let’s try it at my price and see what happens. Depression –My price did not work and my agent should have talked me out of it. Acceptance –My value has gone down, and I need to just do whatever it takes. There's always a slight twist with real estate matters, so in the case of the most common form of Seller Grief, after the anger at an agent subsides, they are driven to bargain and chase the market, fueled by hope as the primary sales strategy...all of this sturm und drang prior to eventual depression. I just read an old Tibetan Proverb - "YOU CAN NOT DISCOVER NEW OCEANS, UNLESS YOU ARE WILLING TO LOSE SITE OF THE SHORE..." I found it as this web site - goodgrief.org, because I … [Read more...]