Updates from November, 2012
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Latest Market Comment from Nick Churton of Mayfair International Realty
MSC Marketing
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Michael Saunders & Company International Brochure
MSC Marketing
Click on image below for printable format.
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Buying a Home? What About Greece? The Election?
MSC Marketing
by Steve Harney
As I travel across the country speaking with thousands of agents a month, I am always amazed at the first two questions I am usually asked:What impact will the European economic crisis have on real estate here in the U.S.?
Shouldn’t people wait until after the election to find out who will be the President before buying a home?
Today, I want to tell a story about Kevin Miller who works here at Keeping Current Matters and just signed contracts on the home he and Crystal, his wife, are purchasing. Kevin got married about a year ago and recently found out that he is about to become a father. He’s a great guy who truly loves his bride and wants the best for her and their family. It is for that reason that Kevin and his wife started to look
for a home of their own.What About Greece?
Kevin and I have discussed the purchase at times and the interesting thing is the European situation never came up – not even once! It isn’t that Kevin is naive to the situation. He probably understands it better than most as he has a degree in International Business and Economics. But, he isn’t buying a house in Greece or Spain. He is buying a home in Babylon,New York – in a wonderful neighborhood with a nice backyard that his future children will play in. Does the world economy impact his purchase? Yes it does. It is one of the major reasons he is getting a 30-year mortgage rate under 4%.
What About the Election?
Again, it never came up. We did talk about the fact that he is buying the home for a fraction of what it would have sold for just a few years ago. We did discuss the great school district. We did talk about how convenient the neighborhood is to the things he and Crystal love. Did we talk about the election? No.
Not that the election won’t have an impact. It was just announced that Congress will postpone its decision on the government’s role in mortgage financing until next Spring (aka until after the election). The new rules, which are anticipated to be more stringent than the current rules, won’t be enacted until after Kevin, Crystal and their child are comfortably living in their dream home financed by a 30-year mortgage at an historically low interest rate. Meanwhile, no one knows what the new mortgage requirements will even be next year.
Is the situation in Europe important? Of course. Is this election one of the most important in our nation’s history? Many believe so. Did either of these situations enter Kevin’s mind while he was deciding to buy a home? No.
He was too busy caring about his wife, his new child and his family’s happiness.
http://www.kcmblog.com/2012/06/12/buying-a-home-what-about-greece-what-about-the-election/
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Normal Service is Resumed
MSC Marketing
Click on article below for printable format.
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How to be Top
MSC Marketing
As we enter a New Year Nick Churton of Mayfair international Realty takes a look at what may lie ahead for the real estate market. Although mature real estate brokers and agents are apt to say that they have seen it all before, this time it is different. No one has seen this market under this set of national and international financial conditions before. But what is rather refreshing is that the uncertainty now cuts down the speculation aspect of a home purchase and strips the requirement to buy down to the real and age-old essentials. This makes for easier choices.
Le Corbusier, the pioneering architect, stated that, “The requirements for a house should be to provide a shelter against heat, cold, rain, thieves and the inquisitive”. He didn’t add that a home should also provide its owner with an investment return of seven per cent year-on-year.
For the first time since, perhaps, the 1960s property investment can take more of a back seat in the home buying mindset and, instead, fundamental life requirements can come back to the fore. Of course with other financial instruments providing so little in the way of return, real estate is a natural arena in which to invest. But with little or no indication about if or when the market will return in any zest we are left with simpler decisions and choices – does a home suit our requirements in size, location, style and price?
It is although our needs have been simplified in the way they may have been fifty years ago. With less frenzy and greater choice, for a while at least, this may be a very good time to choose a primary or secondary home for all the very best lifestyle reasons.
We quickly learn to expect that there is an investment opportunity to be gained from property purchase in a rising market. But we are rather slow to appreciate the reverse is likely in a poor market and/or in particularly adverse economic circumstances as we have now.
2011 was a hard year in property and this year may not be much better. We may have new US, Russian and French presidents, more ructions in Europe and the Middle East, and greater privations at home before we see greater improvement. But still there is a reassuring level of market activity that has more to do with need than discretion. This is the market we have and this is the market we have to deal with – and deal with it we will.
But real estate buyers and sellers should not be deterred. Indeed they should be encouraged as the more life there is in the real estate market the more life there is in the economy. But those still insisting on the sort of financial profit they may have achieved several years ago should perhaps think again and get real. It will be the enlightened that get to the top of the property class in 2012, not those in denial.
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Mayfair International Realty Winter 2011 Newsletter
Beth Ward
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Mayfair International Seasonal Message
Beth Ward
Click on article below for printable format.
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Christie's International Real Estate State of the Market
Beth Ward
Click on the below page for report and printable format.
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Profile of International Home Buyers in Florida from the National Association of Realtors
MSC Marketing
Please click on image below for further inforamtion and printable format
http://www.floridarealtors.org/Research/upload/2011-FloridaInternationalSurvey-August-22-2011.pdf
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Top of the Class
Beth Ward
By Nick Churton, Mayfair International RealtyAugust 22, 2011
Everyone knows that selling real estate is like shelling peas. Right? Brokers and agents have it easy. They just put on the internet – and the property is as good as gone at its ambitious asking price. Right?
Wrong!
What about selling real estate at a time when not so many are interested in buying? When buyers are strapped for cash; when the banks aren’t lending so much or so easily; when the country is facing a harsh austerity period and at a time of tenacious financial uncertainty. What about selling real estate when a seller may be demanding more than the market will stand? What about selling real estate when people have more pressing things to think about? And how about selling real estate for someone whose personal circumstances – joyous, sad or desperate – crucially depend on an agent’s efforts, despite all the above negative market conditions. Then selling real estate is not quite so easy as many might suggest.
But, cometh the moment cometh the agent. Of course when the market is in overdrive it is easier to sell homes. But now, in many areas, matters are more serious. Selling property in this market needs an agent with experience, with heart and foresight and skill and purpose. One with a steady hand who understands that moving home is often played out over two legs. There’s the home leg, selling, and the away leg, buying. This is a time to play the long game and to see and understand the bigger picture – and to be able to communicate this to anxious clients. There comes a time when selling property has to be put into the hands of someone who is seriously good at what they do. This is the time for hiring the top of the class.
If you want the agent who – even against your own optimistic judgement – has priced your home way higher than every one else, do go ahead if that makes you feel good. But what will really make you feel good is selling your home and moving on to another. And for that, right now, you need a professional.
Red Adair, the famous oil well fire fighter said it perfectly, “If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur!”
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