“This graph compares the NAHB HMI (left scale) with single family housing starts (right scale). This includes the December release for the HMI and the November data for single family starts. This shows that the HMI and single family starts mostly move in the same direction - although there is plenty of noise month-to-month. I know I'm a broken record, but residential investment is one of the best leading indicators for the economy, and the best indicators for RI are the NAHB HMI, housing starts, and new home sales. And these indicators are moving sideways (at best).” More from the savvy economic bloggers at Calculated Risk – here. This leading economic indicator, over in Dekalb County just off of Brockett Road, shows that the Greater Atlanta Homebuilders Association is trying to get out of their headquarters building… Moving sideways, and in the case of our local home builders’ association, slightly downward … thanks to Greg Ruis for seizing the … [Read more...]
The Intrigue of Shock Value – @garyvee and @trulia on being a Real Estate Agent in 2010
Rudy from Trulia hosted Gary Vaynerchuck on a podcast / webinar today with a bunch of the Trulia Pro’s and Trulia VIP’s. I gained a lot from it. Read along and I think that you’ll find that some of the new ideas here are way too cool to “not” implement. Gary is the man behind the book Crushit! and he’s the co-owner with his brother AJ in VaynerMedia. Gary rose to worldwide fame with WineLibrary.com. What a story there… Rudy is the socially adept workaholic Mr. Trulia! If you know me, then you know how much I love Trulia. Trulia loves me back in a big way. I took great notes today and many are direct quotes from the podcast – here goes… …The internet is just 15 years old. It hasn’t even had sex yet. Everyone is overthinking it. You don’t have to know it all, or apply analytics to it all, you just need to apply your common sense to any platform that you choose to work with. Don’t be scared of it. Today, Americans don’t make enough … [Read more...]
The Art and Science of The Lowball Offer
I received a call from an experienced and talented real estate agent today and I told her that my buyer client is reviewing financing options and that we have been discussing the terms and conditions of a contract. A contract on one of her listings – a really nice property in a really nice master planned community in Intown Atlanta. I told her that my client is probably going to make a “lowball” offer. She knows what to expect for a win with her seller client, and so do I. My client wants a win/win. He wants the seller to accept his offer, but he also wants to negotiate. He thinks that the seller wants to negotiate. Sellers really don’t WANT to negotiate. So, I emailed my client and I told him that one way to help establish his offer as a serious offer that demands a serious response from the seller, and not just a toss, is to increase his earnest money offering. Do you have a clear understanding of the role of earnest money in a real estate … [Read more...]
Why You Should Hire Me to Sell Your Intown Atlanta Property in 2010
TIME of Service as a Full Time Real estate Agent with Keller Williams Realty First Atlanta Gross Commission Income Transactions and Percentages Listing Performance Averages Days on the Market Averages February 2004-December 2009 $825,000 123 total transactions - 22 average per year - buyers are 69% of all transactions - 84 buyers helped 39 listings sold - 6 average per year - $248000 average sales price - 31% of all transactions 26 days on market (DOM) average since February 2004 vs. current 131 day median DOM for the Intown Atlanta market. 92% of all of my listings sold against a 58.4% unsold or failure rate on all attempted listings in the Intown FMLS So, the first thing that you may notice is that I have helped more buyers … [Read more...]
Macroeconomics: 5 Key Housing Issues for 2010
The Wall Street Journal’s Nick Timiraos analyzes the 5 issues that he believes are critical to the housing industry and to the entities that revolve around it. Click here for a link to his article from today’s WSJ. He states that there is “an uncertain outlook for the year ahead, one filled with questions about what policymakers will choose to do and how markets will react to those decisions.” He quotes Ivy Zelman, chief executive of Zelman & Associates, a housing-research firm who states that “The can has been kicked down the road…” Ivy’s firm studies the big builders, the large building trades firms, and the home center businesses, like Lowe’s and Home Depot. So, Nick and Ivy are coming at these issues from a broad, established perspective and at this point in history, if you focus on the stock performances, the outlooks and the various profit centers of these multi-million $ and billion + $ operations, you see a period of history that is marked by pain, … [Read more...]